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Get your copy today at klove.com slash books. From the Mighty 990 Broadcast Center, you're waking up in Starnes Country with Todd Starnes. And good morning, everybody. Happy Monday to you. It is Christmas week here in the Mid-South.
So, so happy to have you with us. And as you know, this is my favorite time of year. We're going to have a great time this week. We have some very special things coming your way, and we'll tell you all about those in just a few moments. A lot of folks wondering: are we going to have a white Christmas this year?
Laura Huckabee will be along in just a little while with the answer to that question. Right now, though, 46 degrees here in East Memphis at our broadcast studios, and Commander Chuck is keeping a look at roadways. Not too bad out there.
However, if you're heading over to Memphis International Airport, you better get there early. Make sure you can get a parking spot because those are going for a premium today. They're expecting thousands of people to travel out of Memphis International. And we have to get used to saying Frederick Smith International Airport because the airport authority last week announcing a big name change in honor of the founder of FedEx. It is a very well-deserved name change over at Memphis International.
See, I did it again. Fred Smith International Airport. By the way, if you were watching the Tennessee Titans game last night, you saw some familiar faces. The Collierville Police Department Honor Guard presented the colors during the national anthem at Sunday's game yesterday in Nashville.
So congratulations. Always great to see some of our local West Tennessee folks making it on national television there at Nissan Stadium.
So well done, Collierville Police Department Honor Guard. And by the way, the Titans actually won, beating the Kansas City Chiefs 26-9.
So there you go. Parker May is going to be along in just a little while in the Mighty 990 Sports Center with a look at your latest scores and how the Memphis Tigers are doing.
Well, we have some very special guests with us this morning to kick things off. Of course, Vicki Gandy with the Cry Light. GoTeamGandy.com is her website. Vicki. Is here.
Vicki, good morning. Merry Christmas. You're very festive this morning. I am. Good morning, Todd.
Great to see you.
Well, great to see you as well. And getting everything ready for the holidays. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right.
Well, we're going to have a lot of fun this hour talking Christmas. And also, we have another special guest. Today is the day. If you are going to be running for office, you're going to be very busy today. Qualifying day is today.
And we're very excited to have Derek Mills with us, Assistant Chief Deputy of the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. He is also Vice President of the Memphis Metropolitan Association of Chiefs of Police. And he is running to be on the Shelby County Commission. Derek, good to have you with us this morning. Good morning.
Merry Christmas to you and your listeners. And most importantly, you are responsible for bringing Christmas to the Mid-South. Derek, you are sponsoring the Starnes Country Christmas, and it is a three-hour Christmas show. We're really excited. Excited about this because I love Christmas, and it's fun to listen to great Christmas shows from the old days on the radio.
And you have graciously sponsored this year's presentation. Thank you very much. Glad to do it. Thank you. I hope you love Christmas.
I do.
Now, my wife wanted a white Christmas, and I see it's going to be 70 degrees.
So I'm kind of happy, but she's like, hey, this is not what I want. Wait, you just told Laura Huckabee's Thunder. I was trying to tease the forecast, and now you let the cat out of the bag. We're going to be running around in shorts and t-shirts on Christmas around here.
So again, we thank you for being the sponsor of our Christmas show. Folks, that will air. It's a three-hour show, and it'll air on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in place of the morning show. And you'll be able to listen from 6 until 8 o'clock on, I'm sorry, 9 o'clock on Christmas Day. We have some very special guests in that program, Franklin Graham, New York Times best-selling author Karen Kingsbury.
Congressman Tim Burchett is going to be on the show, along with some great music from the Bellevue Baptist Church singing Christmas Tree. And my special co-host for the show, Mary Walter, who's a Newsmax contributor, and Aiden Pettit, who is one of the local theater stars here in the Mid-South. Derek, you're running for the County Commission, and this is going to be pretty important because we've got a lot of people that are running. A lot of seats are up for grabs this year. Why is it that you want to run for the Shelby County Commission?
Several reasons. My 29 years here serving in Shelby County, I've seen our community. Change in ways where the number one problem people have when I ask them, they want to come here or they want to leave here, and Vicki, you can. You'll kind of chime in on this, but it's public safety and taxes. Public safety being the main reason.
