A quick endorsement. Rivergirl Fishing. Family fun. The South Fork of the New River in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. What a locale 😎. Something tells me by Spring of '25 business will be rocking 😎
"Boss, you can't swim..."
"Bears can. Gotta be authentic and keep it real."
Onward ...
Some random stuff to kick off the week.
*The Redskins beating the Bears on a hail mary. Wild finish.
*Ravens. Skip this, royally pissed.
*Falcons. Good win. Solid road win.
*Yankees. FIX IT!!!
*Notre Dame is a National Title threat.
*Alabama still has issues.
*Colorado. Beware of the Buffs.
*We're really going to make a strong effort on the social media side of things to keep some eyes and ears focused on the Western North Carolina corridor that I'm tied to. Ashe and Watauga counties and Trade and Mountain City Tennessee. I do love those areas and they are home for me. All hands on deck.
"It's a very eclectic roster"
*Many new links on the sidebar featuring Western N.C. businesses
The level of professionalism in that at-bat is at an elite level. Soto stalked the relief pitcher, Hunter Gaddis, the whole at-bat. And Gaddis is pretty darn good. Good to finally, as a fan, get back to the World Series. I was 39 in 09, the last Series appearance. 15 years, but seems longer. 😂
Volume 1 Early 70's - 1988
Yes, it was a hit. Live version from The Hague(! LOL) is pretty cool.
"It's the Strings & Horns man"
I love music. Probably since birth 😂. Listen to pretty much everything. Well except for Speed Metal. Grunge is iffy. And I give Rap the stink eye for the most part but there are a few Rap tunes I like. As mentioned a few blog posts back, I was fortunate growing up when it came to music. Mom & Dad liked Country, Bluegrass, Gospel. Older brother was all Country. Older sisters were listening to everything. An early song I liked, my sister had the album, was this:
Three year old me thought that was the greatest song ever. The Sweet, Jim Croce, Lynn Anderson, Charley Pride, Mac Davis, Three Dog Night and many more artists could be heard in the household. Hee Haw, Lawrence Welk, The Midnight Special, Soul Train, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert were some of the musical shows that were watched. Great era. My love of the Saxophone started at around 4 years old with:
Older sister had the album 😁
A year later I had an album. Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. Album cover stood out 😎. Hey, good stuff:
Jukeboxes had a role to play:
To South Carolina. Westview Elementary. On select Friday afternoons we could bring 45's to class:
Suzi aka Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days.
Disco at the skating rink:
Westview was quite a bit of fun the two years I spent there. A bummer that we moved out of that school district. So on to Maranatha Christian. No "bring your 45's to school" days there. 😁😂. Started listening to more Country in those days:
But not exclusively Country:
The Four Tops are brilliant regardless of era. Levi Stubbs with the "yeah that's right" fist pumps and what a voice. So much talent.
MTV was finally available to me in 1983
Sir Elton's music has been part of the life here for a long time.
Back to Public School for High School to close out the K-12 years. Macedonia High. Admittedly it was a means to an end for me. But what a great school. With a really good faculty. Fellow students, well, it would be hard to find a friendlier bunch. Great school, great people. But I have no roots there.
That was my 5th school (one elementary school left off, it was a 2 week stay), so I was shot. Done. Wanted the finish line. Could have made a better effort on my end socially, but, it is what it is. Music wise that school was polarizing. Your Rap folks, your Metal folks, your Country folks, your Pop folks. Meanwhile I'm buying this at The Record Bar:
"Well, didn't see that coming. Stoney, I'm gonna need a hit or 3 off that, don't bogart it"
MTV Was rolling out greatness regularly by that point:
VH1 Debuted in '85: Even George Jones was making promo vids
Falco gave us something unique 😁
ZZ Top entered the orbit and declared "You will like us most of all"
Last couple of years of high school featured some great music. To my ears anyway.
Def Leppard enters the orbit declaring you will like us almost as much as you like Sir Elton and ZZ Top:
Eric Carmen delivered two monster hits:
Sir Elton was back again:
The Beach Boys dropped in with a big, if polarizing, #1 late in '88
1988 I leaned heavily towards Rock, Pop, Soul, Adult Contemporary. Country had cooled for me from 86 - 88. Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick, Van Halen, Chicago, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Traveling Wilbury's and others were prominent in 1988.
"Awareness. Attention diverts quick these days. Keep people aware."
Twilight Memories ...
For the life of me I cannot remember when, or by whom, I first heard "Twilight Memories" used as a descriptor. I certainly can't take credit for it. It does roll off the tongue nicely.
Onward ...
Hurricanes can be stressers. Here in Summerville S.C. I'm around 30 miles inland I guess. No flood plain. No flood danger period. Winds, well, different story. We've been scraped by hurricanes around 4 or 5 times since 2015. Some not so bad. A couple of them hit us with the NE Quadrant. The wind quadrant. A little dicey.
