Last Column for ABC's Today's Best Country

Max Facts has been part of an ABC Radio Network Column on Today’s Best Country Website for over 5 years.
When I retired from ABC, I continued the column as a "labor of love" to my country music friends, listeners and fans, and also as an opportunity of keeping up with a business I’ve been associated with for more than 35 years.

Well, it’s time to give some things up.

I have made my last entry for Max Facts on ABC's Site. The column will undoubtedly disappear from those pages shortly.

In the meantime Life goes on and I’ve got some other worlds to conquer before my Maker claims me.
Information on Country Music will continue to be a part of "MAX WORLD" on my blog site eclecticmax.blogspot.com (that’s ECLECTIC, not electric)
The blog will also give me an opportunity to speak candidly about the Country Music industry, our Great Nation, The World, Politics, and a lot of things that I find fascinating...ECLECTIC. I hope you will find the time to come on by…and contribute, if you like.

And there is something else that is taking up my time: Working as a volunteer Chaplain at various Dallas Hospitals.

Lifeline Chaplaincy, which is an extension of the great humanitarian program at MD Anderson Hospitals in Houston, has become a top priority and I’m spending a lot of time visiting the ill and injured; attending to their material and spiritual needs. Many times I’m just "the person who listens".

Baylor University Medical Center is my main hospital but I’ve been able to reach out to friends and acquaintances and perfect strangers who are at other facilities such as Baylor Garland, Richardson Regional, Medical City, Plano Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center. The program will be moving on to Presbyterian Hospital-Dallas and to The Christian Care Centers.
The other day, someone asked me if I "enjoyed" this work. I’m not sure that is the word I would use, but it is close. I would rather use the words " "satisfying, wonderful, rewarding"...and add that it is "so necessary".

I thank you for your support. Good Bye to my ABC Column....I'm now on the BLOG!

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville will honor swinging honky-tonk singer and mega-balladeer Ray Price in For the Good Times: The Ray Price Story, a new biographical exhibit opening Friday, August 4th.
A career retrospective spanning more than 50 years, the exhibit will remain open until June 2007.

Rodney Atkins tops the Country Album Sales Chart with the debut of his album If You're Going Through Hell.
Rascal Flatts’ Me and My Gang hold fasts at #2 again this week, followed by The Dixie Chicks Taking The Long Way, Johnny Cash with American V and Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts.

People mag says that Kenny Chesney has a new lady in his life Vane (vah-NAY) Millon, a Colombian actress who appears in his upcoming video, You Save Me, and who was also his date to the ACM Awards earlier this year. Just friends.

Mindy McCready has been acquitted on DUI charges, and called the jury part of her "angels," a reference to her 10,000 Angels hit in the late 1990s.
The DUI charge stems from a May 2005 traffic stop in Belle Meade, near Nashville.
The jury did hand down a guilty verdict on the charge of driving on a suspended license, and sentencing was scheduled for September 13th.
Mindy’s life in the past few years has been a series of dramatic struggles, including a drug conviction, the DUI arrest, a run-in with an accused con man, a domestic violence episode that nearly killed her and a later pregnancy by the guy charged with assaulting her.
Mindy’s son, Zander Ryan McCready, three and a half months old, was in the courtroom sleeping when the verdicts came down.

Alan Jackson sent a message out to country radio explaining why it's been nearly two years between studio albums; putting together his Precious Memories album has taken up some precious time.
Now, after working with Alison Krauss, his studio album is ready and will be out in the fall. Like Red On a Rose will one of the cuts on the album.

Willie Nelson tops the Paste Magazine list of the 100 Best Living Songwriters---in the Country Music genre, coming in at Number 15 overall.
Other country songwriters making the list include Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard and Lyle Lovett.
Bob Dylan tops the overall list.

Gretchen Wilson has recorded Sunday Morning Coming Down for the upcoming Kris Kristofferson tribute album, The Pilgrim: A Celebration of Kris Kristofferson, to be released June 27 in honor of Kris' 70th birthday.
The song was a huge hit for Johnny Cash and is included in the Broadway production Ring Of Fire.

