Amore Monday 12.0

I ate at a new place tonight.  At least I guess it was new.  It looked new to me.  It was Carrabba's Italian Grill in Greensboro.

I ordered the Amore Monday 12.0.  12.0 was the number after the menu description for the item I wanted.  I guess it was the price, but it might have been the rating of the item on a 1-20 scale.  If it was a rating, then 12.0 seemed about right.  If it was the price, it should looked like this "$12.00".

I won't bore you with a description of the meal or the service.  Like I said the 12.0 could have been a rating.

I will however mention something I thought was a bit extraordinary.  Carrabba's has an open kitchen.  The cooks are lined up along the grills, fryers, ovens, etc.  When the cooks turn around there is counter where the waiters pick up the dishes.  It's all open for the diners to see.  We were seated right in front of the counter and I was turned to watch the cooking and the waiters picking up the food.

I noticed one poor cook was assigned to mind the fryer and make salad.  Making salad means throwing lettuce in a metal bowl and then tossing it around with the dressing and then pouring it onto a plate.  That's all he did all night - check the fryer and toss the lettuce.

But that's not the extraordinary part.

Here's what was extraordinary:  I watched a waiter (not our waiter) stick his fingers in a pitcher of wine.  He tried unsuccessfully for a few seconds to get something out of the wine.  I guess he was fishing for a bit of cork or maybe a fly.  When the fingers didn't work he changed to a spoon and that seemed to work much better.  He then delivered the pitcher of wine to its table and the guests seemed to enjoy it.

That's my review of Carrabba's in Greensboro.

Rockingham County under flood watch several days ago

It is December 27th.  The scrolling breaking news headline frantically announces "Rockingham County under flood watch".  Read the story and you will realize the panic was first announced on December 22nd.

Young Man Kilt at Trailer Park

They're both owned by the same company.  They both work out of the same office.  Oddly when they write stories the stories don't match.

Read one version here.

Read the other version here.

Did you notice the difference?

Saxophone Story is Retired

It is December 22.  It has been posted since July 24.  It had a good run, but the saxophone quartet story has finally disappeared from the Review's front page.  Rest in peace, old friend.

Waste Management Opens Retail Store

I just received notice that Waste Management (yes, the garbage people) has opened a brand new online retail store.  Some of the fantastic things you can order include:

•	Trucks, shirts, hats, pens, party supplies and water bottles
•	Golf balls, shirts and hats with the Waste Management Phoenix Open logo
•	Sustainable items, including many made from recycled materials Go here to shop for all your Waste Management goods: http://wm.brandresourcecenter.com/ecommerce/secure/merchandise_landing.do?menu_id=118714 Expect the Review to do a feature story on Waste Management's store in the near future.

An Ad Left Out in the Rain

Is it me?  Do I need glasses?  The grossly out-of-date Danville/Pittsylvania County Fair ad on the Review's front page now looks all fuzzy, like it was left out in the rain for three months.

Check out the ad here.

BREAKING NEWS: County schools on delay Monday

It's Thursday, but still listed under the breaking news headline is the announcement that county schools will be delayed on Monday.  One more day and we won't be able to tell which Monday the Review is talking about

Charlie Bray Married 50 Years

The Reidsville Review published the announcement on August 25th and it's still on the front page.  Yes, that's right, Mr. & Mrs. Charles Bray have been married for 50 years.  Get all the exciting details here.

The Irony of the Parade

I just watched the Draper Childrens Parade on WGSR TV (47.1 on your dial).

The first thing I noticed was the Eden Police Department (and every parade entry) throwing candy to the parade spectators.  Children and adults were dashing into the street to grab the treats.

This is terribly ironic considering it is unlawful for anyone, including the Police Dept., to throw candy out during a Reidsville parade.  The Reidsville City Council considers candy throwing to be too hazardous to the public.

I should note it is not easy to tell why it's called the Draper Childrens Parade.  With the exception of the candy throwing, an incredible clatter of sirens and horn honking, and a noticeable lack of dance troupes, it looks just like the Reidsville Parade.

Old Faithful

Can't get enough of the good stuff.

It's an oldie but a goodie.  It is now December 8th.  The Reidsville Review has had a story about saxophones posted on its front page since July 24th.

Weather Alert

It's December 3rd and under The Breaking News category the Review has posted a weather alert for November 25th.

