“Is there a bigger hypocrite in college sports than Urban Meyer?” – Mike Ozanian, Forbes So asks Forbes’ Mike Ozanian the day after the inaugural College Football National Title Game. Leading 35 to 20 with 1:43 left in the game, Ohio State was set to go for it on fourth and one from inside the Oregon five yard line. Before the snap, two Oregon offensive linemen jumped offsides, giving the Buckeyes a first down and the ballgame. Tradition says you line up in... Read more
I confess that last Thursday morning I had a 7am meeting, so I got up at 5:30 to write a blog post. I did my morning prayers, wrote & proofread the post. In my process, the last step before I hit publish involves adding links, images, and media for the entry. This particular post was fairly heavy on those elements and it was taking me longer than usual. All the while the clock was ticking down toward my breakfast meeting. But, I thrive under... Read more
I’ve been resisting the impulse to join the fray of year’s end postings: favorite this, worst that-lists from the past year. So I’ve settled on a single contribution. 2014 has been a year of serious pain for me and those closest to me. My baby sister has breast cancer. She’s been through surgery and is currently in the throes of chemotherapy. Two weeks ago I baptized the still born baby of some dear friends. I’m watching several other friends and loved ones wade through... Read more
Granted, Bono has to have one of the more active egos of our time. He exists in that elite pantheon of fame along with immortals like Elvis, MJ, and Michael. The difference for him being that he seems to have at least some measure of awareness of the dangers of his position, and the responsibilities. Despite the unlimited income which affords him the rare ability to have almost whatever he wants whenever he wants it, and despite his ginormous messiah complex, Bono still seems... Read more
— “Bad liturgy eventually leads to bad ethics. You begin by singing some sappy, sentimental hymn, then you pray some pointless prayer, and the next thing you know you have murdered your best friend.” – Stanley Hauerwas & William Willimon, The Truth About God. — I was recently offered the opportunity to write on the following assigned topic: “make realistic and judicious suggestions about how individuals, communities, and even larger social units… might contribute to peace within families, between adversaries,... Read more
I come from a family of six. My mom and dad were high school sweethearts who married young and have stayed together for 50 years. They had four kids in about 10 minutes, and all of us crowded into a small three bedroom house that burned nearly to the ground when I was six. My parents rebuilt, kept the wheels from coming off the cart and we all grew close without too much in the way of scars. Mom and... Read more
One doesn’t typically use words like character, integrity, genuine, honest, and kind to describe executives in the music business, but that’s how those who knew him will surely remember John Fry. John was a singular figure in Memphis music. Reeling from the death of John Hampton just one week ago, the Ardent family of music producers, engineers, artists, and executives are now left to reckon with the sudden loss of the man who made it all possible. John Fry died yesterday afternoon, December 18,... Read more
I was at a party Friday night when I heard John Hampton had died. I was taken aback by how sad the news made me. I’ve been thinking of John and the whole Ardent family ever since. When we were making records at Ardent Studios in Memphis, John Hampton would usually be mixing or producing some big artist in another room, but he’d still stop by once or twice a day to listen to our little piss-ant band and goof around. John had... Read more
In the entertainment business there’s this thing called a performance rider, a written list of the artist’s demands. The promoter agrees to prepare the venue exactly the way the artist likes it. The instructions for this are all in the rider. Given the prevalence of artistic eccentricity, some of the demands can be absurd. Beyonce’s Rider asks to be provided with a $900 titanium drinking straws & special alkaline water served at exactly 21°. Also anyone backstage is required wear only 100%... Read more
As a book lover, and I don’t mean to be harsh, I find most of the gift ideas for book lovers to be terribly disappointing. Trust me, pajamas with books on them will be more likely to appeal to those who don’t read books. We don’t want bookmarks, nor do we want–wait for it–a bedtime story duvet cover (yes, it’s a thing). Here’s what we want: we want books. We want cool ways to organize and display our books. We want ways to... Read more
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