Octubafest at SFASU...

Last weekend my good friends Charlie and Suzi tipped me to the fact that The Stephen F. Austin School of Music was presenting Octubafest, a recital featuring internationally known tuba player Stephen Kunzer. I met them there last night for the concert. 

I must admit that I have not heard of Stephen. That's the fate of internationally known tuba players. No one knows you although some one did ask me today if I would be performing Durum and Tuba Christmas again. I guess that's more local than bad world wide but Stephen has been in many orchestras, ensembles playing with pop artists such as Willie, Emmy Lou and John Fogerty in addition to teaching duties at Oklahoma State University. 

Here he performs a piece to recorded accompaniment. Nice looking mellow sounding older horn. Mostly modern compositions were performed with some in a classical style, some in a fun type spirit and nothing like a tuba player on a French Quarter Street corner.   

The piano accompanist is Michael Scheider.  

I got a pretty good close up of horn, vales, and technique. Wish I had a chance to talk to him as there was one piece performed that had a kind of droning, tuvian throat singing, talking through the tuba sound with intervals that brought to mind chanted middle eastern calls to prayer.   

There was also a duet with euphonium player Danny Chapa. Very good performance with a good mesh of the low tuba tones and the singing timber of the euphonium. 

This part brought to mind the time years ago I was in the SFASU music department when I payed a tuba duet in a recital similar to this . The piece was a barque style trumpet duet that had been arranged for two tubas. My partner, I am ashamed to admit I don't remember his name (maybe Johnny?) after all these years, was an African American guy and you probably could not have put two more different people together in an ensemble if you tried. I ran into him one college weekend night in the liquor store and he was dressed like he was playing a gig with George Clinton's P-Funk Allstars. I was dressed appropriately for the front row at a Willie Nelson picnic. We were both a sign of the times, at that time, and I I wonder if the individual pairing and the idea of the tuba duet was something that our tuba teacher, who's name I can't remember either cooked up as some kind of big joke.  Guess I'll never know but now these guys are doing this and Tuba Christmas sells expensive trademarked gear so maybe we were just all ahead of the time. 

Did I mention Stephen had two tubas he switched between for the concert? I am going to have to talk to my wife about that. 

Check out the the SFASU fine arts web site. They have interesting recitals like this all the time. If you want to check my next tuba gig come to St. Patrick's Catholic Church 7pm All Saints Day Mass. It is a Holy Day of Obligation and I'll be playing what else but The Saints Go Marching In. 

   

City Birds...

I take photos of birds. Most of the time it's when I'm on the lake and they are not always good bird photos and a large part of the time I may not even know what kind of bird but I guess you could say I'm a bird watcher in an amateur sense of the craft. This past Chicago trip I got a few pretty good photos of city birds. 

I spotted this hawk in Humboldt Park. We had just walked by the closed for the season swim beach and he swooped in low over the grass before rising up to perch on a light globe. That's the Sears Tower in the background.  

A closer view of an unknown to me hawk species. I'd say it's a small hawk. For some background, Humboldt Park was was laid out in 1869 and named after the German naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt. The nearby neighborhood where the PK live was annexed the same year. Maybe it's an immigrant hawk because this are was first populated by Scandinavians, then Jews, then the polish, then the Puerto Ricians along with African Americans, Mexicans and now finely the gentrified white folks are getting a foot hold. The hawk, the immigrant all with a story to make America great and not again but making it great as it has always been for being a place to chase the dream in a big Midwestern city.  , ,   

I snapped these photos of the red wing black birds raiding the dried sunflowers in the PK backyard. I was told if I stuck around long enough I might see a big old big city rat climb the stalk for his share of the fall foraging. 

The bids were also feeding on these dried pods just over the fence in the neighbor's yard. I don't know what they are but must have been pretty tasty. 

Maybe the birds like this area for one of the reasons I do. There are a lot of places to eat and the cuisine is varied as the people and animals you may see as you get out and about.  

 

Fishing Report...

We have been busy. This blog probably only covers about the half of it. Seems we have neglected the cat fishing and folks have been asking "when is the next fish fry." I don't have an answer for that. We have about 20 pounds or so in the freezer and last winter after the October fish fry we put up 50 pounds of catfish by the Mardi Gras Fish Fry. That's a heck of a way to mark the year, by the fish fries. 

