Tony Sagraves

I just received an email from Tony with an update on his cancer and his progress. The news is not good. Out of courtesy for Tony and his privacy, I won't post the email he sent, nor will I elaborate. I'm sure he'll see this post and if he wants to share his situation with everyone, then I'll let him do that.

Regardless, I wanted to post a quick message to ask everyone to keep Tony and his family in your thoughts and prayers. As Ashley can attest, every little thing helps in situations like this.

Music on the Blog

Just wanted everyone's opinion regarding the blog music. Right now, I have to manually add the songs which entails uploading them to my web server and then pointing that little flash player to the actual mp3. Not an easy process, but hey...it works. I try to change it out every now and then with a different 80's tune. My question is this:

Do you like the autoplay feature? Or would you rather it NOT play automatically and if you want to hear the song or not, you can just click on the play button?

I started thinking about it, and if we continue to post movie and video clips from YouTube, then you have to go up there and try to pause the player which for some reason usually takes two clicks.

I can set it so that it's a manual process...you just click if you want to hear it.

Let me know by clicking on "Comment" below and posting your opinion. Thanks!

Favorite T.V. Shows

Here are some of my favorite shows when we were younger. See if any of them were yours...




I can remember being scared to death of the Sleestacks on Land of The Lost. They were lizard looking creatures that made a hissing sound....




I don't know if anyone will remember this:



This is the last one for now but I will post some more later.
What I remember most about this one is the girl called Stax and her red Trans-Am...

Guy Smiley

You can't bring up Sesame Street without including this guy (no pun intended)

Mazarati

I've been itching to post this story, but I had to wait until Bobby got his surprise first. Surprise, you ask? Let me explain...

Back in 1986, Prince had a record label called Paisley Park. One of his signature bands on that label was called Mazarati. They released a self-titled album that year, and Bobby (as usual) was the first one to get it, and the minute I heard it, I had to go out and buy it:


I wore that damn tape out! I can remember riding around town and obviously up and down the strip with my windows down, just blasting that tape. I literally wore it down to the point that it wouldn't play any longer. Unfortunately, Mazarati didn't exactly do very well after that album, so the album never made to CD format. And the tapes became extinct, too.

For years I tried to find the tape and/or cd by combing through imports catalogs in record shops. You could find stuff in Japan that was never released in the US...but I never had luck.

21 years later (about 3 weeks ago, in fact), I found myself on eBay and thought I'd search for Mazarati. Next thing you know, I see someone in Germany selling the Special Edition Digitally Remastered Mazarati album. I got into a bidding war for it, and after paying a hefty price for it (don't tell my wife), I won it. It arrived last week, and I made a copy of it and sent it to Bobby. Needless to say, the first thing I did was rip it and store it on my computer to transfer it to my iPod. Then I took it back down to my car where I've been listening to it nonstop ever since.

SO....today the cd finally arrived at Bobby's house, and he called me the minute he got it. He knew he had a surprise coming, but he didn't know what it was. You should have heard him...he called me and was playing the cd in the background. You'd have thought he'd won the lottery or something. We both loved this album so much, and now WE HAVE IT!!

Perhaps most of you could give a damn, but I thought I'd post this for the hell of it. We all know how music takes us back in time. I listen to this album, and I'm back in 1986 wearing JAMS and sporting a good ol' mullet while riding around in my truck with the windows down. It didn't get any better than that!!

Of course, I got on YouTube and found an old Mazarati video, so I thought I'd post it. Perhaps most of you didn't even know they existed in the first place, and if that's the case, then you probably won't appreciate the video. I think Brett and Heath will remember Mazarati, though. Regardless, take a look at this video. And then tell me that the ol' Prince days of wearing those weird clothes and sporting that "androgynous" look wasn't hilarious. The video isn't the best quality, and it's a pretty "bad" video in the first place, but it gives you a great idea of that era. Awesome, if you ask me!!


Bobby, enjoy that cd!!!

Just in case you're wondering....

If you're wondering where the picture of Jimmy came from, here's the original photo. Bobby's already posted one from this night, but I guess this one was taken with just the guys. Was this our "back to school" dance our Senior year?

Happy Birthday, Jimmy!

Yes, that's right. Jimmy turned 36 today, unless I'm off on my birthday calendar. Jimmy, I'm not exactly sure what you did today/tonight for your birthday, but my guess is it had something to do with work. Dude, you've been "working" since the day I met you. Didn't matter who, what, where or when, you always had some kind of business or "operation" going. So whatever it was that you chose to do on your special day today, I hope you had fun.

Man, I remember hanging out at George Mercier's house with George and Weston, and we'd always pay you a visit to see what new and exciting toy or gadget you had. I remember you having a pool and a trampoline in your back yard. Seems like there was also a circus tent with elephants, tigers, etc. Just kidding....but seriously....the one thing I remember about you is that we never knew what new cool "thing" you were going to have. I seem to remember George bugging the hell out of you, but that doesn't surprise me. We'd be over at his house, playing commando or something down in his gigantic basement, and then to take a break we'd go over to your house. You never knew what George was gonna do once we got over there. But you seemed to survive it all.

I also remember your dad being pretty involved in Boy Scouts...I can't remember if you were or not...or what troop that was. And I remember you basically running the entire show for our Follies. You had the headset and stuff on, which was almost unheard of back then. But I'm sure without you, Follies would have imploded for sure.

Hope you had a great birthday. If you are the Mayor of Corinth, what exactly do you do on your birthday? Please do tell....

Pinball Countdown

Now tell me THIS doesn't take you back in time...


Man, I can remember being glued to the TV every time this came on Sesame Street. I loved this one!!!

MIG secures spot in Historic Downtown Corinth!

