[suhth-ern kuhm-fert]noun
1. new orleans blend of whiskey, orange, vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon liqueur used in such concoctions as the alabama slammer, '57 chevy, socoke, scarlett o'hara, blind andy, and funky cold medina.
2. janis joplin's vice of choice.
3. relief in affliction; consolation; solace
4. shannan's idiosyncratic combination of wisdom, nostalgia, observations and current events
because by now you should know i'm a junkie in the worst possible way. it's like an all-consuming drug and i have to get my fix. you know that randy rogers song "never be that high?" well, i'm terribly afraid that may be the case with the concert i went to last week. it's never gonna get that good again.
why so staggering and wonderful you ask? well first of all, there's the element of surprise. i had no idea who i was going to see when i went to "for the love of kids and harleys." imagine my surprise when the show was an acoustic lineup of mike eli, james young, brady black, randy rogers, jeremy watkins, stoney larue, jason boland, aaron watson, roger creager - and i can't forget creager's dad (that old man is a riot!!) wish you could have been there...it was intoxicating bliss. although i sensed there were some big egos in the room...i'm a lady, so i won't name any names...let's just say someone's a little jealous of someone else's overwhelming success.
oh yeah, did i mention GEORGE FREAKIN' STRAIT was also there?!?!?!!!!!! thought i could keep my cool, but who was i kidding...talking to that man made my heart skip a beat and my knees knock. how is he in real life? hmmmmm...dapper, charming, gorgeous, slightly uncomfortable with his celebrity... slightly uncomfortable that some chick wanted to talk about his entire song collection. ha.
basically, i can die a very happy, satisfied woman now.
A-MAZING LINEUP!!!!!!
with lauren celebrating how lucky we are to be here on this historic night! (note to self: gotta find a place to wear my biker boots again...)
i'll be presumptuous and go ahead and say that i know a thing or two about this genre of music, and while i don't necessarily have the authority to do so, i thought i'd go ahead and have my own lonestar music awards to celebrate the music that i love best!
when judging texas bands, there are essentially four categories that i consider: songwriting (love lyrical geniuses!), vocals (powerful pipes are always impressive...), fiddle playing (if you're gonna play in texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band), and finally - entertainment factor (i paid to come see your show, give it to me!) after much thoughtful deliberation, i have chosen my top winners in each field of expertise. drumroll please...
BEST SONGWRITER: #1: ROBERT EARL KEEN [consummate storyteller. nobody has the ability to weave a tale like this man does. don't believe me? buy his new cd "the rose hotel" when it comes out on the 29th. you won't be disappointed.] #2: GUY CLARK [legend. even johnny cash claims him as a favorite. listen to an acoustic "l.a. freeway" when you're severely homesick. you'll identify.] #3: RADNEY FOSTER [essence of cool. he works with everybody and everybody loves him. not bad for a boy from del rio.] #4: BRUCE ROBISON [genuinely heartfelt. bruce has the power to make you cry when you listen to one of his songs. love it when him & kel sing together.] #5: WADE BOWEN [going places. i expect a long career from wade bowen. last album was just incredible. really incredible.]
BEST VOCALS: #1: RYAN BINGHAM [literally mesmerized by this voice. it blows me away. the grit, lived-in sound cannot be replicated. i could listen to "southside of heaven" on constant rotation.] #2: WILLY BRAUN [the dark horse. really into his voice lately...i think it's so original and grainy. he's taken reckless kelly to a new level. easy on the eyes too, no?] #3: BRANDON RHYDER [insane raw ability. octave range is pretty unbelievable. love sitting on my porch and listening to him belt out "freeze frame time."] #4: CODY CANADA [the rebel. another course, unrefined voice. are you starting to see a pattern yet? what can i say, it sounds better rough!!] #5: STONEY LARUE [versatility is inspiring. has the capacity to sing a gut-wrenching ballad and a rabble-rousing, foot-stomping anthem.]
BEST FIDDLE PLAYER: #1: DAMIAN GREEN [don't let the innocent, chaste grin fool you. he is the best in the business. aaron watson's lucky to have him by every stretch of the word. and the girls love him - see previous post.] #2: BRADY BLACK [revered as the go-to guy. randy rogers band would not be randy rogers band minus brady black. listen to this song to find out why:]
#3: JEREMY WATKINS [always fun to watch. jeremy's with stoney and this guy is multi-talented. he plays several instruments, but his fiddle playing is superb.] #4: PRESTON WAIT [if you play fiddle in the josh abbott band, you better freakin' know what you're doing because they employ it in everything they do. luckily, p-tone as they call him, is excellent!]
