New Year, New You?

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Does the prospect of finding a date for New Year's Eve
give you the blues?

I found these Yahoo Personals to be a great help.

What are your resolutions for the coming year?

Do you want to lose weight? If you've ever watched "The Biggest Loser"
on TV, then you already know just how inspirational it can be. I
know that gaining weight gives me the blues. So I'm about to blog
out my New Year's resolution and all the steps I take to make a
"New Me" in the "New Year".

Stay tuned for that. I will blog it on a different blog, so watch
for the link to come up at the first of the year.

I might just get myself back into the dating world again, who
knows? Although being more involved in the Music World is
really more like what I want to do.

I have a nice new Fender Acoustic guitar that I just love. It's
easier to practice on an acoustic while living in an apartment.
But recently I won a really nice pre-amp/pick up system for
an acoustic. It's so nice, it actually cost more than the guitar.
So I took guitar and pick up system down to one of the local
guitar stores today to have the two "married". This will
make a nice addition to my growing collection of guitars.

My resolutions:

Learn to play the guitar much better.

Quit Smoking

Lose Weight

Pretty ambitious, I know. Let's see how far I get with it.

This Should Be The First Post

A little about me:

I was born and raised in Beaumont, TX.

Sure it was a small town, but to me, that's a good thing.

I graduated from Forest Park High School in 1972. And
I was glad to be done with that.

I took piano lessons as a kid, went on to self teach myself
guitar, then took cello in Junior High and High School. I
considered myself to be a musician, although I wasn't
playing anywhere in a band or a solo act for money.

Let's skip ahead a few hundred years shall we?

In 1992 I was in a serious motorcycle accident. Serious
meaning a boat load of injuries, including broken bones,
lacerations, scraping all the skin from the right side of
my face and a closed head injury that left me unable to
play any of the afore mentioned instruments.

I had a bad case of the "black and blues".

Now almost 16 years later, I'm still in pain from some
of the joint injuries, cracked vertebrae and torn ligaments.
It's amazing how much pain can stay with a person for
such a long time.

Emotionally painful was the inability to play music anymore.

Yeah, it gave me the blues alright.

I spent 11 years in Boulder, CO and about 20 in Dallas, TX.
Did a 2 year stint in NYC. But after 30 plus years, I returned
to Beaumont to be with friends and family in the little city
where I grew up.

I moved down here to be in a slower pace. A town where
being partially crippled was easier to navigate.

Living on disability is boring and it's hard to make ends
meet sometimes. So I opened a little website called
Beaumont Live! where I post the music events of local
musicians, and run a little Internet Radio Station that
plays local talent.

I never monetized this effort, but that's still in the works.

I have met so many musicians from this area. All of them
really nice people. A few who have become good friends,
and a few who have inspired me.

One guitarist named Larry Tillery who never fails to blow
me away at any of his shows, inspired me to pick up the
guitar again. For that, I will be forever grateful to him.

Larry plays The Blues. I can't play the way he does, and
probably never will, but I can play the guitar again! He
also inspired me to open a second radio station that plays
"nuthin' but the blues". And that is probably how you arrived
here. http://bluescityradio.com/

Like I said, I've met a lot of great people in the local music
world and wouldn't trade any of that experience for anything.

I would like to acknowlege a few who have spent time with
me, supporting me in re-learning guitar, and encouraging
me to do the best I can.

Larry Tillery - Beaumont, TX
Charley Drumm - Hackberry, LA
Dobro Danny Hill - Beaumont, Ft. Worth, TX

Knowing them has enriched my life.

Blues Jam

We have a great little Internet Coffee Cafe here in town called The Logon Cafe.

On the first Thursday of the month, some of the best musicians in town

get together there for a Blues Jam. It's free to the public and quite possibly

"The Best" live music night of the month.

The Blues Jam is now two years old. Last night it was awesome! Sometimes

it's hard to find a drummer, but we had TWO last night. And TWO Bass players.

THREE Blues Harp players and tons of guitar players.

This was definitely one of the biggest and best Jams we've had in a while.

So much talent in one room. The music is alive and well in Beaumont, TX!

Post Thanksgiving Blues

It's a ritual that we have practiced every year of my life that I can remember.

When I was younger, my grandmother did most of the cooking and about
20 of us would gather at her house and stuff ourselves with Turkey and
a Southern Cornbread Dressing that would just knock your socks off!

I remember that "we kids" sat at our own table, but it didn't really seem
to matter. We were just having fun visiting with our families. "We Kids"
weren't too far apart in age so it seemed that we all got along. I remember
working up a great appetite playing football out in the yard. I always
enjoyed the cooler weather and that sort of crispness in the air that
we don't often experience here on the Texas Coast.

Life takes little twists and turns, the blues come and the blues go.

As an adult, my mom did most of the cooking, or at least shared it
with her sisters. I remember all of my aunts as being good cooks,
at least at Thanksgiving! Well, most of them anyway...

One Thanksgiving each sister was given a task in the meal preparation.
One would cook the Turkey and probably make a gravy, one would tackle
the dressing, another the cranberry sauce...well, you get the picture.
All of us were to converge on my Aunt Margie's house were everyone
would bring their contribution.

It wasn't until after everyone had eaten that my Aunt Margie exclaimed,
"Well, that was sure easy!" It was as if on cue each of the other sisters
turned and looked at Margie..."Yeah it was easy for you, you didn't have
to cook anything!" Suddenly the room was full of riotous laughter as
Margie realized that all she had to do was eat!

The Blues sometimes come in Huge Waves...

My dad was the first person I lost to death. It was late in September
of 1968. I don't even remember that Thanksgiving. It was as if
Beaumont, Texas has just fallen off the map and taken it with me.
My dad, gone!

Thanksgiving came and went I presume.

We all dreaded Christmas because we were all still mourning
our loss. For me, I had lost my dad, my best friend and the
only person in the world who totally understood me.

Christmas Eve, my dog of 12 years was run over and killed
by the postman.

I was consumed by the blues...

The years don't get any kinder as we age, move away, make
our own lives and build our futures. Life keeps happening
around us all the time in spite of our efforts to keep the hard
times at bay.

I'm older now and I do most of the cooking. But it's only
a table for 4. Our family has gone the way of most families.
But the tradition stays on. That last chance to grasp what
we can while we still have each other. The remaining four
of us.

The turkey was moist, the dressing still knocks our socks
off. We are thankful to still be here and to still have each
other, what few of us there are.

All of us have the blues from time to time...