redd granite

Wow.  I just cannot believe it.  December 31 came and went and we all collectively did not jump off of the fiscal cliff. These notions that the media builds into our thought process as well as politicians who continue to make decisions based upon what their party mates may or may not like vs. what is really right for the country continue to bring us down to a level that soon will approach Jerry Springer. It is just the continued bullshit of the political process and the media who’s only real concerns are ratings and forwarding their own agenda. Congratulations Mr. Politicians.  You did a great job here.  In two months, we will all go through this again. You see, I am all for voting and the democratic process. But this is based upon the premise that politicans, elected by their constituants, make decisions on behalf of, and for them. Unfortuantely, modern politics has move far away from the noble intentions of the founders of this country who themselves risked much more to be in the position to sign a declaration of independence, and form a country that would argueably be the greatest super power of the world. We are told our vote counts.  But in the end, does it really?  Politics now is about personal and party power, lobbyists, and paying back large benefactors who back campaigns in exchange for forwarding their agenda.  Really?  And we are told not to be apathetic as every vote counts? 

No. Sadly we have strayed far from the great intentions and leadership of our founding fathers. Politicians falter the people of this country every day.  The political process needs an enima.  But that will just have to be for another evening.  Meanwhile, I will enjoy my momentary stock gains the true comfort that we have avoided this great disaster…..if but not for a grand total of two months. 

In our ongoing journey of fun things to do in the Lone Star State, today’s entry brings us to Luling, Texas and the famous Watermelon Thump.  What is a Watermelon Thump you ask?  Well, it’s a festival celebrating this small south-central Texas town’s agricultural roots of the watermelon.   The town was founded in 1874 as a railroad stop meeting one of the various cattle trails that made up the Chisholm Trail.  Oil was discovered in the 1920’s and today many of the still-producing pump jacks extracting the black gold from the earth are enhanced with whimsical decorations, such as a WW I biplane, a cowboy on a bucking bronco, animals and many others.  The Thump started in 1954 and draws people from all over Texas the last weekend in June and this year we were able to attend.  As we drove into the outskirts of this town of approximately 5,000, the first thing you notice is that several of the water towers have been painted to look like giant watermelons.  Nice touch.  The town is on the banks of the beautiful San Marcos river and there are several businesses dedicated to encouraging canoes, kayaks, swimming, fishing, etc on the river.  We arrived mid-morning just as the event was opening.  Indeed, we got to see about half of the opening parade as it wound through the city.  There is something about a small-town parade that speaks to the spirit.  The veterans’ marching, the 4H clubs, the high school marching bands with the cheerleaders on the back of a pickup.  Church groups, civic clubs, small-business sponsors all with decorated trailers or pickups proudly grinning at friends, neighbors, family, and gathered strangers lined along the streets.

From there we found our parking spot several blocks from the main area and walked past the farmer’s market with many sellers offering peaches, onions, garlic, corn, tomatoes, radishes, as well as the expected melons.  We quickly decided to window shop only, and do our serious shopping on the way back,  to make it easier  while we walked through the craft booths.  Going early meant that while some booths were still setting up, we were also beating the June Texas heat, that promised another 100 degree day.  We spent 45 minutes perusing the various craft booths and chatting with the owners.  While this event was perhaps smaller than several festivals we have attended over the years, it was just as much fun.  Unfortunately, the famous events such as the melon auction where prize melons can fetch as much as $22,000, the melon eating contest to see who can eat a slice of watermelon the fastest, and the incredible watermelon seed-spitting contest, were all to be held late afternoon and our schedule did not permit us to stay that long.  The Guinness Book of World Records lists the current record holder with 68 feet, 9 and 1/8 inches, set at the Watermelon Thump in 1989.  They have a building with stands set up inside to watch the attempts to set a new record.  There is also a large covered area where touring country bands perform at night.

