Meeting Missoula - The Ox part 467B - Larry

The more I experience Missoula, the more I find that what I suspected was true,  No one sits alone in this town.

I stepped down to my favorite low key hangout the other night, the legendary Oxford Saloon and Cafe, the joint was dang near empty.  Once the University gets on summer break, a good deal of the student body heads on out of town and the city gets a little more sparse.  

Since there was no one around and the place was so quiet I stepped over to the jukebox, dialed up $5 worth of John Prine, Jimmy Buffett, Hank Williams, Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel and a bunch more and steped outside for a smoke.

As I said, the entire bar was empty when I went outside, but when I got back, Larry was perched on the stool next to my post.

We introduced each other and Larry said he liked my music picks.

I learned that Larry was retired and divorced, had sold his home down the Bitterroot and had a little place here in town.

Larry's main theme of conversation was, as a Viet Nam vet having been home for nearly 50 years from his tour, he was still stuck on "Why the hell were we there?".

He wasn't militant or political about it, he was just a kind old man that was still troubled...no, I'll say sad not troubled, about why our government sent a bunch of boys half way around the world to shoot and get shot at by a bunch of people that had nothing to do with us.

We talked about how the military industrial complex of our country depends on a steady stream of young people to keep getting shot just to fil the billionaires pockets,

Like I say, he wasn't worked up about it.  He was past being angry about it.  He was just sad.

And the music I picked on the jukebox made him not so sad, so he came over to say "hi".

He was separated from people he knew by a gun.

And he felt connected to people by the poetry and songs of Hank Williams and the rest.

Two sides of America's GNP.

Talk to you soon.

Squirrels on Mars - 5-24-16 - Meeting Missoula @ Open Mic

I met a couple of new guys on the old open ic circuit here in my new hometown of Missoula.  A couple of guys in their early 20's, Sean and Colby.  They play as a band called
Squirrels on Mars.  Their FaceBook page describes them as just a couple of sensitive guys who like Faith Hill.

That's a really horrible likeness of Sean, but DAMN did I nail Colby.

Sean plays guitar and sings and Colby plays drums and harmonizes.  At open mics Colby usually plays bass (easier to tote around) and they sound great.  I got to see them at the Imagine Nation Brewing Co. where they keep a drum kit set up and got to hear them in full gear.

A couple of really nice guys who have some really great songs.  Stuff like the one about "life going on and on...and on and on and on...and on and on" and my favorite sing along of theirs "I Like Being Unemployed".

Solid stuff.

This is a really talented town that seems to attract even more talent.

Talk to you soon.

A New Song and Writing More - 5-19-16

Last night I again hit the open mic road.  Wednesday's a good one with The Starving Artist Cafe at 6 and The VFW at 9.

I did a nod to Guy Clark (who died on Tuesday) at "Starving Artist.  I did "Black Diamond Strings", "The Cape", "Dublin Blues" and "Stuff That Works".  That made me happy.

Then I headed up to the VFW and did my own stuff.  I haven't written a new song in years, but just this Monday I did.  There's a place here in Missoula called The Oxford Saloon and it's a great place, too.  The diviest of dive bars with the greasiest of cheeseburgers and breakfasts and a long history which includes selling booze and gambling during some times in our country's history when those things weren't really allowed.

It's always struck me odd, that this place shared a name with one of the finest institutes of higher education in the world.  Then as I got older, it dawned on me, just how many smart people I've met at  the Oxford.

So I wrote a song for all of them.  There's a few lines being flubbed here, but you'll get the idea.

"The Ballad of the Ode to the Legend of the Oxford Scholar and Other Stories"

It's been a hit at the couple places I've sung it.  Makes me want to write more. 

It's like a lyric sketchbook.  So it counts.

Talk to you soon.

Meeting Missoula Flathead Lake Brewing Co. - 5-16-16 - Chuckdawg and the Wake for Paul

Meeting Missoula installment 562A.

Proving NO ONE sits alone in this town.

Chuckdawg

A few weeks ago after grabbing a quick bite to eat, I noticed The Flathead Lake Brewing Co. was right next door with a tap room on the 2nd floor above the crowded restaurant.  So I says to myself, "Self?" I says, "What say we go nurse a beer and see how good they make it and stare out that 2nd story window while we do it?".  I agreed with myself and headed on over.

I didn't go inside the restaurant to find the way up because right next to the patio was an external door leading to a flight of stairs.  So ups I goes.

The staircase is long, narrow and steep with just drywall walls with a light coat of paint on them.  They reminded me of a staircase I had gone up in a bad place in Tijuana once.  When I got to the 2nd floor landing, it was just that.  The landing.  The hallway that should lead to the 2nd floor was boarded up.

