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STORY   BEHIND   THE   SONG

A lot of hit songs are actual slices of life from the writer’s past and according to Johnny Rodriguez, his 1973 number one, “Ridin’ My Thumb To Mexico” was one of those tunes!

Rodriguez commented,” That was my first time to write a song by myself and I wrote it on the bus. I don’t remember where we were going to or coming from but that song was written just ridin’ down the highway. I got to thinking about that summer when I was growin’ up in South Texas. We used to hitch hike everywhere and even hitch hiked  to Mexico a few times and that’s where the idea for that song came from!”

“Ridin’ My Thumb To Mexico” entered the country music charts August `18^th, 1973 and was at the top of the charts October 13^th and stayed there for two weeks.

It was his 3^rd charted song and his second number one.

The Mercury records single also scored  a # 70 on the pop music charts.

The record was produced by Jerry Kennedy.

QUESTIONS    AND    ANSWERS

QUESTION:   Do you have any information concerning Willie Nelson songs being put in space? My son said he heard about it on the radio.

ANSWER: NASA is currently letting fans vote on which songs should be played to wake up the astronauts in space on the upcoming final mission of the space shuttle program, and Alan’s “Where I Come From” and Willie’s “On the Road Again” are among the contenders. To vote, go to  SongContest.NASA.gov.

QUESTION:    I heard that one of Reba McEntire’s dresses is for sale. Is that true?

ANSWER:       The green dress that Reba wore for the 2010 CMT Music Awards  is now up for bid on eBay to benefit the Kenya Island Missions through Thursday. It’s listed as item number 180553365771.

QUESTION:    The radio folks were talking about Barbara Mandrell doing some kind of gathering for an African mission. Do you have any details?

ANSWER: Barbara, ,Louise and Irlene Mandrell will reunite as the Mandrell Sisters on Thursday, September 2 at the Nashville Palace, in support of S.E.E.K. (Suba Environmental Education of Kenya), to help raise funds for those in need in that African nation.S.E.E.K. provides opportunities for the people of Kenya by addressing urgent issues of poverty, hunger and disease in a Biblical and environmentally literate way, to bring about transformation of their communities.

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Doug Davis—Country Music Classics—3702 Pleasant Grove Road-Texarkana, Texas 75503.  Or use   PAYPAL  ( http://www.paypal.com ) and donate (via your account or their secure credit card site) directly thru our email address (classics@countrymusicclassics.com). Thank you.

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QUESTION:    There was a song on the radio several years ago by a guy singing about a girl named “Kay.” Do you know his name? Was the song a big hit?

ANSWER:       “Kay” scored a # 9 for John Wesley Ryles in 1968. He re-recorded the song in 1978 and the second version peaked at # 50

QUESTION:    My dad has a record of “The Ballad Of The Green Berets.” The label is worn off but he said it was an actual soldier singing on the record. Is that true?

ANSWER:     “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” scored a # 2 in 1966 for Sgt. Barry Sadler, who served as a Staff Sergeant of U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) in Viet Nam. Sadler died of heart failure in 1989

QUESTION:   My aunt says that Jeannie Seely is not her real name. Is that true?

ANSWER:      Jeannie was born Marilyn Jeanne Seely in Titusville, Pa. in 1940.

NUMBER  ONE  ON  THIS  DATE:

1944
Soldier’s Last Letter – Ernest Tubb

1952
It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels – Kitty Wells

1960
Alabam – Cowboy Copas

1968
Mama Tried – Merle Haggard

1976
(I’m A) Stand by My Woman Man – Ronnie Milsap

1984
Let’s Fall to Pieces Together – George Strait

Music Monday – Rock and R&B Headlines

It’s not that I ever had a bad experience at Ruby Tuesday. The few times I’ve eaten there I have gotten decent food with good service but the truth is, they never stuck out in my mind.

That changed today. It being my wife, Lori’s birthday and Ruby Tuesday offering a “Free Birthday Burger”, we were destined to eat lunch there this afternoon. I’m very glad we did.

It started kind of slow, with their new “Garlic Cheese Biscuits”. They weren’t bad, they were just kind of bland. Not a bad biscuit but sorely in need of more garlic and cheese.

Then the burgers arrived!

Triple Prime Bacon Cheddar Burgers to be exact and they were good. (Mine was $10.99 and Lori, the birthday girl’s was free) Served on a perfect burger roll, not too soft and not too hard, just enough bread. These burgers were juicy without being greasy but somehow I kept all that juice in my mouth and saved my shirt. They had a very hearty beef flavor, not the kind of bland burgers that you get from most restaurants. I’m not sure what cut of beef they use for their ground beef but I have a feeling it wasn’t your standard 80/20 trim beef . These burgers had some flavor!

They were served with the bacon and cheddar as their name implies but I also ordered mine with tomato and onion. Ruby Tuesday uses it’s own house brand mayo which was a great compliment to the grilled ground beef. The kitchen forgot my onions but that was for the best because that just allowed me to enjoy the flavor even more.

Endless fries came with the burger and they were the kind of fries that go great with a burger, not hard crispy but a good layer of crispy on the outside and still a little soft potato on the inside. As for the endless part, I was lucky to finish the burger and the original helping of fries.

We visited the Ruby Tuesday in the Oaks Mall in Gainesville, Florida. The wait staff was excellent, the perfect amount of attentiveness without intruding on your meal. Our waitress was friendly, helpful and even remembered to wish Lori a Happy Birthday at the end of the meal. She also offered sodas to go without being asked.

Over all a very pleasant dining experience. Great food, great wait staff and an excellent PR campaign to offer a free burger on your birthday.

“The Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.”

My wife, Lori and I went out for our anniversary dinner to Tony’s Sushi and Japanese Steakhouse in Ocala, Florida.

“The University of Florida Herbarium is a unit of the Department of Natural History of the Florida Museum of Natural History. The herbarium is affiliated with the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Department of Biology and the Department of Plant Pathology. The FLAS acronym is the standard international abbreviation for the University of Florida Herbarium. It is derived from the herbarium’s early association with the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.”

Elektra Records turns Sixty and celebrates with a great new website that is a timeline of their artists and albums. Check it out!

Today Lori and I finally published the final version of Cpl. David Moss (A Memorial). It’s been a long process of getting it to a point where it could be offered at a reasonable price and yet still be somewhere near how we envisioned it.

Most people would know that this is a phishing email but just in case you don’t. If you get this in your email Inbox, do not click on the link and type in your information. The link will take you to http://pixelflair.de/Amazon/Amazon-Login.htm and although it says Amazon, it is actually a page in a folder named Amazon on another server named pixelflair.de. My wife just got this in her email and so I thought I’d pass this along.