Sunday, December 25, 2016
Near Southside
Fort Worth's Near Southside got some good press in the January edition of Texas Monthly. I was especially pleased to see a plug for the Last Word Bookstore, which I consider my "home base" in the Magnolia area. The Panther City Review, among several other publications, was launched at that fine establishment.
Texas Christmas Songs
Today I would like to spread a little holiday cheer- Texas-style, of course. Bob Wills was known to cut a Christmas track here and there, and I wanted to share his "Santa is on his Way." You have to love a Christmas ditty where Bob yells "Ahhhh haaaahhh!"
Good ol' E.T. also recorded some Christmas tunes. Here is "I'll Be Walking the Floor this Christmas."
Finally, here is Jerry Jeff Walker singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas." One of my fondest Christmas memories was seeing Jerry Jeff play in Fort Worth on Christmas night when I was home from Europe for the holidays.
Merry Christmas, y'all!
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Pretty Paper
When I was a child, my father told me about a disabled man who sold pencils outside of Leonard's Department Store in Fort Worth. It seemed like the man was always there, and he left an impression on my father. The man also left an impression on Willie Nelson, who lived in Fort Worth in those days. Willie's "Pretty Paper" was actually written about this hard-working street vendor. I first learned about the connection at the M & O Museum in Fort Worth.
Here is a link to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram story about the street vendor and the song.
Sunday, December 18, 2016
A Stroll Down East Concho Avenue
While visiting San Angelo, the town Fort Concho built, Martina and I stopped at the Cactus Book Shop on East Concho Avenue. The store specializes in Texana and the West, and its proprietor, Felton Cochran, was a close friend of Texas author Elmer Kelton, who passed away in 2009. Mr. Cochran proudly offers "the largest selection of titles by Elmer Kelton found anywhere." As a testimonial to the late author's talent, a glowing letter from Robert Duvall, who played Augustus McCrae in the Lonesome Dove television series, is nailed to a wooden beam near the Elmer Kelton section. When Duvall visited the bookstore, he apparently purchased a stack of Kelton's works, and he is clearly a fan.
My dear wife, although a fan of Texana and the West, was very indulgent. I am always drawn to people who know more than me, and Mr. Cochran is a vast repository of Texas knowledge. I asked him about the work of the illustrator Tom Lea and books by some of Texas' more well-known fiction writers, and he told me the real history of San Angelo's famed bordello. After about two hours in the bookstore, for my wife's sake I figured that it was probably time to go.
Before we left, I purchased, among other books, a copy of Elmer Kelton's The Time It Never Rained. Here is a short clip of the late author reading the prologue. Notice his fine West Texas drawl.
My dear wife, although a fan of Texana and the West, was very indulgent. I am always drawn to people who know more than me, and Mr. Cochran is a vast repository of Texas knowledge. I asked him about the work of the illustrator Tom Lea and books by some of Texas' more well-known fiction writers, and he told me the real history of San Angelo's famed bordello. After about two hours in the bookstore, for my wife's sake I figured that it was probably time to go.
Before we left, I purchased, among other books, a copy of Elmer Kelton's The Time It Never Rained. Here is a short clip of the late author reading the prologue. Notice his fine West Texas drawl.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Out on the Blacktop
Martina and I hit the blacktop for some R & R and the chance to see a little swathe of Texas neither of us had ever visited. On our way down Highway 67 between San Angelo and Brownwood we passed many fields of cotton. Some were blanketed white and awaiting harvest. Others were now rust brown with huge white modules covered in tarps awaiting pickup. In one field we saw a green John Deere cotton picker harvesting cotton six rows at a time. Along the highway we also passed a ginning facility near a railroad siding. It was as if we were enjoying a mobile presentation of the final production stages of cotton farming.
As we drove along, we passed through the little town of Bangs, where my great-grandmother was born and raised. My great-grandmother, Viola Pace Cate, joined her family to work those cotton fields when she was just a child. In her old age, when she lived in Haltom City by way of Lonesome Dove, she told me about the backbreaking work of picking cotton. She talked about how hard it was on your hands. She talked about getting up early in the morning and picking the cotton when the dew was still upon it so that the sacks weighed heavier. Driving past those fields I imagined my ancestors toiling the rows together, men, women, and children alike.
From my childhood I remember a copy of this painting, or perhaps a similar one, hanging on my great-grandmother's wall. Memory is fallible, of course, but whatever did hang in her house conveyed a similar message.
As we drove along, we passed through the little town of Bangs, where my great-grandmother was born and raised. My great-grandmother, Viola Pace Cate, joined her family to work those cotton fields when she was just a child. In her old age, when she lived in Haltom City by way of Lonesome Dove, she told me about the backbreaking work of picking cotton. She talked about how hard it was on your hands. She talked about getting up early in the morning and picking the cotton when the dew was still upon it so that the sacks weighed heavier. Driving past those fields I imagined my ancestors toiling the rows together, men, women, and children alike.
From my childhood I remember a copy of this painting, or perhaps a similar one, hanging on my great-grandmother's wall. Memory is fallible, of course, but whatever did hang in her house conveyed a similar message.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Which Texas?
I recently asked Martina to take some pictures that would be representative of Waylon County, the fictional setting of many of my short stories. Waylon County is in Texas, but Texas has such a wide and varied physical and cultural landscape that asking someone "to take Texas pictures" is hardly useful.
I got to thinking about it. East Texas, with its pine trees and lakes, is physically and culturally more like the Deep South than the fictional world of Waylon County. Waylon County has entirely too many oak and pecan trees to be in West Texas, and my knowledge of the Gulf Coast is so limited that I would be reluctant to set a story anywhere near Galveston or South Padre unless it was told from a neophyte tourist's point of view.
