Rock's Road Diary

The Skinny

2005-12-18T15:20:00.000-06:00

Things used to be different. Yup. Gruene Hall was not a huge crowd this time around, but, they were a skinny crowd, and we like that. Elvis and Jesus opened up for Santa across town so things were a bit slow that night, but not to worry, Cooder has come together recently more than we ever thought possible, musically speaking of course. And I must apologize, if you haven't been at our shows lately, you don't really suck, and you aren't stupid, and you're probably not an idiot, but you have missed some glorious musical magic. And you're gay.

Our next show was at the Rockin Rodeo in Denton with Randy Rogers, a righteous romping regalia ripping into to the Arctic air. Yea it was butt biting cold. Poor Randy though, if he could only draw a crowd, or have some good songs, or get a good band. It was packed and one fun effer to play. (We'll be back around Feb. 23rd) The next night found our happy hearts hopping on down to San Angelo to Graham Central Station, our first time back to this particular stop since the late 1990's. Another great crowd and this one was decked with dancers and old friends. Also our best crowd in San Jello in a long time. This is a party town and we were happy to be back. We didn't get to go see Blaine, he had Billy Joe Shaver in town, and had to hear a little preaching.

Saturday found us fireside, Houston, Texas, the Firehouse Saloon, a fairly familiar favorite for the Fab five. (all right, I'll quit with the allit. in a bit) Suki, the in-house chef fed us famously and the folks who had come in looking for a fire truck, or a fireman, or some kind of help along those lines, finally figured out after three tequila shots, this was not "that" kind of firehouse and left screaming, "Fire." But, we all had a great time playing with the pencils on the benches and listening to the jukebox until the live music sparked the night off. Fans found the U-joints and Josh Owens starting the show with their own firedrills, so the night was packed with plenty of precautionary measures leading up to the actual pyrotechnics Cooder had to offer that night. FIRE.

Sunday we were off, and uh, I don't remember what we did. Monday we floated over to the 25th BGM Christmas party, at the Tavern in the Gruene, New Braunfels, with all kinds of yea-who's, Johnny Bush, Tommy Alverson, Ryan James, the Pearratz, Darren Tripp - DJ from a long way away, Twangcast folks, and of course Bill and Debbie Green and their whole entourage. Alot of other folks, who I'm not remembering, but who we love nonetheless. It was an awesome party and one of those you leave and remember why it is you do what you do. Good times, good times.

Tuesday and Wednesday were acoustic gigs and were both cool and very different than your weekend Cooder. Tuesday at Suede I met some great folks and took requests for about three hours from the hardcore Cooder fans. I played with Colby Logan who used to play with "Anytown". Wednesday, Buffalo and I played the Overtime Bar and Grill in Burleson, to a packed house, thanks in no small part to Casey Donahew, a Burleson picker who started the show.

We picked back up with the band around thursday and headed to Wichita Falls, another Graham Central Station, they must have one hell of a little railroad running. They've changed the stage around and made it larger and took out the karaoke room. They also shut the club down that night except the "Cowboys" portion, and there was a train load of effer's there. I'm crapping you negative. It was probably our largest showing there.

And speaking of a large showing, we definitely had our biggest crowd ever at Sweetwater. Of course it was the first time we played the Azteca, a very big Assteca at that, but since we played the Rattlesnake Roundup's, 3 and 4 years ago, we haven't been back to the Aguadulce of West Texas. In fact later that night, we all commented on how we were shocked at how many folks came out. Big crowd, yup. Biggest of the weekend.

Saturday, December 17, Waxahachie, our annual Christmas show, Texas Theatre. Amazing, this story ends like it began, this crowd was a bit, well, thin. Sorry, I think oftimes in terms of crowd size, probably because the band feeds off the energy you folks being there, gives us. Oh, we can play one freight load of a show to a small but robust grouping, but a certain amount of indescribable energy comes from the masses. Now don't get my murmurings wrong, we rocked around the christmas tree, KT played at least two, yup duex, christmas songs, and Buffalo and KT played Canon in D, and no one got married. And tonight we finished off the weekend on the radio with Justin Frazell on 99.5 the Wolf, the Front Porch Show. Now there is one cool cat, man. He has this big freakin show on one of the biggest radio stations in the nation, keep on rockin in the free radio world, Justin. Hey Amarillo, anybody listening?

Well, if for some reasonable reason I don't make it to the drawing board or the mailbox and you haven't gotten your Cooder Christmas Card yet..... wait, don't open any other cards until you get ours. Ours will be the best. Or just go ahead and open the others and pick out your favorite one and pretend it is from us, because, other than us saying, Hey, Merry Christmas Y'all, from the Cooders, a pretend card is as close as you'll get to the real thing. So find a good one, maybe with some fake snow on it, or a "far side" card, and scratch out Love Aunt Dorothy, and write in, ever so festivally, Love, the Cooders, Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

Who Wants to go to Fire Lake?

2005-12-02T20:22:00.000-06:00

I demand a recount. So what, big whoop, want to fight about it? Here's a brief recount of the past two and a half week's events without any bias or musical references.

We last found ourselves about to get freaky at Floore Country Store, Saturday night, playing with Charlie Shafter and his band of miscreants. Practically normal show for the most part, and what looked like a country crowd, cool when country wasn't, ended up to be a freakin rockin buttload of musical joy. It was the best show of our lifetime and you were an idiot if you missed it.

Then Bird-day flew in and everyone went to Squanto's house for Turkey, Wampanoag stew, and fish-sticks. Oh and a bottle of red or white or whatever kind of mood were in that night.

Being Cooder Graw means outdoor shows must be scheduled either during the middle of summer.....or.......winter, whichever is likely to be more miserable to all those involved, and since winter is around the corner, we needed to test our grit. So last weekend meant Granbury and Mineral Wells would provide the perfect time for our outdoor exam. Well slap my long john's and call me a fool, here came the sun, doit-n-doodoo, it was nice and warm. Granbury, Mike's Ice House, was incredible, one of the greatest places known to man. If you weren't there you are an idiot.

Mineral Wells the next night was a private party. Sorry, I'm not allowed to tell you anything about the party by reason of a nondisclosure agreement we signed under duress, but it was great, huh, hard to believe, probably the best we have ever sounded as a band. Our buddy Tommy Alverson came by and played the better part of the night with us, we saved the worst part for later, after we had more than uno mas cerveza too many. This show was at the bottom of the Stairway to Heaven, and there are only 96 stairs, in case anyone wanted to know. And, you guessed it, if you weren't there you weren't on the coolest guest list EVER.

The following weekend we went down to Fire Water. I'm not quite certain, but, was there a full moon, or free cable, or smoke on the water, or something weird going on last night, because once Cooder got cranked up, oh my god, look the hell out. Yea, it was two hours, count'em peeps, of Fire in the Sky. After we were done, we were just lucky to get all of the misdemeanants home and back to the bus. Enough said except that if you plan to be a juke box hero, remember that the glass on those things shatters, uh, rather easily. So you probably already know this, but those of you who weren't there, suck. Tonight is Durant, O.K. and tomorrow is Gruene Hall, each show will find us better than imaginable. Till our next amazing performance.

Martindale

Willie every Saturday Night

2005-11-19T16:49:00.000-06:00

Well, you guys haven't heard from me lately, so I thought I'd let you know how the pavement is treating us. We arrived at the bus' new home to find our tandem axled trailer missing a very crucial part, the very part that makes it tandem in fact, the second axle, which Gyro informed us, relieved itself from further duties somewhere between Abilene and Fort Worth. No two weeks notice, no complaints lodged, no lawyerly inquiries, just an outright AWOL. Well we loaded up the bus and moved to Beverly, Webster that is, down the road from NASA and home to Big Texas.

I guess there was some kind of 11:00 p.m. shuttle launch we weren't made aware of, because everyone seemed to be there, and not at the show. Of course, I say everyone, we were blessed with friends, Jim and Linda, Bubba and Debbie, Mike, others who make our shows regularly in the Houston area, but the shuttle watchers were busy elsewhere. That's alright, the folks at Big Tex made us feel like we didn't have to wipe our feet and we could feel at home, we had fun and the sound was great.

The next night was Schroeder, yea we played her, Hall, the second oldest dance hall in the state. We played our dance hall set, and had to go through our rigorous pre-show calculations and formula to figure out exactly which show to present to our apres-shuttle launching watching crowd there in betwixt Goliad and Victoria. For those of you possibly unfamiliar with the two very different shows his Cooderness has to offer, they are, using the vernacular of the lazy, our Country show and our Rock show. Our system for determining which show to employ is your basic, peak inside and see if it is an older, dancing crowd or a younger, drunker crowd. We quickly surmised all the hats and broom handled skirts meant one thing. Drink. We played and had a fun show, and we still threw a few U2 licks in to let everyone know U2 is not country.

