upworthy

dallas

Cecily Knobler

A woman sings "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac at karaoke.

On a hot Sunday in July, Carole Wade took the mic at a Dallas senior living facility where my mom lives. I happened to be visiting for the karaoke event, and the list of residents who couldn't wait to put their stamps on their favorite tunes was so long, the event had to be extended. ABBA's "Mamma Mia," David Lee Roth's "Just a Gigolo"—you name it, they sang it.

When it was Wade's turn, the microphone was brought to her table. She took it in her hands as though it was an extension of her fingers as the music cued up. Then, as she began to effortlessly sing "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac, the room got still. Frozen. All eyes were on her, and most of those eyes were wet. The lyrics, so beautifully fitting:

"Well, I've been afraid of changin'
'Cause I've built my life around you.
But time makes you bolder,
Even children get older,
I'm getting old too."

A man sitting at our table took notice of how emotional I had become. He leaned over to say, "Never stop feeling the music."

I had the honor of chatting with Wade, who at 85, has been singing nearly her whole life. She got started in the business as a backup singer in Elvis impersonator groups in Dallas and surrounding areas. In and out of bands, playing Deep Ellum clubs and local hotels, she shares, "I've been singing since I was a small child. I've loved music all my life."

As luck would have it, she was at a jam session when she started harmonizing with other musicians. They would soon form her most recent band, Psychedelic Oatmeal. They officially stopped playing gigs when she was in her 70s, but they remain close. (She notes her bandmates were all much younger.)

bands, carole wade, music, old friends, singer Carole and her band mates.Carole Wade

They covered classic rock tunes from Stevie Nicks, The Eagles, Janis Joplin, and Led Zeppelin. Songs like "Me and Bobby McGee," "Seven Bridges Road," and "Whole Lotta Love." She laughs that most of the men in the band couldn't hit those Zeppelin high notes made famous by Robert Plant, so she took on the challenge—with great success.

They even branded themselves at gigs, making little Ziploc bags of oatmeal and glitter, which they would throw to the audience at shows. That is, until a club owner asked them to stop, as the oatmeal was mixing with spilled drinks, "creating goo."

Rare footage of Psychedelics Oatmeal.

The band Psychedelic Oatmeal plays in Dallas. www.youtube.com

Wade makes clear that music is her therapy. "If you're down on a certain day, it will bring you up." She has lived a full life, with two grown sons who are both excelling in life. But music, and the friends with whom she makes it, brings her that extra piece of joy and purpose.

Michael Hatcher, the Resident Services Director at The Reserve at North Dallas (the senior facility in which this event was held), has seen firsthand how music soothes seniors. It reconnects them to their purest selves, no matter how hazy their memories might become. Hatcher shares, "They remember the music, and the time. It's a vessel for anyone of age. It can be used to bring someone out of the deepest sun-downing and back to life."

A man sings "Just a Gigolo" at The Reserve karaoke day.

@cdk213

Senior living karaoke! Fabulous! #seniorlivingcommunity #justagigalo #dallas

There is much research to support this. Bannerhealth.com quotes music therapy coordinator Tammy Reiver for Banner Hospice in Phoenix: "Music holds the power to increase dopamine levels (happy hormones), decrease symptoms of depression and pain, and improve a person’s quality of life. Pleasing music plays an important role at every age, but for aging adults, the benefits are even greater.”

As for Wade? She jokes that she and a few other musicians at the senior home have plans to start their own band. She certainly has the chops for it—and the fans.

School bus driver, bus monitor save children from flood.

Parts of the south are getting drenched with rain. Some states, like Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, have experienced so much rain over the past couple of weeks that residents may need to invest in an ark. In Dallas, the rain had gotten so bad that parts of the city were flooding, and that's when a school bus driver and bus monitor became heroes. Tekendria Valentine and Simone Edmond were taking an alternate route back to the bus lot because of the flooding when they noticed two children clinging to a tree in rushing water.


The women stopped the bus and went to help the kids and it was all caught on tape. Valentine and Edmond drive a bus for special needs children, so the bus is installed with removable seatbelts to safely buckle children who need wheelchairs. The women unhooked the seatbelts and tied them together to use as a rope to help pull the kids to safety. Thankfully, they weren't alone. Neighbors jumped in to help the two women save the children from being swept away. Before long, the children were out of harm's way and the tearful boy asked if he could hug one of the women that helped him and his sister.

