May 28, 2010
As I write this on Memorial Day weekend, I hope that everyone will pause at some point next Monday to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country. Many cities and towns across our country claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. In Columbus, Mississippi on April 25, 1866, a group of ladies commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery by placing flowers on the graves. Of course, we Mississippians are sure that this was the beginning of Memorial Day, which was called “Decoration Day” until 1882. You can read a lot about the history of this national holiday on the internet.
One of my favorite sites is the Veterans Affairs site:
http://www1.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday.
On Memorial Day I also say a prayer for the families of the fallen and for the many Veterans who did not die in service, but whose lives were lost in many other ways.
Since I last made an entry on the news page, there has certainly been a lot of news from my part of the country. Of course the big story has been the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which, as I write this, is still spewing hundreds of thousands of oil into the gulf each day and is now the largest oil spill in U. S. history. It is such a horrendous disaster and one of which we will not know the full effects for years to come. The explosion on the oil rig killed eleven people and injured several others and has shown us how little is known about how to deal with an accident like this. The lives of so many people are and will be affected by this spill and for a region that is still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina it is just devastating.
We have had some really bad storms and tornadoes in the South over the past month. The big tornado that came through Mississippi on April 24th killed 10 people, destroyed hundreds of homes and destroyed thousands of acres of forests. The hardest hit areas will be a long time cleaning up debris and rebuilding. Volunteer groups from churches, including mine, and other volunteer organizations are doing all they can to help the people who were hit by this storm.
On a lighter note, this past month I had as much fun as I have had in a long time when I performed at the Brandon Opry in Brandon, Mississippi. The Brandon Opry is one community’s version of the Grand Ole Opry. They have an excellent house band and an announcer and put on a show that emulates the “Opry” in Nashville. The band knew every country song ever written (I’m talking classic country—not today’s country), so I sang a bunch of my favorites, many of which I had never performed on stage before. We also threw in a few gospel tunes in the set and the audience was very responsive. I am already looking forward to my next time at the Brandon Opry.
Speaking of the Grand Ole Opry, I would guess most of you have seen the pictures of the terrible flood in Nashville that got into the Opry House, and a group of warehouses where many country artists kept a lot of their instruments and other equipment. The Opryland Hotel and the Country Music Hall of Fame also were heavily damaged. The Opry never missed a beat, however, and the show is being held each week at different venues around Nashville. As often as it is available they are using the Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry. If you are going to Nashville and the Opry you can find out on the website where the show will be held when you are there.
http://www.opry.com
I had the pleasure of singing at a couple of retirement homes this past month and it is always a rewarding experience for me. One of the homes was the one where my Mother lives and naturally I sang there on Mother’s Day. I have gotten to know so many of the residents there that they are all like family and I love to go and sing for them.
It was an honor to open the 75th Anniversary meeting on the Delta Council at the Bologna Performing Arts Center in Cleveland, Mississippi by singing “God Bless the USA”. Delta Council is an economic development organization representing the eighteen Delta and part-Delta counties of Northwest Mississippi. It was organized in 1935 to provide a medium through which the agricultural, business, and professional leadership of the area could work together to solve common problems and promote the development of the economy of the area. I attended many of the Delta Council annual meetings over the past 20 years in my job with U. S. Senator Trent Lott and I was really thrilled to be invited to sing at their 75th anniversary meeting. A lot of the members of my father’s family farmed for a living and I have a very soft spot in my heart for family farms who are struggling to hold on to a way of life that is gradually disappearing in this country.
I have not yet tried to wade through the massive healthcare reform bill that I spoke about in my last posting. After speaking with a few friends who are fairly knowledgeable about legislation coming out of congress, I probably will not waste the time. They contend that there are a number of changes that will have to be made to this bill in the near future. Plus federal courts are going to have to rule on whether the law breaches states' rights — a contention of at least 22 state attorneys general. In any event, one thing is almost as sure as death and taxes –our healthcare insurance policy premiums will go up next year. I don’t ever remember them going down!
Here’s hoping you have a very nice summer—free from storms, floods or any other disasters.
One of the most heard expressions during summer here in Mississippi is---BE COOL !
April 12, 2010
Springtime in Mississippi must be a glimpse of heaven! Azaleas, dogwood trees, wisteria in full bloom on a bright, crisp April morning are just too beautiful for words. This year we really are enjoying the beautiful advent of spring because of the unusually long, cold and wet winter we have endured. Of course, I cannot complain very much about our winter in Mississippi, considering how bad it was in other parts of the country this year.
