Harvest & Tamales

First of all, Happy Mothers Day and to all the rest of you I will say Happy Others Day.

I was watering the garden the other day and I noticed that those little things that were hanging from the Bean plants were actually green beans. I took a look at the seed package today and it said to pick early and often to promote growth so I harvested the green beans pictured above and also planted a few more seeds since the instructions on the seed package said to plant more every couple of weeks.

The Picture above is from Garden#2 which is the watermelons, squash and Cantalope. The taller plants are the Squash and It looks like I will have to figure out how to keep them from covering up the other plants. I did take some shots of the other garden but it wasn't in my camera when I uploaded so I don't know what happened.

The harvest was not huge but it worked out just fine since I had some tamales that my Aunt Lou had sent via my mom from California. She makes the best tamales I have ever tasted. I also had cooked some chicken and vegetables in the Crock Pot the other night so it worked out great.

I cooked them in Olive Oil with Garlic and as you can see from the photo, plenty of onion.

What else do you need to know?

Oh yeah, It was good to see the Houston Rockets beat the Lakers even though Yao Ming was out. The Lakers are definitely a good team but the seem sort of un-humble to me and I guess that is why it make the game more fun to watch. I will admit that if Kobe was a Houston Rocket, I would probably have no problem with his attitude.

I will get back soon with a report on the missing garden photos and I do apologize to keep you waiting. I know how important it is to you and I hope it doesn't cause you too much grief.

Good Night.

Plight and Fight

First the Plight. As you may have heard on the news, we had some more rain yesterday and it caused some flooding to the point that several local school districts cancelled class. It wasn't a problem for my commute but the underpass at I-10 and the west belt. That area always floods but this time it was bad enough for news crews to show up and also for people driving by on the freeway to act like idiots and pull over and act like it was a big party.

It wasn't much of a problem for Garden #2 which has the melons and squash but Garden Number one got hit pretty hard. The Spinach and Lettuce that were starting to come back got pretty much obliterated and the peas were hit pretty hard also. The mounds of dirt I had created pretty much all got flattened out and quite a few roots were exposed on the tomato and cucumber plants. Still, It looks like it will probably come back if we can get a break from the heavy rains. I will just have to wait and see.

Today, K-Love, one of my co-workers and friends, decided to head over to Sams Diner to get a Hamburger. As we drove up the feeder street to the turn-around/underpass, I noticed one of the local hobo street people walking across the street. There was a guy on the right side of the street who had a cardboard sign and was working the traffic. There are about 8 or 10 lcal hobos in this area. They all pretty much look like homelesss people and I had never thought about the fact that they all happened to be white but the New Dude that was working the corner on the right was a black guy. The white guy had long hair and a beard and walked up to the Black guy and it was pretty obvious that he was being aggressive. He started raising his hands and trying to intimitdate the black dude. It was pretty clear that he was telling him to get off the corner. He raised his hands a few time and made some agressive type motions but did not touch the new guy. The new guy then kind of repositioned his stance, threw a fake with his left and then came across with a Right and the white street guy was on the ground. It wasn't a true knock-down as far as official scoring. He did hit him but the guy also tripped backwards and did catch his fall with his hands and came back up. He backed away a good distance and continued with the verbal assault so the new guy walked on towards him and at that point horns were honking and we had to move on. Off to the left a group of the local orignals had come out from under the underpass and were just watching thier friend get his ass kicked.

We then took the U-Turn and came around to the other side of the freeway and I see all kinds of flashing lights and vehicles about a quarter mile down the road. There were news crews and also many curious bystanders. It was the location where a 43 year old hispanic man accidentally turned right into the cement drainage culvert which is pretty deep. Apparantly it was flooded and he thought he was turning onto the street but instead ended up in the water. They found his body today and you can read about it in the news. It is really sad to think about how out of the blue, this guys life was just over.


After we ate and were headed back to the office, I asked K-Love if he wanted to drive by and have a look to see if the black dude was still there with his cardboard sign. He actually was very positive about the idea so we drove on. It turned out he was still there and we pulled up and K-Love handed him a couple of bucks and let him know it was for the right hook. It was a pretty clear that the other poeple were being fairly nasty to him and it was good to see that he stood his ground.

That is all for now.

Please get some sleep. It is good for your health.

a total crock!

First of all, there is on first of all. I am just typing this in here to feed your obsession to know every little thing about me.

Yesterday I was at HEB, my favorite neighborhood grocery store, checking to see what they had on special that I could barbeque. They usually have something so I try to go with the flow. This week they had pot roast. It looked like a good deal but I didn't really have a good pot to cook it in. I decided that I would just pass on the bbq idea for this weekend and didn't really give it much though.

Fast forward to the checkout counter at JC Penny out on 99 on the way home from Red Lobster. The guy was so excited. When I told hime that we had never had a Crock Pot before he said "You are going to love it". I told him that I was going to stop on the way home and buy a potroast. He seemed to get even more excited. He said I had to stab it with a knife and put garlic cloves in it and then cook it in a bottle of wine. We got the cooker becuase it was a good deal; Only $19.95 after mail in rebate. Don't get me started on mail in rebates. Besides it makes me feel like I got a better deal to assume I will get the $10 check in the mail some day in the futre.

Well of course I drove staight to HEB and bought the pot roast and a bottle of wine. I cut up some potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. I put the roast and everything else including a half a bottle of wine in the Crock Pot and set it on low and went to bed.

It was just like a scene in the movies. You know when the life boat scene where they are in a raging storm in the dark of night and it looks hopeless but then they all wake up the next morning in a calm sea. It was just like that except that instead of a life boat, It is a crock pot and instead of the the calming of the sea, it is a cooked pot roast.

Pot Roast! Its what for breakfast!

Now you want to know about the garden. Forget about it. Too much information at one time will cause you to have an overload. Please calm down.

The elements

Howdy,

I know you are here because you are excited to know how the garden is doing. I feel you but I have to talk about somethingelse first.

As my regular blog reader(s) will already know, I made resolution to get caught up with the current century. So yesterday, I broke down and bought an MP3 Player. A friend from work had told me that I could get one for $25 so I got excited about it and decided to make the purchase.

The problem I ran into was that when I went into Best Buy, They didn't have anything for $25 and the sales staff were not that friendly so I left and went to WalMart. When I asked one Best Buy associate where the MP3 players were, He told me "under the MP3 Sign" and pointed. Best Buy seems to have a knucklehead customer service approach.

Fast forward to Walmart eletronics department. No service but at least nobody was a smart ass.

I first chose a 2 GB MP3 player that was $35 made by RCA. I chose it because has the capablity for expanding the memory. After I bought it, I realized that it required AAA bateries and I didn't want to have to fool with that so I found one made by Phillips with 4GB memory but not expandable. This one has a built in rechargable battery and also runs videos. I really don't plan to use the video player but maybe it will come in handy one day if I am ever marketing the one man band to a venue owner or something like that. It also has FM radio and uses the headphones as the antenna. I spent a little time loading some CDs on it and listening to it and I do like it.

I did enjoy sitting in the back yard this afternoon and listening to probably the best version ever of America the Beatiful. It features John Campbell on Slide guitar and Odetta on Vocals with Doctor John on Piano. What an awesome recording.

The good news with the Garden is that all the seeds have sprouted. The bad news is that the Lettuce, which had sprouted nicely , seemed to have taken a real beating with the recent wave of thunderstorms and heavy rain. We needed the rain and I was thinking it wasn't going to be a problem but the lettuce spouts seem to be very fragile. I had trouble trying to transplant them and I am going to wait and see if I have a few that survived.

The summer squash in that is in garden#2 is coming in pretty fast so I placed a couple of plants in containers also and will have to thin it out pretty quick.

That's all for today.

back yard almanac

Above is a picture from today of garden#1. Everything has sprouted except the squash that would be in the closest row. The bigger ones are green beans and the three rows this side of the beans are tomatoes. Then the next two closer rows are cucumbers. The row to the left of the beans and near the owl is peas. On the other side of the beans, there are a couple of short rows lettuce and spinach.

