03-02-07 Rick sez: Sweet... it's the weekend. That means I can kick back and wait till Christine tells me what I need to do. She's got a hunnydew list a mile long and a century wide. That's okay, lord knows I shouldn't be keeping my hands idle like... playing on the squeezebox or leaving idiot comments for my myspace friends. Yeah, the Zydeco Stingrays have gone myspace now. Check it out if'n ya get a pair of your own idle hands: myspace.com/zydecostingrays. I figger if ya ARE a musician, yer only reaching about a third of your potential audience with a .com site. So far so good that's all I gotta say with myspace. I've managed to hook up with several new folks that might actually come out and check us out at are gigs. So therefore it's been a good thing.
So no sushi tonight -- not this weekend. I've got better plans... check it.... sea bass and king crab spring rolls. Mind you, this is ONLY for Friday night. Ha! The rest of the weekend there more of the good stuff... like... reorg'ing the attic, painting murals or whatever else is on Christine's list.
Glad the Mardi Gras weekend has come and gone. The band was BUSY, Jack! I'm tellin' ya. 4 gigs in 4 days. It all started Saturday morning at the Hard Rock Cafe for Captain Hope's Kids Mardi Gras Fun Run. That was a lot of fun. Then later that night at the AllGood Cafe in Deep Ellum. That was a lot of fun. Then Sunday afternoon at Dodie's New Orleans Diner. That was a lot of fun AND we got taped for Fox 4 News. Then Fat Tuesday at Sneaky Pete's on Lake Lewisville... that, too, was a lot of fun. Guess you could say I've had a lot of fun recently. It IS nice to have a weekend around the ranch and do those simple things on Christine's list... and with her around... THAT is a LOT OF FUN!
03-01-07 Christine sez: Last Friday night Rick and I went to eat sushi, we haven’t had sushi in a really long time. Sushi is my favorite cuisine to eat at a restaurant. I love eating sashimi! We usually order Sea Bass, Japanese Amberjack, Yellow Tail, Snapper and OF COURSE, Rick’s second favorite, OCTOPUS. I think he likes it best because it has the sound PUS in it! He said he likes the feel of chewing the tentacles.
So we were enjoying out sashimi at the sushi bar and one of the chef’s pulls out a ‘special’ slab of fish…..of course I had to ask what it was. Just so happens the couple that sat down next to us were the ones that ordered the ‘special’ fish, they filled us in on it. Being adventurous and all I immediately said yeah, we would like to try that too.
Then we continued talking to our new found friends sitting next to us, Patrick and Jules. They proceed to inform us that the special fish is called Tuna Belly, it is the number one sashimi in Japan. Patrick would know because he has been to Japan over 30 times! The he goes on to explain there are three levels of Tuna Belly quality and that Sushi Sake, the place we were at, has the best! And somewhere in his story he mentioned that one Tuna Belly fish can go for somewhere around $30K!!! Woah, hit the brakes Jack, how much is that sashimi I just ordered! I start to wonder, if the fish is $30K, a little piece of it is at least $200! So to save us embarrassment from not being able to pay our bill, I asked Patrick if I just ordered a thousand dollar piece of sashimi, he laughed and said no, it’s probably around $35.
Whew. Dodged that, and also learned a lesson! Needless to say our bill wasn’t that bad, and we now LOVE Tuna Belly! It is so sweet and buttery! It’s like a dessert! I will always try and find a place that has tuna belly! Patrick and Jules were very interesting, we enjoyed our conversations with them and exchanged information. We really hope to see them again!
1-26-07 Rick sez: Yeah, we need to get back on the blog more often! For those of you looking for the River Rest Bed & Breakfast info, go here: www.mosquitogumbo.com/bnb.pdf
You can also go to the "Hotspots" page to access it by clickin' on Louisiana...
8-31-06 Rick sez: See? See how frickin' busy we been? Huh? Do ya see it??? It's been over two months since we messed around on this blog -- much less done much web stuff at all! I reckon it's the whole Summer dealio -- ya know, the kids outta school, the Zydeco Stingrays recording and gigging, roadtrips and flyaways planned and executed, swimming pools and oceans... just so much to occupy the space within and none of that space was delegated to updating ol' mosquitogumbo.com -- until now bay-bay!