The weather certainly was beautiful in Arizona for my daughter’s wedding last month. The wedding itself was also beautiful and friends came from all over the country to help us celebrate. We could not have asked for things to go much better than they did for the wedding and as we look at all the pictures and video from the event, we are satisfied that the memories of our daughter’s wedding will be happy ones for us and the bride and groom. Thank all of you who have sent your best wishes to Julie and Carlos for a long and happy life together.
We went from the wedding in Arizona to St. Louis, Missouri to tape a PBS television special which I mentioned in my last posting. Despite my voice not being in good shape, we had a great time taping the special. We taped the show two times with different audiences in the Bezemes Family Theater at the J. Scheidegger Center for the Arts in St. Charles, Missouri. I really enjoyed getting to know some of my favorite performers like Ray Stevens, B.J. Thomas, Freda Payne, and Bobby Goldsboro. (See last month’s posting for a list of all the performers) The guys all shared one big dressing room and I had great fun listening to stories of the days when many of them toured the country together. Ralna and I were thrilled to be included in this special which was hosted by, Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy award winner, Marvin Hamlisch. Marvin was fun to work with and is as delightful a person as he is a talented musician and writer. Look for the special which will be aired on public television stations in August.
Over the next few weeks I intend to do a lot of fishing and golfing as I will be at home for a while. All my concerts will be within driving distance and I can get back home to my own bed eat night. I am also excited to have time to do some writing and recording and maybe even a little gardening. I also intend to read the healthcare bill that the President has signed to see what is actually in this thing. From what I have heard from friends who have a lot of knowledge in this field, people are not going to realize exactly how this bill will affect them for 4 to 8 years, as a lot of it does not take effect right away. They also tell me that the bill will have to be adjusted in many ways as implementation is fulfilled. It is one complex piece of legislation and that usually means that few, if any, know the details of what is in the bill or what the long term ramifications will be.
Each day I am thankful for my good health and, at this point in my life I know that it is one of God’s greatest blessings. Let’s all do our part to alleviate some of our nations’ healthcare problems by eating right, exercising and spending some time each day letting go of our worries, doubts and fears and putting them in God’s hands-- Hands that will hold you and never let you go.
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March 5, 2010
I want to start this note by thanking those of you who have emailed or written telling me how much you enjoy this newsletter I write every month. I know I am often late getting this done and I am probably not going to keep on doing this on a monthly basis. I will, however, continue to make entries when I have time and when I have something to share. I do appreciate your letting me know that you enjoy reading my rambling.
As I write this, we are making the final preparations for my daughter’s wedding. Ironically, I had the TV on while I was working in my office yesterday, and the channel the television was set on was playing the movie, “Father of the Bride”. I’ll have to say this is not something I would advise fathers of the bride to watch just before their daughter’s wedding. On the other hand, it is a wonderful movie, and could help release a lot of those emotions so you don’t fall apart on wedding day. Aside from “giving my daughter away”, I am excited about the wedding and we are all looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends and meeting some new ones.
Immediately following the wedding we will be off to St. Louis to tape the PBS television special: “Marvin Hamlisch presents the 70’s—The Way We Were”. I spoke about this special last month and you can look at that newsletter to see more information about the special, including who, along with Guy & Ralna, will be in the cast. When we got involved in this special and started looking for 70’s songs in the Guy & Ralna repertoire, I was amazed at how many hits from that decade we did on the Welk show. I guess I should not have been surprised, because we were one of the acts that Lawrence Welk allowed to do current hit songs on the show and our tenure on the show was mostly in the 1970’s. At the present time we are set to do “Put Your Hand In The Hand”, “Lean On Me”, “You Needed Me”, and “Old Fashioned Love Song”. I have no idea how many of those they will actually include in the final cut for the show, but with the number of acts participating, I would guess no more than two.
We are so ready for spring in Mississippi, and I know that sentiment is held in many parts of the country. It has been a very wet and very cold winter here and I have not seen my golf clubs since before last Thanksgiving. I am sure the first round of golf I play this spring is going to be quite an adventure, but I am very much looking forward to it.
Hope you all have a bright and sunny March and please say a prayer for the “Father of the Bride”.
February 1, 2010
It has been only six weeks since I have written in this space, but it seems much longer. I think that is partly because those last two weeks of the year seem to go on for quite a while. Then we have to take the tree down and all the other decorations (the deer in the yard and the lights on all the trees and bushes) and that always seems to take much longer than it does to put it up—not nearly as much fun either. I have always gotten a little depressed putting Christmas decorations away knowing that the special joy of that season is all over for another year. Plus it’s often cold and dreary and spring seems a long way off. All that said, we had a very nice Christmas season and we only left home once to go see my Mother and Sister and her family in Tupelo. As I said in the last newsletter, it was the first Christmas in all her thirty two years that I did not see my daughter, Julie, who spent the time she had off from school working on her wedding.