The one above that is Garden#2 which is all sprouted also. I planted a different variety of squash and those are the ones with the biggest leaves. The closer row has cantaloupes and the back two are water melons. Please don't send any cards or letters. I already know there is not enough space but I am wanting to experiment with it just in case society goes to chaos and I only have a small patch of ground to work with and just happen to have a good supply of seeds.

The plants in the pots are all from the garen sprouts. The hardest ones to transplant are the lettuce since they are so fragile. If they don't take, I still have plenty more thinning to do and will try when they are bigger.

Rock On.

real life better than Sienfield

Greetings my fellow Sodbusters.

I was out at the garden implements section of my local walmart yesterday and went out to look at the potting soil and noticed that people were driving awfully close by. For some reason people drive through the side of he Walmart parking lot like there are not going to be pedestrians but this was worse than normal. I was focused on the potting mix and garden soil so much that I hadn't noticed two vehicles that were directly behind me that were sitting face to face with each other about 2 feet apart. I then noticed 3 walmart employees standing on the side walk and the top boss of them all (somehow it was obvious) came up to the guy leaning on the back one of the vehicles which was a pickup truck.

The manager lady walked up to him and asked if she could help him. He told her that they had a "situatoin". At this point I was only pretending to look at the potting soil and was as focused on the "situation" as I could be with out looking obivious.

It turns out that the guy in the truck had pulled over to go around someone or for someother reason was driving on the "wrong" side of the parking lot lane and he had come face to face with a lady in a car who wanted him to get out of the way. I didn't get to see the initial face off but I would imagine that the walmart people reviewed on tape.

As far as the guy with the truck, He was a black dude about 40 to fifty years old and the expression on his face when the manager walked up was what reminded me of the sienfeld episode. There was a scene where George was parking his car on the street below Jerry's apartment and another guy was backing in at the same time. George and the other guy both had thier cars angled in about halfway into the spot.

The difference between the Walmart scene and sienfield was that Goerge and this other guy were actually trying to get a tangable thing, the parking space. I know it is tough to find parking in NY City. But back here at the Walmart, They really had a dispute about nothing. It was only about being right and both were stubborn enough to take a halt from thier rest of thier lives to get this dispute resolved to thier own best interest.

The manager lady did show me why it is she is a manager. She made a smart decision to not go in and tell anybody to do anything. She actually told the guy that he was welcome to keep his car parked there as long as he wanted to. She then walked over the the lady in the car. She younger than the guy. Maybe 30 and was in a small car. The lady in the car was getting into the specifics of who was right and how the guy was on the wrong side of the lane and so forth and the manager lady at the end told her that it was with in her (car ladys) power to resolve the situation and she did not need any help from her (manager lady).

What was smart was that the Manager Lady did not paint herself into a corner. She did not make the situation worse by trying to express that she was in authority and then tell anybody to actually do anything. She avoided confrontation.

She then went back over to the dude in the truck and spoke to him some more and then she walked back into the store. As she was walking, he got in his truck and pulled around.

Good Job Walmart Manager Lady.


Now back to my exciting gardening news. Please keep in mind this is not as bad as posting about being on a diet. I know the difference between boring and rude thank you.

I did purchase 5 small plastic pots and some potting mix. I also mixed in some Miracle Grow Garden soil. I know you re not supposed to used the topsoil as potting mix but the Miracle grow potting mix was too expensive. I just bought the walmart version of some miacle grow plant food to add later.

I did fill three of the pots and put some of the excess cherry tomato plants from the garden. I needed to thin the cherry tomatos anyway since it looks like just about all the seeds sprouted. I also bought a package of seeds for garlic flavored chives and will probably plant those in a pot today.

In other exciting news, The lettuce I planted last week sprouted a couple of days ago and this morning I saw that the spinnach and peas have started to sprout also. Nothing yet with the squash, watermellon, or cantalope seeds.

My plan at this point is to put some of the spinach and lettuce in pots also becuase they will need some seriouls thinning out and more space than what is currently allocated the garden.

It is kind of exciting to see the seeds coming up.

I did have a run in with the elements already. Mt neighbors Cat came around and dug up a spot and killed a couple of the cucumber plants but he did actually help by adding some fertilizer.

I decided to get seme plastic drinking water bottles (individual size) and place them in the valleys between the rows. I figured it would make the cat less comfortable walking around and digging. It has seemed to work so far.

Then this morning we had some heavy rains for about half an hour. They have passed through and it looks like nothing washed out. It does make me think about how it was for the people in the old days who were farmng becuase they had to. I can also see why that country people are more likley to shoot a critter woutout thinking twice.

I have a plastic owl that I bought a while back and I placed it on the ground next to the garden. I know that is not going to be enough and when the time comes I have already decided to make a couple of scare crows. I may not know what I am doing but I can promise you that I am not fooling around. Go ahead and look over my fence and laugh at my scarecrows. It isn't going to deter me one iota. I am not going to move my car!


That is it for now but we will be back soon with more exciting details.

Farming on the Katy Prairie

Hey Farmhands and Buckaroos. I just saw a Burger King Commerical about square butts. I don't get how that will sell whoppers but maybe it is another clue that I am getting old.

Here is a breakdown:

I have a AAA membership. I bought it when I was doing the one man band gigs and driving to Galveston every Sunday. I got the extra coverage that covers towing up to 100 miles.

I have two Chihuahuas. A sure sign of old age. Still, They are cool dogs.

I now enjoy Gardening.

I want an RV.

I guess all that is left is to start eating dinner at 4pm to miss the dinner rush.

Now back the the Garden. As you can see from the picture it was not very big so I expanded it and also dug up another area on the other side of the yard. I will take some pictures and post them here if I think about it. I know it isn't exciting to see a small garden planted by someone who knows very little about gardening but what are you gonna do?

In Garden Area #1 I added more space and planted more seeds; Spinach, Lettuce, Peas to go along with the Cucumbers, tomatos, and green beans.

In Garden Area #2 I planted 2 varieties of Watermelon, Cantalopes, and some more summer squash but a different variety than in garden#1.

Like I said, I don't know what I am doing. I just bought 3 more bags of the Miracle Grow garden soil and mixed it in with the existing topsoil. My plan was to plant several different things and just see which ones grow well.

I already know that I did not properly plan the garden and there is not near enough space so I will have to do some thinning out and maybe transplant some of the plants to buckets or something.

In other news:

I got a new guitar. I know I had posted sometime back that I was looking at the Epiphone Casino and was plannng to buy it at Fullers Vintage Guitars. I still want the Casino but I decided I would actually get more use of of a new acoustic.

I picked up a Talor 210E (one, not mine, is pictured above) It is an awfully nice sounding guitar that plays well and I am really enjoying it.

I went to Guitar Center first and was planning to go to Fullers but I had a 10% off coupon and the guitar did come with a case also so I bought it. The one thing I started thinking about is that this particular Guitar Center is where I go when I am buying Strings, Harmonicas, tubes, and other misc items and the people at the accessory counter have taken good care of me & I felt like that was worth something & I actually took a moment to go over and tell them why I made my guitar purchase there without shopping around anymore.

Thanks for checking in. Keep the cards and letters coming in, and I will try to hold up my end of the bargain with some truly fascinating garden photos in the not too distant future.

Happy Gardening to all and to all a good night!

Garden variety garden

Hi,

I took the time this weekend to go ahead and dig up a small garden in the back yard. It isn't real big but I planted seeds for Cherry Tomatoes, Tomato Tomatoes, Two varieties of Cucumbers and some green beans. I am not sure about the beens but I thought I would give em a try. I wanted to plant some yellow squash but it isn't time yet. I guess that is why they call them summer squash.

I dug up the ground with the same shovel that my dad, Kent Twyman, used to plant trees in our yard with when he first bought our family home here in Houston about 48 Years ago.

I am not sure how this garden is going to work since I don't really have that much experience with vegetable gardens. I bought a couple of bags of miracle grow garden soil and mixed it in and I am hoping it works as good as in the commercials. I did follow the directions on the seed packets and I am hoping that is all it will take.

