Free Parking

Today was a red-letter day. After months of being cooped up in the apartment, unable to get out other than to ride with friends to my various doctor appointments, much less drive, I took the Buffalo-mobile out on a spin. Well, truth be told, the first major breakthrough came yesterday when I rode with my roommate down to The Cellar Club for an afternoon benefit concert staged by my friend Tim Shook for a girl named Haylee. That story will appear in the next issue of KUDZOO Magazine. I’m writing a little show review. Some great music there for a great cause yesterday.

Today, I got into the van and headed to Advanced Auto for some windshield wipers. The pair that were on there must have been 100 years old. Well, maybe not that old, but they sure needed replacing before I ventured over to Spinx to run the vehicle through the car wash. So, with my portable oxygen in tow, I got the wash, and pointed the car toward Bi-Lo, where I had a prescription to pick up. Oh, and some of those dark purple seedless grapes. Better than candy.

I had my handicapped (temporarily!) placard ready, and when I arrived there, five of the six handicapped reserve spaces were occupied. I started to swing into the remaining one when I got got off by a 20-something guy in a black Lexus with dark tinted windows. He just cut me off like an annoying hangnail, and whipped it in. When he opened his door, the music came barreling out at maximum. Nothing but bass. Jay Z. 

I sat there with the placard on display as he leapt from his ride and looked me right in the eye. I pointed at my handicap thingy. He just shrugged and kind of laughed and kept on truckin.’ I drove around and found a space elsewhere.

Now. True confessions time. Before I got sick, there were times in the past where I would take the handicapped parking spot out of sheer laziness. I guess I never realized how important it is to people with mobility issues. For the time being, I am one of those. I have pulmonary hypertension, which makes walking quite a challenge – the breathing part that is.

So the moral of the story is, I learned a lesson myself from my homeboy at Bi-Lo. There’s a reason why these spaces are reserved. If you are healthy enough to walk, leave those spots for the people that really need ‘em. You never know when that person in need could be you.

-Michael Buffalo Smith

The Emmys Need an Enema

I have always loved watching awards shows. It goes all the way back to when I was a kid, watching the Oscars on the old black and white Magnavox. I never missed the Academy Awards, and of course, the Grammys. I’m all about the music. And then there were the yearly Emmy Awards broadcasts. A night to celebrate the year in television.

I was really looking forward to chilling and watching the Emmy Awards broadcast last night. After all, for me, this had been one of the best years in TV history. With the ability to DVR, along with Netflix and Amazon Prime; view on your nook, iPad or phone- the options are endless. Of course all of this would be for naught if there wasn’t some interesting programming to back it up. And was there ever some good stuff. (There’s still a lot of reality TV for those who prefer to view without engaging the brain.) Of course, a lot of the shows I love will most likely never see a nomination, but it’s always been that way. My favorites usually get passed over on all the awards shows. This year, I loved Revolution; Bates Motel (one nomination); Person of Interest; The Americans; Sons of Anarchy; The Walking Dead; American Horror Story: Asylum (a few nods, one winner) - to name a few. Lots of good stuff.

And I have just started binge watching the entire run of Breaking Bad. I had never seen it until three weeks ago, and I am almost all the way through the second season. The TV times they are a changin.’ Love it.

There are lots of great shows on HBO, but since I can’t afford HBO, I am at a loss there. Oddly enough, HBO was winning beaucoups of statues last night.

One groundbreaking change this year was the nominations for a show that broke the mold for the way we see television. An original series from Netflix, the streaming video service. House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, was so good, I went right through the first season- not all at once, but pretty darn quickly. I really like this new model. They post the entire season, and you watch when you are ready. No commercials. That’s coming very close to my dream of commercial-free television, where you simply subscribe to the shows you really want to watch.

But I digress. Last night’s 65th Annual Emmy Awards show sucked. By far the lamest one I have ever seen in my life. Well, there was the Oscars that one year, but...