Review and God Endorse Berger

Read the Review's story about Phil Berger, Jr.

Saxophone Story Lives On

Just an update:  The Review's saxophone story has been posted on its front page since July 24, 2013.  It is now November 17, 2013.

More giving back

Reidsville Review gives back again.

Nothing Has Changed: Reidsville High Scores

Below are the latest scores for Reidsville High from the state Dept. of Public Instruction.



Reidsville scored in the low 60s while the state average is in the low 80s.  Rockingham County scored in the mid 70s.

But on a higher note, I understand Reidsville has a pretty good football team.

 

 

File a Complaint with Whom?

We've got news for Jay Donecker, Bubba has already reportedly moved back to his country home and is planning a cruise with Sheriff Page.

Found in the Reidsville Review:

Residence

During the election several accusations began floating around that several candidates moved to the city in order to run for council. Donecker’s opponents Tilley and Kearney are two that faced those accusations.

Donecker said the duo needs to continue living in Reidsville.

“If either moves out in the next few months I will file a complaint,” Donecker said. “It’s nothing against Bubba, its nothing against Vanessa; it’s against people who feel they can throw their hats in the ring, in which the residency may not be as appropriate as it should be.”

Donecker said he doesn’t say that with malice but he feels if someone runs in an election they need to be a resident.

“I will give both the benefit of the doubt that they will continue to live here,” Donecker said.

Found on the Review's Web Site

November 10, 2013: This ad is posted on the Reidsville Review's web site

Things I'm Dealing with Right Now

Things I'm dealing with right now:

1. The IRS
2. The Social Security Administration
3. healthcare.gov
4. County property taxes on my truck

It's been a busy month.

Gives back is back

It's been a couple of months but someone finally "gives back" to Reidsville.

I visited MARC. Couldn't find the ARCHIVES.

MARC - Museum and Archives of Rockingham County.  At least that's what I think it means.

I had a chance to visit MARC.  It's under-stocked, but what was there was very nice.  The place is neat and clean.  I could only wonder why the county abandoned its courthouse and gave it to MARC.

Moving into the new $50 million dollar courthouse cost every county taxpayer 5 cents per $100 in property value for the next 20-30 years.  Remember that when you go to visit MARC.

The only two white people mentioned in the black section of the museum were Jules and Trish Gwyn.  Apparently the Gwyns overcame segregation in Rockingham County.

I never could find the ARCHIVES portion of MARC.  If anyone knows where the ARCHIVES are located, please let me know.

Rockingham Now welcomes new editor

The Reidsville Review's view of its new editor

What happened to Dale Hagwood? He was just appointed to the top banana position in July, now Jody Lawrence is steering the ship. What gives, Review?

Hard to believe

It's hard to believe but Reidsville was not chosen as one of the best small to medium sized places to live by livability.com  This contradicts everything we've been told.

Drunk man beats his mama

The Reidsville Review reports a drunk man has been convicted of beating his mama.

Saxophone Quartet Impresses Review

This story was featured on the Review's home page beginning July 24, 2013.  As of October 2 16, 2013, It is still there.

Review Features Rock Star in Corn Maze

The Reidsville Review is at it again!  This time it is a Rock Star puppet in a corn maze.

 

Review Features Sparky the Fire Dog

The Reidsville Review is always on top of the news!   How can you not love a newspaper that features Sparky the Fire Dog and Smokey the Bear?  That's Emergency Management Services Director Johnny Bowles with the camera around his neck  He's taking pictures of the event.  This great feature is by Katie Mann.  Thanks for the news, Katie!


 

 

Cheese Update

I am able to report that as of Saturday September 28, 2013, the last piece of Romano cheese is still at Lowes Grocery. The $12.49 hunk of tastiness has been retrieved from the bottom of the display case and placed on top where you can easily find it.

Former confused and very sleepy city councilman John Henderson was spotting roaming the aisles of Lowes.

Romano is going fast

I am happy to report Lowes Foods is down to one single piece of Romano cheese.  If you would like some Romano, now is the last chance to buy it in Reidsville.

On a sad note, all the sausage is dated to expire 9/17.  Today is 9/21.