If I am lucky enough to get something to grow, there are quite a few birds, squirrels, Possums, and other creatures that I think I will have to contend with. I am thinking that I will have to make a chicken wire cover to keep the birds out since we have quite a few birds due to some large shrubs in my yard and also the fact that my neigbors put out bird food.

That is all for now but I will check back in the future.

Thanks

In case you think I forgot may password

Hello,

Thanks for all the cards and letters. I am however trying to help save the planet so from now just send money. Electronic funds will be the most efficient and planet friendly. I just got home from the Heights. I stopped over at Shadys Tavern on 20th street to hear a set from a rocking new band called "Darwin's Finches". They are from Galveston and I know them from the Strand in Galveston. The first time I met them, They were performing as street performers right on the corner of Strand and Kemper.

The show was great and I picked up a copy of thier new CD while I was there. I listened to it in the car on the way home and it is great stuff. I like bands that don't play a particular style of music that can easily be described. Also, the guys in the band are real nice people. Justino is the Guitar Player and vocalist, Matty plays bass, and the drummer is a nice guy also. Check em out if you ever get the chance.

Also, If you like your teeth, Check out these folks:

http://www.tcdentalhouston.com/

Dr. Hwang and her staff have taken excellent care of me. This past week I had to have a root canal done and it didn't even hurt. If you are in need of a dentist, Give them a call. I personally recommend them and I wouldn't make that up.

Now I have to go floss and brush my teeth so I can stay fabulous.

Peace Out.

Icky Thump

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF6I4ctEQ94

Above is a link to the Whites Stripe's music video for the song "Icky Thump" which is the title track of the newest CD which I received as a gift a couple of weeks back.

The White Stripes rock.

One Turkey don't stop no show

Good Morning and thanks for checking in for the minute-by-minute updates.


First of all, Happy Thanksgiving.

I always liked Thanksgiving. As far as actual holidays go, It is pretty much my first choice. It wasn't always my favorite. I am pretty sure that if I had thought about it back in kindergarten I would have chosen Chistmas. That was back in the day when I didn't have to worry about anything being expected from me except to wake up and go grab my presents. I might have picked up a nice rock and given it to someone or maybe even take a moment and draw a picuture for someone but it seems like all that was pretty much optional. I think the reason it is hard to remember is because during that time I was pretty amazed that there was dude that was going to be flyining in on his magic sled and also that he was going to be bringing me something really cool. Yeah, I liked that. Santa Clause was definitely a the kind of magic dude that I would have wanted to hang out and cruise around with.

Speaking of Dudes I would have wanted to hang out with, I would have to say John Lennon, Bob Marley, & Willie Nelson. I would have said Lightnin' Hopkins but I would not want to take a chance of meeting him and finding out he didn't like me. That would hurt too much and I am not big on suffering if it can be avoided.

But yeah. I am thankful. I think the real trick is to figure out the correct things to be thankful for and in the process figure out the things that are not worth worrying about.

Speaking of not worrying, I got a chance to visit the Blue Flash Blues jam at Kens Club last tuesday night. If you like bluesjams, check thiers out on Tuesday nights at Kens Club at 8pm (or so). It is located on wilcrest at Bellaire Blvd.

Now I need to go and fill out some forms to apply for my one man band bailout package. I don't need 700 or even 1 billion. I am only asking for 9.3 million. If you wonder how I came up with the number, I just picked it out of the air but I like the way it sounds. I would accept 9.1 or even 8.5 million but it will still not be quite the same as 9.3.

Rock On.

Blues Jamboree

My fellow Earthlings & all memers of this universe,

I honored and proud to accept your nominatin to be a one man band. (applause)

I would like to take this opportunity to bad mouth everybody but me. (louder applause)

They are great people and I am sure they love music (boos) No, No, I don't want to be like that. They are great people and I am sure they love music but what do we really know about these people? What is thier record? Do they even have a record? Or a CD? or a DVD? (wild applause)

OK, Thank You (more wild applause)

OK, Thank You very much.

Folks at this time I would like to introduce another fellow member of my cabinet and band. We have been through so much togeather and I know this individual will make a better vice president that Dick Cheney. (wild applause then a chorus of boos)

No folks, Please, I am not here to talk about Dick Cheney. I am honored and humbled to introduce a great friend and loyal member who just happens not to be from Alaska (applause)

Ladies and Gentlemen, My good friend and fellow party member, please give it up for someone who never raised taxes or lied about anything. (applause)

Ladies and Gentlemen, From the great state of Texas, A good friend and a loyal member, I am honored and humbled to introduce at this time:

My Left Toe (Crowd goes bananas)



Ok, Hello, Thanks for stopping by.

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend and since I didn't have to get up early on monday I decided to stop on by my favorite blues jam in the world at the Shakespeare Pub on memorial drive. I like the fact that this place is right smack dab in the middle of Memorial (high rent district) and is still a "dive". They have live blues and zydeco music every night and on Sundays, they have a blues jam where local musicians and wannabees conglomerate and have a good old fashioned karaoke (without the karaoke) party.

Since most folks were off work on Monday, This was more like a weekend night and the bar was more crowded and quite a few jammers showed up to participate.

I watched and listened to the House band play the opening set and it was great. "Spare Time" is the host and a local blues Icon. It always makes me feel more relaxed to sit and listen to him and the band do thier thing.

There were several bands that showed up and also one guy that I really enjoy hearing. Mr John McVey. He played a set with a guy named Doug that used to be the house band guitar player. John McVey really has some good tone. He plays through a Fender Tube amp using a spring reverb and tremelo and gets some great tone. I know most of it is coming from what he is doing with his hands and fingers. If you get a chance and are in the mood to hear some good blues, Look him up and check him out some time. He plays at the Shakespeare pub and also a place called the elegant hogg.

Speaking of Blues Jams, The other favorite blues jam of all time for me is Blue Flash. They have been around for years hosting blues jams at various venues. Last night (friday) they were playing a regular gig at a place called Mikes Ultimate Sports Bar on highway six so I stopped over to have a listen.

There is guy in the band named Marty J. That is what he goes by and that is what it says on his guitar. To me, he is one of the most underated and entertaining guitar players I have ever seen. He is an extremely interesting character and a genuinly nice guy. Also he is an encyclopedia when it comes to knowing songs. He is also a guitar teacher.

I had heard he was having some kind of health problems several months back. At one point there was a musical benefit to raise money for him but I had a gig on the Sunday afternoon when it took place so I couldn't attend. I had called his home number a few times and his answering machine did not have the normal very humorous messages that he is famous for.

OK, Let me fast forward back to last sunday night. When I went to the Shakespeare Pub Blues Jam, I ran in to the other guitar player for the Blue Flash band who is named Greg Lynch. I hadn't seen him for a while and we talked a little and I invited him to jam during my set and it was great. He is the one who told me that Marty was doing OK and working his way back into playing at full speed again and would be playing at the gig that was at that time next friday but is now last night.

I entered the bar last night and took my seat and it was literally a great joy to see Marty J. doing what he does. I am a huge fan of his and I told him so last night again.

I noticed that he didn't seem 100% and also realized that didn't stop him from being great. He was holding down his end just fine.

Then he kicked of the intro to a Jimi Hendrix song, Little Wing. The crowd was digging it and when he played the first solo, the crowd responded with a very enthusiastic response. It really seemed to energize Marty and it was one of the best versions of Little Wing I have ever heard.

After the set, I told Gregg that Marty sounded as good as ever and that the last couple of songs in the set were as good as I have ever heard him sound.


What a great night and how great it is to see one of my all time favorite guitar heros, Marty J.

Guitars, Tahoes, & fast talking women

Hey Now,

I was driving down the road the other Saturday on the way home from Guitar Center. I was headed down Westheimer and listening to some music and I head a honk. After that I looked around and woman was driving a late model suburban and she was waving at me to roll my window down.

She was a fairly attractive looking lady and she kept driving along side motioning at me, So I rolled down the window and she hollered out to me. She told me she needed help and asked me if I could help her.

She then told me that she needed some gasoline and wanted me to "loan" her the money. I told her I was currenlty all out of money. She then suggested that we could use my credit card and she would pay me back later. I advised her that I didn't have a credit card that I could help her with. She really put the close on me and I assumed that she had done this before.


