AJ's Ale House NB 9/22/12

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It was serious business in New Braunfels, TX with Chris Wallis tonight. We played for so many people, I didn't have time to smile in this photo. Ha! We had a diverse clientele, all of whom had their favorites they wanted us to perform, so we did. Everything from Coldplay to Zac Brown Band was requested, and Chris kept the beats coming. Read his blog to find out what he thinks of Michael Jackson...

AJ's Ale House MF 9/27/12

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Roger Glenn played drums while I played piano for the peeps in Marble Falls, TX tonight. I had a good time helping a newly engaged couple come up with a wedding song, and performing the requests the peeps were coming up with. The real fun began on my way home. It rained last night, so besides all the bats and skunks I saw through patches of fog, I saw more frogs on my drive home than the total number of frogs I've seen in my lifetime. In the street, hopping around, frogs. Every few feet, little ones, big ones, alive ones and *croaked* ones. Kinda put me in the Halloween spirit; bats and skunks and frogs in the fog.

The Moore House 9/28/12

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Tonight, I performed a show with Fine Fellows in San Marcos, TX at the Moore House. This marked the last show they would be throwing there in the foreseeable future. To celebrate the final show, the band "The Lion And The Giraffe" opened up the night, and we closed it out. Chris Wallis was powerful on the drums, and Ian Lee sounded great on the guitar and vocals. We also joined up with Nick Valenzuela for one of his tunes! Great fun tonight!

Tres Hermanas 9/29/12

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My first show of the evening was for the dinner crowd at Tres Hermanas in San Marcos, TX with Ian Lee. It was a bit surreal because while we were playing, in addition to the restaurant's radio which was on during our performance, the open balcony level inside was rented out for a private party, and the private party hired a boisterous mariachi duo to perform. So, after two hours of three different simultaneous songs echoing throughout the restaurant, we finished up and I jumped in my car to head to my next show in Marble Falls!

AJ's Ale House 9/29/12

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My second show of the night took place in Marble Falls, TX with the great Joe Resnick on drums. The evening started off strong, with lots of requests and generous people doing the requesting. My favorite tonight was "The Beach Boys - Little Red Corvette". Then, during our second set, an inebriated individual at the back of the room reached into the sound booth and made the P.A. feedback severely, which made us temporarily halt the show. We found and fixed the problem, and we got the show back on track. After a few more requests, we ended the night strong with a Stevie Wonder tune!!!

The Local Entry

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This balloon is at the Great Forest Park Balloon Race year after year. Charles Lindbergh flew The Spirit of St. Louis from near New York to near Paris in 1927. We get the big bubble of St. Louis over Forest Park on a more regular schedule. The couple below are some of the typical St. Louisans the balloon represents.
May not be able to do a post tomorrow. We're supposed to drive to Kansas City right after work tonight for a weekend anthropology expidition in the part of Kansas where my wife grew up. We'll see. The road trip, of course, will be well documented.

Astro 3

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Many small American towns (not to mention urban neighborhoods) have lost their movie theaters. That's a cinema to you yur-o-pee-ans. Not so Marysville, Kansas. The Astro 3 Theatre - yes, they use the Brit spelling - has been preserved, expanded and restored by local resident Alex Shultz. That's him in the top photo telling us the story.
The history of the place is unusual. It was built in 1912 by a neighboring church as what today we would call a health club - basketball court, running track suspended above courtside and a swimming pool in the basement. You can see the pool below, now full of trusses to protect the structure. Imagine that in small-town Kansas a century ago.
The constituency for the sport facility fell away. After a period of disuse the building was modified and reopened as the Isis Theater. (Wonder if there was an Osiris Theater down the road in Seneca.)  I didn't retain all the details but a new owner bought the adjacent building, added a second screen and turned it into the Astro 2. Alex bought the place, re-jiggered the space, added a third screen and turned it into the Astro 3. The restoration seems never-ending but Shultz has the dedication and know-how to see it through. Now Marysville gets first-run movies, digital, 3-D, the whole works. It's a success story.

UPDATE:  I just discovered a detailed history of the theater on its website. Note the St. Louis connection. See http://www.astro3.com/?page=history.