And here we are at Floore Country store. The Charlie Shafter Band plays with us tonight. Ought to be a good night. Tamales and burgers await inside. The sign outside says, "Willie Nelson every Saturday night."

Martindale

Seperation anxiety

2005-11-05T15:59:00.000-06:00

Funny, I look back on the titles of my blog and just two entries ago, the title was "Neglect". I felt bad having not written in so long and then here I go, again. But as most of you know, I have been busy, busy, busy. The radio station has me working almost every day now. So, my time with Cooder Graw is limited.

However, I did manage to attend the show last night at The Horseman. The crowd was light...too light. Why? Willie Nelson & Ms.Womack were having some free show in Dallas, Cory Morrow was at Billy Bob's and Stoney LaRue was jammin' over at Woody's. Texas Music fans had to have been torn. And the usual loyal fans of Cooder may have felt like it was time to see someone else play this weekend since we're in the DFW area so much lately. I say "we" and that gets me a little emotional here. Feels like forever since I was on the bus last, traveling with my Brothers. I miss them, plain & simple. I was commissioned to announce the guys at The Horseman, like I have done at dozens of shows, but this time was different. This time I started with, "I am Rock, with 95.9 The Ranch..." It made me feel so seperated from the guys. You know, like that feeling when you bump into an old girlfriend/boyfriend...or maybe someone you knew back in high school. It was bitter-sweet to be up there announcing them as a seperate entity than myself.

Okay, the crowd sucked, like I said. It's usually much more packed in there. And I know that it affects the guys. They want that mob of fans, screaming at the stage-front, like so many times past. The girls winking upwards, wishing for a drummer or fiddle player for Christmas. Notice, I left out the others...they never get flirted with, right?

The intro the guys took on this show was quite unusual from the standard shows. I wont give it away though for those of you that are coming to a show soon. Well, on second thought, you should have had all your asses there anyway...so, they get announced while they aren't on stage. Then, the stage goes black and a Robert Johnson song begins to play over the sound system. For those of you not familiar with Robert Johnson, he was the blues guitarist that was reported to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his extreme talent (Clarksdale is about that). Then, the old blues tune's haunting sound fades and the guys jump in with a rockin' version of Dirty Little Hometown Girl. The folks that were there really liked it, as did I. It raised the level of excitement in the room and kicked things off well.

Later during the show, Fish was messing around with the beat from "Louisianna Saturday Night." Remember that old tune, "Well, ya get down the fiddle, ya get down the bow, kick off your shoes and you throw 'em on the floor..." Matt decided to throw the lyrics out there and was quickly joined by KT & Paul. Then, the magic happened when Nick pulled on the bow and belted out perfectionism with the song. Everyone started singing along and dancing. It was spontaneous and beautiful.

As the night progressed, Matt pulled a couple of his acoustic tunes out while the guys went over to Woody's to check out Stoney for a few minutes. Everyone except Fish & Matt. It caught me off-guard when I heard Matt, "Let's get Fish up here to do a song." Strolling up to the front and donning one of Matt's Taylor guitars, Fish took the stage. He did his rendition of "Crazy Eddy's Last Hurrah" by Reckless Kelly. Not a song you would imagine being played acoustic, yet Fish stepped up and redefined what we are used to hearing. He shattered the mold of that coffee house acoustic singing blob and sounded fantastic...he really added life to it.

When all was said & done, the boys came around the merch stand to sign autographs. It was then I realized that there seemed to be more people in the place now. Brittney worked the merch stand nearly all night and did an incredible job of fighting the boredom, since the crowd was so thin. Got to meet her folks, too and her mom is way cool.

This was about the end of the night for me. I don't recall much else...if you know what I mean. Robin & I headed back to my place after dropping Arminda off at an IHOP in Bedford. I think Arminda had the same problem I did...well, not so much a problem as an escape. A drink or two isn't bad, right? Three?

David Ball just got home a bit ago. He spent a good part of the morning in the hospital after the show. Apparently, he caught a ride with some idiot that somehow went off the road. And in the confrontation between the car and the tree, the tree seems to be the victor. Luckily nobody died.

RANDOM PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE ABOVE STORY: If you want to have fun, cool, but STOP THE DAMN DRINKING AND DRIVING. Drink & drive and I hope you only kill yourself in the process. Too harsh? Bullshit! Dumb asses run around every weekend, drinking it up, laughing & chasing girls, wearing their starched up clothes, whatever, etc, etc....and they end up killing families. I'm done.

Can't leave you on that serious of a note, can I? Can I encourage each of you that read this to talk to just one other person about Cooder Graw this week. Introduce our music to someone that says "Cooder What?" Let's get the fire burning for this fresh winter season and build these crowds. Bring someone new to a show, play a CD at a party, tell them to check out the website...even read my mindless chattering here. Reply back to me here and let me know some cool stories of new faces we are conquering from the Nashville side of music. Let's put Texas Country on top and help Cooder to lead the way.

Any names, animals, events or botanical inferences in the above stories may be altered to protect the innocent.

Weird run

2005-10-23T15:57:00.000-05:00

The run this weekend was odd. We started out at the Firehouse Saloon in Houston. Usually, this is one of our better gigs. This time was different. There were maybe 50 people there. Hell, one of those was my friend Allen. Bubba was there with Mrs.Bubba. Kris Moseley was there, too. So, let's say there were about 46 present. This was set to be a damn good show, too. Mickey & The Motorcars were opening for us. There wasn't any reason to have less than a few hundred in attendance. Bubba mentioned that there was a "thing" for the Astros downtown, so many went to that. Come on, that sucks: The Astros can play the World Series anytime...this was Cooder Graw at the Firehouse! (That's sarcasm folks)

There were two guys that got in a scrap right before soundcheck. That was interesting to watch. People resorting to violence...never a good thing. But that's what big city living can do to folks. Always some excitement with Cooder Graw in town. Anyway, they made up and even stayed for the show. Thank goodness, we needed both of them there.

The show went decent. The guys sort of went into this "well, there's nobody here, let's party" mode. There were some mistakes made during the show, but hell, there wasn't enough people there to notice. And it was the first day out, so that tends to happen....right Bubba!? Some of the guys from Mickey & The Motorcars got up with our Cooder boys and jammed with them. That was something that sent some chills my way cause it ROCKED!

When the night ended, we packed up relatively fast and were ready to head towards Dallas.

I awoke the next morning, crawling from my bunk to the front lounge to find we were parked at "The House" in Fort Worth. Cool! Showers were taken and everyone was refreshed and ready (most everyone) for the show. Gyro steered us for Dallas and we made it to Gilley's. This performance was outside of Gilley's this time, in the parking lot. It was some big BBQ cookoff thing raising money for some kids thing. Okay, so I can't recall exactly what it was about, but hey, some kids are suffering, Cooder played and it was nice. Notice I said it was a BBQ thing. O'yea, you know they fed us BBQ. "This is some of the best you've ever had" was the theme at every station I stopped at...and every gig we've ever been to. Why is every venue dead-set on stuffing us with BBQ. I don't want to seem ungrateful, cause it's nice they do stuff, but somebody has to break the chain...someone has to speak up against the BBQ abuse going on with bands. Can we get some Mexican, Italian or hell, maybe some Chinese. I see why Nick tries to grab some sushi when we're anywhere near a decent town. Am I really babbling on about BBQ??? Crap.

Okay, so the weather was nice in Dallas. The Eli Young Band opened for us. Those are some bad ass dudes(got to love my expansive vocabulary). Little Rock fell asleep in his bunk after touring all the little peddler booths. I woked him up after we realized he was MIA past two songs into the set. Turns out he wasn't feeling good and had to take some medicine that knocked him out. Damn that Morphine!

Was a virtual family reunion for me, Fish & Little Rock...as usual when we're in Dallas. Uncle Bill made it out, as did Mikey, Sissy....okay, I can't name everyone anymore and we shall just say "The Family" to save my typing time.

Gary Turner & Warren Cole were at this show and that always means it will be fun. Gary & I spent some time yelling at KT on stage. You know how you always here people yelling at band members and you can't even understand them half the time. So, I just took it to the extreme, yelling: "Come on you F***ing puppet, play a damn song, you Bastard!" It just blended in and nobody noticed. Well, KT finally realized and had a good laugh. Warren seemed more subdued, probably since his lovely Stephanie wasn't able to come.

