1/31/08 A few of days ago, Caroline Kennedy endorsed Barak Obama for president, saying that he had similar characteristics as her father John F Kennedy in charisma and ideology, and said something to the effect that he was the the most exciting presidential candidate of her lifetime. She apparently is hoping that he will inspire voters like JFK did in the 50's. Having lived through the JFK era, I was in High School when he came on the scene, and being (at that time) an Irish Catholic I was caught up in the JFK vision, charisma and ideology. I still carry some of that today although tempered with age and hopefully the wisdom that comes with it. Most people don't realize today that he got us into Vietnam and gave impassioned speeches about our responsibility to stop the Communist advance across the world in RVN. I heard him on many occasions.It was he who proclaimed the domino theory, if RVN fell so would the rest of Asia. It was because of his vision and charismatic persuasion that in 1964 I joined the Marines to help in the fight against Communism there. I truly believed that it was my duty to go, his assassination crystalized it in my mind. It was only after I got there that I realized how wrong it was. I would have followed that man into the gates of hell. I haven't seen that ability in Obama, I haven't seen the mass hysteria among young and even older voters, I've not seen the wild adulation that often accompanied JFK, in Obama. Not to say he is not avery responsible person or even the best for the job, but he is not in the league of JFK in my opinion. It makes me wonder what the Kennedy motive really is here, to preserve their legacy as our first family rather than allow the Clintons to replace them? I don't know, this is a strange twist to me. I have never been a fan of Teddy, in fact i tend to take the opposite position he supports and if he is for Obama I may have to look very hard. I only wish the Republicans had a candidate.

1/31/08 I haven't talked about "the book". The day we left for California, we were asked to come by the coffee house which we did. Many of our regulars were there and they presented us a beautiful hardbound book entitled "Berkeley Bob's Coffee House The Early Years 2003-2007" In that book were over 400 pictures of the old store, customers, music events, etc. all taken and complied by Connie Brien one of our customers who is a photographer and biology professor at the local college. It is a beautiful book, we are extremely pleased to have it, it took a lot of hard work and time to put it together. It is a real treasure. We keep it here at the store and anyone can ask to look at it.

1/31/08 I attended the Non Point Source (NPS) Pollution Conference in Montgomery yesterday put on by ADEM (The Al Dept of Environmental Management). I represented the Cullman County Soil and Water Conservation District where I work part time as a water quality technician. Basically I test 17 creeks in the county monthly for chemical health, for E coli bacteria outbreaks, and count critters, usually macroinvertabretes. We do this to generate background information on these creeks so we can see how they change as we develop and how we can keep them as clean as possible through that process. The information I collect goes into the Auburn University Fisheries Department database as well as our local Public Health Department (mainly when I find dangerous levels of E coli in a creek). I love this job. The conference brings together annually all of the governmental, agency, industrial, environmental and other partners who are working together in Alabama to protect and improve or water. Water is one of our great strengths here with 55 inches of rainfall annually and 75,000 miles of perennial creeks flowing through our beautiful state, the home to a wonderfully biodiverse aquatic ecosystem. Of course, the extreme drought, the worst in living memory or recorded statistics, which we have been in all of last year and with no end in sight, has made us realize that we can't take all of this for granted as we have previously. The conference which lasted from 9am to 4Alabama and what needs improvement in keeping our water sources clean and healthy for us and the aquatic species that live there. This year the focus was on designing and using green infastructures to either incorporate in new developments or retrofit into older developments as a means of handling stormwater runoff in an environmentally sound way. This means allowing it to infiltrate the soil much like it would in an undisturbed ecosystem rather than run off from the pavement into storm flow conduits to be dumped raw into local creeks. The extra water changes creeks dynamics and causes pollution. Putting it into vegetated area where it can inflitrate or allow the vegetation to slow down the flow so sediment and chemicals can be deposited into the soil to be broken down by bacteria before it reaches our creeks through storm drains. This includes the use of rain gardens, swales and some new and old new technology such as permeable asphalt and concrete and more. A very interesting conference. I did have a personal insight while I was there. I have adult ADD and it drives my wife and kids crazy. I never realized this until my daughter Kristy a psycologist diagnosed me a few years back and since then we have read every book and took every test and sure enough I am highly ADD. It has never really been a problem for me or my family until I retired 7-8 years ago. Up until that time I worked in forestry and spent mega time in the woods. New research has shown that ADD kids have their symptoms relieved when they are exposed to green nature, another reason why green infastructure is important. The more they are immersed in nature the less symptoms they exhibit. Vola, this explains my life. Somehow I have to make way for more "green" time outside of the coffee house before my wife runs me off.

