Aileene Hanks

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A nice lady named Pat found her way to my KBOA830.com website (“I have no idea why my mother-in-law had this post card. You may keep it. I have decided I cannot keep everything.”). Google revealed that Aileene Hanks (Anna Aileene Hanks Williams) wrote and recorded a song called “In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions.” The song was recorded by The Blackwood Brothers in 1954 and later by Elvis in 1960 (You can hear Elvis’s version on “His Hand in Mine; Amazing Grace CD1). In a pre-Web world, Pat would never have found my KBOA site and I wouldn’t have been able to find out anything about Aileene Hanks or that Elvis had recorded her son. So, are we better off that we did? I believe so.

John Mays reporting

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I have a lot of photographs of my father when he was very young and quite a few from his later years, but not so many from the middle years. Among Mr. Rudy’s many treasures, was a cardboard poster promoting one of KBOA’s many news programs.

“John Mays on KBOA at 8:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday for Midwest Farms Regional News Report.” Note on the back said this was taken in 1967 so John would have been 41.

Sounds where there should be none (Nikol Lohr)

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“That sound in the wall was not good. That was no skittering mousy or even gallopy rat sound. That was something altogether different. Suddenly the vent that mysteriously bent open a while back seemed terribly ominous. I immediately ran and got several drywall screws and screwed it shut all cockeyed and cartoonishly like a crazy person.”

— From Nikol Lohr’s The Disgruntled Housewife

Virtual Eternity-Part 2

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Jeff offers some enhancements to my Virtual Eternity idea:

“The website (posted 5 minutes after time of death) could have many features. You could post a general greeting (“Hi, it’s me Jeff, yes I know I’m dead, but I feel great, come on in!”). A seperate video post that sends condolences for your own death and the hardship it is causing family and friends (“Boss, I won’t be in today….I’m dead!) You could have a link to a video clip where you say all the things you always wanted to say (“I killed Rover! I did it, I admit it! It was an accident!”). … Dispense your dark secrets (“Honey, ever notice how the kids next door have my ears?”) … Speak openly to friends, read your own will, tell off-color jokes, read the kids a bedtime story, talk to grandkids you don’t have yet, summarize your life in your own words, and on and on.”

Virtually eternal

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Here’s what I’m thinking… I’m going to endow a trust to keep this website going after I’m not. I’ll record a brief video message that will be posted 5 minutes after I’m gone. We’ll have a little chat room where visitors can share their thoughts. Nobody will have to travel because there won’t be anyplace to go. (There you go, I’ve already got the title for my eulogy.) This is such a good idea it has to have been done. If you come across such a site, email me.

Larry Thomason: 1948-2003

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Larry Thomason died today. He was having some kind of routine surgery and his heart stopped. I’ve known Larry Joe since high school and he was a big part of The Basement Diaries. Great poker player. Good photographer. Loved politics.

The incoming rounds are getting closer.

Tour de Kennett

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“The new man in Sheryl Crow’s life is Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong, 32. The pair have been quietly seeing each other for the past few weeks, and sources say the rocker, 41, is smitten.”

I’d been hearing/reading that for a few weeks but didn’t think much about until getting some on-the-ground confirmation this week in Kennett. My sources tell me Lance spent Thanksgiving with Sheryl and her family in Kennett. Okay, that’s surreal enough. But the five time Tour de France winner is reported to have gone cycling while in town. Don’t know the full route but he apparently biked down HW 25 to Senath. I just don’t have the words to express how bizarre that strikes me.