I ask friends all the time, I'm moving out of Shelby County or I'm not going to move to Shelby County, and public safety is a reason.
Well, we've got a handle on that. The Memphis Safe Task Force is really getting a great handle on that.
Now as far as taxes, we don't need to raise taxes. We may not be able to lower them, but they don't need to be raised. We need to get in there and cut some of these. huge programs, we get more programs going on than anybody.
So that's two of the main reasons. I want to see people who have given their life here stay here and continue to be a part of this community. You know, I think it's interesting when you talk about public safety, and they're doing a great job, but I'll tell you, crime is just popping right back up. I mean, the shootings are off the charts again. Even in East Memphis, a lot of crime now in East Memphis.
And that shooting over the weekend, I think, really rattled a lot of people over in the Shady Grove area. It's, you know, ultimately, you can have as many National Guard troops here as you want to, but the fact is, people are going to do what people are going to do.
So, aside from getting the National Guard here and keeping the National Guard here and all the federal, you know, all the federal assets, what do you see needs to happen here in Shelby County? I think what we've seen is people say, well, you can't, the police presence alone is not going to deter crime.
Well, actually, it does, and we've seen that. We've seen where you have a thousand federal agents come to town, the National Guard. Police presence deters crime. We were very shorthanded at the Memphis Police Department and the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. With those slow numbers and low numbers, we didn't always have that rolling billboard of a Memphis police car or a Shelby County Sheriff's car, and that deters crime.
Now, some of these crimes of kind of say of passion, like you said, that shooting, you could probably have three squad cars on that street. If somebody's got it in their mind they want to shoot or cause violence, they're going to do it, and we're just there to react. Vicki, you know, from the real estate perspective, have you noticed that? People are packing up, moving out. Oh, I've heard it so many times.
I've had so many people call me and say, I'm heading out to Fayette County. I'm getting out of the city. I'm going to Cyrville. Going to Germantown. It's just a lot of people.
And it's interesting, if you drive down certain roads like Papua Walnut Grove, you start noticing neighborhoods are becoming, you know, they're putting up gates and they're closing in so that they feel like they can stay.
So if they're staying, they're in a gated community. And that's huge now. And Derek, for me, that's heartbreaking because I'm not hearing people on the commission talking about that issue. And we get a big problem with a mass exodus of people leaving Shelby County. You're going to hear me talk about that.
My daughter is graduating from Old Miss. She'll graduate in May. She is talking about moving back to Shelby County because she loves what we're doing here. And that's what I'm going to do: be the biggest proponent for Shelby County. I love this place.
Been here my whole life, a lifetime Codyville resident.
So we have got to do just what you said: get more people. We have got a great community. There's so much to do here. We just got to highlight it. You're absolutely right about that.
And it breaks my heart to see the young people, especially leave, because you talk about this affordability crisis out there, and people are debating whether or not that's a real thing or not.
Well, I see it from these young people, and it's a real thing. These are kids out there, they got good jobs and trying to make ends meet. They can do that here in Memphis. This is an affordable city for people to live in. And again, I really want to see an emphasis, and I hope we see an emphasis on keeping young people here and bringing in young people.
Yes, we need to be the biggest flag wavers for Shelby County. Can I ask a question, though, about the spending? And these, they don't call them slush funds, but that's what I call them. I just have a big problem with the fact that we've got, I guess, what, extra money laying around the commission office, and the commissioners can do it, whatever they want to do. I think I'm wondering your take on whether or not we need sort of a local Doge-style committee to find out what our money is being used for.
Well, you're exactly right on that, and I'm probably going to get a lot of calls when I leave here. We have way too many programs going on with our money. Look, there's one program I've seen in my 29 years that works. It's a job, a J O B. You get to work, and what you do when you leave, get out of your mom's house or your dad's house.
You're not thinking about robbing your neighbor, doing drugs and alcohol, and any other crime.
So we've got to, the number one program we have is a job. Let the private sector dictate it, and we need to get out of the business of solving everybody's problems. There's a program for just about every ailment you have, and it's like, no, you can go get a job and let the private sector handle this part. Let's just keep everybody safe. And they're not working.
All of these, you know, stop crime programs, they did not work. The National Guard worked, but all these others that are funded by our tax dollars, they didn't work. No, a job works. A job gets us out of it. I love that.
