Let Me Check My Bank Balance....

 In this photo of me and Strong, made in a New Orleans hotel room I hold about $300 in my hand. It was the early 1980s and that would get you most things you wanted during a Big Easy weekend. You would be straggling home broke of course but easy come easy go.  

Me and another old friend, who now that I think about all this probably made this photo, were sitting in in a cool, comfortable local watering hole. We were talking but not watering. I've been sober going on 30 years. He's been sober for two years. Like singer songwriter Jason Isbell says, "it gets easier but it never gets easy" but we were doing alright. 

I greeted an acquaintance in passing and my friend says, "you know him?" Kinda I guess. "He took me aside at a party and told me he was a millionaire." My friend could not recall the man's name. I might have told somebody something like that one tine but that person probably can't remember my name either. 

I have another friend. We've been meeting almost weekly for several years due to a shared interest and have only been interrupted by previous commitments, pandemics and other general vulgarities of modern life. Each meet up he usually has a long story, off the topic of our meeting

about some millionaire he knows. 

It's usually a young bright shiny couple who manage to pick up from the ground business opportunity, show place homes in expansive rural settings where the living is easy with year around world class boating and fishing, deaconship and VIP parking at a mega church and have customers with open check books elbowing their way into the business. 

I ask what kind of business is this?

He says, "they sell equipment."

What kind of equipment? 

He says, "all kinds."

I have a friend, not a millionaire himself, who went of a trip with several millionaires. He told me, "they talk about things you and me don't know about and can't understand." 

I have several friends who are probably millionaires. I can tell because they usually know the best deal on a cell phone plan, have a nose for a cheap Airbnb, can fix a flapping shoe with a piece of cardboard if they need to and sometimes let a tree grow up in a flower bed too close to their house. 

Strong passed away in 2007. Rich people, who we meet every day aren't bad people. I seldom hold $300 in my hand. Many places don't even take cash so I just hand them a credit card like I'm a millionaire. Like Isbell said, it gets easier but it never gets easy.    

    

 

Summer Bromance...

You know, a bromance. It's where two guys get together, don't need no stinking Supreme Court rulings or nothing like that and have fun. I mean lots of fun. 

It's a good kind of multi generational multi cultural fun. These guys hang out, ride a jet ski, listen to Def Leopard and go to Bass Pro Shops. They dance a little cumbia and bust a pinata.    

The good times roll and they don't mind letting it show. 

"Be back a little later, don't wait up!" 

I Swear...

...I only slept with the guy one time...












...and on the next bromantic get away he had his old fingers all over my bass guitar. Who ever said breaking up was hard to do had some keen insight into human relationships, rock bands and borrowed guitars.









Mary recently borrowed my old skint and worn acoustic guitar and took it back to school with her. Hope it's as good a friend to her as it has been to me. Sitting around a camp fire under tall pine trees with friends and family is as good a way to cut your chops as can be found anywhere. Next thing you know it's up on the risers, idiot/saviour/savant/clown/hero with a five piece band looking at your backside and large closed back Fender speaker cabinets blowing up your big (man am I ever glad those came back in style) legged jeans.







Rose, Mary and Cathy work out the tunes.

Maybe I Should Have Called This Post...

...Guadalupe After Dark. I guess that blog name (hint hint click click) is already taken so here is a few photos from around Austin one night last week.

The Cornell Hurd Band on stage at their regular Thursday night gig at Jovita's plays both kinds of music, Country and Western.

Mary, Miguel and Ali eat trendy Tex-Mex with the band in the background.








You have heard of the three river rule? Anytime on a road trip you cross three rivers it means that what happens stays across three rivers. For example, why is this guy laughing so hard.
Well, this guy can't tell and the reason why is because they have crossed three rivers in their travels together.

Hmmm, that bed spread looks familiar.

Got to Have a Flute Player in the Band...

Miguel plays flute with us when ever he can. In fact some one asked him one time "Miguel how does a flute player get into country music?"

His reply was, "How the heck does he get out?"

All kidding aside Miguel takes a mean ride on any Hank or Merle song.
Me and the flute player bromancing on a little duet with Dan on drums in the background. No I am not making an obscene gesture, it's just my old cruddy two fingered bass technique that has served me well for so long that it would be ridiculous to try to change it. Probably make me lose my groove.
Whoops, band fine, someone did not wear cowboy boots.

Guadalupe Cruising...

Cooled it on a Guadalupe tube float this weekend. First Hill Country river float I have done in a few years good to be back in the tube so to speak. There might even be a couple of old tube buddies from back then lurking on these pages.

Time for a new blog character alert, here is Katherine with boyfriend Charles. No, jog your memory, Katie has long kept up her $39,000 payments to appear in all glory, Charles is the new patron. We had a very good weekend getting acquainted and he seems like the kind of guy that will keep up his payments.
Me and Cathy float by rocky banks lined with cypress. I have begun to accept the fact that cypress is a must have for water adventure. Some kind of mojo thing.
As you can see, we had company down the river. Lots of folks on tubes and with the river flowing at a measly 52 cubic feet per second (ok, so I know stuff like this that you don't) they were more that happy to increase the beer flow to make up the difference.
Why is this man grinning? Looks like he might be cracking everyone behind him up as he monkey grubs his tube. He might even need one of them new finagled mansieres. You know, a brosiere, like guys wear. Lucky for him he's not doing this in Wal-Mart.