Anyway it was a pleasant day on the lake yesterday. Winds were calm and earlier in the week while we were in Chicago Bill and Geneva camped at Hank's creek and reported much fish cleaning among camp neighbors. Then a little front blew in and all me and Cathy could manage were 8 keepers with a good many throw backs. That's ok because lately we have not been fishing hard so what we catch, we cook. We fried those fish soon as we got home. Doing this kind of thing instead of the usual meat in the boat fishing causes me to suspect that catch number might be down this year. We will keep making these blog posts and make a count.  

Dead calm on the lake. Glad we went because it was windy today.

It had been at least two months since the last lake trip I think and the boat did not run so good. I put it in the shop for a tune up and that is maybe the second tune up since we bought it in 2005 or 06. Can't really recall but I know there has been some steady use and the years roll by too fast.  

Here is how I eat my cat fish. This is right out of the pan drizzled with some of that Cajun Wowie Sauce they sell at Brookshire Brothers and sprinkled with Tabasco Habanero Pepper sauce. Probably an hour and a half from loading the boat to on the plate. That's fresh fish. 

The Baptism of Ezra...

That's certainly a Biblical title for a blog post. To my over active imagination it brings images of trial and tribulation, ice and fire and the path less taken but it was only a bit of water over a baby head which is just the way it was done to me in the Methodist church so long ago. It surprised a usually cool character, Old Ez as we call him and he made a brief outcry but other that that a great Baptism. Thanks to Father Francis, a former priest at St. Patrick's who married Mary and Miguel for making the trip up to baptize Ezra. 

If you know Father Francis you know he's an Irishman straight from the Emerald Isle. You get married, buried or baptized by Francis you know you been married, buried or baptized and it's usually done in a mixture of English, Spanish and Gallic.  

Godparents were Beto and Davin. I don't know how long Miguel and Beto been friends but I know Mary and Davin have been friends since about age 3. 

The whole crowd, parents, grand parents, great grand parents and godparents. 

So no fire, no ice, the caterer thought it was next weekend but came though like a champ and there was cake. Ezra is baptized. 

 

A Quick Chicago Visit...

Wallace was born a bit early. We had tickets for a Chicago flight in November but that shows what best laid plans will do so we just dashed off up there for a couple of days this week for a meet and greet with our newest grand child. Spirit airlines makes dashing off real easy since one person with a backpack holding two pairs of pants and two shirts can get to and from Chicago for $80. It's cost me more than that to make a trip to Nacogdoches on occasion.  

Here are the results of my little backyard beauty photo shoot. Nice green foliage with good color might not last much longer and old Wallace might be too bundled up for good viewing with the onset of winter.  

Of course me and Peter took Wallace out to the swim lake in Humboldt Park. I would imagine between Peter's parent's lake house in Canada and summer visits down south to Big Sam there will be plenty of water fun when the time comes.   

Here's how the PK and W roll in Chicago. Looks like we will be rolling that way quite often. 

Randolph Street Market...

With the birth of another grandchild in Chicago there is no end to the trips of the future (band name alert) to that area. There is little end to the amusements of the city and this last visit we went to the Randolph Street Market for an afternoon. 

This market is an event that runs in the summer. It's artists, music, food, vintage clothing and other antique goods. Not really a cheap afternoon, admission is a tener and you can buy a season pass if you want to visit multiple weekends.

Cathy, Katie and Peter cruise the inside booths. Vintage clothing is pricy and there were a lot of stuff in wool. If I was in Chicago much in the winter I think I would have bought something. Hard to find big guys sizes sometimes in the vintage racks but there seem to be things that fit and were affordable. I did spot a 1930 mackinaw priced at $270. A little steep but in mint condition I'd be styling. If I ever needed to dress right, I know where to look. 

I did not get a photo of the outside vendors but there was a little stage with music. Here is a bluegrass band I saw. 

Next up was a Chicago blues band. I didn't get the names of these groups but they were smooth and tuneful and I tossed money to the tip jar for the privilege of making photos. Pay the players! 

So my haul for the day? Since the weather was hotter than usual I scored a pretty nice African straw hat, bought from real Africans quickly on arrival to prevent sunburn to my ever more visible scalp. Cathy even said it fit well and she don't say that about many of my hats. Other finds were a western string tie, not vintage but cheaper than brand new at the western store, a silver bracelet that actually fits my big old wrist and a water buffalo skin man purse from Nepal that hold my camera, extra batteries and phone real comfortably.