In the end, Waylon County is geographically similar to the less populated parts of Gillespie County or perhaps the area around San Saba. The characters, however, tend to talk and behave like old timers from Wise or Denton counties. My characters tend to use the colloquialisms I was raised on, and they think out loud using cowboy logic.
Here is a picture that could be set in Waylon County.
Here is a picture of Monahans Sand Dune State Park. It is not in Waylon County.
I got to thinking about it. East Texas, with its pine trees and lakes, is physically and culturally more like the Deep South than the fictional world of Waylon County. Waylon County has entirely too many oak and pecan trees to be in West Texas, and my knowledge of the Gulf Coast is so limited that I would be reluctant to set a story anywhere near Galveston or South Padre unless it was told from a neophyte tourist's point of view.
In the end, Waylon County is geographically similar to the less populated parts of Gillespie County or perhaps the area around San Saba. The characters, however, tend to talk and behave like old timers from Wise or Denton counties. My characters tend to use the colloquialisms I was raised on, and they think out loud using cowboy logic.
Here is a picture that could be set in Waylon County.
Here is a picture of Monahans Sand Dune State Park. It is not in Waylon County.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Songwriter Sam Baker at the Gathering at Corner Theatre
Songwriter Sam Baker played at a community theater in Mesquite last Friday accompanied by drummer Mike Meadows, who just got off tour with none other than Willie himself. I had heard Meadows' name before but couldn't remember where, and a quick Google search revealed that he had played with about eight zillion musicians including Hayes Carll, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ruthie Foster, and Gurf Morlix. No wonder I had heard his name before.
Sam Baker played songs such as "Odessa," "Isn't Love Grand," "Orphan," "Waves," and "Broken Fingers." He closed his set with a song of benediction, with "Go in Peace." And then, as an encore, he played his crowd-pleaser, "Ditch." "Ditch" was praised in Rolling Stone for its gratuitous reference to Taylor Swift, which is kind of ironic if you know the music of Sam Baker. Here is a man who references William Butler Yeats in his work, a man who writes about the power of kindness and love, a man who writes with almost unfathomable vulnerability, yet he gains notoriety for his reference to a pop music sweetheart. C'est la vie.
Baker also played three songs from his upcoming album to be released in May. One song, "A Flashlight and a Forty-five," I had heard him play before. The song is about the men called "tunnel rats" who were sent looking for the enemy in the tunnels of Vietnam with a flashlight and a weapon. After the show, my father went and talked to Sam about the song, for he had known some "tunnel rats" in his day. In my mind, Sam Baker is one of the finest songwriters playing today, and I am looking forward to his new album. His first four albums are in heavy rotation around my house, and I anticipate that his fifth album will quickly join that rotation.
Here is a link to Sam Baker on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/user/SamBakerVideo
Sam Baker played songs such as "Odessa," "Isn't Love Grand," "Orphan," "Waves," and "Broken Fingers." He closed his set with a song of benediction, with "Go in Peace." And then, as an encore, he played his crowd-pleaser, "Ditch." "Ditch" was praised in Rolling Stone for its gratuitous reference to Taylor Swift, which is kind of ironic if you know the music of Sam Baker. Here is a man who references William Butler Yeats in his work, a man who writes about the power of kindness and love, a man who writes with almost unfathomable vulnerability, yet he gains notoriety for his reference to a pop music sweetheart. C'est la vie.
Baker also played three songs from his upcoming album to be released in May. One song, "A Flashlight and a Forty-five," I had heard him play before. The song is about the men called "tunnel rats" who were sent looking for the enemy in the tunnels of Vietnam with a flashlight and a weapon. After the show, my father went and talked to Sam about the song, for he had known some "tunnel rats" in his day. In my mind, Sam Baker is one of the finest songwriters playing today, and I am looking forward to his new album. His first four albums are in heavy rotation around my house, and I anticipate that his fifth album will quickly join that rotation.
Here is a link to Sam Baker on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/user/SamBakerVideo
Saturday, December 3, 2016
The Politics of Barbeque
Congressman Louie Gohmert from Tyler, who allegedly cooks the finest ribs inside the Beltway, is up in arms because he has been banned from barbequeing on his balcony at the US Capitol. While I avoid the topic of politics on this Texas arts and culture blog, I was drawn to this story like an armadillo to the highway.
While I can certainly understand the representative wanting to retain the right to sovereignty in his culinary affairs, and could even understand why he might wave a "Barbeque Free of Die" flag from his balcony in not-so-quiet protest, I also believe that there is more to the story than what is being reported. The Architect of the Capitol cited a "safety concern," but I think the real issue is the offices downwind.
If Representative Gohmert smokes his ribs, every balcony downwind would be enveloped in a relentless cloud of smoke redolent of burning mesquite and cooked porcine flesh. Even for those of us who are great admirers of the barbeque arts, it would not exactly be desirable for our offices to be consumed in smoke and our suits smelling like a roadside meat shack.
On a macrocosmic scale, the case is the equivalent of corporations being allowed to pollute our air and water in the name of laissez faire economics, regardless of what happens to the people around them. Luckily, I am not the one who must resolve this issue. I will defer to the wisdom of the US House of Representatives and their Speaker of the House to resolve this "governmental-oversight" dispute.
Here is a link to a Houston Chronicle article on the Congressman's beef. The headline is priceless.
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Congressman-Louie-Gohmert-stands-up-for-barbeque-10688259.php
While I can certainly understand the representative wanting to retain the right to sovereignty in his culinary affairs, and could even understand why he might wave a "Barbeque Free of Die" flag from his balcony in not-so-quiet protest, I also believe that there is more to the story than what is being reported. The Architect of the Capitol cited a "safety concern," but I think the real issue is the offices downwind.