After the show we all vacated quickly. We had loaders! And Pat Babb showed up with some of his posse(although I would love to have that word pronounced differently). They helped load us and they saved us a lot of time. Robin & I made it to the house just before the bus. However, some of the guys weren't on the bus. Seems that Mike Mancy was playing at Adair's so some of them went to watch...and even play. I just know that there was a HUGE mess in the backyard of the house come morning. And you know that hot tub was used, too. Crazy guys. Although I know Matt was innocent, cause I saw him working on his article for Texas Music magazine all night.

Morning came and I went and got some donuts, much to the delight of Matt, Gyro, etc. I began working on my show for tonight for the radio station (95.9 The Ranch) and the guys got ready to head out to Amarillo. Today is a Katrina benefit there.

Time to go head to the station. All of you that read this, try to turn someone new onto the Road Diary, our whole website, etc. Help us to share the good music and the behind the scenes antics. Keep us all in your prayers and hope to see ya down the road.

Neglect?

2005-10-21T01:01:00.000-05:00

Have I neglected this blog so long that the 14th was my last entry. Okay, it's been busy, but damn there's so excuse for that. There's not a show tonight, yet thought I would write for the hell of it. Tomorrow we're headed for the round of gigs and just thought some insight into our lives here prior to leaving out would be interesting.

Matt was just on the computer for awhile working on some stuff. I say the word "stuff" cause I have no idea what he was doing. Paul, KT, Gyro, etc., are in the hot tub relaxing. I was in there for a little while and had to get out to work on stuff for my radio show this Sunday. Again, that's 95.9 The Ranch in Fort Worth (www.959theranch.com). Check out the show online if your not busy.

Bubba called me tonight to see if I would be at the show there in Houston. He's a cool cat and we all sure love him. He's done a lot for us and wanted to let me know he would be there for load-out. He's ready for some Cooder Graw after having to go through all that evacuation crap from that bitch Rita. Thank God, she spared the Houston area.

Paul just came in and is about to grab a shower. It's funny, our little quiet neighborhood and there sits our huge tour bus in front of the house. Actually, it almost takes up the houses beside us, too. KT just came in now to bring my jacket back to me. It's chilly outside...and no we're not gay.

Guess that's enough of this mindless chatter. Remember to live in the present moment and enjoy the things God is giving you NOW. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is yet to be seen. If you don't like a situation you can deal with it, walk away from it or just accept it...either way, find peace. Okay, I am almost done with that book Nick read. Love you all!

Fair to Midland

2005-10-14T14:01:00.000-05:00

After a few days of being off the bus to do my radio stuff, the guys picked me up in Ft.Worth on the way to Midland. Sporting a chocolate milk for Gyro & some donunts for the boys, I arrived back on our silver fortress. We took off soon after my arrival and were bound for Midland to play "The Ranch" as we always do. Past two years we were there for Halloween, but a tad early this time.

As we were getting the stage set, The Charlie Shafter Band showed up to open for Cooder. This was a good sign for what would be a great night for music. We're carrying some of Charlie's music with us now, so if you don't have their CD "Orange", you need to make a little purchase at the next show. Seriously good music!

Charlie & his boys took the stage pretty early. The Crowd hadn't even really got in the club yet. Still, they rocked the house and got the energy rollin' for Cooder time. Matt & the boys took the stage and were quickly jammin'. Pat Babb & Justin came out. And Jayme, Aaron Watson's merch guy showed up to hang with me, Rodney & Shannon came out, too. Great guys & incredible musicians. Aaron's bus broke down, thus the visit by the Honkey...I mean, the Honkey Tonk Kid. Hey, Aaron, I know you read this, so where the hell were you last night??? O'wait, I forgot you owed the guys one for not coming to your show at The Horseman when we were off and in town. Now we're all even.

During the show, a friend of Robin's came by to say "hi". I went to show "Abby" the Cooder bus while the guys were playing. On the way out, one of the cops at the back door gave me some crap about Abby not being my wife, so she couldn't go out that door. Well, it's been a long week and I told him to "quit being a dick!" He said that cussing in front of him can get me arrested and I apologized saying, "Awe, I didn't know you were soooo sensitive." That spawned a whole incident between your beloved Rock and the police. But hey, I didn't go to jail and before the nights end it was all cool. It did feel good though to stand up to "The Man's" oppression and win. I say "win" cause I didn't end up in cuffs and Miss Abby did get to see the bus. Let me add that I do respect the cops out there; overworked & underpayed. But why......awe, hell, never mind....you know what I mean. We made peace and all was well. Two proud men in a pissing contest.

The night ended smoothly enough. Wish the crowd would've been better. Jacque Daniel's, the coolest DJ in Midlanc/Odessa said it was probably the weather. It had been raining all day there.

We got all loaded and were ready to head off. Gyro blew the horn and it was time to come running. Head count was right and we started to roll. Fish was already in bed. He had already vomitted earlier in the night (maybe something he ate???) Hell, we all felt pretty good and I even had to pull out Gyro's video camera to get the Paul & Fish show. We filmed KT while he slept (he looked so peaceful) and stayed up till around 5am discussing "The Power of Now" a great book that Nick read and I am in the middle of. Everybody should read it! It talks about living more in the present moment, leaving the past behind and not worrying so much about the future. Time is an illusion and problems, too. It's pretty cool.

One of the funniest things I heard last night was when Paul looked around, sitting in the back lounge, he smiled and said, "All you MF's are here for my entertainment." He was actually being pretty philisophical, how to look at life like everyone around you are just characters placed there by God to entertain you. Yea, we got pretty deep last night.

We determined that Little Rock is like a little Otto. He's quiet and always in the background. Some folks like to be there in the limelight. Even seen some that will walk onto the stage smugly at any chance they have to feel important. But Little Rock just hides well and still gets shit done. So, you may not see me writing about him all the time, but that's just cause he's like a Ninja or something, you even forget he's there. Gyro's been teaching him, stuff and let me tell you, there's nobody better to have as a mentor.

Well, it's morning/afternoon and we're all up now. KT wanted us to watch some Andy Griffith, to help settle us down. He said all that "Lords of Dogtown" and "Sin City" movie stuff had poisoned our brains and it was time to get back to some quality basics...I agree. Ya just can't go wrong with Andy. I will be getting off the bus after tonight, again so you'll have to bear with my absence once more. Hopefully, Matt will chime in with some of his words to satisfy that Road Diary craving.

Oldest surviving city

2005-10-08T08:40:00.000-05:00

Nacogdoches is rumored to be the oldest surviving town in the Great State of Texas. We were all excited about arriving there to open for our "Bro" Roger Creager. Before arriving at The Annex, had to stop by the radio station, so the guys could do their PR work. The DJ, Mike, was pretty cool there at KJCS. Usually, we are bearing CD's or shirts for the radio stations, but Mike made a first in our radio history...we left with something. Mike gave us a couple of "Bathroom Books" that have useless information in them. Sort of a trivia thing. Within minutes, I had learned about the modern use of "sterile maggots" in medicine and KT was hip on the beginings of cotton candy. Fish learned how much a human farts in a day and we learned to stay away from Fish. It was fun.

When we got to The Annex, we were met by some fan/friends, Pat Babb and two of his buddies that are too insignificant to name here....have to screw with 'em. They came to help us load and such. Glen, my cousin & merch guy for Creager, had me set to be next to him for the big night. However, the manager had to come around and literally measure our tables in conjunction with the surrounding bars & furniture to insure we didn't take up any unnecessary room. I could tell it would be one of those shows with somebody busting my balls over us selling some shirts & CD's at a show. Still, it worked out and I was ready. The guys didn't have too difficult a load-out really with Creager having a lot of his stuff for us to use. Still, loading absolutely sucks! Thanks to Pat and his sweet little girlfriends, it did go easier. I decided to hang out in the club and just see how the crowd would shape up and it didn't take long for them to start pouring in.

People made their way over to the merch stands, but they all wanted Creager stuff. So, being the gentle hearted guy I am, had to sell for my ABSENT cousin that decided to go to the hotel for awhile. By the time he rolled in, I had sold over $250 for him. Okay, I did make a couple of coozie sells for the home team, too. Overall, it was decent. There were certainly a lot of folks packed into this bar. And when Cooder took the stage, there were some cheers. Matt surprised me with jumping onto one of the front wedges (speakers in front of the artist on the stage). He stood up there jamming on his guitar during one song and the crowd loved it. Hell, I loved it. His recent burst of unpredictability on stage has me curious and more excited to watch the show. That's great though...two years of watching these cats and they can still throw a curve ball that will grab your attention. It's cool and besides, like Paul likes to quote the late Bobby Darrin, "People hear what they see." And lately, I hear some exciting stuff. and I see dead people.

