After the Monsoons

October 5, 2018:

It’s been about six weeks since my last blog post and as a result I am finding that I can’t remember things of interest that I have been doing.  I seem to have become a control freak about this, I need to know, even if it’s of no importance or interest of others.

The “Monsoon” season here was a bit of a dud, no flooding, not even any water flowed in the wash behind our house.  We really had only one storm with considerable wind, thunder and lightning and rain.  The Moonsons here are very spotty, but virtually every evening storm clouds develop and it rains somewhere in the Tucson area.  It seem to rain much more south of Tucson near Green Valley and on the northwestern side of Tucson.  Our poor aging Mission Fig lost another limb in this storm, it’s starting to look more like a scarecrow.  I cut several pads off which we will attempt to root, they are supposed to be easy to propagate, we will see about that ?

I’ve painted Sue’s sewing room, our bedroom and a hallway with its six doors, I’m not a fan of painting doors.  A workbench and some shelving have been added to my garage.  More plants have been added to the yard, but it’s still a work in progress.  Also lots of household trash (junk) was put out for an semi-annual pickup day, but most of it was picked up by locals before the garbage truck, that’s even better !  The house and yard is now mostly cleaned out, that’s progress !  The dead tree in the yard was removed but we left the stump, for remembrance or something like that. The tree guys were crazily unsafe workers, quite sure one of them will die on the job some day.

As usual I’ve been all over town following the live music scene: 

The Kevin Pakulis Band “Sunday Sessions” at Borderlands Brewing is the main event, always fun. 

Gary Mackender who plays drums in the Kevin Pakulis Band also has a band, the Carniveleros, which also includes Kevins’ bass player Karl Hoffmann.  Gary is remarkable as he plays drums with Kevin, the accordion and vocals in the Carnivaleros, finds time to play with several other bands on occasion and also does amazing graphic art work on the side.   

My other regular hangout is La Cocina on Wednesday nights to see Lana Rebel and Kevin Mayfield.

Lana Rebel and Kevin Mayfield at LaCocina

Wednesday night is also good at the Public Brewhouse, a small friendly brewpub which has music on Wednesday and Sunday.

On Thursdays I sometimes go to the Tap and Bottle, of which I sort of have a love / hate relationship; I love the building and the setting, but dislike the constantly changing, overly trendy and pricy beer selections.  All these brew pubs are the same, I often wish I could just get a plain old Budweiser or a Coors beer.  I don’t go to these places for the beer, its all about the music for me.

Louise Le Hir at the Tap and Bottle

Another favorite place is the St Charles Tavern, a real locals bar on the south side of Tucson that has a great outside patio with interesting music on weekends.

Oscar Fluentes and Mark Antony Febbo

Twinkles and I go to the town of Arvica very close to the Mexican border where Kevin Pakulis plays about once a month at the LaGitana Catina.  It’s was a quirky small town with a mix of ranchers, hippies and assorted characters who somehow all get along.  LaGitana is a real bar, I suppose it’s the only one for many miles and I suspect it might bet kinda rowdy once in a while.  It was a beautiful ride through green hill country with many arroyo crossings that appear to flood often during the monsoon period.  It was a fun afternoon !

Beautiful views on the way to Arivaca

La Gitana Cantina

Peace and Justice in the Borderlands mural

Lake a few miles outside of Arivaca

Arivaca is a very old historic Arizona town

I definitely had a cold beer at La Gitana

Kevin Pakulis and Karl Hofmann

We also took a another road trip to the Sonoita County Fairgrounds to see the Kevin Pakulis Band and the Carnivaleros Band play.  This is the classic old fair grounds with a beautiful horse race track.

Kiddie ride in front of the race track

The Sonoita Fairgrounds

Kevin Pakulis Band

Karl Hoffmann on Bass

The Carnivalaros on stage

I went to a Ben Harper and Charlie Musclewhite concert at the Rialto Theater in Tucson.  The media information about the concert sounded great, like they were a very harmonious blend, but I didn’t see or feel that and the concert was disappointing.  I like Ben Harper when he does his more acoustic stuff but in this concert he was backed with a band, it was too too loud and not very bluesy.  I didn’t see where Charlie Musclewhite’s great harmonica playing fit in with most of the bands material.  Also, there was virtually no stage banter with the crowd or between Ben Harper and Charlie Musclewhite, it was awkward at best.

