Big John's Blog

Thank you sir, may I have another 4 years?

2008-03-06T08:42:00.002-06:00

Thanksgiving 2007, Texas Style

2007-12-11T20:22:00.000-06:00

We made our annual trip to Sherman, Texas again this Thanksgiving to visit with Ed and Paula Meacham. This is the second year we traveled there to attend the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving day, I smoked a turkey and we cooked all the usual side dishes for the traditional dinner at Texas Stadium.

Since we arrived a day early we were looking for something to do on Wednesday night when I found out the Dallas Stars were playing the Anaheim Mighty Ducks at the AA Center. Ed was all in so we jumped in the vehicle and headed to Dallas. We had a hard time finding tickets which was rather surprising, but then again the Stars were playing last year's Stanley Cup champions. We scored tickets just before opening faceoff, we were worried about what kind of tickets we got when we found that we were about 10 rows back from the ice even with the goal! About the time we sat down the house lights were dimmed and they rolled a carpet onto center ice. We then discovered that it was a special recognition ceremony for Mike Modano for being the NHL's all-time scoring leader for an American born player, not to mentionthe Stars' all-time leading scorer.

The Ducks jumped out and scored the first goal early in the first period and there was no score in the second. Then a few minutes into the third period, who else but Modano slaps a goal from the left wing. A few minutes later Hagman scored to put the Stars up 2-1. They hung on to win and Modano was named player of the game. As the Ducks were exiting the ice up the tunnel just two seats away, Paige was looking over the rail at the players when one of the security guards said something to her. I wondered if she had done something wrong when she turned around to show us that he had given her a puck! Ed said he'd been to lots of games and had never seen them do that before. We were all pretty stoked over it.

The next day we headed back to Irving to go to the football game. We had the smoked turkey, dressing, lots of other dishes as well as lots of delicious beverages. Last year I think it was around 85 degrees, this year the high was 38 degrees with a 20mph wind. There's nothing like entering the stadium, it's complete bedlam. We had just entered the stadium when we heard a loud cheer. We looked up and saw the Cowboy Cheerleaders entering the stadium just above us.

The game got underway and the Cowboys jumped out to an early lead. The strange thing was that early in the 2nd quarter Crystal said she thought she saw snow falling. It was obviously cold, but I would never imagine that it was cold enough to snow. A few minutes later I saw a few flakes fall and then it really started falling hard. It snowed almost the entire 2nd quarter and they just stayed cold the rest of the game. The Cowboys held on to defeat the Jets 34-3, but there still nothing like a live NFL game.

#6 Most Influential Album - "Fandango!" - ZZ Top

2007-10-17T19:53:00.000-06:00

It ws 1975, a time when the shallowness of silk shirts, platform shoes, roller skates and disco ran rampant.There was actually a lot of really good music during this time - Bad Company, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Grand Funk RailRoad, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Deep Purple, the Rolling Stones had lots of good stuff too. There were few actual rock stations around Cave City, the closest was FM 102 in Jonesboro, and if the weather conditions were suitable you could pick up Rock 103 in Memphis. Otherwise you had to settle for AM stations which were inundated the airwaves with southern hellfire and brimstone preachers, old time country and yes....disco.

I remember the first time I heard "Tush" off ZZ Top's Fandango! album. I believe it was on the jukebox at the Sugar Shack, the local burger joint in town. There was a jukebox near the front door that had a wide variety of pop and country songs (I remember the song "Sugar Shack" was set to play repeatedly when people weren't paying to hear their selections), and I remember hearing the crunching chords that opened the song and thinking I've never heard anything like it ever. I took a pause from my game of pinball to go to the jukebox to see if I could see the name of the song, and there on the front of the jukebox was a miniature album cover of the two cowboys with bass/guitar with their long-haired drummer. I knew I had to learn more about this band, so the next time I made it to my local discount store I picked up the 8-track. I remember getting home and cranking it up and to my surprise the album turned out to be a live album. I thought I had bought the wrong one, but sure enough I saw where "Tush" was on it. I went ahead and let the tape fade into the raucous roar of a crazed live crowd, then the boisterous introduction but the gravelly-voiced announcer, "GET READY FOR THE FANTASTIC....Z...Z...TOP!!!!!" and the band ripped into "Thunderbird" which just blew me away. That was followed by a cover of Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock" which I actually thought was kinda lame. Following that was "Backdoor Love Affair (which was actually released on their first album)/Mellow Down Easy/Long Distance Boogie" which I thought was great.

