Getting to hear "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere" sung live by Alan Jackson

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - Confession time: I like country and western music. Not all of it, certainly. But a lot of it, yes, absolutely. I love that so many country songs actually tell a little story. Ever hear Bubba Shot the Jukebox? Now there is a story.

And so when The Sacramento Bee newspaper asked me to to haul my butt out to Arco Arena to catch Alan Jackson's concert Thursday night - and write a review and snap some pictures - I jumped to go. Alan Jackson's music is my kind of country music. And it turned out, the Admiral's, too.

I checked when I got the assignment and saw that I have a half-dozen of his songs safely tucked in my ITunes library, including "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere." That song has particular meaning to me - it was first real song I learned to play on the ukulele. (I don't count Row, Row, Row Your Boat or Auld Lang Syne or Clementine in quite the same category.)

Alan Jackson

And I was not disappointed - he sang the It's 5 o'clock Somewhere towards the end of his concert, along with all the other songs I already have in my library.

"Anybody know what time it is?" he shouted. And that was it, we were all up and swaying and dancing to It's 5 o'clock Somewhere. Like most of his songs, the audience knew all the lyrics and sang along.

Here's a link to my review: Alan Jackson concert review

I lost count years ago of the events I've gone to and written about for newspapers and magazines. And at many of those, I carried a still camera, capturing a few (or more) images for news stories or features. Last week's Rally to Restore Sanity, being a good example, though Admiral Fox got most of the photos there. Here's a link to the rally story that appeared in the Sacramento News and Review: Rally Story

But I have never been a photo shooter at a big concert - and this was a first-class operation with professional photographers and cameras with huge lenses that looked so powerful that if Sarah Palin had one, she probably could see Russia from her house.

Me? Well I have a fantastic new video camera. But my still camera is well, a little puny.

Thursday night I was using my little Canon point and shoot, about one fourth the size of the hardware carried by the professionals.  But I was not going to waste a photo credential that let me stand a few feet from the country legend and his band, The Strayhorns.

Check out the guy in the gray ponytail below Alan Jackson

So when three equipment-laden photographers marched out of the stage wings, led by a security guard through the crowd, I tagged along and gamely shot pictures of Alan for an entire song. I'm sure it looked pretty silly. But silly or not, I was able to snap about six or eight shots that were pretty good - and one did make it into The Sacramento Bee with the review.

Take that, professional photographers.


The first warm-up band for Alan Jackson (just before Chris Young took the stage) was a nice surprise - and worth hearing all on its own.

The Band Perry, (Kimberly Perry and her two brothers, Neil and Reid) rocked the stage at Arco with a short set that got the place jumping and dancing and screaming an hour before the main event.

The band has had some hits and is one of those up-and-coming groups that you can tell are going to make it really big - and soon. Some of their songs will likely be finding their way onto my ITunes lists pretty soon.

Here's a link to their site: The Band Perry website

Neil, Kimberly and Reid Perry

A stomping good time up in the California mountains

MURPHYS, Calif., USA - Adm. Fox and I took a sojourn to Camp Connell over the weekend to visit with Sanders and Pat Lamont (the other two members of The Four Headlamps) as well as amigos Randy and Karin who live at the high altitudes near Sanders and Pat part of the year, but who have bought land in Arroyo Seco close to our property for the winter months.


Randy and Karen in Arroyo Seco last winter

The weather Friday was perfect for being outdoors, slightly overcast and not-too-hot, which let us take a hike around a nearby park that has some magnificent sequoia trees and enough trails to keep you walking for weeks.

We opted for a two-mile walk, followed by a lunch at the Snoeshoe Brewery (excellent pale ale and hamburgers) and, well, some quiet time after the hike and the food.

Although I had my ukulele, the chords and the lyrics along for the band to practice "Chunder," we were too busy to get out the instruments.

But Saturday morning we zipped down the mountain from Camp Connell to Murphys where Sanders and Pat's granddaughter Delaney and her dad, Brian, were competing in the Grape Stomp, the fifteenth such event in as many years. The grape stomp is just a small part of a day-long celebration for which the town closes the main street and sells food, beer, wine and enough jewelry to outfit a chain of jewelry stores.

