Life in a Golden Eye

The Hands of the Artist - Tom Hubbard - Award-winning Potter, Sculptor, and Photographer, Son of a Marine Vietnam Veteran, and Good Friend.

Marathon Jam for Fisher House - February 27th in McLean

25 February 2010:
Seems like everything is happening this coming weekend, but here is notice of a certainly unusual fundraiser. I met a young lady named Joy at the kick-off for the DC Bluegrass Union Festival which is coming next month at Langley Highschool in McLean. Joy was there to promote "Marathon Jam 2010" which is trying to raise donations for the two Fisher Houses here in the D.C. metro area. There will be an all-day jam (from noon to midnight) at the McLean VFW Post at 1051 Spring Hill Road, McLean (which is really more toward Great Falls at the intersection with Old Dominion Drive). Participants pledge money for musicians to play by the hour. The Fisher Houses provide lodging for families visiting wounded military personnel at both Bethesda and Andrews AFB. This is a good cause for an organization that truly cares about our troops. For additional information on how the event works go to www.bluegrassbook.com - interesting!

www.fisherhouse.org

CD Launch at Old Lucketts Schoolhouse - 27 March 2010

24 February 2010:

Patuxent Records announced today that the long-awaited, new "Legends" CD will finally be ready for sale on March 27th at the Darren Beachley and the Legends of the Potomac concert at the Old Lucketts Schoolhouse, Lucketts, Virginia. The show starts (always!) at 7:00 and it will prove to be standing room only. Get there very, very early if you expect to get a seat.

The Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition in Vienna, Virginia

Dan Kimball - Mandolin, Sue Raines Tice - Fiddle, Roger Green - Guitar, Jim Duvall - Bass, Bob Tice - Banjo. The Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition can be reached at www.annapolisbluegrass.com and Roger Green has an excellent All-Bluegrass radio show ("Bluegrassorama") on WRYR Fm radio in Sherwood, Maryland. Contact at www.wryr.org His shows are also available on iTunes podcast. Tune in to Bluegrassorama to hear 'the best of the best' bluegrass and Old Time music and sit back and enjoy Roger's expert musical and historical commentary.

Calculated to Make You Sit Up and Listen!

23 February 2010:

Well Friends, they're back! The Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition appeared here in Vienna on Saturday, February 20th for their Fifth Annual Midwinter performance. When this band shows up you know Spring isn't far behind. Sponsored by the Town of Vienna Parks and Recreation Department, "ABC" has become somewhat of a Town tradition in these parts and has established a big fan base. We'll look forward to seeing them again on the Town Green Stage this summer. The band played a lot of their usual numbers and included some new songs, in particular "Train Songs" and "I Don't Care." The band never sounded better and the audience responded in kind by demanding an encore. The Vienna appearance kicks off ABC's performing schedule for the year and they'll be busy in the Baltimore/Annapolis area.
Oh, and about the above . . .the new high-tech, new-fangled, 2-dollar pocket calculator is available now at all Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition performances. Sure beats the usual Ball Caps and Tee Shirts!

My Take on the Tiger Woods-Thing

21 February 2010:
Two days ago Alexander Haig died. The economy of Greece is imploding and threatens to bring down the value of the Euro. The U.S. economic situation continues to bring us doom and gloom. The situations in Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, and Afghanistan have to be top priorities for our own State Department. And Tiger Woods finally made an appearance - Thank God for that bit of news. We can all finally sleep well knowing that a golfer has made his amends and he can get busy to recoup his billion-dollar paycheck. He's a golfer, for God's sake. He isn't even an athlete involved in a sport. It's a past-time for God's sake - like indulging in needle-work or bass-fishing. Yet he was lucky enough to turn his days in the sunshine and schmoozing at country clubs into a fortune that would cause any Third World country green-eyed envy. I cannot envy him, criticize him, empathize with him, or pray for his soul. One wonders how he ever became a news item - he's a golfer, for God's sake! Forget about it.

Another Reason Why We Have to Elect Ex-Military to the Presidency

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNr66HHhMjs

Watch this and cringe, all you former Navy Corpsmen, or those serving now - and God Bless You for raising your hand and signing your name on the dotted line. The Age of Barama is upon us. God save us all.

Yep, We've Got this Too!

19 February 2010:

The Focus Travel Company in Ha Noi launched the R.V. La Marguerite last year for 4-star river touring of Viet Nam and Cambodia. It's just another step in the direction of the company after launching it's own luxury touring junks on Ha Long Bay in the north. Now focusing on the broad southern rivers, La Marguerite will ply the rivers in the delta between Viet Nam and Cambodia. You've done the battlefield-thing, you've taken the 12 day-package tours offered by other companies(which really end up as 8 actual days on the ground). Well, really go all out and treat you and the spouse to something special. Designed and built especially for the Mekong, the La Marguerite is fashioned after the river boats that cruise European rivers - this is luxury cruising at its finest. Contact me for further information. (You know how to reach me)

