Tiger's Next Record

Back when NY Governor Eliot Spencer got into trouble, I compared the daily prices he paid with that of Sir Paul McCartney after his divorce. I don't remember the math, but I think Sir Paul paid a bit more. Tiger will end up breaking Sir Paul's record.

Cool for Cats

This summer I kept the AC on high. I was getting prepped for the President's promise of skytocketing energy costs. It got warm enough that the cats stopped napping on the bed. Instead they opted for shady spots.

Since things have cooled down, the cats are back on the bed. It was cool enough the other day that Dimsum Cat was under the covers.

Separated at birth?

Wapanocca Lake

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Sorry I don't know enough about how to use google map links.

Then again, I have to use dots to keep paragraphs separated.

I saw a news story about a Jericho AR Police officer shooting the Fire Chief, IN COURT, over speeding tickets.

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My grandpa, Bop-Hyde, took my brother and me fishing on some great waters just acoss the Mississippi from Memphis. Island 40 Chute and Dacus Lake were channels long forgotten by the Mississippi. Wapanocca Lake is only four miles from the river, but near enough that was certainly influenced by Ol' Man River.

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While small by Texas standrds, it seemed a bit too big for the 10 HP limit. It was okay though, Bop-Hyde only had 9.8 HP engines.

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There were water trails through the cypress woods. Toss a spinner bait into the duckweek covered water, drag it past a cypresss stump, and chances were good that you would pull out a bass. Makes me want to visit to see what a bass fly will do next to those stumps.

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The lake was closed in the '80s or '90s. The latest word from the USFWS is, "Due to a loss of the major water source for the 600 acre Wapanocca Lake, fisheries has declined..." Still it is a good visiting spot for waterfowl.

Harrison Creek

Since I'm remembering visits to Pop Tunes, I should mention Harrison Creek. It was a nice shortcut to Summer Ave in Memphis. Unfortunately, it was just a concrete culvert, unlike the great urban creeks we have here in the Dallas/FW Metromess.

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There were no fish nor fowl, but it was great for finding junk such as assorted bicycle parts.

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I moved to Uptown Dallas in '99. Part of that location decision was being ten minutes from work. The Turtle Creek greenbelt also appealed to me.

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Unfortunately, it took seven years to realize the greenbelt appeal. There is fishies in that there creek!

Pop Tunes

Robin's comment below reminded me of the record store of my youth - Pop Tunes. Poplar Tunes was the downtown store, but Pop Tunes was a bike ride away from Grandma's in east Memphis. The LPs on the shelves were just samples - you could plop them on a record player for a test listen. You had to take the samples to the register and they would fetch a copy from the back room. Jimi Hendrix's "High, Live, and Dirty" was sealed to prevent sampling.

Is it just me? There something wrong with a 1950's neon sign saying, "Now On Myspace?"

Uncle Elliot taught me to respect records and and turntables. One time I sampled Monty Python's The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I carefully placed the record on the player and directed the needle gracefully into the first groove. Then I heard a rude announcement, "THIS IS SIDE TWO. IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THE RECORD FROM THE BEGINNING, PLEASE TURN OVER!" I almost broke the tonearm in my haste to turn the record over.

It took several trips to buy a record from the guy who sang Walk on the Wild Side. I'd visit the store, thinking of the song, and think, "Lou? Lou? Lou who?" The best I could come up with was Lou Rawls. I got lucky one time - the album New York happened to be on the front of a shelf.

Can you say "eee-ooo-uuu?" Robert Klien can, so I'm sure you can. I wasn't going to mention the time I visited Pop Tunes and saw a Laurie Anderson record. "Wait a minute! I saw her on SNL" According to wikipedia, Lou and Laurie were wed last year.

New Riders Revisited

I don't think I've listened to the New Riders of the Purple Sage since I gave up my LPs fifteen years or so ago. I forgot how good this "country-rock" music was.

I am not, nor have I ever been a Dead Head. Okay, I've owned two of their CDs. Today I discovered that NRPS were a little brother of the Dead. It's Alright With Me and Thank the Day sound like Grateful Dead songs.

Then there are the songs which should be country classics, One Too Many Stories, You Should Have Seen Me Runnin, and Teardrops In My Eyes are great. Where is that beer I need to cry in?

I didn't buy this LP until I was in high school, but remember listening to it before then. Could it have laid a foundation for my appreciation of steel guitars, horn sections, and background singers? Could be, considering those are my favorite aspects of this record.