April 5, 2010

Happy Easter weekend to all. Time for chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, Peeps, and decorating eggs and Easter egg hunts. I remember dying eggs with my mother and that vinegar smell that filled up the kitchen. Easter was when I'd get a new pair of dress shoes or "church shoes" as we called them. Recalling those times of going to O. D. Liphams, or the National, Bargain Mart, Cummings Department Store and getting Easter clothes. Mother always picked out a clip-on bow tie for me to wear. I looked Dave Garroway of NBC's Today Show wearing a bow tie. I haven't worn a bow tie since 3rd grade. I recently bought one to wear to Easter Sunday services. We'll probably visit the First Methodist Church because the girls love the Sunday school teachers Ms. Adams and Mrs. Elliot and I am fond of Jimmy Bryan's messages. It is wonderful to see Curtis Max Watson my 11th and 12th grade English teacher sing in his rich baritone with the choir. I remember Easter Sunday was when we always had a sugar cured ham, fried chicken, potato salad, biscuits, corn on the cob, green beans, and lemon ice box pie made from Eagle Brand Milk that was oh so rich. Sundays have changed so much since I was growing up in Tallapoosa. Sunday morning television was "The Gospel Jubilee" starring the Happy Goodman Family, the Florida Boys, the Dixie Echos,the Oak Ridge Boys,the Statesmen, and the Sego Brothers and Naomi. Sunday afternoons neighborhood football and basketball games came to a halt because I had to be in the house by 5 p.m. to watch the LeFevers with my grandmother on Channel 5. I was blessed to know Eva Mae Lefever who was the matriarch of the family. I knew her son Pearce when I lived in Montgomery. He sold banking equipment and was killed in the early 80's in a plane crash. I remember hearing about how the Statesmen Quartet was founded at the Steadman Baptist Church. Hovie Lister was one of Elvis Presley's musical heros. Gospel music used to fill the airwaves of television and radio on Sunday mornings back in that simpler time. Now we have infomercial's for exercise equipment, onion choppers,and Ronco rotisserie ovens on Sunday mornings. All three of the big three network affiliates in Atlanta on Sunday mornings had church services at 11 a.m. My grandmother's favorite was Dr. Borders of Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta. Sunday morning radio was solid Southern Gospel music with local preachers with 15 minute segments from time to time. When I worked at WWCC in Bremen around 1972, preachers could buy 15 minutes of air time for 15 dollars or 30 minutes for 25 bucks. I can't think of one single Atlanta radio station that plays Southern Gospel music on Sunday. I am grateful that WKNG plays that great sound on Sundays. How many of you remember when Jake Hess and the Imperials had a daily television show early mornings on what is now Fox 5? Do any of you remember when Saturday afternoons you could see syndicated television shows with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs brought to you by Martha White Flour, "for the finest biscuits you can bake." The Wilburn Brothers had a show. Doyle and Teddy Wilburn were credited with discovering Loretta Lynn and a pre-teen Patty Loveless. Georgia's Bill Anderson had a half hour program on Saturday afternoons. The king of the syndicated Country music programs had to be Porter Wagoner. Porter Wagoner is credited with giving the world the singing and songwriting talents of a young girl from Sevierville, Tennessee, Dolly Parton. Music Row lore has it that Dolly wrote "I Will Always Love You" in tribute to Porter when she left his program to do her own thing. There were years they never spoke about each other or to each other. I am glad they made peace before Porter died a few years back. I think that the one show that did more to expose America to Country music was "Hee Haw".The program took the music of Nashville and the humor of "Laugh In" and gave it a rural twist. They threw in some cheese cake from the Hee Haw Honeys and had a hit show on CBS for many years. The show was eventually canceled by CBS and the success of the program grew even larger went into syndication. You can still see reruns of it on the RFD Network. Do any of you still watch "The Ten Commandments" from 1956 when it is shown on Easter weekend? I first saw it like many of you did at the Grand Theater on Head Avenue. I once interviewed Charlton Heston on my radio show. He was a wonderful actor and a great American. We talked about the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution and we talked about the state of Hollywood. I had him autograph my Bible that morning. This weekend I plan to watch Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". The movie perhaps shows the most stirring account of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Easter sunrise services are in store for many of you on Easter morning but getting 7 and 5 year old little girls ready for an early church service is like herding cats.