Two evenings with the Gourds

The Gourds at the Aardvark - Fort Worth TX - February 1, 2008

I met my friend Lance and his brother after work on Friday at the Aardvark -- my second night in a row to see the Gourds. Fun times!

A good-sized crowd was on hand Friday at the Aardvark...

A few observations on Gourds frontman Kevin Russell... Is there anything cooler than seeing a balding, slightly overweight, middle aged man with a chest-length beard, furiously strumming a mandolin while belting out the words to a Snoop Dogg rap song in a nasally bluegrass twang?

full-grown and cussin': Kev Russell of the Gourds

And the Snoop Dogg persona is just a small portion of the world of musical talent he brings to the stage. Kev is gifted with exceptional vocal range, from falsetto highs to Waylon Jennings lows, and even the occasional yodel. His mandolin skills are easily equalled -- if not surpassed -- by his talents on the electric guitar. The jams he threw down during the extended 10-minute version of "Do 4 U" blew me away. He's a good stage leader and a showman, but he's also a hell of a nice guy and totally down to earth -- everything you'd want in a front man for your band, on or off the stage. Every night, you can tell that he's really enjoying himself, playing music that he loves. During some of the songs, he'll dance around a bit -- a style I can only describe as "hillbilly jig". During others, he'll get really worked up in the lyrics and he'll start shouting and yelling with such conviction and intensity that you'd swear he was speaking in tongues. And the faces he makes while rockin' out on the mandolin -- if Jimi Hendrix had been a bluegrass musician, he might have looked a little like Kevin. There's never a dull moment when Kevin's on stage...

Gourds set list - Friday Feb 1, 2008 in Fort Worth (at the Aardvark):
Blood of the ram
Steeple full of swallows
Illegal oyster
Nitty gritty (Doug Sahm)
Do 4 U (with "LaGrange" intro and long instrumental jam)
Blankets warming
Burn the honeysuckle
Layin' around the house
Collections
Ants on the melon
El Paso
Omaha (Billy Joe Shaver)
All in the pack
Kicks in the sun
(Somebody Bring Me A Flower) I'm a Robot
Teacher (Jethro Tull)
How will you shine

encore:
Feelin on yo booty (R. Kelly) - Kevin & Keith only
Plaidcoat
Isis (Bob Dylan)
All the labor
Gin n Juice medley - included "Does Ft Worth ever cross your mind?", "Surrender", etc

The Gourds at Dan's Silverleaf - Denton, TX - January 31, 2008.

I had to work (off duty at 22:50) so I got there in the middle of the show. I'm not sure how many songs I missed. I got to hear them do 18 songs, so it was still worth the trip. I wasn't able to compile a good set list, but highlights included: "Take me back to Tulsa" (Bob Wills), "Oh Sister" (Bob Dylan), "I like drinking" (from the "Stadium Blitzer" album), "State of Arkansas", and "Gin & Juice".

Thursday Jan 31 at Dan's Silverleaf

The Gourds at Dan's Silverleaf

Most entertaining commentary between songs: Kevin, after they had finished "Take me back to Tulsa": "Ah, a little Bob Wills never hurt anybody. Well, except for that one guy..." And there were many references to a young woman who'd had too much to drink, climbed onstage... and then just stood there. Bar owner Dan became noticably nervous, but she left the stage without incident. Too bad, I was hoping for the same kind of "show" I experienced when I saw Hank III last summer.

During the encore, Brent Best (of Denton institution the Drams, formerly Slobberbone) joined them on stage for the final song. Was that a Neil Young cover?

Brent Best of the Drams (right) on stage with the Gourds

Top it all off with a few two-dollar Lone Stars (on tap!) and it was a danged fun evening.

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np: Bobby Bare - "Dropkick me, Jesus"

Wayne the Train in Denton

An evening with the World's Finest Purveyor of Juke Joint Swing

Last Friday after work, I caught another Wayne Hancock show at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton. Wayne put on a great show, as usual, belting out original numbers like "Flatland Boogie", "Big City Good Time Gal", "Highway 54", and covers like Hank Williams' "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", and of course the immortal "Route 66". (That's "route" -- rhymes with "out" -- not "root".)

Wayne Hancock at Dan's Silverleaf. Denton, TX Jan. 11, 2008.

taking a break to replace a string

Once more, with a flash. Wayne always has plenty of smiles...

Wayne's either on the wagon or he's off; on Friday, he was "on", but there were still plenty of jokes about the kind of cigarettes he planned to smoke during the break between sets.

He and the band played past the bar's 2 AM closing time; twice he begged owner Dan to let him play just one more song, boasting that his shows cost half as much as Junior Brown's but he plays twice as much. "Some of those other guys, they charge twice as much and play twice as less!" Or something like that. I had a good time, even though all my friends who said they were gonna go bailed on me so I ended up hanging around there by myself. Go see him sometime; he puts on a hell of a show.

