Another new idea: All duets, all the time

The following is a fakeout press release.

The duet has been a musical concept that has produced hit after hit in the music world. When two great voices come together, usually in the form of a love ballad, the result can be magical. Consider these examples:
*"Endless Love" - Diana Ross and Lionel Richie
*"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
*"Islands in the Stream" - Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
*"When the Bough Breaks" - Buddy Wayne Barefoot and Brittany Spears

So what's the next logical step? Of course, it's to have a whole album full of them!

That's what Brightful Birdsong (top) and ButtaFly (bottom) are working on for release in a few weeks on the Little Boy Records label.

The pairing makes perfect sense: Both are talented artists who are steeped in the R&B and pop music traditions that have produced the greatest duets. They have known each other since they attended high school together in the Atlanta area. Oh, and they have been romantically linked!

"This new album, Flying Together, marks a new era in the genre and one that I hope will be well received," according to Barefoot, who also happens to be Little Boy's founder and owner. "This sets the standards in production values and performance."

"It's a challenge I am glad to take on," added Matthew McBriar, head of production for the label. "Besides, working Brightful's soulful voice and Fly's poetry slam style will make for a sound never before heard on record on a major label."

The first single, appropriately called "We're In Heaven," is available for download now, with the album to come on April 26. Appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and other shows will follow to promote it. This will be followed by a tour starring June 9 in Anaheim, CA.

My new book is now out!

After I wrote and published The Buddy Wayne Chronicles in 2007, I strained for a long time for a followup work. A number of things happened along the way, including my enrollment in adult school and the dreaded writer's block, so it has been four long years.

Then I hit on something!

I have always loved reference books, so I thought that the best thing to do was to express my ideas in the form of a book of lists. I am also taking the opportunity to add new concepts. Some are based on my own imagination, others come from re-imaging people and events that actually exist. In any event, these are all personal wishes.

The new book is called My Ideal World, after Buddy Wayne Barefoot's TV show in the first book.

It is now available from Lulu.com, as my debut work was (and still is). The address is http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/my-ideal-world/10275828.

Buy it today and let me know if you like it!

New book coming soon

I have completed a sequel - of sorts - to The Buddy Wayne Chronicles. It is called My Ideal World, after this blog and Barefoot's TV show title.

In reference-book form, it shows many of the characters and ideas I introduced in my first book, and also on this blog, in an easy-to-read format. Over 50 ideas are presented in all.

The book will be available soon from Lulu.com. Once it is made available, go to this page to order.

Once again, thanks for your interest and future business.

Barefoot-McLamb Oscar ties - sort of

Some years ago, I stumbled upon a movie in which the last names of Barefoot and McLamb were in the same cast. And this is an actual film!

It was called Junebug and was released in 2005, ironically the same year my main character was "suspended" by NASCAR for portrayals in a fakeout movie I created called Rebel. (Oh, and Junebug is also Darrell Waltrip's nickname for Dale Earnhardt Jr., but that's another story entirely.)

The movie was about a Chicago art dealer who went to rural North Carolina to shop for rare artwork and found love instead. It stars David Kuhn as the dealer and Amy Adams as the love interest. Yes, the same Adams who has been nominated three times for an Academy Award, including this year for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in The Fighter. (Adams has yet to win.)

Dan McLamb and Amy Barefoot have small roles as, respectively, a "hollerin' man" and a woman in a shower. (Alongside Barefoot in that shower scene is Jill Wagner, currently field reporter on the ABC midseason novelty game show Wipeout.)

The full cast listing is here.

Good luck, Amy, and all the other nominees on February 27!

It's a girl!

What an exciting first post I have for 2011.

Brittany Lynnette Spears and Buddy Wayne Barefoot became parents on January 17! Their first child is a daughter named Blanton Elizabeth Spears Barefoot. She weighs 8 pounds and 9 ounces.

The time of birth was 4:42 a.m. and the place was Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. The hospital is the same facility at which Barefoot had life-saving heart surgery in 2004.

"Just as this hospital gave me life all those years ago, I am happy that it was there that a new life began," Barefoot said in a fakeout statement.

In the same statement, Spears added, "The dream I have always had - to be a wife and mother and to live with the man of my dreams - continues to be realized. I once again thank our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for this opportunity."

In an interesting note, both sides of the family continue the tradition of personal names starting with the letter B:

• Brittany has four siblings, Bunch, Bradshaw, Brashears, and Blanton Jr. Blanton Sr. has brothers named Burton, Bowling, and Belcher. And finally, Breckinridge, the "Grandpa Breck" who founded the Spears Family Band, had a brother called Bodkin. To add to all this, Bunch and his wife Sarah gave birth to Brielle McKaylee Spears in July of 2010.
• Buddy Wayne's brother is named Bobby Ray, his mother is Brenda, and his biological father is Alfred a/k/a Buddy Wayne Sr. Bobby Ray's daughter is named Belinda, and Buddy's cousins Brandy and Bunky have a father named Bradford.

(Photo credit: Deb Holmes, Chesapeake, VA, from her Facebook page. Deb helped me find information about the real Alfred "Buddy" Barefoot that inspired my character's name. The picture is that of one of her nieces and should be a good picture of what Blanton would be like if she existed.)

Here's a question for you...

What does the only person in history to win both a major pro sports championship and a major entertainment award have in common with the only basketball player in NCAA history, male or female, to record 2,000 points and 1,000 assists in his or her career?

OK, stop the "think music" from Jeopardy! The answer is: they share the same last name.

While Buddy Wayne Barefoot is a fictional character, Karen Barefoot is a real person. Her career numbers came at Division III Christopher Newport College in the Hampton Roads of Virginia, where she played in the early 1990s.

Today, she is the head women's basketball coach at Elon University in North Carolina. The nearest city to the campus is Burlington, about five miles away.

At these sites, you can read her official biography and see an interview with her from last season.

Merry Christmas!

On behalf of Buddy Wayne Barefoot and his cast of characters, I wish all of you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

I found a fascinating article about how Christmas was celebrated in the early years of the United States. You can find it here.