NKOTB are back!

I have often doubted my mother's judgment when it came to saving things from my childhood. There are boxes of stuffed animals, old report cards and crappy third-grade artwork.

But there are a few things that may come in handy very soon. Thanks mom!

New Kids on the Block is, indeed, getting back together, and I have memorabilia straight from the '90s.

Here's the announcement.

The photos? Yep, they're all things of mine that my mom saved... a "Step by Step" VHS tape, a mug and a doll (which, incidentally, married Barbie about once a week when I was young... he was way more muscular than Ken). I'm not sure which one he is, but I do know that his rat tail goes all the way down his back. Incredible!

And yes, in honor of the occasion, I'm drinking out of my neon-orange-straight-from-the-'90s-tumbler today.

Funny doggy pics

Education Reporter Cherish Wilson introduced me to this site. It's funny doggy photos with captions. It made me giggle... plus after seeing a few I'm beginning to think like them... but I'm trying to resist the urge to spell that way... you'll see why.

I couldn't wait to post this one in Copy Editor Maureen McGee's honor. Her stepdog is a Corgi (Becca, aka Porkchop and Becca-Bacon).


see more loldogs are funny dog pictures!

Mishmash of things...

1) Bloodline finally sent me their Nashville photos. Find them online at http://shelbystarprojects.com/bloodline/
2) Anyone using Pandora? If so, add me to your friends list (emilykillian@yahoo.com). Here's the link.
3) I visited with Rodney Roe at Synergy Studios today... It was my first time in there and I was pleasantly treated to a tour of the studio and introduced to several of the artists there. I was also able to get several good news tips for future stories for myself and one for business reporter Drew Brooks. Plus, it was nice to get out of the office for a while. I'm going to try to make these types of visits happen more often. Here's the gallery's Web site.
4) I also had lunch today at Sub Station II in Shelby. It's one of my favorite fast places to eat because of its staff. I really enjoy seeing the people who work there joke around and interact with each other. Just in case you want it, here's the Web site.
5) Don't forget to add The Star on Facebook and MySpace.

That's all for now...

Forecast and Hanna property

I got an e-mail from Tommy Forney a few minutes ago. He asked me to pass this on.

Wondered if you could blog that the REMAX/SELECT Balloon rides are
canceled because of the weather forcast. All other planned events at the
new Hanna property put on by Shelby Parks and Recreation will go as planned.

Kite Flying, Games, Music, and Wide Open Spaces. Hiking, Mountain
Biking, Guided Nature Walks. Hay Rides to view the property. 10:00 AM
to 2:00 PM.

Bloodline update

I got an e-mail update from Bloodline this morning.

The guys will send photos from Nashville shortly.

Here's what Chad wrote:

Everything went great in Nashville. There were about 6000 people that auditioned on Friday, of which we estimate about 50-100 made it thru to Saturday. For National auditions on Saturday, there were about 75 finalist from Nashville, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Tallahasse and Charlotte that auditioned. They will pick 30 total from the National auditions held in Nashville, LA, Washington and Austin to come back to Nashville and then cut it down to 10 to start the show. We think that our audition went well, now we are just hoping for that call-back!

We also wanted to thank you for the publicity. We have had some great responses and we appreciate all of the support. Also, we have been booked for the upcoming Merry Go Round festival April 26. We are very excited about these new opportunities which without your help might not have been possible. Thanks again and we'll be in touch.

Chad & Travis

Want to get in touch with them? Here's how:
We now have a Myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/bloodlinemusic08, that is in its building phases. We are planning on cutting a demo next week as well as other things to put on the page. We have updated that page with photos from Nashville.

Our email is bloodlinebooking@gmail.com where anyone can get in touch with us for booking info or just questions.

Puppies

I puppy-sat for a while last night for Eddie, a poodle and Labrador retriever mix who just couldn't seem to stop moving. He finally crashed around midnight...

My Gracie and Lulu each reacted so differently to a puppy being in the house. Lulu was a little standoffish (perhaps she remembers what happened the last time a puppy entered her domain... that's how Gracie came into the picture).

Gracie, on the other hand, thought he was too sniffalicious. Although they sniffed each other and tried to play, it's hard for a 45-pounder to play with a puppy without the puppy getting hurt. And this was really only her second lifetime encounter with one.

But overall, I think the three of them had a good time. I know Eddie did.

Here's a photo of Eddie (who paused just long enough for this photo... there were about 80 others with a blurred, moving Eddie). Lulu is the blurred one on the right. She's checking him out from a distance.

Nashville Star update two

Our two Nashville Star hopefuls don't know this yet, but I got a call a few minutes ago from Allen Langley, who is organizing a local event later this year. He's interested in contacting them to be headliners for the event. So even if they don't make it on the show, there are lots of possibilities out there for the cousins. If I get any more information on the event, I'll post it here.

Irony

I walked to Taste-T Friday night to grab dinner and saw this basically sticking out of a hole in the wall.


Look at the street names... kinda funny, huh?

Speaking of funny street names... I'm working on a package about some of the more interesting streets in Cleveland County.

Nashville Star progress report

I had a voice mail from Travis Powell of Bloodline last night.

I'm going to try uploading his message to the page on shelbystar.com on Monday.

I will give readers a rundown of what Travis had to say.

• They arrived at 11 a.m. and finished around 5:30 p.m.
• There were about 6,000 people for open calls
• About 75 auditions (including Bloodline) were able to skip Friday's auditions
• The audition was set up much like "American Idol" and there was a panel of judges at a table
• Those judges didn't give feedback and it will likely be about a month before Bloodline finds out if they made it through.
• Powell did say, however, that the audition went well.
  

That's all I know for now. If there are more updates, I'll post them here.

In the meantime, make sure to go to the page and check out the videos, podcasts and more that are already uploaded. And also take a minute to wish the guys good luck. Here's the link: http://shelbystarprojects.com/bloodline/

An interviewing first

I've been doing reporting now since 2003 and I had an interesting "first" today.

I interviewed cousins Chad Duncan (left) and Travis Powell (right). We went outside to take a photo for the paper... only to discover that we were locked out.

When these two guys said they were entertainers, I didn't take it to heart until this little episode. Anyway, this was the first time I've ever been locked out of an interviewee's house. Yay for the three of us. It's quite an achievement.

Find out more about the interview in Thursday's Spot section. I'll also have a video of the two performing and possibly an "outtakes video" as well. We'll see.