In the past 2 months CK, Haley & I have... gone to Louisiana, Jefferson TX, and the twin-island republic of Trinidad & Tobago. It's been a rockin' great Summer -- the best one of my life! So now the dust is settling... it's time to get back in cyberspace and do some housekeeping! Thanks for your patience! More to come!
6-22-06 Rick sez: Here it 'tis! The 2nd day of Summer and things are burning up here in North Central TX. It's hot and there's water rationing. It's gonna be a long, hot one ahead.
I finally updated the "In The Changer" CD reviews tonight, located in the "Tunes" section of this website. I've needed to do that for quite some time, but that's just the way things are. So music lovers... enjoy! All the new reviews are on Cajun and zydeco; the Caribbean reviews will have to wait until CK & I get back from Trinidad and Tobago.
Earlier this month, my band, T-Richard and The Zydeco Stingrays, performed our debut gig which went great! Thanks to all y'all who came out to cheer us on. It was a blast! We have other gigs in the works as well as our first CD recording to begin this weekend. Stay tuned.
5-31-06 Rick sez: Whoa, what a week... "ZING!" It's already humpday and if feels like I barely popped the top off of Monday. Prolly cuz of the loooong YesM'amMorialDay weekend! What a bon ton Ms. CK and I had down at McGee's Landing in Henderson, LA. Talk about! Made some regular runs to visit friends like Jr. Martin and Travis Matte, had plenty of good food thanks to the Palace Cafe in Opelousas, Poche's in Cecilia, Foti's Fruit Stand and Mulate's in Breaux Bridge, Don's Custom Meats in Carencro, The Best Stop in Cankton, and Hebert's and Amy's in Henderson. Caught Walter Mouton at La Poussière in Breaux Bridge for his regular Saturday night dance, 40 years straight now -- he's the best accordionist I've ever seen (sorry, Mr. Savoy!) What a time... In addition to Travis Matte tearing up the stage at Cowboys, we caught the Henderson Playboys and also Ashley Hayes at McGee's Landing. Great music in Acadiana, mon amis.
CK and I made a dacquiri/grocery store run into Henderson, and when we finished up, a major turd-floater commenced to fall from the sky. Well, we made it back to McGee's just in time to start getting out of the car, when out of the dark gray heavens, a bolt of lightning struck a tree about 50 feet in front of our veehikle! "BuH-FuGgIN' BOOM!!!" Sparks flew, everything turned red, leaves went flying and a hugeass branch fell outta the top of one of those cypress trees this bolt struck! We closed the door on the car, took another gulp of dacquiri and started talkin' about church and stuff. I had my hand outside the car when it struck and my hand was tinglin' like I had stuck a wet fork in a wall outlet. Needless to say, we hung out in the car for a spell 'til the lightning to thunder ratio was 10 seconds or more.... and we had just run outta dacquiri.
CK's dad and bruthaJohn drove from Lake Charles to meet us for dinner that night -- he brought the grill and some sausages, I cooked them up and drank all their beer, then bruthaJohn dragged me over to McGee's bar for some tequila shots. Poo-yai! Talk about stinkin' skunk crunk! We made lots of friends that night and ended up with someone else's wallet.
So that's the long and short of it. Louisiana is fresh in our blood and my new band, T-Richard & the Zydeco Stingrays play our debut gig this coming Saturday night at the AllGood Café in Deep Ellum. We hit the stage at 9PM, hope y'all all come see.
Some of y'all who joined us out here for our Ribfest II will be excited that I posted some photos of that day/night on the Pics page. Don't wet yerselves -- just sit back and click! I'll eventually post the Memorial Day in Henderson pics when I find more idle time... yeah we right!