From that point, the album switched from live to studio with "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings" which was a small sample of their later "Eliminator" sound. "Blue Jean Blues" really slowed things down with a classic hardcore blues ballad, then followed by the incredible storytelling in "Balinese". "Heard It on the X" and of course "Tush" were favorites, but nothing will ever compare to the classic "Mexican Blackbird."

Although ZZ Top's first couple albums were largely overlooked, which was sad since they truly were great albums, this album really put the band on the map. So the next time you're down in Acuna, or driving that old Chrysler down to Mexico, be sure and pick up Fandango! on 8-track and.....I mean, load the mp3's on your iPod and take Billy, Dusty and Frank with you.

Can you roll me another Bull Durham please?

9/11 Remembered - Where Were You When The Towers Collapsed?

2007-09-11T20:48:00.000-06:00

One of the most widely asked questions asked by the generation which preceeded mine was "where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?" Although I don't really remember it, I know exactly where I was, I was lying in a crib since I was barely a month old. It was a moment in time captured forever in the minds of those who were old enough to remember it.

The question of the current generation is "where were you when the towers collapsed?" I remember it as if it happened yesterday. It was a brilliantly clear, crisp September morning which I was fortunate enough to be able to ride my Harley to work. As I made my way to work, I distinctly remember riding alongside David Hidy, a local banker, who was driving his beautiful dark blue Corvette. I remember pulling up beside him and waving and he waved back. I roared on to work and took a seat at my desk much like every other morning. I began the workday planning my projects when Ginger Nail popped up on MSN Messenger and asked if I had seen what happened. I told her I had no idea what what she was talking about so I tried to pull up CNN.com, which is one of my favorite news websites. For the first time ever, the site was down and only displayed the message "Due to heavier than usual traffic, our website is down." Being that I'm in the web development business, I knew it had to be major to bring their servers down. Eventually the sites came up with plain text and only very few pictures of what had happened. Due to the heavy traffic it took a while before I could actually see video of the event.

It took a while for the gravity of the situation to sink in. Once it did I just felt numb, angry, disappointed and betrayed that the people in charge had gotten too relaxed and let our guard down. The World Trade Center had already sustained a previous attack spearheaded by the same terrorist, it's unfathomable that we would allow it to happen in the same place for the second time.

This past weekend I was fortunate to have provided sound for the Sara Low 5K Run which was held at Batesville High School where Sara Low (pictured above) was a flight attendant in one of the airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center, ran track and led the Pioneers to a state championship in track. I hadn't really thought much about it until right before the event began. Mindy Lace, friend of Sara gave a very emotional speech in remembrance of her friend followed by a prayer and special music, then a speech by Mike Low, Sara's father who attended the memorial service at Ground Zero.

Dwight Eisenhower once said "A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." I believe this is more evident in our country now than ever. We should never forget the events of 9/11, and keep our troops in Iraq and everywhere else in the world in our thoughts, as well as hope that the leaders of our country will do everything in their power to prevent such an atrocity from ever happening again.

#7 Most Influential Album - "...And Justice For All?" by Metallica

2007-09-11T20:39:00.001-06:00

I grew up during the "album rock" era, which included midnight album spotlights chock full of selections by Robin Trower, Pink Floyd, Yes and many others who produced albums which in some cases entire sides of the album (Google "album" sometime if you're too old to know what they were) were only one song (listen to Pink Floyd's "Meddle" and you'll see what I mean). By the time the 80's rolled around, apparantly the ADD era was ushered in and people could no longer contain a train of thought for any longer than 3 minutes and 30 seconds. I never really cared for the bubble gum so-called "metal" of the 80's where men looked and dressed more like women and the women did. Motley Crue had a couple decent albums then quickly sold out, but beyond that is was pretty much all cookie cutter cheese.

