- 1 bottle MHL - West 5
- 2 whiskey sours - home
I read somewhere that every man goes through a country music phase. Whenever I'm asked what type of music I like, I generally answer, "Pretty much everything except for country." And this is true. It's not that I don't like country music, it's more that I prefer other types of music to country. A few years back when I was building our addition; our contractor, Jim, was a country music fan, so most days it was country music that we listened to. At first I was put off by it, but then I began to look forward to hearing a number of songs that would play regularly throughout that summer, including the song posted above, "Alcohol" by Brad Paisley. I even found myself humming or singing them long after Jim had left for the day. Still, I don't think I'd consider that summer, my "country music phase".
Saturday is our school auction and the theme is Country-Western. A few weeks ago I excitedly explored Red Light for some country western gear and ever since then I can't seem to get "country" out of my head. I bought a pair of cowboy boots (of which I've always wanted a pair), hat, shirt, belt, and buckle. I was hoping to find a pair of Wrangler jeans in my size, but no such luck - my Levi's that I bought several years ago, but have worn only a few times, will have to do. All these things began to bring back memories. Maybe I HAVE gone through a country phase, but only in "bits". (haha)
My dad bought me a pair of cowboy boots when I was a kid. They weren't real shit-kickers - they had a blunt toe - but they were boots and they had a silver buckle on the side. He used to make me polish and protect them every weekend saying, "Those boots will last a whole lot longer if you take care of them." I hated doing it, thinking it took me much too long and that I could certainly be doing something else with my time, but as I think back, I remember taking pride in the process of polishing them. I had a routine where I would start with the blunt toe, then work my way above the upper, and then around the back of the boot. I'd finish by rubbing across the top of the boot; then up the height. And then I'd start on the left boot. It was time consuming and messy, and I always waited to be told to do it; I'd never voluntarily pull out my boots and start shining. Today, I do voluntarily pull out my boots (and shoes) and start shining. I'm faster at it, and I still use the same routine - I start with the toe, work my way around the uppers and so on. As much as I hated doing it when I was younger, my dad was right; my shoes do last much longer.
My dad's cowboy phase began my cowboy phase. I lived in
Garden City, Kansas from 4th through 6th grades. The town itself was a flat and dusty, tumble-weeded area. For a kid my age, however, it was a town of opportunity. Garden City was most famous for "The World's Largest Outdoor Concrete Swimming Pool". It was at Lee Richardson Zoo and was half a city block long and held 2 1/2 million gallons of water. It had four diving boards too! A K-mart just a block down from our house was where Ken, Michelle, and I would spend hours playing "Hide and Seek" inside the store. Mostly it was Michelle and I playing "Hide from Ken" and Ken would fall for it every time and then leave the store in bitter sadness. K-mart also acted as our vegetable stand. Ken, Michelle and I were in 4-H (and I can't remember what those four "H's" stood for - hands, heart, ??, but my mom could tell you - and she would too; every chance she could) and would Little-Red-Wagon our home-grown vegetables to the front of K-mart and sell them to customers. In the winter, it snowed frequently, so I shoveled snow from neighbors' driveways. I charged $5 to plow a driveway. I also delivered newspapers and earned a nickel for each one I delivered. Garden City was also famous for it's stockyards, and did they smell! Every Wednesday I could smell the death of cattle creeping through our school playground. It WAS unmistakably cowboy country.
Fifty miles east of Garden City was
Dodge City. THE Dodge City, as in "Get outta Dodge!" But to get outta Dodge, you first had to get to Dodge, and go to Dodge we did. Somewheres between Garden City and Dodge City, my dad acquired a cowboy hat. A real one, a
Stetson. It's the big, brown one I'm wearing in the pictures above. They were taken outside of Garden City somewhere. We were all gussied up and my dad threw us in the truck and we all went out looking for some scenery that would complement our clothing. This was probably taken at the side of the road after jumping over a fence and aligning ourselves with the windmill and sunflowers. The picture at the very top was taken in Puyallup. They don't make plastic, bouncy horsies like they used to. My first and second few bits of country.