5-17-06 Rick sez: lt's d-d-d-ang near Thursday and I dunno where this week has gone. CK just turned in, and I ain't far from joining her. Last weekend was a bo-LAST! Thanks for y'all making Ribfest Q2, it was a bon ton! I'll eventually post the pics, y'all know I will -- but jeezus, there's no time to phuck wid 'em at tha moment. I'm behind on my website responsibilit-tays, but you can rest assured, I will post'em sooner than ya know it. I've been busy at work and then, the radio, and then band rehearsal, and then just chankin' on my box. Priorities, ya know. Website duties always follow self-gratification! Of course, if there weren't so damn many photos, it'd be a breeze. But we are shutterbugs. Gotta find a way to curtail that itchy fanger. K. Cool. Gotta go turn in cuz I gotta squeeze my box for some second-graders tomorrow. Haley got me a "gig" to show off my box riffin' to her class. Hopefully I'll prove to these young ears there's something else out there other than Brittany Spears. It's all about the music, and all about the exposure, ya know. Later gators...
05-11-06 Christine sez: Well it’s another night at home….tomorrow I have a field day to go to! YIPPEE, can’t wait to do three-legged and sack races with those second graders. I am gonna whip there butts all over the field. Yeah you may say it’s mean, but that is how I was raised. You don’t just “let” your kids win, they gotta learn that the world isn’t given to them on a silver platter. My dad never let me win, he kicked my ass all over the pool table starting at the age of six. Then he would call me a good second place player and start making sheep noises. I turned out pretty good. I finally realized how fun it is to beat him all on my own and then rub it in and start saying “baaaaaah, your turn at the slaughter house”. Yeah you may say he was a little “different”, but man was it cool to not grow up so naïve. The world isn’t quite as harsh as I’ve heard many people reference it.
We went grocery shopping tonight, I got beer. Corona is my choice. I have opened a few and then randomly place them around the house, so I am never without a beer. Like just now, I sat down at the computer and found one waiting for me. Earlier I went to the bathroom and found another one, just waiting to be finished. Yeah you can say I do it on purpose, or it’s just a game. Rick likes to “common-beer” me. Maybe I have finally trained him not to drink my “perfectly placed” beers; maybe he actually believes that I put them there for a reason now. Or maybe I’m just used to him drinking my beers, so I continually open new ones. I really don’t see anything wrong with that, because that means I keep getting a nice cold one. Although, it is always fun to find a surprise waiting for me. Til’ next time…..
5-11-06 Rick sez: Seems like a lot of folks surf into the skeeter net to read our blog, including some of you who can't get enough of my chatty-chat-chat on the accordion forum. I say "by golly gee whiz, welcome back!" I wish I had something profound to write, but it's prolly the same mind-numbing drivel you've come to expect from ol' Double-R.
Well, we are all okay up heah in Collin County. Those tornados that roared through here last Tuesday were about 15 miles north. We dint git a drip of rain. But we did have one helluva light show! CK & I went out back and laid down 'pon de trampoline and ooooh'ed and ahhhh'ed at the big ass super-cell storm. We've never seen lightning like that! It was remarkable. I feel really bad for the folks that lost their lives and homes just up the road. Mother Nature is a woman -- no doubt about it. Unpredictable. She can bless you with awe-inspiring beauty while she's making a mess -- and causing folks to cower in fear.
I hate tornaders. Sometimes they invade my dreams in the same way that plane crashes invaded Buddy Holly's. I figger living in North Central Texas, I'll eventually have to deal with the "head for the bathtub" action. It's just a part of living on the Great Plains, I suppose. At least we don't have those frickin' volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunami's, blizzards and full-on hurricanes to put up with. Yeah, we got our fair share of brutal hot summers, flash floods, ice storms, and of course, bad ass thunderstorms. We've got flies, too. 'Bout this time of year, we gotta keep the doors closed or we get those B-52-sized houseflies landing on everything and leaving their specs of dung as they cleverly avoid the swatter. I hate flies.
Tonite, I learned the Ossun Two-Step on the accordion. It felt good to finally pull that song out o' me arse and get kicked out of the bathroom because "it'S SO lOuD, SwEetHEARt!" Yeah, my Falcon Bb is a bull horn. My ears are usually ringing after chankin' for an hour. But then again, my ears are usually ringing after occupying the bathroom for an hour when weemens need to use it ! C'est la vie! I say, "Go use the backyard like your boyfriend!!!"