The show was over way too soon for my taste, as well as many fans that made that clear to me. But when you're the opener...well, it just sucks that way some times. After all was said and done, we got everything loaded in. Gyro had to crash out. This double & triple duty wears thin on him. And if you know Gyro, he's one that doesn't need to be any more thin. This morning, as I write this, we are the only two up and he's not feeling up to par...so pray for Gyro to get well for me.

Some of the guys went off to bed pretty quick. Some went to a party that was at a home just a short walk from the bus. You can decide who did what. Creager & Matt did go down to the party together for a short showing. Many of the concert fans were there and those are two guys that do like to keep the pulse of their fan base...so it's nice they stroll in for a short visit. Can you imagine the look on the fans faces when Creager & Martindale stroll into the back yard to say "hi." That's cool...that's "Fonzy cool".

Between Little Rock & I, things without Chris haven't been too bad. We miss him, but we're getting the job done and things seem smooth. Fish is doing some extra stuff, too and Matt is no stranger to the pre-show set up drill. Well, it's time to maybe go check on Gyro, as he's driving up there. Am sure he could use a coke by now. Bubba & Mrs.Bubba are reading right now I bet, so let me send a shout out to my favorite Brother & Sister out there: YO BUBBA FAMILY...GLAD YOU SURVIVED THE HURRICANE!

See yall soon!

WHAT THE HELL

2005-10-07T13:26:00.000-05:00

What in the world am I doing here? This is Rock! I'm back...sort of. Am on the road helping out still, as my radio station schedule is permitting. So, the guys want me to keep on as long as I can until that one day when I am full-time at the station.

Good time to be back, too as Chris has moved on to pursue some other opportunties. Yea, we said goodbye last night to ol' Chris the monitor engineer. He's got a lot of other things on the burner and will probably find that fortune we all seek.

As I write, we are headed down to Nacogdoches for a show with Roger Creager. Though we love Roger, it will be hard to compete with the show last night at Tres Rios for Tommy Alverson's Family Gathering. Stoney LaRue, Mike Mancy and Steve Young played. If that last name (Steve Young) isn't familiar to you, then you need to say it over & over till it does. Mr.Young is one of the gentlemen that layed the seeds down for what we do today in country music. Steve Young was there with Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle and the like. Literally, by their side...check out the movie "Heartworn Highways" that my good friend James Attebery found online. If you buy that movie, you will have a musical experience.

Matt must have felt the energy in the crowd cause by the nights end, he was playing the washboard out on the railing of the stage front barrier. Then, during the encore, he layed down his Taylor guitar and grabbed his mic of the stand and went down into the barrier and joined with the Cooder fans to sing "Blister in the Sun". It was incredible. In the two years I have been with these guys, never have I seen Matt get so into the crowd in the literal sense. They went crazy and it raised the bar of the Cooder show. Again, you never know what will happen at a Cooder Graw concert. Paul faced off with Coby Weir when he joined the stage for the jam session. They looked like they were in some musical battle with those faces Coby makes. Nick had a little fan section of his own kickin' in front of him with girls mouthing all sorts of things my virgin ears dare not reveal. And Fish? He was mediocre. No, seriously, my little cousin was bad ass and set the tempo for what was a monumental performance by all. As we cross these rivers, and the trees sway in the cold air, I can't help but wish last night never ended.

You know, I have had many jobs in my day. None that have I kept this long. And being there last night just reinforced that I am where I need to be. My life has been years of searching for something...something that has had me drag myself through some tough times. And now, I am genuinely happy to be where I am at. My road brothers are dear to me and their music is indispensable in my life. We all have our journeys filled with good & bad. But the past is only the past and all we have is those precious moments today to build on and enjoy life from. Damn, I am getting too philisophical.

Okay, avoid this paragraph if you're tired of my talk about Robin. If you continue to read, don't give me any shit later about my mushy talk:

Robin was there and we had a blast together. She was as beautiful as ever! We were like best friends walking around the festivities together. That's really what she is to me, my best friend. We had a great time and are stronger than ever for all those that are "concerned".

Paul's playing the Playstation right now. KT's on the phone with our booking agent. Matt's hunting mustard for his sandwich. Gyro just pulled over to "relieve" himself. And all the kids are still sleeping...of course. Fish is going to have to get up soon to clean these damn floors though. That's his chore in the case de Cooder. And after that muddy, grassy festival, he's actually got some work ahead. Little Rock is still with us. He's picking up the slack left by Chris' position and running merch in my stead upon my radio dates. I love radio! And anyone that knows me (truly knows me) says it's the perfect place for me. Of course, with still being on the road now and the radio, I am BUSY and loving it...loving life for once.

Today we're playing with Roger Creager, as I said earlier. My cousin Glen will be there, as he does my job for Roger. Damn, it is like Kelly Test said, I am like George Bush, putting all my family in places of power. It's just that my family is passionate about Texas Music and desire no less than to be a cog in this great machine that we all enjoy so much.

I didn't mention yet, but Guy Bagwell (Papa) was there at the show. He was selling his jewelry and acting crazy as usual. I have got to get a link on here to his website, cause folks, that man makes & sells some incredible stuff! And he's one of the most funny & endearing men you'll ever meet. My real Dad was never a presence in my life. I never had a good solid Dad figure growing up...probably some link there with all the mistakes I've made. But my point is, Ol' Guy Bagwell is like that Dad. Hell, we all sort of have this obscure road family that we milk family warmth from out here. Matt & KT have been like older brothers. Paul is like that cool uncle. Gyro is like a Dad/cool uncle combo. And Nick, Fish, & little Rock are all my little sisters. Ha!

Well, it's time to move on to breakfast. Matt's sandwich is calling to me.

The Road of the Loving Hearts

2005-09-23T15:33:00.000-05:00

I don't know who Mr. Worth was, or I just can't remember my Texas history right now, but I sure am glad they decided to build a fort around his happy ass and stay a while. Man, I've been alot of places in my life and time, I've butchered alot of songs and stolen some sweet rhymes, but Mr. Worth's Fort takes my cake away. I believe you Fort Worthwhile folks ought to jump up and give yourselves a celebratory happy dance in honor of the fact that you have one smoking little village. Yea, the crowd was awesome and we had a blast. 95.9 The Ranch put on this series and those cats are some fine ranchers, indeed. 8.0 is a really cool place to play. We have been blessed this entire trip by other musicians being around, usually not because of us, but on this night, some members of Lyle Lovett's Large Band came for the show and we played them our "Front Porch with Mary Jane" bastardization. Cool Dudes. We played the show with Jarrod Birmingham and band. Cool dudes. Brian Rung plays with him and these guys rock. They stayed till after the show and then headed to Victoria to ride out the Storm. Hunker high boys, batten a hatch or two, and pour one down it before you do.

Then we were off down the road to Austin. Now I have to stop right here and say this, this trip has obviously been somewhat shaded by a possible rendezvous with Rita, and the attendant phone calls and text messages to friends and relatives. It's also been shaded with a confused plan of attack. Leave because of Rita and go up north and have a Hurricane, or fight the Hurricane by drinking a bunch of Rita's. It's a little strange to see the front come to your seawall. Why just two weeks ago, when everything seemed all quiet on the Eastern front, our neighbors in Louisiana packed a few belongings and headed to the high country. Now, with Rita proposing to offer more tekillya and salt than most Texans like in their frozen hurricanes, we ain't staying. We all saw what happened to those who couldn't or didn't evacuate LA, so we evacuated Texas. Well, most of us left most of it. Happily heading down the Road of the Loving Hearts, full of friendly faces and helpful vendors, open roads and low gas prices. I'm certain this was the case for every Galveston and Houston family as they left sea level for a U2 song. (elevasomething)

We hit Austin. We played La Zona Rosa with Randy Rogers, a benefit for The Texas School for the Blind. No alcohol was allowed, hmm, ok, sorority party obviously concerned for our health and eyesight. Because....I personally have seen two or three people drink themselves blind. O.K. Cool. We walked out to find Cory Morrow and Keith Gattis hanging out behind the club, cool. And clearly they hadn't gotten the news about drinking and blindness so, we pretended we didn't get the news either so as not to make anyone uncomfortable. And things.

