The Way I See It

The situation in my backyard is improving slowly but surely. The tree guys came today to get rid of what they could. Someday things might be normal again.

The Louisiana Hayride radio program was broadcast for many years from Municipal Auditorium in downtown Shreveport. This is where many famous musicians got their start, including Elvis Presley and Hank Williams Sr. Old-timers got together there yesterday and tried to recreate it. The headliner was Claude King, who just turned 85-years-old and was part of the original Hayride.

The fallen tree ripped all sorts of crap off my house, including the electric, cable and telephone lines. I had to call out an electrician right away, because the power company couldn’t help me. And thus went the first $350 from this incident.

Fencing has got to be one of the most boring events in the world. I’d rather watch paint dry. Or go to a spelling bee. Oh wait…

Today one of the neighbor’s pine trees fell into my backyard and just about obliterated it. Don’t know too much about the damage yet. But… The garage is pretty smashed and there are limbs poking all the way through it in two spots, the shed is squashed, the fence is destroyed in two areas and the patio furniture is non-existent.

I can promise you this is one thing you’d never find my 10-year-old doing. It was a cheerleading competition at Shreveport Convention Center, and thousands of people were there. Watch my audio slide show here.

Me and entertainment reporter Stephanie Netherton have been working on a project for the past month called “Beyond City Limits.” It was my idea - basically we’ve been going around to tiny, hole-in-the-wall bars outside of Shreveport, out in the middle of nowhere. It has been interesting, to say the least. We got booted out of one, danced the Cupid Shuffle with crazy locals at another and heard a lifetime’s worth of stories about false teeth at a third.  Check out my audio slide show here.

Even though it is -15 where my friend Elisha lives up on the tundra of South Dakota, I’m wearing a T-shirt and shooting baseball. Spring must be here.

I shot the Kid Rock concert last night at CenturyTel Center in Bossier City. He’s not one of my favorites, but big events are always fun.  No earplugs are the only way to go.

I got to ride in the Highland Mardi Gras Parade, which rolls through my neighborhood. I was on the Cheers float with folks from the bar where I play pool at. It was the first parade I haven’t had to shoot during my three Mardi Gras seasons in Shreveport, and it was sooooo much fun. I threw Ramen noodles and bouncy balls, among other things. Including beads, of course.