Popcorn Sutton: A Hell Of A Life is now on YouTube

The legend of Popcorn Sutton lives on.  The man was already larger than life when he was with us.  Sixteen years after he tragically passed away, Sutton seems even bigger than ever.  Not long ago I saw a guy wearing a shirt with Popcorn's image on it.  And memes featuring him continue to populate the Internet.  I am forever going to regret that I never got to meet him in person.  But I am thankful that his legacy continues.

Filmmaker Neal Hutcheson has made a number of documentaries about Popcorn and the world of Appalachian culture for over two decades.  A few years ago he released Popcorn Sutton: A Hell of a Life and it gained considerable attention. This past week his production company released the film on YouTube, free for viewing by anyone.  I watched it yesterday and it definitely captures and conveys the essence of Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton and his life and times.

For anyone else enchanted by Popcorn and his unique persona and especially his craft at brewing moonshine, this will surely delight you.  Thanks for the great work Neal!

Read More

Excellent article in The Assembly about Popcorn Sutton

It's quite difficult to believe that more than fifteen years have passed since Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton left us.  He was a man who I had come to very much want to meet, after hearing so much about him from both the web and people who knew him firsthand.  When I told my best friend from college that I had heard about "this guy Popcorn Sutton" Ed's eyes lit up and told me all about him.  It only made me want to meet him that much more.  Popcorn was the kind of American that they just don't make anymore, and I wanted to sit in the company of that kind of greatness.

Unfortunately that was not to be.  Ten days before he was due to report to prison to begin serving a two-year sentence for illegal alcohol production, Popcorn took his own life.  It is something that still makes me seethe with righteous fury to this day.  Popcorn was never hurting anyone.  He was by all accounts a man so gentle that it's hard to imagine him even swatting a fly.  But the government wanted its cut of "the action" and Popcorn was too obstinate to give up what he believed was not only his right, but his very heritage.  Here are the many articles about Popcorn Sutton that I've written over the years and here especially is the post I made following his "death by government bastards", still to date the first and hopefully only time that I'm driven to use the "f" word in a piece of published writing.

It seems though that the past few years have proven that you can't keep a good legend down, because Popcorn has become a bona fide icon.  A symbol, of what was good about America once upon a time and could still be good again.  I was in a pizza joint near here last year and one of the employees was wearing a Popcorn Suttong t-shirt.  I just had to compliment him on his attire.  He also said that he wished he could have met the man.

Filmmaker Neal Hutcheson, who produced several documentaries about Popcorn Sutton and his craft, has written an amazing piece over at The Assembly about the life and times (and crimes?) of the mythic moonshiner.  I thought I knew most everything there was to know about Sutton, but Hutcheson really surprised me with this one.  It's absolutely well worth your time.  I certainly came away from it a little more saddened, that I never got to meet Popcorn.  But maybe generations still to come will discover Popcorn and in doing so will come to appreciate and admire the Appalachias culture that he proudly represented.

Read More

The legend of Popcorn Sutton lives on! Family is (legally) brewing famed 'shiner's likker

Yowza!!  And I've thought that many times over the past several years or so, in regard to the memory of Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.  Longtime readers will remember when I was posting about Popcorn with machine gun-regularity.  I'd always wanted to meet the man.  Unfortunately that never happened.  In March of 2009, a few days before he was supposed to have turned himself in at the prison to begin serving a term for illegally making his moonshine, Popcorn ended his own life.  And that was the end of my hope of getting to know the man.

 

If you weren't around this blog then, here's the "Popcorn Sutton" label that lets you look back across all the posts I made about him.  Especially the "Popcorn Sutton: Dead By Government Bastards!" post that broke some personal rules about writing, but I didn't care.  A good man had been driven by the government to commit suicide.  If the death of an innocent person wasn't enough to break bad over, I don't know what is.