Metallica broke that mold with "..And Justice For All?" released in 1988. Often referred to simply as "Justice" this album is a monster without apology, which I believe the average length of each track was around 6 1/2 minutes.

If you've never heard this album, I highly recommend listening to it with headphones on. "Blackened" kicks the album off and it's one of the most definitive metal tracks ever. The twin guitars fade in signaling that something big is about to happen and it does.

"One", in my opinion is one of the most ass-kicking metal tracks of all time, which if you've ever seen the video you would understand it is clearly a song about the results of war, and contains clips from the classic film "Johnny Got His Gun". The album contains other strong tracks such as "Shortest Straw" and "Eye of the Beholder", but "Dyers Eve", which ends the album, is one of the most overlooked tracks on the album which after years ended up on many of the band's set lists on their recent concerts.

The first time I saw the band, amazingly enough, was in Bald Knob, Arkansas at the site of all the old Strawberry Jam concerts put on by Barth Grayson, which featured two other bands Raven and Axe. I think there were maybe 300 people there and I believe people stayed away either because they were either scared to death of that type of music or just didn't get it. I thought Metallica was the best band there, but to me they were slightly better than the average garage band which I played in at the time. After their set, the members just roamed around the crowd and drank beer and cheered on the other bands like everyone else. Little did I know at that time would they become such a global force in the decades to come.

I really liked their previous releases "Master of Puppets", which could have easily registered higher than "Justice", and "Kill 'Em All" was a great debut, but the "Justice" album really captured the true essence of the band and very few other albums have ever, or ever will, match this type of creativity and energy.

Rockin' The Water Carnival

2007-08-21T21:03:00.000-06:00

Doghouse played at the White River Amphitheater in Batesville on August 4. The concert was part of the 64th annual White River Water Carnival, an event which has been a staple of the Batesville community. This year, Steve Thomas and the Batesville Chamber of Commerce decided to beef up the concert series this year by bringing the Oak Ridge Boys on Friday night and southern rocker Jimmie Van Zant on Saturday night.

The weather was extremely hot on Saturday when we loaded in around 3pm, there was a slight breeze coming off the river, but the humidity was unbelievable. Further Down from Jonesboro opened the show and put on their usual outstanding show. We took the stage just as it started to turn a little dark, but it was still extremely hot, so hot my fan felt like a hair dryer blowing on me.

We played in front of approximately 3,000 enthusiastic fans who really showed their support. The sound and lights were incredible and if it sounded anything out front like it did in my monitor, it was awesome. After we finished out set, we were actually called back for an encore! We met back stage trying to figure out what to play, so we came back with The Cult's "Love Removal Machine."

As we exited the stage, Jimmie Van Zant's band mates all complemented us on how good we sounded. I asked Jimmie if he would mind having his picture taken with my daughter and he happily agreed.

Jimmie tried to call Paige out during Skynyrd's "What's Your Name" but she bolted. JVZ played all the Skynyrd and .38 Special favorites and the crowd just ate it up. His original stuff sounded great as well, and really surprised me with a cover of Styx's "Blue Collar Man" which sounded fantastic. Toward the end of the show, the two backup singers (the blonde is Jimmie's wife) got Paige up on stage to do a number with them (click the image below to see the video).

Paige's 11th Birthday Bash

2007-07-22T21:16:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe that it's birthday time for Paige again. It seems like only a couple weeks ago that we were reserving the Mickey Mouse pool for the last one. It's very disturbing how fast she's growing up. It's like the old folks used to tell me when I was growing up that time seems to accelerate as you get older. I'm a believer now.

Anyway, it was an unusually cool July day for Arkansas, highs in the low- to mid-80's with exceptionally low humidity, it really felt more like late September or early October. The water felt great though but getting out was the worst thing since it felt so cool.

I spent the majority of the day cooking chicken wings and pork kabobs, Crystal was busy with the drinks, cake, ice cream. I iced down the drinks and Paige and I headed to the pool a couple hours early to get some swimming in and get things set up.

Lots of Paige's buddies from school were there, some of which were out of town on vacation or were unavailable. We wished they all could be there, but maybe they can make it next time. She got the usual obscene amount of presents and swam for a long time, she basically passed out as soon as we got home.

