My Brother, Dave

My younger brother Dave volunteered for military service in the mid '60s, not exactly a popular action among people his age at that time. He did a year in Vietnam and then re-upped for another year. He was in the U. S. Army corps of engineers, and spent most of his time operating a big Caterpillar D9 clearing jungle. It was very dangerous duty.

Like many vets, he doesn't talk about that time very much at all. And, like a lot of the returning vets from that war, he had some trouble adjusting to life back home and to some people who did not value his service. He straightened out after a year, but still has dreams and calls out in his sleep. I've heard him call out like that. The desperate urgency in his voice sends chills down your spine.

He's "retired" now from the USPS--I put that in quotation marks because he went right back to work and developed a successful landscape business. He's the hardest working person I know. He will give you the shirt off his back. If you're his friend (or his brother) and you need help, you can count on him.

When Katrina hit the Gulf coast, lots of people sent money and others did a lot of talking about what needed to be done. Dave took off work, loaded his tractor, chain saw, and other tools in his trailer and went right down there. He spent a over week in a little town in Southern Mississippi, sawing trees, moving brush, etc., doing what had to be done.

Dave's the only person I know who's come close to living up to all the tenets of the Cowboy Ethic. (That could be because I spent my career in academics, a profession not known for its high moral values, but the truth is, Dave's value system is pretty rare in any kind of work environment.) If you're not familiar with what the Cowboy Ethic entails, here's Jim Owen's "distillation of the timeless, universal cowboy values that are still relevant to our lives today." They're taken from his book Cowboy Ethics, What Wall Street Can Learn from the Code of the West.

1. Live each day with courage.
2. Take pride in your work.
3. Always finish what you start.
4. Do what has to be done.
5. Be tough but fair.
6. When you make a promise, keep it.
7. Ride for the brand.
8. Talk less and say more.
9. Remember that some things aren't for sale.
10.Know where to draw the line.

I love my brother. I'm proud of his military service and all his other accomplishments. And I'm glad he made it back from the war. I'm glad his name isn't on that famous Wall. It's a beautiful wall, and a fitting tribute to those who lost their lives in that conflict. But I'd rather have Dave's name etched right where it is--in the hearts of his family and friends.

Blood Country Video Book Trailers

More storms expected around 4 a.m. Joyce and I may have to go down to our family room/basement and seek refuge in our steel storm shelter. 

I've neglected both my blog and the others that I regularly read this week. I missed those regular reads and will catch up soon; I hope you noticed my absence too, and I'll be visiting you guys this week. I promise. 

I've been busy with first one thing and then another. I just put up a post on my CountryDirt blog that explains where part of that time went and there's another post on there you might also want to check out that gives quotes from three reviews the book has received so far. 

I indicated earlier that I wouldn't be soliciting here except to show you the book video trailers when they were ready. I've completed 2 video trailers to promote Blood Country; one is 133 seconds long, the other is 67 seconds. As part of the book's promotional/advertising campaign, these will be posted on YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, etc.

Here's what the longer video (with more plot details) looks like.

And this is the short trailer, with fewer details and slightly different wording.

This was my first experience using the Windows Movie Maker software that came with my Gateway. A big part of the time I spent was in learning and getting familiar with the process. My wife Joyce offered suggestions and criticism about the music and the selection and order of the photos. 

The music track, which is called "Badass" (a great title, I think), and the license to use it was purchased from Royalty-FreeMusic.com. The photos and usage license were purchased from a great site called dreamstime.com. You can spend hours on this site setting up searches and looking through the available photos. You buy credits and use them when purchasing the selected photos. The photos I used cost $25 total, very reasonable for a project like this. 

I welcome comments or questions about the videos; making them was a lot of fun, and I hope to put some more together in the future.

------------End of Country Dirt Post-----------

If any of you all that check in here from time to time have advice and/or criticism regarding the video, I'm open to any observations you might make. I was in a writer's group for nearly 20 years and developed a fairly thick skin. I think it's a necessity if you plan on learning and improving as a writer. 

