Re Ann, Justice, and Katelyn after Katelyn’s Graduation on May 28, 2022 — Image by kenne
“Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.”
— from Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young by Mary Schmich
Chase, December 12, 2005 — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Chase (October 11, 2005) — Image by kenne
Chase and Grandma Joy (May 28, 2005) — Image by kenne
You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.
Last week James, Jill, and Hugh visited us for six days from Houston. In addition to taking in sites around Tucson, we went north to Sedona, Flagstaff, and The Grand Canyon. Here are a few images from the Sedona area.
Dancing to the Blues at Houston’s, Mr. Gino’s Lounge (03/09/08) — Image by kenne
The Blues
“The fundamental form in all of American music — that’s what the blues is. It’s in every folk song, The sound of the banjo and the sound of the guitar. It’s in the sound of ragtime, it’s in the sound of John Philip Sousa’s marches. It’s hard to get the blues out of your sound. Blues is also call and response, which is democratic form. It generally has lyrics that described something tragic or sad. But many times it reverses that and gives you something that’s hopeful.”
Pee Wee Stephens, Pete Mayes, Grady Gaines, Calvin Owens, Joe “Guitar” Hughes,
and I don’t know the gentleman playing bass on the stage at Billy Blues (1999)
— Image by kenne
During our time living in the Houston area, Joy and I were very much into live music, especially the blues. Although there are still plenty of blues venues, many have passed with time. One such place was Billy Blues, on Richmond Avenue on Houston’s trendy westside. Regional and nationally known blues musicians played there for about seven years. Known for its 63-foot-tall saxophone made of Volkswagen Beetle parts and beer kegs, the venue never seemed to capture the same blues feeling of clubs in Houston’s working-class 3rd and 5th Ward communities. “I love the blues. It’s a feeling,” Martha Turner said to Roger Wood in his book Down In Houston: Bayou City Blues. “You got to feel a song, you know. When a person comes into a club to see you, they enjoy your expression, not so much as what you’re singing. They watch your face.”
“You watch this person sing a song,
and it’s almost like you’re doing it yourself.
Know what I’m talking about?
You enjoy that blues.
The Blues is something you can identify with.” (Martha Turner)
During these trying times, what better way of coming together than with The Blues, and Buddy Guy reminds us,
“. . . you treat everybody just the way you want them to treat you.”
— kenne
Lyrics
I've been around a while
I know wrong from right
And since a long time ago
Things been always black and white
Just like you can't judge a book by the cover
We all gotta be careful
How we treat one another
I say
Skin deep, skin deep
Underneath we all look same
Skin deep, skin deep
Underneath, don't we all look the same?
A man in Louisiana
He never called me by my name
He said "boy do this and boy do that"
But I never once complained
I knew he had a good heart
But he just didn't understand
That I needed to be treated
Just like any other man
Skin deep, skin deep
Underneath, don't we all look the same?
Skin deep, skin deep
Underneath we all look the same
I sat my little child down
When he was old enough to know
I said "I fear in this big wide world
You're gonna meet all kinda folks"
I said "Son it all comes down to just one simple rule
That you treat everybody just the way
You want them to treat you"
Skin deep, skin deep
Underneath, don't we all look the same?
Skin deep, skin deep
Underneath we all look the same
Skin deep, skin deep
Underneath, don't we all look the same? Yeah
Skin deep, skin deep
Underneath we just all look the same (the same, yeah)
Skin deep (treat everybody), skin deep
Skin deep, skin deep
All look, all look the same
Skin deep, skin deep
Don't we all look the same?
“For the latter half of the twentieth century, Houston has been home to what the sociologist Robert D. Bullard has identified as perhaps, ‘the largest block community in the South.’ More to the point, as David Nelson says in an editorial in Living Blues magazine, the city is also the birthplace for ‘some of the most significant developments in modern blues.'”
— from Down In Houston-Bayou City Blues by Roger Woods
Going through some old photos, I found some I took at a 2002 Fotofest event, State of the Blues. Since we were recently in Houston visiting family, I thought this would be an appropriate time to revisit the State of The Blues.
— kenne
Joe “Guitar” Hughes (Fotofest 2002)
Joe “Guitar” Hughes (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Oscar Obear (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002)
Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002)
Trudy Lynn and Joe Hughes with Diunna Greenleaf Looking On (Fotofest 2002)
Joy & Kenne at a Fund-raiser for the Harris County Sheriff (04/27/01) 
Dancing to the Blues at Houston’s, Mr. Gino’s Lounge (03/09/08) — Image by kenne
Pee Wee Stephens, Pete Mayes, Grady Gaines, Calvin Owens, Joe “Guitar” Hughes,
Katelyn Turner (04/01/05)– Image by kenne
Down In Houston Blues — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Blues Legend 
Joe “Guitar” Hughes (Fotofest 2002)
Joe “Guitar” Hughes (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Oscar Obear (Fotofest 2002)
Joe Hughes and Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002) 
Joe Hughes and Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002) 
Trudy Lynn (Fotofest 2002) 
Trudy Lynn and Joe Hughes with Diunna Greenleaf Looking On (Fotofest 2002)
Fotofest 2002 — Images by kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 