In the Johnny Cash style

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100th anniversary, acoustic, airport, auto-mechanic, bob wootton, canada, celebration, destiny, fats waller, fire, guitar, johnny cash, june carter cash, luther perkins, medicine woman, montana, movies, radio, scarlett, secret service, singing, sound check, sunglasses, Tennessee, vicki, west vancouver

Yesterday was a large celebration in West Vancouver for the 100th anniversary. We decided to go. Arriving later in the day than planned, we began to walk across the field, my wife sort of heading to what looked like a busy area and I, spotting the main stage, directed us to head that direction. When I see a stage, I always gotta know what is happening. One never knows do one, as Fats Waller used to say. Sometimes there is a surprise. As we continued to walk across the field, I could see something was indeed happening. Were they setting up or packing up?

I soon concluded that a sound check was in progress. We sat down and in a few minutes, the host announced that here was the act we were all waiting for. Really! Who? Suddenly, we heard the famous Luther Perkins guitar licks that contributed to the success of Johnny Cash. And this fellow in black sounded just like Cash. Standing along side of this guitar man were three women with sunglasses and, except for the guitars they strummed in unison, they looked a bit like secret service agents.

Wait a minute, this sounds great and the women with the big acoustic guitars with pickups, added a big sound. Bob Wootton and the Tennessee 3 were bringing the us the true authentic Johnny Cash sound. In fact, it turns out that there is not another person in the world as qualified to do Johnny Cash music.

As a kid, Bob Wootton learned to play guitar from his father. One day, his mother said that there was someone on the radio that sounds just like him. Wootton listened and loved what he heard. Grabbing all the recordings he could, he played them over and over, learning all the famous licks played by the auto-mechanic lead guitar Luther Perkins. He began to dream that playing with Johnny Cash was his destiny.

One night, Wootton and his girl friend were attending a Johnny Cash concert. Half the band was missing, delayed at an airport. Wootton’s girl friend managed to get the attention of June Carter Cash and told her that her boy friend can play all the songs. Cash handed Wootton a guitar and Bob Wootton played the gig perfectly. Cash took Wootton’s phone number saying he might call someday to fill in again.

Tragedy struck one day not long after as a fire took the life of Luther Perkins. Cash called Wootton in 1968 and a thirty year history began. Wootton took the Perkins style and built his own style. He even doubled for Cash on TV shows, like Medicine Woman, and in movies. When Johnny Cash retired in 1998, Bob Wootton, much younger than Cash, also retired. He did play again, however, when Johnny Cash passed away, Wootton retired once more. Some years ago, he was convinced to play again and revived the wonderful Johnny Cash style of music that captured the world for decades. “The sound must go on.”

Wootton, when playing with Johnny Cash, was part of a band called the Tennessee 3, the band Cash preferred to play with. Today, Wootton is not really part of the Tennessee 3. The show, however, is not about Bob Wootton recreating Johnny Cash. Sure the audience is treated to many hits, but, the show is also about the Tennessee 3 which today consists of his wife Vicki, also singing the June Carter Cash parts, daughter Scarlett and other daughter Montana, only 14 years-old. They are all accomplished musicians and even write their own songs. During the show they all get to do their own thing.

I listen carefully to music, I watch players and, at first, I wondered if there were two electric guitars. Wootton’s hands were not moving much and I seemed to hear both the famous Perkins bass line and more. I looked to see if there was another player, I even wondered if they had a track that was adding that part. Then I realized how great this guitar player he is. After so many years, playing this music is effortless to this guitar man, listed among the top 1000 guitar players in the world, yet, he obviously loves it still.

We only got to see a one hour show. I can’t wait to hear this group again and I’m sure it will happen. Checking their website, I find that they seem to play often in Canada. This is a show that is an absolute must see and hear. Check the links below.

Refs for further reading & exploration (some of the links have become inactive, however, have been left in case they become active again in the future):
Bob Wootton – Wikipedia
Tennessee 3 – Wikipedia
The Tennessee 3
YouTube

 

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I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas — Hawaiian Sand, That Is

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a&w, airport, alaska airlines, b-line, breakfast, bustling, carollers, carry-on, checking-in, christmas, christmas eve, commercial, cookie, customs, dinner, dollars, entertainers, exercise, extravagance, fairmont, fairmont hotel, flying wedge, food, hamburgers, hawaii, hot tub, hotel, jet, juice, long-term, luggage, morning, n gate, ocean, parking, piano, plane, quartet, river, sauna, seatac, seattle, shuttle, sleep extravagant, snack, snooze, snored, spa, splurge, suitcase, taxi flight, train, unicycle, vancouver international airport, vancovuer, wake-up, water, yvr