Speaker's vs Speakers

Click here to read the awesome story of speaker's

 

Rockingham County Moral Monday

Rockingham County Moral Monday was held at Rockingham County Community College on the WL Pryor Coliseum lawn.  Bus transportation from the RCC student center to the event grounds was promised, but the bus service was nowhere to be seen.  A County Commissioner meeting was also promised, but the Commissioners were meeting about ten miles away at the Bethany Civic Center.

The event was sponsored by the NAACP who is famous for getting themselves arrested for protesting in Raleigh.  The NAACP may have been the sponsor, but the audience was more than 90 percent white and nobody was arrested..

Most of the speakers complained about the misfortune brought upon the state by NC Senator Phil Berger.  And, most of the misfortune has been inflicted upon the state's public schools.

I estimate about 200 people attended the event.

Click photos to enlarge

The Kingston Trio provided musical entertainment for the event.  The Trio sang a selection of 1960s folk/protest songs.  Wait, maybe it was Peter, Paul, and Mary.


Dr. Stephen Luking gave a fine speech about the sorry state of healthcare in Rockingham County.


I;m guessing this is an art teacher holding this sign.  Art Pope is some sort of state official.


Former state superintendent of education Bob Ethridge gave a fine speech about the shitty state of education in NC.


Many speakers seemed to take pride in talking about how shitty education is in NC.  The cause of the shittyness is low pay for teachers.  This sign says NC teacher pay ranks 48th in the nation..


This is a high heeled Hispanic speaker.  Sorry I don't know her name or what she talked about...something to do with being hispanic, I think.  I was too focused on her shoes.  It was a treat watching her try to walk on the lawn.


This is the NC Teacher of the Year - Karen Collie Dickerson.  Karen is a former student at Rockingham County High School.  Karen spoke about education and how hard things are on teachers.


I was not aware war had been declared on women.


This is her.  I believe this is Reidsville Review reporter Danielle Bataglia.  It's strange I had imagined Danielle was a fatty.  In fact she is quite the opposite.


These white teachers were all signed up for the event.


Apparently this woman does not support Fracking NC.  She was the sole anti-fracking protester.  Hey, wait a minute, this is the same woman who was holding the STOP THE WAR ON WOMEN sign a minute ago.


Teachers line up with their signs to show support for Moral Mondays.


The man hiding behind the EXPAND MEDICAID sign is former Superior Court Judge Pat Morgan.  Morgan was the sole Medicaid protester.


This is Rev. Clarence Johnson.  Rev. Johnson is a former member of Reidsville's Human Relations Commission.  He is also the nicest person at the Moral Monday event.  When I walked up to him to take his photo, he stood up to shake my hand and then hugged me.  That's a nice man.


A nice photo of the signs.  Education was a featured topic of Moral Monday.  I had guessed that would be case, although it wasn't as bad as I had suspected.


Rockingham County School Board member Nell Rose was the only representative I saw from the School Board.  I asked Nell where Ron Price was.  She seemed annoyed at the question and replied that she didn't know.


Let The People Vote...I suppose this refers to the legislature's recent efforts to suppress the vote


This is the backside of the LET THE PEOPLE VOTE sign


I didn't understand this sign, but it looked interesting.


Eden's NAACP leader Malcolm Allen.  Mr. Allen was also very nice to me.

Celebrity attendees at the Moral Mondays event included former County Commissioner Trish Gwyn, former Reidsville City Councilman George Rucker, and current Reidsville City Councilmen Sherry Walker, Donald Gorham, and Mrs. Mayor Susan Turner and husband Clark.

 

Where's the School Lunch Menu?

It's been some time since we've seen a school lunch menu in the Reidsville Review digital edition.  Maybe the paper edition has been printing the lunch menus.  Like everyone else, we don't buy the paper edition of the Review, so we go with the "best of" digital edition.

Very recently we actually went to Bethany Elementary School to eat lunch with our Grandson.  It was a surprising experience...the food was far worse than we imagined.  The carbohydrate packed lunch featured cheese pizza, cheese quesadilla, hot dogs, hamburgers, and baked beans.  I pity the diabetic who must eat food from the Rockingham County Schools.

Chili was available for the hot dog as well squeeze packs of mustard, ketchup, and mayo,  I like baked beans, but these were the worst baked beans ever.  I could not eat them.

My Grandson had a dessert.  It was pre-packed, mashed up strawberries.  According to the label on the package it contained strawberries and sugar...nothing else.  He would not eat it.  He gave it to me.  I tasted it, but couldn't eat it.  It went into the trash along with my baked beans.