Yes, my little girl is getting married. Spring will be especially beautiful this year as Julie and her fiancé, Carlos, will be married on March 13th. It is a hard thing for a father to go through-- being replaced as the top guy in your daughter’s life. But, it softens the blow if you think the man she is marrying will love her anywhere close to as much as you do. I believe that to be the case with my future son-in-law. So Daddy is thrilled for his daughter and I hope you will join me in praying for happiness for the newlyweds.
Immediately after the wedding Sis and I will travel to Missouri where Ralna and I are participating in a PBS television special entitled: “Marvin Hamlisch presents the 70’s—The Way We Were”. This special is being written and produced by most of the same people at OETA who have produced the Lawrence Welk Show for PBS since 1987. It will feature some of the top recording artists of the 70’s --many of whom I am a big fan. The cast includes: Marvin Hamlisch, BJ Thomas, Three Dog Night, Debby Boone, Ray Stevens, Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr., Bobby Goldsboro, Billy Joe Royal, Peaches & Herb, Freda Payne, Jonathan Edwards, and Vicki Lawrence. The special will be aired later in the year as a pledge special for PBS.
Ralna and I are not traveling nearly as much this year which will give me more time to do concerts in my neck of the woods. I especially love singing for the senior adult groups at churches and retirement homes who have kept us on television for all these years and who like the same kind of music that I do. It is also very nice to be able to do a concert and get back home to my own bed at night. Does that sound like a senior adult or what?
My “Hymns and Gospel Favorites” CD continues to do well and the comments and reviews have been more than heartwarming. As I said in the liner notes for this cd, it was a labor of love and my prayer was that the music would be a blessing to those who hear it. Judging from the comments I have gotten, that prayer has been answered over and over again.
Next Sunday presents a big problem for a lot of us football fans from this part of the country. We love the Saints and we love the Manning football family—most of us in Mississippi have forgiven Peyton for going to Tennessee! So, as hard as it will be to root against him, most of us will be pulling for the “Who Dat” Saints to win the Super Bowl. It has only taken them 43 years to get there! As tempting as it was to move the team after Hurricane Katrina, we are so thankful that the Saints owner, Tom Benson, chose to stick it out in New Orleans. The season that the Saints have had this year has been so exciting for the people in and around New Orleans and has created a much needed esprit de corps. So, as they say down on the bayou, “Geaux Saints”!
I hope you all have a Happy Valentine’s Day, a nice Presidents Day weekend, and that spring comes early to your house.
December 15, 2009
I feel I should begin this newsletter with the line from an old country song, ‘don’t pay the ransom, honey. I’ve escaped! It’s a song about a man who had stayed away from home for a much longer period of time than he had intended and had neglected to let his wife know his whereabouts. When he finally got around to calling her, he pretended to have been kidnapped and told her “Don’t pay the ransom, honey, I’ve escaped.” In some ways I feel like I have been kidnapped as I have been on the road since the day before Thanksgiving and have only been in my office once since then. We got home from two weeks on the west coast and Phoenix and I left two days later on another trip. The day after I got home, we had to leave again for a funeral in north Alabama and we are so far behind getting ready for Christmas that we are paddling as hard as we can. This will be a combination Christmas and New Year’s edition and I will not try to do another until the end of January, 2010. How scary it is to write that date--2010. An entire decade has passed since the new millennium!
We had a very nice November as we were home most of the time. I spent time singing at a few retirement homes and plugging my new CD in the Jackson area on radio and in the print media. The CD is selling very well around home and on my website and I thank all of you who have ordered—and re-ordered. Thank you also for all your kind comments regarding the CD. I am so encouraged by the acceptance of this album that I am contemplating doing another next year. It will probably be a Christmas album as I have always wanted to record some of my favorite songs of Christmas. If I am ever going to do it, I think now is the time while my voice is still in pretty good shape. I am so grateful that my voice has held up as well as it has over the years.
We had a really good crowd for the Welk Family Christmas at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona on December 6th. Ralna, Bobby Burgess and Elaine Balden, Mary Lou Metzger and I did a two-hour Christmas show that really was fun and well received. Ralna and I were both struggling with our voices, but we used our years of experience to work through it and we made it just fine. It is always a little nerve-racking to do new material for the first time and, on top of voice trouble, I had three brand new musical arrangements that I had never heard before the band played them at rehearsal. I was very relieved when they sounded good and had no mistakes in them. I love Christmas and the music that goes with it and I hope we can do more shows like this in the future.
We are looking forward to a big Christmas with all our family and friends. It will be a milestone Christmas for me and it will be my first one without seeing my daughter, Julie, who is staying in Arizona to work on plans for her March wedding.