So that's it for this year, I'm sure next year's party will be another extravaganza, maybe I'll cook up some extra stuff. Regardless, we look forward to the next one already! It always makes us feel really good to see the kids have that much fun.

#9 Most Influential Album - "One More From the Road" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

2007-06-10T07:01:00.001-06:00

I've never really been much of a fan of live albums, I think back in the 70's some of the record companies got a little carried away with pumping out as many pseudo-live albums (music recorded in the studio with a "live" audience layer was like watching an episode of "My Three Sons") as possible. Very few of them
were sincerely genuine and honest and truly captured the energy of a live performance.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's "One More From The Road" which was released in 1976 was one of those albums. The album was recorded, as the inner jacket says, "live from the fabulous Fox Theater" in Atlanta, and from the opening chords of "Workin' For MCA", which I interpret as a jab at their record company, to the sardonic "Needle And The Spoon", to the upbeat remake of Hank Williams' "T For Texas" to the ceremonious ending of "Free Bird", this album, to me, stands head and shoulders above the rest.

The album is really a live compilation of their greatest songs up to this point (it's a shame "Street Survivors" came later), and really captured the energy of their live show. The quality, as live albums go, is pretty good for it's time, but at times some of the guitars like they've been overdubbed and the quality comes and goes. But for anyone who loves and appreciates true classic rock, this album must be included in their collection. Anyone who's ever heard this album knows that Ronnie Van Zant's question "What song is it you wanna hear?" is followed up by the epic 13:40 version of "Free Bird." It's a shame Skynyrd ended the way it did, I just can't look at the current touring version in the same light, but you can bet the band's songs will be played on radio for years to come.

Extreme Makeover - Harley Edition

2007-05-20T21:04:00.000-06:00

Well, after several months of stripping down, routine maintenance, a new paint job, as well as other tweaks and fixes, the bike is now back together.

I'm really impressed with the job Shane Duncan did on the paint job.

When the bike is inside, it looks very dark from a distance, almost black. When it's out in the sun, the texture really stands out.

#10 Most Influential Album- "Go Bo Diddley" by Bo Diddley

2007-05-18T22:57:00.000-06:00

This is the first submission in what I consider to be the most significant albums ever. "Go Bo Diddley" by Bo Diddley was released on Chess Records, a label that also distributed works by major blues performers such as John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Chuck Berry.

Being a percussion guy from the start, one of the first albums to really grab my ear was Bo Diddley's "Go Bo Diddley." I feel that this album never received it's due, and should be ranked among the greatest rock 'n roll albums of all time. I remember looking at the album cover, Bo sporting the red plaid suit with matching guitar, the bowtie, and the drummer in the background with the crossed sticks and pompadour. I was always kind of drawn to the cover of the album, but when I placed the record on the Sears Silvertone record player and dropped the needle on it, I could tell it was something special. From the opening chords of "Bo Diddley", it progressed to the now legendary "I'm A Man" (which was later degraded by cheesy '80's movies like "Risky Business"), to "Before You Accuse Me" which later became a hit by Eric Clapton. This album was pretty straight forward blues, not much of the hand jive sound until you hit "Willie And Lillie." I always got a kick out of "Diddy Wah Diddy" which was nothing like the version that later became famous by Bill Murray in the movie "Stripes."

Bo later became known for his looks, he dropped the plaid jacket and picked up the leather hat, oversized glasses and trademark rectangular guitar, but his sound never changed. He's probably one of the most overlooked rock 'n roll artists who later influenced artists like the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and U2 (if you don't believe me, listen to Bo's "Hand Jive", the listen to U2's "Desire"). This album is currently out of print, but if you're lucky enough to find it, it's a great addition to your vintage rock 'n roll collection.

Most Favorite Picture

2007-05-10T20:42:00.000-06:00

Okay, I have to admit that I've been slacking on my blogging lately. So many petty issues such as working, taking care of my invalid wife, kid, housework, yardwork, school stuff, back problems, and putting my bike back together (yes, it's actually in progress!), I've been stretched fairly thin lately. I have barely had time to sleep let enough post on my blog to entertain all you rabid Big John blog fans......I know you're there, I can hear you breathing.