I've always wondered where Golden Corral buys its food.  It has to be cheap, quality is not important.  Apparently the schools know a place much cheaper than the Golden Corral supplier.

Phelps Chinqua Penn Plantation

The Greensboro News is reporting Calvin Phelps may serve 51-63 months for a cigarette scam that defrauded the federal government out of $5 per carton in taxes.   Phelps is the owner of what the Greensboro News is calling "Phelps Chinqua Penn Plantation". Phelps Chinqua Penn Plantation is Rockingham County's former #1 tourist attraction.

The Phelps Chinqua Penn Plantation article was written by Taft Wireback.

RCC Borrows Money From Trustees

I only mention this article because it is so poorly written.  If it was written by someone whose primary language is German or French or Russian or Arabic, then maybe it would get a "C" grade.  Click here for the full Monty.

Eden Pays $10,000, Wins Retiree Contest

The Review is reporting the City of Eden paid $10,000 to the state and was picked as a great place for retirees.  The money will be turned over to the AARP.

Lowes Foods Expands Cheese Line

If you've been to Lowes Foods lately, you've noticed they are in the middle of a store overhaul.  Things are being moved about, long sections of shelving are empty, prices are being changed, new products are being added, and old products are disappearing.

There has been a serious transformation in the cheese department - Lowes now has two kinds of Romano cheese.  Lowes has never stocked Romano cheese.  I love Romano cheese which is unfortunate because it is $12.49 and $18.49 per pound.  A chunk of Romano cheese the size of your fist is approaching $25.

All i can do is stare at the Romano cheese.  I certainly can't afford to buy it.

I don't think the Romano cheese will be around for long at Lowes.  Somebody will eventually pick up the three pieces remaining without looking at the price.and it will be gone and never return.

Hello Romano.  Goodbye Romano.

Foxy Moxy's Pussycat Offends Greensboro Councilman

Reidsville's own burlesque dancer has managed to outrage a Greensboro City Councilman by performing her PussyCat song at a local barbecue festival.

You can read all about it here:

http://www.news-record.com/news/local_news/article_19d34086-1b65-11e3-a6e6-0019bb30f31a.html

Miss Moxy responds to Councilman Wilkins' outrage.  Read it here:

http://www.news-record.com/blogs/killian_lehmert_the_inside_scoop/article_56fe8038-1ba6-11e3-a895-0019bb30f31a.html#.UjHLdQgfB9c.facebook

Be sure to watch Moxy's youtube video of her performance that so offended Wilkins:  It was recorded in downtown Reidsville at Lucky City:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpVYGzIpVP0

If you read the Youtube comments, you will see a lot of Reidsville folk were offended as well.  Of course those that were offended had to watch the Youtube video because they didn't see her actually perform.  I'm quite amazed the Reidsville cops weren't called that night.  They were called plenty of other times.

 

Too Incredible to Believe

Cottonelle "Bum Wipes" has more than 323,000 Facebook followers.

Facebook slams the Review

Remember when this Reidsville Review cartoon got editor Ralph Waters fired

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Apparently I am not the only one who has concerns about the Reidsville Review.  I found many less than favorable comments about the Review on Facebook

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 You Must Have Been Raised in Eden or Reidsville if.... 

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Janet Cummings Somers Remember when Reidsville had a daily paper that actually had news in it? Now it's two days a week and has nothing in it.

Angela Moore Purgason And half of what is in it is from EDEN!!

Janet Cummings Somers even worse is the other half is out of Virginia!
Libby Barrett And they leave some of the news out.You learn more on fb than in the paper.

Roderick A. Meadows I was shocked at the size of the paper when my parents bought one last Sunday from Red Rooster(or what used to be Red Rooster). The Review looked like an overgrown pamphlet.

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I think calling the Review a pamphlet is being a bit generous.  It's more like a flyer.

These are just a few of the comments.  Visit Facebook to get a real whiff of the Review..

Back to school special edition

Sometime during the last 43 years I lost my high school senior yearbook.  It's been many years since I've seen it.  It's the only high school yearbook I ever owned.  It was for the year 1970,  It was an unfortunate loss.

I went to Southern Alamance in Graham, NC.

During my epic search for the lost yearbook, I did manage to come across a 1969 Southern High yearbook.  It was posted online at Classmates.com.

