Hutch's TX Adventures 

Where does the time go?

Mercy. The days seem to be slipping away from me. I don't know where they're going but they're gone.

What's been happening?
Hmm... i made some new friends over the weekend. That was cool. We went to a bar and drank (imagine that). It's a couple, about my age. Hopefully when Mary comes out we can all be friends. We need friends. Mary gets released tomorrow by the way. Woo hoo!!

i think people are starting to think i've made her up.

My other friends that I made--the younger kids--- they're trying to kill me. They drink until 3 or 4 all the time. Yikes. I'm old. I can't do that every day. But they do have some fun.

Sunday i went to their hangout house and they played music all afternoon---called it their 'church service', and they grilled fajitas. fajitas are good. all this overlooking the river in the backyard.
then i had to go home to feed the Gus. i needed food as it was suppertime for me as well. RM invited me over for some BBQ'd food. i had to accept. grilled BBQ chicken, brisket, and hot dog, w/ baked beans and rice. good stuff. i met some of RM's family--his 2 sisters, his 2 brother in laws, and some nieces/nephews. his sister told me about a pug she had that thought he was a cat and tried to climb a tree and fell and died.

that wasn't a happy story.

then i went back to the hangout house.
there was more drinks.
one kid brought along some tequila. i'd never heard of it. but it said it was 100% pure agave. in our first week here, mary and i met a guy at a bar who told us about tequila. i think i wrote about it. basically, he said anything that wasn't 100% pure agave was "rot gut". well, he was write. the 100% pure agave tequila i drank on sunday was tasty smooth. it didn't burn my stomach like cuervo does. yum.

then i got tired and fell asleep.

oh--it's funny. my new friends have taken to saying "when mary gets out of rehab". it sounds funner than out of her study. its funny if there's any new people hangin out that don't know the story. oh well.

so halloween is coming up.
not sure what we're doing. RM is supposedly having a big bash. i think we should do that. Mary doesn't necessarily want to. i think it'll be fun.

there's also some big bash in Austin.
but it costs $20. don't think i'll be able to swing that.

especially since i wasted $25 on a stupid concert last night.
i saw a country legend--one of my all time favs-- and i hated it.
oh well...

i did meet this guy, a friend of a friend, who owns a small record label.
we talked a bit. he said if i can learn some things out here in austin, he could maybe get me a gig being a booking agent for his bands. that'd be cool. we'll see.

i had a sad feeling as i was driving home from the lackluster show last night.

what if i'm not cut out to have a job in the music business?
that's always been my dream, but maybe it just won't happen.
for one, it seems that lots of people in the biz get too tired to go see concerts. that sucks.
for 2, i've heard from numerous people that you shouldn't work w/ someone whose music you admire b/c you'll end up hating them. that sucks.
for 3, a lot of getting "in" in the music biz, is putting yourself there, and meeting folks and talking.
i can do this to an extent, but i dont' know if i can do it to the extent that it's needed. right now, i'm not confident that i can. and that sucks too.
it seems that what makes it easier to just meet all kinds of folks is one simple thing: weed.
and guess what?
i don't smoke it.
i don't think musicians and music people will trust you if you don't.
and i don't.

so... i don't know what to do.

do i just find some other job, and still rock out?
i guess that's no so bad.
if i'm not working for an artist i like, then it's just another job isn't it?
i don't know.
my head was spinning last night trying to process it all.
in one second i was really psyched for the possibility to be a booking agent.
in the next, i was overwhelmed with it all.

i don't know.
it could be worse.

i just need to find a way to finance all the shows i want to see.
and it'd be nice to find people to go to all these shows w/.
i am meeting more and more people, which is cool.
it just takes time.

and i apparently have lots of time.

