Song of the Week: Living In A Moment

Well the world just loves two lonely people
The world just loves two broken hearts
The odds were against it but baby here we are
In our own little place in our own little corner
This old cold world just got a little warmer
For the rest of my life I'm gonna hold you in my arms




Chorus:
And when they carve my stone all they'll need to write on it
Is once lived a man who got all he ever wanted
Tell me something who could ask for more
Then to be living in a moment you would die for

If I never get rich on what money can buy
It don't matter to me and I'll tell you why
I've got it all when I'm holding you this way
I'll live to love you I'd die to keep you
Safe inside these arms that need you
I'll be loving you with the very last breath I take

Chorus

Bridge:
Ashes to ashes dust into dust
I'll lay beside you forever in love




Last Chorus:
And when they carve my stone all they'll need to write on it
Is once lived a man who got all he ever wanted
Tell me something who could ask for more
Then to be living in a moment
Loving every minute
Tell me something who could ask for more
Then to be living in a moment you would die for




Living in a moment
I would die for



Here's the set up, Nashville at its worst:

Kroger yanks Out and About saying it promotes ‘agenda’

By Amy Griffith (agriffith@nashvillecitypaper.com)
June 05, 2007

Nashville Kroger stores have incited the ire of readers of Out and About, a local newspaper serving the gay community, by removing the papers from distribution racks at 34 area stores.

The papers were there according to the terms of a month-old contract with DistribuTech, a national company that rents space at retail stores for free publications. Out and About had signed on to pay almost $1,800 each month for space at the Kroger stores, plus three Harris Teeter locations, through DistribuTech.

But after three weeks on the rack, the papers were pulled, and Out and About’s publisher, Jerry Jones, was told by local DistribuTech general manager Rob Taylor that the contract is under review at the request of Kroger.

On Monday, Kroger spokesperson Melissa Eads said in a statement that the papers were removed in accordance with a company policy of not offering publications that serve political or other agendas.

“We have had a long-standing policy in place that prohibits the third-party from distributing publications that promote political, religious or other specific agendas,” Eads said. “Kroger strives to be a store for the entire community and that necessitates remaining neutral on many issues. We think this is a fair approach to everyone.”

Kim Council, the media consultant who worked with Out and About's to secure the contract, said Kroger had opportunities to review the publication before the contract was in place.

“We had a signed contract, and DistribuTech delivered the paper,” Council said. “It was done according to DistribuTech’s [protocols].”

The contract charges O&A $1,720.50 each month, to be paid to DistribuTech, for rack space at 34 Kroger stores and three Harris Teeters. Though O&A management are aware of no complaints from Harris Teeter management about the papers, DistribuTech is re-evaluating the entire contract after Kroger’s complaint, Jones said.

All free publications distributed at Kroger stores must work through DistribuTech, Council said. DistribuTech has contracts with more than 60,000 retail locations and 2,000 publications nationwide, according to company information. The deal between O&A and DistribuTech took six to eight months to broker, Council said.

DistribuTech officials declined to comment Monday.

The deal with Kroger meant a revision in strategy for O&A, Jones said. The publication ceased its policy of mailing free newspapers, believing that working with Kroger stores would be a better way to reach all its readers.

“It really helped mainstream our publication,” Jones said. “Everybody goes grocery shopping.”

Also at issue, O&A managers say, is the fact that they consider the paper to be a community publication. Each issue has a news focus, and unlike other free publications distributed at locations including Kroger stores, Out and About has a policy against sex-related ads.

“We’re the newspaper of record for the gay community here,” said Brent Meredith, editor-in-chief of the paper. “Our agenda is to provide the news for our community.”

Jones believes Kroger’s stated policy to be inconsistent with the corporation. Atlanta-based publication The Southern Voice is distributed at Kroger stores in that area, he said. Kroger stores are part of the wholly owned Kroger Co., based in Cincinnati.

O&A nets about 80,000-100,000 readers per month, including physical papers and online readers, Meredith said. The brand also has exposure through Out and About Today, which airs several times each month on Channel 5 Plus.




Ty Herndon spent many years in Nashville nurturing his career. Tyrone was born and raised in the deep South, he is possessed with sensually good looks and perfect pitch. He came up through Star Search around the same time that both Rosie McDonnell and Sam Harris did.

From Wikipedia [a very good entry re: Tyrone]:

In early 1995, Herndon's debut single was released. "What Mattered Most" went to #1 on the Billboard Country chart. The album of the same name was released in April of 1995 and became a top 10 country album. His follow-up single, "I Want My Goodbye Back", peaked at #7. He won the Best New Artist Award at the 1995 Country Radio Music Awards and received various other nominations throughout the year. Herndon's popularity was soaring.




Fort Worth scandal:

In July 1995, just as his success was peaking, he was arrested in Fort Worth, Texas at Gateway Park by an undercover male police officer who alleged that Herndon was soliciting sex.[1][2] It was reported that Herndon exposed himself in front of the officer. Herndon professed to be "taking a leak". When taken into custody, Herndon was discovered to also be in possession of 2.49 grams of methamphetamine. A plea-bargain saw Herndon sentenced to community service and drug rehab, and the charge of indecent exposure was dropped.[3] The scandal proved not to affect his career for very long.




Continued Success:

Herndon's sophomore album, Living In A Moment, debuted at #6 on the Billboard Country albums chart. The title track and first single was another smash hit, reaching #1 on the country chart. Herndon scored three more hit singles from Living In A Moment before releasing his third album, Big Hopes. The debut single, "A Man Holdin On (To A Woman Lettin' Go)" reached Top 5; follow-up single "It Must Be Love" (featuring Sons of the Desert) gave Herndon his third #1, and the third single "Hands of a Working Man" was Ty's last Top 5.



Column's Take:

Herndon's career has seen better days, but it looks like he is keeping on. When the scandal broke in Nashville one of the reasons his career didn't crash and burn is that both he and his label (Sony/Epic) fudged the issue of his sexuality in spite of someone's diabolical faxing of the police report to every business even remotely connected to Nashville's Music Row, e.g. Tower Records. His fan club event shortly thereafter at the now defunct locale, Nashville Country Club, featured his faux wife, his singing "The Old Rugged Cross" (his grandmother's favourite hymn) and Wynonna Judd (fer chrissakes) stopping in to pray to Jesus. There was a large crowd of gay men grouped in the back. It was an eye rolling kind of situation. Tyrone eventually came around and lived in--to coin a phrase from OUT magazine--a glass closet. He shall, nevertheless, be forever the symbol of the hypocrisy that is part and parcel of Nashville. He is a good person, who was nonetheless sorely misguided on more than one level.

Ty was known both in and out of the life to be a gay man, but it has never been acknowledged by his management team nor by him publicly. Of course, he is not the only one. There are, most assuredly, much more. Fortunately, he no longer has the faux wife, at least. The Glass Closet.




The Kroger Affair is indicative of how silly a society like Middle Tennessee's can be pretending as if homosexuality does not exist. Homosexuality has been here since before Jesus was born and the advent of Xtianity. Homosexuality will be here well after it's gone. There is no need for an agenda. The only need is biology.


This is Gay Pride Week and the thirtieth anniversary of Anita Bryant's silliness--get real, people.