Last Sunday morning, I found myself running TOWARDS a man with a gun, and not away.
Sigh.
Just... line up to call me an idiot. Fine.
We'd left church, and an armed man was running across the parking lot behind the next building. I hustled MOBB and the kids into her car, and they left.
Things got serious in a hurry.
But when everyone else was going elsewhere, I was going towards him. I was... primarily trying to confirm that I'd really seen that.
Anyway, the pastor and some other staffers finally got my attention, and I snapped to. I joined them in the church.
Within minutes Hurst cops showed up with assault rifles. It didn't take long to ascertain that this numbskull was holding a paintball gun, and not a real firearm.
***
Friday morning I went to see Whit in Katy, Texas. I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so I all but inhaled the Tex Mex plate at the joint where we met. Shortly thereafter we attended one of his SWAT meetings. It was good to see his staff and students, as always.
We spent the evening hanging out with his wife and son, who were preparing to leave for a cruise the next morning. Larry was out of town, doing some Krav stuff up in my neck of the woods, coincidentally. Sorry I missed you, amigo.
Saturday morning Whit taught Tai Chi, and I bumbled my way through. Right after that he taught Kung Fu. I REALLY bumbled my way through that. But then it was open mat time, so I pummeled a bag for a while.
We grabbed some Schlotzky's and headed over to the BJJ tournament. Whit's students Mike and Mark were competing. Neither won, though as I explained to Mark, he'd lasted three minutes down there. I'd have lasted about 10 seconds, so my hat is off to him.
Mike lasted the whole five minutes.
That evening we just took it easy. Homeboy actually fell asleep on the couch. He has a reputation for waking up like the ninjas are attacking, so this ninja decided NOT to put his hand in a bowl of warm water.
We watched UFC 95 on Spike, then called it an evening.
***
The next morning we went on a quest for breakfast, ending up with some fine breakfast tacos from the carniceria down the street. We said our goodbyes, and I hit the road for Austin.
***
The Doug was there to greet me as I arrived. We didn't light in the room for long; we were hankerin' for a good meal, so we hit Threadgills. I had some terrific fried oysters. Dad has always loved that place. It's where we had our graduation celebration back when I got my BS in '94.
***
We talked a lot, opening up about all manner of things. That was the whole purpose of this trip. I had questions, he had answers.
The next morning we went guitar shopping. I'm putting together a plan to buy an heirloom-quality instrument in the future. We started at Ray Hennig's Heart of Texas Music. I explained to Dad that this place is an Austin landmark, and that Ray knew Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Honestly, he had nothing that impressed me. Oh, the PRS CE 24 was easy on the hands, but the tone wasn't there. And that Peavey Tele-style was nicer than I expected, but... Dad was quick to point out that it's not my "Maserati."
See, I'd explained to him that all of my instruments are basically the equivalent of a Toyota Camry. Now, I'm making plans to eventually get a Maserati (Ferrari, whatever).
***
We ended up going to several places. I was a little disappointed in Strait Music, though the Billy Corgan Strat I played there was a pretty neat instrument. Still... it isn't the one.
***
At Musicmakers, a place that I really disliked back when I lived in Austin, I played a Gibson custom shop ES-336.
Our ears immediately perked up. It had a very musical, chiming, bell-like tone. Dad was quick to point out that it sounded far better than anything else I'd played all day.
He was right.
I went on to try a pretty Cherry red ES-335, and it was nice, but... no Maserati.
***
That evening we had two of the hottest tickets in town: Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel opening the 35th season of Austin City Limits.
The studio holds fewer people than it did back when I worked on the show. Capacity is 320 now, I believe. That's a rather exclusive audience.
I heard the Wheel many times back in the day, and they've never sounded sharper than this night.
And when Willie joined them, I have to say that it was pretty darned exciting. Together they did lots of hits, as well as a bunch of songs from their collaboration (the title of which I don’t currently know).
The band played for over two hours. We had a good time there listening to the music and visiting with Michael, Maria, and their father Bill. I saw several folks I knew from back in the day. On the way out I bought a nice ACL ballcap and a limited edition print to commemorate the show.
We didn’t hurry to get out of town the next day. We ate a bit, ran a couple errands, and finally said our goodbyes.
I hope we get to do it again someday. The trip went pretty perfectly.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Glad a good time was had by all.
I think that show proved once and for all that Willie is not a country singer. He's a jazz singer.
The album is called, unsurprisingly, Willie and the Wheel.
Glad a good time was had by all.
I think that show proved once and for all that Willie is not a country singer. He's a jazz singer.
The album is called, unsurprisingly, Willie and the Wheel.
Post a Comment