21-Day Tours Start on March 6th

18 February 2010:

VALOR launches All-Inclusive Viet Nam Tour

I've been connected now for six years with the VALOR touring company out of Raleigh, North Carolina. On March 6th the group launches a new venture of 21-day tour packages to Viet Nam and Cambodia, especially designed for families and couples. This in answer to frequent requests for more time on the ground, more sites to visit other than the normal passe combat sites and old battlegrounds. The most amazing thing about the new 21 day venture is the cost, which remains basically, or nearly the same price as the normal 16-day packages. Other companies are wondering how we do it. My only answer is they need to get smart about how they're treating their customer base. The First 21-day adventure will include Ha Long Bay and Sapa, along with I-Corps, III-Corps, and plenty of 4-star luxury downtime at some of Viet Nam's best resorts. Our parent company provider, Focus Travel of Ha Noi, remains as the premier personalized travel provider in Viet Nam today - they've been privately licensed to do business in Viet Nam since 1999. It's run by a youthful and dynamic leadership that understands the fluidity and changing needs as Viet Nam progresses into the 21st century.

Former Ford Executive Getting Fat . . .

18 February 2010:

I got on his Facebook yesterday and discovered he couldn't fit into a Tux anymore. Well, it happens to the best of us, My Friend. No sense in complaining to me, Jim, or to any of your Vietnam Vet friends (if you have any,) or any of the Jarheads you served with. This is a public announcement: Jim Wallace is getting old and fat. That's what happens when you retire from the Ford Company and sit around and spend all your time calling the few friends you have and waste their time spinning war stories. But I still love you, no matter what. In my book you're a real piece of work. (now head for the mirror and take a good look at yourself.) - from "The Doctor."

Summer Weather Hits Maine

18 February 2010:

We're heading to Maine for our annual mid-winter vacation. It appears that a new ice-age has descended upon the Piedmont and daily temps have been higher in New England than here in the mid-Atlantic region since the beginning of January. For all my loud-mouthed friends up in Maine who would dispute this, check the facts. I do - on a daily basis. I also check three or four Maine webcams daily. Right now it's almost 50 degrees just south of Portland and my thermometer on the deck is reading 38. So much for global warming - well, maybe in Maine. But all seriousness aside, we will head up there soon. There is nothing prettier than Maine in late winter. No mosquitos. No tourists. No noise. No constant harangue of Beltway politics or congressional accusations of who-shot-John. Just peace and quiet in the big Pine woods as we edge toward Easter.

This Just In From Angel's Camp

16 February 2010:

My son (who gets his sense of humor from his loving father,) sent me this from Angel's Camp, California. It's good to know that somebody, anybody, outside of the Bay area has some sense of reality.

782 Gear

15 February 2010:

"Saddle up! Move 'em out!!" The Gunnery Sergeant's call to arms - and our arms were hurting. Our shoulders, backs, legs, and feet were killing us. The heat caused such pounding in our heads that we thought our helmets would explode. Just another lovely day in hell. While we chased an enemy dressed in black cotton shorts and a few rounds of ammunition, we sank up to our thighs in the rice paddies weighted down by the individual loads of crap we had to carry. I always pitied the radiomen and the mortar teams. They pitied me for carrying the extra medical gear (Ed Henry, USN, Corpsman, FMF). The truckers and Tankmen pitied all of us, the ground-pounders. We pitied all them when it came ambush time. They were always stuck in the middle of nowhere - poor bastards. At least we could move - if our legs hadn't been shot out from under us. So there was a lot of mutual pity that passed for esprit de corps and unit integrity.

We weren't having a lot of fun then - the darkness of Marine Corps humor kept us going and an occasional laugh at the oddest of really grim and terrifying moments. The fun is being an older man now, fit and healthy enough to look back on all of it and wondering what it was all about. So somebody asked me the other day what the term "782 Gear" meant and this person (who's never served his country) got a strange, deranged, look on his face when I blurted out, "Go look it up on Google, Dumbshit!"

I felt immediately sorry for calling him a Dumbshit and halfway apologized. You vets out there will intuitively know in your gut why I only halfway apologized to him. There is always that little piece of my gut that tells me that no matter what I say, no matter how much I try to explain, the listener just isn't truly listening. Or if he is listening, he's not understanding anything I'm trying to tell him. Kenneth Brown, the playwright, would have called this present said condition as experiencing "The Line." There's a line here. A line in the human male experience - and in today's world, a line in the female experience too, as the reality sinks in that women are assuming more and more combat roles and coming home in the body bags that were once only reserved for men. So I wished that person a nice day, and asked him about his grandkids. That's about as much pleasantry as I could muster. You men out there who once strapped on 782 Gear know what I'm talking about. And Gunny, wherever you are, God love you, you know what I'm talking about, too.

I'll Bet My Reputation On It ! !

Wilmington Winter Bluegrass - March 19 -21

13 February 2010:

The Holiday Inn Select in Claymont, Delaware will host the Wilmington Winter Bluegrass festival on March 19th and 21st, 2010. It's two full days of music, workshops, and pickin' fun. Groups include: Dan Paisley and Southern Grass, Ernie Bradley and Grassy Ridge, The Timmons Family, Mountain Heritage, Blue Detour, and more. For additional information go to http://www.wilmingtonwintergrass.org/ or call 302-730-4065. For hotel information and reservations you have to call 302-792-2700. Dan Paisley and Ernie Bradley are worth the entry price alone - and then there is so much more good entertainment besides. This promises to be a much-welcomed event after such a rotten winter.