oh.. holy crap. i almost forgot---i got a job.
woo hoo!
a real, actual job.
well, not really, but it is a job.
i saw an ad in the paper that said "part time, temporary help needed for antique store".
it sounded fun.
i went to check it out.
the guy totally thought i was looking for something else.
"well, this is seriously just part time, temporary work. i can't even guarantee you one day a week. it's just me that runs this store, and i just need someone to work when i need to go somewhere else. it's not steady work at all. you probably don't want this".
actually, it's exactly what i'm looking for.
he still didn't believe me.
he tried to talk me out of it.
i said i was still interested if he was interested in having me.
"well, you'd definitely be the youngest person i ever had work here. most are retired people"
i told him i'm sort of retired.
he said he'd take my name and number.
he think it over, and if he decided he wanted me to work there, he'd give me a call.
but he said that if he i didn't get a call it didn't mean that he didn't like me, it's just that he hired someone else.
but he did call.
so i go to work on friday to "train" and then have a week's worth of work in nov. while he's on a hunting trip.
sounds good eh?
here's the funny part though.
he only pays $5.50.
ha!
i almost told him nevermind.
BUT it's $5.50 CASH.
that's about the same as $7.50 regular.
AND, for every $500 worth of stuff that i sell every 7 days, i'll get an extra $50.
i have no idea if i'll sell $500 worth of stuff, but there's a ton of blue bloods out here, and antiques cost $$, so maybe.
if not, maybe i'll quit.
but maybe not.
what else do i have to do?
and he hired mary and i as a team. so if i don't feel like working and she does, she can go. or vice versa.
and, i'm hoping that if i work there a bit and develop a good rapport w/ him, then he'll let me bring the GUS to work. that'd be cool.
we love antique shops.
it's possible that mary might get a job at another antique shop.
they pay $10 an hour though.
and it's CASH too.
we might be rich.

i'm lookin for research studies to get in.
and lookin fwd to havin my parents come vist from the 12-17, and my buddy tim come visit from the 19th thru the 25th.

if you want to visit, you just give me a holler.
we got room.
and lots of time.

Life Lessons from the Bounty Hunter and Mr. Rogers

There's this old country singer that i really liked named Tom T. Hall. His nickname was "The Storyteller" and it's because his songs were actually these great stories about all the people that he met, and all the wisdom that these people imparted upon him. I wish I could write songs like that.
I'm just trying my best to remember the things that i'm learning here in the Lone Star State.

The Bounty Hunter, Train Robber, Maintenance guy, neighbor of mine RM should seriously write some songs. He's done the real learnin. As he told me the story of his double murder self defense (posted somewhere below in case you missed it), he told me that as he approached the group of guys getting ready to attack him, he remembered that he's always learned that in a situation like that to always go for the guy with gun. So he did. umm...what? where do you learn this? who teaches you this? what lesson involves "if you're ever in a situation like that?". does this happen that often? i've never learned anything like that. i guess, in my simple existence, teaching like that would not be particularly useful to me. but now i know. if you're ever in a situation where you are by yourself and there are a group of guys intent on harming you, always go for the one with gun. makes sense really i guess. but i never knew it. RM had always learned it somehow.

RM also told me a story about one time when he got jumped and some guys beat the shit out of him. They beat him until he was unconscious. According to RM he probably should have and could have died. Except he'd been taught how to make yourself aware of things and aware of your surrounding even when you're unconscious. So, even though, they had beaten him until he passed out, he still was somehow aware of what was going on, and managed to not totally slip off into sleep. And he lived. no one has taught me how to stay awake when you're unconscious. but someone taught RM. i want to know who taught him all this stuff. was it one really wise guy? or just stuff he picked up. it's good RM pays attention to the things he's learned.

RM also once told me a story about once, in his days as a Bounty Hunter, when he got drunk and was cleaning his gun. The gun went off, and he shot himself in the leg. "IHO!" he said. he got to the bathroom and cleaned himself up. he put a bandage on his leg. then he passed out. his girlfriend came home later. upon seeing the blood, she woke up RM, and asked him what happened.
oh, nothing, he said.
"you shot yourself didn't you?"
ha! not, "are you alright?", but "you shot yourself didn't you?"
sounds like a nice, sympathetic girlfriend.
perhaps that was same girlfriend that he taught all his tricks of the trade--various ways to harm/maim/kill/capture individuals, and then one night she went psycho on his and tried to use those tricks to kill him. guess no one taught him not to share too much "job information" with your girlfriend.
anyway, the day after RM shot himself he was supposed to go hunting with a group of his friends. RM, not wanting to be a wuss, decided to go along on the hunt anyway, even though it involved lots of walking, and even though he was totally hungover, and was feeling a little weak from the loss of blood.
RM's rationalization was that he figured he'd be okay, b/c he drank a lot of orange juice, and orange juice helps stop blood from flowing out of your body.
i always just thought OJ had a lot of vitamin C.
nice to know it has other uses.

