Mornin'...

Some random tunes while I get ready for double duty at the perfect tavern.

The Drifters - Sweets For Me Sweet
Robert Earl Keen - Travelin' Light
The Band - Stage Fright
Tim O'Brien - Farewell Angelina
Rickie Lee Jones - Lazy River
The Texas Tornados - Who's To Blame, Senorita?
Kris Kristofferson - Why Me
Guy Clark - Maybe I Can Paint Over That
Todd Snider - I May Smoke Too Much
Greg Brown - Freak Flag

Speaking of freak flags, my hair is now longer than it's been in nearly forty years, as I work on a sort of pact to grow at least ten inches for the folks at Locks Of Love. I have to confess, though, that what seemed like a tonsorial expression of individuality and independence in my twenties is kind of a nusiance in my sixties. Still have lots of hair, though, and it's a good cause...

Happy Labor Day!

As usual, I'll celebrate it by laboring. If you've got the day off and find yourself in the Shoreline area, drop down the hill to the perfect tavern and say howdy.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Off to slice 60 pounds of corned beef and serve it up with cabbage, carrots and spuds. I'm working a long one at the perfect tavern, so the green beer and whiskey will have to wait a while, but there was substantial Guinness involved in cooking the brisket. If you find yourself anywhere nearby, come in for the best St. Pat's party in Shoreline.

Wherever you may be, have a great day and a better night.

And remember - if someone recommends a cab ride home, they're probably right.

Let's Go Green Bay!

I'm pulling for a Packers-Jets Superbowl. The Lombardi era Pack was my team as a kid and they've tugged at my football heart a bit every since. Football's always a better game when the Pack is back.

On the AFC side, I haven't cared much about the Jets since the Broadway Joe days, but I'll never forgive the Steelers for Super Bowl XL.

Of course, both games will be on all three screens at the perfect tavern, so if you're nearby, drop in and watch some football with me. Mention the blog and you just might win a prize...

Happy New Year!

I'm off to the perfect tavern to pour shots and champagne for the New Years revelers and won't be back 'til next year, so I'd better get my last holiday of 2010 wishes in now.

If you're out and about tonight, be safe. You won't have a better year next year if you start it with a DUI or worse tonight. If you've got nowhere else to be and you're anywhere near the Richmond Beach neighborhood of Shoreline, drop by The Cabin and say howdy. Be sure to mention that you're a friend of the blog to the guy with the bow tie and tux shirt (that would be me) and you may find your New Year's tab lightened by the price of a drink.

However you celebrate, or however you don't, best wishes from The Brilliant and Beautiful Bride of Upper Left and myself. It's not been our best year, but y'all made it a better one than it might heve been and we're truly grateful.

Not that the "good old days"...

...were always all that good, but on the way home from the perfect tavern tonight I couldn't help notice the political yardsigns standing upright everywhere I looked.

Halloween just ain't what it used to be.

On a local note...

...it's ninety-sumpin' freaking degrees. Go outside!

(May I recommend the patio at the perfect tavern?)

Walkin' in a winter wonderland.

• I coulda' called in snowbound, I suppose, but the perfect tavern's a neighborhood joint, and the neighbors need their beer and burgers, so I made the five mile treck over hill and dale to open the joint. Would have climbed aboard a bus if one had come by, but it didn't, so I didn't. What I did do was drag my camera along, so here's a little illustrated travelogue (you can, of course, click 'em bigger)...
  
  Public art. The addition of caps and scarves was both neighborly and timely...
  
  

Ronald Bog's usually home to a couple of kinds of geese and a few kinds of ducks...



Right now, though, it's crow country...



A bit of blue somewhere over the penninsula...



Beautiful downtown Richmond Beach...



The restaurant at the end of the universe...

Me, me, me!?!

David Kurtz says maybe him…

I can confirm that Sen. Obama has not called to tell me that I am not going to be his running mate. I can read the tea leaves as well as anyone, and I think this is pretty conclusive proof that I am not yet out of the running.

…but I haven't received a not-me call yet either. Maybe Barack doesn't have my cell #. That's OK, though. I'll be at the perfect tavern all evening and it's listed.

Tuesday night tunes…

…at the perfect tavern. Just me, my 12 string and my faithful doo-wop chorus.

Pancho And Lefty
Jamaica Farewell
Crossing Muddy Waters
Love The One You're With>4+20>LTOYW
Love Is A Rose
Christmastime In Washington

Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms>Curly Headed Baby>Hard Ain't It Hard>Rollin'
Guitars Cadillacs
Down To Seeds And Stems
You Really Got A Hold On Me
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Save The Last Dance For Me
Poor Little Fool
Bye Bye Love

Political Science
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Come Go With Me
Night Rider's Lament
Good Day For The Blues
Silver
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Porch Song

Somewhat belatedly…

…Tuesday night tunes at the perfect tavern. Two sets, solo…

Front Porch Song
Night Rider's Lament
Pancho And Lefty
The Alamo
Brokedown Palace
Down To Seeds And Stems
Younger Generation
Silver
Just A Little
Love's Gonna Live Here>Good Hearted Woman
Black Diamond Strings
It's A Big Old Goofy World

Christmastime In Washington
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Grandpa Was A Carpenter
Guitars, Cadillacs
Heartaches By The Number
Poor Little Fool
Ripple
Jamaica Farewell
One Too Many Mornings
This Land Is Your Land

Tuesday night tunes.

