Tuesday Change Up - Standing on a Corner

"Well, I'm a standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona such a fine sight to see, It's a girl my Lord in a flat-bed Ford Slowin' down to take a look at me".....

Forty years ago today (May 1, 1972) the Eagles debuted their first single "Take It Easy". The single would climb to number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song has endured four decades as one of the Eagles signature songs, included on all of their live and compilation albums. It is also listed on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

See Cedar's Bonus at the end of the post for a rather dated video of "Take It Easy".

Take It Easy was written Eagles Glenn Frey and his close friend Jackson Browne. Bass player Randy Meisner sings the harmony vocal in the beginning of this verse with Frey, but drummer Don Henley is singing harmony at the end of the verse ("Though we will never be here again...). Bernie Leadon provides the lead guitar and distinctive banjo parts, as well as harmony vocals.

With five number one singles, six Grammys, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) and Hotel California, ranked among the 20 best-selling albums in the U.S. according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Hotel California is ranked 37th in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and the band was ranked #75 on the magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

About Winslow

Until the 1960's, Winslow was the largest town in northern Arizona. The town enjoyed a prominent location on Route 66. Yet this prominence faded and nearly disappeared when I-40, which makes a wide swing around the town by-passed the community in the late 1970's. Tourism based businesses felt the crunch and downtown businesses closed their doors.

The song by the Eagles couldn't have come at a better time, Winslow was dying and "the song" became a focal point to draw travelers off the Interstate.

In 1994 Winslow started thinking outside the box, and decided to focus on the Eagles song.

Within five years the town raised the money to build Standin on the Corner Park.  The park includes a life-size bronze statue and a John Pugh mural commemorating the song, The statue which stands near a lamp post, securing a guitar between his right hand and the shoe of his right foot. Above his head, a metal sign, crafted in the style of U.S. Route shields, displays the words "Standin' on the corner". The mural on the wall behind the statue is that of a storefront, and includes what would appear to be the reflection of a red flatbed Ford pickup truck. The second floor of the mural features an eagle perched in one of the windows and a partially visible couple inside an upstairs room.

     Another view of the mural and of Route 66.

Take It Easy

Well I'm a runnin' down the road try'n to loosen my load
I've got seven women on my mind
Four that want to own me, two that want to stone me
One says she's a friend of mine

Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand, and take it easy

Well, I'm a standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It's a girl my Lord in a flat-bed Ford
Slowin' down to take a look at me

Come on, baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me
We may lose and we may win, though we will never be here again
So open up I'm climbin' in, so take it easy

Well, I'm a runnin' down the road tryin' to loosen my load
Got a world of trouble on my mind
Lookin' for a lover who won't blow my cover,
she's so hard to find

Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy
Come on baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me

Cedar's Bonus: Jackson Browne will preform Saturday July 14 at Charlotte's Belk Theater. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. Prices are $49.50 to $84.50 and are available at the Blumenthal Arts box office, by calling 704-372-1000 or online at www.carolinatix.org. One dollar from each ticket will be donated to charity and special VIP and benefit seating (which includes a larger charitable donation) is also available.

And a hat tip to Courtney Devores and her Charlotte Observer sponsored blog Sound Bites for the above timely info.

Don't laugh, in 1972 these people were considered "cool" I also think they were high as all. But the talent on stage, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, and the Eagles now that is just awesome.

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Charlotte's 17th Homicide - Just Taking Out The Trash

Early this morning CMPD Officers, Medic, Fire, K-9, Helicopter, Gang, and Vice Units, as well as representatives of the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Homicide Prosecution Team descended on Charlotte's Billingsley Road, where the life of Ronald Martin age 20 came to a sudden end.

CMPD's Jessica Lawernce prepared the early moring email stating that a "call for service" came at 1:19 AM, on Monday, April 30, 2012.

When Providence Division patrol officers arrived at 624 Billingsley Road, they found an adult male on the front porch suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He was later pronounced deceased on scene by Medic.

The victim has been positively identified as Ronald Martin DOB:11/04/1991 and the victim’s family has been notified of his death.

Martin's arrests within the last 9 months included; assault on a female, attempted murder and cruelty to animals. Martin had been released from jail on February 22, 2012 on the attempted murder charge, charges that were later dropped. Martin was due in court on Friday on the assault on a female charge.

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Tiger Woods Won't Talk To Wells Fargo Championship Media

Leave it to Tiger Woods to continue making news off the course. According to Ron Green, Tiger will forgo the standard pre-tournament media session next week. Rather he will post a video on his website that will include him answering questions submitted by fans via his Twitter account and Facebook.