If people want to go and get information, Derek, about your campaign, where can they do that? Facebook is one of my biggest platforms to go to. Derek Mills for Shelby County Commission. Instagram, X. And I do have a website.
I have to get the it's not up and going. I was going to go today and get signed up, and we're probably going to really put that on blast a little bit. But Facebook is a great way to get in touch with me. And I've got ways you can hit me on my cell phone and call me. I'd love to meet with you, especially if you're in the District 2 area of Carrieville, Germantown, Eads, and Cordova.
Well, it's an important race, and one of the challenges, I think, is trying to get the suburbs to engage in what's happening in Shelby County. How do you plan to do that?
Well I was going to ask you that because I see these percentages of 15, 20%. Of our voters showing up, and I'm like, what is going on? And I will tell you, I've got friends in the Collegeville area. And they quite frankly will tell me, they said, Derek, I really don't care what goes on downtown. My life is good.
I've got a great job. My kids are playing soccer. I go on vacation. And Todd, I think they're right. They don't care.
They're not engaged, but they don't see really a lot of this stuff does affect them. And that's the message I tell them. When you don't vote for your clerk, you don't vote for your sheriff, you don't vote for these people, there are consequences. I see Vicki Gandhi nodding her head ferociously over here with everything you're saying. It is so true, and people don't get it.
I mean, like the city of Memphis, of course, I'm excited about all the people downtown now and seeing people on Bill Street and all that. And that's been, I mean, Bill Street was not the same since. Six months ago, as it is now. You're seeing people going to the Grizzly Games and going, and that's going to give an atmosphere of safety. And then people are going to start, well, maybe I should rethink Midtown.
That's what I'm hoping, and that's the plan and all. But no, you're exactly right. We've got to make people, people don't get it. The city of Memphis affects everything. It's just the way it is because that's where our airport is.
That's where everything is. And it's got to be, you know, people have got to get out and vote and make a difference of who their leaders are. Yeah, Derek, again, going back to this idea that making Memphis matter, which I think Senator Brent Taylor, you know, really coined that phrase and has been leading the charge there. We've been seeing people taking photographs downtown. You know, they feel like it's safe to go back downtown again.
People are happy. They're enjoying this, you know, the beautiful riverfront that we have now. And that's what we need really for the entire county. Yeah, a friend of mine called me yesterday, Todd. He was at the Wolf Chase Mall with his family shopping.
He said it's not. Been that packed at the mall in 20 years. He said it took him back. He was like, This is wonderful. You know, there were times where the Wolf Chase Mall, it was a ghost town.
Yeah. Just like some of our shopping areas, people are getting back out. They're shopping. Just what Vicki said. It's great to see this.
And this is part of waving the flag for our community and getting people here. And I don't mean to take people to task on a Monday morning here, but the reality is it's up to the voters. And if you don't get off your rear ends and go and vote on Election Day, then you get what you voted for. I mean, it's really that simple.
So when you have a great candidate like Derek Mills here, you've got to go out and you've got to support that candidate. And I think it really is all hands on deck here to save Shelby County and to save Memphis, Derek. Thank you for that. You're exactly right. And I'll be out every day saying, please, let's get out and vote and vote.
We've got a ton of offices coming up in Shelby County. We have got to get the suburbs, Republican voters out and vote. That's it. That's it. All right.
Derek, again, folks, find him on social media, on Facebook. Derek Mills running for Shelby County Commission District 2, which is what, Collierville, Eads, and Germantown. And Cordova. Wow.
Some of the unincorporated Shelby County Commission.
Okay, that's a big swath of the city. It's just great area.
So, anyway, we're excited for you. We're going to get you back home because we've got a lot of ground to cover. I do have to take, before we go to break, I have to take Otis Sanford a dance. She's had a column out complaining about Marie Fagans not talking to the media. What is he talking about?
She was on this program for a half an hour on Friday. I know.
So, anyway, she only goes. She's going to tune in.
Well, she goes to legitimate news sources, not the Daily Mail. I love it. All right.
Derek Mills, great to see you. Yes, sir. All right.
We've got to take a quick break, folks. Let's check in with Commander Chuck. Yeah. Yeah, Santa's going to have to crank up the AC in the sleigh. Hello, everybody.
