well played, sir

Only two chapters in to "SuperFreakonomics," I had to put the book -- and the rest of my newly acquired reading pile -- aside. Once again, something else cut to the front of the line. Let me back up a bit.

A few years ago, Dr. Bill Bass partnered with writer Jon Jefferson to create a series of novels about the Body Farm and its fictional director, Dr. Bill Brockton. I have had the good fortune of interviewing the pair when each new book was released. In one of the stories -- I think it was the second one -- Dr. Brockton's truck was impounded and he had to use a different car. In a later chapter, he was driving the truck again. Off the air, I asked Jon about what I perceived as a discrepancy. He gave me a look that said "oh no!" and acknowledged that I had caught a mistake. He had gone back to add the plot point of the impounding but failed to change every single reference to Brockton's vehicle that followed. For the sake of humor (and accuracy), I had him make and initial a handwritten notation in my copy. In subsequent interviews and social meetings, Jon has always brought up my "eagle eye" attention to the detail in his book.

Dr. Bass recently held a lecture aboard the Volunteer Princess as a fundraiser for the William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology Building. After the presentation, Dr. and Mrs. Bass and I made plans to go to lunch with my family during the week between Christmas and New Year's. We talked about science and about some additional ideas to raise money for the building fund. They were both very excited about the next book, "The Bone Thief," which will be published in March.

Coincidentally, my family and I had also been invited to a potluck party at Jon Jefferson's house this past week to celebrate his new marriage. When he and his wife met my children, he brought up the story of me finding the error in "Flesh and Bone." This time, however, he added that he had a proposition. How would I like to proofread the new book? The catch was that I would have to read fast. Any corrections would be due by Monday, January 4th. I quickly accepted the offer and Jon gave me a large envelope stuffed with 362 sheets of copy paper. As I read the excellent book-to-be, I realized what Jon had done. If a small continuity error slips by and gets published in "The Bone Thief," it will be my fault!

skull and bones

Groucho Marx once said that he would never want to belong to a club that would accept him as a member. Unlike Groucho, I am thrilled to have joined a group that made me feel welcome. On Monday, I attended my first meeting of the FBI Knoxville Citizens Academy Alumni Association.

The alumni group and the class that preceded it offer great opportunities for networking. I recognized a fellow parishioner at All Saints who had taken the class in 2008. I also made arrangements to interview Special Agent in Charge Rick Lambert and Public Affairs Specialist Stacie Bohanan on the half-hour interview show that I take turns hosting.

During a conversation as the meeting at Calhoun's was breaking up, I realized that I need to connect the dots between my two back-to-back Mondays at Volunteer Landing. The week before, I cruised on the Volunteer Princess with Dr. Bill Bass and the Bone Zones team. I must figure out a way to get the support of the FBIKCAA behind the fundraising efforts for the William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology Building.

The FBIKCAA is involved in several activities throughout the year. The next meeting will be held at the Federal Office Building and will focus on Internet safety and security. This week, they are supporting an event at Richard Yoakley School. Although I can't do the 2010 trip, I hope that I will be able to take part in their annual trip to Washington in the future.

I'm on a boat

One of the first things Dr. Bill Bass asked during his lecture aboard the Volunteer Princess was whether anyone in the audience had seen "The Blind Side." He hasn't but knew the movie has a scene that mentions dead bodies in Neyland Stadium. In the film Kathy Bates' character frightens Michael Oher by misrepresenting the UT forensic anthropology program. She tells him that there are body parts buried under Shields-Watkins Field. In reality, the bones of 7,000 individuals are stored in cardboard boxes in the anthropology department offices in the recesses of the stadium's structure. The body donors were reduced to skeletons across the river at the Body Farm before taking up residence in the stadium. Other than that one scene, the movie is amazingly fantastic.



The purpose of the book signing cruise was to help raise funds for the Dr. William M. Bass Building Fund. I attended as a guest of the Bone Zones team that organizes Jefferson Bass events.



The tag line for the presentation was "when your days end, our day begins." Dr. Bass told us about the history of the Body Farm, the life cycle of the blow-fly and the four stages of decomposition: fresh, bloat, decay and dry. A familiar face popped up on screen during the slide show. I saw pictures of the same man decomposing when I took the FBI Citizens Academy class on forensics. I whispered to the lady next to me to keep an eye on the screen during the bloat stage. At that point the dead man looked a lot like John Goodman.

I have interviewed Dr. Bass several times and heard many of his forensic anecdotes. A new one on me was the story of a victim in Morgan County. On the way back to Knoxville with the body in the back of the vehicle, Dr. Bass and his team stopped off at a Cracker Barrel for lunch. When they returned to the parking lot, their car was surrounded by a cloud of flies.

Dr. Bass' good friend, Dr. Al Hazari of the chemistry department, is mentioned on page two-hundred-and-something of "Death's Acre." The Bone Zones crew had the great idea to get him to autograph that page. As he signed a stack of books, he talked about the Forensic Chemistry Summer Camp for Middle Schoolers that he runs every June. So many of the parents were interested that he added a spring class for Adults on Thursday nights in April.



Speaking of the Bone Zones crew, I was amused by their use of artificial joints that had been recovered from corpses. The artificial hips were paperweights and the top part of an artificial knee made for a great business card holder.

guitar & bass

It's as if Christmas is coming a little early for me this year. Next week I get to spend consecutive evenings watching two men I admire greatly, one for his science and one for his art.

The Bone Zones team that organizes Jefferson Bass events has invited me aboard the book signing cruise with Dr. Bill Bass on the Volunteer Princess Monday night. Last month they asked me to help publicize the boat trip, which will raise money for the Dr. William M. Bass Building Fund. Dr. Bass will show some of his famous Body Farm slides while dinner is served.

I plan to ask Dr. Bass about an email I received last week. The mother of a UT anthropology student wrote to suggest that I could volunteer to process skeletal remains on campus.

For four months I have been anticipating the arrival of the Brian Setzer Orchestra in Knoxville. On Tuesday they will rock the rafters of the historic Tennessee Theatre. My wife and I have been invited to attend by the management of Surfdog Records. The opening act will be Ross Bon & the Mighty Blue Kings. Based on the few songs I've heard online, they should be pretty good.

My blog post last August even surprised the Tennessee Theatre people, who had not yet made their own Setzer announcement. However they didn't notice last month when I inadvertently scooped the local paper with news of David Keith's upcoming musical performance.

Will you be attending either the forensics cruise or the Christmas concert? I am making arrangements to borrow a camera long term from a reader who works at knoxivi.com. If I can't get it in time, I may ask you to take a picture of me while you're there.

bass boat

One of the most frequent requests in my email on a regular basis is "please let me know when Dr. Bill Bass will make a public appearance near me." The founder of the Body Farm and co-author of several best-selling mystery novels is arguably the most famous person in Knoxville.

A team of enthusiastic volunteers organizes the crowd whenever Dr. Bass has a book-signing event. They even have their own website at BoneZones.com. The group is helping to raise $900,000 for the construction of the Dr. William M. Bass III Forensic Anthropology Building with an upcoming event.

For $46.95 plus tax, you can cruise past the Body Farm on the Volunteer Princess with Dr. Bass on Monday, December 7 at 6:00 p.m. He will speak about his career and answer questions from the audience. The admission price includes a boxed dinner. True fans will show that they can eat while watching the decomposition slide show. If you bring cash or a check to buy a book, you can get it signed while on board. You can bring the Jefferson Bass books you already own and get them signed too.

In other Jefferson Bass news, Susan from BoneZones.com tells me that the next novel, "The Bone Thief" will be released on March 23, 2010. Their site has the first image of the book's cover that I've seen. I asked Susan if I could submit a photo of my own for inclusion on BoneZones.com.



British comedian Stephen Fry visited the Body Farm while filming an episode of a series for the BBC. He appeared on the "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" to promote his book about his exploration of the U.S.A. and talked about the Body Farm. Newscoma.com posted the funny clip yesterday, which is how I found out about it.

ert day

Two guests at the Homewood Suites thought there might have been a hazmat spill when they saw the members of the FBI Citizens Academy walk past their hotel room. We were all wearing white Tyvek coveralls for an exercise in evidence recovery. In my best Batman voice, I said "remain calm, citizens" and explained that we were in a class.

Our FBI instructors divided us into four groups and gave us a scenario. They directed each group to a different hotel room where they had placed various pieces of evidence for us to identify and collect. Hana Kim was in my group. Her Tyvek suit highlighted her choice of non-sensible shoes.



Before heading to our fake crime scenes, a special agent from the Evidence Response Team gave us some background on the unit. He showed us a few crime scene photos from a local kidnapping case that I remembered seeing on the news five years ago.

The evening that ended with a practical exercise began with a graphic slide show. Dr. Murray Marks, a forensic anthropology professor from the University of Tennessee, spoke to us about his field of expertise. He mentioned that many bodies are found this time of year by hunters and hikers taking advantage of the cooler weather.