Our beloved Ole Miss Rebels are going to the Cotton Bowl for the second consecutive year. Some of the players will have the distinction of playing the last game in the historic old Cotton Bowl at the Texas State Fairgrounds and the first game in the new Cotton Bowl at the billion-dollar Dallas Cowboy Stadium. As much as I would like to see that new stadium, we are ready to stay at home for a while. I have a big TV screen and I hope to enjoy the game from my comfortable easy chair.
I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and I also pray that 2010 will bring you peace and prosperity. In the words of Tiny Tim, “God, bless us every one”.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!
November 1, 2009
We in Mississippi will not be sorry to say goodbye to October 2009. In one word October has been a “washout”. Having so much rainfall at the time farmers are trying to harvest soybean and cotton crops has been devastating. They have suffered huge losses and many will have to just plow under crops that have sat in the fields and ruined. I could never have been a farmer. I would have died very young from living with the stress each year of being at the mercy of Mother Nature. You can irrigate your crops, but you cannot stop the rain! The weather also caused much grief for the Viking Classic Golf Tournament, a PGA Tour event held here in the Jackson area. The ground was completely saturated already and rain forced suspension of play on the first two days of the tournament. Officials of the PGA deemed the course would be unplayable for the foreseeable future and the tournament was canceled. This is a unique event that features cooking demonstrations by world famous chefs as well as golf by the professionals on the PGA Tour. This was a huge blow for the sponsors and everyone who had spent so much time and money to prepare for the tournament. It also is devastating to the charities for which this tournament raises money. In 2008 charities in Mississippi received a half million dollars from this event. Here again, gambling that Mother Nature will be kind to you for one week out of a year would give me ulcers-- or worse.
On a brighter note for the month, the annual Senior America Day at the Mississippi State Fair was a big success. Despite the weather, we had a very good crowd of about 5,000 and they seemed to enjoy the show. The show consisted of me, Miss Mississippi and some outstanding big band music from the Raphael Semmes Orchestra. We also had “The Diamonds”—one of the better known groups from the 50’s. I had been trying to get a 50’s group for a couple of years because this is the music that seniors of my generation grew up with. We will definitely have more music from this era in the future as people were up dancing in the aisles to the hits of the Diamonds like “Little Darlin” and “The Stroll”.
It has been great to be at home for a few weeks although the rain has put a damper on my golf game. Sis and I are both big baseball fans and we have enjoyed watching the American and National League Championship Series and the World Series. We also have been to a couple of Ole Miss football games where we enjoy seeing a lot of friends that we don’t see at any other time of the year. We have a real split in our family when it comes to football season. Many of Sis’ family live in Louisiana and are huge LSU fans, and her son went to Mississippi State. These are my alma mater’s two arch rivals and we are always giving each other a hard time, especially during football season.
Well, we are fast approaching the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season. I am always amazed that one day it is Halloween, and the next time I look up it is Christmas. Sis and I are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in California where we will get to visit a lot of old friends that we don’t get to see often enough. On the way home, we will make a stop in Phoenix to visit my daughter and her fiancé and I will be performing on December 6th at the Mesa Performing Arts Center with Ralna, Mary Lou Metzger, Bobby Burgess and Elaine Balden in a Christmas themed show.
As we enter the season of giving, please remember your favorite charities as they have all suffered a big hit from the state of our economy this past year. I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that when you thank God for your blessings, you will ask his blessings on our country. I believe that we are at a crucial time in our nation’s history and we are going to need some divine intervention to get us back on the right track.
October 7, 2009
Well, I have once again let the first of the month slip by me and I am a week late getting this newsletter posted. I have been out of town so much this past month that I really lost track of time and practically forgot what it was like to sleep in my own bed. I am looking forward to the next few weeks at home, where I can play some golf and catch up on work around the house and in my yard. I don’t know about your area of the country, but we are water logged here in Mississippi. It would be nice if we could transfer some of this rain to California to help with the wildfires.
September 2009 was an active and fun month. It started off with the opening of dove season in Mississippi. You would have to see it to believe it, but in the Mississippi delta where my wife is from, the opening day of dove season is as big a holiday as Thanksgiving and Christmas. The entire family gathers and they cook and eat and cook and eat some more. They know how to cook doves eleven different ways and they are all delicious. We enjoyed getting together will all of Sis’ family and especially our grandchildren.
Next up on my agenda was senior adult day at the Delta Fair and Music Festival in Memphis. It was their first year to try this and it was one of the more unusual events for which I have ever performed. There was a big dance floor right in front of the stage and while I was singing, people were out there dancing. I found out later that a dance group was performing right after me and I guess they were warming up to my music. It was actually a lot of fun and they were very good audience as they would stop and applaud after each of my songs. I also had a great band and that always makes the show so much better.