After the show some of the boys headed to Reckless Kelly's shed to go get on top of it or what ever you do at a shedding, and made it back easily before the bus left the next day for our long trip to New Braunfels. Ahh, New Braunfels, home of KNBT, home of the river, Gonna be a fun night. All right, ya'll call me sometime. And things.
Martindale

Up the Trail

2005-09-19T16:54:00.000-05:00

I'm very glad we skipped the ultimate desecration of our musical souls, decided to forgo what any honorable samurai would've done after our Thursday and Friday shows, and made the journey to Chillicothe, Texas, for the 3rd annual Farm Fest thrown by the Texas Jack boys at the Flynn Family farm. I couldn't tell exactly what they grow out there other than tin barns full of welding equipment and good musicians, but whatever is in the water well, like rock and Led, works really, well, well. Yup, it was a great time, them Texas Jack boys can throw a party. The Mancy boys were there and all they do is rock and add fuel to the fire. Kelly Test played the entire show with us and that was a treat. Coby Wier jammed with us and if he could just get over his stage fright and play a solo longer than 30 seconds, he could really rock. Fish had to go to a wedding, showed up late and played electric guitar for the last half of the show. If you weren't there, you really did miss something. The crowd was awesome, perhaps driven somewhat by the full moon and the lightning threatening in the distance. Paul said it reminded him of the first Homer's Backyard Ball we played.

With all played and done, it was a good week. Little Rock did a great job and it won't be long before he earns himself a befitting moniker, instead of one inherited from Rock. I hope all who could tuned in to Rock on Sunday night for his initial airing on 95.9 the Ranch. He said he had several friends call in and he played four Cooder tunes. Keep it up Rock. Can you put in a good word with the Amarillo stations?

We're off now to Fort Worth for a show at 8.0. I love that place and Fort Worth in general, maybe because it's Cowtown and Amarillo is Horsetown, and there is some kind of undeniable bovine/equine relationship which reaches deep into the Texas psyche. Something which finds us reminiscing together for the Goodnight/Loving Trail and cattle drives through no man's lands, midnight stampedes, crossing boggy ford's and the campfire's spent together outside Dodge City before pay day, or not. All right, we'll see you next week.
Martindale

I Swear To Buda

2005-09-17T14:09:00.001-05:00

Friday Night highschool football in Texas boys, sorry. It's not like everyone was at the game, just the people who didn't come to the Fire Dept.'s fund raiser and fajita flop, and in a town like Buda, well that can add up quickly. We put on one incredible show though, that is something you can take to the Buda State Bank.

I hopped off the bus before sound check to find Kelly Turner and Deryl Dodd engaged in a discussion that went literally just like this, "Kelly, do you ever get burned out?" Now, if you know Deryl well, you know he opens his heart quickly to his friends, and I knew this was not going to be some, "hey, hows your hammer hanging?" type of hello/later dude affair. Lately I have been reading God Bless John Wayne, by Kinky Friedman, and I had read a line the night before where Willie had once told Kinky about life on the road and Willie said , " We just try to get from one town to the next without slashing our wrists." It ain't funny but it is. We all dream of playing stadiums but we play alot of gymnasiums and sport courts before you ever get to the end zone. We play gymnasiums when folks are at the stadiums, and play bars when folks are at the gyms. I really haven't thought about playing "Waltz Across Texas" with a razor blade across my fiddle arm, but when the power went off during Deryl's show last night for 37 minutes, I thought, as I stared up at D. D., do you ever get burned out? I swear to Buda, it's hard not to grow a tad jaded, but ole double D up there, with no Samurai Sword to properly commit Hari Kari and no bridge to jump from and no good clean razor blades, stood in the lights of the stage, waited patiently for the power, and when it returned, put on a great show. To answer your question Mr. Dodd, it's guys like you who keep us going. The crowd really was cool, truth be told, some hardcore Cooder fans were at the front, and my old buddy Cotton was there (aka Dickey).

Opening Night Ain't What it Used to be

2005-09-16T13:45:00.000-05:00

I must start out by saying, I miss ole Rock, and I sure hope he finds his forte in the Fort, being the new stud at the Ranch. I know there's no way me or any of us can fill his road boots so to speak, but from time to time we'll try to keep you guys up with at least some things Cooder.
We played in Brenham, at the Washington County Fair for opening night. Well, they call it opening night and it was, in reality, called opening night, but . . . Boland played the Kickoff Night which was the appreciation party for all of the fair preparer's, and twoTejano bands played the official "Load In your Livestock" party, and I think ZZ Top played a Luncheon for the Ladies auxilliary earlier that day, but COODER GRAW played opening night. In all fairness it was a fun show to say the least, the crowd really was great, up at the front the entire show and growing stronger throughout the night. It was a Wednesday night that could have been a Saturday night in any town in Texas. Thanks Brenham.
We played with Danged Ole Walker, aka Django Walker, and those guys are great. Just for clarification, the D is silent, and he is named after the great guitar player, Django Bells. Danged Ole is much like many things in Texas, he ain't pronounced like he looks. Just like Buda, like beautiful, and not like the Hindu deity, Miami is more like Miama if it is the Texas town, and Schroeder hall is not like NYPD blue and Silver Spoons Ricky, and alot more like shrae derr, and if you don't know how to pronounce Gruene Hall, please log off now. Dangit also if Danged Ole didn't get up and sing North East Texas women with us. Dang.
Our next night we headed to Austin for fun, frolic, and barbechew at Stubbs. We played with our old friend Max Stalling. We love Max, and Austin, and Stubbs is really cool, and I hated it that we had to play the day before Son Volt. I heard Son is a cool dude. The few people who caught this show saw something. Yup. The most interesting thing about last night was finding a place to park the bus. Somehow we found a great open parking lot, and about the time we powered down the main engine, the APD showed up, a chopper circling above, really, and two other federal vehicles on the way and in our line of site. Somehow the Cooder mobile had found its way to a Federal parking lot, and rather than make the arguement about tax money paying for the parking lot and all of that hooey, we just packed up our happy bus butts, got the H E double hockey stick off the parking lot we had paid for and quickly left the choppers and federal land behind. Yup.
So we just pulled up to Buda. Time to unload. Boo on the unload, Yea on the loaders.
Martindale

Rock's here

2005-09-14T20:56:00.000-05:00

Such an overwhelming, positive response from everyone on my change. Keep in mind, too that I will still be playing a role with Cooder Graw. Am rooming with a couple of the guys and looks like I will help on an administrative level. Plus, when I can, I hope to be on the road with the guys, helping out & PARTYING!!!

I'm at the station right now training and I got to tell you that there is a buzz about next weeks Cooder show at 8.0's in Fort Worth. Folks, make the trip for that one!

Let me know what yall think about me still doing the road diary, interviewing the guys weekly & relaying stories. If not, let me know who you think could best replace this task. Send some opinions on it....NOW!

Love you all...and as Bubba said, "It's not goodbye, it's see ya later!"

Goodbye???

2005-09-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

Some have heard the rumors by now that I am leaving Cooder Graw. Yes, I will be, so it seems. Am taking on the task of learning "radio" and making a start as a part-time on-air personality on 95.9FM The Ranch in Fort Worth. Sunday is my big audition day, but I have already been training at the station and will be through the next couple days. Everything looks good! It's exciting and overwhelming. My head is literally spinning and tears fill my eyes when I think of saying goodbye to my Brothers. We've laughed so hard together and cried, too. When Hefe died, Matt grabbed hold of me, as did Paul & everyone letting me know it was okay. We pulled pranks on eachother, argued and just sat silently watching movies, enjoying eachothers company. I am stepping off that traveling, iron fortress. I am vulnerable in this outside world and it's scary. Within a months time I have fallen in love, moved and am now changing careers (even though still in the music business). I don't know if I bit off more than I can chew or what?! Still, I will venture out in the spirit of adventure and love, trying to seek my fortune. There will be Rock sightings quite a bit, I hope.

My little Brother, "Little Rock", will be holding down the fort on the road for a little bit, while I take on the big Fort...Fort Worth. So, if he is out there at that old merch stand, give him some love.

By the way, Bubba told me to mention that the AC is fixed on the bus and running colder than ever. Damn, I will miss him, too. Hell, I will miss a hot bus from time to time.

This isn't the last you've heard from me folks. Sunday, at 7pm, you'll hear me make my radio debut if you tune in (even online I'm sure). Till then....