Photo: Ernie Bradley and Grassy Ridge at The Lucketts Fair, 2009 (Ed Henry)

What??

" The San Francisco Chronicle Reports that a Duck was Spotted

pecking at an ATM Machine on Mission Street."

Happier Times . . .

Snowstorm Number 3

10 February 2010: Marine buddy Jim Wallace in Michigan is nagging at me to answer him on instant messaging. I won't reply. I don't do that stuff. Too much of a pain in my behind. Special Forces buddy Ron Berard (up in Maine) is calling me too. Both these way-up-northerners think it's funny that we're getting blasted with so much bad weather here in the Piedmont, and they're calling me to remind us that life really ain't that bad here in the mid-Atlantic. They're right of course, but I don't need to be reminded of it. Not when I have to go out in a couple hours and shovel snow again. By the national weather records I've now shoveled 65 inches of it. Incredibly, all local school districts as far south as Fredericksburg and as far north as the Mason-Dixon line will be closed all week - most have been closed since the first round of snow on 5 February. Our kids can plan on having no school summer vacation in 2010! Another one for the record books: The D.C. metro area has received more snow this winter season than Buffalo, New York. It'll eventually melt and then we can get back to complaining about hot, muggy summers here in the nation's capital.

Life Goes On . . .

7 February 2010: The Aftermath. The total was 26 inches as measured in my backyard. It's Superbowl Sunday and no one really cares - at least not this person. Spent all of yesterday and most of today digging out along with the rest of the neighborhood. It wouldn't be so bad, but this is the fifth major snowfall we've had this winter season. But hey - we were asking for it after 9 or 10 years of relatively mild and beautiful winters. This time last year I was cooking out every night on the grill and starting most of my annual gardening rituals. Not this time. We've broken all kinds of D.C. area snow-records, blah, blah, blah. But it's not half as bad as the monetary crisis this country is in, or how badly Congress is behaving in trying to resolve the country's problems. Shame on the lot! . . . Have a Nice Day . . .

The Hillbilly Gypsies

Yeah, I know it's a real hokie piece of album art! Begs the question 'What the hell is this?' Some left-over hippie dope-induced Jug Band from the 60's? One of those wannabee bluegrass groups you see at a California or Colorado Pseudo Bluegrass Festival? Nah, this is the real-deal. Hailing from Morgantown, West Virginia, the Hillbilly Gypsies recently brought down the house at the Old Lucketts Schoolhouse Winter performance series along with Linda Lay and Springfield Exit. Both groups were outstanding. I think Linda has one of the best voices in the business. Buy this CD - better yet, experience the Hillbilly Gypsies in a live performance. They'll be appearing at a number of events here locally in 2010.

Snow Cripples the D.C. Bluegrass Scene

Just got a message from Bob out at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Herndon concerning the third snow cancellation of the Saturday Night program. The Bluemoon Cowgirls were scheduled to play but the predictions look so bad, Bob had to cancel again - and again - and again. The Old Lucketts Schoolhouse isn't faring much better. They've had to reschedule more than a few bands since before Christmas. We were lucky to catch Audie Blaylock on the night we did - it was standing room only, which means the bluegrass die-hards (and everyone else) are suffering major cabin-fever. Keep watching this site for the dates of some major bluegrass events coming in March and in the meantime we'll hope all this bad weather stops soon. Our region is notorious for getting one last blast of snow right around St. Patrick's Day - mark my words - like clockwork!

It All Started With My Fear of Raccoons!

Just Another Lovely Day in Hell!

Follow Cheryl's Adventures on this Site . . .

Bluegrass is Back in Vienna

The Vienna, Virginia Parks and Recreation Department announced recently that the Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition and Bill Emerson and the Sweet Dixie Band will return to the Town Green's 'Town Green Stage' this summer as part of the annual outdoor concert series. Both groups have a huge following here in town and Bill Emerson is one our emeritus residents. Contact the town's website for dates and times of the performances.

Lucketts Bluegrass, 23 January 2010

The Dirty River Band at Lucketts on 23 January 2010, opening for Audie Blaylock and Redline.

The Dirty River Band at Bangkok Blues

2 February 2010: The first move away from my old site for those who are tuning into this for the first time. I'll have to get used to it. This message is mainly directed toward those who followed my stories about Asia or my love for Bluegrass music. I attended a unique event this past weekend at the Bangkok Blues Restaurant and club in Falls Church. Several people approached me and asked me why I shut down my other site. It was good to get their feedback and I provided the reasons. Good to know that somebody was following my bluegrass news items. The event at Bangkok Blues: organized by Matt Slocum of the D.C. Bluegrass Union, it was a six-hour fundraiser for the first-ever D.C. Bluegrass Union concert and workshop to be presented at Langley Highschool in McLean in March of this year. The Association needs your bucks and your support. Our area's own "Dirty River Band" headlined the event and provided an excellent, well-wrought performance.