Great News!

Took Andrew for a checkup with his pulminologist at Children's Hospital in Little Rock Thursday. His lung capacity and all functions are normal–like they should be. No more asthma inhalers.
In fact, the doctor said he doubts Andrew ever had asthma to begin with. The symptoms came from the inhalation of that damn blowgun plastic piece.
Andrew was thrilled with the news of no asthma and no more inhalers. Thank you lord for pulling him through. It's been a long four years. He also now has normal chances of upper respiratory infections and pneumonia.
He did get a flu shot, something he wasn't upbeat about, but as always, the dreaded anticipation is always the worst part.
We stopped in Monticello, Christmas shopped, ate and saw King Kong. Peter Jackson has done it again. Amazing movie. Remember this before you see it: It runs about 3 hours and 15 minutes. Fast-paced action after Kong captures the girl. If Andrew did have asthma, he probably would have had to have a pull or two on an inhaler. Incredible action and special effects.

10-Point

10-Point
Originally uploaded by sanscript.

Andrew knew it was a 10-point all the time, not a 9. Friday morning, December 9, around 2 a.m.

Blues Nominations

Here's something you won't see on CNN's Grammy story: The Blues category nominations.
Best Traditional Blues Album
* Rock 'N' Roll City - Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater Featuring Los Straitjackets [Bullseye Blues and Jazz]
* Blues Singer - Buddy Guy [Silvertone Records]
* Goin' To Kansas City - Jay McShann [Stony Plain Records]
* That's Right! - Roomful Of Blues [Alligator Records]
* Lookin' For Trouble! - Kim Wilson [M.C. Records]

Best Contemporary Blues Album
* So Many Rivers - Marcia Ball [Alligator Records]
* Let's Roll - Etta James [Private Music]
* The Road We're On - Sonny Landreth [Sugar Hill Records]
* Rediscovered - Howard Tate [Private Music]
* Wait For Me - Susan Tedeschi [Tone-Cool/Artemis Records]

Best Long Form Music Video
* Legend Sam Cooke - Allen Klein, video director; Mick Gochanour, Iris W. Keitel, Robin Klein & Mary Wharton, video producers
* The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966, Volume 1 Various Artists - Jon Kanis & David Peck, video directors; Janie Hendrix, Jon Kanis, John McDernott & David Peck, video producers
* Muddy Waters Can’t Be Satisfied Muddy Waters - Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville, video directors; Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville, video producers

Ipod Update

I used to be a MacAddict, through work, and going through a couple of Imacs at home. Now, thanks to the Ipod, I'm a MacAddict again. 57 songs, 4.8 hours, 278.3 MB.
If you're interested in modern, electric, kick-ass blues, especially check out "Low Down and Dirty" by Luther Allison, Gary Moore, Jimbo Mathus or anything by Buddy Guy. Oh, there are also a few hippie songs from the 70s listed here, too.
Ipod Playlist Update:
The Thrill Is Gone (1969 Single Version)--B.B. King
To Know You Is to Love You--B.B. King
Mystery Train--The Band
Canción del Mariachi--Bandidos de Amor
Blues Overtook Me--Charlie Musselwhite
Change It Doyle-Bramhall
Hotel California--Eagles
Enough of the Blues--Gary Moore
Slackjaw Jezebel--Gov't Mule
Blues This Morning--Indigenous
Holdin' Out--Indigenous
Got To Tell You--Indigenous
Midnight Man--James Gang
Rock Me Mama--James Son Thomas
State Line Women--Jimbo Mathus
You Don't Love Me--John Hammond
Standing Around Crying--John Hammond
Rock Me Baby--Johnny Winter
Leland Mississippi Blues--Johnny Winter
Back to the Island--Leon Russell
Think Of Me--Little Milton CD
Low Down and Dirty--Luther Allison
Green Grass and High Tides--The Outlaws
Tipitina--Professor Longhair
Merlin the Magician--Rick Wakeman
Turn It On, Turn It Up--Roomful Of Blues
Texas Cadillac--Smokin' Joe Kubek Band
Congo Square--Sonny Landreth
Creole Stomp (Happytown)--Steve Riley And The Mamou Players
Change It Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
It Hurt So Bad--Susan Tedeschi
Fast And Free--Tab Benoit
Highway Man--Tinsley Ellis CD, Live
Exception To The Rule--Tommy Castro
July Morning--Uriah Heep
Born Under A Bad Sign--Koko Taylor and Buddy Guy
Crazy Texas Gypsies--High Heeled Women