If Representative Gohmert smokes his ribs, every balcony downwind would be enveloped in a relentless cloud of smoke redolent of burning mesquite and cooked porcine flesh. Even for those of us who are great admirers of the barbeque arts, it would not exactly be desirable for our offices to be consumed in smoke and our suits smelling like a roadside meat shack.
On a macrocosmic scale, the case is the equivalent of corporations being allowed to pollute our air and water in the name of laissez faire economics, regardless of what happens to the people around them. Luckily, I am not the one who must resolve this issue. I will defer to the wisdom of the US House of Representatives and their Speaker of the House to resolve this "governmental-oversight" dispute.
Here is a link to a Houston Chronicle article on the Congressman's beef. The headline is priceless.
http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Congressman-Louie-Gohmert-stands-up-for-barbeque-10688259.php
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Sam Houston for President
If only the Republic of Texas' first president, Sam Houston, were alive to run for the highest office in the United States today. Here are some quotations that provide clues as to how he would govern:
"I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man."
"All new states are invested, more or less, by a class of noisy, second rate men who are always in favor of rash and extreme measures, but Texas was overrun by such men."
"I am aware that in presenting myself as an advocate of the Indians and their rights, I shall stand very much alone."
Here is a photograph of Sam Houston being presented a copy of the Panther City Review.
"I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man."
"All new states are invested, more or less, by a class of noisy, second rate men who are always in favor of rash and extreme measures, but Texas was overrun by such men."
"I am aware that in presenting myself as an advocate of the Indians and their rights, I shall stand very much alone."
Here is a photograph of Sam Houston being presented a copy of the Panther City Review.
Here is a short video on the life of Sam Houston. It was created by Voice of America for English language learners.
Sunday, October 30, 2016
An Evening at the Old Quarter in Galveston
Martina and I recently spent the evening at the Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe in Galveston. The Old Quarter is an iconic listening room, a place where the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, and Blaze Foley played. It is also a place that was critical in the success of troubadour Hayes Carll. Carll stills plays the venue, though he has been known to fill halls more than ten times the Old Quarter's size.
The Old Quarter's owner is Rex "Wrecks" Bell, and he was very kind and approachable. I asked Rex if the Arkansas flag above the stage was from Blaze Foley, but he said that the flag was there because of the 40 acre farm he and his wife have in Arkansas. It must be noted that Rex is a legend in his own right. He is the namesake of Townes Van Zandt's "Rex's Blues," and not only did he play bass for Townes and Lightnin' Hopkins, for decades he has provided a venue for talented songwriters to cultivate their talents and be taken seriously.
The act hired to play that night was caught in traffic on the way from Austin, so Rex and his wife Janet decided to "open" the show. They played a very enjoyable set for a crowd of eleven, and everything was very loose and relaxed.
The Old Quarter has been compared to a shrine, and the moment I walked in I felt like I had entered a holy place, a temple of song, a place of truth and beauty. In a single moment, I came to love the place because it was clear that it exists for the sake of the song. And I am the kind of man who, in the words of Waylon Jennings, "would rather give you a song than diamonds or gold."
Here is a photograph that Martina took of Rex and Janet Bell at the Old Quarter.
The Old Quarter's owner is Rex "Wrecks" Bell, and he was very kind and approachable. I asked Rex if the Arkansas flag above the stage was from Blaze Foley, but he said that the flag was there because of the 40 acre farm he and his wife have in Arkansas. It must be noted that Rex is a legend in his own right. He is the namesake of Townes Van Zandt's "Rex's Blues," and not only did he play bass for Townes and Lightnin' Hopkins, for decades he has provided a venue for talented songwriters to cultivate their talents and be taken seriously.
The act hired to play that night was caught in traffic on the way from Austin, so Rex and his wife Janet decided to "open" the show. They played a very enjoyable set for a crowd of eleven, and everything was very loose and relaxed.
The Old Quarter has been compared to a shrine, and the moment I walked in I felt like I had entered a holy place, a temple of song, a place of truth and beauty. In a single moment, I came to love the place because it was clear that it exists for the sake of the song. And I am the kind of man who, in the words of Waylon Jennings, "would rather give you a song than diamonds or gold."
Here is a photograph that Martina took of Rex and Janet Bell at the Old Quarter.
Here is a link to Townes Van Zandt playing "Rex's Blues" live at the Old Quarter in 1973, back at the original Houston venue.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Photographers: Swartz Brothers
Ever since I read Richard Selcer's Hell's Half Acre, I have been fascinated with the story of the Swartz brothers, the photographers who had a studio on the 700 block of Main Street in Fort Worth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Swartz brothers worked on the edge of the Acre, and they are credited with the iconic photograph of the Wild Bunch, which included Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Today my father showed me an old family photo, and I was thrilled to see the Swartz name embossed in the bottom right corner. The picture features the man known in family lore as Grandpa Eidson and his three daughters. Grandpa Eidson, W.T. Eidson, was from Ireland, and he was a member of the Texas Cavalry in the war. He was also a friend of Sam Bass, and their relationship is documented in at least one Bass biography. W.T. Eidson is buried in Old Shiloh Cemetery in Flower Mound. Once I have a scanned copy of the Swartz Bros. photograph, I will post it on this blog.
Here is a Swartz Bros. photograph of some young men who would go on to become important to the genre of Western Swing.
Today my father showed me an old family photo, and I was thrilled to see the Swartz name embossed in the bottom right corner. The picture features the man known in family lore as Grandpa Eidson and his three daughters. Grandpa Eidson, W.T. Eidson, was from Ireland, and he was a member of the Texas Cavalry in the war. He was also a friend of Sam Bass, and their relationship is documented in at least one Bass biography. W.T. Eidson is buried in Old Shiloh Cemetery in Flower Mound. Once I have a scanned copy of the Swartz Bros. photograph, I will post it on this blog.