After I told her no, She sped up a little and I was very curious to see if she was going to go right back to work. I kind of held back but I kept pace with her vehicle and it looked like she was pulling up to the next prospect and all of the sudden the light turne yellow and I got stuck.

As I drove down westhimer I was looking at each of the gas stations and conveinience stores to see if she found anybody to filler up but that is the end of that story.

One other thing that was on my mind is the Fender "Relic" Stratocaster Electric Guitar. It is basically a fender custom shop re-issue that has been "aged" to look vintage. They even have a cigarette burn in the headstock.

This is America and people are free to do as they please but I can't approve of the idea of building a guitar and then actually burning it with a cigarette or scuffing it up on purpose. It just seems like a poser type of idea and I can't bring myself to vote for it.

And so on and so forth

Hello,

I have a very insteresting story that I am not going to share with you so please just get over it. There are times in life when something is interesting and I am not going to share it here.

Also, I am kind of pissed off about something and I guess I would feel better if I got it off my chest. The only thing is that I am not wanting to say that much about it since I could be wrong.

I have been wrong before. I am not perfect. Give me a break dammit.

I don't know why I am having to explain this.

You are not the boss of me and I will post here when I feel like it.

I did get a new pedal for my guitar. I normally don't use them but I bought a "Fab" Danelectro Echo Pedal. I got it for $20 at small guitar store near my house. It was the second time I have been in there and the guys working there were cool to me.

I asked them about it and one guy took it out and put a battery and plugged it in. I wasn't really that excited about it since I really wanted a delay pedal but since it was not that expensive anyway and everybody was so nice, I decided to go ahead and buy it.

Turns out it is a cool little thing.

Now Rock on with your bad self.

Casino Royal

Hello,

I went to a guitar store the other day called Fullers Vintage Guitars. They have a really really good selection of guitars. I went there because John Richardson told me I should. He also mentioned the Epiphone Casino when I told him I was thinking of getting a Epiphone Sheridan. The Casino is a hollowbody type electric guitar that has been used by some real notables. John Lennon and also the rest of the Beatles owned and played casinos & played them on several recordings. It has the famous single coil p90 pick ups and not the humbuckers that most gibson type guitars have.

Speaking of John Richardson, The reason I was talking to him in the first place is because for the past couple of years he has been hosting a blues jam at the Abbey Pub right near my place of residence. The bar owner recently anounced that the Jam is being replaced by a dude named Leon who is a DJ. Good for Leon, Bad for the Blues. But the Blues and the Jams will live on.

I would like to mention that John (richardson) & Larry Evans, along with a host of other various musicians, have been hosting the before mentioned Abbey Pub Jam since it started. They both can be found at the Wednesday Night Blues Jam at the Big Easy on Kirby except when John is touring with the the Blue Mercy Band that is lead by Houston's Own Diuna Greenleef. I am not good at spelling her name but she won the National Blues Society Competition last year. It was for best unsigned blue band in the country. They also just go an award for "best new artist" at the Living Blues Awards. John is the long time guitar player for her band and they really seem to being going places. John also won an award called the Albert King award for most promising new blues guitar player. He is good. Larry Evans is also a great player. He is a bass player that has worked with most of the notable locals. He plays gigs right now with Texas Johnny Brown.

OK, Back to the Casino:

John also works at Fullers Vintage Guitar and he was kind enough to give me some good advice as far as looking at the Epiphone Casino. I headed over there last Saturday but John wasn't working but I did run into a guy named Sparky that hung out sometimes at the now defunct Tuesday night blues jam. He is a band called the Rising that recently opened for Johnny Winter. He is a great player his ownself.

I did get a chance to sit down and play an Epiphone Casino and I like it. I haven't purchased a guitar for quite a few years now so it will be a big deal if it happens. I would have bought one already but I had to pay some shakedown kick back to the oil companies.

I think that is plenty for you to exist on for a while.

I think it is time for me to put some cucumber slices in my eyes so I can stay pretty.

Bye.

Peanut Butter Greetings

Hey,

Have you ever took a big bite of a peanut butter sandwich & then the phone rang.


I hate that.

Unauthorized Phone Video Productions, Inc.

IF a picture is worth a thousand words, Then a video must be worth even more. As far as worth goes, That has to be a good value.

Here is a video I saw posted on Youtube by Darla from Clear Lake, Tx. It was taken some time around Easter this year at the Gravity Bar.

Howdy Again

Yeah, It has been a while since I posted here.

I have been very busy not posting here. Specifically. Almost. Sort of.

If you have a problem with that then take it up with the complaint department.

Besides that, I wish you the best and I hope you are feeling quite groovy.

We will be back very soon with more details.

YouTubed

OK. If you gotta know everything, I just posted some videos on YouTube.


You can find them by clicking on this Link:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MarcTwyman

(or paste it in your address bar)


I had recorded 15 songs on a DVD in November but I couldn't upload any of it to YouTube because the format was not compatible. Fortunately Michael-Ann was kind enough to offer to help me out. She knows about stuff like that & other stuff also. She actually has a blog called Stuff, Stuff, & stuff to prove it.

http://www.artonthewing.com/blog/index.html


Thanks Michael-Ann.

Hi friends and nosey people,

I hope you had a good Christmas.

I had to work a coupe of hours on Christmas Eve day and then I had business to take care of. I had been hearing some noises from the fireplace during the night and I realized that something had moved in. It was starting to bother me a little so I finally decided to take care of the problem .

I went to Home Depot and bought some wire mesh material to put around the top of the chimney where the end cap vent type thing is and also picked up a fire log at the grocery store.

I went home & lit the fire. I wanted whatever was in there to have a chance to get out so I waited about an hour before I went up and put the screen material around where it was getting in.

I went to my garage and got the ladder which I keep hanging sideways on the wall on a couple of large nails.

First I leaned it on the patio cover that I built a few years ago and then climbed up and pulled the ladder up and leaned it on the chimney and climbed up there and installed the screen material with some bailing wire. It took a few minutes but I wanted to be careful not to fall.

Now is when the plot thickens.

When I came back down fromt the patio cover I found a hunting arrow that was very loosely lodged in the ground. I figured that some idiot was doing target practice and shot it over the fence by mistake. I climbed back up the ladder and again pulled it up on the patio cover so I could climb high enough to get a good look. I then walked around on the top of my roof also but still didn't see any sign of a target or where it may have come from.

I then climbed back down & when I got off the ladder the second time, I found a second arrow in about the same spot but it wasn't lodged in the ground from the same agle. I figured that I would have seen it before so someone was shooting right now and was either playing a sick joke on me or just a bad shot.

I decided to take the arrows and walk around the block and start looking in back yards and knocking on doors. I won't lie, I was pretty fired up and wanted to have a word with whoever was shooting arrows in my back yard. Those Muther F#@%ERs!

I changed clothes real quick so I would look presentable to the neighbors from around the block since I had never met any of them and I went out through the garage and opened the garage door and got in the car.

Then I rembered something. Sometime back there was a guy at work that was going to throw away some arrows and he gave them to me instead. I have a bow that I keep up on the garage wall above where the ladder is. The bow was still up there and the third arrow was also.

Apparantly the arrows had fallen onto the ladder and had fallen off one at a time when I was raising and lowering the ladder.

I calmed down and went back inside and had a diet coke and enjoyed the fire for a few minutes and haven't heard any critters since then.

Happy Festivus, Good Golf, Good Tennis, Bow and arrow target practice, Or what ever blows your skirt up.

THanks,

Marc

2001, A Technical Odyssey

2001 may sound futuristic to some folks but not to the kids thesedays. That is about when my computer was built and I have a dial-up connection.

I don't have an Ipod or a Zune. No Blackberry or DVD Burner. No Cable TV either.

It is one of my soon to be New Years resolutions to get caught up with some of the current technology.

I want to have a new computer so I can do some home recording to make a new CD & I hope to get a faster Internet Connection also.

We will see how it goes.