That was in 2009.  And in the decade and a half since then it is absolutely amazing how Popcorn Sutton has become a bona fide legend.  There is a yearly music festival in his memory held every summer in the North Carolina mountains.  Popcorn Sutton's face adorns clothing (I spotted a guy in the kitchen of a nearby restaurant wearing a Popcorn Sutton shirt a few weeks ago, and we got to talking about how popular he's become).  Look around the Internet the past few years, and you're sure to find Sutton staring back at you from many a meme (he seemed especially ubiquitous during the COVID panic).  That's not to mention things like filmmaker Neal Hutcheson's much beloved documentary about Popcorn and his art.  There was even a commercial airliner that had Popcorn depicted in wrap around its fuselage.

We should all want to be like Popcorn Sutton, in a way.  Live so that when you are stricken down, your life will be remembered for all the good and uniqueness that it possessed.

Well folks, it's happened before already but there were some issues that came up.  Those have been resolved apparently.  And now, once again, Popcorn Sutton's original recipe "likker" is going on sale for the public to buy!  Popcorn's widow Pam Sutton has gotten the stills running full-bore and later this month two beverages bearing Popcorn's name and likeness will go on sale, according to Knox News in a story published today.

I'm still not much of a drinker, but I have had real moonshine before and can attest that I've something of a taste for the legitiamte stuff.  I'm definitely looking forward to having a bottle of Popcorn Sutton's recipe-brewed likke, if only for display in my living room.

Read More

Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey: Now in a new bottle!

Whenever I post anything new about the legendary moonshiner Popcorn Sutton, traffic to this blog flies off the chain.  It has been a pleasure to write about him and chronicle his life and times during the past several years and Lord willing, I'll get to continue to do so for a long, long time to come.  It'll always be one of my bigger regrets that I never got to meet him personally but it has been a tremendous honor to have come to know those he was closest to, including Popcorn's widow Mrs. Pam Sutton.

Photo Credit: Jamey Grosser via Facebook

Before his passing four years ago Popcorn was well into plans to legalize his famed likker.  Last year Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey - made with Popcorn's original recipe - went on sale in Tennessee.  And demand for it exploded!  At one point the moonshine - originally packaged and sold in mason jars - was going for $150 and up on eBay.

But Popcorn had a grander vision for his likker.  He wanted to "upgrade" the container as soon as it was feasible.  Some will argue that the mason jars have greater character and are more "authentic", but apparently Popcorn had problems with some people brewing 'shine on their own and selling it as his!  I can understand why he wanted his whiskey to have a more distinctive and unique look.

Yesterday it was announced that Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey is now coming out in a brand-new bottle!  You can see it in the photo.

Here's what Jamey Grosser - master distiller and the man Popcorn Sutton entrusted his mythic recipe for likker to - has said about the bottle:

It’s finally here, Popcorn's new Bottle! Popcorn always told me and others that his whiskey was “too damn good to be put in a jar,” but mason jars were all he could afford. He’d get pissed when other bootleggers would try and sell crap whiskey and pass it off as his. Popcorn said that if he had his own bottle, they would always know who's the best was.

When Popcorn and I started the company, our plan was always to start in a mason jar - as it’s all we could afford - then move to the bottle his whiskey deserved. Well we did it Popcorn! Here's your bottle for the world's finest white whiskey! I hope you all love it as much as I know Popcorn does.

It doesn't matter what it comes in, just as long as it's Popcorn Sutton's tried and true likker. The new packaging? It's but one more step toward Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey busting its way out of Tennessee and into ABC stores and grocery marts all across the fruited plain. He may no longer be with us on this Earth, but Popcorn's likker is well on its way to taking the world by storm!

(No I don't drink... but I do plan to take a healthy swig or two of his likker, just to have that much more appreciation for the man and his legend :-)

Read More

All kinds of Popcorn Sutton goodness!

There's just no stopping the legend of Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton!

First thing's first: the Third Annual Popcorn Sutton Tribute is set for August 3-4, once again in beautiful Maggie Valley, North Carolina! That's right this year it's gonna be a two day event! I'm currently planning to be there for all of it.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if next year's is a three-day extravaganza, given how Popcorn's life and times continues to gain legions of admirers. And there are gonna be even more after this article in The New York Times about Popcorn's life and likker. There's a terrific photo of Mrs. Pam Sutton holding a jar of Popcorn's original moonshine.

