WE CANCEL TRAVELIN' TUESDAYS FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

THE BEAUTIFUL AND TALENTED 

SARA-MARIE ULSUND STIKSRUD

HAS CREATED HER BEST VIDEO OF ALL TIME, AND THIS IS YOUR GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO WATCH THIS MASTERPIECE AND TELL HER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE IT!!!

THIS IS NOT THE POOR QUALITY NONSENSE I USUALLY DO...IT IS SUPER PROFESSIONAL, WITH GREAT SOUND, WONDERFUL HARMONIES, AND AN EXTRAORDINARILY GORGEOUS GIRL FROM NORWAY, WHO HAPPENS TO BE MY FRIEND, AND IS DESTINED TO BE AS FAMOUS AS HER FAVORITE BAND "MUSE" SOME DAY!

SHE IS ALSO GOING TO BE ON THE BIGGEST RADIO STATION IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS ON FRIDAY!

GREG AND DAN SHOW

AND HERE'S A LINK:

http://www.1470wmbd.com/

YOU BEST NOT MISS IT!!

She will most likely be on at about 8:30 AM CST, but to be sure, tune in to the show 2 hours ahead of time so you DON'T MISS IT!!

By now, "yawl" are wondering why I don't go ahead and post the song, right?

(The "yawl" is in honor of my Yellow Rose.)

DUH!! I'm building anticipation and suspense!!

READY FOR THE CUTEST THINGY YOU'VE EVER SEEN?!

ARE YOU SURE?!!

OKAY, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

WAIT!!!!

Are you comfortable...do you have a drink, and some "Bugles" to snack on? 

I want you to be totally relaxed, and receptive to this classic piece of heavenly music!

Sooo, finally we reach the point of no return, where we have committed our hearts and minds to listen intently to this fresh, up and coming artist, who is also a true and faithful friend and Kemosabe to me!!

Drum roll...

CLICK LINK BELOW FOR THE AMAZING VIDEO!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtNxJuv_Q_E

PLEASE LET SARA KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LOVE HER VIDEO BY MAKING A COMMENT AND "LIKING " IT ON YOUTUBE AFTER YOU WATCH IT! SHE WILL REALLY APPRECIATE IT! 

THANK YOU!!

♫♪MAGIC MUSIC MONDAYS♪♪

Cowboy Paradise

by Danny Maness

Just an old cowboy song!

Photos by Donna Parker Maness                 [Lyrics below]

He used to ride (In the saddle), In all the rodeos (Ropin' cattle),

A hard tough job (Bronco bustin'), But that's the life he chose (Boots and buckskin),

His muscled arms (Young and tan), Were strong as granite rock (Rugged man),

But now I help him (He's no bother), With his shoes and socks ( Like a father, to me he was a father),

I found him there (Rockin' slowly) Beneath a willow tree (Would he know me),

He'd had enough (Feelin' worn out) Of chemo-therapy (Strength all torn out),

He took my hand (His was colder) And said it won't be long (Looking older),

He told me, Son (He was dying), Please sing that cowboy song (Can't start cryin', don't wanna start in cryin')

Move along, that gold and silver trail, 

Move along, where there ain't no snow or hail,

You'll awake, where everything is nice,

Move along, to cowboy paradise.

There wasn't any (Natural cowboy) Thing he couldn't do (Brought us all joy),

A cowboy's life (Rough as rawhide) Sure makes a man of you (Me at his side),

One cold, cold night (Wind a blowin') He gave me his best coat (Snow a snowin'),

That memory brings (Tears are seepin') A lump inside my throat (Can't start weepin', don't wanna start in weepin'),

Before he went (Soon he'll wake up) To sleep and passed away (His last round up)

He told me he (Gettin' nearer) Had one thing left to say (Gettin' clearer),

Long ago (Bringin' years back) He told a little lie (Holdin' tears back),

The truth is sometimes (Feelins showin') Cowboys need to cry (Tears are flowin', now the tears are flowin'. 

Move along, that gold and silver trail,

Move along, where there ain't no snow or hail,

You'll awake, where everything is nice,

Move along, to cowboy paradise.

This blog post is dedicated to my little cowgirl...the Yellow Rose Of Texas!

