Wichita's Blog

We're having a blast!

We are having the best time here at the IBMA's here in Nashville.  The awards show is tomorrow night.  If you're here try to go, its gonna be awesome.

The Bluegrass Way - 7

                   "The Bluegrass Way"


Tattle on somebody and nobody will tell you anything.

You can tell a lot about a person from their Bluegrass collection.

If somebody doesn’t like Bobby Osborne, I’d keep an eye on them.

Don’t ever use a fork when you’re eating
bar-b-que ribs.

The IBMA Bluegrass Convention is coming...

OK, here comes IBMA Convention and awards show.  Boy oh boy am I excited.  If you’re just learning about Bluegrass and want to be a part of it?  And mean get right up in it.  Then you just come on down to Nashville and hang out with all of us at the IBMA’s Bluegrass convention and awards show this year.  We have the best time. 

You’ll see and be able to reach out and touch all the big Bluegrass stars like Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson, Mac Wiseman, Ronnie Reno, Sam Bush, Blue Highway, The Cherryholmes Family, Ralph Stanley and ALL the biggest stars in Bluegrass.  Guess what else.  They love to hang around and talk to everybody and jam with everybody and the late night parties at the hotels are infamous.  Shew.   I'm gonna be a part of the awards show again this year.  The IBMA asked me if I would do some video things with some of the Bluegrass stars.  I said I'd do it.  So you gotta go that’s all there is to it.  You’ll just love it I promise.

Things that go together...

There are somethings that naturally go together.  In some cases they have nothing to do with each other, however, when grouped together, they're mighty hard to beat...

Things that go together:

Baby ducks – beach ball – child’s sunglasses

Sausage – Biscuits – Milk/Coffee

Fried chicken – Mac Wiseman’s Greatest Hits – Rainy Sunday

Doc Watson’s “Southbound” album – Mother – Iced Tea

Front porch – Joke – Coffee

Send me your list and I'll post the best ones.

Famous People

In my line of business, interviewing, I lots of famous people.  From Bluegrass stars like Ricky Skaggs and Alison Krauss to Rock stars like Eddie Van Halen and John Paul Jones.  If you were to measure the size of fame that the rock folks have against the size of fame that the Bluegrass folks have?  There’d be no contest.  Bluegrass just doesn’t hold a candle to it.  But you know what?  The respect for Bluegrass that the famous rock folks have for Bluegrass far and beyond evens it out. 

  Let’s take John Paul Jones for example.  Now here’s a guy who put together one of the most successful rock bands of all time.  Millions and millions of people bought Led Zeppelin albums and still do right this very minute.   In the top bands in the history of world its them and the Beatles.  I’ll tell you right now if I was that famous, you’d have to put my ego in an airplane hanger and feed it filets and lobsters every 15 to 20 minutes just to keep it at bay.  And I’d hire that British fella that makes all the food for all the famous people, (“The Naked Chef” is what they call him, I swear it) and I would have a mattress put in my kitchen where the table used to be and I’d just have him cook me things and feed me until I was as big as one of those people that has to wear a sheet and lay on the bed because I can’t get out the front door.  Oh!  My nirvana would be a nightmare for the healthy man.  I’m not kidding either I would do that. 

   But John?  He’s healthy, skinny, looks like he’s in his late 40’s and he just might be the nicest, sweetest man I’ve ever met.  He eats healthy too. You know what else?  HE’S BEEN MARRIED OVER 40 YEARS.  OVER 40 YEARS.  (That’s the Bluegrass in him.) The only people I’ve known over 40 years are my Mom and Dad.  Do you want 1 guess as to what his favorite music is?  That’s right.  Bluegrass.  He LOVES it.  Can’t get enough of it.  Lives it.  Can’t stop talking about it.  And guess what  else.  He’s ALWAYS been that way.  “One of us” was actually in one of the most famous rock bands ever!  A Bluegrasser!  He turned lots of people on to Bluegrass and Traditional American music and Celtic music by playing the mandolin on so many of those Led Zeppelin albums. 