Here is a Swartz Bros. photograph of some young men who would go on to become important to the genre of Western Swing.
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Bob Dylan in Texas
The first time I saw Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan he was playing in a warehouse space on Cadiz Street in Dallas not far from 508 Park Avenue, where Robert Johnson recorded "Me and the Devil Blues." For Dylan to play in a place that was like, as a writer for the Dallas Observer put it, "the box that the Longhorn Ballroom came in," is a bit incomprehensible. But there he was. The greatest poet of our time was playing a warehouse where they were selling drinks out of ice chests.
There were no seats. It was standing room only, and my old man and I got there early and found ourselves on the concrete not far from the stage. Dylan lit the place up. He was electric. He played "All Along the Watchtower," "Positively Fourth Street," and "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat." He picked up an acoustic guitar and played "Tangled Up in Blue," and then he fired up the electric again to close the show. It was the first of five Dylan shows that my father and I have seen together. Never enough.
Here is a link to Bob Dylan and the Pride of Abbott, Texas covering Fort Worth's own Townes Van Zandt. Dylan may have first heard this song after he met Townes on Guadalupe in Austin back in the 70s.
There were no seats. It was standing room only, and my old man and I got there early and found ourselves on the concrete not far from the stage. Dylan lit the place up. He was electric. He played "All Along the Watchtower," "Positively Fourth Street," and "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat." He picked up an acoustic guitar and played "Tangled Up in Blue," and then he fired up the electric again to close the show. It was the first of five Dylan shows that my father and I have seen together. Never enough.
Here is a link to Bob Dylan and the Pride of Abbott, Texas covering Fort Worth's own Townes Van Zandt. Dylan may have first heard this song after he met Townes on Guadalupe in Austin back in the 70s.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Fort Worth Packing House
My father called today to tell me about this picture in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. My grandfather saw it, but the picture was too small for him to recognize anyone in the photograph. He thinks that his father and a couple of uncles may be in the picture. The next time I visit my grandfather, we'll enlarge the photograph on a computer to see who he sees and then contact the UTA archive if he recognizes anyone. They are trying to identify the men in the picture. If you can identify anyone, please contact spcoref@uta.edu or call 817.272.3393.
Monday, October 10, 2016
Texas Observer: Honorable Mention
Today I received an e-mail from an editor at the Texas Observer telling me that my short story, "Sailing the Interior," received an Honorable Mention in their 2016 short story contest. I was pleased to learn that it was among the strongest of the Honorable Mentions. No, I didn't win, but at least I was in good company. The winner is a professor of writing at Texas State and has work forthcoming at Tin House; and the finalists seemed to have pretty strong credentials themselves. To be honest, I saw merit in all of the work I read, and in the name of good sportsmanship, here is a link to the winning story.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Texas Similes
Growing up, I was immersed in the Texas vernacular, and there seemed to be a simile for every occasion. To be as tough as boot leather or rough as a cob was to be praised for being manly. Or a person could be as nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. Or you could do something faster than a minnow can swim a dipper. Or it could be hotter than a two dollar pistol. And then there were probably a hundred similes used up at the packing house where my grandfather worked that I will not post on this family-friendly blog.
When I first arrived at Southwestern University my freshman year, my classmates sometimes asked me where on Earth I learned to talk. Self-conscious, I tried to tone it down a tad, but now I take great pride in using the colorful sayings of my grandfathers and father. Fewer and fewer people know the old similes today, and as a fiction writer I use them often for they are part of my heritage and because they just sound right. After I finish the first draft of a story, I read the dialogue out loud. If a word or phrase doesn't sound natural, I revise it. And those old similes just seem to roll off the tongue.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Willie Nelson, Jerry Garcia, Ray Charles, and Frankie Laine: "That Lucky Old Sun"
My favorite male musicians tend to be of the bearded variety. Willie Nelson and Jerry Garcia, of course, would number among them. Until this morning, I thought that the Jerry Garcia Band was covering Willie Nelson when they played "Lucky Old Sun." The only version I knew was Willie's from "The Sound in your Mind" album, recorded at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas. After a simple Google search, I now know that the song was written in 1949 by Beasley Smith and Haven Gillespie, and that it has been covered by Frankie Laine, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Aretha Franklin, and Louis Armstrong to name only a few. Ray Charles recorded the song in 1964 for the "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music" album, and I have included a link to his version.
For your listening pleasure, please find links to four versions of the song, including Frankie Laine's 1949 recording, below.
Willie Nelson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiaDX9Mk8zc&list=RDiiaDX9Mk8zc
Frankie Laine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL3kvxN3xFc
Ray Charles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BM9TNa-FV4
Jerry Garcia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb8OudIe8DE
For your listening pleasure, please find links to four versions of the song, including Frankie Laine's 1949 recording, below.
Willie Nelson and Ray Charles
 |
| The Grateful Dead in Austin |
Willie Nelson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiaDX9Mk8zc&list=RDiiaDX9Mk8zc
Frankie Laine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL3kvxN3xFc
Ray Charles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BM9TNa-FV4
Jerry Garcia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb8OudIe8DE
Thursday, October 6, 2016
Funky Times Ahead
This Saturday Sleeping Panther Press and the Fort Worth Writers' Boot Camp will be at the Arts Goggle. If you happen to be in Panther City, stop by, say hi, and support the local literary scene by scoring yourself a copy of the Panther City Review.
