Author: elvisgumby

Reading the Bible

Most of my religious songs are based on specific stories from the Bible. This is the main reason that the title of my first CD was Bible Stories. My motivation for writing these songs comes from a desire to share the stories from a different perspective, usually the view of someone on the sidelines in the story. I will at least choose a character in the story that usually doesn’t have much of a voice in the story that we read. I credit my familiarity with these stories to years of reading the Bible. I haven’t always been a Bible reader. There are a couple of key moments in my life that brought me to the point where I am today and the way that I look at Bible Stories.

Christmas

Spirograph Christmas

When I was growing up, there was a family that lived just up the street from us that we spent a lot of time with. The Steeles were my second family. They had 3 kids and their youngest daughter, Nan, was my age. Nan, my sister, Gina, and I played together almost daily. Our parents would get together at least one night every weekend and play canasta. Our families spent enough time together that it was natural for us to celebrate Christmas together and exchange gifts. One year, one of us kids received a Spirograph set for Christmas. I think it was my sister. We all were playing with the Spirograph set. We were at the Steele’s house and we were playing at a folding table that was set up in their living room. Our parents were at the kitchen table playing canasta.

Christmas Movies

Favorite Christmas Movies

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date December 18, 2017
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I consider myself to be a movie lover. There are a handful of movies that I consider my absolute favorites that you would think I would watch them on a regular basis that I can go for years without watching. But I always watch my favorite Christmas movies every December. This is not intended as a complete list of every Christmas movie that I like. It only includes the ones that I absolutely have to watch every year. If you haven’t seen these films, I highly recommend them all. This is not intended as a review of these films, only a recommendation list and a few of the reasons I suggest watching them.

Movies

Watching The Room

For a long time, I have been a fan of cult films and movies that are considered “bad”. I am always looking for bad films that I haven’t heard of before. A few years ago while looking at the CNN website, I saw a link to an entertainment article that said “A Room with a Cult Following”. Before I clicked on the link, I assumed the article was about the film A Room with a View and I wondered why it would have a cult following. It turned out to be about a film called The Room by a first-time filmmaker called Tommy Wiseau. I found a copy of the film and decided to watch it by myself. I was sleepy the night I started watching it but didn’t want to fall asleep on it, so I stopped about halfway. The next night, I finished watching it. I had watched it in our living room and my wife was already in the bed for the night. She had not fallen asleep yet when I walked in and told her that I thought I had just watched the worst movie I had ever seen in my life. She could tell I was serious. She had watched with me many of the worst films ever made and for me to declare this one as the worst was saying something. She was sick and stayed at home from work the next day. She watched it that day and she agreed. While she was watching, she texted me a running commentary about how bad it was.

Inflatable Baby Jesus

Inflatable Baby Jesus Ukulele Chords

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date December 4, 2017
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A few weeks ago, I performed Inflatable Baby Jesus during the worship service at our church. Hopefully, you have listened to the song and know that there is a ukulele part. My pastor plays ukulele and played that part during this performance. I put together a chord sheet that we used during the performance. I thought you ukulele players might like to have a copy so you can play along with my recording.

inflatable_baby_jesus_for_ukulele.doc Download

True Stories

Kangaroo on the Loose

In my hometown of Alamo, Tennessee, there is an exotic animal park. When I was growing up, one of the local farmers had several buffalo. These were a rare sight in West Tennessee. The farm where they were located was on a major highway near town. They were always something to keep an eye out for when travelling down this highway. Over the years, he added more different animals to his collection and later opened a drive thru park that has become a tourist attraction for the area.

Halloween Scary Stories

Why The Three Stooges Scare Me

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date October 26, 2017
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There are a handful of Three Stooges shorts that have scary stories. When I was a kid watching these films, I saw them way more often than I saw any other horror movies. They were just scary enough to introduce me to the pleasures of horror films.

Halloween Scary Stories

Why Laurel and Hardy Scare Me

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date October 19, 2017
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The best horror films also make us laugh. Any time you go see a horror film that has a moment where the audience screams, it is always followed with laughs. Many comedians have made horror/comedy films. Laurel and Hardy went into this territory with their film Oliver the Eighth.

Halloween Scary Stories

Why Pamelyn Ferdin Scares Me

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date October 12, 2017
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I doubt if very many of you recognize the name Pamelyn Ferdin. But if you grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s, you would have seen her in countless television shows. Younger kids would know her face if they ever watch Brady Bunch reruns. She was the voice of Lucy Van Pelt in many of the Peanuts movies and specials although she didn’t do the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. She also played a dead girl in a TV movie called Daughter of the Mind. At the time, this was the scariest movie I had ever seen.

Halloween Scary Stories

Why Dana Andrews Scares Me

Post author By elvisgumby
Post date October 5, 2017
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A few weeks ago, I saw the film noir classic, Laura for the first time. It is probably the film that Dana Andrews is best known for but I know him better for a handful of science fiction and horror films he made in the 1960’s. My favorite of these is a British film called The Frozen Dead.