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to share some exciting news and extend an invitation. As I mentioned in my update, I am the Sales Manager for Mortgage Investors Group (MIG) based out of Knoxville, TN. For the last 3 months our office has been located in the 508 Waldron Building (Mitchell/McNutt) in downtown Corinth, and has served as an adequate temporary location. As of last Friday, I secured the lease on the Corinth Tourism Office/Museum next door to Borroum's Drug Store. We will be moving our operations in late May or early June of this year! We are so very excited about this, because it gives us a prime location with optimal visibility. The office is absolutley gorgeous with hardwood floors throughout, exposed brick walls, and architectural details seen only in the finest construction. Our office will be 2 doors down from Bobby and Christy Burns' Waldron Street Market, so when you are in town, kill 2 birds with one stone and pay us both a visit. AND.........(Here comes the shameless plug)
If you or anyone you know is interested in buying or refinancing a home, please give us a call. We are Tennessee's largest volume retail mortgage lender and have over 100 loan programs to offer. We are a Lender, not a Broker, so you can be assured the lowest rates without all the extra fees. We also offer in-house underwriting and processing, so we can close loans really fast. Lastly, we offer programs for customers with great credit, poor credit, no credit, who are first-time home buyers, or who are looking to do a VA loan. (662) 808-5025
Come see me...

Talking 'bout videos

If you want to get on the subject of videos or songs that spark memories, these two take me way back the minute I hear them. Take this one, for example:


When I see or hear this, it reminds me of walking around town with Weston and his boombox. We'd walk around and he'd have his boombox on one shoulder and he'd be carrying some cardboard in the other hand...or I'd be carrying it. "Rock It" would be playing on the box, and we'd stop whenever Weston got the urge, and he'd lay the cardboard down and breakdance. I can't imagine what people driving by (usually on Shiloh Road near the bridge) were thinking. Two idiots with bandanas tied around their legs with Members Only jackets and sunglasses on, trying to breakdance on the street corner. Absolutely hilarious when I think back on it....

And this little beauty:


Hearing this song takes me back to the 7th grade. Man, I can remember playing this in my room and loving it! This was another one I remember listening to while working on my science project...

And last but not least, this one is a classic:


This one is literally burned into my brain. Why, you might ask? Probably because Brett used to love to sing this song, only he changed the lyrics to "Owner of a Smelly Fart." Ok, ok...yes...that's crass....but it was the 7th grade and we're talking about Brett. Give me a break.....

Great Movie

I know all the guys in our class remember this I am not so sure how many of the girls do. But this has to be one of the best movies from back-in-the-day and this is one of the best scenes excluding the pool scene with Phoebe Cates. This movie has gotten a lot of attention lately because of Forrest Whitaker. He played the older brother of the guy in the passenger seat who was the big football star at Ridgemont High and was gonna S*%# then he gonna kill us!!!!!

FOOTLOOSE

I bet you want be able to get this out of your head. I remember it like it was yesterday. Going to the Twin Cinema and then to the WALL at Pizza Hut....

Comments and Older Posts

I just wanted to remind everyone that you can click on the word "Comments" at the bottom of each post or story, and then you can post a comment as well as read any comments that others have posted about that story.

Additionally, I have the blog set to show the last 20 posts on the front page. To view posts older than that, you can either click "Older Posts" at the bottom of the page, or you can look in the side bar on the right and click the month (to view posts for that month) or a specific post title (to view only that post).

I would set it so that a bunch more posts show on the front page, but because we have pictures and videos, it kinda slows down how the page loads. If the majority of you would like all on one page, just let me know and I'll go ahead and change it.

John Bell

Go down and look at Traci Haskett's post about kindergarten in Mrs. Crow's room. I could swear that's John Bell in the lower left corner in the red dress. John, what's up with that?

Vandy Saylors Update

Well, I warned y'all. If you join the blog and don't post your update or join in the fun, then I'll do it for you. Vandy, just so happens you're the first one. A little birdie told me that you have a My Space page or profile or something like that. I find it hard to believe you'll mess around on My Space but our class blog makes you feel old?!

Anyway, I did some checking around and found out that you work at Bennett Yacht Sales in the Service or Parts department. I went to the website, and look what I found parked right in the "Meet the Staff" section:


Funny what you can find on the Internet if you look hard enough, isn't it? I'll give you a few more days to post your own update, and then if you don't make any progress, I'll go ahead and finish it for you....in my own words. Man, this might be fun!!!!!!! -Jake

Jack and Diane (25 years later) :)

Okay, this one is showing our age...This one's for you, Bobby!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Kim!

Kim, today is your day, too! I hope you had a great day turning the big 3-6!! I bet you had no idea I'd still have this picture. I think it was from 5th grade, but I could be wrong. Can you remember? Anyway, in keeping with tradition, you know I have to tell a story or two about you...

One of the main things I remember about Kim is that she was a great basketball player and her face would turn R-E-D when she was out on the court. Regardless, you were one heck of a ball player. I also remember that Terry Harmon had the BIGGEST crush on you. I mean, he was probably more obsessed with you than I was with Beth. A bunch of us always hung out at the YMCA after school, and Terry would always reference you whenever he did anything! He'd shoot a 3-pointer, and say, "Uh, oh...Kimberly Ivy!!!" I mean the guy talked about you nonstop...and I don't think you ever gave him the time of day, either. Must have been some kind of conspiracy that you and Beth had against us.

I also remember that you didn't take CRAP off anyone! As much as some of us (me obviously included) harrassed the girls, we knew not to even think about messing with you. You were the one girl that would punch the hell out of one us, so as far as I can recall, we always maintained our composure around you. Am I wrong??

I hope you had a great day...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday, Beth!