When I first attended the Arts Goggle many years ago, it could have been described as a driving tour. You drove around the Near Southside from venue to venue looking at art and talking to nice people. Now the Goggle is a bona fide festival, and I must say that I am a huge fan. It is loose and fun and mellow with good food, live music, and plenty of visual art to gander. I no longer attend the Main Street Arts Festival because it has become too large and too crowded, but the Goggle suits me fine. Although 30,000 people attended last year, the vibe was still groovy and the time still grand.
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Panther City Review Launches Today
Today the Panther City Review launches at The Last Word Bookstore at 615 Jennings Street in Fort Worth. The journal looks great, and I am looking forward to reading from my story, "The Nine Lives of Ivy Lee Jones." The story is built around an apocryphal Texas law stating that a person can only be married nine times in Texas. You'll hear this and many more curious tales at The Last Word from 4 pm to 6 pm.
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Sleeping Panther Press at the Arts Goggle
This morning I had the opportunity to see the proof copy of the Panther City Review. The journal looks great, and I am looking forward to the launch on Saturday, October 1 at The Last Word Bookstore in Fort Worth from 4 pm to 6 pm. The following Saturday, October 8, the authors will be at the Fort Worth Writers Boot Camp booth at the Arts Goggle. If you are in town, stop by and say howdy. I'll be there from 4 pm to 5 pm.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Slats Rodgers and Old Soggy No. 1
This morning we had breakfast at the Beacon Restaurant at Hicks Field in Fort Worth. It's always pleasant to enjoy an omelette and a cup of coffee while watching the small planes take off and land. Being around the little airport, which was originally used as a World War One training facility, I got to thinking about Slats Rodgers, the first person to earn a pilot's license in Texas and also the first person to have that license revoked. To his credit or discredit, Slats was a stunt pilot, a bootlegger, a flight instructor, and a smuggler.
Slats was also a real character. He built his own airplane, Old Soggy No. 1, based on books he'd read in the library, and in 1912 he started flying. He survived 28 plane crashed. Interestingly enough, one of the survivors of his many crashes happened to be Bonnie Parker.
Slats and the other members of the Love Field Lunatics, a stunt flying group of which he was a part, used their acrobatics show as a cover for their smuggling operation. Slats' story, in my opinion, is absolutely fascinating. Why he has not been the subject of a major motion picture is beyond me.
Here is an article from Air and Space about Slats Rodgers.
Slats was also a real character. He built his own airplane, Old Soggy No. 1, based on books he'd read in the library, and in 1912 he started flying. He survived 28 plane crashed. Interestingly enough, one of the survivors of his many crashes happened to be Bonnie Parker.
Slats and the other members of the Love Field Lunatics, a stunt flying group of which he was a part, used their acrobatics show as a cover for their smuggling operation. Slats' story, in my opinion, is absolutely fascinating. Why he has not been the subject of a major motion picture is beyond me.
Here is an article from Air and Space about Slats Rodgers.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Panther City Review Launch
I am pleased to report that the Panther City Review will launch at The Last Word Bookstore in Fort Worth on October 1st from 4:00 to 6:00. The Last Word, in my opinion, is a fine place for the launch. Paul Combs, the owner of this indie bookstore, is committed to providing an outlet for local writers, and his bookstore is rapidly becoming an important meeting place for the local arts community.
Several up and coming North Texas writers will be featured in the review including Rob Bosquez, Robin Goodpaster, Ann Graham, Cary Nichols, Mark Nobles, Linda Simmons, and editor and publisher Rachel Pilcher. Two of my stories will also be included in the journal. Both "The Nine Lives of Ivy Lee Jones," which was a finalist in the Northeast Texas Writers' Organization's 2015 short story contest judged by #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, and "The Socrates of Waylon County," which received an honorable mention in the same contest, will be included. I am glad to see that these two stories have found a good home.
Several up and coming North Texas writers will be featured in the review including Rob Bosquez, Robin Goodpaster, Ann Graham, Cary Nichols, Mark Nobles, Linda Simmons, and editor and publisher Rachel Pilcher. Two of my stories will also be included in the journal. Both "The Nine Lives of Ivy Lee Jones," which was a finalist in the Northeast Texas Writers' Organization's 2015 short story contest judged by #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, and "The Socrates of Waylon County," which received an honorable mention in the same contest, will be included. I am glad to see that these two stories have found a good home.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
No Kinda Dancer
Despite the fact that I am no kind of dancer, I am an absolute Texas dancehall enthusiast. Martina took this picture of the extremely photogenic Greenwood Dancehall and Saloon in Bluff Dale. The building, erected in 1897, was originally a mercantile store up at Chalk Mountain, and a couple of decades later it was dragged to Glen Rose to serve several other commercial functions before finally coming to rest in Bluff Dale in the 2000s. After seeing the place, I told a buddy that it was somewhere between Gruene Hall and Luckenbach, which is funny considering that after looking online I saw that other folks had the same impression. This, of course, is about as fine a recommendation as a music venue can get, and the owners clearly pay homage to these two venerable halls. For example, old Texas license plates are used to cover holes in the floor a la Gruene Hall, and the Sunday picking circle comes straight out of the Luckenbach playbook. And heck, there are even boots hanging from the ceiling like at John T. Floore's Country Store in Helotes. This place is like a Texas dancehall greatest hits album.
Being no kind of dancer, I thought I would share a link to Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis' cover of "No Kinda Dancer" by Robert Earl Keene. They are playing at one of my favorite venues, the Continental Club Gallery in Austin.