1/29/08 Today is election day the first of several this year. This is for our local state rep, the previous one retired. Next week will be Super Tuesday. My election philosophy this year can be summed up in one sentence "Give them the gate in zero 8". I am voting for change and against establishment incumbents, all establishment incumbents the good the bad and the ugly, I don't care. Maybe if we vote them all out, and then vote them all out again in four years they will begin to realize who they are supposed to be working for. That may be a pipe dream, but if we don't do something the corporate theocracy which runs our country by buying politicians will drown us. Our local race for state rep is interesting, it pitches a local black minister against a local white county politician, both good men, and the race is deadlocked. This is rural Alabama, this is historic. Either one will make us a good rep I think. Make sure you vote this year...if you don't vote you have no right to complain later.

1/21/08 My worst nightmare didn't materialize thankfully. Open mike tonight was really good. We had some people come because of the Southern Living article to listen to the music and I also had one show up to perform. Andy Smith read about us in SL and came last Saturday to check us out, I happened to be in the store when he came. He is an old 60's folk revival guy and RVN vet like me and was looking for a place to play. So he came back for open mike and put on a good show. I love his finger picking style. He does the old stuff and some originals also. I hope he will become a regular. I think he is interested in performing a concert, so I think we will work that out. Larry Woelhart came down from Huntsville (thanks Larry,when he showed up I knew I was ok), he is a crowd pleaser and always puts on a great show. Larry will be performing on Saturday, Feb 23 here. Dennis Kaylor, Carlo, WP Smith, David Speegle, Susan Vaughn and Josh also played. Dennis sang some of his originals using demo CD's he had made, really great stuff, he is the best songwriter I know. He has a song Riding For The Brand that Garth Brooks should pick up. David hadn't been around for months, he has been working in Nashville so it was real good to see him and WP is so busy with his skyrocketing recording career, we don't see him much. Glad to have them back. Seth Richardson from Birmingham came, Seth made it to the third level of American Idol competition. In that competition he was asked to do something hip hop which was be completely out of character for him and doesn't fit his style, so he didn't advance. That was disappointing to me because he has a tremendous voice and stage presence singing ballads and his own stuff and I think would have done well in the finals competition. He did some folk music tonight singing a version of Skip To My Lou, it was neat. Susan Vaughn came from Gardendale and sang a song her husband wrote. It was a take off on one I do called The Preacher and the Bear, it was hilarious. A good job was done by all and we had enough performers I didn't have to go.

1/15/08 I knew it was coming, but hadn't seen it until today. The February edition of Southern Living magazine has an article about the coffee house titled Good Music, Good Company. It is about our music nights mostly but does go into our coffee house philosophy also. Our first contact with Southern Living was two and a half years ago when they called us wanting to send a photographer to an open mike night. He came one Monday, stayed three hours and took something like six rolls of film. Nothing happened for a year and a half or more when they called us back wanting to send a reporter to an open mike. The reporter Jack Black came and spent two or more hours with us. He told us the article would probably appear in the November or October, 2007 issue. Then a couple of months later they sent another photographer to an open mike and he stayed the whole time taking pictures. Finally in October I guess we saw the first draft story and were able to add stuff and change what wasn't right. We didn't see the second draft, but they did call and ran it by us, so we had additional input. We didn't have any input over the pictures. Finally this week the February issue was mailed to subscribers and we began to hear about it. It is still not out on the newstands and probably won't be until the 25th. It was a really great article I thought and we are very thankful to everyone who helped make it possible. My greatest nightmare now is that all the people who saw the article will show up for the next open mike and only a few performers will show up (like last time). I guess there will always be me and Carlo and hopefully Josh Brooks if all else fails.