I thought that maybe the sign downstairs was old and the tap room was really on the 3rd floor, so I turned past the ATM that was there in the bare hall and went up the next flight of stairs.

At the top of these was a little room off to the side with a tiny bar, about 15 people, a toddler, a dog and a sectional couch.  Tables at the other end by the windows I had seen from the street and a few more people on the balcony.  I went in.

Standing at the bar I was behind a woman ordering Moscow Mules for her husband and herself.  I thought "How strange.  A brewery tap room with a full bar?".  This was clue number 3 that I ignore.  Or maybe 4 or 5, I ost track.  The woman turned around, seemed stunned that she didn't recognize me, stuck out her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Susan."  I introduced myself and then ordered a beer.

I got my beer and went to the opposite side of the room by the windows to take a look at my new hometown from a different angle and a guy holding a tall boy can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer came up to my table and introduced himself.

"Hi!  I'm Chuckdawg!".  I said, "Nice to meet you Chuck.".  He came back with a smile and said, "No.  Chuckdawg.  All one word.".  I smiled and asked, "Not even a hyphen?".  He said, "Not even a hyphen", and sat down across from me.

He asked how I knew Paul, then all of the tiny clues that I was in the wrong place came crashing into my feeble brain.  I asked if this was a private party?  His face went blank and his eyes got wide and said, "Yeah.  This is for my friend Paul.  He committed suicide last week."

Good move Jeff.

I apologized and stood, explained my confusion and said I should leave.  He replied, "Well, you probably don't WANT to be here.  It's a wake.".

Pause.

"Unless you'd like me to tell you about my friend Paul.".

I smiled and sat back down and said that I would very much like to hear about his friend.

He explained how he had grown up with Paul and they were always good friends, but a couple years ago Paul started acting differently.  He became confrontational and violent, wanting to fight every time he saw Chuckdawg.  Chuckdawg eventually estranged himself from Paul and hadn't been in contact with him for 2 years.  In fact, though he knew all the others in the room, he hadn't talked to them for as long.

I realized that Chuckdawg was at a friends wake whom he didn't really know anymore with a bunch of people that he used to know, but didn't anymore.  And he just wanted to talk about his friend.

And I was in the wrong place at the right time to listen.

Somewhere in the middle of his story-telling, Chuckdawg drunkenly meandered off mid-sentence and wandered out onto the balcony with some people he used to know and started up the conversation with them.  I ducked out.

It was a good day.

No one sits alone in this town.

Talk to you soon.

Meeting Missoula @ Open Mic - 5-13-16 - Michael the Left Handed Hippie

YIPES!

I missed my favorite 2 open mic nights this week!

Monday at The Imagine Nation Brewing Co. was pre-empted for a bands CD release party, to that was out and then I missed Wednesdays at The Starving Artist Cafe because (not blaming this guy, I am a fan) Bernie Sanders blew into town for a rally about 100 yards from where I work, so I took the bus and couldn't make it to the cafe on time.

Luckily, I've met lots of cool people at these and have plenty of blog fodder even if I miss one.

This is Michael.

Michael was one of the first people I met at my first outing at The Eagles Aerie (1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month, if you're keeping track at home) and he's always been a happy friendly guy.  Writes all of his own stuff from passionate love songs where he sings "Your love is like a canyon" to the one about that "Mother fucking dog" that bit his finger that one time.  I see him most often at Imagine Nation lately though.  Always good to see him.

He has that unsettling habit of playing left handed.  I guess he can't help it.  ;)

Sometimes wearing his hair in a "man-bun" or "top-knot" I like him anyway.  

Talk to you soon. 

Dragons are Perennials - 5-12-16 - A Carousel for Missoula

So I have this gig down at "A Carousel for Missoula" here in my new hometown.  I've mentioned briefly before that it's a beautiful old carousel with some updates that make it a real community type dealy,

The original innards and structure of the carousel are from 1918.  Refurbished, repainted, remachined, retooled by volunteers.  Carvers were trained in the art of making carousel horses, and each and every one is hand carved and hand painted.  Each horse was "adopted" by a company or a family here in Missoula, who each got to design their own horse.  Each horse is laden with images and objects that mean something specifically to the adopters, so every horse is COMPLETELY unique and a true work of art.

There are 2 carriages, 37 horses and 1 dragon on the carousel.

1 dragon.

Which nearly EVERY kid from 2-60 wants to ride.

Kids still love dragons.

And they're right to.  Dragons are pretty cool.

