A Perfect Tuba, Book Report...

 

I was in a local merchant recently. They were ready for the gift giving season and I saw a stack of these traditional kid recliners for sale. They were camo, apparently targeted to East Texas tastes. Rated for the 1-5 year old age group they probably sold like hot cakes. I expect some buyers remorse when these kids turn 12 and they don't want to do anything but hey, it was a good Christmas.  

I just finished reading this book, A Perfect Tuba. I've played the tuba since 1969 and how I came to this book is a story in itself. My friend Anne told me about hearing a podcast interviewing the author Sam Quinones and I checked it out. It looked good and as books accumulate around here like fire ants and yellow flowers I allowed I'd see about it sooner or later. In a few days the book arrived in the mail. I'm not sure if it was accidently ordered or maybe sent by an unknown friend but if that's so I thank them again. I enjoyed it and my wife says it makes me easier to understand.  

In the book, Quinones, who has written several books on the opioid addiction crisis weaves a story of the history of great tuba players and famous horns which advanced the possibilities of the horn and stories of kids that came to the tuba as a kind of last resort (my story) toiling along mastering an instrument that more often than not does not lead to great public recognition, money or compliment but instead furthers the person, the organization and the community in which they are a part. 

Quinones writes of tuba and marching band, "They offer us lessons in how to confront our mass market culture of addiction." He relates that a band director once told him that what he wrote about opioids, you see the answers to these problems in tuba and band. 

In other words tuba might be the answer to the 21st century word enshitification, which began meaning the decay of online services which once benefited the user but swung to less features and more cost to provide max value to the share holder and is a definition that has begun to apply to other areas in our lives such as politics and society. 

That child recliner is enshitification. Next they get their own TV and of course a product to put in the cup holder and while a TV is pretty cheap these days the real cost of all this as you can imagine is down the line. 

Get them a tuba which you really don't even have to buy since because of it's cost it's generally a school supplied instrument. Here's a clip of where my horn has led me. "Up on the House Top" is a simple Christmas song but on examination there's more there. It's the second oldest secular Christmas song behind Jingle Bells and was written in 1864 by Benjamin Hanby. It's the first to mention Santa Claus but Hanby who died in 1868 was more famous for anti slavery songs such as "Darling Nelly Gray."

You might not make money or get famous playing the tuba. I don't own a recliner but I do sit in a sexy S-Chair. I cover songs that lead me down a historical path. I think the world is a better place because of these things. Maybe on another day I'll answer the question of which comes first, the tuba or the player.   

       

  

It's A Non Report But Maybe We Caught Something...

 

Sometimes I think I've occasionally been remiss in my parenting and grandparenting. My dad made me fish with a cane pole until he was confident that I was not going to cause a ruckus in the boat somehow with tangles, hooked fishing partners and expensive dropped overboard green stamp purchased fishing combos. Hence the cane pole use. I don't worry about all that and go ahead and provide if not the best gear, serviceable gear that they use well.     

That does not mean I haven't had to dredge up a couple of dropped fishing poles over the past year or so. One five year old dropped his, an honest mistake. I'm not sure what came to be when the 41 year old dropped hers but I do recall that I was a full grown man, still tromping around in cane thickets in search of the one with the perfect curve before I discovered you could catch crappie with a rod and reel instead of switch cane and black Dacron line with a cork bobber. 

So with all these memories bouncing inside my head I was glad to take the grandkids to Pioneer Days at Martin Dies Jr. State Park. In addition to providing cane pole fishing they saw some camp cooking (nothing new for them here) old fashion kitchen wares, muzzle loading rifles, and how to fold a blanket in a triangle for ground sleeping.  

While they didn't add to our year end catfish totals today may be they learned something about the old ways that will connect them to the things in my old head. Nothing remiss about that. 

Camping and Fishing Report Hanks Creek, Sam Rayburn Lake USA...

