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20 APR 04: WELCOME BACK, COTTER
Monday was homecoming day for country singer and "Nashville Star" finalist Brad Cotter. He returned to Auburn-Opelika for a one-day tour of autograph-signing, music-singing, interview-giving - why, it was practically everything Eminem refuses to do.
Brad Cotter came home to Lee County as part of the hype for cable TV's "Nashville Star." All four remaining finalists were allowed to go home for a day - and since the singer with the most votes wins, they learned how it felt to be politicians.
(Speaking of cable TV -- Instant Message to the USA Network: Are you TRYING to annoy people with the music at the "Nashville Star"home page? Or are simply making us longer to hear the singers?)
I mentioned the other day that one of Brad Cotter's cousins is a local elder in the church I attend. How interesting that he calls the phone number every weekend and votes several times for Cotter, after years of preaching about how Christians
should NOT vote in elections.
The high point of Brad Cotter's day was a free evening concert outside the "Lodge and Conference Center at Grand National." But you could tell Cotter still is NOT a full-fledged "Nashville Star" - because his audience couldn't have filled the Opelika High School football stadium.
Brad Cotter's concerts in Opelika and Auburn were fund-raisers for the Lee County chapter of the American Red Cross. Remember: we need trained Red Cross lifeguards this summer -- because boomboxes and CD cases don't float.
Brad Cotter gave several interviews while he was in downtown Auburn. Living in Nashville as a songwriter, Cotter admitted he misses Auburn University football games in the fall. Of course, there's plenty of time between now and August for A.U. President Ed Richardson to fire the marching band and have Cotter replace it.
Brad Cotter also admitted he does NOT think he'll wind up being the final "Nashville Star." He believes that title will go to Canadian singer George Canyon - perhaps because he has the most country-sounding last name.
Whether he wins the "Nashville Star" title or not, Brad Cotter certainly has made a lot of fans over the last several weeks. Why, they might just develop a dance in his honor - the Cotter-Eyed Joe.
(Hey, wait a minute! I have my own CD in area stores - so maybe I should try getting on one of these singing contests! If only I had a twang in my voice, and a smaller waistline which needed a big belt buckle....)
SPAM-A-RAMA: We now return to our Monday topic of "Jesus junk." It was, uh, "inspired" by several sad sights in my e-mail over the last two days - spam offers from the Christian Children's Fund. If you donate enough money, perhaps CANS of Spam can be sent to starving children.
The Christian Children's Fund asks me to sponsor children such as Maria - youngsters I'm told "desperately need food, health care, education and more." Maybe this spam should be sent to Spain's new Prime Minister. After all, he's moving troops out of Iraq - and he's socialist.
The Christian Children's Fund tells me "thousands of children in 30 countries" are looking for a helping hand from people like me. Appeals like this admittedly make me feel guilty - because I should be helping children in low-income Columbus housing projects, and I don't even do that.
Other Christian businesses sadly have become spammers in recent months. "Christian Debt Management" of Boca Raton, Florida has sent me e-mails several times, with this Bible quote: "....and forgive us our debts." The company never quotes the next verse, about "lead us not into temptation...."
I'm thankfully not in debt, so I have NOT checked this business. But I can't help asking what IS a Christian approach to debt management:
+ When bill collectors in trench coats come to your door, do you give them gospel tracts?
+ Do you follow what the New Testament-era culture did - and lock yourself in a debtor's prison, until you work off your imbalance?
+ Does this company have a stack of "anointed prayer rugs," like the one mailed to me the other day?
In short, I'm disappointed when a "Christian" junk mail offer shows up, either by snail mail or e-mail. Somehow I suspect most of these things wind up on the W.W.J.D. list. You know - What Would Jesus Delete?
Now let's clear out other unfinished business from Monday:
+ The Muscogee County School Board approved the use of wireless phones by students before and after school. I refuse to call them "cell phones" because one TV station put the words "cells in schools" on the screen Monday, and I thought of
prisons.
+ A morning jog down Broadway revealed a couple of state prison inmates were in the wide median, near 7th Street. Either they were starting to set things up for Riverfest -- or they had dousing sticks, looking for a place to build one more fountain.
+ Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry made a campaign stop in Atlanta - and during a visit to The Varsity, he proceeded to spill a soft drink all over himself. [True/CNN] I predict Fox News Channel will show this tape at least 100 times between now and Election Day.
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: We'll take Wednesday off, then face an action-packed few days in our home neighborhood....)
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