Janice Williams Loves Austin

Yesterday I wrote about the things that I DON’T do in Austin, but are so much a part of the Austin experience. Christy added her list:

I often shake my head at how many “Austin” things I have yet to experience and I’ve been here since 2003… WOW.. shame on me…

on my list:
Barton Springs
the Bats on Congress
the Greenbelt
InnerSpace Caverns (just looks cool…)

I can say I’ve done the first three on her list (but way too long since I’ve been to the Greenbelt or Barton Springs), but I haven’t been to InnerSpace Caverns. I heard a story on the radio one day about special rooms scientists use to test lab equipment that have a sort of steel cage built into the walls to deflect all the radio waves in the world and keep them out of the room. [there’s a word for that kind of room and I can’t think of it] Anyway, caves and caverns are very similar in that cell phone waves and TV waves and all the waves there are coursing through out bodies ALL THE TIME can’t get to you. Therefore, it is supposed to be very stress relieving to be in a cave (or one of those special rooms). I would like to go see if I feel less anxious in a cave. Then, if I did, I could build one of those cool rooms, right? No waves disturbing you.

Wow, that was way of course . . . Back to Austin . . .

I have never been to the State Cemetery. I know, I know, as much as I “enjoy” cemeteries and like to stroll through them and see the beautiful monuments, you’d think I would have been there a dozen times. But I haven’t. I must do that. I would like to see Ann Richards grave. And the last time I saw my aunt she was telling me that we have a relative buried there, but she couldn’t remember who! That doesn’t help me much, but it would still be worth going.

I haven’t been to our new art museum. I have never been to the big library at UT. I’ve been to Mt. Bonnell, but it has been a while. And, of course, the Dry Creek Cafe is right there and that is a must-do stop for Austinites. It has already changed in the couple of times I’ve been there with construction on each side. One of these days Sarah (the owner) is not going to be there to yell at you to “bring down your bottles” and that place is going to be snatched up for a new mansion or a condo faster than we can say “smart growth” and chuckle, so you’d better see it while you can.

And I must must MUST wander around downtown more. I’m right there and there are SO many historical markers and interesting things to see that you do not see if you are driving.

Okay, that’s just a short list. What else can we add? Talk amongst yourselves and comment, please.

I went to the Shady Grove tonight for James McMurtry and Sahara Smith. She is a beautiful girl with a big voice. Very pleasant. James rocked the house. It was a rowdy and fun crowd without a lot of weirdness. No, there was PLENTY of weirdness, but fun weirdness, not that creepy weirdness that makes you want to edge toward the exits for a quick getaway. My very odd acquaintance Wesley was NOT able to make himself at home at my table this time (and shake my hand 7 times) because our tables were all occupied. Whew. That was a relief. I saw him wandering aimlessly, trying to find a place to perch.

I was highly amused at two couples that were sitting nearby. They reminded me of two different skits on Saturday Night Live. If you don’t watch it, skip on down to the next paragraph. You know the skit where the four or five guys are in a bar hearing an old familiar song on the jukebox and singing along and talking, between verses, about what the song reminds them of? The two guys were SO much like those characters. They were singing along with all of James’ songs, but particularly Just Us Kids, the song about aging. The guys were lifting a toast, pumping their fists in the air, singing at the top of their lungs, looking at each other and grinning foolishly, and beaming like they had written the song themselves. I think one of the guys may have grown up idolizing Burt Reynolds. He didn’t really look like Burt Reynolds, but it just seemed like he WANTED to. The other SNL skit these folks reminded me of was the rich/snobby/stuck-up couple that chew gum and are basically obnoxious? The wife of one of these guys was chewing her gum like a cow’s cud and looking bored. She was not attractive like the girl on Saturday Night Live, but looked like she probably thought she was.

Another fun piece of weirdness . . . Marissa is my favorite waitress at Shady Grove. She works incredibly hard, but always makes it look effortless and fun. A big crowd had gathered in front of the stage and were dancing. It certainly hindered the waitstaffs ability to get through to take care of their customers. I see Marissa go rapidly toward the dancing crowd, throw her arms up in the air and dance wildly as she passes through the crowd in order to emerge and go up another aisle. I talked to her later and she had been dared to do it. She looked like she was having a ball. It was fun to see, but funnier still was the looks two women gave her as she danced through. They had that look of “insiders” that cannot BELIEVE that someone would dare try to join their dancing clan.