Host Neil Patrick Harris.... bless his heart, apparently he acted as producer as well - is perfect for the Tony Awards. Not so for the Emmys. He’s a song and dance man, which we were reminded of more times than I care to recall by way of lame comments and skits. Speaking of comedy, I couldn’t find any. Gone were the usual belly laughs that come with these shows. Also gone were film clips. There were none. What? No clips. No real comedy. But a couple of dance numbers. Uh, Neil. The Tonys called. They want their host back.

On top of all this, the show was in bad need of a quaalude. It was going way too fast. I think winners must have been allowed 20 seconds before the “get your butt off the stage” music started up, and the way they presented the nominees for each category was like flash cards. I didn’t even have time to think about who was nominated before the winner was announced, hustled to the stage, said thanks, and given the bums rush. Next!

The In Memoriam segment flashed by at 110 mph as well. Not cool. And they pulled a few out for a full on minute and a half tribute. Sure, I was happy to see James Gandolphini (a favorite of mine) paid tribute. Same with Jean Stapleton and Jonathan Winters, but singling them out kind of made the other passings look “less important.”

Honestly, I can’t believe I watched the whole thing. Bad writers. Bad hosting. Bad ideas. I sure home the 2013 Emmy Awards show isn’t up for an Emmy Award. It could easily lose to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.

-Michael Buffalo Smith  

The KUDZOO Top 15 Songs of the Week

With so much good music coming out recently (and in the near future) we decided to make yet another attempt at influencing your musical tastes. Here are the individual songs that rise to the top this week at KUDZOO. (www.kudzoomag.com)


1. Elephant  Jason Isbell

    Love, cancer, sad reality.
2. Call The Lamas  Marshall Chapman
    Baby fun. Ohhhmmmm.....
3. Mystic Highway   John Fogerty
    Infectious rocker. Love the vocal break.
4 Sure Feels Good   Delbert McClinton & Glen Clark
    Yes sir. We should all feel this way.
5. World Boss  Gov’t Mule
     The Mule sounds reborn.
6. Copperline  Silver Travis
    Swampy moonshiner song.
7. Memory Loss  Kara Clark
    Only so much a gal can take.

8. Whiskey Legs  Tedeschi Trucks Band
    Susan T. just rips it up.
9. She Looked Just Like Marilyn Monroe  Billy Eli
     My kind of love song.
10. All Kinds of Kinds  Miranda Lambert
     The dog faced boy howled out with joy...
11. Roll  Randall Bramblett
     Randall rolls the rock.
12. Remember     Benton Blount
      Brilliant, emotional song about dealing with Alzheimer’s .
13. Izabella   Jimi Hendrix
      Brilliant. Worth the 40 year wait.

14. Something ‘Bout a Boat   Jimmy Buffett
      The new Buffett album came out last week! Yeah!
15. Pretty Little Lie  Blackberry Smoke
     Melodic, harmonic southern rock.

Keep it Real. Keep it Southern.
Michael Buffalo

Take Me Home, Dusty Rhodes

Today I decided to launch an ongoing series of tributes to some of my favorite professional wrestlers (ie; “Rasslers”) who played a part in my life during the seventies and eighties. If you read my book, Prisoner of Southern Rock, you know that there were a number of years where me and my friend “The Weasel” went to Greenville Memorial Auditorium every Monday night to watch Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and experience the bizarre hybrid of sports

and theatre performed by the likes of Ric Flair, Andre The Giant and Blackjack Mulligan. I’ll be dropping one of these in ever so often just for fun. Let’s begin with one of the best. The “American Dream,” Dusty Rhodes.

I was fortunate enough to catch Rhodes in matches countless times at the old Greenville Memorial Auditorium (and a few times in Spartanburg) and every event was a show stopper. And then there were the numerous appearances on the Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling TV show every Saturday afternoon.

I had a several chances to speak with Dusty over the years, and have always found him to be a genuine and downright nice guy.

Rhodes was born Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr. in Austin, Texas on October 12, 1945. During the peak years of his career, which began in 1968, Rhodes weighed in at 302 pounds and stood 6’ 2.”