Welcome back to Strange Country. It is going to be in the 70s on Christmas Day. I'm here with Vicki Gandy. Cry like go teamgandy.com. Vicki, good to see you.
You're always decked out festive. You brought your Christmas cookies. Yep, up early, as always. You know, that's the one thing about raising five sons, and they've all played sports and do everything.
So I was up. You know, I had football players had to be on the football field at 5:30 in the morning.
So I. I just never have forgotten. I still wake up. No, it is. Look, I love Christmas.
And, of course, you grew up here in the Mid-South, and it's just always such a fun, festive thing. I know our family had a longtime tradition. Everybody, all the kids, we'd all get dressed up in our pajamas, pile into the car, or at the time it was the Oldsmobile, and we would drive around and we would look at the Christmas lights and the decorations. I don't care who you are, where you are in America. Nobody can beat Mid-South Christmas decorations.
I agree. I agree. They were really good this year, too. We were out driving around the other night, and we've been having a lot of fun looking at everything. It's fun.
It is a lot of fun.
Some people keep them up year-round, which I don't, you know, honestly, I don't blame them because that's a lot of work.
Well, you know, we have a Frosty who's taller than our house, and then we have a Snoopy in our front yard. And the funny thing about that is we got those. Not realizing how big they were. And of course, the wind and Frosty and Snoopy have been knocked down every, I mean, it's a full-time job for my husband. He's out there every, he's had to take them down, put them back up about four times this weekend because the wind is insane.
And they're huge, and we're very popular in our neighborhood because we have everybody come and taking their Christmas pictures in front of whoever. They get two selections. One year it's Frosty, one year it's Snoopy.
So we have a lot of fun with that. And we also have a big pumpkin, so we're we're known for all the ugly Griswold things in our yard. No, look, I love that kind of stuff.
Now, I live in Germantown as well. And so we had, I call these Germantown problems where the message boards are filled with, like, I can't believe so-and-so who lives at the following address, and their yard is in such terrible condition. Oh, yeah. They have a giant inflatable in their front yard. Did they get permission for that from City Hall?
Oh, yeah. I'm like, what's wrong with these people? We've been doing it so long that we have friends who are like, oh, where's Pumpkin Man or where's Rossi?
So far, because we have a lot of walkers in our neighborhood.
So they're walking by, but no one's complained to us that we're aware of. You know, I like Derek Mills. He was just in here. He's running for Commission District, what, two, which is our area, our neck of the woods. That's right.
I like what he had to say. And the reality, though, we've got to figure out a way to get the suburbs re-engaged in what's happening in Shelby County. I agree. I agree. And I love the fact that he is a sheriff and he knows he's been doing it.
He was telling me 20 years. He started when he was 21 years old.
So he's been there, done that, seen everything, has a t-shirt. And I really think he will be great. I'm very impressed. I'm on governmental affairs with Memphis Area Association of Realtors, and we will interview all the candidates. And I think, you know, again, it's not a matter of Republican or Democrat for me.
It's getting involved. And I think maybe that's what we need to do: just tell people, you've got to get involved. Go and vote. Take a look at the candidates. Figure out which one you agree with.
And because let's get real, in a lot of cases, there's not much difference. But there's something different about Derek Mills. I agree. I agree. He seems to be together.
He knows his stuff. He's been doing it a long time, and I'm sure he's seen everything. But, you know, we and again, here on the K-Wham, we're going to be election HQ, so we're going to have all the candidates coming through. And I got a lot of hate mail. We have Marie Fagans on.
Yes. And they're like, How dare you? How dare you have a Democrat? You know, who do you think you are? That's coming from Republicans.
I know.
And we've got to we've got to reach across the aisle. I mean, I don't want to, you know, there's a line there. You get to where sometimes people go too far reaching across the aisle and just accept whatever. We need to stand firm in our beliefs, and we're conservative, and we need to keep that. And sometimes Democrats can fit that.
And like you said, but regardless who they are, we need to have a relationship with them.
Well, our role here is to interview and ask the questions so people can make an informed decision. And just because we have a guest on doesn't necessarily mean we endorse that individual. And I'm getting a lot of blowback because we've got more Democrats that are coming on next week after the holidays. And they're running for county mayor. And they want to be able to bring their message to our audience.