Another bit of fun Austin weirdness was a girl that was doing interpretive dance in the aisle beside us to McMurtry’s music. Not just dancing for the fun of dancing, but really putting on a show for her “friends” nearby and pawing the air, quick turns and broad movements, like it was choreographed. Yes, many of these people had been drinking.

I tremendously enjoyed observing the drummer’s family. I briefly met Darren Hess, but his wife and two sons, maybe about 7 and 9, were climbing and then sitting atop the rock wall by me. Cute boys that reminded me of my nephews at that age. When I first walked over and introduced myself to them, they politely shook my hand and told me who they were.The whole family was very sweet. The boys had some brotherly fighting from time to time, but there was no whining or running to Mom. The little one would sit in his mother’s lap as the night wore on and he was tired. It was easy to see that the days of him being able to fit in his mother’s lap were not going to last too long and I was glad to see them enjoy it while they could. When the dad came and sat by the family during a short break, he had a sweet affection for his boys, just patting them and showing love. As the night ended, the boys were running around, helping the Shady Grove staff put away chairs and even picking up trash and sweeping. Their dad said they would expect some money before the night ended, but I could see he was proud of their industriousness. It is nice to see families that operate well together. They are raising nice young men.
No one has better lyrics than James McMurtry. I love “Levelland” with the image of the mother rolling her wet hair and then sitting outside with the family looking at the stars. Then the line, ” . . . she hasn’t seen the sky since we got the satellite dish.” And of course, “Choctaw Bingo”, all 9 minutes of it, was a huge success. That’s the song that set off the dancing in front of the stage. And, as grim as I thought “We Can’t Make It Here” was when that song was released, it is even more grim and more true in 2008. Wow. He’s a prognosticator as well as a performer.

I sat with Jenny Finlay and her sweet husband Clay. At least I think his name is Clay. I know him well and I call him that and then my mind says, “No, his name is Clint! Call him Clint.” I hope they don’t laugh on the way home each time about me calling him by the wrong name. Jenny is James McMurtry’s radio promotion person and she is doing some amazing things with him including having him perform on Videoranch. Now she was shocked that I have never heard of Videoranch. And I still don’t quite understand it, but it is a virtual concert you attend online and you create an avatar to watch the show and participate. With my claustrophobia with crowds, maybe this is the PERFECT way for me to attend a concert! James McMurtry will perform there on July 23 so let’s try to check it out. With Jenny and Clay (or Clint) was Jessie Scott, the most well-known dj on XM (as far as I know!). She’s a lovely woman that has done amazing things for Texas music across the country. It was very nice to see her again. She is in Texas for Willie’s Picnics. I have never had the opportunity to visit with her. I think we’d enjoy that.

I really don’t want my blog to be just about music. It should also be about all the other fun Austin things I do:  Swimming at Barton Springs, riding my bike up to Mt. Bonnell, enjoying the balcony patio of the Stephen F. Austin hotel, seeing movies at the Paramount Summer Movie Series or the Alamo’s new downtown theater. Sadly, I don’t DO any of those things, so the writing tends to be about the music. Not entirely a bad thing, of course.

Last night was Mark McKinney and Bart Crow at Hill’s Cafe. I’m not a big fan of the music of either, but they are both very nice guys. I met Bart first at the station for an interview and he brought his soon-to-be wife Brooke with him. A very nice couple and he was a good interview. I never had Mark on my show, but I met him when he opened for Kevin Fowler out at the Nutty Brown last year. When I discovered he was from my dad’s hometown of Big Spring, I quizzed him on whether he knew my cousins out there. Know them? He and my “little” cousin Lyle were in their first band together. A very small world indeed. I had a chance to visit with both of them last night for a while and thoroughly enjoyed it. They both take their music and “job” very seriously and I always appreciate how hard these guys work to entertain.
I did enjoy the night and the music and the visiting. There are always lots of people to visit with at Hill’s. And that was my day. The End.

I’m miffed today. My cigar order has been hijacked.

Let’s start at the beginning. I have an uncle that is in a nursing home in Pilot Point, Texas. He is my dad’s only living uncle and he isn’t much older than Dad was. Uncle Dick was sort of a Mama’s boy his whole life. Well, no, he WAS a Mama’s boy. Bless his heart, he lived with his Mother his whole life and she took care of him and he took care of her. He did marry once, but that is one of those family stories I’ve never quite known all the details. I think it was annulled. Uncle Dick farmed the family farm and then, in later years, he was a janitor at K-Mart ( . . . which should lead me into that cool story of him talking to the aliens once, but that will have to wait. Remind me to come back to it sometime, okay?).

