Thursday morning notes

Some thoughts on the stories I wrote for this week.

Artimus Pyle- About him being a child molester... I don't know. Maybe/maybe not, but he does seem to make the noises appropriate for a guy who pissed off his girlfriend and got pinched by the system.

Pyle plead to a lesser charge, rather than face the possibility of a high profile trial, which likely would have ruined him regardless of outcome. Not just that, if he'd lost, he'd have faced the possibility of going to jail for the rest of his natural life. Quite possibly, he was advised to do that to just make it go away. It may have made sense at the time. He was given eight years of probation, but no jail time.

Laws about sex crimes have evolved, become more punitive (particularly in Florida) and 16 years ago, the internet was still mostly a toy. Information, particularly the bad kind, wasn't nearly as free lowing as it is now. 16 years ago, it might have only been a problem if he got arrested for something. Now, it dogs him like a shadow.

I have no idea whether he was guilty, only that he plead it out, but I could see why he might have under the circumstances. If he's innocent, I hope he does clear his name. If he's not, I guess I'm a little perplexed as to why the state of Florida offered him a plea deal in the first place.

Anyway, what he thinks about Skynyrd, he's might be right. They're a band stuck in amber, caught on the day before they plane crash.

Todd Snider -A genuine pleasure to talk to this guy. We joked about both of us not being sure whether we'd spoken before. As well as having a pretty generic face, I also have the quintessential generic radio voice. I sound familiar to everybody, but I couldn't remember if we'd actually spoken. Sometimes it all runs together.

Anyway, he was fun and probably not stoned when I spoke to him. He had a lot of nice things to say about Mountain Stage. I genuinely like the folks on Mountain Stage, but occasionally piss one or more of them off with these things I write. They're very protective of what they do and the people involved which is hard for some people to understand. I get it. So, does Snider.

"Mountain Stage is more than a show," he said. "The best part is backstage. Andy (Ridenour) has built a family back there. When you go play the show, you get to be part of that."

It really is like that.

Maya Nye -Really genuine. I liked what she had to say and hope she gets over her fear of debuting her own stuff.

I want to do more local musicians and people, but the trick is figuring out angles. Her article was a straight-up profile, which is fine, but one of those a week and people would be so damned sick of them.

I wish Freaktent would give lessons on marketing to other bands. Say what you want about their music, Scott Bailey is very good at coming up with things for me to write about.