Hey there West Texas Weekly readers!  Things are still a little light on the music front as the SRSU school year starts though there is much promise to come.  Six time Grammy Award winning Asleep at the Wheel  will be playing at the Granada Theater October 15th so make sure you purchase your tickets in advance to make sure you don’t miss it!

Enjoy a song that has been stuck in my head for the last week or so:

Israel kamakawiwo’ole performing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Shows this coming week: 

Thursday, September 2^nd 

• Ricky Stein at The Railroad Blues in Alpine, 10:00 PM.
• Open Mic Night at Harry’s Tinaja

Friday, September 3^rd 

• Open Mic Night at Harry’s Tinaja in Alpine, 8:00 PM.
• Billy Townes and Modern Session  at The Railroad Blues in Alpine, 10:00 PM.

Saturday, September 4^th 

• 432 and Bubba Hernandez y los Super Vatos  at The Railroad Blues in Alpine, 10:00 PM.
• Moonlight Towers at Padres in Marfa, 9:00 PM.

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This article is brought to you by these local sponsors: 

Railroad Blues The premier live music venue in the Big Bend– Try their world famous Sangria! 

La Posada Milagro– Beautiful, unique rooms in the Historic Terlingua Ghosttown 

La Junta Exchange– Vintage Clothing, Local Art, Curios

Taos – Black and white photos of Paris, Roma, and Mostar hang on the wall at a café in Taos. Bumper stickers for sale; “Round Up Monsanto”, “Defy Corporate Domination”. I look for “Re-Wolf Texas” but can’t find it. Salutations; “Have a nice day” “Thank yooooou,” punctuate the steady coffee drinking crowd where bicycles, talk of recipes, auras and carbon credits converge. A nest of tatterdemalions huddle at a corner table giving off egalitarian gas while pony-tailed execs wait in line. A huge Screw Bean Mesquite in full pod canopy shades the sidewalk, cars whirl by, mostly Subarus.

There are no edges in Taos. All things architectural are rounded; vigas, peripets, walls, — curvy streets and even the people, easy going.

Taos is a town of 25,000 people high in the mountains, nestled between Kit Carson National Forest, the Rio Grande Gorge, the Pueblo Indian Reservation and a sprawling community of Earth Ships on the high plains to the west.

A dude and his date drive up in a new Camaro with Texas plates. “Where can you get some breakfast around here?”

I point, “Try that Middle Eastern restaurant.”

“Whadda they got?”

“Cous-cous, hummus, babba ganosh”

He studies me. “We don’t do that,” he says and drives away.

My new friend Judd tells me everybody who works in Taos, works at a restaurant. But dentist Rivera tells me trustafarians rule.

If you got the bucks, Sid’s grocery is a good place to buy chai and organic figs and Patchouli oil and red fillets of salmon. Rural NM is another story, some of the town grocers there make Pueblo Marfa look HEBish.

There’s a city library, an alternative energy library, and at the University of New Mexico campus another library, sporting brochures of college courses at the front door. Where else can you get 3 hours of college credit for Intro to Fly Fishing or Balinese Traditional Massage or the History of Moroccan Cuisine?

We drive west out of Taos. A government billboard challenges smokers to get the patch – free and on the state. Quit if you can and we’ll help out.

There’s a different style to New Mexico, and the long serene stretches of road there, not unlike west Texas except they’re not in Texas, makes it a good place to turn-off the Texas state of mind and contemplate statehood ie check out the groove of another place.

Durango – The big news in Colorado, from lack of anything else I guess is marijuana. The Nation’s first state to allow legally prescribed weed to qualifying medical patients continues to be argued publically. Headlines in the Dove Creek Gazette (pop, 263) this week was an editorial from a medical doctor in Durango who was sermonizing about “fly by night” doctors for prescribing medical marijuana to anyone who could pay the 180 dollar office visit fee.

This got me to thinking and checking my wallet as well.

“What exactly are your symptoms?”

“Well, I think my perspective is tilting unreasonable.”

The doctor’s eyebrow quirks. “That’s abstract. Perhaps you need a psychiatrist.”

“I tried that and that’s when the tilting started.”

“I need something physical, Mr. ah, Glover. Do you have any physical symptoms?”

“Well, sometimes I’m shy around my wife.”

“You mean you have problems getting an erection?”

“Well no, that’s not really the problem.”

“What do you mean ‘shy’?”

“Sometimes I can’t look at her without grinning.”

