Music in Chicago...

I know Chicago is a big blues town but for some reason I keep gravitating to the hillbilly kind of stuff. On this trip we went to a club, Fitzgerld's and saw Bill Kirtchen. He's a former member of Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen and the author of the song "Hot Rod Lincoln." It was a country/rock/diesel bill/truck driving sonic assault.  

Great show with the most notable thing during the performance of Hot rod Lincoln Bill hollered out "and then I passed the Beatles in my Hot Rod Lincoln" and he played 4 bars of Day Tripper. Then he passed the Stones and played 4 bars of Satisfaction. Then he passed Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. Then he played 4 bars of Manic Depression as he passed Hendrix. Then he passed Santo and Johnny, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Howling Wolf and so on. Music fans can guess at the tunes he sampled, all famous guitar riffs. Great little bit of showmanship. Bill is also a great trombone player. He paraded through the crowd playing a yellow plastic bone. I did not get a good photo as he was moving pretty fast for a 65 year old guy. 

In fact Cathy had seen Bill before when he opened for the Eagles and Allman Brothers. We figured it up, it was years ago and Bill was about 25 and Cathy about 14. Neither remember the gig very well. You know, it's been a long time. 

Opening act was James Inveldt.I think I spelled that right. Good honky tonk stuff with good guitar playing and song writing all around. 

All in a all a great show with all kind of Fender guitar and amp goodness. If in Chicago this weekend there is a great little festival  with many bands I like being held at this club. 

  

Katherine and Peter's New House...

This spring the PK bought a new house in Chicago. Not a new built house, but a new house to them. In fact it's an old house that was built in 1904. It's been kept very well and fixed up right modern. Here they are pictured in the front yard. 








The back of the house. You can see the old brick a little better here. All back yards here are fenced but there is a nice upstairs balcony for viewing your neighbor's business.




The living room.  You can see there is plenty of space for a gathering.











The kitchen. The food cooked in here tastes good.












Nice little backyard with a garage That's the fire pit in the center. There is also a basement. 

I don't think they will mind because it is a nice place with three bed rooms so I'll just go ahead and invite all blog readers to come and stay with them anytime they are in Chicago.     

Happy Wedding Anniversary To Us...

Happy wedding anniversary to me and Cathy. It was our 24th on Monday June 24th. 

Here we are pictured on Katie and Peter's street in Chicago on our visit there this week. Love you honey!  

Stopped at Cuz's House...

Monday afternoon we stopped and visited my 1st cousin Mary in Matthews Missouri.  We ate supper at  the home of the throwed rolls, Lambert's, which is very nearby in Sikston. Here we stand in front of Mary's house. There is a lot of throwed rolls swimming in my belly in this picture. 









Here's Mary and Cathy standing in front of an art piece Mary created from a stump in her front yard. She is an avid blog reader. If any of you guys are having an art show and need an artist I will go back to Matthews, pull up this stump and create a display in your gallery. Of course I will make sure I have the artist's permission and all before I go to pulling things out of the yard. 

Thanks for the hospitality cousin, see you next time passing through!    

Back Home After a Long Trip...

I was pulling back into East Texas this afternoon after a 1700 mile drive.That does not even count the six hours traveling done by Amtrak. As you can guess my truck was a little dirty. Amtrak was still clean. They have rules and stuff to make sure you keep it that way. 

So I have many adventures to blog about but maybe I'll go in kind of a reverse order. I'll start with the dirty truck and a shameless plug for my buddy GW's car wash in Garrison Texas. I come barreling down old 59 getting all dirty I stop and wash at GWs. You can see me doing it to those caked on bugs and road grime. 

This photo shows the results. I highly recommend GW's for getting all clean.  

It's Hard to Win one on the Road...

It's hard to win one on the road but we did help the Astros top the Cubs yesterday at Wrigley field. The score was 4-3. 

I have always been an Astros fan but have kind of lost track of the players names with the switch from the Astrodome to Minutemade Park. One of those things that just did not seem right. I guess some games at Wrigley might not seem right to some die hard fans, such as the night games. Wrigley was build in 1914 and I think they have only been play night games since the addition of lights in the 1980s. 

It was a great time, not bad at all for an outdoor game, with our party consisting of me. Cathy, Katherine, Peter, Kevin, Margaret, Addision and Grayson.  

There Are Those Times...

When you just have to says what you feel. This is one of those times. I hope you feel the same way Bubba. 

Whoops, just realized something. I know lots of Bubbas. 

