Album Review - Reckless Kelly Was Here

So i'm going to try something different. This is a first attempt at writing an album review. The idea, at least as I imagine it, is that as I gather music throughout the year (and I gather a lot of it) I figure I can write up a review of each album as I listen to it and post a review here for all to see. With that being said, here's my first review.

Reckless Kelly – Reckless Kelly Was Here
MySpace Music Genre(s): Country/Rock/Jam Band
Release Date: Aug. 8, 2006
Label: Sugar Hill Records

Every now and then I stumble across a band that makes me go "How did I not know about these guys already?" Reckless Kelly is one of those bands. The band, based out of Austin, Texas, has been around since the late 90's and have released in the area of 8 or 9 albums. "Reckless Kelly Was Here," a double CD set that also comes with a bonus DVD, is the bands second live album, the first being an acoustic album called "Live From Stubb's." So this album was the bands first full-fledged electric live album. Well needless to say they NAILED it.

The album starts off with an adrenaline charged tracked from their last studio album (Wicked Twisted Road) called "Sixgun." Whoever made the choice to use this as the opening song on the album made an excellent decision, cause not only does it set the tone for the album but it gets the crowd revved up, which is important for any live album. They keep the action coming with a cover of Alejandro Escovedo's "Castanets" and Reckless Kelly originals "Motel Cowboy Show" and "I Still Do."

The fifth song on the album, one you'd know if you've listened to bluegrass for any length of time, is called "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." I've heard several different versions of this song and while this isn't my favorite (that goes to The Del McCoury Band) its still a great cover of a great song. This is followed up with a song I could see being played in any Irish pub in New England, and the song that ties for my favorite on the album, "Seven Nights in Eire."

The band slows it done a touch with a new one called "Break My Heart Tonight" (the band also includes the studio version of this and another song on the album, "Wiggles & Ritalin," on this collection) followed up by another band original "Nobody's Girl." The other song that is a tie for my favorite on the album is actually a medley featuring the songs "Hey Say May" and "Guacamole." One is a rock song, while the other is more of a lower Texas/Mexican line dancing song, sorta. It's hard to describe. They close the first of the two discs with what the band called their own name dropping song, "Vancouver."

The second disc is kicked off by another rocker, "Wiggles & Ritalin" followed by the slower "Wild Western Windblown Band." They pick it up a bit on the foot stomping "Baby's Gone Blues" before slowing down again with one of the band's live favorites "Wicked Twisted Road" from the album of the same name. The band then pulls out all the stops on the final two songs on the album, presenting a hard charging version of their song "Crazy Eddie's Last Hurrah" and then closing with a surprise, a cover of The Beatles "Revolution." All in all, a great live set from a great band. I plan to buy more from this band in the future, as a matter of fact, I already have. I expect the bands last studio album in the mail anytime now. If you like great country rock or rock country or whatever you want to call it, check out Reckless Kelly and this album. You won't be disappointed.

So what do you think? Good? Bad? Let me know.

Honoring our forefathers

I saw a story today about the oldest living World War I veteran dieing at the age of 109. Stirs up some memories of my grandfather, Austin "Bud" James Fenwick, who fought in World War II. A week or two ago while running some errands in Columbus, NC (the county seat of Polk County) I decided to make a quick stop at the Veterans Memorial in town (which can be seen at left).

In any case, I felt the need to see my Grandfather's brick. Some years ago when they first decided to create this memorial my father put down the money to have a brick made for Pop Pop (what we called our Grandfather). It took several years and a lot of money and donations but the memorial finally got built. And my Grandfather finally got the recognition he deserved for his sacrifice.

I felt the need to put this up, because the Holiday season is about many things, but most of all I think about those I care about, regardless if they still walk this earth or not. So Pop Pop, I hope were ever you may be your Christmas is as merry as it can possibly be and know that your family is thinking about you this holiday season. God Bless Austin "Bud" James Fenwick, World War II veteran and one of the most stubborn men I think I've ever met. We miss you.

Top music of 2007

So I was sitting at my desk reading through several popular stories floating around the internet when I stumbled across Stephen King's favorite music from 2007. Reading that got me thinking about what I felt like were my favorite albums of 2007. With that being said, here they are.

Scott Miller & The Commonwealth - Reconstruction

I had never heard of this band or this album until sometime early this year. I had stopped by to talk to some friends at WNCW and they played a song on the air while I was in the studio called "I Made A Mess Of This Town" from this album. I asked who it was and where I could get it. They just happaned to have an extra copy lying around and they gave it to me. What a great album. From "I Made A Mess Of This Town" to "Eight Miles Per Gallon" to "Drunk All Around This Town" this album was just an outstanding album. Oh, did I mention it was recorded live?