And I tell people the reason why we don't have Republicans on is because there aren't any running for these offices.
So we can't just, you know, materialize people out of the blue. I agree. And we're running into the same problem with school board. A lot of people are not running it that are Republican. And I was there.
I did it. And we need them. Vicki, where can people go? They want to get information about Vicki Gandy. GoTeenGandy.com.
That's my website. And you go on there, you can message me. You can send your number to me, and I'll get their message. It comes right into my email. Will you sell them cookies?
Of course. Cookies are always for sale.
So freaking good. Merry Christmas, Vicki Gandy. Vicki Gandy, cry like realty. GoTeamTND.com. We'll be right back, everybody.
All right.
Welcome back everybody. Great to have you with us in Starnes Country here in the Principal Toyota Memphis studio. Wow, what a weekend in Phoenix, Arizona, AmFest. And we're going to do a deep dive on the national show coming up at 11 o'clock exclusively here on the Mighty 990. But I can tell you, there were a lot of excited young people, a lot of frustrated young people as well.
And again, we'll talk more about that later today. But Vice President J.D. Vance really hitting a home run yesterday with his speech. And one of the things that caught a lot of people's attention is: well, let's take a listen, cut number two. Unlike the left, we stand against treating anybody, and I love what Nikki said about this, we don't treat anybody different because of their race or their sex.
So we have relegated DEI to the dustbin of history, which is exactly where it belongs. In the United States of America, you don't have to apologize for being white anymore. And if you're an Asian, you don't have to talk around your skin color when you're applying for college because we judge people based on who they are, not on ethnicity and things they can't control. We don't persecute you for being male, for being straight, for being gay, for being anything. The only thing that we demand is that you be a great American patriot.
And if you're that, you are very much on our team. Yeah, good for you, Mr. Vice President. He also said this and sort of got the crowd fired up. Cut number four.
And you know what else unites them? We are going to kick their ass next November and every year after that. There you go, kids getting roll up. You with me? Good job there.
All right.
We were also honored to interview a couple of the students who were there, including a young lady from Collierville High School, and she was representing the TPOSA chapter. We've had the great pleasure of speaking to these young people, and man, are they fired up over there? Let's take a listen to this interview that we did on my Newsmax TV show Friday evening. Katie Casey is the vice president of Club America at Collierville High School in Tennessee. And Jackson Heberlin, the social outreach chair of the Clemson University College Republicans.
Guys, good to see you. Jackson, to you first, want to get your reaction. You've heard from a lot of the speeches. What's the vibe there at Amfest? I mean, it's electric.
People are so excited to come out here and meet their fellow conservatives, and I really feel a sense of unity. I know there's been some level of disagreements, but the collective effort and the collective mantra of this event really is coming together. And I think that that's been exemplified in this event so far. Katie, you heard Erica Kurt give you high schoolers a shout out. And I know that you just started, you were part of a group that started a club there at your high school.
What's that experience like being around so many young conservatives this weekend? Yes, sir, it has been absolutely amazing. I honestly can't even put it into words just because I've never experienced anything like this. And I feel like it's almost a sense of recharging and almost empowerment. I know that's kind of a liberal term, but empowerment just because you can really recharge and gather information and knowledge you obtain here.
And you can, I think, I can apply it to the chapter I'm in, and not even just the chapter, but way beyond.
So it's just absolutely electrifying and empowering. It's just, it's amazing. It's amazing. Jackson, you've been in the fight. You guys have been doing debates on campus.
Going to an event like Anfest, do you sort of get your batteries recharged? Do you get your marching orders before you go back to campus? You absolutely do. You know, doing the campus debates that I do, I feel like I spend almost all of my days talking to people who either hate my guts or mildly dislike me. But being out here at Amfest is quite the opposite.
It feels like everyone agrees with me, everyone likes me, and in a way, I'd say you definitely don't want to live in that environment all the time because I can see it definitely kind of melting your mind. But it is amazing to be around people who really care, really agree, and are passionate in the same way that I am. Yeah, it's definitely a recharging moment for me at least. Katie, I'm curious about teenagers, high schoolers. What's been their reaction since Charlie's assassination?