My third few bits of country were Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, among others. Remember "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell? Ken, Michelle and I all harmonized, "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy!!! DUH DUH DUN!! Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeooooohhh!" in those long car trips across the prairie. As much as I don't listen to country music now, those early songs have always stayed with me. Too much in fact....Waylon Jenning's "Luckenbach, Texas" keeps repeating in my head over and over. I can't get rid of it! I've always liked Willie's voice, although I own only a few of his albums.
Spirit is intoxicating and
The Troublemaker is a giddy-up of country-gospel goodness. Dad also listened to Hank Williams II (Bocephus!) when I was in high school and I complained about it often. Ironically, I'm going to see Hank III at the Showbox in June. (Dad's not going.)
My grandfather (Dad's dad) has written a book about Billy the Kid, called
The Kid With Fast Hands: a carefully researched history of Billy the Kid with fictional dialogue and incidental action. The elaborate and overly-accurate title makes me laugh although I have not yet read the entire book. My brother says it's good and contains quite an amount of humor. It's self-published and there are also two quizzes to accompany the book, the second of which is shown
here at Amazon. It ranks 3,777,473th in sales, so I guess there isn't an overwhelming demand for quizzes on a kid who has fast hands. I wouldn't expect there to be.
However, what this school auction has done, is revive an interest in most all things Western for me. I'm going to read that Billy the Kid book and I'm going to pull out some Waylon and Willie and I'm going to rent some old (and new) westerns and I'm going to wear that belt and buckle and boots long after the auction is over - just to enjoy. Maybe this is my "country music (and other things) phase", but more likely, it's just my fourth or fifth bit of country in a phase that will last a lifetime.
Went swimming in the pool and found an orange innertube. Doug found 2 bucks at the Chateau which reminds me that he owes me $2.50. We’re still getting tan. Last night we went down to the Chateau. 1/2 of Parkview High and Shiloh High are down there. Tracy Stanley, Michelle Casto, Valerie Sanders are all here. Stephanie Burgess and Rene George are here. They remembered me from Tanya’s party. Doug + I walked along the strip - you get more attention that way – about 3 to 4 miles worth with Chris Clark and everyone. I drank about 2 beers and felt my first real buzz. Ed’s party got busted. They made them take the wall down. That reminds me, when Doug + I were walking along the beach, 2 girls were walking their dogs. One of them looked good. Doug had the camera so he asked if he could take a picture of the dog. Girl smiled + said yes. 
She knew Doug was taking a picture of her. Doug told me to hop in the picture but I’m so damn stupid. Just like when Stephanie was rubbing my leg and again when she fell onto me I didn’t do anything. I’m so damn stupid. Some girl gave me a ring when I was walking the strip. Back to Ed’s party. Nothing was going on. We hid 5 cases of beer under the bed. They were playing quarters. The cop opened the door and Ed had this fucking funny beer hat on. He looked so damn funny and he tried walking out the door onto the balcony. He looked so goofy. The coop caught him and told him to get back into the hotel. It was funny as shit. Anyway, the cop left. He was making everyone pour out the beer that they had. After we’d walked the strip – we’d been going to B.K. and McDonalds – we went to Chris Clark’s room. Tracy Stanley kept drinking this tequila and Coke and smoking. Doug was getting tired so we had to go. It was only 10:25. There was supposed to be a party at the Chateau at 11:00. I was pretty tired too. We also had some “hunch punch”. Oh yes, walking along the strip with about 50 other people Doug was holding a beer and he saw his parents drive by. Luckily they did not see him. 2 girls gave me, Doug, and Black a ride to Bikini Beach. Black knew one of them though. That is about all I can remember now. Well, 2 nights ago, the power went off in all the rooms. I really had to go to the bathroom so I walked outside and went next door and up 3 flights and went to the bathroom in th corner. I really had to go though. Saw my 1st real live drug dealer. 2 scummy guys in a scummy Cadillac. Wanted to know if I got high. We said yes as I looked on like an asshole as usual. They were stoned. They wanted $30 for 1/4 hash. Earlier on the Chateau beach we saw 2 girls drunk as hell falling in the sand. Also on the strip some girl gave me a ring.