I also bought tickets for a concert at the Casino Del Sol with Big Head Todd & the Monsters and the Gin Blossoms.  After buying the tickets, we received an email from Hughes Moir, a winter friend of ours from Desert Trails RV Park, advising us that their Colorado neighbor, Brian, the drummer in Big Head Todd & the Monsters could provide us with free tickets and back stage passes for the concert.  It was too late for the tickets, but we did get backstage passes and got in to meet “Big Head Brian” after the concert.  Big Head Todd and the Monsters is composed of three members who all went to college together in Colorado, started a band, developed a following and have been together ever since, quite remarkable.  This venue is great for a rock show, both band performed well, but the Gin Blossoms definitely have a larger fan base.  They had several hit songs during the 1990’s, but haven’t really done much since then.  All in all, It was a good night and much fun.

Last but not least, I attend the electric Hot Tuna concert at the Rialto Theater.  I’ve seen Hot Tuna as both acoustic and electric versions several times over the last ten years and follow Jorma Kaukonen’s web site and blog.  Jorma has had and continues to have an amazing life, he is a good writer so of course I had to have his new autobiography, "Been So Long",  and stand in line to get it signed.  The fan conversations in the book signing line were almost worth the cost of the book.  Hot Tuna is special, with a dedicated following as it is about the last band standing from the San Francisco phycadelic period.

Hot Tuna poster

Almost forgot the Grateful Dead sessions at the Hut on Saturday afternoon and the Ronstadts at the Chicago Bar.  If this isn’t enough, there is always something going on at the Hotel Congress and Monterey Court stages.

Great flamenco guitar playing on the Congress patio stage

I’m finally getting around to working on the old Dodge, cleaning the road crud from the front suspension area, stripping the engine down and repainting it.  Removing the floor boards to clean up the clutch and brake pedal area, rebuilding the constantly seeping brake master cylinder, changing the transmission oil, adjusting the hand brake and clutch linkage.  I also decided to pull all the wheels and redo the brake cylinders which also show signs of leakage.  I am pretty amazed that the Dodge traveled the 3,000 miles from New Jersey without a brake issue as they were somewhat sticky at the start of the trip.  I also fixed the erratic fuel gauge by replacing the sending unit float and the troublesome gas pedal that occasionally comes loose at the most inopportune times.   I desperately need to to get he old guy back on the road soon.

I love it from this elevated angle

It's looking new again

I also need to clean up our RV which remains in storage at Desert Trails RV Park.  Looks like we will put it up for sale although it has issues that will affect the selling price.  I will take whatever money we can get to buy a small vehicle for me to periodically escape in next year.

We have had several strange visitors and interesting views at the house over this period;

A hawk took up residence for about an
hour on top our Jeep

He was a beauty ! 

A walking stick, minus one leg, on our patio

Just beyond the yard gate Twinkles saw this
fantastic Horned Toad

Weird diffused sun light view outside

Plant leaf under attack by a horde of baby grasshoppers

A brilliant full moon

I watched an amazing documentary "Searching for Sugarman" about a musician, Sixto Rodriguez, in Detroit, Michigan who mainly played small bars and clubs in the poor section of the city.  He was discovered and recorded in the late 1960's by people who expected him to become the next Bob Dylan.  Somehow, it never happened in the US most likely due to a lack of promotion, but his record found its way to South Africa where it became hugely popular.  Hundreds of thousands of records were eventually sold, but he never received royalties or had any idea of his success.  Decades passed while he continued to live in poverty in Detroit until someone from South Africa tracked him down.  A concert tour was set up for him in South Africa where he played with a local band to a sell out crowd.  Since then he has returned several times and gained the stardom he deserved.  He is now partially blind and gives most of his new found riches away to friends and family. The documentary won an Oscar for best documentary at the 85th Academy Awards Presentation.



https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/rodriguez-10-things-you-dont-know-about-the-searching-for-sugar-man-star-99288/        

The summer monsoons now seem to be over, the peak temperatures are subsiding, the days are getting shorter and autumn is arriving here in the desert.  There are definite changes of seasons here, but they are minor, nothing very dramatic, but it’s a welcome relief.  My top priority now to to get back on the trails, get back in shape, eat healthy and correct some blood pressure issues that have developed.

That’s all for now;

Twinkles and Slick