I did just get a digital TV a couple of weeks ago when my 14 year old Toshiba went out. I bought an off brand one this time and it seems to work just fine. I never new there were alternative broadcasts for Channels 2, 11, 13, & also the pbs station.

I do want to thank Micheal-Ann & Gordy for helping me by converting my DVD tracks so that they can be uploaded to Youtube and other Internet sites. Very kind people in deed. Also, Eric who offered to help also. He is the guy who converted the songs on my CD to MP3s so I could put them on the Myspace Bands Page.

Hollywood!

Hello,

I just wanted to say "Hello to all the little people"

You know, Tiny Elvis & the rest of you.

I bought a DVD recorder at Wal-Mart and I am going to hook my Video Camera up to it and also a mixing board with some Condensor Microphones and make a DVD. That is my plan anyway. I was going to buy a Digital Camera but I thought it would work better this way & also I can record straight to a DVD. The DVD will hold up to an hours worth of recording so that should be plenty for 10 or 12 songs plus a few bonus tracks. It will give me an excuse to goof around with the video camera and pretend like I am working on a "production"

I went to Guitar Center last night and bought a couple of Microphone Stands and some cables & I was lucky enough to have a couple of friends who were kind enough to loan me some Condensor Microphones.

I am going to experiment with it. I may just try running my main mixer right into the Recorder but I want to try using the condensors so I can catch the sound of the maracas and also use the Reverb Tank on the Vocals as well as use the Overdrive on the Harmonica.

My plan is to learn the best way to set it up by recording at home first and then carry everything to a couple of live shows & record a little bit like that.

If all goes well I think I will by myself an Island. Otherwise I may need to borrow a couple of bucks next time I see you.

Thanks.

"It is what it is"

I have had a hard time buying G strings lately.

NO, I have not been lurking at Thong stores. I use a 17 gauage G string on my main Fender electric guitar. I bought it new in 1988 but I have not named it yet. BB King calls his guitar "Lucille" & Stevie Ray called his "Number One", At least that is what his guitar tech called it in the articles I read in the guitar magazines. Billy Gibbons calls his 1959 Gibson Les Paul "Pearly Gates" & usually just refers to it as "Pearly". He has used that guitar on probably every album they have ever done. He uses other ones also but that one is his main axe.


I had been trying to swing by a Guitar Center on the way to a gig (to save gas) since November 1st when I was on my way out to the Balinese Room to play the opening day of the Biker Rally at the Seawall Bar. I had never been to the Gulf Freeway location so I looked it up on the Yahoo Maps and was sure I could find it with no problem. It turned out to be on the East Side of the Freeway & after about 15 minutes of driving around on the west side, I just gave up and went on out to Galveston.

Then on November 4th on the way out to Pinehurst to play the First Annual Fin, Fur, & Feather Festival, I stopped at the Guitar Center on the North side at 45 & 1960. I went in and there was a kid there with a nut in his ear, like one that goes on a bolt. When I walked up to the counter, I asked him if he had any 17 Gauge strings & he didn't say a word but he did pick up the phone & dialed over to another dude who was working at the entrance and say in a growly type voice "Whatsuuup?" He then looked through the string box with the individuals and told me "No, No 17s". He did find one 18 so I said OK on that and asked for a set of GHS Boomers since I didn't want to be that thin on strings & he looked at the other dude & who reached up and got the strings. I then asked him if they had any EL84 Groove Tubes since I needed a matched duet. He checked the computer and said they were out. I then asked if they had any 12AX7s which are some Pre-Amp Tubes that I have been needing & he found them on the computer and said they they did have some in stock. I asked him how much he was going to sell them to me for & he said that they wer $15.99 each. I told him that I knew the list price but I was asking what kind of price he would give me. He then said that the manufactuer would not allow discounts on that item which is a standard line that they have started using but is only true in some cases and not on the Groove Tubes. I know that since I always get a discount when I buy them. I told him that & He said "It is what it is man" So I told him to forget it and started walking off. I got about halfway to the door and then turned around and went back and told him that I had worked in retail sales for some time now & I know about everything being "All hip and cool" but at the same time I felt like he was rude to me. I let him know that there is nothing Uncool about saying hello to a customer. He just looked at me and then I left.

Then last Thursday I stopped by the Westhiemer location on my way to the Gig at Sweet Mesquite and Paul helped me was very cool. Sold me the 12ax7s for $12 & strings for 75 cents each. They were also out of the EL84s but he said I wanted he would call me when they came in. I had been helped by Paul last time I went to the Guitar Center on Westheimer & I purposely went to him this time. Thanks Paul.

I had just put some new EL84s in my Fender Blues Junior. They are the power tubes and the Blues Junior burns them pretty hot so they wear out a little faster than other tubes in other amps. I keep a back up set & those are the ones I just installed. I am now using the ones I took out as a back up set so that is why I am looking for new ones. The ones I put in are rated at "5" but I really prefer to have "4s". It is a rating system that Groove Tube uses & will tell you how easy the tubes will break up or distort. I don't use any effects or pedals so I like to have some tubes that will give a little bit of distortion. I am now wanting to try some 3s but I will probably end up with 4s which work just fine & are easier to find.

Last night I put the 3 12AX7s in the blues Junior so it now has all new tubes and it does sound better. I had been noticing that it was starting to sound harsh and the tone was harder to find. I kept making adjustments during my sets & still not finding the tone. It was particularly noticable when I plugged my acoustic guitar in. There is no substitute for tone & these tubes really do make a difference so I am happy about that. It already sounded better last night but it usually takes a few hours of playing time for them to "burn in". Normally I would just leave the amp on for a couple of hours but it was late last night & I will use that as an excuse to practice a little bit of straight up guitar this week since I need to get back to working on scales and riffs & stuff like that.


Thats all for now.

Remember that we are all going to die at some point so go ahead and enjoy your life. Do whatever it is that you want to do.


Later.

Pipe Dreams

I used to have a cassette tape called "Bach Large Organ Works" that somebody gave to to me back around 1980. I would listen to it from time to time & have always like that sound.

Last night I was listening to the radio & decided to check out KUHF, the local classical music station, which is 88.7 on the radio dial in houston.

There was a program on called "Pipe Dreams" which is archived on the internet & you can hear it by clicking this link: http://origin-pipedreams.publicradio.org/listings/2007/0743/

It is a weekly show & hosted by Micheal Baron.

He plays a series of live recordings of Notable Organists playing notable pipe organs which are located mostly in old churches.

Very cool show. Check it out.

The main web page is www.pipedreams.org & it looks like they have an archive o fthe weekley shows going all the way back to 1995.

Down at the Balinese (revisited)

Thursday Night I went over to the Continental Club to meet my friend Eddy to check a band called the B Side Players. They are a touring band that plays Latin, Reggae, & world type music. It is a nine piece outfit with a couple of horn players, a drummer, a percussionist, a conga player, keyboard player, bass player, a back up singer, and a lead singer who is the lead vocalist. They are a good band it was relaxing to get to hear them play.

Little Joe Washington stopped by for a minute & talked to the bartender but he left right after that. It was good to see that he is looking OK.

On my way over there, I took a wrong turn on Main street and was sitting at a light and I noticed 4 young blonde headed girls that jumped out in the street and stopped a car that was taking a turn onto Main. I then noticed that a dude had passed out in the street and they had pretty much just saved his life since the car was about to roll right over him. It was good to see that some people still give a shit. They ended up moving him off the street and I doubt he will ever know that somebody cared enough to look out for him. He seemed a little upset to be interupted from his nap but it didn't take him long to get back to sleep.

The Lone Star Biker Rally is coming up next week and I will be playing on the Opening day at the Balinese Room Seawall Bar. I had played there once before when Jon Steel put on a slideshow featuring his surf photography & there was also a band called Herbn'Pipeline (urban pipeline). I was the opening act & it turned out to be a very cool gig. I think it is going to be the same lineup this Dec 21st down in Corpus Christi at the Executive Surf Club which I hear is very nice. I am looking forward to that gig.

The Balinese Room is probably mostly remembered these days becuase of the ZZ TOP song "Down at the Balinese" which was on the Fandango Album. It has an interesting history and was once a hangout of Howard Hughes and Frank Sinatra used to sing there also. You can read about it on Wikipedia.