Tim McGraw and The Dixie Chicks are helping Tony Bennett celebrate his 80th birthday by re-working a couple of Tony’s hits for a compilation album. They are being joined by the likes of Billy Joel, Sting and Bono. VITAL STATISTICS

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman were married in Australia on June 25th.

Pat Green and wife, Kori, have a second daughter; Rainey Green was born in Ft. Worth on June 12th.

Billy Walker and his wife, Bettie, along with two band members, were killed May 21st as they were heading to Nashville from Alabama, when the vehicle ran off Interstate 65.

Bonnie Owens, a singer whose distinctive background vocals played a major role in Merle Haggard's career, died April 24th in Bakersfield, CA, following a lengthy illness at age 76.

SheDaisy’s Kelsi Osborn and husband Steve announced that they are pregnant.
The couple, married eight years, are due in late summer.

Buck Owens, the flashy rhinestone cowboy of Hee Haw fame and singer of hits like Act Naturally, died of heart failure, Saturday, March 25th at his home in Bakersfield. He was 76.

Country Music Hall of Fame member Cindy Walker passed away March 23rd at the age of 87. Cindy wrote such hits as Cherokee Maiden, You Don't Know Me, and You're From Texas.

Alexander Graham Bell Calling.....

The new AT&T is not the old AT&T....and probably never will be.

Our land line phone service died a sudden death on Saturday morning.
Using my cell phone, I spent the better part of an hour trying to find out how to get it restored.
First, I had to get past the #s game: The language thing, the right department thing and then put on "hold" at the repair service thing...and without "elevator" music to let me know that I wasn't disconnected.
Actually I was disconnected but didn't know it because I didn't get a dial tone on my cell line.
Having the cell on speaker, I read most of the Dallas Morning News before I decided to try again...and went thru the #s game again.

When I finally got to talk with a real live person, she told me there were only two operators in the Repair Service Thing on Saturday morning.
There is something wrong with this equation: Years ago they had thousands of operators, great service, reasonable rates and still made money for the stockholders which made them a principle stock for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Now, all of that is gone.
Sara, the operator then told that she would call me back on my cell phone to give me a time in which to expect a repair person....and if this repair person had to step into our house, there would be a fee. OK! Let's get on with it.

Well by evening, when I didn't get a call from one of the two AT&T operators on duty on Saturday, I thought I might try the www.att.com site for help...as suggested in the billing information.
That was fun. It's even more unclear on their internet site.
The best advice I could get was to pick up a screwdriver, take a phone with a jack, go out to the box outside the house, disconnect their plug in and try by phone from that source. All this while reading a Warning that said "Do not do this in a storm...and be careful, you could get a 90 Volt shock." Well thanks for that bit of information.

Anyway, I did as instructed and heard "nothing", so went back to the cell phone, went thru all that stuff again and this time I spoke with Tracy, the second of two operators on duty on Saturday.
She did some checking and found out that we are scheduled to receive a visit from an AT&T Technician sometime on Monday....and if this repair person had to step into our house, there would be a fee.
"Wait a second! Does that mean I don't have land line service for the weekend?"
"That's right."
"Well, I did expect better service than that, but I guess this isn't the old AT&T.
"That's right Mr. Edwards...and have a nice evening." (I'm not kidding, that's how the conversation ended.)

To make a long story short....woops, too late for that.

If you need to get a hold of Betty, call her on the Cell:
If you need to get a hold of Mark, call him on the Cell:

Those numbers may become our ONLY connection to the rest of the world.

....and like Tracy says....Have a Nice Evening.

Things we learned via email!!!

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258 th time.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my
friends and make a wish within five minutes.

I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face...disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or Fed Ex since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, Spain, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under
the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

Thanks for all the endless advice Andy Rooney has given us. I can live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

I can't ever pick up $5.00 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

Oh, and don't forget this one either!
I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12
camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician?