60 things I learned at Cornucopia.

2. Life as you ordered it,  has arrived.

keep the faith
david

Wow! Thirty One years ago this month I was at a Hippy Growth Center in Rural Kentucky.  It was called Cornucopia.  It changed my life forever.

For the next 60 days look for something I learned at Cornucopia each day.

1.  I learned that I did not have to drink to enjoy life and I have not had a drink of alcohol for over thirty years.

david

wow it’s been a month since we were in Nashville and I had fully intended to give you a full report. I guess it’s never too late so here I go. I’m not the greatest country music fan in the world, but I did grow up listening to your hit Parade and the grand old Opry on the radio. Getting to view the memorabilia of the people of that era was a treat for me. One of the highlights of the trip was Ryman Auditorium which housed the grand old Opry from 1928 to the 1960s. The building was originally built as a church for an evangalist who worked on the river front and usually preached out of a tent. It was a massive building for the times and when the Opry took over the building in the twenties they maintained the church pews.  When the Opry moved to its new location the building deteriorated until 1994 when it was rebuilt.  Here are some pics from the Ryman.

Here is a bronze of Chet Atkins and Minnie Pearl

these are the original windows from the church

This is Loretta Lynn who went from abject poverty to a Country Music Queen.  What most people dont realize is that the had a big effect of calling attention to the plight of rural women and was a forerunner for womens rights.

here is clothing donated by Johnny Cash and June Carter

johnny and june at the ryman

The ryman stage as it looks today

Lover behaved herself and did not end up here

Nashville has incredible new buildings and some very old ones.

Lover like this one a lot

I could not figure out whether this was useful or just a decoration

ernest tubbs tour bus affectionally dubbed the green hornet which sits in his record shop next to the theater that housed the cowboy church.

Lover and I at the Opry

we have a good time together

motel had a dog park

That is a general view of one portion of our trip. the one thing I did not talk much about is downtown Nashville which appears to be a hard drinking rowdy city. I wandered into a bar thinking it would be fun to eat a  greasy burger and listen to a want to be country singer. But when I hit the inside of the barroom all of my years of alcoholic drinking and rowdy behavior came flooding back to me and I got out of there in a hurry.  I am so glad I dont have to drink anymore because as those of you who know me, know I had no choice but to drink heavily every day for many years.  Sunday morning in Nashville has to be full of hungover people there must be 25 bars down town.  The place is louder than New Orleans.

keep the faith

david

Our adventure in Nashville is complete. The one thing quite obvious is that Nashville needs some young blood is most of the stars are in some state of decay. Below is a picture of a rising young star.

Just to be sure that we don’t jump shift the whole music scene I will include a touch of maturity in my act.

Our trip to Nashville was interesting and we had a very good time. I am not a dyed in the wool country western fan although I grew up in Western Kansas in the 40s and 50s and there certainly was a lot of country music around. I did not see my first TV program until 1956 and the radio was my source of contact with the outside world. We moved to Garden City Kansas in 1945 and for the next five or so years we listened to the radio on Saturday night. Our two favorite programs were “Your Hit Parade”and “The Grand Old Opry”. Not surprisingly, the stars we saw at the grand old Opry last Saturday night were the stars that we listened to in the late 40s and 50s. There was one young group called the Lovell Sisters who appeared to be in their early 20s. None of the other people appeared to be less than 50 years old.

I am sure some of the current country stars host the Opry at times and when they do I would guess that they sing 30 to 40-year-old songs like Roy Clark, Jean Shepherd, Connie Smith, and the supporting cast sang.

Viewing the grand old Opry was definitely on my bucket list and I’m really glad that I got to do that. I was much more excited about visiting the old Ryman Auditorium than the new fancy Opryland. They stressed the fact that the grand old Opry is the oldest continuous radio show on the air and that it has been running over 75 years. As our country has changed the grand old Opry has tried not to change and that was quite evident. I hate to use the words decaying institution but I don’t know what else fits.  I looked so forward to hearing the voices I grew up with that I forgot that they were as old as I am and Roy Clark looked almost decrepit.

We stayed by Opryland which is about 6 miles from downtown Nashville. There was one café that had young undiscovered people, but I’m not sure it was anywhere near the level of the bluebird Café which is world famous. We did go by the bluebird Café but it was closed and we decided to go back later. It was scheduled to open at 6 PM on Sunday. Having looked into the café it is very small and probably seats 60 people. We got there at 530 and there were the least 200 people in line.

We then bopped off to downtown Nashville to sample honky-tonk food and aspiring young musicians. One place had a sign on the door that flushed us out. The sign read, “if you think the music is loud, you’re getting old”. I was blown away when I stepped into the first bar to scope it out. The music was incredibly loud, it was da rk, damp,  dank, musty and and smelled of old booze. I could not understand why or how I went to those places every night when I was drinking, but they weren’t an option this time around. So we went to Ripley’s barbecue and listened to a two-piece band with a wanna be John Denver singer, who was really a pretty decent singer.

In the next few days look for blogs on; the cowboy country church, the Ryman Auditorium, eating lunch surrounded by saltwater aquariums, the Green Hornet and other bits of wisdom.

After spending a few hours downtown on two afternoons it was quite apparent that Nashville Tennessee is an incredibly loud and rowdy town. I could say that it’s a town living in the past but then that would be a judgment that wouldn’t be very useful.

We met my best friend from high school and his wife in Nashville and really enjoyed their company. As I reread this blog it may not look like I had a really good time but we really had fun. Don and I used to cruise around singing pop and country songs and chasing women which we never caught. If we could’ve afforded guitars when we were in high school we would have looked kind of like this.

keep the faith.

david

This pic was taken in 1937.

Have I changed much?

Something to ponder in the form of a Book Title.

“I am not Crazy

I am just not you”

I am not sure that I have ever had thought patterns that I would describe as conventional. From as early as the second grade, I have always looked past surface content at the variables in a statement. Blending content and emotion is very important to me and it seems less important to most of the people I deal with. I have always been a polar person. Sometimes playful to extremes and sometimes deadly serious. There are many words that might describe me but the word “intense”seems to do a pretty good job. I am very comfortable with the people that we alkies call “normies”. On the other hand, not a lot of people care for emotional intensity. So I’ve learned with whom I can have rambling deep philosophical conversations and don’t spend a lot of time with the others. I am not crazy I am just not them.

keep the faith

david

Please join me in welcoming.  Griffin “Finn” Maxwell ……………………………….. to the planet.  My newest grandson (they now range from 25 years to two days old).  Eight plus pounds and quite healthy.

I still get quite moved when a new baby (especially one I know) comes into the world.  I figure he just might be the one to put the world back on course to peace and love.  Roux is not sure he likes having a little brother cause he has never had to share attention.  But we will remedy that when I get to Washington in Sept.

see what I have to look forward too. There will soon be ice cream dripping down both our faces.

Lover gave me a trip to the Grand Ole Opry for our anniversary.  We leave for Nashville in Tennessee on Friday.

keep the faith

david

I called this picture “the master musicians warming up”.

A friend and I took another friend out for sushi for her first outing since being in a bad car accident three months ago.  She is still in a wheel chair but the navigation part was very easy and we had a great time.  Since it was a special occasion I decided to dress for the occasion.

I ran across an old blog that I liked a lot.  It was about the colors test by Pamela Oslie.  She used to have a site called life colors and the test is available there.  That was the only test I had ever taken that explained my personality that made sense.  Each color has a number of characteristics and the most number of characteristics is your primarily personality.  I had two with the same number.  One was yellow which are the children of the planet who love to play and cherish good times and the other was violet which is a spiritual color and denotes visionairies with desire to change the planet.  That was the first time I realized what a conflict that made inside of me.  At times I am a very serious spiritual person and others I am playful with no serious thoughts whatsoeva.  I have been like that my whole life and it is not likely to change I had a wonderful time yesterday with my 40 dollar tie, old t-shirt, cut offs with holes in them and Birks.  Sure got some suprised looks which tickeled me to no end.

keep the faith

david

I just picked a blog at random from my history. It was from June of 2002. I thought for kicks and grins that I would repost it. It was randomly selected rather than selected for its content. But after reading it I don’t think I’ve changed much.

As we speak I am watching a hilarious movie called

buying the cow.  I have tears rolling down my cheeks

 I am laughing so hard.  It is the male equvalent of

the yaya hehehe.  I think it would be a pretty cool world 

if people didnt have egos.  No ego no anger.  No ego no

disappointments.  No ego no conflict.  No ego no fights. 

No ego no guilt.  No ego no conflict.  No ego no shame

and on and on ad infinitum.  Maybe next lifetime I will not

have one.  

see ya

david

If you have a minute, turn your Google filter off and search for PETA and view a few pages of the images of their demonstrations.

Question of the day. Does their use of nudity and near pornography help or hinder their cause?  Is it exhibitionism for a cause or a tool for legal exhibitionism?

Keep the faith

david

I have always like the poem “I would pick more daisies”by Nadine Stair.  I was reading earlier that it may have been originally penned by a man named Don Herold. Below is the poem and a piece about who wrote it. It cites a chain of plagiarism but the site it refers you to is no longer available. You can view the original poem at www.devpsy.org/nonscience/daisies.html.

I Would Pick More Daisies

Don Herold (Adapted)

 

When the late Nadine Stair of Louisville, Kentucky, was 85 years old, she was asked what she would do if she had her life to live over again.

“I’d make more mistakes next time,” she said. “I’d relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been on this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.

“You see, I’m one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, and a raincoat. If I had to do it over again, I would travel lighter than I have.

“If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds and I would pick more daisies.” 



keep the faith

david