The murder of a non-aggressive rancher in Oregon yesterday is a profound incident in our nation today. It isn't getting the media attention it deserves because it paints our all-powerful Federal Government in a bad light.

"They" are showing us that They can do whatever They want. The Mainstream media reports what they are told to and the Fed Police can do as They like. One of those arrested was Peter Santilli. Was he an armed protester? Was he one of those occupying the Fed property? No. He was an "Alternative Media" reporter. As in, not Mainstream Media but someone who reports what is happening, not just what the Fed tells him to report. Result? He's in jail now too. Doesn't this make you go...Hmmmmm?

I agree with the underlying issue that the "Bundy" group was protesting; unconstitutional Federal Land Grabs and the peripheral issue of the unfair imprisonment of the Hammonds. I never thought the takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge buildings was a good idea. I thought it took attention away from the Hammonds. On the other hand, it DID bring the situation to National attention.

But, the occupation of the Federal facility and the rhetoric involved is not the issue we should focus on today. The problem that should be at the forefront of National attention is the outright murder of a good man.

LaVoy Finnicum was not a known criminal with a long rap sheet and multiple convictions. He was a Rancher, husband and father with no criminal record. He was not fighting with police at the time of his murder, nor did he threaten them in any way. LaVoy Finnicum was truly a "Hands up, don't shoot" situation and he was gunned down, for no reason, by Federal troops at what amounted to a traffic stop.

Victoria Sharp was in the car that Finnicum was driving and she says that none of the occupants of the car even touched their weapons during the encounter. None were carrying "long guns" and none tried to "shoot it out" with the Feds. One of the things she says really struck me. Ryan Bundy, with his hands out of the car window, made his head visible while trying to talk with the Feds. Without provocation, They shot at him but missed. Anybody heard of Ruby Ridge? Anyway, here's Ms. Sharp's story:

Here are some other websites with some additional info:

http://unclesamsmisguidedchildren.com/refuge-occupiers-ambushed-by-the-feds/

http://www.bluemountaineagle.com/Local_News/20160113/members-of-armed-group-occupying-refuge-meet-with-grant-county-sheriff-in-john-day

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/us/oregon-armed-group-arrest-bundy.html

http://tvoinews.com/featured/blood-sacrifice/

 

My understanding is that the Grant county Sheriff, Glenn Palmer, has expressed his opinion that this should be handled by local Law Enforcement and not the Federal force. With that, I would wholeheartedly agree.

What I would like to see happen now is for the Oregon Sheriff's Association all get together and take over the handling of this. Let the Oregon Sheriff's, who actually have jurisdiction, make this a local issue and get the Feds out of it.

For one thing, who investigates yesterday's murder? Do the Feds now investigate themselves and find it justified? The local Harney County Sheriff, David Ward, should be handling this whole thing.

I'm back again

Let's get this show back on the road!! I've kind of gotten used to doing my writing on Facebook as it's so easy there to make contact with so many people at once. But I'm planning to get back into keeping up this blogsite again.

As I look through the last few posts, I like what I was posting before and have every intention of doing essentially the same things.

I'll be posting opinions of current events, interesting stories I've heard or experienced, travels and travails as they happen and just basic "stuff".

Comments are welcome and I will allow negative comments, if presented with taste and respect. Remember, I'm an old fashioned "Old Guy" and not thrilled with profanity nor am I willing to give a forum to someone who is abusive or combative. I'll be doing my best to not insult the readers, although I know my opinions will likely offend some. There is a difference.

I'm also willing to entertain the idea of presenting posts from others who have things they want to say. Just e-mail me your proposed post to easygibson@gmail.com and I'll look it over.

Things you've seen or done out there in the world. Reports of Cowboy or Western shows or gatherings. Reports of pool tournaments or even good matches you have watched or in which you have participated. Anything like that expands the view from here and gets more content available to those who read this. Pictures are always good.

Lets have some fun. Let's be entertaining, informative and even a little controversial.

VERY BASIC communications advice

I spent a fair amount of time deciding what I wanted to do for personal communications. First, I considered what I want to accomplish.

I'm not greatly interested in communicating with the big world. I just want to keep in contact with my close group,family and friends and CB radio or the GMRS/FRS bubble pack radios meet my goals just fine for little expense.

But, in doing all this research, I read many posts and articles advocating an amateur (Ham) radio license and some radios to go with it so I started reading up on that. There is no longer a requirement for morse code to get your basic (technician) ham license, there is just a written test covering FCC rules and some basic radio and electronics information; most of which I have learned in 16 years of working on computers. I took the test and got my license.

Most ham radios are semi-expensive but I could afford an HT (handi-talkie) made in China that uses the VHF and UHF frequency bands. I bought the Bao-Feng UV-5R, got a better antenna for it, a battery replacement that plugs into my cigarette lighter and a magnetic antenna for the car; all for about $100 and kind of spread out these purchases over a month or so. There are several models of these. I have two UV-5Rs with better antennas, extra batteries, external mic and cigarette lighter battery. I would also recommend the programming cable as the keyboard programming is kind of a pain.
(http://baofengtech.com/compare)

On the 2 meter band (Very High Frequency or VHF), 144MHZ-150MHZ (give or take) the local Ham clubs have repeaters set up. These are non-government,privately owned and maintained. They link together giving me reliable communications from Great Falls to Billings to Vegas and Tucson, all with my little 4Watt HT! I was thrilled.

In addition, High Frequency (HF) radios and antennas are available which will provide good long range communications through what we CBers call "Skip"; bouncing the signal off the ionosphere. Those are a little more expensive but I'm saving my nickels to get one soon.

So, I now have a good SSB capable CB radio in the house and all vehicles, another UV-5R that I can set up in a car with a magnetic antenna or I can put the long "rubber ducky" antenna on it and carry it anywhere. I also splurged on Ebay and got a VHF mobile radio for my main vehicle.
When I'm at home, I just connect another magnetic antenna (I live in a metal trailer house) to a UV-5R and have a serviceable base.

Here's a rundown on basic radios available to us.

CB: Citizens Band: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_band_radio): No license required. We all remember these. CB was a big deal in the 70s but cell phones have made them less popular although most truck drivers still have and use them and there is a big hobby group who try to "skip" signals for distance (DX) contacts, mostly on the SSB channels. CB is good for between 5 and 15 miles and you can have mobiles in your car, walkie talkies in your hand and base stations in your house. They are easy to find but on the expensive side. A CB with SSB channels will run over $200 plus getting a decent antenna. The system in my house cost me about $350 and I was buying on Ebay. SSB radios aren't as easy to come by locally but they are worth it.

MURS: Multiple Use Radio Service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service): No license required. Maximum legal transmit at 1watt. Five frequencies available. Iine of sight signal. This is a pretty good way to keep in local/close contact. A legal MURS radio will give you about one-two miles of communication range with a compact HT type radio but there are only five frequencies to choose from and I'm not sure where to buy the radios.

FRS: Family radio service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Radio_Service):
No license required. These are the bubble pack radios you can buy at sporting goods stores, Walmart, Amazon and so on. The radios that have a stubby little antenna and 14 channels are FRS radios. Legal transmit is .5 Watts (500 milliwatts), giving you about the same range; maybe a little less, as the MURS but these radios are easy to find and fairly inexpensive.

GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service): Need a family license that requires no test but does require $85 for the FCC. These are also the bubble pack radios you find all over. If you find one that says it has two power ranges and/or has 28+ channels, this is a combination of FRS and GMRS in one handheld. GMRS has a lot of capabilities over FRS but GMRS requires a license. Licensed GMRS users can use up to 50 watts of transmit power, repeaters and radios with better antenna. If you check the fine print on the package of the little handi-talkie radios you just got from Amazon, it will tell you that you can't transmit on the GMRS channels without a license but I think the FCC is going to be kind of overwhelmed soon and I'd be surprised if the licensing thing lasts much longer.

The Baofeng radios are all programmable for MURS, FRS, GMRS and Ham frequencies. Certainly they provide much more transmit power than is legal for FRS and can for MURS. Also, they are not really type accepted by the FCC for those frequencies. They are only legal for licensed Amateur radio users to use on the approved Ham radio frequencies on the 2 meter and 70cm bands; VHF and UHF.

One of these little radios can be programmed to use everything listed here except CB if you want. It just isn't legal.

In addition, they can be set up as police scanners as you can program in the police frequencies. I strongly suggest, if you are going to do this,that you get the CHIRP software and a programming cable so you can tell the radio NOT to transmit on the police/fire/public service frequencies as it would be easy to accidentally do so when you are listening and I can guarantee a visit from the FCC if that kind of thing happens!

So, you can buy a nice little walkie talkie for around $40 which can be programmed to work with other radios you may have already gotten, can listen to Public Service agencies and can be used on ham radio frequencies, basically any VHF/UHF frequency, and will provide decent transmit power and communication range for almost any scenario.

After going down this road myself, I will say that I recommend getting your Amateur Radio license, joining a local Ham Radio club and learning more about this hobby. As I said at the beginning, I figured that CB and GMRS would meet my goals but I found that there is a lot more about radios and communication that I want to learn and be involved in.

When I was hiking in the mountains of Montana last summer I was often in areas where I had no cell coverage. Face it, in Montana, I'm often in my car on the freeway without cell phone coverage! But, now that I can use the VHF repeaters that are available almost anywhere, I am almost never without reliable communication. That can literally be a lifesaver if you travel much and the knowledge you gain in using these radios might serve you and your group very well in an SHTF situation.

Facebook has kind of taken over for the blog, I guess. I leave comments there quite often but forget to put anything here. I'll try to do better.

City Permits and Property Ownership

I really don't fit in in this world at all. I went to a City Council meeting yesterday. They had a public hearing about some changes to the zoning ordinances. As we all browbeat the council, I was reflecting, internally, that we were arguing the wrong issue.

It isn't the changes, it's the EXISTENCE of the zoning ordinances. What gives the city the right to make me ask "Mother, may I?" for ANYth...ing I want to do on MY property?! How have we been so complacent as to allow our "public SERVANTS" to dictate whether we can have a fence, a garden, a shed or anything else on the property WE OWN?

It isn't that Townsend, MT is any different than Helena, Bozeman, West Yellowstone or White Sulphur Springs. It's that, somehow, we have surrendered our private property rights to the government. It's wrong and now it's too late. I could go on and on but it doesn't make any difference. I think I'm the only one who thinks this is not right and I guess I should just shut up about it and learn to go along.

When you think about it, real property is actually the embodiment of socialism in our country.  All real property is owned by the state (government) and we just are allowed limitted use of it as long as we keep up the rent payments.  Try not paying your taxes (Rent to the state) for a while.  You'll get evicted.  The city tells us what we can and can't do on our own property and we go blissfully on, with the illusion of freedom.   And, there's nothing we can do about it now.  It's such an accepted situation that no one is going to get it changed, even if we wanted to try. 

When the city clerk was talking about permit charges yesterday, it was all i could do to keep my mouth shut.  What value do I get for paying a fee to the city so that I can put a shed on my property?  If I burned that money, I'd at least get a little heat out of it.  More leeching off of the populous by the government.  And so many people can't see why I'm so indignant about it.  Fees to the government...nothing new and won't be changed.

Springtime in the Rockies

It's been a great Montana spring so far. Lots of sunshine but also a reasonable amount of rain to keep things green. It looks like it's going to be a great summer.

I handled sound for the Motherin' Up Gathering in White Sulphur Springs, MT last weekend and had a lot of fun with all my friends who come so far to perform.

We will be holding our 11th annual Townsend Cowboy Entertainer Gathering at the Townsend Fire hall on June 2nd. Pancake breakfast, Day shows, Roast Beef/Pork dinner and Night show. A whole day of activities, all to benefit the Broadwater Rural Fire District.

My comments about the e-mail I just posted

I have to say that I'm in full agreement with the writer. I haven't even gone to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in a couple of years and the last time I did it was because I had a paid gig there.

I played my gig and I played at the Open Mic stage at Duncan Little Creek Gallery that Billy Rose hosts. I never even went to the Convention Center and only crossed the parking lot to the Folk Life Center to visit with friends at the bar. I just don't have that much interest in seeing all the same "Big Stars" that grace the Elko stages.

In my opinion, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering would be a much better show with more and equal if not better performers if they would go back to their roots. Put the lesser known performers up. Take my night show list from the Townsend Gathering or take the list from the Cowboy Poets of Idaho show in St. Anthony. The audience would be just as entertained...maybe more so and the Elko Gathering would go back to doing what they started.

If you want to see good authentic Cowboy Entertainers then come to St. Anthony, Idaho in April, White Sulphur Springs, MT on Mothers Day weekend or the Townsend Cowboy Entertainer Gathering June 2nd.

An e-mail that was forwarded to me about Elko

I got this in a forwarded e-mail, originally from Vickie Mullen of
Snohomish WA

Western Folklife Center Board of Directors,


As a long time member of the folklife center, a 27 year attendee of the gathering, and active person in the industry it brings me no pleasure to be the bearer of bad news. The Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko has been a great source of inspiration and joy for me. I have spent the past month really trying to understand and collect information from a variety of individuals and performers. The consensus has been that the gathering for the past few years has been not meeting the needs of its followers.

Why is attendance down? The easy and short answer is to blame the economy and that to some extent is true, but the problem I feel goes deeper. The gathering seems to have lost its soul. The very essence of why it drew people like moths to a flame. The excitement and wonder that each new year would bring. This is the first year that ticket buyers have come from shows and just said they were awful. Then they start to reflect, that the programming seems to make no sense anymore, that it is a stretch to find the positive. Free shows seemed to be more entertaining than highly priced ticketed ones. That the midnight dance was punctuated by police cars and broken bottles littering the parking lots. Hotels rates were way to high and the Stockman's at $109.00 per night was an outrage.

In mid-February I attended and set-up at the Spirit of the West gathering in Ellensburg WA. It had that magical quality of authentic performers, activities, and audience. The town seemed to be welcoming and glad we all came. The trade show I exhibited in was very profitable. Some of the people in attendance talked about not going to Elko any longer because the folklife center just doesn't seem to "get it" anymore. So my quest has been since then to try to get to the bottom of "get it".

Elko's gathering is important enough for me to share my interpretation of findings. The magic comes from the mix of people. The cowboy world seems to be divided as "us" and "them". Too many of "them" are running the gathering, on the board of the gathering, and do not seem to know the difference. For those outside the cowboy and buckaroo world but on the fringe they come to town to see real ranch folks to be amongst them to try to understand the culture. They are really interested and respectful of ranching ways. For example one topic we all talked about was how excited and thrilled we all are to see horse slaughter brought back to the US. That it is currently something that we all support. Now if you are reading this and gasped or disagreed you don't get "it".

To many of us the gathering seems to be run by folklorist who wish to change the ranching culture to what they believe. Not embracing the reality of everyday life. Advertising, programming, the entire event seems to slant to a very liberal and cerebral look at Cowboys. That is not an authentic picture of the industry or its people. When you lose the authentic nature of a gathering you lose the soul and a downward spiral follows. Credibility is lost and a positive outcome as well.


Please consider going back to the basics. Put on a gathering of those who work and live in the west. Like the Wild West Shows of the past if it portrays as real, others will come to see it, if not it is just an audience looking at an audience. Bring back the hats and boots.
Sincerely

Vickie Mullen
Hitching Post Supply
www.hitchingpostsupply.com

Here's a link to info about all the reliv products
http://www.relivingpartners.com/products.php

24k energy drink

I've been using Reliv products for a couple of years now and have posted info about it before here and on Facebook. The products are great and have helped me to feel better, lose inches from my waist and just feel healthier.

The company came out with a new product last year and I'm becoming a "missionary" for it too. It's called 24K and it's an energy drink that has good healthy ingredients with no sugar or caffeine.

You don't need me to order it for you. You can get it at www.my24kvip.com and enter the code 24kezgibson

I'm weird but comfortable with it

As I’ve whined about on here before, I am primarily nocturnal. Most people are not. The “normal” person is a diurnal (Daytime) creature. I don’t feel well if I have to get out of bed before the crack of noon. It’s not that it hurts me, but I just don’t feel well in the early morning. And, by early, I mean anything before 10AM! Everyone (except others like me) laughs at me when I gripe about getting up “early” at 7 or 8 in the morning. Most of you just don’t understand.

