Blog Posts

Gander

In 2002, in Uncle John’s Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader, we wrote about what happened in a little Canadian town called Gander in the aftermath of the attacks of 9/11. It’s the kind of story we can all use on a day like today.

GANDER

Far too few people know the heartwarming story about what
happened in a small town on a remote island in the North Atlantic on
September 11, 2001. Canadian air traffic controller (and BRI member)
Terry Budden told us about it, and we decided to share it with you.

“I Did Not Realize I Was P***ing on Her Leg”

Oh, yeah, we should mention that he said that…after being taken off the airplane:

An 11-year-old girl asleep on a flight was horrified when she woke up to find a drunken man urinating on her leg, reports say.

The alleged incident occurred on a JetBlue flight between Portland and New York when a reportedly inebriated teenager stumbled out of his seat and began emptying his bladder on the sleeping child.

Associated Press reports angry scenes broke out on the flight when the girl’s father returned from the toilet and caught 18-yearo-old Robert Vietze in the act.

98-year-old Gets 10th-degree Judo Blackbelt

Impressive:

Just two years before her 100th birthday, Sensei Keiko Fukuda has  become the first woman to achievea tenth-degree black belt—the highest rank in the martial art and combat sport Judo. Fukuda is now one of only four living people who’ve earned the tenth-degree (or dan) black belt. To put the accomplishment into better perspective, throughout history, only sixteen people have ever achieved this honor.

RIP Bill Morrissey

Dang, we had not even heard that the great American folksinger Bill Morrissey had died. His website says it very simply:

Bill Morrissey passed away on July 23, 2011, in his room at a hotel in Georgia. He was staying there on his way home after several gigs. Bill’s fans and the folk music community are deeply saddened by his loss.

Just 59 years old. Ai yai yai.

Here’a a video that someone apparently just put together as a tribute. It’s actually quite nice – and what a song:

RIP Clarence Clemons [updates]

Ow. Much beloved sax player for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band Clarence Clemons has died:

Clarence Clemons, the saxophonist in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, whose jovial onstage manner, soul-rooted style and brotherly relationship with Mr. Springsteen made him one of rock’s most beloved sidemen, died Saturday at a hospital in Palm Beach, Fla. He was 69.

The cause was complications from a stroke, which he suffered last Sunday, said a spokeswoman for Mr. Springsteen.

From the beginnings of the E Street Band in 1972, Mr. Clemons played a central part in Mr. Springsteen’s music, complementing the group’s electric guitar and driving rhythms in songs like “Born to Run” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” with muscular, melodic saxophone hooks that echoed doo-wop, soul and early rock ’n’ roll.

Play it, Big Man. (Legendary Clemons “Jungleland” solo starts at 4:20):

James Arness’s Farewell Note

Sheriff Matt Dillon has ridden out of Dodge:

It takes a special kind of lawman to carry on for 20 years in the Wild West of TV.

Matt Dillon, the mythical marshal of Dodge City, stood tall – all 6 feet, 6 inches of him – on “Gunsmoke” from 1955 to 1975. He outlasted dozens of other Western heroes while making history on TV’s longest-running dramatic series, a record that held until NBC’s “Law & Order” tied the CBS Western’s record in 2010.

Through all those gunslinging years, James Arness, who died Friday, kept Marshal Dillon righteous, peace-seeking and, most of all, believable.

And: He left a note of farewell on his website:

Happy Birthday, Bob

Seems like pretty much the whole world is going out of their way to send a birthday wish to The Most Interesting Man In the World, Mr. Bob Dylan, today.

We hate to do what everyone else is doing, but we can’t help it this time: Happy Birthday, Bob. If the only song you ever wrote was “Desolation Row” you’d still be one of the best songwriters in history. (And we hear you actually wrote some other songs, too…) Happy Birthday, and many, many more to you, from all of us at the BRI. Here’s a little tune for you. (Substitute the “50” for a “70,”  in this song, if you will.)

RIP Macho Man

Pro wrestling legend Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage has died:

“Professional wrestling and the entertainment community in general has lost a legend.

Randall Mario Poffo, better known to the world as Randy “Macho Man” Savage, died today after reportedly crashing his car into a tree subsequent losing control of the vehicle. His wife also was in the car, but only suffered minor injuries. He was a young 58 years old.”

Fellow wrestler Dusty Rhodes:

“There’s probably five or six of us, with Andre (the Giant) and (Hulk) Hogan and thankfully myself and (Ric) Flair, that, when their names pop up, even if you’re not a fan, you know who in the hell these people are,” Rhodes said.

High school baseball coach (Savage was a minor  league baseballl player before he was a wrestler):

Finally, He Gets to Shave

EAST WENATCHEE, Wash. – A teacher who vowed nearly 10 years ago not to cut his beard until Osama bin Laden was captured or proven dead said he cried Sunday night upon hearing of the terrorist’s death.

“I spent my first five minutes crying and then I couldn’t get it off fast enough,” said Gary Weddle, 50, who lives in East Wenatchee but teaches middle school science in Ephrata.

Weddle has wanted to cut his beard for years. His wife, Donita, has wanted him to cut it, too. But for Weddle a vow is a vow and so he hadn’t even trimmed it until Sunday night.

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