The Wood Brothers...

We saw the Wood Brothers at Hogs for the Cause in New Orleans back in 2015. We saw them again this year at Old Settlers Music Festival. That first show make me go out and buy several of their CDs and this with this performance they have really up the game since 2015.  

With brothers Oliver on guitar, Chris on bass and multi instrumentalist Jano Rix this is what music should be like, songs of grace, hope and love made by family. 

Note the instrument held by Jano. It's not a guitar but actually a milked up percussion instrument called the "shuitar." There are some pretty good photos of it in my old blog post I linked. 

The Brothers draw from many different genres of music but one thing I noticed is that there is never too much going on at one time with various players laying out but never leaving the ensemble feeling less full only to come back in with good dynamics to climax the music.   

Oliver Wood is a guitarist after my own heart. I enjoyed this Premier Guitar Rig Run Down episode detailing his gear and how he looks for guitar sounds where Oliver says if everyone else sounds like this he does his best to sound like that. I think that's important because I find that in the internet age we musicians can all read the same thing on the internet sometime and get caught up in the "flavor of the moment."  

Chris Wood is a good dancer. The smoke and white lights of the stage were particularly effective in highlighting his funky moves.   

The Wood Brothers music makes me happy and with family singing and playing in such a positive way I think you will like it too. 

 

Old Settler's Music Festival...

We loaded up the camper and headed to Tilmon, Tx for the Old Settler's Music Festival. It's one of those things that's been on our radar but we were always working and then Covid hit and this past weekend we finally made it. I must say that this is one of the best run festivals we have been to.  

Here's a view from our camp site of what they called the "glamping area" where you could rent a tent. There were three campgrounds and you could have your pick. This is camp Armadillo where we chose a spot for the Rpod and was advertised as the quieter camp where you could park your car in the campsite. The other camps, Banjo and Collins were the places you wanted to be if you like late night parties, jam sessions, very close neighbors and in close proximity to the main music stages. 

There were no water or sewer hook ups but we bought an electrical permit and as there were no marked campsites you were basically on an honor system to set up your camp in a way that left room for the next guy to come along and this worked amazingly well. 

We arrived with our 30 gallon camper tank full and I was glad as a water filling was available for $50 bucks and on the way home I dumped the black tank at Nails Creek State park for free using my state park pass for admittance which was nice as Old Settlers charged $80 for a pump out. 

This was one of the cleanest festivals I have been to. There are many I have seen where at the end when the people are gone you are left with a field full of trash. I might have seen one beer can on the ground which I think someone picked up and disposed of. I never saw an overflowing trash can. Porta Potties were always clean with plenty of toilet paper and hand wash stations with soap, water and paper towels. 

Since we were camping we did some cooking and did not really intend on hitting the food trucks too hard because of the expense and the experience we had with slow service at HonkTx where we missed a few bands waiting on food. This was not the case here as service was fast and friendly by a bunch of hippies who cooked it pretty much right in front of you and handed it over with most booths having plenty of hot sauce choices for adding something extra. On the last day our camping neighbor, who had a platinum pass that included food tickets gifted us $75 worth of tickets and what we could not eat we stowed in the fridge for the trip home. Today I'll have a pilled pork po boy for lunch. 

How about some music photos?  I'll blog more about the shows later.          

Nigel Wearne, from Australia. 

There were various workshops you could attend and the scheduling was such that while many festivals run stages concurrently so you have to make decisions on what you want to see this is arranged so that you make it to every show. This was bluegrass jamming 101 with Sol Chase and band. 

I saw a write up on Sunny War recently in vintage guitar magazine so I was excited to see her. 

Lots of good people watching and I never had a bad seat for this or the music either. If someone arrived with a chair and there was a space in front of you they asked if it would block you for them to sit there. If you got up to do something else you could just leave your chair to save your place and no one bothered it.  Everyone was very polite  and you could imagine if the world was like this all the time. Also we rode our bicycles from camp to the stages each day and left them leaning against a tree unlocked for close to 12 hours with no trouble. 

The Brothers Comatose. 

Looks crowded but it did not feel that way. 

The Baryshnikov of the Big Thicket, Shiny Ribs.  