Dr. Marks discussed the links between pathology, anthropology and dentistry. The three fields work together in an effort to determine a victim's identity, perimortem trauma and the time since death. We saw quite a few pictures of teeth on bodies in various states of decay. The teeth will long outlast the flesh and bone of a body.

Dr. Marks doesn't like the term "Body Farm." He prefers to call it "the Facility." The slides he showed us of donated corpses focused mainly on forensic entomology and the life cycle of flies and maggots. I recognized one of the actual crime scene photos from an exhibit that was at the Frank H. McClung Museum in early 2008.

protect and defend

Instead of watching fake FBI agents on "Bones" and "Fringe," I will be spending my Thursday nights through November 12th enrolled in the FBI Citizens Academy. Each of the Bureau's 56 field offices offer the class. I was nominated by Public Affairs Specialist Stacie Bohanan of the Knoxville Division. I must have passed the background check because they let me attend tonight's meeting, which was led by Special Agent in Charge Richard Lambert. Agent Lambert began his presentation by showing a video clip from his favorite TV show.



The first session focused on the history and mission of the FBI. We also tried to learn the names of our 29 classmates. I already knew Hana Kim of WATE-TV and was re-introduced to Capt. D.J. Corcoran, spokesman for the Knoxville Fire Department. D.J. came to my house several years ago when he was working as a cameraman on the DIY show "Ed the Plumber."

In future weeks we will learn about criminal law and polygraphy, international and domestic terrorism, identity theft and Internet crimes, civil rights violations and white collar crimes. One night we will take a field trip to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Another night we will meet at a hotel to study staged crime scenes and to see a slide show from Dr. Murray Marks of the world famous Body Farm. One Saturday in October we will learn about deadly force scenarios and go to the firing range to take target practice. The final session of the class deals with crisis management and disaster scenarios. Before then I need to figure out what they mean by a "command post hot wash."

body farmville

There's no room at the Body Farm. The shocking news was in The Tennessean this week. The Vanderbilt School of Medicine has also stopped accepting cadavers. The increased demand is attributed to a larger number of people who can't afford a traditional burial or cremation.

A publicly funded burial isn't the only option for families faced with insurmountable funeral expenses. Donating a body to scientific or medical research is free and, in the age of forensic-sleuthing shows like CSI, somewhat glamorous.

The forensics program is attempting to raise $400,000 to build a new research building and add another acre to the Body Farm, which would allow space for even more cadaver donations in the future.

Until the expansion, what should they do with all the people who want their bodies to skeletonize naturally? Here are a few comedic suggestions to get us started. Add your own funny ideas in the comments section.

• Use them as incredibly realistic Halloween decorations in Sequoyah Hills
• Hide one or two in the visitor's locker room at Neyland Stadium
• Put some in kudzu-infested areas so volatile fatty acids can kill the weeds
• Place man dressed as Hank Williams outside the Andrew Johnson building
• Stage world's largest "Weekend at Bernie's" tribute at next AdventureCon

stabba-slabba do

When the lovely Carol Bass invited us to lunch, I thought it might be fun to go someplace that had bones on the menu. Her husband is, of course, the renowned forensic anthropologist Dr. Bill Bass. My wife, our son and I met Dr. and Mrs. Bass at Calhoun's on Bearden Hill. We had a great visit, mostly talking about mutual friends and about my son's experience at college so far.

The talk of college led Dr. Bass to ask if I had seen the Washington Post's favorable review of "Bones of Betrayal." The column was written by a professor at my alma mater, George Mason University. I told him that Jon Jefferson had emailed me a link to it. Jon is the co-author of several books with Dr. Bass.

The mention of Jon's name reminded me of the anecdote that had prompted me to suggest Calhoun's in the first place. Dr. Bass was happy to use the bones from my son's order of ribs to demonstrate how a knife leaves marks during a stabbing.

involved and committed

The ideas I had for my son's seventh grade science fair project were rejected, including the one that made it as far as the teacher. I thought that a miniature body farm, using critters that had accidentally died in the pool, would go over well. It never made it out of committee. By committee, I mean my wife.

My son presented a better idea to his teacher. He wanted to soak some teeth in Coca-Cola to see if they would dissolve. When she said no teeth, I suggested that he use rib bones from a pig. We were heavily into smoking pork at the time and finding a surplus of bones would be easy. The teacher then made it clear that she would reject anything organic. My son had to do the experiment with iron nails, which had only the most minuscule change in weight during their time in the soda.

A teacher named Stephanie Chavez at Washington Union High School in Fresno would have been more receptive to my scientific method. According to the Fresno Bee, she wants to create a "chicken body farm" using store-bought chickens. My son says that she should make sure to buy the kind without preservatives.

Description of Project: The "Chicken" Body Farm: Scientists have put together an ongoing study of how bodies decompose in different scenarios. I would like to have my AP Biology class perform a similar experiment but instead of using cadavers, we would use store-bought chickens. Students place their chickens in various created scenarios such as: submerged in water, enclosed in a box, covered in clothes and wrapped in aluminum and will track the rate of decomposition. They will also observe how long it takes for insects to show up, learn the insect life cycles and how it affects the decomposition of the chicken. The grant will provide the equipment necessary to create a secure environment in which to study as well as all the equipment needed to create each "chicken" decomposition scenario.

corpse out front should have told you

The Body Farm is not open to tourists. I found that out three years ago when I unsuccessfully tried to get a tour for my friend Bean. One of the most viewed headlines on WBIR.com today is "Body Farm bombarded with tourism requests."

The Anthropology Research Facility at UT made the list of Geek Getaways in Popular Science. I certainly understand why people want to see the Body Farm. There have been multiple documentaries about the unique outdoor laboratory. I also understand why the scientists need to conduct their experiments in a private and dignified manner.

Over the years, I have interviewed Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass numerous times. Most of our conversations are available as podcasts elsewhere on my site. The two co-authors met when Jon filmed a documentary about the Body Farm. In one of our interviews, we talked about how people often ask for tours. The video footage available on their website gives you everything but the smell. Jon said that for the full experience, all you need to do is put some roadkill in a trash can under your computer desk.

body snatchers

Why would anyone steal a skull from the Body Farm? Or as the Orlando Homicide Report asks, "what kind of weirdo steals human skulls?" Especially since it's so easy to find a realistic plastic skull. A fallen tree may have made the theft possible. It landed on the two fences surrounding the facility. The bad guys probably crawled along the tree and into the enclosure where they grabbed the body parts. According to the News Sentinel, anthropology researchers at first assumed that an animal had carried the remains away. They got that right.

My ongoing search for Body Farm news resulted in three new items being added to my Amazon Wish List today. British author Simon Beckett has written three novels about a fictional forensic anthropologist named David Hunter who had trained at the famous Body Farm. The third book in the series, "Whispers of the Dead," finds Hunter traveling from his London home back to the Body Farm in Knoxville. While there, he is asked to help investigate a murder in Gatlinburg. I made the mistake of starting Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta novels with "The Body Farm," the fifth book in the series. I'll be sure to read Simon Beckett's books in order, starting with "The Chemistry of Death" and continuing with "Written in Bone." Beckett got the idea for his novels when he came to Knoxville to write an article about the National Forensic Academy for the Daily Telegraph Magazine.

This one last piece of Body Farm news shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. There is a Facebook group for fans of the place. As of tonight, it has 776 members.

fact check

When Dolly Parton was on the cover of the Metro Pulse last year, I grabbed an extra copy to mail to my friend Bean. Today I scooped up a few copies of the new issue to share with any out-of-town friends who might be interested in "The Cult of Dr. Bass." The table of contents asks: "How is it that a forensic anthropologist has trumped rock stars and college athletes to become, arguably, the most famous living Knoxvillian?"



Dr. Bill Bass "never set out to be a celebrity." As proof to their claim that he is one, the Metro Pulse story opens with a description of the overflow crowd at the cremation lecture I attended in January. The article includes interviews with Carol Bass and the members of the Jefferson Bass book signing team. They maintain a website called BoneZones.com. The paper also has a sidebar about Jon Jefferson.

On the whole, the article is rather good. Dr. Bass retells some of the Body Farm anecdotes that he has shared in our radio interviews over the years. I could imagine hearing his voice as I read them. However there was one passage I have to challenge. I think the the writer may have misunderstood Mrs. Bass. She is quoted as saying: "'Bones of Betrayal' is the last of the Dr. Brockton novels in the series, but there are three more series HarperCollins wants them to do."