He rubs the tip of his nose then says, “I need a physical condition to treat you with marijuana. “Headaches, cramps, scratching, have you ever had a disease?”

“I had hysteria before my first communion.”

“You’re not very funny,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Listen I’m a busy person. Either you have a physical symptom that can be treated with marijuana or not.” He looks in the window behind me, his eyes distant. “You wear glasses, right? Any abnormal vision, dots, colorations, dizziness, blurring?”

“No, not really.”

“What about breathing, chest pain, erratic pulse – any abnormalities there?”

“No.”

“High blood pressure, flushing of the face, diarrhea, muscle aches, numbness of the limbs?”

“No.”

“You’re not from around here, are you?”

“No.”

“You have to be a citizen of Colorado to qualify for medical marijuana.”

“Well I just moved here. My trailer’s down there in the parking lot.”

”Are you a government agent?”

“No”

“Have you ever had nausea?”

“No”

“Have you ever drank too much at a party and vomited?”

“Well sure, hasn’t everybody?”

He studied me again, then took a pen and scribbled on a pad.

“Take this to the receptionist and pay on the way out.”

Well, as you can see it’s not that easy to qualify.

The TXDoT tracker can show you all of the progress for TXDoT projects going on in your county. Below is the information for re-surfacing project going on in Alpine now, for instance. Here are the projects in Presidio County. Use this to plan road trips or see how efficaciously your tax dollars are being used by private contractors.

Bad news, Alpine residents, that infernal construction downtown on the sidewalks is only %15 done.

Current TxDOT Projects: Brewster County

Project Summary Project ID 002011046 TxDOT District El Paso County Name Brewster Funding Status Funded Highway US 67 Project Length 7.921 Miles Project Type Economic Stimulus Bid Date 2009-May Work From MOSLEY LANE Low Bid Amount $2,377,158.87 Work To 7.921 MI W OF MOSLEY_LANE Description RESURFACE ROADWAY

Contact Information TxDOT Contact Mark Longenbaugh, P.E. Phone: (915) 790-4240 Construction Company JONES BROS. DIRT & PAVING CONTRACTORS, INC.

Project Development Milestones Start Design Design Submittal Receive Environmental Clearance Utility Coordination Right of Way Coordination Project Ready to Bid 30% Complete 60% Complete 100% Complete Target Date 02/2009 03/2009 03/2009 03/2009 04/2009 04/2009 Actual Date 02/2009 02/2009 02/2009 02/2009 02/2009 03/2009

Project Construction Information Notice to Proceed Date Work Begin Date Total Project Days Total Days Charged Percentage of Time Used Percentage of Project Complete 06/23/2009 08/03/2009 60 49 81.67 % 100.06 %

Budget Information Project Cost Original Budget Current Estimate Amount Paid to Date Project Engineering $0.00 $116,480.78 $8,020.74 Construction $0.00 $3,169,263.19 $2,129,076.23 Construction Engineering $0.00 $142,629.53 $58,786.97 Contingency $0.00 $166,401.12 Indirect $0.00 $182,090.37 Total Cost $0.00 $3,776,864.99 $2,195,883.94 - Construction cost is the amount on this project that is either completely or partially paid through Economic Stimulus funding

SHAME SHAME SHAME, ALL WOMEN SEDUCED INTO WORLDLINESS BY THE WHORE OF BABYLON!!!

Finally, there is SOME REAL ROCK MUSIC ABOUT REAL ISSUES.

I don’t get all them glam rock fellers wearing lipstick and hairspray and playing checkerboard guitars.

Brother Steve Winter makes a good point about the presence of women in the Church WHILE WAILING ON THAT GITBOX LIKE A CHAMPION. 34 let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. 35 And if they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church.

Hosanna and Amen to you Brother Winter, we need more like you!!!

Attn all Apostolics! This is a video studio version of the song Shame Shame Shame
(See 1 Corinthians 14:34-35) that we did wearing robes for you.
Philip Winter (drums) and Steve Winter guitar and vocals (singin’).

Special thanks to Bobo on bass, Hayseed on guitar and especially the Dept of Corrections for allowing them to do this as part of work release.

FREE THE HUTARI17– CHRISTIAN PHALANX FOR GOD AND COUNTRY

Just a little something from your Guru of the Guitar to keep the ball rollin’.  Last week I hit you guys with a little classic Cooper. Similar theme this week, but with a twist.  The Sul Ross students only have so much longer to sing along with this one:

School’s Out!