The Lone Star Biker Rally is a big event and the Island will be crowded so I am thinking there should be alot of business. I guess I will find out on Thursday.

Saturday November 3rd I have another interesting Gig up in the Country at a private party & will be the opening act for a country singer named Davin James. I have never heard him before so I am looking forward to that.

I am also looking foward to playing at the Gravity Bar tomorrow. The weather should be nice & I really enjoy playing at the Gravity Bar. Part of the fun for me is that I never know what or who to expect. There are usually some tourists & it is interesting to meet poeple from different parts of the country. I consider the Target Market there to be Humanity. If you are out that way, Stop on by.

Thanks,


Marc

Gravity is Heavy

Last night I played until about 8:10pm at the Gravity Bar. Carl Smith was sitting in again on Upright Piano and it was a fun gig. At 8:30 (or so) They have an open mic that is hosted by Todd. He is a cool guy and a good musician also. He also plays every Friday night at Boudreaux's on the Bayou which is also located on the island.

I ended up being a little slow loading up my equipment since several of the local musicians that participate in the open mic were there & it is nice to be able to say hello and see how things are going. All different kinds of people. There is a lady who looks completely like hippie. A dude who is a street musician and a preacher & couple of other street musicians who I have gotten to know a little bit over the past year or so. I don't know them that well but fellow as fellow musicians we usually will chat for a bit and talk about how the day went & so on. All of them are nice people.

The open mic started a little late as it usually does and there ended being quite a good crowd and quite few musicians. It turned out to be a really cool night. It was kind of like what you would expect in Grenich Village in the 60s or something except nobody was reading poetry. It was very relaxing to me to get to hang around a little bit and get to hear some good music. The sound system was set up well and everybody seemed to be "on". I really enjoyed the whole thing. There was alot of energy & everybody seemed to be in a good mood & very supportive of each other. To me it really doesn't get much better than that.

Don't mess with Karma

Lately I have been thinking about what I call the Punk Rock Vibe (PRV). It is a state of mind that I would try to bring to a live performance but it is also sort of like Enlightenment from the standpoint that with the true PRV, A person would not care about what other people think so much.

It worked for Bob Dylan when he decided to go Electric. The folk crowd would boo him for playing electric music but he did it anyway.

Of course Bob Dylan was already famous when he decided to not care. Before that I think he did care. He would make up stories that he had been playing music and learning from all these obscure blues and folk artist when in reality they were just poeple that happened to be on a collection of records that he stole from another dude that condidered him to be a friend. I am not saying this to trash Bob Dylan either. I am a Bob Dylan fan and would be honored if he stole something from me.

I think part of what the PRV is about is not Selling Out.

It is hard not to sell out at some level if you want to play live music and make money. I guess the money part is where you have to sell out.

I guess the true PRV could be attained by playing live music in the forest and if your guitar fell over and you had your ears covered up then it would be a question if it really fell over or if maybe you were just drunk and they found you playing guitar in the forest. You see what I mean? It isn't all that simple.

Don't shoot the piano player

Hey Sports fans,

I used to be more of a sports fan myself but when the Houston Oilers left town it made me realize how much of a business it is. Now when I see professional sports, I see millionaires that will be millionaires even if there team loses. They aren't gonna be worried if I am broke so it is hard for me to worry about them winning or losing.

In other news a spider bit me on the ass. I don't have that much of an ass to go around so I don't really appreciate it. I used to be more towards the catch and release policy with spiders in the house but now I have an urge to stomp on them. I did resist the urge this morning. There was one walking acroos the living room floor and I put it in the back yard. It may find it's way back in to the house and bite me but I just don't enjoy killing things. Even spiders.

This past Sunday at the Gravity Bar was a little different. There is a guy named Carl Smith who plays piano at various bars on the strand and he brought one of his pianos to the gravity bar and now plays there from time to time. He came in on Sunday at noon and played while I was setting up from noon (opening time) to about 1:15 when I started. He plays a real piano, Not electric keyboards. I had never heard him before but I enjoyed what he was doing. He played some Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Tunes and even though he didn't have a PA system he did a good job on the vocals. He really has the Jerry Lee Lewis vocals down.

The Gravity Bar has very big doors all the way across side that faces the sidewalk where poeple are walking by and Carl had his piano at the west side on a small raised area where there are some couches. It is right next to the sidewalk. My stage area is about 15 or 20 feet west of that also near the strand sidewalk.

They had all the doors open this past Sunday since it was pretty nice weather. Carl had offered to sit in with my one man band so after I played a few songs in my first set, I invited him to play along.

It was kind of cool to have two separate stage areas with music coming from two directions. I also like the fact that it was a traditional piano which gave a kind of honky tonk sound and a little different type of effect on the vibe.

I started at about 1:15 and ended up staying until about 8pm. I started out by playing a few tunes, Then Carl joined in and then Carl played a tune or two by himself and then I played a couple of tunes and then Carl joined back in and so on. I liked being able to mix it up where it was really three different types of presentations rolled into one.

Carl ended up staying until 8 pm also and he seems like a cool guy. He told me he would be back next Sunday and I told him it was cool with me if he wanted to do it again.

"Show some Respect"

Loyd's comment on the last post about Benny Valereo made me think of something.

Benny Valereo Passed away back in January of 2006. I had posted something on this blog right before the funeral.

Benny was a Texas Blues Guitar player & he regularly hosted blues jams here on the west side of town. That is how I knew him.

I wrote out a post about him about the time he died & he is someone that I find myself thinking about from time to time.

Benny was the kind of guy who would not hold back when he talked to people. There was nothing phoney about him. Not from my perspective anyway. Whenever I played at his blues jam it would usually be Danny Velereo, Benny's brother playing bass. It was always a cool feeling if Benny would walk up to the stage in the middle of the set and pick up his guitar and start playing along. Hanging out with him & Danny was always a good feeling. They would sometimes play a game of pool & they seem to be pretty serious about it.

Speaking of Pool, There was one time when I first started my One Man Band that I had a one-time kind of gig at a place called Forgetabout it II. It had previously been called the Landing Zone and before that "The Horseshoe" I think it was the first place I met Benny & his band.

When I first got the the gig, There were a group of pool players sitting in the spot that was going to be the stage area for me so I let them know and they moved there chairs a little bit. I brought in the rest of my equipment and went ahead and asked them if I could go ahead and set up. The pool tables were right behind the stage area and they were there for a pool tournament.

There was one guy that was more vocal than the rest but as a group they made it known that they didn't care for live music during thier tournament. After I played and took a break they started being a little nicer. The one guy who was giving me a hard time came up and told me that he thought I was going to be too loud and he didn't really apologize but he started talking to me and being a little more friendly. It turned out that his daughter had been one of the musicians who I knew from Benny's jam and I had jammed with her several times.

Benny had showed up at this gig and was pretty quiet for the most part. He drank a couple of beers and kind of stood off to the side and just watched. During my break I told him how the pool players were being rude to me and then they seemed to warm up a little after I started playing.

He told me that he had had a word with them. I asked him what he said to them & he said that he had told them to "show some respect".

I think that was the only time he saw my one man band but it meant a hell of alot to me that he had taken the time to stop by & also that he was gave enough of a shit to look out for me at my gig.

Toad Herder

Hello,

I have been kinda busy lately so I haven't been keeping up my blog entries and I know that the masses and throngs are going to revolt and tear down the castle walls if deprived any further.


I saw two butterflys yesterday and I liked that since it seems like butterflys have not been around that much for several years until last year. This is not a scientific report, just what I noticed.

The other thing I have scientifically deduced is that the toads are back again also. I don't know where they went but last year I started seeing them again and this year I have quite a few in my yard. It makes it kind of time consuming to mow since I don't want to chop them up. I try to mow in a pattern where I start at one side and work towards the side where they have somewhere to go.

As I mow, I have to watch for them hopping and usually just see the grass moving so I know to look out for them.

Toads seem like peaceful creatures and I wish them all the best.

