Frank's BBQ in Bowling Green, Ky., Is "Not The Best, But Close."

Casey, Galen & Rae Rae

I dropped by Frank's BBQ at 412 Raven Street (behind Shady Ray's Pawn Shop at Gordon Avenue and Veteran's Blvd.) in Bowling Green and picked up the BBQ Family Pack for a rainy Tuesday night (Feb. 22, 2022) dinner at home with my wife, Patty. In the pic below are two hardworking ladies at the restaurant, Casey and Rae Rae, who are standing next to me. Their phone number is (270) 715-1197 and their hours are 11 a.m.-4 pm Monday thru Friday. Frank's BBQ was delicious and I highly recommend it! Plus, the staff is super friendly and nice too! Btw, Frank's slogan for the restaurant is "Not The Best, But Close" which I think is very clever!

Bowling Green, Ky., Continues To Heal From The December 11, 2021 Deadly Tornado

It only took minutes for the deadly tornado which cut a path through Bowling Green in the early morning hours of December 11, 2021 to do at least two years worth of repairs and reconstruction for homes and businesses in our beloved Southcentral town of 72,000 citizens. It sounded like a nuclear bomb colliding with a train as the tornado took havoc in my neck of the woods especially since I only lived about eight houses away from Russellville Road where a Mexican restaurant, a gym and two auto

parts stores were blown away amongst many other structures including people's homes and apartments. Two liquor stores in town were spared but one was not so lucky. Below are some pics of The Greenway when Jude, my Aussie doggie and I took a walk in the sunny 55 degrees this afternoon. The Greenway is just down the street from my house. Jude and I have walked up and down this formerly beautiful path many times through the years. At least now, it appears that The Greenway and Creason Avenue area has come a long ways especially since FEMA came through not too long ago and picked tons of debris that had blown over the railroad tracks from Russellville Road. There is hope for BG after all. BG will rebuild and continue to heal its neighborhoods and main business streets such as Russellville Road and the U.S. 31-W By-Pass.

College Town At Christmas: 2021 "Growth, Newcomers, The Deadly Tornadoes And Hope Again"

   In last year's annual "College Town At Christmas" blog I wrote about the "Five Stages Of Hope" for our college town of Bowling Green (the third largest city in Kentucky).

    It appeared that our community of 72,000 citizens was pretty much healing and doing a lot better from the recovery of the covid outbreak across the nation and the world.  Especially, in a political sense, it appeared that many of our citizens had a gained a certain level of acceptance that this is the way it was going to be from now on-virus outbreak preparedness. And it appeared that the mood in our town was that the covid outbreaks had calmed down quite a bit in 2021 and the high number of vaccinations in our community were up and coming along pretty good is the main reason that there has been a sense of calmness politically in the community where there had been some major divisions amongst friends, neighbors and coworkers.  It had also appeared that healing was taking place physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually in our community with a lot of Hope for 2021.

   And there had been some good news for 2021 just before the new year.  When 2021 arrived, it was announced the Livability magazine had selected Bowling Green as one of the Top 100 Places To Live in the United States. This award is given to to communities that offer a high quality of life at an attractive cost of living for both individuals and families. So after covid struck in 2020, in 2021 we started noticing a lot newcomers moving into town from all across the nation such as California, New York, Maryland, Texas and amongst many other places across the country.  Then of course, Bowling Green has always had a long history of manufacturing with new plants springing up more rapidly in the new industry Transpark located across town near Warren East High School as new subdivisions and apartment complexes where popping up everywhere too in town and in the county. However, some of our citizens have been worried and are still concern about the rapid growth and the effects on the community with too much traffic and the roadways not being designed correctly to handle the heavy flow of automobiles and trucks. Capitalistic hardworking business people have found Bowling Green to be a gold mine for real estate and development as we have become a basically bedroom community of Nashville since we are only 60 miles away from that major big city in the American South.  Nashville has experienced tremendous growth in the last 20 years also.  Then we also have new shopping centers and restaurants springing up too lately along with many other types of businesses and small businesses also. We also have a large and very diverse immigrant and refugee community in town.  The City of Bowling Green and the Warren County government and our schools systems have done a tremendous job to accommodate them also.  Let's just say, our college town where Western Kentucky University is located with an enrollment of 20,000 students, is booming these days in-spite of setbacks in the last two years.