Anyway, I would like to post what I consider to be one of my most favorite photos ever. Sure, I have a preference toward my family, dogs, pictures of my Doghouse mates having unspeakable amounts of funs rocking out, but as far as fun pics, this has to be one of my favorites ever, click the photo for a larger view.

This is NOT A PHOTOSHOP JOB!!! A guy skiing in a swimming pool being pulled by a biker (you'll have to look really hard). I'm not exactly sure who the skiier is (although I have a pretty good idea), but I do know that the guy on the bike pulling the skiier is Tommy "T-Bone" Osbourne.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I'm getting ready to start posting some of my most significant albums of all time (I'm tired of BS Top 10 lists).

Princess Wishes

2007-04-22T20:16:00.000-06:00

We had a great show at Cajun's Wharf on Friday night, I have to admit I was a little tired on Saturday. On Sunday we took Paige to Alltel Arena for Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes. We'd been to a couple others in the past, but this one was pretty elaborate. Paige and her friend April Qualls (right) really seemed to enjoy it and everyone appeared to have a great time.

After two trips to Little Rock in as many days, I'm ready to hang at the homefront for a while.

Memorable Doghouse Moments

2007-04-10T20:19:00.000-06:00

Doghouse will appear at Cajun's Wharf on Friday April 20 for the umpteenth time. No how matter how many times we've played there, it has to be one of our most favorite places to play. The food is outstanding, the staff is extremely friendly and courteous, and the environment is strictly PARTY and lots of fun. Playing on Friday night works well for us since it allows us somewhat of a weekend, and it serves for a fun one-night getaway for all of our Batesville folks.

It's hard to believe that we've actually been together for 6 years now with no personnel changes. From our very first "coming out" gig at the Bubba Hut, I would have never dreamed we would last this long. I think we can attribute our longevity to the fact that none of us feel that we HAVE to do this - there's no pressure, and when that's eliminated, it makes it that much more enjoyable.

So, that being said, I look back at some of the gigs we've had and remember some of the most memorable Doghouse moments.

First gig at Bubba Hut - most people came out to heckle us, they thought we'd be a joke. It only took a few songs for them to realize we were actually very good, especially for our first show. I remember when Erv ripped into a long guitar lead and seeing people stand there with their jaws on the floor. Most of the people who were there still come to every show.

Opening for Warrant/April Wine - I always liked Warrant, but I was a huge fan of April Wine when I was growing up. The first time I heard "Roller" on Rock 103 in Memphis, I stayed up almost all night with my little Panasonic cassette recorder waiting to record it. On the day of the show, I was walking through Wal-Mart when I turned the corner and ran face-to-face into Erik Turner, lead guitarist of Warrant. He side stepped me and I just said, "yo, Erik Turner!" He looked at me in amazement that I knew who he was, and the next thing I knew 3 of the other members were gathered around. They were looking to pick up a few things and didn't know where anything was, so I helped them find their way around. The show was amazing, April Wine was phenomenal, I got to meet drummer Jerry Mercer who played one of the most incredible drum solos I've ever heard. Before the show he was sitting on the bank of the White River reading "The Da Vinci Code" and we talked about fishing and he asked what all kinds of fish live in the river. He said he would like to come down and go trout fishing sometime.

Encounter with Creed - the morning after one of our Cajun's shows, we were waiting for our valet at The Peabody and it took forever. We had equipment sitting everywhere and there four large luxury tour buses congesting traffic, and they wouldn't move. We were all getting pissed so Erv, Karen, & Crystal went into the lobby to find out what the holdup was. Right after they went in, this tall dude with spiky hair wearing a sweat suit walked in with a guitar case on his back. I thought, "that guy looks familiar", and about that time I looked up and Scott Phillips, drummer for Creed was walking right in front of me. I said, "hey, Scott Phillips?" and he turned around and said, "hey dude!" I shook his hand and said it was great to meet him, and he looked downa and saw all my drumming equipment. He said, "did you guys have a gig?" and I told him we played at Cajun's the night before and it was a blast. He asked if I was coming to the show but I told him we had to head back to town, but I told him to have a great show and he walked inside. I ran inside and tried to catch everyone else and they were talking to the valet. I said, "did you guys see who that was?" and they said they must have missed them.