The Wood Brothers. We saw them a few years ago in New Orleans and I must say they have really stepped up the songwriting. 

There was a youth music contest with some great playing by youngsters. 

Shovels and Rope. We've wanted to see them for a long time. 

Molly Tuttle. 

Music festival attendance is going to cost you some money these days and this one is a good value for many reasons. It's safe, the people are nice, it's in Texas and runs very well. We are already thinking, yeah, next year...

 

Trying Changing Your Mind Sometime...

I don't know if people change their minds that much anymore. In an age where you can do your internet research and cull any material that doesn't fit your ideology, pick a news source that you think is the real news or consult AI where if a human was wrong somewhere in the vastness of the internet it's going to help you be wrong as you blunder along in a system set up the help you be wrong. Maybe I just hang out with an older crowd that as the youngsters used to say, "are set in their ways."  

I've changed my mind about something. Maybe it's not my mind but more my focus but I used to tell people that I liked my vacations in the cities. I live rural and walk out the door to the coyote howl and the owl hoot, load the boat and run to the lake where in a couple of hours time I bring home fresh never frozen catfish to eat. No sense in taking a fishing vacation for sure. Put me out where there is entertainment I haven't seen before, food, culture, shopping and so on.   

It was fun seeing the grandkids and family in in Chicago but seemed like the technology of modern travel was always nipping at my heels this trip. My drivers license would not scan at the airport for boarding check in. My favorite credit card with the cash back/points/they pay me to use it deal would not scan when using automatic pay kiosks for parking. That credit card may have been stretched too many times or I have fell in the lake on too many fishing trips with it or something.    

Then there was the thing I had not encountered before at the airport snack shop. I'm not quite sure where they were going with this because seems like there were three or four employees present to make sure it went smoothly but to open a gate for entrance you scanned a credit card (more of that trouble) made your selection of a snack or drink from the shelves, exited another gate with selection in hand and your card was charged for the purchase. Kind of like some magic of some sort, no scanning or human intervention involved. I halfway expect on my next encounter with this type of system to hear a voice that says, "Mr. Carl, will you have ginger ale again today?" 

    

I can kind of see where my late father in law, who on retirement did a good bit of traveling but mostly wore overalls for the remainder of his life with lots of old man crap in the pockets grew exasperated the last few years of his life with the TSA screening process.  

I think the focus I've changed to has come with our purchase of the travel trailer. Recently we setup near a city and when finished with our business there we came back to camp in a scenic state park and it like relaxing at home instead of a one thing after another city life rush. 

This feeling may change again. I might get a new credit card, driver license or some other mark of the beast that makes things easier. I might just set my ways to be a real old man and wear overalls all the time.   

 

Babysitting in Chicago...

We just returned from a baby sitting trip to Chicago while the PK vacationed in Rome. That may seem like the short end of the stick but the plane flight was free and we got to spend time with Wallace and Hamish, the grandkids we see the least of because of the distance involved so it's not a bad deal at all. 

April is a busy month for us and due the scheduling and various commitments Cathy traveled up a couple of days before me and I arrived later to provide fresh legs for keeping up with the kids. It's good to visit the whole family but as you other grandparents know they always behave better for the grands than they do for their parents so it was an easy job. Come to think of it I probably behave better for the grandkids than I do for the parents myself. 

Cathy's sister Margaret, husband Kevin and daughters Grayson and Addison were in town and stayed with us for Grayson's volleyball tournament. The big cousins were a great help in keeping the young ones occupied and provided good role models. Addison nourished all with Addison's Famous Mac and Cheese. 

By the way if you make mac and cheese with Velveeta as the Famous Mac and Cheese is made don't visit the Trader Joe's grocery chain in search of this product. A little research indicates that the typical Trader Joe's customer is 24 to 44 and makes $80,000  year. Basically the person who has everything but they won't have Velveeta. No wonder Greenpeace ranked Trader Joe's poorly in a 2013 report on sustainable food. Some are gonna have to have that mac and cheese to sustain. 

As usual all first world problems were overcome and the trip was a success. We both returned on an uncrowded late flight that put us standing in our garage listening to the coyotes howl at 2:30 in the morning. The city is nice but it's good to be home. 

      

 

 

Wayne Bergeron in Concert with the Hudson Jazz Band...