i'm learning alot. but most of it comes from tv. the only advice i got recently that wasn't from the tv or from a story that should be on tv, came from my friend who said "if you put dirty fingers in your mouth, you might get sick". i won't say what the context of the story was where this was uttered, but it cleared things up for me.

you can always count on some words of wisdom from Mr. Rogers on Mister Rogers Neighborhood. But seriously, have you watched this show since you've become an adult? it's really creepy. i can't quite put my finger on it, but something about it really creeps me out. for years i couldn't watch it at all. but now that i only have 13 channels, i occasionally find myself watching Mr. Rogers for a couple minutes at a time. i usually only watch it for about 2 minutes, and then i get a good laugh and change the channel. this morning before my walk, i was flipping channels, and saw Mr. Rogers holding a ventriloquist dummy. holy crap. i had to watch.
now Mr. Rogers sort of creeps me out. ventriloquist dummies totally creep me out. but i have this horror/fascination with them. i have to watch them. but i start thinking they're real when i see them. inevitably. at least 90% of the time that i see one on the tv, i start forgetting that there is a person talking, and i start thinking the dummy is actually saying words. and it sucks me in. and then my mind scares me that it's been tricked so easily by a simple man and a wooden doll on the tv. i hate it. ventriloquists totally scare me. i don't understand who would ever feel compelled to become one. and i don't want to watch them. they are scary. but if i see on tv, i always have to watch it briefly. just to see what happens. and then i get scared and feel nauseous and have to change the channel.

and then this, today, Mr. Rogers AND a ventriloquist dummy---together?
holy crap. a total double shot of things that creep me out.
i couldn't look away.
i had to see what would happen.
the dummy was scary, but wasn't talking.
that was good.
Mr. Rogers was actually showing how the dummy worked, and that was cool. he had the shirt pulled back on the back of the dummy, and you could see all the levers inside. Mr. Rogers was explaining what all the levers did, and all the things you could make the dummy do. it was like an awakening. suddenly the dummy didn't seem real. you'd see Mister Rogers describing how certain levers make the dummies mouth move, and you see him move the levers, and then you see the dummies mouth open and close. but no words came out of the dummy's mouth. and good old Fred made the dummy move a little. it was cool. but then mister rogers said that certain levers could make the dummy's eyelids open and close. that sounded a little creepy. the camera panned away from the levers to a close up of the dummie's face. his eyes started blinking. i didn't like that one bit.
it was starting.
my heart rate began to increase.
i started to feel nervous.
the camera pulled back and showd the dummy sitting on Mr. Rogers lap.
oh no.
i wanted to change the channel, but i couldn't.
it was too late.
the dummy had sucked me in.
please don't make the dummy talk. please don't make the dummy talk.
my heart was racing.

he didn't make the dummy talk.
he just held it there.
thank goodness.
that might have made my head explode.

he did offer some words of wisdom though. thank goodness i had a pen so i could write it down.

"Ventriloquist dummies are like fancy puppets. But none of them are as fancy or wonderful as a real person".

