Songs About America

Today we drove through Tennessee from Nashville to Knoxville, up through Kentucky, finally coming to rest at an overpriced Days Inn (after checking about sixty jillion other hotels--but that's another story altogether).

Y'know how sometimes you're riding down the road and the perfect song comes on the radio? That happened to me today. I was driving as we were coming out of Nashville, and, if you know anything about Tennessee you know that every 9 out of 10 radio stations are Country and Western. So, we decided to skip the radio and play our iPod through the radio transmitter. One of my Ryan Adams songs came on from the "Cold Roses" album, Let it Ride. He sings a nice little Country/Bluegrass ditty about the Cumberland River and Tennessee--just as we were driving through that area. It was nice.

So, as we set out this morning, we were discussing famous items and persons pertaining to Tennessee, such as Davy Crockett, former U.S. Representative from Tennessee and hero at the Battle of the Alamo. I learned a lot about Davy Crockett today. For example, did you know:

1. That Davy Crockett was born on a mountaintop in Tennessee?
2. ...that he killed him a bar when he was only three?
3. ...that he was King of the Wild Frontier?
4. ...that he was portrayed poorly and inaccurately by Billy Bob Thornton in the movie The Alamo (2004)?
5. ...that he had a giant blue ox named Babe and that he loved flapjacks?
6. ...that he wrote the Declaration of Independence and discovered electricity?

I know! Impressive resume'. Davy Crockett is also known to have worn an upside down pot on his head and carried a bag of apple seeds, sprinkling them across the land.

Today was a good drive. The countryside was absolutely beautiful. I love driving in the mountains. There's a surprise around every corner. Tomorrow we'll drive a short distance to Cleveland for my friend Megan's wedding, and then we're headed quickly over to Grand Rapids to go to Mars Hill for church Sunday morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get free Church Picnic Lunch!

Brother, Can You Spare Some Common-Damn-Sense??

Okay, so I haven't really heard the entire story, but I did hear the audio clip. Whoopi Goldberg defended Michael Vick's dog fighting/gambling habit because it's "part of the Southern culture?" I am not from the Deep South. Perhaps I am not understanding the culture so good (imagine Slavic accent). I'm from Texas, though, and we do share some common Southern traditions with GA, AL, MS, and LA. Among some of these shared traditions are the culinary delights of iced tea, cornbread, and grits. We follow our dessert with coffee. It's the home of Southern Baptism and some remainder of gentility.

Among these, setting starved, beaten, angry, scared animals on each other for pure enjoyment IS NOT.

It's like saying that if you come from a lower-class neighborhood where developing a crack or crystal meth habit is "part of the culture" then it is permissable and perhaps encouraged for you to also develop a crack or crystal meth habit.

Why defend the guy? Is it because he's a celebrity? Is it because he's African-American? Is it because he's a bazillionaire that can get away with whatever he wants because he's got bazillions of dollars to cover his tracks?

Yes.

See: "Justice" for Paris & Lindsey