05-19-06 Christine sez: Friday Rick and I ate some yummy raw fish. Haley bought a beta back in January and hasn’t been taking very good care of it, so I didn’t want to see a good fish go to waste. So we had sashimi! Blue beta fish rocks!
Saturday I played the part of “groupie” and “barmaid” to Hippie Gumbo. HG did a private gig and I was the “Professional Photographer and Videographer” and “the band bartender”. The only problem with being a band barmaid at a private gig is that sometimes those gigs are outside in a backyard that is full of holes….. Yeah, a private party in the backyard, a muddy backyard at that, serving alcohol out the wahzoo with tons of holes. Yes holes, I think there were once mature oaks trees and they pulled them up in hopes to one day have a party and serve alcoholic beverages and then laugh at the people stumbling around their yard! And the bonus is that I wore very high heals. Wow, I was a sight to see, serving alcohol to the band stumbling around large holes in the dark. Good news is, I never fell! Thank you very much!
I was also the band morale booster….I love me some Hippie Gumbo, too bad there wasn’t a mosquito in it! Sookie is a kick ass bass player, I never knew the bass could do so much…..JMAC has a knack for talking to the crowd, people love you! Johnny, I tried to get pictures of you, but all I got was a few pictures of Sookie’s ass and one of his crotch, sorry…. You kicked ass too though! Rick, you are the best, you have a great voice and are a wonderful accordionist, in fact that is all you can hear in the video, is the accordion. Great job baby! It must be those internal mics that Junior Martin installs!
Today, I had an all day meeting at work. I found the topics presented today a wee bit confusing. When the leadership starts talking about the LCK and the SKB combine to make the CMMI, I get a little confused……. They act like everyone speaks this alien acronym language. Well, just like the aliens had to be taught their language, so do I. Before giving me a speech on how the FSU didn’t use the FSS right by instead using the CTI and the BA to increase the ROI, please provide me a glossary. Because quite honestly, I am lost and so is everyone else in the room. But have no fear, I had no problem telling these leaders that they were serious “Acronym Abusers” and that no one in the room understood them unless they were a manager or above. I think that surprised a few leaders! And then I handed them my consultant fee…….
5-3-06 Rick sez: [Jamaican patois] Long time mi no write up de blog, mon. Buh wha me a-go do? Mi a-fi dweet now. Big up to de Skeeter Net Posse! Bonks! Respect due, yuh dun know!
Between work, step-fatherism, boyfriend, cook, being in a gigging band and in an upstart band, a radio dj and general chief bottle washer, I've had little time to devote to updating this website, let alone sleep... until NOW by gahd! Got 'r done, mon amis! New photos from Beanstock and Easter weekend grace the pics page as well as a short video of a traditional Cajun tune (thanky Mr. Dirk Powell) I've worked up on the tunes page. As if that weren't enough to keep me from getting into trouble, my buddy DW is scheduled to arrive back in Big D from Rome Ital-lee next week! Holy catfish, I can hardly wait! But in the meantime, I'm gonna enjoy me some Christine! We manage to squeeze in a little warm sunshine and sushi together, as well as a killer pot of chicken and sausage gumbo last Sunday. Uncle Russell has been scarce, which is offsetting our family planner schedule. "Pinging Uncle Russell... pinging Uncle Russell... your bottle of Seagram's is evaporating..."
Musically, Hippie Gumbo had a great gig at a private party in East Dallas last Saturday night. We then partied until morning at Champagne Johnny's house. Holy catfish! We had some kinda fun! Thanks Johnny for your hospitality!
My new band, The Zydeco Stingrays are working on a demo and I should have our website completed in a couple of weeks: www.zydecostingrays.com. I'm looking forward to doing some authentic zydeco music with these guys, they are top-notch players and completely jazzed about doing zydeco music in the local music scene! We'll be ready to do some gigging shortly. Need a zydeco band for a gig or a funky pop Cajun rock band for a gig? Hit me up with an email!