Well, as you can imagine, today is Beth's birthday. Yep...she turned 36 today just like the rest of us. I thought I'd post a few pictures and tell a few stories about her, to help her celebrate such a special day. .I've known Beth since I was old enough to walk. I remember being in some type of Christmas program at the Methodist Church when we were really little, and we had to recite the 12 days of Christmas...each one of us had to remember the saying for a specific day, and when it was our turn, we'd have to step forward and say it. I was the 10th day, so I had to say "Ten Lords a-leaping." Beth had the 1st day, which means she had to step forward every time and say "And a Partridge in a pear tree." EXCEPT...little Beth had a speech problem when we were little, so when she said it, it sounded like this, "And a Pa-twidge in a peah twee." Needless to say, we had fun with that one.
When we were in the 8th grade, I had the biggest crush on Beth. I mean I was in L-O-V-E with her. And she wouldn't give me the time of day. Well, we were friends...but she wouldn't and couldn't think of us in any other way. Truth be told, she had a huge crush on Ken Williams, and so she eventually started "going" with Ken. And I was devastated. Oh, well. This is Beth's 8th grade picture, and I thought I'd show you what I wrote on the back of it...to prove how obsessed I was with Miss Coleman.


I have many, many more great pictures, but I want to save them for later. Regardless, Beth I hope you had a great birthday.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Mrs. Andrews' Room

Ok, after seeing Traci's post below, I had to add to the fun. This was in 1976...and it was Mrs. Andrews' kindergarten class at the Methodist Church. Her classroom was next to Mrs. Crow's. I remember playing with blocks in her room, and also finger painting out in the halls. I also remember climbing the walls in the courtyard, before they paved it and poured that pebble-like surface. There was a day when it was grass and we'd play out there for recess. Anyway, I also remember playing concentration with these little cards...you lined them all up in a square, and then turned them over and tried to remember where the pairs were. And I also remember out at recess one time playing super hero with Weston and Sammy Morris. I squinted my eyes and raised my eyebrow to be my hero, and Weston said I couldn't be Steve Austin, the 6 Million Dollar Man....and I didn't even say that's who I was. I guess my impersonation of him was that good! Ha!

Anyway, here's the picture:


Back Row: Larry Doran, Sarah Lyle, Weston, Jake, Kristye Sweat
Front Row: Michelle Norris, George Mercier, Sammy Morris, Stephanie Norris, Derrek Perminter

Those were the days!!

Kindergarten Mrs Crow's room

I was actually looking for my pictures of the 4th grade Christmas play when I ran across this pic...along with some others that I'll post later. Flashback...1977, kindergarten at the Methodist Church. Remember those heavy metal doors? Well, my most vivid memory of that time has to do with Georgiana Hand and those doors....she was so little and didn't have the strength to open the door by herself, and I remember her just standing there waiting until someone who could open the door would come along and let her in.

Physical

This one is for you Angel......

The Time

If this doesn't work maybe Jake will fix it.

Another 5th Grade Memory

I just got in from a nice night out drinking with my buddies, and I thought I'd check the blog before I hit the sack. Oh, and before any of you mother scratchers judge me, my wife and baby are out of town, so it's not like I've been out and about on the town, neglecting my family!!! I'm solo for another few days, so I'm having fun!!

Anyway, since we're on the subject of 5th grade memories, I thought I'd chime in. I remember Mrs. Allen and her music class. It was right outside the lunch room, and you could look out her windows into a courtyard that was between her building and the 7th grade building, and on the other side you could look out onto the 5th grade playground.

Do any of you remember Mrs. Lowe? I think that's how you spelled her name. Anyway, she substituted for Mrs. Allen from time to time, and she was a hoot. She seemed to be a little crazy in the head, and I'd swear her fingers were a foot long each...and bent like a boomerang. She'd point at you if you were acting up in class, but you could never really tell who she was pointing at because her long ass fingers were so crooked!!! Cracks me up just thinking about it!!! I remember singing "Jimmy Crack Corn," "The Erie Canal," and "Waltzing Matilda" in Mrs. Allen's room. Weston and I would always joke around and sing "Jimmy Crapped Corn" instead, and always got into trouble for it.

There was another substitute teacher we had in the 5th grade. I can't remember what her name was, but I want to say it was Mrs. Pigford. We had her in Mrs. Rhett's room one time, and for whatever reasons, she started lecturing us on hygiene. I could swear she talked for almost 45 minutes about using deodorant, and if you didn't have deodorant, you could use baking soda. One of the craziest lectures I think we ever got. I mean, think about it. We were in the 5th grade, for crying out loud. I don't think any of us were even using deodorant at that stage in our lives. I think we were just looking around at each other and thinking, "What in the hell is this woman talking about??" Literally....the woman would just ramble on, almost like she was just talking to herself...and it would be about washing your "privates" and using deodorant and crap like that. We were all completely baffled. I remember Weston and me about peeing in our pants we were laughing so hard, and she was completely serious....and had no idea that all of us were cracking up the entire time. Hell, she was about 90 years old, so she couldn't see or hear any of us. And she was our substitute teacher!!!! HILARIOUS!!!!

More 5th grade music memories

Here's one that I remembered after reading Angel's. I never read Stephanie's post so this may be a repeat, but I'll never forget Bobby bringing John Cougar's Jack and Diane for us to listen to in music class. We were doing okay until it got to the point in the song where he sings "she's sittin' on Jack's lap - he's got his hands between her knees". I think it was at that point that Mrs. Allen got so flustered. She couldn't get that record off quick enough. I know it was either that point in the song or when he is "taking of those Bobbie Brooke slack and do what I please". Either way - it sent her into orbit. My memory is nothing like Jake's. I cannot remember what I did yesterday, but that one stuck.

Also, I cannot remember where I read it, but someone else not from our class has a memory that he could have added to one mentioned earlier (may have been emailed) - the one about the mailboxes and Brett driving the truck. Just so happens, I was at a church function and Brother Dennis was telling the story of following Brett back to his house that night (after hearing it on the police scanner) and just beating the police there. I couldn't believe he was telling this story after I had just read you all recalling it. I just kept quiet and listened - laughing inside, though. He went on to add the part about Brett's momma bringing him into Dennis' office the Monday after all that went down. Funny! Funny! He was laughing, too, though.

