Friday, June 24, 2005
"Alright! It's 'Slappy is Jebus'!"
Went to see a family friend be named Veteran of the Month by the Rapid City Council on Wednesday. It's an honor my dad received a while back and with an air force base here, there are a lot of veterans to choose from. For the time being, anyway. I know that if Ellsworth closes that all of the veterans won't up and leave the Black Hills. My parents won't, they've put down roots. The neighborhood they moved into after my dad retired was all retired Air Force in 1979 when they moved there. That's not the case anymore, but I'd say they're still the majority.
My parents are from South Dakota, though their families are from the eastern half of the state. Our other retired friend are from the midwest mostly, but none of them are from the general area. They retired here because they like the area and there's a base nearby. That makes it possible for them to take advantage of there benefits. Ellsworth has a good hospital, comissary and base exchange, all things that the retirees can take advantage of. These befits have drastically eroded over the past 20 years, but it's still a good deal for a retiree to live near an active military post.
My dad's birthday is on Veteran's Day, and seeing the parade a town this size puts on for his birthday is amazing. I know that any citizen can be patriotic, but you haven't seen patriotism until you've seen it practiced by a group of vets. "Practiced" isn't the right word, vets have it down, they don't need any more practice. It's a pretty special thing to see.
This would be a poorer community if the veterans weren't here. Generally they're civic minded folks. Yes the Elks and other communtiy service clubs sponsor scout troops and the like, but so do all of the Vets's organizations. And a lot of these guys are pulling double duty, active in community organizations as well as one or more Veteran's organizations. I'd sure like to see them stay around. I hope they do.
Also on Wednesday I hung out in a bar with my sister and a friend. It's been a while since I've done that without getting up to play music at some point during the evening. But Dunn Bros. was right around the corner and it was Wednesday so maybe it does count.
Dunn Bros. was insane on Wednesday. That open mic is getting so insane. Every week I see someone I've never seen before who impresses the hell out of me. This week it was a high school age girl whose guitar playing was adequate (which is to say much better than my guitar playing) but had an amazing voice. It was also her first time on stage so she was really nervous. I love to see that, not to make fun, but to see a person overcome something that's really difficult, to see them become more confident while they're sitting there. Maybe she'll never play in front of people again. Maybe she'll get adicted to it. You never can tell.
Slappy is Jebus did an abbreviated set. As the place was quite busy, everybody did an abbreviated set. The plan had been to do Springsteen's Born to Run which we're working up for the Heritage Festival, but the energy of the crowd made us change to our plans and do our Muddy Waters songs instead, Rollin' & Tumblin' and Got My Mojo Workin' instead. While we were setting up I over heard a group of high school age kids say, "Alright! It's Slappy is Jebus!" We hadn't even been introduced yet and we were recognized, and by an age group that isn't really our core demographic. I asked how they knew us, and they said that they were in Dunn Bros. last Wednesday and that we're their second favorites. Their favorite was Willy Grigg, and I can certainly live with being second to Willy.
We played our Muddy Waters tunes, the crowd seemed to be into it which is always nice. Now, my sister and parents were there leading the crowd, but when the crowd started responding to my "Got My Mojo Workin'" line with one of their own, well, that's just pretty damn cool.
I'm playing at the Chophouse with Mike Reardon tonight. We'll be joined by a former guitar student of his, Eric on guitar. We got together and worked up some tunes last night and will probably get together some more this afternoon. The plan is to play outside at the Chophouse if the weather cooperates. After days of 90 degree heat and 90% humidity (I thought I moved away from Minnesota, damn it!), I'm not going to complain about the cool and cloudy weather today, but I'd sure like those clouds to burn off by tonight.
BOJ
My parents are from South Dakota, though their families are from the eastern half of the state. Our other retired friend are from the midwest mostly, but none of them are from the general area. They retired here because they like the area and there's a base nearby. That makes it possible for them to take advantage of there benefits. Ellsworth has a good hospital, comissary and base exchange, all things that the retirees can take advantage of. These befits have drastically eroded over the past 20 years, but it's still a good deal for a retiree to live near an active military post.
My dad's birthday is on Veteran's Day, and seeing the parade a town this size puts on for his birthday is amazing. I know that any citizen can be patriotic, but you haven't seen patriotism until you've seen it practiced by a group of vets. "Practiced" isn't the right word, vets have it down, they don't need any more practice. It's a pretty special thing to see.
This would be a poorer community if the veterans weren't here. Generally they're civic minded folks. Yes the Elks and other communtiy service clubs sponsor scout troops and the like, but so do all of the Vets's organizations. And a lot of these guys are pulling double duty, active in community organizations as well as one or more Veteran's organizations. I'd sure like to see them stay around. I hope they do.
Also on Wednesday I hung out in a bar with my sister and a friend. It's been a while since I've done that without getting up to play music at some point during the evening. But Dunn Bros. was right around the corner and it was Wednesday so maybe it does count.
Dunn Bros. was insane on Wednesday. That open mic is getting so insane. Every week I see someone I've never seen before who impresses the hell out of me. This week it was a high school age girl whose guitar playing was adequate (which is to say much better than my guitar playing) but had an amazing voice. It was also her first time on stage so she was really nervous. I love to see that, not to make fun, but to see a person overcome something that's really difficult, to see them become more confident while they're sitting there. Maybe she'll never play in front of people again. Maybe she'll get adicted to it. You never can tell.
Slappy is Jebus did an abbreviated set. As the place was quite busy, everybody did an abbreviated set. The plan had been to do Springsteen's Born to Run which we're working up for the Heritage Festival, but the energy of the crowd made us change to our plans and do our Muddy Waters songs instead, Rollin' & Tumblin' and Got My Mojo Workin' instead. While we were setting up I over heard a group of high school age kids say, "Alright! It's Slappy is Jebus!" We hadn't even been introduced yet and we were recognized, and by an age group that isn't really our core demographic. I asked how they knew us, and they said that they were in Dunn Bros. last Wednesday and that we're their second favorites. Their favorite was Willy Grigg, and I can certainly live with being second to Willy.
We played our Muddy Waters tunes, the crowd seemed to be into it which is always nice. Now, my sister and parents were there leading the crowd, but when the crowd started responding to my "Got My Mojo Workin'" line with one of their own, well, that's just pretty damn cool.
I'm playing at the Chophouse with Mike Reardon tonight. We'll be joined by a former guitar student of his, Eric on guitar. We got together and worked up some tunes last night and will probably get together some more this afternoon. The plan is to play outside at the Chophouse if the weather cooperates. After days of 90 degree heat and 90% humidity (I thought I moved away from Minnesota, damn it!), I'm not going to complain about the cool and cloudy weather today, but I'd sure like those clouds to burn off by tonight.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 9:50 AM 