Also, I watch all those with “good jobs”, heading in to work at 8, herding themselves home at 5, working in the same cubicle day after day, doing the same things in the same way with only eventual retirement as an incentive. They feel so lucky because they have good, steady jobs.

The regular life model just doesn’t appeal to me. I’m glad that I have reduced my commitments to the point where I can live on very little so I can try to make it with music, fix a few computers, play some pool and just be semi-retired while I can still enjoy it. If I were doing the day-to-day cubicle thing I’d wind up running screaming down the street. As I look at how others live, I begin to understand alcoholism and other drug addictions!

Winter is here

Last summer (can it only be a couple of months ago?!) I overheard a lady in West Yellowstone say: I hope it doesn't snow until December this year. I really didn't like last winter." I was astonished. I couldn't help but interject: "Are you kidding?" She looked at me and replied: "No. It was really cold and snowy last winter." I said: "You do know that this is West Yellowstone, Montana, right? You'll have snow on the ground here from Halloween until Fathers Day." She said: "Oh no, no one wants that." I just shook my head and said: "Sorry ma'am but you moved to the wrong place. You should consider Tombstone or Yuma."

What do these people think? That the West Yellowstone they see in the summer is what it's like here year around?

Anyway, the snow didn't stay on the ground here in Townsend yet but it looks like West has it's foundation already. Wish I was there instead of here even with the cold and snow.

Criminals at Black Sands Spring!

I am a third generation West Yellowstone resident. My Grandfather worked on the railroad into West and my Grandmother worked in the dining hall. My Grandfather and his brothers logged in this area for many years and my family worked at the sawmill. I grew up here and was raised with a reverence for this area in particular and our surroundings and environment in general.
I don’t get to live here year around anymore but I have been blessed with the opportunity to live and work in West Yellowstone during the summertime so that I can still enjoy my real home as much as possible. When I am here I spend as much time as I can in the outdoors, fishing, hiking and just enjoying our “Yellowstoneland”, soaking it in so that I can carry some of it back north during the winter.
As I have driven, hiked and biked around this summer, I have been disgusted by the number of beer cans, candy wrappers, cigarette butts and general trash I have seen along our back roads and trails. I have taken to carrying a sack just for such things wherever I go but the contempt people seem to have for our area has saddened me. Then, on the morning of Sunday, Aug 7th, 2011, I encountered a scene that was utterly ridiculous.
As I drove into the Black Sand Spring parking area, I noticed smoke rising from the firepit and I saw beer cans, beer bottles, vodka bottles, cigarettes…the whole parking area strewn with trash and litter! Obviously, a big party had been held there on Saturday night and everyone just walked away, leaving the mess for the rest of us to enjoy. I cleaned up as much as I could and I put the smoldering fire out but the whole thing sickened me. I can’t express the disgust and loathing I feel for all of you who were at that party and left that mess behind.
What’s really bad is that, on reflection, I realize that it was most likely West Yellowstone residents who did it. I seriously doubt that our tourists know enough about the area to hold their party at Black Sands so these were probably at least summer residents. I certainly hope that none of our few permanent residents would leave such a disaster behind but; well, who knows anymore.
The complete contempt, disrespect and carelessness shown by this group is hard for me to even imagine. Leaving a fire burning in the forrest? Scattering your garbage and leaving it behind? Come on!! I don’t have to explain the concept of “pack it in, pack it out” any more than I have to explain why litter is a bad thing. Ask any little tourist kid about it if you don’t understand and they can help you.
Presumably, you moved here because this is such a beautiful area and such a nice place to live and then you treat it like this? I can’t speak for everyone but in my opinion, if you have no reverence or respect for our land, such utter disregard for other people, creatures and our environment…go back to where you came from! Scatter your beer cans in your own living room or on the streets of your home town. Leave your fires in your city parks.
I’ll bet many of you were sitting around, cursing Montana for their handling of the Buffalo situation while you decried Man-made Global warming and other environmental issues.
I am happily cooperating with Law Enforcement to try and identify those involved. The trouble is that if they are found and cited, they will only be fined or do some little jail time. I only wish banishment were still an option!

On summer hours

I haven't been posting this summer because I'm living in my camper in the West Yellowstone area and it's not easy to get internet access very often for very long.

I've been playing daily at the City Creamery on Canyon Street in West. It's a sattelite shop of the Virginia City Creamery. I've basically done as well here in tips and CD sales as I would have at the Virginia City Cafe and I'm not using nearly the gas! In my pickup/camper at 8MPG, this makes a big difference.

Still doing Parade Rest Ranch on Mondays and Fridays as I have for several years. So far, it's been a pretty decent summer.

Our Medical Attitudes

I had the "opportunity" yesterday to deal with some Doctors and some of the attitudes and problems in our Medical system became very clear.

First, Doctors continually advocate our constant contact with medical professionals. Regular checkups, respond to Medical facilities when there is ANY possible sign of problems. You should have a regular provider who has seen you enough to know you. Whether or not you are sick, you should be constantly seeking medical advice. No wonder everyone "needs" health insurance or coverage of some kind and also no wonder the prices are so ridiculously high.

I had chest pains yesterday afternoon and, since I was in Helena and at the ER for another matter anyway, I checked in to the ER. I will first have to be very positive about the conduct of hospital personnel. The didn't ask about insurance (don't have any) or ability to pay. They took me into an ER room and got me ready for whatever might happen. Within ten minutes, I was IV'd and hooked up to all the machines with my blood work being done and my ECG completed and printed. Very quick and efficient.

Later, however, in comes a nurse with some medications for me. She told me that they hadn't found anything wrong yet but they wanted to give me some meds to rule out other problems. What I heard from this was: "We don't know that there is anything wrong with you but here are some drugs anyway." I wouldn't take the meds.

Eventually they admitted that they couldn't find a problem. and they sent me home. I still had the tightness in my chest but it apparently wasn't dangerous. I can accept that. Could be muscle tension or many other things. They had shown that the heart was fine and not in danger.

Then, my friend had some necessary prescriptions to fill but she doesn't have insurance either. So, the pharmacy discounted 20% of the prescription price. Any idiot can see that, if they can discount 20% for the uninsured then the sticker price MUST be over 20% higher than necessary, just to get more out of insurance companies.

So, here are the current conclusions. First, medical care is available to everyone without regard to insurance or ability to pay. So much for the need for Obamacare. But, on the negative side, we Americans are far too dependent on out "medical professionals". Why do we need to be going to Dr.s when we are not sick? Why this constant care situation? And, the Doctors are prescribing medications when they are not really needed just to make us believe we are in need of constant services. A vicious circle.

If we were going to Doctors only when needed then insurance would be more affordable, thus more of us would have it and Doctors would not be worrying as much about non-payment. If drug prices were not so overinflated then, again, insurance prices would be less and it would be more affordable to the "working class" people.

Beartooth NBC TV spot for the Townsend Gathering

For the 10th annual Townsend Cowboy Entertainer Gathering we will be doing things a little differently this year. We will not be doing the three day, Day-Show/Night-Show format. Instead, we will be having the Pit Roasted Pig dinner, followed by a Night Show which features the performers we've had the most requests for over the last ten years. Remember, proceeds from all the Gathering activities go to the Broadwater Rural Fire District!

Saturday, June 11th, there will be a Pit Roast Pig dinner held in the School Cafeteria beginning at 5PM. This will be hosted by the Rural Fire personnel and we are asking everyone to pre-purchase tickets to the dinner/show so we know how many we will be feeding.

A local artist, Mariah Saltzman, will open our show at 6:30PM. The main opening ceremonies will be at 7:00PM with the posting of the colors and an opening prayer. Then John Westbrook and Larry Gibson will get together again for the first time this year. John will be coming all the way from Virginia!

Wayne Nelson will be here from American Falls Idaho.

Our final act will be the High Strung Band from Cove, Oregon. Of all the performers we've had here in the past ten years, this family has gotten the most response and we are happy to see them back in Townsend again.

Dinner/show tickets are pre-sale @ $18 per person. If you want to come to just the show; show tickets are $8 for 13YOA and older. Please call either Larry Gibson @ 406-266-3946 or Joann Shindoll @ 406-266-5771

Follow up to Charlie Ray Music

Although I have talked with numerous other performers and promoters, i have found no one who has had any dealings with Charlie Ray. My personal decision has been to not sign with him for anything. If anyone has had positive dealings with him or has a different take on this whole thing there are lots of us out here who would like to hear from you.

New Reliv Comment

Ok. I've been semi-interested in these Reliv Products for quite some time and have posted info about them before. I've finally come completely around to being a "missionary" about them.

I'm a diabetic. Not seriously so but I have pretty high blood sugars which the Doctors want to control with drugs. For quite some time I hadn't been going to the VA Doctors for personal reasons. But I started back again about two months ago and went back on the Metformin drug which is supposed to lower my blood sugar.

When I first started taking the Metformin, I felt terrible. My head felt huge and heavy and all I wanted to do was lie in bed. It took two or three days of regular drug use for these feelings to subside but I never really felt all that great. also, my blood sugar really wasn't going down much.

I got a little more serious about Reliv's product for diabetics; "Glucaffect" which I had been taking a little of for a long time. I read more about it and found that Reliv reccomends three to four scoops of Glucaffect per day for someone trying to get their sugars under control. I had only been taking one a day. So, I started doing what they said and watching my blood sugars carefully. I found that my blood sugars normally went down noticeably after I drank a Glucaffect shake. during this time, the Doctor had prescribed doubling my Metformin dose to try and get my sugars down. I went through two more days of reaction to that and kind of decided that my body didn't like Metformin. As a personal experiment, I went off the Metformin entirely, going through two days of withdrawl as a result.

For a week, I did nothing but take three to four Glucaffect/Now shakes a day but no drugs. When I checked my blood sugar after that week, it was the same as when I was taking the drugs, but without the drug reactions. I felt very well.

I've now been off the Metformin for over two weeks, using just the Reliv products. My blood sugar levels are lower. When my sugars are at their highest, the are lower than the highest while on drugs and the lower readings are lower than when I used the drugs.

Bottom line? The drugs weren't working and the Reliv products seem to be.

So, I have been doing some research. My conclusions? The current medical community efforts are to drug away the symptoms of most diseases. Drugs to lower the blood sugars, to relieve (mask or hide) pain, lower cholestorol and lower bblood pressure. Drugs...and more drugs into our bodies.

Our bodies are capable or fixing themselves with the right nutrition. If we give our bodies what they need, our bodies will often heal themselves. Instead of hiding the symptoms, the body can often naturally fix the underlying problem. My blood sugars are going down, not because Glucaffect makes them do so but because my body is beginning to function more correctly. This process takes time. It isn't an instant fix but a long road. It has taken me over 50 years to get to the condition I'm in now. It will take a while for me to get back.

Drugs appear to be an instant fix because they force our bodies to respond unnaturally but they often are only hiding the true issues.

Reliv products are not medicine. they are not drugs nor does the FDA agree that they help us in any way. Reliv products are simply food . Check it out. www.relivingpartners.com or www.reliv.com . Read and learn as have I.

Back Again

I like to stay up late at night (way into the early morning hours) and sleep late in the daytime. I don’t like to deal with morning. This is very anti-establishment! Remember the movie “True Grit”? Matty finds Rooster still in bed and says; “I’ve never seen anyone in bed at 10:00 who wasn’t sick.”? Well, that’s the prevalent attitude of society.

I remember how disgusted my Grandfather was with my father’s sleep habits as they were much like mine. Granddad was pretty disdainful of anyone who slept ‘til noon.

Joann doesn’t understand. She often is sarcastic about my sleeping habits. She doesn’t like my staying out in the bars until closing time and sleeping until noon or even later. To her, these are signs of poor character or even downright disreputableness

Well, I just happen to run on a different schedule than the rest of you. I not only like the pool-playing life of late nights in the bars but I just like being out at night. I love the smell of a cool late night. The stars and the moon are my favorite lighting. It’s not uncommon for me to sit out in my yard at 3AM, just enjoying the night.

But, getting up in the morning is almost painful, even if I go to bed early for a change. My eyes hurt and my mind is as sluggish as my body until I’ve been up for a while. Even while running my computer repair business, I like to get started late in the morning. Often, computers that I bring in to the shop don’t see me until after midnight.

Also, just recently, Joann was disdainful of my lifestyle, saying: “Other people have lives. They don’t sit around playing on the computer or watching movies all the time.” I have an answer for this.

Other people don’t have “lives”. They have jobs. Think about it. Most of us are tied to our possessions; indentured to some employer for most of our waking hours (usually daytime again) with no freedom in sight. Working to try and pay off all the “things” we have and hoping that we can save enough to retire one day when we are too old to really enjoy it.

I’ve decided not to do that. Look at my present situation. I am sitting quietly in my house (mine, by the way!), watching a video while I write down my thoughts. Later, I will take a nice long walk down by the lake and then go play some pool for a while. It’s my choice, not the choice of some employer. The only real problem I have right now is that I have wasted so much money gambling that I may have to take a regular job for a while to replenish it.

Another Montana day

Not much for me in the music world this time of year. I was hoping to get a gig in Elko during the Big Gathering but that doesn't look like it will fly. Oh well. There are a couple of local pool tournaments I'll play in to make a few bucks and I'm back to fixing computers once in a while.

I'm using the time to learn some "new" songs to put in my list. There are several that I have been meaning to get together for years but I never just sat down and worked on them.

That brings up another of my profound insights. I have often wondered why it bothered me to see "performers" doing a karoke kind of show. I know of one locally who not only has the music playing in the background but he has a screen with the lyrics scrolling by! It offends me because of how hard I have to work to get a good rendition of a song arranged. I spend hours learning the lyrics and chords, getting a good strumming pattern going, even a little bit of lead, now that Westbrook has abandoned me.

All the Karoke guy has to do is learn to read!

Anyway, here's a couple that I'm working on:

Dirty Old Man by George Hamilton IV
Lucky One by: Alisson Krause

What I really need to do is get some writing done. A couple of new originals wouldn't hurt anything.

It's good to be home but it sure is cold. We haven't gotten into the really terrible cold temps this winter but we are staying around zero a lot. I've never minded Montana winters and this one is ok. It just seems that my furnace runs a lot and that will mean a pretty interesting power bill later this month! We Montana folks would really like to be included in this Global Warming thing!

Population growth

I had some deep thoughts as I was driving for many hours. Partly about the differences between Arizona and Montana. Both were settled initially because of mining and then cattle/agriculture. Both have lots of wide open space, a history that is similar and so on.

I think that Montana has more natural resource to offer, with actual rivers with flowing water, more grass and fewer thorny plants and our most unpleasant insect is the Mosquito. But Arizonas population has boomed, with two very large cities (Phoenix and Tucson) and several which rival our "big towns" of Great Falls and Billings.

Why all the industry and growth in Arizona compared to Montana? The most obvious answer is weather. People seem to be more comfortable in the extreme heat of Arizonas summer as opposed to the extreme cold of a Montana winter. Actually, the southern Arizona winter weather is pretty much what I expect during a Montana summer which brings up the old joke: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Montana."

Since I am not what you'd call a big fan of cities, I'm all for some more cold and snowy Montana winters. Yay for sub-zero temperatures!!

Home from Arizona

Well, I finally made it home from my journey around Arizona. It was a good trip. I had a great time, learned a lot and maybe even lined up more for next year which was the whole idea in the first place.

I left Townsend on the 3rd of December, right after getting back from the hunting camp and I headed to Wayne Nelson's house for the night. As usual, Wayne and I talked until way late before we finally gave it up and went to sleep for a while.

The next evening, I played at the Cowboy Corral in Elsinore, Utah, along with several other great poets and pickers, including Sam DeLeeuw, C.R Wood and David Anderson. I didn't make anything there but we had a great time together. I played pool for a while at the Detour bar in Richfield, Utah but couldn't get any cash games going so I gave up and went to my room.

The Days Inn Motel in Richfield was the most expensive room I payed for on the whole trip at $49.60. I managed to stay under $40 everywhere else. In figuring my total costs for the trip, if I had used my pickup camper, thus not staying in motels or eating out, the added gasoline costs would have doubled my total trip cost. If I were staying down there longer or going farther, maybe it would be worth it but the better gas mileage from taking the camper off made it actually cheaper to stay in motels and eat in cafes.