Hurricane Helene. Late September 2024. I brushed this storm off completely. Been through worse storm wise. While we did get 50mph + wind gusts. Some rain. Never lost power. It didn't move the worry meter here. A little later that day I got a couple of calls. Couple of messages. One with a grainy, 3rd world style phone video. It was a vid of King Street in Boone N.C. Under what looked to be four feet of water. I was Flabbergasted. Snapped back to reality when I thought of my old hometowns. My home County. Ashe County.
"... Love Letters in the Sand, I Remember You ..."
Lansing N.C. If you want a town with a small, classic main street, good folks and a peaceful way of life then Lansing is your ticket. Never an official Lansing resident. Helton 1 - Mill Creek - Helton2 were the areas I resided in. But Lansing was significant. Come along. A journey awaits...
"Yes Jax. But let's give the town time to recalibrate"
The old Lansing school, with the granite blocks, is one unique building. Attended Lansing for first grade. First day there I decided it wasn't for me and shot out the door and ran to my Mom's truck 😁. I subsequently lost my debate with Mom and back to class it was. Miss Kitty Greer was my primary teacher. And a really good one. Principal Eller was great also. Had a chat with him in the Summer of '88. He remembered my escape effort 😃.
The old barbershop. Had my first Mr. Pibb there. And they played music.
May not have cared much for the early barbershop trips with Dad back when. What I wouldn't give to have one last trip there with Dad though. Everybody knew everybody. Good times.
The Lansing Laundromat. A trip with Mom, occasionally an older sister would tag along. The Jukebox 😇. Pop the money in and go. Conway & Loretta. George & Tammy. Mac Davis. Johnny Duncan. The Statlers. I may have been the only kid who looked forward to a morning or afternoon in a laundromat.😂 Mom's still around at 91. But again, what I wouldn't give for one last laundromat visit pestering Mom for coins.
The old Doctors office on Lansing's Main Street. Dr. Kurtz. As a kid was not a fan. As I've gotten older, I realized how exceptional he was. Not just as a physician. But as a man. He was very good. He could have picked any spot in the U.S. to set up a practice. And earned more money almost assuredly. But he settled in Ashe County. High character.
Hettie Sapp's store in the 70's. Hettie was my Great-Aunt. A sweet, sincere woman. I loved going there. Usually got a free candy bar 😎. One of my older sisters worked for Hettie after graduating from App State. Not a long gig. Our time in Ashe County came to an end in June '77. Enjoyed those afternoons in the store after school a good bit. Fun times and Hettie was so sweet.
The Great Tom Jones from early 1977!
A one blinking light town , but, there's a bank and post office. Both vital to the area. Occasional trips to the Lansing Restaurant. But never a regular.
The late 80's saw the arrival of a video rental store. Owned by a distant relative. I blame Tom's horror movie selection for turning me into a movie buff. And the little shop with the tanning beds. 30 tanning bed visits in 45 days baby. Don't judge, we've all got a past and I needed a quick tan. 😎🤗. The owners name escapes me. Happens. Softball games on the Lansing School field. Helping coach a T-Ball team on the same field. Renting the Lansing Gym for pickup basketball.
As mentioned, Lansing was, is, quite significant to me.
Intermezzo ...
Great Guitar sound ...
and we're back ...
Some history and memories from a fella who was never technically a resident of the town.
Alrighty, back to the present ...
As most know by now, the whole of Western N.C. took a huge punch from Mother Nature recently. The pics and vids of the damage are difficult to process. Some towns gone in the blink of an eye. Others surviving but with catastrophic damage. It's important for the small towns to have an anchor. That one constant.
A local town grocer in a community the size of Lansing is vital. I should mention that folks from nearby Helton, Horse Creek, Mill Creek, Warrensville, and even Rich Hill have been known to frequent Lansing's anchor, CJ's Market. You don't earn that support in tight knit communities with bad business practices or obstinate employees. It's earned through trust and credibility.
I do not have many, if any, anecdotal stories about shopping at CJ's back when. I was like 18-20 years old at that time. My groceries were McRibs, Pizza, McNuggets and the like 😁. What I can say is the effort being put forth in the post-Helene flood damage cleanup to reopen shows a love of the community from CJ's and it's employees. Not easy, when your store space is gutted and inventory lost. And the outpouring and help from others in town helping with the cleanup is really great to see. Everybody in the county may not agree on everything. But with a laser-like focus, in this case recovery and rebuild, I'd take Ashe County and the residents there over any other county. The culture, faith, belief and willingness to help a neighbor is second to none. You make former Ashe residents like myself proud.
By design, I've had very limited contact with the current businesses in Lansing. This blog post is simply laying the foundation for where we're going. The folks also have more important things to focus on than a guy bombing into the messages rambling 😆.
The Liars Bench, Pie on the Mountain and others are not being overlooked. So what i'm going to do is offer to any business in Lansing an invite to be a guest on my podcast that is kicking off soon. The initial podcast plan was me rambling ad nauseam about cards, comic books, etc. But I like this idea better. It's an opportunity to offer a little something different to an area I love. Gives some time for folks to reopen and reestablish also. But recent enough to make sure some eyeballs still see Ashe County.
#3 ... But first, an early 80's classic from Al Jarreau ...
"Doesn't this sort of music make us look soft ..."
"... Not a chance my Golden friend ..."