Mister Rogers scares me

the way i am don't fit my shadow

so it's friday again.
as i was strolling to the library i was thinking how much i like fridays. sure, every day is like friday when you don't work. that is true. BUT, you don't get free donuts every day at the library. i was out late last night and was going to sleep in all morning.

but then i remembered the free donuts at the library.

i decided to sleep all afternoon instead.

donuts inspire me to walk, which is good. i need to walk. it's hard to drive the stick shift wonder truck with a donut in my hand. so i try to walk on fridays. mmm...chocolate donut today was good.
problem is, i don't really need anything at the bank. just the donut. so sometimes i pretend i just want to check my balance. sometimes i just withdraw $20. then i get a donut.

why all this talk of donuts?

it's the little things these days. and free donuts are one of those little things. i love donuts. and they're pretty cheap. but funds are tight. so i don't buy donuts. but every friday, if i remember, i can get one for free. and that makes me happy.

the bank here is totally from another time. everything is written out by hand--no computer printouts. i don't trust it if it's not from the computer. it's really crzy. everytime i deposit $$ (which is quite rare actually), they just write it down on a deposit slip and give me that. when i make a withdraw, they just write on a slip how much they're giving me. i don't like it. i don't trust it.
i want to see it say how much my balance was, and how the transaction just made affected the balance. but it doesn't say that. that scares me.

so i was walking up the road, donut in hand, enjoying the fall day, thinking that i like fridays just because of donuts. it's a totally different life that i'm leading out here. and i kind of like it.
i realized back in Cville i bought lots of things, and obsessed over lots of things (cds, dvds, etc), and used these things to be happy, and to live a fuller life. now? now i'm just living. and living it up. life is full. and i like it. TX rocks.

yesterday i heard the merle haggard sang "the way i am" 2 times. it's some sign or something. i totally love that song. funny though. i always thought the lyrics were what i typed up in the title for this post. and i thought it was cool and deep. actual lyrics are "the way i am don't fit my shackles". quite different. still good, but quite different. i've always liked that song though.



"Wish I was down on some blue bayou,
With a bamboo cane stuck in the sand.
But the road I'm on, don't seem to go there,
So I just dream, keep on bein' the way I am.
Wish I enjoyed what makes my living,
Did what I do with a willin' hand.
Some would run, ah, but that ain't like me.
So I just dream and keep on bein' the way I am"




dang. that's a good one. i think that's how i've felt for quite a while now.
the shackles were starting to get to me.
i was just getting by, dreaming of better things.
but now i'm living it.
if i could just find that job that i loved, then i'd be set.
in time maybe. in time.

And now hopefully i'll get a chance to hear him sing it. i just realized the Hag is playing in Austin next week, and it's pretty cheap for a Hag show. and i have to go. and hopefully he sings that song.

that's what i was thinking about this fine, fall morning in TX.
and how much i liked fridays.
and as i approached the library, donut in belly, i saw that the parking lot at the library was full of cars.
it's never packed early in the morning.
that's one reason why i like to get here when it first opens, b/c there's never many people here.
except on fridays.
then i remembered thats why i don't love fridays.
fridays, i remembered, are toddler story time.
swarms of little loud kids descend upon book stacks and someone tells them stories.
it's back in a private room, but every once in a while you here them yell.
not too bad.
until story time is over.
and then it's a madhouse. kids everywhere. screaming and yelling and running.
kids are cute.

hopefully i get done w/ my internet activities before the army of children marches out here.

Pictures from Lancefest 2005

Finally getting some pictures put up.
Here you go.

Here we are waiting for the festivities to start.
It wasn't raining. I don't know why i had that umbrella up. I think the TX sun was pretty hot that day. It got more packed than that as the day went on.



Austin Musician Bob Schneider was up first



Then Lance's fiancee played. Her name is Sheryl Crow



Lance played some drums on the last song.





oh...this dog was here right in front of us. he was cool. i bet over 100 people petted him as they walked by.



and lastly, a picture showing what happens when you start out the day by drinking Steel Reserve at 3pm in the hot TX sun.



i saw most of the show.
i just needed a little nappy nap.
mmm...sleep.

Pictures Pictures Pictures

I finally figured out how to make some pictures happen.
So here you go. Here's where we live, and a picture of the wonder truck that transported us to TX. Mary's camera makes the cabin look nicer than it actually is.
The truck is actually that nice.












***There's also some pictures in the concert Review section, of the Lance Armstrong/Sheryl Crow bash. Go there.

Me and the Gus River Pics

Who doesn't love pictures of Gus the Pug?