Parade Follow-up

(This is the follow-article to the post below.)
Jennie Jones Giles
Times-News Staff Writer
The rain that fell on a cold day Saturday in Brevard could not dampen the spirits and goodwill of the residents and visitors who came to enjoy the Christmas parade and participate in the town's holiday Twilight Tour.
The mayor of Ellisville, Miss., Tim Waldrup, was nearly as popular as Santa Claus.
The city of Brevard "adopted" the town in Mississippi after a local Red Cross volunteer brought back reports of the devastation caused in the town from Hurricane Katrina.
Brevard Mayor Jimmy Harris, Tracey Love of the Rotary Club of Brevard, other club members and businesses in the community decided to use the Christmas parade to collect toys and deliver them to the children of Ellisville.
Mayors Harris and Waldrup rode on a float with 40 to 50 elves walking alongside with large Santa bags to collect the toys.
"There would have been no Christmas for the children of Ellisville," Waldrup said. "But now, thanks to the residents of the city of Brevard and all of Transylvania County, Christmas in Ellisville will happen and with an even more special meaning because it came as a true gift from a small city in North Carolina that cares about others."
More than 2,500 gifts and monetary donations have been received, Love said.
"So much, in fact, that the mayor of Ellisville has said that any overflow would go to the surrounding towns," she said as tears streamed down her face. "Here at Love's Jewelry, we have a steady line of people bringing in gifts. This has really renewed my faith in people as a whole."
All the town's gifts will be loaded on a truck and driven by Harris and several Brevard Rotarians to the town in Mississippi in about a week and a half, Love said.
Toys will be collected for at least another week. The locations are: Brevard City Hall, Love's Jewelry on East Main Street, State Farm Insurance at Water Oak Suites and the Brevard Chapter of the American Red Cross at College Plaza. Monetary donations should be made payable to the Rotary Club of Brevard, P.O. Box 375, Brevard, N.C. 28712.

Presents Collected

Originally uploaded by sanscript.

Brevard Mayor Jimmy Harris, back right, Tim Waldrup, mayor of Ellisville, Mississippi, and Brevard Rotary Club officials stand beside Christmas presents that were collected during the Brevard Christmas Parade. (Michael Justus, Times-News

North Carolina Town Adopts My Hometown

(Wow, a town in North Carolina adopted my hometown for Christmas. God bless you.)
Brevard gathers toys at parade for children in Mississippi town
Jonathan Rich
Hendersonville (NC)Times-News Staff Writer
BREVARD--The Brevard Christmas parade will be more than just a gathering of marching bands and pretty floats this year.
The downtown event will be a way for the people of Transylvania County to bring the spirit of the holiday season to an upstate Mississippi community devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Brevard resident and Red Cross volunteer Sheri Walters said she felt the need to help the people left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina after working with relief efforts near the Gulf Coast this fall.
"The people there are slowly putting their lives back together," Walters said. "Some are just now getting their electricity back, and it's three months later."
Walters was working with the Red Cross about an hour south of Jackson, Miss., in the town of Brookhaven. After seeing the aftermath of the late summer storms, she was moved to ask leaders in Brevard to assist the town of Ellisville, Miss., population 3,650.
"It's a small town that just got devastated by category 4 winds," Walters said. "The storm just wiped out trees, signs and everything else. You would know a church was supposed to be there because a cross was in the courtyard, but there was no building left standing behind it."
Because of that desperate situation, Walters asked city leaders in Brevard to partner with their Mississippi counterparts to provide gifts for the children of Ellisville.
"The City Council felt because it was such a small town, not really that much smaller than Brevard, it might otherwise be off the radar screen compared to the bigger cities of St. Louis or those closer to the coast, which received a lot of aid," she said. "Many people might not be aware of the difficulties in Ellisville, but they got hit just as hard."
Monday night Brevard City Council unanimously passed a resolution designating Dec. 3 "Elves of Ellisville Day" in Brevard and urging local residents to place unwrapped toys on the Rotary Club of Brevard's float in the upcoming Christmas parade.
"When I spoke with Tim Waldrop, the mayor of Ellisville, he told me a lot of people were spending their Christmas money to reshingle their roof or make other necessary home repairs," Mayor Harris said. "He said it wasn't going to be as good a Christmas as it would have been otherwise."
All the gifts donated at the parade will later be loaded up on a truck and driven by Harris to Mississippi.
"This is just a gesture, but if at all possible we want to make this happen for the children down there," he said. "Whenever people go through that level of devastation, I think it's up to those of us who can to put our best foot forward."
Walters said she hopes her hometown will come together in the spirit of the holidays for those in need."I'm just thrilled the city and the Rotary are working together on this," she said. "Any time you can bring the spirit of the mountains to others by reaching out is a delight."