Another week, another casualty of tweeting like a twit. One wonders what keeps the tweeter in chief employed.
If Roseanne is off the air, again, does that mean the eighties can finally be over, again?
Speaking of off again, or maybe it's on again, are the Donald and the Un ever going to have that first date? The plan changes at the speed of tweet.
But it looks like North Korea is going to get a few Hardees'. That'll Keep Kim's fair figure in fighting shape.
That ought to make you feel good. It sure does me.
You know what really makes me feel good. What makes me feel better than anything? Music. No matter how bad I feel or what craziness swirls around me, music always brings me back.
I know a lot of you feel the same way. Music is the sound that surrounds us. We make it, we play it, we live it. It's as natural this place as the creeks and cliffs, as the possum and the smallmouth.
Music moves a lot of people to do some pretty amazing things. Reminds me of a story.
About a hundred years ago, there was a young boy growing up in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were struggling immigrants, barely getting by.
The young boy's father was a street vendor who pushed a cart of trinkets around Luna Park of Coney Island. Often, the boy would follow his father to Coney and help with the cart.
While at the great amusement park, the young boy would be able to hear music being played inside the gated bandstands and pavillions. He loved the sound, but could never get close because he didn't have a nickel to pay to get in.
At the age of 16, the young man quit school to work full time and support his mother and siblings. He worked in the garment district of New York for 10 years and decided to start his own custom tailoring business in the height of the Great Depression.
By 1942 he'd made his first million dollars with six stores around the New York area. He would eventually own over 70 retail stores and related businesses across the United States.
Mortimer Levitt never forgot the effect music had on him as a child at Coney Island. He and his wife began supporting youth music and arts programs in the 1950s. Because of his experience, he was passionate about making live music available for free to communities.
Today, the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation funds nearly 600 free concerts a year across the United States at 6 permanent urban locations and in 15 small communities selected for the Levitt AMP (Amplify. Music. Place.) grant award.
One of those communities is over in Letcher County. The Levitt AMP Whitesburg Music Series is ten weeks of free concerts, ten Thursdays in a row.
The first show, tonite May 31, features Pike County's own rising Bluegrass superstar Dave Adkins sharing the stage with Kentucky Music Hall of Famer Larry Cordle. I'm going to be there and I hope some of you can get out there, too.
Bring the family and be happy. Mortimer Levitt wouldn't have it any other way.