Category Archives: Music

Musical Milestones

History, Internet, Music, News, Opinion, Rant, Stuff, Technology, Video, Welcome to the Future,

First there was 22,000 Days …

and now (just the music – no relation to the folks in the video)

because …

Side bar … although I own* many versions of “Birthday” – vinyl, cassette, CD, and iTunes – I can’t play it for you due to “copyright issues”, so I am forced to find the best cover on YouTube.

Welcome to the Future.

(Sigh)

* no longer sure I actually own them, but I sure paid for them

Relevant RANTS: HERE and HERE

Wolves

Economic Issues, Essay, Music, Opinion, Social Issues

I first met him in 2000. He was the Oracle DBA at the company which would later be bought by the one that employed my for 15 years. He is the reason I got my Oracle DBA certification.

He has been out of work for several years now and was finally forced to sell his house. He will be moving back to Oklahoma to live with relatives. He’s my age or a little younger. 

I went over to see him tonight. He is giving away his stuff as his subdivision doesn’t allow garage sales.

Lay offs, reductions in force, terminations continue unabated in the “oil patch”. 

Ever since he called me over the weekend to tell me he was moving, the Garth Brooks song “Wolves” has been playing in my mind. 

Oh Lord, keep me from bein’ the one the wolves pull down

Wolves

Garth Brooks

January’s always bitter

But Lord, this one beats all

The wind ain’t quit for weeks now

And the drifts are ten feet tall

I been all night drivin’ heifers

Closer in to lower ground

Then I spent the mornin’ thinkin’ 

‘Bout the ones the wolves pulled down

Charlie Barton and his family

Stopped today to say goodbye

He said the bank was takin’ over

The last few years were just too dry

And I promised that I’d visit

When they found a place in town 

Then I spent a long time thinkin’

‘Bout the ones the wolves pull down

Lord, please shine a light of hope

On those of us who fall behind

And when we stumble in the snow

Could you help us up while there’s still time

I don’t mean to be complainin’ Lord 

You’ve always seen me through

And I know you got your reasons

For each and every thing you do

But tonight outside my window

There’s a lonesome, mournful sound

And I just can’t keep from thinkin’

‘Bout the ones the wolves pull down

Oh Lord, keep me from bein’

The one the wolves pull down

 
Songwriters: STEPHANIE DAVIS

© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Rattlesnake | Līve

History, Music, Stuff, Video

So … twenty years ago Number One Son and I went to a Līve concert. I have been re-listening to Throwing Copper and Secret Samadhi. One song in particular, Rattlesnake (from Secret Samadhi) deserves mention. 

I really like this song. The tune itself is powerful. So are the vocals. I particularly like the guitar solo at 3:08. As with many of the songs by Līve, the lyrics are enigmatic, but I find the entire song quite stirring.

I Alone | Līve

finance, Health, History, Music, Relationships, Stuff, Video, , , ,

Nostalgia

Twenty years ago (circa 1997), Number One Son and I went to a Līve concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchel Pavilion. Number One Son was 14. The forecast was for rain. Our seats were in the uncovered part of the Pavilion. We brought rain ponchos and a large umbrella. We needed them. We sat in a torrential rain throughout the concert.

The Mrs had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis the year before. My life, all of our lives, were changing in unpredictable ways. The Mrs was going downhill and I was grieving the loss of her quality of life, our quality of life. The medical bills and hospitalizations were taking a toll. Little did I know that it would get worse.

We sat in the pouring rain listing to Līve blast out their songs. I have very fond memories of that concert. I bought two of their albums, Throwing Copper and Secret Samadhi  (I think I even bought Secret Samadhi at the concert). I used to listen to those albums in the CD player of the Ford Windstar we owned at the time. Perfect music for grieving. I actually own a large collection of CDs that I no longer listen to because we have switched to iTunes. I should probably invest in an external CD drive for my MacBook and begin ripping my old CDs to iTunes, but have avoided doing so.

I heard I Alone earlier this evening in the playlist of a local sporting goods store’s PA system. It brought all those memories back with a vengeance. Music has a way of doing that for me.

Epilogue (Twenty years later …)

The Mrs and I have been married forty-one years. She still battles MS and the diabetes she developed as a result of massive dosage steroid treatments she has received over the years. Twenty years of MS have eaten up all of our finances … and continue to do so. If you and your family are in good health you have no idea how fortunate you are. If you are battling a life altering illness, you know what we have been going through.

I may go dig out my Līve CDs and put them in my car to listen to. I still have grieving to do …

The waiting …

Economic Issues, finance, Health, Music, Relationships, Social Issues, Stuff, Video, , ,

I have been dealing with a variety of issues over the past year and a half that have been stressful, to say the least. My life has been plagued with, let us say … uncertainty. I used to say it was like being on a roller coaster, but now I think it is becoming more like a ride on the Vomit Comet.

