buzz buzz buzz goes the bumblebee...

whoo! time for sleepytime tea, after tonight's fun show!! yes, the tribute to the legends of the bakersfield sound festival will be going on all weekend - tonight's music started around 7 pm, tomorrow's will begin around 6:30, & sunday's at 3 pm. thank you to annie & don kidwell for doing a great job w/sound! (when i lost power in the middle of "mercy" -- of course, of all the dang songs! --, they were right up there fixing things), rockwell & lynda for being the consummate cheerful host/hostess, & rick for doing the gig, period! he's getting an award in san diego tomorrow morning!! i showed rockwell my al hendrix cd & he grinned & exclaimed, "i love that guy! he is the nicest man! 72 yrs old & he sings like he's 21!" wow!! he was really hip to things, & his enthusiasm is infectious! he put the cd on while we set up & introduced all the acts like a pro. i think this guy is on to something, w/his generous & friendly promoter personality... lloyd reading was there, all dressed to the western 9s, & larry petree the same, & inez savage, & i'm sure there were many more bksfld sound historians there, but those were ones i saw...sonny langley opened the show w/some beautiful acoustic western ballads. it turns out i know promoter lynda's mom real well! i saw glenn pogatchnik coming in as we left, & hope to visit w/him more later in the wkend... yes, the rest of the festival lineup can be seen at www.myspace.com/troutsblackboard. bob manning & nashville west as well as surefire country drove 1000s of miles to get here for it, & tomorrow's "legends" night w/red simpson, tommy hayes, a big "special guest," & more, so if you can, head on out to trout's this weekend for some good western swing, vintage bakersfield sound, & rockabilly music!

trout's on a friday night, tour d'backweirdsfield

the best thing that happened at trout's tonight was when joyce simpson kindly forgave me for something stupid i did yrs ago... she & red were there, & chris sprague said he was "shaking" to be in red simpson's presence. i stuck close to friendly frank lee sprague, who provided burly barrier between me & drunk fellows not put off by a wedding ring. i forget what can happen when people start bar drinking on a friday night, since mostly i'm in such places (& then only rarely, esp lately) only to play music myself... standing around not playing can be a spooky deal. larry petree was dressed to the country-gentleman 9's, wide-smiling & inviting as usual, & rockwell shook my hand. lovely joyce told me her grand daughter just graduated from berkeley (in 3 yrs!) & is coming back HERE to teach! i was happily stupefied to think someone so obviously precocious & idealistic would bring her talents back to this place so known for "brain drain"... the honky-tonk & truck-driving tunes rocked the dark saloon & tho a bit scary to me, the large drinking young cowboys were nice enough in the end, as well as were the line-dancing gals. i would go back to trout's again, in a second, especially if i had burly barrier, which my electric piano might nicely provide... i made the spragues a tour d'bakersfield, suggesting spots like okie ray's, the old river theatre, oildale saloons, el taquito, downtown signs & residence hotels, the arizona cafe, & the usuals like luigi's, old eastside basque places, & of course the palace, where buddy allan plays tomorrow night w/the buckaroos... i'll meet the spragues there at that time if they stick around, but i think hollywood'll call them back 1st.
frank gifted me TWO of his merseybeat cds, as well as the offer of use of his recording studio, stories of musicians far & wide, & talk of tx, from where he & bro chris hail, then walked me to my car so i wouldn't be killed (not that i would, but i'm a chicken). a nice evening, in other words. and like i said, best of all, forgiveness. dang ego sure makes me an ass sometimes. i was grateful joyce touched me with her grace. oh yeah, & tonight's meeting was good, too, & i even got a nap in earlier. :)