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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Fall arrives in LA (lower Arkansas)

The Jefferson County Courthouse in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The original, in this location, was built prior to the War Between the States. A fire nearly destroyed it in the mid-seventies. After the fire, this part of the courthouse was reconstructed to the previous 19th century specifications. Some but not all of this part of the building is original. In the foreground is a Bradford Pear tree just about to peak out before dropping its leaves.

After a hot, dry and far-too-long summer, most of our trees here in LA have long since thrown in the towel on upholding their long-standing tradition of showing off with their best and brightest fall plumage. The two exceptions to this disappointing vegetative misanthropy are the Hickory trees, the Crepe Myrtles, and Bradford Pears. The former bright yellow and the latter two, screaming red.

Giant honey comb

Before we go much further, my original idea to shoot leaves was fortuitously interrupted by my neighbor who advised me of a giant honeycomb in a tree in his former backyard. At first glance, you might have thought you were seeing an apparition in the process of eating the tree. Fortunately, it was benign.

It is a sight to behold, and you may behold it where this adventure started on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot com. Click here to go there. We’ll wait here while you look.

Fortunately, a concentration of exceptions to this year’s generally anemic fall colors populates our neighborhood. Several crepe myrtles performed as programmed as well as all of our homeboy hickory trees. The former are screaming red and the latter are brilliant yellow. They rock!

Spindly crepe myrtles in the spring and summer are almost incognito amongst our giant neighborhood pine and hardwood trees. The tables turn when crepe myrtles blast forth their fall colors. In this picture, you are looking at two. Mine in the foreground, and my neighbor's crepe myrtle across the street in yellow orange in the background.

When it comes to fall leaves, I am the neighborhood pariah. Most of my neighbors boast shiny garden tractors with leaf vacuum attachments. Like busy bees, they religiously suck up their share of the six-gillion cubic feet of leaves which annually fall in our neighborhood almost as they drop.  But not I.

In the foreground a blazing Crepe Myrtle is backed up by a large Hickory tree. Both are in my neighbor's yard (the one who turned me on to the honeycomb in the tree). I see this every time I pull out of my driveway.

Personally, it is my belief that falling leaves belong where they fall. I like how they look. I like how they crunch under your feet. Our cats love to play and frolic in the leaves. Our dogs love the same. So I am always the last hold out with the leaves. Last year, I set a new record. The leaves stayed in place until after the new year before they were ground to smithereens by my good friends who provide us with lawn service. Some will say that being a pariah comes naturally to me. Perhaps it is true.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

See larger versions of all the the Weekly Grist and Corndancer pictures for this week including the view from my office/studio on our weekly picture only gallery. Click here to go there.

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