BEST LIVE: #1: STONEY LARUE [hands down favorite to go out and watch. when you go to one of his concerts, you know you'll leave satisfied. he works hard for the money.] #2: PAT GREEN [let's state the truth. this is the guy that really was the catalyst for the tx music scene. some of my fondest memories of lbk, tx include a dusty field, a saturday night, and a PG show. live @ billy bob's is still a classic. God knows how I miss this:]
#3: RANDY ROGERS [just saw good 'ol RR this weekend @ floore's and he's great. always. he knows what his fans want and he delivers.] #4: AARON WATSON [hardest working man in tx country in my opinion. really good to his fans. taylor and i went to his live DVD recording and i was really impressed with his stage presence & his aww-shucks charm. plus, he actually looks country, what a rarity these days.] #5: CORY MORROW [crazy son of a gun. never a dull moment at a morrow show. he loves to just get silly, but i appreciate the way he makes me laugh. ]
ok. i'm beat. gotta go take a nap. call yours truly if you ever want to check out a concert...you know i'm down!
so i know what i do in my spare time is so compelling to everyone who reads this (NOT!), but i had quite a lovely weekend so i'd like to catch you up on my whereabouts.
it started off pretty lackluster if i'm honest with you. you see, my social dynamics have changed considerably since jess moved to houston, lauren found the love of her life, and amanda started renovating her new love shack w/ josh. these are the three amigas that i did EVERYTHING with and due to the phases and stages of life that inevitably happen, i no longer see them as much. this sucks. hardcore. sometimes i feel as though i will always be stuck at the age of a young twenty-something while everyone else graciously moves on with their lives. (different post entirely.)
as i was saying, my efforts at making labor day weekend 2009 an affair to remember were quite lackadaisical. i spent friday night curled up on my front porch swing reading "cash: the autobiography," which is fantastic and probably the best autobiographical work i've read in a very long time. and saturday i was holed up in my living room watching college gameday and watching those bears kick some demon deacon tail! GO BEARS! by saturday night, my cabin fever had reached fever pitch and i decided to pull myself up by my bootstraps and get out of the house - or else, i'd go insane.
rather spontaneously, i decided to spend the next day in bandera because i knew that they were having their annual festival and i could surely find something to do there. like always, bandera did not disappoint. if you've never been there, you'd be amazed at how historically and culturally preserved they've managed to keep the town. when you walk down main street, you literally feel as though you are in tombstone. believe it or not, all the locals ride horses everywhere and you just tie up your horse outside the general store when you feel like going in for a tall glass of lemonade (or whiskey in most of their cases.) ever heard this song? yeah, he wrote it about bandera. every time i go, i always make sure i listen to that song. in my heart of hearts, i know that REK and i would get along really well...oh to sit down and have a beer with that man.
[bandera main street cattle drive. a regular sight around these parts.]
as i was walking around the courthouse lawn, i received a random phone call from one of my very best friends from bu (allison w.) who just so happened to be in pipe creek (literally 5 min. away from bandera) and she was appalled that i was by myself so she ever-so-hospitably invited me out to the walker ranch cookout. the walkers, allison's in-laws, are the most kind-hearted, salt-of-the-earth people and they welcomed me with the most open arms. they've got 75 acres of prime bandera county property and the views were just spectacular.
since al is pregnant (i'm going to be an auntie!), she was getting pretty tired and i decided i better not wear out my welcome, yet i wasn't ready to call it a night. i knew that aaron watson and zach edwards band were playing at the 11th street cowboy bar, so i figured, shoot..i've got nothing else to lose...might as well go check out the show. definitely an exercise and stretch of my independence and confidence, because it sure as heck isn't easy to go to a live show all alone and walk around like you chose that.