Watch the heartwarming moment below:

I'm so glad this story had a happy ending. While it still seems to be unclear who the children were, I hope they're safely back at school and things have dried up. As for the women, the school district has hailed them as heroes and I couldn't agree more.

It takes guts to take on a song that was made famous by a powerhouse voice, and most people honestly shouldn't be that gutsy. You want to sing a Mariah Carey song? Good luck. Celine Dion? Rethink it. How about a Dolly Parton epic made even more famous by Whitney Houston? Oh, honey. Just no.

So the idea of a guy with a lone guitar smashing a rendition of "I Will Always Love You," complete with some of Whitney Houston's vocal stylings—especially a guy in a flannel shirt singing live on a small stage—just seems so unlikely. And yet that's exactly what Josh Weathers did in 2011 when he performed the song at Dallas's Kessler Theatre. With a capacity of 150 to 500, few people got to actually see this performance live, but thankfully the theater posted it on YouTube, where it's had more than 2.6 million views.

Weathers explains before singing the song that his mom had loved the movie soundtrack for "The Bodyguard," which included "I Will Always Love You." He said it was his mom's birthday that day, and though she was no longer here he wanted to sing it for her. And that he did, with simple beauty, power, and emotion.

Just watch:


Josh Weathers at The Kessler Theater in Dallas, Texaswww.youtube.com

Weathers has incredible control of his vocals in this song that's notoriously difficult to sing. And while the Whitney Houston version includes a sweeping orchestral arrangement behind it as it reaches the most powerful sections, Weathers only has his lone guitar. And it works. That chord change. That falsetto. Phew.

Here's to talented and skilled musicians constantly blowing us away.

via Twitter / Soraya

There is a strange right-wing logic that suggests when minorities fight for equal rights it's somehow a threat to the rights already held by those in the majority or who hold power.

Like when the Black Lives Matter movement started, many on the right claimed that fighting for black people to be treated equally somehow meant that other people's lives were not as valuable, leading to the short-lived All Lives Matter movement.

This same "oppressed majority" logic is behind the new Straight Pride movement which made headlines in August after its march through the streets of Boston.


Several dozen marchers walked the parade route carrying pro-Donald Trump messages such as "build the wall," "Trump nation" and "Blue Lives Matter." Which has little to do with being straight.

They were met by over 1,000 counter protesters who drowned them out.

"I am here to say, 'I am straight, hear me roar!'" said Mark Sahady, vice president of Super Happy Fun America, which put on the parade. "Whether you are straight and part of the oppressed majority, or here as an ally supporting us, we welcome you to the greatest parade in the history of the world!"

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Super Happy Fun America say it's "committed to creating spaces for people of all identities to embrace the vibrancy of the straight community."

A Straight Pride Parade planned in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, November 16, didn't fare as well. Only three supporters attended the event at Dallas City Hall. Super Happy Fun America said it would send supporters to the rally, and only two showed up.

via Facebook / Protecting Our Next Generations

The march was promoted by Protecting Our Next Generations (PONG), an anti-LGBT group who says they are "Strong conservative Christians who are standing up for our Biblical values."

At the rally, the group planned to discuss abortion, sex/human trafficking, drag-queen story times, and radical left-wing groups they say are "trying to shut down our businesses and churches."

Well, it wasn't much of a protest.

"The two [Super Happy Fun America] organizers were hilariously outnumbered by pro-LGBT & anti-fascist protesters - and about a dozen police," activist Soraya Colli tweeted.

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They were later joined by a member of the white supremacist group, the Proud Boys.

"It would have been pathetic if it weren't so laughable — they really believe anti-fascists are out there throwing bricks and beating up Trump supporters, but instead it was LGBT allies with rubber chickens and cowbells to drown them out," Colli told the Advocate.

After the failure in Dallas, it appears as though the Straight Pride movement, much like the All Lives Matter crowd, is just a reactionary blip on the historical radar, soon to be forgotten.

The gay pride movement, which helped an entire population take massive steps toward equality, has been around for five decades.

However, groups like Straight Pride or All Lives Matter are short-lived because they aren't fighting for their rights, but trying to hold others down.