5th Grade Music Class

I was reading over some of the posts on here today and saw something that Stephanie Knight had posted about Mrs. Allen and music class...It made me have a flashback...I always liked music class, but, I did realize over years that I could not sing...But, that does not mean that the desire was not always in my heart....Anyway, I remember when we got to bring our favorite song a couple of times a year, and we could get up there and actually lip-synch to the song....Well, I remember in the 5th grade taking my most favorite song at the time and getting up there and putting my all into it....It was "PHYSICAL", by Olivia Newton John...NOW, jump ahead 25 years later and I think to myself, "WHAT THE #$%! was I doing"....That was no song that a 10 year old kid should have been up there putting her all into....But, I guess back then you really didn't think about what was being said...It was just a catchy little tune...It's almost as bad I suppose as a couple of years later when I knew every word to the PURPLE RAIN soundtrack and sang the WHOLE thing at least once a day :) OH, to be young and naive again!!!!!

Happy Birthday Elaine!!

Well, since Elaine has yet to join the blog, she more than likely won't know that WE actually remembered her birthday, right?? Yep...today ol' Elaine turned the big 3-6. I skimmed through my huge box of pictures and what not, but I wasn't able to find much. I know I have more pictures in there somewhere, but for now these will have to do....sorry Elaine....or am I?!

For those of you that have good memories (like me..ha!), you'll recall that some of us went to Mrs. Mathis' Kindergarten. It was the year before we entered the 1st grade. Anyway, here is the newspaper clipping from our "graduation" from Mrs. Mathis' class in 1977. Elaine is on the first row, 2nd from the right.


The next year was obviously 1st grade. I had Mrs. Dixon, as did Elaine. For our Christmas play that year, our theme was to incorporate a lot of the nursery rhymes into our Christmas play. I was Santa and Elaine was Little Bo Peep:


And here is the full class photo from the Christmas play. I don't mean to take away from Elaine's big day by pointing everyone to this particular photo, but you have to admit it's pretty funny and one heck of a blast from the past. How many people can you name from this photo??


ANYWAY....Elaine, I hope you had a great birthday today, and one of these days when you join the blog, you'll hopefully get a kick out of this post!!!

Birthday Party

Does anyone else remember? (I think Tess Gurley's birthday party) and we were driven to the movies in the back of a van. (It could have been Elaine Taylor's b-day, but I want to say it was Tess's.) Anyway it was all girls and we were in the back of this van going to the movies when "Shadows of the Night" by Pat Benatar came on the radio. We all started singing at the top of our lungs. All the words. And the chorus was ear-shattering. I still can't hear that song without thinking of that.

Brett's Update

After graduating from CHS, I did something very Hyper-masculine and went to Mississippi College on a Cheerleading Scholarship. (I don't really remember what my thought process was on this but WOW!!!) I met some really cool people, fell madly in love for the first time, experienced our football team winning a National Championship, experienced our cheerleading squad winning a National Championship, and made a bunch of B's. (My Navy Blue Polyester Coaching Shorts I wore during the championship performance went for $37,600 on Ebay)
Unfortunately, I also experienced real heartache for the first time, as I was informed that my Father had been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and would not live to see 50.

As a result of this, I transferred to Ole Miss to be closer to home and have fewer obligations. Big Neal died a few months into my Sophomore year. I went on to graduate with a degree in Biology, and was not too offended when they pre-cursed my announcement with: "And last but not least...Brett Neal Butler!!!" Needless to say, I didn't go to Medical School as I had kinda always planned on.

A week after my graduation, I moved to Orlando, FL and began a bizarre yet stimulating career as a wanderlusting job-hopper. I landed a gig with Harcourt Brace Jovanovic Book Publishers in their Science Department as a Grammer Text Experiment Editor. Do you remember in the 4th grade when you read a chapter on electricity and then would do an experiment at the end using a balloon and your hair? I was the guy who got paid to write those and authenticate their accuracy. It sounds sexy, but it paid less than $10 per hour and carried no medical benefits. (good thing Mickey's Malt Liquor was about $3 a six pack back then)

I then moved to Memphis, Tn and was self-employed for a year. Then to Baton Rouge, LA, where I went to work for the Norwest Corporation (Wells Fargo). While in Louisiana I met my ex-wife, Tiffany, and got married in 1997. I stayed with Wells Fargo for several years and managed offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. I left Wells Fargo, and took a job as a District Sales Manager for Arch Paging in New Orleans and was later promoted and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. While in Utah, I decided to get into Pharmaceutical Sales and landed a job with Astra Pharmaceuticals(now AstraZeneca). We later moved to Boise, Idaho with AstraZeneca, and 1 year later, James Neal (Jay) Butler was born. I stayed in Pharmaceuticals for about 3 years, and ultimately took a District Manager Position in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One year later, I got a divorce, and my ex-wife and I both decided to move back to the south. I moved back to Corinth and took a VP job at AmSouth Bank and later met my current wife, Devin. We got married in 2005, moved to Brandon, MS, and I went back to work for Wells Fargo as a Sales Manager in the Mortgage Division. Jackson sucked real bad, so the first chance we got to move back to Corinth, we jumped all over it. I am still doing mortgages but am a Sales Manager for a much smaller regional outfit called Mortgage Investors Group. I could not be happier!!!!!!! It is like working for a family, but with all the advantages of a large corporation. If they will have me long-term, I will retire with these guys in good 'ole Corinth and maybe have a place on the lake. :-)

Devin and I do not have any kids yet, but we plan on adding to our family whenever the Lord is ready.

Brett

QUIRKY GIFT IDEA FOR LITTLE BOYS

I have my son, Jay (7), this weekend, and he just got a new toothbrush. He goes to brush his teeth this morning, and I hear KISS's "Rock and Roll All Night" coming from the bathroom. Yes, his Mom bought him a KISS Toothbrush that has a picture of the band on the handle and plays the 70's classic every time you press it against your teeth. The line of brushes is called "Tooth Tunes" and includes various artists from the 70's, 80's, and today! :-)

Bobby, I think they have one that plays "True" by Spandau Ballet if you want to check it out...

