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Timothy S. McTaggart's Archived Blogs Apr-Jun 08

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Got back in from the conference on Friday, the day after my last blog entry. Actually got window seats on both jet flights back. First flight from Phoenix was to DFW in one of these S80s. I'm not sure what the difference is from an MD80. I spend most my time looking out the windows when I can, and can usually tell where we are given no heavy clouds. So I got to see the Very Large Array (VLA) in NM from the air. After having been there for a grand tour, that was pretty cool. For the uninformed, its a big radio telescope listening site that consists of individual radio dishes on a railroad track system that looks like a huge 'Y'. Shortly afterwards was White Sands about a hundred miles to our south and my crazy cousin's house near the Capitan range a little closer. It all looked very dry and brown. The pilot pushed the aircraft a bit to get our two hour scheduled time in the air down by about 10 minutes, but then we sat on the tarmac at DFW for about 30 minutes waiting to get into a gate. Go figure. Fortunately my connecting flight back to San Angelo was delayed, or it would have been a close call. That flight was the first time on a regional jet for me. Heckuva lot better than the usual turboprop puddle jumpers. The tower apparently told the pilot to hustle it, as we never held once we got to the runway. It was probably 5 minutes from pushing back from the gate to climb out, and then I watched Six Flags go by under the left wing as we took a southwest heading to San Angelo. About 45 minutes later we were rolling up to the gate back at Mathis Field. The old pickup truck cranked right up and I was home. That was almost two weeks ago now. The Funky Munky once again entertained folks for the Fiesta on the Concho last weekend. Rehearsal for that one was a bit precarious with a couple of us being out of town. Just a little too close to the wire for me, but we pulled it off, with nearly 300 folks crowded into and around a tent we were playing in, across the Concho from the River Stage. We did a three-song encore as well. It was hot out there though and I was a walking salt deposit once we were done. More on the Munky and other things in my next blog.

I am at a conference in Phoenix AZ, this week, which wraps up in the morning. We’re at the Hyatt Regency, which is near the airport. It’s a nice (and expensive!) place that our government swung a deal with to get a conference scheduled. Originally this was going to be in the DC area, except they couldn’t find a place for the scheduled time and Hyatt offered the place out here instead. As thing wound down this evening, I went up to the rotating restaurant on the top of this place and drank two expensive but very good margaritas. It’s a fancy place with a great view of the whole city. I think the conference has been very productive. The best part of it is a lack of BS as far as awareness of problems at the user level. There is a very decided effort to get our funky computer system at the office straightened up and flying right. Something a bit surprising (to me) and reassuring is the awareness of all the issues at the higher levels, and with the company that is developing the software. Some bumps in the road are still this cumbersome trouble ticket system in which things get lost and never heard from again. That is getting some attention as well. I could, and probably will do a couple pages of my observations from the conference. As I type I’m listening to KJZZ FM which is the local NPR affiliate, which from the call letters can be identified as a jazz station. I miss having a decent jazz station (except on XM), which I haven’t had since Montgomery AL a long time ago. They’re playing ‘All Blues’ right now and I remember when our Med Group Band (MGB) used to play that one. Funky Munky plays a week from tomorrow at the Fiesta Del Concho, and we’re trying to get that show put together pronto. Better wrap this blog entry up as my rather spicy chicken wrap sandwich starts to settle down. More later as I think of it.

