by larry on January 21, 2012
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I’m no Rodger Ebert not even close but I do have my own ideas about what a good movie should be like. I went to see Red Tails and I will say it had great special effects, it might even get nominated for an award in that categories. But it could have been so much more. I think it’s target audience is for the younger crowd and that’s fine, the story needs to be told to them in a way that will keep their attention, Lucas is very good at that we all know. But you never get to know the correctors; what makes them tick, why did they want to do the things they did. Where did they come from and what was their family life before the war? These men were the best of the best and brightest, they had to be, and yet they still used the accent that we have all heard before. Maybe they did; they were very young and full of life but it didn’t seem likely to me. ( just my opinion I wasn’t there ) when looking up the history of the P40 Warhawk (the older and slower plane that the movie indicated they were left to fly in before they got the faster P 51 Mustang) there was no mention of the European war front. While further research would be called for I think that in short it could have been a little more accurate in its portral. There is no doubt that they were not treated fairly and that they were very well-trained and wanted to prove themselves under fire and they did that without a doubt. They flew 200 escorts for the B29 and never lost a single bomber, a record that still stands and there medals for valor is a story in of its self but was only touched on. In short the movie fell short of my expectations…………………
by larry on January 7, 2012
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Last night the band (Stranger Creek) played at the American Legion. There was a good crowed (inspite of the Cotton Bowl Game) with lots of dancing and a good time was had by all. Before the festivities started they had a moment of silence for all the troops who were in harms way. I started thinking about how many times we’ve had to send young men out to fight for freedom during just my life time. How many times old men stood in silence for young men in harms way. I never had to serve and I consider that just dumb luck. I had two kids and a wife when the Veitnam war broke out so I guess I didn’t make the cut and I’m not sad about that. I’ve seen news footage of war and it looked bad but you don’t see the reality of war on TV they can’t show that. What we see is the cleaned up version. But you can read about it; there are books that try to tell it for what it is, but unless you’ve been there I susect you can’t know. I got a book at Christmas called Fly Boys by James Bradley. It’s about eight Navy and Marine pilots that were shot down and held prisoner on a small island called Chichi Jima not far from Iwo Jima in the Pacific in WW II. The mental state of the Japanese soldier at that time was that they had a divine right to treat the enemy any way they saw fit to advance their cause. I always wandered how humans could act the way they did (and i’m shure there were attrocaties on both sides) and I guess I understand it better now, but I think first place would have to go to the Japanese soldiers of WWII, and these young Fly Boys were right in the middle of them with no way out but death by torture. But after all this time after all the wars and all the people that think they have the divine right to do as they see fit……..well you know the rest of the story.
by admin on August 24, 2011
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My Father told me a story about the worst gun fight, Officers of the law ever had and still holds the terrible record for a gun battle “killed in the line of duty” to this day. January 2nd of 1932 Police went to a farm southwest of Springfield MO to arrest three brothers of the Young family Paul, Jennings and Harry. What happened next is told in detail in a pamphlet written to prevent police officers everywhere from falling into a trap of this nature. The Young brothers were known to be very good with a gun and they proved it many times in shooting contests around the area. Six officers lay dead around the farm house after the battle and two wounded managed to get away in a patrol car that was riddled with bullets. Later Jennings and Harry were surrounded in a boarding house in Houston Texas and committed suicide in a bathroom. I don’t remember if he said he knew the men personally but he must have known of them since he didn’t live very far from the farm. He was 19 years old at the time and he said he went to the farm the day after the gun battle and saw the bark on the trees shot away “bout as high as a mans head” and the blood on the ground at the base of the trees. The Family was well respected in the area except for the three brothers who for some reason went for a life of crime while the rest of the family did their best to be upright citizens. The whole story can be read on line from the pamphlet… The Young brothers Massacre
by admin on August 21, 2011