ST. LOUIS SUNDAYS

St. Louis Insane Asylum
Built in 1869

Imagine being in an emotionally stressed condition, and they haul you up the hill to this monstrosity of  a place, put you in a "strait jacket," lock you in a "rubber room," and throw away the key! 

If you think the place looks scary in the photo, it's even scarier in person! 

It is a gigantic, imposing edifice! At night..horrifying!  

It's extraordinarily humongous and grotesque looking, day or night. But especially at night!

I had a friend who lived just a couple of blocks from the place and we would walk by it all the time.

At that time , they didn't call it the Insane Asylum anymore, I think they called it The State Hospital.

We tried to act brave as we walked past the big fence that surrounded it, but we were shaking in our boots from all of the gruesome and bloody stories we had heard about what went on inside!

I'm sure, none of them were true, but we didn't know that at the time.

To show that we weren't as afraid as we really were, we would sometimes say "crazy" in a low voice, as we walked past this true life "House Of Horrors."

To be exact, one of us would say "crazy," and then the other one of us would say "crazy" a little louder.

But never so loud that anyone could hear us from the "Frankenstein's Castle" looking building about 100 yards back from the fence.

Yes, I know, we were very insensitive and stupid at the ages of 11 and 12. Sorry.

However, I got paid back when they threw me in to the Illinois Bartonville "Insane  Asylum" for a few days

after a bout with drugs and depression. 

See! Never make fun of people who are different than you!         ( FYI... God has helped me to be sound in mind now! REALLY!!)

http://www.spookshowentertainment.com/2012/04/18/bartonville-insane-asylum-to-reopen-soon-for-tours/

Gently sweep your cursor under the picture for link to tours of this frightening building. Thanks!

"They" claim it's haunted now, but I don't believe in that crappolla!

On a serious note, I have suffered from depression and bi-polar illness for many years, along with millions of other people around the world.

Many famous people from history have been diagnosed to have suffered from mental illness as well;

Abraham Lincoln...Major depression
Michelangelo...Autism
Beethoven...Bipolar disorder
Leo Tolstoy...Major depression
Charles Dickens...Major depression

I guess I don't mind being connected with these guys, but I have made great progress over the years with the help of my doctors, advanced medicine, my wife, family, friends, and with the help of God!

I used to be 99% depressed and 1% feelin' good, where now I'm 1% depressed and 99% feelin' good! Exactly like the great Michael Buble would describe:

SURREAL SATURDAYS

Sometimes I believe the surreal is more real than the real!

Why?

Because my brain was bombarded with the highly surreal cartoons in my formative years that taught me things are not always what they seem.

ANYTHING imaginable could happen in a cartoon, and that's the way I liked it.

When we were living in the housing projects in South St. Louis a little boy fell out of a second floor window and landed on a metal grate.

I was only 3 or 4 years old, but I remember the incident. (Or maybe my mom told it so often, I THINK I remember it.)

My mom picked up the bleeding boy, and carried him to St. Louis City Hospital, a few blocks away, and the boy survived.

I was traumatized about that for many years, but cartoons made me feel better.

If a little boy fell out of a window (like "Sweetpea") in a Popeye cartoon , Popeye would come along and swoop the boy up in his arms, and save the kid before he hit the metal grate.

Or maybe the kid would just bounce, like a rubber ball!

That was much better than real life tragedy! 

In addition, surreal is tons more interesting than average. 

Here is an example: 

BORING! Seen this a million times, right?

Now compare the boring Mickey Mouse and Friends to the one below, which is the same one at the top.

Way cooler and interesting, right!

Here you have a transmorphed Mickey Mouse with 5 eyes, a Popeye head, and a Big Bad Wolf head, 8 arms that somehow extend down all around and up through the floor with a watch in one hand and a pen in the other, a giant genie with Alladin's Lamp, Humpty Dumpty singing an aria or something, an evil clown with a megaphone, a dinosaur...and what did I miss? 

Well, anyway, you get the point.

Surreal is so much more fun than the ordinary, mundane stuff we deal with everyday!

Think of the fun world Jim Henson must have lived in, or Theodor Seuss Geisel. 

I know that many of my friends think I'm a little too "far out" at times, and live in my own fantasy world too much, but it helps me to cope with the harsh realities of this cold, unforgiving world that rears it's ugly head from time to time.