Mamma Williams, Uncle Dick’s mother, died in 1978. After that he just kind of wandered around. He moved to New Mexico and then to Austin. Various relatives helped him here and there. My cousin Wyndell down here in Austin befriended him for a time. My Dad and Mom would come down sometime and try to help him through his difficulties. Eventually, Uncle Dick’s arthritis got to him so much, he needed constant care. My Dad moved him up to a nursing home near their house and did all he could to help him be comfortable. A lot more comfortable than Dick would have managed on his own, that’s for sure. Daddy always felt a lot of responsibility for family and once his dad and his grandmother were gone, he felt like he needed to take care of Uncle Dick.

Dad was really good about visiting Uncle Dick regularly and they had a very good friendship. But then Daddy died. Mark and I went up to the nursing home and told Uncle Dick. He knew the minute we walked in the room why we were there. And he knew me the minute he saw me, even though I hadn’t seen him in probably 20 years. I know, it is weird that I went that long without seeing him, but Daddy visited and the rest of us didn’t feel much need to.

Since Daddy died, I’ve tried to visit Uncle Dick when I can, which is not as easy now that Mother has moved away from that area. He is very sharp and has some interesting things to say, but he is hard of hearing and it is sometimes hard to understand him, too. One pleasure Uncle Dick has in this world is smoking his cigars. For a while, he had the pleasure of ordering things he saw advertised on television, but Daddy put a stop to that and that left him only with cigars.

A few weeks ago I got a call out of the blue from the nursing home he is in. They told me that he was out of cigars. They stressed that he was a difficult person to deal with if he didn’t have his cigars. Dick only gets a very limited amount of money each month from his Social Security for personal spending and with the cost of everything going up, he was about to run out of cigars. What to do? I wasn’t going to be going up any time soon and I had never bought cigars in my life. Then I realized the internet could take care of things. I ordered a box of 50 cigars (no, these aren’t fancy Cubans, these are cheapy 50-cent cigars). They were on their way. I was quite proud of myself.

Last week I wrote Uncle Dick a newsy letter and asked if he was enjoying the cigars. He doesn’t write (well, much) and can’t call, so I hadn’t expected confirmation from him that he had had the cigars, but I assumed they had made it. Today I got an early morning call from the nursing home saying that Dick was asking about a package that he was expecting from me. I called back and told them there should have been a package. Fortunately, the website I used to order had nice online records and I could tell them exactly what time UPS had delivered it. “Oh, it was delivered here?” she said. Well, where else would it be delivered? The name on the UPS slip was the name of the director of the facility, but, obviously, anyone could have signed her name. So far, no sign of the cigars. The social worker that I talked to was going to call me back with a report, but no word yet. I expect someone thought there was something good if a package was coming and decided to just stick it in their backpack. How low do you have to go to steal cigars from an 85-year-old man? I know people in nursing homes are victims all of the time (we don’t even like to think about my grandmother’s things that were taken), but it makes me so sad to think about it.

So now what to do? I plan on going up to Dallas this weekend, so I guess I will be going a little further and taking some cigars to Uncle Dick. I will also be sniffing around some “care”-givers and see who reeks of Imperial cigars.

++

That WASN’T what I intended to write about tonight, so you can still look forward to a report on the new Bruce Robison CD “The New World” which comes out in September, but, bless Bruce, I got a copy early. And I bought the new Sarah Bird novel today and am about to go dive into it. And we’ll get back to the little green men and Uncle Dick one day soon, too.

Whew. . . my quest to see 30 bands in 30 days is over and, hooray, I did it.

BAND #30  Chip Taylor at Waterloo Records. I’ll report later on his new CD, which I purchased, but I got to hear a few songs from him and his band, including “Wild Thing.” That reminds me of Ray Wylie Hubbard’s advice about songwriting… When you write a song, think to yourself, “Do I still want to be playing this song 25 years from now?”  Chip has been playing Wild Thing for over 40 now. Yikes! He’s also Jon Voight’s brother and Angelina Jolie’s uncle, if you didn’t know those details.

Let’s look quickly back over the month of June:

1-0    June 1:  Bob Schneider at Live at the Lake at the Lakeway Spa (4)

2-0    June 2:  Little Elmore Reed at TC’s Lounge (5)

3-1    June 3:  Shawn Nelson at the Scoot Inn (7?)

4-1    June 3: Joel Guzman and Sarah Fox at the Scoot Inn(4?)

5-1    June 4: Ryan James at Hill’s Cafe (4?)