It's almost Summer and I'm ready for a vacation. AS IF!!!
04-19-06 Christine sez: This past weekend my family came to visit! I have the best family ever! Although only one of them is related by blood…..the others are just home grown family. That’s the way we do it in Louisiana, your neighbor is your family, the guy that owns the boat in the next slip over is your family, you can find family anywhere in Louisiana. I have tons of them, and the great part is that they have all known me since I was little. Family sticks in Louisiana.
My Dad, his girlfriend Beverly (whom I’ve known since I was little – her daughter and I were good friends in high school), Kevin (long time neighbor family), his girl Teresa (new family), and John Boy (family we found in a bar) all came to visit. The main attraction was to see my man squeeze the accordion Saturday night. Boy was I proud! My family loves him, but they LOVED his squeezin’. Hippie Gumbo did a great show, I can only hope there will be more!
Saturday, I gotta say our group was quite rowdy, but man they were fun. I could tell everyone wanted to rent a family like mine, they know how to have a good time. The gig was great, lots of great people, great conversation and lots of ass shakin’. Oh yeah and at the end of the night I almost got my ass wipped! Let me tell ya….my family and I weren’t able to get a seat for the show, so we ended up having to stand and dance, which really isn’t a bad thing, but we had all this luggage! I mean Beverly and Teresa were packed to stay the night at the gig. I think they are the type of girls to pack extra thongs in their purses….. So between our three purses and all the cameras we had with us, we traded off holding the baggage. We didn’t want to take the risk of not getting enough pictures, and I was a little disappointed that we only got 351. So the whole night we are passing around our purses taking turns dancing, well I will hold anything that is handed to me and my Dad hands me a purse to hold. Lord knows where he found it! But as I figured out later, it didn’t belong in our party. I’m standing there just smilin’ and chit-chattin’ and then I get shoved and the purse I was holding (which I thought was Beverly’s) was snatched off my shoulder. Well being buzzed and completely taken off guard, I had no idea what was going on. Well unbeknownst to me I stole some girls purse and she was ready to kick some booty and she proceeded to tell everyone I stole her purse. Then I got the shitty glares from her friends, I tried to explain myself, but that didn’t work. Eventually I think she realized I didn’t steal her purse. So the night ended a little weird……I think my Dad felt bad too, for nearly getting my ass kicked. I forgive him – of course. To the girl -— I probably won't hold your purse for you anymore; so please don't pack so much.
Last night Rick and I had one of those very minor “miscommunications”. We don’t have a lot of them, but it ended very quickly. You know how it ended! He told me I snorted at him! WHAT! I don’t snort! So from now on when I am a little irritated, I will proceed to snort! REALLY LOUD!
In the past few days I have realized a few things! 1) I snort when I am upset 2) If someone asks me to hold a purse, I will say “NOT NO, BUT HELL NO!” 3)I should have snorted at the girl on Saturday night that thought I stole her purse!
I love you Rick and I’m glad we laugh so much!
4-16-06 Rick sez: Whoa! Last night's gig at Sons of Hermann Hall was too much fun! What a treat it was to play with Hippie Gumbo and open for Rosie Ledet & The Zydeco Playboys. Moreover, what a treat it was to hang out with family, and so many great friends -- some I've not seen in nearly a decade -- some I've never met until last night, too! Thanks to everyone who came out to support me, KNON Community Radio, and most of all, to support zydeco music. Photos to come... there is a pile of 'em to sort through!
