The Summer of Chuff 2015

[yotsuya]

One of the great ironies of my life is I don't care much for country music, yet have seen most big names live.  Many of them twice.  Those cheap tickets are hard to resist and I like rodeos.  Houston fireworks show was a pretty good deal for $10 and now I can mark Clint Black off the list. 



I draw the line at Garth, though.  He's 90s target #4 if I ever get a time machine.

Back in the early 90s, I had a pretty serious girlfriend who was into country, so I went from not liking country at all to owning a pair of Wranglers and getting a pair of boots for Christmas. I saw all those acts live, too - Clint Black, Garth Brooks (twice), George Strait, Reba, Brooks and Dunn, Alan Jackson, you name it. Once we broke up, that ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- went into the trash (I will admit I still like a lot of those songs from that era, though) .

The things we do for ---Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when saint censors you?---. Raises a good post - July 4th question: what dumb things have you done for a girl?

[pbj]

Things we do for ---Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when saint censors you?---?  Did I mention Josh Turner was the opener?  His only talent is having a singing voice that vibrates vaginas.  I've sat through two of his zero charisma concerts where he drones about trucks, cut off jeans, and that girl that fits just right.

"incredible" is how both of those performances were described by every woman in attendance.  Only time he partially lit up was when hawking his tacky merch.  Has a book called "man stuff."  Whatever, I got an old fashioned for $20 out of pocket so I won.

On the other hand, I dragged my wife to Billy Joe Shaver and that 74 year old sang his heart out for two and a half hours about getting drunk and shooting people. 

Isn't my genre but I can appreciate that.

[wp34]

I would love to see Clint Black live.  I don't care for his music but Garth Brooks would be an awesome live show.

The only Country I listen to now is Waylon with a little Merle Haggard thrown in.  Waylon is great cabinet building music.   

[Slippyblade]

I can't stand most country music, but I'd not pass up a cheap/free show.  Concerts are just fun to go to, I'd attend almost anything.  Except rap.  That ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- is just garbage.

[pbj]

I can't stand most country music, but I'd not pass up a cheap/free show.  Concerts are just fun to go to, I'd attend almost anything.  Except rap.  That ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- is just garbage.

You know, I used to say I quit listening when Eazy E died but it did permeate my 90s more than I thought.  Houston has a classic hip hop radio station now and I find myself clicking over whenever the classic rock station gets stuck on Supertramp.  The rap station is owned by Radio One and is frequently a welcome change up to the IHeartRadio crap.  Lowry Mays is on that time machine hit list, too.

[dkersten]

I also started writing a novel. That's so much more difficult than the kitchen. The level of discipline required . . . I pretty much have to stop being me if I ever want to finish it.

Keep at it, it took me 6 years to finish my first, and while I have a really good reason to finish the second (money, now that I am selling books), some months I just don't want to write.  It is tough, takes hundreds or even thousands of hours. 

If you ever decide to finish, drop me a message, I would be happy to help you with publishing and marketing.

[yotsuya]

I would love to see Clint Black live.  I don't care for his music but Garth Brooks would be an awesome live show.

The only Country I listen to now is Waylon with a little Merle Haggard thrown in.  Waylon is great cabinet building music.   

Clint Black is pretty good. I'll still listen to his old stuff.

[shmokes]

I also started writing a novel. That's so much more difficult than the kitchen. The level of discipline required . . . I pretty much have to stop being me if I ever want to finish it.

Keep at it, it took me 6 years to finish my first, and while I have a really good reason to finish the second (money, now that I am selling books), some months I just don't want to write.  It is tough, takes hundreds or even thousands of hours. 

If you ever decide to finish, drop me a message, I would be happy to help you with publishing and marketing.

That's extraordinarily generous. What did you write, if you don't mind divulging your real name (assuming you don't use a pseudonym)?

[yotsuya]

That's extraordinarily generous. What did you write, if you don't mind divulging your real name (assuming you don't use a pseudonym)?

He writes under the pen name Margaret Mitchell.

