Where the Hell Have I Been?
Ok, ok I know I have been absent for about 6 months or more. Nothing personal against the blog, I love the blog, but I have been blogging on myspace, primarily. It just became much easier to deal with one thing, rather than two.
So much has happened in the past few months that this blog will be burning up with catch up material. I will do one long blog with highlights, I promise. Hang in there with me, I am coming back full force and, baby, its gonna rock!!
John Prine Show was Uber Awesome
This man totally blew me away tonight. I went to see John Prine at Robinson Auditorium. Michael was sick so I took Virginia (she fell in love with his music!)
The show was just wonderful. The music was outstanding. I enjoyed it when he was with his bass player and other guitar player and I loved it just as much when he was on stage alone singing. It was all good. Some of my favorites: Hello In There, Sam Stone, Please Don't Bury Me, Angel from Montgomery, Crazy as a Loon, Lake Marie, Ain't Hurtin Nobody and more. I remember Spanish Pipedream, Dear Abby, Lucky Larue, 6 o clock news, Glory of True Love, She is my Everything, Bear Creek Blues and You Got Gold. I am sure there were more that will come to me later. If he shows up near you - go see him. This was my first time seeing him at a live show and I was surprised at how short he is. Really short. Still cute as a button though. Go see him or at least put on some of his music. Tomorrow we go to see Bill Cosby - same place.
Altered Guitar
I altered an acoustic guitar for a benefit held last weekend. The guitar had a theme of the roots of the blues. There were delta maps, chicago map and hoodoo items/photos. There was even a mojo bag hanging from the neck of the guitar. I included photos of Howlin Wolf, Tommy Johnson, Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thornton, Muddy Waters, John
Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson and Charley Patton.
Inside the guitar was a shrine with Charley Patton. Guitar picks spelled blues and hung off the neck of the guitar. A crown was placed on top of the neck and read Blues Rules.
The guitar went for $250.00. I really hated to part with it after all that heart and soul went into it. I
have been asked to do another one for another benefit. I will take better pictures this time. These pics were taken by my friend Amy B. (Thanks!)
Mexico
Our trip to Mexico with 6 other friends was fantastic. Of course, we had our moments and catastrophes - it would not be a vacation without them.
I will list them in a bit. Our flights were uneventful. Customs and Immigration were fine. Getting rental cars was fine. Finding Steve & David and Shyrlee & Bill at the airport went fine. The traffic from Cancun south on 307 was monstrous. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to Playa de Carmen. We stopped at Sam's to load up on a weeks worth of beer, wine and liquor. We got snacks, cokes, water and came to the liquor aisle to find that we could not purchase alcohol on Saturday because an election was being held on Sunday! Yikes, that was like being in Arkansas at election time but at least here it is only on election day that you cannot purchase alcohol. In Mexico it is the day before and until 1pm the day after the election. This meant we would be unable to purchase alcohol from Saturday until Monday 1pm. We were not happy foreign nationals. We pushed on because driving after dark on these roads is not a great thing to do. We stopped in Felipe Puerto Carillo for gas, restroom breaks that cost us each 3 pesos (T was quite upset because she thought it cost her $3 to use the restroom but was ok when she found out it was just .30Cents). We also got some Salbutos (fried tacos with shredded chicken, shredded cabbage and salsa) to snack on and pushed on southward towards Limones. It was dark, very dark on the jungle road. There is little electricity when you get off the main road. The place we were going to has no electricity, just solar and generator. We turned past Limones and started that 54 km drive towards Mahahual. We turned left past the gas station that we called "twisted metal". It is still a twisted metal wreck from Hurrican Dean. In fact, the hurricane damage became more and more evident as we pushed on. Turning on the final road, the beach road, for the last 3km was rough. The dirt road was very damaged and you had to drive very slow and maneuver around huge potholes and rocks. The mangroves on the right were full on debris from the hurricane, the lives of the people strewn about in the mangroves - waiting to be retrieved. We arrived at
Mayan Beach Garden while dinner was being served. We were greeted warmly by Marcia and she promptly had us seated at the table with other guests (mostly Canadians we gathered). After dinner Marcia took us to the house we would call home base for one week. That is it pictured above from the beach. It was a fabulous 5,000 sf home with several amenities. My favorite being the screened in porch along the back facing the beach. We spent many hours there in hammocks or in comfy chairs listening to the music and chilling.
