How About a Prayer for Don Miguel...

Miguel Jr's dad, Don Miguel had a stroke last week. He is doing well and expects a full recovery but you guys remember him in your prayers. 

Happy Birthday Warren...

One year old today. Grandma lets him plunder the living room on the sit on roll, beep and play a pirate song ride on ship that was his gift.  

Next year he will probably be able to drive a real boat.  

Just for a Minute There...

I held the spark, the light in my hand. Warren helped. I had held it before but never so long. 

Nice to have some one helping. 

I Know it's Not Even Thanksgiving Yet...

I have not gone all crazy cyber shopping, standing in line for Black Sunday, Monday, Tuesday shopping but the grandkids are here and me and Coraline went to the long standing local tradition of lighting a Lufkin Industries pumping unit up like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Cathy and Warren stayed home and warm.   

We got freebie reindeer antlers.

A helpful fellow spectator made this photo for us.  

Grand Kids Weekend...

Coraline and Warren are in town for a big whoop up grand kids weekend. We started out yesterday when we picked them up in Lake Jackson and attended a gig I mean Thanksgiving program at Coralines' s school. 

It was not bad as first gigs go and we got to eat a nice little Thanksgiving dinner. Note in the second photo Coraline sticks out her tongue just like Pop-Pop does at his gigs. 

Meanwhile Warren sits with Grandma waiting his turn.  

More Ren Fair Music...

Here is a couple of photos of an old English style group at thios year's Ren Fair. That's the best I can describe the music. I like the little horn the girl plays. I actually have a lute type instrument around here that Pop built from a kit but it's a guitar scale while this guy's instrument looks like it might be a diatonic scale. 

Cathy put some money in the tip jar. She told them it was for the baby. 

Guitar Build #18 an Amp #3...

Here is box guitar build #18 and amp #3. It's a matching set. I found the boxes at two different thrift stores in Pasadena, Tx. Same specs as usual three strings, piezo pick up, three inch speaker and 2 watt circuit board with internal gain trim pot. You open up the amp and I wrote the directions inside. The gain, up or down makes in sound clean or nasty depending on your choice and who you intend to drive crazy today. Amp is powered by a 9 volt battery and has a surf green LED light when it's on.   Guitar tuning key arrangement is a bit non standard but if you don't know how to play and just want to make experimental music it will work for you. 

I'll sell both as a matched set for $120. How does it sound? Click this LINK. Just a bit of guitar EQ added to thicken tone a bit for this quick recording of an old gospel tune, Nobodies Fault but Mine.  

John Lee Hooker album, wall painting and Hendrix poster not for sale. I'll negotiate for the Little Feat or the Tower of Power records.  Both are in good condition. 

Wooden Cigar Box #17...

Here's a wooden cigar box build I'll call the Red Head. It's a Rocky Patel Cigar Box. It is tuned A, C# and E. It's electric with a piezo pickup. it's the 17th box guitar I have built. Sound is similar to the Holy Bible box guitar. It's nice, clear and clean. 

Rocky Patel makes fancy cigars and his motto is "traveling the world putting a cigar in every consumers mouth" or something to that effect. I am not going to put a guitar in every consumers mouth but I will sell this one to you. 

My new business cards are in and I have given out a few. I'll give a free slide lesson to the first person who calls me that is not a friend that I did not personally hand a business card to. Oh heck, call me up. I'll give you a free slide lesson anyway.   

Have not Seen One of These in Awhile...

Sign says 20 cents for 5 minutes long distance. They don't mention how much to text or send a media file. 

And Moses Saw the Burning Bush...

Here's a Cayenne pepper bush that I planted last spring. It made a good bunch of peppers through the summer and is really loaded with them right now. I have been eating a handful of them three meals a day for the past few days. Contrary to what you might think they are not that hot but then I am not a good person to ask. 

This plant made me go all Old Testament and think about old Moses up on Mt. Horeb seeing a bush that was afire but not consumed. A quick check on wiki tells us that to Christians and Jews use the burning bush as sign of energy, illumination, and the burning heat of clarity, love and purity.  

Wiki also advances the theory that old Mo might have partaken of hallucinogenic plants native to the area. People in search of religious illumination have been known to do that and the facts of afire and not consumed do not quite geehaw with logical thought but is something that requires faith. The wiki source article is quick to point out that this fact cannot be proved or disproved. There are hallucinogenic plants native to this area and unlike Mo and due to a policy in my workplace I can quickly prove that I wrote this blog post and only consumed Cayenne Peppers as my pure hot illumination. 

I do think that all these old stories and blessing of food from the Earth do mean it's good and fun to be a Christian.    

Remembering the Vets...