Jackyl at Batesville Speedway - Great time, hot as a baker's belt buckle. We took the stage around 5pm, and the sun was staring us right in the face and it was about 95 degrees. It was cool meeting Rick Richards of the Georgia Satellites, super down-to-earth dude. He's one of the original members and also played with Izzy Stradlin's JuJu Hounds. He said he and Izzy (former lead guitarist of Guns 'n Roses) are really good friends and keep in close contact. He offered to call him up on his cell phone and let me talk to him, but I passed.

Eric Sardinas at the Bubba Hut - I think we had a bigger crowd at the Hut than down at Riverside Park. We put on a great show, then Eric came on and just blew the place away. When he walked into the place he had a full bottle of Jack Daniels, and when the show was over, we saw him drain the bottle.

Mark breaks out the wigs at Josie's - we were like midway through the last set when Mark disappeared to the side of the stage. When he came back I saw him throwing something to everyone in the band, when I noticed they were wigs. Everyone put one on and played a full song, it got a huge laugh from the crowd.

Beef 'n Biscuit - after we'd finished our show in Magnolia, we were all starving when we got back to the hotel and noticed there was a place called the Beef 'n Biscuit right in front of the hotel. It was kind of a greasy looking joint, but we decided to go anyway. The food was typical late night breakfast grub, but hit the spot, the coffee was great and I'll never forget how much fun we had. The people there must have thought we were crazy, but I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life. Great times!

Cajun's Feast 2004 - Rob told us that one of his doctor friends was paying for our meal before one the show. I went kind of conservative, didn't want to get carried away since somebody else was buying, but he kept checking on us all the time and told us that we shouldn't get skimpy and to order anything we wanted. The next thing we knew, the table was covered with appetizers, bottles of wine, beer, entrees, so much food it wasn't funny. It was one of the best meals I've ever had, bar none.

George's Majestic Lounge - Dickson Street in Fayetteville during the Bikes, Blues & BBQ. Outide the bar there were around 150,000 bikers, inside there was a packed house. We would play a set in the beer garden and the place would be packed to capacity. When we took a break, everyone would move up to the front bar where TJ Scarlett was rocking the house. Once we started again everyone would go back to listen to us. Crystal informed me that at one time, Arlen and Cory Ness was standing to the side of the stage jamming to us. There was one group of young ladies in front of the stage, who, shall we say, put on quite a show themselves.

I'm sure there are plenty more, I'll post them later when I think of them.

Bada Bing! The Sopranos Kicks off Final Season

2007-04-08T13:41:00.000-06:00

I'm not exactly a die-hard TV watcher, mostly sporting events, music or motorcycle shows. I just think that most of the shows on today are just slightly edited templates of former shows, especially the "Reality TV" shows, just all too cookie-cutter. It's hard to find shows that are truly original, not to mention worth giving up precious moments of my life to watch.

The Sopranos breaks that mold. I have been a faithful, devout viewer of the show ever since the first season. I have seen every single episode of every season at least once, some of them numerous times. Tonight will be the first episode of the final season and I'm racking my brain to figure out what's going to happen. I made the mistake of reading the previews of the first episode on MSNBC.com, and I doubt I'll read any more since I'd rather just watch and be surprised.

It's hard to figure how the series will end, what with all the strange twists of fate in the previous season (coulda gone my whole life without the Vito situation). Last time we saw, everything seemed to rather calm and tranquil, Meadow moving west to marry Finn, AJ is dating a hispanic single mother 10 years his senior, Phil in the hospital after his heart attack, Johnny Sac wasting away in the pen, Paulie frustrated by the recent findings about his mother/aunt as well as prostate cancer, and Christopher's relapses into drug abuse. Will Adriana crawl out from the woodwork? This show has twists and turns than the Dragon's Tail in Tennessee.

There is one thing you can bet your bottom dollar on though - you'll have a hard time reaching me between 8-9pm on Sunday evenings for the next 8 weeks. That is, unless you want to come over, where you'll find me in my living room glued to the TV.

