Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle, James McMurtry, Jack Ingram, Tom Russell, Chris Knight, Kelly Willis, Charlie Robison, Rodney Crowell, Guy Clark, Todd Snider, Dixie Chicks, Iris Dement, John Prine, Willie Nelson, Peter Cooper, Those Guys, Dave Foley, Mike Reynolds Band, the Limitations, Austin Collins, Robbie Fulks and many others.
Movies
Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, Pulp Fiction, Little Big Man, Dr. Strangelove, Giant, Blazing Saddles, The Last Picture Show, True Grit, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, North by Northwest, Fever Pitch.
Television
Seinfeld, Friday Night Lights, American Experience, Austin City Limits, Letterman, Boston Red Sox baseball on NESN.
Books
Practically everything written by Larry McMurtry, John Steinbeck, Elmore Leonard and Wallace Stegner.
Once Upon a Distant War, The Right Stuff, East of Eden, The Tender Bar, Sometimes a Great Notion, The Last Picture Show, Lonesome Dove.
Heroes
John Unitas, Carl Yastrzemski, Bob Kerrey, Dick Riley, Jimmy Carter, Keith Richardson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, David Pearson, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris.
Furman University
Greenville, SC
Graduated: 1980
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: Political Science/History
1976 to 1980
Clinton High School
Clinton, SC
Graduated: 1976
Student status: Alumni
Degree: High School Diploma
Clubs: Football, editor of school paper, (Sentinel), high honors graduate
1972 to 1976
Monte is back home, deciding what to do next. view more
About me: My "day job" is writing about NASCAR for the Gaston Gazette in Gastonia, NC. The Gazette originates "NASCAR This Week," a page that appears in 300 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. I recently won the George Cunningham Award, presented by the National Motorsports Press Association for being writer of the year for 2007.
My first non-sports book, True to the Roots: Americana Music Revealed (Bison Books/University of Nebraska Press), has been out almost a year now. Before that, I wrote five books about NASCAR, edited another and contributed to several more. The most recent NASCAR book is Haul A** and Turn Left (Warner Books).
Even though I've followed auto racing all my life -- and it's enabled me to carve a niche for myself -- my favorite sport is really baseball (hence the Red Sox motif). I love baseball too much to cover it on a regular basis. I'd rather have my illusions left intact.
While writing True to the Roots, I taught myself to play guitar and eventually learned to be good enough (barely) to write songs. I also took up the mandolin recently.
I read a lot. I play guitar a lot. I travel a lot. I listen to a lot of music.
I graduated from Furman University with a double major in political science and history. I've been accepted to law school twice. By the time I completed by B.A., I had this little problem. I didn't like lawyers anymore. There are some I like. It's the profession I dislike. It took me a while to figure out that I should be a writer, but it shouldn't have been that hard. I've enjoyed writing since my earliest memory.
I live in South Carolina on the farm where I grew up. My house is about 200 yards away from my mother's house. Sometimes I wish it was 200 miles, but I'm here because I want to be here. It's not that I love Clinton; it's that I understand it. I've gradually come to the conclusion that it's about the only place I'm fit to live.
This layout was handmade with love by the folks at My space or yours? Go get one!
Who I'd like to meet: Tom Matte, Johnny Pesky, Larry McMurtry, Willie Mays, Carl Yastrzemski, Tom T. Hall, Robert Duvall, Al Franken, John Edwards, Chuck Klosterman, Matt Taibbi.
I'd like to have met Harry Truman, Abraham Lincoln, James Longstreet, Jack Kerouac, Hank Williams, Martin Luther King, Jesus, John Steinbeck, Thomas Jefferson, LBJ, RFK, Hunter S. Thompson, Ted Williams, John Unitas, Katharine Hepburn.
Happy 2009 and thanks for adding the Freaks to your friends list!!! Last Sunday's show was a killer one to kick off the new year... tonight will surely please as well... do not miss it!
NYE @ The ROCK! Click the Polar Bear for more info:
Rockingham: Moonshine & Street Stocks
As in years past, Rockingham Speedway will bring back "real racin" when 99 Street Stock drivers take to the 1-Mile track for 150 grueling laps.
This year, is the 45th anniversary of racing at "The Rock" and festivities start New Year's Eve in the infield with live music by the campfire from "tell it like it is" racing reporter Monte Dutton. Monte recently performed at Puckett's Farm Equipment, another joint as legendary as "The Rock." Another high light of the evening will be a drama filled NBPL sanctioned indoor Beer Pong Tournament.
The Polar Bear 150 takes place on January 1 at 1 o'clock, but not before a big breakfast of Frank Corriher Sausage and Scrambled Eggs are served.
Expect a Old School Racing theme for most of the weekend's events. For example, the Moonshine will flow like water out of the NC Mountains, legendary stories of Earnhardt, The Bandit, and Sam Ard will follow, and expect door to door excitement reminiscent of real racing from back in the day.
Hot tip: Purchase a $40 pit pass, and camp for free in the infield. This includes admission into the New Year's Eve party in the Winston Cup garage area and VIP Tower seating for the Polar Bear 150 on the #34 FIreside Hauler located in Turn 3. A midnight appearance by Bugsy Stevens is expected.
Im takin two weeks off from playing... I need it. We are playing again on New Years Eve. I suspect I'll have a really bad itch for it by then. Happy Hollidays!!! Come on when ever you take a notion....
Thanks for the blog comment. Yes - understood. Record labels, record shops, NASCAR owners, newspaper publishers, banks, etc. Yep, keeps happening more and more.
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