Meanwhile, attorney Will Cheek notes that three years after his passing, Popcorn has achieved a victory of sorts. Namely, that distilling liquor is now legal in Cocke County, Tennessee (where Popcorn lived).

And though it's nearly a year old, I'm led to direct y'all's attention to Arianna Armstrong's essay "Portrait of a Moonshiner", which is packed with a bunch of biographical information about Popcorn Sutton that I didn't know previously (like how Popcorn's father's name was Vader Sutton, and how Popcorn would use his daughter's baby bathtub to mix the ingredients for his likker).

At the rate things are going, it wouldn't surprise me if Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey was soon just as big a household name as Jack Daniel's and Jim Beam. Hey, non-drinker though I be, I'd be totally fine with that :-)

Read More

"Popcorn Sutton the Moonshine Man"

The past several weeks have seen an exploding amount of interest in the life and art of Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton: the legendary brewer of moonshine. It will be three years next month that he left us... but Popcorn Sutton has gotta be smiling and laughing his butt off in Heaven at how his myth has grown down here on Earth! Ever since his family began legally selling Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey I've seen it going for $150 a jar on eBay. And then a few days ago Kellie Pickler introduced it to Ellen DeGeneres on national television, in a clip that simply must be seen.

Meanwhile, there are things going on behind the scenes that I've been sworn to secrecy on that... well, y'all will just have to wait and see how uberawesome this is all gonna be! I can tell you that the third annual Popcorn Sutton Tribute is set for Maggie Valley, North Carolina this coming summer and when I know more details I'll be sure to post 'em!

In the meantime, singer/songwriter Alonzo Pennington has written and recorded an awesome ballad about our favorite Appalachian moonshiner. So without further ado, here is... "Popcorn Sutton the Moonshine Man"!

Read More

Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey: Where to buy it!!

This has been one of the crazier past few days in this blog's history. Ever since Discovery Channel aired the final episode of its hit series Moonshiners a few nights ago the traffic to The Knight Shift has been ginormous! Seems that all the writing I've been doing over the years about Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton has put me on the radar of likker lovers across the Intertubes. Since the Moonshiners finale aired many of those - and quite a lot of new readers - have been coming here with but one question above all others...

"How can I get some of that Popcorn Sutton moonshine???"

Here's the post that I made back in October when Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey first went on sale. Look at all those comments that have been left since the other night. That ain't even half of the correspondence that's been coming in to my e-mail address (one reader shared a rather interesting story about getting caught making 'shine in Saudi Arabia).

Okay well folks: I can't directly help procure Popcorn Sutton's moonshine white whiskey for you. But I can now point you to a resource that'll help you locate it for legal sale!

The OFFICIAL website for Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey went full-blown LIVE yesterday. When you get past the age-gate you can find plenty more information about Popcorn's life, his trade, aaaaaaand a page with locations of places now selling Popcorn's legal likker! Right now there are only three places listed, each of them in Tennessee (one in Knoxville, one in Nashville and the remaining vendor in Memphis). I am also receiving unverified reports that it has been spotted elsewhere as well (including one possible location in Charlotte, North Carolina). Anyhoo if you're hellbent on getting some of Popcorn Sutton's good stuff, your best bet is gonna be with visiting the website and going from there.

And in case anyone is wondering, I have not yet been able to treat myself to any of Popcorn Sutton's moonshine (regardless of what it's called). I'm not a drinking man by any stretch but for this, I do plan to make an exception. I figure I can't very well write as much about the man as I have and not sample his craft. I'm hoping to fix that soon however. Expect a write-up about it soon. And if y'all are really good there might even be some accompanying video :-)

Read More

Popcorn Sutton's mythic moonshine now on sale. Yes, LEGALLY.

