Just Because

  • Just Because,  Outer Banks, NC,  Vacations

    I’ve Got My Own Band!

    And, no, I can’t play a lick What do Dave Clark, Steve Miller, Bon Jovi, Van Halen — and now I, yes I — have in common? We’ve all given our names to rock bands. There is but one difference. Those eponymous bands (eponymous being a pretentious word meaning, “giving a name to something else“) feature the eponym (haha! another pretentious word) as the principal performer. The Ray McAllister Band does not. I’m not actually even in my own band. (The band members, I’m sure, are fine with that, given that I have no idea how to play an musical instrument. I am, as well, a bad singer.) But the…

  • Just Because,  Outer Banks, NC,  Vacations,  Weekly Blog

    Catching up with ‘Uncle Jack’

    His funny Outer Banks book publishes during the quarantine, with no stores to sell it, but he remains sanquine For Jack Sandberg, as for everyone else, the coronavirus and its accompanying quarantine have changed everything. Fortunately “Uncle Jack” has a sense of humor about everything. Sandberg is the humorist who came to define North Carolina’s beloved Outer Banks, writing for two now-defunct newspapers in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. His writing was funny, yes, but savvy, too, as more than one critic noted approvingly. He loved the OBX, but “Uncle Jack” was keenly aware that the strand of islands faced pressure from tourists, developers and real estate agents, and, of…

  • Just Because,  Weekly Blog

    The Famous Carole Burnett ‘Blooper’

    I’m reading Carol Burnett’s In Such Good Company, her memoir about 11 years of her eponymous TV series. Last night I came to a short chapter, “The Famous Blooper.” Whether the November 5, 1977 skit qualifies as a blooper is debatable — it never aired simply because of a blurted-out epithet. But the scene is probably one of the show’s two most famous (along with “The Dentist”). And it IS hilarious — I re-watched it this morning. And legendary, of course. Dick Clark called it the most famous blooper on any show EVER. Make sure you read Carol’s short set-up before watching. One more thing to know is that each…

  • Just Because

    Three Books on a Whim

    WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE? Walked into a Barnes & Noble the other day. Signs everywhere said “Bookhaul Blowout! … 50% Off.” It was only for select books, of course, but there were quite a few. First, I should note, a couple of my own books were on a “Local Authors” table. If they’re selling mine, of course I’ll buy theirs. By the way, I try to make my new book purchases at brick-and-mortar stores, because I want them to be around. (Some favorites: North Carolina coastal indies like Buxton Village Books, Books to be Red, Quarter Moon Books, Duck’s Cottage, Island Bookstore, Downtown Books and such, and Richmond indies like…