Tater - Where The Metal Meets The Grass ... Live

Folks from and around Shelby known who this band is. Tater, based in Shelby, has a rockbluegrasscountryalt band that is all about having fun and this live release from this is no exception. Recorded and released by the band in less then two weeks, this album debuts a lot of new material by the band, including the opening track "Anatomy." Just a great album, no questions asked.

Jason Isbell - Sirens Of The Ditch

Jason Isbell, a former member of Southern Rock band the Drive-By Truckers, released his first solo-album this year and boy was it a great album. Several tracks on this album just blew me away, including songs like "Down In A Hole" and "Brand New Kind Of Actress." The two best songs on the album are "Chicago Promenade," a tribute to his grandfather, and "Dress Blues," a song written in honor of a friend he graduated with in high school who died while fighting in Iraq. I'd recommend this album to anyone.

Warren Haynes presents the Benefit Concert Volume 2

This one is sorta special to my family. Every year in Asheville Warren Haynes (of Gov't Mule, The Allman Brothers Band fame) holds what is called the Christmas Jam. He invites all of his friends to come play for a good cause. All money once they break even is given to Habitat For Humanity. This recording is from 12th Annual Event in 2000, which my mother and father just happaned to have attended. My father and I still think you can hear my mother whistling near the end of Gov't Mule & Dave Schools' cover of the Tom Waits song "Goin' out West." Great sets from The Bottle Rockets and the Chris Duarte Group are also highlights on this album. As I understand it the plan is to eventually release all of the shows from 1999 forward (1999 and 2000 are already available) and I can't wait, because I was at all but two of those shows between 2001 and now.

There are of course many more albums and songs that I really enjoyed from 2007 but these are the four that really stick out in my mind. 2008 is looking to be a great year for music already as well, with the Drive-By Truckers and the North Mississippi Allstars planning releases in January. Boy, I can't wait!

My little brother, the rockstar

My little brother John (at left) is a guitar player. Not just any guitar player. A GREAT guitar player. He picked up a guitar my mom bought for my twin brother Austin (at right) a few years back and has since gotten three more guitars (including his prized Gibson Les Paul.)

Well, Wednesday evening my little brother played out for the second time but the first time with a full band (minus a bass player). He did an outstanding job. He played with local legend "Red Dog" (I don't know his real name, that's just what everyone calls him) along with one of his teachers from high school. To say he impressed would be a bit of an understatement. He got to play on some classic songs, including Lynyrd Skynyrd's "All I Can Do Is Write About It," The Allman Brothers "One Way Out" (which he played lead on) and the song in the video below by The Band called "The Weight." Check it out and feel free to let me (and him) know what you think.

Getting Taterized

Thursday I had the chance to go down to an old stomping ground of sorts. I took a 30 minute trip from my home in Sunny View, NC to Isothermal Community College to see Shelby's own Tater perform live in Studio B at WNCW. In the summer of 2006 I got the chance to intern at WNCW, a dream gig for me since i'm such a big music fan. I know many of the people down at WNCW and i've gotten to see many outstanding artists (Jason Isbell, Trent Summar, Darrell Scott, DesChamps Band, Dixie Hummingbirds just to name a few) in the studio thanks to the kindness of the WNCW staff (Dennis Jones, Kim Clark, Martin Anderson, among others).

In any case, here is a video of Tater (Luke Edwards, Roger Padgett, Phil Simmons & Kelly Hull) performing a song from their new live album "Where the Metal Meets The Grass" called "Anatomy." I shot the video using my personal digital camera and was impressed how well it came out (even if the drums sorta make it hard to hear everyone else).

Long time, no post

Been a little bit since my last post, so I figured I'd throw one up here.

Things have been interesting lately over in little 'ole Polk County, where I make the drive from every day to come here to The Star. Let me sum up things just a bit.

Last Sunday on my way home I passed 6 cop cars with someone arrested and bent over the hood of a car. We NEVER see that many cop cars at that time of night unless something serious happened. So, I kept an ear out to see what had happened. Well the next day as I was making a run to the grocery store I passed a small trailer park less than a quarter mile from my house. It was taped off with Police tape and a firetruck and two cop cars were parked outside. This led to me guessing that the trailer had been a meth lab. My mom didn't think so, but I disagreed and said it probably was. I didn't see any fire damage and saw no reason for the police and firemen to be hanging out there.

A few hours later I get a phone call. Sure enough I was right. It turns out in fact that the 6 cars I saw the previous night were directly related. Apparently the police had gotten a call about three suspicious people walking down the road and when they stopped them that led them to the trailer on our road. Bingo, they found the meth lab. Go figure.