When he meets people and they ask him what he does, he says “I’m in the music business.”
“Really?”  They’ll say. “What do you play?”  And he’ll say “Oh, the mandolin and the bass.”   
“What kind of band are you in?” 
“Well, I used to play in a rock band.”
“Really? Well that’s nice. What is it you play now?”
“Bluegrass.” 
Now if it was me?  Here’s how it would probably go down:


Them - “What do you do?”


Me - “I buy and sell people like you all day long little man!  Now get me some sausage biscuits, a lobster, an ice cream sandwich, a diet Dr. Pepper and some of them chicken french fry things from Burger King.  NOW fatty!  GO!  Oh yeah, wait a minute, don’t look me in the eye when you talk to me.  Thanks.  NOW you can go…”


So the next time you see a famous rock person and want to talk to them and get on their good side?  Talk about Bluegrass.  They love it.  And the next time you see John Paul Jones?  Introduce yourself to him.  Its OK.  He’s in and he knows our secret handshake.   As a matter of fact, he’s known it longer than I have.  He’s one of the perfect examples of folks living The Bluegrass Way.

                                    (You can listen to my interview with John here.)

                                             

The Bluegrasser's Secret Handshake/Password

When you were little I’m sure you were in a secret club where you and your friends had a secret handshake or password to let the others know you weren’t a spy from another country.  Even though the club was your idea and the secret fort was either in your backyard or in your room made out of blankets, chairs, rubber bands and pillows, you had to have that handshake and/or password.   

  As we grow older we like to think we’re “in touch” with the younger generations and feel we are, and have been, maturing at a pretty good pace for a good while.  And in most cases its true.  But guess what?  There’s this part of a Bluegrasser that never grows up all the way.  That’s the part that makes you see the world as a happier place than most.  An exciting place.  A wonderful place.  The part that makes people say “I don’t why I like him/her… but sure I do.”  Ah… what a gift we’ve been given.  The men who never grew up all the way still like to see kids doing a little something mischievous. Then they look at each other with that possum eating grin and that “Remember when we used to do that stuff?” look on their faces with one eyebrow up not saying a word and especially not looking at the mothers at all.  You know who you are.  The women are the same way.  They let the little kids help with or suggest things to cook and lett them play outside just a few more minutes than they have time for.  Smiling that “Mother smile” the whole time knowing how much fun they’re having.

   That same thing in your heart that makes you do those things makes you have to have a “grown up” version of the secret handshake.  No, its not an actual handshake.  We’ve actually got it down to a few words now.  Not the same words used by every “member” of Bluegrass of course.  Its more or less a concept that is passed verbally between 2 people.  They are actually saying “I love Bluegrass.  Do you love Bluegrass?”  The other person answers with “Yes, I love it too.  Let’s be friends.”  They may say it like this though:

“Hello, I’m John So and So.”

“Hello there John, I’m Mac So and So.”

“That’s a real nice truck you got there Mac.”

“Well thanks John.  I got it last year… (pause… eyebrow goes up…) right after Bean Blossom.”

“I WAS THERE!  Did you see Sam Bush playing with Doc Watson!?!?”

“Yeah!  It was great! We were right up front!”

“WE WERE TOO!!!”

See how that works?  Didn’t realize you did that did you?   Well guess what.  It’s The Bluegrass Way.

And so it was; the virus began to spread....

Here are examples of a people living The Bluegrass Way.  People beginning to see the same things they've been seeing, and appreciating them, just as much as before, but showing that appreciation and "living" it.  The second one made me cry.

"Dear Wichita,

Thanks. A lot. I mean it. I had been meaning to go buy that new book of
yours, and here you went and gave it to me free. I¹m just tickled.

Even though you said to do it differently, I went ahead and read the whole
thing. You sure are a nice writer. I¹m going to do that bubble bath thing
for my wife, this weekend. You know why? Because you¹re right...she deserves
it and she should be treated special and I don¹t tell her often enough by
doing those kind of things for her. I know everything in that book you
wrote, but you know what? Sometimes it takes reminding a fella before he¹ll
do what he knows to do.

Keep being who you¹re being...your mama will keep being proud.

Clint"

Then there's this one:

"Dear Wichita,

This is gold.