Shows this coming week:

Thursday, August 12th

• Shane Walker at The Railroad Blues in Alpine, 10:00 PM.
• Find The Nines at Holland Hotel in Alpine, 9:00 PM.

Friday, August 13^th

• Open Mic Night at Harry’s Tinaja in Alpine, 8:00 PM.
• The Sideshow Tragedy at The Railroad Blues in Alpine, 10:00 PM.
• The Resonators at Padres in Marfa, 8:00 PM

Saturday,August 14^th

• The Shades at The Railroad Blues in Alpine, 10:00 PM.

- – -

This article is brought to you by these local sponsors:

Railroad Blues The premier live music venue in the Big Bend– Try their world famous Sangria!

La Posada Milagro– Beautiful, unique rooms in the Historic Terlingua Ghosttown

La Junta Exchange– Vintage Clothing, Local Art, Curios

Hey everyone, Just in case you needed a reminder, if you haven’t been out catching the local live music scene you’ve missed some great stuff already this year.  Hopefully these recap videos will help you quit making excuses for not enjoying what the hard working local musicians and venue owners have been providing.

First up we have a video from when David Lowery and Johnny Hickman of Cracker came down and played an unforgettable set:

Next we have Donkey Parade, performing a cover of one of my personal favorite Toadies tunes – Away:

And last, but certainly not least, we have Adrian from Adrian and the Sickness (Austin, TX based all girl punk/hard rock band) shredding a little bit o’ the Flight of the Bumblebee on her Angus Young style SG:

Hope you enjoy the videos, and don’t forget that you can post any shows I miss or even videos you’ve made yourself, your local Big Bend band’s website or any music related discussion in the comments section for this post.  Keep on rockin’ in the free world! Peace, I’m out!

Here’s footage in HD of me last year. This is always a ton of fun!

I will collect your musings for the world to see.

The easiest way to sound off:

• Comment on this post anonymously. Also, your comments appear on the front page as soon as you make them.
• Scribble your thoughts on a cocktail napkin with some candyapple red lipstick or an orange Crayola and send it to West Texas Weekly PO Box 1400 Alpine, Texas, 79831.
• If you are really hard up, call me at (432) 294 2549 and leave a message on my voicemail.

Sorry, defamatory or X-rated comments will be omitted or edited.

The 10th annual Big Bend Ranch Rodeo is scheduled this weekend — Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 12-14 — at the SALE Arena at Sul Ross State University, featuring three days of non-stop action.

The weekend begins at 9 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, with a SHOT (Stock Horse of Texas) Clinic at the SALE Arena.

The RCHA cutting competition gets under way at 9 a.m. Friday, Aug. 13, at the o6 Flats Arena, and that evening brings the first of two performances of the rodeo at 7 p.m.

Competing in five working-cowboy events, teams earn points toward qualifying for the World Championship Ranch Rodeo in November, and the winner of the Big Bend Ranch Rodeo automatically wins a place in the World championships.

The rodeo will also feature activities for kids and opportunities to win prizes.

Rodeo action on Saturday, Aug. 14, begins at 9 a.m. with a Ranch Horse Association of America competition, which requires riders to compete in ranch-related horsemanship areas such as reining, working cow horse and roping.

At 10 a.m. Saturday, the 17-and-under working cow horse event gets under way. It’s similar to the Ranch Horse Association event except the roping requirement is dropped.

The parade also is a big part of rodeo weekend. It will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Alpine Civic Center and finish at Jackson Field. Anyone who has a wagon, old buggy, historic ranch truck or a horse is welcome to enter the parade. Call Norma Elliott at 432-364-2822.

A chuckwagon cooking competition will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday

The Saturday night rodeo performance is at 7 p.m. and ends with the awards ceremony. Afterwards there will be a cowboy dance featuring the band Gunslinger at the Lobo Highland Inn.

On Sunday at 11 a.m., there will be a church service at the Big Bend Cowboy Church on Murphy Street.

A new but popular event is “Buy a Cowboy a Meal.” At least 100 cowboys from Texas and New Mexico will come here for the weekend, and Alpine can show some West Texas hospitality and donate to the “Buy a Cowboy a Meal” fund.

Donations may be sent to BBRR, PO Box 539, Alpine, TX 79831 or taken to Big Bend Saddlery on E. Hwy. 90. For more information about the meal event, call Gary Dunshee at 432-837-5551.

For more information about the entire event, call Chachi Hawkins at 432-364-2696 or Monty Kimball at 432-294-0300, or visit www.bigbendranchrodeo.com.