Newsical Notes

By Jean Metcalfe

My apologies to former LASC member Marie Augustine for including her name in last month's column as one of the songwriters scheduled to tape a songwriter segment for TKR Channel 10 in July. Marie was not scheduled. Mike Swayze and Prez Paul Moffett did, however, recently tape a 15-minute segment each, with Cherry River Grand New Opry's Maggie Brummett. Ditto for D.V. Gilbert.

I was out shopping when the July 16 program aired (the time slot is Saturdays at 4:00 p.m.), and Prez Moffett says he was practicing his diving at a local pool when a phone message was recorded on his machine by former member Becky Bennett O'Toole who was watching . . . as she spoke. Seems the Prez, referencing one of his original tunes, said something like "as soon as I get a decent demo of it." Well, Becky and Kelly Wilkinson had done a demo of the songs a couple of years ago. And it was a very nice demo, too; the duo just hadn't interpreted the song exactly the way the Prez had written it. (Has that ever happened to you, boys and girls?)

Mike Swayze recently went down to Nashville and spent some time talking with Tony Arata, writer of the runaway Garth Brooks hit "The Dance." Mike came back really cranked up and is looking into the possibility of having Tony come to Louisville . . . but it's too early for details.

Welcome to the Board of Trustees, Donna Dalton and Mike Swayze. Last month, in passing, I identified Mike as a new Board member, and didn't elaborate, as we had planned to mention the two new Board members in a separate article. Alas, that didn't happen. So . . . WELCOME, Donna and Mike!

I liked John McDowell's song "No Room" the moment I first heard it. So, naturally, when I learned that it was a cut on an album to be released in July, I was very pleased.

The album, You've Got to Know, was recorded in Nashville by Hodgenville, Ky., Christian artists In His Name.

John, who now lives in Nashville, is a former LASC member who lived in Radcliff at the time. He performed on several LASC showcases/events and was always entertaining. I can still recall one of his other originals, a funny number about his mother, but I can't recall the title.

Our sympathy is extended to Claude Wayne Fulkerson whose son, Mark Wayne Fulkerson, died on July 19 at the age of 32.

Claude Wayne joined the LASC soon after its formation and subsequently designed the Co-op's logo. That piece of work earned for him a much-deserved lifetime membership in the cooperative. Claude Wayne is also a talented performer, perhaps best known for his performances with Mini Minnie, a small ventroliquist's dummy patterned after Minnie Pearl, which he designed and fabricated.