On the Road

Thu, Feb 1 - Sun, Feb 4:
          Thursday was cold again. Sue walked 2 miles and Joe walked up to the Sportsman Center to pick up mail, then spent most of the day paying bills. We ate in and read all day. Friday, Sue walked 2 miles and Joe went to the office to send e-mail. Friday night, we attended the opening show of the Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering. Saturday night and Sunday afternoon we saw totally different shows. Saturday from 10-12 and 1-4 there were small groups of performers in different rooms, all FREE, and we got see them close up. They also had FREE, informal, jam sessions at the Thunder Mountain Inn Friday and Saturday night, but the regular shows didn't end until 10:30 and we were too tired to go. I guess we're getting too old to party all night. There were over 40 performers and they varied from good to really great! All were very professional, and play the old country/western music from 50 years ago and many new songs they write. The poems are about cowboys, rodeos and ranching. Some are hilariously funny, others quite touching. Many of the poets were older people (50s & up) except for 18 year old Andy Hedges, whose rhyme and wit was really great, and 40 year old Dennis Gaines, who had us rolling in the aisles with his wild stories in rhyme.   Exceptional musicians were the "Desert Sons", who sound a lot like the old "Son's of the Pioneers", "Due West", a trio, including a young lady with a great voice, Arizona's Official Balladeer, Dolan Ellis, who sang and played a hot guitar and many other outstanding musicians. It's amazing that performers this good are known only in the West. Some do make their living as performers, producing their own tapes, CDs and videos, and selling them at these type shows. They hold a contest here each year for grades 3-12, and had 3500 entries, of which the winners got to recite their poems on stage. Some of these kids were quite good. Most of the audience, except for a few young kids, were 30s and older. To make it in the mainstream "music" industry today, I guess, the performers have to do drugs, dress and act obscenely, and do rock, rap, the trash now called "country music" (unlike old country/western). It's amazing, to me, that parents are stupid enough to give their kids money to buy that trash, and make millionaires of a bunch of weirdo, psychotic, obscene drug addicts, claiming to be "musicians". Then, they wonder why their kids are all screwed up!! If you get a chance to attend one of these “Cowboy Poetry and Music Gatherings”, don’t miss it! The weather is finally getting warmer here.       See Pictures.

Joe & Nancy Sue "On the Road", Ft. Huachuca/Sierra Vista, AZ