6-1    June 4: Cory Morrow at Hill’s Cafe (5?)

7-1    June 5: Paula Nelson at Shady Grove (3)
8-1     June 5: Micky and the Motorcars at Shady Grove (5)

9-1    June 6: Lucky Tomblin Band at Club 21 in Uhland (7)

JUNE 7:  No one

10-1    June 8: Nelo at Live at the Lake (5)

JUNE 9: Little Elmore Reed a second time

11-1    June 10:  Reckless Kelly at the ME TV Studios (5)

12-1    June 11: Rich O’Toole at Hill’s Cafe (4?)

13-1    June 11: Johnny Cooper at Hill’s Cafe (5)

14-2    June 12: Nakia and His Southern Cousins at Shady Grove (5)

15-2    June 12: Guy Forsyth at Shady Grove (4)

16-2    June 13: Shawn Pittman  at Rick’s on the Square in Tyler (3)

JUNE 14-15: No one

JUNE 16: Little Elmore Reed a third time

JUNE 17: No one

17-3    June 18 Suzanne Smith at B.D. Riley’s  (1)

18-3    June 18 Texas Renegade at Hill’s Cafe (5)

19-3    June 18  Aaron Watson at Hill’s Cafe (6)

20-4    June 19 Kissinger at Shady Grove (4)

JUNE 19:  Bob Schneider for a second time

21-5    June 20: Smash Cowboy at the Nutty Brown (5)

22-6    June 20: Charla Corn at the Nutty Brown (2)

23-6    June 20: Kevin Fowler at the Nutty Brown (6)

JUNE 21-22-23-24: No one (I’m wearing thin!)

24-6     June 25:  Austin Collins at Hill’s Cafe (4)

25-6    June 25:   Radney Foster at Hill’s Cafe (6)

26-7    June 26:     Susan Gibson at Shady Grove (3)

27-7    June 26:     Bruce Robison at Shady Grove (5)

JUNE 27:  No one

28-7     June 28   Geezinslaws at the Broken Spoke (6)

29-7    June 29    Belleville Outfit at Momo’s (5)

30-7    June 29    Warren Hood and the Hoodlums at Momo’s (6)

31-8    June 30    Chip Taylor at Waterloo Records (5)

Also:     Little Elmore Reed a fourth time
There you go, 31 bands/performers (but 36 performances) at 13 different venues, on 21 days (9 days without music). And 8 of those performers were new to me (maybe 9). And about 142 different musicians? That’s the little numbers on the right. There was some overlap, so maybe not quite that many. You know what is really amazing? I paid a total of $5 at the door for this whole month of music. Granted, I have some advantages and some free shows that others might not get, but the great majority of these shows were free. I was there for work more than pleasure, but anyone could have gone for free, too. I may see how much I see in July, but I’m not going to burden myself with a goal. At least not a live music goal. We’ll see tomorrow what my goal for July will be.

I could see going into this weekend that I was going to have to go see some music that was NOT related to my work in order to achieve this goal of 30 bands in 30 days. So I did just that:

BAND #27  The Geezinslaws at the Broken Spoke on Saturday night. I went over without the accordion this time. I decided I didn’t want Sam and the guys to think that was the only reason I came to see them. But they all seemed genuinely to wish that I had my box with me. Okay, next time. I hope there is a next time. There is a very suspicious “TBD” on the last Saturday of the month on the July calendar at the Spoke. What’s that supposed to mean? That’s the Geezinslaws’ Saturday night. I certainly hope there is no change in that long-standing tradition, but I will say they had a small group there Saturday night. I had a good time, though. Troy Kimmel was there and he bought my dinner. First time I’d seen him since way back. WAY back.

BAND #28  The Belleville Outfit at Momo’s.  I just got in from Momo’s and it was raining lightly downtown. How wonderful! I wish we’d get a cloudburst. No sign of rain down here in South Austin just yet, but I’m hoping. I was glad to see Phoebe, Rob, Jeff, Connor, Marshall and the drummer that I do NOT know of the Belleville Outfit. Such a tight, fun band with a unique sound. I wish they would work up Be Mir Bist Du Schon (which, I am sure is NOT how to spell that song title at all). That was on a Guy Lombardo album I had as a kid (hello!! I’m OLD!!) and I always have loved it. They have that same cool vibe. Lots of folks there to see them and it was a little bit claustrophobic, but Momo’s has that great outdoor deck so it was easy to go out there and catch a breeze.