Anyway, I had moved on from Richfield on sunday morning and went to Flagstaff, Arizona. On the way, south of Page, AZ, there is a senic lokout where some Navajos have a jewelry and crafts stand. They were all huddled in a shelter made of umbrellas, wearing coats with hoods, wearing their gloves...all of that kind of thing. I was in jeans and a T-shirt. I teased them a lot about being cold at somthing like 60 degrees.

I like Northern Arizona a lot. It's empty, pretty and wild. Lots of open empty dessert populated by primarily low income people. I fit right in.

In Flagstaff, I went to Uptown Billiards and rented a table. I was just practicing by myself and noticed another guy doing the same. I asked him if he wanted to play some for a little bit of cash. He asked me how much and I said: "Cheap. I don't have a lot. How about a race to 5 for $20?" He kind of laughed at me and said: "I might for $200 or $100 but not that cheap." I told him I'd play a race to 5 for $100 but he just kind of waved me away so I went back to practicing alone. About 20 minutes later, after watching me practice, he came around and said that he'd play for some if I wanted. That kind of scared me a little. He's obviously wathced me practice and then offered to play so I only played a race for $50. The guy was terrible. After the first two games, I started laying back, giving him some room to play cause I wanted to keep hiim at the table. It didn't work. I won 5-3 and he quit and left.

I made it to Mesa the next day and settled in at Bev Hunsakers. She was nice enough to offer me the use of her trailer, parked in the back yard so I could afford to hang out for a while.

I won 3rd in a 9ball tournament at Main Street Billiards in Mesa collecting a few bucks and meeting some of the local players. I like Main Street Billiards. It's a nice, open, clean, upscale pool room with (I think) 42 tables. Mostly 8' or 9' rentals and a row of bar boxes. The tables are all well maintained and the whole facility is clean and pleasant. There are a few people who play for cash but I didn't see any big games and never managed to get any cash games there but it sure is a nice place for practice. Check their website for tournaments and specials.

A guy I met there recommended Kolby's Corner Pocket on University Ave in Tempe. I checked it out and it is a really good room also but for different reasons. The tables aren't as nicely maintained and the room isn't as clean but the prices are good for both table time and food and there are a lot of cash games there. I was watching some guys playing One Pocket for $200 a game and I got a few low dollar games there. Won sopme, lost some, came out even at the end of the stay. Nothing memorable.

Wednesday, I played my gig at the Palmas Del Sol East in Apache Junction. The activities director is new and was not the one who had heard and hired me so I could tell she was a little apprehensive about what my show might be like. Everyone had a great time, though. I sold some CDs and she invited me back next year so I must have done something right.

I went out to the Queen Valley area and got some pictures of the dessert and the Superstition Mountains. It would be nicer country if it weren't so close to the Phoenix area. Big cities do not endear me to an area.

Thursday, I played at ElDorado of Sun City in Sun City, AZ. It was another great gig and everyone was happy. I met a couple of ladies there who are from here in Townsend! What a small world! I know their family well.

I headed south Friday, down from US 60 to Florence and then to Tucson. It was a great drive with lots of dessert vistas to enjoy until I got into Tucson. Some of the worst traffic I dealt with on the whole trip was in the Tucson area and I was really glad to get to I10 and head East on the freeway. I went to Sierra Vista and stayed the night then went to Tombstone for the day. Tombstone is like a SW Virginia City except that it's a little more commercial. I talked with the managers of a couple of bars/restaurants there and might be setting up next winters gigs.

I went straight from Tombstone to Flagstaff and stayed there for Saturday night. I couldn't get any cash games so I just gave up and went to bed.

Sunday, I headed north again. Just south of Page, I took 89A to Kanab instead of staying on 89 to Page and Kanab. What a great side trip! Vermillion cliffs, Glen Canyon, the Kaibab plateau! It was really pretty and well worth the little bit of extra time. If you're going that way anyway, take that cutoff and bring your camera.

I checked into the Days Inn in Richfield, Utah again. I told the lady there that even if she did have the lowest rates in Richfield, they were still more than I had paid anywhere else. I was thinking about going out and shopping around a little more but it was too much trouble so I accepted the rates and went to the room. It hadn't been cleaned! I went to the top of the stairs and asked the lady if I was the only one staying in that room. She said: "Yes, Why?" and I said: "Because somebody's been sleeping in MY bed." This was at 6:00PM. Anyway, they put me into another room so they could clean the first one.

Monday was a 12 hour run from Richfield to Helena and then home, getting home about 10:30PM and thus winding up my journey.

I posted pictures on my facebook page but some of them are here also.

Home again for a day

It's been a fun week in Hunting Camp. I was only cooking for four this week so it was a lot easier than the first week. Also, shooting time is later so I get to sleep in until 0500hrs each day now! Of course, Daylight saving time will screw that up this weekend.

Tuesday morning, I had gotten everyone fed and out of my tent and had gone back to sleep for a while. They had all left. I awoke to grunts, squeels, thumps and clatters outside my tent. When I went outside, I found that a small herd of elk had come within 20' of my tent before they realized their mistake, then with a hearty "Oh Shit!!" (in elk, of course, but I understood the sentiment) they took off for the timber. In this picture, the elk tracks are circled and you can see my tent in the background.

I'm home for a day. Getting laundry done and cleaning up a little before I head back into the mountains. I'll probably be gone two weeks this time unless this new batch of hunters fills out their tags quickly.

First week in Hunting Camp

I posted some pics of this last weeks hunting camp on my facebook account: www.facebook.com/easygibson. It was a lot of fun and I learned a bunch of stuff. All of you who know me and my habits would have been astounded at my delight in being able to change my routine a little and sleep in until 4:30AM!

I get up at 4:30 and start the coffee brewing. NOT in a drip coffee maker, you modern types, but by starting the burners under the coffee pots! Then, I go out and fire up the generator so I have a little better light to work by.

Breakfast has to be on the table at 5:30 and even the big group I had last week would be done eating within 15 minutes or so. Then they'd all load up and head out to go hunting while I got the breakfast dishes and mess cleaned up. I'd try to get a couple hours nap before I had to prepare lunch which had to be ready at Noon. Then, after cleaning up the lunch mess, I could really relax for a while ( as long as I had planned and prepared well for dinner) because dinner didn't have to be on the table until 8:30PM. I'd get all the final cleanup and preparations for the next days breakfast done and be in bed by about 11PM, ready to start all over again the next morning.

This first week, I was cooking for 12 people...13 counting myself, although I really didn't eat much. Too busy fixing it to eat it. So, planning was everything. We have a freezer in camp and several coolers. Each morning I would get the next days meals out of the freezer and thawing. I would prepare as much as I could at least several hours if not a day ahead. Things like boiling and slicing potatos, making salad, pre-cooking bacon; that sort of thing.

We also have fresh baked bread instead of store bought but I cheat a little by using the frozen bread dough. I kept fresh baked cookies handy all the time, keep the coffee pots full and so on.

Most of the clients were guys from Pennsylania. I had a lot of fun with them and we had some great conversations. I played a little music in the evenings and even sold a few CDs.

It's 10 miles of tough road to a cell phone signal and 35 miles to White Sulphur Springs, MT. No running water or bathroom facilities, no TV, no internet. Many of you are not any more shocked at these deficiencies than I but there are also lots of my firends list who will have a hard time grasping these concepts.

2010 current summer report

Well, things have been going fairly well this summer. I've kept the road warm between Parade Rest Ranch and Virginia City so far, playing Mondays and Fridays at the Parade Rest cookouts and every other possible day at the Virginia City Cafe. I've had lots of fun and met some great people.

I had a special treat this last Saturday (the 24th) as John Westbrook flew out from Virginia to join me at the West Yellowstone Historical Center annual dinner. We had a good crowd early on and then a small group stayed as long as we wanted to play. The event people finally had to throw us all out!!

The first hour we played was during the coctail hour and we did this accoustically in the Firehole Room at the Old UP Dining Hall. There were so many people, all talking and visiting, that after a few minutes Westbrook and I had a hard time even hearing each other, let alone much of the audience being able to hear us. Anyway, John started playing "The Wonderfull Wizard of Oz" and I was the only one who noticed!

