Gourds and Six Flags

An evening with "dem Gourds"

Last Saturday evening, the 16th, my friend Mike and I caught the Gourds at the Wreck Room in Ft. Worth. I've seen several shows at the Wreck Room: Eleven Hundred Springs / Willie Heath Neal, SpeedTrucker, Split Lip Rayfield, and the Gourds two or three times before. The first time I went in there was right after the Great White concert fire in Rhode Island, and I could easily imagine this place going up in smoke in about 3 seconds if someone ignited any sort of pyrotechnic device. But I've never seen a bad show there... well, maybe that last SpeedTrucker show...

Anyway, it's always great to see the Gourds.

the Gourds at the Wreck Room in Ft. Worth 12/16/06

To the uninitiated, the Gourds are from Austin, and they're best described as a roots-rock / bluegrass / Americana combo. Their live shows are always tons of fun; they'll play covers ranging from Townes Van Zandt and Waylon Jennings to Snoop Dogg and the Rolling Stones, as well as plenty of their own songs. The guys switch instruments after every couple of songs... on Saturday we got to see: Max on acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and steel guitar; Kevin on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and mandolin; Jimmy on bass and electric guitar; and Claude on accordion, acoustic guitar, keyboards, and maracas. Drummer Keith usually just plays drums, but will play tambourine on a song or two.

Kev on six-string, Jimmy on bass, Claude on squeezebox

Kevin rocks!

I've never seen Claude without that Detroit Tigers cap...

Max on fiddle

Jimmy on six-string

I used the text function on my cell phone to compile a set list. I might have missed a song or two, but I think I got most of them. So here it is, the Gourds set list from Saturday, December 16, 2006 at the Wreck Room in Ft. Worth.

Do4U

Lower 48

Take me Back to Tulsa (Bob Wills)

Spanky

Blankets

Caledonia

Pill Bug Blues

Mister Betty

Give me back my Wig (Hound Dog Taylor)

New Roommate

Ants on the Melon

El Paso

Illegal Oyster

Pine Island Bayou

Jesus Christ with Signs Following

Burn the Honeysuckle

Plaidcoat

Layin' around the House

Decline-o-Meter

encore:

Waxie's Dargle (Pogues)

Last Month of the Year (Vera Ward Hall)

Feliz Navidad

an afternoon at Six Flags

On Sunday, I took L and a friend to Six Flags for the "Holiday in the Park" festivities. I had taken them to Six Flags back in August, right before school started. I sort of tentatively promised L that we could go back for "Frightfest" during Halloween, but we never got around to it. So I figured I'd make up for it by taking the girls during "Holiday in the Park". What sets "Holiday" apart from the normal summer operations? Well, imagine the park with about half the rides closed (but still with the same size crowd), Christmas music blaring from the PA system, and Christmas lights everywhere. That's pretty much it. We still had a pretty good time, riding the Shock Wave three times, the Titan twice (easily the best ride in the park), and the Superman Tower of Power once. The girls also rode a couple of other rides, and won some stuffed animals at the midway games.

L and her friend on the Shock Wave. See the loops reflected in the water? We'll be going through those in about 15 seconds...

Arms UP!

I was 12 the first time I went to Six Flags, when my cousin Tim was visiting from Ohio. The Judge Roy and the Shock Wave (both of which are still operating) were the first roller coasters I ever rode. And I returned several times during high school, and a few more times during college. Suffice to say that Six Flags always brings back some memories... now my daughter is making memories of her own.

playing the midway games

A relaxing ride on the carousel to end the day

Y'all come back, ya hear?

Check back in a day or two... it's December 22 as I type this, and I'll try to squeeze in one more entry before Christmas, most likely a feeble attempt to describe my feelings (both positive and nagative) about the holiday season.

WSC

nr: The General and the Jaguar: Pershing's Hunt for Pancho Villa - Eileen Welsome

np: the Highwaymen - Born and Raised in Black and White (on KHYI 95.3 FM)