[yotsuya]

Ok, spent the day rewiring the Ms. Pac-Man cab I got. It's using that original board I fixed with a JAMMA adaptor,  so I wired it for JAMMA. Fired it up, all is well with the wiring and the board. I just need to do a cap kit on the G07 (already ordered,  thanks Bob Roberts).

I'm going to do some touchup painting on it,  but for the most part, I'm going to leave a lot of the patina on it. Something about this girl looking the way she does is kind of sexy.

[Malenko]

Did he play the Galaxy Song?

[wp34]

Nice!   

Ok, spent the day rewiring the Ms. Pac-Man cab I got. It's using that original board I fixed with a JAMMA adaptor,  so I wired it for JAMMA. Fired it up, all is well with the wiring and the board. I just need to do a cap kit on the G07 (already ordered,  thanks Bob Roberts).

I'm going to do some touchup painting on it,  but for the most part, I'm going to leave a lot of the patina on it. Something about this girl looking the way she does is kind of sexy.

[jdbailey1206]

I have to say I cant get into country.  Its just to pop based to me.  Hank Williams III and Long Black Sedan.  Dat sounds good to my ears.  That and anything old school.  Patsy Cline, Hank I, Cash.  Artists of the sort. 

[wp34]

Hank Williams III shows up on my Waylon Pandora channel from time-to-time.  He is really good--much better than his dad.

I have to say I cant get into country.  Its just to pop based to me.  Hank Williams III and Long Black Sedan.  Dat sounds good to my ears.  That and anything old school.  Patsy Cline, Hank I, Cash.  Artists of the sort.

[BadMouth]

I have to say I cant get into country.  Its just to pop based to me.  Hank Williams III and Long Black Sedan.  Dat sounds good to my ears.  That and anything old school.  Patsy Cline, Hank I, Cash.  Artists of the sort.

Give Linda Ortega a spin. 
I saw her open for Social Distortion.



I'm afraid her newer stuff will be ruined by moving to Nashville.

Hell, the new Halestorm album even has some weird pop country vibe that makes it suck.
If Lzzy Hale had any twang in her voice it would be getting mad airplay on all the obnoxious country stations right now.

[dkersten]

I also started writing a novel. That's so much more difficult than the kitchen. The level of discipline required . . . I pretty much have to stop being me if I ever want to finish it.

Keep at it, it took me 6 years to finish my first, and while I have a really good reason to finish the second (money, now that I am selling books), some months I just don't want to write.  It is tough, takes hundreds or even thousands of hours. 

If you ever decide to finish, drop me a message, I would be happy to help you with publishing and marketing.

That's extraordinarily generous. What did you write, if you don't mind divulging your real name (assuming you don't use a pseudonym)?

There's a link to my novel in my signature at the bottom of this post.  The book is called "The Freezer" and is a Post Apocalyptic sci fi that deals with cloning.  It is about 400 pages if in a typical paperback size, 318 pages in the 6x9 paperback format (with small print because I was trying to keep costs down), and comes in just a hair under 160,000 words.  I also wrote a short story called "The Paradox Cycle" if you enjoy stories about time travel.  That one is just OK, a fun one to write but more an exercise in my ability to crank out a book in a week. 

I publish exclusively with Amazon and have been marketing it for about 6 months now.  I am no David Baldacci or Stephen King, but I have sold 2000 books now and made enough for a couple fun vacations each year (did Vegas a few months ago and am planning a Florida vacation for the Fall).  About 30,000 new books come on Amazon each week, and around 3.8 million ebooks are already published.  My novel averages right around the 20,000 rank overall and I tend to hover around the 400th best selling Post Apocalyptic book on Amazon.  I'll never get rich writing books but I can't complain, I have had far more success at it than I ever imagined.  If things keep going the way they are going, I will make close to $6k this year, and frankly when writing it that was beyond my wildest dreams.  It is very rewarding to be able to have "published author" under my belt even if I didn't do it the traditional way, and having checked off "write a book" from the bucket list is even more rewarding.  I am around 56,000 words into the next novel, but between surgery on my right arm and summer keeping me from wanting to sit in my computer room typing all day, I haven't touched it in 2 months.  Besides, there are too many other chufftastic things to do in the summer, like fixing up the back yard or putting new windows in the house...