From the craft booths we headed to an early lunch.  What do we look for at these great festivals we visit?  Why BBQ of course!  And Luling has been praised as having two of the top spots in the state:  City Market and Luling Bar-B-Que.  We headed to City Market first, but so did a large crowd of people, so we quickly stepped down the street to Luling Bar-B-Que.  Stepping into the old building, the aroma gets your taste buds drooling.  Though very crowded, we were able to grab a small table and stood in line while deciding what to try. As usual, I got the two-meat plate with brisket and sausage while my better half got the chopped BBQ sandwich.   Among numerous optional  sides we chose potato salad and Cole slaw.  BBQ sauce was not poured on the meat, but provided at each table for those that prefer it.  I am a sauce man myself but always appreciate the option of with or without.  The sauce was Carolina-style, vinegar based, with some spices we couldn’t indentify, almost a pale yellow in color and very good. The brisket was outstanding, extremely tender with a nice smoke ring and flavor.  The sausage was good, not greasy, with some unusual spices, and a little black pepper.  The casing was unusually easy to cut with the traditional Texas plastic ware. The chopped beef however was a disappointment.  The beef was more pureed  then chopped,  almost a soup with too much sauce.  We disagreed over the sides, I liked the Cole slaw, fresh and crunchy,  and thought the potato salad was bland, while “the boss” stated the potato salad was among the best we have had on the BBQ Road, but thought the Cole slaw was average at best.  We did agree the sweet tea was delicious.  Overall grade?  Luling BBQ gets a B+.  Great brisket, very good sausage, good sides, but the soupy chopped beef dragged the score down.  Would I go again? Oh yeah.

After lunch, we stepped back out into the Texas heat to head back to the farmer’s market area for some serious veggie/fruit/flowers shopping. While there were growers and vendors from as far away as the Houston area, we wanted a watermelon grown in Luling.  It seemed as if there are dozens of varieties of watermelons from round to the traditional shapes, patterns on the outside, textures with seeds or without, and color of fruit from yellow (which takes some getting used to but is quite good) to pale pink to red.  We settled on a “small”  melon about 10 pounds along with some luscious Stonewall (Texas) peaches and a couple of tomatoes.  Carrying these Texas-grown treats back to the car in the smothering early-afternoon  heat was a chore as we had several blocks to go.  Finally we loaded everything in the car, cranked up the AC and hit the highway for the 90 minute ride home.

Overall, we enjoyed the Luling Watermelon Thump.  The Texas heat can be an issue, so either go early, or come prepared with hats, sunscreen, patience and drink plenty of water.  We are already looking forward to going again next year.  After all, there is always “Thump-thing” going on in Luling!

Currently, reddgranite.com is at the Big 12 Tourney in Kansas City. A yearly event that we have not yet captured on redd.  We are here for both men’s andwomen’s tourney…currently watching a close game between lady Kansas Jayhawks and lady Aggies, last years national champions. We are not intending to capture all right now, there is basketball to watch.  However, we will be posting restaurant reviews in the coming days….to capture this great environment.  Stay tuned and come back in a day or so.  Peace

Ed. Note:  This post come from a member of the family who has primary care responsibilities caring for and elderly mother. This is a personal account of the sheer investment of time required.  In the end, and depending upon the person you care for, the job can be daunting and thankless…..and it is difficult to get on with life overall.  The U.S. has less than stellar care for the elderly. Many of you could be faced with a similar fate.  This is written in stream of mind personal approach. It is more of a release than a an attempt to craft a story.  You will get the point by reading the account.

Cold Cold Wisconsin

There is no retirement here……

Jani Lane, the oft in and out member of Warrant was found dead at a Woodland Hills Hotel room on Thursday, August 11 2011. Most of the world will not notice, and frankly, much of the rock world will not notice as well. Lane was a troubled soul with a boat load of talent, yet undeniably underrated for musical writing, voice and overall performance. He was a founding  member of the ‘Hair Band’ Warrant, who actually rose to popularity toward the latter part of the hair band era.