Last night I stopped over at the Abbey Pub to listen to John Richardson, Larry Evans, Dennis Clapp (Applehead), Robert Taylor play the opening set of the Blues Jam. I didn't sign the list and wasn't feeling like playing since I had several other things to take care of. When I walked in they were on stage but not playing. Larry told me that his bass amp was out and asked if I could let them borrow mine. I live about a mile from the Abbey Pub so headed home real quick to get my amp but according to the DPS officer that was stationed near by, I was a little too quick. Actually I went into the light on a yellow and it turned out to be a fast yellow. It was a close call but technechally I did run the light. I was hoping that he would see my driving record and give me a warning but I didn't want to argue with him since I knew he was doing his job. He let me know right away why he pulled me over but he then made me stand back behind my van while he walked around front and looked in it with his flashlight. He then went to his car and pulled me up on the computer. It isn't fun to stand out in front of a police car with the lights flahing and the headlights shining on me but I don't think the guy was trying to treat me bad or anything. It just sucks to get a ticket.

I have to go see Judge Yoeman before December and I am hoping that he will give me a break but I have no plans to make up any stories or call the cop a liar. I have been to Judge Yoeman's court before when he performed a marriage ceremony that I attnended.

I went on home after the ticket and grabbed my amp and carefuly drove back up the Pub.

After that I went back home ate a bowl of Cheerios mixed with grape nuts and then went to bed. I think I had some dreams but I don't know if I remember them. I think you are being a little nosey at this point. You don't need to know all my business.


Long Live the Toads!

George Martin

I caught the end of Little Stevens Underground Garage last Sunday night on the way home from Galveston & Then they had a broadcast of a David Gilmore (Pink Floyd) Concert and some interviews. David Gilmore was talking about his approach and how he tried to keep it fairly simple musically & focus on the vibe. That isn't exactly how he said it but it was something like that.

I was driving along today listening to 93.7, The Classic Rock station and they played Eleanor Rigby.

I have heard the song quite a few times but for some reason it struck me how good it is. The song itself AND also the the arrangement. Paul McCartney came up with most of the song but George Martin ("The Fifth Beatle") did the arrangment for the strings and it is very good.

I was noticing that he used the approach that David Gilmore seemed to be talking about. Not that the arrangment is overly simple but it is just very good. Really perfect for the song.

Stay Grounded

Last week I was setting up for my gig on Thursday night and I noticed my 15 watt Fender Tube guitar amplifier was not comeing on. I fooled with it a little bit and then I decided to go with plan-B and use my back-up amp.

When I got home I took a look at it and realized the plug was not any good. I replaced the plug with one from Wal-Mart ($2.97) and the amp worked fine.

The very next night, Friday, I was again setting up and this time I noticed that the amp I use to power my PA was not coming on. I got a screw driver and took a the plug apart and found a loose wire and re-connected it.

I also found that the ground wire had come loose and re-connected it.

That explains why I have been getting shocked by my microphone lately.

"Aqualung my friend"

Back when I was in 6th grade, I heard one of the other students was repeating the lyrics from the song "Aqualung" and talking about the record so I went to the record store near Westbury Square called Evolution Records and bought it. Evolution Records was a Hippie type shop and I thought it was one of the coolest places in the world at that time. They always had a hippie dude working behind the counter and insense burning. That and all the Rock records (now classic rock) displayed on all the walls. They had some black lights and lots of posters which they sold also.

I listened to it quite a bit and when the band "Jethro Tull" came to town about a year or so later I went to the concert. It was in the Sam Houston Coliseum which was right next to the Music Hall in downtown Houston. It is the same place the had Houston Wrestling with Paul Bosch, The guy from the I W marks commercial who wears the earing and says "If I.W. Marks can make my ears look this good..."

When I went to the concert I thought it was absolutely the coolest thing in the world. I went with a Junior High School friend named Paul Coke. One thing that struck me at the time was how much the band sounded like the record. Very good sound quality compared to other rock concerts. It was the tour associated with the next album after Aqualung which was called "Thick as a Brick"

Ian Anderson is a great songwriter and musician and I still feel like those are the two best Jethro Tull Albums. Not that the others aren't good but they don't have the same feel. To me anyway.

The song "Bungle in the Jungle" was a pop hit at the time but it didn't sound like what I expected Jethro Tull to sound like. The later albums are very good also but they are more Ian Anderson as a Solo Artist compared to the early Jethro Tull which sounded more band oriented to me.

Aqualung was big album as far as impact on Rock. It had sort of a metal sound but also was folky at the same time. There is alot of Acoustic Guitar and each song is very strong on it's own. The whole album seems to fit as group and there are quite a few refences to the church and how they got it wrong. It was sort an early attack on the "moral majority" mentality.


The reason I was thinking about Jethro Tull & Aqualung is that I was driving home from a gig last week and they played the album at midnight.

I still have the record. Not the original one from when I was a kid but I bought another copy at a used record store about 10 years ago.

It is my Internet Album Pick of the week.

Musical Musicians

There is a pub down the street from my house where they have a blues jam every Tuesday. Last night I stopped by & listened to the guys play for a little bit.

I find it very relaxing to listen to live blues & even more when you know the people playing it.

"Applehead" was jammng for a while with the band & then brought up a young guy that they call "Sparky" . Applehead and Sparky are real people by the way. That is just what everybody calls them & they don't seem to mind. They are some young guys and both excellent musicians.

About that time the band took a break and they cranked up the Juke Box. It is a sports bar and they normally have the Juke Box pretty loud & they had some hip hop sort of stuff coming out of it so I decided to go ahead and head back home.

As I was walking out, Larry Evans walked by and said "come on lets play" So I went ahead and grabbed my guitar and set up.

When I jammed, Larry Evans was playing bass. John Richardson was on drums. Sparky was playing guitar also.

On about the second tune or so I looked back during the middle of the song and there was John Richardson playing Bass and Larry was playing drums. They had switched without me even noticing.

The jam continued & then John & Sparking switched & John started playing Guitar & Sparky was playing bass. The amazing thing is that the music really was steady on each different configuration. Blues isn't the most technically dificult music to play but they also kept the feel going which is the big deal.

It was a hell of a good time

My hands are clean

The other day I was in an eating establishment grabbing some coffee & a breakfast sandwich on my way out to Galveston to play a gig.


I placed my order at the counter and then I decided to use the restroom.


I was washing my hands and noticed that there were not any paper towels but they did have two of those air dryers.

There was a dude at one of the air dryers so I used the other one.

I really didn't pay much attention to the guy but then I noticed something seemed strange.

Seemed like he was kind of lingering. His hands should have been dry but he kept waiting.

We didn't speak and I didn't look directly at him but I knew he was up to something.


Then I figured it out.


The door to the batroom opened inward and someone need to grab the handle to open it.

He wanted me to open the door and get germs on my hand and then he was going to get to walk on through without having to touch the door handle.


One problem for him was that he didn't know who he was dealing with. I kept on drying my hands & then the dryer ran out of time so I pushed it again.


At that point he was just standing there waiting so I quit drying my hands and just stood there also.

He had washed his hands first so it was up to him to open the door. That was my thinking.

We stood there for several seconds and he finally accepted defeat and just walked on over and grabbed the door handle.


Besides that, Not much else to report.

The Bo Diddley Beat

Week before last I was at Guitar Center on my day off from work. I was browsing in the Percussion section & found a pair of small maracas fo $10.

When I got home I tried to figure out a way to play a maraca along with my one man band. I really wanted to figure out away to use my hand since that would give the natural sound.

I experimented for a while and really couldn't come up with a way to hold it and still be able to play gutiar. I took one of them and sawed the handle off and put some tape on it to make it easier to hold & it was much better.


I have played two shows now using the additional sound and I am very happy about it.

I am able to hit percussion sounds on parts of the beat that I was not able to hit with my bass drum/snare drum configuration.

I think this is a biggest one-man-band break through than I have had since maybe adding the Bass Drum.


Thanks for tuning in.

The Hightailers / Gravity Bar

This past Saturday Night I did a gig with the Hightailers. I know Little Screaming Kenny from the Shakespeare Pub Blues jam and set up the gig with my good friends at the Gravity Bar in Galveston.

