Monday, March 24, 2008

Thank you, New West friends.....



I want to thank my dear friends on the Steve Earle discussion forum, New West Records, for their continuing support this last year....and especially these last months of my recovery. I never could have made it this far without you all.....
And, thanks to Steve Earle...his kindness meant so much to me.....




Saturday, March 22, 2008

A summer in Mexico......


Last summer, and it seems like a thousand years back to me, we were in Nuevo Vallarta, a beautiful place in a beautiful country....this picture at least makes one feel warm, even while sitting and looking out at the snow....

Easter Snow



Woke up this morning to snow....Easter snow....only in Minnesota.....it will be 40 Monday though, so hopefully it will all be gone. We are all so ready for this winter to be over, it's been a hard one in many respects. Looking forward to a better spring.


Hope your day is a sunny one....


Friday, March 21, 2008

In Memory of Joyce Ballard Bostwick


"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother"
Abraham Lincoln
Today, 14 years ago, my mother died. Her name was Joyce Ballard Bostwick, she was 59, a native Texan who was born in the western part of that state, a mother of two daughters, wife of the same husband for nearly forty years, devoted Christian friend to many. She had a terrific wit and even though she often struggled with depression, she never failed to think of those around her.
She wasn't perfect, and she would admit that. As a mother, she was often hard to please, but part of that was because her own mother had been impossible to please. She was one of the smartest women I've ever known, was a registered nurse with her Master's Degree. She loved her family and her dogs, and there were many over the years, Willie Nelson and antique shops. She instilled, finally, in me the understanding that remaining true to your "raisin'" was one of the most important things in life. She always said to me, "Sissy, when you sell your first novel, we will do that..." No matter what that was....she believed in me as a writer and, after our two boys were born, she told me, "You are a good mama" and that meant more to me than anything else.
I was 37 when she died. I was devastated and spent the first 6 months feeling as if I loved under water. I moved through life like a robot, our boys were just 2 and 5, so maybe they didn't notice too much. Part of me, that part of the mind that protects the rest of us, could say, "the next time we are in Texas, Mama will be home...."
She died two years before the birth of her only granddaughter, the baby girl she had longed for...none of her grandchildren had red hair, like her own Daddy did, although she would look at their little cue-ball heads and say, "come on, I know you have it in you."
She supported me when my first husband turned out to be just the kind of man she said he was....and she said, "I told you so," but I guess she had earned that. She gave people second chances, after that it was not so easy....
She didn't live to know many of the things I am not so happy to admit, she didn't know I would become addicted to narcotics and alcohol, something I believe I started abusing after her death, to put a haze on life's reality. She didn't have to endure many surgeries I went through, or a very difficult last pregnancy, or the loss of three other babies we were expecting.
From her, I hope I found some of the strength I have now, strength to struggle everyday to stay sober, today is nearly 6 months clean, strength to imagine the rest of my life without her, strength to go on even when life seems too hard to navigate.
And, from her, I also got much of her enthusiam about life, her crazy sense of humor, her delight at the first bluebonnets in Texas each Spring, her joy in the lives of our children, her grandchildren.
My Mama died 14 years ago today, March 21, 1994.
In many ways, in the best ways, she is still right here.
I will see you again one day, Mama.


Monday, March 17, 2008

Again, looking for the sun......



Texas, windmill and the rising sun
Here in the frozen tundra, North Star State, Minnesota, the sun makes only rare appearances in the fall and winter....it tends to render one feeling like a stupid lump of dirt, and not the good farm type dirt I grew up on in Texas, but the ragged, sluggy dirt clustered around drains in the street and sidewalks......



I am again counting down days...this time til March 29 when Hannah and I head to Texas, sunshine, Mexican food and warm days....



Hope you all have found sun today....

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The day after the day after....



Wow, still kicking myself that i didn't think fast enough to pull out the dang camera after Steve's show....but, heck....

Here's a couple of my favorite pictures not taken at the Minneapolis show, but heck...they are great...

Monday, March 10, 2008

Incredible Show!!! Incredible Singer!!!

Wow......I struggle for adjectives today that can add some real weight to the show I went to last night in Minneapolis....

I was the first time I was able to see Steve since first "discovering" him twenty-something years ago....there was always something that was in the way here when he was in town, new baby, sick baby, tired Mama....something.....but, last night had to be one of the ten most memorable nights of my life.....

Steve and Allison appeared at the Pantages Theater in downtown Minneapolis, a restored theater from the vaudeville era, incredibly beautiful and a very intimate setting, nothing like the giant centers that other folks seem to love. Allison's voice was lovely, she was a perfect, calming effect before the big show began...

Then, it did...all of these weeks of waiting!! I couldn't believe it..Steve sang for 2 1/2 hours, such energy and passion and obvious delight at just singing. As someone who cannot carry a tune in a 50 pound drum, I've always marveled at people who can, and who are able to share that gift with the rest of us.

His set list: Steve's Last Ramble, Devil's Right Hand, My Old Friend the Blues, Now She's Gone, Tom Ames Prayer, South Nashville Blues, Billy Austin, Tennessee Blues, Jericho Road, Oxycontin Blues, CCKMP, Transcendental Blues, Sparkle and Shine (with Allison and such a dear duo! You can feel the love glimmering over the whole audience!), Days Are Never Long Enough,
Down Here Below, City of Immigrants, Way Down in the Hole, Galway Girl (great!!!), Steve's Hammer, Satellite Radio, Little Rock and Roller and a mighty finish, Copperhead Road....

He didn't do some of my favorites, but there are so many songs...I would be hard pressed to come up with a better set...

My dear husband went with me, he's not a huge fan, but he was well behaved and I didn't have to send him out to the car...

After the show, I went around the corner of the building to the loading area. Their big, black bus was purring at the curb, the security guy said Allison was already on the bus...there were just four of us waiting. I managed to convince my husband to stay until, hopefully, Steve came out.

Then, there he was, a more exhausted fellow I've never seen who was still upright. Of course, like a goofball, I screamed....he signed a picture for me and I hugged him and blathered on about the show. I am not sure how much of it he even heard.....and, of course, my camera was in my purse and it stayed there until we had driven off toward home....but, I didn't feel like I could ask for much more, he just seemed to want to get to the bus and sleep. They were on their way to the next stop on the tour, Winnipeg, about 9 hours from Minneapolis...for a show today!

If you ever get a chance to see him, you have to go. It was such a great experience for me. I am a recovering addict, as is Steve, and I told him that his music, blasting in my ears via my MP3 player, was what had gotten me through my first three weeks of detox...now, I have 156 days and still his music affects me in ways that are hard to describe...it has sustained me through many good, and bad, times in my life.

God bless Steve Earle and thank you for sharing the music with us!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Today is the Day!!!! Hang on Minneapolis!!

Today's the day.....after a forever of waiting...Steve and Allison, tonight, 8:00 at the Pantages Theater in downtown Minneapolis, MN, USA....
I can't believe it's here at last...
Hope to post a long report on what will be the show of the decade!
God bless Steve Earle!!!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

One More Day!!!!



Wow, after all of these weeks waiting, I can't believe Steve is going to be here in Minneapolis tomorrow!! March 9....I know the show is going to be incredible...I will post a little review afterwards, I will have to find a whole new group of adjectives......


If you are going to be able to see him, just hang in there!!


Good things come to those who wait!!!


Keep rockin' Steve!!!!!