My favorite of these is the one where i'm holding the Gus up in the air and water is dripping off of him. He had wandered into the deep water, and as I scooped him up, he was trying to doggie paddle in the air. Air Swimming. Gus is cool.

As the days fly past will we lose our grasp

So here's what happened the rest of last week, as best i can remember:

Mary was still in her study. she's making the big bucks. seems like her study is going ok. she watches lots of movies, and some tv, and gets crappy meals provided for her. back on the homestead, i'm watching lots of movies, and some tv, and eating lots of crappy meals. and i'm not getting paid a damn thing.

Tuesday i met w/ a pretty important music manager in town. I was really excited with the anticipation that i might get a job in the music biz, working w/ an artist who i really like. unfortunately, the music manager didn't have any extra $$ in the budget. BUT he was really cool, and talked to me for over an hour and half, and offered me lots of suggestions of things to do, peole to call, etc, and he said i could kind of intern up there. and he said he could get me some free tix to shows. so i left w/ a pretty good feeling.

that night, i took him up on his offer and went to a show for free. that was cool.
(it's paying off already!).

i was riding high on tuesday w/ great free music, and w/ all the possibilities of things to do.
Wednesday i totally crashed. everything just got to be too overwhelming for me. too many decisions, too little money, too many uncertainties---- i could barely get off the couch. sometimes my head is crzy like that. the mind is a terrible thing to waste.

thursday was better though. a lot better. probably the funnest day i've had since i moved here. i went to intern for a little bit w/ the music manager. he invited me to go see a show w/ him that night of a new band that he was scouting out---a band that he said if he decided to manage, he would probably need me to help him w/ it. the band's influences, as listed on their webpage, were pretty impressive, and since i had absolutely nothing else to do, seemed like a good show to go see.
i rode w/ the manager to the show. we got there early to talk to the band. they were really cool. young folks--24 and 27. the guy actually lived in wimberley, which was cool. i talked w/ them for a long time. they had great taste in music---listening to tons of awesome stuff that not many people listen to these days. i was impressed already--i just hoped the music lived up to it. it did. it was great. check them out: www.myspace.com/thesidehillgougers.

the band had said they'd play a song for me. about halfway thru the show though, the manager said he had to go home. the band hadn't played me the song yet. it was still relatively early. i had nothing else to do. crap. i didn't want to go really, but didn't have a ride. the singer was from wimberley, but he was singing so i couldn't really ask him for a ride. crap. what to do....
the old chad would have played it safe.
the new, TX Chad risked it. i decided to stay. and hope to goodness that the singer was going home afterwards, and that he hadn't rode to town on a motorcycle.

the band played the song for me.
it was great.
they gave me a ride home.
they hadn't rode to town on motorcycles.
they invited me over to hang out.
we stayed up til 4am telling stories and drinking and listening to music.
it was a ton of fun. seriously.
i didn't even know it was 4.
we decided we could probably be friends.
i told them i needed to know right away though if they had been in prison, since my neighbors had been. i said it jokingly. they were both like 'umm..yeah..we've been to jail...you haven't?'.
oops.
they had been to jail. but it was only in for DIP, and some unpaid tix. not quite as glamorous as a double murder charge. i figured i could let it slide.

i slept in the next day.
don't think i did much at all since i was so tired.

saturday i drove to austin to drop off some items for mary. it was like a prison visit. she sat up in the window watching me and waved at me. it was kind of sad. maybe it was more like a visit to the pound, where you see the nice dogs, but can't take them home. i've never been on a prison visit.

then i drove FOREVER to a small town called Boerne (pronounced Bernie---i guess it's german or something). in a totally bizarro happenstance, i looked on the internet to find if this cool honkytonk singer named Chris Wall was playing anywhere. he was. for free, in Bernie. so i clicked on the festival. also at the fest, were my new friends the Sidehill Gougers. i figured i had to go. so i did. and it was a ton of fun. there was free beer and food for the band. the band said i could be their manager for the night. so free food and beer for me too. it rocked. free food and beer is good.

got home at about 1am from that.
tried to sleep in.
the Gus woke me up, as he likes to do.
i napped a lot on sunday.

