Live Oak Listening Room Music...

Last night the Live Oak Listening Room hosted singer songwriter David Olney. I have one CD by this guy and of course with the opportunity presenting last night I bought his latest. This is music you have to seek out. It won't be brought to you by a radio station playing the latest hits and won't be on a major network talent show. It is music that will make you consider love, politics, various human predicaments and spirituality.  

The alt-country magazine No Depression had an issue recently that took up the subject of how music and people move through our world. Since David's new release covers some of these topics the magazine asked him to expand on his thoughts in an essay. You can here an clip from the album as well as read the essay HERE.

Bass player Dan Seymore provided lyrical accompaniment. I noted from a visit to his facebook page

in one of those cosmic connections he attended the University of Illinois at Carbondale, the same as my sister in law. Go Salukis!   

Again, thanks to the Live Oak crew for putting this show on. Nice evening in a quiet listening, storytelling environment. 

Here's a clip of Cathy's favorite song of the evening. 

It's A Bit Balmy Here But Winter Is There...

It's warmed back up in Texas but a couple of weekends ago we were on a visit to the PK in Chicago and got to see a bit of snow. It came down in big fluffy flakes that did not stick around all that long as the ground is not that cold yet and generally during the afternoon temps would rise above freezing. Snow has come a bit early, not early enough to discount global warming or anything like that but I'm glad to get to see just enough and glad that I'm not there this week because I think there was a bit of a blizzard that shut down air travel and might have made it difficult to return to my preferred latitudes.

Here's an early morning back ally photo. No car tracks spoiling the view of the garbage can sentinels standing watch. I'm not sure how many cars might be in these garages as a lot of folks use public transit.  The PK rely on their car more with the birth of Wallace to get around but this is not enough snow to queer the deal for city travel. I think the buses I took for runs around town go faster in the snow.    

Rare photo of Cathy being cold. 

Cathy and Wallace dress for a trip downtown. 

Here's Peter with Wallace and Cathy and Katie. 

Me and Cathy. I have a very nice thrift store wool coat, probably a $300 value that I bought for $30 on a hot August Chicago trip and stored at the PK residence for winter use. I like it and think it makes me look stylish but If I brought this coat home I would never wear it. I have a similar garment in pea jacket style at home that it gets cold enough maybe once or twice a year to wear. 

Ok, time to cue a train song on the stereo and bring this blog into the station on time.  

Live Music Chicago...

Black Monument Ensemble. That's bound to be a scary name for a musical performance group given the fact that some folks get their drawers all in a wad over monuments to long dead racist white men. We saw their show as a part of the Red Bull Music Fest that was going on at various locations around town during our visit to Chicago. It was a free show if you took the time to RSVP and I bet that was not even really necessary but don't worry, all the artists were getting paid. I later read their bios in the evening's program and most were educators and community leaders with various endowment grants. I was proud to see my tax dollars put to such good use. 

So instead of me trying to describe what this was all about maybe you should just read their own words, photographed out of the program. 

The site for this concert was the Garfield Park Conservatory. It's near the PK house and we visit it often. It was set up very well and you can read about the park at an old blog post by clicking HERE.

The singers were great and the accompaniment was a mix of sampled music, drums and a lady who played a killer jazz clarinet and bass clarinet. 

A dance troupe also performed in time and the light show was understated but effected.  

Not sure about this alien dancer that appeared out of the row across from me but I guess this show is about the future. 

Here is a video clip of the performance we saw. We are actually in it. My head can be seen at the lower left of the screen and Cathy is directly  behind the big Afro. That was ok because somebody was also behind my big head. At the end when the performers parade out and all stand you get a pretty good look at the back of my head and until someone advises me on a different hair style my evolving comb over.  

Great music, the future, good times. 

The Great Out of Town Grandkid tour...

We managed to get a visit in to all the out of town grandkids this past week. We were headed to Chicago to see Katie, Peter and Wallace. On the way to the airport we stopped at Morgan and Ali's for a visit with Parker. On the way home we stopped in Lake Jackson for a visit with Rose, Tim, Warren and Coraline. We will have to catch up with Ezra, Mary and Miguel for Thanksgiving this week.

Cathy and Parker.  

Wallace clowns for the camera. 

Pop Pop's idea for a photo of Warren and Coraline. 

Very nice trip. Check back later in the week as we get caught up on sights seen and adventures we had on our trip. 

Time For Another Big Giveaway...

I wrote my first blog post in this space way back in 2005. I was a bit more prolific than I have been lately, writing about feelings and all kinds of stuff like that verses the shameless self promotion I have descended into and someone who thought those early blog posts were good urged me to make money off of them. I note there is a place on my blog dashboard where I can click something called adsense and it purports to pay off like a slot machine. 

