growing and growing and...

He's growing hair! Ever since he was born, little Drew has had "old man hair" as Jenny says. Kind of ring-around-the-head hair with nothing on top to speak of. Now he's getting kind of fuzzy. So cute. He also is talking up a storm (gurgling/cooing) and smiles a lot when we make faces at him. Jenny does this more than I of course. She's the silly one. I took him to the doc last Thursday and he weighed 11lb 12oz and we were so proud. Later that night we saw some friends and met their baby who is 2 weeks younger than Andrew, but weighs 2 lbs more! Drew looked so small. Oh well. He's still smarter and cuter than any other baby I've talked to.

October photos

Andrew looks awful smart in this picture with Jenny – and he is, but he doesn't always pay attention during storytime. Asunday or 2 ago we put him in overalls and he looked so cute we had to have a photoshoot on the spot. We were late for church. That's not all that unusual these days.

Kathleen Turner

I'll get more pictures of the baby up as soon as I get them off the camera. Hold your horses!

Anyway, waaay back a week before Andrew was born (when we kind of had a social life), Jenny and I went to an Andy Warhol exhibit at the Springfield Art Museum. You'll never guess who we ran into! Well maybe you've already guessed. Kathleen Turner!-you know from Romancing the Stone, Jewell of the Nile, Peggy Sue Got Married, GoBots: War of the Rock Lords, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Undercover Blues, War of the Roses, Friends-Chandler's crossdressing dad, etc

Anyway, she is from Springfield and her mom still lives here, but she apparently was good friends with Andy Warhol who died in the late 80s. She was instrumental in bringing the show to our town. She was all over the place chatting with everyone, but we finally got her attention and she sat and talked to Jenny for about 2 minutes about pregnancy and such. She made us feel like ol' friends. She said she was very pregnant when she was in the studio recording the voice of Jessica Rabbit and she went in one day and her water broke while on the soundstage! She even signed the cover of Jenny's "Romancing the Stone" DVD - she just happened to have it in her purse! Fun times!

P.S. Jen has lost like 30 lbs since this photo. She is VERY skinny now!

Ozarks Bluesfest 06

This is the poster I designed for the 10th annual Greater Ozarks Blues Festival this year. That's a mouthful! I designed the t-shirts too which, if you didn't get one, better luck next year! They are in pretty bright colors to match the colors on the poster. It was a pretty good festival this year – no huge headliners, just several medium to big headliners. My favorite act was Elvin Bishop. He was a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band back in the 60s of which I am a big fan. Slide Guitar master. He signed a Guitar One magazine for me that I brought that featured a guitar lesson with him. I can't play guitar, but I try to play the blues once in a while.
The poster is inspired by old 1950s/60s screen printed show posters. You know the kind that say "One night only" and "In person". They would print the bright posters in bulk to go along with the tour then the local distributers would print the location information in black ink usually at the top. I found several examples at Hatch Show Print's web site (www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/experience-hatch.aspx) from Nashville. They are so cool!
According to the steps to become a blues singer in my previous post (below), I will never be taken seriously as a blues singer. I guess that's why God created Bluegrass. For us happy white kids.

Can you sing the blues?

How To Sing The Blues in 20 Easy Lessons:

1. Most Blues begin "Woke up this mornin'..."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes... sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound."

4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch--ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Milwaukee or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chompin’ on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass

Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstrom's
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be a old ethnic person, and you slept in it.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. you older than dirt
b. you blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied

No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a 401K or trust fund

13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.

14. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. cheap wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. nasty black coffee

The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast

15. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.

16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling

17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie

18. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

19. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit:
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit Lemon, Lime, Kiwi, etc.)
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)

For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Jakeleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")

20. I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even one computer, you cannot sing the blues.