I kept meaning to post an extensive write-up about the Second Annual Popcorn Sutton Acoustic Jam, held in Maggie Valley, North Carolina two months ago. Guess it just sorta collided with some other stuff going on in my life at the time. But I have heard bunches from event organizers who were delighted at the turnout and now, there is serious talk afoot about making it an ongoing yearly festival. Maybe even one taking place across an entire weekend (and in the fall when it would be cooler :-)

Well anyhoo, here's the BIG news of the day, friends and neighbors!

Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey - AKA real honest-to-goodness moonshine - is now being sold in Newport, Tennessee! This is the real deal: made according to Popcorn's very own original recipe with the permission and blessing of his family, which is in a partnership with country music legend Hank Williams Jr. to bring Popcorn's legendary likker to store shelves for legal consumption.

(Longtime readers of this blog can rest assured, that I am already planning to make a border run to get some :-)

Here's the website for Popcorn Sutton's Tennessee White Whiskey, which currently leads only to an e-mail alert sign-up page. But rest assured: the good stuff is being sold as of this evening. That's the word from Popcorn's widow Pam Sutton and now, it is my good pleasure to spread the word :-)

Read More

A Tennessee... WHAT?!

Oy vey...

During the next-to-last performance of Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Gypsy this past weekend, I happened to spot this curious visual oddity.

It was just before the show, during "lockdown": when all the actors and actresses are supposed to be sequestered in the makeshift dressing rooms across the hallway from the auditorium we use at Rockingham Community College, so that nobody in the audience spots us in costume before the play or musical starts. Another actor, Michael Olivo (he played Yonkers), had picked up a quick bite to eat at Taco Bell, including a large-sized Mountain Dew.

Okay, this is a seriously stylized Mountain Dew logo. I doubt that whoever designed it, meant for it to have any hidden meaning... which makes this all the more funny!

Because when you look at the cup from this angle...

...it looks like it says "Tn Jew". The abbreviated form of "Tennessee Jew".

That sounds like either a bluegrass band, or possibly a member of a soccer team. Or maybe a very, very progressive form of Judaism :-)

Read More

To our friends in Nashville: You are in our prayers!

Nashville, Tennessee is currently the biggest disaster area in the entire country: never mind the oil spill in the Gulf and the attempted car bombing in Times Square. But somehow, most people in America other than those in the immediate area seem completely oblivious about it.

Nashville native Patten Fuqua addresses the unawareness to his city's plight - along with bold optimism - in a great piece at Section 303...

If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year flood over the last few days. The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story? It may not be as terror-sexy as a failed car bomb or as eco-sexy as an oil spill, but that’s no reason to be ignored.

The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned. Billions of dollars in damage occurred. It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet…no one knows about it.

Does it really matter? Eventually, it will…as I mentioned, there are billions of dollars in damage. It seems bizarre that no one seems to be aware that we just experienced what is quite probably the costliest non-hurricane disaster in American history. The funds to rebuild will have to come from somewhere, which is why people need to know. It’s hard to believe that we will receive much relief if there isn’t a perception that we need it.

But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No…you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No…we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it…that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.

(snip)

Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.

And yet…life will go on. We’ll go back to work, to school, to our lives…and we’ll carry on. In a little over a month, I’ll be on this website talking about the draft. In October, we’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us…but also know that we can handle it.

Because we are Nashville.

I was in Nashville a few years ago with Dad. We had a great time there (I went to try out for Jeopardy!, and so help me I like to think I'm knowledgeable about many things but fourteenth-century French opera is not one of them :-). A lot of the places that Fuqua mentions in this article, we visited. Opry Mills is where Opryland used to be. It's now a mall that pays homage to Nashville's legacy of country music.

I'm having a very hard time picturing the place flooded and destroyed.

To the people of Nashville: you've a lot more friends out here than y'all can imagine. And you are definitely being held up in our thoughts and prayers as you have to go through this.

And I for one have no doubt that you will bounce back from this. Because, like the article says: you are Nashville.

