"Empty Pillow Blues" by Bill Russo (C) 2022

Woke up at 6:30 in the morning and wrote down the words to a song 

that I recited to myself in a dream.  Somehow, I remembered 

every line.  Usually, I can remember just bits and pieces of a dream.  

One day I hope to have a dream that could turn into a best seller!

 Get in on the Ground Floor of the revolutionary

 new Non-Electric and Non-Gas Automobile

by Bill Russo, 

Hi folks. I am pleased to announce that I am now accepting investors for the new Keysla Car company. Our wind-up vehicles never need gas or electricity. All natural and environmentally friendly. PM me for prospectus.

Also: we have a number of jobs open for winders. We plan to station a winder on every street corner in Boston and West Palm Beach, our first two test markets. Good pay and short hours. PM me for details. Help us put Tessler, Shivrolay, and real-oaters in the back seat. Drive a Keysla and ride on, ride on and on until you wind up at a wind-up station!

"Empty Pillow Blues" by Bill Russo (C) 2022

by Bill Russo 

The late Steve Goodman wrote the perfect country song, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name", as recorded by David Allen Coe. My new little song channels Steve, but I forgot to put in dogs, pick-up Trucks, Trains, Mama, and gettin' drunk.

I'll try to do better next time.

Here's the latest comment on the tune-----

"Sang from the heart. I played it backwards. I got my girl back, my house back, my dog back..."

February 12th was once a holiday in the United States -Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Abe was born on 12 Feb, 1809 - 213 years ago. Some people think he might be our greatest President.

Abe was murdered by an actor named John Booth just as America's most un-civil war was ending in early 1865.

Booth, though a successful Southern actor, had been banned in Boston and New York for his threats against the United States and its leaders.

In Ford's theater where he worked, he shot President Lincoln in the head with a 41 caliber revolver on April 14, 1865.

Just 12 days later a company of 26 Union soldiers cornered him in a tobacco barn in the South.

It was the same day that the President's nine car funeral train arrived in New York City. Over 1.5 million people viewed the late President's black train in its seven-state journey to take him home for burial.

As the people in New York tearfully viewed the late President, hundreds of miles to the South, Booth was trapped like a rat in a barn. Ordered to surrender he refused, wishing to fight to the death.

The soldiers were ordered to take him alive. They set the barn ablaze, still the killer would not come out.

Private Boston Corbett went in after him. Booth raised his pistol to fire, but Boston was quicker, and sent John W. Booth to his maker with a single shot from his regulation army side-arm. All Hail Pvt. Boston Corbett!

"Reacher" Amazon Prime, notes by Bill Russo,

OK - How good is the new "Reacher" series on Amazon Prime?

Well first off, thankfully it DOES NOT HAVE Tom Cruise in it, so it automatically has to be better than the two dismal Hollywood films based on Lee Child's Jack Reacher character.

It stars Alan Ritchson as the 6 foot 5 Reacher. Ritchson is only 6-two, but he plays the bigger Reacher to a "P" (for Perfection), and he can act.

The eight-episode series dropped on Feb 4, 2022, and has been renewed for a second season.

Season One is based on Lee Child's Debut novel, the Killing Floor. It features a Harvard educated cop from Boston as the chief detective in a small town in the Deep South where Reacher goes to learn about the fabled Blues singer from the 1930s, Blind Blake.

On a 1 to 5 star system - I give it a 4

Back in 1975, after being championed by Dave Maynard of WBZ radio in Boston my song 'Home is Where My Heart Is', that I wrote in hopes that Conway Twitty would record it, got to Nashville and in the hands of Ed Penny.

Ed was a former Boston DJ who went to Nashville and had written a few hits. It looked like we were going to collaborate on my song, but he ended up working as the personal manager of a blind singer named Terri Gibbs (Somebody's Knockin') and the project fell by the wayside. Well, that said, here's my latest hopeful that I hope will find a country singer willing to take it on.......................

We have had a huge week on Bill Russo's Short Story Theater, with hundreds of new listeners. Welcome aboard! If you missed it before, take a ride on our 8th most downloaded episode, the chilling tale we call The Midnight Express. Click the blue link... https://www.spreaker.com/.../midnight-express-mp3-for-sst Give a click!

 by Bill Russo

On Feb. 4, 2022, a SWAT team with a No Knock Warrant, shot and killed a 22 year old black man, was sleeping on a couch - who was not named in the Warrsnt.  

I don't think we should pre-judge guilt or innocence on either side of the door in this latest NO KNOCK WARRANT killing. People are questioning whether the police loudly proclaimed their presence. That is a moot point - a NKW means they do not have to shout out: "POLICE - OPEN UP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW". That said, the NKW is far too dangerous to both the police and the people behind the door. It probably should be used only in the most extreme cases.

Five Minutes of Wasting Words While Waiting For a Bus

 

Woke up this morning at 6:30 and it was cloudy but hot. Kissed my pillow good morning, grabbed some coffee from the pot.

It was yesterday's and it was cold. I didn't mind cause since she left, I need it extra bold.

See that solitary twisted tree? it's actually an image of me.

(random thoughts from an early Friday morn, which might turn into a song or a short story)