Austin Wonderland Limits

My sincerest digitized greetings to you all and thanks for stopping back in.

Last night I went over to the "spot" on 18th street. It would fit into the "dive" category as far as venues/bars go but that is how I like em. Even though I had a diet coke and then a glass of water, I like the honest feel of a local beer joint with live music. The Blue Flash band was playing and it was Beverly's birthday. She is a friend of the band and the girlfriend of one of the crew. I was invited to play a couple of tunes so I had brought my guitar along. Lately I have been playing my Epiphone SG. It is a white one with a set neck. That means the neck is glued and not bolted to the body of the guitar. It is also different in that there is a cut out in the body for the wood to slide into as opposed to a neck that just flatly bolts on like a stratocaster. There is a distinctly different sound. In the old days, Epiphones and Gibsons were made at the same factory and I have heard that in some cases, the only difference is the label. Nowadays, The epiphones are the import models that are made to specs in this case in China. I know I could go and spend about 800 or a thousand dollars more and get an official Gibson but this one sounds just fine to me so until I can afford one of those I will stay content with this one. Besides I like the guitar. Blue Flash was in excellent form and Marty J was looking like he was doing well. They have a new drummer that I don't know but he is very good. I started out the second set with the band and played 3 songs. Then a guy named Leonard Low Down Brown came up and played for a while then back to the Blue Flash lin-up with greg, ron, and Marty. I really enjoy listening to live music so it was a good night for me.

Tonight I decided to mow the back yard before it got too dark. I took a look at garden number 2 and there was a ripe canteloupe just sitting there. It was in the garden but it wasn't hooked onto a vine. I guess when they get ripe they just come loose. I also wondered if maybe someone hadn't gone to the grocery store as part of some elaborate hoax but this don't look like no grocery store cantaloupe. Maybe I will take a picture of it and add it later. I also found another squash. I was glad to see it since I thought I had harvested the last of the yellow squash. Over in Garden number one I found there were quite a few ripe cherrytomatoes and some more cucumbers alos. I also found one cucumber that I had missed and it is huge. I just decided to leave it and maybe see if it gets bigger. It is too big to eat now anyway. I am going to use it to see if the seeds from it can be used next year.

After all that I decied to click around the TV and got caught up watching one of those "48 hours mysteries" about a dude who was appealing his conviction. I don't want to ruin the ending but he was not guilty. After that I clicked over to PBS to see who was on Austin City Limits and it was Carolyn Wonderland. I had missed the original broadcast so I fired up the DVR. The first half of the show was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I had never seen Sharon before (pictured above left) but she is very entertaining. Carolyn is orignally from Houston and she has grown from being Houston's favorite to becoming a Texas favorite and now she is even bigger than that. I first became aware of her from seeing her at the Shakespeare Pub Blues Jams from time to time back about 8 to 5 years back. She would stop by ocasionally and it was always a memorable event for me. The first time I saw her play I was an instant fan. The times I saw her at the Shakespear Pub she mostly played blues. She is a hell of a blues Singer and guitar player both. One time I had my amp on the stage at the blues jam and when it was her turn she plugged into it. It is the same amp that Little Joe Washington and Ozell have played through also. Little Joe and Ozell have both played my gutiar also. Little Joe always was borring guitars and one time Ozell was there getting ready to play after me and since I was all set up I just handed him my guitar and he took over. It made me realize tha my rig at the time was just fine. He was a hell of a player and I realized I needed to focus on playing and not buying new amps. The amp I am talking about is a 70s Silverface Twin Reverb (fender) that I bought at a pawn shop sometime around 1994 or thereabouts. I now usually play through a blues Junior since the Twin Reverb it a 100 watt amp and it is pretty loud and heavier to carry. But back to Carolyn Wonderland. She did a short interview after the show and did talk about being from Houston which was cool since alot of people in Houston are proud she is from around here. It was also very relaxing to get to watch some good music in my own living room. It was one of the best Austin City Limits episodes in a long time.

dropping names & false claims

I never liked it when people who play music list all the people that they have "shared the stage" with. It is even worse when the person they "shared the stage" with has passed on. So what? Does that mean that person endoreses your music?

This past weekend I had a few days off so I decided to get out and about and see some live music. My friend Greg from the blue flash band was hired to play with a band Saturday night at the Last Concert Cafe which is basially an outdoors venue. The place has been around for a long time and is located on the outskirts of downtown Houston on nance street. There is a mexican restaurant and then a large outdoor area with sand, hoola hoops, picnic tables and a nice stage and sound system.

