Sunday Afternoon At Gruene Hall — Photo-Artistry by kenne
‘The Place’
Gruene Hall took on the mantel
‘Texas’s Oldest Dance Hall’
after Hurricane Katina destroyed
the Double Bayou Dance Hall in 2007
locally called ‘The Place’ for 65 years —
there was blues in this place
music by the people for the poor
served up with beer and bar-b-q
— kenne
Double Bayou Dance Hall (‘The Place’)
Full Moon Over Double Bayou — Photo-Artistry by kenne
– Carl Sandburg
Raising Funds For The Friends of The Blues (09/06/02) — Images by kenne
Jack “Old Jules” Purcell — Photo-Artistry by kenne
In June of 2006 Old Jules wrote on his blog So Far From Heaven “The More It Stays The Same.”
I hadn’t watched Easy Rider (Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson, circa 1968) in three decades.
When I saw it again this past weekend I appreciated it again for the first time:
Nicholson: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can’t understand what’s gone wrong with it.
Hopper: Huh. Man, everybody got chicken, that’s what happened, man. Hey, we can’t even get into like, uh, second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel. You dig? They think we’re gonna cut their throat or something, man. They’re scared, man.
Nicholson: Oh, they’re not scared of you. They’re scared of what you represent to ’em.
Hopper: Hey man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody needs a haircut.
Nicholson: Oh no. What you represent to them is freedom.
Hopper: What the hell’s wrong with freedom, man? That’s what it’s all about.
Nicholson: Oh yeah, that’s right, that’s what it’s all about, all right. But talkin’ about it and bein’ it – that’s two different things.
I mean, it’s real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace.
‘Course, don’t ever tell anybody that they’re not free ’cause then they’re gonna get real busy killin’ and maimin’ to prove to you that they are.
Oh yeah, they’re gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it’s gonna scare ’em.
Hopper: Mmmm, well, that don’t make ’em runnin’ scared.
Nicholson: No, it makes ’em dangerous.
Three young men searching for America who found it wasn’t what they bargained for.
Jack
Double Bayou Dancehall (October 19, 2002) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
DOUBLE BAYOU, THAT IS
— kenne
Note: Click on the Double Bayou Dancehall below the top image
to see a video on the history of dancehall.
Computer Art by kenne
Years ago, my friend Lindy and I were driving in
Central Texas to conduct a teacher in-service
when we saw an “Entering Mexia” sign.
Not being from Texas, I said, “Oh! We are
entering Mex-ee-uh.”
“No, you Yankee! That’s Mu-hay-uh,” she said.
We kept arguing, and finally, we decided to
settle the argument by stopping at the first
place we came to, go inside and ask a
local citizen. We went in, and I asked the girl
behind the counter to very slowly pronounce
the name of the place. She said,
“D-A-I-R-Y-Q-U-E-E-N.”
The Double Bayou Dance Hall, “The Place”, where you could get good smoke brisket
and local women offered homemade pecan, lemon meringue and sweet potato pies. (October 19, 2002) — Image by kenne
Break Between Sets at the Double Bayou Dance Hall, “The Place” (May 25, 2003) — Image by kenne
Dave Pierce — Images & Video by kenne
April 12, 2009 Dave had friends and family over for a crawfish boil, after which he played guitar and sang some of his songs. One of the songs was the recently written, “You Can’t See Main Street from Wall Street.”
Early Morning in Ft. Stockton, Texas — Images by kenne
Slideshow of images driving icy roads in west Texas, January 3, 2015.
The Woodlands, Texas, October 10, 2004 — Images by kenne
(CLICK ON ANY OF THE IMAGES TO SEE A LARGER VIEW IN A SLIDESHOW FORMAT.)
After Virginia passed away this past April, I began going through photos to have in a video. I thought I had identified all family images with her, however, recently I was looking for an old document and discovered untitled images misfiled in a folder, “Master Plan ISD.” I wonder how many others I may have misfiled.
— kenne
Billy Joe Shaver, Conroe, Texas (June 3, 2006) — Image by kenne
I was listening to NPR this morning and there was a segment on one of my favorite country singer/songwriters, Billy Joe Shaver. His songs are probably better known than he is — Billy Joe Shaver Writes Country Songs — And Lives Them, Too. If you didn’t hear the segment, click on the segment title — he’s real country!
If you want to get even more of a feel for who is Billy Joe Shaver, watch the following video:
Somedays, the hillbilly in me just comes out — like I can’t help it.
kenne
East Texas Blues (Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, August 20, 2005) — Image by kenne
— from “Lone Star Blues” lyrics by Delbert McClinton
Surfing Off The Galveston Island Seawall — Image by kenne
Alms for the Shore
Ruthie Foster and Diunna Greenleaf, Heritage Place, Conroe, Texas (June 2, 2005) — Image by kenne
Kenne, Kika & Joy On Empty Patio (June 21, 2010)
Looking back on our move from The Woodlands, Texas to Tucson, I’m not sure which one of us may have experienced the most anxiety. One might think it would have been the cat, Kika (who passed away this past December), but Joy would probably argue that point. In many ways we have adjusted well to our new home, town and friends.
Now we are starting our fifth year here, longer than most friends and family would have predicted, especially since Joy has not grown to love southern Arizona as I have — we may very well be considering a different five-year plan after this year.
The four years we have lived here have allowed us to experience most of the things we took into consideration in making the decision to make the move: a new adventure, closer to Joy’s mother and siblings. We are now moving into our fifth year in the Catalina Foothills, not yet knowing what will be driving our next five-year plan, which is why I share again the following poem, “Birthday.” The poem could have very easily been titled, “Life.”