Crystal's Surgery

2007-04-07T11:09:00.000-06:00

Crystal's home after her ankle reconstruction surgery. It was rough going the first couple days, she's getting better all the time.

She'll wearing the boot cast for a while!

Jap's Cabin

2007-04-07T10:58:00.000-06:00

We recently visit my mother in Stone County during Paige's spring break. No trip is complete without a visit to my stepfather Jap's cabin, which is near their house, well within walking distance. Paige always loves going up there and the cabin itself is amazing.

The cabin is set on field stones and the walls are made of timber with morter. It has your typical corrugated metal roof that is a sure cure for insomnia when it rains!

Complete with porch swing and lots of old farm tools and implements hanging on the porch.

Jap build the stone chimney as well as all the furniture in the cabin.

Here's the stone chimney Jap built, he did it all by hand.

How To Take Down A Raging Bull

2007-03-24T09:01:00.000-06:00

When Doghouse agreed to play at the Bubba Hut St. Patrick's Party, we had no idea we would be celebrating another Patrick. We found out later it was also a surprise party for Bull. We had spotters outside to let us know when he pulled into the parking lot so we turned out the lights and gave him a raucous "SURPRISE!!!!!" as well as a big cake and lots of presents.

Everyone decided later that no birthday party is complete without a spanking, but given the fact that Bull is as strong as the real deal, it would be no easy task.

We were right, it took all the manpower we could get together including Sallee, Nasty, Daniel, Terry Marshall, and even Big Bill who is 6'10" 340 lbs.

TAKEDOWN!!!!! And who better to administer the whoopin' than his own daddy!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Bull!!!!!

Afterwards, we jammed the night away. I'd say a great time was had by all!!!!!

Doghouse Pups

2007-03-21T21:14:00.000-06:00

40% of Doghouse, circa 1983. Erv and I played in a band called Black Velvet, and we traveled around the state opening for 3 + 1. We used to play at places like the Silver Moon in Newport, King of Clubs at Swifton and lots of fun times at the Jaycee Building in Batesville. One time we traveled all the way to Cardwell, MO to play for $200, which was a lot of money then. We left early and spent almost all day setting up to play for 4 people. We stopped after the first set and broke our stuff down and when we asked the manager for our money he just laughed. I remember coasting back into town at around 4am, and the only thing more empty than our gas tank was our stomachs.

Rajun' Cajun

2007-03-19T18:55:00.000-06:00

We'd always heard about Rajun' Cajun but had never actually gone. We decided to give it a try this year and found out that it's really a lot of fun. Plenty of great cajun food & drink, as well a lot of people ready to have a good time. After all, it did happen to be St. Patrick's Day!

Charlie Vanbenschoten serving up another pot of shrimp and mudbugs.

Me with Tim O'Brien

Crystal with Julie Huskey

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Stripped!!!

2007-03-10T01:03:00.000-06:00

I guess among I'm probably as well known for my bike as I am anything else in town. A few years ago I added after market tanks and fenders which included a custom paint job. After adding over 30,000 miles to the bike, the paint is riddled with chips and dings, so I decided to strip it down and have it repainted. My buddy Shane Duncan of Independent Kustoms will be repainting the bike, but first I had to strip it down. Here are a couple of pics of what it looks like now:

Last time I checked, Shane had fixed all the dents and dings and had the primer on it. I'll post pics as it progresses.

Paige's Me & My Guy Dance

2007-03-10T00:27:00.000-06:00

Ahh, yes. Like I've got nothing better to do than maintain yet another little microcosm of cyberspace, but here I am, out and about with my very own blog.

Being the dedicated daddy that I am, I'm going to kick this thing off with a few pics of me and Paige attending her Girl Scouts' "Me and My Guy" Valentine's dance. Here I am getting a hug from my girl.

Here we are getting ready to head out to the dance.

We had a great time, the Girl Scouts really had the place looking good and we danced the night away. The punch was good and actually resembled beer. I didn't say anything, but later on I heard one daddy ask, "is that Bug Light or Miller Lite?" I got a chuckle out of that.