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Sinners, the much ballyhooed movie featuring Mrs. Josh Allen, is on Max now. it'll probably be there for a while

Christine Baranski's first appearance on the Big Bang Theory. John Cleese, being John Cleese on Cheers.

TY. I've always said, if I wrote well enough, I'd write a book, or at least an essay, of how well she handled her illness and death. But really, my "grief theme song" was Garth Brooks-The Dance. It fits with the theme of the thread. I could have missed the pain, but I'd have missed the dance. I shudder thinking I'd could have missed that dance. Now.... back to our regularly scheduled collection of sad song dance music!

As a blues enthusiast I've certainly had a number of sad songs in my favorites mix. But this song I'm posting...ugh. Its not blues, its not really country either, but it has personal sentiments to me. If you want the backstory, fine, here it is. I've mentioned on here before, I lost my soulmate to cancer 5 1/2 years ago. Before she died, she wanted a celebration of life instead of a funeral. One day, she gave me a list of about 5 or 6 songs to put on a mix to play at the COL. This song was on the list. I knew the singer, but had never heard of the song. Joey Feek died of cancer a few years after recording this song. I looked at the title and said to my wife, "you must really hate me, you don't think I'll be grieving enough without hearing that song?" She said, "fine", crossed it off the list and added another. And yes, I put in in the mix. When it played at her COL, the person I was talking to at the time, I asked that it person to talk a little louder so I didn't hear it. It took me a year to be able to listen to it in its entirety. 5 + years later, I still can't hear it without shedding a tear or two. So yeah, there it is.

Probably his love of drift cars. It actually makes him a logical choice as a grand marshall...to me at least.

A traditional message that gets passed between my brothers and me annually.

And one of the strangest tributes to him you will ever see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlieo6mM7rk (Sorry, embedding not allowed on this video..)

He's one that won't RIP. He'll heaven on the fly, his angels have been waiting to dance. Lyrically, musically, its a song that makes troubles melt away.

there are still ways to avoid/escape technology and to many, an off-grid lifestyle is fashionable. Of course, most of them have a monetized Youtube channel, a solar array and a Jackery to power their laptops, phones and other electronic items. So in a way, they are missing the point, but to each his own. I always had a certain mode of respect for a Dick Proenneke, a guy who found an uninhabited lake in Alaska and built his retirement cabin there. He stayed for 30+ years, finally leaving in his early 80s. He built his cabin with non-power hand tools and 95+ percent of his building materials came off the land. His modes of transportation were his feet and a canoe, and supplies were flown in every month or two by a bush pilot friend. His nearest neighbor was at least 40 miles away The only reason anyone knew about him was because he filmed himself building his cabin with a wind up camera to send to his family. Someone came up with a way to market his film, photos and journals and he became a PBS sensation. He was a survivalist before there were survivalists, A Youtuber before there were Youtubers An Into the Wild personality decades before that foolish young guy, Chris McCandles went Into the Wild and never came out.

Only have time to list 3, all from the Knox era: -Joe Devlin- solid, solid, solid. When Mark Gastineau was leading the world in sacks, he said he voted for Joe Devlin every year for the PB. Yeah, he was that good. Gastineau, and most others never got past him; -Shane Nelson-extremely short career due to injuries, but when he played, he was the glue of the Bermuda Triangle. Smart, fast and equally good in run and pass D; - Ben Williams-he came on during the Knox era to have double digit sacks from 1980-83 Others like Smerlas got the talk, but if you needed someone to get to the Q< Williams was the guy.

Now I'm wondering if he just stood outside the wedding, waiting to be invited in. (A Sinners reference to those that have seen the movie). Its all starting to make sense now.

But back to the topic...Janis Jopln remains the godmother of rocker queens. Her performance of Ball and Chain can still run chills through you. And Mama Cass in the audience saying "oh wow" is enough of a peer review and an inner statement by Cass that says, "I wish I could do that." Honorable mention to Joan Jett, who, after I love Rock and Roll took her to the stratosphere, went back and did a video of her older classic, Bad Reputation, giving a big FU to the 23 record companies who rejected her.

I found out a few years ago, she's a distant cousin of mine. Which makes those teen fantasies seem a little weird now. She's in the class that wanted to be a rocker queen but her producers steered her more into the diva role. I saw her on an interview a while back and it was one of her regrets. You can hear it from her early songs, with her husband/lead guitarist given a long solo. He seemed to disappear on later recordings. Her voice got softer, the songs got softer. Eh, sorry cuz!!

Like Draconator, our jackabee was named at the shelter. Garth. We decided to keep it. The lady who named him said she was on a country music kick that week. For a jackabee, he has the true coloring of a beagle. Except his ears are shorter, is legs are longer, his eyes are more almond shaped, he's not as broad in the shoulders and he's thinner. He was about a year old when we got him. IF we took him to the dog park for an hour, he'd be at a full sprint for 55 minutes. He'd want to chase, or be chased by the other dogs. And fast. the other dogs couldn't keep up. Well until the day someone brought in 2 Italian Greyhounds. After chasing them for 10 minutes, he stopped and looked at me and I could hear him saying, "did you see how fast they are"? I used to say, "he was listed as a stray at the shelter, but I know what happened. Where ever he lived he got out one day and just started running. By the time he stopped, he looked around and said, 'where the hell am I?'. He's 10 now so not quite as fast as he was, but he still has his moments. If I had had the time, he would have been great for the dog Olympics, where they do the obstacle course.

I think Steve Smith gave the best analysis of Keon Coleman's rookie year. To sum it up...Keon has work to do. It isn't just his lack of downfield speed, it is his footwork. Well, it is a number of things. I hope he is going the Shakir route and reaching out to Moulds in the offseason, or Andre Reed. Never a fan of the pick. When BTJ started to fall, I was hoping they would trade up for him. He was the consensus 4th WR in a stacked WR draft. He had at least Coleman's contested catch ability, his size, but he also had sub 4.4 speed, ability to get open deep, and being far better in most routes. In short, BTJ was a far better prospect I think Beane said he tried to trade up for BTJ, but teams wanted his 2nd rounder, which he didn't want to give up. But what he didn't say whether he offered anyone one of his 2 2025 2nd round picks. A team like Pittsburgh at 20 or Philly at 22 might have taken one of those to move down. Instead, he kept his 2nd in 2024 and drafted Cole Bishop, a guy that really didn't do much to impress in his first year. We traded down with the Chiefs, and swapped a 4th to move up into the 3rd and picked a 3 tech in Dewayne Carter. Just a year later he used both of those 2025 2nd round picks to move up and take...another 3 tech. Keep in mind that Carter and Sanders are playing behind/spelling Ed Oliver. IDK, between 2024 and in 2025, I see a great deal of maneuvering, Im not seeing a great deal of benefit. Sanders better be the true stud they hope he is. We got a pretty meh WR and with a little work, we could have gotten a bona fide stud.