I Thought You Said...

You Said Chicago? 

I thought you said we were going to Mexico!

Your Tuesday Morning Lure Suggestions...

In case you are down at your local sporting goods store, in this neck of the woods it's Academy, and you are having the first world problem of being unable to decide what bait to pick out from the shining rows of offerings so richly offered by the factories of China let me make a suggestion or two. 

For pan fish try the good old Charlie Brewer Crappie slider. Here you see one of the short jig ones but the longer weedless worms work well also. It's a "do nothing" lure. Cast it out and reel back real slow. The paddle tail does all the work. 



This bass took a jointed Rapala. The bass in Morgan's pond where these photos were taken like soft plastic jigs and spinners but this is the best hard bait I have found. I bet this lure is 30 years old. I have had it a long time. 

I know it's only two baits I suggest here but some places in the world people have no bait at all. Don't be greedy.  

Does This Look Pink to You...?

These days when something does not look the right color it's pretty easy to make a photo, post it on the internet and get the opinion of others. Hey, that's kind of a novel idea, get the opinion of others on the internet but anyway here's a couple of Cathy's photos made recently at sundown on Lake Sam Rayburn. 

I think we can all agree, the sky and water were pink that day.

More Shameless Self Promotion...

I know it's Father's Day weekend and that should be enough but here's more. I posted this sound clip on facebook but decided I would get it up for my blogger friends also. It's the last guitar I build and the tune is "See That MY Grave is Kept Clean"

Texas Blues man Blind Lemon Jefferson wrote and recorded this traditional tune "See That My Grave is Kept Clean" in 1927. I recorded it on one of my homemade 4 string guitars tuned to G minor and played through a 1968 Fender Bandmaster.

Blind Lemon was born in Coutchman Texas in 1893 and died in Chicago in 1929. He was buried in Texas in the Wortham Negro Cemetery and the grave was unmarked until 1967. That is when when a marker was erected in what the cemetery committee considered the most general area of his burial.

One thing I considered after making this recording is I have a trip to Chicago planned in the very near future. It's said that Blind Lemon either had a heart attack, froze, or was poisoned. Probablly only one of those three is open to me at this point but I did have a good time with a spookey minor key version of this old tune. 

Photos from a Drive Across Texas...

Last weekend was spent fishing at Morgan and Ali's. While there and on the drive I stopped to make an interesting photo whenever I could. 

Here on the pond the dog Nell, Ali, Morgan, Bekka and Christine get a good old fashion Texas butt wetting during a morning fishing trip. 

On the drive back we decided to check out lake Limestone and the GPS took us on a crow flies route through some country roads where I snapped these photos of deer I saw. 


That's a "never seen you around here" look if I ever saw one. 











The pond at Morgan's has been blessed with rain this spring and is fuller than it has ever been. Don't know what is going on in this photo of Lake Limestone. The lake is low with piers and boat ramps out of the water. Limestone is some kind of power plant lake. I saw the huge facility rising in the distance. Maybe they need a bunch of water. 

Please Text Me....

If you have any idea how to land this thing. I'll gladly take your input. 

Build #7...

Here's guitar build #7. It made from an old Russian made Electro Harmonix Small Stone Phase Shifter guitar effects box. Or parts there of. It took some imagination and problem solving as the original laminated box was a little hard to work and too thick for the control pots to pass through with enough clearance.  I got it though and if you are familiar with these boxes and effects pedals I think you will "get it." 






Good pick up. Pleasantly surprised with it's clarity. Sounds good through my 1968 Fender amp but then most guitars do. This piece plays and stays in tune well. 










My first attempt at a more complicated headstock design. 

On my travels this weekend I stopped at a storage build sale on the road side and purchased an old jewelry box with broken hinges and a cigar tin that seems to be from the 1920s. I have plenty of guitar making items on hand and an order of tuners and other parts on order. 

Stay tuned on these pages I am invited to the faculty art show at SFA later this summer with plans continuing to have my stuff shown at a future show. I'll keep you posted as I fine tune my builds. 









Side view volume and tone pots. I ordered the long shaft pots for my next build so you can bet they will be too long.   

Pond Life...

I'll be posting a few photos the next week or so chronicling pond life at Morgan and Ali's country place. Here Ali, Cathy and Nell fish from the new dock. Morgan's an engineer you know. This dock will go down in history with the aqueducts of Rome. It's solid. 




Nell says "Are these good to eat?" 











Nell says "Ok hurry up and catch more."