Monday, January 23, 2006

Shhh... Don't mention Janette Carter

Oh great. Just great.
I came home from work Friday bearing news of Wilson Pickett's death. I also worked Saturday and when I came home I casually mentioned to my 10-year-old daughter Kerstin that the bottlenosed whale caught in the River Thames had perished.
"I don't want you to come home from work anymore," she told me. "All you ever do is tell me somebody or something has died."
Now what am I going to do?
I work at a newspaper. High-profile deaths are newsworthy events.
Today, for example, comes news of the death of Janette Carter, at 82 the last surviving child of country music's founding Carter Family.
The daughter of A.P. and Sara Carter, Janette Carter worked to preserve her family's music, first discovered by the masses in 1927 after talent scout Ralph Peer came through the Tennessee-Virginia border town of Bristol to record mountain music.
I can't mention this news to Kerstin. She will think all I do all day is scan obits for details designed to send her into a mighty funk.
Yet, it is my nature to share news with people.
The conflict will drive me crazy tonight!
So... let's see... Tonight I need to steer clear of topics that might cause me to mention Janette Carter's demise.
Obviously I can't mention country music. I can't mention Virginia or Tennessee. I can't mention Kerstin's aunt's dog (named "Johnny Cash"... who married June Carter... who... oh, you know!). Could I talk about the Super Bowl. Nope. Pittsburgh is near West Virginia, which is near Virginia. Can I talk about Kobe Bryant scoring 81 points last night? Nope. There is an NBA player named Vince Carter.
Uhhh... today's sunny weather? Nope. "Keep on the Sunny Side" is a famous Carter Family song.
I know! I will limit my conversation to our new home!
What? The Carter Family made a song called "My Clinch Mountain Home" a country music standard. Aw sheesh!
There is no other recourse: I need to come home tonight and not say a single word.

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