Car Tunes

It was near midnight last evening when I worked on this post. I remembered something I used to use in class, an old audio cassette with a blues number, "Dynaflow Blues," by Johnny Shines. Why I used it, or how, or anything about the context, I'm not sure about. It may have been some kind of exercise in establishing criteria for criticism.

I looked it up on YouTube and found it. Then I started thinking about other car tunes. (Sounds a little like cartoons, doesn't it?) I could have gone further with this and may do a part II at a later date.

First, here's Johnny Shines. He sings, "She's got a bad disconnection, baby, somewhere down below." Dontcha love that line? Great slide guitar work, too.



This next one, I wasn't familiar with till I found it last night. But I like it. Another blues number.
Johnny Basset, Motor City Horns: "Cadillac Blues."



Gotta have a Ford tune. I really like this one. It's got that old '50s vibe working. Ronnie Dawson, "V8 Ford Boogie."



And, of course, Bill Haley, "Rocket 88." Some say it's the prototypical Rock and Roll song. Some say Jimmy Preston's earlier "Rock the Joint" started it all. I'm not getting into that debate or the one about whether this version or Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats (Ike Turner and the Kings of Rythm) is the most influential. Bill Haley's version is the one I heard first, so here it is.



I heard Johnny Bond's version of this first in the early '60s, but from somewhere in the '70s, here's Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, with "Hot Rod Lincoln."



This last one I'd never heard either, and it's an okay song, but I'm posting it mainly because of the great video of that black 1955, Series 62 Caddy convertible. No matter what you think of the tune, the car is absolutely stunning.

Vince Taylor. "Brand New Cadillac"

The Dapper Dan P. H. D. and Connee Boswell

Dang it. I like the internet. And I love youtube. They're the new university. They're a veritable fount of information, and best of all, you get direct access without filtering the knowledge through some left wing idiotard pontificating instructor. Even without trying, you can learn something on there. It's a fact.

And that's why I'm creating the Dapper Dan P. H. D. program.

The Potato Head Doctoral degree.

Heh. No. The Public History Doctorate. Just send me $19.99 and a boxtop from a carton of reduced fat Cheezits. Nah. I'ze jus pullin' your leg. You don't have to send me nothing. (But do try those reduced fat Cheezits, they're pretty good.) The best thing about my P. H. D. is you can give this degree to yourself.

That's right. Just work hard on the innernets, then, go to this site and make yourself a doctorate degree. You can make your diploma certificate as fancy as you like. What kind of program of study must you complete? How many hours must you spend learning about Patsy Montana and other esoteric subjects? That's all up to you, grasshopper. You'll know when you're ready to award yourself a diploma for all your research on the Innernets and the Tube of You.

I myself know that I'm not quite there yet. I need to dig a little deeper. A lot deeper. There are huge gaps in my database. Like this singer from the 1930s and 1940s. Connee Boswell who apparently was a big influence on Ella Fitzgerald. The onliest important Boswell I ever heard of before was the Boswell who wrote the Life of Samuel Johnson and about whom I learned a little (make that a very little) when I got one of my useless Humanities degrees back in the '60s.

So there you go. This Connee Boswell is important too. I learned about her on the Innernets, but you're probably not going to find a course about her in any college catalog.

First, from Wikipedia.

Constance Foore "Connee" Boswell (December 3, 1907, Kansas City, Missouri – October 11, 1976, New York) was an American female vocalist born in Kansas City but raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. With her sisters, Marthaand Helvetia "Vet" Boswell, she performed in the 1930s as The Boswell Sisters and became a highly influential singing group during this period via recordings and radio. Connee herself is widely considered one of the greatest jazz female vocalists and was a major influence on Ella Fitzgerald who said, "My mother brought home one of her records, and I fell in love with it....I tried so hard to sound just like her."^[1]

The name of their 1934 song "Rock and Roll" is an early use of the term. It is not one of their hotter numbers; it refers to "the rolling rocking rhythm of the sea". 