Read More

Woman declared dead by government must prove she's still alive

And just think: these are the same people who might soon be in charge of our health care!

"I'm not dead yet! I don't want to go on the cart!"

Terri Thompson of Maynardville, Tennessee has been classified as "dead" by the government, because she has successfully fought off a disease for most of her life in defiance of every prognosis by her physicians. Thompson had been told years ago that she wouldn't live to see age 25... and she's about to celebrate her 49th birthday.

According to the United States Government however, she should be dead...

An East Tennessee woman has spent her entire life fighting a disease, living more than 20 years longer than doctors told her she would.

But on Christmas Eve, she found out the government classified her as dead, cutting off all her coverage.

Leaving Terri Thompson to face one of her toughest battles.

She calls herself a fighter, finding out at 6 year sold that she has a rare and incurable blood disease.

Terri says, "It's called Hypogammaglobulin Anemia." "It affects my immune system, when I don't have enough white blood cells." "It's caused many of my organs to stop on me."

"I've been a fighter, and a fighter, and I've had 6 doctors give up on me," says Terry.

Laying in her Union County apartment, hiding from the germ-ridden world, she leaves every 3 weeks for treatment.

But, on Christmas Eve, she needed to go by the bank to take out money for dinner with her son.

"When I showed that lady my license, she turned white as a ghost." Terry says the bank employee, "said, I got a note that you died, that you're dead. So, I sent your Social Security back to the Social Security office."

Then when she got home, she found a letter in her mailbox saying her medical coverage ended.

"That letter stated to my family my condolences, and sympathy at the death of Terri Thompson, and I'm reading that myself."

Tearfully, she called the Social Security Administration in Knoxville. "They really couldn't tell me nothing. They told me I've got to come into the office and talk with somebody, and that they didn't have an opening until the 14th."

That's 3 weeks from the date of the call, and in between, Terri has a treatment, and several bills, that she can no longer pay for.

"I can't understand how they can make a mistake like this," as Terri chokes back her emotions.

Now she faces two fights: one to keep her life, and the other to prove she is still alive.

"I'm taking a chance at losing my life over somebody else's mistake."

So... anyone else feeling confident about health care "reform" now?

Read More

Neal Hutcheson reports from courtroom: Prosecution was "petty and vindictive" against Popcorn Sutton, sought to put "sick and broken" man in prison

Yesterday this blog conveyed the news about famed moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton (shown at right along with public defender Tim Moore) getting sentenced to 18 months in prison during a federal court hearing in Greeneville, Tennessee.

In the past 24 hours I have seen some positively unbridled fury from supporters of Popcorn Sutton, including on sites like Facebook (home to no less than three groups for people who believe the government should have left him alone to ply his trade in peace). The general consensus is that Popcorn wasn't harming anyone, and that the federal government has set out to "make an example" out of him, lest anyone else think that they should assert some liberty on their own. There are even some individuals who are publicly suggesting that perhaps a "storming the Bastille" is in order. I'm not gonna endorse or condemn such thoughts... but I am gonna pass along something that is no doubt going to make a lot of people even madder than they already are!

Neal Hutcheson is a well-known name not just across North Carolina, but throughout the southeastern United States and the rest of the country. He's a documentary filmmaker based out of the Raleigh area. Among his many credits are Mountain Talk and Voices of North Carolina, which have both featured appearances by Popcorn Sutton. More recently Hutcheson dedicated an entire film to Sutton and his art in The Last One. I've come to know him lately ever since he sent over a DVD of The Last One (and I just got it back last week, 'cuz everyone that I know practically has been wanting to borrow and see it for themselves!). Hutcheson has built up a solid reputation among the folks in this region and if he reports on something, I'm more than inclined to say that his word will be held as bond.

Well, Neal Hutcheson was in the courtroom yesterday when Popcorn Sutton had his sentence handed down. And earlier today Neal sent along the following report. I asked him if I could share it here for this blog's readers and Neal said "please do". So here it is, in his own words...

