Nothing too important

Latest CD Purchase: Sam Cooke, "The Best Of Sam Cooke"
Last 5 Groups I Listened To On My IPod: The Flatlanders, Collective Soul, Flatt and Scruggs, Iron and Wine, U2.
Last Movie Watched: The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid.
Current Song I'm Writing: Doesn't have a title yet. I'm doing that drone string thing again on guitar.
Last Song I Played On An Instrument: "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands--played on mandolin. Bernadette made up some funny words for it.
Currently Reading: "The French Quarter" by Asbury.
Songs on IPod: 6,950. It would take 116 days without stopping to play them all.

Happy Birthday Stefanie!

Happy Birthday Stefanie!
Hard to believe you are 22! I miss you.
Love,
Dad

Pic: Me and Stef back in the 90's.

Cousin Barack?

It was all over the internet today about Barack Obama being related to some famous people. Of course, being heavy into genealogy I usually glance at these type of articles but this one made me do a double take. Two of my distant cousins were mentioned, Jimmy and Bob. Cousin Jimmy ( my 2nd cousin 7 times removed) you would know as President James Madison. Our common ancestor is James Taylor, who is his grandfather and my 8th great grandfather. Cousin Bob (my 4th cousin 6 times removed) you would know as General Robert E Lee. Our common ancestor is Richard Lee, a 9th great grandfather of mine and 3rd great grandfather of his.
After checking the reports of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, there was no direct ancestor linking me and Senator Obama. It is interesting to note however, that in later generations a Clark family does appear in his tree, but not one I am able to make a connection to. So for now, I will just have to be content with President James Madison, General Robert E Lee, President Zachary Taylor, General George McClellan, Bing Crosby, President Richard Nixon, Bob Newhart, President Franklin Roosevelt, William Brewster, and Isaac Allerton as my most famous relatives.

Blog catch-up

There never seems to be enough time for everything. Of course, every one I know seems to have that problem. It's one of those universal western civilization things I guess. Anyway, here is a blog hodge podge:
Last week I went with Bernadette's class on a field trip to the post office. Had to leave early for a dental appointment.
Picture 1 is of a new business construction here in town, one of what seems like about a thousand new businesses going up. This one is near the new Peppers Pizza restaurant. Not sure what it is going to be. My last blog about all the new construction etc actually inspired a new song of mine, which I plan on recording for the next album.
Picture 2 is of Colette. She received her report card today and got straight A's. On top of that she qualified for the finals of the school spelling bee for 1st grade. The top 3 made it to the finals in each class, and I believe there are 4 or 5 classes. The finals will be in April.
Frederick has kept us up a good portion of the last several nights. I've not had much sleep. Today he started running a temperature, so Lauren took him to the doctor.
The day job is keeping me busy, and generally speaking, it is not something I talk about publicly. I did have to run an errand for it today and stop by there for a bit in addition to dealing with some phone calls even though it was my day off.
Dealing with a few music biz issues too---one which has to do with digital sales and one with performance royalty paperwork. Things that got messed up by no fault of mine but seemingly impossible to get fixed.
More music issues but this has to do with the equipment and software to record the demos on my computer. Can't seem to get that straight.
I was able to correct a minor issue with my family tree program so I am now able to print some genealogy reports to send to my cousin.
I probably won't be blogging tomorrow--I have a rather long day ahead of me.

Musical Timeline 14

This is a blog from my music site at www.myspace.com/fredclarkmusic, part of a musical time line series about my music career:

