“That’s Super Stuff!” “Make Stuff” “I Love Free Stuff” “The Good Stuff” “My Stuff” “Stuff in My Life” “Stuff That Works”
“The Right Stuff”
“How’s Your Stuff?”
There are so many variations on the use of the word stuff. This last May we attended the last “Ken and Mary’s Blues Project” house concert in Porter, Texas. Before the music started, Kenneth Harris told the story of how the Project came about from his listening to Sunday blues on Houston’s KPFT. One Sunday he was listening to Nuri Nuri’s Blues Brunch.
“. . . he [Nuri] was interviewing this guy, and they played some of his stuff, and I called Nuri on the phone, and I said Nuri do you know anybody in the Houston area that can do that type of stuff, and he told me you meet me at Billy Blue’s like next Saturday night.”
Long story short, Kenneth found that stuff in the form of the Moe Hansum Band.
As I listen to Kenneth’s story I couldn’t help but think of Guy Clark’s “Stuff that Works.”
Stuff that works, stuff that holds up The kind of stuff you don’ hang on the wall Stuff that’ real, stuff you feel The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall
Continuing on this theme of “Stuff,” in the 1970’s there was a jazz-funk band called “Stuff.” The members were Gordon Edwards (bass), Richard Tee (keyboards), Eric Gale (guitar), Cornell Dupree (guitar), Chris Parker (drums), and later Steve Gadd (drums).
There is good stuff and not so good stuff, because of what we do with our stuff. We have too much stuff. Earth’s beauty is being scarred by the stuff we throw away daily. As someone who spends a lot of time outdoors admiring nature’s beauty, I see stuff on our trails, hanging in trees, blowing in the wind, in our lakes and streams.
In December of 2007, a short documentary was released. The documentary was critical of excessive consumerism and promotes sustainability, which has gone from a movie to a movement over the last ten years — a Community of more than a million changemakers worldwide, working to build a more healthy and just planet. This land is our land! You can join the movement.
Archie Bell, Ken and Mary Harris (May 20, 2017) Image by kenne
Video by kenne
Hi everybody I’m Archie Bell of the Drells, from Houston, Texas We don’t only sing But we dance just as good as we walk In Houston, we just started a new dance Called the Tighten Up This is the music we tighten up with
First tighten up on the drums Come on now, drummer I want you to tighten it up for me now, oh, yeah Tighten up on that bass now Tighten it up, ha, ha, yeah Now let that guitar fall in Oh, yeah . . . (click here for all the lyrics)
They called it a project, a Blues Project, but really,
it was a party — a party for
family and friends to share
happy times, talk about living life, and a love for good old blues music.
Once this party began there would be no stopping it, even when forced undercover
of rain, friends laugh and
talk about déjà vu the evening had become.
Just sitting on the front porch doing that front porch thing telling stories now embellished by all the good times dancing and singing the night away in the woods off Old Houston Road.
The Blues Project may be over so listen if the night will lead you to the music, the stories told and smile a smile one more time for each Project was just a rehearsal for what our tomorrows will bring.
— kenne
Kenneth Harris shares the story of how Ken & Mary’s Blues Project came about. (May 20, 2017)
Panels in Kenneth Harris’s Fence, Porter, Texas — Images by kenne
(Click on any image to see in a slideshow format.)
Currently, Ken’s fence has 31 panels and growing. I took photos of eight before the music started at Ken and Mary’s Blues Project, May 20, 2017, in Porter, Texas. His fence has got to be one of the most creative fences in Texas. Great work, Ken!
Archie Bell at Ken & Mary’s Blues Project — Computer Art by kenne
Houston, Texas has a lot of legionary musicians, not the lease is Archie Bell. You all timers, like myself will remember the 50’s & 60’s group, Archie Bell & the Drells. Remember “Tighten Up?” When it comes to great R&B, Archie Bell is among the best! His appearance at Ken & Mary’s Blues Project — The Last Waltz was a real blessing for those of us who have attended the Blues Project concerts over the years.
Ken & Mary’s Blues Project — The Last Waltz
Computer Art by kenne
Down the east Texas road, there is rain in the wind as the musicians’ setup for an evening of the blues with friends gathering the last time at Ken and Mary’s Blues Project,
the best house concert ever.