The next week Sis and I went to Washington to attend the portrait unveiling ceremony of my friend and former boss, Senator Trent Lott. Senator Lott was the 16th Senate Majority Leader of the U. S. Senate and his portrait will hang like the others in the U. S. Capitol building. It was a very special ceremony in the old senate chamber with former president Bill Clinton and former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich being the featured speakers. Everyone had kind and complimentary words about Trent and his work in the U. S. Senate. The portrait, done by Steven Polson, was one of the best I have seen. The event put a very nice cap on Trent Lott’s illustrious career in public office.
The Guy & Ralna show was back at Bear Creek Farms in Bryant, Indiana for two days and we had good audiences for all the shows. It is always amazing to see buses from a three- state area pulling into this little country resort in the middle of nowhere to come to the shows. Bear Creek Farms is really a unique place and we look forward to going there every year. Jack Imel and his beautiful wife, Norma dropped in on one of our shows and surprised us. Jack is from Portland, Indiana, just a few miles down the road from Bryant and he and Norma were back for a visit.
I had a really great time last weekend in Decatur, Alabama where I was the featured entertainment for Senior Adult Sunday at First Baptist Church. I sang a couple of songs in both morning worship services and then entertained at the luncheon that followed. The pastor at FBC Decatur is Dr. Bill Hurt, who just happens to be the minister who married me and Sis in Natchez, Mississippi seven years, seven months and twenty-one days ago. Bill is as crazy about golf as I am so I went a day early so we could play a round together. I won!
My new CD is going well and I appreciate all who have ordered it from this website. I also appreciate the complimentary letters and emails I have received. I’ll be at the Mississippi State Fair in Jackson on October 14th. Y’all come!
September 1, 2009
I am so happy to announce that my new CD, “Hymns & Gospel Favorites” has at long last been released. My friend and producer, Jerry Puckett and I laugh and say, it finally escaped! As I mention in the cover notes of the CD, it has been a labor of love and that labor lasted about ten months. Without Jerry Puckett, this project would have never reached completion. While having to deal with my travel schedule, various equipment problems and my impatience, he stayed focused on making this recording the best it could be. When you work on a project this long you really aren’t sure what it sounds like any more. I was very relieved when I played it for a few people, whose musical opinions I respect, and got favorable comments. It is now available on this website and I will have plenty of them along with me at all my concerts.
It was a wonderful summer for the Hovises. We stayed close to home, for the most part, and visited with family and friends. For the first time in quite a while we took a real vacation. A lot of times we will take a few days around one of my concerts and call that a vacation, but this time it was no work and all play. We went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado for a week and enjoyed getting a respite from the heat and humidity of Mississippi. It was absolutely beautiful there in the mountains and we often had to wear a jacket in the evenings. Sis and I also took separate vacations for a week when she went to the beach with her girlfriends and I went to Phoenix to visit my daughter, Julie. We are really starting to get into this retirement-style living.
In September I am looking forward to getting back into more normal pattern. With Ralna and I having done only two concerts over the past three months, I have not been singing enough to keep my voice in shape. I did do a couple of concerts at area retirement and nursing homes this summer, but I have been a slacker on vocalizing and keeping the voice in good condition. The old saying, “use it or lose it” really applies to the voice when one gets older. So I am going to get back into a routine this month that will include at least an hour a day practicing guitar and doing some singing.
In addition to a few local shows I will be doing in September, I will be at the Delta Fair & Music Festival in Memphis on September 9th and Ralna and I will be at Bear Creek Farms in Bryant, Indiana on September 24th and 25th. Come see us if you can and have a great September.
June 1, 2009
Well, May has come and gone and summertime is here in Mississippi. May was a full month for the Hovises as we had family birthdays and graduations, grandchildren dance recitals, Mother’s Day weekend, my 50th high school reunion, and Memorial Day weekend activities. The first weekend of the month found the Guy & Ralna Show in Rock Island, Illinois. The cities of Rock Island and Moline, Illinois and Davenport and Bettendorf Iowa make up the area known as the Quad Cities. We were thrilled to be invited back (we were there a couple of years ago) by WQPT, the public television station for the area, and, once again, the audience was just great.
The second weekend of the month found Sis and I each going to spend Mother’s Day with our mothers. We decided years ago that as long as our mothers were alive, we would make every effort to be with them on their day. It does complicate things for Sis’ children as they have to go to their grandmother’s to be with their mom. I am sure this is the case with countless others and it creates a lot of Mother’s Day family gatherings across the country. While I am on this subject, I do want to mention that Father’s Day is June 21 this year. We fathers don’t expect the same recognition that we give our mothers, it is nice to be remembered on our day. I am happy to say that my daughter never forgets.