Corn-row

2005-09-12T13:34:00.000-05:00

Had a blast in Conroe...or "corn-row" as some of the locals said it. We got there early so our buddy Bubba could swing up to work on the air conditioning. Bubba worked his butt off and we still had to employ an extra local AC man for help. Even Mrs.Bubba came up...we had an army working on the damn thing. Is it fixed? Hell, I don't know. In fact, I think I give up asking. By the time it's fixed, we'll be in winter anyway and it wont matter.

While I was selling merch, a guy named Shannon Smith came up to me. He shook my hand, this dedicated Cooder fan and said he liked my blog writing. Shannon said, "When I read about your friend dying, man, I cried." Soon as he told me that, I had to hold back some tears inside. How amazing the human spirit, that I can write from my heart and some fella out near Houston reads it and "feels" it. It's guys like Shannon Smith that prove to me the good nature of people that still exists. Shannon's simple comment changed the tone of my night...for the better. Thanks my friend.

The guys took stage and the crowd was excited. Was worried at first since there wasn't many folks hanging around during the day near the stage, but when Cooder Graw jumped up there, I could see folks literally running towards the front of the stage. That sent some chill bumps through me as the people ran and the hard charging spagetti intro sounded off that the guys do. KT's lead guitar makes you get this old western feel, then BAM here comes the Cooder songs. Nick had a little flock of gals hanging at his feet that night. With Nick & Fish on stage, we got this young "OC" sort of thing going that the girls seem to really dig. A guy once said that Cooder was for old people, BUT I beg to differ. Our youthful crowd is definately present. We are loved by all ages! Here's some numbers I had crunched: College youths are 80% likely to miss class following the day of a Cooder Graw show in the same town. High School tardy slips are given at an incredible 37% higher rate post Cooder Concert. And senior citizens report an average drop of 24% in their hearing, living within 20 miles of a venue Cooder plays at. So, I would say we're hitting all demographics well these days. Poll numbers have a error margin between 1 & 100%.

After the show there was a mob scene at the autograph table. The guys could see & feel the love the crowd had for some real Texas Country Music. My buddy Bower was there, a discerning listener in the country scene and had a grin ear to ear when it was over. Attebery, the guy that introduced us to the "Heartworn Highways" movie came out, too and seemed like he had a great time. Both of which are under the age of 35 by the way. I want to mention Robin was there, but people are starting to give me a hard time about "all you ever do is write about Robin." So, in effort to please the critical groups, I will avoid mentioning that my love, Robin was there. In fact, I will be more conscious of my use of the word Robin in the future. Hey I heard there's a new movie coming with Batman & _____. As I write this, there's a sweet bird, a _____, sitting on the tree outside the window. Bonnie & Clyde liked to do some bank _____ in their day. Okay, that was a stretch.

Got to give a shout out to Texas Singer/Songwriter Aaron Watson! Yo Aaron...how's your dad, Gene?!

My lack of sleep is showing. Time to call ____ and start my day. Love you guys and can't wait to see you on the road.

Missing

2005-09-10T10:50:00.000-05:00

Missing so much writing time. Damn, having a girlfriend has kept me busy. Never fear, for I am back with the continuing saga of the Cooder boys and all our exploits.

Today we're headed down to Conroe, Tx for a big PRCA Rodeo show. Those are always fun. Usually all sorts of odd people to look at and the smell of funnel cake in the air. O' that smell! Last night I went up to The Horseman in Fort Worth. We had a gig in Weatherford, but it got cancelled for whatever messed up reason, so we were all off. Robin was working at The Horseman, so I decided to stray from the pack (that went to see Jack Ingram at Billy Bob's). Aaron Watson was playing and that was a treat. Aaron is a cool cat and he can really take you back with his real country style. Everyone thinks he's the son of Gene Watson...but....well, hell if that makes you go see him, believe away and have fun. I then decided to make a mini tour of music and went to Woody's to see Copperhead. That is a band to watch these days, too. Their edge-driven style is not only rockin', it's comfortable. Jeff, Gabe & the boys are fantastic to talk to and even better to listen to. I am sounding like the Accidental Tourist here.

After all that, it was time to go see Jack Ingram. Jack is a class act and it's no wonder why our bus was parked outside of Billy Bob's. His angry style of country will keep you guessing as to what's next. All the Cooder boys were backstage with Big Nate & Casey Mack, living the good life. They did pull a great joke on me though. Paul & KT got everyone in the damn room to give me shit about not answering my phone earlier in the day. They said, "We could've openend for Jack with 100% of the merch take, but we couldn't get ahold of you." O' how my Brothers played it well and kept me going. They even got Gallagher in on it and I felt like crap. However, I decided to be daring and wait for KT at one point to come out of the bathroom where I waited and applauded when he came out. He looked at me and I said, "Great performance", taking a chance that he would break, if this were a joke. AND HE DID! Yes, I was in the clear. It felt good to be with the guys, relaxing (after sweating that prank).

We did that show in Grapevine the other night and it was okay. Dumb thing was that it was a Bud Light stage Cooder played on and NO BEER. Sense that makes not. So, we did the whole Miller Lite in plastic cups routine. Chris had some techinical difficulties on the onset and it took about 3 extra hands before the guys even had monitors and vocals on stage. If you don't know what I mean by that...too bad, I am in a hurry. Matt just got a shot...not alcohol..as he's recovering from being sick. You wouldn't have guessed it to watch him play and I swear he flew through the air striking down on Suzi the Washboard. It was a damn good show performance wise.

Time to run so I am not late, catching crap from my Bro's. Visit www.elguapoband.bravehost.com Todd, Hefe's Brother is a musician and I had to put his link here. He won a competition recently at The Railhead and is going to open soon for Bruce Robison...COOL!

Shhhhh, it's private

2005-09-03T02:09:00.000-05:00

Private party tonight in Waxahatchie, Tx. So, I can't say anything...it's private.

Seriously, it was alright. It was in this huge, well manicured back yard of some elitest friends of our prominent band. We don't want to play for the wealthy, exclusively (per Tom Petty) , but tonight was fine. There was a cool swim pool there in the middle of the place and before the night was over KT & Paul ended up taking a swim. They waited till all the guests were gone, as not to illuminate the yard & attract bugs.

The show went good. The feel of it was definately different, as this was a more intimate affair. I did still hear one couple behind me with the man explaining to his wife, "Cooder is his first name, Graw is his last...not like Brooks & Dunn." Okay, moving on.

We're at the hotel now. While I was in the shower, Paul & Fish moved some furniture. UPSIDE DOWN. They said it gave character to the room. I think it's just a musician thing with hotel rooms. Poor little hotel rooms, the bastard sons of the housing industry, being pimped out to anyone with a valid ID & $40. And their main nemesis is the musician of all people. Explain that to me, please. So, what's going on in the bus? Matt's just in from showering and headed to bed. Buffalo, Pat and Fish are in the back lounge playing instruments and singing. Paul should be finishing his shower in the upside down room. KT is sleeping already, same as Gyro, etc.

Time for me to head to bunk, too. I've got Robin on the brain and need to shut down so I can get one day closer to seeing her. Do you hear this language I am using...she's chiseling away at Rock. I can't say "The Rock" or I get dirty letters from some Samoan Wrestler in the WWF. Anyway, it's late and I am out.

GATES!!!

2005-09-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

First I have to say, somewhere in Lubbock today is a good-hearted, little dude named "Gates". He was at the show last night and was beyond drunk. So, in the spirit of humanity, I put Gates to work. Nothing greater than seeing a dedicated, intoxicated fan trying to help us load. He was a lot of fun to be with, so Gates, wherever you are, we miss ya Brother!

Okay, time to back up. We arrived at the show and were greeted with loaders. It was actually "Pledges" for the KA frat that would be helping. Seeing how Pledges is Greek for "organized slavery", I took advantage of the situation the true character that we all know is Rock. These guys would do anything and were incredible at getting us loaded in and getting us fed, etc. Matt was so impressed with their efforts that he gave executive order 420: Free CD's. I distributed the music and some coozies out to our troops and they worked on like busy ants. Great guys, one and all.

The show started about 11:30pm. It was only around that time that I realized The Charlie Shafter Band was playing one block away at the Bluelight. Damn it! It sucks to compete with our Road Brothers, one block away. Was a great night for Tech students no matter where they went. Hey Joel & Charlie: Check our schedule next time, sorry we missed ya!

