Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky., Suzi Bartholomy Column: Velvet Bombers’ Drummer Donates Hair

By Suzi Bartholomy, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Feb. 7–Jackie Robinson’s daily routine will be less of a hassle now that he’s cut 18 1/2 inches of his hair.

“Washing it was a problem, and I always lost some when I combed it out,” he said.

“That’s a whole lot of hair,” Tricia Lindsey said referring to the gray locks lying on the counter of her booth at Shelley & Friends Salon on Ninth Street.

Lindsey gave Robinson his last haircut more than four years ago.

“I let it grow because I just got tired of getting it cut,” he said.

Shorter hair is better for his line of work, Lindsey said.

The 57-year-old drummer plays with the Owensboro band Velvet Bombers. “I could never play with my hair down,” Robinson said. “It would blow across my face, and that was aggravating.”

Robinson is donating his hair to Locks of Love. He’ll have a little less aggravation and some youngster will have a “new head of hair.”

Lindsey said only untreated hair is accepted by the charitable organization that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair through accident or illness. She also said that his gray hair probably can be dyed any color.

“It’s a meager contribution but I hope it makes someone feel better,” Robinson said.

For more about Locks of Love, go to www.locksoflove.org.

Choir girl sings for GOP

Even though Jenny Beth Willis’ dad is a friend of the state chairman of the Republican Party, Darrell Brock, she still had to audition for the honor of singing the National Anthem on Saturday at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Louisville.

Her dad sent a tape to Brock, Jenny Beth said. The 11-year-old fifth-grader at Heritage Christian School takes voice lessons at First Baptist Church and sings in the choir.

“It was fun, but pretty nerve-wracking at the same time,” she said of singing in front of the governor, gubernatorial candidates, U.S. senators and a presidential hopeful.

“It’s a hard song to sing because the notes are pretty high and hard to reach,” Jenny Beth said.

Singing at the dinner “was a big honor, and I’m just so glad that I got to do it,” she said.

The aspiring singer, who also sings country, has been invited to the General Assembly in March.

“She will be singing ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ or the National Anthem,” her mother, Mary Beth Willis said.

Clone groan foods

Rooster Booster Breakfast emcee Kirk Kirkpatrick is on top of the news and often shares his findings with his early morning audience. Last week, he clued them in on the controversy regarding cloned foods. The big news is that the government found no harm in cloned foods and now many companies have already announced plans to “clone” their top brands, he said.

Here are the Top 5 New Cloned Foods:

5. Reincarnation Milk

4. Ben and Ben and Ben and Ben and Jerry’s

3. I’mBack Steakhouse

2. M&Mbryos

1. Ditto Lay

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Copyright (c) 2007, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

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