Jani Lane dead at 47

For those of you not familiar, the hair band era was from the mid 80′s to right around 90-91. The bands were known for outrageously big hair, makeup, and hard rock songs with a ‘hook’ in them.  The big metal ballads were part of this era as well.  Bands in this genre include Dokken, Cinderella, Great White, and a host of others. Warrant too was part of this era, but with a more rich talent for songwriting, which is attributable largely to Lane.

Warrant’s success was a bit short lived, but filled with great songs.  The top selling song was the ballad “Heaven”, penned by Lane, topping the singles charts at number one in 1989. Other great pieces include Uncle Tom’s Cabin, included in the You Tube video above, and a host of others.  However, for the rest of their careers, the remaining Warrant members and previously Lane was tagged with the reputation derived from their immensely popular song “Cherry Pie”.

Like many of the hair bands, Warrant continued, and continues today to tour. Before Lanes sudden death, he, in the last decade was in and out of Warrant several times. At times, when sober, he was a real performer on the stage and truly thankful and humble to his audience.  When blasted on stage, he was horrible and disruptive to the show, many times not finishing songs.  The band had finally had enough, when in 2008, he joined up with them once again, only to be kicked out shortly thereafter.  I had recently seen Warrant in a club in the Dallas area (post is here on redd of course, just search the site) with a much younger lead singer who was so good it was hard to miss Lane.

But in the end, Warrant was Lane.  He had so much talent.  The rest of the world will not notice, but I will. He was too talented to end this way. It was reported that a half consumed bottle of vodka and prescription medications were found on the night stand. Official cause of death will likely not be released for quite some time.

In the end, it looks like whatever demons haunted him will cease, for now

Galveston After Hurricane Ike

1. There was no lack of people on the island.  We could not find a parking space along the seawall up to 61st
2. There was little indication of the devastation that took place in 2008. There were a few, but there was also new and great businesses (read Rum Shack) that have opened up.
3. 99.8% of business has returned to Galveston
4. Business was brisk.

I thought it would take something significant as a motivator for business to return, like the backward conservative right of Texas finally passing a law allowing casinos on the island.  I was wrong. Business was hopping, the island crowded, and people appearing to have a great time.

I was completely encouraged by this. Galveston is a relatively inexpensive weekend for us Texans. OK. The beaches are not LA or FLA, but they are beaches non the less. We will review the Tremont House in a separate post….but for now, just please know, Galveston is Back, in case you were interested.

Chisholm Trail BBQ Lockhart Texas. So everyone boasts to have the best BBQ, especially here in Texas where everyone brags about anything and everything. So when our roaming correspondent and local BBQ expert hit the road once again to ingest some serious calories, they ended up in this central Texas town of Lockhart, about 30 miles southeast of Austin, Texas. Here, they claim the best BBQ in the state.  Truly, some of the joynts he mentions go back to the early 1900′s, and Chisholm Trail BBQ to the 70′s, the ‘new kid’ in town. So are they the best?  Well, read on……

Last holiday weekend brought a quick lunch trip down to Lockhart, TX, proclaimed “The BBQ Capital of Texas”.  Pretty strong words, there pardner, but can they back it up?  The answer is…Hell yes!

This small town of approximately 14,000 people, the county seat of Caldwell County has one of the most picturesque County Courthouses in Texas, completed in 1894.  This town was on one of the main trails of the Chisholm Trail, with Cowboys riding herd to drive beef to the railheads in Kansas.  That history of handling beef has taken hold with four BBQ places (and counting) that would be considered among the best in Texas.