Funny memory...

I'm emailing this post to the blog from my Blackberry, so I hope it makes it....

Do any of y'all remember Roger Floyd and Richard Clausell when we were in grade school? They used to "drive trucks" in the halls and on the playground! Literally, I don't remember ever having a normal conversation with either of them. They only communicated via their imaginary cb radios. And wherever they went, they literally drove their imaginary trucks. They made the engine noises, and they pretended to actually steer themselves with an imaginary steering wheel. They even made the beeping noises when they needed to back-up in reverse! Hilarious when I think back on it now.

Does anyone else remember that???
Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

Bobby's Update

Well here it goes , my attempt for a short and sweet up date. After High school my plans for going off to college were changed a few years back when my Grandfather and my Dad passed away in less than a year of each other. So I kinda fell in the roll of Man-of-the -house for both my Mom and my Grandmother. Saying that, I did the NorthEast thing for (2) years in Electrical Tech. I was going to join the I.B.E.W. (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) and be an electrician but found out most of the work would be out of town. I decided with my situation I could not do that either, so I went to work at CMC (old ITT) as a Utility repair man. During this time I met my future Wife Christy Peters (Kossuth 1990) and we were married in June of 93. That same year I started working for Tri-State Electric. We sell electrical supplies and electric motors to Industrial and Commercial accounts. I am still there and I am the outside salesman and really enjoy what I do. Christy finished her degree at Ole Miss after we were married and worked at Mississippi Polymers ( the old Intex Plastics) until Nov. of 2006 we we bought a gift shop in downtown Corinth (Waldron Street Market LLC) if you are in town stop by and check us out. We have two wonderful children , James Robert ( We call him J.R. not Jr. ) He will be (10) Feb 20th and Sarah Kate she turned (5) Sept. (21) J.R. is really into sports esp. Football and Sarah Kate is a girly-girl She loves all kinds of animals, especially dogs. They both keep our schedule very busy and we would not have it any other way.

I really enjoy reading all of your posts, so please keep them coming as it doesn't take much time to add one. I have also included in my photos a picture of Merrell's nephew, Noah McQueen (# 10 standing against the fence). He was on my team last year. He is a great kid and great athlete. Just thought some of you might want to see him, as I know Merrell would be proud of him. (He has a sister named Merrell, but I don't have any pictures of her to post . Sorry...)

Midnight Star

I hope this works, here is a video to a great song of our era. It reminds me of Skateland. See what you think!

The Police

In 1981, right before school started that year, my mom was still teaching 7th grade math. I went with her to school one day, basically to screw around while she worked on getting her room ready for the first day of school. I remember roaming the halls, completely unfamiliar with South Corinth and all of its buildings. I somehow found myself in the teachers lounge, and there was a magazine on a table in there. I can't for the life of me remember what magazine it was, but I do remember that The Police were on the cover. At that time, I had no idea who they were, that they were a band, or anything. But over the next few years, that would obviously change.

Fast forward to 1983. Their album Synchronicity is released:


Despite having never really been a fan of theirs (up to this point) they had a few good songs on the radio and videos on MTV, and I really started to like them. I got Synchronicity for Christmas that year, and I can remember playing it over and over again in my room. It's funny at how music or specific songs can trigger specific memories. I remember right after Christmas, a bunch of us got together over at Ashley Atkins' house, out in her little dance studio. There was a stereo out there, and I brought Synchronicity and we all hung out and listened to it out there. When I hear the song "Wrapped Around Your Finger," I immediately think of sitting in my room at home and working on my science project.

Anyway, you are all probably wondering where in the hell all of this is coming from. If you watched the Grammy's this year, you'll know that The Police played together for the first time in a really long time. And they've now gone public with their plans to launch a US tour beginning in May or June. My good friend Jay Hale, who lives here in Atlanta and is actually Ginger Horton's step-brother, called me today to tell me about the tour announcement. We've committed to going to wherever we need to go to see one of their shows, so I can't wait. I was in my car out and about in Atlanta, and he and I talked for almost 45 minutes about The Police, their old videos and songs, and stuff like that. Not that any of you really and truly care (I don't blame you), but I thought I'd share. Synchronicity completely takes me back to our 7th grade year at South. In my opinion, that was probably one of my favorite years in terms of our grade school days.

For my birthday that year, my dad gave me a camera. My first one. I'm not sure if any of you remember or not, but for several years, I took that camera everywhere and took random pictures of friends and stuff at school. Obviously, this was back before the days of digital cameras that will fit in your shirt pocket. This was a huge camera, but I lugged it around anyway. I'm so glad, too, because I have some hilarious pictures from back in the day. Here are a few from our 7th grade year:

This one was taken towards the end of our 7th grade year, on "Field Day." Remember? We all got to wear shorts, and we played different kinds of games and contests all day long. In this picture, you can see Heath, Weston, and Bobby walking away from the camera. I remember Bobby was humming or singing some song, and they were doing some kind of "cool" walk. Seems like it was some kind of wrestling walk. If you look closely, you can see that Weston had not only a bandana around his neck, but also some white pieces of hair tied into his hair....the beginning stages of his punk rock phase. Beyond them, you can see Ashley Atkins, Stacey Carson, and Kristye Sweat being harrassed by Terry Harmon. I think that's Bill Payne in the group under the soccer goal, and Todd Rob on the far left in the red shirt.


