NEWS FLASH: Jimbo Martin is planning to run for the Cherokee County Council seat now held by Bailey Humphries. The district covers the northwestern section of the county including the Macedonia, Cherokee Creek and Grassy Pond communities.

Martin's dad, the late Jimmy Martin, served on Gaffney City Council for several terms. Jimbo recently retired from the shipping business and now is a partner in an investigation company. Although not ready to make an official statement of candidacy, Martin said he thinks he can bring some fresh ideas to council.

NEWS FLASH II: It appears Sadie Mae's Cafe's owner Denise Ferguson has resolved her building code problems with the city as her ad in today's Ledger says her GRAND OPENING will be July 2. That's tomorrow, folks. Make sure you try the 'Sadie Mae's salad,' but anything you order will be good.

NEW FLASH III: Ed Cazel just celebrated his 70th birthday. Who is Ed Cazel, you ask? Ed married a Gaffney girl and moved here a couple of years ago. They bought one of the most awesome houses in Gaffney and have restored it to its former glory, with Ed doing most of the work himself — or so he says.

I attended his birthday party, which a lot of you might think would be a rather dull affair. A birthday party for a 70-yearold geezer? Did it start at noon so all the guests could get back to the nursing home by 5?

First of all, Ed is no geezer and probably more fit than a lot of men half his age. Secondly, I'm told the party finally wound down around midnight (I was long gone by then) when the band quit playing. Band, you say? Well, Jeff Gates, who plays at Daddy Joe's and Bernadette Swayngim, who I mentioned before when I heard her at Sadie Mae's previous location, supplied enough music to be called a band. There was also a pretty darn good drummer, but I never got his name. Sorry about that, drummer man.

But the highlight of the night, other than the food and the cake, was the 'surprise' musician — none other than Shag Stepp, owner of Daddy Joe's.

What? You didn't know Shag was a musician? Neither did anyone else.

Seems Shag decided a while back that he wanted to learn how to play the harmonica and began taking lessons via YouTube and practicing in his garage. He didn't tell anyone what he was up to. Last fall, at the urging of his Internet teacher, he attended a week-long camp-seminar in Mississippi, where the best harmonica players in the world shared their expertise with the attendees. It was a small group, Shag said, and they practiced all day long. At night, they went to local blues bars where they honed their skills and learned how to handle stage fright.

That's what turned the corner for Shag — from a beginner to a pretty darn good harmonica player. Not that I know anything about music or harmonicas, but I do know what sounds good and Shag can really play. If you don't believe me, ask any of the hundred or so at Ed's birthday party.

If you want to judge for yourself, head out to Daddy Joe's Thursday night where I'm pretty sure you can talk Shag into blowing a note or two.

We're going to try to get a video if he does and put it on our Web site. If you haven't already noticed, we've posted several in the past week dealing with local news stories. Log onto www.gaffneyledger.com to check them out and also keep up with breaking news or updates to what's in print.

But back to Shag and his accomplishments. I suspect most everyone has wanted to learn how to do something, but just never got around to it.

For instance, I would like to learn how to be a woodcarver. I've got a little carving my sister Kit gave me years ago and I would love to be able to duplicate that kind of work.

I saw probate court judge Josh Queen at the Y just prior to writing this column and asked him if there was anything he wanted to be able to do.

He thought for a moment before saying he'd like to be able to play the piano. He then explained how he'd begun taking lessons as a youngster but then quit when all of his schoolmates started teasing him about it.

The desire stemmed from listening to Jerry Lee Lewis cassette tapes while riding home from football games with his dad. Josh was a ballboy and dad Jackie was a coach.

"He had a Datsun 280Z and the best cassette tape collection you could imagine. But I always wanted to hear Jerry Lee!" Josh said.

What about you? Anything particular you'd like to learn how to do?

It can be done. Just ask Shag, or better yet, go hear for yourself and be inspired.

Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger.