Our old friend, the singer and songwriter Houston Marchman came by KNON this afternoon. I hadn't seen him since we moved from the old White House Of East Dallas, about six years ago. Houston's looking and sounding good after all these years. He was always one of the best of the local singer/songwriters, with a strong, commanding voice, excellent guitar playing, and interesting songs. His singing, playing and new songs are as powerful as ever.
After some opening conversation and catching up with Mark Mundy, he launched into a new song, "Stones":
The on-air interview was really a conversation between old friends, as Mark and Houston go back a ways. I've edited these videos down a bit for the sake of brevity, and present for you now the next song Houston did, "Detroit":
As usually happens on the Friday edition of the Renegade Radio show, friends arrived to sit in as the show progressed. The Monday host Texas Trevor was there, then friends Mark Ivey and Michael Williams showed up. A little later our friend and the substitute DJ David Besonen arrived. At last our good old friend John Bass arrived, rounding out the group of in-studio guests & helpers.
Houston's last song of the day was the great old song "Wrong Side Of Del Rio", from his 2000 CD "Tryin' For Home":
After he finished playing, Houston had to rush off to the sound check. He's opening for Billy Joe Shaver tonight at the Granada Theatre here in Dallas. The rest of us descended to the parking lot for a couple rounds of beers, some peanuts, and a lot of great conversation. For some of us, this is the only time our wives let us out of the house unescorted, so we have to make the most of it.
Official website of KNON: www.knon.org
Houston Marchman's websites: www.houstonmarchman.com/
www.myspace.com/houstonmarchman
Friday, March 26, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Shannon McNally
What a treat to have Shannon McNally come by the station yesterday. She showed up with her full band, all their equipment, and the icing on the cake, her baby daughter Maeve. We'd been playing her previous CD, "Geronimo" for awhile, and her latest, "Coldwater" just came in the mail last month. From the CDs, I liked the songwriting, singing, and production, so I knew she'd be in the groove live. She and her band did not disappoint. After the briefest of introductions, they launched into "Bohemian Wedding Prayer Song":
Little Maeve was having a good time during the music. She was doing her best to be a part of the show. I really enjoyed it when she came over and hung on Mama while she was singing, vocalizing, and matching feet. How precious!
The band was great, and they were as follows: playing lead on one of the coolest guitars I've ever seen was Eric Deaton, keeping time on the drums was Wallace Lester, and securing the bottom end was Nathan Robbins on bass guitar. The next song was "Lovely":
I've got to hand it to Shannon for her songwriting, and most especially for her singing. She has a strong voice to begin with, and controls and modulates it beautifully.
The next song they performed was a cover of "Lonesome, Ornery, and Mean", and I'd like to present it for you here, but, this is about the time my video camera battery died, my old nemesis. I recharged the battery while they played this number, and was ready to go when they started the final song of the set, "Jack B. Nimble":
So, there you have it, another excellent in-studio performance from a great band. They were all very friendly. Shannon and her daughter Maeve were especially charming. They were in town to do a show the following night at the internationally famous Sons Of Hermann Hall. Between that show and this live radio set, Shannon was going to drive down to Austin for a showcase at the SXSW Music Conference, then drive back to Dallas that afternoon. What a hectic schedule, but that's a musician's life. Presenting the music is the easy part. It's all that driving between shows that wears you down.
Official website of KNON Radio in Dallas, Texas: www.knon.org
Shannon McNally's websites: www.myspace.com/shannonmcnally, and www.facebook.com/shannonmcnallymusic
Little Maeve was having a good time during the music. She was doing her best to be a part of the show. I really enjoyed it when she came over and hung on Mama while she was singing, vocalizing, and matching feet. How precious!
The band was great, and they were as follows: playing lead on one of the coolest guitars I've ever seen was Eric Deaton, keeping time on the drums was Wallace Lester, and securing the bottom end was Nathan Robbins on bass guitar. The next song was "Lovely":
I've got to hand it to Shannon for her songwriting, and most especially for her singing. She has a strong voice to begin with, and controls and modulates it beautifully.
The next song they performed was a cover of "Lonesome, Ornery, and Mean", and I'd like to present it for you here, but, this is about the time my video camera battery died, my old nemesis. I recharged the battery while they played this number, and was ready to go when they started the final song of the set, "Jack B. Nimble":
So, there you have it, another excellent in-studio performance from a great band. They were all very friendly. Shannon and her daughter Maeve were especially charming. They were in town to do a show the following night at the internationally famous Sons Of Hermann Hall. Between that show and this live radio set, Shannon was going to drive down to Austin for a showcase at the SXSW Music Conference, then drive back to Dallas that afternoon. What a hectic schedule, but that's a musician's life. Presenting the music is the easy part. It's all that driving between shows that wears you down.