What's been the reaction to high school students with the conservative message? You know, there has been such an uprise in the conservative movement for high schoolers and you know, the junior high, but there has also been kind of a, you can kind of see who's on your side and who's not. You know, with social media, there's so much of an opportunity to people for people to post opposing messages. And, you know, we're glad that Charlie Kirk is dead, and you know, we're glad that Charlie da da da. But it's also a wonderful time for people to really come together because before Charlie died, our chapter was inactive.
So, in a way, it's been such a blessing for our high school. And, you know, this all wouldn't have happened without him. It's been amazing. And Jackson, again, there has been a bit of controversy, a little back and forth between Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro yesterday. What's been the vibe there and the reaction?
What's the scuttle butt there in the hallways? I mean, it really is this sort of dividing line. Are you on Team Ben or Team Tucker? And, you know, I find that most people who are on Team Tucker believe in, you know, it's more important about hosting who you want to host, and most people who are on Team Ben are believing that it's more important on who you host and how you host them.
So it's a big debate over here about how to use free speech and how to use your platform, but just from my personal take and my personal view around, I find that most people are siding with Tucker. Katie, I'm going to put you on the spot here. There are a lot of great speakers. Is there one person in particular that you really wanted to hear from this weekend? Yeah.
Yes, there actually was, and it was Michael Knowles. I love, love Michael Knowles. I actually had the wonderful opportunity to take a picture of him, and I did see him talk today at a smaller session.
So it has been amazing because I've been watching him for years. It's just been an absolute blessing to see him talk in person, hear all his viewpoints. It's just been incredible. All right, Huberlin, what about yourself? Who's the guy or the gal that you wanted to see speak this weekend?
That is a hard question, Todd. I mean, I've got to give it to Tucker because seeing this feud online and seeing the way that it's gone down, I really was excited to see how him and Ben went into play. And I think that he lived up to the hype. I think both him and Ben offered convincing arguments on their sides, and it was entertaining for everybody to watch, regardless of any private insults and private scorn on both parties. All right, there you go.
That's just a great, great interview. And Collierville High School, so well represented at TPUSA's Amfest there in Phoenix, Arizona. All right, we're going to take a quick break. By the way, President Trump addressing the nation 4:30 today. You'll be able to hear that right here on the Mighty 990.
No need to go anywhere else. We got your breaking news covered. Right now, though, going to check in with Parker May with your sports update. I'm Parker May and this is your K-WAM Sports Update presented by Ortho on Sports Medicine and Dr. DeLaBach.
In the NFL, the Bears clinched a playoff spot after a comeback win over the Packers. The Panthers take control of the NFC South with a 23-20 win over the Bucs and the Tennessee Titans pickbow win over the Chiefs 26-9 as rookie Cam Ward throws for 228 yards and two touchdowns. In college football, the first round of the playoff wrapped up, and we now have our quarterfinal matchups. Alabama overcame a 17-point deficit to defeat Oklahoma 34-24. Miami upset Texas AM in a defensive battle 10-3.
Ole Miss dominated two-lane 41-10. An organ held off James Madison 51-34. In college basketball, the Memphis Tigers fell at Mississippi State 66-71 and would look to get back on track tonight at home as they faced Alabama State. This will be the Tigers' final non-conference game as they get ready for conference play beginning on New Year's Eve. I'm Parker May on the Mighty 990 K-WAM.
And welcome back, everybody. It is Starring Country here in the Principal Toyota Memphis studio. Great to have you with us today. And it's always fun. And again, I love Christmas week.
Favorite time of the year. You never know who's going to drop by. And our good buddies from Strategic Financial Partners are here. Adam Martin, Chris Loftus. Guys, Merry Christmas.
Chris, can you please explain to the audience what we're wearing today? You know, it's hard without a camera, but I had a grandfather who gave it to me as a joke, thinking I'd never wear it. But it is a bright red Christmas jacket with. Kid kitty cats. Wearing Santa Claus hat hats and snowflakes all over it.
So it's very festive. It's somewhat festive and hideous at the same time. Very hideous. I mean, Christmas, what do you call it? The Christmas kitties?
