“It’s been a bad year for rock and roll.”
— Chuck Prophet
Singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet, a regular on my Spotify playlist was bemoaning the deaths of David Bowie and Prince, among many others, when he released that song earlier this year. He is right.
Bowie died of cancer two months after releasing “Black Star” in January. Check out the video of “Lazarus” on YouTube. It is the haunting work of a brilliant artist who knows he will die soon.
Prince, one of the finest guitar players on the planet, died far too young of an opioid overdose at 57. One of his greatest performances...
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In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.
— Isaiah 11:6
Our dog Sam is not exactly wolf material, though he certainly has a hunter’s instinct. On several occasions he has gotten loose and taken off after cats, squirrels and other critters. He never catches anything, but this poodle/cocker spaniel mutt cannot be deterred when on the chase. The other night, during a driving rainstorm, Sam slipped out the back door as my Beautiful Mystery Companion...
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As is East Texas tradition, I worked up a sweat hanging Christmas lights and swatting away mosquitoes on Thanksgiving morning. I don’t think I have ever hung lights when it was cold, even when I have put off the task until mid-December. Invariably, a warm front will sweep in from the Gulf Coast on the appointed day, putting a damper on the Yule spirit. It is likely my Yankee upbringing, but there is something askew about hanging Christmas lights while wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Maybe in Florida or Southern California, but the rest of the nation deserves Christmas-like weather this time of year....
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I spend a lot of time talking to newspaper people, which I relish. It is impossible to get ink out of my blood after more than 40 years in the business. While it is doubtful I will ever work at a paper again, I have enjoyed spending the past year working to put together deals to buy or sell newspapers.
In addition, in the course of researching a biography I am writing about a fascinating newspaperman and columnist, I have talked to members of his family who were also in the business. That is how I ended up in the charming town of Smithville a few days ago, talking to a retired lawyer who literally...
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I spoke the other day to a group of high school students about writing. The students were polite, and several asked great questions. I enjoyed my 20 minutes with them, a number of whom I knew since daughter Abbie graduated last May from this small private school.
To kick things off after briefly outlining my checkered career, I asked this: “What is the one essential thing one must do to be a writer?” There were several interesting answers. Learn how to spell. Use complete sentences. (Notice I’m not doing that. It’s a rule I like to break on occasion.) Have lots of pencils. (Pencils?...
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I met Cody Norris a few times at holiday gatherings of my wife’s extended family, most of who live in Northeast Texas. He was tall and thin, clearly in shape. Cody was my sister-in-law’s nephew. He grew up in the Houston area. He clearly loved the chance to spend time in the country. We considered him one of the cousins, though that is not technically accurate. Cody usually showed up with his dad at the East Texas farm that served as the outside gathering spot when the weather is tolerable. These throw-downs invariably involved a fish fry, a bonfire if there was even a hint of chill in the air....
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We voted early this election, as we nearly always do. There were two differences this time around, and I am not talking about the candidates — nor do I intend to. There are subjects best not brought up in polite company.
First difference is that daughter Abbie, who turned 19 on the day we voted, cast her first ballot — or, in the case of the Gregg County machine, dialed her choices on an electronic screen — in a general election for president.
Like most teenagers, Abbie is ultra high-tech savvy. When she heads away to college (she attends locally this year), my Beautiful Mystery Companion...
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News item: A member of the Swedish Academy called Bob Dylan “impolite and arrogant” for thus far ignoring winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. Repeated phone calls have gone unanswered. Dylan does not acknowledge winning the award while performing in concert — he appeared in Shreveport earlier this week — and a mention on his website has been removed.
First, let’s note I’m pleased Dylan received the Nobel, the first American to receive it for literature since Tony Morrison received the award in 1993. In 50 years or so, he has written more than 450 songs, many of which are firmly...
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The issue of naming cats popped up recently in our household. Our four-legged population has doubled with the addition of a pair of three-month-old kittens. They were dumped in front of my brother-in-law’s place in the country. That is a bad habit of some East Texans, dumping unwanted animals as if somehow that solves the problem. It just becomes someone else’s concern. As soon as Jim sent a cell-phone photo of these kitties to my Beautiful Mystery Companion, I knew we were about to go back into the cat business, after a hiatus of several years.
One of the kittens is orange and white with...
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HUGO, OKLA. — Under a cloudless sky, enduring temperatures resembling late August rather than early October, I walked among the tombstones in this modest town 10 miles north of the Red River. This is the Showmen’s Rest, part of the city cemetery. Here lie, among a few hundred others:
Big John: “The Man With More Friends Than Santa Claus.”
Donnie and Jone MCintosh: Circus, Fairs, Carnivals, Rodeos, Street Corners. “We Had the Good Life But the Season Ended.”
John August Strong, with a larger-than-life etching on a pillar celebrating his years operating the Big Strong John...
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