03-30-06 Christine sez: Today Rick left me a message at work, I have laughed no less than 20 separate times since then and cried no less than 5 times! Here ya go….every morning I make all of us sandwiches for lunch. Idea is to save money and also not eat so much. Well as you can imagine, sandwiches could get pretty boring…..if it wasn’t for me! Sometimes I gotta kick it up a notch, sometimes I just want to get rid of last weeks leftovers….and what better way to do it than with a sandwich. So we were getting to the end of our bread loaves. Yes I said loaves, white, wheat, pumpernickel, sweet; we have all kinds of bread to make a variety of sandwiches. Early in the morning I pull out all the necessary sandwich making materials. Low and behold we are at the end of two bread loaves, the pumpernickel and one of the white loaves, three bread heals in total. I thought to myself, “how can I use these three heals in two sandwiches and make it fair? I COULD give Rick all three heals, I could make him a triple-decker heal sandwich, with the pumpernickel in the middle for a nice color effect”. I think about it and decide against it, I will be polite and take the two white heals for my sandwich and give him two fresh pieces of white bread, but then I have the leftover pumpernickel heal. God forbid I throw anything out! So I make Rick a triple-decker cheese and mustard sandwich with a brown pumpernickel heal in the middle, I better throw a few jalapeños on there so he has some flavor with his bread and cheese sandwich. So I pile the jalapeños on, man Rick is gonna love this colorful triple-decker bread sandwich!
Later that day I check my voicemail at work. He has discovered my master piece! The message goes a little something like this: “Baby, you should be a set designer, no make that a prop designer! I just finished my sandwich and thought that you made me a steak sandwich. I thought, WOW, how sweet of her to pack me a steak sandwich. I bit into the sandwich expecting steak, but instead my mouth was on fire! I didn’t taste any meat, so I took another bite, still no meat, no salt, something was wrong. After further inspection, it was a piece of PUMPERNICKEL! Wow I’ve never had a bread sandwich, piled high with jalapenos, you sure are creative! I love you so much. Bye-bye.”
I laughed so hard through the whole message I spit on my monitor and snorted at everyone that looked in my cube! I then proceeded to let everyone listen to the voicemail and forwarded it to a few friends in the company.
So when Rick and I finally talked, I actually told him I had thought about giving him a triple decker bread heal sandwich……he responded by saying, “I love you so much”!
3-26-06 Rick sez: It's been a bit since we updated the blog. My apologies. We had a great trip down to Louisiana (see the pics page) for our Spring Break. Great times, great family, great tunes! We did SO much in only 4 days, I don't know where to begin. Tons of fun hanging at CK's dad's place, having him kick my ass at pool, over and over and over. Usually I beat him at least once — not this trip. Brutha John was there and we managed to knock back several 32 ounce Miller High Life Lights. Yeah, as it turns out, he bought a SKID of 300 cases of these big ass beers! That comes out to 50 cents a can! That is cheaper than water! He then traded them for one of Capt. Bill's boats! Then, as luck would have it, he gets a boat AND gets to help Bill out with running the beers through his system! Amazing deal! He took the boat and some beers out on the Lake and caught a 40 inch redfish, which Bill gladly served up blackened-style with a few big ass beers!
On this visit to Lake Charles, CK & I took a side trip over to Scott, LA to visit Junior Martin of Martin Accordions. He retuned my Bb box, which sounds awesome. After that, we drove out to Henderson to have dinner at Pat's Fisherman's Wharf — that was incredible as usual — then drove to Wrangler's in Carencro to catch Travis Matte & The Zydeco Kingpins! That too, was an awesome show. After the gig, Travis and his wife, Allison, along with Bryson Simoneux (Travis' drummer) went over to Travis' house, where Allison cooked up breakfast for all of us. What a great ending to a perfect day... or perhaps a great beginning to another fun-filled day which started in Eunice, LA... After a brief sleep we headed up to Fred's Lounge in Mamou to drink beer at 10 AM. We were fortunate to have a couple of tugs off of Tante Sue's Hot Damn! She's such a wonderful lady and a real treat to see at Fred's.
Once we got our party on at Fred's, we headed over to catch the tail-end of the Cajun jam at Marc Savoy's Music Center in Eunice. After that, we dropped in on Fred Charlie at Acadiana Sound Studio. Fred is such an great guy — and what a pioneer in the recording industry. After that (yeah, AFTER THAT) we swung by Riceland Crawfish Co. in Eunice to meet a very cool guy, Mr. Robert Quibodeaux, and play a little accordion, and of course, buy 2 sacks of crawfish. We then hauled our tired butts back to Lake Charles, where we had ourselves one nice crawfish boil at Capt. Bill's.