The perfect tavern was closed last Tuesday night, so I actually had time to practice a new song or two. I was solo for most of the night, but our most frequent, if slightly irregular, piano player appeared as I was getting ready to pack up, so I stuck it out for a few more. Here's what happened...

Guitars, Cadillacs
Jamaica Farewell
Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues
God Will
Down To Seeds And Stems
I Like Beer
Grievous Angel
Porch Song
Roll Over Beethoven>Rock And Roll Music
Black Diamond Strings

Break

Grandpa Was A Carpenter
The Alamo
Christmastime In Washington
No Ash Will Burn
Runaround Sue
Love The One You're With>4+20>LTOYW
I Ain't Got No Home
This Land Is Your Land

Break

It's A Big Old Goofy World
Illegal Smile
You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Pancho And Lefty
One Too Many Mornings
Up On The Roof>Under The Boardwalk
Poor Little Fool
Happy Trails

With piano

Suzanne
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Love Me Like A Rock
A Pirate Looks At 40

Trio tonight…

…eventually. Tuesday night tunes at the perfect tavern again. First set was solo, second set with another guitar and we closed the night with two guitars and piano. It went like this…

Up On The Roof>Under The Boardwalk
Christmastime In Washington
Hard Loving Loser
In The Jailhouse
Love's Gonna Live Here Again
Circles
Grandpa Was A Carpenter
Nightrider's Lament
Pack Up Your Sorrows
One Too Many Mornings

It's A Big Old Goofy World
Jamaica Farewell
She Belongs To Me
Poor Little Fool
Nightrider's Lament
Pack Up Your Sorrows
One Too Many Mornings
Kansas City>Sweet Home Chicago>Blue Suede Shoes

A Pirate Looks At 40
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Slip Sliding Away
Rainbows All Over Your Blues
Roll Over Beethoven>Rock And Roll Music>Johnny B. Goode
The Porch Song
This Land Is Your Land
Rambling 'Round>Goodnight Irene

Tuesday night tunes.

What I did last night...

Jamaica Farewell>Margaritaville
Runaround Sue
Last Kiss
Good Hearted Woman
Night Rider's Lament
Front Porch Song
Grandpa Was A Carpenter
One Too Many Mornings
Love The One You're With>4+20>LTOYW
Kansas City>Sweet Home Chicago

Christmastime In Washington
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
Big Old Goofy World
Angel From Montgomery
Pancho And Lefty
He Went To Paris
Ain't No Sunshine
Up On The Roof>Under The Boardwalk
Blue Suede Shoes>Matchbox>Roll Over Beethoven
Redneck Mother
This Land Is Your Land

Duet, with the irrepressible Smitty on second guitar and voice for most of the first set, trio, with Smitty and Piano Bill for most of the second. Big fun.

Tuesday night tunes.

While the hoi polloi was off Drinking Liberally, I was busy committing felony folk music at the perfect tavern (defining folk music as music folks make). Here's what you missed…

It's A Big Old Goofy World
Front Porch Song
Jamaica Farewell
Younger Generation
The Mary Ellen Carter
Love The One You're With>4+20>Love The One You're With
Racing In The Street
Runaround Sue
One Too Many Mornings
Pack Up Your Sorrows
This Land Is Your Land

Break

Christmastime In Washington
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Do-Re-Mi
Illegal Smile
Ripple
Pancho And Lefty
Slip Slidin' Away
Colours
Suzanne
Night Rider's Lament
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
The Wanderer
Kansas City>Sweet Home Chicago

We'll raise a cup o' kindness...

...or two or three. I'm off for the perfect tavern in a bit. Specials, hats, horns, the whole deal is planned, and of course, mentioning the blog will, as always, get you a cold one on me.

It's been a mixed year, as always. On a personal level, it's been another year with the Brilliant and Beautiful Bride of Upper Left, a year spent watching The Quarterback grow before our eyes. Doesn't get a lot better than that.

The blog's still trucking along - over 6,000 posts now, closing in on a quarter million served and still enough fun to show up for every day.

Our country still suffers, though. The wounds to our liberty, our security, our reputation and our physical and economic health will not be healed simply by the passage of time. The body politic is infected, and it will take our attention and our effort in the coming year to begin what will doubtless be a long, and sometimes painful, course of treatment.

I'll be raising one of those cups to all y'all later tonight. Till then,