[Vigo]

The only Country I listen to now is Waylon with a little Merle Haggard thrown in.  Waylon is great cabinet building music.   

Right there is about my only genre of country as well, yeah great work music. I like Willie and Mr. Cash and a few other, Jeff Bridges is even a surprisingly good country musician. Not much else the genre has to offer me.

[pbj]

KSYM in San Antonio runs some decent radio shows on Sundays (and they stream online).

I used to listen to Third Coast Music Network and Hillbilly Hit Parade while drinking beer and playing pinball out in the garage.  Third Coast puts an emphasis on Texas artists but I think some of you might enjoy it...

http://sacrtfnet.alamo.edu/ksym/schedule.htm

[Howard_Casto]

From your guys posts I think there is some confusion on what country is.  If you like the older artists and can't stand what they are playing on the radio, rest assured, you do, indeed like "country" music.  What they play now is "new country" which is a pop-riddled mess.  Garth Brooks was the turning point.... he was a revolutionary, much like Cash was in his day redefining the genre... unfortunately he also killed it because every act after him tried to be the next Garth Brooks and stupidly focused on the pop-centric sound of his music instead of the old country core with more modern sounds. 


"So...eh  what kinds of music do you guys get here?"

"Oh we play all kinds... yes sir!  Country AND Western!"



*edit*  As of this my post count is "12345"  That's kind of neat... I guess...

[Le Chuck]

*edit*  As of this my post count is "12345"  That's kind of neat... I guess...

[dkersten]

Country is anything produced and recorded in Nashville as opposed to L.A.

Sure, most of what is on the radio is "Modern Country", and just about anything before about 1980 is more "Country Western"..

I grew up in a house where the old man would put Willie and Waylon, Neil Diamond, or Kenny Rogers on the turntable every Sunday.  These days I listen mostly to Country on radio, and on Pandora my favorite stations are Zac Brown Band radio, Kid Rock radio, Red Hot Chile Peppers radio, and Crazy ---smurfette--- radio, in no particular order.

[Howard_Casto]

Country is anything produced and recorded in Nashville as opposed to L.A.

No it's not.  Willie Nelson has been out of the Nashville scene since the early 80's.  Taylor Swift, on the other hand, records there regularly.  Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case. 

[dkersten]

Country is anything produced and recorded in Nashville as opposed to L.A.

No it's not.  Willie Nelson has been out of the Nashville scene since the early 80's.  Taylor Swift, on the other hand, records there regularly.  Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case.

And Willie hasn't produced a mainstream song since the early 80's and Taylor Swift was played on all the country stations for her first 3 albums.

[shmokes]

There's a link to my novel in my signature at the bottom of this post . . . .
I publish exclusively with Amazon and have been marketing it for about 6 months now.  I am no David Baldacci or Stephen King, but I have sold 2000 books now and made enough for a couple fun vacations each year (did Vegas a few months ago and am planning a Florida vacation for the Fall). 

Congrats! That's super impressive. Here's to hoping that my dedication and discipline will hold up and that I too will be able to cross this one off my bucket list before too long. I'm very early on, though. So far I'm only a little over 3000 words, plus a large chunk of detailed outline (and an even larger, far broader outline in my head). But it's writing really well, I think. And the outline helps tremendously (though it was also a tremendous amount of work.

[Howard_Casto]

Country is anything produced and recorded in Nashville as opposed to L.A.

No it's not.  Willie Nelson has been out of the Nashville scene since the early 80's.  Taylor Swift, on the other hand, records there regularly.  Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case.

And Willie hasn't produced a mainstream song since the early 80's and Taylor Swift was played on all the country stations for her first 3 albums.

And your point?  They don't play country on the radio anymore and it isn't popular anymore.... new country is. 

[yotsuya]

All the shitkickin' talk aside....

My relatives from Texas (who were here for my Grandmother's 85th birthday) came by today to see my game room. They were thoroughly impressed. My cousin (who I am exactly twice as old as  - I'm 42, she's 21) was flying back tonight to go to Rice but really wanted to see it before she left. It was good to see them and share my hobby in person. They had seen it on Facebook many times, and it was fun to watch them play the racer and Galaga on my HaRuMaN special.

