HILLBILLY DAYS & STUFF
Hello everybody. I bet you thought I had abandoned the ol' blog and just stuck to runnin' my mouth. No such luck.
I'm posting this on the Sunday afternoon after the 31st annual Hillbilly Days, and I'm tired, yet re-charged and ready to count the days until Hillbilly Days 32.
I look forward to Hillbilly Days with the same enthusiasm that I did Christmas when I was a child. Here at work it is as busy, if not busier, than Christmas. If anything makes it busier it is the fact that we do a lot more off site stuff, in other words more out on the street broadcasting, yet this is the time of year that I get to see people I haven't seen since last year or that I may not have seen in many years; that's special to me. Another thing that makes it special is when people come up to me and say, "Hey you're that Randy Jones feller", or "Hey you're that feller I hear on the radio", and I acknowledge. The special part is not because people recognize me, but that I get to shake somebody's hand and say hello and let them know that I, too, am a born and bred hillbilly who knows people they know, I know something about their neck of the woods and that I'm not some imported "talking head".
I want to stop right here and say to "naturalized hillbillies" that I am not putting you down and casting any negativity against you. If you learn to appreciate our culture and our ways and don't try to water down our history with political correctness, then you're O.K. If you want to make a positive contribution to our region, then you're alright.
Dang, this thing is getting wordy isn't it? I'll quit soon.
I know people, who are native hillbillies (although they're too snooty to admit it), that have lost total touch, or have never been in touch with our mountain heritage. I pity them. They have never sat on a front porch and heard an old person sing "You'v Gotta Walk That Lonesome Valley", or hoed a row of corn, or heard someone pick a banjo in real life, or seen a carbide light, or seen a man come out of a "doghole" mine with a carbide light on his hat. These people can't give you directions to communities within 10 miles of Pikeville, they can't drive on a 2 lane road and tell you how to pass correctly; hell they're confused by how to change lanes on a 4 lane. They've never seen a drive in movie, and if they did they'd probably bitch about the sound quality or something, never once stopping to think that it might not be about the stupid movie. They totally think we've lost it when we talk about the tremendous accomplishment of filling a quart jar full of lightning bugs, or playing tag after dark.
I'm going to quit. I don't want to start sounding like someone who thinks everything modern is some sort of affront to nature, the human race and our founding fathers.
If the way we live now is the way of the future, so be it. I'm along for the ride. But let's appreciate Hillbilly Days, it's one of the things left we can call our own. Don't be rude, let people out in traffic, don't be a bully, don't look for the bad. Be kind, speak to people and smile, wait in line patiently, give one person in traffic a break once per day. KNOW ABOVE ALL ELSE!, The Hillbilly Days Festival is about helping people who can't help themselves; handicapped and burned children. If you contribute to Hillbilly Days in this manner and with this frame of mind, then you are carrying on one of our most important traditions.
Stay tuned
Randy
I'm posting this on the Sunday afternoon after the 31st annual Hillbilly Days, and I'm tired, yet re-charged and ready to count the days until Hillbilly Days 32.
I look forward to Hillbilly Days with the same enthusiasm that I did Christmas when I was a child. Here at work it is as busy, if not busier, than Christmas. If anything makes it busier it is the fact that we do a lot more off site stuff, in other words more out on the street broadcasting, yet this is the time of year that I get to see people I haven't seen since last year or that I may not have seen in many years; that's special to me. Another thing that makes it special is when people come up to me and say, "Hey you're that Randy Jones feller", or "Hey you're that feller I hear on the radio", and I acknowledge. The special part is not because people recognize me, but that I get to shake somebody's hand and say hello and let them know that I, too, am a born and bred hillbilly who knows people they know, I know something about their neck of the woods and that I'm not some imported "talking head".
I want to stop right here and say to "naturalized hillbillies" that I am not putting you down and casting any negativity against you. If you learn to appreciate our culture and our ways and don't try to water down our history with political correctness, then you're O.K. If you want to make a positive contribution to our region, then you're alright.
Dang, this thing is getting wordy isn't it? I'll quit soon.
I know people, who are native hillbillies (although they're too snooty to admit it), that have lost total touch, or have never been in touch with our mountain heritage. I pity them. They have never sat on a front porch and heard an old person sing "You'v Gotta Walk That Lonesome Valley", or hoed a row of corn, or heard someone pick a banjo in real life, or seen a carbide light, or seen a man come out of a "doghole" mine with a carbide light on his hat. These people can't give you directions to communities within 10 miles of Pikeville, they can't drive on a 2 lane road and tell you how to pass correctly; hell they're confused by how to change lanes on a 4 lane. They've never seen a drive in movie, and if they did they'd probably bitch about the sound quality or something, never once stopping to think that it might not be about the stupid movie. They totally think we've lost it when we talk about the tremendous accomplishment of filling a quart jar full of lightning bugs, or playing tag after dark.
I'm going to quit. I don't want to start sounding like someone who thinks everything modern is some sort of affront to nature, the human race and our founding fathers.
If the way we live now is the way of the future, so be it. I'm along for the ride. But let's appreciate Hillbilly Days, it's one of the things left we can call our own. Don't be rude, let people out in traffic, don't be a bully, don't look for the bad. Be kind, speak to people and smile, wait in line patiently, give one person in traffic a break once per day. KNOW ABOVE ALL ELSE!, The Hillbilly Days Festival is about helping people who can't help themselves; handicapped and burned children. If you contribute to Hillbilly Days in this manner and with this frame of mind, then you are carrying on one of our most important traditions.
Stay tuned
Randy
