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Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.
- Babe Ruth
June 10 - Summer Series Brown Bag Luncheon 12:00
noon. Come hear John Bel Edwards, Candidate for Louisiana Gov-
ernor. Rotary Hut, Memorial Park. Lunch and beverage provided
by the Ponchatoula Chamber of Commerce. Reservations request-
ed. (985) 386-2536.
June 11 - Independence Chamber of Commerce will need
at 6:00 p.m. at the Bar B Que Station on West Railroad Avenue in
Independence. Guest speaker is Chad Thompson, Financial Direc-
tor for the LSU Medical Center in Independence. He will speak
on the impact the Hospital has on the business community of In-
dependence. Dinner orders will be taken and served during the
meeting. Everyone is welcome. For more information call 985-
878-6982.
June 12 - Chamber after Hours 5:30- 7:00 PM Rosaryville
Retreat Center. Join us for a great evening of networking, conver-
sation and business. For more information contact the Ponchatou-
la Chamber of Commerce office at (985) 386-2536.
July 3 - 14th Annual Fireworks Show 5:00 - 9:00 PM Pon-
chatoula Recreation Park, 19030 Ponchatoula Park Drive (off
Hoover Road). The gates will open at 5:00 p.m. and the Fireworks
Show will begin at dusk. Entertainment will be provided from 5:30
p.m. - 8:30 p.m. and for one hour after the Fireworks Show ends.
July 8 - Sunamer Series Brown Bag Luncheon 12:00 noon.
Come hear Mayor Bob Zabbia give his "State of the City" Address.
Learn more about the workings of your community! Rotary Hut,
Memorial Park. Lunch and beverage provided by the Ponchatoula
Chamber of Commerce.
Tangipahoa Parish musicians'
song in new movie
,Times Report
The Music for the upcoming film "Waiting2Die" could not be
more fitting. The setting of the film is in Shreveport and Bossier
City.
Written in the 70's by the father and stepmother of Waiting2Die
writer Carlene Altom, Blackgum Tree became one of two of Sharon
Sue and Ken "Dudley" Clark's gold records.
Dudley was raised in the Ponchatoula swamps and the song
depicts growing up and wishing he was back, seeing that breath-
taking view that only the Louisiana Swamps can bring.
Dudley and Sue live today on the very same land he grew up
on southeast of the City of Ponchatoula, and they can be heard all
around Louisiana stil!play)ng music in their retirement days!
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Rock School comes to Rotary
Dr. Joe Burns, an SELU assistant professor of commu-
nication and radio star of his own Rock School program
that originated at KSLU and has since spread to over 50 ra-
dio stations, and growing, gave an energetic talk at Thurs-
day's lunchtime meeting of the Ponchatoula Rotary Club
on "The British Invasion" that changed music in America
and everywhere in the 1960's. He is a member of the Pon-
chatoula-based Krewe of Erin. Rotarian and fellow Krewe
of Erin member Danny Elstrott (left) invited Burns as his
program. Rotary President Angelique Richardson (center)
is pictured next to Burns (right) following his presentation.
(Times Photo)
The Beatles are coming,
The Beatles are coming!
Times Report
Dr. Joe Burns did not meet the Beatles on the shore when they
took America by storm as the leading, cutting edge of what would
become known as The British Invasion (he was but a wee lad at
the time), but he did a superb job of chronicling the excitement
when he recently addressed the Ponchatoula Rotary Club.
Invited to speak by Rotarian Danny Elstrott, himself an ill-
concealed rocker, Burns began his address by setting the scene
in London's Heathrow Airport in 1963 when the don of American
television Ed Sullivan was nearly trampled by a horde of English
youth including a majority of screaming young women, all chasing
the just-arrived Fab Four through the terminal.
Being not a slow Irishman, Sullivan told his people to book them
for his show.
Mark that as the starting shot for the British Invasion, as the
wash of English bands over America came to be known. The Brit-
ish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was in its television infancy,
Burns explained to the Rotarians.
England had been wowed in 1954 by the Americans in the form
of Bill Haley & The Comets, who set offTeddy Boy riots in the Eng-
lish concert halls with their "Shake, Rattle & Rolr' hit.
The besotted island was then hit again by an American music
phenomenon named Elvis.
Ah, but then it was the Brits' turn.
The Beatles conquered America the night they appeared on the
Ed Sullivan show, flinging the gates to the USA wide open for oth-
ers from their island: Dusty Springfield, Dave Clark 5, Peter &
+Gordon, the Zombies, and Herman's Hermits.
One would try to remember that the Rolling Stones followed
fast on the heels of the lads from Liverpool, but that would be a
false memory, according to Burns.