 If I counted up right as I reviewed back through this blog there have been 10 camping trips this year. For #10 we did not range too far from home as we set up at Hanks Creek which is about 20 minutes from our house and the jumping off point to our favorite fishing spots. As blues man Taj Mahal said "many fish bite if you got good bait" and bite they did this weekend. 

Though we camped by ourselves we were joined by daughter Katie from Chicago who was in for a funeral of a friend's mom, the Zamora family (there was fried catfish to eat) and our friends Sherri and Peter. Final total for catching fish was 42 for this three night trip with is right in line with a trip we had 15 years ago this weekend where we tent camped, it was colder, rained and we caught 48 fish. 

By the way, all those fish were eaten.

The lake is almost 9' low as you can see from the large exposed beach in the background of this photo. The fish were holding in the creek channels about 7 feet deep so they are still hanging in the same areas but it's worth a note that we have caught 100s of fish on that exposed sandbar behind these fishers. 

Yeah mama, eat it every day if I could. 

I don't think I got a photo of Katie or Miguel but they might not have fishing licenses and in a surveillance society no need to incriminate.   

Big gator living in the campground cove. This photo taken in sight of our boat docking spot. 

Bikes always fun on a campout. 

Not many campers in the park. We saw maybe 6-8 sites occupied but many are still closed from hurricane damage last summer or spots where you could pull a boat up are not close to the water with the lack of rain and dam repair draw downs. One bathroom is closed. All camper we talked to were catch catfish but I think they were mostly fishing deep so take your pick. Fish are everywhere. 

No trips currently on the books but I'm open to suggestions. 

 

The Terrible Twos...

I'm a proud grandparent. Mine are the best and I post their photos to social media. When I encounter my friends and I'm accompanied by the grandkids they have already seen the photos and say, "they are as cute as the pictures." I say, "thanks, if I don't shave them they look just like me." I think that's a funny line. What's not so funny is that Milo, who looks and acts like so much they call him Brown Carl is in the grip of the terrible twos. 

You may have experienced the terrible twos with your own children and surely had them yourself. It's when you don't get what you want or due to the fact that your communication skills have not expanded enough to keep up with your understanding of how the world works the frustration at all this makes you lose complete control of your emotions.  

We kept Ezra, Luca and Milo this weekend while the parents were off on a trip. The kids were good. They helped with yard chores. We attended Honor America Night and they were good. We saw the Dino Light Show at Temple Theater and they were good. We went to church and they were good. 

But if Milo is denied a "T-Tia" (tortilla), Pinky Panther on TV or if he has just eaten 4 Mandarin oranges (he can peel them) and you refuse him the 5th one he has a meltdown. 

One night at bedtime he lost complete control because he was denied an apple (a tactic to stay up longer) and splayed himself across the floor howling in such existential pain that his brothers felt it and cried too.  

When he does this I just stand there and look. After all it's his pain not mine and while not as cute as some of the photos there is a certain charm and style to these performances. The terrible twos will pass. He won't remember it and I won't either. 

    

Grupo Generacion Mix at the Lufkin Heritage Festival...

 I went downtown yesterday to see my friends from church, Grupo Generation Mix play at Lufkin Creative's Heritage Festival. I had last seen the group at the Fiestas Patrias Festival at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in September and while I enjoyed that performance (what's better than friends playing music?) I believe this group is improving and with it's mix of various generations should be gigs to keep an eye out for at future events. 

Grupo Generacion is made up of family members and participants in St. Patrick's Bilingual Youth Choir. This music is an expansion of that project and I don't really know what you call the style but it's dance music with lots of cumbias. I've known some of the members for years even going back to the 1990s when we had a kids choir at St. Pat's and the early 2000s when we had a bilingual choir so I feel this group has that same spirit combined with more ambition to present itself to the greater Lufkin Community at events like this. 

That's Hugo on bass. I worked with him at the old paper mill another lifetime ago. The mom of one of the singers sang with us when she was a teen in our church groups and still comes for the Quinceaneras, weddings and funerals we play for.  

Check the lady in the boots dancing. Cathy who worked 30 years as a labor and delivery nurse, says she delivered her as a baby. That's her dad, Enrique on guitar. 

