Singer-actor Jerry Reed dies at the age of 71
By JOHN GEROME – 56 minutes ago
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good ol' boy actor in car chase movies like "Smokey and the Bandit," has died of complications from emphysema at 71.
His longtime booking agent, Carrie Moore-Reed, no relation to the star, said Reed died early Monday.
"He's one of the greatest entertainers in the world. That's the way I feel about him," Moore-Reed said.
Reed was a gifted guitarist who later became a songwriter, singer and actor.
As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, he had a string of hits that included "Amos Moses," "When You're Hot, You're Hot," "East Bound and Down" and "The Bird."
In the mid-1970s, he began acting in movies such as "Smokey and the Bandit" with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good ol' boy. But he was an ornery heavy in "Gator," directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998's "The Waterboy," starring Adam Sandler.
Reynolds gave him a shiny black 1980 Trans Am like the one they used in "Smokey and the Bandit."
Reed and Kris Kristofferson paved the way for Nashville music personalities to make inroads into films. Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers (TV movies) followed their lead.
"I went around the corner to motion pictures," he said in a 1992 AP interview.
Reed had quadruple bypass surgery in June 1999.
Born in Atlanta, Reed learned to play guitar at age 8 when his mother bought him a $2 guitar and showed him how to play a G-chord.
He dropped out of high school to tour with Ernest Tubb and Faron Young.
At 17, he signed his first recording contract, with Capitol Records.
He moved to Nashville in the mid-1960s where he caught the eye of Chet Atkins.
He first established himself as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded two of his songs, "U.S. Male" and "Guitar Man" (both in 1968). He also wrote the hit "A Thing Called Love," which was recorded in 1972 by Johnny Cash. He also wrote songs for Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Oak Ridge Boys.
Reed was voted instrumentalist of the year in 1970 by the Country Music Association.
He won a Grammy Award for "When You're Hot, You're Hot" in 1971. A year earlier, he shared a Grammy with Chet Atkins for their collaboration, "Me and Jerry." In 1992, Atkins and Reed won a Grammy for "Sneakin' Around."
Reed continued performing on the road into the late 1990s, doing about 80 shows a year.
"I'm proud of the songs, I'm proud of things that I did with Chet (Atkins), I'm proud that I played guitar and was accepted by musicians and guitar players," he told the AP in 1992.
In a 1998 interview with The Tennessean, he admitted that his acting ability was questionable.
"I used to watch people like Richard Burton and Mel Gibson and think, `I could never do that.'
"When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: Money."
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Just because it's unusual for Phil to post so quickly... love ya....
here is a link to his new blog regarding Trisha's 22nd Birthday party.. last night... enjoy... we did.. wow... kuddos to you Phil, great great work.... and super great photos...
http://www.pmoffat.com/trishbday/trish_bday.html
http://www.pmoffat.com/trishbday/trish_bday.html
MY MY MY.... we birthdayed it up for Trisha...
We had a great gathering for Trisha's big 22ND birthday here at the ole home for the aged... ha ha.... Ann surprised us all with a great chicken grill that was totally awesome... and of course the rest of the meal followed... Jake and Trisha and little Isabella were here... and Paul and Heather along with Andrew and Madison came too... and Phil and Tammy along with Austyn... had a great meal, Trisha had lots of things to open, and probably no one will dispute the top gift from last evening might well be the wonderful framed photo from Phillip, Tammy and Austyn... a photo Phil took of Trisha and her baby girl Isabella from Mother's Day. HE DID AWESOME JOB.... it was priceless... the kiddos played, gown ups visited... and then it was over... Happy birthday Trisha, and many many more!!!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
From Ann... This is from the hometown of one of our dear friends... who shall remain nameless due to... hahaha.....
Invisible guest visits home through generations
Posted: Aug 27, 2008 06:41 PM
Updated: Aug 28, 2008 09:17 AM
 Video Gallery | ||||||||
 | ||||||||
| Wanda Haley has experienced things in her home she can't explain. | ||||||||
 | ||||||||
 | ||||||||
| OKPRI was contacted to do a paranormal investigation in the Colbert home. | ||||||||
| ||||||||
 | ||||||||
| Light anomalies were captured throughout the night. | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| | ||||||||
By Christian Price, News9.com INsite Team
COLBERT, Okla. -- Located along the Red River is what is considered the oldest occupied house in Oklahoma, but it may be occupied by something else.
Tracy Agee, who has lived in the house for the last 10 years, has had things happen to her and her family that they cannot explain.
"We've had a lot of things going on that makes us believe it could be haunted," Agee said. "The sound of church bells chiming with no explanation, seeing shadows, hearing doors slam, voices of crying babies."
There have been a couple of times where Agee became more frightened than usual.
"I've been afraid a couple of times," Agee said. "One night, being in bed and hearing knocking and scratching at the screen, thinking it was somebody that I was expecting and getting up to find no one."
Asked if the scratching at the door could have been a pet wanting to come into the house, Agee explained that it wasn't that type of scratching.
