There are two types of people: Those who come into a room and say, "Well, here I am!" and those who say, "Ah, there you are.!"

 **** COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS ****

Guitarist says humiliating treatment caused him to quit Opry

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A longtime guitarist on the Grand Ole Opry said he left the show after 53 years because of "humiliating" treatment over the past several months.

Jimmy "Spider" Wilson, who quit the show Friday, said he was unhappy with several management decisions and policies, but the 71-year-old said he resigned mainly because of his exclusion from "Grand Ole Opry Live" telecasts.

One hour of Saturday's Opry is televised on the cable channel Great American Country. Even though he was part of the Opry house band, he said he would sometimes be the only member excluded from the television show.

He would play during the non-TV segments of the legendary WSM-AM 650 radio broadcast, which he said do not pay as well.


Wilson, who joined the band in 1953 at the age of 18, said the entire band received notice of his exclusion in e-mails from music director Steve Gibson.

"It would say, 'I need everybody minus Spider,' stuff like that," Wilson said. "It went on for a while, and I got tired of it. Why don't you just put on your e-mails who you do need and don't put whomever you don't need? Don't put their name on it. It is just sort of a humiliating thing."

Wilson said he discussed his unhappiness over the e-mail situation about six weeks ago and assumed it had been resolved. But a similar group e-mail was sent Nov. 16. Three Opry band members confirmed receiving such group e-mails.

Gibson could not be reached for comment by The Associated Press on Sunday, but Grand Ole Opry vice president and general manager Pete Fisher told The Tennessean that the decision not to include Wilson in certain performances was "a casting decision" made by Gibson.

Fisher said as many as 60 musicians can be included during the television portion, the majority of which are musicians accompanying the guest singers.

"The decisions that were made as to which musicians would perform on television are decisions not unlike those that are made in recording studios each and every day: casting the appropriate musician to the right song," he said.

Fisher added that Gibson's e-mail was "most likely intended to simplify the communication."

"It is certainly not a reflection of the very high regard that we have for Spider and his talents. ... Spider Wilson is one of the greatest guitar players there ever was," he said.

Band member Larry Paxton said he didn't think the e-mail was meant to be disrespectful because other band members also weren't needed during various TV broadcasts.

"There are e-mails that say, 'No Larry,'" Paxton said. "It is not just Spider."

Whatever the case, Wilson believes quitting "was the right thing," even though he said he'll miss playing in the band.

"I'll miss it because it's been the biggest part of my life for a lot of years," he said. "My work at the Opry over the years has been the next thing to a religion to me." 

Boe Tucker Has Passed Away

Boe Tucker, a country music manager who was the guiding force in his daughter Tanya Tucker's career, died Thursday of lung cancer. He was 79.

"Boe was driven and committed to Tanya and contributed greatly to her career," said Bill Carter, who managed Tanya during the 1970s. "Especially when she was young, he traveled with her, was there with her all the time, and made it possible for a 13-year-old to have a career.

"He went beyond being a parent, but he was there in troubled times, like during the Glen Campbell relationship," Carter said of Tanya's highly publicized, extremely volatile relationship with the country singer in the 1980s. "Boe was always there to pick up the pieces."

He also launched the career of his oldest daughter, LaCosta, who had a No. 3 hit with "Get on My Love Train" on Capitol Records in the 1970s.

Always protective, and at times even controlling, Mr. Tucker remained a constant presence in Tanya's glamorous but often erratic life.

"He was tough, but he was honest, and his family was his whole world — that included their careers," said Patsi Bale Cox, who co-wrote Tanya's 1997 autobiography, "Nickel Dreams." "He would do business on a handshake and he believed in that."

He was an old-school, free-wheeling show-biz type who was rough around the edges but full of soft spots inside for his family. He instilled his "Tucker Tough" demeanor in Tanya.

"Yeah, I've always put up a good front," Tanya told The Tennessean in 1997. "That stems from my dad. He always said, 'If you feel bad, don't tell them. Do your job and go on.' So I just put a wall up. There are times when I feel fearful and afraid, but you've just got to plow on through it."

Her father remained such a looming presence in her life that she delivered her 1994 Super Bowl performance largely for him. "The only face I could visualize watching me on any of those millions of television sets was my dad's," she wrote in her book. "After all … he's the one I've been trying to please all these years."

Mr. Tucker was born in Colgate, Okla., one of eight kids. His father left when he was young, and he told Tanya that he wasn't really named, so he selected his own name. While he preferred the spelling "Boe," Tanya always preferred "Beau," and used that spelling for her son's name, according to Cox.

