Former president Bill Clinton greets a baby after speaking to a large crowd Wednesday at Vineland Station in Whiteville, N.C. Clinton was campaigning for his wife and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
This was the fourth time I’ve covered a Bill Clinton speech for his wife and presidential candidate Hillary in the last year.
This one was pretty laid back and the handlers were much more relaxed. I was relaxed and content on what was given after becoming a Clinton speech veteran.
Today I thought I’d share something I found by one of my favorite musicians.
Another Country/Tift Merritt
North Carolina native Tift Merritt released her third album and as a fan of the first two, I couldn’t help but pick up this gem of a release.
The album is a departure from the first two and is much more spiritual and soulful felt. I really enjoy the second track “Broken” and the next to last “Tender Branch”.
Many of the songs were written while she was taking a break from the road and living in Paris. According to Merritt, the experience changed her life and gave her reason to write.
Here is Tift and her band on a recent video session of KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic.
While waiting for customers on Saturday at their grandmother’s yard sale, Whitley Wilhoit, 8, balances a toy chipmunk on her head under the watchful eye of her 10-year-old sister Bailey Wilhoit. According to the children’s grandmother Sharon Maples, regular yard sales are a necessity to make ends meet. Because of a family crisis, she has been raising the two girls and their brother C.J. at her home in downtown Myrtle Beach. “I use to have two (sales) a year but I stopped selling as much. Now I have one a year to help pay the bills.”
Last week while working on a story about the underground economy, I chanced upon this family at a yard sale in downtown Myrtle Beach.
The Wilhoit children were helping their grandmother during the sale to raise money for family expenses.
Nowadays with the advent of multimedia, these types of still images are taken for granted in the newsroom. I drove all day and logged many yard sale miles before finding the right family for the story line. Then time was spent to wait for the moment to happen.
The children were so proud of their ability to help their grandmother and take part in the family dynamic.
Thanks to the Psychology Club at Coastal Carolina University for making my Friday a little more fun. I was covering the Relay for Life on campus and we decided to have a Napoleon Dynamite hairstyle contest.
Frank Deihl, owner of Classic Cycle Works located in the Choppee community of Georgetown County, works to remove a hard to reach bolt on a late model Norton motorcycle Thursday at his workshop behind his home. For over 50 years Deihl has worked on English made motorcycles and has clients all over the world. “I started out with two Harley-Davidsons but when you’re 17-years-old they’re a little slow for ya.” Said Deihl about his love for English bikes. ” I turned around and bought a BSA motorcycle because it was much faster.”
Last week I finally had the opportunity to visit the shop called Classic Cycle Works just outside of Georgetown, South Carolina. Frank Deihl restores old English motorcycles like Norton, Triumph, Matchless, Vincent and BSA. My favorite in the shop was a Black 1939 BSA M-20. It was perfect and in mostly original condition.
Living on the coast has it’s ups and downs and erosion for the east enders of Ocean Isle Beach is an obstacle for those struggling to live their dreams. These houses are on what used to be the third row from the beach.
I guess Mother Nature always has the last word on where we can live.
This weekend during a Sunday visit to my mother’s gravesite in Eden, I took these photos of my father walking to the mausoleum. It’s good to see him back at home and in better spirits after his extended stay in the hospital and clinic. Best of all it’s great seeing him wear his vast variety of cool hats.
His recent favorite is a Tennessee Volunteers hat my brother and nephew gave him last year for Christmas.
On Sunday he wore my all time favorite: A white beach hat I believe he bought several years back during a bus trip to Myrtle Beach.
There for a while it was the only hat he wore and often I would complain about the hat. It’s funny how attitudes change about the simple things your parents do.
I think more than the hat, I love the sight of him wearing his variety and the time I’m getting to spend with him.
While taking care of my father this past weekend, I took a break between his insulin shots to spend some time playing music with my old friends Don Wright and Melanie McCrory. It was a fun 4 hours and the break gave me a chance to test out my new 00-18 V now known as ”Lit’l Billy”.
Don and I were ahead of our time back in the late 1970’s and with singer/songwriter Lynn Smith we started an acoustic trio playing mostly songs we wrote and conjured on the afternoons after school and work.
At the time I played a beautiful Yamaha FG-160 my mother had given me for my 16th birthday. Don played a lap dulcimer and a little bit of banjo. Lynn was the lyric writer for our songs.
After our early musings around Rockingham County, Don is now a dentist working in our hometown. As you know I’m a photojournalist and Lynn is a deputy sheriff. Melanie is still working as a nurse in Winston-Salem. Lynn just has to be the biggest surprise in the group as a deputy sheriff.
Here are some examples from our playing on Sunday.
Our cover of “Norwegian Wood”. I’m on “Lit’l Billy” and Don is playing his unique mandocello/guitar
