February 2019 — Alan Lampe

True Detective in NWA

Tonight the HBO series True Detective wraps up its third season. It was filmed here in northwest Arkansas. I hope you have enjoyed the mystery. Devil’s Den State Park, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (the CCC) in the 1930s, is featured heavily in the first few episodes. The park offers camping and hiking in the Ozark Mountains. Come visit it when you can.

The interior of several local restaurants was used for some scenes. Hugo’s, just off the square in Fayetteville, the Inn at Carnall Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus, Herman’s in Fayetteville, Susan’s in Springdale, and the Waffle House in Rogers, across the street from the Center for Non-Profits, the old St. Mary’s Hospital building all opened their doors to HBO. Check them out when you can.

The interior of Herman’s was also used in Greater, a movie about Brandon Burlsworth, a walk-on at the University of Arkansas who became an all-American player. He died in a car wreck a few days after being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts. This was April 28, 1999.

The nuclear plant in Russellville made a brief appearance. In later episodes, the Hanna’s Candle Company factory in Fayetteville became home to Hoyt Foods from the show. The former Shiloh Steel building in Springdale became the Arkansas State Police headquarters. The VFW post in Lincoln was used as well. The schoolyard in the show is in Mountainburg.

Our Lady of the Ozarks Shrine is near the top of Mt Gayler. It’s south of Winslow on US 71 and right next door to Ozark Folkways. This small Catholic church was the focus of one episode of the show. The Christ of the Ozarks statue in the opening credits is on the grounds of the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs. They perform Christ’s last days on weekends from May through October.

I’m sure I’m missing other local sites that were used during the filming of the show. I hope you get to explore some of these locations soon.

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What I’m Reading – Many readers I know like to inquire what their favorite author is reading. At the end of each blog post, I’ll let you know what book is open on my Kindle. I hope my choice of reading material inspires you to read a variety of authors and topics. Currently, I’m reading Moon Hunt by Michael W. Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear. It is their third story of Cahokia.

Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is available on Amazon, as an eBook, and in physical formats. It is also available on the Barnes and Noble website.

Meet Joe Gray Taylor

Do you know who Joe Gray Taylor was? No. I’m right there with you. When I searched for topics for today’s post, his name came up. He was a Louisiana historian and a professor at McNeese State University in Lake Charles. Hope you enjoy this brief look into his life.

He was born on Valentine’s Day in 1920 in Tipton County. This is north of Memphis. His parents were Bassil Gray Taylor and Lennie Fee Shinault. His father supported the family through farming and carpentry work. He went to public schools and then onto Memphis State College, known now as Memphis State University. After graduating from college, he taught in a one-room school from 1939 to 1941.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan, Joe joined the Army Air Corps, the predecessor to the US Air Force. He was assigned to the Twelfth Bomb Group for the China-Burma theater as a bombardier-navigator. Joe completed seventy missions. He reached the rank of First Lieutenant and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and three battle stars. After the war, he married Helen Friday.

He returned to his west Tennessee roots and obtained a Bachelor’s and a Masters of Arts from Memphis State. In 1951 he graduated from LSU in Baton Rouge with a Ph.D. in history. He moved around between colleges and ended up at McNeese State in 1963. He stayed there until he died on December 8, 1987.

Among his works are five monographs and four essays on Air Force history. The rest of his works focused on Louisiana and the South. Here’s a short bibliography:

Negro Slavery in Louisiana (1963)
Louisiana Reconstructed, 1863-1877 (1974)
Eating, Drinking, and Visiting the South (1982)
Louisiana: The Pelican State – with Edwin Adams Davis and Raleigh A. Suarez

In 1967 he was elected president of the Louisiana Historical Association. In 1986 Joe was named “Humanist of the Year” for the state of Louisiana. Although he died in Lake Charles near the end of 1987, he is interred near Gainesville, Tennessee. His papers are at the McNeese Lether Edward Frazar Library.

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Bill’s Cajun House of Pleasure is available on Amazon, as an eBook, and in physical formats. It is also available on the Barnes and Noble website.

A Hodgepodge of Thoughts

Well, I’ve been a bad blogger! Y’all haven’t heard from me in a month. I hope you didn’t think I became incapacitated, or died. Of course, if I had died, then someone has hacked into my website and posted this blog. Maybe it’ll be better than the stuff I normally post. Who knows? Anywho, have no fear, I’m alive and well. Hopefully, this blog post will inspire me to continue every week. And not get depressed/busy and leave this unattended.

Quite a lot has happened since my last post. The NFL playoffs concluded (and the refs should have called pass interference on the Rams), the federal government reopened (although I bet somewhere in Vegas someone is taking odds that it will close again after Friday), another summit with North Korea was announced (I saw the first one on TV), and it’s gotten bitterly cold across most of North America.

Spring is more than a month away, but hopefully, you’ve been busy inside doing some cleaning. I mean, really what else are you going to do? Play on your phone or binge watch a series. Cleaning house is a good form of exercise. Speaking of exercise, in December I started walking after work. I’m up to two miles and really enjoy it.

Louisianan’s can party again today. On this day in 1763, the Treaty of Paris gave the Louisiana Colony to Spain. Of course, the young Americans would buy Louisiana from the French about forty years later.

I finished reading the Brother Cadfael series, all twenty-one books, in mid-January. I read Amy Stewart’s fourth Miss Kopp novel, Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit. My reviews are on Goodreads, Amazon, and Bookbub. Currently, I’m doing a beta read for my critique group. My next book to read will be Kathleen O’Neil Gear and W. Michael Gear’s Moon Hunt. This wraps up their Cahokia trilogy. If you’re ever near St. Louis, cross the mighty river and visit Cahokia. It is impressive.

Until next week. I should have a good topic by then and be able to present a regular blog post. Today’s is all over the place. But hey, it shows I’m alive. Either that or someone hacked my account. I’ll let you decide which.