ROBINSON’S RAMBLINGS

PHOTO BY VANCE HEFLIN Gary Hunt, Mike Fleming, Forrest Rose, Greg Hunt, Mike Henderson

BY JOHN DRAKE ROBINSON

It was a time when the biggest threat to your life on Columbia’s bar scene was hanging over your head. But darn, it was a fun music venue and well worth the risk to see some future Nashville stars.

Before it became the Fieldhouse, even before a young Mizzou music major named Cheryl Crow played gigs there when it was called Bullwinkle’s, the bar was named Ford’s Theater. Back then the place smelled ancient, like King Tut’s closet or Shakespeare’s dirty socks. For good reason. The building was old, even back in the Age of Aquarius. It had been an auto showroom, and to dress up its dull bomb shelter interior, Ford’s Theater imported ten dozen pointy heavy weapons of mass destruction — disguised as pool tables and dentist chairs, lawn mowers and motorcycles gleaned from garages and trash heaps — to hang from the ceiling. The items were just waiting for a good chance to mash somebody.

Every time I entered Ford’s Theater, I immediately looked up at the ceiling and wondered which implement of death would lose its grip on the aging concrete ceiling and crush the woman I was working up the courage to meet.

But five nights a month, hundreds of 20-somethings jammed into this ragged nightclub to hear a gaggle of house musicians who called themselves the Mid-Missouri Hellband. Not sure how many of the band members sold their souls

Gary Hunt, Mike Fleming, Forrest Rose, Greg Hunt, Mike Henderson

to the devil, but several made big marks on the music world. Grammy Awards and American Country Music Awards, and songs you know the words to but never realized, came from Hellband alums.

Perhaps the most prolific ex-Hellbander is Mike Henderson, who left a secure gig with the Columbia-based blues icons, the Belairs, to hang his shingle in Nashville. In 2018, Henderson and Chris Stapleton won the Grammy for best country song and the American Country Music Award for song of the year with their single "Broken Halos". All told, Mike is a fourtime Grammy nominee and a threetime ACM nominee. Considered one of Nashville’s best slide guitarists, Henderson has recorded with Martina McBride, Blake Shelton, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Mark Knopfler, Albert King, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Lang, Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Sting, Bo Diddley, Tim McGraw, Lucinda Williams, Bob Seeger and Patty Loveless. His songs have been recorded by Adele, Chris Stapleton, The Dixie Chicks, Kenny Rogers, Daryl Worley, Patty Loveless, Travis Tritt, Trisha Yearwood, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Soloman Burke, Marty Stuart and Randy Travis.

In 2006, Henderson joined fellow Hellband alum Mike Fleming to form the SteelDrivers, fronted for two albums by co-founder Chris Stapleton. When Stapleton and Henderson moved on, Fleming and the SteelDrivers didn’t miss a beat. They won the Grammy in 2015 for best bluegrass album of the year. The SteelDrivers appeared at Columbia’s Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival in 2017, delighting a sea of “Steelheads.” Fleming plays upright bass fiddle in the band and lends his voice to harmonies. Talking about their Grammy-winning “Muscle Shoals” album, the band paraphrases an old Nashvillle axiom that an artist must “serve the song.” “Serving the song,” they say, “means you gotta play like hell.” Wonder where that came from?

Meanwhile, when you sit in a lawn chair under the stars at The Rose to listen to the Kay Brothers and Burney Sisters, this most venerable music venue is named for former Hellbander Forrest Rose, who put an indelible stamp on this town with his pen and his doghouse bass fiddle with the cobra head. Forrest toured with Bill Monroe and was playing with the Perfect Strangers the night he died.

Back at Ford’s Theater, when the Hellband wailed beneath that ceiling crowded with space junk, some of our brothers and sisters weren’t ready to think globally and act locally. Forrest offered an alternative: sing gravelly, act yokelly.

John Drake Robinson is a former director of the Missouri Division of Tourism and has driven every mile of highway in the state. His appetite covers a wide range of subjects at johndrakerobinson.com

Social media is commonplace for teens and adolescents these days. But, what are the mental health risks involved and how can parents help their kids steer clear of these issues?

While social media can have positive benefits, including exposure to new ideas, easy consumption of current events and increased opportunities for social contact, it also can have negative effects, especially on teens and adolescents. Some of these effects impact the mental health of developing minds.

While research is ongoing, some theories suggest that social media can inhibit personal and social identity formation, increase social comparison (comparing themselves to others), and pose an increased risk of anxiety and depression. In a recent study, prominent risk factors for depression, anxiety, and psychological distress include time spent on social media, level of activity (number of accounts, frequency of checking messages, etc.), and addictive or problematic use.

Start by finding out what types and how much social media your child is using. Then, use the following recommendations to put healthy and safe guidelines in place.

1 - Limit Screen Time Review your child’s amount of screen time, and put limits in place. It’s recommended that kids ages 5-17 should spend no more than two hours on recreational screen time a day.

2 - Quality vs. Quantity Monitoring and managing social media and technology use is not just about the amount of time spent but also about the types of technologies being used and viewed. Encourage healthy engagement with platforms that connect and educate, and less time on platforms that entertain and can potentially hurt or limit your child. 3 - Media-Free Times & Places Plan media-free times as a family and instead engage in activities that promote well-being. Also decide on media-free places in your home (such as bedrooms). Also discourage entertainment media while doing homework.

4 - Talk about Online Citizenship Talk to your child about treating others with respect online, how to avoid cyberbullying and sexting, being wary of online solicitations, and safeguarding their privacy. Find more on these topics at healthychildren.org.

5 - Cellphone Contract Consider a cellphone contract between you and your child that outlines the expectations for device use. For example: “I do not own this phone; my parents are giving me the privilege of using this phone. I will take care of this phone and work hard to earn this privilege. I will not use this phone in an inappropriate way. ” These can be teaching opportunities, too. Reviewing and writing a contract with a child allows the parent to discuss time limits, digital behavior, not texting and driving, and following phone policies in school, and to outline the nature of when and how parents will monitor.

6 - Set a Good Example Last, set a good example for your child. Turn off the TV and put your phone away during media-free times with your family.

Concerned about your child or want to learn more about family mental health? Find more information and resources at burrellcenter.com.

The most important part of Thanksgiving is a perfectly done moist, tender bird. Here's a tip from Chef Bobby Flay: Have a pot of hot chicken stock on your stove. Slice the breast and take the leg and thigh meat off the bone, and place it all on a platter. Just before serving, hit the meat with some hot chicken stock to revive it.

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