The next day, we spent hanging at Christine's sister's farm in Carlyss, LA. They had just had a baby horse... they named "Cash." Good name! ;) We then packed it up and headed back to Big D.
That was our Louisiana Spring Break!
—Then—
Last night... I had my quarterly "Ribfest." I batched up some of the best baby back ribs I think I've ever smoked. UH-mazing... We were graced with fabulous company for the event — Randall Cass, Larry, Deena and Clark Myers, Uncle Russell, and Beck and Don Geddes. It was a throwdown in a major way! Photos will be coming soon — as soon as I get me a roundTUIT!
03-12-06 Christine sez: This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Uncle Russell and the fabulous couple Beck and Don. Nice to see you guys! I think Russell has a girlfriend, she was spoon feeding him chocolate cake! Go Russell, you da man! I also had the pleasure of meeting one of Rick’s dear friends, Randall and his cat obsessed humping dog. Let me explain, this big big fluffy orange dog was humping this poor little cat, the poor thing was trapped. My virgin eyes are ruined! Thanks a lot Randall! I met other long lost friends of Rick as well, they were a blast! Today – I had the pleasure of being a homeowner…..I picked up the yard and cleared two big white trash piles of gravel and dirt that have been sitting in my back yard for almost a year. I figured it was time to move up in social status, I get tired of receiving letters from the HOA regarding the tires, tools and excessive beer cans in my yard. They always seem to forget to mention the boat trailer that is missing a wheel parked out front. As you can see I have lots of pleasures, and I am about to enjoy my favorite pleasure…….going to bed….and snuggling.
3-12-06 Rick sez: For those of you who've been waiting... the Caddoween shots from 2005 have been posted on the pics page. Gawd, they are... odd. Friday night, CK & I had the pleasure of hanging out with Bailey Mercer and his 9-year old accordion moshing son! What a treat it is to see a young man who has taken such an interest in learning how to play everything from traditional Cajun tunes to the latest zydeco riffage! Keep up the great work Bailey junior! Then, as if that wasn't fun enough, last night was Mr. Cass' 43rd birthaday bash! Holy catfish! And it's true, the photos from that eve shall be posted when I get a round TUIT! Happy birthday Randall... you old coot! Today was work day 'round the house. I washed and waxed both of our veehickels by hand. I'm sore, but managed to work on a tan. Hey Randall, you're right about green jello shots...
3-07-06 Rick sez: I know Mardi Gras was last week and all, but CK & I DID have a mighty mardi-pardi with my resurrected band, Hippie Gumbo, over at Sneaky Pete's on Lake Lewisville! We posted the photos on our Pics page. Thanks to y'all who came out to see us play and thanks a bunch for the photos! There'll be more good times and performances from HG... drop in for updates!
03-05-06 Christine sez: Today, I went to the local Solar powered Wal-Mart, dressed in the appropriate Wal-Mart gear. No make-up, pony tail, tight sweat pants - minus the panties and a baggy T-shirt, with a slight hole in it. I arrived home at approximately 5 p.m. to the smell of tasty Cajun cusine - mmmm smells like my sisters FEMA trailor in Carlyss Louisiana. Rick is sippin' wine and cookin' up more liquid vitamins in the kitchen. Tonight we cracked the crab, and Mr. Blue found himself in a helluva bind, thankfully in my pot. Life is wonderful, readin' US weekly and Star magazine while Rick rubs my full belly. Can life be any better?
3-02-06 Rick sez: For those many folks out there who were familiar with my former band, The ComeAlongs, you'll note something missing on the ol' innernet. It's true, my buddy Carl noticed last night, www.thecomealongs.com is no longer. It's been shagged, bay-bay! I agree, it would've been nice to turn it into a memorial or a place to buy cheap meds or something, but the dark side of the force has removed it from public viewing. Sorry, Tennessee.
So here's what I know about the former members of The ComeAlongs and what they are up to...
DW Hadley is teaching in Rome, Italy and will be returning this Spring to launch a tour of the East Coast with his band, Wry Dawn. (see: wrydawn.com for upcoming details.)
