Craig Fehrman's "Home Grown: Cage The Elephant and The Making Of A Modern Music Scene" Is A Smash!

      Last Summer, while talking to my wife, Patty, and Tony and Alex over dinner, (Tony Smith and Alex Kandel who are from the alternative indie rock band, Sleeper Agent. Tony is my son and Alex is our future daughter in-law), Tony informed us that a writer from New York had been in Bowling Green interviewing the guys from Cage The Elephant and other local musicians and key people in town about the Bowling Green Music Scene.
    Tony also said that the writer who had written for the New York Times and had interviewed him and Alex too. Of course, I thought that was really cool but Tony did not know a whole lot about it other than he just said that the writer was probably going to write an article of some sort about Cage and the booming music scene in Bowling Green. Tony said that he didn't know where it or when it was going to be published. After that conversation, I basically forgot all about it until over a year later when somebody posted it on Facebook last week, that Craig Fehrman's Kindle single, "Home Grown: Cage The Elephant and the Making of a Modern Music Scene" was now available on the internet. Of course, I bought it for $1.99 and then gobbled it up within an hour or so on my iPhone. It's a quick read and about a 20,000 word article or 58 pages. It has 13 chapters such as "Too Hot For Skinny Jeans," "It's Like Its Own Little Babylon in the Middle of the South. But With a Lot of Churches," and "Tidball's." I have to admit that I was totally fascinated how this very talented writer had captured the essence and the current mood our of fair city of 60,000 and its happening downtown and music scene.

"But Cage seemed different. A little Googling revealed that all five members still lived in or near Bowling Green. It also revealed that they were right about the quality of their tiny local scene. In the last few years, Bowling Green had birthed Sleeper Agent, a snappy retro rock group that had signed with the iconic Mom + Pop label, played on Fallon, toured with Weezer and fun. The city could also claim Morning Teleportation, a spacey jam band that packed their six-minutes song with 20 minutes's worth of hooks."

    Fehrman describes Cage in great detail and writes about Cage drummer Jared Champion's dad, (Bill Champion, who happens to be a friend of mine.). He also writes about local DJ, Tommy Starr from Bowling Green's legendary rock station, D93, who helped build the local music scene to what it is today through the years by his radio program, "Home Cookin'" showcasing local musicians and bands. Also featured in the book, is Bryan Graves, a Bowling Green resident and co-founder of the Starry Nights Music and Arts Festival along with Matt and Brad Shultz from Cage, that has gained a lot of widespread media attention these last few years as far as outdoor music festivals goes. He also interviews local Blues musician Kenny Smith and Jeremi Simon-Kinnaman from the indie rock band, "Schools" and writes about another up and coming band, "Buffalo Rodeo." Fehrman digs in deep and really gives the reader sharp insight of what's happening in the Bowling Green Music Scene and how it involved to where it is today. Fehrman even conducts a phone interview with John Carperter, the famous horror film movie director who lives in Hollywood who is originally from Bowling Green. Fehrman reveals that Carpenter is also a musician of many sorts.
    Here's the author's bio from is web-site: "Fehrman is a Ph.D. student in Yale’s English department and a freelance writer. He’s written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and Slate, among others, and been interviewed on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered. (You can find a full archive of his work here.) He’s also working on a book about presidents and their books — and, more broadly, about how, when, and why we started expecting politicians to write books.
    Fehrman grew up in Dillsboro, Indiana, and graduated from the University of Southern Indiana in 2007, majoring in English literature and psychology. Both Yale and Connecticut represent new experiences for him, but, so far, they’ve been good ones. According to Fehrman, he's married to a beautiful and understanding woman named Candice, who works as a book editor in Fairfield, Connecticut."