Agee isn't the only person who has experienced things within the house. Agee's grandmother, Wanda Haley, has lived at the property for 21 years and has had her own experiences.
"I have experienced the doors opening with no reason, like the kitchen door. I shut it at night and I got up the other morning and it was opened," Haley said. "Honey buns was all over the table and the light was on. So, I asked my husband if he had been in there anytime that night eating and he said ‘I didn't get up.' Well, I didn't either. We couldn't figure out what that was."
Dessert cakes being strewn about the kitchen was only the beginning of Haley's experiences.
"In this bedroom one night, I felt somebody stroke my back and it really scared me," Haley said. "I looked down on the floor and I thought somebody got in the house and laid down on the floor there beside my bed," Haley said. "No one was there. I had that happen to me two more times. They stroked my back."
The family has reached the point where they feel they need help. They don't care about ridicule. They don't care about skeptics and their reasoning. They just want to feel safe in their home. They would like to know what it is that's in their house and what they should do about it.
The family contacted Oklahoma Paranormal Research and Investigations. They hope that OKPRI can provide some answers to what they are experiencing.
OKPRI is currently investigating the paranormal activity. When they review their results, the report will be posted.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
From Heather... The Stillwater NewsPress.... The man behind the fair
Butch Young keeps things hopping at the expo center
Everett Brazil III
Butch Young may be the hardest working man at the Payne County Expo Center, and possibly in Payne County.
As marketing director, he spends much of his time at the fairgrounds, bringing new events to the county and aiding in the operation of the expo center.
But Young wasn’t born in Payne County. And while much of his life has been spent in the Stillwater area, he has lived and worked in many places, in many fields.
Young grew up in Woods County, near the Kansas border in a little town named Dacoma, a town that no longer exists. From the time he was 8, he was reared by his aunt and uncle on their farm, where he first became interested in livestock.
Woods County went through an awful drought, Young said, in the 1950s. But after high school graduation, Young attended Oklahoma State University from 1959-61, earning a degree in animal husbandry, known as animal science today. He stayed on at OSU as the swine herdsman in 1963.
“I told my uncle, ‘If I ever hang my hat somewhere, it was going to be here because it rained!’” Indeed, compared to the extended drought of northwest Oklahoma, precipitation flowed more freely in central Oklahoma.
Then, Uncle Sam came calling, he said, and he served two years overseas in the U.S. Army.
When he returned, he was determined to do something different with his life, in a way, to seek adventure. He accomplished this as a traveling representative for the Polland China Record Association in Illinois. Polland China is a breed of hogs, a type of livestock Young has been interested in since growing up on the farm. He traveled across the country, traveling from “Minnesota to the north, to Georgia, Alabama and Florida to the South,” he said. He also traveled the Southwest and as far northeast as Pennsylvania. He spent just over two years traveling for the company.
During his travels, he found time to attend the Rash School of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa, and soon began auctioning purebred hogs. It was a line of work that would become a career to this day, where he still calls auctions at the Expo Center.
After leaving the hog company, he found ample work as an auctioneer, and has called them across the state, and even into Texas, and especially at the Expo Center. He started auctioneering the premium sale regularly in 1978 at no charge.
Young has worked at the Payne County Expo Center for about nine years. He’s in charge of booking returning events and attracting new attractions and events to the Expo Center. He’s seen a lot of usual events: County fairs, livestock shows, family reunions and wedding receptions. Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops use the facility, and many a fundraiser has been held there.
“From livestock shows to antique shows and everything in between,” he said.
Which means a lot of events that are considerably different than usual. One of the most interesting, and biggest, he said, was an RV convention held about five years ago. The entire grounds of the expo center were covered in recreational vehicles. The event brought in so many people that it had the largest sales tax collection in the county for that month and that year.
“It was a time of the year when we didn’t have much going on,” Young said. “It was a blessing.”
Another interesting event occurred a few years ago when a machinery company came down from Canada with an interest in the Expo Center.
“We made a contract and they rented four or five buildings for about three weeks over Christmas time.”
Although the company was going through a buyout during the show, the event went off smoothly, he said.
The Expo Center has grown dramatically in the past 10 years, and Young has been there to witness is all. There was a time when there wasn’t much happening, when goat shows were some of the largest events. Today, buildings are regularly booked continuously in July and August for wedding receptions and family reunions, he said.
Young and his wife Rosie have one daughter and will celebrate their 39th anniversary in November.
When events are hosted at the Expo Center, especially the Payne County Fair, he works at least as many hours as anyone.
“When Butch says he’ll do something, you don’t have to worry. It’ll get done,” said Dee Shenold, secretary for the Expo Center.
Nathan Anderson, Payne County’s OSU Extension agent, has worked with Young many years.
“He may be older than dirt, but he stays on his feet and works as hard as any young man I have ever seen.”
Editors Note: Butch is neighbor of ours... we know first hand the reason he is so good... it's Rosie, his wife... she is his rock! They helped raise our kiddos too, along with many other neighbors children and family. We are proud to call them our lifelong friends!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)