While on the Houston leg of our road trip, we had dinner at Ben’s Den Tasting Room with Katelyn, Janie, and David — a food truck provided the food menu.
In 1998, the De Aldecoa family bought the then memorable Uncle Ben’s Rice manufacturing facility on Clinton Drive. Now the facility has been turned into a world-class coffee plant and distillery, expanding the beverage imperium with the creation of the Gulf Coast Distillers. Yes, the whisky I had was excellent.
Houston Skyline Viewed From Buffalo Bayou Park (August 26, 2021) — Image by kenne
We are now nearing the final leg of our road trip that began on August 7th. We have been in many states from Arizona to Maine and have taken hundreds of photos, many of which will later appear on this blog with my observations. We are now in Houston, our previous home, before moving to Tucson eleven years ago, visiting family and friends. On Thursday of this week, we had lunch at Birraporetti’s, an upscale and lavish Italian restaurant/Irish bar in the theater/business district for over 30 years. Because of the pandemic and especially the recent virus spike in the Houston area, there were only two other customers in this large eatery/bar. This was not surprising, however very sad.
Follow what you love! . . Don’t deign to ask what “they” are looking for out there. Ask what you have inside. Follow noy your interests, which change, but what you are and what you love, which will and should not change.
Houston’s Little Joe Washington (April, 2008) — Image by kenne
“Personal inconvenience, experience, and environmental impact notwithstanding, a willingness to drive all over and beyond Harris County has its rewards for the Houston blues aficionado wanting to make the rounds. Not only is that travel necessary to access the various widely separated business establishments featuring live performances on a weekly basis, but for those in the know, it’s also the key to experiencing some unique presentations of the music — both of which evoke an earlier era.”
— Roger Wood (Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, 2003)
Texas Johnny Brown at Houston’s Shakespeare Pub — Photo-Artistry by kenne (Click on Texas Johnny Brown to see archived blog posting on TJB)
Texas Johnny Brown is a major talent who simmered on the blues scene longer than all the beef stew cooked in the ’40s, the decade when he first began playing and recording. Like pianist Johnny Johnson of St. Louis, Brown is an artist who did not get a chance to record a full album as a leader until he had been in the music business more than half-a-century. Also like Johnson, the results of coming in so late in the game have been a pair of highly acclaimed, prize-winning albums including the righteous Blues Defender. Brown can take plenty of the credit, since he has taken over almost complete control of his ow arranging, production, and mixing, as well as the string bending and blues moaning. He began his career as a sideman for the Duke and Peacock outfits in the ’50s about which discographers make comments such as “… the record keeping at that time was less than desirable.” As a result, some of Brown’s playing on releases by artists such as Lightnin’ Hopkins and Joe Hinton remains uncredited. The guitarist, singer, and songwriter began his professional career as an original member of the great Amos Milburn band known as the Aladdin Chickenshackers. Brown’s picking is killer on early Aladdin recordings by both Milburn, and on Ruth Brown’s first Atlantic sides. Atlantic allowed Brown to make a few recordings of his own in 1949, buoyed by the enthusiasm the label had for Milburn, who played behind his sideman on these sessions along with the rest of the Aladdin Chickenshackers. T-Bone Walker is the dominating force in Brown’s stylistic palette, an influence that was considered something of a driving permit for any guitarist venturing out of Houston during this period. Before finally getting the biggie recording opportunities in the late ’90s, Brown did an ARC session in Houston in the early ’50s that was never released. He also performed regularly with Junior Parker during that decade, remaining based out of Houston. As a songwriter, Brown’s most famous work is “Two Steps from the Blues,” a big hit for Bobby “Blue” Bland, with whom he also toured as a lead guitarist in the ’50s and ’60s. By the ’80s, he was considered only sporadically active on the blues scene, but this turned out to be only a temporary brown-out, so to speak.
Until COVID-19, gentrification was the big enemy of live music venues.
Now many these of these venues have closed forever because of the pandemic.
Maybe it’s time to bring back the old fashion bandstand in public parks.
People getting together to experience live music is a necessary
part of developing and maintaining a sense of community.
— kenne
Blue Door Texas Ice House On A Sunday Afternoon In East Texas (10/26/01) — Photo-Essay by kenne
Gene Kelton at the Blue Door Texas Ice House
Blue Door Texas Ice House
Blue Door Texas Ice House
Blue Door Texas Ice House
Blue Door Texas Ice House
Sunday at The Blue Door
Blue Door Texas Ice House
Gene Kelton at the Blue Door
Dancing to the Music of Gene Kelton and the Die Hards
(Gentrification Killed the Blue Door Years Ago.)
We first saw Gary Clark Jr. in Humble, Texas at the Cactus Moon at age sixteen (November 2000). The original image for the above art was taken the following September at the Miller Outdoor Theater in Houston where he appeared with Diunna Greenleaf.
Texas Johnny Brown at The Shakespeare Pub In Houston (11/15/09) Photo-Artistry by kenne
“We used to have guitars sessions,
guitar battles on Sunday out there at Club Matinee.
And there’d be about four or five of us there,
and man, guitars would be ringing like everything!
It was wild!”
— Texas Johnny Brown (Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues)
Time To Rest The Feet (FotoFest 10/24/02) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Blue Door Texas Ice House On A Sunday Afternoon In East Texas (10/26/01) — Photo-Essay by kenne
Texas Johnny Brown at The 
