Bye to Cheryl and Curtis

At the Songwriters' Festival, Friday night

And so we say so long for now to our gracious hosts. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we're off to see Bert and Janet in Panama City, then on to Daytona for several days for the Rolex 24 race before going on up to the boat after too long an absence.

30 A Songwriters' Festival

 From Teddy Thompson

to James McMurtry

to Richard Thompson (Teddy's dad)

and Loudon Wainwright III, the artists have been great and the weekend fun for all the old white upper-middle-class folks*, including us, in the audience:

Saturday was a cool, sunny day, perfect for the outdoor venue at Gulf Place, a quick walk across the street from the beach house.

And the night before, Friday, the first night of the festival, was fun, as we staked a claim at a table right behind the sound board (Yes, that decision did have its drawbacks, but overall it was a good one - the sound was perfect, we were close, we could order food and drink and have a place to set it, and we made friends [and shared wine] with the happy young sound guy from South Carolina.) and heard a range of singers.  Some snippets of their music:

Shannon Whitworth singing.  Onstage and taking turns performing with her were Grant-Lee Phillips and Dave Franklin (the scary-looking one on the right - he was very good.).

Aargh - my videos have stopped uploading.  I will try to come back to this later, to give you, my faithful readers, a sampling of the good music we heard.  In the meantime, I'll include some links to some of my favorites:

Richard Thompson:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5V0RkCIaXo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tx3Po07iPs

Teddy Thompson:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLGlJ4hd5-s

Curtis's knowledge of and interest in music, particularly of the singer-songwriter variety, is legendary, and the rest of us were happy to let him lead the way in choosing our musical options. He did well.

Sunday evening he and I heard Allison Moorer (wife, incidentally, of Steve Earle and sister of Shelby Lynne), again across the street (though this time in the small room of a restaurant), while Tom and Cheryl stayed back at the house watching the SF/Seattle playoff game; though I very much enjoyed hearing Moorer and the singer who shared the stage, Garrison Starr, I opted to come on home after their performance while Curtis continued on to the next venue, taking full advantage of the last night of the festival.

'Twas a great weekend.

*Tom had the darkest skin in the audience - very odd.  And it could have been a boomers' convention for all the young people who attended.  There are young people who play this kind of music, but there aren't many who listen**.  As for the whiteness, we have noted before how un-diverse is the Florida Panhandle.  How very different from the area where we've spent most of our adult lives, Southeast Texas, where ethnic diversity is the order of the day. 

**Had they been listening, though, to Garrison Starr, they may have delighted in her folkie rendition of Snoop Dog's "Gin and Juice." We did.

 http://www.americansongwriter.com/2013/11/garrison-starr-covers-snoop-doggs-gin-juice/

Kinda Sorta on the Way to Florida . . .

We made a detour to Sabine Pass to see our friends Art and Barb, who are climbing out of the darkness that they have been inhabiting since the first (and only, so far) day of their long-awaited cruise. I'll let Barb speak for them in this one-minute synopsis that she wrote of their terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. Try reading it aloud in a sing-song, Dick-and-Jane voice, as she intended.

 "Journey Day One: Seabrook to Sabine Pass

Barnacle Barb Fahrenholz

December 2013

Art and Barb prepare to drive their boat from Seabrook to Key West. The boat’s name is Work of Art. Their friend John is going too. Art goes to the doctor for motion sickness patches and comes home with the flu. Barb gets the flu too. They oversleep. They leave anyway. Tide is going out. The dock hits Work of Art and chunks off some fiberglass. A shackle scratches Jim’s boat. They make it to the fuel dock. Tide drops more. They leave the fuel dock. Current turns the boat around. They come about. They go out the wrong side of the bridge. A shrimp boat dodges them. Work of Art gets stuck in the bay. Sea Tow pulls her out. John drives all night to make up time. Seas rock and the boat rolls. Barb hugs the floor. Art can’t swallow. Waves crash over the bow. It’s dark. The engine dies. They set anchor. Art gets the engine started. They go to Sabine Pass and anchor out. Everyone goes to bed and sleeps for 14 hours."

Art and Barb are still there, anchored out near the Sabine Pass marina where they were docked for years, and where we stayed for almost a week at the very beginning of our cruise back in 2011. What is it about Sabine Pass that draws one back?  But they have a plan now, so their spirits are lifted.  Their Key West mast-installer will truck the mast to them and install it, which should enable them to carry on across the Gulf with a smoother ride.

It was great to see them and to know that their optimism about their great adventure is returning.

Sunshine State Rescue

Passage to the beach from Cheryl and Curtis's beach rental

Just shy of a year ago, we drove to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, ready to be guests of Cheryl and Curtis at their lovely beach house rental, ready to escape the stultifying confines of the rent house in Channelview that we had inhabited since Tom had been released from the hospital,  ready for release of some sort.  What a difference a year makes -- this year we made the drive, not for rescue but for companionship, conviviality, and the beach.  And, after both drives, we found what we were seeking.

Looking through my photos, I found these, interiors of the house, from last year:

and these from outside:

It was cold here last year, and it's cold this year -- oh, that's right, it's winter.  But we love it.  We will be here for about another week before we head to Daytona for the Rolex 24 race, then on to the boat for a few weeks.

But first comes the 30A (Highway) Songwriters' Festival, beginning today. The rest of us are happy for Curtis to serve as tour guide; he has mapped out what should be a very good weekend, poring over the map and the website, choosing plans a and b and, I suppose, c, anticipating how early we'll have to be at site a and b and how long we will have to wait at each of these.  Eat before we go? Pack a picnic?  Buy food there?  In any case, we know that we will hear some good music and generally enjoy ourselves.  Check it out:  http://www.30asongwritersfestival.com

January at the Funny Farm

The birds are all a-flutter . . .

Like father, like son

Sweetie rebonds with her love, Rachel.

. . . as are the people

 

 Laura, Wesley, Doris, and Gerri Lynn at a fun new place in Baytown, Cork Grinders

Happy New Year!

After an eventful year, we're wishing and hoping for one a little less so.  It's been 2014 for ten and a half hours, and thus far it has cooperated with that wish.  Herein, some photos of some of the friends we've seen and frolicked with on this trip back to Texas:

Visiting with Levanche and Gene at their wonderful place out in Angleton

Christmas 2013

Back in Texas this Christmas, which means that we are able to enjoy the season with family and friends -- and that we are nice and warm.  Last Christmas was one of those sweet, simple holidays on the boat in Virginia, but while this one was somewhat less low-key, it was no less unusual than the last one, at least the Christmas Eve part.

Christmas Eve

Hoi Ching, Gerrilynn's exchange student from Hong Kong, Gerrilynn, Pat, me, Tom, attired in some of our gifts.  Pat sports a tie and cap from Gerrilynn, I have donned the most excellent hat she gave to me plus the most excellent Underarmour sweatsuit that Tom gave to me, and Tom proudly wears his Gerrilynn-gift-cap plus the "disentangling" puzzle that she gave him; this explains, maybe, the clawlike pose of his hand.

 Gerrilynn gave Hoi Ching this wonderful teddy bear, and many other wonderful surprises.

. . . and she surprised Pat with this fish candle holder for his New Mexico home.  Tom tried it on:

Tom and Pat looking dashing in their caps.

It was a fun Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day
We dined on a wonderful traditional turkey dinner at Susan and Marion's house in Beaumont, exchanged gifts, and generally enjoyed their company.

 The boys will be leaving for a "Young Life" snow ski trip in Colorado on the 27th; in the meantime, they relax with their dogs.

Susan and her dad