When Cooder came on stage, it was a huge crowd, mostly female. The ladies were everywhere and I think Fish was having sensory overload. He was like that cheetah on Animal Planet trying to pick the weakest prong horn antelope from the herd. Had to throw that in there for some dramatic visual effect...I love my cousin! Of course the girls looked like they wanted to surround him once he sang that Reckless Kelly song. The guys played a Jack Ingram song, too. They did Barbie Doll. One girl asked me when did they rehearse this song and I just laughed and told her, "never." But it sounded great and the mob in front of the stage was literally jumping.

The show ended weird. There was some hired DJ there that decided to jump in with some rap crap when Cooder still had 3 songs to go. That was pretty unprofessional. Paul, being the Irishman that he is decided to jump off stage and pay him a visit. No, there wasn't a fight (though nearly), but Paul just walked up to his laptop, ran his hands along the keys and slammed the DJ's little computer shut. The music stopped and we all had a good laugh...except the DJ that declared war on our favorite bass player. I made a leap from the merch table and was there in a flash to help dismantle the feud. Important to note that it wasn't the KA's fault and it was just the DJ that needed his ass handed to him. The KA's are GREAT and we would go back anytime and party with those guys.

Some young Cooder dedicated fans, Pat & James showed up. Pat's usually at all our Dallas shows, but transfered to Tech. They helped us load at the end of the night and stayed to party till around 5am. We had a blast with those guys! Pat reminds me of myself...when I was a youthful helper for Cooder. Now look where it got me, on the road and having a blast! Keep it up Pat. You never know.

It's morning now, about 2:30pm and I am done with this typing, so it's time to check my emails. Hopefully some love from Robin waiting for me. KT's layed out on the couch drifting off and denying it all the way. Fish is wandering aimlessly about. Paul is playing football on the Playstation2 and everyone else is asleep. Except for Gyro, of course, who is carrying us down the road in our mobile fortress. We're headed near Dallas, again. Deja Vu.

The Denton Fair

2005-08-31T00:28:00.000-05:00

As I was hanging out with Robin, watching some of the crap on CMT, I was reminded that I didn't include an entry for that night at the Denton County Fair. And that was an incredible show. People like Todd, Stu, Arminda, Mike McCall, Jonni Jewel, Mike & Bill Hunt showed up. So, what the hell have I been thinking?! It was an incredible time in Denton. I was late for load-in and that had me starting out on the wrong foot, but the folks at the fair really made me & the Cooder boys feel at home. Within 15 minutes there wasn't a care in the world. I was worried about the weather cause there was some rain out there early in the day. However, it didn't take long for the clouds to part and sunshine to prevail. In fact, it got pretty darn (damn) hot for awhile. After soundcheck, Fish & Nick cruised off site for some sushi. Buffalo loves his sushi. Isn't that sort of cannabalistic for Fish though? Anyway, they departed and the rest of us followed in Gyro's footsteps for some cheeseburgers. It wasn't a tasty "Big Kahuna" burger, but it did leave a mark. For the first time ever, I noticed that Gyro had a little belly showing. He did order a double though...that and love can do it to a man. Yea, he loves his job, life, etc. Matt & I were in line at the same time behind some preteen guys and I asked them who was playing tonight. They said they didn't know, but that "the guy that plays that dish on his belly was here last year." Hmmmm, who could that mean? We got a laugh on that one and took our burgers and headed for the bus. We would've at outside, but the flies were BAD. Had Gyro not had a double, they would've carried him plum off.

The show started without a prob. Shortly into the set, Chris called for me. He said the guys wanted me to work lights if I could find someone to watch merch. Well, little ol' Wichita was there and she was ready for the task. Between her & Todd I knew it would be covered. Then, within minutes, Little Bill showed up and I knew all would be well. You might recall Little Bill working lights for us when he toured with us one weekend past. He is my cousin & Fish's uncle, to put it into perspective for you. And considering he works for beer, the price was right! Must be something in the Hunt blood. Speaking of Hunt's, Uncle Bill is doing great, so Fish & I thank you all for the calls and prayers.

Lights are important in the shows, we are noticing. It's like Paul pointed out, "people hear what they see." It's from a movie, but he says it with such conviction that I had to quote him on it. Think it was originally Bobby Darin.

Matt even lead Shifting Gears into the reggae genre, again. The crowd was into it and seemed to love the show. There wasn't any body surfing, like in Abilene, but it was a good time to be had anyway. Hard to body surf when you're full on funnel cake and burgers anyway.

The night came to a close and we hurried to get packed. As it was a festival, we did all we could to be in a festive spirit...isn't that right Chris, Paul, Fish & "me"...O'yea, I was "festive" wasn't I?! Thank you Jonni for corrupting me. Afterwards, I was bound for Woody's with David Gilligan to meet up with the Mike Mancy Band & the Charlie Shafter Band (they rocked the Fort Worth area that night). Well, Robin was there, too...so need I say more. I know, I know, yall are sick of the Rock in love stuff. Then quit reading!

Seriously, it was a great night in Denton and was followed up with a fantastic after party with old friends like Mike, Test, Charlie and Joel. After reliving that night, writing about it here, I am not sure how I am to return to Robin & that CMT crap, but maybe I can change the channel before some bitch from Canada tries to sell herself off as country from the south.

Sorry for the SPAM ads that have popped up on the blog comments. Some company it bored out there. Think I will email each one and politely tell them to *#@% off. Nobody enters Rock's world without permission. Damn, I am mean tonight!

Special blessings out to our Brother Cody Canada: Shannon & Cody just had their little baby boy, Dierks Cobain Canada. Send your love out to them folks! Thank God the legends will live on....and on...

Abilene...Abilene

2005-08-26T13:00:00.000-05:00

Well, Abilene may be the prettiest town that some songwriter has ever seen, but it was the hottest damn town for us. We arrived in some blistering heat and KT said that this whole trip out was going to be 100+ weather to contend with. We were directed to park infront of this building that looked like a Church. Then, we were told that this was the place the show would be played in. A Church? Well, Corry Morrow played in it last year, so guess there's nothing wrong or overly sinful with Cooder performing there. Still, it's honestly a bit odd to haul our gear into the cathedral. Not that were a bus of demons, but you know the nightlife has some variation/deviation from the life of Gospel. Sadly. Still, it was a great building and we were happy to be there...and out of the heat. Yea, our bus hasn't bee cooling AGAIN. Think last I heard it was a compressor or something. Nothing like waking up in a pool of sweat in a bunk that could double as a pizza oven. Good thing was we had loaders. That sure took the edge off things. There was one guy named Travis that was surely a huge help. Good old Travis kept bottled water coming to me and shared in the load-in with enthusiasm. Can't ask for more than that.

After loading in, Travis took me over to the gym on campus there at McMurry University and I got a workout in. Nick was wanting to head over there, but he didn't have enough time with soundcheck rolling in. Luckily though, Nick has his mountain bike on the bus now, so he's got some recreational access wherever we go. Damn nice bike, too! I can say that Nick will always shoot for quality in the things he buys. Now I want to get one...he trumped my Wal~Mart special.

After some quick showers at the hotel, it was time for the show. Early show at 9pm. The crowd gathered up close to the stage front and security people had to be placed at the edge of the stage...if nothing else, to keep the crowd surfers from being washed up onto Matt & the boys. Yes, there really were people body surfing through the hundreds of fans. The guys love that sort of thing, too cause there comes an energy they can feel on stage. Now we just have to get KT to stage dive. Paul might if he gets some Jaegger in him. I've seen him leave the stage and walk across tables.

One funny note: When the guys play Shifting Gears now, they play half the song regular style and then slip into some reggae version. Yea, it's a bit odd and different, but some people dig it. I think it means that we're moving up in the scheme of things. If you watch that CMT "stuff", every artist has their little beach theme song. Look at Clint Black, "When my ship comes in" or that bald goof Kenny and his entire album cover. Guess you can see I am mixed in my own opinion, but it is the guys music and they'll express themselves as they feel at the time.

Hey, did anyone realize that KT's birthday was the day before mine??? Don't fret, I even forgot and had to do a make-up call after Fish called to remind me. Better late than never, so yall send some love out to our Bro Kelly Turner. If anyone on this bus deserves the best wishes, it's him. He turned ____ on the 23rd. No, he wont tell me the age, but I am guessing 35. We're all almost 35 now. Like wine, getting sweeter every year.

Today we're on this hot ass bus trotting along to Coupland, near Austin. I emailed directions to Robin to coax her down for the show. And it worked! Yep, I will be smiling all night.

Last night, a cool cat named Dru Willis came up (I've never met him before) and he asked about Hefe. That was awesome. To this day people are still talking about The Legend...our Hefe. I think we'll see Todd at the show tomorrow and that's cool. Maybe Kelly and Stu will come out, too and we can have a little family reunion. That's good medicine.