"You should know that the prosecution used a video clip made twenty years ago (of him capping a still) to make the case that Popcorn was strong enough to continue making liquor. The judge made it explicitly clear that the idea that he would resume operations if he was let out on probation was behind the rationale that he needed a prison term to stop him. The prosecution knew of course that the clip wasn't made last week, and that his health plus house-arrest & monitoring would be more than enough to prevent him from doing anything prohibited, as the past ten months of house arrest has proved. So, if you leave aside the debate about whether moonshining is a serious offense or not, and take the government's case at face value, the public would have been 'protected' & served without putting a sick man in prison. What the prosecution did was petty and vindictive: The sick and broken man they saw in that trial wasn't putting on an act; I had been with him for three days and that was the best he had looked in all that time.

"I just think people should know what happened there. The litmus test here is for people to substitute moonshining for something else they don't sympathize with, you know just lay all that aside, and ask if it was necessary, as the prosecution insisted, to lay prison time on him. Obviously it wasn't. He's been under house arrest and monitoring for ten months and, along with his health, its kept him from doing anything prohibited.

"The judge did question the age of the video, so that thought came up. But the prosecution was directly implying that the video demonstrated he was capable and because of that could not be deterred from making moonshine without a prison term. And that was disingenuous. And they knew it. The fact is that Popcorn had embarrassed them for a long time."

So... apparently the prosecutors used "evidence" that didn't pertain at all to this particular case in order to malign Sutton, and they convinced the judge to deliver a harsh sentence even knowing that Sutton is not currently in the best of health.

Does anybody else think that there is something horribly out of kilter with the "justice" of this situation?

Read More

DAMNED REVENUERS! American legend Popcorn Sutton sentenced to 18 months in prison (FREE POPCORN!)

Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton, the legendary moonshiner and genuinely unique American character, was sentenced today in federal court in Tennessee to a prison term of 18 months, after earlier pleading guilty to the charges stemming from the raid on his still last year.

And adding insult to injury, Sutton "agreed to allow his moonshining photos and videos and criminal history to be used to further the education and deterrence goals of Project Safe Neighborhoods."

In other words, rather than praising Popcorn Sutton as the living cultural resource that he is, the sons of bastitches from the government are going to force Popcorn to go fully against his unique sense of identity. The lesson here could not be more obvious: "Conform to the state or we will hurt you."

No, I don't have any sympathy for those assholes. If you want to see what is destroying America, look at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents, the judges, and everyone else who has conspired, against an overwhelming tide of public sympathy with Popcorn, to quash him good.

Grrrrrr...

Well, I'm gonna keep the "Free Popcorn Sutton!" icon in the margin of this blog, as ongoing testament against how our own government is all too often the enemy of freedom and liberty. "Change"? My ass!

Read More

Popcorn Sutton sentencing delayed, again

Moonshine legend and American original character Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton has had his sentencing delayed for the fourth time. He and his many fans (of whom I am proud to consider myself one) will have to wait until January 26th 2009 to find out what's going to happen to Popcorn stemming from the raid by them "evil revenuers" on his 'shine operation in Tennessee back in March. For those who are just tuning in, Popcorn Sutton - who has achieved the status of mythic hero in the world far beyond his home in Maggie Valley, North Carolina - was the target of a bust when he started an operation across the state line in Tennessee. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BOOOO!!!) caught Popcorn running three 1,000-gallon moonshine stills and immediately set out to portray him as a diabolical fiend. Nothing could be further from the truth. Popcorn Sutton is simply, and without harm to anyone, practicing a fine form of art that reaches back countless generations into Appalachian culture.

And speaking of which, a few weeks ago filmmaker Neal Hutcheson sent me a DVD of his latest documentary The Last One. Hutcheson's films have enjoyed a lot of play on North Carolina Public Television and have often featured Popcorn in a few appearances. The Last One focuses entirely on Popcorn as he sets out to make (what he claims at the time anyway) his last batch of illicit booze. I'm gonna post a thorough review of The Last One here soon but after watching it, I cannot help but be compelled to say that I have even more sympathy for the moonshine industry. This is not something done purely out of a desire to brew some tax-free alcohol: more often than not it was done out of necessity, sometimes even for sincere medical purposes. Not like the government cares though: it seems to be the driving mission of the BATFE and every other guvmint agency to force us to purchase our goods from Wal-Mart instead of making good on our own, which is what Popcorn Sutton was trying to do.

