So I was in a used record store...

...and they had new ones and used cds also. We were in Nashville, Evansville, Austin, New Orleans, Lufkin I forget in one of the kind of places where you dig around in stuff that other people no longer want. And there were other people digging right along with me. All had on their digging clothes, the uniform of the professional hip. Slacker special pants, tats, piercings heck I felt like I was at work. We have to dress a certain way there also.

As I glanced through the records and there were quite a few new ones I noticed the cover of a Various Artist Compilation I had download from emusic. Titled "Palenque Palenque: Champeta Criolla and Afro Roots in Columbia 1975-1991" it was the kind of music you hear playing at a party just before everyone takes off their shirts. I thought it was so cool I gave the copy I burned to Miguel. In the store this record on vinyl was priced $30. I did not ask if this was negotiable. I did congratulate myself on being able to pick music others thought was valuable, or even good even if the only criteria I use is whether it makes people want to take off their shirts.

Looks Like Ode to a Blue Chair...

Tilt Billings and the Student Prince by Leo Kottke:

"Tilt Billings saw a guitar in a pawn shop window

Not much to look at but he knew that he'd found

That old Student Prince that they made years ago

So easy to play - what unbeatable sound!

Paid twenty bucks and grabbed his guitar

Still be a steal at ten times the dough

It was amazing how a mere beginner

Could play just a few notes and sound like a pro

He'd play his heart out when he was at parties

Guys would get jealous - but girls were impressed

They'd ask how he did it he'd say

"Nothin' to it, with this kind of guitar it brings out my best."

One night when he had the room captivated

He took five and set down his prince

When a drunk stumbled by and sat down where he laid it

And he's never sounded quite the same since

So Tilt's still upset but he's givin' up crying

Just can't lift his eyes from the sad, sad ground

Time marches on with its fingers still trying"

Got to Try Something Pretty Cool This Past Weekend...

Valve trombone!

Gonzalo and Edwin of AMG, who played at the church festival this past weekend each had a valve trombone. Gonzalo gave me the ok to try out Edwin's. I really liked it. Wanted to marry it. It fingers the same as my tuba. Don't have to marry it because Cathy gave me an ok to get one for my birthday.

Birthdays a few months off. Time enough to find out if it's really love or just a passing crush.

Back Porch Band at Fiestas Patrias...

Lot of fun this weekend at St. Patrick Catholic Church Fiestas Patrias/Our Lady of LaSelette Festival. Hard work by a lot of folks paid off with plenty of food and music for a pleasant afternoon with a bit of cooling rain. Here you see the guys and girl of the Back Porch band making their St. Patrick debut.

Sorry about

the hat, just a dumb white guy, hope I did not offend anyone's culture because I sure have fun being dumb. Probably a good thing tequila was not served at this event.

The master of disaster gets tangled in Runt's Telecaster for a few tunes. This is a very nice guitar. I have asked Runt if I could marry it, you know do the whole in sickness and in health thing. He says no.

.

Back on the

skins.

For a complete slide show of the fest check the St. Pat's web site photo gallery:

http://stpatrickslufkin.com/photo-gallery/

We Are God Parents...

Busy day at the Church today. Here we are at the Baptism of our Godchild, Ian.

He did not look at the camera but me, Cathy his

Mom, Isabelle and Deacon Ray did.

Also spent the day setting up for tomorrow's Fiestas Patrias. Plenty of good food to be sold, profits benefit the church. There will be entertainment. Me and Mary appear with the Back Porch band 10am-12pm, St Patrick's school kids, dancers and AMG performing around 2pm.

Few Photos from the Beach...

Got a bunch of photos from the three times I have been to the beach this summer. here are a couple of the more random ones.

This is a beach house we rented on surfside one time. It's a casualty of Hurricane Ike. Not sure why it is still standing as most all of the wrecked houses are gone. During a recent drive on the west end of Galveston we decided that many of the front row beach houses we rented when the kids were little are all gone. Lots of new construction out there, big old piles of houses, ugly modern style with nothing to do with the Texas Gulf coast that sleep 20-30 people. All waiting down on the low west end for the next big blow they make the future look good for insurance payments and the preventive maintenance business.

I remember the mosquitoes were bad at this house. In fact my ankles are itching a little as I type this.