 

The Union Pacific Depot

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A busy Union Pacific railroad line used to cut straight across the west side of Marysville, blocking traffic on U.S. Route 36 many times a day. A few years ago the tracks were moved further out of town and a bridge built to carry the highway across them.
There was a beautiful railroad depot that now sits empty along the old right of way. The Spanish Colonial architecture is striking. Some area residents would like to rehab it and use it for a community center and are trying to raise money. The U.P. has no use for it. If the funds are not available in the next couple of months the building will be demolished. But there is good news! On Tuesday night the city council decided to buy the building and then resell it to preservationists. An important part of Marysville's heritage will live on.

Downtown Marysville

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A final look around Marysville, Kansas, before we return to STL. These images are from around the town center. They illustrate the old and the new, the good and the bad. From top to bottom:
An out-of-business motel on U.S. Route 36. We usually stay at the bizarrely-named Surf Motel just down the road. The name has a complicated story.
The Pony Express statue. This may be unfamiliar to our international readers but it is an icon of American Western lore. It delivered mail and telegrams from St. Joseph, Missouri, northwest of Kansas City, to Sacramento, California, for a brief 18 months. Marysville was a principal station along the route.
The trailer of voter suppression. We have a trivial incidence of voter fraud in this country. Still, Republican state legislatures in several states, including Kansas. have recently required specific photo ID cards to vote. Lots of poor people don't have them, and don't have the money to get certified copies of birth certificates or a state-issued ID card. It is a blatant and shameful attempt to prevent low-income people, who tend to vote Democratic, from exercising their franchise. 
God, guts and guns in northeastern Kansas. Plus support for the local high school football team.
The door of the odd Dolls, Toys and Indian Artifacts Museum, open only by appointment. I've never made it in there.
Back to The Lou tomorrow.

Scotland The Brave

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Every year about this time a group of local Caledonians sponsors the Scottish Games in Forest Park. Friday night is ceremony and music. Saturday brings out the burly guys tossing the caber, flinging giant stones from chains, tossing bales of hay over a high jump bar with a pitchfork and whatever else one does if you have 18 inch biceps and wear a kilt.
The show on Friday night is the calling of the clans. A representative of each of the clans of Scotland emerges from the mists holding a torch, shouts something fierce about how they stood side-by-side with Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Ballykaboom, kicked proud King Edward of England in the ass and otherwise should not be messed with. Then they stride forward, place their torches in a frame, form a circle and do something that an Irishman like me cannot interpret. It's fun.
Unfortunately, I wont be able to return for the athletic feats today. Got to go to the office for a while and then shoot Dancing In The Street. Then dinner and theater with my wife and daughter. And Taste of St. Louis is going on this weekend. And it's season opening weekend at the St. Louis Symphony, on our calendar for tomorrow afternoon. Whew!

AJ's Ale House NB 9/15/12

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Woohoo! Big crowd in New Braunfels, TX at AJ's tonight to listen to our request piano show. Roger Glenn drummed the drums as I tried my best to keep up with the wildly varied requests. Tonight saw everything from Little Walter's "My Babe" to the Clash's "Rock The Casbah" played for an appreciative crowd. A few birthdays rounded out the evening, and fun was had by all! Now, I'm going to bed, for tomorrow, I leave for Disney World! Woohoo!

AJ's Ale House MF 9/20/12

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This morning, I woke up in Florida, hopped on a plane and headed to Austin, Texas, got in the car with my wife to Lockhart (to eat BBQ at Black's), headed home to San Marcos for a couple hours before getting back in the car to drive to Marble Falls to meet up with Chris Wallis at AJ's to play some music for the people! Crazy amount of driving, but overall a very interesting day!

Jack's Roadhouse 9/21/12

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What a fantastic Friday evening in San Marcos! I had a great time performing with my friends Ian Lee (guitar) and Chris Wallis (drums) for a very appreciative crowd. We made a few new fans and sold a few CDs through the corse of the night. Ian was on fire as he ripped solo after solo during the night, and Chris was Mr. Timekeeper with his great funky flavor. The crowd came up and videoed us several times, and we even had a gentleman sing a couple of Elvis tunes with us. Fun night indeed!!!

AJ's Ale House NB 9/22/12

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It was serious business in New Braunfels, TX with Chris Wallis tonight. We played for so many people, I didn't have time to smile in this photo. Ha! We had a diverse clientele, all of whom had their favorites they wanted us to perform, so we did. Everything from Coldplay to Zac Brown Band was requested, and Chris kept the beats coming. Read his blog to find out what he thinks of Michael Jackson...