Recalls me a story of how one time the band Devo was going to collaborate with rock/folk singer Neil Young on a video or movie. They were instructed to buy costumes and save the receipts for reimbursement. Being from some kind of thrifty garage rock roots Devo went to K-Mart and spent something like $113.50. I think things were pretty strange like salad bowls for hats and such. My hat is better than that and I did not even come very close to the $113.50.       

     

Suspicious Packages...

No not a name for our new band. I mean we don't have a new band so we don't need a new name. It's not something that Wally G or Big E left for Pop Pop to find. If you are like me though and find yourself at border crossings, bus stations, airports and train ("Play a Train Song") platforms from Boquillas to the Vltava River you have heard the announcement, saw the sign "Watch for and don't accept suspicious packages. 

I know, everybody is scared of one thing or another.  On a recent Houston evening, after a rain that washed the humidity out of the air we came around a downtown street corner looking for a restaurant to meet Ali and Morgan. The place chosen  had modeled it's self on southern kitchen cooking and as it came into view I spotted outside seating crowded with young non native Houstonians in the tribal garb of light blue long sleeve shirts and tan slacks who had poured from the high rise offices way above our heads to have their after work fun. Everybody is scared of one thing or another and light blue shirts and tan slacks has always kind of been it for me but now a days I have enough money to join right in at these kind of places even though I might be dressed all funky and cool and we got a good table. Seemed at the end of the street though we might get some kind of show with our drinks. There were a bunch of fire trucks about a block down. 

Right before taking an outside table I spotted a little scrawny street person looking black man. He had a kind of suspicious package under his arm but I though hey, he might be the mayor of this block or something so I ask him "What's going on?" He said "Dey smoke comin' outta o dem bushes." Caught up on events, we took a table.   

They brought us tonic and lime in big mason jars just like at grandma's house and we settled in the watch the smoke, the guys in blue shits and slacks and just enjoy the mild weather. Only thing someone decided it would be bad if the smoke turned to something worse so the precaution was made to move all inside. We still got a good table. I ate a shrimp po boy. The blue shirts seemed to be on the company tab. The smoke curled up from the bushes. I did not see the street dude again. 

After awhile the fire trucks left, city crews puttered around at some kind of clean up which was probably boring and welcome after Hurricane Harvey activity which had been about three weeks before this. We left for other fun elsewhere. The blue shirts stayed. 

I note that a border crossing at Boquillas now requires a passport. Two guys in 1970s cop show windbreakers wearing pistols got on a bus I was riding from Prague to Munich and looked at my passport. It was not like that before suspicious packages. 

.    

Wallace Grover Tulloch...

It's time for another new blog character. Meet Katie and Peter's son Wallace Grover. Born Oct 7th at 4:02 weighing in 6lbs 10 oz at 19.5 inches long he is a little early but ready to go. Here are some photos. 

The old where am I and how did I get here photo. 

Mom and baby

Dad and baby. 

Family. 

Ya'll might have to wait for the baby in the tuba photos. Wallace will pay an East Texas visit sometime during the Christmas season which looks to last well into January for us. 

What You Going to Eat...

I have always kind of been the weird guy, doing different things, finding out new stuff. This time I was the weird guy making pictures in a Chicago grocery store of the food and I did that because things were different than in the local stores but I got a feeling there might be change in the wind even around here. 

This was a local store in the PK neighborhood. It's a neighborhood undergoing gentrification but there are a lot of different kind of people around. You can see that from the bean isle  in the store. As you see there is a bean for everyone. There is a bean for the Puerto Rican,  The Dominican, The African American maybe the Haitian and I guess a white guy like me could even find a bean on these shelves somewhere.  

I should have made a photo in the coffee section. 

Here's something else, but I don't know exactly what. Maybe nuts, roots, taters bet I could get them cooked. Gotta be hungry enough. 

More food. I think for sure these are roots. Be good baked, boiled, or fried. Some of us know what we are doing. 

So if you are not an expert, a trier of new things or just a plain coward when it comes to the new and different move on along. 

I'm Sorry It's Too Late for Some...

I call for gun control now. All your arguments are bullshit.