"The Stones were here in this country for a year before they
exploded," the rock historian and Southeastern PhD communica-
tions professor shared with his audience. "Driving it all were the
bobby seekers, teenage girls who rolled their socks to the tops of
their shoes, whose older sisters were originally hired by Frank Si-
natra to go crazy at his concerts." Except The Beatles did not have
to hire them.
The English musicians kept piling into America. The Who ar-
rived in 1965, soon followed by the Yardbirds and by The Kinks.
"In the Top 10 all but one of the bands was British Gary Lewis
(son of comedian Jerry Lewis) & The Playboys," Burns reported,
leaving his Ponchatoula Rotarian audience wanting more when he
concluded his history at the end of the lunch hour.
A member of the Ponchatoula-based Krewe of Erin, Burns is
available to lovers of Rock by tuning-in to his local Rock School
show on KSLU (90.9 F.M.), which he has since cookie-cuttered and
distributed, to the delight of several other radio stations and their
audiences.
"The Beer Man" tells
Ponchatoula Rotary his story
By BRYAN T. McMAHON
He fulfilled the dream of probably every guy who stays glued to
the tube during pro football Sundays -- Michael "The Beer Man"
Lewis gave up his job delivering beer to become a New Orleans
Saints legend.
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He did it! And he did it as
an undrafted walk-on with the
wild idea of playing profession-
al football.
The Crescent City native on
Thursday shared his amazing
story with members of the Pon-
chatoula Rotary Club as the in-
vited guest of banker Rotarian
Mrs. Pam Armstrong.
"My dream was to go to
training camp and play one
NFL game. That was my goal,"
Lewis told the Rotarians.
"I just wanted to play football.
When I started playing semi-
pro ball I didn't have a trainer.
But you know you want to play
when you find yourself at the
bottom of a pile of heavy men
and you weight 160 pounds, and
you have six guys on top of you,
all of them huge," said Lewis.
He played Arena Football on his
way to the Saints gridiron.
"I am a rarity in that I start-
ed at age 29, and I walked away
when I was done. The career of
a pro player is really just two
to three years." Along the way,
Lewis was named the 2002 NFL
THE TIMES, JUNE 5, 2014
PAGE 3 - Like us on Facebook
i
Brad Johnson - knife maker
Brad Johnson is pictured with Friends of the Art Station
President Catherine Holler. His presentation ended the se-
ries on The Spoken Word. (Times Photo)
A local winner
Ponchatoula's Tangipahoa Parish Deputy Sheriff Henry
Neihaus (left) is presented with a gift certificate for free
hearing protection by Dr. Mary Miller (right) of Premier
Hearing and Balance, LLC. Deputy Neihaus won a draw-
ing that was held in honor of Better Hearing and Speech
Month in May. (TPSO Photo)
"The,Beer Man" joins Lions Club
effort to bail out local Legion
Times Report
The New Orleans Saints Michael "The Beer Man" Lewis, the
2002 NFL Special Teams Player of the Year and now a full-time
goodwill ambassador for the team, was overwhelmed by what he
heard about the plight of Ponchatoula's American Legion Post 47,
victims of internal thievery that left the Legion in serious debt.
Lewis was attending the
Ponchatoula Rotary meeting
Thursday to speak about his
team, but when he heard about
the Ponchatoula Lions Club up-
coming events to help bail out
American Legion Post 47, Lew-
is immediately pledged $250 of
his own money to help.
In this he joined with the
Rotary, whose members de-
voted all their proceeds from
Saturday's City Wide Yard Sale
to help the Legion. It was also
announced that popular dance
band The Domino's are donat-
ing their usual performance fee
to the cause when they play the
7:30 p.m. June 28 benefit dance
for the Legion that is set for The
Lions Club.
PLEASE SEE PAGE 4
Special Teams Player of the
Year, and his popularity was so
great that the team offered him
a job representing the Saints in
its widespread support commu-
nity.
'5(ou do not have a football
team without the community
and you do not have a commu-
nity without the football team,"
he said. His job takes him all
over the Gulf Coast and north
to destinations such as Shreve-
port.
"I meet people who have been
following the Saints since 1967.
I am from New Orleans and
I know how sad we were back
then, with no hope of making
the playoffs. Now we go to the
playoffs every year."
In answer to a Rotarian's
question, Lewis said of owner
Tom Benson, "He is not an ab-
sentee owner. He is there in
the forefront of the organiza-
tion. • I love the way he keeps
everything in New Orleans, the
Saints and his other teams. He
is very community conscious."
Lewis early in his address
became something of an hon-
orary Ponchatoulan by gener-
ously stepping up to financially
support the cash-strapped lo-
cal American Legion post (see
related story). He made even
more friends when he unpacked
signed footballs and other cov-
eted articles of Saints memora-
bilia he gave away to the lucky
Rotarians whose names were
drawn at the end of their meet-
ing.
Rotarian Dave Berwick, The Beer Man,
Ponchatoula Rotary Pres. Angelique Richardson
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