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Timothy S. McTaggart's Archived Blogs Jul-Sep 06

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A clarification on my last blog, the person who was trying to coordinate our gig at Graham's was not a Graham's employee, according to my current understanding. So I may let the club off the hook, not that I'd jump at possible gigs there yet. As for today, I watched the space shuttle launch, which was good to see finally, but as for myself, I failed to launch. It was definitely an "Uncle Albert" day for me (reference the Beatles song). Slept late and then didn't feel that great the rest of the day. I did venture out to this auction that the newspaper had been touting all week. It was for a bunch of incredibly expensive "collectors items" being sold at a "McMansion" in a new subdivision in the south part of town. I spent five minutes looking around and decided I'd seen enough. Believe it or not, I'm rich enough to write a check for a couple of the items I saw being auctioned, but I think my money can be better spent. They'd have to pay ME to get most of that stuff off their hands. All I can say is if I ever get rich and go out and buy gaudy crap like this and own one of these "McMansions", somebody please shoot me.

This is probably the first cool night in awhile. Got a fan going on my porch, blowing air into the apartment. It has also finally rained, so thanks are due to the almighty as well as any other deserving entities. I may actually have to mow a lawn soon at the Menard house. Spent last Sunday afternoon at the Menard house where Nancy helped with cleaning up the yard. Lots of dead tree branches. Still a lot of work. As I said, I'll probably need to take a leave of absence if I ever hope to get started back on that house. The more successful endeavors as of late have been with my band the Funky Munky. Once again we packed the Oasis last month and were also taped for a forthcoming video. Last Friday night, we also played a set for a benefit for the Boy's Ranch. We were then supposed to go on to Graham Central Station to play a set there later that night but that one fell through. I don't like to go negative in my blogs, but I am going to relate what I understand happened. A one each Roger Creager, who is some modern country artist was slated to play at Graham's that night. There were a couple of us local bands scheduled to open up for Roger, to include the Funky Munky. However based on what I heard, Roger came in that afternoon, saw floor monitors and other equipment all over the stage and made the people clear the stage. He stated that his band uses their own PA with in-ear monitors and does not wish to have anybody else using their equipment, nor performing on the same stage that night. That's a heck of a thing to blindside Graham's manager with on the afternoon of the gig after he'd booked some local bands to warm up for Roger. So we therefore weren't playing this gig, which was fine with me since I'd already had a bad experience at Graham's. But there's at least one person in our band who really needed the money, who instead got the brunt of this mess. I'm not particularly a fan of modern country (sounds like neutered southern rock to me), nor do I know how big Roger Creager is, or how big he thinks he should be. I'm not sure that I even care. But this apparent lack of regard for aspiring fellow musicians at that venue tells me everything I need to know about him.

As I said, the fuel gauge on the ol' truck is working again. Actually it's a new fuel gauge they had to install under the dash as the original one was mostly kaput (not to mention hard to see behind dirty and aged 'transparent' plastic). I mentioned getting a new front load wash machine in a recent post. So I'm a kid with a new toy. Anything not nailed down stands a risk of getting washed. It's a bad commentary on television when I get more entertainment watching through the door as clothes splash around. Well, it has been hot here, without much rain. The 'pray for rain' signs are beginning to emerge again. We need to precipitate some precipitation soon, by whatever means it takes. So it's the summer doldrums with related stir craziness. So I am reminded of the classic short story by W. F. Harvey we all read back in high school, titled "August Heat". It took a very short Google search to find it again. Still as weird reading it now as it was back in August 1976 in Mrs. Nauwald's English class in Menard. I think that's the right year and teacher. It could have been after Mrs. Bates (now doing real estate here in San Angelo) took over the English class. I found some of my high school notes and stuff as I dug through the 'Hoboken Heap' a couple months ago in my house in Menard. Don't ever let a film crew invade your house. Speaking of this poor flick, the website hobokenhollow.com says a release of this film here in the states is coming soon. When that happens, I'm going to discuss some more about that scene that was never cleared with me. This is the one filmed in a now former bedroom that got painted orange for the scene. You can read a couple reviews on imdb.com which reference this scene. My review will come as soon as I see this one for myself. Stay tuned.