This one was taken in our Art Class that year, just before we got out for Christmas holidays. This was the second of two photos taken, and everyone obviously did their best to be funny in this one. In this picture, from the bottom left, you'll see Stephen Brooks, Jana Jones, Ashley Atkins, Beth Coleman, Merrell McQueen, Mrs. Guin's little girl (that Brett grabbed and scared the hell out of), Brett Butler, Angel Castille, (now back to the left) Stephanie Knight, Alesha Hussey, John Grayson, Sarah Lyle, Valerie Sargent, Judy Whitehurst, Jennifer Pace, David Stuart, Tess Gurley, and Chris McLaurin. Then you obviously have Mr. Davis and Mrs. Guin in the back.


This was a picture taken in Mrs. Landsdale's homeroom class. From the left, you have Rhonda Sheffield, Jeanne Caffereta, Whitney Wortman, Jeffrey Droke, Kathy Hale, Jeremy ?, Billy Moore, Lane Dunn, Joe Gilmore, Jeff McGee, Starr Weeks, Scott Caldwell, Dennis Riddles, Renardi Boyd, Kristina ? (am I wrong???), Michael Thomas aka "Sack," Brett, Jake, Tony Skinner, Ashley Atkins, (who is behind Ashley?), Ginger Horton, Merrell McQueen. This was obviously taken in April of 1984 because the bulletin board has "April Showers" on it...


This one was taken out in front of the 7th grade building before school started one morning. I had totally forgotten about Weston's "Nuke Culture Club" stage. He HATED Boy George, so he had a couple t-shirts made to display his opinions of Boy George. Hilarious. In this picture, you have from left: Jay McKinney, Weston, Shawn Glidewell, Ashley, Heath, Kristye, Stephanie Norris, Angel Wilburn, Christy Lancaster, and Kathy Hale. Man, talk about a blast from the past...


That's it for now. I gotta hit the sack. More to follow....ISN'T THIS FUN????

Soundtrack of the summer of 1985

The year is 1985. We had just finished the 8th grade. In my neighborhood, it turns out that Cynthia "Cheese" Gibson's house was our headquarters that summer. Almost every single day, we'd congregate at Cynthia's. Weston, Trey, Brett, Bobby, Judy, Beth, Reece Young, and a few others. Cynthia's older sister, Brenna, was home from college that summer, and as you can imagine, most of us guys had HUGE crushes on her. So that was one of the reasons (obviously) we were up there so much. Ha! Anyway, Brenna was big into music (and she still is, I should point out...) and so every time we were up there, she was on the couch watching MTV and giving us lessons on what was cool to listen to.

If there is one song that reminds me of that summer, and of Brenna, it's "Wouldn't It Be Good" by Nik Kershaw. Brenna had this album, and I can remember hearing her playing it in her room upstairs. At that time, it was the coolest song I'd ever heard, and the video was even cooler. I got the tape immediately and listend to it all summer long. I found it on CD when I was in college, and still have it to this day.



That summer you couldn't pry me away from MTV. All we did was watch MTV day and night. I remember seeing this video by Go West and I immediately loved the song. I went out and bought the tape, and I listened to all summer long. I think I actually wore the tape out, if you must know.



I can remember being at Cynthia's house one day, and Weston and I were in the den hanging out with Brenna watching MTV. This video came on, and we'd never heard of Mr. Mister. As you can imagine, we pronounced it like it looks "Mister Mister." Brenna, the Goddess of Music, was quick to point out that it was actually pronounced like "Mr. Myster." Weston and I looked at each other like "whatever," and it turns out we were actually right. Anyway, despite being such a mellow song, this one still reminds me of that summer. They had a few more hits that remind me of 9th grade, but this one is definitely from that summer.



When this song came out, man we were sold on it. Especially Trey, Weston, and me. That summer, because none of us were driving at this point, most of us had 10 speeds and rode our bikes all summer long. I had a blue bike bag on the front of mine, and I kept my walkman in there so that i could ride with my headphones on. I had this Tears For Fears tape, and it totally reminds me of Trey and I riding our bikes around that summer. Our weekly journey was downtown where we'd park them and walk around downtown -- from Belk's, to Reid Brothers, to Borrum's Drugstore, to a few other places. A whole crew of us hung out downtown that summer, and I'm so glad because shortly after that, all the stores closed and moved across town.



Stay tuned.....

Updates

As you can see, quite a few people have now signed up for the blog. That's great....but....I don't see near that many updates. SO....here's what I'm going to do. I'll give it another week, and then I'll start posting updates on people myself......

Flash Gordon

The year was 1980. We were in the 4th grade, and it was late November when advertisements for the movie, "Flash Gordon," were on television. I wanted to see that movie so badly...it was all I talked about. Here's the trailer for the movie that got so many of us so excited to see it:



As it turns out, the movie came to the Crossroads Twin Cinema on Friday, December 5th....on my birthday! Our class was still practicing for the 4th grade Christmas play. After practice on the 5th, Michael Nash came over to spend the night at my house. We went to see Flash Gordon, and it was awesome!! After that, for months most of us (Bobby, Weston, Trey, Brett, etc.) did nothing but talk about that movie. I even got the soundtrack for Christmas. However, Bobby Burns got it, too. The difference was that I had the record, and he had the 8-track tape. And that meant he could bring his to school. He had this little red 8-track tape player, which I always thought was cool because you could press a button and go to the next track. Anyway, our favorite part of that album was a track called "The Football Fight." Here is that part from the movie:



If you'll remember correctly, back in those days we had recess. But sometimes, if it was raining or too cold outside, we'd stay in the room for recess. It just so happens that one of those days when we were inside for recess, Bobby had his tape player and the Flash Gordon soundtrack. We both had crushes on Alesha Hussey, and so we decided to "fight" for her to the football fight song on the soundtrack. We pushed the desks aside and made room, and started that song, and then got down in football stances and proceeded to push each other and tackle each other to show-off in front of Alesha. Needless to say, she didn't fall for any of it and neither of us won her as the prize. Oh well....

5th grade FIGHT...