Talk to you soon.

Meeting Missoula @ Open Mic - 5-10-16 - Richard of the Dozen String Slide Guitar

More folks I've met at Open Mics.

Richard.  The guy with the dozen-string slide guitar.

Richard may be the first person I met at one of the music open mics I hit.  It was at The Fraternal Order of the Eagles,  Aerie #32.  They do open mic every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month and it was my first try at getting up at embarrassing myself.

Richard got up with a Dobro and a slide on his finger, said something like, "I just moved here, so pardon my Chicago...er...Midwest accent." and then knocked me out with  his playing.

I had to get up after him.  Sheesh.

At the end of my set though, he came up to me, shook my hand and said how much he liked my stuff.

Missoula.  Home of REALLY talented musicians, and not a A-hole in the bunch.

The next open mic two weeks later he showed up with a slide on his finger again, but this time he had his 12 string guitar with him.

Sheesh

Good thing he's such a nice guy or I'd hate him.  As nice and friendly a guy as he is talented.  Maybe more so.

I've seen Richard all over the place now.  The Eagles, Imagine Nation Brewery, The Starving Artist Cafe and even The Ole Beck VFW Post 209.

One time he actually brought a 4 string cigar box guitar.

One time he brought a case full of harmonicas and a flute, just hoping to jam with somebody else.

This is a great town.

Talk to you soon.

Meeting Missoula, Oxford Edition part 326A - 5-5-16 - Night Shift Dave!

I stopped into the Oxford last Sunday about 4:30 for a little break and met this fella here.

I suppose I'm lucky to have met him at all.  Seems he works the night shift 12 am to 8 am, "swamping" the Ox.  He had only come out in the daylight because he "Just needed to see what people looked like.".  Hazzards of night shift work.

It's probably why he struck up a conversation with me.  Probably not to hear what I might have to say or to discuss whatever hot topic was in the news, but to see if his voice worked and if he could form sentences.  :)

So we talked.

Seems that DAve had lived in Southern California for about 30 years, too (a running theme?) and worked as a carpenter in the movie/TV industry.  He was hired as an assistant on the first season of "Tales From the Crypt", and by season 3 he was in charge.  "Every set you saw on that show from then on was built by me." he proudly says.  "I'd get these orders for these weird sets and would OK them without even knowing where I'd get the materials for them." he winked,  "But you can get anything in LA."

"Everybody loved me in LA.  Those plastic, fake people you hear about?  They're everywhere, and that's why people liked me.  I was the only 'real' person they knew."

He seemed just as proud of his job swamping the 60 year old saloon.  "Tonight's my big night.  11 hours.  And I'll WORK 11 hours, too.  No 1/2 hour breaks for lunch...I nibble a little and keep working.  I don't mind though, the owner's my friend and she needs help."

"11 hours is NOTHING!  I spent the last few years building bridges.  There's no LIGHT work when you're building bridges.  You work straight through and work hard."

He finished his beer and stepped out into the sunlight.  It was going to be daylight for another 3-4 hours and he'd sleep for another 3-4 hours past that before his 11 hour shift.

Naw, that ain't workin'.  THAT's the way you do it.  You play the guitar on the MTV.

THAT ain't workin'.  THAT's the way you do it.  Get your money for nothin' and your chicks for free.

"Money for Nothing"

Talk to you later.

Meeting Missoula, Oxford Edition part 718B - 5-4-16 - Ric the Englishman Drummer

If you could make a living by meeting people in my new hometown of Missoula, I'd take the job.  Problem is, you can't help but meet them, so everybody'd have the job.

If I could

Then I would

Make money doing something that I love I'd thank my lucky stars above

If I could just get by meeting Missoulians

Than I would just get by meeting Missoulians

Put food on the table

Pay the money to the landlord

Buy some workin' clothes

But,  I ain't makin' money meeting people like I'm paid at the factory

"If I Could" paraphrased from the Tim Carroll song.

Here comes one now!

This is Ric.  R-I-C-no K.  Ric's from England originally, but now Ric's from Missoula.

I met Ric on a Sunday afternoon excursion to The Oxford Saloon.  He was in a heated (read: passionate) discussion about movies.  They were talking about their favorite films and relating the stories told and artistic turns taken, but like so many they were getting bogged down.  In trying to describe themes and stories, they would say "this actor so and so" did this or that, in a way so the other could follow along, but they had horrible memories for actors names.

"In 'Deliverance' that guy...that pretty boy...he was in...you know...'Bandit'!" when trying to remember Burt Reynolds name, for example.