In recent years we’ve missed some of the concerts in
the woods having moved
to the desert southwest, then last February we received word of the “Last Waltz” for the Blues Project — plans were made to immediately.
With Coleman cooler,
yard chairs and
cameras in tow we walked over old
bottle caps toward the Blues Project stage, to be greeted with hugs and kisses — Welcome!
Mary announced the food
was ready and Ken shared some
background on the beginning
of what became the Blues Project.
Not long after the music began, lighting lit up the darkening clouds with thunder adding to
the magical evening.
Other than an occasional drop or two, the music played on until, as if the plugged was pulled, the dark sky began to fall. A rain delay was called as the tarps were brought out to covered the equipment.
Using our smartphones we could see radar showing the rain would be lasting for an hour or more. As has happened in the past, the musicians gathered inside to continue an evening of music.
Most of those who remained were inside or on outside porches, knowing the best of the evening was yet to come — jamming the night away on a hot, humid night in the piney woods of east Texas.
It may be the last waltz
for the Blues Project
but that don’t mean
the party is over,
the music still plays on
and on, and on — may
we stay forever young.
We’ve got to go, but our friends will stick around.
Those blessèd structures, plot and rhyme– why are they no help to me now I want to make something imagined, not recalled? I hear the noise of my own voice: The painter’s vision is not a lens, it trembles to caress the light. But sometimes everything I write with the threadbare art of my eye seems a snapshot, lurid, rapid, garish, grouped, heightened from life, yet paralyzed by fact. All’s misalliance. Yet why not say what happened? Pray for the grace of accuracy Vermeer gave to the sun’s illumination stealing like the tide across a map to his girl solid with yearning. We are poor passing facts, warned by that to give each figure in the photograph his living name.
“A Blast From The Past” Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, December 2003 — Image by kenne
Sadly, several of those playing in this Ken & Mary’s Blues Project house concert are no longer with us — those were the days with some of the best blues ever coming out of east Texas.
Jonn Richardson, Diunna Greenleaf and Bob Corritore — Image by kenne
We have thought more about Houston lately and our many “blues” friends. Since moving to Tucson from The Woodlands, we have stayed in touch via the Internet, social media and other electronic media. Friday, we learned via Facebook that our good friend, Mary Harris (aka, Ken & Mary of Ken & Mary’s Blues Project) was in the hospital after having a lung collapse — gotta be hard on breathing! The news is good, she is resting and getting better all the time.
Each time we go to Houston visiting family, we tried to include friends, which is not always easy. So, Ken & Mary are a “must see,” because we love them and they are soooo connected to all our blues friends in the Houston area, therefore we try to schedule trips around Ken & Mary’s house concerts. (Sometimes we can only schedule lunch.) We could go on and on with superlatives, but we will let past and future posting on the blues and Ken & Mary do the talking.
When time allows, we stream KPFT on Sunday morning, listening to Mr. & Mrs. V, who we are pleased to say have been a part of our circle of friends for almost as long as we have known Ken & Mary — our circle has grown to include blues in Tucson and Phoenix, with the likes of Marty Kool , KXCI, and all the great blues Bob Corritore brings into Arizona at his “Rhythm Room” in Phoenix.
This morning, we were streaming KPFT, knowing the the V’s would mention Mary’s hospitalization. We stepped away from the computer for a moment, when returning we heard Diunna Greenleaf singing one of our favorite Diunna songs, “Growing Up and Growing Old.” Given Mary’s situation, having heard Diunna sing it on several occasions, plus having the CD, I kept saying to myself, “myself, I thing I videoed her singing this song when she and Jonn were here at Plaza Palomino’s Rhythm & Roots Concert Series, Tucson, Arizona, and the Bisbee Blues Festival. Hoping that I had not lost the clips from their time here in September 2012, my Sunday became an “age like fine wine” project, in more ways than one.
Here’s the video, dedicated to Mary — hope we continue to hear great news on your recovery, Mary!
kenne & joy
“I aspire to inspire, before I expire.”
— Diunna Greenleaf