i went over to their house in the afternoon for a bit and drank some beers and watched the river.
then i napped some more.
then i went to bed early.

the end.

and now we're finally up to date i think.
today is tuesday.
yesterday was monday.
nothing too exciting happened yesterday.

i'm running out of things to eat.
last night for supper i had a Szchuan noodle tv diner and a ham sandwich. (not together---noodles at 4, sandwich at 7). mary did remind me that there were potatoes under the sink, so that provided me w/ a couple meals.

the neighbor MK had a BBQ the other day and invited me over.
i'm trying to not hang out w/ him as much since he's a bit creepy, but free food is great, and i was SO looking fwd to eating a grilled hamburger.
there were onions in it.
so sad i was.
so sad.
i hate onions.
onions are evil.

the Gus loves to go over to MK's house for some reason.
he sprints over there.
sprints.
if you know the gus, you know that he's a slow movin outlaw.
we mosey around.
he'll sometimes jog for food.
but sprints over to MKs.

when we went over for the BBQ i asked him if he wanted to go over there and he took off, bounding thru the air--fast as he could. i haven't seen him run that fast in forever. unfortunately his eyesight is failing. i tried to warn him to slow down. the Gus sprinted right into a chair. he was unfazed though.
the crzy Gus.
sometimes he just wanders into MK's house now.
then i have to go over there.
yesterday the gus was out in the front yard, and i stepped inside for a second.
when i came back the gus was gone.
(this happens periodically, and even though it does, my heart always starts to race for a moment).
i noticed MK's porch door was open.
i figured i knew where the gus was.
sure enough.
so i had to go get him.
"want a beer" Mk asked.
(i always want a free beer by the way, FYI)
sure i said.
"help yourself".
i went to the fridge. there were no beers.
what the heck.
that's the second time i've been there when that happened.
now i won't complain, cuz its' free, and freeloaders take what they can get.

BUT if you're going to offer someone something, you should have it.
even if it is free.

if i see you down the road, you can give me a free beer.
i won't mind.

Rants and Raves

i've been meaning to post something to this effect for days now.
the idiot sitting beside me here at the library reminded me of this.

RANTS
don't you hate it when people at the library are on the computer and either:
a. read their email out loud
b. react to their email out loud wth words such as "oh no!", or "no way!", or similar phrases
c. keep chuckling incessantly
d. react way to loudly to at least 10 different things.

the guy next to me today would not shut up. "i can't believe that". "NO NO NO!". "Ohhhhhh......", and on and on and on.

it seriously almost made me get up and leave.
what's wrong with these people?

i felt bad that maybe something bad had happened and he just found out.
his girlfriend came over though, and he said "i got killed in fantasy football this week".

No No No!!!

what an idiot..

i also hate it when people are loud in the library. when did they change the rules that you don't have to be quiet in a library? when i was a kid, i definitely remember the library being a place where you had to whisper. apparently that in the last 20 years. last week 2 ladies were sitting in the back of the library discussing the one's extensive personal problems. and the she had many. and they were loud, and anyone in the library could hear it. it was a giant self help session full of all kinds of cliched garbage advice.

i almost threw up for the second time in TX.

Raves
The channel formerly known as the Austin Music Network is now available on my basic cable package as of last monday. life is suddenly better. i love it.

I discovered the AMN on my first ever trip to Austin. it was great. it was basically a public access version of MTV, w/ the great majority of videos being from TX artists. it was the best channel ever. but then i heard that they lost all their funding. and it didn't appear to be available on the wimberley cable package anyway.

but then the other week, at brad's house (in austin) i discovered the new version of it. and it was still cool. and it made me sad that i didn't have it. i honestly wanted to sit at brad's house all day and watch it.

that was on sunday.
monday morning i woke up and went to the library. when i came home, i was flipping channels, and saw a music video. it was on. the new Austin Music and Entertainment Television channel is now broadcasting on my channel 15. life is grand.

unfortunately it looks like they only have about 5 hours of original programming per day, and then they just repeat after that. most people probably wouldn't notice it. i stay home alot.

on wednesday i saw the same 3 videos in a row 3 times. i should get out more.

but i love the channel. i see videos from Ray Wylie Hubbard, Billy Joe Shaver, Bob Schneider, the Traveling Wilburys, Mary Gauthier, The True Believers, Joe Ely, and many many more.

it makes me happy.

