I am going home to Arkansas in less than two weeks for a few days and my brother and I will see Robert Earl Keen  (sp?)perform.   He and Lyle Lovett wrote This Old Porch which is my favorite song of all time.

This old porch is like a big old red and white hereford bull
Standing under a mesquite tree
Out in agua dulce
And he just keeps on playing hide and seek
With that hot august sun
Just a-sweatin' and a-pantin'
Cause his work is never done

And this old porch is like a steaming, greasy plate of enchiladas
With lots of cheese and onions
And a guacamole salad
And you can get'em down at the lasalle hotel
In old downtown
With iced tea and a waitress
And she will smile every time

And this old porch is the palace walk-in
On the main street of texas
That's never seen the day
Of g and r and xs
With that '62 poster
That's almost faded down
And a screen without a picture
Since giant came to town

And this old porch is like a weathered, gray-haired
Seventy years of texas
Who's doing all he can
Not to give in to the city
And he always takes the rent late
So long as i run his cattle

And he picks me up at dinnertime
And i listen to him rattle

He says the brazos still runs muddy
Just like she's run all along
And there ain't never been no cane to grind
The cotton's all but gone
And you know this brand new chevrolet
Hell it was something back in '60
But now there won't nobody listen to him
'cause they all think he's crazy

And this old porch is just a long time
Of waiting and forgetting
And remembering the coming back
And not crying about the leaving
And remembering the falling down
And the laughter of the curse of luck
From all of those passerby
Who said we'd never get back up

This old porch is just a long time
Of waiting and forgetting
And remembering the coming back
And not crying about the leaving
And remembering the falling down
And the laughter of the curse of luck
From all of those sons-of-bitches
Who said we'd never get back up

This old porch or my old life is definitely just like that last stanza.  LOVE that song.

 My brother is one of those people who manages politicians’ careers so he tends to know people and for some reason knows Keen.  While we are in Fayetteville to see Keen I want to drop by the law school library to see the portrait of my dad who is a distinguished alumni.  I will see my dad in person when we visit.  However in this portrait that I find hysterical he is about 40 with massive mutton chop sideburns.  That portrait must have been entertaining bored law school students for years.  Here is my dad at 75 years young.  He just had a birthday.  Happy Birthday daddy.  He is gonna freak out when he sees this photo because he has no idea what one can find on Google images ;0)

After seeing Keen we are staying at a cabin in Devil’s Den state park which is a beautiful part of the world.  My brother is going mountain biking with some pals the next morning. I don’t mountain bike in flatland Florida so I am not going to start in the Ozark mountains.  I plan on taking a nice nature walk and having a good breakfast at the lodge.

Last weekend I went to Miami to hang out with Lea Lane and Cartouche.  I am lucky to be frieds with them and it is all thanks to OS. They are a lot of fun to hang out with.   There is a priced fix lunch at a small restaurant in the Versace mansion in South Beach so we had a LATE lunch at three.  I was late getting away from Orlando due to childcare issues because when one has a five-year-old that is just the way life is.  The mansion is beautiful and after lunch we went out by the pool since the staff was preparing for what appeared to be a wedding reception and had no time to pay attention to us.  Lea and I took advantage of that and opened up doors, sneaked up stairs admiring all the murals on the walls of the residence, and peeked in bedrooms.  Whenever staff would walk nearby we would flatten up against the walls like the stooges in Three Stooges movies trying not to be seen.

Last month I met Cartouche in West Palm and we saw Earthquake perform at the West Palm Improv.  He was wonderful.  He is definitely not yet a mainstream comedian and his primary audience is black middle aged males.  Earthquake is animated, wise, and profane much as Chris Rock used to be before he became a family man with his own sitcom.  Earthquake enjoys his own jokes so much he dances around the stage.  Cartouche and I much enjoyed watching the audience members absolute joy in Earthquake’s observations about life and then we saw him in the lobby when leaving where Cartouche flirted with him ;0) He really liked that. It was rough finding a clip of Earthquake that would not offend but here he is discussing Condoleeza Rice.