...

In 1936, Connee's sisters retired and Connee continued on as a solo artist (having also recorded solos during her years with the group).

...

Connee sang from a wheelchair - or seated position - during her entire career, due to either a childhood bout with polio or a childhood accident (sources differ). The general public was not aware of her condition although Boswell herself did not keep this secret. During World War II, she tried to get involved with the U.S.O. tours but was not given permission to travel overseas. The Army thought it might not be a morale-booster to have a singer who used a wheelchair perform for the troops.

Connee Boswell was a favorite duet partner of Bing Crosby and they frequently sang together on radio as well as recording several hit records as a duo in the 1930s and 1940s. 

Now this, from youtube.

Country Dirt

I've been working on a new blog to promote Blood Country. It's called Country Dirt and it's going to be my main site for the book. I'll leave a book link in the left column here on the Post, but I won't be writing anymore stuff here about it, sullying up this place with all that crass materialistic, commercial stuff.

Not that this place is all that pure or anything, I'm just speaking figuratively. Mainly, I don't want to estrange the few bloggers friends who stop by here regularly by boring them with constant "buy this book" posts.

I'm working on a promotional video (if I succeed, I might have to violate my anti-sullying rule and use that here on the Post as well, just to see what ya'll think about my first cinematic attempt), and I'm also eventually going to set up a Facebook page. Now, that Facebook thing could be a real adventure for me.

Anyhoo, here's the first post from over at the other site, and a link in case you want to check it out. This post might be of interest here because of the video of an old friend I found on youtube. He's a songwriter/singer and...well, I explain more below in the first Dirt post:

COUNTRY DIRT

Country Dirt? What's up with that title?

The "country" part refers to country music. I love country music. I live outside Nashville, but be advised, that fact doesn't guarantee my affection for the music. I know lots of people here who don't like it, some who hate it, even some who are embarrassed by it. 

I just like it, it's simplicity, it's general reliance on lyrics over volume, and it's themes that connect to real people's lives. Before my parents got a TV, I listened to the Opry on Saturday nights on the radio. After we got a TV, I watched Flatt and Scruggs, Porter Wagoner, the Wilburn Brothers, etc. on TV. Right now, the first preset radio station on my truck radio is WSM, 650 AM. 

I like Rock and Roll and other kinds of music too. But my heart has always been in country.

I've always been fascinated with the people who make this music, not only the stars, but the sidemen as well. Over the years, I've had connections with several people who are involved with music in Nashville, at least on the edges of that scene. An old friend of mine, Charlie Barnes, was a sideman for Jeannie Seeley and Jack Green for awhile. He cut a single or two back in the day and still can play guitar with the best of them and has a great voice. Another good friend and former work colleague is the son of a famous Nashville sideman, Howdy Forrester; Bob's a super fiddle player himself. 

In the '70s I met songwriter/singer Guy Golemon. We became friends for awhile and our kids played together. We had quite a few beers over the years and I even helped him move into a new apartment one time. When they grew up, his sons John and Will became a major part of the group, The Cactus Brothers. I lost track of Guy but recently saw this great video from 1988 posted on youtube last year by his son Will.   

Nashville can sometimes be a dirty, mean spirited place for an artist struggling to get noticed. Guy's song nails the frustration that a lot of artists who come here eventually feel. And that leads me to the second word in this blog's title.

"Dirt."

Even as a boy I liked to play in the dirt, making roads and racetracks and battlefields. My grandma used to say, "Let that boy alone, a little dirt never hurt anyone." When I got through playing, I could always take a bath.

My Encarta Dictionary has several meanings for "dirt." 1. unclean substance. 2. earth. 3. hard packed earth. 4. scandalous facts. 5. corrupting influences.

I think all of these meanings are in play here. I will sometimes deal with "unclean" things in country music, scandalous facts, corrupting influences, etc. 

I figure there's plenty of material in this area for lots of posts; I could do a whole month on George Jones' shenanigans, for example. And, in this same context, the travails of Mindy McReady come to mind. That's poor Mindy to the right.

