At last, a job

On Monday morning, July 26, 2010, for the first time in more than 54 weeks, I’m taking Highway 12 to Nashville to go to work.

I accepted a job offer last week from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a temporary employee. My position is writer/editor on the external affairs staff, part of the agency’s Nashville-based flood recovery unit for Tennessee. The contract runs for up to 120 days. I’ll have to ask whether that’s calendar days — or, about four months — or M-F work days — or, about six months.

Six months … that’s about the length of time I mistakenly assumed I’d be out of work after my layoff from The Tennessean on July 9 last year.  I had been at Nashville’s daily newspaper for close to 15 years.  In many ways — some good, some not — it had been like a family. I’ve said many times over the past year that I’m not sorry to be gone, just sorry about the resultant cash flow problem.  But, as long as I didn’t have a paycheck to replace the one with the little Gannett Co. “G” logo, I was emotionally tied to the paper.

On Monday, I’ll finally be able to say that I’m a former employee of The Tennessean — and mean it through and through.

Wish me luck!

Happy Father’s Day from my 3 Chords a Day blog: http://wp.me/ptjMd-ag

Happy Father’s Day, from my 3 Chords a Day music blog: http://ping.fm/i7MUs

Jimmy Dean: 1928-2010

The Country Music Hall of Famer, of “Big Bad John” and sausage fame, was 81. Coverage on my music blog, 3 Chords a Day.

On my 3 Chords a Day blog …

June 11-13
“Jolene” — A haunting melody and a great acoustic arrangement, along with Dolly Parton’s singing and songwriting talent, combine to create an undisputed classic.

June 10
“Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)” — a duet that never was, from Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline.

June 9
“The Letter (That Johnny Walker Read)” — Asleep At The Wheel’s biggest hit.

June 8
“Blues Stay Away From Me” — A classic from the influential Delmore Brothers.

June 7
“Green, Green Grass Of Home” — Porter Wagoner considered this tale of nostalgia with a twist to be his career hit.

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For more …
3 Chords a Day — a blast of classic country … once a day, every day. Check it out, and if you like it, subscribe!

That’s the Cheatham County Long TERM Rec…

That’s the Cheatham County Long TERM Recovery Organization…

I’ll be at Tuesday’s meeting of the Chea…

I’ll be at Tuesday’s meeting of the Cheatham County Long Recovery Organization, where our new group will elect officers.

60 years ago, was Nashville on their minds?

Caught an odd reference to Nashville within dialog in a 1953 movie on TCM this week. In the B-level police procedural Vice Squad, Edward G. Robinson plays a chief of detectives in early-’50s L.A. He’s talking to another cop on the phone and learns that a suspect of theirs also has a warrant on him in Nashville. I don’t recall hearing a Southern city — especially one as small as Nashville was at the time — referred to offhandedly in movies back then. Their examples of Anywhere USA usually were in the Midwest or New England, and not the segregated South.

Vice Squad was made two or three years after broadcaster David Cobb coined the nickname “Music City U.S.A.” Makes you wonder if the growing marketing slogan was elevating Nashville in the national consciousness …

Operation “Abyssinia, Facebook” complete

My Facebook friends recently saw my note that said, in essence, I’d had enough of the continual rigamarole over Facebook changing its policies, and I was leaving the social network soon.

Well, “soon” has arrived. Last night, I finished harvesting the e-mail addresses of my Facebook friends. Then I unfriended them all and removed all personal info, except my photo, from my profile. I’m keeping my profile active to maintain the fan page that mirrors my 3 Chords A Day music blog. (That FB page is titled “3 Chords a Day” [no quotes]; the blog itself is at http://3chordsaday.com.)

It’ll be interesting to see how I fare in a Facebook-less world. Like many users, I became addicted to it, frequently checking my wall, joining pages and groups, and posting on others’ walls — from my computer and my smartphone.

I’ll be posting more frequently here, and I’m still connected on LinkedIn, Twitter, Ping.fm, FriendFeed and YouTube. I’ll probably be testing how all those services work with each other, so I apologize in advance for any trial messages that go out.

Aside from the linked sites above, here’s my other contact info:

E-mail: editor@charter.net, kevinpaulk@acnrep.com
ACN site: http://kevinpaulk.acnrep.com/

Hope to see you around the Web!

A valuable lesson from a new friend

Kenny Silva

Being out of work and all, I belong to quite a few networking groups and attend quite a few networking events.  That’s how I met my new friend Kenny Silva,  a real estate consultant based in Green Hills.  He epitomizes the good side of that old saw, “you reap what you sow.”  His crops will always be bountiful, because he’s all about helping folks.

He provides some great insight on that idea in his latest blog post, “One Word That Will Get You Everything You Want.” We’d all be a lot better off if we followed his prescription. As I meet people, look for a job and grow my recent side venture, I’m trying to do just that.

Bedford Falls and copyright law

Thanks to Instapundit for linking to this interesting discussion of copyright laws, based on the situation with the now-classic film It’s A Wonderful Life. I have tended to come down on the side of “copyrights/patents should last forever, to ensure the creator is paid for his creative equity.”  But this article introduced me to the idea that American culture at large benefits from creative works entering the public domain. And that’s a compelling argument.

Along with the article, much of the attached commentary is instructive as well.

Those of you who are songwriters, authors, artists or others in the creative pursuits, I’d sure like to hear your thoughts on the matter.  Thanks, and Merry Christmas.