On Sunday we just relaxed at the house. The alcohol crisis was diverted when Marcia sold us a couple of cases of beer from her place and a bottle of tequila.
She also hooked Bill up with some wine. We were good to go until we could get to Fernando's place in Mahahual on Monday. This picture to the left is the beach at the house. The water was so clear. The palms were sparse, Hurricane Dean took care of that but many were surviving and being replanted.
On Monday we had to go to Mahahual to take care of three major issues:
1) Dano lost the keys to the mini van and we needed to get in touch with National Rent A Car in Cancun to see how we could get replacement keys 5 hours away from them!! Marcia had given us her accountant's addy in Chetumal and we were going to see if that was a possibility.
2) Michael got bit by something and his toe was turning purple and hurting. It was also creating a rash up his leg and blisters, which he was scratching. We were afraid of an infection so off to the Farmacia for anti biotics
3) The alcohol issue - we needed to replenish the supply and make sure there was enough to last the week.
After a phone call from a pay phone in Mahahual, Dano was told to call back in the morning. It was election day and he would have to be the one to sign for the keys it they were mailed out. We got anti biotics, shampoo and a few others things. An ice cream truck went by and Steve proclaimed it to be a truck thanking people for voting until we all heard "chocolate' " and knew that was an ice cream truck - well that and the pics of ice cream on the side, the music and the kids flagging it down. We made our way into the beach area of Mahahual. Most of Mahahual was destroyed by Hurricane Dean but there is a flurry of activity to rebuild. One street back
from the beach was Fernando's place. We created quite a stir, 8 Americans, buying tons of beer and wine from Fernando. I snapped this pic of the gang with Fernando, our hero! The pic below it is of the back street of Mahahual. As you can see, it is not a sophisticated city. It is simply a seaside town that
will one day explode with tourists and buildings and, sadly, become another Cancun.
We mostly hung out at the beach enjoying the balmy days and wind. We did have one night where a squall picked up and blew so hard it slammed the door and began blowing rain in. It was a bit of excitement at 4am. It slammed the door so hard, part of the jam broke off. Nate, the sexy handyman in the area, came and replaced it. Poor Nate he had women and men drooling over him. It is a bit annoying when you have the heteros and the homos drooling over the same person!! (evil grin)
We did, finally, get replacement keys to the van. Fernando called National, they sent a man on the bus overnight. He got there about 8 am and left the keys with Fernando and caught the 8:30 bus back to Cancun. 10 hours on a bus to deliver an extra set of keys -- $50 was all they charged. Not bad. Here it would have been much higher I am certain.
Michael's leg got a bit worse and we were concerned we might have to take him to Chetumal (2 hours away) to see a doctor. Sevulow, the caretaker at the property looked at it and told us to rub lime on it, only one way. Sevulow is Mayan and knows he is at least 70 years old. He gardened every day. A very sweet old man. We are not sure if the lime worked or not but we did it! Michael finally started getting better.
On Thursday we went to Dzibanche, Knichna and Kohunlich - ruin sites. They were amazing. Michael and I had been to Dzibanche so I did not climb any temples there. I waited for Knichna and Kohunlich. Kohunlich was most impressive and beautiful with 300 year old Cohoon palms everywhere. It was magnificent. The Temple of Masks was cool to look at. We have tons of pics but will have to post more later. We were very tired that night and then another catastrophe... Michael slammed the van door shut on two of my fingers. All I could do was scream a couple of times, I could not say anything. Luckily, he understood those screams to be exactly what they were. He jumped out and ran into the house to get ice. I then stood there cursing because, well when you hurt like that, cursing just seems to help. Poor Sevulow probably had the bejeesus scared out of him! My fingers were sore for a few days but otherwise fine.