I've got my first post in the hopper now about a drunken Ernest Tubb's attempt to shoot (with a .357) a well known Nashville producer. 

But, I'll always be on the lookout for stories readers might have; if you've got dirt, share it here. (I'll be glad to research your stories/rumors and post them.) 

But I'll also pay attention to meaning number 2, earth, as in the good earth, our home, the source of our sustenance. Country music is often said to be "down to earth," or "earthy." Nothing dirty about that. I'm thinking in this context about stories of how struggling artists got discovered, what obstacles they had to overcome, etc. Also, Again, any stories or anecdotes along these lines that you want to share on this site will be welcomed.

In the interest of full disclosure, there's one other thing I need to tell you. I'm using this blog to promote (sell!) my book, Blood Country. It's a mystery novel set in Nashville and the private detective is also a guitar sideman. The case he's digging into involves him with one of Nashville's most prestigious music families and some scandalous secrets that they've hidden for twenty years. I'll be doing regular posts about the novel and sharing some excerpts from the book here. Right now, you can read more about the book (and buy it) by clicking on the links to the left.

That's all for today, partners.

It's fun to play in the dirt, but always take a bath when you're done. Until we meet again, stay true to yourself, and when you do anything, give it your best shot. 

A Montana Post

My good friend George in Montana sent me an email this morning. Here 'tis.

Summer's almost here. We can now see the deer moving around in our backyard. 

Thanks, George. One little pic like that helps put our own weather complaints into perspective.

And, in keeping with the "Montana" theme, and honoring my pledge not to post Merle Haggard's "Big City" again, I found this little gem about Montana from 1939 on youtube. It features a girl singer named Patsy Montana and the song is "Back on the Montana Plains."

The Last Train from Poor Valley

Only time for a quickie post this morning. Joyce had her second session of chemotherapy yesterday, and we return to the hospital today for the followup anti-nausea shot. She's felt a lot better for the last few days and is expecting this round to be easier than the last one since she knows what to expect this time.

I've had this post in the hopper for awhile and now's as good a time to use it as any. First, to set the mood, a short 1:12 minute video of a Norfolk and Western freight/passenger train steaming through the snow. It could be the "Last Train from Poor Valley."



Norman Blake has a song called "Last Train from Poor Valley." In this video, before performing the song, Blake explains how he came to write it. The story involves Johnny and June Cash and the making of a Christmas album.

Blake plays guitar, of course, and is accompanied by his wife Nancy, and himself on Dobro (by means of video editing and overdubbing). As you might expect, he ain't too shabby with that Reso.

Plymouth Forever

The Plymouth automobile is gone now. But in 1937, things looked pretty good. This low priced marvel even had an oil filter.

This 1937 film advertisement for Plymouth is about ten minutes long, but it's some fascinating footage.



A little over 20 years later, they looked like jet aircraft. And had push button transmissions. Do the early '90s cars look as antique when compared to a 2011 model?

What happened to Chrysler? Why did they let the once mighty Plymouth die?

For Joyce: Happy Valentine's Day

I heard today on the radio that divorce lawyers get about a 40% spike in business around Valentine's Day. I'm not sure what's up with that, but my guess is a lot of folks decide that what they have in their marriage isn't what they want. What do they want? I'm guessing romance of some kind. And today is the day that symbolizes all that.

I know it's a Hallmark holiday and all that other phony stuff, but romance is important. It helps seal the deal emotionally.

But finding the "right" person involves a whole lot of luck and fate. After all, we're not talking about rational choices here.

When individuals initially get together and form a couple, there's give and take on both sides. That never stops, but after awhile, in a successful, long term relationship, the individuals become secondary. The union or marriage itself becomes the living, vibrant, important thing. On this long road there have been curves and tunnels and switchbacks, but Joyce and I feel very lucky that we found each other and that our relationship has evolved to the point where we both understand that the union itself is the important thing. We do a little work on it every day.