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np: Speedtrucker - "Truck Drivin' Man (Give it all I can)"

steam train, Wayne the train

UP 844 comes to Texas - for a few hours

UP 844 southbound south of Stoneburg, TX on Sept 14

Last Friday, one of Union Pacific's steam engines made a brief appearance in north Texas. UP has been running a special train, powered by UP steam locomotive # 844, to help commemorate the Centennial of Oklahoma's statehood. It began in Wichita, KS last week and ran south to a different Oklahoma town (Enid, El Reno, Waurika) each day. On Friday, the train crossed the Red River into Texas en route to Chico, where the railroad planned to turn it on a wye (a triangular arrangement of tracks which allows a train to change direction by making essentially a "3 point turn") and send it back north.

On Friday morning, Stephen and I (with L in tow -- a minor illness had kept her home from school for the day) headed north through Chico and Bowie and intercepted the train south of Stoneburg. We planned to follow the train back to Chico for more photos, and end our chase when it was time for me to come home and get ready for work. Few things on the railroad ever work out exactly as planned, however, and Friday was no exception.

A grain train was running ahead of the steam engine and experienced a train separation when a knuckle broke on the hill south of Bowie. (A knuckle is the part of the coupler that opens and closes to connect the cars.) After putting the train back together, the crew wasn't sure they'd be able to pull up the hill from where they were without either stalling or breaking the train again. The crew on the steam engine offered to shove them up the hill from behind, but the dispatcher had to "talk to Omaha" (UP management) and it was decided instead to have the grain train double their train (take half the cars, then return for the second half) to Chico. This process would take a minimum of two to three hours. Our second shot of the steam engine, rolling to a stop at a crossing south of Bowie, ended up being our last.

waiting for something to happen - fans look on as UP 844 and the Oklahoma Centennial train stop south of Bowie behind a disabled grain train

Plenty of other fans were out, but it was mostly just "local yokels" at the crossings where we stopped. At the crossing south of Bowie, my friends Joe and Blair caught up with us, and entertained our small group with various theories of what was probably happening "behind the scenes" up in Omaha, and how long it might take to get things moving again. We finally decided to head back home -- it was obvious that the train wasn't going anywhere.

Blair and Joe cool their heels after chasing 844 south from Waurika

Fun times? Well, we caught a steam engine, it was running, and it was in Texas. We came home with one decent shot, which is what I told myself going into this that I would be happy with if that was all I got. I guess we have next summer to look forward to, with the NRHS (National Railway Historical Society) convention coming to Ft Worth... maybe we'll get to see some big steam down here again then.

Wayne Hancock in Denton - Friday, Sept 14

Friday night after work, I met some friends at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton for a Wayne Hancock show. Joe and Stephen eventually made it up there; they had been busy shooting pictures out west of Ft. Worth.

Wayne Hancock and his band at Dan's in Denton - Friday, Sept 14

This time around, steel player Eddie Rivers wasn't with the band. He's only been there about half of the times I've seen Wayne. Instead, they had fiddle player Katy Cox on stage, sharing solos with guitarist Eddie Biebel. It was the first time I had seen her with the band. She really tore it up! Not many of Wayne's studio songs include fiddle, but she came up with some nice solos for most of the songs. Highlights included hearing them play a few Hank Williams originals ("Lovesick Blues", "Move it on over", "Jambalaya"), a Hank III song, Johnny Cash's "Big River" (with guitarist Eddie on vocals) and and of course some of Wayne's own material like "Tulsa", "Walkin' the dog", and Johnny Law". They wrapped up the show right at 2 am. When I saw them back in February they played for about 20 minutes past closing time and the bar staff pretty much had to kick them off stage!

Stephen and Joe - front porch Whataburgers at 3:30 am.

We wrapped up our evening (now three hours into Saturday morning) with Joe and Stephen eating Whataburgers on our front porch. They would both be catching their flights home later in the day, so that was the last time I'd see them during their visit.

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np: ESPN SportsCenter
nr: Ayn Rand - the Fountainhead

Party time

Last weekend, my friends Matt and Stephen were both in town for a visit. On Saturday the 24th, we caught Dale Watson at Dan's in Denton. Dale kind of has a "Jerry Reed" sound, and his repertoire includes more than a few truckin' songs. Dale was backed by a full band (bass, drums, fiddle, and pedal steel), and seemed to clown around on stage as much as he played. But it was nice to hear him include covers of songs by Merle Haggard and Hank Williams -- and even Jerry Reed. And the abundance of attractive ladies in the crowd kept the dance floor full; Matt and Stephen both swore to move back to Texas as soon as they could.

Dale Watson at Dan's in Denton

Matt and Stephen salute the "Ameri-CAN flag" at Dan's

On Sunday the 25th, we had M's 6th birthday party at the Little Gym in Keller. Including M, we had about 15 kids (relatives, neighbors, and friends from school) in attendance. The staff of Little Gym did a great job of organizing the party and keeping the kids entertained. Thanks, y'all!

Looks like M was late to his own party...


a new generation of dodgeball players

Replenishing the kids' sugar supply

Are you ready for some (bad Rangers) baseball?