The online 1969 yearbook photos are a tad fuzzy, but they did bring back some memories - some of them not so fond.  Academically, high school was pretty much a waste.  But, at least it got me into college.

Here's a few yearbook photos that I found interesting:

This is a photo of the administration at Southern High.  Principal L.M. Adcock, a not particularly warm and fuzzy man, is shown at the top right.  He died before I became a senior.  The second in command (bottom), Robert Stockard, assumed control of the regime.  Stockard also taught some sort of science course while he was assistant principal.  Mr. Stockard was a monotonous bore.  He made an excellent replacement principal.  In Mr. Stockard's day it was not necessary to have a personality if you were a principal or teacher.

I was once called into Stockard's office for him to lecture me about how playing music outside of the school band was a guarantee of going straight to hell.  Mr. Stockard used all of his personality to persuade me.  It didn't work.  I am sure my mother put him up to it.

The secretary was Mrs, King.  I don't have anything to say about her.

This is Mrs. Dismuke.  Poor, poor woman.  She taught me Latin for four years.  It was a total waste of both my and her time.  She got paid and I got nothing for my effort.  Latin was not even accepted to fill the foreign language requirement when I went to college.   I was never told of the inadequacy of Latin.  I had to start over in college with Spanish.  Thank you so much, Mrs. Dismuke.

These are three farmer teachers.  I never took any farming courses.  I figured farming to be about as useful as Latin.  I only show these farmers because I find it amazing that Southern High had three farming teachers.  The farming courses were only for boys.  No girls allowed.  The girls had to take Home-Ec.

I still remember this woman.  It's Mrs. Hadley.  Formerly known as Miss Newlin.  Mrs. Hadley was a pathetic excuse for a teacher.  She taught physical science.  Mrs. Hadley didn't know shit from shinola about science.  I am convinced she was only one chapter ahead of the class in the textbook.  For 9 months she believed CRT was an abbreviation for Cathode Ray Tray, not Cathode Ray Tube, as in a television screen in the olden days.  Her faux pus was so egregious that almost 50 years later I still remember Mrs. Hadley's Cathode Ray Tray.

Miss Newlin (later Hadley) was a former Southern High student.  She was Associate Editor of the So-Hi newspaper in 1962.  It's unfortunate for hundreds of her future students that she chose a teaching science career.  She was also a bus driver and member of the bus drivers club, the science club, Future Teachers club, a marshal, the French club, and had perfect attendance for three years.

Mrs. Hadley/Newlin should have grown up to be a bus driver, not a science teacher.

Her personal 1962 student slogan was: "As pure in thought as the angels are."

This is Calvin Jarrett.  He taught sociology and economics.  Mr. Jarrett had a personal hygiene issue.  He didn't bathe very often, but he had a Masters degree.  Mr. Jarrett enjoyed talking about his Masters degree and how other teachers didn't have a Masters degree.  Many years after high school I would learn Mr. Jarrett liked to collect western novels.  I learned this when he came by The Bookstore, when Reidsville had a bookstore, and tried to sell his western novel collection.  He did not make the sale.  Mr. Jarrett's Masters degree had not taught him nobody reads westerns.  Mr. Jarrett reminded me of comedian Jonathan Winters.

This is Mrs. Janet Loy.  I had her for four years of Accelarated English.  She was a pretty good teacher.  She was good enough that her seniors threw an after graduation party to show our appreciation.  Mrs. Loy took her Accelerated English senior students on a trip to New York City.  She was frequently the object of Calvin Jarrett's bachelor degree jokes. Her husband was a pro golfer.  She really liked a student who was also a golfer.  I heard the student committed suicide after he graduated.   Last I heard of Mrs. Loy she became a travel agent of sort and was investigated for taking money for planning student trips to NY that were never fulfilled.  I'm not sure how that turned out. If she's still living, she must be in her 80s or 90s by now.

This is Mrs. Miller, at least I think that's her name.  The fine print under her photo looks like "Mrs. Miller."  Funny I don't remember her name, but I remember she taught me advanced composition.  I also remember her assigning me a short story to write.  She read it and loudly exclaimed in her thick yankee accent - "God, you're so dynamic!"  i was never sure what she meant by "dynamic."