Tuesday was the first 4th of July in a long time that I hadn't been involved in either the launching of DOT class C fireworks or watching a professional display. For some reason (I'd suspect funding cuts due to our Iraqi misadventure) the fireworks display out at Goodfellow rec camp was cancelled this year. The baseball field didn't have one either, so it was kind of sad with no big fireworks display on the 4th. I spent most of the day in Menard before coming back up here for the non-event. While in Menard, I attempted to patch up a leaky roof, about at which time a thunderstorm started to form and approach the area. I didn't think I needed to be up on a roof, especially on metal ladders with lightning in the area, so I scuttled my efforts and watched a roof still leak. It rained cats and dogs for the better part of an hour. Other plans to get a lawn mowed were also nixed by subject shower. We'll take the rain, so I'll never cuss the thunderstorm. However I sure as hell cussed everything else that lead up to this lack of accomplishment. And with no fireworks display when I got back to San Angelo that evening, I was a bit irked. Must be these damn unpatriotic Democrats responsible for all this. Whether the same was responsible or not, the rest of the week did go better. It was actually quiet, with several folks being on leave for the next couple of weeks. So here I sit on a Friday evening after a brief trip down to Menard and the ranch, where I hopefully sorted out an E-mail problem that Dad was experiencing. Word to the wise, the 'spamkiller' software is a real chore to maintain. I would have gone with something else had it not been in the 'shovelware' that came with that computer. Among other things, my 15 year old wash machine in the apartment started leaking. I didn't think downstairs neighbors would approve of that. Upon investigation I noted holes where the tub was beginning to rust. So I purchased a fancy expensive replacement and it is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. It's one of these front loaders that's supposed to be easier on the environment, use less soap, and clean clothes better without reducing them to lint as quickly as a top loader does. Also, somebody ELSE gets to haul it up the stairs too, and haul the old one back down. My 46 year old backbone breathes a sigh of relief (now if we can just do something about bass amps, PA cabinets and amp racks). That's about all I know for the moment, aside from that the fuel gauge on the truck is now fixed. Stay tuned.

Wow, July already. I got back in way late Thursday night from Portland, Oregon where Nancy and I spent a short summer break in the Pacific Northwest. She had a week between two conferences she was attending in Portland, so we thought that may work for a vacation. It was a great trip, punctuated with a couple glitches. My "Le Grande Faux Pas" was with my arrival at the San Angelo airport. As I went to check in, the clerk asked me "weren't you supposed to be here yesterday?" Oops. I'd booked my flight via travelocity.com and managed to goof up the departure date. So much for checking my confirmation E-mail. After one mad scramble and a little more money (not nearly as bad as it could have been) I still got out the same day and got into Portland around midnight. We headed out to Crater Lake the following day. For the uninformed, this is a lake that fills an old volcano crater. The lake and surrounding rim are magnificent to see. Heaped drifts of snow were still melting. I'd rented a Chrysler PT convertible, so we dropped the top as we drove around the lake on road that wasn't still blocked by this snow. Despite sunscreen, we still emerged a shade red from that. Over the next couple days we ventured out to the beach, to Portland's Saturday Market and on to Hood River. The weather was unusually hot over those days and Portland hit a record high of 102F. So I had to jokingly tell the locals that we came up from Texas to get out of the heat. From Hood River, we ventured on to Mount St. Helens. My impression of Mount St. Helens was the emergence of new life after the death dealt by the eruption from 26 years ago. It was amazingly green and young. The volcano is currently active, with a cone building up in the old crater. I took several pictures of smoke emerging from that cone. I am reminded of when I sat and watched the volcanoes during the time we lived in Guatemala in the early 70's. Finally, we toured the Evergreen Air Museum where Howard Hugh's 'Spruce Goose' now resides. I've flown in C5s but am still amazed at the size of this thing, especially given the time it was built. Many other airplanes are in there, to include a bunch of war birds. So once again I wind up a trip by going though an airplane museum. Nancy's second conference started that evening and I went to the opening service at the chapel at Lewis and Clark College. Neat chapel with an impressive pipe organ mounted overhead in the room. Unfortunately nobody was there to play it that evening. The person who did the sermon (?) had previous employ with a dance company. I don't think I'd ever seen a performance art sermon before. I slept that night in a dorm, which I hadn't done since 1983, and then flew home the next day, getting in way late. I'd left the old truck in the parking lot at the airport. It started and ran just fine, until I ran it out of gas about a half mile from the airport. I thought I'd left the tank nearly full, so I suspect it got siphoned. The fuel gage has not worked for 12 years, so I'm finally getting it fixed. I may even spring for a locking gas cap. More later.

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