Yeah, Christmas Kitty Cats. I mean, Blazer, I guess. Hey, the ugly Christmas sweater contest, I'm winning every time because it's just that unique. No doubt about that. No doubt about that.
So, guys, I know this for you, is Christmas week like chill for you guys in the financial business or are people panicking right now? It depends. You know, this time of year, we're typically just trying to put a bow on the end of the year, wrap up any business that we've got out there, make sure everybody's in a good stance going into the new year. But it's really good opportunity for us to do some business planning for next year.
Well, that's nice. But you get a chance to spend some time with your family, maybe go to the Christmas presentations around town. Oh, absolutely. We did go to the Singing Christmas tree, and that was spectacular. Is that not insane?
It was really, really good. Did you guys have, were they flying people over to you? See, my church has a version called the Singing Christmas Bush.
So, my pastor likes to call it. I'll tell you what was impressive: the orchestrated music, how good that performance was. And it's an all-volunteer orchestra, too. I mean, these are again, Memphis is the, we are the most talented musical town in America. That makes sense.
And I'm just going to say this about Nashville: they're auto-tuned, right? They really are. It's bogus. But Memphis is the real deal. Memphis is authentic.
Well, there's more songs with Memphis in the title or in the lyrics than there are in Nashville. Exactly. No, you're exactly right. By the way, speaking of those pageants, so there's a good buddy of mine, he pastors a church in Texas, Preston Wood Baptist Church, which is about three times the size of Bellevue. It's a massive church.
They have like 50 or 60,000 members. Wow.
And so they do this massive Christmas thing, and people love to complain about this. And I don't know why, because it is beyond Broadway. It's like Vegas. Wow.
And so anyway, they bring actual camels down. The aisles of the church like huge critters. And this year, one of the camels got spooked. Uh-oh. And that back leg went up and took out one of the.
Needless to say, the camels won't be a part of the production next year. No, no, no. Hey, when you do a living nativity, that's the risk you run.
So.
So, when we were doing, we did a Christmas show at Fox, and we actually filmed it at Bellevue. And so, we used their living nativity scene. And during the performance, one of the critters had to go to the bathroom. And it wasn't number one. Nope.
Nope. Right there. Right on camera. There's really nothing that they can in journalism school, they cannot prepare you for that moment. I'm sure.
Whenever that happens, what did Bill O'Reilly used to say? We'll do it live. Yeah. We'll do it live. That's as live as it gets right there.
That's how you know. It's true. It's true. Do you guys have any favorite traditions here in the Mid-South for Christmas? My wife and I, we didn't get to do it this year.
You know, we have a 10-month-old, but going to the theater Memphis to see the Christmas Carol, that's typically what we do. And that's volunteers as well. It is. That is the final. I mean, it really is recognized as one of the finest community theaters in America.
And we had Scrooge on, I think, last week, week before last week. I tuned into that one. What a great guy. Yeah, just, you know, he and his wife, great folks. And it was nice.
We have a lot of connections and everything.
So good to see there. Yeah, we love to do Starry Nights every year as a family. In fact, we're actually doing it tonight. He actually rented a hayride for the entire family. I come from a big family.
And so all of us are going to load up into this tractor trailer and we're going to ride around Starry Nights and look at all that, sipping hot cocoa and the whole nine-yard. Is that right? Yes, sir. So it's going to be fun. I love what Shelby Farms does every year with Starry Nights.
It's awesome. It's really beautiful out there. It really is. It really is. I remember my first time I was not familiar with it.
So I was literally driving to the park to go walk. Ended up in the middle of the Starry Nights thing. I don't know how that happened, but I'm like, whoa, whoa, what is this? Yeah, once you're in the line, you're not getting out of it. Pre-admission.
Yeah. Well, there you go. Absolutely. By the way, folks, if you want to chime in, you have a favorite Mid-South Christmas tradition. Give us a call, 901-260-5926.
That's 901-260-5926. You know, it's interesting, and so old timers will remember this, but I think Christmas Day, it's going to be in the 70s. That's what Laura Huckabee is saying. Back in 1963, we actually had a very, very white Christmas here in the Mid-South. It snowed like nobody's business.
None of us were alive to see that. I don't remember that one. But if anybody was, I would like to hear from you. What was that like? Because I can't even imagine.