This is Mrs. Price.  I never had her for a teacher, but I remember she ran So-Hi, the student newspaper.  Apparently I whined about the quality of So-Hi, so she challenged me to write an article for the newspaper.  She promised she would publish whatever I wrote.  I wrote an article about the foolishness of the Vietnam War.  I turned in the article, she read it, and then ripped it to shreds in my face and yelled, "You're a Communist!"  At one time it was considered quite fashionable to call someone a Communist, but the fashion was fading in 1970.  By 1975 Mrs. Price was very much out of style.

Not surprisingly, I never wrote anymore articles for the So-Hi news.
.

This is Elbert Rhodes.  He was a math teacher, but was drafted to teach band when somebody heard he once played an instrument.  I have no idea what instrument because in the four years I had him for band I never heard him play a single note on any instrument.  The band teacher he replaced was said to have run away to join the circus.  Elbert should have given up teaching band and joined the circus.

I and a few other band members had a routine called "chaos."  Whenever Elbert would be leading the band and turn his back to us, we would begin to shuffle our feet and mumble quietly.  We would make quite a fuss for a few seconds.  Elbert would whip around to see where the noise was coming from.  As he turned we would immediately stop the "chaos".  The poor man never figured it out, probably thought he was hearing things, perhaps going insane.

This is Chesley Rimmer.  Chesley is a math teacher.  I remember taking geometry with Chesley.  I also remember Chesley snatching me out of class and him giving me a stern lecture in the hall about how I would grow up to be a total failure and a useless excuse for a human being.  It's amazing how perceptive geometry teacher Chesley was.  Chesley was not married and I believe he lived with his mother.  Chesley wore a lot of sweaters.  I seem to remember his 1970 photo showed him in one of his sweaters.

This kid is Ricky Farrell.  Ricky and I were friends for a very long time, starting in elementary school.  With the exception of this class photo, Ricky always looked like a slob.  All his clothes were wrinkled and ill fitting.  Sometime during high school Ricky died.  Apparently it was during late 1968 or early 1969.  It was all very mysterious.  Ricky reportedly committed suicide, but no adult would confirm this.  Hardly anyone would ever talk about what happened to Ricky Farrell.  It was also said that he ate snow that had been contaminated by Russian nuclear fallout.  It was a strange time.

This is Terry Johnson.  He was a year ahead of me.  I mainly remember him from elementary school when he would bully all the other kids.  He grew to be President of the 1969 senior class, a SBI narc in Reidsville, and the Sheriff of Alamance County.

These photos don't show it, but I discovered Southern High had about five black teachers and quite a few black students.  By quite a few I mean maybe 10 percent of the student population which is much more than I would have guessed.  I never had any black teachers, but I do remember two black friends - Roger the Drum Major and Cynthia, a pretty black Drum Majorette.  This is all the more interesting when you know we were known as the Southern Confederates.  The Confederates turned into the Southern High Patriots in 1971.

There were also a lot of club sponsors and attendants for this and that.  I have no idea what a club sponsor or attendant is, other than a gaggle of pretty, young girls.  Which reminds me...I discovered there were really a lot of pretty girls at Southern High.  I didn't think so in 1969, but looking back from 2013 it all seems different.  I should have spent less time studying and more time chasing snatch.

I discovered my photo was nowhere to be found in the 1969 yearbook. It was like I didn't exist, but I'm almost certain I did.

If you have a 1970 Southern High annual that you would be willing to donate or loan out for a few weeks, please let me know.  I can be contacted at 4327513@bellsouth.net

had be caught

By the time the perimeter of the campus was secure, the school received word that the suspect had be caught, said Hyler.

The dollar store's dark side

Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar -- you know they are springing up everywhere in Rockingham County, but do you know the dark side of the dollar store?  Click here to read all about it.

Mayonnaise on Gitmo sandwiches

It's pretty hard to find someone who writes more gibberish than Reidsville Review reporter Danielle Battaglia.  She's no Bev Smalls, who is best known for copying her unedited notes directly into the Review, but she is mighty impressive when it comes to making up total nonsense.

To read an example of Danielle's mixed up crap, click here to read a report on Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger's trip to Cuba to witness the prosecution of terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Although Danielle never explains exactly why Rockingham County taxpayers sent Phil to Cuba, she does go out of her way to assure us that Khalid is being treated fairly by the U.S. justice system.  Berger reports Khalid was waterboarded only 183 times during his imprisonment for more than ten years awaiting trial.

