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Tia's Place...Great Show in Lufkin...Tuba Encounter

BILL BLOG

Friday September 13, 2024


Friday morning arises here in Lufkin, Texas. And the heat here in east Texas will rise as well with a high of 94 on the way.

 

YESTERDAY

Linda Davis, Lang Scott and I had a great lunch in Lufkin at this place.



 

Some of the tin on this building came from Linda’s great grandfather’s house which is really cool. Linda grew up in Carthage which is not far away.



 

We love to find “local” type places to eat when we’re on the road instead of national chains. Tia’s has some locations scattered across Texas but it’s not a national chain. The food is great!  And you simply can’t beat a restaurant in Texas that has a picture of the King hanging on its wall.



 

LAST NIGHTS SHOW

I don’t even know where to star about last night’s show at the beautiful Pines Theater.



 

Everything was first class. From the load in, to the sound (thank you Mark) to the wonderful staff, catering, volunteers and the great crowd of music lovers…y’all made our night!



 

And you could see how much fun we had just from this one picture.



 

Yep…we had a little fun at Lady A’s expense but that’s okay as Hillary Scott in that trio is the daughter of course of Lang and Linda’s Check out this Lady A songwe performed last night courtesy of John Williams who caught this on camera out in the crowd last night.


 


 

And John also caught this moment of me singing the song “151” that I wrote with veteran Art Fager last weekend in Marion, Illinois with Freedom Sings USA. He was in command of 151 soldier in Baghdad for a year and got home with all but one soldier Sgt Brian Romines who was killed by a roadside bomb. There were a lot of veterans in the house…so you can imagine how the song went over.


 


 

Linda had her sister and her husband in the crowd along with a lot of her east Texas friends and fans, and longtime friends of mine Don and Madeline Williams drove 5 hours to come and see our show as well. Don being a Viet Nam vet himself.



 

So thank you Lufkin, Texas for an incredible evening. We can’t wait to come back!


 

 

TUBA LADY

I had a fun encounter with a fan at our show last night. Lang Scott sang a wonderful song titled “Behind This Guitar” that artist Mo Pitney wrote and then I joked that I was going to do a song I used to sing when I was in a Polka Band titled “Behind This Tuba”. 

A woman came up to the stage and said, “I want to talk to you about that tuba remark”, and I could see that she really had a bur in her burrito about it…in a nice way. So before she could say anything else I pointed to myself and said, “French horn.”. And she laughed and said, “oh…it’s okay then”. Or something like that. Her son plays tube in the Texas A&M marching band and she didn’t want me picking on tuba players.

 

I reminded her that that the French Horn answers the tuba. They go “oomph” and we go “pah pah”. It was a very fun exchange.

 

But I will tell all parents…don’t let your kids become tuba or French horn players. No band will EVER ask you to come on stage and jam with them.

 

SONG OF THE DAY

Today I’m choosing an up-tempo bluegrass song “Deeper In Love” that I wrote with Josh Shilling that bluegrass artist Carley Arrowood had out as a single last year. Carley is deservedly up for some bluegrass awards this year. She's a  talented fiddle player AND singer and she just recorded the fire out of our song. Thank you Carley!



 

HEALTH NOTES

Health officials in Missouri say they don’t know how a Missouri resident caught bird flu but they believe the public risk is low.

 

A report finds high levels or lead in cinnamon and spice blends in 12 different blends. Buyer beware.

 

The CDC says mpox vaccine boosters aren’t needed in the US after questions emerge around waning immunity.

 

FRIDAY THE 13TH

That would be today…for all you superstitious folks. I’ve never been superstitious. I kind of agree with this statement.



 

On the upside, if you stop at a Krispy Kreme today you can get a donut for just 13 cents. Nothing unlucky about that.

 

TECHNOLOGY

The FDA has given approval for Apple AirPods Pro 2’s to serve as hearing aids. Pretty cool use of technology.



 

THEM AND US

At the hotel Adalina in Chicago you can order a martini that costs 13 thousand dollars. Uh huh. It comes with a 9 CWT diamond tennis necklace set in 14k gold.



 

Great way to impress a date I suppose. I used to order the Happy Meal at Mickey D’s and then give my wife the toy that came with it. Not quite as impressive.

 

COMMON SENSE?

An airline passenger has been ordered to pay more than $5,000 in fuel costs after flight diverted due to his bad behavior. Yep...that works for me.

 

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Arizona Man Blows Lego Out Of Nose After Three Decades. “I Can Breathe Now." (Proof once again that people can sniff the weirdest danged things up their nose)

 

TODAY

Our little trio is going to stop at an assisted living place here in Lufkin, Texas at the invite of Linda’s sister Vernell. We’ll have lunch with those folks and sing a tune or two before we head to Shreveport, Louisiana where Linda is going to sing the National Anthem at the Louisiana Downs Race Track for their big horse race even of the year tomorrow afternoon…Saturday.


 

 

Back in Nashville sometime Sunday evening.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

 

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