On Tuesday night the Hudson High School Jazz Band, under the direction of Steven Brown hosted a concert featuring trumpet player Wayne Bergeron. Bergeron is one of those screaming high note trumpet guys and came to prominence in trumpeter Maynard Ferguson's band in 1986. You have heard him because in addition to playing with a who's who of musical artist across many genres he has contributed trumpet to more than 500 film and TV scores.      

Of course Bergeron played great at this concert but I can's say enough about how great the Hudson Jazz Band sounded. They were tight, they swung and kids stood up and took solos. 

I was certainly in some good bands with good directors and talented people when I was learning to play but kids these days are really outstanding. In the local Civic band I get to hear and play with young people and I see players from 7th grade that are just amazing and for good reasons. Programs start kids earlier, the instruction is better and staffs are larger, the equipment they are provided is top notch and then of course there are players like Bergeron, traveling around the country as a clinician and educator.  

Bergeron did make a joke about how no one makes a living from big band records but I think getting a tune on TV or movies is a pretty good payday. 

He also made a joke about wearing women's clothes which is pretty cutting edge for a high school concert in Texas these days. 

I have occasionally played with director Steven Brown in brass quintet and civic band. Maybe if I play my cards right I'll live long enough to play and learn from some of the kids he's trained.  

There were also a few of the local jazz cats filling out the band and doing a fine job of backing him up.  

Steven and Wayne played a fine trumpet duet together. 

This is another great example of fine music coming to Lufkin. Thanks to the Hudson School District and Temple Theater we have organizations that can inspire young people, bring entertainment to town and a fine facility to host it. 

As I mentioned Bergeron came up through Maynard Ferguson's band. I have been buying Maynard records since the 70s when I was a band kid and he getting some fame from covering pop hits and I tried to listen to any record that had a horn on it. I have continued to expand my Maynard collection because it's pretty easy to find these 70s and 80s records in thrift stores. It's harder for some reason to find Maynard records from the mid 60s when he was hanging out with Timothy Leary and Ram Dass but I'll keep looking. 

Till then this will do:

   

 

HonkTx...

It finally happen. I got to go to HonkTx, a free festival of community street bands held in Austin, Tx and other places across the country. For years this festival fell on a weekend I was working and when we did manage to schedule a trip Covid canceled it in 2020. This year we loaded up the big grandkids, Warren and Coraline, camped at near by McKinney Falls State Park and made the Saturday portion of the festival held at Muller Lake Park. I copied this from the Honk Festival of Activist Street Bands Web site:

Throughout the country and across the globe, a new type of street band movement is emerging — outrageous and inclusive, brass and brash, percussive and persuasive — reclaiming public space with a sound that is in your face and out of this world. Called everything from “avant-oompah!” to a “brassroots revolution,” these bands draw inspiration from sources as diverse as Klezmer, Balkan and Romani music, Brazilian Samba, Afrobeat and Highlife, Punk, Funk, and Hip Hop, as well as the New Orleans second line tradition, and deliver it with all the passion and spirit of Mardi Gras and Carnival.

This is the Moon Tower Brass Band. 

Der Austiner Klezmer Bund 

Blocomotion

Dead Capital Band

Austin Samba

Providence Drum Troupe

Burn Out Brass Band

I made lots of tuba player pictures. Here's some of the Burn Out Brass Band members. 

Big Blitz. I follow another dual sax and drum group called Moon Hooch and saw them in New Orleans once. Apparently this instrumentation is a thing and I like it. 

Big Blitz and The Meow Now Brass Band jammed. Two drummers, three bari saxes and tuba, what is not to like here. 

The Minor Mishap Marching Band. 

These bands are all great and range from proffesional musicians to community groups like Blocomotion that offer horns and lessons to anyone who wants to be a member. 

This festival was a band geeks paradise. Band people are usually a little different and it's nice to know there are inclusive places for them to play like they want, dress like they want and embrace the lifestyle they want. I'm glad I took my grandkids to see this because there are so many things here that are in my heart about music and life it was a good way to show it all in action rather than try to explain myself. 

Warren allowed he had fun on the trip, camping, swimming and at the festival but Coraline said, "it was the most fun I've ever had."