Tuesday night song swap w/ Hayes and more

I had planned to go see Steve Young play on this night. But then i heard Hayes Carll was playing at the Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos--just down the road. Steve Young was $10 and in Austin. Hayes was $10 but much closer. And just that day, i met w/ Hayes' manager to try to get a job, and he put me on the guest list. since i have no $$, i of course decided to go see that one.

a song swap is when you have at least 2 guys with guitars, and they take turns singing songs. it's usually a pretty 'intimate' affair. tonight it was 4 guys: Hayes, Stoney Larue, Walt Wilkins, and Kent Finlay--the owner of Cheatham St. Warehouse. now, i'd never heard of any of the other guys except Kent, and had never heard Kent sing. so i didn't know what to expect.

i wasn't too impressed w/ Stoney. he was like the obnoxious new kid trying to hard. constantly talking in between songs, saying obnoxious things. not my bag. song swaps are supposed to be quiet. he talked to much.

i wasn't impressed too much w/ Walt Wilkins either, but Hayes apparently likes him, so that gives him a little cred in my book. i found out that Walt Wilkins and Pat Green are chums, and write lots of songs together. no wonder i wasn't impressed. I'm not much of a Pat Green fan either.

Walt did have a couple songs that i really liked though. on the whole though, both walt and stoney sang way too many songs about babies and how beautiful they are, and cheesy romantic love songs about their wives. blech. i've got no need for songs about babies, and literal or cliched love songs. Hayes sang exactly 1 song about his wife. he said it's the only song he wrote about her, and that he wrote it before they got married. that song was called naked checkers.
it's a good song.

kent is a TX character. he reminds me a bit of Kinky Friedman. he owns the joint, and can do whatever he wants.

the night was interesting, but fun. it was strange---in my opinion, Hayes was head and shoulders above the other performers. no contest. but Walt and Stoney seemed to get the biggest applause. people are silly sometimes.

more about monday

and now for the rest of the story:

so, even though i was feeling tired, i decided to venture out and check out the Devil's Backbone Tavern. MK said he'd drive, but his monster truck bronco only had 2 seats---- the back was just a ledge. i volunteered to sit on the ledge. what the heck--- i'd rode on the back of a golf cart w/ no headlights in the dark several weeks ago. how bad could it be? some of it was fun, but some of it was scary. the entire ride, MK raved about his truck. apparently he had just bought it the month before. he raved about the engine, raved about the speed, raved about how you had to ride w/ the windows down, and he cracked up his stereo. at first the music was appropriate--- a rockin Neil Young tune. the cd was apparently CSNY though, b/c after that 'our house' came on. hehe... it made me laugh. you don't expect to hear that kind of song blaring out of a bigass truck. MK sung it loudly though. he was excited.

as we got to the barabout what we might encounter. we were a rag tag group of patrons about to enter a potentially scary bar. the hispanic bounty hunter turned maintenance man, the houston divorcee, and me--the wannabe hardcore texan, strolled into the Backbone Tavern only to discover that we were the only 3 people there. seriously. just us 3. and the bartender.

truthfully, i liked it better that way.

the place was really small, but looked like i would have imagined an old TX bar to look like. there was a jukebox in the corner. a couple tables, and a long wooden table type contraption in the middle of the floor. i found out that that long table game is actually the TX version of shuffleboard. Now, i've only played shuffleboard in FLA. and in FLA, it's an outdoor sport, with numbers painted on concrete, and you use a big stick to slide your pucks.

