sometimes on the road, i have toooooo much time on my hands and that can be a bad thing. i am in chattanooga and the last 3 road trips have had a lot of rain which means rained out games. i have to do something with my time so, i study people.
i never much cared for reading mysteries and all that new age crap. i don't much care for how the stars and moon line up either. all i have to do is talk to the one who made the stars. so, i prefer biographies or even better, auto-biographies. i go to the mall only to watch people.
i am not a perv or some type of voyeur, well, maybe i am. i find it fascinating trying to predict peoples actions and reactions.
i came back to the hotel with the intent of reading about bobby jones, arguably the best golfer who has ever lived. www.bobbyjones.com
bobby jones was a remarkable man. he is the only person in recorded history who has won the grand slam of golf. golf was only a game to him and it is kind of funny when you consider he retired from golf not yet at his peak to practice law.
one of my favorite movies is "the legend of bagger vance" that starred will smith and matt damon. will smiths character was so strong he took the part although many say he took a backseat to matt damon. i have seen this movie countless times and everytime i watch it, i see something different.
anyway, the guys on the bus wanted to watch it so that is why i started with bobby jones. and that led to walter hagan and many other golfers of that era and also into the history of golf, and, this only started me looking.
the main part of this all this led me to, and i don't know how other than randomness.
recently, there was a local moonshiner named marvin "popcorn" sutton who passed. he was the epitome of an appalachian moonshine maker. his only thing in life was "likker". he even made stills for others.
"popcorn" was arrested while he was finishing off making 800 gallons of the prized sqeezins' and he was sentenced to 18 months in the pokey. his comment while in court was "i would rather be dead than in jail" and he made his wish come true the day before he was to report. like a sponge i absorbed all i could find about this remarkable man. his daughter, sky sutton, has a blog about her father and there is a link to a book about him.
www.popcornsutton.blogspot.com.
for those of you who remember (or don't) the movie "thunder road", it was about "shiners" and their lives and all the romance associated with the lifestyle. sometimes late at night when i am driving, my mind drifts into one of these "shine" runners in some souped up car running at nascar speeds on some back country road (it's birthplace) avoiding the law and making my delivery of the much sought after liquid corn. i guess i will research nascar and junior johnson next and yes, that will be another blog. steve earle sang the song "copperhead road" and that sets a catchy tune with all of this. btw, if you drink moonshine, is it considered a serving of vegetables?
i have spent much time looking at his photos and hopefully the ones attached will say more about him than i ever can. there is only one photo i have spent more time looking at in my life so far and it is a grandmother (don't know how many greats or how far up the tree she is) of mine. she was full blooded cherokeee and when i see it there is so much she is trying to say. anyway, back to "popcorn".
if you take the time, photographs can reveal a lot about a person. in their silence some can speak louder than if they were in person. tell me what you think.
until next time...
p.s. double-header tonight!!!
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