This just ran thru my mind while thinking about my first year @ Corinth...Bobby, especially you, do you remember when several of us had stayed in @ recess one day, and we were playing jacks, and this BIG guy(I can't for the life of me think of his name)picked a fight with me bce I wouldn't let him play jacks with us....He picked me up off of the floor, hit me, and blacked my eye and bloodied my nose...I just remember you being right there when it happened, and I think I ended up bleeding all over you...Makes me laugh to think that I was scrappin' in the 5th grade!

Here come the 3rd graders....

The year was 1978. We were in the 2nd grade, and I had Mrs. Askew. Weston had just moved back to Corinth. Perhaps not many of you remember this, but Weston and his family moved to Nashville for a year or two....around the time we were in kindergarten and 1st grade. They moved back, and it was just in time for 2nd grade. Anyway, as usual, one day Weston and I were acting up in class, and as a result, Mrs. Askew made us go and stand outside in the hall. Weston and I get up and go out there. It's funny, because this just came to me....I remember the teachers would send you out into the hall, but it wasn't to just stand there, outside the room, in the hall. You had to turn around and face that wall. Then it was clearly obvious to EVERYONE that you weren't waiting for someone outside in the hall...you were in "trouble." Any time you saw a kid in the hall on the wall and facing the wall, you knew he was some kind of trouble.

ANYWAY....Weston and I go out into the hall, turn around, and face the wall. We know we're in trouble, and I suppose it was embarrassing to a degree, but we were also out there by ourselves and there was no one really around, so we were kinda having some fun. You know...giggling, making funny noises, trying to make each other laugh, etc. This was all fine and dandy, until something happened. You see, Mrs. Askew's room was pretty much in the middle of the building. As you entered the 2nd grade building from the main entrance, Mrs. Caruth's office was the first room on the right, and then you came to the main big hallway. You could turn right and go down past many of the school rooms and then out the doors (where the 4th grade picture was taken that I posted about earlier) and down to the 3rd grade building. If you kept going straight as you passed Mrs. Caruth's office, you would cross the hall and then go through some doors to the 4th grade building. And if you made a left as you passed Mrs. Caruth's office, you could go down the hallway to the auditorium and the caffeteria. See the drawing I made below (not to scale, obviously...but you'll get the idea)...the red X is where Weston and I were standing...

As you can see from the diagram, you had to walk down through the main hall of the 2nd grade building to get to the lunch room. So no matter what grade you were in, that's the way you went. SO....back to the story. Weston and I are cutting up in the hall, but still a little embarrassed and worried because we didn't know what Mrs. Askew was going to do or say to us when she finally came out to confront us. OR, what would happen if Mrs. Caruth came out of her office and saw us in the hall. It seemed that we were in the clear, when all of a sudden, I heard a ton of footsteps coming from the other end of the hall. We turned our heads just a little and looked, and I said, "Oh no.....it's the third graders!!!" We then turned back to face the wall, put our hands up over our faces, and hugged the wall so as to try and conceal our identities. But it was too late. As almost each and every 3rd grader passed us in the hall, they laughed, pointed, and totally harrassed us. Talk about humiliation. The entire 3rd grade class walked by while we were out there in the hall, and I literally thought we were gonna die of embarrassment.

Weston, do you remember this?

I'll pay money...

To anybody that's got video of our 4th grade Christmas play. I'm completely serious. Name your price.

As far as an update of my life goes, I'm working on it. Promise.

4th Grade - Mrs. Butler's Room

Front Row: Chris McLaurin, Shawntell Patterson, Eaton Twin, Renardi Boyd, Jeannie Caffereta, Candy Garrison, Slug Wimms, Shawn Vandiver
Second Row: Traci Haskett, John Judkins, Tabitha Crumb, Tess Gurley, Ronald Edmond, Chuck Hodum
Third Row: Consuelo Keith, Whitney Wortman, Wanda Davis, Chris Mays, Jennifer Pace, Sylvester Lester
Back Row: Roderick Herman, Bobby Burns, Jake Laughlin, Trey Brewster, Jana Jones, Alesha Hussey, Andrea Garrett
Teachers: Mrs. Butler, Mrs. Vandiver, Mrs. Raffiti, Mrs. Caruth

Talk about a blast from the past. When I ran across this picture, I remembered it just as if it were yesterday. This is our class picture, taken in 1981. We are standing on the steps that lead from the 2nd grade building, down to the 3rd grade building. I actually remember us walking down from the 4th grade building toward the playground, and we turned right and walked along the sidewalk that was next to the third grade building. Then we walked up towards the 2nd grade building and had this picture taken on the steps. If you walked in through those doors, I remember there was a small film room...the first room on the right as you walked through those doors. That's where we'd all go in the 2nd grade to watch films with our class (not the entire grade, but just with our teacher and the rest of our room).

Whatever happened to Shawn Vandiver? Slug Wimms? Tabby Crumb? Whitney Wortman? I remember Andrea was taller than everyone at this stage, with the exception of Kolette Morrison. Bobby and I used to arm wrestle Whitney Wortman, and she won every time. To this day, no one believes me when I tell them I had a friend named Sylvester Lester. If you look at Chris McLaurin closely, you can tell he has that HUGE retainer in his mouth. Bobby, you remember when he accidentally left it on his tray in the lunch room and threw it away? We helped him dig through the dumpster to find it. Traci...what's up with the funny face?? Chuck Hodum...I remember him telling the class one day about how he lifted weights. Yet he sometimes always managed to pee in his pants. And Tabby Crumb....she was a little thing, but you did NOT mess with her. She would tear into you and not think twice about it...

Remember Mrs. Rafetti, the librarian? She didn't put up with our crap at all! I remember getting a paddling for pulling out the National Geographic magazines and laughing at the naked people. I think Bobby or Trey got one with me, too.

Anyway, enjoy the picture!!!

More Pictures from Bobby

How bout Dim pipes on Heath!!!! Why did Brett have a punters face mask????Wish I was still that thin... Check out me and Todd Dawson, I bet we were about to go outside and burn toy soldiers... And what the heck did I have that hat on at the dance??? What a GOOB!!!