It’s off to Hawaii we go for Christmas and it is a very early start. This is our first time and it has taken us weeks to decide just how to begin our trip. There were several choices. The first leg of the journey would be to actually get to the airport. Several options were considered, including driving to the airport and parking in one of two long-term parking lots. Other possibilities would involve asking someone to drive us, or taking a taxi. We had a notion, since the main flight would be leaving from Seattle, that a drive south and an overnight stay might be nice. Then there was the big splurge, the one my sister recommended. It was an expensive idea that made us cringe a bit, because we would stay at the Fairmont Hotel at the Airport. With check-in at three in the afternoon and our wake-up call at three the next morning, it seemed like two hundred dollars for 12 hours, most of it trying to sleep, was extravagant.

A splurge of extravagance was it. We drove to the YVR (Vancouver International Airport) Long-term Parking and took the shuttle to the Fairmont. We had borrowed carry-on luggage with wheels and only one of us had a suitcase that would require checking-in. Once at the Hotel, the rest of the family went exploring dinner options and I made a B-line for the spa. I enjoyed the hot tub and sauna and had some interesting exercise in the swimming pool. When I say swimming pool, I mean you swim against a jet stream of water, sort of like swimming up a river.

For dinner, we ended up sharing A&W hamburgers, because my son was craving it and then went to the Flying Wedge. We then attempted to sleep and found it a difficult prospect. I was told I snored, but, I felt I was awake all night.

So, here we are, half way across the ocean to Hawaii and we are tired. We got up at three in the morning, went through customs, and then took off at 6:20 AM for the short hop to Seattle. We had to wait couple of hours, not to mention, a long walk and train ride to N Gate. Along the way we had some breakfast and bought some food to take on the plane. The SeaTac Airport on Christmas Eve, was bustling. At breakfast, we had live piano playing. As we walked, we saw entertainers, including a guy on a unicycle and a quartet of carollers, just to mention a couple. Now that we have finished our food and we are about half way through the trip across the water, I think I will try to have another snooze.

Here is a bit of a commercial. I should say a bit about Alaska Airlines. Not only do they seem to be everywhere at the SeaTac Airport, but, the flight has been really good with several servings of water and juice and even cookie and a little snack pack. At SeaTac, Alaska Air is everywhere.

Christmas transitions — What about our Christmas 2010

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activities, adjusted, agenda, air, airport, aldergrove, alley, arrive, attend, axford, baking, BBQ, beetled, belgian, birth, blog, border, bowen, bowl, bowling, boxing day, boxing week, bread, brother, brother-in-law, brunch, buy, buying, celebrate, change, chinese, chocolate, chocolaty, christmas, christmas day, christmas eve, church, complicated, connect, cook, cooked, cooking, country, cozy, daughter, decide, describes, different, dinner, discovered, dough, drive, eggs, entry, evening, fail, fairmont, family, fancy, feast, festivities, financially, flesh, flew, fly, food, fridge, garage, gift, gifts, giving, god, grandma, grandpa, grandparents, grow, hands, hawaii, hawed, heat, highway, home, hotel, hours, house, human, hummed, i-5, idea, impossible, independent, injecting, island, item, jesus, kids, kitchen, kitchen aid, kitchenaid, landscape, learned, left-over, lines, list, living, lynden, Lynn Valley Full Gospel Church, machines, marriage, members, mixer, models, money, months, morning, mother, motor, needles, new years day, night, non-stick, norway spruce, notions, o christmas tree, old, ordeal, oregon, pain, pancakes, people, pizza, plans, plate, plentiful, pool, portland, powerful, present, presents, process, rated, reading, recipe, reciprocating, recognized, relatives, replacement, resolve, rink, roles, roller skating, rotisserie, rural, seeking, service, shift, shop, shopping, sister, skate, skateway, skillet, skype, son, Speaking, specials, spent, spit, stage, stainless, steel, stop-over, storage, summer, system, teenagers, think, today, traditional, transitions, tree, tricky, trip, turkeys, u.s., uncle, university, utility, vaporized, visit, vital, waffle, wait, warm, washington, wedding, weeks, west vancouver, wife, wifey, working, write, year

Just in case you might be wondering, here is an entry that describes what my, our, Christmas has been like. If you read my O Christmas Tree entry of a couple of weeks ago, you will know that we began our Christmas by selecting a living tree. I am looking at it as I write this. The little Norway Spruce still has never really adjusted to being inside the house where it is warm and is, therefore, still dropping needles.