Dusty is a 3-time NWA World Champion and has also won the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship once, the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship ten times, the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) seven times and the NWA National Heavyweight Championship one time. He has also won many other championships during his wrestling career. He is a member of the WCW and  WWE.

Rhodes began his illutrious career as a bad guy, tag teaming with fellow Texan Dick Murdoch to form the tag team The Texas Outlaws in the American Wrestling Association.

In 1974, Rhodes turned solo star after turning on tag team partner Pak Song and manager

Gary Hart during a match in Florida against Eddie and Mike Graham. He was on his way to superstardom, primarily in Florida, referring to himself as "Stardust", the "White Soul King", and the "American Dream." Rhodes rose to the top of several National Wrestling Alliance promotions in Florida - where he also wrestled wearing a mask as "The Midnight Rider."  I have to wonder if the Allman Brothers Band song influenced that choice of name?


Soon he began wrestling with Jim Crockett Promotions in the Mid-Atlantic area, the forerunner of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Here, he formed a team with Manny Fernandez. He also teamed with Magnum T.A. as "America's Team," fighting the Four Horsemen in 1985. They were one of the more dominant tag teams in the promotion until 1986, when Magnum's career was ended in a car wreck. Subsequently, he teamed with Nikita Koloff as The Super Powers. Rhodes was a World Six-Man Tag Team Champion with the Road Warriors.

In Greenville, Rhodes was involved in several memorable feuds over the years, including an outstanding series of matches against Blackjack Mulligan, and some serious contests against  Harley Race, "Superstar" Billy Graham, "Crippler" Ray Stevens and especially “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. I was front and center for a few of those blood-lettings and I can honestly say, Rhodes vs. Flair was one of the most entertaining cards I ever saw.

After years as a superstar in the Mid-Atlantic, Rhodes continued his career with the WWF where he left in January 1991, marking the end of Dusty Rhodes' career as a full-time in-ring competitor.

Rhodes soon returned to WCW as a member of WCW's booking committee and later joined the broadcast team. Then in 1994, Rhodes returned to the ring to team up with his son Dustin along with The Nasty Boys versus Arn Anderson, Terry Funk, Bunkhouse Buck, and Col. Rob Parker.

He eventually left WCW and went to ECW before    returning once more to WCW and re-igniting his feud with Ric Flair.

For several years, Rhodes operated Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling, a small Georgia-based promotion, featuring wrestlers trained by himself alongside veterans such as Steve Corino.

In 2005, Rhodes signed a WWE Legends deal and was brought onto the Creative Team as a creative consultant. Dusty was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31, 2007 by his two sons, Dustin and Cody. He also works as a backstage booker and producer on the FCW brand. He is one of six men inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the WCW Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

- Michael Buffalo Smith

 

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Buffalo's Book Club: For You Ozark Mt. Daredevils Fans

Time again for Buffalo's Book Club, in which I attempt to influence how you spend what little time you have left at the end of the work day. Some of these books are new, some older, but all have an honored place on ol' Buff's bookshelf.

IT SHINED
Michael “Supe” Grande

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils were one kick ass Southern Rock band by anyone’s standards, a group that cracked the Top 40 several times during the 1970's while building a massive following of fans who even today speak of the band with reverence and broad, sometimes illegal, smiles.

Beginning at a Springfield, Missouri club called The Bijou, the band then known as The Family Tree braved the stages with original music, something that has never been easy for an up and coming band to do. But with the Daredevils, the fans ate it up.

As the story goes, a live tape from the Bijou wound up in the hands of legendary music mogul John Hammond, which resulted in a studio demo, which really caught the ear of David Anderie, an executive at A&M Records. Just like that the band signed to A&M, changed their name to The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and took off for London to record their debut album which contained "If You Want to Get to Heaven." Their follow up was recorded back home in Missouri, and contained "Jackie Blue,” which made it all the way to #3. And believe you me, that's only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Supe Granda - I would tell you why they call him Supe, but it’s in the book and it’s a fun story - is the author of It Shined as well as a founding member of the group and the bass player. He is a fine writer, a great story teller. This 500-plus page book is one of the best rock and roll books I have ever read. It is compelling, always interesting, and at times quite funny. Granda pulls no punches. The drugs, alcohol and excesses of the road are all here, but his spirit and obvious love of the music and his friends and band mates makes it read positive rather than negative. Good karma. I like that.