Onward!
Elite Skill Set. So. Let's take:
The Football IQ of Willie Lanier.
The Tackling Ability of Bobby Bell.
The Physicality of Dave Wilcox.
The Speed Pass Rush of Robert Brazile.
The Coverage Ability of Dave Robinson.
Mix them together to form one Linebacker.
Who do we get :
Lawrence Taylor is, with no hesitation or question on my part, the greatest defensive player I have seen take the field in the NFL. I'm not alone in that assessment. I can go a step further and say LT is one of the two greatest NFL players I have seen play. It's either LT or Jerry Rice. In my opinion LT and Rice are the Top Two players All Time and I could fashion a formidable argument for either. But, not here.
As with most things football related from my youth, this story starts with a game I watched along with my Dad. The 1979 Gator Bowl. Michigan Wolverines vs. North Carolina Tar Heels. Not much of a college football fan at that time (c'mon, I was 9 😁). I had watched a couple of UNC games earlier. I've always liked the Linebacker position. Tar Heels had 2 great ones in 1979. Buddy Curry and Lawrence Taylor. The Heels defeated Michigan 17-15. A game that turned momentum wise in the first half following a LT sack of Michigan QB John Wangler. Wangler was done for the game. LT was only getting started.
The 1980 Tar Heels were very, very good. 11-1. Top 10. Bluebonnet Bowl win over Texas. The only blemish being a loss in early November at traditional power Oklahoma. LT had an All American season leading a stout UNC defense. 16 sacks and a terror all over the field in every game.
1981 NFL Draft. My Dad being a Redskins & Dolphins fan so naturally he tried to mold me into one 😂 and he hoped LT would end up in Washington or Miami. Visual evidence below of his efforts to make me a "Skins & Phins fan 😂
"... well, that didn't happen ... Cool Toboggan though ..."
Nope, sure didn't. Giants grabbed LT. Who then proceeded to terrorize not just the 'Skins but every other team. The Giants, a woebegone relic of team that was once a powerhouse in the pre Super Bowl era, were transformed in 1981 into a Wild Card playoff team. That won a playoff game before going on the road and losing to the 49ers in the divisional round. LT was a major factor. No playoffs in the 1982 strike shortened 4-5 season for the Giants. Head Coach Ray Perkins departed. Headed back to Alabama following the retirement of the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant. Short term, Giants were 3-12-1 in 1983 under first year Head Coach Bill Parcells. A step back. Long term. Well ...
Intermezzo
" ... I wonder who was the IMDB member who initially got this LT Showtime Special listed on the site?"
Ok, that self serving flex is outta the way, let's get back to LT
Following the mess of 1983 the Giants under Bill Parcells were contenders for the rest of the decade + another Super Bowl in 1990. With a blip in 1987, another labor issue season.
1984 9-7 Wild Card
1985 10-6 NFC East Champs
1986 14-2 Super Bowl Champs
1987 6-9
1988 10-6 No Playoffs
1989 12-4 NFC East Champs
1990 13-3 Super Bowl Champs
Two Super Bowl titles in 5 seasons. In what was a dog-eat-dog NFC at the time. The Giants, 49ers, Bears, Redskins were very strong teams. The Vikings, Eagles, Saints and Rams had their moments as well. Individually LT would grab the 1986 AP MVP & Defensive Player of the year (his 3rd). Certainly Coach Parcells and Assistant Coach Bill Belichick and their coaching methods deserve some of the credit. But by the late 80's it was very apparent that Lawrence Taylor with a combo of off the charts instincts and athleticism, was a generational player. The mold as they say, was broken.
Bill Parcells left the Giants following the 1990 season. His second Super Bowl winner. In my view, his best coaching job. Injuries and age were creeping in.
From 91-93 LT was still great at his best, very good at his worst. 1992 was injury plagued. 1993 under first year head coach Dan Reeves the Giants made the playoffs in what was LT's final season. The writing had been on the wall.
Lawrence Taylor at a glance courtesy of Pro Football Reference:
There were other great Linebackers playing during LT's career. Andre Tippett, Rickey Jackson, Mike Singletary, Pat Swilling, Derrick Thomas, Harry Carson, Wilber Marshall, Carl Banks and more. Greats, but no LT's.
He's been a member of my collection from the get-go since I returned to the hobby.
We don't duck and dodge 'round here so I'll hit on two LT topics not mentioned above.
November 18, 1985 Monday Night Football. The Giants vs. the Redskins.
The Giants entered at 7-3, the Redskins were clinging to playoff hopes at 5-5.
Skins eeked out a win. But still missed the playoffs. One of the last MNF games my Dad and I watched together. The LT that people saw jumping around frantically waving for help after the unfortunate Joe Theismann injury? That's the real LT.
Off field issues for LT. No one will ever accuse LT of being a bad guy. Good men can make bad decisions. We're human. I never recall LT passing the buck and blaming anyone else for any transgressions. He has always manned up, never shied-away from taking blame. That matters. Good Lawrence Taylor dwarfs Bad Lawrence Taylor.
As for on the field, there will never be another Lawrence Taylor.