    I give Fehrman's Kindle single, five stars.  It's an awesome read and spot on regarding the ins and outs about Cage The Elephant and the Bowling Green Music Scene. To download his book, go to Amazon.com here at http://www.amazon.com/Home-Grown-Elephant-Making-Modern-ebook/dp/B00G2N4JCE/ Also, to view Fehrman's web-site, go to http://craigfehrman.com/

Bowling Green, Ky's., Mariah's Restaurant And Legends Sports Bar Has A Touch Of Hollywood

     One of our favorite restaurants and sports bars in Southcentral Kentucky is "Mariah's Restaurant and Legends Sports Bar" located in downtown Bowling Green.  Mariah's claims to be the oldest brick house in Bowling Green built in 1818 and it's

located at 801 State St. in the downtown area.  Their motto is "Creative cuisine in a casual atmosphere." You can usually find my wife, Patty, and I sitting at a table in Legends Sports Bar on a Friday night enjoying the Happy Hours specials and delicious menu items such at the BBQ Grilled chicken sandwich along with a side item of fruit.  Also, you usually find our favorite head bartender, Bryan Graves, who just so happens to be co-founder of the Starry Nights Music and Arts Festival along with brothers, Matt and Brad Shultz of the internationally known alternative rock band and RCA recording artists, "Cage The Elephant."  Bryan is also involved in other aspects of the Bowling Green Music Scene by managing a local, up and coming  alternative rock band called "Buffalo Rodeo."

     While sitting at the bar several months back, I was admiring the beautiful, antique wood structure with the adorning columns and large mirrors.  I started asking questions about it and Bryan told me that the bar was removed from a restaurant in Chicago and brought to Bowling Green after Mariah's almost burned down back sometime in the 90's.  After they remodeled the restaurant and installed the antique bar in Legends, it has been a talking piece among patrons and bartenders ever since.  Bryan pulled out his cell phone and showed me a picture where the bar is in the background of a scene of a movie that came out in 1990 called, "Mr. Destiny" starring James Belushi and Michael Cain.  In the picture that Bryan showed me, Belushi is sitting at the bar talking to Cain who is acting as a bartender. Needless to say, I was intrigued by the photo.  So now we have another Hollywood connection besides horror film director and producer, John Carpenter, who is from Bowling Green.  If you ever make it down to Mariah's, check out the beautiful antique wood structure in Legends Sports Bar.  You won't be disappointed and you'll also love the painted murals of Western Kentucky University sports scenes on the wall.

"Stuckey's" Is A Rare, Roadside Jewel These Days

     Every once in a while you will see something on the interstate while traveling that will trigger those childhood memories.  This happened to me the other day when traveling South on I-65 in Alabama.  I saw it on the way down to Florida and so I decided to stop on my way back up to Kentucky.  I stopped at a "Stuckey's," which is one of the first roadside convenience store chains in the country.  The one I visited was along I-65 at the Hope Hull, Ala, exit.  I remember in the early 70's when growing up in East Memphis, when my mom and dad and I traveled out west in 1971 and down to Florida and the east coast in 1972, we literally saw tons of "Stuckey's" it seemed like along the interstates.  Nowadays, it appears that there are very few left and they are a dying breed.  The lady at the checkout counter at the one in Hope Hull said that there was only three left in the state of Alabama. And she said that all of them now share spaces with a fast food chains which was not part of the original design of the buildings or the concept of the store.  The one we stopped on our recent trip had a Dairy Queen on the other side of the building.  In Kentucky, the former Stuckey's building at the Upton, Ky., exit has been converted into a porn shop.  But at least I did manage to buy one of those original Stuckey's pecan candy rolls and a Stuckey's T-shirt while at the one in Alabama. And I was really glad to see this particular one still hanging on.  For me, it was just totally nostalgic thing to see the inside of a Stuckey's building again and see all of the cool, little trinkets and candy that they offered to us bright eyed travelers who will never forget Stuckey's.