Official website of KNON Radio in Dallas, Texas: www.knon.org
Shannon McNally's websites: www.myspace.com/shannonmcnally, and www.facebook.com/shannonmcnallymusic
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Miss Izzy Cox
Miss Izzy Cox came by the KNON studio last Friday, March 5, 2010. I saw her in the parking lot as I arrived, unloading a trunk full of stuff. Hers is an equipment intensive operation. In addition to her guitar, she had a small amplifier, and a kick drum made from an old overnight suitcase.I helped her get her equipment up to the studio, and she set about getting ready for the interview.
A friendly and interesting gal, she proved to be a good interview, and a dynamic performer. Her music seems to be all over the map, stylistically. The first song she did "Bad Bad Woman" was an upbeat rockabilly number. She followed this with "Devil Devil" and finished up with "Jesus Can You Save Me". So, in the course of twenty minutes, she went from being a Bad Woman, down to Hell, and all the way back up to Heaven.
Izzy was in town to do a show at the Allgood Cafe in Deep Elum later that night. She had with her her two latest CD releases, "Love Letters From The Electric Chair" and "Killing My Kind". As you can probably tell from these titles, most of her material is edgy and pretty dark. I bought a copy of each of these from her, and listened to them over the next few days. I must say that they are pretty good. I liked most of the songs on both of the records, and that's saying a lot.
Here are the videos of her in-studio performances:
"Bad Bad Woman"
"Devil Devil"
"Jesus Can You Save Me"
Official Website of KNON Community Radio in Dallas: http://knon.org/
Official Website of Miss Izzy Cox: http://myspace.com/izzycox
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Operation Steel
Ken Owens, on of our route drivers, brought this crate back to the warehouse last Wednesday. Inside is a piece of steel from the World Trade Center, melted down and formed into a slab. It is in route to Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan, where it will be made into a memorial to honor the victims of 9/11, and the American soldiers fighting terrorists in Afghanistan today. It is to remain there as long as American soldiers are in Afghanistan.
I didn't have a camera with me, so I shot these pictures with my cell phone, and I think they came out pretty nice.
Here is the link to the website named in the poster, Operation Once In A Lifetime:
http://operationonceinalifetime.com/
I didn't have a camera with me, so I shot these pictures with my cell phone, and I think they came out pretty nice.
Here is the link to the website named in the poster, Operation Once In A Lifetime:
http://operationonceinalifetime.com/
Monday, January 25, 2010
Passport
Ok Hwa's passport came via express mail today from the Korean Consulate in Houston.
We made a trip down to the Consulate in Houston a couple weeks ago, on January 8. We had all our documents and information in order, but they still hit us with a "Gotcha", as they always do. They wanted to know her blood type, and would not finish processing the application without it. Neither of us knew it, and so we placed a call to our doctor in Dallas. Left a message with the nurse to call me back with the information A.S.A.P. The clerk at the Consulate said we could telephone the information to them the next week. We took care of that on the following Monday, and they told up to expect the passport in three to four weeks. It got here in just over two weeks, so we're happy about that.
The passport arriving was the second piece of the puzzle to fall into place for our upcoming trip back to Korea.
Last week my W-2 form from work showed up in the mail, and I got to work immediately on preparing our taxes. Tax Act online is a great product that I've used for three years now. I've never had a problem with them, and it costs only $9.95 to e-file. What's not to love? Now it looks like our tax refund will be more than enough to finance the trip. What a relief!
I went on-line the other night, checking Korean Air for fare prices. They seem to be the only airline that flys non-stop from DFW to Korea. Neither of us want to go through the ordeal of changing planes again. If we go sometime before May, the fare will be about $1,129 each, round trip. Not bad, considering how far it is.
So far, so good. We're keeping fingers crossed, and thinking positive thoughts about making this happen. More on this as things fall into place.
Fall into place...Like the Tao says, don't work so hard, relax and go with the natural flow, and everything will come to you...
