50 Yardline Seats at The United Bowl

The question of unaided human flight had been definitively answered in 1963 when my brother, aided only by a superman cape, leapt from atop of three footstools in an attempt to fly. This endeavor was an utter failure. Some 63 years later, I’m adding my corollary. Human flight aided by a Labrador retriever is not… Read more »

Where In The World Is Jimmy Stegall?

In the fall of 1970, the Oakshire Raiders football team went undefeated. Coached by Coach Doug Daniels (full time postman and part time coach), the Raiders won the Whitehaven Elementary Athletic Association Football Championship. Oakshire Elementary is still located on Holmes Rd, near where it crosses I-55. In the late 60s and early 70s, Oakshire… Read more »

The Day The Music Died

In the early 1960s, just as the The Beatles brought a new sound to America, he brought rock and roll to Birdland. He taught every kid in Birdland to sing Herman Hermit songs with a “proper English accent”. Ponder that for a minute. He saw doing what he did as something of a public service…. Read more »

The ‘Cup’

Photo Credit Jeff Presley

Cajun Greenbeans

My son recently asked for my recipe for cajun green beans. He and his girlfriend Laura are spending Thanksgiving at Laura’s parent’s home. Ratboy is a pretty good cook. He understands that he has to bring something really good, and this is it. This isn’t a completely original recipe. I got the bones of it… Read more »

A True Story

In the July of 1976, I had just got my truck out of the shop after I hit a deer with it. A deer will do significant damage to a 1975 Toyota Hi-Lux pickup truck. I must say, Dad was not amused. The truck was in the shop for about two weeks while it was… Read more »

Aunt Lottie

Sometimes in quite moments, just out of the clear blue sky, a random thought brings a memory back to life. I just thought of my Aunt Lottie. Aunt Lottie was a tiny woman with a big laugh. She had an exasperated way of saying “Randy!” She broke it into three syllables: “RAY-AN-DEE!” She was right… Read more »

The Witches of Shrewsbury – the Wives of Richard and Thomas Garner

In 1636, a woman in Shrewsbury, England was accused of witchcraft and sorcery. In a trial by water, her death established her innocence. She died by drowning in the dunking stool in the pool at the Square in Shrewsbury. Her name was Katharn, wife of Richard and mother of John, and she is buried in the Old Churchyard at St. Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury, England. From this family, my branch of the Garner family was born.

Remembering Rocket

When I was a child, the 4th of July was always a special time to me. It wasn’t special because that’s the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, or because it is the day Vicksburg fell in the Civil War. No, as a small child, I didn’t know about any of that…. Read more »

At Least I Can Sing

Fifty-some-odd years ago, a friend of mine, Jimmy Bolin, decided he wanted to open a guitar store. It didn’t matter that he was in high school or that he didn’t have any money to work with. He loved playing guitar and he wanted to open a guitar store. He taught private guitar lessons until he… Read more »

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    Beebe, Arkansas

    On a very hot and exceedingly humid September Sunday night in 1977, I lay sweating in an un-air-conditioned dorm room in Beebe Arkansas listening to a radio station from Little Rock as it was about play an album released by Willie Nelson. Though I had been a fan of outlaw country music (Jerry Jeff Walker)… Read more »

  • When Lynyrd Skynyrd Came to Town.

    In early 1974, an unknown band from Florida became famous almost overnight when “Free Bird” became an instant southern anthem. With a monster hit song, the album “Pronounced Len-nerd Skin-nerd” kept selling out everywhere. Word quickly spread through Jonesboro that Lynyrd Skynyrd had been booked to play at the Strand theater and there were less… Read more »

  • The Coast

    It is in the dead of winter that my mind wanders during household chores. While doing something in the bed room, my eye caught sight of something that sent me back in time. On my night stand there stands a small, lonely trophy. It is from the Broadwater Beach Hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi. It is… Read more »

  • Things Worth Remembering

    There are things worth remembering about growing up in small towns. I remember the oddest of things. I remember pimento cheese. A small grocery store on Flint Street called Lundy’s used to have the finest piminto cheese on the face of the earth. Lundy’s was a neighborhood grocery store right across Flint Street from the… Read more »

  • Waffle House #393

    Waffle House at 8:00AM is a microcosm of America. The counter and the booths are full. You’ve got the elderly Marine Corp veteran eating alone, looking through the window at memories of rice fields and triple canopy jungles. You’ve got the two debutante wannabes eating in a booth. Four brothers are laughing and eating a… Read more »

  • White Dog

    There was a time many years ago when exploring new albums meant going to TG&Y at Indian mall, or perhaps KATZ at Caraway Plaza and perusing the bins containing albums. The tiny and sparse inventory was selected and creatively managed by some middle aged clerk in a back room who enjoyed listening to regional classics… Read more »

  • In Search of Open Water

    Years ago, a friend, let’s call him JD, and I used to hunt at every opportunity. We were young, so getting up at 4:00AM after drinking and chasing girls until midnight was not a problem. We just got up, loaded up and went. I remember one year we had tons of snow. I woke up… Read more »

  • My Favorite Uncle

    I hope everyone has a favorite uncle.  Kids need favorite uncles. Mine was my father’s brother, Randy.  Uncle Randy is 12 years younger than dad was, and he’s 12 years older than Sweet Pea.  He’s an impressive character even before you know much about him.  He was a college football player at Northwest Mississippi Jr…. Read more »

  • The Road Less Traveled

    Once the ‘new’ highway to Harrisburg was completed, and liquor stores popped up in rice fields on the country line, Highway 63 became the road less traveled.  Ever since Craighead Country had gone dry, Highway 63 had been the path to liquor.  The liquor stores in Truman had struck gold.  Craighead Country going dry didn’t… Read more »

  • Under the Dogwood Tree

    My first dog was a German Shepherd named Duchess Ann, but pronounced ‘Duchess-zann’. I was probably 25 years old when I realized that the name was actually “Duchess Ann”. I had always heard it and said it as one word. I am told she was named for a friend of my parents who lived in… Read more »