Okay, enough of that.

Besides the pot of buttercups I bought her yesterday, here's two online Valentine gifts for Joyce today. A beautiful and unlikely love sonnet by Robert Frost, plus a song by Vince Gill.

The Silken Tent
by Robert Frost

She is as in a field a silken tent

At midday when a sunny summer breeze

Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,

So that in guys it gently sways at ease,

And its supporting central cedar pole,

That is its pinnacle to heavenward

And signifies the sureness of the soul,

Seems to owe naught to any single cord,

But strictly held by none, is loosely bound

By countless silken ties of love and thought

To everything on earth the compass round,

And only by one's going slightly taut

In the capriciousness of summer air

Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

Vince Gill: Look at Us

Elmore Leonard's "Justified"

I watch mostly movies on TV, but sometimes a show comes along that demands my attention. I first took notice of FX's "Justified" last year when I read it would be based on a story by Elmore Leonard.

Elmore Leonard, is, IMHO, in the top ten writers in English in the 20th Century. I know that's a brash statement, especially since Leonard is a "popular" writer, whose works have sold in the millions and have been used for movies and TV shows.

What movies and TV shows? Let me give a few examples. I'll start with a western, since that what he started writing first. You've heard of "3:10 to Yuma?" Perhaps "Valdez Is Coming?" "Hombre?" "Last Stand at Saber River?"

Don't like westerns? How about these films: "Get Shorty," "Jackie Brown," "Mr. Majestyk," "Stick," "Out of Sight," or maybe "Killshot?"

His Wikipedia entry notes that he's sometimes called the "Dickens of Detroit" because many of his earlier novels were set there and they present accurate portraits of the city's people. Many other writers have praised Leonard

such as Saul Bellow, Martin Amis, and Stephen King. "Your prose makes Raymond Chandler look clumsy," Amis told Leonard at a Writers Guild event in Beverly Hills in 1998.^[6] Stephen King has called him "the great American writer."^[7]

My quick count on his Wikipedia page gave 48 novels. Here's a couple (from many) that I've read over the years that I really enjoyed: Stick, and Cat Chaser.

Back to Leonard's "Justified," which is based on his story "Fire in the Hole." The show's Eastern Kentucky, mountainous setting is one thing I enjoy.

This unusual (for Hollywood) setting immediately sets the show off from the NYC, LA, Chicago, crowd. The setting also influences the kinds of stories that are told and how they're resolved.

And, it allows for all sorts of interesting and different characters. I lived in Richmond, KY, for a few years in the early '60s, and from my experience there and in Campton where I taught an extension class, the characters Leonard and the show's writers have created are drawn accurately. It's TV, so there's some stereotyping, but overall, the characters seem real.

The show's star is Timothy Olyphant (left, in hat) who plays U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. About Olyphant and another cast member, Walter Goggins, Yahoo News says this,

As Givens, a Kentucky native sent back (as punishment) from the Miami office to Lexington after he shoots a cartel member at a restaurant (it was, as Givens is wont to say, "justified"), Olyphant is the poster boy of the series. But his intensity is matched by Walton Goggins, who plays Boyd Crowder, Givens' boyhood friend-turned-criminal. It's possible that Season 1 would have been riveting without Goggins, the former "Shield" star who was supposed to die in the pilot. But the writers saw the chemistry the actors had and the magnetic and crazed gravitas Goggins brought to the part and couldn't turn their backs on what is likely to become a long-running friendship/feud between Raylan and Boyd.

Leonard likes the show as well.

Elmore Leonard has never been shy about letting people know what Hollywood has done to his books. But in the case of "Justified," the FX series based on his work, he has said writer/executive producer Graham Yost and his staff have not only nailed the characters, tone and nuances but also gone beyond his wildest hopes.

It's usually a good sign when an author praises a TV or film adaptation of his work. Take a look at "Justified," on FX on Wednesday nights at 9 Central. If you like what you see, check out the whole first season and then start blocking out your Wednesday nights for the next 13 weeks.