Happy Birthday Miguel...

I'll stop by your work later with the tuba. Play happy birthday. Don't worry, you will like it and when other people see the services I am capable of offering I'll get some other gigs so it will be a good thing for both of us.

Requests for Pictures and a New Hobby...

Got a Facebook request for a close up of Margaret and Grayson, this might be the best I got from their visit. There is also a picture of Kevin and Grayson, but no one asked for that.

Cathy thought the sack top and skirt combo she is wearing made her butt look big. All that changed when she took off the long brown skirt and just wore the sack top as a dress. Made her look skinny.










Geneva requested this picture, made of Wallace and Cooney cousins in the porch swing at the land. Seems she has one made when all these kids were little sitting in same swing and wanted a remake now that they are grown.












And for my new hobby, making pictures of guys passed out at parties. That might seem weird, but not really, after all this is the Older you will get...This guy slept right through a cunga line, a didgeridoo sonata, a shaving and a blueing.

Altura Muscial...

Photos by Mary of Altura Musical, the band Miguel plays in at the Kaliente Club Saturday night. We get used to labels for Music. Rock, country, Gypsy punk, Altura Musical plays a variety of Hispanic music, some of which they call "durangensa" translated as the music that comes from Durango. We are used to pretty wild stuff around here and you can see that this involves midgets and everything.

Miguel plays percussion and flute.















They use a drum set up kind of like the New Orleans brass bands.
Miguel, flute under arm and Gonzalo.



I am a little jealous, last gig Miguel played with the State School Band went real well. He can't make this weeks gig because he and Mary must rehearse the dance steps for His sisters Quienceria. Dude, what about our bromance?

Lufkin High School Band Alumni Concert...

In this photo me and Mary take part in a historical re-enactment of a situation you may not be aware of. Post Civil War, when the occupying armies withdrew from New Orleans, like a lot of occupying armies they left stuff behind. In this case it included the instruments used by military brass bands. These instruments fell into the hands of former slaves and pop music as we know it was born.

No, really it's the Lufkin High School Band Alumni Concert, a day of visiting, rehearsing and an evening of playing a concert. Look at the picture. Is that person barely in the picture holding their ears? I like to think may be just answering a cell phone call, hard to tell. Standing right there with tuba and cymbals blasting away must have been set to vibrate.

Grand old man of Lufkin Bands, Waymon Bullock. One of the top music educators, band directors, and just great guys in the world. My high school band director, he puts the band through the paces at rehearsal.






One of the photos from the historical display, donated by Lowell Clark, another band director product of Lufkin taken at Lowell's 2003 birthday. It's a reunion of 1953-54 Lufkin band students including my late Uncle Bill Wallace standing next to Bullock on the right. Lowell is on the left, he played at the reunion concert. One of the things folks stressed again and again yesterday was the family and friend connections made through participation in band.

One of my old high school buddies, Ken (no last names he recently moved to a new job, don't want to mess him up with the new boss if he gets the old Google) we hung out a lot and he told me he has been visiting this site. We were together before the word bromance was coined. Ken, you know about the $39,000 fee, correct? Not for bromancing, for getting your picture here. Ken's dad was there last night with many stories to tell of our mischievous high school days. My mom was there also and she said she don't remember us hanging out together. Get your stories straight guys, we did.

Anyway, it was a great time and I'll get some more pictures up later. I already have Face book emails of of a couple of shots I am tagged in this morning so if you do that thing, check it out.

Happy Father's Day...

Here's a couple of dads, me and Quince at Mary's graduation a few weeks ago. We continue our 30 year bromance at every opportunity we get. May be we will make one of those movies, no not one of those movies but one of those new bromance movies.

There are some upcoming movies to be made this week. Our little state school band, we play a dance once a month for the residents there, gets an award, Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) Vision Award in the Wellness category. I have been doing this for about 9 years, thanks to Dan and Runt, who have been doing it for 20 odd for having me along.

I am currently ranked 9th in the world, American Taekwondo Association, (my age bracket) for forms. I get to compete for world champ in Little Rock on Friday.

Saturday is The Lufkin High School Alumni Band Concert. I'll play tuba. Proceeds benefit the scholarship fund.

Size Does Matter...

At least that's what these two old boys who were recently sighted driving down Timberland Dr. cuddled up in the cab of a skinned up Chevy think.

Chevys may not be around too many more years, at least in the form we know know them, although I am sure there will be some favored brand that survives to be skinned on the back roads and hog trails in these parts. One thing I am sure will be around is the relationship between men that to judge from popular movies is becoming more and more common, the bromance.

To define bromance, it's the complicated relationship of love and affection shared by two straight males. Now the movies would have you to think this is a pretty new thing, but us artsy types that hang out on blogs and in other similar locations know that art precedes print, music and movies in being a front runner of social change by a long shot. In fact I bet bromances have been depicted in art for two or three hundred years at least. I just can't think of any right now. Maybe I'll call Miguel, he might know some.

Meanwhile there is the school of thought out there that has been put forth that I will get skinned myself one day for making pictures of bromances. I did say bromances were complicated.