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January 05, 2009
Bob Sanders: Nine bucks too much for a movie
Frosty got in her head the other day that we ought to go to the picture show. I fought it every step of the way. “We’ve been to the picture show, remember?
December 22, 2008
Bob Sanders: Day after Christmas too sad
I must have written close to half a hundred Christmas columns. I could just pick one out and run it again and nobody would know the difference. But I like to write about Christmas ... the way it used to be.
December 14, 2008
Bob Sanders: Time to head home for the holidays
Mercy. The days do dwindle down. Here it is, time for the annual pilgrimage to my hometown and preparations have barely begun. I have scouted the route and picked out a few likely looking rest stops.
December 08, 2008
Bob Sanders: We made the most of an old tire
The glimpse of a bright leaf and a session with Brother Anthony (Chaplain of the Geneva Street Think Tank) got me to remembering how easy we were to please, how little it took to make us happy.
December 01, 2008
Bob Sanders: American, foreign cars much alike
American car companies are struggling to stay alive. For all their faults, they are getting a bad rap in some ways.
November 24, 2008
Bob Sanders: Top 10 movies hard to choose
Again, if they’d only ask me before they make these ridiculous assertions ... Empire Magazine asked 10,000 moviegoers, 150 Hollywood directors, and 50 critics, and came up with a list of the 10 best movies of all time.
November 17, 2008
Bob Sanders: November now what October was
“The falling leaves drift by my window ... The leaves of brown come tumbling down, remember? That September, in the rain ...”
November 10, 2008
Bob Sanders: I miss those old westerns on television
Remember when westerns were all over the TV? Some lasted for years, some for only a year. “Wagon Train,” “Cheyenne,” “Have Gun Will Travel,” “The Rifleman,” “Maverick,” and on and on and on.
November 04, 2008
Bob Sanders: Good times in the big city of Columbus, Miss.
We were talking about my little hometown last week. The big city we went to when we needed things only a big city could supply was Columbus. Not “our” Columbus, but Columbus, Miss. Its current population is about 26,000. When I was growing up, it was about 14,000, although it seemed much bigger.
October 20, 2008
Bob Sanders: Hometown sort of way I described
Several people have visited my hometown out of pure curiosity, just to see if it’s the way I’ve described it. Is it? Well, yes and no. I really should have been there with you to show you where things ... used to be. While, physically, it hasn’t changed all that much, yet ...
October 13, 2008
Bob Sanders: Western Swing still taps my toes
In the early 1930s, in the heart of the Great Depression, there sprang up on the plains of Texas a new musical genre. It was a hybrid — part plain ol’ hillbilly country and part jazz. Spade Cooley named it Western Swing.
October 06, 2008
Bob Sanders: Goff gifted with talent
Tommy Goff is dead. From 1956, when he became Auburn High School’s band director, until he retired in 1988, literally thousands of young people spent time in his bands, and all of them, certainly including our two, became better people because of the experience.
September 29, 2008
Bob Sanders: P-40, P-32 were mean machines
A “Today in History” article got me to idly thinking about how warplanes were chosen. Sept. 4 marked the anniversary of the first flight of the B-32. The B-32? Not much reason for you to know about it, except to see how the military mind works. They would put out a set of specs: a plane must fly so fast, so high, carry so many bombs, etc. Then different companies would submit their bids and ideas; and, quite often, the military would pick not just one, they’d tell a couple or more companies to, what the heck, go ahead and build yours, too.
September 16, 2008
Bob Sanders: Tabernacle gone, except in memory
The other day, in the eternally inspiring “Peanuts,” good ol’ Charlie Brown was sitting in his soft chair with only the top of his head and the tips of his toes showing, watching TV.
September 08, 2008
Bob Sanders: Duplication a good form of flattery
It comes as no surprise that some basic ideas are used over and over in the movies. Hemingway’s “To Have and Have Not” has been made into at least three pictures. Chandler’s “Farewell, My Lovely,” likewise. Etc. But I hadn’t realized until I watched it the other night that a movie with roughly the same plot as the all-time classic “Shane” came out the same year, 1953. It was “Ride, Vaquero.”
August 18, 2008
Bob Sanders: Gas shortages nothing new
Gas problems are nothing new. Some of us remember the War, when gas was rationed and you could buy only what your A, B or C sticker allowed. As we much later found out, there was no shortage of gas, we had it to burn. Rubber was the stuff in short supply.
August 11, 2008
Bob Sanders: Good ‘ol days at Mount Pisgah
It’s between laying-by and back-to-school time, therefore it must be protracted meetin’ time.
July 28, 2008
Bob Sanders: Stan the Man, Joltin’ Joe and Ted
With the All-Star game behind us, let’s look at how real baseball used to be. The year 1941 would be a good start.
July 21, 2008
Bob Sanders: I never grew a green thumb
Many people garden. A neighbor up the street has a nice vegetable garden. Luxapalila Rose gardens in a big way. She hands out fresh-picked goodies to her friends.
July 14, 2008
Bob Sanders: Ice cream, potatoes, and old cousins
Sorry I missed it. According to Baby Sister on the phone, there was a real homemade ice cream-eating get-together up at Uncle Kent’s old place.
July 09, 2008
Bob Sanders: The old way of getting news was better
I worry about magazines and newspapers. I like the way they used to be.
June 16, 2008
Bob Sanders: AU Theater takes me back to school
Got a card from the Auburn University Theatre Department informing me about the theatre menu for the summer.
June 10, 2008
Bob Sanders: Life’s firsts memorable
I got to thinking about some life shaping “firsts” in my life. For instance, there was my first train ride.
May 27, 2008
Bob Sanders: Tex, the ‘Choo-Choo’ and Miller
I tend to categorize things. In this case, think of non-singing singers. When I think of one, I think of the others.
May 19, 2008
Bob Sanders: Grandma was a true puritan
Oh, Grandma, Grandma, how could you do such a thing? Grandma meant well; I’ll guarantee you. She was as holy a lady as you’re likely to find, a Puritan.
May 12, 2008
Bob Sanders: Railroads paved way for truckers
Once upon a time, long, long ago, we, Alabama, this country, had a fantastic network of railroads. Almost every hamlet had a railroad running by or through it.
May 05, 2008
bob Sanders: Spring was the time to plow
Spring finally came, and brought with it a gush of memories. At the Geneva Street Think Tank, in between solving problems about health care and the economy and Iraq, Willie said, “There ain’t many of us left who remember ‘how it was.’”
April 28, 2008
Bob Sanders: Cars often the same, despite price
I love cars. Not racing cars or hot rods, but just cars, old ones and new ones.
April 21, 2008
Bob Sanders: Rheta writes circles around us
You know Rheta Grimsley Johnson. She’s been a regular here as a reporter and/or columnist since Gutenberg invented printing.
April 14, 2008
Bob Sanders: Major League lessons learned
I’d never heard of Bill James before I saw him on 60 Minutes, but I was impressed. He believes some things about baseball that I’ve been saying for years.