1/21/08 James Smith the Autoharp Man gave a really great concert Saturday night. It was a very cold night and we had been under a winter storm advisory from the weather service all day and that probably limited attendance somewhat, but we still had 30 people or so in and out. He sold some CDs and got some tips so maybe it worked out ok for him. We can't afford to pay performers and have to rely on the generosity of out music loving customers to make it profitable for the musicians so they will want to come back. So far I think it has worked well. We do however always throw a little in the tip jar to supplement tips as we are able. James started out with a couple of old favorites that everyone knew, You are My Sunshine and Oh Susanna, and had everyone singing along. Then he did some old Alabama songs, Flower From the Fields of Alabama and Rose of Alabamy (which was the theme song for one of Clint Eastwood's B grade Westerns, can't remember which one). Then James played a variety of old folk, traditional and gospel songs as well as some he wrote. I really like that he spends time going into the histories of the songs he performs such as Soldiers Joy, Danny Boy, Old Joe Clark which are old (Irish) fiddle tunes and have been sung to with different words at different times depending on the political or social climate of the particular time. It was a great show.

1/14/08 The Honeysuckle Fiddle Show was epic!!!! The place was packed (more than packed), the music was great!! World class fiddling, clawhammer banjo and acoustic guitar accompaniment, buck dancing, hammered dulcimer, what more could you ask for!!! Roy Crawford is the best fiddler in these parts and way beyond and if there was any question about it there no longer is. He fiddled old fiddle tunes, waltzes, jigs, reels, you name it for two straight hours. Scott Miller is a very accomplished musician as well and proved that on the hammered dulcimer as well as his great bajo solos and accompaniment. His daughter Saralynn danced her heart out with old style buck dancing moves. We even had a spoons player and a Jews Harp player (although she would only perform in the back room, but knew all the old fiddle tunes). Roy started with an original tune he calls Honeysuckle and then went into some old favorites with Scott on clawhammer banjo, such as the Arkansas Traveler, Old Dan Tucker, Old Joe Clark (we had at least three buckdancers on this one) and Cripple Creek interspersed with a beautiful duet of Amazing Grace on fiddle and dulcimer, some traditional waltzes such as Ashogan Farewll, Midnight Waltz, and the green Valley Waltz and some old favorites like Listen To the Mockingbird, and one of my favorites Whiskey before Breakfast. They did a Cajun waltz, Celtic jigs, Thomas Jefferson's favorite tune, and even a polka, the Jesse Polka. Scott told some jokes and did some humorous stuff like the Chew Tabaccer Rag. It was a great night. Jarad Lewis counted 102 people in the building and many more in the street. The drink line was bedlam before the show and we had 4 people working to make drinks and sandwiches and could hardly keep up. Both Roy and Scott have a following and along with our regulars it was an awesome turnout, best we have ever had. Jimmy Well took some video which I have added below. There is more at his You Tube page.

Honeysuckle Fiddle Show
More Honeysuckle Fiddle Show

1/8/08 Open mike was a bust, only three performers counting me and maybe 15 people in the house. But Carlo, Jamie and I had a good time anyway and those who were there enjoyed it.

1/7/08 We had a full house for our singer-songwriter night Saturday. John Lott, Dennis Kaylor and I performed. We had a great time. John had a drummer and guitar player with him which added a lot to his sound. I'd like to get them back for a solo concert.