To quote Arlo Guthrie (totally out of context) … “you may know somebody in a similar situation or you may be in a similar situation, and if you’re in a situation like that, there’s only one thing you can do … sing it the next time it comes around on the guitar …”

Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans

Film, History, Humor, Music, News, Science Fiction, Space Travel, Video, ,

Five years in the making – from PALETTE-SWAP NINJA

Love Star Wars? Love the Beatles?
You’re gonna LOVE this …

http://www.paletteswapninja.com/

Tracks 1 & 2 “Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans” / “With Illicit Help From Your Friends”

 

Track 3 “Luke is in the Desert”

 

Track 4 “Never Better”

 

Track 5 “Imperial Holes”

 

Track 6 “He’s Leaving Home”

 

Track 7 “Being From the Spaceport of Mos Eisle”

 

Track 8 “The Force Within You”

 

Track 9 “AA Twenty-Three”

 

Track 10 “Dianoga”

 

Track 11 “Keep Moving Keep Moving”

 

Tracks 12 & 13 “Reprise/A Day in the Life of Red Five”

 


 

If you liked it, PLEASE consider tipping them at the link below

http://www.paletteswapninja.com/

Threadgill’s Armadillo 

Food, Music, News, Stuff,

Timing is everything …

The Mrs and I decided to take a road trip from Catbeard Manor in West Houston to Threadgill’s Armadillo World Headquarters restaurant in Austin. http://www.threadgills.com/

Little did we know it was the final weekend of SXSW. http://schedule.sxsw.com/

Miraculously we just pulled into the parking lot, found the one remaining handicapped parking spot (the Mrs MS grants us tags), and immediately got a table.

 
The Mrs had a top shelf margarita “Herradura”. I had coffee (designated driver). She had fried catfish with “corn off the cob” and sweet potato fries. I had meat loaf with mashed potatoes and gravy (after having meatloaf at home for the past two nights*).

Life is good …

 
* the definition of a meat loaf fetish

The Womack House

Food, History, Music, Stuff

The Womack House restaurant was incorporated in 1981 on FM* 1093 east of Fulshear TX, a few months before the Mrs and I moved to Katy TX from Colorado fresh out of college. It was famous for “family style country food” and we ate there often when our kids were little.

Our first son was born in 1983. Coincidentally “Pancho and Lefty” by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson debuted the same year. The song was still popular several years later and I bought the cassette of the album. “Pancho and Lefty” was one of my first son’s favorite songs. The Womack House had a lounge (bar) and at the time a country-western singer named Clell Conner was a fixture. After dinner we would often retire to the lounge and Clell would play “Pancho and Lefty” for us.


From the Houston Chronicle …

“It was located in an old house with a big front porch with several porch swings,” according to Linda Linn .

And April Andres says she once spied Nolan Ryan dining there.

Bonnie Meyer, a former employee, remembers serving “huge platters of chicken-fried steak, catfish, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings and all kinds of fresh vegetables.

When she worked there, she says, “the (waitresses) had to wear old-fashioned floor-length peasant-style dresses, and we would often sit on the swings outside waiting for our first customers to arrive.

“We kind of looked like the girls on the Chicken Ranch in La Grange!” she adds.

According to Chronicle archives, Womack House closed in 1994.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 

I remember they had little galvanized pails of warmed saltine crackers.

Today I had lunch with an old friend at a Chinese restaurant in a new subdivision near Fulshear. All of this new construction sort of snuck up on me over the years. Roads that I remember as dirt roads out in the country are now four lane boulevards with large tree-filled medians. On a whim, I decided to drive out to Fulshear and see if I could find The Womack House. 



It is now a day care facility, but it is still there (complete with porch swings).

Memories …

 
* FM in Texas stands for Farm to Market road 

References 

http://m.chron.com/entertainment/article/Womack-House-1647309.php

https://www.corporationwiki.com/Texas/Fulshear/the-womacks-house-restaurant-inc/31942959.aspx

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ricewrc/00535/rice-00535.html

DVD Episode 139 Jan. 16, 1982: Landmark Inn, Castroville / H Graham-Clocks, Marble Falls / J Wilson-Antique Guns, Pyote / Clell Conner-Cowboy Singer, Liberty / Spradley-Telephones, McGregor

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancho_and_Lefty

 

PS “Pancho and Lefty” is a current staple on the Mrs playlist today. She has both the Merle and Willie version as well as a couple of Townes Van Zandt versions.

 

PPS At one point we had a vinyl album (33 1/3) of Clell Conner’s music that we bought from him at The Womack House. If I can find it, I will address in a future post.

Hair

Cats, Music, Rant, ,

Give me a head cat with hair … 

All of my cats have hair, a long top layer and an almost downy under layer. I don’t comb them enough. They can’t … be …combed enough. When I finally notice the matty mat mats it’s too late. Combing yields at least an extra cat full of hair, maybe more. Hillary and Pickles are forgiving. Patches not so much. They get shaved in the summer at the vet, but it is too cold to shave them in the winter. (As cold as we run the AC in the summer I even hate to shave them then.)