After I happened onto a really good parking space, I parked and entered the establishment and paid the cover charge. As I walked in I saw a guy that I recongnized named Mark May. He is a local guitar player that auditioned with the Allman brothers and also toured with them as an opening act. He doesn't know me so when he walked by I didn't bother him. The entrance takes you straight to the bar which is indoors along with some restaruant tables. I then went on "in" to the outside patio area and found my friends that I was meeting up there. They were sitting at a table and I went around and greeted everyone. There was also a lady that I didn't recognize so I introduced myself and told her my name was Marc. She said it is so nice to meet you and she gave me a hug. I was looking at my friends while she gave me the hug and I am sure I had a puzzled look on my face. She then asked me if I was going to play "call on the blues" so then I knew she thought I was Mark May. I told her that I was a different "Mark" and it didn't seem to upset her too much.

Later on I saw Mark May sitting at a table so I walked on over and asked him if Paul Ramirez was there. He is a guitar player that I know from several years back when he was in the 420 band. They hosted Jam sessions and also hung out at some of the blues jams. Mark told me that Paul was not there and I told him the story about the lady hugging me and told him that I know what it is like to be Rock Star. It turned out that the lady was there with her husband who was the sound man and knew Mark May was going to be there but I left that out to make the story sound better. After that I left Mark May alone. He doesn't know me and I didn't want to bother him. He was there to sit in with the band greg (from blue flash) was playing with and when he did play, He just plugged in and it seemed like he was already warmed up. I didn't reallyl stay all that long because I didn't want to be driving when the bars closed and the drunks were out so I headed on home about about midnight.


On Sunday I still had some energy left so I headed over the Sunday night blues jam at the Shakespear Pub. I got there early so I could catch the house band. They started at about 9. There was a guy named John McVey sitting in. He plays gigs there and is a club favorite. He is an Austin Blues player that moved to houston and is a local favorite who is very good. The band sounded great but the crowd was kind of small being that it was the end of a 3 day weekend. There were no other "jammers" there so I signed the jam list. I was the first "jammer" so I played after the house band. I have seen John McVey play several times and met him before but he meets alot of fans so I assumed he wouldn't have a clue who I was. He left his guitar and amp on the stage so I said hello to him and told him that he was welcome to sit in on my set if he wanted to. It was me, Spare Time Murray on bass, And Dave Corbett on drums. Both from the house band and a solid blues rhythm section. I played my first tune and there were about 5 or 6 poeple in the bar and John McVey came on up and plugged back in. He sat in for a couple of songs and it was very cool. I told him afterwards that I really appreciated it and I think could tell I was sincere. I also jokingly told him that I was going to call the newspaper and update my website and say that I "shared the stage" with John McVey.

I don't know the moral of the story. Maybe I just wanted to let you know how humble and honest I am. The truth is that if you like live blues you will probably enjoy catching a love show with either Mark May or John McVey. Mark May is a little more rock oriented but he can play the blues and will not let you down. John McVey is usually described as Texas Blues and a favorite of mine.

Now I think it is time for a nap.

Nite nite.

People for the ethical treatment of salads

I was in HEB, my favorite local grocery store, on Friday. It was crowded because everybody was buying stuff for the holiday weekend. I decided that since it has been so hot for so many days straight that I didn't feel like cooking outdoors and went with a plan to do fried chicken. I bought some drumsticks and chicken breasts and also some cooking oil. Last time I fried chicken I used corn oil because of the temperature chart on the back of the container. It really didn't come out all that great and I do think the oil was the reason. It wasn't bad, just not great. This time I went with Wesson "best blend" which was on sale for 2.49 for a large bottle. I was on the same aisle looking for the best type of flour. They had some mixes for frying chicken but I don't like those since they all have loads of sodium. I went ahead and got some store brand all purpose flour. The flour I had been using is labled "bread" flour. I was still looking around and a dude came shopping along who works at the store but was off duty. He is the guy who works a in the area between produce and the meat and fish sections. He will cook free samples and then promote a special using those samples. I generally don't eat the free samples but I have watched several of his presentations and he seems to know how to cook. I said hello and told him I recognized him from his job and then asked him if he could give me any tips on what to use to fry chicken. He said the flour I selected was the best way to go but he said a good trick was to put the spices on the chicken itself before you put it in the flour. He said to use an "egg wash" and I didn't question him at the time but I assumed he was talking about milk and egg. I prepared the chicken the way he said but I wasn't sure if I should have put the spices on first and then dipped it in the milk and egg or aftarwards. I decided to dip it first, then the spices, then the flour. Usually I haven't been using milk and eggs but just washing the chicken in water and then going straight to the spiced flour. I also used two skillets to cut the cooking time. It did come out well and I will probably do it pretty much the same way next time. I might try some with out the milk and egg just to compare. I might also try double dipping to see how that comes out also.


The salad in the picture above is all from the Garden. I had hoped to be able to eat a 100% actual garden salad and some tomatoes did ripen up in time so I had the cucumbers, leaf lettuce and tomatoes. I ended up cutting the cherry tomatoes in half and using a balsamic vinegarette dressing. I am a humble person but it was very good. We had a little cold fried chicken, a good sized salad, and some bread I bought HEB in the bakery section. If you are jealous of me right now it probably won't be a sin.