Garden Salad Surgery

The Squash in the picture (above) is about ready to harvest. I planted two varieties and this one is called "Early Golden Crookneck. There are some of the other variety, "Early Summer Straigtneck" that are growing also.

Overall the garden is getting tangled and I need to do some work. I put the metal posts in last week but the plants are not gravitating towards them so I guess I will actually have to do some work. The Tomatoes need some support now so I am probably going to have to figure something out.

Hopefully I will get a chance to work on it tomorrow but today I was to lazy, I mean busy.

Oh yeah, The lettuce in the containers seems to do a little better than the ones in the ground but I will have to wait and see. No sign of any cucumbers or tomatoes yet. I was hoping to make a salad. We will see how it goes.

Nice People don't tell kids about Santa Clause

Speaking of "Nice People", Today I was getting off the freeway and needed to get over 3 lanes to take a right turn and there was a lady who actually slowed down and let me over. I know it is the law to yield to vehicles coming off the freeway but it isn't something that drivers in Houston usually do. Thanks Lady.

The other night I was clicking around on the Color TV set and there wasn't much on and I got stuck watching a show I don't even like. I don't like the idea of giving away magic tricks. It is much more entertaining to watch the trick and be mystified.

On this particlular episode they kept doing teasers showing how to make a street car vanish before your eyes. When they finally got to the end of the show and showed how it was done, They showed the trick and then went into the part of how it is done. The announcer for the show then says that this trick can only be done on TV and it only works becuase they point the camera at the front of the curtain over the bus while they drive the bus off of the set out of the camera's view. What a lame show.

I haven't had time to really work in the Garden too much lately but I am surprised to see that the lettuce is coming back and the spinich is now pretty much wiped out. Everything else is growing fine and at a pretty good pace. I am not seeing any squash or tomatoes yet but the plants seem to be growing pretty well. I will have to add some stakes pretty soon and I will probably plant (or transplant) something else where the spinache was unless it comes back. I don't know anything about growing spinnach or lettuce but I do like the idea of being able to make a real garden salad.

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.