What I Heard This Week 09-08-2022
If you have read this column for a while, you know that I have a weakness for Three Brothers Bakery in Houston. Especially their apple strudel. I put it in the refrigerator and eat it cold. Nothing better. With the gubernatorial election coming up, the bakery says they have found a way to “sugarcoat the polling process.” The bakery’s three locations Braeswood, Memorial, and Washington are now baking cookies with the faces of Beto O’Rourke and Greg Abbott plastered on the front of the cookies. You can place your vote for the Texas governor-to-be of your choice, by purchasing one cookie of your choice. One cookie equals one vote. Before you say pshaw, note that the bakery has predicted the last 2 presidential elections (Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020) with their cookie poll. As of today, when I wrote this, Beto is ahead by 275 cookies, to Abbott’s 106 cookies. Follow the race on their Facebook. The cookie poll will last until Election Day November 8th. They say, this election just got sweeter.
When it comes to making mistakes, we must be SMART enough to realize, SECURE enough to admit, and STRONG enough to fix. Jim Kwik
Spoiler Alert: The juicy story of Candy Montgomery that is on Hulu right now is a true story. Yikes. I just finished watching it and Jessica Biel did an excellent job, but I had no idea until it was over that it was actually true. Candy was a Wylie, Texas (outside the Dallas/Fort Worth area) housewife with what seemed like a perfect life before she hacked up her church friend (dead) with a wood-splitting ax… 41 times, cleaned herself up in the family bathroom, then left the victim’s one-year-old baby alone in the home and went about her day (btw she was also having/had an affair with the church friend’s husband). Montgomery maintained a plea of self-defense, admitted to the crime, and was acquitted of murder charges in 1980. It gets better. After the trial, Montgomery left town and went to work as a mental health therapist, treating people with anger management, anxiety, depression, infidelity, and other issues. Oh, and Justin Timberlake (Jessica Biel’s real-life husband) starred as one of the responding officers investigating Betty Gore’s murder.
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Vito Corleone’s ‘Godfather’ mansion was available on Airbnb. The charming 6,248 sq-ft home, built in 1930, has undergone renovations and is completely modernized, while still being recognizable from the exterior for its appearance in “The Godfather” 1972 film. It is now a family home on Staten Island, but for a brief period of time in July it was available to book for a 30-night long-term stay for August 1-31. Sounds like fun. It was $50 per night and included 5 bedrooms, 6 beds, 6 baths, saltwater pool, basement pub, game room, gym, pool cleaners (twice a week), weekly house cleaning and weekly landscape maintenance. That actually sounds too good to be true. I had to read it twice.
The officer asked the woman to step out of her car.
“You’re STAGGERING!” he said.
“You’re PRETTY handsome yourself,” she replied.
In some parts of Sweden, residents have spent this year letting their green lawns die off in a mass effort to conserve water. Irrigation bans led neighbors to get creative, offering a title to whoever ended up with the ugliest lawn. Whew, it is hard to look at our lush green yards right now in Brazoria County and remember what it was like a month ago, when we all were vying for the title of ugliest lawn.
Some people are such treasures you just want to bury them. Unknown
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Actor Betty Lynn of The Andy Griffith Show is 95. Thelma Lou. Actor Elliott Gould is 83. Actor Elizabeth Ashley is 82. TV personality Lisa Ling of The View is 48. Singer Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive is 36. Drummer Jerry Allison of Buddy Holly and the Crickets is 82. Singer Van Morrison is 76. Violinist Itzhak Perlman is 76. Actor Richard Gere is 72. Drummer Gina Schock of The Go-Go’s is 64. Comedian-actor Lily Tomlin is 82. Singer Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees is 75. Drummer Greg Errico of Sly and the Family Stone is 73. Talk show host Dr. Phil is 71. Singer Gloria Estefan is 64. Singer Sam Gooden of The Impressions is 82. Singer Rosalind Ashford of Martha and the Vandellas is 78. Sportscaster Terry Bradshaw is 73. Actor Mark Harmon is 70. Actor Linda Purl is 66. She dates Patrick Duffy of Dallas.
Actor Michael Keaton is 71. Batman. Singer-guitarist Al Jardine of The Beach Boys is 79. Actor Valerie Perrine is 78. Superman. Drummer Donald Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad is 73. Actor Mitzi Gaynor is 90. Singer “Bubba” Knight of Gladys Knight and the Pips is 79. Comedian-actor Bob Newhart is 93. Broadway actor Carol Lawrence is 90. Actor William Devane is 83. Actor George Lazenby is 83. He was the second actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in 1969 – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Raquel Welch is 82. Singer Al Stewart is 77. Year of the Cat. Singer Gloria Gaynor is 79.
Comedian JoAnne Worley is 86. Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. Country singer David Allan Coe is 83. Take This Job and Shove It. Singer-bassist Roger Waters of Pink Floyd is 79. Actor Swoosie Kurtz is 78. Comedian-actor Jane Curtin is 75. News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas is 60. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 59. Bubba Shot the Jukebox. Actor Heather Thomas of The Fall Guy is 65.