We made a trip down to the Consulate in Houston a couple weeks ago, on January 8. We had all our documents and information in order, but they still hit us with a "Gotcha", as they always do. They wanted to know her blood type, and would not finish processing the application without it. Neither of us knew it, and so we placed a call to our doctor in Dallas. Left a message with the nurse to call me back with the information A.S.A.P. The clerk at the Consulate said we could telephone the information to them the next week. We took care of that on the following Monday, and they told up to expect the passport in three to four weeks. It got here in just over two weeks, so we're happy about that.
The passport arriving was the second piece of the puzzle to fall into place for our upcoming trip back to Korea.
Last week my W-2 form from work showed up in the mail, and I got to work immediately on preparing our taxes. Tax Act online is a great product that I've used for three years now. I've never had a problem with them, and it costs only $9.95 to e-file. What's not to love? Now it looks like our tax refund will be more than enough to finance the trip. What a relief!
I went on-line the other night, checking Korean Air for fare prices. They seem to be the only airline that flys non-stop from DFW to Korea. Neither of us want to go through the ordeal of changing planes again. If we go sometime before May, the fare will be about $1,129 each, round trip. Not bad, considering how far it is.
So far, so good. We're keeping fingers crossed, and thinking positive thoughts about making this happen. More on this as things fall into place.
Fall into place...Like the Tao says, don't work so hard, relax and go with the natural flow, and everything will come to you...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Arty Hill at KNON
Baltimore's very own Arty Hill came by the KNON studio on Friday, November 20. He did a show benefiting the station in the KNON Live Music Room that night at about 8:30, and also was in the studio during the "Texas Renegade Radio" program from 4:00 to 6:00, for an on air chat with host Mark Mundy. He played a few songs during the radio show, and also wrote a song in the studio during the show! What a guy.
Arty's a great writer and singer of honky-tonk songs, and also plays a pretty mean country guitar.
Here he is playing one in the studio, on air during the show:
And, here's one from the benefit concert in the Live Music Room, which was not broadcast:
For more videos of Arty Hill, and many other artists, playing at KNON, follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?pi=0&ps=20&sa=0&dm=0&p=42BCA4273125C05A
Official Website of KNON Community Radio in Dallas, Texas: http://www.knon.org/
Official Website of Arty Hill: http://www.artyhill.com/
Arty's a great writer and singer of honky-tonk songs, and also plays a pretty mean country guitar.
Here he is playing one in the studio, on air during the show:
And, here's one from the benefit concert in the Live Music Room, which was not broadcast:
For more videos of Arty Hill, and many other artists, playing at KNON, follow this link:
http://www.youtube.com/my_playlists?pi=0&ps=20&sa=0&dm=0&p=42BCA4273125C05A
Official Website of KNON Community Radio in Dallas, Texas: http://www.knon.org/
Official Website of Arty Hill: http://www.artyhill.com/
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Terlingua/Big Bend, Day 7
Monday, November 9, 2009
This was our departure day, so we were up with the sun and packing as soon as we got dressed. I did pause long enough to make a cup of coffee to jump-start my day. We had to pack carefully to get everything in. The Bronco is filled up to the top when we finish. We could use some more room, and I think we'll tow our little trailer when we come out here next time.
Packed and ready to go, we paused by the Singing Frogs Mural on the way out and made some farewell portraits:
On the road, we hightailed it to Alpine for the first stop - gas and lunch. By the time we made it to Monahans and the Interstate highway, I was ready for a nap. After a twenty minute break, we were back on the road again, homeward bound.
We stopped once more, in Cisco, for gas and a bathroom break, and then hit the highway hard again for the home stretch, making it home around 7:00 p.m.
It's always great to come home, but the transition from Terlingua Time back to reality is difficult sometimes.
This was our departure day, so we were up with the sun and packing as soon as we got dressed. I did pause long enough to make a cup of coffee to jump-start my day. We had to pack carefully to get everything in. The Bronco is filled up to the top when we finish. We could use some more room, and I think we'll tow our little trailer when we come out here next time.
Packed and ready to go, we paused by the Singing Frogs Mural on the way out and made some farewell portraits:
On the road, we hightailed it to Alpine for the first stop - gas and lunch. By the time we made it to Monahans and the Interstate highway, I was ready for a nap. After a twenty minute break, we were back on the road again, homeward bound.
We stopped once more, in Cisco, for gas and a bathroom break, and then hit the highway hard again for the home stretch, making it home around 7:00 p.m.
It's always great to come home, but the transition from Terlingua Time back to reality is difficult sometimes.
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