Happy Birthday...

 Ok, I am a day late on a birthday again. Happy birthday to Margaret, pictured here with her sister Cathy.

And no tuba playing. That belongs to Grayson now but you are welcome to pick another instrument if you so like.

Please...

Don't anyone tell Lany I took a nap during his song. 

You can see me napping and Mary drumming with the Back Porch Band at the Lufkin VFW this Saturday 8-11pm for $5 a head. 

Happy Birthday Peter...

Happy birthday Peter. I am sorry, very busy today might not get around to the tuba thing but that's maybe something better discussed offline. 

I did manage to take Peter eel fishing for his birthday. We had a great time and he was gracious enough to recommend I wear a swim suit also. The eels were biting. We caught them on eel bait. Lucky we caught a lot because the most delicious part of eel is the neck. Takes a lot of necks to make a nice mess for a dinner. 

Already looking forward to our next eel fishing trip.    

Under the Old Oak Tree...

I tried for an art shot, a nature photo what ever you want to call it using the old oak tree in the drive way as a subject. The green green leaves weight the branches to hang down forming a dark spring canopy over the blue rock drive way making it shady and cool instead of stark dusty hot. The western sun sets in this photo but I think if you got up early in the morning and made this photo about 7:15am before the eastern sun climbed up over the tall backyard pines it would have a different feel or something that might even be called an emotion in the first morning light. 

I don't know how old this tree might be. I like to imagine it ancient. It was there when traveling Indians stopped in it's shade to fire an old clay peace pipe made from Angelina River mud. I just know it was there when I got here and it makes these old thoughts of Indians and ancients spring up in my old head. In all reality in may be near of it's life, half hollow from the hot weather black carpenter ants that appear every summer. It might show it's contempt for things man made when one day it topples on my garage during a night time blow crushing or trapping my small car and making me late for work that morning. I'll get sweaty cranking the chain saw, piling up firewood to last a long damn time.  

Whoops Missed a Birthday This Week...

 It was Geneva's. Sorry I was not on top of the game and posted about it Tuesday.

Here's a good picture of her involved in doing what she does best and that is making Bill behave, do right and all that other good stuff.

Don't know the lady in the background or even what day her birthday is.

Food at the Festival...

Ok, let's see if I can detail the good eats we had at the St Patrick''s Festival. I ate the Cajun Pasta that the Ladies Guild made. A large serving with bread, cake and a big ice tea. Pasta, sausage and very fresh shrimp in a nice pink sauce all very nummy.

I don't know who this girl or what that dish is called is but she is liking her hot sauce. I think this is one of the best fest pictures I made.

Next up is the tortas man. He toasted buns and yelled "tortas" all day long. I got him to fix me one. It's a toasted bun, mayo on both sides, some kind of BBQ looking meat, tomato, lettuce, onions with some kind of seasoning, avocados and I got him to top it off with jalapenos. Cost, $4, a bargain and a belly full.

And of course what's a festival without Morales hot sauce. At dawn on Sunday morning the professionals all arrived at the same time. Me, Ed George and Bocho from Morales. Nuff said about that.






http://www.pbase.com/wallace_6/st_patricks_catholic_church_lufkin_texas_2012_festival&page=all 

More photos at this link. 

What a Weekend....

Let's see what started first? Coraline came. Her parents brought her. We had the church St. Patrick's  festival where these photos were made. Not sure what you call the cut out barrel ride. You know, a redneck thing, maybe they have it in other parts of the world but you pull a string of barrels around with a 4 wheeler and the kids love it. 

Then there were the festival horse rides. When Coraline saw the horse she said, "Dog!" I have said worse things about horses. 

The Back Porch Band also played the festival. Well received we even got them on the dance floor. We got a mention on the front page of the Lufkin Daily News. They called us the "Black Porch Band" and I think I like it. Some one asked me for a business card. We don't have any, nice to know people recognize this as business, but I think I'll have some printed up that say "Black Porch Band." See if the other guys notice. 

I had bought 60 dozen Green Mardi Gras Beads from a company on Toulouse St. in New Orleans. I don't know if it's some kind of cultural thing, maybe nice people like at church and a largely Hispanic membership don't go to New Orleans style parades and learn to put their hands up to catch beads. Sorry I hit all ya'll in the face. I guess over all I am really not a nice person. 

Once again to the news media, I was interviewed at the fest by the LDN.  All my quotes were attributed to the Parish Priest. I don't mind, I think Father Francis would have answered the questions the same way as I did. Only answer that was different was when the reporter asked how long I had been here and I answered about 25 years. Father has been here about two years. The next day he was wondering where that came from. I was wondering if I looked like a priest. I have been trying to be a good boy lately, it is Lent and all. 

And one last thing that I thing made my weekend. At the Festival some teenage comes up to me and says, "Was that you playing the coffee shop Friday night?"  