In fact, Jefferson and Bass are thinking about a sequel to "Bones of Betrayal" that would follow the same characters. They told me so in our most recent interview. Just to be sure, I asked Jon Jefferson via email. He replied: "I'm not quite sure how that particular slip of the tongue or the pen occurred, but your understanding -- that the next three novels are part of the Body Farm series (and are therefore Dr. Brockton novels) is correct. As you know, I know firsthand how easy it is for errors to slip into print!"

a long, long time ago

"The Day the Music Died" was commemorated at the Surf Ballroom on Monday night. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of rock and roll knows that the phrase refers to the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. Most people also know it as a lyric from "American Pie," a song by the most famous alumnus of my high school, Don McLean.

When I saw the movie "La Bamba," some girls in the theatre were shocked to tears by the film's ending. I guess they didn't know it was a true story. Los Lobos, the group that provided Ritchie Valens' music for the soundtrack, performed at the Surf Ballroom on Monday as part of the "50 Winters Later" concert. Reading about the tribute show has me interested in watching the possible TV special, should it get made.

A Minneapolis TV station did a story about a woman who recently found her photos from the February 2, 1959 concert. The Des Moines Register has tons of material online about the 50th anniversary of the crash, including something with a Body Farm connection.

In a couple of our interviews, Dr. Bill Bass has described his participation in the exhumation of the Big Bopper. He and Jon Jefferson allowed the Register to reprint a lengthy excerpt about the case from their non-fiction book "Beyond the Body Farm."

extended dance mix

When Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson come in for an interview to promote their Body Farm books, I don't want the conversation to end. As the show we taped on Tuesday neared the half-hour mark, I decided to just keep going, knowing I could edit it later. The program that aired this morning was exactly thirty minutes long however the version I'm posting here is fifty-five forensic-filled minutes of fun.

The focus of the first half-hour is the science behind the new book "Bones of Betrayal." We talked about DMORT disaster drills, radiation sickness and Big Ed's Pizza. We also discussed Dr. Arpad Vass and his decomposition sniffer, which I called an electronic cadaver dog. Vass was featured in a very interesting News Sentinel article in mid-December.

When the conversation turns to the Incorruptibles, you'll know that you are hearing web-only content. A recap of the Big Bopper case led to talk of exhumation. If there is any question about the circumstances of my death, I want my body to be exhumed as many times as necessary, unlike the recent case of a former district attorney general, whose exhumation was denied. When we talked about dismembered hands, I related the story of my search for the relic of Fr. Damien of Molokai who will soon be canonized as a saint.

Jefferson and Bass begin a month-long promotional tour on Tuesday with a benefit event at the Y-12 New Hope Center. Tickets are $25 in advance or $35 at the door. Advance sale tickets can be purchased by calling Knox Heritage at 865-523-8008 or by sending an email to info@knoxheritage.org. They'll make the rounds of local retailers too. You can get a book signed at Borders Books on Wednesday, Sam's Club and Hastings Books on Saturday, Books-A-Million in Oak Ridge on Sunday and Hargreaves Books next Monday.

As usual, you can right click here and save the mp3 file to your computer or click the play button below.

as in minus everything interesting

What is it like to watch Quincy in a post-CSI world? Earlier this week I did my annual interview with Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass, which will air Sunday morning. I got home that day and was inspired to watch an old episode of "Quincy, M.E." that was about to start on WMAK.

The episode starts as a dead priest is discovered in a call girl's apartment. We only see a glimpse of the body's feet beyond the bedroom door. While the camera stays on the police lieutenant questioning the lady of the evening in the living room, Quincy goes into the bedroom and shuts the door! Really? I thought the show was called "Quincy, M.E." not "Monahan, P.D."



Lt. Monahan quickly suspects that the good padre has been framed. He needs Quincy to provide an explanation. Our view of the corpse is obscured by a light fixture in the autopsy room. Quincy and Sam discover a possibility that the body was moved after death. As they are telling Monahan about it, Sam says that it has to do with lividity. Proving how far we've come since then, Quincy replies, "Oh c'mon Sam, let's not bore him with the details now." Go ahead Sam, bore me!

when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent

One of the perks of interviewing Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass about their Body Farm books is that the publisher sends me an advance copy. The past few times I got an uncorrected galley proof, so that I had even more time to read it before the interview. I didn't need much at all. Last weekend, I read half of "Bones of Betrayal" in the car on the way to Missouri and finished it the next day on the way home to Tennessee.



I told Jon on Wednesday night that I liked the new book better than the last one. He said he liked it better too. "The Devil's Bones" had three parallel story lines that didn't connect in as satisfying a manor as the story lines in "Bones of Betrayal." The new novel has deaths in present day Oak Ridge that are linked to a previously unknown murder during the Manhattan Project days. There couldn't be a better nickname for the scene of the crimes than The Secret City.

The action in "Bones of Betrayal" takes place in mid-January 2009. Somehow the authors predicted our current cold snap when they were writing last year. One of my favorite things about all the Jefferson Bass books is the way they describe East Tennessee in such detail. No Oak Ridge story would be complete without a visit to Big Ed's Pizza. They put you right at their table as they write about the tiny paper plates and flimsy plastic forks at Big Ed's.

In another section of the book, the fictional Dr. Bill Brockton goes to the real Thompson Photo in Knoxville. He's a regular there whereas my wife and I made our first visit to the place before Christmas. Jere found an old photo at her late Aunt Dee's apartment in St. Louis. It was badly yellowed but was otherwise in good condition. She thought that copies of it would make great Christmas gifts for her mother and siblings. Jere arrived at Thompson's store in West Knoxville only to find out it had been shuttered (pardon the pun) the day before. At our next earliest opportunity, we took the photo to Thompson's main location in the Mechanicsville area, where Dr. Brockton takes some film that turns up as evidence.

The folks at Thompson did a good job of making copies that restored the image to glorious black and white. The picture is a portrait of Aunt Dee and her siblings as children. The other three are my mother-in-law, Fr. George and Uncle Barney. The original is from Schweig Studio, which closed in 2002. The Schweigs exhibited the work of local artists at a gallery in the basement of their studio.

Our best guess is that this great photo was taken in 1932 or thereabouts.

unto dust thou shalt return

A recent post on a UT football message board suggested that instead of naming more streets after players and coaches, the University should honor famed forensic anthropologist Dr. William Bass. As I drove onto the campus tonight, it might have been easier for me to find my way if I could have just followed Bill Bass Boulevard to where I needed to go. I turned right one street too soon and then couldn't get into the parking garage without going back out to Cumberland Avenue.

I was part of a huge crowd that showed up to hear Dr. Bass speak at a Lifelong Learning event. Two ladies who rode up in the elevator with me kept looking at me like they knew me. I turned to them and said "you didn't think I would miss this, did you?" At that point, one of them said she sent me an email about the lecture. Several people had, for which I am thankful. I was early enough to get a seat inside the University Center Auditorium. Once that room filled, people were sent to an overflow room, where they could watch on closed-circuit television.



The topic of tonight's talk and slide show was cremation, which played into the plot of last year's Jefferson Bass novel, "The Devil's Bones." Most people don't realize that a recognizable skeleton remains after cremation. After any metallic parts (i.e. artificial knees or hips) are removed from the pile, the bones must be pulverized to create the "ashes."

When Dr. Bass finished his presentation, Jon Jefferson briefly took the podium to preview their next book, "Bones of Betrayal." As mentioned previously, the story is set in Oak Ridge and deals with radiation and murder most foul. Afterward the authors signed copies of their books for a long line of fans.



Jefferson and Bass will launch "Bones of Betrayal" at a fundraising benefit for the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. Tickets are $25 and are available from Knox Heritage, even though Oak Ridge is in Anderson County. After that, they will sign books at several stores in the region. Be sure to get a copy. I've already read a galley proof and it's fantastic. More about that in the days ahead.

Instead of heading straight home, I made plans to grab some dinner with Jon at the Downtown Grill and Brewery. I almost didn't make it because of the incredibly long time it took to get out of the University Center parking garage. Once I got to Gay Street, I found Jon and several of the bar's regulars. They refer to their weekly gathering as "Wednesday Night Prayer Service."

stench fry

Fans of the Body Farm books will be glad to know that the writing team of Jon Jefferson & Dr. Bill Bass have finished their fourth novel and that the publisher has added two more books to their contract. A story in today's News Sentinel adds some detail to what we learned in the Oak Ridger article that I told you about in May. The story, set in the Secret City, will involve Dr. Arpad Vass and his work to identify the chemicals in the odor of human decomposition. The release date of "Bones of Betrayal" is February 3, 2009. Go ahead and add it to your Wish List now.



Last month I wrote about the Body Farm's appearance on the BBC series "Stephen Fry in America." I was disappointed I couldn't see the show on these shores. But thanks to YouTube, I don't have to travel to England to see the footage after all. The episode was divided into six segments and uploaded by a Fry fan. The Body Farm visit spans two of the six clips. The first part picks up during Stephen's haircut in London, Kentucky. Freshly shorn, he takes in some bluegrass music in Blount County before driving his cab to Knoxville and meeting up with Rebecca of Body-brook Farm, I mean Rebecca Wilson of the Forensic Anthropology Center. The remainder of his tour is in the next clip, which also contains the beginning of his balloon ride over North Carolina as he tries to forget what he smelled here.

brown bread

The good people of Great Britain were introduced to the Body Farm last night. Television presenter Stephen Fry toured the South and visited Knoxville's famous forensic anthropology facility in an episode of "Stephen Fry in America" on BBC One.