After previously trying the better-known BBQ “joints” in town, like Blacks, Smitty’s, and  Kruez, we were determined to try “Chisholm Trail BBQ” right on Hwy  183 in town, but well past the other places mentioned above.  The low-slung, but long building is unimpressive outside, with signs advising of a wide variety of foods including chicken-fried steaks and fajita plates. We found one parking spot available out front—the place was packed. Walking in , there is initial confusion, no real directions to the service line—indeed there were two lines.  After watching a minute and then asking a local, we learned that the left hand line is for “to Go” orders and the right line was for either eat-in or to go.  The floor was commercial tile, the tables, old worn Formica, scattered about several divided rooms.  Old pictures and the occasional stuffed bobcat/coyote were the decorations.  A wide variety of choices then presented themselves—what to eat.  You can order a plate with 1 or more meats and sides, or just order various meats by the pound.  You can get a Styrofoam container to eat in or go, or just have them put it on butcher paper like other places in town.  We quickly decided on the plate lunch, either the 1 or two meat plate came with 3 sides (most places offer two sides) along with bread and onions (which I think must be offered by law in Texas).  In order to compare “apples to apples” when reviewing BBQ,  I usually get the brisket and sausage as I did here.  The sides had over a dozen choices, cottage fries, green beans, pinto beans, potato salad, coleslaw, fried okra, mac and cheese, black eyed peas, green salad, were among those offered.  My companion got green beans and black-eyed peas, and I got the ‘tater salad and coleslaw. (again, pretty standard for comparison sakes).

The green beans tasted like home-grown picked and slow-cooked with ham bits-very good.  The black-eyed peas were met with approval.  The potato salad was delicious, crunchy, firm, with celery and pimento bits included.  The only disappointment was the coleslaw.  While the presentation was good, with carrots chopped and added to the mix for good color, the slaw was bland, almost warm, vinegar-based.  The sweet tea was especially refreshing after a  busy morning.

But let’s talk about the reason for the visit—the slow-cooked meats.  The brisket was very tender, with a beautiful pink smoke ring.  Juicy but lean, it almost melts in your mouth.  The flavor both with and without sauce was close to the best we have had on the BBQ road. (Country Cousins in Centerville—watch out!)  The sausage was very good, the casing was tough to cut, but the meat inside was smoked, with interesting spices.  Not the best sausage we have had, but certainly in top 3 territory.   The brisket could be cut with a small plastic knife with little effort.  BBQ sauce was available on the side(Bonus Points!).  We bought two pounds of sliced brisket to take home with us, something we seldom do.

We found that having three sides with the BBQ plates to be a great value as well as delicious. The prices were the best we have seen on The Barbecue Road.    Great food, great prices, great value—no wonder the locals pack the place! Overall, The Chisholm Trail BBQ gets an “A”, better grades than most of the more famous BBQ brethren in town.  The food is better, the attitude is better, the place was packed with locals—all the visitors hit the other places…but the food—mmmm…..great job, folks, great job.  We will be back!

The Barbecue Road beckons…..

PS: A trip to their website indicates they will ship you meat across the county. Several of the better BBQ joints in Texas have begun to do this.  This is a way, although not the best like being there, to try some of the meats written about regularly on our bohemian site.

It was brought to my attention that Dickey’s in the early days, used to put out slabs o cheese for patrons to cut of pieces, at their discretion, as much as they could eat. Now this does not have a lot of place in a BBQ joint, but maybe Dickey’s would sell more franchises if they resorted back to this policy, make up for only mediocre BBQ

Frozen Ghost Vodka

Well, I cannot continue to let The Rum Guy get plowed on a nightly basis in the spirit of bringing us the best rums, so I decided to jump on the Low Budget Review band wagon and review my drink of choice:  Vodka. The market for vodka has exploded as anyone knows who has been in a bar in the last decade.  Maybe the market prime has come and gone in main stream popularity.  Regardless, it is time to review some vodkas and pass on our observations.

Here we review Frozen Ghost Vodka.  In fact, The Rum Guy gave me this bottle as a gift on one of our live performances, so that I may have a bottle to go on stage with. Nice of him. With Frozen Ghost, the branding becomes of utmost importance. This vodka produced in Western Canada, presumably from the millions of miles of grain they have in central Western Canada (think Saskatchewan) is apparently all about branding. You really cannot find much about it on the Frozen Ghost Website. The PR, developed by Dallas firm Levinson and Hill, (and if you look at the states they distribute in, all southwest, you understand a bit better) has gone to great lengths to further the mystic of the brand aligning well within the supernatural theme. There is no mention of corporate on the website.  There is this silly story or legend of how the vodka came to be…..it is all brilliantly distant in shades of grey and black. Good going.  But it does nothing to tell me of the product.