Berger said Khalid did not appear malnourished and was allowed to pull out a mat and pray before court proceedings, something we here in the USA are not allowed to do when we go to city council and county commissioner meetings.

On the downside,"one prisoner complained about mayonnaise being on his sandwich."

Berger had to bear his own burdens.  While at Gitmo, he lived with no Starbucks, no cell phone service, and very limited wi-fi, which sounded like living in Rockingham County.  It was not a pretty thing.

Even Rihanna was embarrassed

It was so ridiculous that even stripper Rihanna was embarassed by Miley Cyrus' twerking.  But it wasn't too inappropriate for the Reidsville Review to feature on its web site.  Click here for a highly edited version.

While the world is talking about Miley's ass-shaking, Robin Thicke crotch-grabbing, and tongue-poking and how it will traumatize young Hannah Montana fans, hardly anyone even noticed Kanye West's auto-tuned performance in shilouette.  It's a real gem.  Kanye is shown in shilouette, jumping about like a moneky with his ass on fire.  I acutally laughed out loud during the Kanye spectacle.  It wasn't supposed to be funny, but it was hilarious.

It's sad how the entertainment industry is pushing this crap and how the Reidsville Review in an outrageous attempt to remain relavant is eating it up with a spoon.

Harvest Ridge Music Festival: Where were you?

Click photos to enlarge

For the second year in a row you weren't there.  I know you weren't there because I was and I didn't see you.  In fact hardly anyone was there.  Last year the weather was rainy and miserable, so I made excuses for you.  But, this year the weather was terrific and there were even fewer of you.  Damn, you still weren't there.  Most of the people who were there were dancing in front on the stage as headliner Mason Lovette Band closed out the evening.  You can see them right here having a good time.  This is more than half of the entire crowd.  Pathetic.  Note the guy on the far left playing a banjo.  He will be mentioned later.


I don't know who this guy is, but he was there and having a wonderful time.  I think he was some sort of event "official" but he was pretty juiced up  He did a lot of jumping around, turning the stage lights on and off, starting and stopping the fans above the stage, hamming it up at a microphone, and spinning around the pond in the yard on a four-wheeler..


This is the bass player for the Mason Lovette Band.  I thought he had an interesting face.  If he weren't playing in a band, he should have been a fisherman out on a boat in the ocean.


This is Tobacco Apache, a three piece rock band that never played a single Cream song.  They were very loud.  Not sure if they were good, but they were definitely loud.  I liked their name - Tobacco Apache.


These three young women were After Jack.  Beautiful harmonies, excellent vocals, and kinda cute.


A shot of Mason Lovette.  I liked the guitar in the foreground  and organist in the background.  I asked where the name Mason Lovette came from.  There is a Lovette in the band, but no Mason.  I was told the band thought the name just sounded good.


You may or may not recognize the guy on the left.  The guy on the right used to be called Billy Faucette.  He is now known as Bill Faucette.  It's been 43 years since these two saw each other.  During their time apart, Bill lost the "y" on the end of his first name  They used to play in a big horn band called Non-Stop Flight.  The guy on the left is now retired.  He hasn't played his saxophone since 1973.  Bill(y) Faucette still plays his Hammond XK3 organ for the Mason Lovette Band.  The guy on the left said he was very honored to get to meet his old friend on the right and was delighted to know the guy on the right is still making music.

Now back to the Mason Lovette Band banjo player.  His name is Clint Rhodes.  He is 52 years old.  He said he remembers as a grammar school kid seeing Non-Stop Flight perform and hoping to one day be in a band. Well, now he is.  Small world.


The Harvest Ridge Music Festival featured more than twice as many bands as we mentioned here.  Of particular note was The Heritage Band, a young funk band with a couple of horns. It's very unusual to see a funk band these days.  If you don't play rap, country, or bluegrass, you are going nowhere.  The two black buys pictured here on bass and sax represented the entire black race at Harvest Ridge.

Of course you would know that if your lazy ass had come to Ruffin's #1 music event.  Be there next year or there might not be a music festival in Ruffin on a corn and tobacco farm. Then you'll be sorry.

Click here to see the Mason Lovette Band perform with the Go-Go Girls.  The audio is not very good (what can you expect from a cell phone camera?) , but it's fun to watch young Go-Go Girls wiggle.