During the 1960s, Mr. Tucker, then a construction worker in Southwest cities such as Seminole, Texas, and Wilcox, Ariz., encouraged Tanya's singing career after he and his wife, Juanita, discovered their 6-year-old's impressive abilities. He would drive her many miles to see singers such as Mel Tillis, Ernest Tubb and Little Jimmy Dickens, who were performing at local fairs. Often he negotiated an opening performance slot for Tanya.

He made tapes of Tanya singing in their living room when she was 9 but he couldn't get anyone interested. He moved his family to Phoenix, where she appeared on a children's television program, and then to St. George, Utah, where she landed a cameo role in the 1972 Robert Redford movie "Jeremiah Johnson."

The family eventually moved to Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas, to help Tanya's career. "She was pretty much his Job One,' said Chet Flippo, CMT's editorial director, who penned the famous 1974 Rolling Stone cover story on Tanya. "He was extremely proud of her and very protective. Obviously, his managerial skills were self-learned, but I think he did a lot to launch her. Obviously, Tanya was his life's work."

He financed Tanya's demo tape in Vegas, and after countless rejections, a copy was given to actress/songwriter Dolores Fuller, which led to Billy Sherrill'd signing Tanya to Columbia and releasing her debut album, Delta Dawn, in 1972. Mr. Tucker bought an old touring bus on the side of which he painted "Tanya Tucker," and hired a five-piece band. They hit the road, with Mr. Tucker serving as road manager and his wife in charge of wardrobe and makeup. Hits such as "What's Your Mama's Name," "Blood Red and Goin' Down" and "Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)" soon followed.

Tanya Tucker, 48, who was in Nashville on Friday, will fulfill her obligation to perform in Reno, Nev., today.

"He would want her to work," said her publicist/assistant, Laura Lacy. "He would want her to go ahead and do what she needed to do. This has been the dynamic for 40 years. It was so much about work and the management relationship they had. Although it was father and daughter, it was a lot about business, too."

No funeral arrangements have been made. Besides Tanya, Mr. Tucker is survived by his wife, Juanita; his son, Don, of Nashville; his daughter LaCosta, also of Nashville; and eight grandchildren. •

Vince Gill Gets Guitar From Buck Owens

Vince Gill receives a Buck Owens guitar from Buck's Bakersfield, Calif. radio station, KUZZ.

November 22, 2006--While on tour in Bakersfield, Calif., Vince Gill recently stopped by the late legend Buck Owens' radio station, KUZZ, where he found a surprise awaiting him. Way back in 1991 during Vince's performance at the Kern County Fair, Buck had presented him with one of his signature red, white and blue acoustic guitars. That guitar currently hangs in Vince's office.

After Buck's death earlier this year, his family and friends were going through his personal items and came across another red, white and blue guitar, one of the rare 1964 Gibson models that Buck gave to very few people. This one carried a gold plaque that read, "To Vince Gill I finally got it right! A fan, Buck Owens March 5, 1992."

Friends said they believe that Buck, after having watched Vince play, regretted giving him a lesser model and was planning to make up for the gaffe by presenting him a finer version.

No one knows why Buck never delivered the better guitar, but KUZZ program director Evan Bridwell made it right by presenting it to the stunned Vince. Afterward Vince commented to a KERO-TV reporter, "I honestly will treasure it. I still have the notes that I would get from Buck from time to time when I’d make a new record he’d like. He would say ‘I love this new record, and I’m singing it in my shows down here at the Crystal Palace.’ I feel like he genuinely liked some of the stuff I did, and that meant the world to me."

Eddy Arnold and his wife Sally will celebrate their 65th Wedding Anniversary

This Tuesday Nov. 28th Eddy Arnold and his wife Sally will celebrate their 65th Wedding Anniversary........Submitted by Don Stewart

**** Amy's Kitchen ****  

The Rainbow Parfait

1 scoop vanilla ice cream
1 scoop chocolate ice cream
1 scoop strawberry ice cream
1 tbsp. crushed pineapple
1 tbsp. chopped maraschino cherries
1 tbsp. chopped coconut
1 tbsp. blueberries
1 tbsp. Cool Whip
1 tsp. chocolate bits


Spread cherries along the bottom of a parfait (see through glass). Drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, then add some crushed pineapples. Place the chocolate ice cream on top of it all and sprinkle on the chopped coconut. Place the strawberry ice cream on top and pour in the blueberries. Swirl on as much whipped cream as you dare and sprinkle with chocolate bits. You can substitute any flavor of your choice and also for less fat use yogurt in place of ice cream.



Eggnog Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix
well.

In a large bowl cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer to form a
grainy paste. Add eggnog, vanilla extract and egg yolks and beat at
medium speed until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed just
until combined. Do not over-mix. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto
ungreased cookie sheets 1 inch apart. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Bake
for 23 to 25 minutes or until bottoms turn light brown. Transfer
immediately to a cooling rack.
Robbie, Bowling Green, IN