 Here's more about Stucky's from Wikipedia:

Stuckey's is a roadside convenience store chain found on highways throughout the United States. Stores are concentrated in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest, although operations have existed as far east as Connecticut and as far west as Oregon.^[1] Stuckey's Corporation, the company operating the chains, has its headquarters in Silver Spring, unincorporated Montgomery County, Maryland.^[2]

Contents

  [hide] 

• 1 History
  • 1.1 Early days
  • 1.2 Downfall, then rise
• 2 References
• 3 See also
• 4 External links

History[edit source | editbeta]

Early days[edit source | editbeta]

Stuckey’s originated in the early 1930s in Eastman, Georgia. When founder W. S. Stuckey, Sr., had a successful pecan harvest from his family's orchard he decided to offer a portion of the crop for sale in a lean-to roadside shed. Many Florida-bound tourists travelingU.S. Route 23 stopped to purchase the pecans.

Stuckey's advertisement from 1976 Rand McNally Road Atlas

As the roadside business continued to expand, Stuckey's wife, Ethel, created a variety of homemade pecan candies to sell at the stand, including pecan log rolls and pecan divinity. In 1937, Stuckey constructed his first store building. Much like the former roadside lean-to, the new business focused on selling these Southern candies to highway travelers. This first Stuckey’s shop added a restaurant, then a novelty section, and then gas pumps. The final addition was a teal blue roof (which would later become the company's trademark). Until the onset of World War II, Stuckey’s continued to open stores in Georgia and Florida. The number of stores declined somewhat during WWII due to the effects of wartime sugar rationing.

After WWII ended, the Stuckey’s business once again began to grow and it sold a number of new franchises. The company constructed a candy factory to supply an eventual 350-plus Stuckey's stores located throughout the continental United States. As the post-war baby boom flourished and families undertook more long-distance auto travel, Stuckey's continued to grow as they were usually constructed along major highways and frequently were paired with Texaco gas stations as well as restaurants and clean restrooms.^[3]

A modern Stuckey's/BP in Yeehaw Junction, Florida

Downfall, then rise[edit source | editbeta]

In 1960, W. S. Stuckey attempted to create a hotel chain called Stuckey's Carriage Inn, but opened only four locations. In 1967, Stuckey's merged with Pet, Inc., maker ofPet Milk.^[4]

The company at its peak had over 350 locations, which dwindled to fewer than 75 after a decline in the late 1970s under ownership by Pet. It was repurchased by formerCongressman W.S. Stuckey, Jr., in 1985. It currently has over 200 franchise stores in 19 states.^[5]

Miley Cyrus' Free "Peep Show" Exposed To Millions

Since everybody has been on the bandwagon and beating a dead horse since Monday on Facebook, Twitter and on the national and local news about Miley Cyrus' sexed crazed song and dance (twerk, I mean) routine on MTV's Sunday night video awards, I thought that I would beat the dead horse a little more on this blog and then hopefully I can put it to rest. I even complained on Facebook last night about it. "Ok, ok, enough about Miley. I'm burnt out already." But here's my last two cents worth on the free Miley "Peep Show" from some of my Facebook comments on one of my friend's post this morning.

" I thought it was embarrassing for her and her family. There's a place for these type of performances such as venues for mature audiences like paid admittance to theaters or shows and for paid cable channels like HBO. But not for non-premium channels like MTV. Think of the message that she sent to preteen girls. If I was the father of a preteen girl right now and she saw that, I think I would be a little concern. I think American has to try to maintain some of its values and dignity with our preteens."

"Sex sells and always has. But shock value seems the name of the game now in the cable channel wars. Like PT Barnum said, "There is a sucker born every minute." And I'm a sucker."


"It's all about the ratings these days with the cable channels which means survival and dollars in their bank accounts and for their stock holders. Anything goes now and they will stoop to new lows in the freak show business. The Mileys, Katys and Lady Gagas will all come and go just like the Madonnas did of our day in the eighties and nineties. No telling what the future holds. I heard on the radio this morning that there is a group or society of women who are petitioning that they should have the right to go topless just like men whenever they feel like it. I suppose I could live with that if they feel so free to do so."