My 50th high school reunion was really fun and the planning committee, of which I was a member, felt it went about as good as we could have hoped for. It was a rainy weekend, but the rain came only when we were inside. My class had not had a reunion since our 20th and we really had to look at name tags the first night. As is done at a lot of class reunions, along with the name on our name tags, we put the picture that was in the high school annual our senior year. On the second day we toured the city, including a visit to our old high school (which now houses just the sixth grade), and the Elvis museum. In case you did not know, Tupelo is the birth place of Elvis Presley and he lived there until he was 13 years old. The museum focuses on those first 13 years of his life and it is really well done.
We had a relatively quiet Memorial Day weekend, attending a granddaughter’s dance recital, and taking time out on Monday to honor the memory of those who have given their lives in the service of this country. Columbus, Mississippi is one of the sites that lays claim to the title “Birthplace of Memorial Day” which began during or shortly after the Civil War when the graves of fallen soldiers were decorated with flowers and flags. I hope that we will always observe this day and that it will more and more become a “memorial day” than just an extra shopping day for Americans.
Sis and I spent the last weekend of the month with friends in Atlanta and we all went to see a production of “Jersey Boys”, the story of Frankie Valli. Except for some pretty rough language, we thoroughly enjoyed the show. The cast was excellent and the score for the musical is filled with the hits of Frankie and the Four Seasons from the 60’s and 70’s and we could all sing along with every song.
I am happy to report that I have finally finished the recording of my new CD. I am still working on a title for it, and I hope to have product by the middle of July. That may be a little optimistic as these days everything seems to take about twice as long as I estimate.
I am taking the next two months off from writing a newsletter and will summarize my summer in the September edition. Ralna and I are also taking it easy this summer as we only have concerts in Milwaukee (June 7th) and Muncie (August 2nd) over the next three months. Come see us if you can. As the leader of the band used to say, “Good wishes, good health, and keep a song in your heart”. And have a great summer!
May 1, 2009
I am sitting here looking at this blank page trying to figure out what in the world happened to April? I am just sure it was just last week that I wrote the last newsletter. So, I pulled out my April calendar to see what we have been doing and I see very quickly why I didn’t notice the days flying by. We had three funerals (two of them out of town that consumed four days each); Easter weekend with the grandchildren; and the Annual Cancer League Gala, which I will talk more about later. I just returned today from another two-day trip that included the final organizational meeting for my 50th high school class reunion. Working on the committee to organize this reunion has been more fun than I have had in a long, long time. We have laughed and cried and joked and remembered things that we can’t believe we can remember—some that we would like to forget. We had our first meeting about a year ago and we have met every couple of months since then. The reunion is the 15th and 16th of this month and I know it is going to be a blast.
This past month has been an emotional one as we have lost one of Sis’ favorite Uncles and some dear friends who are our age. It is really a sobering reminder of how precious each day is when someone you grew up with is here one day and gone the next. These days I am singing at a lot more funerals than weddings, but I am grateful that I can still sing well enough to answer the call when friends and family make that request of me.
As I mentioned in the December 2008 newsletter, my wife, Sis, is president of the Cancer League of Jackson this year. The Cancer League is a support arm of the American Cancer Society and raises money for cancer research and local patient services. Their big annual “Gala” fund raiser is held in April and for the six months leading up to this event, there is a lot of work to do. I have not seen much of my wife in the past couple of months, but I will say that the Gala was a huge success. They raised over $250,000 for cancer research and Sis has received countless accolades for her work as president. The night of the Gala she was told that she had been elected, unanimously to a position of the American Cancer Society board of directors for the Southeast region. Working with cancer patients for the past few years has really given Sis a passion for helping to improve treatments and finding a cure for this disease.
Needless to say, I have done very little work on my new CD this past month and I am now hoping to be finished with recording by the end of this month. If that happens and we get the artwork and other parts of the processing completed, we should have product in July.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY !!!
April 1, 2009
I thought of beginning this newsletter with an April fool’s joke, but I couldn’t come up with one I liked. Furthermore, the ones I thought of were too close to the truth to be funny. We are living in some perilous times and a good friend of mine told me last week that I should re-read the book of Revelations to see how many “signs of the time are appearing everywhere”. We all know that “one day at a time” is always a good way to approach life, but it seems even more necessary these days. Reading these last two sentences, I see words from two of the songs on my new CD (Midnight Cry and One Day At A Time), which I have been working on diligently the past couple of weeks. I probably will be finished recording this month, but the art work and manufacturing process will take at least another month. Hopefully it will be available by June.