   

But then two deadly tornadoes hit Bowling Green recently in the early morning hours of Saturday, December 11th, killing 17 people and 76 across the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  The one big tornado basically cut a path through town starting at I-165 (formerly known as the Natcher Parkway) cutting across Whisphering Hill subdivision, Russellville Road area, Creason Avenue, Sumpter, Nashville Road at WKU, U.S. 31-W By-Pass, Maganolia Streets and the Cemetery Road and Indian Hills.  This is probably one of the worst tornadoes to ever strike Bowling Green with this much death and destruction causing millions of dollars of damage to our homes and businesses. But again, there is much Hope for Bowing Green this Christmas season and for the New Year of 2022.  Hundreds of volunteers, organizations, the City of Bowling Green, the Warren County government, FEMA, BGMU, Warren Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation, Spectrum Cable, the National Guard, the Salvation Army, churches, volunteers from across the county, the Bowling Green Fire Department, the Bowling Green Police Department, the Warren County Sheriff's Department, the Kentucky State Police, Med Center EMT's, Warren County Coroner's Office and hundreds of others have given many hours of their professional time and dedication. And many thanks to businesses and restaurants in our college town that has donated their time and money to help the community such as Walmart, Hickory & Oak restaurant and Hughes and Coleman law firm just to name few who are helping out with some major donations and necessities.

     Needless to say, we as a college town, will help put our community back together along with the help of our local, state and federal governments in 2022. We will get it everything back to together one way or another,  I am sure.  And we hope and pray that the healing process will continue for the victim's families of the tornadoes and homeowners and business owners who have suffered losses can rebuild ASAP.  Material things can be replaced but human lives cannot.  So let's remember those Bowling Green citizens who lost their lives this Christmas season.  Light a candle and say a prayer for them and their families.  And let's continue to pray for our College Town and let's continue to be involved and let our let "Heartlight" shine through. I have lived in Bowling Green almost 34 years-now and I wouldn't want to live any other college town in the world except ours.  God Bless and Merry Christmas! Peace-Galen A. Smith Sr., Bowling Green, Ky.

The Dad Rocks Podcast: Episode 143: Foreigner’s “Head Games" & Lars Ulrich Vs. Napster

         Hello everybody!  I apologize, but it's been a couple of week since I have made a blog entry regarding "The Dad Rocks Podcast."  https://anchor.fm/galen-smith3  I have been busy like always especially at work.  I am trying to wrap a few things up before my upcoming retirement from this one particular career that I have been working in for the last 27 years.  I am getting ready to move into the next phase of my life.  I call it my "working retirement years."  I am moving to a new career which is something totally different compared to what I have been doing these last 27 years of my life.  But anyway, wish me luck!  It won't begin until at the end of October of this year which is next month btw!

         Anyway, on today's podcast I talk about the Bowling Green and Southcentral weather of course, the private Facebook group, "Dad Rocks" where we now have over 2,050 members.  The group just keeps on growing and growing!  We have a great thing going on in the group with lots of positivity! We're a FB group all about the music and no fighting, arguing or bs.  This a FB group where everybody gets along and that's what we like.  Also, I'd like to thank my co-administrator, Britt Moore of North Mississippi.  He is responsible for helping to bring a lot new members from the Mid-South area and we appreciate all his  hard work and efforts! Thanks again, Britt!

        In today's "A Rock Album Inquiry" segment, I talk about Foreigner's "Head Games" album which came out in 1979.  It's a great album and it's on of my favorite all-time favorite Foreigner albums list and I bought a copy of it in 1979 when it first came out when I was seventeen years-old. I played it all the time on my Hi-Fi Pioneer component stereo system in my dad's lake house basement.  And boy, did it sound awesome especially when played loud!  But the good news is, I still have a copy of the album today and of course, you can listen it on Spotify, Apple and all of the other major music apps on your phone or you can probably order it online or find it at your local record store too.

  

      And finally, but not least.  I talk about "This Day In Rock History," when Metallica's Lara Ulrich fights for an untarnished image by granting an interview with Rolling Magazine in 2008 regarding he and his band sued Napster, the music sharing app.  I was never a big Metallica fan but nevertheless, I have always liked their music.  The are big with a big sound, a big stage production and presence with a massive audience.  And everybody in the world of rock&roll knows who is Metallica is.   

Well folks, that's it for this week, we'll see you next week on "The Dad Rocks Podcast."  And thanks for reading this blog and listening to the podcast.  Remember, keep your chin up, keep working hard, stay positive and stay safe out there! Goodbye, Galen

The Dad Rocks Podcast: Episode 140, Intro, A Rock Album Inquiry-Capt. Fantastic And This Day In Rock History- Ozzy Osbourne's Parkinson's Disease

    Happy Sunday everybody! It's been a great week. But I had a busy week at work and I have also delved into the world of TikTok in my spare time by doing some promotional videos for The Dad Rocks Podcast.  It's been a lot of fun doing these videos while learning to navigate my way around the TikTok app.  Thanks to TikTok superstar celebrity, Daniel Lawson of "The Awesome Lawsons" who inspired me to get started on TikTok after I did an interview with him a couple of weeks ago on The Dad Rocks Podcast. I have known Daniel for a while who is also from Bowling Green, Ky., where I live.