BAND #29 Warren Hood and the Hoodlums  I think I can count this as new band #8, but I’m not sure. I’ve seen Warren in many configurations and I don’t quite know if I’ve seen the Hoodlums before. Just to make sure I DO see 8 new artists and complete my 30 for the month, I’m going to catch one more tomorrow. But Warren and the guys were fabulous. Great harmonies, very tight band, fun. But, again, even though a lot of Belleville Outfit fans seemed to clear out, a new wave came in and the place was very tight and very full, so I didn’t stay too long.

My other adventure of the day was making homemade ice cream for the first time in my life. Most everyone has memories of the bucket and churning the ice cream at family gatherings. I also have memories of coming home from school and mother making ice cream - - a LOT.  Mother was a real ice cream addict and made it regularly, especially once the electric freezer was invented. Maybe because we had it around so much, I’ve never been much of a fan. But since I inherited the bucket, I decided to give it a go this afternoon. It was pretty darn good, too! Maybe there is something to appreciating it more when you’ve turned the crank (figuratively, since this is still the electric maker). I made banana since I had some very ripe bananas in the kitchen and it was very good. I need to go back and try another BIG sample now that it has set up and had time to freeze hard. The funniest part of making it was when I finally plugged it in to begin its freezing. The motor kicks in and I look to the back door and see both kitties sitting, waiting anxiously to come in. I know they were thinking, “Can opener!! Food is on the way.” They dashed in and sat by their food dish and kept looking up, expectantly, like “When is that can opener going to be done?” Finally, Nathan had to get up on the counter to inspect this sound and find out why there was no forthcoming food.

A realization today about the contents of ice cream, too. When I was a little girl, I churned butter a few times. Not like kids of the old farm days did, but not like Girl Scouts do either, it wasn’t a one-time thing. We had a cow and we had cream and milk and we made butter a few times. Butter consists of one ingredient:  Cream.  Shake it around enough and add a touch of salt and you’ve got butter. Interestingly, you take that same cream, add sugar and eggs and vanilla and shake it around and freeze it at the same time and you’ve got ice cream. Butter with sugar, that’s basically what I’m about to go eat . . . with relish. And a big spoon.

I think I put off writing sometimes because there is SO MUCH to write about. I was at the show last night with a fabulous performance by Austin Collins and then a great two hours with Radney Foster and I was writing and rewriting in my mind. By the time I get home and settle in to write, I am overwhelmed by the enormity of the subject and the short deadline I’ve imposed upon myself (because it isn’t like I HAVE to write, right?). So I didn’t get to the writing last night like I should. So briefly:

BAND #23  AUSTIN COLLINS   I really like Austin Collins. He is not “country” in the traditional honky-tonk since nor in the Texas country sense. He is country in the “cool vibe” way that so many Jack Ingram songs are. Biting, interesting, different. I like Austin personally a lot. He has always been one of my favorites. I need to hear his music more.
BAND #24 RADNEY FOSTER  For someone that writes #1 hits as easily as he smiles and shakes your hand (or at least he makes it appear that way), he is such a humble, nice person. I think Radney was one of the first to ever be on my show that just insisted on singing live. I can’t remember why management was discouraging live performances up until then, but Radney would have none of that and serenaded me with “Just Call Me Lonesome” while I was playing the record and then did some fabulous song or another on the air, too. Easy to talk to, always full of ideas and projects, wonderful father. I like Radney. And I love his performances, too. It was great to have him with the full band and with Georgia Middleman singing, too. I had had her on my show (she was one that I sort of snuck on the air, hoping the boss wouldn’t hear and call and say “Why do you have this person on the air?”). The show was a little rough around the edges last night. I think they haven’t played in a while. There were some forgotten lyrics, some skipped measures, missed chords, but who cares. It was live and energetic and it was Radney!

Today, the music continued and I am still riding high on tonight’s shows:

BAND #25 SUSAN GIBSON  I decided tonight that I have NOT seen her before or I would definitely remembered it because it was so outstanding.  So she counts as new performer #7 in my quest. She was fabulous. I enjoyed her songs immensely. I bought a CD! I like the songs that make you think and tell a story and make you smile. She sang her own version of “Wide Open Spaces” which has a forgotten verse and makes it even better. And she’s from Amarillo, so we have that in common.

