Aww…Mondays

Lucy; “Come on dad, I’m trying to take a nap here.”

“You’re just not going to let it go until you get a photo are you? Okay, take the picture already.”

Monday’s Music Moves Me

WooHoo…it’s freedom of choice week! Last time I had my pick I chose to feature Mr. Leon Russell. Leon was an iconic cog in a large wheel of talented piano players/keyboard artists in rock n roll music. So, today I am going to feature a few more ivory ticklers that you may or may not recognize. First up is none other than “Killer” Jerry Lee Lewis. Jerry Lee was one of the first “Wild Child” musicians in rock n roll, both on and off stage. He had two famous cousins, the Pentecostal evangelist Jimmy Swaggart and country music legendary piano player Mickey Gilly. Jerry Lee was the first keyboard player to get up off of the bench and pound the piano into submission. He, like Leon Russell was a major influence on Sir Elton John. While Lewis was a founding father of rock n roll, he was also a very good country artist, so I have selected one of his performances from the country side to feature here.

Who am I kidding? You have to see “Killer” in the beginning, when the whole world was asking what this thing called rock n roll was all about. It was all about A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On!!!

One of my all time favorite keyboard masters was Ray Charles. Two of the first albums that I owned were by Ray. I also own one of his last albums, a duet compilation with various artists. Ray injected rock n roll with a heavy dose of the blues and the sound was awesome.

Next up is an artist that played in Ray Charles group before going his own way. Most bands have three guitars, lead, rhythm and bass, a drummer and maybe a keyboard. How many groups do you know that have three keyboards on the platform, a baby grand, a Hammond B3 organ, and electric keyboard? Billy Preston also had a horn section similar to Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago. It all made for a great sound.

I know, there was Fats Domino, Billy Joel, Floyd Cramer and others that I have left out, but no list of great keyboard artists is complete without Sir Elton John. I have been a fan of his since the beginning. I saw him twice in concert and they were the best concerts that I ever attended. The word “showman” just barely describes Elton’s talent and ability to connect with the crowd. The first time I heard “Your Song”, I was a fan and I purchased every Elton John album over the next decade. Elton is preparing for a three year farewell tour, but we will always have his recordings.

I saw Elton in the early 70’s and he rocked the house with Pinball Wizzard. This clip from his Vegas show is even more theatrical than his early efforts. Play on Elton, play on!

During the course of the past few years our fair city has seen multiple murals appear on local buildings. Some are very colorful while others look like oversized pen and ink sketches. I have picked some of my favorites to share.

This is one of the latest works located on a repurposed manufacturing facility. The building now houses a cooking school, a couple of restaurants and several other businesses. The artwork here is simply stunning.

I think the message in this two story work is that justice isn’t always blind and the scales may be tipped slightly in one direction. Just a thought.

This work is part of a much larger piece. I find it incredibly powerful. You just can’t help but look at it. You may find it attractive or not so much, but it demands your attention.

At the opposite end of the same wall is this cartoon-like panel. I used the “Whole New Adventure” panel as a background for one of our grand daughter’s senior pictures.

Finally, on the rear of the same building is this whimsical piece. I think the character looks a little like Prince. I’m not sure about all of the bubble faces.  I must say that I do like these murals better than random street art or graffiti. Have a blessed week.

Aww…Monday’s

Cocker Spaniel…’nuf said.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

This week’s musical theme is “mail”, “soup” or “vacuum”. Since I had no clue how to work soup or vacuum into the conversation, I chose “mail”. The first song that came to mind is one from my youth/young adult years. I was always fond of vocals with a little gravel in them and “The Letter” was a favorite of mine. Originally recorded in 1967 by The Box Tops, I didn’t hear this song until after I came home from Vietnam in ’68. However, in 1970 last weeks featured musician, Leon Russell and Joe Cocker turned this song into an anthem on the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour. Enjoy.

The next song actually has mail in the title. It comes from folk singer, the late Harry Chapin. His clear vocals and simple instrumental arrangements were always a pleasure to listening. His biggest hit was “Cats in the Cradle” that spoke to the issue of parents who don’t spend quality time with their kids, shouldn’t expect the kids to spend quality time with them later in life. The Bible speaks to training a child properly and that they will generally act accordingly. Okay, back to the mail. Harry wrote a song about a man who ordered a bride, sight unseen, through the mail… and we thought internet relationships were risky! The song is appropriately titled “Mail Order Annie”.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, track season is in full swing and spring soccer season is just around the corner. That means that the youngest grand daughter is going to be a very busy young lady. Last spring she won the conference outdoor high jump championship and placed third in the state. This past week-end she finished fourth in the state indoor championships, so we are off to a good start. I like going to the track meets because there is often several events going on at the same time, but they do tend to last all day. I will say that indoor is much more difficult to photograph because of the restricted space and the amateur photographer/grandpa can’t get press credentials to access the infield. So here are a few images of the competitors that I managed to capture. The girls finished second as a team and the boys finished first.

The girls 4×800 relay team took first place in the state indoor championships.

The youngest grand daughter finished 4th overall in high jump by clearing 5′-0″. She would like to get to 5′-4″ during the outdoor season and defend her conference championship.

I have to admit, I love watching the pole vault. The young man on the right vaulted 16′-6″ then attempted to break the state record at 17′-1″ but just didn’t have enough energy left to make it happen.

The long jump is another of my favorite events because I was a long jumper in high school. I would much rather jump 21 feet horizontally into a pit of sand than try to catapult myself 17 feet into the air and possibly not land on the cushions below.