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I met a guy many years ago who said he was a road show guitar player; that is when someone would make a hit song in Nashville, the record label would hire musicians to play live shows behind their artists. But in the studio they had what they called the A team that did all the recordings. He was one of the guys (B team) who went out on the road with other musicians to back this artist on stage to promote their song . This was many years ago when. Back then when you got signed by a record label they furnished a bus and musicians then told you where and what to play. Today I hear, it’s a lot different; you have to have your own bus and musicians but the record label still has a lot of say in what and where you perform. Now keep in mind I’ve never been there and done that, but this is what I was told. But what he said explains why so many of those old timers got into so much trouble. He said you would climb on board a bus (and I’m pretty sure that’s all it was, not one of these rolling hotels they have today) and you would ride to where ever the show was to be (I suppose they were all ready rehearsed) and put on the show that would last an hour or two, then you would ride to the next one and put on the same show. Sometimes you arrived early and you had nothing to do till the show starts and so you went to the local bar and all it offers including lonely girls who were very easily impressed when they found out you were traveling with a celeb. At first you’re very excited to be in this atmosphere but pretty soon the pattern is repeated so many times that you start to get this glazed look on your face and all you want to do is go home and sleep for a week. So to pass the time you start playing pranks on each other or your drinking in a bar or trying to sleep on this lousy bus. Anything to pass the time your are not performing on stage. But then performing the same songs over and over again……. you get the picture? Anyway he said as soon as he could, he got away from all that and just became an old road dog. Still traveling from one show to another but playing just the songs he likes. I guess I’m not sorry I missed all of that……………
by admin on August 14, 2011
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My wife went shopping yesterday afternoon so I thought I’d watch a movie. I found one on Netflix that sounded interesting called Pharaoh’s Army based on a true story. It’s about a mother and her only child since the recent death of his sister. Living on the Tennessee and Kentucky boarder during the civil war. Neighbors turned against each other over the conflict and since her husband had gone to fight the war for the South she was a staunch confederate.They had very little but enough to get by when a Union force of five men showed up in her yard and demanded food to take back to there company five miles away. There was nothing she and her 12 year old boy could do but watch as they took every thing they had left, to survive from the hard winter. As luck would have it one of the youngest in group of soldiers fell from a ladder in the barn on a sharp stick and they had to stay while he healed from the wound. Watch the movie to get the rest of the story but I thought about my Great Grandfather and his family that lived in southern Missouri who fought for the Union during that terrible time when a bullet could come from anywhere. Some how they survived and he went on to join the state militia to keep the peace after the war was over. Then a song comes to mind “God is Great Beer is Good and People are Crazy”………
by admin on March 16, 2011
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The Inman’s and the McConnell’s came into the Nixa Mo. area in 1853. The land at that time was something of a frontier with no towns or settlements and virtually no law. When the Civil War broke out my Great Granddad John Wesley Inman joined the Union forces on Aug. 20 1862.
Fast forward to about 1982 when my father and mother and my wife and I were in the area around the old homestead. We looked around the old farm that at that time belonged to my dad’s uncle and Dad told me about farming the ground around there and picking up at least two buckets of grape shot and Minnie balls from the fighting that took place in the fields around there during and after the war. He said he would like to see the new Civil War Museum at the Battle of Wilson Creek not far away. We drove the short distance to the sight and looked around and found a marker that said this is the place that General Lyons was killed with the date and a short description of the circumstances. A young man dressed in a smart looking Park Ranger outfit walked up and asked if he could answer any questions. Dad said to give us the two dollar tour; so he began,
“Well sir right here is where General Lyons was shot from his horse in”.
He hardly had a chance to finish when Dad said, “No he wasn’t”. The guy looked like someone took a shot at him. “I’m sorry sir but all the books say…”
“Well I don’t care what the books say my Grandad John Wesley Inman was a Teamster in this war and he told me many times that the night before the battle no one knew that the Confederates was close by, so the General let anyone living in the area that could be back by sunup take an over night leave, and when my Grandad topped the hill over looking the camp, with some other men in a wagon next morning, the fight started. General Lyons rode a white horse and everybody knew it, including the Rebels. When the battle turned against the Union Forces he rode around flashing his sword and trying to rally his men who had been caught with their pants down so to speak. Some Rebels took after him and he took off over that ridge with the Rebs in hot pursuit and they caught him about a Quarter mile from here and he was killed there, not here.”
The guy looked undecided about disputing my dad who had that look in his eye like “I know what I’m talking about and you don’t”.
“Well you folks have a nice day”, he said and was gone. I often wonder if they ever moved that marker. Probably not.
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