Cheetah Girls launch MySpace site January 13, 2007
Posted by Ron in Movies, Music, Web sites.31 comments
The Cheetah Girls, a female trio that’s gained a huge preteen and teen audience, launched a MySpace site last week.
In case you’re wondering what the Cheetah Girls have to do with the Mother Road, a few months ago they recorded a new version of the Bobby Troup classic, “Route 66,” to help boost interest in the release of the “Cars” DVD. It succeeded in that and boosted the girls’ popularity, too, if their record sales and heavy traffic by fans to this site is any indication.
Here’s their version of “Route 66″:
In the girls’ first blog entry Saturday on MySpace, here’s a nugget that sounds interesting:
… Also vote for our song “Route 66″ on Radio [D]isney which we will be making a blog for soon. (my emphasis)
If it brings publicity to the road, it’s good.
Home’s Underground Railroad lore doesn’t match reality January 13, 2007
Posted by Ron in Attractions, History.4 comments
Just south of Towanda, Ill., just off of old Route 66 is a stately home called Towanda Meadows. Because of its proximity to a set of railroad tracks, it reputedly was a haven for escaped slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.
It’s a fascinating story. Too bad it’s not true.
Towanda Meadows is indeed notable because of its Italianate architecture and is widely regarded as one of the finest farmhouses ever built in Illinois.
But the oft-told story about its Underground Railroad past isn’t true, namely because it wasn’t built until 1874-75 — well after the Civil War, reports McLean County historian Bill Steinbacher-Kemp in a story for the Bloomington Pantagraph.
The story of the home’s builder, William R. Duncan, is sad enough. But the saddest part of Towanda Meadows is the story’s last paragraph:
Today, the future of Towanda Meadows is in the hands of both an absentee landlord and the unforgiving elements.
Power outages begin January 13, 2007
Posted by Ron in Weather.add a comment
The National Weather Service has issued ice storm warnings from the Oklahoma-Texas Panhandle border clear into central Illinois. That means that power outages are almost inevitable.
According to various newspapers and wire services:
- The St. Louis region has about 120,000 customers without power Saturday morning, mostly north and west of the city.
- Springfield, Mo., reports about 65,000 customers without power late Friday, and the number is rising.
- Several thousand people were without power in Vinita, Okla. The Tulsa area is mostly unscathed so far, with outages totaling just a couple hundred.
- Thousands more are without power in the Oklahoma City region.
Highway officials are strongly discouraging travel unless it’s absolutely necessary.