And oh yeah, a local Pastor's home caught on fire last night. I was going to the grocery store to get my mom some milk and I turned around and saw a flame coming up over the trees. The fire apparently started in an upstairs bedroom but was snuffed out pretty quickly once all the firemen got on the scene. Luckily no one got hurt.

News just likes to happen around me. I don't know why.

Thoughts of Halloween

Tomorrow i'll be another year older, another year wiser, another year closer to death. But hey, it's Halloween after all! So I decided to sit down here today and discuss one of my more "interesting" Halloween's.

One year when I was a kid we were doing our regular trick-or-treating and we stopped at our neighbors house. This family, whom had a few children that we went to school with, was good friends of ours at the time and we knew them pretty well. My brother and I went up to the front door and knocked. No one answered. But we heard something. Then we heard it again. I wasn't sure what it was, but it sounded like an engine starting up. We walked around to the side of the house to see what it was and about that time the front door FLEW off its hinges. My brother and I turned around just in time to see someone in a Leatherface mask with a chainsaw coming running at us. I think I was about a mile away in less than 10 seconds.

My mom says all she saw was him come out the door then my brother and I bolt past the van in the driveway and into the street. She couldn't stop laughing, and frankly I can't blame her. Our neighbor Rick had gotten us really good. As far as being scared, that had to be the worst scare on Halloween i've ever been a part of.

Something scary happen to you on Halloween? Tell me about it by posting a comment on my blog or dropping me an email!

Halloween and me

So Halloween is coming up. It is easily my favorite holiday of the year. Well, its not an official holiday, but I count it as one. Why? Well for one, what other day do you get fed untold amouts of candy? I mean really, that's a holiday all on its own. But on top of that, I was born on Halloween! Do I need any other reason to love October 31? Nope.

In any case, i've gone out of my way to track down a cool (well, my definition of cool anyway) costume for this year. I have no idea where or when i'm going to wear it, but by gosh i'm gonna wear it. Here is a picture of my self in said costume (I just got the last part of the costume, the mask, in the mail today).

Pretty cool huh? My dear friend Hannah, whom I went to school with at UNC Pembroke, helped me out with the costume. She is the master of costumes, so of course I went to her to plan for Halloween this year. What are you going as for Halloween this year? Let me know by emailing me or droping me a comment on my blog!

NASCAR has a short track date

NASCAR heads out to the oldest track on the NASCAR circuit, Martinsville Speedway, this weekend for the only short track race during The Chase. It should make for an interesting, not to mention nerve racking, race for a lot of the drivers. Here are my predictions for this weekends race.

This week's winner will be: Jeff Gordon
This guy is on FIRE and I see no reason why he won't continue being on fire. He's won the last two events and he finished second here in the Spring behind teammate Jimmie Johnson. Gordon had the fastest car in the Spring but he just couldn't get Johnson out of the way. I don't expect that to be a problem this weekend.

Don't underestimate: Johnny Sauter
The last time the NASCAR crew's visited a short track was Richmond and Johnny Sauter impressed there by running in the Top 10 most of the night. He ended up with a 5th place finish after starting 35th. This week his starting position is much better (13th) and I expect him to finish around the same spot, if not higher.

The underdog: Tony Raines
This guy has been fast this weekend. I don't know why, but he has been fast. He starts 10th on Sunday and was the fastest car in Happy Hour. Don't be shocked if he puts the No. 96 Chevrolet in the Top 10 this weekend.

The Top 10:
1. 24 Jeff Gordon
2. 2 Kurt Busch
3. 5 Kyle Busch
4. 48 Jimmie Johnson
5. 29 Kevin Harvick
6. 1 Martin Truex Jr.
7. 96 Tony Raines
8. 99 Carl Edwards
9. 43 Bobby Labonte
10. 31 Jeff Burton

Racing in Charlotte

NASCAR has invaded its hometown once again. The NEXTEL Cup series is racing tonight at Lowe's Motorspeedway and its sure to be an action packed event. With that being said, here are my predictions for tonight's event.

This weeks race winner: Kasey Kahne
I'm expecting a lot from Kasey this week, considering how bad his year has been this may just be too much. But I'm gonna stick to my guns. I feel like Kasey can win this weekend at Lowe's, he's won here before and usually has a car that can win at this race track over the likes of Gordon, Johnson and the Roush camp.

