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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The kid has grown up

So around 2004 I was at a show at La Zona Rosa in Austin, TX. One of my friend's bands was playing. After the set they introduced me to someone they had just met. There was a shy kid off to the side not really talking to anyone. They introduced him to me by saying something to the effect of "this kid is great and he's going to be huge one day!" The kid kind of blushed and shrugged it off with the sarcastic expression of "yeah right." He looked like he was just happy to be there hanging out. I noted his name and went about my business. About a year later I was at a hotel in Colorado and I heard someone say his name to the effect of "man that guy is great."

Fast Forward to 8/31/2010.

That "kid" has released two albums produced by former Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford and just released his newest album "Junky Star" produced by Grammy award winner T. Bone Burnett. He also appeared in the movie "Crazy Heart" alongside Jeff Bridges and wrote the song "The Weary Kind" that won him a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Not a bad year. That kid's name is Ryan Bingham and I think you should pay attention to him. Here he is playing his song "Depression" on the David Letterman show last night:




Here's the music video from his song "Bread and Water" off his album "Mescalito"

Monday, August 30, 2010

a late addition to the post "dads that write songs"

I had to make this late add.


It's A Dad's Life - Watch more Funny Videos

pig vs turkey






Yesterday for breakfast I tried something new. Turkey bacon. My wife and I are huge fans of bacon. Thick peppered bacon is the best. Especially when cooked with a little extra fat left on them. Delicious and not good for you. bittersweet. Lately we have been trying to eat healthier so we bought some alternative bacon made from bird. I had heard good things so I was anxious to try it.

The gobble bacon was smaller and very thin. I cooked the bird bacon at the same time as I cooked the regular bacon. It wasn't as fun to cook. The aves bacon never really changed colors which made it harder to tell when it was done. Real bacon gets dark and toasty and juicy if you cook it just right. So when the regular bacon was done I took off the feather bacon at the same time. Luckily it was also done.

I can't say that I was a fan of the turkey bacon. I'm still going to give it another try. I guess it's one of those things I just have to get acclimated to. I must say though if you were looking for overall appearance the bird bacon did an amazing job of staying straight and never curled up or anything. (pictured above, turkey on the left, pig on the right) For health's sake i'm going to do my best to stick to it.

More exciting stuff to come other than bacon comparisons. It's just been something that's been on my mind. Now I feel better. Thanks. I'm thinking about comparing paint drying vs grass growing for my next blog.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Today's undertaking

There's a little secluded park a few miles from where I live. Sometimes I take the animal there so she can run around. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes I make videos. Here's a little video of one of our visits.


Allen Park
Uploaded by jrod1024. - Discover more life & style videos.

music provided by M.Ward

Friday, August 27, 2010

seems like yesterday

20 years ago today SRV passed in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin. He's been a big influence on me even though I didn't really know who he was until after he was gone. he is often debated as one of the best ever. I would agree. It's hard for me to say that one person is better then another person at something when it involves an art form. But I would say he should always be in the conversation. Definitely one of the best blues/rock guitar players that's lived. I could make this last forever because I've read books about Stevie and even wrote a research paper about his life in high school. I'll leave you with this:



and this



gotta love the slow blues jam. makes me want to go bbq out at the lake and throw washers.

in other news:
Happy Birthday Blake!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Cledus!

I grew up watching Smokey and the Bandit. When I was around 7 I saw cledus (aka snowman...aka Jerry Reed) play at the Fayette County Fair right down the road from some family land outside of La Grange, TX. Wendish territory. Google it. so.... I was too young to realize the talent at the time. I was messing around on the guitar with a country lick recently and Mr. Reed came to mind so here we are. I never realized how good this guy was at the guitar until about five years ago when I finally bought a cd of his. I feel like he was very appreciated by his peers but under appreciated by the media. In case you don't remember smokey and the bandit here is some of his acting chops in waterboy opposite the Fonz and Adam.



Not the best video.

Here's a clip of some of his guitar chops. This is just an instrumental but he had some killer vocals and lyrics as well. Maybe one day a question concering this will come up in some trivia. If so you're welcome.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Dads that write songs

So I looked up a musician a couple days ago to check in on him. Will Kimbrough is his name. Great singer/songwriter/guitar player/producer. Nice guy. Played with Todd Snider and the Nervous Wrecks back in the day and has recently played with Rodney Crowell. You may have heard the song "Goodnight Moon". That's him. anywho...... He has a newish song called "Three Angels" i just heard for the first time. I started feeling sentimental so I thought I would share.