What I've read makes me hope the show turns up on BBC America soon. While filming the series, Fry will achieve my personal goal of visiting all 50 states. Without having seen it, the reviews remind me a little of Graham Norton's funny visit to Dollywood and the Dixie Stampede that aired on these shores a few years back.

According to a review on TV Scoop, Fry described a decaying corpse as "a great seething, living... appalling smelling thing... it's as if it's clawing inside you to try and scoop out every living part of you and turn it into death... it's unspeakably horrible!"

One British blogger wonders if there are any Body Farms in England that he should avoid. A crime scene reconstruction involving a body in a trash bin made another blogger contemplate the stark difference between life and death. An American expat runs down all the states visited in the episode and mentions that Stephen Fry was so impressed by the Body Farm that he might consider donating his own body to science. Not everyone loved it. One major Fry fan had nightmares that she was buried alive under a black plastic tarp at the Body Farm. By the way, the plastic tarps are not there for modesty. Maggots will eat a body more completely in the shade.

weekend roundup

Several unrelated stories came across the Frank Murphy Dot Com newsdesk over the weekend.

The annual "What The Fluff?" festival in Massachusetts was postponed from Saturday to Sunday. One of the activities was a Fluff Lick Off, in which contestants had to lick a large dollop of Marshmallow Fluff off a piece of clear plastic. One blogger has posted photos that say it all. By the way, the festival still has me misidentified as "Frank Miller" on their site.

They held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Body Farm in Texas on Friday. News footage from the Fox affiliate in Austin shows a guy who looks exactly like UT's Dr. Bill Bass as one of the ribbon cutters.

Perry Simon posted a link to a great ESPN.com article about the closing of Shea Stadium. Like all Mets fans, I'm disappointed that the old joint didn't get to host the playoffs and World Series one more time.

My wife says that her guilty pleasure today was to read the comments posted by irate Cowboys fans on various Dallas websites. She happily pointed out to me that Jim Zorn will be the only Redskins coach with a perfect regular season record at the soon-to-be-vacant Texas Stadium.

deep in the heart

They do everything bigger in Texas, which is why they are moving forward with plans for not one but two body farms. An article in The Dallas Morning News today reports that in addition to the newly opened Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University in San Marcos, there's one coming soon to Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Dr. Jerry Melbye, the director of TSU's facility has a license plate that reads DR4N6. I remember once seeing a license plate in California that was either NNNN6 or NNNNSICS.

Of course the original Body Farm is at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Given that Sam Houston used to live in East Tennessee, it's apropos that his namesake college would get a body farm too. Last month UT opened a new training center at the National Forensic Academy in Oak Ridge with a bang.

Since my last Body Farm update, I've noticed that some kids at Bronxville High School in New York are reading "Death's Acre" and posting their book reports on their forensics class blog. I found this interesting because I used to scoop ice cream at the Baskin-Robbins that was in Bronxville.

body of evidence

The church we normally attend in St. Louis is right across the street from the home of my wife's late Aunt Dee. Almost every time we go, our friend Fr. Ragan Schriver urges us to seek out a priest mentor of his and go to Mass at his parish instead.

In order to be ordained, Fr. Ragan needed someone to testify to his worthiness to be a priest. He asked Fr. Gary Braun to be that person. At the ordination, Fr. Gary addressed the Bishop of Knoxville by saying, "Is Ragan Schriver worthy to be a priest? I'm sure I won't be the last to ask that question." His unintentional joke received roars of laughter from the congregation.

Fr. Gary is the director of Catholic campus ministries for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. When we met him, we introduced ourselves as friends of his friend Ragan. With that credential, we got to talking quickly about dozens of subjects. We told him about the time Fr. Ragan spilled hot wax on his own head during an Easter Vigil. Fr. Gary said that Ragan did the same thing during an Easter Vigil in St. Louis when he was still a deacon.

As it turned out, Fr. Gary also knew my wife's late uncle, who was a priest in Missouri. That led us to the topic of my wife's late aunt (the priest's sister) and how we stay in her condo whenever we're in town. Fr. Gary asked if I was freaked out by staying in a dead woman's home. My wife and I laughed before I explained that I wasn't very squeamish about death, mostly due to my interest in the Body Farm. He started asking questions, so I started telling Fr. Gary about Dr. Bill Bass and the research they do at UT.

During our conversation about decomposition, Fr. Gary challenged me to learn more about the Incorruptibles (not the Incredibles) and to report back with my opinion. He mentioned Clare of Assisi and a few other Saints that I could research. Their bodies have not decomposed the way one would expect. I mentioned that my friend Bean had seen the remains of Pope John XXIII, which were still in remarkably good shape and on display in Rome. But I also read that the pontiff was at least partially embalmed, which would keep him off the list. Now that I'm back home in Knoxville, I'll make time to read more about the Incorruptibles. Maybe we all can have a group discussion.

howdy pardners

Dr. Bill Bass founded the Body Farm because corpses in Tennessee are different from the ones he had examined in Kansas. In order to determine the time of death, he needed to study the decomposition process. Bodies decayed faster in summer than winter. The rate depends on the climate. The forensic anthropologists in Knoxville came up with a formula based on the average daily temperature. It works pretty well but to truly advance the science, more body farms must be opened in different climates. Dr. Bass has spoken about this in some of our radio interviews over the years. A new article on the How Stuff Works site also describes the dilemma a couple of pages in.

The second body farm after Knoxville's is at Western Carolina University. The climate there is almost identical to here. At least they made an effort. I think It would be more useful to have a body farm on the Carolina shore than in the mountains. Maybe their farm helped convince the next school to try one.

A new body farm is about to open at Texas State University. Their clever logo shows a skull wearing a cowboy hat. You may recall that the locals were concerned about buzzards when the plans were first announced. The Fox affiliate in Austin recently aired a report about the new place. The news anchor said that the San Marcos ranch will be the largest body farm in the world. Texans are always talking about size, aren't they?

Lastly, I came across a blog by someone who attended a summer class at the original Body Farm. It's worth a click if you have a minute.

life lesson

A high school teacher in Oklahoma writes a blog called Chalk Dust Makes Me Sneeze. He refers to himself as Mr. W. and he's in or near Muskogee. I only know of him because he turned up on my blogging radar when he wrote that his parents planned to donate their bodies to the Body Farm here in Knoxville. As I scrolled through some other entries, I learned that his parents' minds were still sharp but that their bodies were failing. After his father passed away, the teacher wrote about the odd feeling of there being no funeral.

Of all the entries I found, the best was the one that describes how to make a marriage last. The teacher came to Tennessee to be with his father, who was too weak to do anything. The dying man was more concerned about his bedridden wife than himself. And the teacher's mother thought more about her husband than herself. Here are the exact words:

People wonder how to make marriage last. Simple. Put your partner’s needs first, even when you’re both literally days from death.

animal instinct

The Body Farm turned up on my radar again last night when I caught a few minutes of "Nature" on our local hi-def PBS station. I plan to record the whole show when it is repeated on Thursday on channel 15-1.

The "Crime Scene Creatures" episode is about animals and plants that offer clues to forensic investigators. Footage shot at the Body Farm included some raccoons filmed with night vision cameras. Apparently when raccoons find a corpse or carcass, they make a hole in the skin, giving flies an inviting target to lay their eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the raccoons return to feast on the maggots.

A couple of you have graciously emailed me the link to a profile of Dr. Bill Bass on truTV.com. The first several chapters serve as a good introduction to beginners. I especially liked chapters 9, 10 and 11 in which the author takes a short forensic anthropology course and visits the Body Farm.

In other forensic "news," I watched "Bones" tonight as promised. It wasn't bad although I got a little distracted by the obvious green-screen shots when the main characters were supposed to be sitting on a bench on the National Mall.

kingdom of the plastic skull

In our last interview back in February, the writing team of Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass told me that their next novel will be set in Oak Ridge, local home to the Manhattan Project. Now one of their sources has revealed some juicy details in the Oak Ridger. A drowning scene is likely to be set at the Alexander Inn, the hotel that housed Enrico Fermi and J. Robert Oppenheimer.

While I eagerly await the next Body Farm novel, I have a few other books stacked up on my nightstand. I'm currently reading a copy of "Dexter in the Dark" that I borrowed from Terry Morrow. Next, I will either get to "The Road" or "Book of the Dead," both of which I received for Christmas.

