Attack of the 50 Foot Blog – Page 23

Blowing the Roof Off the Wrestling Arena

I live in Jackson, Tennessee. There is an arena in Jackson known as Oman Arena that seats about 5,600 people. It has been used for a variety events over the years including basketball games, rodeos, concerts and professional wrestling. In the 1970’s it was known as the Jackson Coliseum and they held professional wrestling matches regularly. I was a big wrestling fan and watched the local program on TV practically every Saturday. It was a treat to go to the occasional live show at the Jackson Coliseum. My first trips to see Wrestling were memorable just because I was getting to see these “stars” live. By the time I was in high school, I had seen enough live wrestling that the wrestlers on the card didn’t make as much difference. It would take a BIG star to get me to spend extra money for a ringside seat. Andre the Giant was big enough to make that difference.

Remembering George Klein

George Klein is the first radio DJ whose name I remember knowing. He was a DJ on WHBQ, the most popular AM radio station in the part of the country where I grew up. This was at a time when people listened primarily to AM radios because that was about the only thing around. WHBQ was a pop music station playing top 40 hits. It seemed like Klein was on the radio any time I was listening. He played all the most popular music of the time, introduced the songs that would become hits and seemed to know a lot about the music business. He influenced my musical tastes more than anyone outside of my immediate family. Because he had a television program called Dance Party on WHBQ-TV, he was one of the few DJs that I knew what he looked like.

The McGuire Twins

The McGuire Twins were in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the world’s largest twins. Most of the pictures of them in the record book showed them riding motorcycles. When I was growing up, we thought they were riding minibikes, but I think they were just that much bigger than the bikes they were riding. They also worked as professional wrestlers. I saw them wrestle live at the Jackson Coliseum. There were a couple of differences in their matches and other matches that happened that night. Most of the time, the wrestlers would get into the ring by grabbing the rope and climbing up the side. There were no steps to get into the ring. For the McGuire Twins, they rolled in a heavy duty set of steel steps. There was no way they would have ever gotten into the ring with out these steps. They also tightened all the connections holding the ring together. This was when I first discovered one of professional wrestling’s secrets. When they assemble the rings, they leave much of it loose to make more noise when the wrestlers stomp. The wrestlers stomp when they hit each other because the sound makes it seem like the hits are much harder than they really are. The ring barely made any noise during the McGuire Twins match. When it was over, they removed the steps and loosened the ring back up for the main event.

UPDATE: I have a friend that read this post that lives near their burial place in Hendersonville, NC. Here are some pictures he shared with me. Their actual names are Billy Leon McCrary and Benny Loyd McCrary.

Jackie Fargo Vs. Al Greene

When I was growing up, I was a big fan of professional wrestling. I watched the wrestling program from Memphis every Saturday morning. At that time, professional wrestling was divided into territories and Memphis was one of the most successful areas. The star of Memphis wrestling was Fabulous Jackie Fargo. He was known for his blonde hair, his signature “Fargo Strut”, and calling everyone “pally”. Over the years he had wrestled with several partners including Don Fargo (supposedly his brother, but actually a wrestler named Don Kalt) and his real brother Sonny, who went by the names “Roughhouse” and “Nuthouse”.

Haunted Cemetery

When I was a senior in high school, a story started about a local cemetery. The story was that there was a chair out next to one of the tombstones and an old man would come out at sit next to his wife’s grave. The cemetery was out in the middle of nowhere, located next to a field. There were no houses, churches or businesses close to it. The old man was not supposed to be a ghost. They said he lived close to the cemetery. The only thing about the story that was creepy was that it was at a cemetery. But that was enough for a small group of my friends. We decided to take a trip out to the cemetery to see it for ourselves.

Buffet Etiquette

On a recent trip with my wife to visit my youngest daughter, we ate at a breakfast buffet. When we were being seating, the waitress informed us that they did have bacon on the buffet and if there wasn’t any when we got there, they were cooking more. Then the waitress told us that someone had “stolen” from the bacon from the buffet. My wife was looking at the buffet as we were being seated and she saw a man getting practically all the bacon and putting it in a to-go container. I thought it was funny that she said he had stolen the bacon instead of taking the bacon. It made it sound like he hadn’t paid for it.

Writing Seven Times Seven Times Seventy-Seven

The song Seven Times Seven Times Seventy-seven is based on The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18. The title of the song comes from Jesus response to a question from Peter.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 18:21-22

Wrestle With The Angels Video

I wanted to try something new with my video for Wrestle With the Angels. If you have watched it, you will see that I am singing the song in front of a television that is shows a professional wrestling program. You might notice that the video on the television looks like it is sped up. My movements might also seem a little odd.

Neighbor Video

My song Neighbor is one of the most complex projects from my album Speaking in Tongues. It has five vocal parts that I overdubbed 4 times each during the recording. I wanted to put together a video for this song that would feature me singing each of the parts. I searched for easy to use software that would allow me to put this together. After a few tries with other software, I settled on iMovie on my iPhone. I did put together some practice videos to make sure that my face would be centered in the views. In the practice video, I just used one video and I put it in multiple frames to discover that stacking them first worked better than putting them side by side. The video in the center shot was the most difficult to decide how to position.

Shingles Shot

Things you should know before you read this story:

I work with a lady named Shonna Sharpe.
My employer offers flu shots and other vaccinations as part of their health plan

And for best impact, this story should be read aloud.