The Incomparable Junior Brown

Think of a used tractor salesman from Plainview, Texas, way out here, who works hard by day selling John Deere tractors, but by night, he teaches himself to play guitar and even figures out how to customize a GUIT-Steel. That's what Junior Brown reminds me of. Although I think he's from Lubbock, and he may have been an elementary or junior high school principal and coach. He has that look. [None of this is true...I made this stuff up...]

He's actually from Cottonwood, Arizona, and man can this guy play. Consummate professional performer. I first saw him at Antone's in Austin, standing dead center right in front of him during the entire show. I think he dripped sweat on me. He'll be at Gruene Hall in Gruene (pronounced 'green') tomorrow night, and the Continental Club on Sunday night.



My favorite song of his is "My Wife Thinks You're Dead", which you can dance tango to.

Down the road in a cloud of smoke...

Jerry Jeff Walker singing "L.A. Freeway"...I saw Jerry Jeff in concert in Lafayette, Louisiana, when I was 16 or so...he was so drunk he couldn't even play one song...I think that was the last live (large venue) concert I ever went to...I decided then and there that my money was better spent on LP's...

I wanna go home with the armadillo...

Gary P. Nunn...singing "London Homesick Blues"...he's singing about the long defunct Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas...which I have the unique privilege of having been to...once...vague and distant memories...

"~the friendliest people and the purtiest women you'll ever see~"

The Unforeseen :: Revisited

Well, that was a first. It was the first time I have ever cried watching an environmental documentary. Perhaps it hit home for me because it was all so close to home for me. Austin, Barton Springs, Barton Creek, The Edwards Aquifer, The Texas Hill Country. My roots there pre-date the Alamo. My roots go back in Texas before there was a Texas, before there was The Republic of Texas. Deep, deep roots. Deeper feelings, or rather, emotions, about it all.

So, I just finished watching the documentary "The Unforeseen" (on the Sundance Channel), mostly about development, urban sprawl, growth and water in one particular area of Austin, Texas. It carries a much bigger message though, a broad and deep message about all that is facing us these days. It goes not to our standard of living, but to our quality of life. Not quality as in "how good is it?", but quality as in what is the depth, breadth, character, texture, taste, and feeling of our day-to-day lives as individuals, families, social circles, as communities, cultures, societies and nations.

Following are some things, key points, key words that stuck out for me. At the end of the post are some links for you to find out how to purchase or rent the DVD. Or, just be on the lookout for it and watch it when you can.

::
Developers defined as the "classic American character", reshaping the future and getting rich in the process...

::
On golf courses: "I find them repulsive, so uniform and so green, the earth whipped into submission for these men..."

::
Developers, they know the cost of everything, but they know the value of nothing...

::
A conservative lobbyist, speaking, apparently, on "liberals" who enjoy swimming and leisure time along Barton Creek..."these self-indulgences will catch up to you eventually..."

::
"If the people will lead, the leaders will follow..."

::
Robert Redford: "...quick return on short term investment, with long term damage...a scar is all that is left..."

::
A private citizen on private property rights: "...don't want a bunch of sumbitches telling us what to do with it (our land)...."

::
A private citizen shouting and waving a placard: "People are number one! Bugs and birds are at the bottom of the list...Save people first!..."

::
Economists have set up this meter of economic activity...that all growth is good...that ANY economic activity that involves money changing hands is good for the economy...and does not take into account any down side or long term unforeseen costs...

::
There should be honest accounting...the true cost...the long term cost...

::
People are making choices that damage other people...that damage everyone...that damage nature and the environment...that damage the world...and humanity...

::
We should be living in harmony with nature, not in opposition to it...

::
Add quality to the housing stock, without actually expanding housing...housing for everyone...affordable housing...use what's already there...it's not all about size and quantity and gargantuan scale...improve the landscape until we run out of opportunities to improve it...

::
Something about "the pursuit of the almighty dollar"...

::
If you don't act on the gift (of the natural world), then you are part of destroying it...

::
Growth itself is not the enemy...it is the nature of that growth...the quality and character within it...

::
"...where all the land has not been consumed by intention..."

::
We should have a stronger, more mature regard for the future, unwilling to leave a mess behind us...

I was struck by the title "the unforeseen" - that today, we are actually living and reaping the unforeseen consequences of multitudes of actions and directions - paths and choices - individually and collectively - both societal and economic. Are we evolving or devolving?

We are reaping the unforeseen.

The Unforeseen Film Site

The Unforeseen on IMDB.

The Unforeseen on Treehugger.com

The Unforeseen on PBS

Pre-Purchase the DVD :: Release Date September 16, 2008

The Unforeseen on NetFlix

Here's my original post :: On the universe, life and water :: The Unforeseen

View over Waterfall Road :: Wales

Photo by Nicky.lew on flickr...

My home country...Wales...my mother and brother have been back there...tracing the family tree back...pre-dating the 1600's I think...

Then there is a branch that was in Georgia from the late 1700's I'm not sure where in America they were prior to that. No doubt they landed on the east coast and started migrating inland - to better and better farmlands as the frontier advanced inland.

Then after the Civil War, they packed up and moved to Texas.

Another branch of the tree was already in Texas - the paternal side from Tennessee (the folks from Wales, I think), and the matriarchal side from Spain. John Smith (the messenger dude at the Alamo) and Maria de Jesus Curbelo (from Spain) married in San Antonio. After the Texians (as they were called then) defeated Santa Anna's army, and gained their independence from Mexico, John Smith became the first mayor of San Antonio. This lineage makes me a "Son of the Republic of Texas". John Smith is my 7th Great Grandfather.

It's interesting to note that Texas was the only State that was actually its own country - "The Republic of Texas. It was bounded by the Sabine River on the east, the Rio Grande (then named "Rio del Norte") on the west and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. The northern boundaries were the Arkansas River and Red River and it extended as far north as the current state of Wyoming.

Just to get a reaction, when I lived in Aspen, I used to tell people that I was there as an Ambassador of The Republic of Texas, because Aspen was originally part of the Republic. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Aspen was pretty close to the western edge of the territory.

I'm piqued by the way my brain works. I see a photo like this from a new flickr friend, notice it is in Wales, then I get this flood of thoughts and memories.

So, I just roll with it sometimes.

Here is a map of the Republic of Texas...