On Saturday, my wife and I stopped by McKay's to peruse their selection of audio books. We're starting to look for something to entertain us on our next long car trip, later this summer. I saw a few selections by Kathy Reichs, whose life is the inspiration for the TV show "Bones." I have never read any of her books nor seen "Bones" but I am thinking about giving both a try after receiving perhaps the greatest promotional item ever. Fox 43 sent me a replica of a human skull in an evidence bag. The accompanying note said the skull was just like the one Dr. Temperance Brennan keeps on her desk. It now proudly rests on a top shelf in my home office. Or maybe I should say "she proudly rests." As best as I can tell from what I learned from Dr. Bass, the lack of a pronounced supraorbital ridge indicates that it's a female skull.

hand in, handout

There are plenty of hair salons for women. Since my makeover, I get my hair cut at such a place every month. There's at least one local salon just for children. Mike Huff, the co-owner of Kidz Fun Kutz is now opening a hair salon for men, admittedly inspired by Hooters. He has taken some heat in the blogosphere for hiring only pretty women. In my opinion, the all-female staff members who I see at Garde Bien are just as attractive as the women at Gentlemen's Top Cuts.

Mike said that he chose a location on Middlebrook Pike because the rent was more affordable than on Kingston Pike. The site has a high traffic count and is not far from Knoxville's population center at Cedar Bluff. Gentlemen's Top Cuts will be the first business to open in a mini-mall that will also be home to Nixon's Deli, a nail salon and Domino's Pizza. A fifth storefront is still available.

With the salon due to open Wednesday, there's still lots of work to be done. Yet construction was temporarily halted so some bloggers could get a preview of the services to be offered. I was invited because of a post I wrote back in December. The guys who write SayUncle, Modern Redneck and Reality Me were also there. Publicist Zane Hagy told me that he is having great success getting bloggers to spread the word about his various clients.

Doug of Reality Me preceded me by several years as a member of Einstein Simplified. Today he channeled Steve Carell in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" as he had some personal waxing done. He made sure we could all hear him scream although I suspect it may have been exaggerated for our benefit.

Like the other bloggers, I was offered a free haircut. I declined because I already have an appointment at Garde Bien scheduled for next week and because I didn't want to cheat on Stacey, my regular stylist. Zane said that my son could take advantage of the freebie instead. While Carrie cut my son's hair, I got a manicure from Michele. She cut my fingernails and then had me dip my hands in hot paraffin. After that she bagged my hands like evidence and told me to wait a few minutes. When Michele peeled off the wax, I could only think of Dr. Bill Bass. He had described the process of degloving in our interview about the book "Flesh and Bone." The skin sloughs off the hands of a corpse. It can later be retrieved, mixed with water and Downy and used to get the fingerprints of the deceased.

on campus

Unafraid to jump on the bandwagon, we went to Mass today at John XXIII University Parish after seeing the article about Fr. Eric Andrews in yesterday's News Sentinel. Turns out that before the priesthood, he worked at the Jim Henson Company, original home of the Muppets. We were unsure where to park and ended up in a nearby faculty lot. The strong wind nearly knocked us down as we walked to the church. Fr. Eric was there to greet the congregation, however Fr. Paul Rospond celebrated the Mass. The newspaper article made me interested in hearing a homily from Fr. Eric too. Fortunately there is an assortment of both his and Fr. Paul's available online, where parking is no problem. I realized this morning that I had already heard Fr. Paul's sermon last night while I was looking up the Mass times. It was posted after he celebrated the 5:30 p.m. Mass.

We found seats about five minutes before Mass began. Similar to a movie theatre before the days of "The 2wenty," a series of slides promoting upcoming events at the parish were showing on a big screen behind the altar. My wife asked me to find her a hymnal. As I went out to the narthex to get one for her, I noticed that nobody else had one either. When Mass started, we saw the lyrics to the processional hymn projected on the screen. The page changed to reveal the next stanza at the exact right moment. I kept looking until I found a guy in the choir with his thumb on a handheld remote, controlling the PowerPoint presentation.

It was a perfect day for us to visit UT because the writing team of Jefferson Bass would be signing books at the Frank H. McClung Museum. Better still, they would be speaking to a capacity crowd in the lower level auditorium. I went down to get seats while my wife and son looked at the museum's Forensic Anthropology exhibit, which is only there until May 7.



Dr. Bill Bass showed slides from the real-life burned-body cases that inspired parts of "The Devil's Bones." During the Q&A session that followed, a question about plasticination prompted an anecdote about cultural differences in dealing with bodies. We heard about an American doctor who opened a medical school in China. He needed cadavers for the students to examine. The government sent him ten beheaded bodies. He thanked the officials but asked for ten more with their heads and necks still intact. They brought him ten live prisoners on a chain gang and told him that he could kill them any way he liked.

Jon Jefferson told of one of his first meetings with Dr. Bass over lunch at Calhoun's on Bearden Hill. As Jon was trying to understand the way a weapon's marks can be visible on a murder victim's ribs, Dr. Bass reached over and began stabbing the half-slab on Jon's plate. Other patrons turned to look and then relaxed once they realized the man with the knife was just good old Dr. Bass.



The audience members filed upstairs and got in line to get their books autographed by the authors. The line wrapped all the way around the circular museum lobby. Since my copy of the book was already signed, I took the opportunity to revisit the Forensic Anthropology exhibit myself. Jefferson and Bass have a busy week ahead. You have several opportunities to get a signed book. Or you could just buy one online.

dr. bass-o-matic

The guests on this morning's "East Tennessee Report" were Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson, also known as the writing team of Jefferson Bass. They were kind enough to grant me the first interview on the publicity tour for their new book, "The Devil's Bones," which goes on sale this Tuesday. We recorded the show last night, shortly after Jon got to town. Of course, Dr. Bass is well known as the founder of the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee.



As is my custom with Body Farm interviews, I have posted a podcast of the program. This time around we talk about cremation and the notorious Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Georgia. We also discuss the new Forensic Anthropology exhibit at the Frank H. McClung Museum that I wrote about last week.

Jefferson and Bass are contracted for at least two more Body Farm novels. They told me that the next one will be set in Oak Ridge with a subplot from the Manhattan Project era.



I truly enjoy my conversations with Jon and Dr. Bass. We could have talked for hours but it's only a thirty minute show. Right-click here to download the mp3 file. Please enjoy.

dem bones

A sign at the entrance to the new forensic anthropology exhibit at the Frank H. McClung Museum (through May 7) warns visitors about the graphic images ahead. Another sign prohibits visitors from taking pictures.



To prepare for my next interview with Dr. Bill Bass, I had planned to go to the museum yesterday during a break between the preliminaries and finals of the city meet. Instead I went today, which makes it look like I got the idea from a great feature article in this morning's paper. The exhibit has displays of various skulls and other bones as well as a series of large color photographs of a body decomposing in the August heat.



As far as I could tell, taking photos in the gift shop was allowed. They had a table with autographed copies of the first two Body Farm novels and the most recent non-fiction book. Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bass will be there to sign copies of their new book, "The Devil's Bones," three weeks from today on February 17.



The forensic products for children amused me. Wannabe CSIs can get started with the Detective Science Fingerprint Kit or a "Human Anatomy Coloring Book." They also had a "Crime Scene Detective" book for kids and a mysterious product from China called Organ Slime.



I liked the way the red Human Remains Recovery School shirts caught the sunlight coming in through the window. Perhaps the best gift choices were the Forensic Anthropology Center patches and black t-shirts. I couldn't justify spending $22 on a t-shirt for myself or I would have gotten one.

read of the dead

The stack of books on my nightstand has several new additions as of late. Perhaps this could be a good time to accept my friend Jessica's invitation to join Goodreads, a social networking site that lets you see what your friends are reading and lets them see what you're reading. Before I go rushing into an online commitment, I want to know a little more about it. Have any of you joined? PC Magazine picked it as one of its Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites and as its Site of the Week last July.

If I do join Goodreads, Jessica will see that the next three books on my reading list share a common theme. For Christmas, I received "The Book of the Dead" by Patricia Cornwell and "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" by Dr. William Maples. I had just started on the Maples book earlier this week when I was interrupted by an overnight package from HarperCollins.

The publicity department sent me an uncorrected proof copy of "The Devil's Bones," the new Jefferson Bass novel. Like the last proof they sent, I need to finish it before my next interview with the authors, Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Right now, I'm in the middle of chapter 8 where the main character, Dr. Bill Brockton, is gathering information at a local crematorium. He just learned about the special steps that must be taken to cremate an obese person. They burn hotter. The chapter reminded me of a link to a newspaper story I saw last week in Perry Simon's Talk Topics column on AllAccess.com. The article says that larger dead people require bigger autopsy tables, morgue drawers and other equipment. I'll have to bring it up in the interview.

two simple words in the English language

It was too dark to take a picture of the network sports banners hanging near the ceiling at Big Ed's Pizza the other night. They have banners from CBS Sports, ABC Sports and NBC Sports. The NBC banner features the 1970s era logo with the N shaped like two trapezoids. I forgot that Big Ed's son Dave told me that the banners had been given to the pizza joint by former UT players who had gone on to the NFL. Dave had heard that the NBC banner was collected by Hacksaw Reynolds after a game in San Diego. Speaking of pizza, TV hottie Stacy McCloud posted a comment about gluten-free pizza at Roman's.