BAND #26 BRUCE ROBISON  Oh, what a great night. Bruce always puts on a great show at the Broken Spoke, but he does a lot of the songs that people like to dance to and he likes to play. He’s a big Webb Pierce fan. I love that, but I love HIS music and that’s what I really want to hear. Tonight I got that full 90-minute shot of Bruce and it makes me want to put his albums on the automatic record changer and play side A of every one of them and then flip them and hear all the side Bs.  I enjoyed seeing Scott Esbeck who had played bass with Charlie Robison for 7 years. He and I compared notes about being fired.  Bruce has a new CD coming out September that I am dying to get my hands on. It is called “The New World” and he has a couple of songs on his myspace.  I particularly like “California 85.”  He played it tonight and said, “That sounds like 2 in the afternoon at Gilley’s and that’s the sound I was going for.” That paints a picture doesn’t it? It is a country song in the tradition of, oh, Merle Haggard in the 1970s or maybe Charlie Pride. It’s drinking and regret, but has that sense of humor about it all, too. And the song “Bad Girl Blues” was very cute. A line about “I want to be the bridesmaid instead of always the bride.” Who hasn’t know women like that?

I really want to write my whole Bruce story . . . I feel so lucky that I “found” Bruce with his first album and have followed him for 15 years now. I guess I only “found” him because there was a radio station in Dallas (KNON) that would jump out and be different and surprise you with a new artist. Thank you Roy Ashley!! No, Bruce is not the most dynamic performer, his voice isn’t what attracts you to him, but a guy who can write “Angry All the Time” and “Travelin’ Soldier” AND write the strictly entertaining songs like “What Would Willie Do?” is the guy that I am going to pay to see and pay to get his CDs for as long as I can.

And I want to write about weird people. Mark rolls his eyes when I talk about the weird ones. I don’t know if he has a higher tolerance for weird people or he isn’t exposed to them in the same way. I heard Elvis Costello’s “Red Shoes” on the radio today and the lyric “I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.”  I try to have that approach, but I end up gritting my teeth and aggravating my TMJ. I usually avoid writing about weird people because I am sincerely afraid of offending them if they know me and they read my blog. But there were weird ones tonight that I know are so far removed from me they have no idea that I have a blog. I promise to write about them soon.

I have read a lot of blogs in my time where the writers go on and on ad infinitum about the tweaks they make on their website and the troubles they have. Man, now I can relate. After spending hours and hours and FINALLY getting it to look like I want it to look like (well, to a degree), all I can think about writing about is what I’ve gone through.

I will spare you, but please do go admire my July site. I left June as it is (blah) and bedazzled July, now that it has been updated good, too. Mark suggested last night that I add more pictures. Always a great idea, but a lot more time consuming than anyone that hasn’t done it can imagine. But they are there now for the world to see. Still so many other ideas I want to incorporate!
In my quest to see 30 bands in 30 days, I may have hit a wall… I’m tired! I stayed in over the weekend and stayed home from TC’s tonight, too. If I’m going to do it, I will have to get out tomorrow and I hope that I can find at least one band playing early, right after work, so I can catch them and then come home for more recuperating. So that means no Reckless Kelly CD release at Antone’s, but they wouldn’t count on my quest anyway since I saw them last week.

At Kevin Fowler’s show Friday night, he led into the song “Long Line of Losers” by talking about family.

By the way, congratulations to Kevin for getting a big Nashville cut. Montgomery Gentry just did that song on their new CD. I have only heard about 60 seconds of it, but it didn’t seem to me they have the wink in their eye when they sing it that Kevin does. Not nearly as good, but I hope it brings in lots of mailbox money for the Fowlers.

But Kevin does his introduction and he says “We’ve all got them, members of our family that are white trash! And you just hate ‘em.” He went on from there, but Christy and I looked at each other. She claims she doesn’t have any white trash in her family. I said I most certainly DO have some white trash in my family, but I love them just the same. None of that family would ever read my blog, I’m sure, but I will still refrain from telling tales, but there are plenty!

I was thinking about putting in a family picture or two into the blog tonight because I had a conversation yesterday with a man in Brownwood. I am related to him on my mother’s side and to his wife on my father’s side. Interesting to find that out. I am not-so-distantly related to her (second cousins, once removed), but very very distantly related to him. I will refrain from putting any family pictures today because I wouldn’t want you to think that was an indication that any of these folks were/are white trash.

It is time to tell the story of Friday night and playing accordion with Kevin Fowler. I haven’t gotten to it yet because life keeps getting in my way. Cleaning, gardening, laundry, sleep. I feel like an update of my site should take priority, too, but I am procrastinating on that and I will procrastinate by finishing this tale.

Have I said lately what a great place the Nutty Brow