Five Easy Pieces director Bob Rafelson, who also created the TV pop group the Monkees, died at 89 of lung cancer. Earnie Shavers, one of boxing’s hardest-ever punchers, died at 78. “Earnie hit me so hard, it shook my kinfolk in Africa,” Muhammad Ali said after a fight one time.
Mikhail Gorbachev was a Soviet politician and leader from 1985 to 1991, during the end of the Cold War. He formed a friendship with President of the U.S. Ronald Reagan, with reform and partnership, helped to end the Cold War. His main intent was to improve the economy of the USSR. To do this, he set in motion two major reforms: Perestroika, which was restructuring of the economy, and Glasnost which gave more freedom to the people, and allowed them to express their opinions more freely. “Gorbachev died in a symbolic way when his life’s work, freedom, was effectively destroyed by Putin,” said Andrei Kolesnikov, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
The 110-year-old Battleship Texas is now docked in Galveston at the Gulf Copper Dry Dock & Rig Repair. Bruce Bramlett with Texas Battleship Foundation said, “This is the only U.S. ship that survived in both World War I and World War II and it’s really the first ship that the Navy ever retired as a memorial or museum and is the last of the dreadnought battleship.” In other words, the oldest battleship in the world that is still afloat and the world’s most famous veteran. Renovations expected to cost $35 million.
Sunday, September 11 is Grandparent’s Day 2022. The roots of Grandparents Day go back to 1956 and a West Virginia mother named Marian McQuade. While helping to organize a community celebration for those over 80, she became aware of the many nursing home residents who were forgotten by their families. She wanted a holiday to bring attention to these individuals and to honor all grandparents.
The George Clooney Batman nipple suit costume from 1997 is one of several props being auctioned with opening bid listed as $40,000. It is only the most ridiculed superhero costume in movie history. Jim Carrey’s Riddler walking cane from Batman Forever had an opening bid of $8,000, and Jack Nicholson’s iconic purple Joker suit from Tim Burton’s original Batman had an opening bid of $65,000. These items went to auction in July, but I still cannot find any selling prices, so there may still be time to put your name on the Batman suit. You know what they say, if it was good enough for George Clooney…
“Climate change is the greatest threat to our existence in our short history on this planet. Nobody’s going to buy their way out of its effects.”- Mark Ruffalo
Serena Williams said, “I think I’m going to retire after the US Open,” then days later she said, “Just kidding, maybe not.” Then she turned around and upset Anett Kontaveit in the second round, and we all thought she was BACK. That day she was asked about her bathroom break between her second-set loss and third-set renewal that seemed to bring rejuvenation. Her comeback was, “Yeah, no, I just got lighter – use your imagination,” she added, “But it wasn’t number two.” Then she laughed. And we all laughed. Unless she changes her mind, her tennis career ended while we were all rooting for more.
Last Saturday evening 95-year-old Doc Severinsen and the San Miguel 5 performed a concert at the Universal Preservation Hall in what was billed as The Final Roundup – Doc Severinsen Last Show. Last tour, last show. That is it. Sold out. Severinsen was the band leader for Johnny Carson for 30 years and was known for his colorful outfits and great repour with Carson. Peacock streaming released Never Too Late; the Doc Severinsen Story, back in April. After Doc left Carson, he moved to Mexico for a while where he met San Miguel 5. They are worth your time to pull up on YouTube. I have one of their CDs playing right now in my office, on my trusty, incredibly old Bose CD player.
Last week I wrote about how expensive obituaries are in Waco, Texas. A friend in Bossier City Louisiana that reads this column let me know that a year ago she paid $1600 for her mother’s obituary. She and I sent several texts back and forth with ideas about what the reason might be for the additional expense. Finally, I Googled, “Why are obituaries so expensive?” Someone commented online, “…the humorist in me wants to desperately say because the publisher knows there’ll be no repeat business!” For your next obituary, call The Source Weekly. We promise to treat you right because we believe in repeat business.
A drug-sniffing dog at a Milan airport found nearly 30 pounds (11 packages that could have yielded about 27,000 individual doses) of cocaine stuffed into the leather upholstery of a motorized wheelchair, whose user immediately stood up and was arrested. The second-tallest roller coaster in the world, located in Ohio, is now permanently closed after a small metal object flew off the 420-foot tall Top Thrill Dragster coaster a year ago, and struck a woman in the head. The Kingda Ka roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ is considered the world’s tallest coaster with a 456-foot elevation. A Brazilian man survived at sea for 11 days, and 280 miles, in a floating freezer without food or water. Hurricane Danielle is now on a slow decline, but Hurricane Earl has picked up speed and is expected to become the first major hurricane of the season. Don’t forget that Sunday September 11th is Patriot Day. The holiday remembers the American men and women who fought during the Revolutionary War but is also named the day “we will never forget,” after the terrorist attacks that caught the US and the world by surprise. Have a great weekend and as always, thank you for taking the time to read and shop The Source Weekly. We appreciate you.
LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