After writing my All Souls Day entry about "The Undertaking," I found a link to an article about the Body Farm. As an unofficial clearing house of Body Farm information, I debated going back and adding an update to my post. I guess I forgot.

When I wrote about my conversation with Pat Godwin, I forgot to mention that I've been seeing another former Comedy World employee on TV a lot lately. Lou DiMaggio is on a commercial for Bristol-Myers Squibb talking about his heart attack. Fortunately he's doing well now.

this is Halloween

The cooler weather, not Halloween inspired me to put on a plaid flannel shirt this morning. Later when I looked in the mirror, I realized I was dressed as Dr. Bill Bass.

The best Halloween costume I ever had was the Batman outfit I wore when I was in first grade. My mother had to special order it from a catalog because I didn't want the full face plastic mask that was sold in stores back then. The costume she found had a cloth cowl that wrapped around my head and a "Lone Ranger" style mask to cover my eyes. I started trick-or-treating and had only gotten as far as the third or fourth house when I was forever traumatized by a neighbor kid who pulled off my mask, breaking the elastic string in the process. Darn you, Kurt Teckmyer!

A reader named Lisa sent me a link to an online 1960s Batman quiz. If you can deal with the pop-up ads, the quiz is fun and challenging enough to hold the interest of a true fan like me. On Tuesday nights I've been having an ongoing conversation with Dave Fennell's brother Darrin about the Batmobile. His parents were friends with George Barris. He remembers that the car was covered in black velvet when he saw it as a child. The Batmobile I saw in the '90s was smooth and shiny. It turns out that the Batmobiles on the car show circuit in the '70s were covered in velvet to hide cracks and fingerprints.

When I was in grammar school, we always had the day after Halloween off from school. November 1st is the Solemnity of All Saints, a Catholic holy day of obligation. I'm looking forward to hearing the "Litany of the Saints" at Mass tomorrow night. My wife says that our friend Mary K. will sing it this year. Hey Mary K., the invitation still stands.

decomposition book

What's that? You just missed hearing the authors of "Beyond the Body Farm" on the early morning public affairs radio show I told you about? Well, get comfortable with a cup of coffee and the Sunday crossword puzzle while you listen to a podcast of this morning's show.



The book and the radio interview are full of interesting forensic cases. I almost thought that Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson had a monopoly on all the good dead body stories. Then I found one in the Washington Post that isn't theirs but is fascinating nonetheless. Last week a corpse from the 1850s was finally identified a couple of years after being accidentally unearthed in Washington DC.

bookworms go in, bookworms go out

Dr. Bass can always tell when the interviewers haven't read the book. That's the helpful tip I got from Stacey Handel as she was cutting my hair over the weekend at Garde Bien. Longtime readers know that another of Stacey's clients is Carol Bass, the lovely wife of the famed forensic anthropologist. Tomorrow I get the opportunity to record another interview with Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson for Sunday's public affairs show. As of right now, I have finished twelve chapters of their new non-fiction book, "Beyond the Body Farm." I still need to read the last four chapters tonight.

I should have read the whole book as soon as I got an advance copy. Instead, I didn't start until last week when I finally knew the date of our interview. One thing I have tried to impress on my children is be the tortoise, not the hare. In my academic career, I was definitely a hare. I waited too long to start homework projects and term papers and would then have to race to catch up. More often than not, my first draft and final draft were the same thing. Fortunately, my children have found that school is easier when they get an early start on their assignments. I believe that our high school and college systems test a student's ability to handle the work load, not their intelligence. I came to that realization too late to help myself when I saw a fellow GMU student plod through his studies and graduate the year before I did.

Having said all that, I really need to get back to reading. The new Body Farm book chronicles several true stories including The Big Bopper exhumation and the Leoma Patterson case. Chapter 5 is especially grisly but fascinating. It describes in detail the aftermath of an explosion at an illegal fireworks factory in Polk County. I will be sure to ask the authors about that and about another chapter that angered me. A young girl was murdered by a prison inmate who was on his way back to prison after a day on work release. I need to ask if the deputy who trusted the inmate to drive a police vehicle has any responsibility in the death of the girl.

If you can't wait to hear Sunday's radio show, you can ask Jefferson and Bass yourself at an event Tuesday night. The authors will be at the East Tennessee History Center at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $25. Refreshments and a copy of the book are included. If you're busy tomorrow, there are several more book signings on the schedule in East Tennessee and around the country.

deathly hallow's eve

An advance copy of the eagerly anticipated book arrived in the mail at work yesterday. I've enjoyed the writers' earlier books and will get a thrill from reading the new one before everyone else. However I won't be posting any of the pages on the Internet. The cover looks a little bit different than the one that will be available in stores. A small circle on the front contains the words "advance reader's edition, not for sale." On the back, there's a box with the heading "Marketing Campaign." The publisher promises a national broadcast and print media campaign, a 25 city radio campaign and a 6 city author tour with stops in Atlanta, Baltimore, Knoxville, Nashville, Phoenix and Washington, DC. The title is splashed across the front in red: "Beyond the Body Farm." It's the nonfiction sequel to "Death's Acre" by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. The new book has a chapter on the recent autopsy of the Big Bopper. The press release that came with the book offers a tidbit to entice potential interviewers. Dr. Bass has been asked to exhume and examine Harry Houdini.

that's what chlorine is for

Part of owning a backyard pool is sometimes finding a dead animal in the water. Two summers ago I saved a box turtle that had fallen in. This year I haven't been as lucky. At the beginning of the swim season, five (dramatic) chipmunks ended it all in my pool. I suspect that they were in search of a drink during the current Tennessee drought. Three of the chipmunks were floaters. The other two I had to retrieve from the bottom using a net on a long pole. A couple of listeners have sent emails suggesting that I purchase a product to help the critters climb out of the pool before it's too late. One wrote to tell me about the Frog Saver Lily Pad, the other about the Froglog.

My wife and I had lunch with Dr. Bill Bass and his lovely wife Carol yesterday. We talked about plenty of stuff besides the Body Farm but when the conversation did turn to forensic anthropology, I asked about floaters (no, not Ralph, Charles, Paul and Larry). Maybe the chipmunks were still on my mind (no, not Alvin, Simon and Theodore). Dr. Bass told us about a study on bodies in water done at the Body Farm that was described in the book "Death's Acre." He also told us about a failed effort to test an underwater body cage in the river. More research needs to be done in this area. I didn't get around to asking Dr. Bass about bodies in Lake Tahoe. I remember reading that the cold, deep water keeps them from ever floating to the surface. Before the conversation moved on, he jokingly suggested that I enroll at UT and do a Master's thesis on floaters.

three things on Thursday

As a source of Body Farm information, I would be remiss if I didn't point out the article about it in the current Newsweek. The writer recaps the history of the facility at UT and briefly mentions the plans for new body farms in other climates.

Michael Cera played George Michael Bluth on the late great "Arrested Development." By coincidence, I watched an episode of it last night on HDNet. Cera and his friend Clark Duke now star in an online mockumentary about life in Hollywood. In the webisodes, Clark and Michael try to sell a script to a studio.

There was a press release in my email today for a cross-genre cover act. A classically trained harp duo decided to cover some Metallica songs and call themselves Harptallica. Perhaps if I was a fan of Metallica I would have enjoyed the cover songs more. I thought I heard had some dissonance in parts of "Enter Sandman" and other songs. I hope that's the right word for it. Maybe they can try again with some other bands. Any suggestions? The Harp Eyed Peas? Harpleback? Gnarls Harpley?

it's greaaat

Rusty Ford was one of the people I could not find when I put together a WAVA tribute page five years ago. He was arguably the most creative of all the production directors during the station's top 40 days. I remember that he and I both came out of a screening of "True Stories" raving about how great the movie was. Not everyone at the station agreed with us.

Imagine my surprise when I got an email from Rusty. He recently found my WAVA page after doing a Google search for some of our former co-workers. His email address gave me a clue that he is somehow affiliated with Pine Magazine. According to their website, Rusty is a co-founder and publisher as well as marketing and advertising manager. A little more digging led me to his myspace page and to an online portrait.

