12-28-03

russ, margaret, emilie (emo), mo are in w. tx- we came out here a couple of days ago on 12/26. I ain't never been out this way. the drive was nice and quick in margaret's isuzu rodeo. russ and i brought our guitars. on the evening of 12/26, after drivin' all day, we 1st hit ms. tracy's diner in terlingua, tx. she's a hip ole gal and her diner had all kinds of groovy oddities- in fact her staff had built her a bird bath out of an ole tire hub as a bass and an ole roastin' tub as the vessel that held water. we also learned that she's an old wiccan, passed down thru generations.

then we went to get a room and then to la kiva where the menudo bro's were playin'. that was a great place- and billy faier was playin' w/ pablo menudo. russ had a tape of outstanding banjo pickin' from faier in the 50's that we were all diggin' on- incidently, we dug my american indian music all the way to w. tx, groovin' outa margaret's tape deck. pablo, knowin' russ, gave us some time on the stage. i'm findin' that russ and margaret, as cool and nice as they are, are buildin' good relationships out here. we drank some at la kiva, and that hurt me early the next day. but i will try to be careful and margaret dropped me a prevacid. oh- we met josh, a local and new employee at la kiva, and he took us out to the rainbow mine after the bar closed - we also got to see the starlight theater and emo, beautiful and stunning as she is, is just plain shockin' everyone. the starlight- what a great mural and presence- a good run would be thru odessa, alpine, study butte.

on 12/27, we tooled around study butte (jensen gallery, crawling down a tunnel) - oh, sorry, that was in terlingua. then we drove to chinati hot springs and hit some nice spots- 2 old movie sets, some landscapin's w/ hole outcroppin's (i got to hide and sleep in some of those holes). the chinati hot springs have been a blessing - seems like they have everything you need here - no more, no less. everyone is friendly and has an artisty edge.

we met sydney brammer (sara eckhardt's big sis) and michael, an accordion player who is to jam at la kiva on new year's w/ joe king carasco. we all jammed in the kitchen 'till midnt. sydney does indy films and knows marci allen- she loved emo's stuff- everyone does- man, is she somethin'.