Some heavy rains probably kept some of the more lightweight tourists from attending. But we watched Delaney and Brian stomp their way to second place in their heat. Not bad when the stomper is 11 years old and with about a size-6 foot.

Here's a video of the action.

Upstate New York needs a Palapa Joe's restaurant & bar

VALOIS, New York, USA - It was Friday night and the kitchen was torn apart for a painting project. There was plenty of food - but also plenty of paint fumes to go around and so after a few glasses of fine Niagara wine, the Admiral and I decided we should go out for dinner, rather than sit at home.

Oh Palapa Joe's of La Manzanilla - wherefore art thou?

We tossed around the names of several restaurants, all possibilities, but all more than a short hop in the car. And who wants to drive anywhere, given the price of gasoline ($4.24 a gallon and climbing).

The end result: We raided the refrigerator, microwaved quickly and retreated to the sunporch to avoid the paint smell.

But it sure wasn't Palapa Joe's.

We had sooooo much fun there this past winter & spring with parties, open mic nights, watching football. At one point, I calculated we ate there more than at home. And that doesn't even count the number of Cuba Libres, Pacificos and margaritas that were tossed back during deep intellectual discussions.

In going through my photo files, I found the shots below, but interestingly none of owner/bartender/musician/philosopher Willie. He won't be able to avoid my camera next season. Maybe I'll catch him on the guitar during one of the bar's open mic nights.


Jane Gorby's going away soiree at Palapa Joe's


Palapa Joe's entrada

Though sad that we couldn't have a Palapa Joe's dinner, we did make a foray to see our favorite upstate New York rock and roll band, Steve Southworth and the Rockabilly Rays who were playing at Wagner Vineyards, just a few miles up the highway.

But when we arrived we saw a lot of cars leaving the parking lot because - gasp - it turned out the band was not playing after all.

Steve Southworth had been in a car accident on his way over from home and end up in the hospital.


Steve Southworth

Steve's page

As people walked up to the door and got the news, there was a collective intake of air as they asked if he was ok.

It turned out he was treated and released and should be back at his guitar soon.

Steve and his Rockabilly Rays are a local legend here and play dates all over this part of Central New York. It was three years ago while dancing to Steve's music that I wrenched my knee, landing me months later in a surgical suite in California for repairs.

Doing The Twist is off my list now.

Perhaps with a little encouragement we can get Steve and the Rockabillys to take a Mexican vacation this winter and come to La Manzanilla for a tour. Or out to Arroyo Seco where we did build a palapa big enough for a band a lots of dancers.


Steve Southworth and the Rockabilly Rays

But besides band disasters and paint fumes, the weather turned decidely seasonal here.

In other words, it's raining almost every day. And when it does - watch out...

The Four Headlamps debut in La Manzanilla

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - When I turned 55, I set three goals that I wanted to achieve before I pull up - or actually have pulled up over me - a dirt blanket, as my amigo Michael Scott of Chico State says.

In no particular order, the three things were: Become fluent in a foreign language, learn to play a musical instument, and finish one of the novels I have started.

Last night, playing the ukulele in front of a bar full of people with my amigos in The Four Headlamps, I'm there with the musical-instrument goal.

The Four Headlamps

I have a looooong way to go before I will consider that I am any good on the uke, but playing in public was a big deal because it's one thing to sit at home and test your musical abilities, another to test your tonsils in public.

We chose a funny song, "I Think I'm Dancin' With A Man," which went over pretty well, even with my delivery being a little soft.

And the other goals? Well, my Spanish is improving poco a poco and it's possible I'll start hacking away on one of the books again soon.

Or maybe a start a new tome, about a retired college professor who loves Cuba Libres and hangs out on the beach.

Launching more songs on the ukulele

LAND PARK, SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The addition of a new set of Bose earphones has opened up hearing songs sooooo much better than with the earphones that came with my Ipod, which are hooked into the computer while I work - or write blogs.


A late birthday present

And what they have also done is let me hear songs a much more clearly to see if they are possibilities for the ukulele.