I had never heard of Pine Magazine before today. In the time I spent looking at it, I found some great reading. I especially enjoyed an article about the Body Farm and one about the synchronous fireflies in the Smokies. In the archives I found an article called "Things I Learned on My Smoky Mountain Vacation." Those three articles alone should keep you busy for half an hour or so.

teach your children well

East Tennesseans love their forensics like nobody else. Tonight I went to a function sponsored by the American Chemical Society. While I was there, I saw a flyer titled "UTK Forensic Chemistry Camp for Middle Schoolers." Dr. Bill Bass, founder of the Body Farm will address the 6th through 8th graders and will sign copies of his books. The summer camp is part of Kids U 2007. The course description says that students will "examine physical, synthetic blood and trace evidence."

Speaking of Dr. Bass, I just saw some 25 year old footage of him. I watched Tuesday's WBIR special about the 1982 World's Fair. They showed Dr. Bass talking to an audience about the ancient Peruvian mummy that was unwrapped at the fair.

io, io, it's off to work we go

Of all the celebrities appearing at the Children's Miracle Network convention, I've been most looking forward to meeting Charna Halpern. I had read her book, "Truth In Comedy," when I first joined Einstein Simplified. The attendees at today's improv training workshop were split up into several smaller groups of about 25 each. My group's teacher was Joe Bill, co-star and co-creator of "Bassprov." The session was terrific. We played some improv games that will help us do better interviews by working on our listening and reacting skills. The similarity between improv and radio is one of the first things I wrote about when I started building my website in 2001.



I had a chance to ask Charna about the skull of Del Close, her late partner. While many people donate their bodies to science, Del wanted to donate part of his body to art. After his death, Charna was to give his skull to a theatre that would cast him as Yorick in "Hamlet." Charna told me to look up an article in "The New Yorker" in which she admits that she couldn't find anyone to remove Del's head and skeletonize it. Instead she gave a replacement skull (stunt double?) to the theatre. I told her how I wished she could have sent Del to Knoxville to decompose at our famous Body Farm.

Just like last year, a few other familiar faces were spotted in the hallway today. I saw Levar Burton, John Schneider and Mary Lou Retton.

every action has one

The first thing I saw when I flipped open the newspaper this morning was an extreme close up of dye being applied to my beard. It was one of the images well captured by J. Miles Cary during my salon session last week.



The reactions to today's article have been great. Jimmy Kimmel got me to laugh first thing this morning when I read his email: "I think you looked better going in than out." Someone claiming to be Abby Ham posted a nice comment: "Frank, you look great. Love your new look!" I want to believe it was really her, so don't tell me otherwise.

Jennifer Alexander is B-97.5's "franchise player." If she were willing to move, she could be working in a much larger market. Jennifer wrote: "I saw your makeover pictures in the paper today. You look incredible! Totally different…but incredible! Just wanted to let you know. Hope you are doing well. I’ll try to get out to see a[n Einstein Simplified] show soon!"

Todd Covert retired from Einstein Simplified a couple of years ago. I still miss performing with him every week. He sent an email when he saw the paper this morning: "Normally, I don't go in for guys, but......!!!!!!! Saw the article in the paper. You look ... 'maaahhrvelous.' Did they give you all that stuff for free?!?!?! Were the chicks all hitting on you?!?!"

Somehow my makeover is forever intertwined with the Body Farm. Jon Jefferson, co-author of the Body Farm novels emailed me to say: "Carol Bass told me awhile back that she'd run into you at the salon as you were completing your metamorphosis, et voila, there you were in the News Sentinel looking tres, tres elegante; Ralph Fiennes sprang to mind. For me, a makeover would require a quart of Bondo, or maybe that face-patching putty the funeral homes use... Enjoy your youthful good looks. And try not to squint as much as I have!"

I stopped to get discounted gas at the Kroger Fuel Center this afternoon. The white haired gentleman washing his windshield at the next pump looked familiar. Even though his back was to me, I knew it had to be Dr. Bill Bass. I walked over to say hi. He was all dressed up in a blue blazer with khaki slacks. His necktie had a pattern of skulls on it. Dr. Bass told me that he was on his way home from speaking to a women's book club at one of the most expensive homes in the area. He said that his wife had enjoyed her conversation with me last week and that they had seen the photos of my makeover in the newspaper this morning. Before saying goodbye, I reminded Dr. Bass that I had asked for a tour of the Body Farm and that he had suggested late March or early April. He pulled a calendar from his pocket and said he'd like me to come to the facility at the same time as the women's book club. He said it would the two of us plus twenty women touring the Body Farm that day.

little turn on the catwalk

Before my wife and I walked the runway at the Women Today Expo this afternoon, we each had our hair styled by the staff of Garde Bien Spa Salon. As predicted, my wife's natural curls returned in time for the fashion show.



We got dressed in the fancy outfits from Dillard's and walked on stage near the end of the show. Image consultant (and dry cleaning expert) Laurie Wilson asked us about our weight loss and our experiences at the salon and the department store.



News Sentinel Style reporter Kevin Cowan told me that his article about my makeover will appear in Thursday's paper. He also asked me to be on his segment of Wednesday's Style show on WBIR-TV. Kevin posed for a photo with Stacey Handel of Garde Bien, my wife and me. By the way, Kevin is the one who wrote the famous article that had all of East Tennessee talking last fall.



The most popular part of the Women Today Expo is the Food City Food Show. My wife and I said hi to Chef Walter as he was on his way to sign copies of his new cookbook. Later my wife introduced herself to Tina Wesson, who was also signing books at the Food Show. When I saw Tina a bit later, she was surprised by my appearance. The last time she saw me, I was a lot heavier. The good people at Food City tempted me to gain some of the weight back with a sheet cake decorated especially for me. Other than Dr. Bass himself, there can't be that many other people who would enjoy a Body Farm cake as much as me.

the hottie and me

J. Miles Cary, the photographer from the News Sentinel was waiting for me outside the Garde Bien Spa Salon yesterday. He was there to chronicle my mini-makeover for an upcoming photo essay on knoxnews.com. My wife and I will model outfits in the "It's Real Style, Knoxville" fashion show at 2:00 p.m. Sunday during the Women Today Expo.

As I waked into the salon, there was a woman paying for some products at the counter. She saw the photographer following me and asked, "Are you Mr. Murphy?" I said that I was and she introduced herself as Carol Bass, wife of Dr. Bill Bass. The staff had told her what was going on. She said that Dr. Bass appreciated the interest I showed in his work during our radio interviews. I asked her to congratulate Dr. Bass on his findings in the Big Bopper case and I told her that I had been invited to tour the Body Farm this Spring. She advised me to wear old shoes. At this point J. Miles Cary said that when he photographed Dr. Bass at the Body Farm, the stench permeated his clothing like cigarette smoke. He had to throw away the floor mats from his car after the aroma transferred from his shoes.

With these happy thoughts in my head, I went to the back of the salon for my manicure and haircut. The plan was to give me shorter hair and a more closely cropped beard, despite Cary's repeated suggestions that I shave it completely. When frosted tips were briefly mentioned as a possibility, I was concerned that they were trying to make me look like Ryan Seacrest. As it turns out, the cropped beard makes me look less like Seacrest and more like Ron Rifkin.

When the haircut was finished, I picked up my wife and we went to Dillard's to be fitted for Sunday's fashion show. After that, she spent several hours at Garde Bien getting a new haircut herself. Salon owner Stacey Handel thought it would be fun to straighten my wife's naturally curly hair for one night only. Once it gets near humidity (i.e. the shower), her curls will return. For the sake of comparison, you may want to see my blog entry from last Father's Day. I'm glad I forced myself to wait up even though I was really tired from skipping my daily nap. My wife was pretty tired too when she finally got home around 10:30 last night. I asked our son to snap a quick photo so I can always remember her straight hair look. We'll have to take more photos on Sunday when she has curly hair and full makeup. I'm not a huge fan of my neck beard, so I shaved that part of it off tonight.

odds podkins

The interview I recorded two weeks ago with Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson, authors of "Flesh and Bone," aired this morning on all four stations in the cluster. I'm sure you heard it either at 6:00 a.m. on 93 Point 1 or at 6:30 a.m. on both Star 102.1 and Hot 104.5. Amplitude modulation stalwarts heard it at 8:30 a.m on Studio 1040. The authors have four book signings in East Tennessee this week.

I have some friends who are interested in the Body Farm but probably did not hear one of the audio streams at 3:30 a.m. Pacific time. For them, I will post a podcast of the interview just like I did last year when I spoke with Dr. Bass.

Click on the play button below or right click here to save the file for transfer to your mp3 device.

one remembers, one forgets

"Flesh and Bone" is significantly better than "Carved in Bone." I liked the first Body Farm novel but I loved the second one and finished reading it in only two days. Once again, the story starts with Dr. Bill Brockton recreating a crime scene. This time, the crime scene is especially bizarre and the investigation takes him to a drag club in Chattanooga, among other places. If you come across an article that feels like it might give away any plot twists, stop reading the article and go read the book instead. There's no point in ruining your enjoyment. The many local references give the novel a rich texture that leave you wondering which characters and plot points come from real life. I especially liked the mentions of Big Ed's Pizza and the Fellini Kroger.

