I spent a lot of time helping my brother at his general store, the Hollis Country Store, last fall. We talked a lot in between fixing bologna sandwiches for our customers and other general store kinds of things. One day we got to talking about some of our favorite comedians, and we stumbled upon the fact that we both really enjoy comedian Dusty Slay. I had been seeing a lot of his clips on TikTok, so I was just becoming a fan. We swapped some of our favorite bits we’d heard and had a good time. When Christmas was coming around I noticed that Dusty had a show scheduled at a casino in Pocola, OK, on December 26th. Pocola is just across the state line from Fort Smith, Arkansas, so my wife and I bought him and his wife tickets to the show as a Christmas gift. We went with them and had the best time!
This being Labor Day, I thought it would be fun sharing a clip of Dusty analyzing the country song “Hard Workin’ Man” by Brooks and Dunn. It’s one of my favorites. And as a CPA, I truly appreciate its financial humor. Happy Labor Day, my friends!
I’ve shared several episodes of the “This Week in Charles Bronson” podcast with our readers over the last year. I just love visiting with my Buchinsky Buddy Eric Todd about all things related to Charles Bronson. In our latest episode, Eric pays tribute to actress Antoinette Bower, who passed away on April 30th, 2026, at the age of 93. The first Bronson film he ever saw was THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (1984), where Bower plays Claire Molloch, the sister and the love of the life of political torturer Clement Molloch (Joseph Maher). In Bower’s three-decade career she starred in just about every classic TV series you can think of, including Have Gun, Will Travel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, and with Bronson and Kurt Russell in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. It’s a lot of fun revisiting much of her film work, and finding out a lot of other interesting things about her life after she retired from show business in the early 90’s.
After that, I get to tell you all about my trip to Vermont! My wife and I were able to visit Charles Bronson’s gravesite at the Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, as well as the property that was once his and Jill Ireland’s horse farm on Bronson Road. We were able to eat at places where he liked to eat and even go shopping at places where he liked to shop! And to top it all off, we had the good fortune to meet his son, Valentine McCallum, who still has property in the area and just happened to be visiting when we were there. Val’s an incredible professional musician and singer, and we were able to catch him performing at the Skunk Hollow Tavern on our last night in the area. I share a couple of his songs on the podcast. What I love the most is that these are very personal songs that Val performed that night. I think you’ll enjoy them. I know we sure did!
So, if any of that sounds like fun to you, take some time to give us a listen. I’m sharing the YouTube and Spotify links below, but you can find us on Apple Podcasts as well!
The song is all about failure. He’s clear-eyed that he’s run out of time. There’s so many things that he could’ve done, but now he’s broken and on his way out. It’s hard to face when things aren’t going to be ok- even these guys feel like failures and they’re rich and surrounded by eager groupies. What does that say for us plebes?
I can only write this from the male perspective. Maybe you keep going to spite your enemies? Maybe you keep going because you still have stupid hope? Maybe you keep going because you’re scared you’ll survive – sort of? Maybe you just keep going because you can’t afford your preferred means to end it? Maybe you keep going because yes it will get worse and yes you are failure, but most people are failures and you figure that you’re not even the worst failure; so, maybe there’s room left to fall? Maybe, like George Carlin suggested, you just don’t have the time to schedule it in?
Whatever your reason, eventually the reason will resolve; so, you need someone to remind you of a backup reason or we will miss you.
Juice WRLD is not really my guy, but my daughter likes him and he did pass way to soon. I think people can see that others value them, but it’s hard to live for other people, when you don’t want to keep going for yourself.
This song always gets to me because I was very in love and in Seattle with everyone I needed in my life. My life has gotten smaller since then, but it’s good to remember the brief times when everything seemed to fit; at least, they seemed to fit.
This movement always made me think of great westerns like Lonesome Dove. The movement never made me think of space or Jupiter. Fun fact, without Jupiter, Earth would be pulverized by meteors constantly. Jupiter is like a big brother.
I have listened to this so many times that I think I should take Jerry Goldsmith’s family to dinner. It has this hauntingly hopeful melody, which is in stark contrast to having a monster shoot out of your stomach.
It’s been fun living life as one of the biggest fans of Charles Bronson in the world going back to around 1984 or 1985 when I first watched DEATH WISH on late night TV with my dad. For most of those years, my positive obsession was just shared with my family and friends. That began to change in 2021 when I met a guy named Eric Todd who ran the Facebook page “This Week in Charles Bronson.” Not only did Eric run the page, but he also hosted a podcast of the same name. I guess through my sheer enthusiasm about finally meeting people who love Bronson like I do, Eric asked me to be part of his show. I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had joining Eric and his various guests over the last 4 years on the podcast. During that time, I’ve been part of interviews with actors Jordan Rhodes and Robert F. Lyons, actress Jan Gan Boyd, author Paul Talbot, and even Charles Bronson’s niece Lindsay Ireland. Each interview has been special to me, and Lindsay shared with us that her cousin Paul (Bronson’s stepson) listened to the episode that she was on. I never imagined my love of Bronson would afford me the opportunity to meet these kinds of people, and that Charles Bronson’s own family would enjoy our stuff!
The fun continued this past week when Eric and I interviewed Native American author Sherman Alexie, who wrote the screenplay for the movie SMOKE SIGNALS, starring Adam Beach, Evan Adams, Irene Bedard, Gary Farmer, Tantoo Cardinal, and Tom Skerritt. Sherman loves Charles Bronson, and he told us that his dad even looked like Charles Bronson. We discussed some of his movie work, some of his short stories and novels, and the Bronson film THE WHITE BUFFALO (1977). We spend a lot of time discussing films in general, where Sherman introduced us to the movies REC (2007) and MEKKO (2015). We even spend some time talking about the “awesome” James Woods and the “scary” David Morse, who have both worked with Charles Bronson! If you want to know why I put “quotations” on those words, you’ll have to check us out.
So, if any of this sounds fun to you, I’ve linked to the YouTube video below for your viewing pleasure! If you like it, go back and watch some of our other shows and even subscribe! Some of my personal favorite shows are when us Bronson fans just sit around and talk about one of his movies. You never know where the conversations might end up. Heck, some of my favorites are shows I’m not even on! I do apologize in advance for my accent. What do you expect from a guy from Toad Suck, Arkansas?