     On today's episode, https://anchor.fm/galen-smith3/episodes/140-Intro--A-Rock-Album-Inquiry-Capt--Fantastic-and-This-Day-In-Rock-History-Ozzys-Parkinsons-e16k0ql/a-a6ebl5o  I talk about the Bowling Green and Southcentral weather of course, and the passing of one of our own Facebook Dad Rocks group members, Marla Keithley Rustenhaven, 51, of Hernando, Miss., and we send our thoughts and prayers to her family and friends.  Also, I mentioned about me getting stung by a hornet while trimming some bushes last week in my front yard.  It's no fun folks, let me tell you! It stung me in the left temple and hurt like hell! Also, the swelling lasted for a couple of days and even puffed up the skin under my left eye!  Be careful out there when you are doing yard work for the rest of the summer and especially while trimming your bushes and hedges.  Be on the look out for the bee, wasp and hornet nests that are hidden away inside those bushes and hedges or even small shrubs next to your house. 

   
     Also, on today's A Rock Album Inquiry, I discuss Elton John's 1975 "Captain Fantastic & The Brown Dirt Cowboy" album from Wikipedia as my source as usual.  The info states that this album is a classic and was a mega hit album for EJ among other cool and interesting facts about it.  Needless to say, it lives on forever in the hearts and minds of millions of EJ fans all over the world out there including me

     And finally but not least, in This Day In Rock History, I discuss what Ozzy Osbourne said on this day in 2020 about him having been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, "Ozzy Osbourne: Only Death Will Stop Me From Performing" is the name of the article in which I read from.  Remember, take care, keep working hard, keep your chin up, stay positive and stay safe out there! And have a great day!

College Town At Christmas 2020: The Five Stages of Hope In Bowling Green, Ky.

BOWLING GREEN, KY _ I remember the last Catholic mass I attended at my church this year was on March 7th. And I remember talking to one of my fellow parishioners about this strange "virus" getting ready to hit our college town and he was talking about the stocking up of toilet paper?  Honestly, I thought he was joking about the toilet paper. I couldn't imagine why everybody was going to need so much toilet paper.  I had some weird thoughts in my head at the time but I won't describe them in this blog entry. Lol. But I did not pay much attention to what he said about it really. All I remember that it was hard for me to believe something of this magnitude was going to take place in good ole Bowling Green as well as the State of Kentucky and the United States of America.  In my mind, killer viruses only happened in places like China and other far away foreign countries like that.

   Originally, I was in denial.  With my wife being a housewife, she would give me reports about what was happening across the country and in Washington DC with President Trump and his administration and how they were handling things with their medical task force regarding the virus.  I would get these reports when I came home from work for lunch because she had been watching TV. And sure enough, eventually, the toilet paper frenzy and shortage started happening in our community and everybody began to stock up on the toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, wipes, cleaning products, ammo, guns, survival items and can goods among many other items. It was ridiculous and crazy but a necessity at the same time that hundreds of people were rushing to do in our community. And it was happening all across the country also!

   Then the anger hit.  Everybody went to war on Facebook and social media all over the political spectrum on the different aspects of the virus whether or not that the virus was a hoax or not which many thought it was brought into American on purpose by the global socialists and communists.  Then it became a liberal vs. conservative thing.  A Republican vs. Democrat thing.  One by one, people started being alienating and blocking friends, neighbors and family members.  The divide in America over politics got even deeper and wider over issues of having to wear masks mandated by the Kentucky governor, the quarantines, the school closings, travel restrictions, shut downs of businesses and the limitations of gathering of people among tons of other restrictions. And over the things you could do and could not do. Many citizens felt that we were becoming a socialists country over the virus was occuring in America. Not to mention the riots that were happening in the streets again in America this summer and fall over racial tensions and the rise Black Lives Matters and how many people were turned off over the fact that the NFL and NBA took a stand with BLM.

Then people began bargaining with the fact that wearing masks into public buildings was being mandated by the governor and that the Covid-19 virus was real.  We realized that there was not much we could do about it and yes, hundreds of people were dying as they said.  Also, we began to bargain with the fact that this was going to be our way of life for a while until the vaccinations began to arrive and people we're given their shots. And then maybe, things would get better eventually. We hoped.

Then the depression hit.  People who were not essential workers in society began to get depress because they were staying home all the time, not enough money to live on because of unemployment or not wanting to go back to work because they were making more money drawing unemployment rather than going back to work.  Also a lot of small businesses in the community folded and collapsed because of the virus restrictions eventually causing them to go out of business for good.  Also, lots people lost their jobs because of the virus and a lot of people ended up filing bankruptcy.  And then it was being reported that a lot people have avoided going to the doctor altogether because the lack of money or no health insurance.