Buffalo Bill on the State Highway
Martina and I took a ride out into the country yesterday. We stopped for a bite at a restaurant on the side of the state highway where we met a dead ringer for Buffalo Bill. The retired gentleman definitely looked the part. He wore a Van Dyke beard and kept his hair long beneath his cowboy hat. His jacket was the color of buckskin, and he wore a red bandanna around his neck. He was gregarious and good-natured and enjoyed swapping tales.
He talked about the outlaws in West Texas in the Big Bend country where he lived. He talked about a time when there was so little rain that even the cacti died. He told us about doing business in Fredericksburg and Ingram and Austin. After chewing the fat with him for half of the afternoon, Martina and I got into the car and headed toward home.
As we were leaving, Martina said, "I think we just met Gus McCrae." In speech and in spirit the man was just that. He was the Gus McCrae of Lonesome Dove. He was the man we both imagined while reading the book. Meeting such a colorful character made our afternoon. It's not every day that you meet a man that looks like Buffalo Bill and talks like Gus McCrae. It was a fine day in Texas.
He talked about the outlaws in West Texas in the Big Bend country where he lived. He talked about a time when there was so little rain that even the cacti died. He told us about doing business in Fredericksburg and Ingram and Austin. After chewing the fat with him for half of the afternoon, Martina and I got into the car and headed toward home.
As we were leaving, Martina said, "I think we just met Gus McCrae." In speech and in spirit the man was just that. He was the Gus McCrae of Lonesome Dove. He was the man we both imagined while reading the book. Meeting such a colorful character made our afternoon. It's not every day that you meet a man that looks like Buffalo Bill and talks like Gus McCrae. It was a fine day in Texas.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Uncle Bud
In Texas among the old timers you sometimes hear about somebody going to see Uncle Bud or going to Uncle Bud's hotel. One may wonder who exactly was Uncle Bud and where was his hotel. Uncle Bud Russell worked for the Texas prison system from 1905 until 1948. His hotel was the Texas State Penitentiary. As the Chief Transfer Agent, Uncle Bud drove across Texas picking up prisoners from the county jails and taking them to Huntsville. In his career, Uncle Bud was in charge of some 115,000 prisoners. Only one prisoner ever escaped, and that prisoner was recaptured trying to cross the border at El Paso. Uncle Bud, of course, picked him up and drove him to Huntsville.
The long-driving prison agent not only made it into Texas vernacular but also made it into song. Lead Belly referenced Uncle Bud in "Midnight Special" and Lightnin' Hopkins wrote "Bud Russell Blues." Both of those fine bluesmen slept at Uncle Bud's a time or two.
Here's a link to "Bud Russell Blues":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuzeyVqcsM
The long-driving prison agent not only made it into Texas vernacular but also made it into song. Lead Belly referenced Uncle Bud in "Midnight Special" and Lightnin' Hopkins wrote "Bud Russell Blues." Both of those fine bluesmen slept at Uncle Bud's a time or two.
Here's a link to "Bud Russell Blues":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmuzeyVqcsM
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Hank, Roy, and Willie: Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
"Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" is one of the greatest songs in the history of country music. Perhaps not surprisingly, the first version that I ever heard was the iconic Willie Nelson version recorded at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas, in 1975. Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes," like the rest of Red Headed Stranger, is stripped down, a definite departure from the orchestrations of Nashville at the time. To me, Willie Nelson's version of the song has something beautiful and essential about it.
It is interesting to note that the song, which was written by Fred Rose, was actually first recorded by Roy Acuff in the late 1940s. It is sheer joy to listen to this version on a scratchy old 78. Hank Williams also covered "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," and it is fortunate that his haunting version was captured in a 1951 live radio recording. Click the links below to hear country music legends Roy Acuff and Hank Williams sing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," a song most folks more closely associate with Willie Nelson.
It is interesting to note that the song, which was written by Fred Rose, was actually first recorded by Roy Acuff in the late 1940s. It is sheer joy to listen to this version on a scratchy old 78. Hank Williams also covered "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," and it is fortunate that his haunting version was captured in a 1951 live radio recording. Click the links below to hear country music legends Roy Acuff and Hank Williams sing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," a song most folks more closely associate with Willie Nelson.
Roy Acuff version:
Hank Williams version:
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
God Bless Jerry Garcia
Twenty-one years ago today Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead passed from this life. In early July of that year, a friend and I traveled about 650 miles from the Metroplex to Saint Louis to see them play. How fortunate we were. For me, 1995 was a rambling year. When my buddy and I left for Saint Louis, I had only been in America a few days after a stint of teaching English in South Korea. Then, after returning home from Saint Louis, I caught a Greyhound to Buffalo, Wyoming, to stay with some friends and fruitlessly look for a job before returning to Yellowstone National Park, my old standby. Back in Yellowstone, Jerry Garcia was a folk hero, and the day that he died I quietly put the flag at half-mast in front of the Grant Village post office.
In honor of Jerry Garcia, here is a 1966 recording of the Grateful Dead playing "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," which was written by Dallas blues legend Blind Lemon Jefferson.
In honor of Jerry Garcia, here is a 1966 recording of the Grateful Dead playing "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," which was written by Dallas blues legend Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Monday, August 8, 2016
I Stand Corrected
I do my best to provide the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the dadgum truth on this blog. However, I just learned that there were actually two unrelated Blue Bonnet record labels in North Texas in the middle of the last century. Who would have thought that? The one in Fort Worth was in business in the 1950s and 1960s. The one in Dallas was only around for three years in the late 40s. The 78s I found were from the Dallas label, which released records by obscure local country acts as well as well-known performers such as Hank Thompson and Al Stricklin.
Here is a link to a Dallas Observer article that provides some interesting information:
The label below is from the Dallas music company.