I never signed up for such and while not saying I never will I have followed a less conventional path to blog fundraising. I give away a big screen TV every so often. When I started way back in 2005 it was quite something to have a big screen or at least they tell me it is since I am the owner of a kind of medium screen but it seems that people whose house I go over to and there are not really that many of them, have a big screen in almost every room to watch while at the same time using a little screen. At the time I assumed the way I felt, I like to get something, that people would enjoy a chance to win. 

So once again we have big screens to give away. I note that there were 1,111 visitors to this blog site last week. There were a 127 yesterday. So for the small fee of $1 placed in an envelope with your return address of course and sent to my address:

Mudbelly

Lufkin, Tx, 75901

I'll enter you in the give away. Don't worry, it will get to me. It always does. And out of 1000 or so visitors a month at $1 I should keep things running smooth and with high quality in my little internet universe. 

Here's the big screens I'll be giving away. I know one of them looks to be a big computer screen but those things are like record albums. Everybody wants them now. 

We even have a theme song:

Paul Lil Buck Sinegal...

Last night Lil Buck Sinegal played the Live Oak Listening Room in Nacogdoches. If you don't know Lil Buck he was the guitar player in Accordion great Clifton Chenier's band playing on the album that put zydeco on the national map, Bougalusa Boogie, and also played with another great Buckwheat Zydeco. Lot of people have heard Lil Buck's guitar on Paul Simon's album Graceland. That was a recording that sold 16 million copies. 

Lil Buck lives in Lafayette, La. He is 74 years old and attends Mass daily. Down in Louisiana if your last name is Sinegal that is a sure sign your ancestors came here from the African country of Senegal. Lil Buck is a monster on the guitar.      

I have seen Sinegal several times. This is the second time on his own and I might have even seen him with Chenier or Buckwheat's band. memories from that long ago are a bit hazy. He has played the New Orleans Jazz Fest every year since the 70s. That's a Fender Stratocaster guitar he's playing and he gives a master class in how it should sound coving blues, Motown, New Orleans style R & B as well as zydeco. He amped up with kind of some unusual gear using a Crate Power block and a Marshall 4x12 cab to get some a good clean blues sound with just a bit of hair on it. 

The keyboard player was Buckwheat zydeco's son. I did not get his name. Bass was Lee Allen Zeno and drummer was Greg. 

Good photo of him playing his dad's accordion with Buckwheat's name engraved. 

Go see Lil Buck. He is a stone cool cat that can crank a guitar. 

If You Don't Know the Story of the Baby in the Tuba...

People seem to like to see a photo of a baby stuck in a tuba. I must admit it's not an original thought of mine, but if you click this LINK you can see the practice goes back some time. 

So if we go back some time here is the first born grand child, Coraline and her tuba photo. It almost looks photoshopped but I can attest it is not. 

Then Warren got his chance.

Later on Ezra and Wallace did a group portrait and Wallace was not so happy about sharing his moment of fame with his cousin. 

This past weekend Parker got her chance and brave little one she is she did not even cry when she heard it play. Like my old friend Kenny said, "like breaking a dog into gun fire." 

Of course no one has like said anything like "well since old Pop Pop plays the tuba I'll do the keytar instead," as a form of rebellion yet.

So far Warren has been the most interested, which cooled a bit when it dawned on him that he would have to learn to read to play an instrument but of course that will probably happen. Right now Wallace does own his own trombone and Ezra is a fearless free style dancer so it still remains to be seen who carries on the baby in the tuba.  

Swing Music...

To celebrate Bill Cooney's 87th birthday me and Cathy took him and Geneva to McGonigel's Mucky Duck in Houston to see Emily Gimble and the Marshal Ford Band. Emily is the Grand Daughter of Texas Playboy fiddle player and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Johnny Gimble. Marshal Ford is apparently the place where you crossed the river before the Mansfield Dam and Lake Travis went in. 

This was swing music at it's best. Of course they covered the old Texas favorites but and stretched it out to perform Louie Jordan numbers and a great version of Sweet Georgia Brown. Lot of originals by all band members. Great guitar by Greg Harkins. Drums by James Gwyn, bass by Kristopher Wade and fiddle by Danny Levin. All these guys are in other great bands. This is just a sideline for them to play good music. This was a cd release party and I purchased their last two releases.  

This was laying in a bar booth after the show. It's Greg's guitar rig, a great vintage set up of old Gibson archtop guitar and a 50s Gibson amp. Us the right stuff to get the right sound.