"Instead of talking to the media, he'll talk directly to his fans," Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg said. "With social media today, it made sense to connect to (fans) so we'll selectively pick some events to do that."

Steinberg said Woods has made himself available for a formal interview or an informal gathering with reporters prior to the start of each tournament he has played. That will change at Quail Hollow next week. He will not address the media on Wednesday either before or after his pro-am round.

You can read the rest of Ron Green's post on Tiger here or just watch the petulant toddler kick his golf clubs.

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We'll Add 2 More Bodies to the Not Random Violence Pile

From the Charlotte Observer:

Two Charlotte men were killed in an overnight shooting in Charlotte’s University City area, police say.

The shooting happened shortly before 1 a.m. at a townhouse in the 1700 block of Forest Side Lane, off Back Creek Church Road a short distance from University City Boulevard.

A spokeswoman for UNC Charlotte said the victims were not students at the school.

Investigators say four people -- three men and a woman -- were at the residence when two other men arrived. Police say the occupants knew the two men who had arrived, and they let them inside. A short time later, shots were fired.

Jonathan Michael Green

The victims were identified as Jonathan Michael Green, 28; and Steffon Quinton Montgomery, 24. Montgomery lived at the townhouse, according to records. He had no record of serious crimes. Green lived elsewhere in Charlotte and had been arrested at least twice on drug-related charges.

“This was not random violence,” one detective at the scene said Friday morning.

Cedar's Take: "Not an act of random violence" is something we hear over and over again. This is CMPD's way of saying "don't worry this sort of thing only happens in the hood and at the Flying Biscuit and just down the street from the Caribou Coffee near Carmel Road".

We know what they are trying to say, "it was gang, or drug dealer related so don't worry about it", these people knew each other so it is more acceptable.

Good so it wasn't a "random act of violence", unless you happen to be one of the 2 guys dead in the UNCC area apartment. I'm pretty sure they didn't expect to die, and as far as they were concerned it was pretty random bad luck they took two in the chest.

In 1998 the Chicago Tribune published this account of a crime:

Police said a report of a home invasion Tuesday in the 200 block of North Ash Avenue was "not an act of random violence". A 28-year-old woman told detectives that three men entered her house and ransacked several rooms before sexually assaulting her, police said. The incident was reported to police after 11 p.m., according to detectives, who said the intruders had direct or indirect knowledge of the house.

So a decade ago Chicago Police were using this "tag" line, in this case because "the intruders had direct or indirect knowledge of the house".

Let's face it just because Green has some prior drug arrests doesn't make it acceptable that he was gunned down. Montgomery for all we know just had a pretty bad run of random luck.

Sure we can discount the black on black murders because all the brothers know each other, and the drug dealer vs drug dealer murders as well. We might as well discount the domestic homicides, since they too are "not random acts of violence".

On the other hand we could say ENOUGH of this stupid sound bite that is over used and misapplied continuously.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/04/27/3202889/2-dead-in-university-city-shooting.html#storylink=cpy

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In Case You Missed It - Rangers Fan Cries Over Foul Ball

Cedar's Take - Clearly the old guy should have given the kid the ball and clearly the kid is a spoiled brat.

While I understand the guy is full of himself for coming up with he ball, he would have made more points had he handed the ball to the kid.

As for he girl, she is a real find. Do you know how few real brunetts with "natural" features live in Texas?

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Charlotte's First Quarter Crime Stats

If close your eyes, cover your ears, lock your doors, turn off the cable and stop taking the Charlotte Observer; CMPD's quarterly crime numbers are probably not a concern of yours.

Say what you like about CMPD numbers and crime reporting, trust them or don't, they are still nothing but numbers and averages that have little to do with the real damage that crime can do to a community.

As we saw with the Trayvon Martin case, the city of Stanford, Florida has a crime perception issue. Not only was George Zimmerman aware of the pervasiveness of crime near his home, he was aware that most of the crime was being committed by thugs. Which is a nice way of saying black youth with nothing better to do than break into homes and rob hard working taxpayers.

But in Zimmerman's mind crime was out of control and he needed to do something.

In reality Stanford Florida (6.51 violent crimes per 1000 residents) is less safe than Charlotte (5.81 violent crimes per 1000 residents). The nationwide rate is 4.0 per 1000 and in New York it is only 3.92.

CMPD reports that homicides saw a 100 percent increase during the first quarter, this on top of a 32 percent increase during the fourth quarter of 2010. Clearly the perception of crime in Charlotte is that things are out of control.

The two numbers in yesterday's report that should be a concern to those who venture out behind their locked doors are, violent crime which increased from 982 to 1208, quarter to quarter, and auto theft which decreased by nearly 12%.

