Just finished watching Chrome and Hot Leather. This thing is straight out of the drive-in. Released in 1971, it stars stuntman Michael Haynes and a young, musclebound William Smith. Who’s William Smith? He made a living on Falcon Crest in the late ’70s, but I remember him as the badass Spetznaz commander in Red Dawn. …
Sometime during my four years at Ole Miss, while studying journalism and the Marine Corps and doing damn little writing, I came into possession of several hard-cover books that I’d never heard of but thought, Hey, this might be interesting. One of those, Harry Crews’ superb memoir, A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, lay …
The womenfolk around here a little concerned tonight. About an hour ago, we heard a series of gunshots — sounded like shotguns — off in the darkness, out in the hills and briars and occasional swamp that is Stafford County. Nothing to worry about, I said. Hunters, most likely. Now, I know it’s not hunting …
I’ve heard lots of stories about snakes and guns today. Seems like everybody has one. I’m no different. There’s the most recent serpent I dispatched in my yard a couple of years ago. Me and that snake had what you would call a dysfunctional relationship over a period of a couple of months one summer. …
I’ve been fortunate the last few days to have quite a bit of correspondence with friends and relatives in the Magnolia State, and, as usual, it’s left a smile on my face. Mostly through the magicurse of Facebook, but I’ll take it. The weather’s getting warm, the dogwoods are ready to bloom, Easter’s coming and …
Somehow I totally missed National Alfred Hitchcock Day this week. That would be March 12. I only learned of my oversight while listening to the best radio show in America – the Mark & Brian Radio Program on KLOS Los Angeles, my –one-stop source for all things news and entertainment. Hitchcock has become one of …
If the decade that was the ’70s hadn’t sucked, it would have sounded like the Black Keys. I got a chance to see the duo from Akron at the Verizon Center in D.C. last night, and I can say without fear of retribution that rock and roll is most definitely not dead. — although after …
As often happens in my daily life, somebody said something today that stuck in my head. Thank God that, this time, it wasn’t somebody trying to remember the words to “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Today, the subject was reading, which led me to thinking I don’t do enough of it, which led me …
This isn’t a sports blog, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least comment on the latest NFL scandal brewing in New Orleans. I say “brewing” because it’s a long way from being over. The news broke yesterday that the Saints former defensive coordinator, Greg Williams, ran a “bounty program” — more like a …
Some people have wayyyy too much time on their hands (not me, of course). Today’s chuckle comes from the folks who came up with “Pulp Bard,” which, as you can probably guess, is yet another take on one of the most-discussed movies of a generation, Pulp Fiction. I’m a huge Tarantino fan, and I love …
Phillip Thompson 