Here's a few photos from my dad's World War Two service. Top photo is from Camp Fannin in  Tyler, Tx. where he did his basic training. It's cropped from a panoramic photo of the whole unit and my dad is end of the third row from the top. I would guess it dates from fall 1943. Camp Fannin trained infantry. These guys saw combat and because they were all infantry the casualty rates for those training here were higher that the overall WW2 rate. 

Second photo is probably after the war. My dad is on the right. Last photo is unidentified U.S. service personal walk through the Arc de Triumph in Paris. This photo is also from my dad's collection and is cropped up close. 

Here is a link to a recording I played on and it dates from fall 2005. Written by Dave Sarver it honors a vet he knew badly wounded in Iraq. Personal on the recording are Dave, vocals and guitar, LaRae vocals and keys, Jason on drums and me on bass and lap steel. Recorded by Dixon Shanks on pro tools. It's a rough mix and I think they may have taken the lap steel off and put on a cello. Stuff like that happens to you in the studio. On recent listening my bass sounds a bit like I listened to Down By the River too many times. 

Here's the link to This Ones for Sgt. Ryan

Thanks to the guys in the old photo. Some came back, some did not. Ryan came back but faces a life of hard ship because of his wounds. Let's remember and pray for them.      

Build #16...

The Big Ben Cigar Tin Box Guitar is my latest build. Tin is made in England. Headstock design is vaguely Fenderish but I offset the tuners to keep their laywers at bay. It is an electric instrument with a piezo disc pickup. It sounds very clean through a 1968 Fender Bandmaster Reverb amp but then most instruments do. Acoustic sound is banjo like. The scale for this guitar is a little shorter scale, about 23" compared to other I make that are about 25". I seem to like the tin guitar sound over the wood and cardboard box sound but that's just me.

I bought this box at a road side thrift store somewhere in the Hearne area. I also bought an electric sander for $5 at the same place. It works good and my necks are finished quicker and better. 

 I do have a nice wood box in the works. I'll post pictures when finished. After that I have two similar wood boxes and I am going to try a matching amp and guitar set.

This guitar is for sale. I'll take $65.   

Do I Hear Bagpipes...

Here's the band Tartanic which we saw a couple weekends ago at the Renaissance Festival. I thought I'd give them a little coverage this morning because when I talk about the instruments that bring me the most pleasure such as tuba, cowbell, harmonica, banjo, and accordion I sometimes forget to mention the bag pipes. 

I have seen these guys play before and I have one cd by them and I bought a live recording by them this day. Seems like the studio recordings might be a little more on the eletronica  side while the live recording contains a lot of live "chatter" and humor. Pick which you like when you buy to support the band. 

I like this bass drum head. Make a good back tattoo. If I had the space to spare I'd turn it up side down. 

Dancers with the band are always good. People dance to my band's music but they don't get up and dance "with" the band. 

Speaking of supporting live music (shameless self promotion requesting money, compliments and publicty) check out me at the Lufkin VFW tonight. Show starts at 8pm. 

Friendly Guy...

I see a lot of deer next door in the high game fence amd you can get pretty close but this is the friendliest guy yet. I could tell me and him would hit it off right away. 

As I stod making photos I edged a little closer, a little closer, a little closer...

...and discovered he likes to have his ears scratched. 

One thing he does not like is carrots. Although he politely took one from my hand he let it fall to the ground uneaten. 











The red tag in his ear? It Has his name on it. Ladies and gentlemen meet a new blog character. This is "Buckey." 

It's Been Hospital Week Around Here...

After spending a couple of days in Houston with my brother during his eye surgery I had to take my mom to the doc today and she was admitted to the hospital. She was very anemic according to blood work done at her cardiologist's office. He sent her to her regular doc and he sent he admitted her. She is getting some blood and will have some tests. 

Both her and my brother are doing fine. Just to demonstrate mom's norm here's a photo of her and her great grand kids.   

Belly Dancers...

We like belly dancing and have a pretty good collection of music and costumes ourselves. I think it's probably good for you but I am in the mist of a scientific study and am not free to publish results as of yet but I expect the Nobel Prize people are going to be really interested. It does combine science, art and world peace so I expect a sweep of the prizes to be soon announced. Of course you will hear it here first as always. 

This group is the Gypsy Dance Theater. They are good and I bought two of their CDs. This is not a seat of the pants thing. Reading the bios of the musicians and dancers was quite impressive. These folks went to good schools. No hippie drum circles for this bunch. They learned it the hard way through work, study and dedication. 

So keep your dreams lit. Dance. Listen to good music. Turn off the radio. Throw out the TV. Never trust a home without a guitar, a drum, a horn, a belly dancer.