The Mystic Is Played Up

Well let me do this for you. The packaging is consistent with the theme, and affective.  At approximately $45 for the larger 1.75 liter bottle, it is not the cheapest, nor most expensive in this crowded market. Rum Guy parted a few dollars for this gift, and I appreciate it. The aroma is standard for a vodka.  For most vodkas, if form your opinion based upon aroma, you will never drink it.  Frozen Ghost is no different. As with a lot of grain based vodkas, the goal is to produce a robust tasting vodka packed with good punch, yet with a smooth finish. Upon first taste of Frozen Ghost, the impression it leaves is a bit on the chemical side. A little rough on the front end. As you swirl in your mouth, it does create a smooth texture which leads to a quite pleasant finish. In the end, you are not aware you are drinking a potent alcohol. As you continue to sip, like most vodkas, the initial harshness wears a bit to settle into a nice relaxing  drink.  I prefer it over ice rather than martini style. However, when mixed with a slight of olive juice or vermouth, it makes a stellar martini. It does need to be well shaken, rather, violently shaken to form those thin ice slivers in your martini.  This is the optimuum set up. Let the martini air a bit in the glass after you have done the shakes.  You will be rewarded with a nice drink that goes well best prior to any meal or appetizer. Yes, this is best as its own appetizer or merely the party drink of choice when entertaining. Overall, I rate this a very pleasant vodka with a decent price point.  OK.  It is not exactly Low Budget Review friendly, but it is a good treat if you feel like parting with a few bucks.

Now  if you wish to play into the marketeer’s hands, you can go to the website at the link above and get the story of Tobias.  They try to sell this on the bottle as well. I must hand it to them, they are very stable in their approach to branding.  They will try to tell you that this vodka is from a srping on a farm in Western Canada.  Again, good stroy, but one anyone of us with half of a brain can come up with.  Don’t buy it, just judge Frozen Ghost Vodka for yourself based upon its drinkablelity, and maybe its potnetial for you to get lucky on St. Valentine’s Day.

After much deliberating, and finally finding the bottom of the bottle (a must for us reviewers), I give Frozen Ghost Vodka a 7 on a scale of 10 overall. It scores about a 6 on being drinkable, but the price point enters into the formula to raise its rating slightly.  Go out and try for yourself, and check back here often for more vodka reviews.

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Thursday night on January 20 brought 62 year old Ozzy Osbourne to American Airlines Center Dallas, Texas. This is a stop in the current tour to support his latest CD. The opening act was Slash and his band. Slash came on stage about 7:20p, about 10 minutes before the stated start time. The band was definitely tight and well prepared. A five piece group, led of course by Slash included another guitar, bassist, and a lead singer, Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge fame. Clearly, the lead singer is trying to copy Axel Roses’ voice. When Slash played his own music, it was based in blues rock. Quite good overall. It was reasonably received by the crowd, but in the end, the quintet would have to play Guns N Roses to keep the crowd propped up throughout the set. As mentioned, the voice of Kennedy did a reasonable job of imitation, and the tightness of the band reasonably pulled off the the sound of GNR. Slash, of course, had his branded black hat and sunglasses outlining his frizzed hair…no changes here. They played until 8:10 p.m.

Slash Looking Like Slash

Ozzy was sporting a lot of new blood in his band lineup. Gone is Zak Wilde. A new drummer sits atop the kit perch. At a certain moment, when you see Ozzy out there, you wonder when Sharon is going to let him kick back, as he kind of needs to. The show was typical Ozzy. The same old “the louder and wilder you are the longer I play” statement over and over to the crowd, even though the corporate stopping point on this venue is 10:45.  I have seen Ozzy now 9 times, and it has always been the same. It is getting old. Also also consistent to Ozzy, was the high pressure fire hose, this time it was filled with a foam/water combination, a sort of Ibiza foam party, if you will. In fairness, Ozzy douses himself as well. This leaves the overly conservative venue cleanup crew mopping the first 20 rows while the concert is going on. Get a grip AA.

