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)
Hotel Table Lamp (2001) — Computer Painting by kenne
Light the first light of evening, as in a room
In which we rest and, for small reason, think The world imagined is the ultimate good. This is, therefore, the intensest rendezvous.
— from Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour by Wallace Stevens
(Shared on this day as we stay overnight in Ft. Stockton on our return trip from Houston to Tucson.)
Currently, at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston through January 28, 2018, is a must see fashion experience, The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta, which celebrates the illustrious life and career of the renowned fashion designer. Here are four of nearly 70 ensembles in the exhibit.
We moved to Tucson, Arizona seven years ago after living many years in the Houston area. When we return to visit family and friends, we stay with daughter Jill in Kingwood. During most visits, I go for walks in East End Park. The park takes in an area on the shore of Lake Houston. A lot of the recent flooding in Kingwood from Hurricane Harvey resulted from the lake overflowing.
Walking the trails in the park yesterday I dealt with some trails impassable, mud, debris, humid heat and many mosquitos. The gray line marking the trees and bushes in many cases was 15 feet above the ground. Now a week after cresting, most of the water is back to a normal level. Since the park has many path bridges, I was surprised to see they were still intact after all the high-water flooding.
— kenne
Walking In A World Of Green And Gray — Images by kenne
(Click on any of the images to view in a slideshow format.)
We are staying with daughter Jill in Houston where many are starting the recovery process from Harvey. Jill’s house is on a street that goes down hill in the direction of Lake Houston. During the record setting rains, you could see the water coming up the street. Fortunately, the water stopped at her property edge. What follows are photos of homes that were flooded in her neighborhood.
— kenne
“Texas Flood”
Well there’s floodin’ down in Texas All of the telephone lines are down Well there’s floodin’ down in Texas All of the telephone lines are down And I’ve been tryin’ to call my baby Lord and I can’t get a single sound
Well dark clouds are rollin’ in Man I’m standin’ out in the rain Well dark clouds are rollin’ in Man I’m standin’ out in the rain Yeah flood water keep a rollin’ Man it’s about to drive poor me insane
Well I’m leavin’ you baby Lord and I’m goin’ back home to stay Well I’m leavin’ you baby Lord and I’m goin’ back home to stay Well back home are no floods or tornados Baby and the sun shines every day
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
Desert Rosemallow (Hibiscus coulteri) — Image by kenne
Blues Musician, Sherman Robertson at the Old Rhythm Room in Houston (July 2004) — Digital Painting by kenne
Music Explosion — Abstract Image of Diunna Greenleaf by kenne
Diunna Greenleaf (CD Party, December 2006)
Hotel Table Lamp (2001) — Computer Painting by kenne
Images by kenne
Her Smile — Image by kenne
A new HEB Grocery Flooded in Kingwood
Flooded Whataburger
Waterline Tells the Story
A Randalls Grocery
LaMadeleine French Bakery and Cafe
LaMadeleine French Bakery and Cafe
No Gas at this Station. The tanker was turned away because of water in the underground tanks.
Cleaning Up for Business
A New Business Now Closed — Will Not Be Raising Cane Anytime Soon.
A Local Business In Kingwood
A Picture Representing Thousands of Cars in Houston — Images by kenne
Wildflower Art — Image by kenne
Images by kenne