AJ's Ale House MF 9/27/12

To contact us Click HERE



Roger Glenn played drums while I played piano for the peeps in Marble Falls, TX tonight. I had a good time helping a newly engaged couple come up with a wedding song, and performing the requests the peeps were coming up with. The real fun began on my way home. It rained last night, so besides all the bats and skunks I saw through patches of fog, I saw more frogs on my drive home than the total number of frogs I've seen in my lifetime. In the street, hopping around, frogs. Every few feet, little ones, big ones, alive ones and *croaked* ones. Kinda put me in the Halloween spirit; bats and skunks and frogs in the fog.

AJ's Ale House MF 9/8/12

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Third and final show of my day took place in Marble Falls, TX with the great Joe Resnick on drums. The crowd was huge and instantly into our show, which made performing so much fun tonight. Interesting requests, great responses, and lots of voices singing along made for one of the best show experience I've had in Marble Falls! Joe was, as always, fantastic on the drums, and the crowd loved his showmanship. Time now to head to bed. Good night!

AJ's Ale House NB 9/15/12

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Woohoo! Big crowd in New Braunfels, TX at AJ's tonight to listen to our request piano show. Roger Glenn drummed the drums as I tried my best to keep up with the wildly varied requests. Tonight saw everything from Little Walter's "My Babe" to the Clash's "Rock The Casbah" played for an appreciative crowd. A few birthdays rounded out the evening, and fun was had by all! Now, I'm going to bed, for tomorrow, I leave for Disney World! Woohoo!

AJ's Ale House MF 9/20/12

To contact us Click HERE



This morning, I woke up in Florida, hopped on a plane and headed to Austin, Texas, got in the car with my wife to Lockhart (to eat BBQ at Black's), headed home to San Marcos for a couple hours before getting back in the car to drive to Marble Falls to meet up with Chris Wallis at AJ's to play some music for the people! Crazy amount of driving, but overall a very interesting day!

Jack's Roadhouse 9/21/12

To contact us Click HERE



What a fantastic Friday evening in San Marcos! I had a great time performing with my friends Ian Lee (guitar) and Chris Wallis (drums) for a very appreciative crowd. We made a few new fans and sold a few CDs through the corse of the night. Ian was on fire as he ripped solo after solo during the night, and Chris was Mr. Timekeeper with his great funky flavor. The crowd came up and videoed us several times, and we even had a gentleman sing a couple of Elvis tunes with us. Fun night indeed!!!

AJ's Ale House NB 9/22/12

To contact us Click HERE



It was serious business in New Braunfels, TX with Chris Wallis tonight. We played for so many people, I didn't have time to smile in this photo. Ha! We had a diverse clientele, all of whom had their favorites they wanted us to perform, so we did. Everything from Coldplay to Zac Brown Band was requested, and Chris kept the beats coming. Read his blog to find out what he thinks of Michael Jackson...

Winter Beach trip

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These pictures I just wanted to post because they were cute and I LOVE them! Daniel, one of my students, came over Friday night and took these pics in the studio of June!  I am teaching him photography and photoshop!

Saturday morning we drove down to the beach to spend the weekend at Grammy and Pa’s beach House. It was relaxing and I got alot of editing work done. June still cries whenever I try to pose the two of them for a photo.

She got pretty happy when I asked her if she wanted to fly her new kite that she had been carrying around all day with sad puppy eyes asking anyone who would listen to please open it for her.

It was really windy and Grammy and Pa have a HUGE feild next to the house that is PERFECT for kites!! That is their house in the background.

The special thing about this day was that not only was it the first time for the girls to fly a kite, but JIMMY TOO!!  He had never flown a kite before!!

Pure joy and delight!!

Shelby just ran around all over the field the whole time giggling and eating palm leaves, dirt ,and rocks.

Look at June’s expression. Its like she’s thinking ,” Are you REALLY gonna eat that?!”

Shelby is so little and it never gets less cute watching her walk around now. It is just so strange seeing this tiny girl walking around like a little person!!

 

Her kite has a lizard on it and a long tail with tiny baby lizards all down the tail.

This last picture is my favorite of all! June was so happy and was jumping up and down while Shelby was running in circles around her!! What a priceless moment!