Sunday, August 7, 2016
One Man's Treasure
This weekend at a used book and record store I happened across some old 78 rpm records being sold for 78 cents each. One of the records was "Runnin' Around" by Woody Carter and His Hoedown Boys on the now-defunct Lucky 7 label. I gave the 10 inch record a spin on the turntable, and the clever little ditty gave me a laugh. When I tried to find the song online to share, all I came across was a synth-pop tune by the same name. To my knowledge, no synth-pop was ever recorded on shellac records.
I also scored a handful of 78 rpm records on the (also) now-defunct Blue Bonnet label. Blue Bonnet was a Fort Worth record company, and the albums I found were of western swing acts like Buster, Stoney, and the Buckaroos. I will clearly have to do some research to find out more about Blue Bonnet Records. It's hard to believe that you can buy a couple of albums more than sixty year old for about the same price as a Dr. Pepper at your local convenience store. I imagine that whoever traded the records in must have gotten about a quarter each. Clearly one man's trash is another man's treasure.
I also scored a handful of 78 rpm records on the (also) now-defunct Blue Bonnet label. Blue Bonnet was a Fort Worth record company, and the albums I found were of western swing acts like Buster, Stoney, and the Buckaroos. I will clearly have to do some research to find out more about Blue Bonnet Records. It's hard to believe that you can buy a couple of albums more than sixty year old for about the same price as a Dr. Pepper at your local convenience store. I imagine that whoever traded the records in must have gotten about a quarter each. Clearly one man's trash is another man's treasure.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Short Stories All the Time
Today I visited Denton writer Ann Graham's blog, Short Stories All the Time. In her blog, Ann has provided her thoughts on more than 800 short stories. The stories she muses upon tend to come from reputable literary journals or the collected works of established writers. For those of us interested in writing short stories, she also discusses books on writer's craft as well. In the name of full disclosure, Ann and I are in the same writers' critique group, and her understanding of point of view and the essentials of the story have helped me in my own craft. Thus, I am plugging her blog.
Friday, July 29, 2016
78 rpm
Many years ago, a small collection of 78 rpm records was passed down to me. When I received the records, not only did I not know the artists, I did not even have a phonograph. Now, after a few years of studying the various American musical idioms of the last century, I am finally able to appreciate these old records that sat gathering dust for forty years or more. After being cleaned with soap and water and dried with a microfiber towel, the music of a bygone time is being enjoyed again.
Considering that the old shellac records are now between sixty and eighty years old, one would think that they would have monetary value. But the truth is that the average 78 rpm record retails at about five buckaroos. One of the old sides that I have been listening to is "New Steel Guitar Rag" by Bill Boyd and the Cowboy Ramblers. Bill Boyd was a native of Fannin County, and he even recorded with the father of country music, Jimmie Rodgers. Some of the members of his band were also simultaneously members of The Light Crust Doughboys. Back in the 1930s, Boyd used to appear on WRR, the oldest radio station in Texas. The station, incidentally, still exists to this day, though the programming is now 100% classical. Below is a link to Bill Boyd's "New Steel Guitar Rag," which was recorded in Dallas in 1937.
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Considering that the old shellac records are now between sixty and eighty years old, one would think that they would have monetary value. But the truth is that the average 78 rpm record retails at about five buckaroos. One of the old sides that I have been listening to is "New Steel Guitar Rag" by Bill Boyd and the Cowboy Ramblers. Bill Boyd was a native of Fannin County, and he even recorded with the father of country music, Jimmie Rodgers. Some of the members of his band were also simultaneously members of The Light Crust Doughboys. Back in the 1930s, Boyd used to appear on WRR, the oldest radio station in Texas. The station, incidentally, still exists to this day, though the programming is now 100% classical. Below is a link to Bill Boyd's "New Steel Guitar Rag," which was recorded in Dallas in 1937.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Log Cabin Village
This afternoon I visited Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth for the first time since I was a wee lad. One of the highlights is a dog trot cabin that was owned by Isaac Parker, the namesake of Parker County and the uncle of Cynthia Ann Parker, who lived in the cabin for a time. In case you don't know the story, Cynthia Ann Parker was abducted by the Comanches as a child and was raised Comanche, married the Comanche chief Peta Nocona, and was the mother of Quanah Parker, the leader of the Quahadi band. When she was "recaptured" by the Texas Rangers as an adult, she identified herself as Comanche and would run away trying to return to her tribe.
Isaac Parker is actually the famous hanging judge of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Yes, Isaac Parker is the famous judge from True Grit. He is also mentioned in Steve Earle's "Tom Ames' Prayer." The interpretive guide stationed at the cabin had plenty of interesting details to share. He told me that the cabin was originally in Birdville, the former county seat. From what the interpretive guide told me, the cabin would have been situated near the old Birdville Cemetery, a place I visited on a school field trip when I was in elementary school. I reckon I will pay Birdville Cemetery and its surroundings a visit for the first time in many moons.
Isaac Parker is actually the famous hanging judge of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Yes, Isaac Parker is the famous judge from True Grit. He is also mentioned in Steve Earle's "Tom Ames' Prayer." The interpretive guide stationed at the cabin had plenty of interesting details to share. He told me that the cabin was originally in Birdville, the former county seat. From what the interpretive guide told me, the cabin would have been situated near the old Birdville Cemetery, a place I visited on a school field trip when I was in elementary school. I reckon I will pay Birdville Cemetery and its surroundings a visit for the first time in many moons.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Panther City Review
A new literary journal, the Panther City Review, will publish its first issue this fall. The journal will launch at The Last Word Bookstore, the new indie bookstore in Fort Worth, though I can't yet provide a firm date on that. However, I do know that the journal will be available at the Arts Goggle in Fort Worth on October 8. Contributors will be available to sign copies of the inaugural issue. Considering that two of my short stories will be included, I plan to be one of the contributors in attendance.