It was a great gig. Everyone in the band was very cool. They also have a group of friends that came the show also & they were very cool also. Basically they are a bunch of hippies. I mean that in the best sense.

At about midnight I was sitting at a table off to the side kind of relaxing and listening to the music & they all were out on the dance floor. It was like going to church. You would have had to have been there.

They play every Thursday at the Last Concert Cafe. Check em out. The poeople are nice and the music is top notch.

Update

The guitar seems to sound good. Better than it did before it broke in two.

About like it used to before I dropped it the other time.

Red Guitar

Whats up Dog?

I posted this picture over a year ago. Nickel (the boston dog) came to work with Sean who used to work at the Vintage Bar where I used to play. They had a fire a few months back and now they have shut down. I spoke to the owner, Tina, a few weeks ago. She has always been very kind to me and never turned me down for a gig when I needed one. I wish her the best.

About a year ago, I taped an electric guitar pick-up in the red guitar in the picture and started using it in my show.

I bought the guitar over 20 years ago from Rockin Robin on Shepherd. It was in a washtub of discounted items. It had a crack in the neck so I glued it back togeather with Epoxy. I use it to play slide guitar and sevaral other tunes in my live show. I used it to record a couple of the songs on my CD also. "The Houston Bars" and also Robert Wilkin's "Rolling Stone". I like the Guitar. At one point it was the only guitar I had.

Last Sunday at the Gravity Bar in Gavleston I played for about an hour & then I played a couple of tunes on it. WHen I went to put it back on the Guitar Stand, The whole stand fell over and the Gutiar Cracked in two in the same place. The break was on the HeadStock right where it was originally cracked about 20 years ago.

I had noticed lately that that the guitar was not sounding quite the same so I am pretty sure it was already cracked or weak or whatever. I have dropped guitars before and not broken them & am pretty sure it was already needing to be worked on.

It did kind of throw me off when it happened. It took me a while to get relaxed again but I did stay pretty well focused at the time. It did shorten my list of songs. There are some songs that I can play on Electric that I normally play on Acoustic but there are several that I really needed the Acoustic. Originally, I was hired to play for 4 hours at the Gravity Gig but as the weeks went by I started playing longer each time and now play about a 6 hour gig.


Yesterday I went to Home Depot and bought some small nuts and bolts and washers. The Bolts are one inch long and are the skinniest ones they have. I drilled some holes through the Headstock and then appliedCarpenters Glue and bolted it togeather. The Elmers Carpenter Glue Label says to let it sit 24 hours before using.

I am going to string it up when I get home but it looks like it worked pretty well and I am hoping that it will work out OK. I think it will since the break was on the Headstock and will not affect the fretboard or the spacing of the frets from the nut.


This post is officially over.


Bye!

One Man Yoda Band

My friend at work, Arnold, Gave me this today. It was a model of a stage set up for KISS but I converted it to a One Man Band and put it on my desk.

What a cool thing it is.

Thanks Arnold.

Austin City Limits

I usually dont watch Awards Shows but I am relaxing here at home watching the Grammys. They just gave the best pop vocal album to John Mayer.

I am not going to watch the whole show since I got stuff to do. I am thinking about heading over to the Shakespeare Pub to check out the Blues Jam with my old friend "Spare Time" Murray. We don't hang out or anything but he has been hosting that blues jam for quite some time now. I think it was around 1994 or 95 when I first went over there and checked it out. I didn't really have much experience playing in front of people and he was always cool about letting me get up and jam.

But back to the Grammys.

I can't figure out why the sound is so poorly done. When the Dixie Chicks sang the mix was terrible. Seems like they are trying to capture the feel of the big room and making it sound like there is an Echo.

They need to get who ever does the sound for Austin City Limits. I remember when Tracy Chapman was on that show. That is the way sound should be done.

Well, Thats my beef for now.


Later

Get in the Road

I always liked that song. It may be called "in the Middle of the Road" The Pretenders were one of my favorite 80s bands & that song in particular. I love the lyrics and also the delivery.

Come on Baby
Get in the Road!
Oh yeah baby
in the middle of the road

Then she does the meow & breaks into the Harmonica Solo.

It is not a blues song but at the same time it is. To me anyway.


Last night I got to meet another cool person. Tre Ridings came out to the show at Molly's Pub to do what he does. He is a professional Photagraper & he is (professional). He had a job to do and it wasn't his first time to do it. When they want pictures of the big Rock Stars, He is a guy that they call. They also called him to take pictures of me.


The story and the pictures are for a "local bands" feature but I don't think he would have done it much different if I was a major rock star.

He took photos in two settings. Quite a few of me doing the One Man Band Show and also some out by the Street. That was his suggestion. Right next to the street in fact. He told me to bring a guitar and had me sit on the curb & also took some standing up. He told me where and how to stand and sit and also where to look. Being Saturday Night, Westhemier was busy and I really liked the idea of being out in the road. That is what the Blues is sort of about anyway. Or maybe not so much what it is about but it just kind of fits.

Again, I am not going to lie, It was cool experience.

Look for the pictures in the Feb 22nd Weekend Preview Section of the Houston Chronicle and also on thier Web Site. I will post a link when they get it on there.


Adios Amigos!

Don't make friends with the band

I can't remember the name of the movie but I did like it alot. It was about a high school aged kid who became Rock & Roll reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine. One of the things that one of the other Reporter Dudes told him was "Do not make friends with the band" but he ended up kind of breaking that rule.

I always thought that would be one of the coolest jobs in the world.

Yesterday I met with the hip and cool Sara Cress who covers the live music scene for the Houston Chronicle. She recorded the interview and she told me that there will be a PodCast whre people can hear it on the Chronicle's Handstamp Website. The print portion will be in the Preview Section of the Thusday Paper on Feb 22nd. I will get back to you with the details as the become available.

I am not experienced and being interviewed and I was a little nervous about it but she seemed to know what she was doing. We shook hands and sat down at a table and she turned on the recorder and started asking questions.

It would have been what many people consider the perfect date. We just talked about me. Actually I did most of the talking and she never interupted. Seriously though I could tell that it wasn't the first time she had done this. I already knew that but it did make the whole process alot easier to have a real Rock & Roll Reporter asking the questions.

I am not going to lie. It was a cool experience.

Endangered cranes also victims of Florida storm

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/03/whooping.cranes.ap/index.html

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- All 18 endangered young whooping cranes that were led south from Wisconsin last fall as part of a project to create a second migratory flock of the birds were killed in storms in Florida, a spokesman said.
The cranes were being kept in an enclosure at the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge near Crystal River, Florida, when violent storms moved in Thursday night, said Joe Duff, co-founder of Operation Migration, the organization coordinating the project.
The area of the enclosure was unreachable by workers at night, and all the birds were found dead, Duff said.
"It's very traumatic to the whole team who put so much time and effort into these birds," he said Saturday.
He speculated that a strong storm surge drew the tide in and overwhelmed the birds or they were electrocuted from lightning strikes reported in the area. The official cause of the deaths was not immediately known.
The thunderstorms and at least one tornado that hit central Florida caused widespread damage and killed at least 20 people.
For the past six years, whooping cranes hatched in captivity have been raised at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin by workers who wear crane-like costumes to keep the birds wary of humans.
Ultralight aircraft are used to teach new groups of young cranes the migration route to Florida. Then the birds migrate north in the spring and south in the fall on their own.
Duff described the loss as an "unavoidable disaster" for the whooping cranes project. Ironically, for the first time in six years, an entire group of young birds reared at the Necedah refuge had made it to the Florida refuge without the loss of a single crane.
The various groups and agencies working on the project had seen the size of the flock grow to 81 birds with the latest arrivals, but the loss of the young cranes drops the total back to 63, and there may have been additional losses.
Operation Migration is part of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. Partnership officials and Duff said the work would continue. Chicks are expected to hatch in two months, he said.
The whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, was near extinction in 1941, with only about 20 left.
The other wild whooping crane flock in North America has about 200 birds and migrates from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. A non-migratory flock in Florida has about 60 birds.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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