I just took my twins fishing for the first time yesterday.  Maggie hooked a fish on the first cast but Mary didn’t get a hit all day.  We were only fishing for about an hour or so, that’s all they can take on anything.  As we were leaving I hit a small bluegill and gave the pole to Mary.  She felt the fish on the other end of the line and threw the pole in the water.  We all laughed.  On the way home she said, “Daddy, that fish is with his Momma right now.”  I agreed.  Maggie then added, “yeah, and they’re fishin’ with our pole!”

Only life could write that story.

The page about taking someone fishing that has never been and letting them reel in your line if you got a hit before them was my favorite.  Maggie and Mary and I will always remember that day.

And I didn’t even know it was the Bluegrass way!

SL"




These fellas are precious.

Your pal,

Wichita

People I Like

I don’t think I’m alone when I say I’ve never met somebody I didn’t like. Now that’s a famous saying and everything but I find it to be true. When you first meet somebody they show you the best smile they’ve got and that handshake their Dad taught them or that smile their Mom gave them and they look you right in the eye. You know you do the same thing. It makes you both feel good because you are showing each other all the best of “you” that you can both whip up. Oh, that’s just so nice.
   

I find the people I like to go visit and that I really like to come visit me are people who love a lot of folks, and that are loved by a lot of folks. I like people who wear overalls and people who sometimes where t-shirts that fit fine at the shoulders but have a whole other thing going on at the stomach area. I like people who have some dogs and like to fish.
I like people who eat at The Cracker Barrel. I like people who want a bass boat real bad and people who like sausage biscuits and buy the same brand because their Mom bought it. I like people who don’t snicker when an old person tells them something that’s important to them for the third time. I like people who like to be out working on their farm moving rocks or mowing and people who make things that nobody makes anymore like butterscotch pie and hominy.

I like people who like my parents. I like people who love and respect their own parents. I like people who make the “honk your horn” sign at truck drivers. I like people who know what color their Mother’s eyes are and know how their Grandmother met their Grandfather and know what their Father’s first job was. I like people who remember the Tennessee Barn Dance over in Knoxville and the Opry when it lived in the Ryman. I like people who tell me I dropped a dollar and smile at me when they know they’ve spent too much time in the intersection. I like people who tear up when they hear a good Mac Wiseman song and people who start a sentence with “Awwe” when I thank them for something they’ve done for me when I didn’t ask them to.

I like old people who say “Well, bless your heart” and waitresses that call me ”Honey”. I really like a lot of people. I really love a lot of people too. I don’t think I’m alone when I say I’ve never met somebody I didn’t like.  It’s The Bluegrass Way.

Old Folks and Marriage

Do you ever wonder how the old folks stay married so long?  I know several who’ve been married over 50 years.  50 years?  As much as I love being married to my sweet little wife, Cyndi Rose, I don’t know if she’s gonna be able to take 50 years of a pot belly, bad grammar, loud banjo records and a bad hair cut.  Hopefully I’m wrong.



Kittens and puppies are sweet.  They’re precious is what they are.  So are little babies, cartoon mice and baby ducks.  But there’s a sweetness to little old people in love. And it surpasses all of the baby ducks, puppies, kittens, cartoon mice and babies you can stuff into a warehouse.  You see it at lunch on Sunday after Church.  You can it when see they’re walking and holding hands on their way to the car from the grocery store.  You can see it when one is sitting there waiting patiently for the other one at the doctor’s office. Its in the way they don’t talk. 

If you’re lucky you’ll see one of them put their hand on the other one’s face and smile that smile that you’ll see nowhere else. You can tell they’ve done it so many, many times.  And you know it means so much.  So much.  The wonderful thing about it is, you can actually feel it just by seeing it.   You might even feel it just by reading about it.   And you know what?  That’s Ok.   It’s the Bluegrass Way.

The Book, "The Bluegrass Way"

                        

Well, I finally got the book finished and into a form that people could get for cheap if they wanted to read it or give to somebody for their birthday or something.  Its my first venture as a writer so I'm hoping folks will like it. You can go see it if you want to.  The price for the downloadable copy is gonna be $1.98 for a week or so.  Its full of insights that I'll bet you're already aware of, but maybe your kids or friends at work aren't.   
I hope you like it.  You have a good weekend. 

Your pal, 

Wichita