Great tune. Much better than whatever the #1 song in the country is right now if you ask me. I have no idea what the #1 song is right now, but i'm sure it has a nice dance beat with some shallow lyrics. I digress. So will's song reminded me of another great song titled "Daughters" by an artist named Greg Brown.


Greg Brown- Daughters
Uploaded by jrod1024. - Explore more family videos.



You would think I have daughters considering how much I dig these tunes. I'm happy right now with my Angel and a half. Casey said Pearl counts as half because she is a dog.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Homarus americanus

So tomorrow I begin school for about the 21st time in my life. not counting summer school. To celebrate I cooked a feast. The wife was pretty happy about it. Here was part of it.




I also threw in some grilled okra, and potato crusted tilapia, and some leftover potato salad from my mom's birthday. It did the trick. It was my first time to cook lobster. It was pretty easy. bought a tail from the H-E-Beer store and cut it in half. set it in a bowl. poured some virgin olive oil on it with a small amount of salt and pepper. let it sit for 10 min. probably should have let it sit for 20 more minutes but i was too hungry to wait. Grilled it for around 4 min, about 2 on each side. Could probably do it for less depending on the heat of the grill. Meanwhile I had a pan on the stove on medium heat. In the pan I melted some butter and mixed in a little bit more olive oil and added some garlic. Took the lob off the grill and let it cook the rest of the way while soaking in the pan until it was white throughout. You should try it. In your face Julia Child.

Monday, August 23, 2010

respect

one night a few years back I was in a part of the united states known as Colorado. I was at my friends bands show. They were already an established band for the most part, but still fairly new to most people at the least. They have come a long way since. I was in the crowd and started talking to this guy in the audience. He was by himself and digging the show. Just had some pointless small talk, but seemed like a nice guy. about ten minutes later he was called up on stage to sing with the aforementioned band. Then it dawned on me that the person I was talking to was this person.



he's been doing pretty good for himself. He recently released a bluegrass album. I have much respect for people that make the music that they want to make the way they want to make it. Most bands wouldn't have been able to play considering there was a power outage. A good band can and will play. respect.

Happy Birthday Timothy




My cousin Tim was minding his own business on his birthday morning. He was being responsible sleeping in his boat because he didn't want to drive after he had been drinking. I'm not sure what the odds are of this happening, but someone who was exiting IH-35 ended up flipping their truck into the parking lot and landing it on top of Tim's truck. Luckily it didn't hit the boat. (although for insurance purposes it may have been better. But not as good for Tim) That's one hell of an alarm clock. everybody is ok. Even the driver who wasn't wearing a seat belt walked away. reminds me of a damn good song I heard the other day. Trouble find me by jeff plankenhorn.

I don't have a case of the Mondays

last night for dinner I grilled some trout, asparagus, and squash. It was delicious. I'm starting to get better at this grilling thing. I think the wife would agree. I'm hoping that one day she buys me a grill sergeant t-shirt. I bought one of those baskets you can put stuff into and set on the grill and it's probably one of the best things i've ever bought.

So today is the last Monday before school starts. I'm doing the only thing I could think of with my day that makes the most sense. Float the River. Comal here I come. My friend has a connection at the tube rental place so I'll maybe spend 10$ for the whole thing. How could I not go. I better start putting on the sun block now. at least 3 layers. Time the walk the animal since she'll be chilling by herself, then some exercise and then the river. I hope your Monday is going well.

Friday, August 20, 2010

One of the places I grew up


Tow Texas
Uploaded by jrod1024. - Discover new destinations and travel videos.

a little video i made. last time i checked i didn't own the copyrights to the songs. I'm pretty sure i still don't.

Day 1

There are about 100 different things I should be doing right now. Instead I'm setting up a blog. Writing something to no one. Or to many. Who knows. There is a small chance this could be the only post. The dog doesn't seem to appreciate it and she is a pretty good barometer of how something will go. I had what I thought was a brilliant idea where I would take a Julia Child cookbook and attempt to cook something out of it everyday and then blog about it. I'm sure that's never been done. But right now it's time for me to stop being worthless and clean the kitchen, exercise(the weight demons), and take care of some official school business.