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Tex's Grey-Haired Old Dad's Interests
General
History of East Texas, Civil War, American Revolution, Industrial revolution, sawmills, railroads, severe weather, cosmology & astronomy, particle physics (has to seriously be dumbed-down), volcanoes, true crime, religions, lake monsters, cryptozoology, and a good UFO or ghost story.
Music
Lots of spoken word and books on tape, 'Old Time', ambient, Beat music and British Invasion of the 1962-66 variety, hardcore punk class of the 1980-82 variety, bluegrass, gospel, 60's garage punk, prog rock, 50's rockabilly, heavy psychedelia, oooold country... Big John Cash, Carter Family, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie... Buzz Martin a.k.a. The Singing Logger... Roscoe Holcomb, Dock Boggs, Flatt and Scruggs... Rev. Charlie Jackson, Washington Phillips, Staples Singers... Dickies, Ramones, Buzzcocks, Black Flag, Descendents, Minor Threat, Subhumans, Sex Pistols... Oasis, Beatles, Kinks, Zombies... Don Walser, James Hand... Daniel Johnston, Tom Waits... Byrds, Seeds, Blues Magoos, The Remains, The Litter, Easybeats... Three O'Clock, Bangles, Opal, Rain Parade, Innocence Mission, Chesterfield Kings, Kaisers, Pandoras ... Eluvium, Stars of the Lid, Neu!, Brian Eno, David Hykes, Jim Cole... Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Hawkwind, Dungen ... Choral music, chant, ambient, old gospel, New Wave, Beethoven... Comedy, comedy, comedy...David Cross...Zach Galafianakis...Jerry Seinfeld...Patton Oswalt...Paul F. Tompkins...Louis CK... Louis Black... Jeff Foxworthy (you heard me)... but if it all had to go but one, I'd just keep the Carter Family playing on a little clock radio.
Movies
Favorites: You Can't Take It With You, It Happened One Night, Double Indemnity, Notorious, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Wallace & Gromit shorts, Crimes & Misdemeanors, Casablanca, Good Bad & the Ugly, Donnie Brasco, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Boogie Nights, His Girl Friday, The Best Years of Our Lives, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, SlingBlade, The Apostle...
Television
Comedy, comedy, comdedy... Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sopranos RIP, I'm always between run-throughs of Ken Burns' "The Civil War", Mr. Show, Seinfeld, Simpsons, The Universe, Naked Science, Megascience, Monster Quest, Cosmos, Nova, documentaries on severe weather, volcanoes, war, cosmology, archaeology, the mind... and good ol' folksie travel docs with Charles Kurault or Bob Phillips' 8 Country Reporter. Texans will get that last one.
Books
Currently: God's Politics by Jim Wallis; Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter; Stars in Their Courses (Gettysburg) by Shelby Foote, and David Sedaris audio books are getting another run-through... Marcus Borg theology books... into Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation"...
Heroes
George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Johnny Cash, Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter... Johnny Appleseed has been very much on my mind lately... and when I'm generally disgruntled, this guy:
Happily married, happy in general. Love history, especially on old Texas and Louisiana sawmills, railroads, civil war life, life along the rivers and out in the woods... I'm also an arm-chair astronomer and more than a little envious of storm-chasers. I have a wonderful family, wife Grey, baby boy Tex, and dogs Homer and Jethro. Went through punk rock as a teenager, psychedelia (and I mean psychedelia) as a 20-something, and rediscoverd my country background right before 30, just in time, and been there ever since. Still get punk rock mad, though, about what's happening in the world right now. Religion, politics, science and art all help me get angry / inspired / creative enough to do various things about all of it, depending on what week it is. I play music for a living, day job is the Old 97's but I just finished a solo record "I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm On My Way." When I'm off the road I play every Wednesday at First Christian Church in Burbank at 7:30pm... It's a little progressive Bible study, and I provide a few old(er) time songs to fill out the music part... Carter Family, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash... a lot of blood'n'guts bone-simple spirituals and almost spirituals. Btw, our church is labelled by some as "progressive", which means we think war is a last resort, worldly power is bad to the core, and that Jesus made helping the poor, powerless, alienated, lonely, and oppressed, regardless of ethnicity, faith, class, etc., is moral obligation number one. That's central to what we chat about, so if any of it sounds up your alley, come on out, say hello, hang out and enjoy some music.
PS:
"The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, say to it: You are a land that is not cleansed, not rained upon in the day of indignation. Its princes within it are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows within it. ... Its officials within it are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. Its prophets have smeared whitewash on their behalf, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, "Thus says the Lord God," when the Lord has not spoken." - Ezekiel 22:23-28
Right on Zeke. It's like you're talking directly to all of us, and our current administration.
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Who I'd like to meet: Abraham Lincoln, Johnny Cash, Jimmy Carter, and hey, while we're imagining, Jesus Christ himself.
Hey Murry! I'm excited about y'all's new album. My sister said she saw Rhett while y'all were making it in Dallas, and we were supposed to go grab a drink, but I was too busy. Tex is lookin very cute and happy! I think it's cool that I know exactly where Timpson, Tenaha, Bobo, and Blair are!!
Today I was listening to Car Talk on NPR and when they took a commercial break they played "Beer Cans." I was driving along alone, it made me smile and smile. Hope all is well and hope to see y'all soon (on the East coast).
Murry always a pleasure. Can't wait to see you live. Can't wait for the 97's record and of course YOURS!. See ya in KC again? Btw, I named my turtle,Murry. hehe
Murry, TRULY a pleasure getting to see you and to see you boys PLAY in Austin. You seem happy as ever and the record is WONDERFUL! I've been enjoying it daily since I got back home. Take care and be good!
hey murry, your record is haunting & beautiful. thanks for it. am i allowed to play it on the radio yet? also, that was a great concert you gave in the forest. plus your family photos are awesome. that is all. jeffj.
Murry, Thanks a million for the CD, chief. I absolutely love it. Good, uncomplicated and heartfelt music. It's what we need more of. Very nice. I'll be sending you that Jeremy Reagan CD pretty soon along with my new record-CD-thingy. take care, chris edwards
what I can't understand is how we're going to make this punk rock band work (you: guitar; me: crappy voice) with yall living way out there in hollyweird!
You do know that Austin has been the new "west coast" for like 15 years already, right?
When will y'all be back in East Texas? My sister said she saw Rhett in Dallas in Oct. recording an album, but I didn't get a chance to call him...mainly because I'm lame (and lazy). Tex is adorable! You all make a beautiful family!! I'm in Nacogdoches on the weekends and Dallas during the week. Let me know when you guys have some "off" time!!
Happy New Year my friend. How'd the longhorn gig go? The lips were amazing in OKC. It was so cool to see you guys in Austin. I'm sure it won't be too long before your back in these parts. Tell Grey I said Happy New Year as well :)