As always, this blog will post updates on the Popcorn Sutton Saga as they continue to develop.

And one more thing: FREE POPCORN SUTTON!

Read More

A question for Johnny Robertson, James Oldfield, Norm Fields, and others of the "Church of Christ In Name Only" in the Reidsville/Martinsville area

Dear Johnny Robertson, James Oldfield, and Norm Fields:

I can't recall a single time that any of you have been live on the air on your various "Church of Christ" television programs that broadcast on WGSR, when you have not vehemently stated that in order to be saved and go to Heaven that one must be baptized in water and join the Church of Christ. All three of you claim that without water baptism, there is no salvation possible at all.

(I'll take time out here to state again - as I did the first time and then again not long afterward that in no way do I consider Robertson, Oldfield, Fields and their bunch to be the real Church of Christ that most people know and respect. The "Church of Christ In Name Only" that broadcasts on WGSR is something that can only be described as a twisted cult.)

If you guys are so convinced that baptism is absolutely essential for salvation, then I would like to know what your take on the following true-life story is...

Yesterday Dianne Odell passed away near Memphis, Tennessee. She was 61 years old. Only a few months after being born, Dianne was struck with a form of polio that left her unable to breathe on her own. Of her sixty-one years on this Earth, she had been confined to an iron lung for sixty years. She died when a power outage stopped her iron lung from working, although her father and brother-in-law made a valiant effort to keep it operating manually.

She spent all those years of her life laying on her back, confined to a steel enclosure, just to keep living. But she wound up having a more full life than most people will ever know. Dianne earned a high school diploma, took college courses, and even wrote a children's book.

What sustained her? By all accounts, Dianne Odell was a devout follower of Christ and she completely put her faith in God, and she didn't hold it against Him that she was given the kind of life that she had.

I'm fairly certain that given her condition, that Dianne was never baptized. There's no way it could have been done without killing her, most likely. At least she was never baptized by immersion, which is what you guys claim all the time is an absolute obligation in order to have salvation. I've even heard you claim, on numerous occasions, that if a person comes to believe in Christ but is not baptized before death, that such a person is damned forever.

Johnny, James, and Norm: Are you really prepared to go on live television and say that it is with 100% conviction that you believe that God did not allow Dianne Odell into His kingdom yesterday morning, all because it was impossible for her to be water baptized? Or might you possibly even argue, per your logic, that Dianne Odell should have left her iron lung and risked water baptism if she wanted salvation? Because that is what you are claiming, whether you want to admit it or not.

I'm planning on calling some or all of you live on the air to ask you that, if you aren't willing to provide an answer in any other way. If you won't take my phone call, then maybe Charles Roark will let us debate the matter live on WGSR. Is that an open challenge? You bet it is.

So what's your take on it, Johnny and James and Norm: Are you seriously ready to condemn such a person to Hell with your legendary zealousness?

But I've no doubt that Dianne is in the presence of the Lord that she loved, and for Whom she shared that love toward others in her earthly life. That is the beautiful thing about a God Who has abundant grace and mercy.

I just wish that you guys could understand that.

(And for everyone else: If you want to know more about what Johnny, James and Norm stand for please check out the Answering the Church of Christ blog.)

Read More

Moonshine legend Popcorn Sutton pleads guilty, could get hit with 15-year sentence by evil revenuers

World-renowned moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton (shown here with an "outlaw" of another sort, country legend Willie Nelson) is facing a possible 15-year prison sentence and a fine of a half-million dollars after pleading guilty in federal court in Tennessee today for practicing the fine art of "makin' likker".