Famous Nashville Sidemen: Guitarist Fred Carter Jr.

Do you remember and still enjoy the amazing finger picking intro on "The Boxer," the famous S and G tune?

That great intro was performed by legendary Nashville sideman Fred Carter, Jr. Carter's fingerprints can be found on various artists' recordings through the '50s, '60s, and '70s such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Neil Young, Marty Robbins, Conway Twitty, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, and Levon Helm.

Besides his fantastic guitar work, the North Louisiana native also sang, wrote, songs and cut a few records himself along the way. Here he's in a '60s R&R groove as he sings on this tight Monument cut of his co-written "Happy Tears." Some might not like this old rock sound, but I dig it.



And singing a straight (but smooth) country song, "Too Much Love Is Spoiling You," on this old '60s Country Jukebox album:

The Alan Mayor photo above shows Carter at Nashville's Station Inn in 1983. (We went there in the '90s with our friend Charlie Barnes, a sideman himself in the bands of Jeannie Seely and Jack Green back in the day; visit the Station Inn if you ever come to Nashville.)

Carter, who was the father of country singer Deanna Carter, died in the summer of last year (2010) at the age of 76.

Fred Carter exemplified the talent and creativity of the Nashville sideman, a man content to be on the side, but possessing the skills to step into the spotlight when necessary.

Wednesday: Updates

  

1. The last couple of days have been very rough for Joyce. She had tried to lay off the pain and anti-nausea meds on Sunday and Monday and thinks now that was probably a mistake. Also, even before her surgery December 28, she had been fighting a throat infection, which since the chemo started last week, seems to have returned. Her fever went up Monday night/Tuesday morning, but she started taking the pain meds again and got it under control. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic which I picked up for her last night, so she's taking that now too. The fever is only part of the problem, however. When the pain meds diminish after four hours, she is experiencing quite a bit of pain. They say that's to be expected, that it's the chemotherapy at work, but it still hurts like hell. She's taking the pain meds regularly now and sleeping more.

2. I have to run out for about an hour around 2:00 to see my doctor for a coumadin check (hopefully, I'm in the last 2-3 weeks of taking this stuff for the clot). No problem there except that the snow is supposed to begin after lunch and continue throughout the afternoon. This could make getting back through the Hollow and up our long drive iffy. I'm thinking I may reschedule this appointment.

3. We have a 2009 Toyota Avalon, so this morning's news about the investigation into sudden acceleration was of interest to us. Seems the investigation showed that the issue was not electronically caused. I've always felt these instances were more than likely driver related.

We've owned several Toyotas and this is our third Avalon. But, we do have problems with this car. The dealer couldn't explain why it died with the motor running the other day when I was bringing Joyce home from the hospital. Could this happen again? What if we were pulling into traffic on the Interstate with a big 18 Wheeler bearing down on us and the thing decided to shut down again?

Also, there's a big issue regarding the seatbelt warning alarm. I say alarm instead of chime because that's what it is. It sounds as loud and irritating as one of those shrill backup beepers on a truck. Let's say you want to go down to the end of the drive to check the mail before buckling up. Or suppose you're at a strip mall and you want to move your car a couple of hundred feet to another store. In each case, however, the alarm begins to sound. And it increases in intensity and rapidity like a mad parent screaming at a recalcitrant kid. YOU MUST BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELT! NOW! NO EXCUSES!

It's a beautiful car. Really. And on the road, minus this irritation, it's a joy to drive. Effortless. Smooth. Quiet. But. Since the alarm thing happens everytime you get in the car, this Federally inspired and Nanny Corporate backed safety feature has made our experience with this Avalon a disaster. The driving experience has been totally ruined.

4. Warning. Unexpectedly rough and sharp segue. Did you know that Avalons are manufactured in Kentucky? And that Kentucky is the Bluegrass Music center of the universe?

Bill Monroe wrote this song and I love it. I may have already posted it before, but I'm putting it here. Right now. Enjoy.