They dropped the livestock reference many years ago after a fire broke out and cooked up a lot of beef and pork. But “the fair” is a Kennett tradition and OMIK (Our Man in Kennett), Charles Jolliff, shares his excellent flickr set. These bring back memories of Minnie the Mermaid and riding the Scrambler with Melanie Price, high school hot in her Girl Scout uniform, her chest encrusted with merit badges. Sigh. Where was I? Oh yes, Charles’ photos.
Category Archives: Photography & Ephemera
Towne Grill Early Morning
Rich emails that the Town Grill masthead image reminded him (a little) of Edward Hopper’s famous painting, Nighthawks. I thought so too as I stumbled into the Town Grill that morning.
Rocheport sunset
Dinner with Orlando and Laura last night in beautiful Rocheport, overlooking the Missouri River. We got there just in time to catch this view (from the A-Frame) of the river. The light was just this pink, no touch up.
Katrina refugees welcomed in Bootheel
Charles Jolliff follows up on earlier post about Katrina refugees coming to Kennett:
I found out where Camp McClanahan is where the visitors from the south will be housed. I found the place just east of Friendship. It’s two miles from my house and I never knew of its’ existence. Go figure. I’m sure you know about it though, 25 cottages, a pool, baseball field, a small serenity pool, and auditorium and a few other buildings. I ran into a bunch (20-30) of people and –by luck– talked to the man in charge, Lance Davis, the Deputy Director of Emergency Management for Dunklin County.
Lance said that this complex was a designated Red Cross shelter. There are 25 cottages in the encampment and I went into one and saw a clean and cool place that had two shower areas and bunk beds. That building could sleep 15 easily in just this one place. Davis was expecting 60 people to arrive today, but they were re-routed to a more northern part of Missouri. I also heard from a friend that Benton MO (ten miles north of Sikeston) has already received some people. As of this moment (4:45 pm, Saturday), there are no folks staying at the complex. Davis feels that they will receive some folks on Monday, but more likely Tuesday. There will be medical personnel available to check on the health of those that arrive.
The phone number for the camp is 573-888-6130 if anyone wishes to donate anything, or wants to know what is needed.
Update: First refugees arrived in Kennett late Saturday afternoon. [DDD]
Great places to work
The firm where Barb works had a fund-raiser today for the hurricane relief effort. Her boss, prominent attorney and fun guy Harvey Tettlebaum, agreed to wear a clown suit if they raised $2,400.
And everyone in my department at Learfield Communications received this email late this afternoon from our chief financial officer:
I’ve scheduled an off-site meeting the afternoon of September 14 at Clyde’s (our CEO) house. This is a very important meeting and I expect you all to attend if you can. We will watch the movie “Office Space” and drink beer. Please mark your calendars.
Uplink
Bill Fischer died this week
Bill Fischer worked with my father during the early days of KBOA and they remained friends after Bill moved to California many years ago. According to an article in the DDD, Fischer died this week at the age of 84. In addition to his stint at the radio station, Bill owned the Log Cabin Drive-In; was projectionist at Tommie’s Drive-In Theater; and ran Calton’s Donut Shop. Kennett landmarks all.
It’s not about the fireplugs
Scott, Phil and I had a meeting in St. Louis today and, on the way back, we passed a semi loaded with shiny new fireplugs. As we passed I snapped a picture. In a very accusatory tone, Scott said, “Mays is just looking for something to blog. That’s why I quit. I got tired of trying to come up with something to write about every day.”
Actually, I took the picture because the fireplugs looked very phalic and naughty in an industrial sort of way. But I understand the “blog pressure” Scott and many other bloggers feel. Fortunately, I don’t share Scott’s need to make every post interesting and worth reading. I’ll post on anything. But if I were taking the photo just so I could blog it. What the hell would I say? “Look at the dirty fireplugs?” No, Scott… we don’t live to blog. We blog to live.
I have another friend that battles his blog demons. Andy writes very long, very thoughtful posts. In truth, they’re more like essays that blog posts. He says he envies my knack for posting short, trivial items that don’t gobble up my day. (I added “trivial”) What Andy must understand that is that it’s the gestalt of smays.com that gives greater meaning to the humble parts.
Sunrise at Learfield
I said in an earlier post that I was only going to use photos that I took myself for the masthead. But when I saw David Sprague’s breath-taking sunrise shots from the Learfield parking lot, I decided to amend my rule to allow use of photos by anyone I know personally. I was so taken with David’s photo I didn’t bother to ask his permission to use it here… so enjoy it while you can.
KBOA Studio C
I love this photo. It was taken by Johnny “Mack” Reeder, probably in the late ’40s or early ’50s. Studio C was the big “live” studio at KBOA. Lots of gospel, country and hillbilly bands performed in this studio. The door was used for sound effect. How much fun was radio back then?