The two numbers are counter intuitive, in that if crime is up why is the most common of crimes (auto theft) down? Cedar Posts has questioned the auto theft numbers before and a review of any day's mug shots show a substantial number of arrests for "unauthorized use" vs "theft" of automobiles. Seriously are there really that many people just "borrowing" their neighbor's cars?

If the numbers are true, then why in the world are we focused on stopping auto theft when violent crime is so out of control?

It would be nice to just lock up all the thugs, like the brothers who decided that West Trade and Rozzelles Ferry Road looked a lot like Tombstone Arizona and that reenacting the Gun Fight at the OK Corral would be a cool thing to do.  Or the 16 year old who brought a loaded hand gun to West Charlotte High School.

I am not concerned with the shop lifters, the hookers, or the bad check writers, if you are breaking into cars, stealing hubcaps or pan handling on Eastway Drive I could care less. But if you are carrying a gun, or you are a violent offender you don't belong outside the razor wire and concrete walls. No second chances, no special school called "right choices" you simply are done. Period! One gun one time game over!

And until the courts and the cops start sending this message we will continue to see violent murders and robberies in Charlotte and the homicide numbers will give the perception that crime in Charlotte is out of control.

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Wednesday Odds and Ends

CMPD Crime Stats Presser - CMPD will announce 1st quarter crime numbers at 11:00 is morning in East Charlotte and part of the "dog and pony" show will be CMPD Hickory Grove Division Captain Chuck Henson telling how he has reduced crime by improving the quality of life in two of the area's largest apartment complexes.

Henson who was promoted to Captain in September, has his hands full with both property crimes and homicides in an area of Charlotte that has seen the "quality of life" as well as the value of life decline at an astounding rate over the last ten years. Henson replaced Captain Jeffery Pless who was "reassigned" to the watch commanders office.

Cedar's Take - I expect that CMPD will report "crime is down".

Raintree Crash Has Responders Scratching Their Heads - This Toyota was wedged between a number of good sized trees early of the morning of Tuesday April 24, 2012 after the driver lost control while driving along Raintree's Four Mile Creek Road. Crews eventually cut down the trees in order to remove the small truck. The driver was transported with serious injuries, no word on his condition.

Clicking on any one of the above photos will take you to more of Davie Hinshaw's photos of the mess that greeted first responders.

CMPD Training Academy Shake Up - Reports via several sources that a serious house cleaning is under way out on Shopton Road. Seems that someone was "scrubbing" candidate's records including issues with credit reports in order to keep their scores acceptable and "pack' the pipeline. While there is no official word, rumor has it that a captain and sergeant cleaned out their offices recently.

What is most interesting is that staff at the academy voiced concerns about how certain "things" were being handled but those concerns fell on deaf ears, until someone did an end run and contacted CMPD's Human Resources directly.

Questions about the recruitment process first came to light during the Marcus Jackson fall out, which had Chief Monroe promising extensive reforms to prevent this sort of this thing from happening. (Jackson is scheduled to be released from prison one month from today).

Other Rumors - Reports that CMPD's recruiting trip to Puerto Rico is a complete bust as the one and only recruit has returned to San Juan to "pursue other interests".

Charlotte's Trolley Car Fiasco - Republican contenders for Sue Myrick's congressional seat were throwing around the Charlotte Trolley as example of wasteful spending last night. So just for laughs I drove down Trade Street/Elizabeth Avenue towards Charlotte's Presbyterian Hospital this morning. 

From Charlottetown Avenue (formerly Independence) to Hawthorne two tracks run down each side of the street. Trouble is the cars don't fit, so you end up straddling the tracks which makes you either really close to the curb or the oncoming traffic. What I know about trolleys is limited, but in New Orleans they have the right away, as cars stop for traffic light trolleys don't which is the advantage of riding a trolley for short distances. But in Charlotte there is no way to move over for a Trolley heading in the same direction. The area is congested to the point where it took at least five minutes to cover the 3 blocks. Most of the time students were walking faster than I was able to safely drive the distance. I imagine that adding a couple of Trolley cars to the mix and it will become total grid lock.

While the landscaping is nice it has done little to prompt businesses to move to the area. The Visualite is still there, but it looks run down and the attempt to revive Anderson's Restaurant under a different name has failed. The area looks to be about 50% vacant retail/office space or vacant lots.

Regardless of the pros or cons for the trolley, from my vantage point it looks like a poorly planned idea that someone gave even less thought to the execution.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/04/24/3194558/early-morning-wreck-in-raintree.html?spill=1#storylink=cpy

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