Don't underestimate: Casey Mears
Everyone remembers that Casey Mears won the Coca-Cola 600 in the spring using fuel mileage. What everyone forgets is that he was running up front, in the Top 5 no less, most of the evening. So its not like he was a 20th place car and stole the race. He was a Top 5, Top 10 car at worst, and won the race. So for those that expect little from Casey this week I have this to say: be prepared to be surprised.

The Underdog: Bobby Labonte
This guys been fast ... he looked like a top 5 car last week at Talladega before his little mistake. This week he took his car and qualified it third for today's race. Look out folks, Petty Enterprises might finally be on the right track.

My Top 10 Predictions:
1. 9 Kasey Kahne
2. 17 Matt Kenseth
3. 48 Jimmie Johnson
4. 24 Jeff Gordon
5. 12 Ryan Newman
6. 16 Greg Biffle
7. 25 Casey Mears
8. 43 Bobby Labonte
9. 2 Kurt Busch
10. 01 Mark Martin

Ain't I a do gooder?

"Well ain't you a do gooder?" That was the question asked by Lifestyles Editor Emily Killian Tuesday as I was leaving The Star for the evening. Just before that I had announced I would be volunteering on Wednesday and Thursday at WNCW 88.7 FM in Spindale during their fall fund drive. You see, WNCW is a public radio station (non-profit), thus they need support from listeners like you and I to keep doing what they are doing.

So, considering I interened there last year, I decided i'd lend a helping hand. I also brought my mother along to help out both days. I took some photos Thursday during a wild and crazy day of answering phones and taking pledges. Here are a few of them:

Dave Kester (on the left, WNCW Program Director) and Kim Clark (WNCW Local Color Host) talking after pitching on the air. Kim was actually my supervisor during my time as an intern.

This would be my mother, Renee, say hi mom!

Dennis Jones (left, Studio B master) and Crystal Scruggs of WNCW at the phone station.

Joe Kendrick (on the left) and Scotty Robertson (on the right) pitching on the air during the fund drive. They were actually broadcasting from the same room we were answering phones in.

WNCW's banner during the fund drive.

Going to Burns and my racing predictions

Tonight The Star Car and I will be taking a trip to Burns High School to cover the football game between Burns and Shelby. Should be a fun time as all the games I cover are. Anyone want to place bets that i'll get run over this week?

On to my predictions for this weekends race in Talladega. After Kansas last week its hard to imagine things being any more confusing. However, if one race track could do it, Talladega is surely it. No one really knows what to expect entering a race at Talladega and with the Car of Tomorrow making its Super Speedway debut this race has more unknown's then usual.

This weeks race winner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
This is the last race of the season for Junior and Tony Eury Jr. as a team, after this weekend he is leaving for Hendrick Motorsports to get a jumpstart on 2008. Because of this I sense the pair will pull out all the stops. Earnhardt has 5 wins at Talladega in his career, with an average finish of 12.6. He's long overdue for another win, so watch out for this one.

Don't underestimate: Mike Wallace
Everyone think back to the Daytona 500. Who finished fourth in that race? That would be one Mike Wallace. Of the Wallace brothers Mike has had the most success at the Super Speedway's. This weekend he is driving Robert Yates Racing's #88 Snickers entry. Remember, this is the same team that sat on the outside of the front row for the Daytona 500. If Mike is gonna win a NEXTEL Cup race this is as good a time as any.

The Underdog: Everyone else
Talladega is just one of those tracks that ANYONE can win on. The biggest reason why is the "Big One" can take out all the contenders in one big mess. Anyone left standing would be given the chance of a lifetime.

My Top 10 Predictions:
1. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2. 48 Jimmie Johnson
3. 24 Jeff Gordon
4. 1 Martin Truex Jr.
5. 2 Kurt Busch
6. 38 David Gilliland
7. 17 Matt Kenseth
8. 5 Kyle Busch
9. 88 Mike Wallace
10. 26 Jamie McMurray

Introducing the deer count

When I first started at The Star in June this year I decided to do something just for my own amusement. You see, I currently live over 45 minutes from Shelby in little 'ole Polk County. It's a surprisingly long drive to get to and from work everyday. Well, in order to get to work I have to take two back roads from my home in Polk County to get to Interstate 74 which takes me all the way to Shelby. This is where I decided to have my fun.

These two roads are known around Polk County to be filled with deer at night. Usually if you watch closely enough you can see at least 1 deer every time you drive through the area after dark. So, as a joke, I started keeping track of exactly how many deer I've seen since I started working at The Star. Since June when I started to today, October 1, I've seen a total of 73 deer. That number is not inflated folks, 73 deer. There is even one field that I drive by every night that almost always has at least one deer standing in it.

My biggest fear is that I'll be driving home one night and one of these guys will get mesmerized by my headlights and just stand in the road. I can just hear legend among the deer now...