After dinner, we plugged into our sound system and stared doing the real show and it was a blast. This is always a good show for me as I get to visit with so many of my ole friends who I rarely see any other time. Speaking of "old", I mentioned to one of my HS classmates that everybody I know in West Yellowstone any more is...old. Doug looked at me and said: "Check your birthdate lately?" Good point.

Westbrook caught a 5AM flight back to Virginia this morning and I headed on home for some catch-up and resupply before I head back to Parade Rest tomorrow.

4th Annual Historic Ritzville Days Western Art Show


By Smoke Wade


Ritzville, WA: Sadly, the train doesn’t stop in Ritzville these days. It has been a number of years since the passenger trains gave up on Ritzville. Established in the 1880’s, Ritzville, Washington was once the largest wheat shipping point in the world. While the wheat industry is still booming, much of the grain is transported by trucks these days. Then the Interstate by-passed the quaint farming town of gracious homes and graceful brick buildings that bear silent witness to the prosperity of times gone by. Slowly, the historic downtown, rich in pioneer heritage, slipped into a slumber brought about by a lack of business and tourism.

But, even though the trains no longer stop in Ritzville, that doesn’t mean She’s not a train town. Over sixty trains a day blow through the heart of town with whistles blowing, and the ground shaking, as long freight trains hurry past to unknown destinations. And it is these very trains and their endless clickety-clack that connects the soul of Ritzville to it’s prosperous past.

It was just a scant one hundred feet from the historic Ritzville train depot that the outdoor main stage was set for the 4th Annual Historic Ritzville Days Western Art Show held May 28 – 30, 2010. As the trains rumbled by, the talented cast of western entertainers that performed over the weekend quickly learned to adapt to the deafening noise. The 2010 Historic Ritzville Days Western Art Show was sponsored by the Ritzville Downtown Development Association as a means to help revitalize the historic downtown business district. The three-day event encompassed downtown Ritzville as it featured inside and outside venues including a street fair of over 60 renown artisans - western artists, sculptors and, authors, along with food booths, youth activities and live entertainment.


The performing artists for the 2010 Art show included Cowboy Celtic, Alberta, Canada; Dave Stamey and Sourdough Slim, California; The Rockin HW and Nevada Slim & Cimarron Sue, Washington; Barbara Nelson, Oregon; and The Copper Mountain Band, Montana. The performing cowboy poets included Jessica Hedges, Del Gustafson, Orvil Sears, Robin Dale and Dick Warwick, all from Washington; Van & Kathy Criddle and Duane Nelson of Oregon; and JB Barber, Idaho. Smoke Wade, Nevada, emceed the street festival event.

The festivities got under way on Friday night with an Artists’ Reception at the C. J. Newland American Legion Memorial Hall with musical entertainment provided by Barbara Nelson. Street fair art exhibits, art auctions and cowboy entertainment ran throughout the day and evening on Saturday and Sunday. Up on Main Street, one could here the occasional sounds of gunfire as members of the Ritzville Community Theater troupe staged old west gun battles on a regular schedule. The out-of-town visitors wandered through the art booths sipping from a cold bottle of Sarsaparilla or blowing the steam from a cup of cowboy coffee that was offered for sale from an authentic chuck wagon.

And the music and poetry seemed to waft through the streets in a non-stop fashion. Sourdough Slim was at his best delighting audiences throughout the weekend. Nevada Slim and Cimarron Sue wandered the streets on occasions as western singing minstrels. Cowboy Celtic brought their own unique music to the festival – reminding us about the roots of cowboy music. Cowboy poet, Mike Whitaker and musician, Alan Halvorson of the Rockin HW pulled double duty as sound crew and performers. The Copper Mountain Band played country music for a wonderful street dance, and Dave Stamey lived up to his Western Music Association 2009 Entertainer of the Year Award by dazzling the audiences with his music, singing and naturally engaging personality.

Somewhere in the midst of it all some folks spent time at the classic car show up in the park, dining at the local restaurants or attending a special Memorial Day service at the Ritzville Memorial Cemetery. Others scooped up collectable art from the many artists, or toured the museum at the historic Ritzville train depot.

It was perhaps ironic that even though the entire festival was free of admission, the chilly and windy weather kept crowds lighter than the organizers and entertainers would have expected. Still, the event coordinators headed up by the energetic group of Stephen McFadden, Jim Lisk, Lavonne Saunders, Jennifer Larsen and many others, stormed through their duties in a tireless fashion. And the entertainers entertained – and the trains rolled by.

When western art and music festivals come to an end, the organizers, audience and entertainers alike all experience a deal of bittersweet remorse. They are often relieved the event is over and know they can soon journey home, yet they are saddened to part company with new and old friends alike. In Ritzville, they left reluctantly. They left wanting more – more of Dave Stamey’s ballads, more of Van Criddle’s poetry and more of the quick draw artist competitions. They left with memories of a wonderful weekend, of cold sarsaparilla and cowboy coffee – memories of the 4th annual Historic Ritzville Days Western Art Show and Music Festival. But mostly, they will remember the trains – those wonderful trains that no longer stop in Ritzville.

Smoke Wade

Spring is finally here!!

Officially, today is the first day of summer. For those of us in Montana it's finally springtime. Temps into the 60s, only a few clouds and a very nice day.

I'm at Parade Rest Ranch, near West Yellowstone, Montana for only the second cookout we've had this year. The weather just hasn't been condusive to cookouts. I've been in Virginia City a few times this last couple of weeks and only had semi-good luck there as it has been cool and wet. My show in VC is also outside so weather makes or breaks me there, too.

When I came over here from Virginia City yesterday, I stopped in Ennis and made a few bucks playing pool there. Why is it that the only place in Montana where I can get even very low money games is in Ennis?

I'm also doing some updates to my pages at www.cowboyentertainer.com/larry.html , putting a couple of demo songs up so maybe I can get a few more gigs through the website. I hate having to "snail-mail" promo packs to places when they can just go on the internet and get all the info that's in the mail packs.

Anyway, let's hear from some of you other summer travelers about your gigs and experiences.

Townsend Gathering 2010

Well, we had a great time here again this year. Not lots of performers or audience but lots of enthusiasm!

Fridays Day-shows were practically empty. Basically, we played for each other during the day on Friday. The good news is that the Day-show performances give us a chance to work the bugs out of the system and get things working right.

The Friday Night-show audience was one of the smallest we've had since we started this, nine years ago. About 50-75 people in the audience. But they all seemed to have a great time and we still saw about 20% CD sales. Since the audience was small, that translates into not very many CDs sold but it still is a good ratio.

Saturday, everything went much better. We had audience in the Day-show all day and about 100 more in the Night show audience. Again, decent CD sales from them and the other things, like the dinner and the silent auction went well.

I wish to thank all the performers who showed up. The talent that we see at these little local shows is incredible. I'm not going to try and name everyone as I'd wind up forgetting somebody but you can't go to Elko, Santa Clarita or anywhere else and see better shows than were presented here in little Townsend, Montana last weekend.

The jam sessions were a blast! We got together and shared music and stories into the late hours and when everything was over and we all said our goodbys I knew that we had at least had a lot of fun. Having fun with our friends is why we all do this. It sure isn't for the money!

I had set up a video camera attached to a DVD recorder. I even had the sound being recorded directly from the sound board so the recordings seem to be pretty good. Now, I need to get the time to set down and edit things a little and I'll have DVDs for the performers.

One lesson learned (very forcefully) is that I can't be an organizer of the show and the sound guy at the same time! The equipment seemed to work well but I was often not manning it properly. IF (note the "if") we do this again, I'll either have to run sound or handle the show details. Not both.

Memorial Day weekend

Wanye Nelson, his son Erik and I played at the Bale of Hay Saloon in Virginia City Saturday.

We had a great crowd right from the start and held most of them there for the night. Erik's rocker style lead guitar playing, my standard "cover tunes" and Wayne's folk style all kind of blended together and it was a lot of fun.