With Warm Weather Here I Kind of Feel Like Playing in the Water Hose...

I remember the kid's name. That's Mary. I have forgotten the dog's name. Somebody needs to remind me. I do remember that he liked to play in the water hose. He always tried to bite the stream. These warm days make me feel a little like jumping around in the hose. It would have to be warm water though. It did not matter to this old hound whether the water was warm or cold. He would play with the hose anytime.  Maybe I should not be so picky. 

Music Events Coming Up...

Here is an old photo I scanned in this morning. It's complete with 35mm camera flash. A wall mural made some where in New Orleans I'll use it to for shameless self promotion to advertise various upcoming gigs even though the following listings will sound or look nothing like this picture.

March 16th 7:30 Open Mike at the Standpipe. Look for Mudbelly and Mrs Mudbelly as well to play sometime after 7:30

March 18 St Patrick's Catholic Church St Pat's Festival opens at 10:15 with the Back Porch Band leading off, Mudbelly and Mary on bass and drums respectively. 

March 31st Get your dancing shoes on for two stepping with The Back Porch band at the Lufkin VFW. What ever time they usually start.

April 6th More dancing with the Back Porch Band SPJST Hall. 

April 21st Some kind of Roping/Rodeo Event, a Benefit at the Angelina Expo followed by Dancing that evening to the Back Porch Band. 

April 28th Crawfish boil at Morgan's? I'm sure there will be jamming? 

Gator Rides...

Everyone gets a ride on the Gator during recent Popfest fun. In the first photo all sit tight while Duke runs to catch up. 

Second photo is of the one that would rather walk. 

In the third photo I think those are "just seen a Big-Foot" looks on those faces. 

This Ought to be a Slam Dunk...

I saw this political sign while driving through East Texas the other day. This is not an endorsement by any means but running for Constable in a county named San Jacinto with a name like that should be a gimmie.  In fact if public schools taught history correctly I think there has been a Sam Houston that was constable of this county before. It has been some years back though.  It helps that from other signs I saw that Sam's opponent seems to be Harley Loving.  

Tried for an Art Shot...

I took this photo at the Popfest Jam on Saturday. It's Rose and Mary's guitars. They are taking a break from the action doing that kind of psychedelic stuff where you face two guitars at each other and the warm earthy vibes pour out linking wood and wire to floating shimmering souls increasing human brain wave communication and the truth songs are for. 

These two are a couple of pawn shop mutts. Mary's on the right (really mine but she is putting it to good use playing the heck out of it) is a little number I picked up in a hock shop in the early 80s. Probably a 70s guitar, made in Japan, who would have ever thought we would get this far with an imported guitar.  Rose's guitar is a recent pawn shot find by her. She has inherited her mother's liking of the Yamaha brand. Maybe a little work by Coraline will get the front faded like Mary's old Alvarez. When Coraline is big enough to play at Popfest we will take another picture of Rose's guitar.   

This Fishing Report a Week Late...

That's how things are running around here. I am behind in keeping all up with the news. 

Actually There was not much news to report as far as the catching on this trip goes. We caught just enough for a nice little supper fish fry. I guess the biggest news was that we were accompanied by a celebrity guest, Doctor Doolittle. Maybe we would have caught more is he had not spent so much time talking to the animals.  

Popfest Music...

Bill threw his (correct me if I am wrong, have published bad info and outright lies on here before) 3rd annual "Popfest" or Cooney music jam this weekend. It was a day of good eats and good fun singing on the back porch. 

First picture Cathy and her dad, Bill. It's the "thought we knew that song moment."

Next picture, Cathy, Pop, cousin Patrick and cousin Michael. 

Mary and Rose on guitar with Ali banging a tambourine. Rose is having an "I got blisters on me fingers" moment. 

Morgan on bass. Hey dude, I did not get to play bass at all! 

Cousin Michael and his wife Sara (Sarah?) sing a duet. They came prepared with a portable teleprompter.  

Great fun was had by all. 

You Know, I Still Have That Shirt...

I guess I am in a post an old picture mood. Mary, who is not pictured in this photo at all as the result of not even being born yet was digging through some old photos in a brown paper bag. I guess that's what did it. This is not a brown bag photo, some of those will soon appear, but instead a photo that hangs framed in our room. I am going to guess the date as late winter/spring 1988, maybe '89. Those little people in the photo are Katie, Rose and Morgan. The big people are me and Cathy. 


I think this was a self portrait. A 35mm Minolta (are they still in business?) was set on a step ladder and everyone ran to get in place. I can still run, even in this fast digital age to make a photo like this if I have too. 


I still have this barn. It's been painted a few times. We still use the barn red which as you see here has faded but is pretty fresh looking at this time. I still have that shirt. Still fits and looks pretty good if I wear a little matching jacket with it. We could recreate this pose. Maybe even let Mary be in it.