While recording my interview with the authors, I realized that the character of Dr. Bill Brockton is just as much based on Jon Jefferson as he is based on Dr. Bill Bass. The 30 minute program seemed to fly by. I had planned on spending a little more time talking about the evolution vs. creationism subplot but I got carried away with other aspects of our conversation. The show will air on February 11.

After the interview, I felt comfortable enough to tell Jon about a small continuity error I found that his editors somehow missed. Page 323 of my book is now annotated, with the change written in the author's own hand (the word "truck" should be "Taurus" instead). Jon also wrote "congrats to eagle eye Frank." Despite my nitpicking, I did get myself invited to visit the actual Body Farm this Spring. Too bad Bean won't be here then.

I told Jon I would send him the links to some of my blog entries about the Body Farm. There are so many I don't know where to start. Any suggestions?

midnight caller

The reading material that has captivated me today doesn't require a screen, a power cord, a mouse or any of the things I was using yesterday to read blogs. Today I've been using a piece of older technology called a "book." Would you be shocked if I told you that I just started reading the new Jefferson Bass Body Farm novel, "Flesh and Bone"? The catch is that I have to finish it by 10:00 a.m. on Monday.

Late last night I got an email from a publicist at the publishing company. He was replying to my request for an interview with Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. The authors can fit me into their schedule during the day on Monday. We'll record something that will air probably on February 11. I'm really looking forward to it. I've interviewed Dr. Bass at least three times before but never with Jon Jefferson. I met Jon at a party thrown by former Einstein Simplified member Todd Covert. Jon has been to a couple of our improv shows too.

The guy from the publishing company wanted to make sure that I received a review copy of the book with enough time to read it before the interview. When I immediately replied to his email last night, he wrote back asking if he could just call me on the phone. I had to think about it for a second. It was around 12:00 a.m and I didn't want the sound of the phone to wake up my family. But I didn't want to miss out on the interview either. I sent him my home number and grabbed the phone on the first ring. He said that he could send the book from New York for Saturday delivery but that he would try to find someone in Knoxville who could deliver one to me sooner. I came out of a meeting around 10:30 this morning to find that the book had been delivered to the front desk. The courier wrote on the title page: "To Frank Murphy, Dr. Bill Bass." The book had been autographed and delivered by Dr. Bass himself!

At the front of "Flesh and Bone," there is a dedication page that says "In Memory of Officer Ben Bohanan, 1975 - 2004." Ben was a UTPD officer and also the son of fingerprint expert Art Bohanan, who is both a real person and a character in the Jefferson Bass books. The University of Tennessee has a scholarship fund in his memory. Dr. Bass will give a lecture at 3:00 p.m. Sunday as a fundraiser for the Benjamin Bohanan Memorial Police Scholarship. Admission is $20. All the details can be found in the UT press release.

a tale of three cities

Dr. Bill Bass was on "Live at Five" this afternoon. It shouldn't surprise you that I recorded the show and watched it when I got home tonight. The Big Bopper Jr. joined Dr. Bass by phone in the first segment and fingerprint expert Art Bohanan was in studio for the second segment. If you missed it or if you're reading this outside Knoxville, you can watch the interview online.

Do we have any readers in Burbank today? If so, you should know that my friend Anja Reinke is running for city council. Go Anja!

Remember the 1982 World's Fair shirt that I sent to Bean for Christmas? He wore it in Los Angeles the other day. Don't you think it looks better than the shirt the Fixx guy wore on TV last June? Check it out.

well, exhuuume me

Readers outside Knoxville may not have access to as much Body Farm news as we do here in the decomposition capital of the world. Or do they? Dr. Bill Bass made national headlines again this week when he was asked to examine the remains of The Big Bopper. The University of Tennessee proudly put out a really good press release about it. I was a little disappointed that the News Sentinel ran the Associated Press version of the story instead of assigning their own reporter. WBIR's Abby Ham read an AP story too.

Maybe this information will be helpful to the listener who sent me the following email:

Do you have any good links to share on the Body Farm or Dr. Bass? My daughter is taking forensic science in high school and she is doing an essay on Dr. Bass and his work.

In other news, I saw a flannel shirt on clearance at Wal-Mart today for only $5. It was black and red, almost exactly like the one Dr. Bass wore to his interview with me a year ago. I resisted the urge to buy it and go all "Single White Female" on my forensic hero.

how to sell papers

Dr. William Bass was on the front page of today's News Sentinel. He was hired to see if he could determine whether a man's tissue was illegally harvested by Biomedical Tissue Services in New York. The catch is that the body had already been cremated.

I was reminded of my first interview with Dr. Bass. I asked if he planned on being buried, cremated or studied at his world famous Body Farm. At the time, he said that he was generally not in favor of cremation because of the way it destroyed the evidence.

Since that interview, Dr. Bass has researched the average weight of cremated remains and could compare the actual weight of his "client's" remains against what they should weigh. If some of his bones had been stolen, like they were from Alistair Cooke, the numbers should show it. Dr Bass describes the case (with show and tell) in a two minute video on the New Sentinel site.

I interviewed Dr. Bass again eleven months ago when he published his first novel. I haven't mentioned him in a while. Readers outside of Tennessee will want to become familiar with his brilliance. While we're at it, how many other names on the list of famous Knoxvillians do you recognize?

weekend wrap-up

Bloggers love comments. They're almost as gratifying as applause. I was pleased to get some comments on my post about The 2wenty. One of those came from an L.A. blogger named Anna who has some interesting posts herself.

My friend Bean has been writing about his upcoming trip to Tennessee. As promised, I asked for a tour of the Body Farm for Bean and me. Carol Bass told me that her husband will be signing books in Tucson that day. She suggested I contact Dr. Lee Jantz to ask for a tour. I sent an email so we'll see how that goes. I should probably mail Bean a copy of this week's Metro Pulse. It's their music issue and has yet another article about WDVX.

Speaking of the Metro Pulse, a blurb in the Ear To The Ground column tipped me off about a Patricia Cornwell novella being serialized on the New York Times website. The column says that much of the novella is set in Knoxville. I'll have to read it as soon as I finish reading "Predator."

Don't you agree that the lovely Stacy Keibler has a slight resemblance to the lovely Elisabeth Hasselbeck? Or am I crazy? Maybe I'm crazy for thinking that Drew Lachey deserves to win "Dancing With The Stars." On the East Coast we saw Drew cover his behind with a cowboy hat after Bruno Tonioli made a "Brokeback Mountain" reference. On Friday's show, "Access Hollywood" reported that the hat trick was edited out of the West Coast broadcast.

Thanks to BoingBoing.net I saw an amazing collection of anachronistic hi-tech products on the Internet this week.

The death of Don Knotts is big news around here. Two episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" air every weekday on the local CBS affiliate.

Consider this your one week reminder that Einstein Simplified will perform at The Comedy Zone on Saturday, March 4 at 6:00 p.m. Click here for a handy, printable calendar (PDF file). You've made enough excuses in the past. This month you should be there!

bodcast

The public affairs programs on most radio stations are broadcast on Sunday mornings. There aren't that many listeners and there is rarely any reaction to the shows. That's why I am all the more impressed that at least three listeners took time to call the radio station on Monday and Tuesday to mention that they enjoyed hearing Dr. Bill Bass being interviewed this past Sunday. It's a testament to the popularity of Dr. Bass and to people's fascination with the Body Farm. He was promoting his new book, "Carved In Bone."

I'm proud of the interview and decided to post it here. It's similar to a podcast, except that it's not a weekly occurrence. The program is 30 minutes long and the mp3 file is 13.7 MB at 64 kbps. Click on the play button to hear it now or right click and save it to your mp3 player for later.



According to the Harper Collins website, Jefferson Bass (Jon Jefferson & Dr. Bill Bass) have more book signings this week. They'll be at Carpe Librum on Friday evening and at Books-A-Million on Saturday afternoon. If their first signing is any indication, buy or reserve the book in advance and get there early.

modesty or vanity?

Forensic science is very popular in Knoxville thanks to Dr. William Bass and his "Body Farm." He's written a book about it and so has Patricia Cornwell. (By the way, a Knoxville firm designed Cornwell's new website.)

This week's Metro Pulse has an interview with Cornwell as she promotes her new book, "Predator." The premise of the book sounds interesting. It explores the possibility that brain scans reveal information about serial killers.

The first time I interviewed Dr. Bass, I asked him if he would donate his own body to his famous research facility. He said it's up to his survivors. At the end of the Metro Pulse article, the interviewer asks Cornwell if she might end up there:

She's even a little bashful. When asked whether she'd donate her body to the Body Farm, she says, "I don't think I'm a good candidate for that. They'd have to build the fences a little higher and add some locks."

Is she really being bashful? Or does she imagine that her body will attract more attention than the hundreds who have already decomposed there?