Wayne and Erik had composed an instrumental where Wayne played a rythm pattern on the keyboard and Eril "rocked it up" with lead guitar. It was really good and some of the audience came around the corner to watch them. I have to say that I will always treasure the memory of Wayne Nelson dancing while he played the keyboard!

One big disappointment in Virginia City this year, though. Cell phones work there now! How depressing to see people texting and hear the jangle of cell phones, the raised voices of the users, all in the one place we were free of that in the past. Progress?

When I got to VC Saturday afternoon, there was still some wet snow here and there from the two or three inches they had gotten Friday night. The skies were mostly clear by the time we were done for the night but it was still kind of cold. Cold enought that, as I was laying in my bed in my camper, I thought about getting up and firing up the furnace. But, it was warm in my sleeping bag and cold everywhere else so I just stayed where I was.

I went home through Sheridan, Twin Bridges and Whitehall so that I could scatter a few more posters about our Cowboy Entertainer Gathering. It was a very pretty trip. Sheridan, however. was closed! I found a grocery store open and left a poster there but everything else seemed to be on Holiday.

I stopped at the Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks where they were having a local musicians "jam session". It was nice that a stage and sound system had been set up and they were running it very well, getting different performers and groups on and off but giving decent time to each. I knew most of the performers there and made it a point to meet those I did not.

I did a few songs and had a good time with everyone, plugging Our Show, of course.

For me, the highlight was that Claudia Williams (Montana Rose) was there and did a few songs.

Then on to home...finally.

Now, we spend the rest of the week getting ready for the Townsend Gathering. Next week is Primary Election; don't forget! Afterwards, I believe I will start my summer with a trip back to Virginia City.

Charlie Ray Music

Does anyone know this man?


Quite a while ago, I remember sending a CD to Graceland Entertainment in Nashville. Last January, I got a postcard from Graceland Entertainment with the story that they had been playing my CD in their office when Charlie Ray (pictured) came by, heard one of my songs and made favorable comments.

The postcard went on to say that he is a very succesfull "song plugger" and that I should contact him, giving his phone number and website: http://www.charlieraymusic.com/.

I have spoken with him and he seems reasonable. He claims to have placed several songs with major artists over the last few years. He provides a pretty decent resume as being able to find the right doors to knock on and knowing who to talk to behind those doors.

Charley wants to plug several of my songs this summer for a fee.

I've spoken with a few people with good connections in the music world and no one seems to know this guy. On one hand, there is no real info about him while on the other hand; that also means there is no BAD info about him. I would think that if he was scamming people, there'd be a lot of info about that.

I also know of at least two other Western Music people who have gotten similar postcards but have not followed up on them.

Anyway, if he's known, good or bad, to anyone, please let me know. If he's for real, he might be in a position to help us all. If he's not for real, or has caused problems or scammed money from people I need to know it.

Thanks.

White Sulphur Springs "Motherin' Up Gathering", 2010

We had a great time in WSS last weekend. Lots of great performers showed up and we played all day, jammed part of the night and just enjoyed each others company. There were good crowds even for the Day-Show sessions.

I have two videos here. The first one is Landen Reddington, backed up by his family, the High Strung Band, doing El Cumbanchero. I recorded it in Elko, Nevada in January, 2007.





Here is Landen and his family with his 2010 version of that song.

Nutrition? Not in our food!

Ok, I'm going way off the Western Entertainment reservation tonight as I have another personal "rant" to get off my chest.

For some reason, today, while I was shopping for groceries, I actually took the time to look at the labels of the food I was buying. Have you ever actually done that? I've been watching the sugar and sodium content the last couple of years but I still had never really looked at the whole label. There's nothing in there! Only calories, fat, sugar and sodium. I mean in almost every package! Once in a while you find small percentages of some basic vitamins but those percentages are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

If you ate enough packaged food (Canned, frozen, dried, pre-cooked, not cooked; it really doesn't seem to matter) to get the vitamins, minerals...basic nutrition that you need in order to be healthy, you'd have to eat far more than 2000 calories.

No wonder we are all getting so fat! No wonder we are hungry all the time and eating too much...too many empty calories as we search the nutrients our bodies are craving.

After today, I realize how seriously important it is to use some kind of nutritional supplement. Ok. I use and sell Reliv products and have a huge "testimony" of how effective they are. But there are many nutritional supplements out there which help. Use SOMEthing to supplement the tiny amounts of nutrients that you are getting in your food.

I know. If we try to stick to fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned and cook our own meals instead of buying precooked, microwaveable stuff we will be doing better but I'm beginning to understand now what some of my friends have been telling me for a long time. Even doing the fresh/organic thing doesn't get the whole job done. Find a supplement that works for you; gives you the nutrition you need and so on and stick with it.

I don't mean to get so far afield but I was really shocked to realize that most of what we eat is useless and grows nothing but fat and developes nothing but heart attacks, strokes and diabetes!

Another Rant about todays "Country Music"

I spent a few hours in a car yesterday, with a local Top 40 Country station playing on the radio. I've been looking for a word to express my feelings for this "music". I've struggled for over 24 hours now and the best I can come up with is...Yechh!

I can't tell the difference between any of the singers by voice. I wish the radio announcers would at least take the time to break in and tell me that it is now a new song with a different singer because, otherwise, I can't tell where one stops and another starts. If they didn't throw a few female vocalists in there once in a while you'd NEVER be able to tell one song from another.

I realize that there is likely a certain amount of jealousy (sour grapes?) involved in my opinion here, since I'm a songwriter with no hits. If one of the songs being played on the Top 40 was one of mine, recorded by one of these "new artists", I guess I'd be a big fan. But none of the songs I heard yesterday seemed to have any substance to them. The melodies weren't memorable nor were the lyrics. What song from todays Top 40 would you think will be a "classic" 10 years from now? Which one of these drab puff pieces will be requested in bars in the year 2020?

Let me give you a hint. I'll bet we're still getting requests for "Mama Tried", "Good Hearted Woman" and "Folsom Prison Blues" in ten years!

I and several of my friends are writing songs today with catchy melodies and meaningful lyrics. Any Wayne Nelson song is more enjoyable than anything I heard yesterday.

I'm not saying it has to be "Western" to be good. And if they want to sing in a more "soft rock" style (The Eagles, Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Molly Hatchett...would all be "Country" bands today by the sound of things) they should at least make it something worthwhile. How about a little meaning in the music? I guess, in my old age, I'm thinking more of a Folk Music style where a message comes out.

The thing is, there are some great musicians in todays "popular" Country Music world. In my opinion, the absolutely best voice in any style of music is Alison Krauss and she is backed up by some of the best musicians in the world; Union Station. Why don't I hear them on the Top 40 stations? Why do they only play the "Top 40"? What group of (insulting lable deleted) chooses what IS Top 40?

In all my travels the past few months I have rarely come across an either AM or FM station which plays a little of everything. If I programmed a radio station, you'd hear a huge musical mix. Waylon Jennings followed by Fleetwood Mac followed by George Strait...and so on. I like to hear the songs my friends are doing, old country songs, old rock songs and even a little Tchaikovsky when the mood hits me.

I guess that's why XM and Sirius have taken a bunch of the radio market away from our local stations. Maybe some of the local programmers should think about that.

More tree activity

Sorry. Time for me to rant a little. I'm up earlier than usual this morning as I'm waiting for the City's insurance adjustor to come talk about my claim for the trees they cut down. Gotta love blood pressure!

The City people, of course, all think it's terrible of me to come after them for this. I'm the bad guy.

All this stress and trouble is actually because the Tree Board chairman has such arrogance and conceit along with utter contempt for other people and their property.

He still doesn't understand why I'm not eternally gratefull for his efforts in my behalf; cutting down and removing those terrible Elm trees and offering to replace them with some new, better trees. Of course, the fact that my trees were adult, large and great shade providers and more importantly...were MINE, is just nit-picking on my part.

Everything about this has been, at best, an irritant. On the worst days, I'd have sold out this property for a tank of gas. Oh well. Summer's coming and I can get out of here and back to West Yellowstone where I belong.

Made it home

I finally made it home again Sunday afternoon. No new adventures in the 190 miles between Colt Angell's house and mine. I even made the trip from Wells, NV to here without a spare tire!