We get one snowflake and it's panic. No doubt. I mean, that typically happens either February or March. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
So, again, our number at 901-260-5926. You talk about Christmas presentations. There's a non-denominational church in. In Texas, and they actually recreated the birth of Christ using 5,000 drones. Oh, my God.
That's incredible. It's the most incredible. We're putting that up on our Facebook page, so you'll be able to watch that. But it's really amazing what churches are able to do, you know, the creativity these days. Definitely.
And I'm so glad that they're trying to find new ways to keep the spirit alive, and that's a really unique way to do it. It is. Well, and those make such core memories. I mean, I remember growing up, some of your listeners might remember Pat McClurkin over at the Mid-South Viewpoint. She would take all of her grandkids to the Peabody Hotel for Christmas breakfast every single year.
And so that was always a fun tradition. We do that and then go to church the next day, part of that, for their Christmas service. And that was just, that always stuck with me as a kid.
Something I want to impart to my children one day. They should put little Santa hats on the ducks. I thought they should. Hey, you try that. You try that.
I'm still working the Christmas bush. Rob Mullins over at Crossroads Baptist. He's an old Bellevue guy, great head parent. Pastor, and he would always call it the singing Christmas bush because, hey, it's just a bunch of little kids. It's just the Christmas tree, but just a smaller scale.
And even the, you know, again, it's just a variety because a lot of the older churches, you know, I think Linden, what is it? Oh, goodness gracious. Lindenwater, one of them, has a massive, like, you know, classical Christmas. You've got, of course, coming up, you've got the Halloween Chorus and all that, Handel's Messiah.
So there's all sorts of wonderful stuff happening across the Mid-South. What's your favorite staple? Wow.
Well, I'm a big fan of the singing Christmas tree. That's it for me. And believe it or not, we do the Christmas brunch at the Peabody, which is kind of a tradition for us. We do that for Easter as well. And the Peabody was really going all the way back to the 1940s.
You know, that was like a huge thing for our family. I know my dad and my aunts and uncles used to go down there. You know, they do the rooftop part.
Well, they had them back then and back in the 40s and 50s. And they used to go down there and do that. I think they still do those during the summers.
So, yeah, it's a big time. It's awesome. And of course, again, we missed out. I mean, I was so young, I don't remember it, but my grandparents would take us down to the Goldsmiths in downtown and do all that. And unfortunately for us, we don't have those memories.
And I missed out. I was really excited to hear Derek Mills, who's running for county commissioner, said he was at Wolf Chase, and he said it was wall-to-wall people for the first time I think anybody's ever the Memphis Chamber of Commerce said ribbon cutting over at Wolf Chase here in the past month, and it was the first time I've been over there in easily like three to four years. And I was shocked because it was plenty of people, tons of people. I was like, man, I haven't seen this many people Wolf Chasing forever. This is great.
Do you think the National Guard's really making a difference? I do.
I definitely, I mean, numbers don't lie. We can see statistical data, crime's down. And I did listen to your show earlier with Derek Mills, and it's, you know, when he talked about like the presence of law enforcement does make an impact. It definitely does. I definitely think so.
And ultimately, for me, because I'd say I'm the younger end, I was a little bit skeptical.
Okay, you know, I've grown up in this city for years and seeing the, you know, the things we struggle with as a community.
Okay, what's going to change?
Well, thankfully, I've seen more people confident to go downtown. I've seen more people confident to go out and get involved on a regular basis. And we've had guys in our own office who, for the first time in their entire lives, or at least recently, they're taking their spouses to go enjoy a nice weekend downtown, restaurants, hotels, stuff like that, that they were never able to do before. And that's making a big impact, making it accessible to the larger community. Here in Memphis.
I love that. And it's true. I mean, and our downtown is a great area. It just needs a little bit of tender love and care. All right.
Gentlemen, that music means we've got to scoot down here. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. And we'll be seeing you on the flip side. Strategicfinancialpartners.com, ladies and gentlemen.
Go check them out. You've got to figure out what to do with that Christmas money you're going to get. Adam Chris, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. All right.
Hang tight, everybody. We'll be back at 11 o'clock right here. On the mighty 990, I'm Todd Stearns. Merry Christmas! Hey girl, yes, you.
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