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Q: I-185 between LaGrange and Columbus, Ga. is called the Chet Atkins Highway. Is this the Nashville musician who was a vice president of RCA records? Was he from this area?
A: Yes it's named for the guitar picking superstar. No, he's not a native. Chester Burton Atkins was born into a musical family in 1924 near Luttrell, Tenn. His parents divorced when he was a child, and in 1936, he went to live with piano-playing dad James in Harris County, Ga. By then, he was already playing fiddle and guitar, and James Atkins taught him to read music.
In 1996, Chet Atkins told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his first professional public performance was at Mountain Hill Schoolhouse in Fortson, Ga. where he was a student. By age 18, he was back in Tennessee on the road to picking immortality. He also went on to become an RCA vice president. He died in 2001 in Nashville at age 77.
Q: What will the Bird's Nest be used for now that the Olympics is over?
A: The post-Olympics plan for the Bird's Nest is to revamp the 91,000-seat stadium into a commercial venue, possibly for large sports and entertainment events. A detailed plan has not yet been authorized by the Beijing government. Officials of the Bird's Nest National Stadium want to sell 30-year naming rights in a deal potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars. An announcement is expected in the next few months, though the choice of a sponsor is subject to government review.
Q: Who played the sax on Billy Joel's song "The Stranger"? The man is phenomenal on the sax.
A: Richie Cannata is credited with playing several instruments, including the saxophone, on Billy Joel's 1977 album and song "The Stranger." He was a member of Joel's band from 1975 to 1981, still occasionally appears onstage with the singer, has performed with the Beach Boys, Chaka Khan and Celine Dion, and composed the Barcelona Olympics theme.
Q: I have read several times that John McCain has stepsons. Is this true? Was Cindy married before?
A: U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who is his party's candidate for president, has stepsons, but they are not Cindy's children, and she was not married before.
McCain's stepsons, Doug and Andy, were adopted by him after he married their mother, Carol Shepp, in 1965. (The couple later divorced.) Doug is a commercial airline pilot, and Andy is a business executive. Carol and John have a daughter, Sidney, together. John and Cindy McCain have four children and have been married since 1980. All seven children appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention on Sept. 4.
Q: The phrase "The world is your oyster" was part of a recent horoscope. What is its origin?
A: The phrase is attributed to William Shakespeare. In his play, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," a young braggart named Pistol asks Falstaff to lend him money.
When Falstaff refuses, Pistol brandishes a sword and replies, "Why then the world's mine oyster, which I with sword will open."
The phrase relates to the idea that all the pleasures and opportunities in the world are there for the taking. Ambitious youth boast that the world's riches are theirs to leisurely pluck from the shell.
Q: Is there any recent information of the health status of Muhammad Ali?
A: Muhammad Ali announced he was suffering from Parkinson's disease in 1984. Ali's daughter Hana said that today, though frail and needing assistance to walk, he is mentally sharp and works every day.
Ali remains active in civic and humanitarian enterprises. His annual Celebrity Fight Night has raised more than $50 million for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center and other charities. In 2005, he opened the Muhammad Ali Center (www.alicenter.org) in his hometown of Louisville, Ky.
Ali was recently in Chicago at the memorial service for his former manager Jabir Herbert Muhammad. He also was in the audience when Barack Obama made his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Q: Where did the term "devil's food" in devil's food cake come from? I've always called it chocolate cake or midnight cake.
A: When the recipe made its first appearance in a cookbook in 1902, no explanation was given for the name. Many years later, food writer John Mariani speculated that because it's "so rich and delicious that it must, to a moralist, be somewhat sinful," and that whoever named it was probably joking.
The cake's arch nemesis, angel food cake, probably dates from the late 1800s.
Q: What does the "GU" label on NFL players' uniforms mean?
A: National Football League players this season are wearing the uniform patch GU 63 to honor Gene Upshaw, who died Aug. 20. His uniform number 63 marked his Hall of Fame career with the Oakland Raiders.
In 1983, Upshaw gave up playing when he was named executive director of the NFL Players' Association. Among his many accomplishments for the association, he secured free agency for NFL players and led the union through a strike.
Upshaw died of pancreatic cancer a few days after being diagnosed at age 63.
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