however, when God closes a door, he always opens that proverbial window. i kid you not, about 30 minutes after i got to the show, i heard, "shannan, what are you doing in bandera?!" i turned around to see an old familiar baylor face and was so overcome with relief that a huge smile spread across my face. johnna invited me to join her posse (which was surprisingly comprised of a large majority of friendly west texans) and we had the time of our lives!! we sang our hearts out to aaron's songs, but poor little damian green, all of us girls have an innocent little crush on that extraordinary fiddle player. his gf was there (and she is cute!), but damian, i have to tell you that hearts are breaking across texas tonight. in summation, the only way i know how to explain the night is that it was eerily close to the events of one of my favorite songs. i will tell you there is nothing better than shootin' the breeze in bandera, texas and making lifelong friends as a result.
after the concert, we all went out to hayden's ranch outside of kerrville and had a huge bonfire and fired off a few guns. my goodness, that land is a like a dream...about 470 acres of beautiful, beautiful hill country. there's two houses that sit on the property which pre-date the civil war and they're both historical landmarks. the property's been in their family for over a hundred years, pretty unbelievable if i do say so myself. we stayed up until early dawn, so today, we slept late, stumbled over to save inn for huevos rancheros and migas, then rossco and i went to get a hunting license! forgot my camera, so i don't have any pics of the ranch, but it looked a little something like this:
so yeah, it was essentially a perfect weekend. i hope yours was every bit as magical.
generally speaking, i try not to complain or have a list of pet peeves that irk me; for life is much too short to be ticked off and irritable. however, one cannot be 100% content and agreeable ALLLLL the time...the people who try this, well, you are only fooling yourself.
so this morning, there have been two things that i have momentarily observed which rub me the wrong way:
CASE STUDY #1: IT TURNS OUT THAT POOR GRAMMATICAL PUNCTUATION AND SPELLING ERRORS ARE EMINENTLY ABRASIVE TO ME. i have regrettably come to realize that we are a texting/blackberrying/twittering generation, but for the love - please don't send me an email that reads, "can we get together on wensday for some cofee? i know your busy, but let me know!" indeed, i could think you are a stone cold fox and the best invention since sliced bread, but if i get a text message stating, "sorrie, u r so cuite. you sure do love danccen! ;)" it is a DEAL BREAKER. i don't want to be the authoritative grammar gestapo or anything like that, but these real examples came from educated people in their late twenties!! something is very wrong with this.
CASE STUDY #2: I AM GREATLY PERTURBED WHEN COUPLES SHARE ONE JOINT FACEBOOK ACCOUNT. sure i am not betrothed to anyone so i know i have a whole lot to learn about holy matrimony, but this just doesn't make sense to me. are you not enough of an individual to have your own profile? come up with your own interests? post your own photos? list your own birthday? i just don't understand the need for status updates which read: jack & jill are going to home depot to pick out paint colors!!!!!!! jack & jill are a little under the weather, must get well for the bbq tonight!!!!!! the excessive use of exclamation! points! is a hurdle in and of itself, then you have to give me a play-by-play of your mundane coupledom? if someone who is married (happily, i might add) can explain this to me, i'd love to know your thoughts. DISCLAIMER: love reading family blogs, married blogs, etc. just prefer that people maintain some semblance of autonomy. and yes, i think marriage is a wonderful thing.
ok. that is all. thank you for letting me vent. now go out and have yourself a fabulous labor day weekend!
is it disturbing to anyone else that the duggars are having ANOTHER child?!?!? i realize that they are good wholesome people who have managed to raise some respectable kids and live debt-free doing it (which is mind boggling), but geez, when is this madness going to stop? this woman must have a uterus made of titanium!
"women are made to be loved, not understood." - oscar wilde
"if women didn't exist, all the money in the world would have no meaning." - aristotle onassis
"if a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? nobody." - j.d. salinger
"what do women want? i'm finally starting to scratch the surface of that one. i think the answer lies somewhere between conversation and chocolate." - mel gibson
"there's an old saying that you should marry a girl from texas because no matter how tough things get, she's tougher." - dan rather
friends like leelee. leelee saw this t-shirt at a little store in pigeon forge, tennessee. she said it had my name on it. what could be better than a "doc holiday: will you be my huckleberry" t-shirt???? that's right. NOTHING. when this little package from UPS showed up at my doorstep today, it made my day!!!! maybe she read this angsty post from yesteryear?!
thank you my little southern belle from memphis, you're the best. you make friendship oh-so-easy.