"Hey Jackie, did you hear about Steve?"

"No Alex, what happened?"

"Man, he tried to cross the road the other night and he didn't make it..."

"Awww man! What happened?"

"He stopped and look at the bright light man. Whatever you do, don't stop and look at the light!"

That's my joke for the day.

My thoughts after Kings Mountain/East Gaston

So it is almost 10:15 and i've just uploaded the video from tonights Kings Mountain vs. East Gaston game to both Shelbystar.com and Varsitync.com. I'm also putting it here for your viewing. Needless to say I almost got creamed not once, not twice, but THREE times on the sidelines. I managed to stay the course on two of them though and I got them both on video and they made it into the final product. You'll know which ones they are when you watch the video.

Other than that the game was pretty good, it started off slow but once the scoring started it didn't stop. When Jeff and I left at halftime the score was Kings Mountain 24 and East Gaston 6. Most of that took place in the Second Quarter.

One nifty thing about the camera I use to shoot the video is I can take random photos as well, so I did that. Here is a random photo from the game. The photo you see is Photo Editor Jeff Melton looking to see if he got "the" shot.

Football and Racing

Today's blog has two topics, football and racing.

That's right folks, it is once again game night here in Cleveland County. Usually I'd be driving The Star Car to a game tonight but because of the Cleveland County Fair that won't be happening. Instead I'll be riding with Jeff Melton to the game to shoot video of tonight's Kings Mountain vs. East Gaston. With any luck video will be on Shelbystar.com and Varsitync.com no later then 10 p.m. tonight. Look for it then.

Now onto the racing portion of today's blog. NASCAR takes over Kansas City this weekend when teams descend on Kansas Speedway for Sunday's LifeLock 400. The chase is tight two races in, with the top 6 separated by less than 30 points and the top 8 separated by less than 80 points. This is already looking like its gonna be a REALLY tight race all the way to Homestead and I'm betting Kansas City this week is only gonna make it tighter.

My pick for this weekend's race: Jeff Gordon
Gordon won the first two races ever held at Kansas City and has an average finish there of 11.5. He hasn't won since the Pocono 500 in June (though he should have won at Watkins Glen) so i'm expecting a strong run from him at Kansas.

Don't look past: Carl Edwards & Clint Bowyer
These two are local boys (Edwards is from Columbia, Missouri and Bowyer is from Emporia, Kansas). Both men want to win at Kansas badly so expect them both to pull out the stops to try and win at Kansas and take over the lead in the Chase.

The underdog: Greg Biffle
It's hard to pick Biffle as an underdog but considering the year he has had (only 3 top 5's and 8 top 10's) its hard NOT to say he is an underdog. Last week's race at Dover was exactly what he needed though and may have set him up to make a strong run this weekend at Kansas.

Adam's Kansas Speedway LifeLock 400 Top 10 Finishers:
1. 24 Jeff Gordon
2. 07 Clint Bowyer
3. 11 Denny Hamlin
4. 99 Carl Edwards
5. 17 Matt Kenseth
6. 48 Jimmie Johnson
7. 1 Martin Truex Jr.
8. 2 Kurt Busch
9. 20 Tony Stewart
10. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Other Chaser Finishes:
Kyle Busch = 29th
Kevin Harvick = 19th
Jeff Burton = 17th

Disagree? Post a comment or drop me an email and let me know!

Meet the blogger

The life of a copy editor can be an interesting one. Mad dashes to complete your daily newspaper can make for some interesting stories and interesting days. So, as something else to keep my attention I asked for and was granted the chance to blog for The Shelby Star. With that being said, I thought it might be a good idea to introduce myself.

My names Adam Fenwick. I was born in Flemington, NJ (right across the street from Flemington Speedway, amen) along with my twin brother Austin. My family moved south when I was three and we've been here ever since. I graduated in May of this year from UNC Pembroke with a degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in Journalism.

I came to The Star in late June of 2006 as a Copy Editor. I work with a fine bunch of people here at The Star who have shown me the ropes and helped me learn everything I needed to so I could survive in this environment. Saturday-Tuesday you can find me in the office working hard on the print edition of the newspaper. On Friday's however you'll find me out and about at whatever local football game we are covering that week. Last week we covered Burns vs. Forestview. Look for me at future football games, i'll be driving The Star Car and shooting video of the games.

Also every other week you'll find that I write a column for the sports section about my favorite sport, NASCAR. My father raised me on the sport and i've followed it for as long as I can remember.

Well I do believe that should cover the introduction part. Should anyone have any questions, comments or anything else feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail!