I've Been an Alright Pretty Good Guy...

I've been a pretty good guy, at least most of the time. Sometimes I have been a pretty bad guy. Hopefully no one else remembers that but since I do have a conscience and believe in forgiveness and atonement I think about those times and try to do better. That might be why we kind of have a fascination with our 36th President, a Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson. Cathy has read all the Robert Caro Books that are finished on LBJ's life we have visited his ranch in Johnson City twice now, his Presidential Library In Austin and recall the history he made that happened in our lifetimes. LBJ did some great things with domestic policy for the poor, health care, civil rights, urban and rural development, education and the arts. He did not do so well in in foreign policy and was eventually undone by the criticism of his escalation of the Viet Nam war. Since he was president he probably did other bad things we do not know the extent of but like all of us the judgment of his life has fluctuated through the years. 

A personal connection I have to LBJ is through one of my mom's stories. In 1947 my mom went to work at Southland Paper Mill in Lufkin, Tx, the first mill to make newsprint from southern pine. E.L Kurth, a businessman who organized the mill and had served during FDR's New Deal in the National Recovery Administration to promote the timber industry and conservation was backing LBJ in his 1948 run for U.S. Senate. Kurth loaded all the mill secretaries up (they still beef up the crowds today with paid crisis actors some say) and took them to Jacksonville, Tx where LBJ was making a campaign stop in this helicopter which I found a picture of in the visitors center museum in Johnson City. It was the first time my mom ever saw a helicopter ( she would first fly on an airplane about 55 years later) and she got to shake LBJ's hand. I figure my mom voted for LBJ that year given what I know about her voting record in my lifetime. There was some controversy in the election but he won and like we say a pretty good guy can be pretty bad sometimes.            

As part of our tour in Johnson City we went through LBJ's boyhood home. LBJ stood right here on these steps and made his announcement that he intended to seek a senate seat in 1948. As we see from recent events there is symbolism in the steps someone stands on to make their statement. Back in the day Johnson City was a pretty rural place with no national significance. LBJ wanted his friends and family to be the first to know his intentions and hear it in person. I'm sure there was some press there to spread the news but no TV or video.      

I have been inside LBJ's ranch house, the Texas White House on a pervious trip but on this visit with our oldest grandkids in tow it was closed for renovations and structural work. We were able to drive the area seeing the cows grazing the working ranch, many, many deer and walk around the grounds and see his plane Air Force 1/2.  

Johnson City was pretty isolated back in the day. No internet but LBJ made sure he had three television sets to get all three networks. He adopted that idea from Elvis. 

Robert Caro is getting pretty old. His editor, also old passed recently. I hope he gets to finish his final book on LBJ's presidential years. It probably won't change what you think about LBJ, pretty good guy who was pretty bad sometimes but it might be something to read while we examine our own conscience. 

Most things presidents say are recorded according to certain laws. Do yourself a favor and look up LBJ's phone calls.

  

 

Guided Canoe Paddle B.A. Steinhagen...

Years ago I noticed, after reading several books by a writer I liked that all of a sudden the latest book seemed a lot like the other books and as singer songwriter Randy Newman said, "just not as good." I understand that now because as I write this blog I see that I do the same things over and over and come back to the same themes. This past weekend I participated in a guided canoe paddle on B. A. Steinhagen Lake out of Martin Dies Jr. State Park. It's one of my most frequent and favorite paddling places. 

The guided paddle was free. The guide was a volunteer and my entrance to the park was kind of free as I had bought a yearly pass and here comes one of my reoccurring themes. This is something the government, which works better than you might think, provides for you. Most people don't even know what the government does for them (I'm not talking about (birds aren't real) because it's out there operating, maintaining parks, clean water, protecting wildlife and other such boring tasks. Occasionally there might be a branch of government or a political party that makes these tasks harder for the professionals in ways that seem like pure spite but I think they do a pretty good job despite which ever way the winds may blow.  

I know you probably watched Netflix, shopped on Amazon, or went to Walmart and listened to autotuned country music in one of the corporate restaurants on the south loop and called it fine dining all the while thinking these things are freedom and America is lovely but they tracked all those things and billionaires got your money and are figuring out how to sell you more stuff. 

They may track my park pass purchase but so far the only evidence of that is email inbox invitations to paddle in other nice places. 

Here in this photo you see our guide, Mark Stevenson, as he provides some education on history, nature and as with the group that turned their boat over some guidance on how not to drown parked at the mouth of the creek looking down the Neches River toward the forks where it joins the Angelina River above the lake.           

  

Here's how our caravan set out from the Walnut Slough Day Use Area where canoes and kayaks are available for rental if you don't have your own. That's called eagle point up ahead there because you can look across towards an eagles nest from here. 

Great swampy south east Texas scenery. Actually I had not been over here since January when we caught a pretty good mess of bream and small bass and this time last year we were catching good bream but as the guide pointed out the warm winter and recent warmer than normal temps has lead to a vegetation bloom on the lake that while not doubt the fish are there it makes it harder to present a bait to them without a glob of weeds of some type hung on it. It's global warming folks. This is how it's going to be.  

You might can barely spot the eagle nest in this photo. It's in a pine tree. They estimate it to be about 9' in diameter. 

After gliding over a couple of miles of hydrilla and through lily pads we entered a little creek that while it was only a few feet deep there was no weed growth. I should have asked but I would say maybe a different soil type, maybe some river current entering here, maybe the shade of the forest, something was inhibiting the weeds from taking over.   

I love this river bottom scenery. I told they guide this is what I came for to see this and learn my way around the lake. He had to make the decision on paddling skill if the group was up to this kind of trip or to try and easier trail. One boat did turn over on the winding slough and while not deep they did struggle to right the boat. All total it was a three hour paddle and fairly strenuous as some parts were against the wind. I was the only boat with one paddler so I was usually bringing up the rear as the slowest.  

Saw a couple of small gators, hog wallows on the banks and here's something that would probably cause the most trouble, a wasp nest overhanging the water. No worries if you are home watching Netflix. 

Someone asked me how I know about these things. Well while you on Amazon helping those rich guys get richer I'm helping myself do the same thing, over and over.   

 

Have You Been to See the Elephant...

I've been looking at this old photo taken during summer vacation with my family in 1959. It's a visit to what I think is either the San Antone or maybe Houston zoo. That's me in the front seat riding an elephant. I don't see any adults in the photo. Maybe in the 1950s kids just knew how to ride elephants and elephants knew what to do when they were loaded up with kids. It's another case of seems like things never going to change and then just like overnight it's different.   

I don't think you can ride an elephant anymore. Citing the public's changing attitude about animals and of course, the most important, the decline in ticket sales and the rule of the almighty dollar Ringling Brothers and Shrine Circus shows no longer use elephants in their shows. I bet you can't ride an elephant anymore but Cathy recalls the kids riding one at a Renaissance Festival as recently as the 1990s. 

Facts and figures show steady decline of elephant populations. Commercial bans on ivory importation into the USA took effect in 2016. In 2018 after some confusing flip flopping around the Trump administration reversed a ban on the importation of elephant trophies. Recently footage of a botched 2013 elephant hunt by NRA president Wayne LaPierre has surfaced and it is good evidence that he should not be allowed to hunt, have a gun or be around elephants. 

It seems when reading wildlife news that detrimental changes over the last four years, human behaviors and the customs of the ivory trade are going to take some time to reverse. I hope the elephants hang in there. One day it will be different but probably not overnight.   

    

 

Don't Look in the Wrong Place...

 U.S. Tico and The Man were separated by time and distance. They were connected very closely by thoughts, ideas, experience and sheer number of hours spent sitting on the porch playing a guitar. Sometimes they play with friends or family but as is often the case the task of something you believe in can be solitary. Serenading can be a lonely business. It seems there is no one listening while you sit in a little room. Or perhaps they stop by the wrong room to listen? The Man only has to reach back into close family history to find a story that could almost be the one told by himself and U.S. Tico.

With a history that reached back to the 1870s string band music was popular and instrumentation evolved to include other members of the string family with the banjo fiddle combo that defined the genre it the early days. By the 1920s String band music was well on the way to becoming the modern country music we know about today that has incorporated rap beats to sing about pickup trucks, cell phones and drinking Guaro on Costa Rician beaches. Way before Central American beach vacations The Man's family roots were in Perry County Tennessee, Lick Creek specifically near the river where his grandmother's people the Ledbetters settled in the 1850s in close proximity to the Weems (pronounced Wims) family. 

The Man's connection to the Weems family is his great grandfather, Henry Clay Ledbetter had a brother, William Brownlow Ledbetter who married Martha Hale Lewis. Martha, who passed in 1908, the best way we can date all this, had a sister Mary Jane who married William Thomas Weems, reportedly an excellent fiddle player. Their sons formed the Weems Family String Band. In 1920s Perry County my family, the Ledbetters, would surely have known and seen the Weems play music. 

The photos used here are courtesy of The Man's cousin Charles. Charles is the grandson of William Brownlow Ledbetter and grew up knowing brothers Dick and Frank Weems. In his words "they died poor and would have never guessed that a Google search of the Weems Family String Band would produce thousands of results. They played dances and fiddle contests up to their death." 

The Weems Family String Band cut two sides for Columbia Records in 1928. They were standards "Greenback Dollar" backed with "Davy". These records are quite collectable. Cousin Charles has a copy. 

Why did the Weems Family only cut only two sides? They had a career that spanned generations and decades. As this short film will explain the record company wanted more but looked for the band in Arkansas instead of Tennessee. Also cousin Charles has related that an invitation to the Grand Old Opry was missed because the wives wanted to attend the gig as well and there was not an automobile large enough available to transport all to Nashville.   

Have you heard the Weems Family String Band? Have you heard of U.S. Tico and The Man? Don't look in Arkansas.  

 

  

  

    

More Jazz Fest...

Here's some people pictures from the Jazz Fest. This is a picture of Pop, Geneva and Cathy just before they enter the nude section of the Jazz Fest. bet you didn't know they had one of those. Cathy and Geneva smile for the camera while Pop is busy taking his shoes off so he can hurry and drop them 'ralls. Note the naked legs in the back ground, I cropped this picture so no faces are seen because they were afraid. Not unusual, after eight years of the Bush administration has made us afraid of almost everything they are scared their mom, their boss, their coworkers or SOs will see their naked pictures on the Internet. And besides, they did not pay the usual $39,000 picture fee for this space. Anyway the real point of all this other than making naked jokes and poking Republicans with a stick is for you to note the turtle shell shaker stick on the ground between Geneva and Cathy.


Here's a some what better picture but you can't see the shell, you have seen it on these pages before and I have taken it to many Jazz fests. Probably 10-15 years old, it's a personal invention, an attempt at wretchedly bad ethnic folk art. For some reason this shaker, I shake it in time to the music, plays any kind of music and sounds better than expected to old fashion dixieland, attracted more attention than ever before at the fest. Lots of people, dozens approached and asked to take a photo and many more probably took a photo of me in action on the sleigh. The crafts people eyed it jealously and the proprietors of the American Indian Booth ask if I minded them using the idea. I said go ahead. People seemed starved for a meager amount of what they thought of as creative, authentic, exciting and so forth, see eight years of Bush administration.

Anyway, I was standing outside the dixieland tent a sawed off guy approaches, kind of greasy looking, smoking a cigar and wearing a pith helmet. Asks how much for the stick. Now this is a moment I have really been waiting for, sell my stuff. He says he's in the music biz, will use it recording. I say well what do you do? He says, used to play the Austin circuit. I say maybe I saw you, I been around. he says it was with a band called "Machine Screw." He takes out a bic pen and taps the turtle shell. He says I'll play it like this if you sell.

Anyway, that's like three strikes at that point, sawed off and greasy cigar smoking, played in a band called "Machine Screw" and taps my turtle with a bic pen. I can't sell. We both cry a little, but I'm faking it.

Keep your eyes open, it's coming to a store near you and you saw it here first.

Christmas Parade...

The Lufkin Christmas parade has become a nighttime affair. Killing time before the parade I am looking south, down First St. at the old Pines Theater on the left and the large square Angelina Hotel on the right. The Pines is scheduled for renovation with the same idea kicked about for the old hotel. I think a lot of the old nice features are still intact in both buildings.

It's the last days of the Bush administration, do I still have to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior? Here a man points a bubble machine out a window of the old Perry Building, trying to make it look like snow. I have though about pointing something out the window of the Perry Building, but would probably go old school and do it without trousers.
Mary played sleigh bells at the parade.

Happy Birthday Pop...

Happy Birthday to Cathy's dad, Bill. No last names, you know the rule, would not want your boss, you priest or the current administration googling your activities and find out you knew people here.

Anyway this is just one of the many customs we celebrate, holding up a piece of fried fish on your birthday. It means you are special and that the older you will get...

Signs...

So my neighbor was surprised. You think you know a guy after living next door to him but then he goes and does something like put an Obama sign in his yard.

He asked me, "you really voting for Obama?"

I said, "Yes."

He said, "I can't. I just don't think this country is ready to have a Muslim as President."

I said, " I don't think he's a Muslim."

He said,"I don't believe that."

If you watched any of the debates you know that some of the charges leveled back and forth were simply best deflected by much better debaters (can I say that word here?) than me. In this case I just mumbled something about how I thought my candidates had a better social justice agenda that seems like it might come closer to ending problems in society with health care, addressing root causes for the need for a law that legalizes abortion, as well as evening out the tax system in favor for the little guy. I could go on, but as I admit, I mumble. I'm just an old peace queer, what do I know.

My neighbor allowed how he was afraid he would be taxed $50,000 if the Democrats got in office. Not a problem for those making less than that these days.

I'm Reading This Week...

It's a thriller.

No spoilers here, get your own copy.

Got a Letter This Morning...

Important stuff. Seems this guy who has his name as the letter head thinks I'm slacking, but still considers me a valued and trusted member of his party.
He says his records indicate that I remain on the sidelines.

I got news for Mr. McCain. I have not been on the sidelines. I have been busy, graduating from college to get back on track after a job layoff. I was busy back in the early 80s, voting against President Reagan as his policies weakened the union I was a member of for 25 years. I was in Austin one time for the Austin against the War march. I know that's not much considering what some sacrifice, but it's the best I could do and it was more respect I felt than any thing else for those the war has made sad. I was in Kilgore that time at a Louie Gohmert lecture when he opened it up for questions and the only way he could respond to my question was that he had been called "the meanest man in Washington" on several occasions. I was also there on a tour of a former President's library, and although I can't agree with all that man did I do see some great things that happened for the people of this country during those years that seemed to have slipped away.

There is some less glamorous stuff, might seem like sideline to you, such as teaching Cub Scouts to fold the flag, helping with adult faith formation and singing in the church choir.

So Mr. McCain, I really don't have the time to help you as you mention in your last paragraph with a contribution of "$100, $50, or even $25" as you suggest and I barely had time to read your P.S at the end where you say "at least $25."

Road Trip Shots...

As you may know Mary is back from Disney World, a band trip thing, 150 stinking teenagers crawling charter buses like lizards. Maybe we can get her used to being home this weekend, she has been gone the last three weekends somewhere or other.

This looks like a shot from a bad 80s TV show. See the sponsor on the car. Come July when she gets the licence they will send me a decal like that.

Disney was always a scary guy to me. The movies were good, nothing against that. I know someone who works there and I have had a view of behind the scenes so to speak. Seems the employees love it so don't get me wrong, they are not required to be cult members or anything. I was told that "they"walk around the park and a vacationing family gets tapped on the shoulder and they get to stay in old Walt's apartment for a night. First off I don't know who "they" is and I don't want to know and second it seems a little spooky to sleep in Walt's apartment to me.

Surf babe shot.

Just a site administration note, I am not getting email notification of your comments anymore, so if you write something and I don't reply bear with me. The loss of this feature is inconvenient in the new blog set up, I will try to get it back. It was the fastest way for me to know when someone posted a porn link on an old post.