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t let them get as matted as some of the horror stories you see on the Internet, but a little matting goes a long way and takes a long time to get out.

I have a Roomba 980 and EVERY time it runs it fills up with hair. I could show you pictures, but just imagine a large cat without the actual cat. If you have long haired cats you know what I mean.

I mention this because I noticed that Hillary was getting just a little matted and when I had finished combing him out I had an extra cat and he didn’t look any skinnier.

You can’t always get what you want …

Economic Issues, History, Music, Social Issues, Welcome to the Future,

But if you try, sometime you just might find, you get what you need

The revolution WAS televised.

BBC live coverage “No one saw this coming” (Yoo-hoo … BREXIT?)

Many of you reading this will turn off now – but if you have not already watched it – please watch Donald Trump’s acceptance video below. This is not the Trump on the campaign trail. This is a very presidential Donald Trump. 

The Twitter-verse is awash with angry women and minorities both here and across the world, taking all of this very personally. I have friends and relatives who are very angry now. I have other friends and neighbors here in Texas who never thought this would happen but are relieved and pleased that it did. This was not merely an election – it was a revolution. 

Just remember that pre-election rhetoric is just that. What matters now is deeds. I do so hope that Trump can live up to his acceptance speech.

Black

Humor, Internet, Music, Technology, Video, , , ,

Black is the new #FFFFFF

  
Once you go #000000, you never <input type=”button” value=”Go Back” onclick=”history.back(-1)” />

  
Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, sugar is #FFFFFF, and so is

  

So is 

 

With apologies to

 

 Notes:

#FFFFFF is the hexadecimal Red-Green-Blue (RGB) code for white

#000000 is the hexadecimal code for black

#FF0000 is the hexadecimal code for red

#0000FF is the hexadecimal code for blue

They paved paradise …

Essay, History, Music, Rant, Social Issues, Video,

… and put up a parking lot

There has been a building boom in the far west Houston area. They must be building for the next boom because oil patch layoffs are at an all time high. All manner of woodlands, grasslands, and former rice fields are being paved over to build subdivisions, apartments, office complexes, and shopping complexes. I am not a tree hugger and am more aware than most that the only constant in the universe is change.

I just passed another area of new construction and this tune started playing in my head. At no time in the past 45 years has it been more true than today.

  

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Yellow_Taxi

COOL PEOPLE – The Lone Ranger – Who Was The Real Lone Ranger and What Becomes a Legacy Most?

History, Music, Reblog, , ,

[cb note: Experimenting with “featured image”. Unfortunately the iOS version (if not all versions) seems to crop the “featured image” in undesired ways. I had to extend the canvas size of Bass Reeves to avoid cropping out his eyes. Even it still cropped his eyebrows. 😦 ]
This is a interesting post addressing many aspects of the Lone Ranger legend, but to me the most interesting part of the story comes at the very end of the post …

WHO THE REAL LONE RANGER WAS

http://politicalblindspot.com/the-real-lone-ranger-was-an-african-american-lawman-who-lived-with-native-american-indians/

BEATNIKHIWAY

What Becomes a Legacy Most

lone9

To put you in the mood here is the theme song from the #Lone Ranger series that ran from 1949-1957

https://youtu.be/uUpDG680uew

 Glen Campbell Plays “The #William Tell Overture” (acoustic)

Published on Aug 18, 2015

From September 1974 in New York’s Central Park, Glen Campbell plays an acoustic version of “The William Tell Overture”. In later years he always used an electric guitar for this. Sometime around 1974 Glen recorded an acoustic studio version of William Tell that sounds much like this, but it went unreleased for years until it was accidentally released on the 1997 Razor & Tie 2-CD set “The Glen Campbell Collection”. I say accidentally because the track listing for the compilation lists the live 1977 version with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, but what you hear is the 1974 studio acoustic version.

https://youtu.be/0bhuxkzjuQc

The Lone Ranger S01E02 – The Lone Ranger Fights…

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My God, it’s Full of STARS…

Art, Fiction, Film, History, Horror, Humor, Music, Photography, Reblog, Science Fiction, Space Travel, Video, , , ,

This is absolutely amazing. Everyone should see this. If you like it please, please reblog this on your site too …

Late to the Theater

What if every club in the cinematic multiverse intersected at one, single point?

BEHOLD. The greatest action/sci-fi/crime thriller/horror film mashup in the history of EVER!

Seriously, I could not stop laughing and clapping and grooving. Every time a new face popped up I was like ‘NO WAY BUT YES!’

Made by this genius: ANTONIO MARIA DA SILVA AMDSFILMS

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Happy Aniversary

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To me …