RIP Snowman

Yesterday we lost a great American, Mr. Jerry Reed. Whether you know him as The Snowman (Cledus Snow, close buddy of the Bandit), Coach Red Beaulieu (He did fire the Waterboy), or as the great musician he was, Jerry Reed touched all of our lives here at the WO. We ask you all to drink a Coors in his honor tonight.


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East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'... a'we gonna do what they say can't be done... We've got a long why to go and a short time to get there... I'm east bound just watch ol'Bandit run

RIP Jerry... RIP.


-barry

His Name Is Dalton ~ RIP Jeff

Dalton: You play pretty good for a blind white boy.

Cody: Yea, and I thought you'd be bigger.

I am perhaps the worst person to be writing this up. I was never a big Jeff Healey Band fan (I did enjoy the jazz stuff though), but I was a big Road House fan. As you should all know by now Jeff Healey has succumbed to cancer.

He lost his sight at age one due to retinoblastoma, and his eyes were surgically removed. Jeff didn't let it hold him back. It was at age three that he picked up a guitar, and developed his own unique style of playing and sound.


Now I'm not trying to turn this into a wikipedia post, or an actual news story. I just wanted to show respect for a talented artist. Thoughts, prayers and well wishes out to Jeff's wife and two kids.


And Jeff... in the W.O.'s heart... you are immortal. Thank you for everything.


-barry

Death and Life: Heath Ledger and Sonny Chiba

Heath Ledger is dead. It is a tragedy. We all feel for his family and daughter. Twenty-eight years old, and gone to soon. That is something that happens every day. The self-righteous pigs that we call the media will not let him rest peacefully. There is no secret in that. Sensationalize... sensationalize... sensationalize…

That’s why we will leave it at that. We have something else to discuss.

On January 23, 1939, the gods smiled on this rock, and gave us someone to cherish in Fukuoka, Japan. Someone who would inspire thousands of suburban children to walk on down to their local dojo (ed- more to come on a particular dojo soon enough), and sign up for their first karate lesson.

Today marks the 69^th birthday of the man, the myth, the legend Sonny Chiba.

He is a master of Judo, Goju-ryu Karate and Ninjutsu, amongst others. He has been in such great films as The Street Fighter (1974), Champion of Death (1975), Golgo 13 (1977), Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992), Battle Royale II: Requiem (2003), just to name a few. We also know him more recently from Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), where he took on the now legendary role of Hattori Hanzo.

Sonny Chiba you were there for us when we lost the great Bruce Lee. So today on your 69^th birthday, Sadaho Maeda, we at the Hall of the W.O. salute you, and express our deepest gratitude. You are truly one of the greats.

-barry

"Well, he ain't so much a good guy as he is just a bad mother fucker. I mean, he gets paid by people to fuck guys up." -Clarence Worley