In TX it's a long table w/ some pucks that you slide by hand. the surface of the table has a laquer on it, like a bowling alley lane, to make it smooth. but then you pour salt all over it. it's kind of bizarro. but kind of fun. i'd like to play more.

we talked to the bartender a bit. she said they don't really have a "busy night" there--- some nights are just busier than others. we asked if there was ever live music. she said no, which was a shame since they have an awesome, old fashioned dancehall that's connected to the Bar, but is never used, and is covered in dust. mercy. i wish i could own that place and turn it into something fun.
i asked the bartender if she knew the todd snider song about the bar. she didn't know Todd Snider.

on the price list on the wall, it listed the prices of the beers---basically domestics were 1 price, and imports were another. but then it said "reds and blues: $1.25". so i had to ask what were reds and blues. "milwaukee's best, and milwaukee's best ice" she proclaimed, as she set pulled 1 of each out the cooler and sat them on top of the bar to demonstrate.

exciting.

the other unknown quantity on the list was "setups" for $1.25, so i asked what that was too. she explained that they don't have a liquor license, but you can bring in your own bottle of liquor and they'll sell you a cup and a soda for $1.25. cool. she said they're not even allowed to sell certain kinds of beer, like Guinness, b/c the alcohol content is too high. that's just wacky. i thought i heard once that Guiness actually had a lower alcohol content than most, but maybe i'm wrong.

anyway, RM picked out a bunch of songs from the jukebox. i don't know if he was just picking songs at random, but his selections surprised me, and were really good. bob seger, joe ely, kenny rogers, patsy cline---good stuff. i asked him about, and he said he likes all kinds of music. MK and I played a game or 2 of shuffleboard, while RM sat at the bar chatting w/ the bartender. the shuffleboard game took forever. every couple turns, MK would get distracted and would go talk to the bartender or RM. the poor bartender. MK just get talking and talking and talking, often saying the same thing.

after a couple of Lone Stars, we decided to head out. it was pretty apparent the bartender was trying to close up the shop so she could go home anyway. I was ready to go home as well, but MK wanted to go to the bar next door---Rileys--a motorcyle bar.

we had tempted fate by going to the Backbone as a bunch of outsiders. i was sure that our good fortune would run out in Rileys. but i felt a little better since the guy that fixed mary's motorcycle had recommended Riley's too us as a good place to go, and he seemed like a really nice guy.

Riley's was PACKED. the jukebox was blaring, and all the windows were open, and we walked in to see a total of 7 people hanging out. 7. and 1 of them was the bartender. apparently monday night is NOT the night to go out in Wimberley. one of the 3 ladies there instantly recognized RM, and gave him a big hug. at least that was a good sign that we might not be killed. all of the patrons that were in the bar looked like people you would expect to see at a biker bar---without all the leather. except, apparently out of place, was a very attractive girl who looked to be in her 20's. not sure what her deal was, but she seemed to be hitting it off pretty good w/ a pretty big biker type fellow who looked to be at least twice her age.

most of the patrons sat at the corner of the bar. several of them played pool. a guy came in who looked like a middle school science teacher. he carried his own pool stick w/ him, he and MK talked about their issues w/ women. i pretended i was watching the football game on the tv. i hate football. i try not to tell anyone that here in the lone star state. texans love football.

the big biker guy who had the young blonde flirting w/ him came over to us.
i was sure he was going to ask if we were in the wrong place.
he didn't. he was just polite and social, asking us normal small talk questions. bikers are nice.
actually there weren't even any motorcycles in the parking lot.
at least i have a girlfriend who rides.
somehow that doesn't seem like it makes me look cool though.

we stayed there much longer than i wanted too, but MK and RM continued to buy me free beers. i tried to buy 1 round, but they protested. works for me. i'm broke. free beer is good. but i had too much of it. by the end i was pretty drunk and pretty tired. i climbed into the back of the monster truck and we headed home.

i scooped up the Gus, and hit the bed and fell asleep at 12.40.
at 1.30 i woke up and puked.
ha!
i haven't puked from beer in ages.
maybe it was chicken fried steak, or the monster truck ride, or maybe it actually was the beer.
or the combination of the 3.
but i did puke.
it was just once, and was small.
and i felt much better afterwards.

the next day i told mary that i puked.
she laughed and made fun of me for puking in TX before her.

and then it was tuesday.