Hurdles requires speed, agility, timing and endurance to be successful. I never did think running over obstacles was good idea. Too many opportunities for a crash and burn.

That’s all for this week. Have a blessed week and stop back on Wednesday to see the Wordless Wednesday post. Later!

Last week I posted about a couple of pinewood derby cars that I built for an event at our church. The green one was named “Spike” by the young man that assisted in the construction. He wanted a mohawk so I came up with this stripe of black projections running down the middle of the car. There was another pinewood event this past Saturday and circumstances required that I construct a new car. So I got to thinking, “How can I make Spike more spikey?

Meet Spike 2! I took some 1/4″ wood dowels and ran them through a pencil sharpener and now we have serious spikes! A few graphics applied and Spike 2 is ready for the track.

There were some very colorful cars this week, but Spike 2’s neon green made him easy to find in the pit area, waiting his run down the track.

Spike 2 looked very impressive in the starting gate on the track. So how did Spike 2 preform. Let’s just say that he lost to three donuts in lane 2. Oh well, back to the drawing boards. There’s always next year. We may have lost the race but my assistant was thrilled with the improvements in Spike’s appearance, so that’s win for the home team. Have a blessed day.

This past week the temperatures have dropped into the teens and we have had two dustings of snow. Last Friday morning the temperature was twelve degrees when I got up. I wandered out to the fence and refilled the bird feeder. It wasn’t too long before the first feathered friends arrived.

Cardinals are always a welcome sight. Four years ago we moved from a wooded area into town and the variety of birds to watch and photograph diminished significantly. There are several pairs of cardinals though.

Not everyone is a fan of the sparrow. They are plentiful and harmless enough but they just don’t provide much color for a photograph.

Starlings on the other hand are very colorful, but also very annoying. They will swarm a feeder like bees around a hive. They kick out more of the seeds than they eat and will not allow other birds near the feeder until they are finished plundering. They are little more than feathered pigs in my opinion, but they do make good photo subjects. There are two birds that will run them off. Mocking birds and Bluejays will not tolerate starlings and will send them running for cover.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

This week the theme is “Your Choice”. As a teen/twenty something of the sixties and a long time resident of Tulsa Oklahoma I have decided to feature one of the city’s favorite sons. The musicians of Tulsa developed their own Tulsa Sound and artists like Jim Webb, J. J. Cale, Elvin Bishop, Dwight Twilly and David Gates called Tulsa their hometown. But the musician that many of us remember most fondly was none other than Leon Russell. Sir Elton John credits Leon as one of his idols. Leon’s musical career began at the age of 14 playing in local nightclubs. Since Oklahoma was a dry state so there were no liquor laws per-se and that allowed Leon to earn his living at a very early age. He moved to L.A. and became one of a group of A-List session musicians known as the “Wrecking Crew”.  His list of session credits include playing on recordings by Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Leon enjoyed a solo career that spanned from the late sixties into the late seventies and then drifted back into sessoin work. He renovated an old church into a recording studio in Tulsa and it is still around today. The likes of Eric Clapton, and Paul McCartney have played with Leon in that studio. Leon passed away in 2016 and the music industry lost an iconic talent while Tulsa lost a favorite son.

Leon wrote “Delta Lady” for Joe Cocker, but you haven’t heard this song until you hear Leon do it.

Another song authored by Leon was “A Song For You”.

As I mentioned earlier, Sir Elton John considered Leon one of his idols. After years (decades) in obscurity, Elton lead the campaign that put Leon rightfully in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They collaborated on an album The Union and went on tour. The album is worth adding to your collection. Here is a cut from the dynamic duo.

One last cut from the best Rocker to come out of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Have a blessed week and “Rock on!”

Sunday afternoon at church, the Trail Life boys held their annual Pinewood Derby. It is like a scale model soapbox derby. The fathers and sons build the cars to certain specifications and go racing. This year I volunteered to help any youngster who came from a single parent home or was without a father for some reason. A 10 year old young man was assigned to me and we built the neon green spiked racer on the right.

Registration started at 3:00 pm and it didn’t take long for the pit area to fill up with racing machines. There were those built for speed and those built more for show.

Certainly the most clever design was the Star Wars “Walker”. The legs are simply the base for the car to  rest. The upper section with the wheels lift off of the base and go racing. This car was not the fastest in the field, but it was certainly one of the most popular.

The cars were divided into age groups, plus an “Outlaw” class. The outlaw cars were allowed to have additional modifications and anyone could enter, so I put together the TIGERS machine. These outlaw cars are built for speed.

So, how did these two first-time racers do? Well the neon green machine finished 4th in the young man’s age group and the TIGERS Wedge finished in the middle of the outlaw pack. I’ve already got a few ideas for next year’s outlaw machine because you’re never too old to go racing! Have a blessed day.

Last week the weather was generally mild for January. Temperatures rose into the 50’s and the days were mild and sunny. Then, Friday night a cold front moved in, the temperature dropped into the 20’s, a light snow covered the yard and the winds blew. It was a miserable weather day on Saturday. I put some food out for the birds and I had plenty of diners, but only this one cardinal.

Monday’s Music Moves Me

I have to admit, when I saw the theme for this week was “Shadows” there was just one song that came to mind “Me and My Shadow” but I really wanted to do something different. So, I headed to YouTube and did a search. I found this video that is not only a great piece of music, but a truly entertaining video. Have a blessed week.

Not in Our House!

I said, “No!”

Ground Game

Defense!

Defending the Paint