a braille playboy, tom waits and a missing monkey

Back from a lovely whirlwind trip to Nashville Tennessee to see Tom Waits perform at the historical (and extremely cool - I can't believe I finally got there) Ryman Auditorium. The show was what you'd expect... genius.


Before the show we wandered around near the Ryman. Had some BBQ, souvenir shopped (Ernest Tubb matchbooks were a nice find), and window shopped outside the Hatch Show Print shop where they had posted a 'NO TOM WAITS POSTERS' on the door. There was a guy right outside the Hatch Show Print shop, charging folks $5.00 to take a picture with his shirt & diaper clad monkey. It was a pretty large monkey - like baboon size. I had left my camera at the hotel since the tickets stated explicitly 'NO CAMERAS OR RECORDING DEVICES'. I sure didn't want to get turned out, a taxi ride away from our hotel - stuck w/a camera escort that was banned admittance. Turns out the security personnel didn't even check my pocketbook so camera could have come along. We figured that we'd see the monkey the next day & could have our picture taken with the dapper monkey then...


The Ryman was beautiful and I felt good sitting in the wooden pews. It was easy to imagine folks sitting there decades ago, watching Hank Williams perform...


The next day we headed over to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was a great museum. Honestly, I kind of expected it would be configured like this: puny bit of the old country music I like, and then a gargantuan amount on the new pop country crap that clogs the airways. You know: add a fiddle (electric) and you can call that song country! Gratefully, I was wrong. The focus of the museum was actually THE history of country music. Brilliant curators. Very tasteful.

Below are just a few of the many photos I took. There are some more photos from the Nashville trip on my Flickr site.


No death date yet on the Buck Owens plaque.


Joe Maphis' double neck.


Johnny Horton's shirt.


Rose Maddox's boots.


Nudie Cohen's sewing machine. Just imagine the suits it has sewn. There was a nude pin-up shelacked on his sewing table.


Gram Parson's suit - yes that suit! Right before my eyes. Crazy! (no flash allowed in the museum, so photos are dark).


I had to show another picture of that suit.


The main exhibit was: I Can't Stop Loving You: Ray Charles & Country Music. I really dig Ray Charles & thankfully saw him perform at the Hollywood Bowl back in 1996; so this exhibit was a real treat for me. Something about Mr. Ray Charles Braille Playboy really tickled me...



A very quick trip jammed full with all sorts of goodness. I guess if there was one thing I was disappointed in, it was that we never found the monkey. My advice, when you have the chance to take your photo with a monkey, try to be ready.

where has all the summer gone?

Overdue with the posting... The summer has gone by lickety split. The trip back East was wonderful. We left the heat wave behind us & enjoyed much nicer weather. Even a nice summer storm at the reunion. The rain did cut into our various (horsehoes, quoits [pictured below], shuffleboard, knockout) tournaments, but it was a lovely storm anyway. On our daily 6:30am hikes (truth be told, Garrett & I only made two of the three early morning hikes), we saw deer and the orange newts I've posted above. My Uncle (the family Patriarch) led us in some rousing Simon Says games. I found the game especially hard at 6:30am and before my coffee. The same Uncle also passed along a game that my Grandparents played with my Mom & Aunts & Uncles, when they were kids. The first kid to spot a deer gets a quarter. When the next kid sees a deer, the first kid has to pass along the quarter & so on & so on. I am a sucker for simple and sweet family traditions. It was a great joy for me to see these games get passed along to my son.


On our first night at the reunion, a firefly landed on Garrett's forehead - he smooshed it away, but thankfully didn't do permanent damage. His cousin was able to tweak the wing back into place, and off the bug flew. Two of my hopes (fireflies & summer storms) were realized for us on the trip. Unfortunately I did not spank my Aunt Ruth at horseshoes. My game was pure stink. I did really enjoy shuffleboard (as did Garrett) and quoits. Must get a quoit set & bring that tradition out West. I saw a beach set in addition to the traditional iron set, online recently. Soon...


After the reunion we headed back to Williamsport - my Mom's hometown. We had a great time at the Little League Museum and were able to check out the Little League World Series compound. I had known that Williamsport's big claim to fame was hosting the Little League World Series. What I didn't realize (having not been back for twenty six years) was that the L.L. compound butts up to my Grandparents former property. The stomping ground of my Mom and her siblings.


After the museum I got to go back to the house my Mom grew up in (she was born there too). I had a lot of memories come flooding back in the best way. 'Did we put a table in the garage to eat supper?' 'Did Grammie have a little dog?' 'Is that the garden I ran over with Pop Pop's tractor?' All answers were 'yes' and it felt good to visit the property and revisit so many memories. The land has been subdivided and much has changed, but it was nice to see how much had stayed the same.


We had a great hoagie dinner in a bar/restaurant in town. I had forgotten all about smoking in restaurants since it's been banned out here for so long. After dinner Garrett hit the motherload of fireflies, and spent some fun time with Grandma catching them. The photos I took didn't turn out - no glow - and using the macro on a quick moving bug made matters worse. But, he had the firefly experience I had hoped for. He said 'Mama, it looks like there are stars flashing in the yard'.

I was sad to leave my family, but it is always nice to come home... And in another three years we'll be together again.