Since discovering the Circle of 5ths, I have been busy transposing songs so my fingers can wrap around the adjusted chords.

Get ready for some Sonny & Cher songs, lots of Garth Brooks, one Allan Jackson song, but no Barry Manilow, yet. (Thank God, you are thinking. I know.)

But in keeping with my most likely musical performances - heavy on comedy, a little short on real music - I ran across a neat ditty by rock legend Chuck Berry that I have added to my repertoire.


Chuck Berry

Nope, it's not Maybelline, though that's a possibility.

It My Ding-A-Ling, a three-chord song that has, well, pretty funny lyrics.

The chording part is easy, remembering the lyrics is a lot harder.

But the fun part about the song is that when sung in public, it seems like audiences love to sing the chorus.

Here's a short version, in case you want to practice:

My Ding-A-Ling-A-Ling

When I was a little biddy boy
My grandma bought me a cute little toy
Two Silver bells on a string
She told me it was my ding-a-ling-a-ling

My Ding-A-Ling My Ding-A-Ling won't you play with My Ding-A-Ling
My Ding-A-Ling My Ding-A-Ling won't you play with My Ding-A-Ling

When I was little boy In Grammar school
Always went by the very best rule
But Evertime the bell would ring
You'd catch me playing with my ding-a-ling

Once while climbing the garden wall,
Slipped and fell had a very bad fall
I fell so hard I heard birds sing,
But I held on to My ding-a-ling

Once while swimming cross turtle creek
Man them snappers right at my feet
Sure was hard swimming cross that thing
with both hands holding my dingaling

Now this here song it ain't so bad
Prettiest little song that you ever had
And those of you who will not sing
must be playing with your on Ding-a-ling

There's hope on the horizon for the ukulele yet

LAND PARK, Sacramento, Calif. USA - Today ukulele lesson introduced the piece of the puzzle that might finally let me make the last leap to playing some of the songs I want to - in a key that I can actually wrap my cranky fingers around.

My uke teacher, who also is helping Adm. Fox with the violin, showed me something called the Circle of Fifths. (No, it has nothing to do with bottles of either Grey Goose Vodka or Jim Beam, though both are sometimes useful musical accessories when singing.)

This circle is a representation of musical notes and makes it easy (easy being a relative term) to shift all the chords in a song. In my case, in my struggles with Two Pina Coladas, it makes it possible to avoid the use of a B-flat note, which my fingers just do not like and, in fact, refuse to play.

With the shift of a few notes, however, that B-flat magically is now an F - a chord I can hit without even looking at the strings.

Watch out Garth, I'm movin' up.


Circle of Fifths diagram

Now I have to go back and look at the other songs I've been avoiding on the uke, most of them with a D chord, which I have found impossible to play.

It could be that House of the Rising Sun guitar/ukulele throwdown in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico might happen this year after all.

In the meantime, consider practicing these lyrics so you can sing along:

Two Pina Coladas
By Garth Brooks

I was feelin’ the blues
I was watching the news
When this fella came on the TV

He said I’m tellin’ you
That science has proven
That heartaches are healed by the sea

That got me goin’
Without even knowin’
I packed right up and drove down

Now I’m on a roll
And I swear to my soul
Tonight I’m gonna paint this town

-----CHORUS----

So bring me two pina coladas
One for each hand
Let’s set sail with Captin Morgan
And never leave dry land

Troubles I forgot ‘em
I buried ‘em in the sand
So bring me two pina coladas
She said good-bye to her good timin’ man
---------------------------

Oh now I’ve gotta say
That the wind and the waves
And the moon winkin’ down at me

Eases my mind
By leavin’ behind
The heartaches that love often brings

Now I’ve got a smile
That goes on for miles
With no inclination to roam

I’ve gotta say
That I think I’ve gotta stay
‘Cause this is feelin’ more and more like home

-----CHORUS----

So bring me two pina coladas
One for each hand
Let’s set sail with Captin Morgan
And never leave dry land

Troubles I forgot ‘em
I buried ‘em in the sand
So bring me two pina coladas
She said good-bye to her good timin’ man