Theodore Black Lives!

Theodore Black is a 76 year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee. Now, Nashville is a fine old town, filled with fine old people. One of these folk is Buck. Buck is one of Teddy's best friends. He runs the finest barbershop in town - Buck's Buzz. Theodore Black always got his haircut there, and always on a Thursday.

Of course, Buck was a gambling man with a pocket full of nickels. When Teddy walked in that Thursday...it was a cold Thursday. A nasty chill was sweeping through Nashville, but that's neither here nor there.

Buck had a grin on his face that could light a candle. He had come up with a bet that Theodore just couldn't beat. Buck explained that if he could complete the haircut in just two swipes of the buzzer, Teddy would have to pay him the cost of the cut!

Theodore Black is a simple man with simple hairstyle. Balding, he has only a strip of gray fuzz kept well-groomed at each side of his head, and they meet above his neck behind.

Buck sweat steam as he labored with the two most well-planned buzz cuts of his career. In an explosion of movement, the sizzling buzzer swept over and back across the line of hair. Buck cheered, pulling off a perfect two-move trim.

Theodore just chuckled, nodding to his friend in the mirror. With a steady finger, he pointed to the dimple on his chin, where the curliest darn hair grew out. "You missed a spot," was all he said, grinning up a storm.

Buck had himself a bit of a shout, stomping in the backlot of the shop like a crazy old chicken. But when he came back in, Teddy was gone, leaving just a nickel and a harmonica. Sure enough, when Buck blew into that mouth harp, a most endearing melody came out.

Buck never gave up barbering, no sir. But he did become the first musical barber, and local legend maintains that he is the first member of the first barbershop quartet. Theodore Black always has a front row seat when they perform.

~Excerpt from Daniel Holling's newest book, "Tales from Nashville: The People Who Knew Theodore Black" which will be released this spring by Mynabird Printings.

Oldie Goldie Theodore Black

Theodore Black is a 75 year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee. There were rumors going around Nashville one time, nasty ones. That said all sorts of mean, nasty things about ole Theodore. But Theodore would just smile. "They make me sound like a man of the world." he'd explain to the people.

But that brings us to the subject of his Halloween party. Theodore Black's Halloween Spectacle was what it was known as. Teddy was famous for his habit of decorating all the goodly heck out of his otherwise modest home. And it wasn't just things like pumpkins or bedsheet ghosts hanging from the porch-roof.

Great, terrifying animatronic beasts conjured from hell itself and infused with steel were given free reign over his front lawn. Unknown and unknowable horrors were baited with malted milk balls and then sequestered in his walk-in closet. And, like clockwork, on October 1st of every year, his grounds would be painted orange in the shape of a pumpkin, seeable by every airplane coming in and out and over the town.

Suffice to say, Theodore Black had the best treats on the block. He even beat out Marshall Brown and his industrial-sized boxes of gummi-bears. It was simply impossible to ever forget the solid gold ostrich eggs, among other such pass-outs.

~Excerpt from the upcoming book "How Theodore Black Won the Election by Two Feet and a Thumb" by Timothy Mavencratz, published by the Trumundulous Publishing Company of New York.

The Sphere II

Everything is spherical. Circular. Recursive.

And yet, it's the unbalance of personal equilibrium that causes the ripples in the pond.

o was then O is now. Someday I'll be o again.


And to Teddy - I'm excited to be working with you again.

The Sphere

o O o O o

Everything is circular, like it or not.

Learning what patterns to allow and which ones to try and thwart is ultimately what life is about.

o O o O o

In All Directions

Life has always taken me up and down. Over and over.

But I want to go side to side, too.

And if I'm feeling frisky, diagonals might end up being involved.

Do Not Greive, Simply Mourn

Not dead, simply busy.

Sometimes it's best to sit idly and go with the flow.

Especially when one can see their own causality.

Updating every day won't happen. Updating when I can will happen.

Old Coot Theodore Black

Theodore Black is a 75 year-old man from Nashville, Tennessee. When Teddy gets mad, he doesn't get even. He gets excited. Old Theo will then run a one minute mile while juggling small bags of socks. Sometimes the neighborhood children watch him and cheer for him. Though sometimes they falsely expect him to give them candy. The fools.

Sometimes, when it's late at night, and Theodore wants to sleep, but constant air traffic is keeping him awake, he uses his extra special "Clapper(TM)" that's connected to air traffic control. If that doesn't work, he ambles down the streets, occasionally rolling down them if the terrain is suitable. One night, Old Coot Theodore Black came across a mean old junkyard dog. It looked dangerous, but he knew better. He just stared it down for a little while and then walked away. For the next week that dog did nothing but backflips.

~Excerpt from the upcoming book "Theodore Black: The Man, The Law, The Sensation" by Peter J. Wintchester, published by Lake Titicaca Worldwide Press.

Patterns

There are always patterns. Always visible, perhaps not always obvious.

They show the constructed nature of things. Sort of.

Just some thoughts...