There were also traditional dancers in the style of Oaxaca (I think) and I had some real good food truck quesadillas.  I think earlier in the day there were some DAG (dude and guitar) acts and other entertainment. It was a good show and I look forward to the next festival in this great downtown space. You might even see a Drum and Tuba Christmas pop up gig here soon. 

 

Del Castillo at The Live Oak Listening Room...

 I often find myself (yeah, you, self) mystified when excellent music that me (and many of my friends, yeah, you know who you are) hold in high esteem is not well known to the average Joes (yeah you know if you Joe) of the world. Last night the  Del Castillo Trio played the Live Oak Listening Room in Nacogdoches, Tx. and it was a fantastic show to a full venue.    

The Del Castillo full band played at Stephen F. Austin State University a bit over a year ago and that was my first time to see them. Last night was the first time to see the Trio format which the only difference from the big band might be a bit of electronic trickery on the guitars that adds delay, spacy ambiance and violin type sounds to blazing fast flamingo style fret work. 

In the course of audience interactions, which the band enjoyed because this is a cozy space and made fine gig encouragement on their end of the show they mentioned playing Europe, releasing music sung in Italian with musicians from that country and the age old joke of being "big in Japan." Del Castillo is an Austin, Tx based band and it seems that they stick to a circuit of clubs in Texas that I am very familiar with visiting, many of which are close enough I could attend a gig at and then drive home afterwards. Probably where that average Joe listener most likely may have encountered their music is in the movies of director Robert Rodriguez.

If you haven't been to the Live Oak Listening Room you should go. Last show they had was the Denton, Tx based polka band Brave Combo which is another band I think should be world famous along with Del Castillo and have their music blasting out of everybody's radio. The order of business the night of a concert is cook some good food to share at the pot luck which begins at 6pm. Get a comfy seat as these are civilized shows starting at 7 where you get to sit down unless you want to get up and dance and there's plenty of room for that. I might mention there is no admission ticket but you know how much a show costs so just drop your money in the tip jar or scan the handy venmo code to assist with operating expenses.

A great band, playing in your neighborhood is a treat. What if everyone went to see that? It would create some logistical problems for the venue but it might be the start of a transition from average Joe to something else and that's what's good for the world.  

         

        

Making That Internet Money...

One morning this week I woke up to this email. 

Since I made that first million with my band Drum and Tuba Christmas it looked like I was off and running to that second million. A closer examination revealed that it was not my personal facebook page making this money but another page, St. Patrick Catholic Church, Lufkin, Tx of which I one of the administrators that got this dough rolling in. I am the original administrator that created the page on Aug. 11, 2011 but for the past five years our pastor, Father Denzil Vithanage has been the main content creator. Father D loves to make photos and videos of events in the parish and lately has thrown in some of his drone footage and a bit of AI. Content creation can be tricky but I like what Father does and am in total agreement with his vision and more than happy to give him credit.

I'm not exactly sure how we make this money since the only thing we sell is sometimes after Mass groups set up with home made tacos and snow cones or enchilada plates to support various causes at the church. I guess those likes and video clicks add up and people view ads that their algorithm generates and that's a good thing for us.    

And though the money went into my bank account I am more than happy to dig in my pocket and place this extra, which looks like it will be a monthly occurrence in the collection plate. Maybe it will increase and grow bigger and better just like our parish has. 

I recall when the page first started how we stalled out with just a couple of hundred followers but now with over 3000, which is more than in attendance each Sunday I think the effort of posting current information has paid off. 

You can also check out our traditional web page. I maintain it and while probably not as entertaining and in the moment as facebook you can find out the time of services, how to register for things, links to the bulletin or how to contact people in charge of ministries. My personal philosophy as to the content here is what would a traveler or someone completely unfamiliar with our parish or possibly not a social media user need to see as that is how I use church web pages to find a parish near me when travelling. 

Just for the record most of our followers and site traffic come from Angelina county but Mexico is second place. Give us a click sometime or better yet just stop by.