"Ruby Tuesday" is a name

A few Tuesdays back, I took the opportunity to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We were thinking of going to the world famous funeral museum but when I looked on line and found out that the HMNS had free admission on Tuesdays from 2 until 8, my cheap side took over.

The museum itself was absolutely fascinating. I was amazed and wonderfied.

When we first got to the museum section, I was looking at a fossil from about 5 million years ago and there was a fellow there who told me that he "wouldn't mind having that in his living room". It was a nice fossil in deed. I talked with the cat for a little while and it turned out he was in town from Alabama to get cancer treatment. I don't remember his name but I do wish him the best. He had been dealing with the cancer for several years and somehow I do think it is not going to do him in. He had a good attitude about it and he was getting treated at one of the world's best cancer treatment centers.

The HMNS has really come a long way since the last time I visited and if you haven't been lately, you gotta go man. It is really cool and there is something for everybody. They had a section about oil exploration and the enviromental impact but I didn't have time to check it out in detail. I mostly gazed at fossils, rocks, gems, shells, and stuff like that. They have a mummy in the basement and you can even see his toes.

I thought I had taken a picture of the "sloth" but I didn't find it on my phone. They even have the world's largest snail there. It is the actual world record snail.

After we got home, I took a break but I decided to head over to the Brittmore Icehouse where I had heard that John McVey has a regular Tuesday night gig. I got there kind of late and caught the final 4o minutes or so of his last set. I had seen John McVey play quite a few times as part of the house band set at the Shakespeare pub. I had also seen him play with his band at the Shakespeare pub during one of his official gigs there and also at the Elegant Hogg when he used to have a gig there. Basically, I thought I had a good Idea of what kind of player he is.

On the particular Tuesday night a few weeks back that I stopped by the Brittmore Ice House, it was a hot day, and also a hot night. There were a few "regualars' at the bar and a couple of folks sitting outside at a picnic table but there was no one sitting at the tables near the bandstand. Tuesday night is not big night for bars but John McVey would normally draw some folks in. I am pretty sure the heat was a factor.

When I got there, I ordered an ice cold beverage and then sat at the table right in front of the bandstand. John and his band were playing as a "three peice". Basically it was John, the bass player, and the drummer. I don't remember seeing these particular musicans before but they were very good. The drummer was high energy and both guys definitely pros. John played pretty much nonstop; going from one song to the next and it was truly amazing. He played several instrumentals that completely blew me away. The arangments were not the standard blues progressions and sort of had a surf feel to them but the main thing was John's Guitar playing. I really have not seen anybody play much better at the "club" level pretty much ever. John has the licks. Talk about a guy who had probably forgotten more riffs than most guitar players know, John is that guy. The only difference is that I think he actually rememers the licks.

I have mentioned him before here on my website, but please do take the opportunity to check him out if you like blues, guitar, or cool music in general. He is the real deal and seems like a pretty nice guy on top of that.

Rock On John McVey. May the Force be with you!