The azaleas, dogwood and redbud trees are in full bloom in Mississippi, signaling that spring is definitely here. We have also had a few tornadoes which usually occur this time of year. Last week we had a bad one here in central Mississippi that left quite a few people homeless but so far no fatalities. Speaking of homeless people, you have probably seen on television the massive flooding in parts of North Dakota and Minnesota. Many people have been driven from their homes and some have lost everything. I am sure when the waters finally recede, volunteer groups from Mississippi churches will make their way up there to help with clean up and rebuilding. We will never be able to repay the people of this country to came, and are still coming, to help us clean up and rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.
Last month’s Guy & Ralna mini-tour of Pennsylvania and Ohio was very successful and we enjoyed seeing lots of friends and fans along the way. We were ready to face snow and ice and bitter cold on this trip, but we got a break in the weather and, other than rain one day, we had a very pleasant week. I was excited to finally get to play Erie, Pennsylvania, home of our long-time friend and fan of 40 years, Linda Ciotti. Linda helped fill the house by bringing all her family (four generations of them) to the show in the beautiful Warner Theater in downtown Erie. We did have to perform with less sleep than usual as the rock group (Motley Crue) was playing at the civic center the night we arrived and their fans were staying in our hotel. They really didn’t need to pay for a hotel room because they were up all night in the halls.
When we got home from PA/Ohio, we had friends in from California and we all went to New Orleans for my wife, Sis’, birthday. We ate lots of raw oysters, went to a few of the wonderful restaurants in the French Quarter, and had coffee and beignets at Café Du Monde. We also took in the annual St. Patty’s Day Parade which is like a mini-Mardi Gras. It seems that they can never get enough of parties and beads in NOLA.
From New Orleans we went to Tupelo for my mother’s 90th birthday celebration. My sister, Joye (who has the same birthday as mother) pulled together a wonderful party for family and friends who came from far and near. It was a standing-room crowd at the retirement home where mother lives and I believe that she stood and greeted every person who came. My daughter, Julie and her mom came from Arizona and Ralna and I sang a few songs during the party. It was a special day as many members of the family and old friends had not seen each other in a long time.
Sis and I are hoping for a relatively quiet couple of weeks leading up to Easter. I have only a couple of concerts in the local area this month and I am looking forward to warmer weather and to getting reacquainted with my golf clubs. Here is wishing you an April with just enough showers to bring lots of beautiful flowers in May.
March 1, 2009
Well, February 2009 is history and as I look back over the month that began on Super Bowl Sunday, the shortest month of the year was an eventful one. I performed with Ralna in Germantown, Tennessee and St. Petersburg, Florida during the month and we had wonderful audiences in both places. After the show in Germantown we enjoyed a meal and nice visit with all the Welknoters who came to the show. Welknotes creator, Judy Shaw, presented me and my wife, Sis, with a “happy anniversary” gift and big chocolate cake (which we shared with Alice Hutchinson who was celebrating her 89th birthday). I always welcome having a show so close to home, as Germantown is, so I can drive and avoid the stress of air travel.
This past weekend public television stations around the country began airing the new Lawrence Welk Special, “Welk Stars Through The Years”. I was happy to get an advance copy of the show a couple of weeks ago and I must say that I really enjoyed it. The show is entertaining and you will learn some surprising things about some of the performers who were on the show. It is a nostalgic trip down memory lane with the Welk musical family and I know the fans will enjoy it. I will say that I had a few tears as I watched friends like Myron Floren, Henry Cuesta, Jimmy Roberts and Joe Feeney who are no longer with us. Congratulations to JoAnn Young and the OETA production crew who I think did an award-winning job with this special.
Last week I traveled to one of our state veterans homes in Mississippi where I visited with the residents and did a concert for them. I always get more out of these performances than they do and I intend to do more and more in the future. I visited the room of one couple who had been married 64 years and both were WWII veterans. It reminded me of the song Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys wrote about his mom and dad called “G.I. Joe and Lillie”. It is a touching story of how they met during WWII and lived their latter years together in a veterans home.
March is a big birthday month in our family. I will be celebrating the birthdays of my wife, my mother, my sister and my mother-in-law. My mother will be 90 this year and we are planning a big celebration for her with all her family and many friends from the community of Tupelo where she has lived all her life.
Folks around my neck of the woods are really ready for spring to arrive. Our weather has bounced around from very cold to very warm over the past three weeks. In Jackson, Mississippi it was 80 degrees two days ago and we had snow on the ground when we got up this morning. The trees, flowers and birds are so confused they don’t know what to do. I am looking forward to some consistently warmer weather so I can get back to the golf course and work on my unpredictable golf game. I am not a cold-weather golfer, so I have not spent much time on the course for the past three months.
Speaking of cold weather, The Guy & Ralna Show is traveling to Erie, Pennsylvania, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio this weekend (March 8*,9,10) where there is still a lot of snow and bone chilling temps. Sis and I are getting out our boots and long handles! Y’all come out and see us if you can!