Supe carries us through the band’s big time as well as the lean times with equal zeal, and paints a clear picture that the Daredevils worked equally hard whether they had a record on the charts or not. It Shined is a real page turner, especially for old rock and rollers like me. If the devil is truly in the details, you’ll be feeling your feet heat up after the first few pages. Simply stated, It Shined is a must read for all rock and roll fans, especially those of us from the good ol’ South.

-Michael Buffalo Smith

Visit Supe’s Website

The Cover of The Rolling Stone

The news media never ceases to amaze me. The first thing I saw when I turned on CNN this morning for my ritualistic coffee and news update was the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine. There, on the cover, is Boston Marathon bomber suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The photo looks more like a picture of one of today’s teen idols than a portrait of a murderer. (I don't know what folks expect. There were only a handful of images available, and none that showed him with horns. Although they could have penciled those in.) Now Rolling Stone is being accused of making the terror suspect appear to be a celebrity, like the lost member of One Direction. Well, he is a celebrity. So is Charles Manson, and he too was on the cover of Rolling Stone back in the early 1970’s.

 

I believe Rolling Stone made the perfect call. The whole story is “how could a good looking, well liked kid next door end up committing such a heinous act of horror?" The photo says it all. Especially with the 72 point boldface serif font spelling out “The Bomber” right under the photograph.

One of the talking heads - either on FOX or CNN, I was flipping between them - made a comment about how this should have never happened. After all - they said with an air of self-assuredness that almost made it sound like they knew what they were talking about - Rolling Stone is a music magazine.

After 40-plus years of publication, one would think that fellow media reporters would know one of the biggest magazines in the world a bit better. Rolling Stone has covered politics, environment, human rights and all good things right alongside their up to the minute coverage of the ever-changing music trends since the very beginning. Who can forget the political mayhem brought to their old school newsprint pages by the late great Dr. Hunter S. Thompson? And today I read every article they print by political writer Matt Taibi. Always topical. Always well researched. Always well written

I think what pisses me off more than anything is watching our society deteriorate into this dark place where every move a magazine makes, every word out of celebrity’s mouth (ie: Natalie Maines and the Bush debacle that crippled the Dixie Chicks), every action or non-action is immediately up for scrutiny by our absolutely wired society. A society of bloggers and social media reporters who have no training whatsoever in the craft of writing or news reportage. If someone takes the slightest offense at something said by a celebrity or a well known periodical or television show at 9 a.m., that person or group of people will be major “news”  by afternoon at the latest. By that evening, they may branded forever. Paula Dean? Please. It makes me want to scream the "F" word. Welcome to my nightmare, kids. The thought police are waiting just outside your door. Please remain in a single file line and be prepared to show your bar code tattoo.

The issue of Rolling Stone will be on news stands on Friday. The story, which features interviews from childhood friends, teachers and law enforcement agents, promises to reveal how a “popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam, and became a monster." I, for one, eagerly await my copy in the mail. And it’s not because I want a Dzhokhar poster on my wall. (Although he is a dreamboat.) It’s because I want to know what caused this youngster to go postal. I’d like to have a better knowledge, learn about him, and then watch the bastard fry.

- Michael Buffalo Smith

All My Blogs in One Place. Whew!

From today forward, I will be posting my (sometimes) daily blogs here on this one page. Previously, I had several blogs, kind of scattered to the wind, including my BUFFALO ZONE blog at Universal Music Tribe. From here on, Afterthoughts stands as my official blog, no matter if I am writing about Southern Rock, Rasslin,' Politics or Hot Chicks. There are a lot of older posts in the BUFFALO ZONE if you like digging. I welcome you!

Gracias. Buff