[wp34]

My mom came over for the 4th and played some games.  She really liked Total Carnage.  We played it for a 1/2 hour until the board crashed. 

Here she is playing some R-Type.

[ark_ader]

There's a link to my novel in my signature at the bottom of this post . . . .
I publish exclusively with Amazon and have been marketing it for about 6 months now.  I am no David Baldacci or Stephen King, but I have sold 2000 books now and made enough for a couple fun vacations each year (did Vegas a few months ago and am planning a Florida vacation for the Fall). 

Congrats! That's super impressive. Here's to hoping that my dedication and discipline will hold up and that I too will be able to cross this one off my bucket list before too long. I'm very early on, though. So far I'm only a little over 3000 words, plus a large chunk of detailed outline (and an even larger, far broader outline in my head). But it's writing really well, I think. And the outline helps tremendously (though it was also a tremendous amount of work.

Treat it like you are doing a dissertation.  That way you can ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- all year long and end up spending two weeks acting like a madman to get it all finished. 

[wp34]

I'm reading the book "Life after Life" by Kate Atkinson.  The main character just used the word "chuff".   

[dkersten]

Country is anything produced and recorded in Nashville as opposed to L.A.

No it's not.  Willie Nelson has been out of the Nashville scene since the early 80's.  Taylor Swift, on the other hand, records there regularly.  Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case.

And Willie hasn't produced a mainstream song since the early 80's and Taylor Swift was played on all the country stations for her first 3 albums.

And your point?  They don't play country on the radio anymore and it isn't popular anymore.... new country is.

They DO play country music, it has just changed, as has "pop", "rock", and even "rap".. Everything has evolved.  But if a station is "country", they primarily play stuff that was produced in Nashville.  That includes Taylor Swift who started out as a country artist and has won some country music awards. 

The country music from the 80's and up is pretty much all the same with some exceptions (like Big and Rich).  Stuff from before the 80's is very different, as is stuff from before the mid 60's.  If you really wanted to get picky, you could classify country music under several classes or sub-genres, but in general if you are talking "Country" music, you are talking about music produced in Nashville.  It is like classifying books.  You can break it down to things like Science Fiction, but even Sci-Fi has dozens of officially recognized sub-genres, and even within those sub genres there are different types of stories that some people recognize.  Music is the same way.

[BadMouth]

From your guys posts I think there is some confusion on what country is.  If you like the older artists and can't stand what they are playing on the radio, rest assured, you do, indeed like "country" music.  What they play now is "new country" which is a pop-riddled mess.  Garth Brooks was the turning point.... he was a revolutionary, much like Cash was in his day redefining the genre... unfortunately he also killed it because every act after him tried to be the next Garth Brooks and stupidly focused on the pop-centric sound of his music instead of the old country core with more modern sounds. 

Eh, I'd disagree.  I don't care for the genre, but I think Garth Brooks is brilliant and has written a lot of clever and interesting songs.
I'll even give Taylor Swift credit for at least having unique lyrics.

It's the generic shovelware with a chorus taken from bumper stickers that I don't care for.
Stupid people like things that are familiar, so it sells.  Just keep repeating the catch phrases.




EDIT: and if general motors sponsors your tour, you'll use the word "Silverado" instead of just "truck" 

[BadMouth]

And then there's this:

[yotsuya]

[dkersten]

It's the generic shovelware with a chorus taken from bumper stickers that I don't care for.
Stupid people like things that are familiar, so it sells.  Just keep repeating the catch phrases.

You drinking your PBR while writing that?

[Vigo]

Hells yeah! Dat Bee Gees Music.

[yotsuya]

Hells yeah! Dat Bee Gees Music.

[wp34]

Hells yeah! Dat Bee Gees Music.

That's some hair there.   

[yotsuya]

That's some hair there.   

Dolly's hair and bewbs are fake. 

[Vigo]

The Lion's Mane of Gibb is 100% real. 

[wp34]

The Lion's Mane of Gibb is 100% real. 

Word.