I hope I can get a little more consistent with keeping this blog up to date. Two gigs last weekend. We played for some party gathering called the Soirée last Friday. The gig went well, if but not profitably in regards to our PA system. We had a $1300 puff of smoke during sound check as the bottom amp in the drive rack finally expired. It had been ailing for some time. Tarpley Music here in town cut us a deal on a replacement for $100 less than the price that Musician's Friend had for same. So once again I refer to this as being an expensive hobby. So if any of our chief's opponents beg to differ with that, they need to experience similar expensive puffs of smoke from fried electronics, thank you. The next day was busy as well as we set up for another gig, this one being called the 'Mocktail', which promoted an alcohol free party. After set up, I ended up sitting in with our keyboard player in another band for a couple hours that afternoon. I got my old bass amps out for that one since the new rig was already set up for the gig that night. Good to know the old Peavey TNTs were still good for the job. I haven't broke them out in awhile since buying the Ampeg SVT and cab. Among the songs we pulled out of the hat that afternoon was the Beatles 'Let it Be' which I definitely needed to hear and play, considering how much I've been pinging lately. The 'Mocktail' that night was sparsely attended, but we still had a fair number of people filling the dance floor for our second and third sets. Our fan base has to be pretty faithful to come to a gig where they can't even drink. Surprisingly, the band didn't sneak any hooch in either. I'm not sure, but something was wrong with that picture. I slept late Sunday and didn't make church (God forbid). So I spent time stuffing the wash machine and getting things sort of cleaned up. More later, so stay tuned.

I read 'Tuesdays with Morrie' last night, going into the wee hours. A lot of it was a familiar situation what with helping my co-worker last year. That was before it got to the point where he was unable to do much of anything anymore. It was incredibly rough watching someone go downhill like that, and here I was just trying to help him out at the work place. I still don't have much of a grasp on what all it would take on the home front from significant others having to help. My co-worker's attitude remained resolved and he kept his humor as things became more ridiculous for him to try to do his work. I'm left thinking about that again as well as some of the lessons that Morrie offered in the book. It may take a while to digest all that.

Just finished archiving blogs here. Our big outdoor Easter Sunrise service a few weeks ago was a muddy rained out mess, but we praised the lord for the rain. Being from these parts, we do NOT complain about precipitation when it occurs. So the few of us who were up there on that hill out at the Wilke ranch, sat together in a nearby camper trailer, drank a few cups of coffee and ate some doughnuts. Then we made a circle and the Rev. Darrel Smith (who had planned to preach the service) led in an Easter prayer. I was becoming concerned about my coffee getting cold as Darrel went into some of the material I think he'd planned to use in his sermon. Humor aside, it was a really neat small service, sort of like the origin of the Businessmen's Bible Class that took place in a car on a rainy morning in similar circumstances. The next week the Funky Munky was on the road, this time to Austin to play for the Chief Of Police's state convention. Setting up for this one was a bit exciting, and then we played to a small crowd. Ah well. Since I was in Austin, I thought I'd hit a couple music stores to look for something to upgrade this poor effects module I'm using on my bass. I got a very unfriendly reception at the first store I tried (and was incensed enough to put a review on Google Maps about it). I'll leave that business unnamed in this blog. The second store I tried was called the "Bass Emporium" and had an amazing collection of bass instruments and amps. The person I talked to was most friendly, in stark contrast to the persons in the first store. I wasn't quite ready to spend the money to get a better effects module solution yet, but I told this guy I'll be getting back with them when the time comes (soon!). Next topic. My dad was honored in a big ceremony by the Friends of Fort McKavett last weekend. I was most taken aback by all the presentations and plaques he was given. My dad is not one to brag, nor even let on about much of the work he does. I heard more than one person say "yeah, he's like that" when I made that observation. Wow. This last week the Funky Munky was on the road again this time to some ranch resort in Wimberley to play for a wedding rehearsal dinner. Our venue was in front of what was built as a burlesque theatre on an old western town looking main street. It was a drunk night out there for the crowd (and a little bit so for the band as well). Fortunately our accommodations were on the other end of the building (they had a common wall with the theatre's stage). As we finally called it a night, I fired up the laptop, using my cell phone's internet access via a USB cable. I found out in an E-mail from my dad that the FLDS place near Eldorado was finally raided. That was one scary looking place when I viewed the photos a local pilot took, and this is just 30 something miles down the road from here. Yipes. I'm just glad that raid went off without things getting burned like in Waco. Those were some sheltered and probably abused kids they took out of there. Now I just hope that CPS and these other agencies can take better care of them than the FLDS did.

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