* For those coming to the show in Erie on March 8th, daylight savings time begins on that date!
February 6, 2009
Well, hello everyone. I do plan to eventually catch up and get this newsletter posted on the first of the month. I use to wonder about older people telling me that time passes faster the older you get—now I am sure they were right. I am reminded of one of my favorite Yogi Berra quotes-- “it sure gets late early out here”. This “Yogi-ism” came when he moved, late in his career, from catcher to the outfield and was bothered by the shadows. I can’t say I am bothered by shadows, but as I get older and the shadows get longer, I find it is taking me longer to accomplish my list of things to do.
I have spent a lot of hours this past month trying to learn a new piece of equipment that I will use to arrange and record my own music tracks. The capabilities of this unit are incredible, but the instruction manual that came with it is less than adequate. I have two friends who have the same unit and between us talking to the manufacturer in California and to each other we hope to eventually conquer this machine. The basic music tracks for my new CD are being recorded with this machine and this has been one of the reasons progress has been slow. We are, however, very happy with the sound of what we have done thus far and I am still hoping to finish this project by the end of May. I am thrilled that I am finally recording some of the songs that I have long wanted to record, such as, I Bowed On My Knees and Cried Holy, Rise Again, and One Day At A Time..
As you can see from my calendar page, the Guy & Ralna Show will be at the Germantown Performing Arts Center in Germantown, Tennessee, the day after Valentine’s Day (February 15th) and at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida on February 22nd. These are our first concerts of the new year and we are looking forward to getting back on stage and to seeing a lot of our fans in these areas. We are excited to be back at the beautiful performing arts center in Germantown, near the home of our long -time friend and WELKNOTES creator, Judy Shaw. It is also close to my hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi and a lot of my family and friends will be there. It will be our first time at the Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg and we are really looking forward performing there in one of the best Lawrence Welk markets ever.
We are all anxiously awaiting the March airing of the new Lawrence Welk special, THE WELK STARS THROUGH THE YEARS, on PBS stations across the country and in Canada. It should be an interesting show to Lawrence Welk fans and I know it will be well done as the OETA crew and JoAnn Young always do an exceptional job with the writing and production of these specials.
I hope you have a good rest of the month of February and that thoughts of springtime will give you inspiration to meet each day with hope, joy and thanksgiving for all the blessings in your life.
God Bless America.
January 6, 2009
As I suspected, I am a little late getting this month’s newsletter posted. I hope that you all had a good holiday season and that the New Year is good to you. I certainly pray that it will be much less painful for us (economically) than all the “experts” are predicting. It is going to be a tough time for a lot of people who have already lost their jobs and for those who are going to lose them in the near future. This is truly a time when we are going to be called on to help our neighbors in any way we can—something we should be doing in good and bad times. These trying economic times could have a positive effect on our country as we have to rethink our priorities and focus on what is really important in this life. We might even get back to living within our means.
Sis and I are thankful that all our children and grandchildren are back at home safely after all their holiday traveling and we are ready to get into 2009. It is hard for me to believe that we are beginning the 9th year of the new millennium as I can remember the first year so vividly. Remember all the predictions as to what would happen on January 1, 2000? I can remember people stocking up on non-perishable food and drinking water, taking their money out of banks and preparing for something like a nuclear holocaust. As it turned out, “the sky is falling” predictions did not come true and I often wonder what people did with all that food and water. One friend of mine, who lives in California, said that he had enough room to store it and that he was going to stay prepared for the next “big one” (earthquake).
Other than a few local Christmas gigs, it was a quiet month for me. I always enjoy going to the local retirement and nursing homes during the Christmas season and singing for a lot of the people who have kept the Lawrence Welk Show on television for 53 years. I am at the age now that I look at a lot of these facilities as a place that might be my future home so I take more notice of the facility than I used to. Although there is a lot of negative publicity regarding nursing homes (if you haven’t noticed, our media only focuses on the negative), there are so many devoted and caring people who work in this field and they do a wonderful job with our nation’s population that needs assisted living or nursing home care. While I am on this subject, I would like to mention the wonderful work of the hospice program in this country. Those of us, who have had a loved one cared for by hospice, know what a godsend this program can be. For those who are not familiar with hospice, here are a couple of websites that are very informative. http://www.hospicefoundation.org and http://www.hospicenet.org .
This month will be spent trying to keep New Year’s resolutions, working on my new CD and doing a couple of local gigs in Mississippi. I hope you will look at the calendar page of this website and make your plans to come to a concert in your area in 2009. HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
P.S. REBELS “MESSED WITH TEXAS” IN THE COTTON BOWL !!!
OLE MISS 47 - TEXAS TECH 34