"I agree. Just saying Madonna was a trail blazer for using her talent and sexiness to sell her millions of records and sold out concerts as a young pop star back then as and even as an older one these days. She tapped into that market-sex sells and shock value. (Like A Virgin, Papa Don't Preach and etc.)


" Not sure about Madonna being a role model though. Maybe on how to make tons of money."

And here is some of my posts on Monday about it.


"Usually big news events that are smeared in controversy like the O.J. Simpson trial can last for months or even a year or two. But I give the Miley MTV Video awards controversy less than a week."

"Katy Perry - Roar (Live VMA 2013)I have to admit that Katy Perry has a lot more class compared to some of the other pop stars."

"It's amazing how some young pop stars will stoop low for that shock value attention. I understand Miley even made an amateur porn video too a while back in order to keep up with the Joneses."

"Three words. 0h my god."

Cage The Elephant's "Secret Show" At Bowling Green, Ky's TidballsTonight

Home of The BG Music Scene!

What started out to be a

secret is no longer a secret. Now the "cat is out of the bag" so to speak all over town and the internet. Bowling Green's and RCA Record's Indie Rock sensations, "Cage The Elephant" is playing a show tonight at the world-famous "Tidballs," ground zero for the Bowling Green Music Scene.   Don't ask me for any details because I don't have any.  All I know is that they will be there tonight because Facebook says so.  I just hope that they have some porta-johns on location to accommodate the flood of CTE fans.

L-R, Jared, Brad, Matt, Lincoln, Daniel

Man Gets 28 Years For Making Meth In A Bowling Green, Ky., Motel

     As I sit here in a Arby's across the street from the Western Hills Motel at Morgantown and Russellville roads, I can't help but thinking about the story in the Bowling Green Daily News http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/local/sentence-a-signal-about-meth-crimes/article_dcd019e8-fa09-558d-ad18-2e28b4fc6acc.htmlthe other day where a man got 28 years in prison for making meth in his room. The thought that occurs to me is that "Everything gets old and run down eventually."  Even when you try to fix up an old motel physically, you still need to manage it properly.  Maybe if that were the case, this would not have happened.  Who knows? This motel is apparently not what it used to be in it's glory days by looking at the post card posted below.  Just because somebody pays room rent, they still do not have a right to break the law and endanger the welfare of the community making these deadly, explosive substances in their motel room whether it's a newer, fancy hotel and an old, run down one.  And on the other hand, motel management regardless if they are Indian owned or not, these proprietors need to use a little common sense when renting to suspect guests. The Warren County Court system and jury has sent society a loud and clear message. Don't make meth especially in a motel room.  If you get caught, you will pay dearly like this guy did.

Bowling Green's Cage The Elephant and Sleeper Agent Are Ready To Blast Off Again

   Since both of the big name indie rock bands from Southcentral Kentucky have now completed recording their new albums, it will be a double hitter or a double headliner if you will, hopefully bringing more national and world-wide attention to the Bowling Green, Ky., music scene this Fall.
     When Cage The Elephant's and Sleeper Agent's latest albums come out on the RCA record label soon, both bands already have a lot in common.  Both bands are from Bowling Green, they are all friends, they both got their start at the famous local music venue, "Tidballs" and they both have the same Nashville producer, Jay Joyce.
     This will be Cage The Elephant's third album and Sleeper Agent's second.  Both bands toured together during 2010 and 2011 all over the country.  Even Cage The Elephant lead singer, Matt Schultz directed Sleeper Agent's "Get Burned" video which was filmed in an old brothel in downtown Bowling Green.
     However, since Sleeper Agent has a new manager, Missy Worth, the veteran from LA, she hooked them up with producer Eric Bass of Shinedown.  Sleeper Agent recorded three songs with Bass in Charleston, S.C., back in June.  Sleeper Agent also produced one of the songs and Joyce produced and recorded the rest.  Both both bands will be touring extensively all over to promote their new albums according to sources.