Ozzy’s performance was quite good overall. Now when I say this, I am evaluating based upon his past performances, and the fact that he is a 62 year old that has fried himself 80 times past the electric chair over the years with consistent abuse of whatever….his voice was OK. For the most part, he was on key, which has been a consistent issue in the past times I seen him. His mannerisms consist of truly the odd. At a certain moment, he shuffles across the stage like as if he has an imaginery walker in front of him. He shuffles his feet, his hand before him limply faced to the ground, head sort of preceding the body; kind of like Nicholson in “One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest” after the character has had his frontal lobotomy.  And when Ozzy tries to get into the music, he jumps in place SORT OF to the beat of the music. There is no question is trying to give it his all. In spite of the fact that I joke that if he was not Ozzy, the Sharon branded Ozzy, he would be simply odd looking in his old white guys rhythm.

(Click on each pic for larger size)

Ozzy Larger Than Life

Sharon drives him in order to cash every red cent in on his branding. I really think, like most musicians, his ego requires himself to be up in front of the thousands of people playing his music, so maybe he is fortunate to have such a business minded wife.  Toward the midpoint of the 2 hour set, I noticed his hands shake everytime they were free of the microphone. This is probably another reason he hangs onto the mike with a death grip. Sure enough, in comes the drum solo, the guitar solo, and whatever. Bottom line, though Ozzy technically played a two hour set, he was absent from the stage for 20 minutes while we had to struggle through musicians banging wildly on the set.  OK.  We know you can play the instruments guys, it is why you are up there and I am not.  No need to prove yourselves.  But really, Ozzy needs this break.  He came out after nearly 20 minutes to finish approximately 30 minutes worth of material.  His strength renewed, he proceeded, as usual to throw buckets of water on the front 5 rows. Enter in the moppers once again. So he had the strength to pick up buckets of water….this is good.  The sound was a bit different from when I have heard him in the past.  The band was tight as usual, but this time, the sound has been mixed differently to really kick in the guitars.  Heavy, heavy guitar sound that drove the quintet signature with each song.  I appreciated this, and a great improvement. It really makes the songs sound truly heavier metal, once again.   Good touch. It makes the music drive more squarely into your head, perhaps bypassing Ozzy’s ever weakening voice. He played all of his solo material and good renditions of Iron Man and War Pigs from the Sabbath days. The new guitarist is named Gus G.  They are trying to brand him as a viable replacement for Wilde.  He was good, no doubt, but it just is not Zak Wilde, who plays and drinks on stage as if he will not live another day.  There have been too many good guitarists sharing that stage with Ozzy, he should just let this Gus G. develop on his own instead of trying to market him down our collective throats.

After nearly two hours, and right on time to meet the corporate deadline (I love these, how we have come along from the days of concerts where the band ((read this the Doors and others of the day)) shows up two hours late and plays until whatever).  Ozzy did one encore, and left 8 minutes on the table before his and the corporation’s collective bed times. In attendance was about 9,000 fans on a Thursday night. In order to create a more tight scene for Ozzy given the lighter attendance, they sealed of the third deck, and transferred all of those nose bleed ticket holders to the lower bowl….no doubt pissing those people off who really paid for the lower bowl.  But it did make for a much more energetic scene.  The lighter attendance can be blamed on the bad economy, yes, but really, there have been a lot of shows competing for Dallas area music buffs dollars this year, so I think it was as much a Thursday night thing as much as souring economic times.

The American Airlines venue is not my favorite concert hall. Too big, questionable acoustics, and generally leaves a limp feeling toward the show. But Ozzy did an appreciable job, along with management on the venue to make it look and sound a bit smaller, to create a good buzz in the venue.  The crowd, who looked to average around an age of 40 or so,  was definitely responsive and appreciative. I am sure Ozzy will be back.  If this tour is coming to your city, check him out.  It is worth the investment of time and money overall, if nothing more than to see him hopping on the stage as the Blizzard of Odd……