Categories
Anecdotes
These are short stories based upon personal experiences throughout my life. Some of them will make a point, mark a lesson learned or just relate an event I feel is comical or worth sharing. I hope you are enlightened or entertained.
General rants
Anyone who has known me for more than five minutes has had to suffer one of my rants. They flow from my mouth like the Yellowstone river rushes over the falls. It may relieve some of the back pressure if I have another outlet for them. This is that outlet.
Peak Oil
I first began reading about Peak Oil in about 2003 when it was only discussed on the “fringes” of public awareness – the domain of “crackpots”. Sometimes all you have to do is “squat and watch” and let time prove you right. That’s what has happened and continues to happen as the effects of King Hubbert’s predictions manifest themselves in reality. In this category I’ll share my own essays as well as those of the experts I respect, and any data, charts, or graphs I feel are cogent in their evidence of what I believe to be the greatest challenge modern man has ever faced.
Songs
Around 1990 I began writing song lyrics. I discovered that I had a knack for it . I sent a demo tape to 21 music publishers in Nashville and one of them responded with a contract for one of the songs. “My Get Up and Go” (done got up and went). That was all the encouragement I needed to move to Nashville and pursue a career as a songwriter.
Like so many of my career pursuits I lost interest after a year, but not without some success. Several of my songs were published and I came within a hair’s breadth of having a song on “Blackhawks” first album. A song to which I had written the lyrics and Van Stephenson and Dave Robbins – two of the group’s three members – had written the melody.
One of my publishers put me with an aspiring young musician who was living on a friend’s couch at the time. I spent a lot of time co-writing with Danny Wells – my lyrics and his melodies. Danny went on to establish a career as one of Nashville’s top writers after his break through success with George Strait’s hit single “Check Yes Or No”.
I left Nashville because I was discouraged by the politics. It began I think when my song “Wild Horse Called Heartbreak” was knocked off Blackhawk’s album by some piece of crap written by the album’s producer. I have no regrets. I did it, enjoyed the process and know I could have stayed and been successful.
Of the many songs I wrote only two remain, and they only in my memory. I sing them for my friends acapella because, unfortunately, I never learned to play the guitar. “Treat Me Like A Dog” I co-wrote with Danny Wells (my lyric his melody). Danny has told me (though it’s been a few years since I’ve seen Danny) that he performs this song at “writer’s nights” to enthusiastic applause. Why he has never demo’d the song and presented it to a publisher is a mystery to me.