Category: Music that doesn’t suck

Your Friday Hall of Fame

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 8 Comments
Jonathan Edwards performs a Joe Dulce classic live.

My old comrade and colleague Steve Frothingham pinged me over coffee this morning, double-checking another velo-bro’s contact info (the one and only Charles Pelkey, star of stage, screen, and TV).

Seems the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame is assembling a fresh conclave to vote on potential inductees and thought of tugging on the Live Update Guy’s coat.

Now, I happen to think that Charles would make an even better inductee than voter. I mean, the man has been there and done that, wearing more hats than the performers at the annual Country Music Association Awards.

Asking CP to vote on HoF candidates seems kinda like ringing up Les Claypool and asking, “Hey, you know anybody who rocks?”

But what the hell do I know? I guess some of us are just destined to roam that old back 40.

Home with the armadillo

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 25 Comments
My people were most definitely not Texans, but we dug “¡Viva Terlingua!” all the same.

A story about Luckenbach, Texas, Hondo Crouch, and Jerry Jeff Walker in The Guardian sent me on a little spin down Memory Lane over coffee this morning.

Maybe it’s the Londonesque weather we’ve been enjoying:

Well, it’s cold over here, and I swear
I wish they’d turn the heat on. — Gary P. Nunn, “London Homesick Blues”

October could get chilly in the college cowtown of Greeley, Colo., too, which is where The Mombo Club-El Rancho Delux crew mostly played the mortal shit out of Jerry Jeff’s “¡Viva Terlingua!” album and once saw “Scamp” Walker Hisself perform live, loud, and knee-walking drunk at the University of Northern Colorado:

Sure does like his Falstaff beer
Likes to chase it down with that Wild Turkey liquor
Drives a ’57 GMC pickup truck
Got a gun rack
“Goat ropers need love too” sticker. — Ray Wylie Hubbard, “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother”

Maybe it’s the sudden realization that it was 50 years ago when, after more than a few Falstaffs of my own, a 20-watt bulb blinked to sputtering life in my hairy head: “Holy hell, I think I’m gonna have enough credits to graduate come spring. …”

And before you could sing a verse of “Gettin’ By” I was off to the rat races. Cage-liners, bike mags, and blogs, O my!

Don’t matter how you do it 
They say, “Just do it like you know it,” 
And I’ve been down this road once or twice before. … — Jerry Jeff Walker, “Gettin’ By”

Marco! Polo!

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 8 Comments
The monsoon was late to the party, but man, is it ever dancing up a storm now.

“Check this strange beverage that falls out from the sky.” — Tom Waits, “Til the Money Runs Out.”

Fenders and a rain jacket will not do the trick today. Maybe a wetsuit and flippers.

As of 6 a.m. Duck! City time our weather widget had recorded 0.43 inch of rain since midnight, 0.66 inch in the past 48 hours, and an astounding 3.78 inches for the month.

And it ain’t over yet. We have a flood watch that extends through late tonight for all of northern and central New Mexico.

Fine sleeping weather. I’d hop right back in the sack if I didn’t have two cups of strong black coffee in me. I’d just lie there with my eyes out on stalks, buzzing like an electric blanket with a short in it. Better maybe to chase the java with a steaming bowl of oatmeal and a tall mug of Irish tea with honey.

Herself has fishtailed off to work and I hope she hasn’t had to use her Honda’s air bags as flotation devices. I did insist that she take a second pair of shoes in case she had to hopscotch through a few puddles on her way into the Sanctum Sanctorum.

If I can squeeze in a short run in my mud shoes I’ll do it. But at the moment the only Miles I’m logging is of the Davis variety. As in “Kind of Blue.”

R.I.P., Frank Beard

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 7 Comments
He’s bad … he’s nationwide.

Frank Beard has followed Dusty Hill backstage, leaving Billy Gibbons as the Last OG Standing in ZZ Top.

I don’t remember who put me hip to ZZ Top. Could’ve been my old newsie bro the M-dogg, back in our Bibleburg daze, after the release of their sixth album, “Degüello.”

Whatever. I soon backtracked through their catalog, adding “Tres Hombres” and “Tejas” to my box of road-trip tunes. “El Loco” would join them.

I never caught them live, but their MTV videos were killer. It’s always a pleasure to watch folks who enjoy their work.

It wasn’t always fun, of course. I recall one of the ZZs, asked for the secret to the trio’s longevity, replying: “Three tour buses.”

And Frank sure had his issues with the fabled party favors. The band took a three-year break while he got his shit together, which he did, as you can see from the video up top, a clip from the documentary “ZZ Top — That Little Ol’ Band From Texas.”

Billy, Dusty and Frank were my co-conspirators on many a road trip, and I’ll always be grateful for their company. Peace to Frank, his family, friends, and fans.

Another Saga unwritten

~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 24 Comments
My Soma Saga touring bike (rim-brake edition).

Well, the good news is, I won’t need fenders and a rain jacket for the ride downtown to collect my Subie from the shop.

The better news is, it is raining.

Reincarnation (the shop, not my hope for higher rebirth) just texted to say the old bucket of bolts is still deep into its semiannual wellness check and won’t be ready to come home until tomorrow.

It should go without saying that I had just pulled a fendered Soma Saga off its hook, aired up the tires, and lubed the chain.

But no matter. That needed doing anyway. And I got a couple hours of saddle time in this morning when it was still windless, cool, and dry, noodling home from the shop on the fenderless Soma Double Cross.

Besides, I may need the Saga tomorrow. The weather wizards are calling for a 70 percent chance of rain.

FIngers crossed.