Kenny Demith has formed a new band — I'm unsure of its name — but I had heard something like, The Ken Demith Band, or The Goodman Plot, or something. I know he hooked-up with the former Pickle Band rhythm section and another guitarist and they will be playing at this Spring's Beanstock. (see beanstock.org for more info.)
Brutha Brown has been writing tons of cool, new tunes and has been working on mando licks and keyboards alike.
Toneman has been MIA, as I haven't heard much from his whereabouts as of late. I know he's building a house in Nicaragua and has been flying back-and-forth to check on its progress.
I've been immersing myself in traditional Cajun music and have been building up my Cajun repertoire and riffs, as well as spearheaded a Hippie Gumbo revival band with the HG rhythm section, Champagne Johnny and Sookie, and have secured my brother, JMAC on guitar. We played Sneaky Pete's on Lake Lewisville on Mardi Gras eve, 2/28/06, and will be the opening act for zydeco sensation, Rosie Ledet, at the Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum, on 4/15/06.
02-14-06 Rick sez: Happy Valentine's Day! Last weekend, Christine and I spent a fabulous time in the small town of Jefferson, TX as a little pre-Valentine's celebration at the old (and haunted) Excelsior House Hotel. We had a lot of laid-back fun perusing the antique shops and shooting pool at Auntie Skinner's Bar & Grill. We met two great couples that were there to get away from the hustle and bustle of the norm as well. We hope to run into Herb and Carol somewhere here in the greater DFW area, and look forward to a visit down to Sour Lake, TX to sample some of Mike and Tara's good cooking!
02-08-06 Rick sez: Last Saturday night was a hoot and a few hollers to boot, down at the AllGood Cafe in Deep Ellum. My comrade in accordions, Leif, and his band, Zydeco Blanco made the weekend a sweeeet one! (Not to mention the hot chick I was with!) Check out the pics from that night. Bon soir for shure!
01-19-06 Rick sez: Okay. By gawd, those of you who asked for it, you got it. My gumbo recipe is posted on the "grub" page. Alright... so it's really not MY recipe afterall. But it is my interpretation of a very dear friend of mine's, the late, great Warren Ceasar. The Crowd Pleaser and woman teaser; chef extraordinaire -- so such is quoted about him. Warren Ceasar was a very close friend of mine who passed in 2000, unexpectedly. He and his band, The Creole Zydeco Snap used to tour through Dallas and we'd put them up for the night at my place. Warren would immediately start cooking a gumbo as soon as he walked through the door. "Gotta chicken?" he'd say. "You gotta a chicken, I can make you a gumbo, Jack!" Warren was cool -- and a huge influence on my knowledge of Creole cooking and culture. I really miss him, and he left me with one huge gift -- and that is the gift of gumbo. Warren is the dude that taught me the inside and outside of the holy gumbo. Everytime I cook gumbo, I say a prayer for my good, good friend, Mr. Warren Ceasar.
01-15-06 Christine sez: Friday night we had the yummiest sashimi and sushi we've had in in months....okay weeks.... This morning, we made lobster Newburg crepes with the modest amount of leftover lobster from last night. Needless to say, this weekend was a feast -- one after another. What a fabulous birthday weekend it was!
01-15-06 Rick sez: Another week gone by and oh what a good'n! Christine AND Haley's birthday was yesterday and we all celebrated like royalty. Lobster... lobster tails, one and one-half-pound Caribbean lobster tails (each), that is, smothered in lemon butter and broiled to perfection by yours truly, paired with sauteed asparagus and button mushrooms and accompanied with a 10 year-old bottle of Pauillac Bordeaux. Then, the homemade creme brulee... Needless to say, we all slept well last night!
01-08-06 Rick sez: Here 'tis! I just uploaded the first page of mosquitogumbo! The Holidays are behind us and I celebrated my birthday this past weekend with DW, Patti, Christine and Uncle Russell; what a celebration! Thanks to Dub and Patti for the unlimited supply of champagne! And Russell, thanks for drinking whisky. :))