1/4/08 Gerri and I spent the holidays in California visiting my Mom who will be 89 this month. My brother his wife and daughter from Australia were there too and so was my sister her husband with her two kids and their significant others. We had a great time, it is always fun to visit California as long as I don't stay too long. We arrived in San Francisco late Saturday night after delays in both Birmingham and Chicago. Our hotel, the Bierford, a small Mom and Pop place on Sutter St near Union Square featured very small but clean rooms at a reasonable price. I would recommend it. We got to spend three days in San Francisco which was great. San Fran is my favorite city in the world. Of course I was raised in the Bay area for the most part, I went to High School and College there so I know the city pretty well. While there we did touristy stuff, Gerri hasn't been there much and wanted to see the sights so we stayed near Union Square, the center of downtown and a good central location. After breakfast at the Espresso Cafe on the corner of Powell and Sutter, we walked the three blocks to Grant Street and the beginning of Chinatown. There is a Tori gate there and Grant is lined with shops featuring oriental products and restaurants. We bought some things for our tea room; Japanese lanterns and other decorations and ate at a small Mom and Pop noodle shop. We then we took a cab to Fisherman's Wharf, we couldn't get a cable car, they were too crowded and walked around the Wharf area and to nearby Giradeli Square and later caught a cable car back to Union Square. The place we like best at Fisherman's Wharf, the Oakdale Market had shut down: that was disapointing. That night, which was the night before Christmas Eve, we walked around Union Square and saw all the Christmas lights, trees and decorations on the square and at Macy's, Sacks 5th Avenue, Neiman Marcus and so on. We had briefly gone to the square earlier on the day to check out the artists and saw some beautiful lithographs. that's when you wish you had an unlimited supply of money. It was all quite impressive. We ate supper at Herbert's Burritos, the best and largest burrito I have ever had. The restaurant was organized like a Subway but they used tortillas instead of bread. SF has great food. We also stopped at every coffee house we saw and sampled their stuff. I always get a double espresso, I feel that I can taste the character of the shop while sipping one of those. And I make a note of their price to input into my pricing spread sheet when I get back. I think we stopped at 12 coffee house on this trip.

The next day we went to the airport rented a car, picked up my niece Kat and my brother Andy and his wife Brenda and drove the 90 or so miles to Mom's in Modesto, the car theft capital of the world. We got there on Christmas Eve. We spent from Christmas to New Years Day at Mom's just visiting and enjoying the few things Modesto has to offer: a good coffee house The Queen Bean, Trader Joe's and Yesterdays Books the greatest used bookstore I know of anyplace. We drank a lot of good California wine and watched a lot of movies. We also walk nearly everyplace we go. We have a tradition when we get together that we watch a movie at night and each of us picks out at least one of the movies we watch. We try to pick obscure, artsy type movies. My brother introduced us to the British comedy The Vicker of Dibley, we watched an episode every night I think. He brought the dvd from Australia with him. Gerri and I went to the Sciabica olive plant and bought olive oil for the store. I am convinced that this is the best olive oil in the world. The weather was cold, low 30's in the morning and high 40's-50's during the day, rather un-California like, but when we left they were predicting really bad weather with snow accumulations in the Sierra of up to six feet. On New Years Day my brother rented a car, it was so small we had to hold much of our luggage on our laps, and drove back to San Fran. We dropped the girls off at the hotels and drove to the airport to turn in the car and took the rapid transit (BART) back. Then we took a cab to Haight Ashbury, I wanted to make a pilgrimage there. Haight Ashbuy, which is a crossroads in a west San Fran neighborhood, was the site of the 1967 Love In which I missed since I was in Viet Nam. This is an upscale part of town next to Golden Gate Park, San Fran's answer to New Yorks Central Park, but better with beautiful Victorian style houses lining the streets. Many are gaudily painted, hippie style and the area looked much like it did back then, but was so commercialized. A lot of make believe hippies selling Chinese made hippie looking gear to tourists like us who were wanting to capture the flavor of what was over and done. I enjoyed it though. We drank espressos in the People's Coffee House and walked around for an hour or so. there were few street people around unlike earlier times there. That night we ate in a Thai restaurant near Union Square that my brother and I like, it was great. The next day we got to the airport at 10 am for our flight back and finally arrived in Birmingham at 1:30 am and got home just before 3 am. We were very tired, out flight was delayed in Phoenix due to the major weather problems in the Mid west which had flights everywhere backed up. I was mighty glad to be back. But that night the temperature went down to 16 degrees and all the pipes in our commercial kitchen had frozen solid by the time I got home. I meant to keep up with the weather in Alabama while I was gone and advise Erin on what protective measures to take, but didn't and got caught. I don't know how much damage we suffered yet, but it will be significant I am sure. Even so it was a great trip.