If getting the tree was an ordeal, it was the start of a few that have made our Christmas a bit different. We might give up on some of the gift giving next year. Finding presents for each other is simply getting to be complicated.

Our traditional Christmas activities are changing. I really only have to get one present, the one for my wife. Although, I have often bought a little extra for the kids. This has been impossible and no presents from me. My wife warned that we got our new house, and just spent a lot of money on a storage system for the garage, so, no presents. She was right, despite my resolve to find something.

One item on the list is a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I have been reading about these machines and they seem to be a vital utility in the kitchen of anyone who wants to do some baking, but, one must get a good powerful one if bread dough is to be attempted. My wifey, however, hummed and hawed over the models and the whole idea to the point that we did not get one, yet. Another possibility is a non-stick skillet. Eggs and pancakes and such, are really a pain to cook in our stainless steel pans that work best on high heat. We have been looking at this for months now.

Part of our Christmas plans this year was a trip to the U.S. on the day after Boxing Day, for a bit of shopping. This plan has been part of the reason we have not been as dedicated to buy before Christmas this year. My son ended up working, so he did not come. During the whole trip, we found very little that we ended up buying. So, the trip became mostly a trip only.

We almost turned back in the morning, on the way down. Seems everybody had the idea of seeking those Boxing Week specials and the lines were nearly impossible. Once we discovered the back up, we beetled cross country, and I mean country, to the very small border at Aldergrove. It was a nice drive and the wait, although still somewhat long, was much better than the other crossings. Once across, we were in Lynden Washington. Some of the rural landscape I recognized because my grandparents and my uncle used to run the Skateway roller skating rink, bowling alley, and pool hall. Lynden was our stop-over when we used to drive from where we lived in Portland Oregon to visit our other relatives on my mother’s side in West Vancouver and later to our summer place on Bowen Island. This was before the I-5 highway and the drive was much longer than it is today. We learned to skate, bowl and play pool there.

If you think that Christmas festivities simply change hands as family members grow up or grow old, think again. There is more to it these days. I remember Christmas as being the time we all could get together. And there were gifts everywhere, and food everywhere. My sister and brother-in-law now spend Christmas in Hawaii. We usually get a short Skype call on Christmas morning from them. This year, our daughter was away at her first year of university and flew home, as it turned out, just hours before my sister was to fly to Hawaii. That meant a fancy brunch at the Airport Fairmont Hotel. Not quite a cozy Christmas visit at home, but, the food was pretty good.

Our gift from my sister is Christmas in Hawaii next year. They will supply the place, we have to get there. That may be financially tricky, but, we’ll see.

Speaking of cozy, we were a bit late on Christmas Eve, so we had to shop a bit for a late church service to attend. We decided to go to the last offering at the Lynn Valley Full Gospel Church. It was warm and cozy and we were able to connect with some people we had not seen for a while. It was really nice, so, not everything is going off track this year.

If you have been following my blog, you will remember that I have cooked a couple of turkeys on my new BBQ rotisserie. This takes some care in doing, as a turkey off center on the rotisserie spit, and they can shift during the cooking process, will cause the motor to fail. I just got my replacement the other day. I plan to get a more powerful motor, one rated for 40 lbs. not 20 lbs. Taking the stage again, I was to cook the Christmas dinner with my wife, but, somehow, the whole idea vaporized and we ended up at my wife’s brother’s family home. We have been there many times over the years, nevertheless, we have a new home, so we wanted to start reciprocating. Perhaps, next year.

Even our traditional Christmas Day brunch had only a small turn-out. Well, the food was plentiful. We just got a new Belgian waffle maker and the recipe that we chose was for chocolate waffles. Wow, so chocolaty. We were so full that I could only manage one plate at Christmas dinner that night. I think there are still a couple of left-over waffles in the fridge.

Christmas family festivities seem to go through transitions these days. Even Grandma Axford’s traditional New Years Day Evening Chinese food feast plans are up in the air. Some do not even like Chinese food and others want pizza, still others do not want to go to Grandma’s, but, want somewhere else. I’ll have to let you know what happens.

Families change. Some members get old, not being able to do what they used to do, some pass away (we lost Grandpa Axford a few months ago) and are no longer present. New members arrive, either through marriage or birth (we had a wedding and a birth this year) and kids become teenagers and decide they are independent and gain their own Christmas agenda. Christmas transitions, with other family members taking on roles and injecting their own notions of how to celebrate. Somehow though, we all get to celebrate and we should never forget what the celebration of Christmas is really about—the birth of God’s Son, in human flesh, Jesus.

Merry Christmas