Our last full day together was Friday, as Steve & David were taking off for Chichenitza and we were staying until Saturday morning. This pic was
taken by Marcia on the beach at her place. A great group of folks to travel with. Great music, well ok except for gay disco/techno stuff, and great fun.
Dano, Bill & I snorkeled with Marcia Friday afternoon and it was awesome! We had so much fun and saw some great stuff. I hot a red heart urchin shell to bring home. We decided we would like to do this every couple of years. So look out 2010 - here we come!
A Holiday and a Movie
Today is the federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King so that means I have the day off.
I overslept, meaning I slept far longer than I intended (noon!!) and when I realized it was noon, jumped up to get moving. I washed clothes, picked up the house, showered and then sat down with a cup o' joe to see what was on tv. I ran across "A Patch of Blue". Oh my, this movie sucks me in each time. What a great movie. What furor it incited, so much so that the kissing scenes had to be deleted when it was shown in the South.
For the uninformed, A Patch of Blue is the 1965 Academy Award winning film about a relationship between a black man (Sidney Poitier) and a young blind white girl (Elizabeth Hartman). The movie is touching and shows that love is "color blind". The sad thing is that, even today, inter racial couples get the crap. It makes my blood boil when folks comment about a mixed couple. So 43 years after this film explores this type of relationship, the same small minded people exist.
Oh I suck...
At keeping up with the blog. I have been blogging on myspace a lot but have neglected this little blog.
A catch up blog of sorts. Back into the swing of things at work. Loving my
Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb. This stuff smells amazing and makes me feel sooooo sexy and fresh. Michael was a dear, I got the perfume, lotion and body cream. Mmmmmm.
Gained 4 pounds from Dec 11 until Jan 7.... probably most of it the two weeks I was a slug at home for the holidays. Now back to being serious, ok semi-serious.
Radio show going fine - we had a great show today. I had Cosmic Biscuit & Dan and Al up for some acoustic stuff and to promo their upcoming visit to
International Blues Competition in Memphis in a couple of weeks. Great sounds. Wish them the best of luck. It was really cool that lots of local musicians were listening today and calling in their best wishes. That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Tomorrow night is a fundraiser at Parrot Beach to help with the costs to send them to IBC. I did note that my friend Jon Justice (read the blog
here to learn about him) from Cinci was competing this year.
We are going to Michael's dad's retirement party on Sunday up in White County. I am making a dessert (Miss Beve' home made pound cake) to take for the party after the party. (Read this
blog to understand this area of White County).
Counting down the days until Mexico. We will be there with 6 other beach bums (Shyrlee, Bill, Dano, T, Dave and Steve). We are staying
here. We were going to stay a few yards down the beach at our
favorite place, but they took a huge hit from Hurricane Dean in August and cannot hold us all just yet. It will be a relaxing and awesome trip.
Going to Nashville, TN next week to do some training and will stop in Memphis before heading up there. Check out the old office and make an appearance. It has been such a blessing to be able to work back in Little Rock, particularly having to deal so much with mom. Mom is doing better, by the way. Much calmer and sweeter in the past month.
Does anyone have a clue who to vote for? I know I will not be voting Republican, I would cut off both arms before I ever had to do that. But I am still undecided on the Democratic front. I think Obama has generated a ton of energy and excitement but worry about his relative lack of dealing with really evil Repubs on a national level. I just do not know.... still reading, watching and thinking.
Is anyone else sick of the Spears' family freak show? Please Lord move on to real news. I could care less about white trash with money. You cannot buy class and they are proof positive. Nuff said about that.
New Year - New Do!
I let Jose' just do his thang. This is what I left with. No, it will not be this straight tomorrow, once I wash it the curl will be back. Yes, he uses about 6 variations of auburn from darkest to lightest.... he is amazing, I mean consider what he had to work with.
