A lot of night music

Drummer Tim Dickerson with the Brian Austin Band offers some drumstick gymnastics as additional entertainment to his rhythmic skills as a percussionist. The band is playing at the August 2, 2013 “Music on Main” concert on Main Street in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Click the pic to see more of the band and event

A group of enterprising downtown business and property owners in my home town of Pine Bluff, Arkansas decided that music just might be a good draw to bring folks downtown that had either lost the habit, or never developed the habit of “going downtown.”

The result of this line of thinking was “Music on Main,” a monthly free concert featuring quality musicians and entertainment. The events are always on a Friday evening and are always free. Speaking of free, you can see more “FREE” pictures of the band and event on the Photo of the Week Page at Corndander dot-com. Go forth and see. We will wait here.

The boys in the band. The Brian Austin Band, set up and ready to rock, awaits the nod from the event producer to begin their performance. From left: Ronny Dickerson, bass; John Good, guitar; Hisself, Brian Austin, and Tim Dickerson, drums.

On this night, Friday, August 2, 2013, the humidity was high and the blues from the Brian Austin Band were as thick as Delta “buckshot.” (A word of explanation here for non-Delta readers, “buckshot” is a favored nickname for the thick, gummy, sticky, gumbo soils that are prevalent in some areas of the Delta).

The program included three bands. The Brian Austin Band was first up and is the source of the pictures and comment here. This is not the first time we have photographed the band. They are performers at Blues for a Cause, an event we are always pleased to attend and shoot.

John Good on guitar and Ronny Dickerson on bass are in snyc and grooving as they belt out the blues on a humid Delta evening.

The darker side of Brian Austin.

Brian Austin, a multi-purpose musician wails away on the harp.

See more pictures from this event in our Music on Main gallery.

Drummin’ after dark. Tim Dickerson gets on down with the blues.

After a while, one can no longer stay seated when the tunes are right. This was one of those times, so this couple got up and started jukin.’ And rightly so.

During the performance, one of Brian Austin’s youngest fans wanted an audience with the leader. Austin, being a man of understanding, granted that request.

As should be expected, music fans of all stripes brought their lawn chairs and thirst for good, live musical entertainment. The audience was a good slice across the demographic grain of our community — which as I understand it — was the whole idea in the first place.

Music is the universal language. You either enjoy it, or you don’t. If you seek out or discover a venue favorable to your tastes and preferences and show up — in all likelihood you will enjoy what you see and hear — and have reasonable expectations that those who attend with you have the same uncontaminated intentions.

Click the pic to see our Music on Main gallery

But wait — there’s more!

We’ve created a gallery of 21 pictures from this fun event. See our Music on Main gallery and feel the sweat and music from the comfort of your own screen in air-conditioned comfort. It’s not quite as good as being there yourself, but it’s close.

Thanks for dropping by,

Joe Dempsey

Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind.

http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

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A parade of misfits

The performer is certainly not a misfit. He can whack that guitar with the best of them. He is entertaining a grateful dinner audience at the Starving Artist Cafe in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

I have a growing collection of pictures which have fallen between the cracks to mostly undeserved ignominy. Not because they are necessarily bad pictures, they just did not fit a story at the time they were fresh. I suppose they are functional misfits. Given that commonality, it occurred to me that a parade of misfits would give these previously not-yet-seen-the-light-of-day pictures their 15 minutes of fame.

Click on the owl for more misfit pictures,

The only thing these pictures have in common other than who pushed the shutter button, is that they have nothing in common.

Well, they do have something in common with the pictures on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot com. They are from the same litter. Click to visit Corndancer dot com and see the misfits that got this whole thing started.

The collection of snarled bobbers, weights, and a few lures continues to grow on a telephone line crossing a narrow part of Noble Lake southeast of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Folks fish from the bridge and as they sling temptations to the fish, they sometimes run afoul of the wire. We’ve shown this location before, but not this particular picture.

You are looking at the hub and gear housing for a wind turbine snaking its way across Pine Bluff, Arkansas via the Union Pacific Railroad. The housing is bigger than a large RV. We’re talking humongous here folks.

The grounds of long defunct Mount Rock School in northern Louisiana are well kept and mowed like a cemetery. And given the deceased school buildings on the premises, that comparison is not a stretch. These are the remaining shambles of the former gym, no doubt promoted as the home of the fighting “sumpinanothers.” As the wind whistled through the ruins, I believe could hear some faint cheers for the fighting “sumpinanothers.”

Further south in Louisiana, a huge ocean-going vessel has just gone under the “Crescent Connection,” bridge across Mississippi River. Back in the day when my brother lived in Nawlins, they called it “the great chicken bridge.” Why, I do not know.

Early afternoon sunlight turns the spray from the Louis L. Ramsay Fountain at Saracen Landing in Pine Bluff, Arkansas into shimmering aquatic jewels. This is normally not a good time to shoot, unless you want a fountain to look like shimmering aquatic jewels. Seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.

Finally, a big ol’ crane is moving some huge air conditioning outside units which are surrounded by buildings. The crew handling the event was as impressive at the big machine. There were a lot of them and they took their work seriously. Reminded me of a shuttle launching.

Well, I guess there’s an exception to every rule. Here’s a band that performed in the same program as the guitar guy in the first picture at the Starving Artist Cafe. They were good entertainers. The beer bottle to the right side of the image seemed to be a good part of the story.

This post is respectfully dedicated to all misfits. Including myself.

Thanks for dropping by,

Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html