Somebody's dog at the beach. Not mine. He looked like he was having a good time despite the fact that he was discriminated against by the the business that only allowed entrance of his owner causing him to be forced to sit in the back of a shaded truck. My wife says I am going to get in trouble stopping to make pictures like this. I think most people would like

it since a person owned animal has it better than the three fourths of world without shaded pickup truck beds and that includes a good health care program with long term care provisions. The people that own animals are proud of these facts.

Saw Santana This Past Weekend...

Saw Santana this past weekend at the Woodlands Pavilion with Cathy, Mary and Miguel. He played all the hits.

I go see a good bit of live music, usually small clubs and venues, outdoor fests. This is the first big traveling rock show in a while. Good lights, tight band, great singers.

We went with lawn seats, a blanket thrown on a grassy knoll, really pretty relaxing as I went down after work, drove home and went to work Sunday.

That's Santana's wife Cindy on the blue drum set. He's not the only one married to some one in the band. I am talking about Cathy, not Runt.

Opening act was Michael Franti and spear head. Nice logo wish I had bougth the t-shirt.

I remember...

So one day in the future, hopefully a long time from now, but it will happen, I'll be dead. I'll lay in noble repose up at Gipson's Funeral home, like so many hard headed Wallaces of old, at rest, at peace, my long journey done.

They will gather, family and friends, sorry and sad for sure, but I am ok, ready to lay in Mother Earth, my work done. As they gather around, the casket is on that lazy Susan thing that Gipson's has, where the family takes their last viewing, the lid is closed and they spin you around to the main sanctuary for the service to begin. Contrary to popular belief this is not a special maneuver required to get a Wallace into heaven, merely a convenience to move the proceedings along.

Before all this happens there will be the remembrances. Coraline, the granddaughter in this picture will take her turn telling a story about the time with Grandpa on the beach. The time he ran up and down the beach so fast I had to hold on to his hat to keep it from flying off into the Gulf of Mexico and to keep myself from falling in the water.

The rest of the kids possibly other grandkids will hear this story and stare open mouthed in disbelief. The will all say,"Grandpa ran fast, nu-uh!"

If it Seems I am not Managing my Online Image...

Here is what I have been up to:

http://stpatrickslufkin.com/

Built by RealGraphics in Lufkin Texas I am web master. Most photos are mine and I am building the slide shows. Also have the capability for video and music. Please share this site with your interested friends.

Los Lonely Boys...

Saw Los Lonely Boys, a home grown Grammy Award winning band of brothers from San Anglo Texas play at the Crockett Texas Civic Center as part of the Pineywoods Fine Arts Series last Friday night. A nice warm professional performance from some guys that really show that they love what the do.

Left to right, Henry, Ringo and Jo-Jo.

Followers here on these pages might remember pictures posted from the past, this is the third time I have seen them including a front row at

a SXSW concert for the recording of their live DVD. That's me you almost see in the DVD with the large woman jumping on my back screaming Jo-Jo's name.

The concert series in Crockett is worth checking out, last year the had the Neville Brothers and I missed it.

Happy Late Birthday...

I was out of town this weekend and missed a post wishing my brother Glenn a happy birthday on Sept 3rd.

He whoops for joy, celebrating the aging process.

Most Valuable Things You have Learned...

Learning is valuable in of itself. A visit to the 92 year old Guido's Restaurant in Galveston, Tx where you see Cathy and Coraline being welcomed by the big crab on the roof, reminds me of something a waiter at this storied dining establishment taught me years ago as I looked over the menu to make my dinner selection. That nugget of wisdom is when the water is hot (in the summer) order the crab, when cold (winter) order the oysters. I have held to this code, this commandment, this screed ever since. It has served me well and again on this visit as I had the blackened fish, shrimp and scallops topped with crab and a fried soft shell on the side.

Another angle with Guido's companion restaurant, Casey's, and it's big shrimp in the background with just a small sliver of the Gulf at dusk visible upper right of the frame.

Guido's and Casey's share a kitchen, what's the difference besides 100 bucks added to your bill? You can go in Casey's in a tank top and shorts up to your butt. Guido's is a little dressy, the kind of place where your country band would feel right at home after gig, all dressed up in glitter suits.