A Fedora HatMet a man named Otis today. A big man with a big warm smile and an easy air about him. He has a television talk show in the Oakland, California area where he interviews people. Everyday folks, pro athletes, local and international celebrities, musicians and such. We shared our sadness and heartbreak of Katrina and the recent verdict in Oakland. We recalled dark memories of Watts and LA and Memphis. We spoke of our mutual admiration, love and respect for Dr. King, and hoped one day America would understand that the life, work and message of Dr. King was for all people. Otis was with a lovely woman and a grand-child who was old enough to have a tattoo of a piece of candy on her wrist. A vivacious 21 year old who shines from head to toe with the excitement of an uninhibited life yet to live. We all spoke of roast beef po-boys' with gravey, the proper makings for red beans and rice, Dobbs hats, Stacey Adams shoes and the effects of humidity on jerry curls and water based pompadour pomade. And as we were about to say our goodbyes, Otis reached into a bag and gave me a fedora hat that he brought back from his visit to Louisiana. I was taken aback, shook his hand earnestly, gave my sincere thanks and we said so long. I'm glad to know someone like him is in the world, and all though we'll most likely never see each other again, Otis and I are friends. For Openers
"Where is that Joe Buck?" "Where is that Joe Buck?"
Towel wrapped around his waist, he unpacks a new black hat.
"Where is that Joe Buck?"
Joe Buck snaps the pearl buttons of his green western shirt and laughs,
"Where's that Joe Buck?" "Where is that Joe Buck?" They shout. "You're due here at four-o-clock."
He stares straight into the camera, hat on, cigarette pressed between his lips, "You know what you can do with them dishes."
An acoustic finger-picking guitar starts to play.
"And if you aint' man enough to do it for yourself, I'd be happy to oblige." He strikes a match. "I really would."
He takes a beat, turns in a snap toward the bureau mirror, real quick like, like his good-lookin' reflection snuck up on himself. He smiles, flicks the spent match stick and kicks open the front door.
The music swells into full form, Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin At Me" vocal begins and the credits start to roll as Joe Buck, carrying a black and white cowhide suitcase, strolls across the hotels dirt courtyard, toward the sidewalk and down the road.
It takes 1:50 to the title credit and is one of the strongest film openings of all time. And Jon Voight as Joe Buck, forget it. That snap to his reflection is career making genius.
Midnight Cowboy. If you have yet to, check it out.
In No Particular OrderI received many kind emails wishing me condolences regarding my Grandfather’s passing last September, of which I thank you. Somewhat surprising, several people commented on how much they enjoyed the brief tribute I had written to him and posted here (scroll down). Thankful I left nothing unsaid before he went away, it did get me thinking what if I wrote with this kind of freedom for those I love that are actually alive? Perhaps throw a living wake for someone dear to shower them with the love, affection and words of admiration that they wouldn’t get a chance to hear when they are gone. Perhaps that's a Birthday. Anyway, odds are it’s not a new idea, but set me wondering what idiosyncrasies or anecdotes would be said of me? I don’t occur to me as the most open book, or maybe I am, I really don’t know, so in the spirit of sharing and to shed a little light on those who may be called upon to say a few words, in a far distant future, I’ve listed a few insights to my likes, loves, habits, ambitions and beliefs - in no particular order. I wear hats, play music, listen to Elvis, Les Paul, Louis Armstrong and most anything Stax. I read, don't pay for t.v., am a bona fide NASCAR fan, make the best tacos, sloppy joes and three layer cake that I've ever had, drive a big ass Cadillac, try to refrain from exercise and drink Scotch in responsible amounts. I love The Rendezvous and Gus's Fried Chicken in Memphis, Court of Two Sisters in New Orleans, Cafe Mogador in New York, Pinks in LA, Jiggs Smoke House in Clinton, OK, Bones in Atlanta, and Ole's in Alameda, CA. I would like to have another dog and see the real Matterhorn before I die. I once piloted a paddle wheel ship on the Columbia River and spent a couple years piloting the Mark Twain Steamship around the Rivers of America at Disneyland. I drove a racecar 188 mph at Talladega Superspeedway, had 150 Netflix DVDs delivered to my house last year and a couple hundred checked out from the local library. I love Ken Burns documentary's (especially Jazz and The Civil War) am a huge fan of Gregory Peck ( see Moby Dick, Roman Holiday and Big Country), John Wayne, Andy Samberg, Will Ferrell, the Cohen Brothers, Daniel Day Louis, One Adam Twelve, Emergency!, Dragnet and selected episodes of Bonanza. Chuck Conners (The Rifleman) once asked me to take his garbage out - and I did. I wash my hands with hot water and soap every time before I leave the mens room, I like raw vegetables, old fashioned barber shops, staying up till 5 am, sleeping until noon, naps at 6 pm and am captivated by the solid gold Rooster at the Nugget in Reno, NV. My favorite guitar players are Django, Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Jim Campilongo, James Burton, Scotty Moore, Steve Cropper, Jeff Beck, Joe Pass and Kevin Barber. I'm a Union man, a Cadillac man and a Skippy Peanut Butter man. I shave with a brush, mug soap and do side-burn trimming with a straight razor. I drink lots of water, prefer summer to winter, check the door three times to make sure it's good and locked and have few best friends. I call ahead for reservations, check road conditions, have a CB radio, stop for roadside attractions, keep identical sets of toiletries in my suitcase and bathroom, wear vintage clothes, have several tuxedos, can iron better than anyone I know yet have no ability to darn my socks. I'm grumpy before coffee, often speak before I think, wear long sleeve shirts, cried the day my grandmother died and trembled on a Brooklyn rooftop as I watched a plane hit the World Trade Center. I believe the Kennedy's overrated, MLK a champion for all people, Hoffa not a crook and thought Marilyn Monroe and Elvis just needed someone to talk to. I miss my Mom, and love my Dad, Heather, U.R., U.B., Lisa, Tayler, Jordan, Niki, Matt, Tray & Athena - even though she insists on feeding chees nips to my plaster Tijuana blue burro. I give thanks to J Black, the Jehorek Family, Doug Dixon, Nicky Z, Jon Geske, Jim Campilongo and my Dad who have had the greatest influence on the way I approach just about everything. I've lived in Visailia, Porterville, all over Orange and Los Angeles Counties, Oakland and Alameda, CA, Brooklyn, NY, Gresham, OR, Las Vegas, NV and spent a year on the road in a 40 foot diesel super luxury motorhome. I love reading the New Yorker, Garrison Keillor, Iceberg Slim, Mark Twain, Charles Kuralt, Bill Bryson, Charles Bukowski, Jack Black (the Hobo, not Nacho Libre), Hunter Thompson, Herb Caen and Jack Kerouac Haikus. I believe Jesus walked the earth and Hal Fishman to be the finest news anchor in history.         *click pics to view larger images
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The Cake taught to me by Grandma, the solid gold rooster, Athena Elvis style, Talladega Superspeedway pits, WTC document blown to me across the East River, Chuck Conners is...The Rifleman, Niki and Jordan doing whatever it is they do, and KTLA's legendary Hal Fishman. A Bite of Emma
Dear, sweet, gentle, Emma in Minneapolis Saint Paul recently brought this note home from Kindergarten to her mom.
It reads: Reason For Referral: bit a student while pretending to be a dinosaur Comments: No more playing dinosaur Telling a kid not to pretend seemed like a horrible idea so I told her, “You keep playing dinosaur - just be a herbivor.”  *click note to view larger image Birthday WishHappy 75th big E! Notes From a GrandsonMy Grandfather, Claude Burnell Barber died today. He was 84. His birthday was in July, he was a WWII Navy Veteran, he liked to drink beer and eat chicken-fried steak; he was not, nor do I ever remember him being the picture of good health. He grew up poor, he worked hard and died quietly. I don’t recall him complaining about anything. When he was a boy he and his family lived and moved around most the counties of Nebraska, Oklahoma and New Mexico. He lived in a Gypsy Wagon once and had a pet monkey for a time. As a fourth or fifth grader he came home from school one afternoon to find his parents had moved and didn’t think to tell him where to. It took him all night walking around in shoes two sizes to small to find them. His dad was a hard man. Claude was a big man with big calloused hands and wore big brown moccasins; he took care of his wife and family, lived life on his terms and died that way too. He did not enunciate, was not articulate or an open book. He didn’t talk much and when he did it was rarely about his feelings. I never heard him tell a war story. Every one I knew liked him. He was an honest, blue-collar man who often juggled two or three jobs and worked harder than anyone I ever saw. He worked at hardware stores, lumber yards, gas stations and on the docks. He taught a parakeet to talk and could tune a carburetor, shell walnuts and clean his fingernails and ears with the same pocket knife. He had a good laugh, a sharp distinctive cough and his speech was nearly undecipherable. It was often impossible to understand what he said through his mumbles. Grandma did though, and she would translate. He liked to nap listening to The Lawrence Welk Show; he loved westerns, hand-guns, a blue 1959 Chevy El Camino, Grand-ma’s baked chicken, his dogs, his three sons and above all his wife of over fifty years, Hazel Lou. He looked like an old-school NASCAR driver and she a 60's country-western singer. She left this earth years ago on a bright day in May and he’s been devastatingly lonely since. I hope there’s something next and I hope they’re together now. He lived the last years of his life in pain, blind and without the love of his life. He was ready to go and said so this week.  Claude was a man of his word. ~
In Loving Memory Claude Burnell Barber July 20, 1925 - September 26, 2009 Hazel Lou Barber December 8, 1925 - May 16, 2001 ~ Roadhouse KingPatrick Swayze succumbed to cancer today at age 57. On Yahoo News last week I read that, ‘Roadhouse’ - the greatest of all Swayze movies - is the most frequently played movie on television. I hope he knew that. The world will be a little less hip without you Patrick. RecommendsPicnic - 1955 Over the last ten years or so a tradition has evolved at my house. Sometime over Labor Day Weekend I watch the classic film, Picnic. Set in a rural 1950’s Kansas grain town, the movie chronicles the lives and events surrounding the towns Labor Day Picnic. Starring; William Holden, Kim Novak, Cliff Robertson, Rosalind Russell and Arthur O’Connell, the film is an Oscar winner and a cinematic beauty. In a brief, but dramatic scene featuring Rosemary (Russell), an unmarried school teacher who is aware she is alone and getting older, is sitting and talking with her sometime boyfriend, Howard (O’Connell) in the glow of summer vacations final sunset. She speaks in hushed, introspective tones, offering observations about the setting sun. Her words and emotion build to a fiery climax pleading, “It’s like the daytime is gonna put up a big scrap. Set the world on fire, to keep the night time from creepin' on.” The barn burner for me is the dance sequence between Hal (Holden) and Madge (Novak). From the moment they meet there is a palpable knowing and desire between them. Problem is, Madge is Hal’s best-friends girl. Surrounded by the water and soft lit Chinese Lanterns, the pair dance to the movies big band, Ernie Higgins and his Happiness Boys as they play an easy feeling alternate melody that soars and glides delicately with the popular jazz tune, Moonglow. It’s enough to carry away the swooning couple and their audience along with them. It’s one of my favorite songs and my favorite scenes. It’s also the reason I perform Moonglow most times I play, and why I often bill my players as the Happiness Boys. In loving homage of course. Grizzly Man - 2005 I recently watched a documentary titled, Grizzly Man. Narrated by the film-maker and using mostly footage the Grizzly Man, Timothy Treadwell shot during his thirteen summers living among Grizzly bears and foxes in a ultra remote reserve area in Alaska. It is crazy. The movie subtly reveals in the first few frames that the Grizzly Man died in 2003, then before I knew it and very suddenly explained how. A Grizzly bear ate him and his girl-friend. The film-maker is a genius at revealing the story of Treadwell through interviews with his friends and associates, his bears, his cause and his life and death. The musical score is equally dramatic in its simplistic beauty. In a three day improvised session composed by, Richard Thompson, he uses his guitar as the main melodic voice and an ensemble of session pros to create a background of sound that profoundly captures the drama, space and vastness of the landscape. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Lars and the Real Girl - 2007 For reasons I cannot yet fully describe, and after a second viewing, Lars and the Real Girl has become a favorite. Starring, Ryan Gosling (The Notebook) as Lars, he is surrounded by a brilliant story and equally brilliant cast that led me through a story that, frankly, made me uncomfortable much of the time. It’s listed as a Comedy/Drama, but I lean more to a Drama with some comedic moments. I feel it unfair to comment on the story, its intention or direction, or even subject matter for fear I would color the perception of those who have yet to see it. If you’re going to rent it, I recommend you don’t see the trailer or read the description. Part of the thrill of watching it for the first time was not knowing what the heck was happening. I read the description later and found it silly. It certainly was not that. And of course, the music was phenomenally perfect. NYC jazz, session and soundtrack cat, David Torn has put together a rich and delicately perfect score. Sparse instrumentation with a subtle but prominent upright bass working melodically with the rest of the instruments. It’s a heartfelt, tragically charming endearing ride and earns a 10 out of 10. Really; a must see. Really. The BIG Question - 2007 After perusing the documentary section of my local library and making my video selections, I started out when the books title seemed to nearly jump off the shelf and into my hands (Yes, I read too). I gave it a once over and checked it out. Written by, Chuck Barris, author of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and creator of The Newlywed Show and The Gong Show, he’s been around and proves once again, he still has it. Inside the books covers I found an enthralling dark comedy about a reality t.v. game show and its BIG Question which gives the final contestant a shot at winning $100 million dollars. The game show was nuts, the plot developed achingly perfect and the characters are some of the strongest I’d ever read. I devoured the book in two sittings. Centered on the first page before Chapter One he quotes: "You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from." Cormac McCarthy I like that too. Front LineToday I board two airplanes and remember you, Bobbi Arestegui, Lorraine Bay, Sandra Bradshaw, Jeffrey Collman, Robert Fangman, Wanda Green, Michelle Heidenberger, Amy Jarrett, Amy King, Kathryn Laborie, Kenneth & Jennifer Lewis, Sara Low, Cee Cee Lyles, Al Marchand, Karen Martin, Renee May, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean Roger, Dianne Snyder, Madeline Sweeny, Michael Tarrou, Alicia Titus, and Deborah Welch. Also, Jim Campilongo, Chris Kee, Rochelle Jensen, Rebecca Jehorek & Karla Kozak. See blogs Things Change and House Cleaning from 2006 >>> Yahoo!Did you know that at yahoo.com if you press the ! on the Yahoo! logo, the yahoo yodel plays? I did not know that. 
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