Now, Joann and I have to really get it in gear, selling ads and getting things together for our Gathering on June 4th and 5th. I'll be doing sound at the Gathering in White Sulphur Springs, MT the first weekend in May.

After our Gathering is done I'll start the trips back and forth from West Yellowstone (Parade Rest Ranch) and Virginia City (Virginia City Cafe) while I still try to keep some of my computer repair customers happy.

Hangin' at Wayne's

Well, I made it here ok. Got the camper parked in Wayne Nelson's yard and I'm "ridin' the grubline" in American Falls for a day or two. Atually, we're working on our setlist for the show we will be doing in Virginia City, MT on Memorial Day at the Bale of Hay Saloon.

The wind is still howling ouside and I really don't want to drive in it anyway so working on a bunch of songs is much better.

I'll be on the Friday night Show in St. Anthony, ID this weekend and then I guess I'll be headed home for a while. Got to get going on the Townsend Gathering.

The Adventure Continues

Where do I start? The showcase in Mesa, AZ was a great success, I think. I got a couple of definite bookings, several probables and a bunch of likelies...all starting Dec '10 so they don't do me lots of good right now.

I went to Main Street Billiards after the showcase and tried a tournament. I did my usual 9ball routine. Run 5 or six; basically, do all the work, then leave the last couple of balls for my opponent. No joy in the tournament for me. I left Mesa Wednesday night and headed NW. I stopped at a wide spot between Wickenburg and Kingman for the night then kept on peddling Thursday. A pretty easy trip there except for Hoover Dam where the traffic was being stopped at both ends for security checks. When I got to the top, I stopped at the lookout and waited until the traffic mellowed a little before I kept going. I hit Vegas at about 8PM and just peddled right on through and then took 93 N. This morning was pretty easy and I just kept on moving north. At Panaca, when I fueled, I noticed that the sidewall of one of my back tires was cracked and didn't look good at all. It failed me about 15 miles south of Wells so I had to find a good place to change a tire.

This is the first time I've had to change a tire on this pickup and I was enchanted to find that I don't have all the tools! I had to jerry rig getting the tire out from under the truck, getting it jacked up and all that. Changing a tire (usually a 15 minute job) took me about an hour and a half. I'm in Wells tonight and will head for Wayne's tomorrow. I'm probably going to wing it without a spare until I can get to Wayne's and maybe I can get a used tire someplace. The "spare" I put on looks like one of the original tires for this pickup. It's a great looking Cooper and I wish I had three more of them!

I need a nap!

Winter Driving as bad as I've seen

I left Cedar City, UT yesterday at about 4:30PM. The wind had died down a little and I decided to chance it at least as far as Kanab so I headed east on SR14. I saw the flashing sign that said the road would be impassable to trucks several miles ahead. So what? I'm not a "truck".

About 8 miles from Cedar City I encountered a pretty good snowfall but nothing spectacular. I kept going. A couple of miles later, the snow was coming harder and the wind was blowing it around pretty good. Also, the road was climbing pretty steeply. I kept going. At about 12 miles out, I put my rig in 4WD...and kept going. Not long after that, it was snowing and blowing so hard that I was having a hard time seeing the road in front of me but there was no place to turn my big camper rig around so...I kept going.

The visibility was almost zero, the snow and wind hammering me and still no place to turn around. Things seemed to be leveling off a little as i came around a turn and found a Coke truck parked in a "wide spot" on the westbound side. I stopped and made sure he was ok and asked about what was ahead. He told mt it was worse but
I might be able to turn around a couple of miles ahead. I kept going.

At the top of the grade there were several cars stopped, including a Utah Highway Patrol car. the Patrolman told me that there really wasn't much room to turn around anywhere within about 5 miles ahead but that I had already covered some of the worst of it, other than visibility. I kept going.

Soon, I was at about 5MPH, low gear, 4WD and peering through the windshield, trying to see the tracks of the last idiot who had gone this way. My lane was blown full and when I met other cars I had to bust through drifts to give them room. The windshield wipers where clogging up and I had to keep reaching out and banging the wet snow off of the drivers side wiper. Definitely no place to turn around so...I kept going.

Finally, I came down in elevation enough to be able to get almost to 25MPH and even shifted into 2nd gear. The drivers side wiper shredded so I had about a two inch strip to see through; still following the last guys tracks. I just hoped he knew where he was going!

I was thrilled to see the junction with US89 and an open Conoco station. When I told the guy there that I had just come over from Cedar City he kind of stopped what he was doing and looked at me incredulously. "You came over 14?" he said. I said: "Yeah and not only did I come over 14 just now but I was driving that", pointing to my pickup/camper outside. I asked him how things were from there to Kanab and he just laughed. "If you could drive over 14 in that today, you can definitely make Kanab". They didn't have any windshield wipers so I switched the passengerside/drivers side wipers and headed south. That part of the adventure over.

I'm still wondering if SOMEbody doesn't want me to get to Mesa for some reason. I'm in Tuba City, AZ right now, getting ready to keep on heading south. Who knows what will be next?

In Elko Again

Well, I left Hagerman Sunday morning and fought the wind all the way to Twin Falls. It wasn't a headwind this time. No, it came from the side so I felt like I was driving on two wheels! I stopped at a pool hall in Twin and played for a couple of hours while I waited for a call from a booking agent in Elko.

She finally got back to me and has set up a gig at Muley's near Elko for Saturday night. Maybe something Friday but definitely this one for Saturday.

So, I'm hangin' out with Billy Rose, getting some website work done, got my taxes done, lots of guitar practice...pretty bored, actually. But a few more $ in my pocket will get me a few more miles down the road. This is a good thing.

As to my "tree" situation...I had put in a claim against the City of Townsend for the trees that they cut down in January. We are waiting to see what their claims adjuster has to say about it. This time, while I am on the road again, the city had some guy come grind out the stumps they had left behind. In the process, he destroyed the rest of my hedge. Now, don't get me wrong. I was planning to have the stumps removed but, again, they didn't ask. they just came on my property and did it! I called the Mayor and asked her if she could grasp the concept of private property and trespass. Once again, their only excuse is..."whoops". I wonder if the city crew hangs out in my living room, watching my movies and eating my food while I'm gone.

Headed South Again

Well, I had some great plans. I'd make the Hagerman Gathering where brisk CD sales would help me get to Elsinore, Utah and the Cowboy Corral on the 3rd which would help me get to the Activities Directors showcase in Mesa, Arizona on the 7th.

The headwinds were horrible from Ennis onward. It took me a tank of gas to get to St. Anthony...220 miles!. I managed to get to Wayne Nelson's on the second tank but the winds between American Falls and Hagerman were even worse and I had to fuel up on the way!

I had an absolutely wonderfull time in Hagerman and I strongly recommend that you attend next year if at all possible. I plan to. But CD sales were pretty much...not.

Then, since next weekend is Easter, the Cowboy Corral thought it would be better to schedule me on the 10th instead. They are right and I look forward to doing that show but it will now be on the return trip from Arizona. So, you could make a case that I am seriously overbudget already! Oh well, the nature of this business.

The Hagerman Gathering was a lot of fun. I met some new people, made new friends and we all got to do a lot of music and poetry together for each other and very good audiences. I'd estimate 200+ people each night with pretty decent day-show audiences. Lots of great performers showed up and we all had a good time. The Gathering is extremely well organized by Ken and Emm Wellard with help from people in the community. This was a very positive experience and I was reminded of why I so enjoy the Cowboy Gatherings.

Tomorrow, I guess I'll head east and go back to Wayne and Becky Nelson's to just hang out for a week or so since I don't have anything else lined up. I'll play his computer games for a few days.

Arizona RV Activities Director Showcase

I've been invited to the VALSD (Valley Association of Leisure Service Directors) Showcase in Mesa Arizona,to be held at the Mesa Regal RV Resort, located at 4700 E. Main St., Mesa, AZ on April 7th, 2010.

To try and make the trip slightly less financially painfull I will be going to the Hagerman Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Hagerman, Idaho on March 26 and 27th and then will appear at the Cowboy Cafe in Elsinore, Utah on April 3rd. I'm still working on getting some more stuff set up and if you have any ideas, please let me know!

I've been working on getting my camper together for another long trip. I'm especially thrilled to see the gas prices going up just when I need to burn up a bunch of it.