The Panther City Review is the publishing arm of Sleeping Panther Press, founded by Rachel Pilcher. I am very excited about the new press and Rachel's mission to publish independent talent. I expect great things from this sleeping giant.
The Panther City Review is the publishing arm of Sleeping Panther Press, founded by Rachel Pilcher. I am very excited about the new press and Rachel's mission to publish independent talent. I expect great things from this sleeping giant.
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Wildlife Spottings and Urban Sprawl
A few weeks ago a deer ran into our car while trying to escape the giant, evil-looking land-moving machines that were plowing their away across her habitat so that another endless tract of suburbs could be built. Yes, the land the deer lived on is being parceled, and streets with insipid names like Sunnyview Court and Meadow Park Lane are being built. Yesterday morning Martina and I saw a wild turkey by the side of the road not far from where the deer ran into the side of our car, and it is clear that all of the animals in the area are moving toward a final stand of trees, which will most likely be turned into houses once the fracking of the area is complete and the land's natural resources have been removed. Then, when the animals have nowhere to go, the residents will start complaining of the nuisance animals such as coyotes and raccoons that will be roaming the neighborhood trying to survive, when in reality the real nuisance happens to be the residents themselves and the short-sighted builders who stack people one on top of the other knowing that the roads will be hopelessly congested, that the wildlife will be eradicated, and that they are creating yet another food desert. If you hate urban sprawl as much as I do, please contact your local council of government and let them know.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Booked Up: Purveyor of Rare and Obscure Texana
Yesterday Martina and I rode out to Archer City to spend the afternoon at Booked Up, the ranchlands' most venerable antiquarian bookstore. When we arrived in town, an Archer County Rodeo banner hung from the awning of Building #1. Curiously enough, the last time I was at Booked Up was almost a year ago to the day. I say this with some certainty because a compadre and me stood under the same red, white, and blue banner and watched the rodeo parade after the bookstore closed.
When I visit Booked Up, I usually have a very specific focus. For example, since much of my fiction centers around immigrant communities, on previous visits I largely purchased accounts of 19th century immigrant life in Texas. On this visit I was looking for accounts written by my grandparents' generation. In the end, I purchased a couple of memoirs. One is by a sharecropper raised in the Depression era (published by UNT Press) and the other is by a North Texas rancher. The rancher's memoir is of the DIY variety and has a cardstock cover and tape for its spine. Only 150 copies of this memoir were printed, which I only know because someone (most likely Larry McMurtry) wrote it in pencil in the corner of the first page beside the price.
In Eddie "Sarge" Stimpson's sharecropper memoir, which is called My Remembers, something in the introduction really struck me. I learned that Preston Road in Dallas is the oldest road running north to south in this part of Texas. It was originally an old buffalo trail, which in turn made it a pre-columbian Native American hunting trail. During the Republic of Texas period, the road was used as a route from Fort Preston to Austin, and after the Civil War former slaves used the road to find a new life in the north. Today it is hard to imagine Preston Road being anything other than a major thoroughfare going through an affluent part of Dallas. It is hard to imagine that Preston Road was once a white rock trail passing through the prairie. Reflecting on this, I can not help but think about the song "No More Buffalo" by James McMurtry ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIwfI3k8kV0 ).
Visiting Booked Up is always a treat. Wandering around the place gives me the same feeling I had when I first saw Goethe's library in the Goethe House in Weimar, Germany. At the risk of sounding like a romantic, there is just a glow of Apollonian genius surrounding this West Texas bookstore. And, for a writer like me, it is a place where I can find rare and obscure volumes that help me improve in my craft. Thus, it perhaps comes as no surprise that I love to make a pilgrimage to Archer City whenever I get the chance.
When I visit Booked Up, I usually have a very specific focus. For example, since much of my fiction centers around immigrant communities, on previous visits I largely purchased accounts of 19th century immigrant life in Texas. On this visit I was looking for accounts written by my grandparents' generation. In the end, I purchased a couple of memoirs. One is by a sharecropper raised in the Depression era (published by UNT Press) and the other is by a North Texas rancher. The rancher's memoir is of the DIY variety and has a cardstock cover and tape for its spine. Only 150 copies of this memoir were printed, which I only know because someone (most likely Larry McMurtry) wrote it in pencil in the corner of the first page beside the price.
In Eddie "Sarge" Stimpson's sharecropper memoir, which is called My Remembers, something in the introduction really struck me. I learned that Preston Road in Dallas is the oldest road running north to south in this part of Texas. It was originally an old buffalo trail, which in turn made it a pre-columbian Native American hunting trail. During the Republic of Texas period, the road was used as a route from Fort Preston to Austin, and after the Civil War former slaves used the road to find a new life in the north. Today it is hard to imagine Preston Road being anything other than a major thoroughfare going through an affluent part of Dallas. It is hard to imagine that Preston Road was once a white rock trail passing through the prairie. Reflecting on this, I can not help but think about the song "No More Buffalo" by James McMurtry ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIwfI3k8kV0 ).
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Terry Allen: Texas Artist and Songwriter
The other day I met an old guitar picker who got to talking about Terry Allen and playing his songs. Allen is from West Texas and is probably best known among country music fans for the song "Amarillo Highway." Allen's concept album, Juarez, has been called the greatest country concept album of all time, right there beside Willie Nelson's Red-Headed Stranger. Allen is also an accomplished artist and his work is displayed in places like the Met and MoMA. He was friends with Guy Clark, and one of Clark's final wishes was for Allen to use his ashes in a sculpture.
Here's a link to Allen's album Lubbock (On Everything).
Here's a link to Allen's album Lubbock (On Everything).
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