A sad announcement: Tom T. Hall’s death at 85 last summer was ruled as a suicide by officials with the Williamson County Medical Examiner’s office. Hall’s ‘manner of death was ruled a suicide,’ a spokesperson for the office confirmed to media. Authorities said Hall ‘had sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, to the head’ and was pronounced dead less than 20 minutes later when paramedics and police responded to a 911 call, according to the blog “Saving Country Music”. Hall, the fourth son of an ordained minister, was born near Olive Hill, Kentucky, in a log cabin built by his grandfather. He started playing guitar at age four and wrote his first song by the time he was nine. It has been said; “He wrote without judgment or anger, offering a rhyming journalism of the heart that sets his compositions apart from any other writer.” There has been no indication as to why. I’m lucky enough to have a Tom.T.Hall picture and a copy of his autobio, both signed. A sad thing indeed.
Don’t go in the water: Four bathers have been killed and over 20 people injured in a spate of ferocious piranha attacks causing alarm in Paraguay. A 22-year-old man died after he was badly bitten by the predators as he swam in the Paraguay river, south of the capital Asuncion, January 2. It is unusual for piranhas to be so aggressive and yet there have been numerous attacks in the region. Piranhas normally move around in groups and it is the male piranha that normally attacks to protect their young while the bites are underwater with the predator not jumping as is often shown in terror films. Well, at least they’re not in Hawaii.
Don’t believe your lying eyes: Antonio Brown said Wednesday that he was suffering from a serious ankle injury and was unable to reenter the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ game Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J., against the New York Jets. The wide receiver discarded his jersey on the sideline and left the field shirtless only after being told that he was done with the team, he said.” I was cut. I didn’t walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out. Being fired on the sideline for having a painful injury was bad enough. Then came their ‘spin.’ Coach denied on national television that he knew about my ankle. That’s 100 [percent] inaccurate.” Watching his sideline dance as he ran off the field, it sure looked like that ankle was really bad hurting.
As a nation, we are bored: A now viral video of Elmo from “Sesame Street” being driven to the edge of his sanity by a rock is downright cathartic. The video of Elmo unleashing his inner rage-fueled Cookie Monster has gained so much momentum on Twitter in the past few days that Elmo even felt compelled to respond to the clip online Wednesday, informing his fans that he and Zoe have gotten past this hurdle in their friendship and have learned how to share. Although Elmo’s jealousy has been going on for years, seeing it shared with the masses at this moment feels really comforting. During a time when everyone is spouting all kinds of beliefs that may not be rooted in any kind of reality, it’s really nice to see a puppet call out another puppet for its b.s. If you really want a hardy laugh, Google the “The Great Cookie Monster Thread”, all about Cookie and his “mercenary” days.
Storytellers Blog 