The problem with that is, and the reason I find frustration in it, is people then get into a trivia game of trying to name everything that Burt Reynolds was in and the point to the tellers story is lost.

Because someone in the crowd remembers seeing Burt in "Evening Shade" doesn't propel the story of "Deliverance along in the least. 

Suddenly there's no real conversation.  Just list making.

My brain lives on lists.  It's easy for me.  So at a certain point I tried to help.

"One of the greatest under-rated movies of all time was, 'Harry and Tonto'!  It starred...whatsisname...you know that guy...Honeymooners guy..."

I shouted "ART CARNEY!  ART CARNEY!  HIS NAME IS ART CARNEY!!"

Then of course I had to apologize and explain why I had interrupted them.  I wanted to hear what he had to say about "Harry and Tonto" not play 20 questions.

He smiled and told me that he appreciated the help and understanding.

Ric and I got to talking, it turns out he had spent about 30 years in Southern California, too.  He was a drummer and lived in Venice Beach and played gigs all over the southland.  

Then one day he heard about Missoula.

I explained that I had spent 30 years there as well, but I already new about this place.  But one day I decided, "You know?  Enough bullshit.  Maybe I'll go have a beer at The Ox."

Ric smiled at me, gave me a fist bump and picked up his pool cue.  He said, "Excuse me.  I have to go to 'work'."

Then he said, "If you ever need a drummer, give me a call.  I'm the most professional drummer...in THIS town.  I like to hit things.  It's my job."

Then I drank my beer and left.

"If I Could"

Talk to you soon.

Meeting Missoula at Open Mic - 5-3-16 - The Starving Artist and Ruth!

Howdy all.  I've been exploring a little more of my new hometown of Missoula of late and meeting lots of folks.

I almost said "folks with stories to tell" and it's true that all these people probably do have great stories to tell on themselves, they just don't come out and tell you.

It's Montana, you've gotta listen if you want to hear.

I've been performing (playing guitar and singing) at a bunch of open mics around town.  There's a slew of them.  Imagine Nation brewing Co. on Monday, Stage 112 on Tuesday, Starving Artist Cafe and the Ole Beck Post of the VFW on Wednesday, "The Eagles Lodge and The Broadway on Thursday and a running competition one at The Badlander that I still haven't checked out.  And probably a few more.

Lots of creative community spaces.  Lots of talented and creative people filling them.

This is Ruth.

Ruth is an attractive woman somewhere in her mid 40's I'd say.  I've met her a few times at The Starving Artist Cafe open mic.  She usually brings along a friend who plays guitar while she sings.  This past week, her friend was out of town so she was there by herself.  She told me, "You're about to find out why my friend is the guitar player." in a way of telling me she wasn't very good.  Then she got on stage.

The Starving Artist allows 3 songs.  Ruth's first 2 were great, her guitar playing was nothing to be ashamed of, it was solid rhythm and carried her voice perfectly.  Then her guitar shyness took over.  In fact, it took her to a place I think that would have had most of us WAY more afraid than flubbing a chord change or 2 on a guitar.  She put the guitar down and pulled out a pitch pipe (the kind your 3rd grade music teacher used) and commenced singing A Capella.  She sang "Moon River".  

How a person who's nervous and insecure sings A Capella in the first place is beyond me.  And THEN to take on a Henry Mancini song???

By the time she got to the line about "My huckleberry friend", she had me in a puddle.

Missoula's got some surprises out there.  And you don't have to look that hard to find them.

Talk to you soon.

Meeting Missoulians! - 04-12-16 - Kris

I really like living here in Missoula, MT., my new hometown.  It's full of history, music, art, hippies, rednecks, great food, big mountains and lots of colorful characters.  I enjoyed sharing a tiny piece of the story of Tommy the Leprechaun on St. Patty's Day.  I think I'll like sketching and sharing tiny pieces of the stories of others I meet along the way.

About a month or better ago I was going to meet a friend for lunch.  I got downtown a little early and decided to step in to the saloon next door and have a beer while I waited for her to show up.

I was sitting there with my glass of Highlander, my sketchbook on the bar in front of me though it was closed and minding my own business (like I always do) and a few of the downtown weekday daytime drinkers wandered in.  I don't know if they have an official club or anything or if that's there name, but there they were.  A couple of the guys sat at the end of the bar talking to the bartender about last night's goings on and a young lady who was with them named Kris sat down on the stool next to me.

I was reading something on my phone and Kris was just kind of taking in the day and looking around.  After she'd been there for about 5 minutes she pointed at my sketchbook and asked, "What are you sketching?".  I tried to describe the kind of thing I liked to draw to her and she smiled and took that in too.