Check out this AP re-cap of one of the Rangers' final spring training games, a 24-7 loss to San Diego:

"Texas' pitching might need some work. Starter Kevin Millwood gave up 12 hits and nine earned runs in 4 1-3 innings. Reliever Eric Gagne allowed four runs and five hits in a 20-pitch inning. Left-handed reliever Ron Mahay got just one out while being touched up for seven runs. "

Looks like it could be another long season in Arlington.

On the road (barely)

I don't know if it's the weather we've been having (cool, windy and cloudy) or the medications I'm on, but I've been having trouble getting motivated to get out much on my bike. I usually ride in the mornings while the kids are at school, but this spring, I just haven't been in the mood to get out much. It has been a struggle just summoning the will to leave the house, and by the time I do finally get rolling, I don't have time to cover much more than 10 or 15 miles. I'm signed up to ride 40 miles at Aledo's "Ride for Heroes" tomorrow. And I'm looking at doing 30 miles in the "Tour Dallas" on Saturday, April 7. Maybe those will help rejuvinate me and get me more interested in riding this year.

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np: Wayne Hancock - "Big City Good-time Gal"

Live music & big days

Fred Eaglesmith at Dan's

On Monday, March 19, Fred Eaglesmith played at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton. It was billed as an early show (8 pm start), so I was lucky that it happened to be scheduled for one of my days off from work.

The music began around 8 pm with an opening act, Tucker Finn, a folk singer from Eaglesmith's home province of Ontario. She played about 6 or 7 songs and then Eaglesmith and his band, "the Flying Squirrels" took the stage.

Over the past few years, I've become familiar with many of Eaglesmith's songs through local radio stations KNON (the "Texas Renegade Radio" show) and KHYI. I have three of their cd's, including "Ralph's Last Show", a double-live album which gives listeners a pretty good idea of what to expect when they hear Eaglesmith perform live.

the landmark "silver leaf" southeast of downtown Denton

Eaglesmith was just one of several good shows scheduled for this week.

A good-sized crowd for a Monday night...

Eaglesmith's band consisted of: Kori Heppner on drums (Kori also sold Eaglesmith's cd's and t-shirts before and after the show), Luke Stackhouse on upright bass, and the legendary Willie P. Bennett on harmonica and mandolin. Typical of his vocal style, Fred half-sang, half-growled through the lyrics of his up-tempo songs, employing a southern "twang" that would bring most self-respecting Canadians to tears. He sure doesn't SOUND Canadian, eh? Fred and his band played several songs I recognized from the albums I have, including:

18 wheels
Cumberland County
105
49 tons
I like trains
Freight train
Time to get a gun
You're spookin the horses
I shot your dog (very up tempo version)
White trash
Carmelita
Good enough

Fred Eaglesmith & the Flying Squirrels


Fred Eaglesmith at Dan's Silverleaf in Denton

Willie P. Bennett on harmonica and mandolin

I was slightly disappointed that they didn't play "the Rocket", "Wilder than her", or "Lucille". But the ones that they did play sounded great, especially "Carmelita" with the extended intro. Fred by himself would be quite a draw, and I'd gladly pay money to see him perform a solo acoustic set. But it is the talents of Willie Bennett that really makes the live performance a memorable experience. Bennett ground on his electric mandolin, sometimes using a slide, as if he were Eddie Van Halen, and frequently belted out backing lyrics in a tenor harmony on some songs, and blew on his harmonica during others. I love the sound of a well-played mandolin, but I've never heard one played like that. Spectacular!

Between songs, Eaglesmith embarked on a few lengthy monologues, addressing topics as varied as: songs about dogs; animal rights activism and Paul McCartney; the Weather Channel (Fred says that he's from the place where, when you're watching the Weather Channel, the weather "stops"); audience members paying a $20 cover and then talking during the songs (Fred said that usually happens in towns where there aren't any gay bars... those people come to his shows instead); and a discussion of how the movie "Brokeback Mountain" has made western attire less fashionable among mainstream Canadians (he described a recent trip to Alberta where he and the band bought up all the "ass-less chaps" and took them back to Toronto to sell!) Needless to say, most members of the audience -- except those talking during the songs -- had smiles on their faces .

I was glad to finally get a chance to see Fred in concert. I bought a t-shirt and a cd (which Fred autographed). If he comes to your town, be sure to go see him.

I also bought a bumper sticker with this amusing slogan...

M turns 6...

M had his 6th birthday a few days ago. The day arrived with relatively little fanfare, but he did open a present (a box of "Toobers & Zots") before heading off to school. Not to worry... there's plenty more where that came from; we have a party scheduled for this Sunday.

6 years young! M celebrates his birthday...

Another big day

Yesterday, K and I celebrated a significant wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe we've been married that long. We went to lunch together, but we'll be celebrating the occasion in style when we take a special trip together next month.

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np: Johnny Cash & Joe Strummer - cover of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" - on KHYI 95.3 FM "the Range"