If you can spare a few minutes of your valuable time, peruse the surreal Mickey Mouse Circus Conglomeration thingy, and see what interesting things you can find.

If nothing else, it will take your mind off the stressful things you have to endure every day!

Love you guys, in a really surreal sort of way!!!

Danny

FAN FRIDAYS

White Castle

FAN FAN FRIDAYSFRIDAYSFAN FRIDAYS FAN FRIDAYS

FAN FRIDAYS

FAN 

FAN FAN FRIDAYS

FAN FRIDAYS

FAN FRIDAYS

         I am a BIG fan of White Castle!       

All of a sudden I hear a cheer from one side of the room and a groan from the other side!

White Castle Hamburgers are like cats, you either love them or hate them. No in between!

I was a White Castle purest whilst growing up in St. Louis! 

I never added anything to my White Castle burger!

No cheese, mustard, ketchup...no nothin'!

When I could see the grease stains coming through the box I knew they would be extra good!

I'll never forget the aroma of the cooked onions as you walked into a White Castle (if you didn't use the curb service), where they were cooking them behind a glass window for all the world to see.

They had the buns right on the grill with the onions and hamburgers, so that everything tasted deliciously the same!

A perfect White Castle Hamburger could be squeezed into a ball, due to the soggyness of it all!

(I think that was a poem)

At 10 cents a  piece, 100 hamburgers were only 10 bucks!

And when we had a big family gathering it was nothing for us to order 100 hamburgers, and it didn't even phase the hamburger makers!

I was such a purest, and had so much love and respect for White Castle, I never called then "belly bombers" or "sliders," It was always "White Castles" as the employees said.

The kids at school never ceased to amaze me with their White Castle stories.

"I ate 10 White Castles!"

"Well, I ate 20 White Castles!" 

And then they had an uncle who "ate 50 White Castles one night!"

At this point in my dumb life, the nearest White Castle is about 200 miles away.

So, my craving for them is increased 200 fold!

I could eat at least 15 of them right now!

Why not? The hospital is only a few blocks away!

THOUGHTFUL THURSDAYS

I learned this psychological test many years ago, and it has proved to be an interesting ice breaker at parties, wedding receptions, funerals, and bar mitzvah's over the years.

I will tell the story and you tell me what you see in your mind.

I'll tell you what everything means at the end.

1.You are walking down a road and see a house.

Describe the house you see.

2.Like in a dream, you just walk inside and see something on a table.

What do you see?

3.You walk back outside and see something shiny and metallic covered in dirt on the ground.

Do you pick it up and clean it off, to see what it is, or just leave it alone?

4.You walk through the woods on this warm sunny day, and come to a small stream, maybe you can jump across without getting wet, or maybe you'll just take off your shoes and wade through.

Which do you do?

5.You keep walking down the path and see a key on the ground.

Do you pick it up or leave it there?

6.At the end of the path is a stone wall. 

It's just high enough that you cannot see over it.

Do you turn around and walk back the way you came, or try to jump up and see what's over that wall?

Most people say this psychoanalysis describes them well, let's see how close this came to nailing your personality?

Disclaimer: This is just one psychologist's opinion.

1. The house represents how materialistic you are.

If you pictured a large million dollar mansion you have the tendency to be materialistic, a small cottage or log cabin would show you are not too materialistic.

2. The thing you see on the table represents how practical you are.

If you saw flowers, knick knacks, dolls...not too practical.

A practical person might see a bowl of fruit, dinner, maybe even tools.

3. The shiny thing in the dirt symbolizes your love of beauty.

Picking it up and cleaning it off reveals your love of things beautiful and precious, leaving it on the ground displays a lack of appreciation for maybe art, music, or scenic vistas.

4.The stream is representative of sexual relations.

Wading through is a strong indication you love having sex, jumping over is equivalent to having the proverbial "headache."

5. The key represents your love of knowledge.

Picking up the key shows you love gaining knowledge about things, and passing it by shows that is not your top priority.

6. The wall at the end of the path is death.

If you did not want to look over, you have a fear of death, and wanting to see what is on the other side tells us you do not fear death as some do.

This is probably all a bunch of malarky, but almost everyone that has taken part in this little psychoanalysis has said it was amazingly accurate.

Tell me how you did!

THANKS!!