Yep, we're still at it!

It may seem that Blues City never changes.

Lately that's not too far from the truth.

Not sure what's going on with me, but one illness
after another has kept me from updating much of
what is going on in the world, my life and my
online life.

Please bare with me as I attempt to catch things
up.

Never Too Late To Learn

As you know from previous entries, I recently
began to re-learn to play guitar. I wondered
if waiting until I was in my fifties to do so
was crazy, but it doesn't seem to be.

I turned 54 yesterday and had just about the
best birthday I can ever remember having. I
was intending to just sort of pretend it was
not happening this year, but it happened
anyway.

I work with a lot of musicians in this area
and they all seem to be the nicest people
that I've ever encountered. Not that I
expected them be monsters or anything,
I just had no idea HOW nice people can be.

A blues guitar player named Larry Tillery
came over yesterday and played guitar with
me all day. This guys is a huge bundle of
talent and I am always blown away when
watching his fingers fly effortlessly over
the fret board. I often wonder if I could
get my fingers to move that fast even
without a guitar in hand.

Now Larry's band plays all over the place
and he's a busy guy. He could have spent
his day ANYwhere but he chose to spend it
here. He never acted like I was new to
this or gave me a feeling that he wished
he was playing with someone more experienced.
He showed me licks that I'll be able to use
in the future and a few tricks that I would
have probably never learned on my own.

We played guitar and sang for hours. The
whole day just seemed to zip by. If I got
stuck, Larry would just say "look, try it
like this" and show me a better/easier way.
He never once said, "look old lady, this
is crazy, why don't you take up knitting?"
Yeah that was meant to be funny but true.

During that afternoon, my best friend from
high school dropped by and brought a big
bag of my favorite burgers with her. To
hell with the diet, it's my birthday! At
least that's what I told myself. She hung
our for a while and listened to the music
and seemed to have a great time.

Thinking Larry would have had all of my
playing he could take, I expected him to
go on home as the evening approached.
But he had one more trick up his sleeve
and that was that he and his girlfriend
were taking me out for sushi. I ADORE
SUSHI. He and his girlfriend don't even
eat it. He did it because he knows it's
my favorite.

We sat at one of the hibachi tables. I
dined on sushi while the guy threw knives
around and made volcanoes out of onions
right there on the grill. He had a big
combo of different foods going but never
seemed to miss a beat...I wondered if
my hands could move that fast. Maybe
they can, but I'll stick with getting
just my fingers to move faster. Guitar
strings just seem safer in my hands
than huge sharp knives do.

Cruisin' The Blues Highway (Hwy. 61)

The stories of Hwy. 61 (The Blues Highway) go on for
more miles than the Highway itself.

The official name is U.S. Route 61 and stretches out
for about 1400 miles from New Orleans, LA to
Wyoming, MN. What I am concerned with is in the
south which spans from New Orleans to St. Louis.

61 Highway is the longest road I know Goes all the
way from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico. - Son Thomas

We are gearing up early for a road trip to experience
the historical path that so many blues artists have
travelled in pursuit of living the blues, listening
to the blues and above all, playing the blues.

Starting at The Old Absinthe House in New Orleans
where many a celebrity has downed a few strong
concoctions and working our way up to Clarksdale
in the Mississippi Delta is sure to prove an interesting
if not enlightening experience.

Hwy. 61 winds it's way up from Louisiana to Clarksdale
and intersects there with Hwy. 49. Probably one of the
most famous intersections in American Music History
and known as "The Crossroads", where Robert Johnson
(or legend has it) sold his Soul to the Devil in return
for his great musical talent.

I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
Asked the Lord above for mercy, "Save me if you please."
- Robert Johnson





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New Year, New You?

Sign up for Yahoo! Personals 7 Day Free Trial

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...