A few weeks ago the revenuers busted Popcorn's "white lightning" operation in Tennessee's Cooke County. The Feds and Tennessee "citizen harassment authorities" (that's what I'm going to call 'em) captured three 1,000-gallon stills, almost a thousand gallons of finished moonshine and several hundreds of gallons of corn mash in the raid on Popcorn's premises. They also found some firearms, which Popcorn wasn't supposed to have since he's already a convicted felon from previous moonshining charges.

Which if you ask me, the government should have just left him alone back then, too. What Popcorn is doing is not an act of evil. It's only a "crime" because the government is addicted to power and the money that comes with taxing something like alcohol. It can't cut spending. It can't even go after the millions of illegal aliens that are still coming into this country. But it can go after a man who is just minding his own business and not hurting anybody. To add insult to injury, it wouldn't surprise me if the government sends Popcorn to the big house for the full 15-year term... while letting rapists and the like out after just a few years.

There is something very screwed-up with America, when it treats one of its few legitimate original characters in this manner.

FREE POPCORN!!

Read More

Popcorn Sutton out of jail, for now

Marvin Sutton, known far and wide throughout the country (and the world?) as Popcorn Sutton, has been released from jail after posting $20,000 bond, two weeks after a raid by federal revenuers on his moonshine operation in east Tennessee.

I'm assuming that Popcorn has a second home or some other accommodations in Tennessee, because in addition to the bond he also cannot leave the state until at least a hearing next month ... that could send him to jail once more. He also must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, submit to drug testing (and cannot imbibe of his or anyone else's "likker"), and agree to have his property searched at any time by federal agents.

I'll say again: Popcorn made a bad move by running a still across state lines in Tennessee, when if he had stayed home in Maggie Valley he could have remained in business. The man should have known better. But all the same: it doesn't look like the federal government has anything better to do than harass a legitimate American folk hero, and someone who is keeping alive some of the proudest traditions of Appalachia. It's funny: our government won't do anything serious about millions of illegal invaders, but it does have the will and resources to pursue a regular citizen who's just minding his own business and not hurting anyone else.

More details about the Popcorn Sutton Saga will be posted as they develop ...

Read More

This is why we opposed the school uniforms

As was reported here a few days ago, the Rockingham County Board of Education voted to rescind its vote in April to implement mandatory school uniforms at Reidsville Middle and Reidsville High schools beginning this coming year. Members of P.O.T.S.M.O.D. (People Opposed To Standard Mode Of Dress) fought hard and with heart to get the board to overturn its decision ever since the April vote that initially required it.

I got something in my e-mail and I'm gonna post it here, because I think this is one of the bigger reasons why school uniforms in Rockingham County is a bad idea. This is from Nashville, Tennessee, from an organization called Safe Haven Family Shelter...

Safe Haven and Metro Nashville Public School Children Need Our Help

We need school uniform clothing donations to help our kids!
As many of you know, Metro Nashville Public Schools have implemented a school uniform dress code. All of our children will be in need of school uniform clothing. Safe Haven understands the plight of families that cannot afford brand new uniform clothing. Therefore, we be allowing Metro Davidson County families to purchase uniform clothing from our thrift store, Family Thrift, for as little as .99 up to a maximum price of $3.99 for new and gently used clothing.

"I would much rather have families save one or two hundred dollars on clothing and be able to use it for food or rent," stated Safe Haven Executive Director Bruce Newport. "Our mission at Safe Haven is to provide programs for homeless families and to prevent homelessness."

All proceeds from the thrift store will be used to help continue to serve homeless families and provide community outreach programs. The Family Thrift store is located in the Priest Lake Plaza shopping center, at the intersection of Bell Road and Murfreesboro Road, and is open to the public.

Per the Metro Nashville Public Schools website, the following are acceptable uniforms:

www.mnps.org/Page22235.aspx

Given how this is already a difficulty for families to cope with in a major metropolitan area, I can't begin to imagine how much more grief it would be to have imposed a similar policy here in rural Rockingham County.

Read More