Monday (High 80, Low 43): Sunny.
Tuesday (High 80, Low 46): Sunny.
Wednesday (High 81, Low 49): Mostly sunny.
Thursday (High 79, Low 52): Mostly sunny.
Friday (High 78, Low 47): Sunny.
Saturday (High 79, Low 48): Sunny.
Sunday (High 80, Low 50): Sunny.
It was a sunny day in Cullman with a High of 75 and a Low of 41.
The reason I'm posting something tonight is that I've learned of the death of Brett Elmore, the owner of WJLX 101.5 FM in Jasper. I found out nearly a week late, in a roundabout way. I usually listen to that station once a week, their Sunday night show, Coyote J's Cemetery of Rock. I noticed that show didn't come on today. And then I did something I almost never do, checked the station's Facebook page. I quit FB years ago, but you can still look at some pages without an account. And I am still sort of in shock. I only knew Mr. Elmore casually, but the interactions with him I remember were good ones. I loved what he was doing with that station. And it turns out tonight was the night they had a Celebration of Life party for him. It sounds like he died suddenly on the 14th, so that was this past Monday. And he was only 41 years old. I just thought I would take the time to express sadness and condolences to his friends and family. And say that I thought he was a great guy. I am still sort of reeling from the news.
So before we get into the weather, here is a good story that CBS-42 in Birmingham posted about Brett's untimely passing. And here is a tribute they did to him on the Bama Tailgate show.
By the way, the only reason I didn't listen to the radio station all the time was that they pretty much cut off the music at the year 2000. I listen to a mix of classic and new rock. So I listened more to the local station Live 95 in Cullman owned by Jay Fuller. But I also love that Jasper station, and if I was living down there again, that would be my #1 station. I really loved what Brett Elmore was doing in trying to preserve the tradition of radio, the way it should be done. There are real personalities behind the voices on the air on that station. His voice will certainly be missed . . . a lot.
It's been a tough year with regard to the grim reaper. There was an evening two people in my family had a close call with two different tornadoes, both stronger than average (rated E/F-3 and E/F-2), but they made it, weren't even hurt, not even any damage. Just a close call . . . in one case the tornado passed only a mile away, or may have been less than a full mile. And then a few months later, a cousin of mine committed suicide. (I know you're supposed to say "died by suicide" these days, but I don't care. I'll call it what it really is. It is a tragic decision.) And now one of the people I really looked up to in radio is gone all of a sudden. And . . . I'm just not feeling too eloquent about it.
Since he and the DJ he brought out of retirement (Coyote Calhoun) on WJLX 101.5 FM were both known for a great sense of humor, I guess I'll close my sappiness here by saying that maybe at least now he knows whatever happened to their radio tower. I joked at the time that it was abducted by aliens, because the mystery still has not been solved as to how it was stolen. (I assume it was. Those things don't just disappear. You'd have to at least bring in David Copperfield to vanish something that big.) And the story was carried prominently on Coast to Coast AM, Art Bell's old show that is now hosted by George Noory. Betty White used to say that whenever somebody she knew died, she would say, "Now they know." They understood what life had been all about. I remember thinking when she passed away, "Now she knows." And so I guess I'll say Godspeed to this man who did such great things in local radio; now he knows. The rest of us still wonder what happened to that radio tower, as we wonder about so many other things that don't make a whole lot of sense.
In all seriousness, I'm glad his friends are carrying on that station the way he would have wanted, as they mentioned on the Facebook page as I was skimming it. And I guess I'll remind my more serious readers of something Carl Jung said, when giving his reasons he believed there was life after death. He probably said it more eloquently than I'm remembering, but he said that death was a terrible blow and that there was no sense in pretending otherwise. Everybody who knew Brett Elmore, even as casually as I did, is going to miss him. That's just the way it is. It's rough to lose people.
Oddly enough, I was reading a short story tonight that was largely a meditation on death, before I found this news. But as one preacher-man from Winston County once said, if you talk about death too long, "you'll clean a house out!" So I'm going to get on to the weather.
But I really do find it sad. And this is one time I don't care if people think I'm being too much of a bleeding heart or whatever. This is a heartbreaker.
And that's the best I've got, just writing off the top of my head, when the reality has yet to fully sink in.
I guess I could encourage people to check out that radio station if you don't already know how good it is. It is about as fine a classic rock station as you'll find anywhere. I'm listening to it now because these songs provide some solace.
We are going to remain under a ridge of high pressure for the duration of this forecast period, for the next week or so.
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