Then she told me how she liked to doodle a lot once as well.  She enjoyed drawing geometric shapes and designs.  getting lost in the page as her pencil made a pattern that she'd build on and then build on some more until pretty soon she knew she was done.

She said that back when she was tweaking, it was all she enjoyed doing.  She'd do a bunch of meth and then get lost in sheaves of paper and her designs.  She called herself a tweaker-doodler.

She said that while she was in prison, doodling was how she passed the time.  She could buy paper and colored pencils from the commissary cheaply and she'd spend the hours drawing page after page of these designs.  Pretty soon the other inmates got into it and would ask to have them and they would spend their hours coloring in Kris' designs.  They even were so proud of their works of art, they began hanging them up on the communal walls and comparing and complimenting and competing with each other over which was the best.

Then one day the guards made them take their drawings down.  Said that they were too distracting.  Said they made the prisoners too excitable.

She said she never doodled after that.  I asked if she did now that she's out.  She said, "No.  Since I've sobered up, I don't like it anymore.  I was a tweaker-doodler and that's all I guess.".

Then it was time to go to the restaurant next door and meet my friend and I said goodbye.  Told her I would probably see her around town again.  She smiled and told me to enjoy my lunch.

I think someone needs to go out to the prison and knock some guards' heads together.

That's my story about Kris.

Talk to you soon.

Tommy the Leprechaun - 3-17-16

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY, Y'ALL?

Here's my quick sketch of Tommy the Leprechaun, someone of whom I've recently been reminded.

Tommy lived here and about my newly adopted hometown of Missoula, MT. for more than a few years and passed away a surprising 13 years ago (can't be that long).  He spent his days wandering the streets, wishing everyone he passed by a "Fantasmagorical Day!", making balloon animals for the passing kiddies (and the pretty girls), playing guitar and singing in and in front of the town bars and occasionally taking on a job washing windows when he might decide he needed something to eat.  If he liked you, he'd hand you his business card entitling the bearer of to one free wish.

I only got to meet him once, years ago while visiting my family here.  My nephew Brian saw him coming down the street and made sure I got in Tommy's path just in time to be wished a fantasmagorical day and be washed over by this huge positive, happy personality inside this small frame.

I won't say I really "met" him.  He'd fantasmagorically and suddenly just...be known to you.

A bum?  no.  Homeless?  yes.  A tramp, a hobo, a busker, a troubadour?  MOST assuredly!  And all honorable vocations they are.

But his avocation, his raison d'etre?  He walked through a sometimes unpretty and cold world and sprinkled some magic in it.  Be it with animals made of balloons, singing a song worth singing or just reminding you that it's only your frame of mind that can make today fantasmagorical or not.

That was his free wish to you and me and everybody.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I'm sure Tommy would wish you the same.  And tomorrow he'd wish you a Happy Day After St. Patrick's Day and the day after he'd wish you a Happy 363 Days Til the Next St. Patrick's day and so on.

Tommy the Leprechaun video

Talk to you soon.

Brief Horsie - 2-19-16

Here's another quick departure from my recent regular Aesop's Fables sketches.

Here in my new hometown of Missoula, Montana, there's a community project, charitable outlet or I'm-not-all-that-sure-thingy down in the Riverwalk Park down by the Clark Fork River.  In 1995 they built a carousel.  Sounds basic on the surface, but it's a surprisingly affordable attraction for families to spend some time together, operated year round they even have shutters that surround it in the winter months.

They didn't just import some state fair cookie cutter carousel and call it good, this bad boy was built especially for the town of Missoula...INCLUDING the horses.  Hand carved by staff carvers, families that donate (I believe the going rate is $2,500) get to design their own horse, chariot or in one case a dragon!

Hand carved, hand painted community horsies for the kiddies to ride.

And every one has a name and a back story.

Here's my first cartoony sketch of one.  Horses are not easy to draw for me, especially the legs for some reason, but I'm pretty happy with this.  Sketch was smaller than I would have liked to show all the details of the design, I'll correct that later.

Here's "American Beauty" that was donated by the family of Jim and Jean Caras who own and operate "Garden City Floral and Nursery".  Adorned with American Beauty Roses and an American Flag and a Greek Flag to show Jim's patriotism and pride in his family heritage and a sash across his breast (the "too small for details" disappointment I mentioned earlier) have the faces of their four children carved into it.

This is all endlessly interesting to me and something to really take pride in my new home over.  And I think I nailed the legs.

Only 37 more to go.  :)

Talk to you soon.