And finally, acceptance.  Fortunately, I was able to avoid the depression part and jumped from the bargaining part straight into acceptance.  This is where hope comes into the picture for me. So it is my hope this Christmas Eve, that all citizens in our college town of Bowling Green, Ky., finds peace and happiness in their lives in the final stage of acceptance of the virus.  In order to survive, we have to have faith and hope this Christmas season no matter what. We have to look deep inside of ourselves. I feel very blessed that I have my faith, a job, a home, a family, a dog and my health. Mainly, we have to have hope and faith in our medical professionals and the new vaccinations and we must have hope and faith in each other and work together towards a common goal in our college town-getting back to normal in 2021!  God Bless and Merry Christmas!

The Popular Facebook Group, "Dad Rocks" Is All About The Music And Building A Positive Community On Social Media

      Covid-19 had hit pretty us hard here in Bowling Green and Southcentral Kentucky during the Spring and Summer of 2020 with everything basically shutdown.  Public gatherings such as churches, weddings, parties, concerts and movie theaters came to a standstill with a limited amount of seating at restaurants and bars here in Kentucky as well as other places across the country.

      In order for me to cope with the sense of isolation when I was not working at my job as an "essential worker," I ended up spending a lot of time on my backyard deck grilling out and listening to rock music on my JBL bluetooth speaker during those cool spring evenings and hot summer nights. I had also developed an original playlist on my Apple Music app of rock songs which I played quite often while grilling out.  And I played the music loud during those decent hours of the early evenings of course where it did not disturb my neighbors.  If it did, I never heard any complaints out of anyone.     In the meantime, while I was looking at my Facebook app on my iPhone, I noticed that some of my friends like to do the same thing I was doing too. They were also grilling out on their backyard decks and patios and listening to music by themselves or with small groups of people.  Mainly, they would be with their own family members and of course their dogs and cats too while outside. And I would always have my Australian Shepherd, "Jude" with me and sometimes my wife and son also.

Then the idea occurred to me one evening while grilling out that I should create a private Facebook group where all my friends can join in and we can post of favorite rock videos, pics, stories and share memories in order to communicate with each in regards to our mutual love for rock music.  And we would only have one main rule: "No fighting, no arguing or no bullshit." Now, we have over 1,000 group members since I created the group in April of this year. The key to the fast growth of our group is because I have a great co-admin, Britt Moore of North Mississippi, who is a former classmate of mine from Hernando High School in Hernando, Miss., where I graduated in the early 80's and because everybody is tired of all the bullshit going on in the world especially on social media. Such as the 2020 presidential election and all of this Covid-19 crap. Then this awesome documentary on Netflix comes along called, "The Social Dilemma."  It's about the flip side of this wonderful modern invention called the "internet' and all of the social media sites such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram among many others. The creators and inventors of some of these sites are interviewed and they talk about the dark side or the flip side of social media and how it's created a lot of chaos in the world and divisions among groups of people whether it was intentional or not.  However, they claim that it was not to suppose be this way originally.  But it just grew and grew into this monstrous thing so quickly with millions and millions of people jumping on board which has become all about money and the collection of data.  Nowadays, the social media companies are some of the wealthiest companies out there in the world because they are selling "targeted, precise and direct advertising," to their clients.  Also these social media companies such as Facebook and Google have collected tons and tons of info on their users through the years and have even created profiles on them using computer algorithms in order to target ads for their clients.  They know what we like and what we hate that's for damn sure.

So with my new profound knowledge from watching this documentary on Netflix, I decided to take our private Facebook group one step even further and start proclaiming that we are "bucking the trend of negativity on social media and Facebook where there is no fighting, arguing or bullshit."  Dad Rocks is a happy and safe place where you can go to relax and post your favorites songs, videos and share your personal stories and memories without the worry of criticism while grilling out on the backyard deck or patio or sitting inside in your own home during the wintertime by the fireplace.  Or no matter where you are at in the world during the current moment. Dad Rocks helps you escape what happening in the world today especially during this very nasty election year along with all the Covid-19 worries. And I encourage all of our members to keep inviting their friends and family member too on daily basis and remind everyone what our group is about on my monthly podcast that I created over a month ago also called, "Dad Rocks."  In the Netflix documentary, it said that human beings since their evolution have always had that innate desire to have communication with each other and create communities.  So with the invention of the internet and social media apps and websites, we are now riding that wave of the future by building a better social media community that is positive, fun and safe.  We are looking forward to continue to build our social media rock music community and create new friendships where nobody is criticize for their taste in their music or rock videos. Because we all realize that music is a very powerful thing that touches every human being in a positive way, one way or another.  Mainly, we all know too well that music heals the human soul also! Which is an awesome thing!