We're at a truck stop and the restroom is calling. I know, I know, TMI. No, I got to go in and get some ice...ha, ha.

Thank you all

2005-08-24T17:26:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for the wonderful Birthday wishes. As I turned 34 today, it was heartwarming to receive so many emails & calls. I was awakened at 9am with a knock at my hotel door. Ready to give the housekeeping girls a piece of my mind, I was stunned to see a delivery guy with a huge assortment of balloons from Robin. Attached to the strings was a bottle of water (damn, she knows me already). Then, KT called and sang Happy Birthday while playing piano...how sweet. It amazes me the real brotherhood that exists in this business.

Speaking of Birthdays, this past Monday was Guy Bagwell's birthday (Papa). I was bad son and didn't call in time, but did talk to him today. Folks, help me send out some birthday wishes to Papa. Don't forget, he has been our driver for quite awhile and before that was driving for Larry Joe Taylor...many a gig has been made with the help of our Papa (Guy Bagwell). He's an incredible fella and we all love him! Happy Birthday Papa!

With all the blessing on this 34th Birthday Robin was probably a top surprise. Then, I have to admit that I was blessed, too in hearing back from my old pal, Jimmy. Some know him as Buck or Jeff or even Shrek (for his mammoth strength...not his green color). He got wrapped up in a chick and sort of ditched our friendship for awhile. However, as God works his blessing in my life, Ol' Jimmy calls me and now we're picking up our friendship where we left off. That really made my year to have my Brother back. Jimmy & I used to go together to watch Cooder Graw, we went to EMT school together and worked several ranch jobs side by side. He's a special guy that's been there for me through quite a lot. Women are awesome, don't get me wrong, but there's a special bond between Brothers like Jimmy & I that is like gold. When I lost Hefe in my life it was even harder...now I know Hefe's working some "mojo" for me.

Well, this entry really turned out to be pretty personal I guess and not all about the band. Forgive me for not talking more about Matt, KT, Paul, Nick & Fish. It goes without saying that they are doing well. Fish is in Dallas visiting his grandpaw/my Uncle Bill. Thank you everyone for the well wishes & prayers for Uncle Bill during his surgery. Nick is probably recovering from the Stoney LaRue show last night in College Station. Lucky! Matt's on his way to an acoustic show in "somewhere" Texas. Paul's home doing....well, I haven't heard from him yet, but I bet he's maybe looking up movie times and doing website stuff. KT is brushing up on his piano skills and waiting to receive in the new merch shirts (you guys will love these). Gyro's out on his motorcycle trying to get perspective with the wind of freedom blowing across his face. And I am sitting here at Gyro's house watching reruns of M*A*S*H.

One cool note: I didn't know what to do with those balloons. They really wouldn't fit on the bus. So, I decided to write a letter. I addressed it to God and thanked him for all the people in my life...for Robin, my Cooder Brothers, Jimmy, David Ball, Attebery, Hefe & Todd, etc. Then, I attached the folded letter to the strings and sent it up into the West Texas sky. Maybe God will read it or maybe some farmer in Kansas will find it in one of his trees, but either way, I feel good today.

Mountain Time

2005-08-20T20:41:00.000-05:00

Robin told me that I have a lot to write about, so I thought I had better start. As more things come to my delinquent mind, may have to do some updating later. Till then...

We arrived via car to Red River, New Mexico (alias, Heaven on Earth). The bus went, but those of us that brought along our "significant others" traveled via private vehicle. We had to stop in Albequerque first...yea, I don't care that I miss spelled it...the show sucked. I did $6 in merch and there wasn't any crowd to speak of. So, let's bypass that chapter and move on to this wonderful time in Red River. We got here and had to load-in. Larry Joe Taylor's putting this deal on, so of course they sold merch for me. That was okay, since I had Robin with me anyway. Chris brought Kris, Fish had his woman Sarah (we call her "Wichita" since she's from Wichita Falls). I could do a whole entry on her cause she's a funny, backwoods gal that definitely holds her own. While driving there was a huge bug in the car and it landed on my shirt. Well, good ol' Wichita didn't hesitate in snatching the critter and chunkin' it out the "winder". She also told us all how to properly kill birds, attach stink bait and gave numerous examples on how to control a man (poor Fish). She's awesome though. Another quick story on "Wichita": Last night I sat in the back lounge of the bus and had a "moment" with my sweetheart, Robin. As I was in a drunken stupor, I said that I wanted to be her shadow (I know, I am a puss when it comes to her). Well, then with a ever so brief moment of silence, we hear, "Rock...that was so beautiful." We looked over and there was Wichita with tears in her eyes, listening....o'yea, she was drunk, too. Who wasn't?!

So, we got our sleeping arrangements worked out, after some bouts of drama. Seems there were not enough rooms, but with "awe..well", Gyro got everyone situated and life was good. I tell ya, I had a taste of Gyro life, driving up all this way toting the couples and IT SUCKS. I don't know how Gyro puts up with all of us, but GOD BLESS THAT MAN. He deserves the best in life...and I think he's getting it;)

The show was bad ass (to use a professional term). Before the show was over, Larry Joe Taylor, Keith Sykes and Richard Leigh were on stage singing with Matt and the boys. However, Larry Joe was on drums, Fish was on washboard, Keith was on Bass, Paul was on himself (doing his Frank Sinatra) and the place was rockin'. Being free this night, I had the honor of dancing with all the ladies. Well, Erin, Melinda, Wichita (even though she leads) and my Robin....and etc. There was a guy hitting on all of our girls for a while, but the Cooder Crew rose to the occasion and I think between Nick flashing his ring, my mean bald head and Fish staring him down, he took off. George was even sporting a blonde by nights end. She wore an extra large shirt, but it wasn't due to any waist line...know what I mean. George was truly in the mountains last night.

Life is nice out here. Today, we had some rain, but it cleared by showtime and the activities were in the park, instead of The Motherlode. It was awe inspiring to see Cooder Graw playing against the backdrop of what can only be called Gods best work. Robin and I did some shopping...and more shopping....and probably have more on the way thanks to her love of family & friends. Speaking of, want to send a "shout out" to all the sisters...yea, I know you're reading now. Knights do exist.

This romantic backdrop is waiting and I have a lovely woman with me...waiting ever so patiently, so forgive me for cutting this semi-short. What would you be doing? We have a wonderful room in a fantastic lodge and plenty of fresh air and intoxicants. Hmmmm. See ya on down the road.

The long road home

2005-08-15T16:56:00.000-05:00

Sitting here at the table in the front lounge of the bus and couldn't think of much else to do except maybe write. There's some weird problem with our air shocks, so we're feeling like we're riding on a freight train over a gravel road. KT's laying on the couch to my left, having fallen asleep to watching "Heartworn Highways". Paul's passed out in his bunk, trying to sleep the time away till we get home. We're probably somewhere near Cisco, if I heard Gyro right. I was up there talking to Gyro earlier and we both looked out at the expanse of land, when Gyro said, "Man, we sure have it all in Texas: Desert, mountains, hills, rivers, ocean, woods. It's like a whole country." Couldn't have said it better. We sort of take it for granted, passing through all these wonderful little towns. We see places that the big-wigs in Austin probably long forgot about. Fences made of stone, wood and wire...houses on blocks and some that take up that much. There's even been gardens growing with stalks of produce shooting up from the hood of a dilapidated old Dodge. We see the places where the sanitation system is called a "burn barrel" and the dogs fetch the food for the masters. There are ponds so overgrown with vegetation, instead of mirroring the sky, you can't tell they're there, except to see the three legged livestock stretching to drink. Add all that to some giant windmills and lightning in the distance and you have our trip home.

Next week is the trip to the mountains of New Mexico. We're all looking forward it. O'yea. See ya down the road in a few days.

Tiny Bubbles....

2005-08-14T18:20:00.000-05:00

Am at the bus right now, having just completed the river float. KT, George, Matt & I are back at the bus getting a few things. Then, we'll head back to the Lone Star Float House to watch Matt & Jason Boland play. Fish & Gyro are leading an expedition to refloat the river. So, they'll be nice and water logged. At least the kids will sleep well tonight and we can kick back and watch the DVD's Attebery left with us about Townes Van Zandt and the like.

Top Secret: I really miss Robin today. Sucked to see that Crisp had his Crist there. Fish had David Ball. And then there was me....lonely ol' Rock. Poor me, right?

We had a great time on the river and the crowd was nice. More people there than at El Campo for sure. Time to run....