Bobby's Pictures

I had some pictures I just had to post and then I will do my up-date later. I can't think what dance that is that we all have beach stuff on? Does anybody know???? More to come ..... Bobby B.

Redemption

OK. So I'm starting to feel guilty about posting that picture of Kelly doing her Madonna impersonation. I figured the only way to redeem myself would be to find a pretty embarrassing picture of myself and post it. So here it is....


This was in the summer of 1984 while at Camp Yocona for Boy Scouts. I know this because I had gotten those red shoe laces before my family went to Disney World for Spring Break that year. I guess my dad snapped this picture at some point while at the campsite. I'm a stud, huh?! I had those damn braces and weighed about 150 lbs. What a joke! Seriously...whoever voted me Most Handsome in high school must have been on crack....

Saturday Night Fever

I don't know about y'all, but when we were little, there was nothing like TV on Saturday nights. When I look back, Saturday night was the one night of the week that we could sit in front of the TV all night long. As I recall, there were three shows in a row that you could watch. Take a look below, and tell me that these don't flash you back to the good ol' days. These should be in the order that we watched them on Saturday nights....

Judy!

Hey, Judy!! :) xoxo

I have no idea how to do this!

Oh my gosh! I just wrote a ton of mess somewhere on this blog thing and I have no idea where! In my profile...? Dude... Bertha Mageehee is not Blog Smart.

Hey, everybody!! If y'all are savvy to all of this stuff, then maybe you can find the book I wrote somewhere in all of everyone's info. I just wrote a ton of mess about myself, that's now lost in Blog Land, I'm sure... I'll keep this one short and sweet though ~

Ashley! I sure thought about YOU tonight when Prince performed for the Super Bowl Half Time Show! I remember sitting in the car with you, Georgianna, Neal?, Jack? while they were dropping us off at the Country Club so we could go swimming and we sat in the car forever listening to Prince -- just singing and dancing before we got out. All of you Atkins have such great rhythm. Something we Coleman Cousins weren't as blessed w/! (I'm speaking for you Sas, hope you don't mind. ps - HAPPY BDAY!! xoxoxo) :)
Love to All ~ Take Care! Miss Ya!! My cell is 901.355.0262 - give me a buzz if you're in Memphis. I'll try and call you back sooner than it took for me to call Melinda back! (How long does it take us?? 3 - 4 mos to get back to each other? Sorry - you know I love ya'! :) )

Go Colts!!

In the spirit of football and the Colts' win over the Bears tonight in the Super Bowl, I thought I'd post a quick story on the subject....

There was this kid back in 1978 that thought he was one hell of a football player...


His team, the Golden Bears, played in the Corinth "Y" Football Biddy League Jamboree on October 24th. It was the Cardinals, the Packers, and the Bears....



The Jamboree took place at the Corinth Warrior stadium on a Friday night under the lights. You can't imagine how excited all of us were to play at Warrior stadium. We had always gone to the games there, but we'd never in a million years ever imagined we'd get to play football there! Here's a picture my dad took from the stands of us (The Bears) playing the Cardinals:


And here's a picture of all of us sitting in the bleachers after our game, watching the other games in progress...


See if you can find these people in the picture: Jake, Lucky Briggs, Jay Parrack, Shawn Glidewell, Brett Butler, Jay Fisher, Chip McCollum, Mark Mills, Shane Taylor, John Harris, and Tom Miller. There are a few others in the picture, but I can't remember their names. If you can, then please let me know!

Boy, oh Boy what I would give to go back to those days. We had so much fun and felt so tough playing ball at Warrior stadium. That was our first season of ever playing football...most of us had never strapped on the pads or played any football before in our lives. And at the end of that season, we found ourselves playing at Warrior stadium, at night, under the lights. I can still remember how excited I was and how awesome that felt. Yep...those were the good ol' days, alright...

One more thing

Hey
Forgot one thing...(Mostly for Ashley, Trey and Bill Payne) We were leaving Corinth the other day and at the gas station there was a jeep that was COVERED in mud. You couldn't even tell what color it was. I casually mentioned that I used to go "mud riding" and my 5 year old now thinks I am the coolest mom ever. He asks me about it every day. Being a redneck has its advantages.
Judy

Judy Update

Hi everyone!
It's been great reading about everybody and what's going on. Good job Jake. I love seeing pictures of the kids. It still amazes me that "we" have kids. They are all so cute.

OK, quick update on the past 17 years...Soon after going to college I met Chris Riddell (thanks to Dane, Natasha and Steven, I believe) and we got married in 1993. After a short stint as a social worker, I knew that I was not a nice enough person to do that for the rest of my life, so I went back to Ole Miss for a second degree in Interior Design. I taught at Ole Miss for a while and have my own design business. We are still in Oxford and love it. Chris has the Ink Spot and Catdaddy's and we develop property and sometimes "flip" a house. Maybe Valerie and I can get our own show.

We have 2 WILD little boys that I have absolutely no control over, but they are so much fun. Liddon is 5 1/2 and is in kindergarten at Ole Miss, which he thinks is pretty cool. Mack just turned 2 last week and only stops to sleep. I really think that I'm being punished for the things Chris did as a child, 'cause I'm sure I was an angel. My mother is the best grandmother in the world and takes them to Corinth a lot. Some of you may see them around! I'm sure Kelly hears them in the back yard.
Lots of you remember what a good neighborhood that is for kids.

We're at Pickwick just about every week end in the summer. I know ya'll remember where the cabin is. If you're out there, stop by. And for those of you who come to Oxford occasionally, give me a call when your going to be around...662-801-0430.

By the way, when Jake rants and raves about the people who do not know how to do this stuff, he's talking about me. Yes, I know that one of the pictures of Liddon is sideways, but have no idea how to change it.

Hope everyone as a great 2007!

Love, Judy