Monday, December 16, 2013

Mouth of the South

About 10 years ago, right after I'd turned 50, my kids were old enough to get in and out of the tub without my help. And given my bride, Tybee, is a teacher, Nate and Rebecca had access to far better help with their homework than their daddy could provide.

Feeling just a bit superfluous around the old hacienda, I began frequenting open mics in Winston looking for places to play my songs. Lo and behold, the music scene in the Twin Cities was far more robust and vibrant than I ever imagined.

Along the way I met and got to know some wonderful musicians who, almost to a person, became even better friends. Two of my best friends in the world, Johnny Hoots and Bubba Spear, have been playing with me off-and-on for about five years now. You saw how good they are if you were at the book launch for ACC Basketball Book of Fame on Sept. 11.

We go by different names. Sometimes we're the Slaves to Fashion, sometimes the Pair-a-Dice Palookas, sometimes the Spudtowne Tuberdours and sometimes, when I'm feeling especially political, we're the Whiny Billionaires. Well when we play the soundtrack to ACC Basketball Book of Fame, we're the All-ACC Hotshots.

We got together over a Bubba's yesterday to sand down the set for a show we have scheduled for Friday, Jan. 3 at Chelsee's Coffee Shop on Trade Street in Winston. Hope you guys can make it, and as an added enticement, we videotaped a version of one of the tunes, Did the Mouth of the South Really Write Porn?








Friday, December 13, 2013

Frosty's Gone

It's been awhile since I've tended to this blog, and I could make an excuse of how I've been busy with my real job, what with basketball season stomping in before football season was over and the resigning of one football coach and hiring of another. But truth is, I've just been lazy.

Also I wanted to give the Hansbrough song a good run at the top of the page. It gained me some traction, which was great to see.

But along the way I've continued to write the soundtrack to my book. I know I come off as a pretty upbeat kind of guy, which is for the most part an accurate description. But life is not all swishes and dunks, and sometimes, even in the toy department world of ACC Basketball, life can suck and death can suck worse.

My latest is a sad one, about the most tragic death the ACC has ever known.