Just prior to finishing the recording, I decided to name the album "Living In Dakin's Neighborhood" as a tribute to some of the people in my town. Dakin in this case is actually Dakin Williams, younger brother of the late great playwrite Tennessee Williams. Dakin had a career as a successful attorney as well as being an author and actor. (He would take part in stage productions of his brothers plays--often in drag as Blanche Dubois!) I first met Dakin as a teenager--he had an office downtown, and would run in to him from time to time. He was quite the snappy dresser, and always had good stories to tell about hanging out with Marlon Brando or Elizabeth Taylor.
After deciding to name the album, I ran into Dakin at the post office and told him of my intention. He was quite excited about it. To celebrate, he asked me and Lauren out to dinner. We picked out an evening we could all agree on, and he picked out a favorite restaurant of his in St. Louis. Me and Lauren arrived at his house that evening and as we approached the door we could hear a piano playing. The song was "Windmills of My Mind" by John Hartford. (John Hartford is Dakin's cousin). We then spent about the next ten minutes ringing the doorbell and knocking on the door---he couldn't hear us through his piano playing. Finally he answered, and explained he was practicing so he could give us a special musical performance. He played the song, his wife came in the room for a few minutes, we talked, and then Me, Lauren, and Dakin left for the restaurant in his late model luxury car. We started out, and the Dakin said he had a new CD he wanted us to hear. Now keep in mind, Dakin was probably about 80 years old at the time. He put in the CD, and it was a booming, thumping techno-electronica mix. On the way over, he told us how the restaurant we were going to (the name escapes me) displayed a picture of him and Tennessee (amidst other celebrities) in a prominent area in the entrance. When we arrived, Dakin was a bit upset because the picture had been moved to a less prominent area. He let the host and the manager know about it, after all, Dakin reasoned, Tennessee was the "Playwrite of the millenium". The manager moved the picture back to the prominent area. The rest of the evening was spent eating a fantastic dinner and listening to Dakin stories, mostly about how he felt his brother's death was a homicide and not a suicide, (which makes sense to me--if someone was going to commit suicide, there has got to be a better way than trying to swallow an aspirin bottle cap) and of assassination attempts on his own life for trying to expose the cover up. The evening ended with me driving us back to Dakin's house and listening to more techno music.
After the album was released, Dakin would attend some of my shows, and I would always be sure to introduce him to the crowd. He always received enthusiastic applause, and he got a big kick out of the extra publicity.
In the last few years I've lost touch with him. His wife passed away a few years back, and I heard he is living in a retirement home now. Hopefully I will be able to reconnect sometime soon with my old friend.

More old pics

1. Grandma, Aunt Delores, Aunt June, Mom or Aunt Cathy--can't tell,Cousins Sharon and Karen, Cousin Bill, Uncle Lucky, circa 1953.
2. Me and Stefanie, 1994 or 1995. I forgot to cut my hair that year.
3. Aunt Delores and Aunt June, 1946.

Frederick

The best boy in the whole world.

$45.64

$45.64, aka prescription costs and health care rant.
This is me with my bottle of diabetes medicine, which costs me $45.64 a month. I have pretty good health insurance, but I have to pay $45.64 a month for this stuff. I don't like paying this much (45.64) for one prescription. (I have other scripts I also have to get every month--- I plan on ranting about them too, so lets just say this is the first of a series of rants about medical costs!) Now before I go on let me say this--I am grateful to have this medicine, I know there are people who need medicine and don't have it, there are people who spend thousands a month on their medicines etc, etc, etc, but I just don't like being nickeled and dimed for this stuff. I don't know what the answer or the solution or the alternative is---I'm not sure universal health care is the answer. I don't want the government telling me what doctor I can go to, and I sure don't want to have to do what folks are doing over there in England--pulling their own teeth because they can't get a dentist appointment.
I don't want to deny anyone the right to make a profit either, but something is rotten in drugland, and I don't like it.

1928

Here is a pic of Aunt June (1927-88), Grandma (1905-1981), and Grandpa (1899-1965)sometime in 1928. Calvin Coolidge was President. Herbert Hoover would win the election later that year over Al Smith. Mickey Mouse made his debut in the film Steamboat Willie.

Cousins Part 2

Heres a good one of me and cousins with Grandma from about 1968!
Sharon with husband Mike, Cher, Robert, Grandma, Me, Debie, Jim, Steve, Lori and Ed with Linda.

Cousins part 1

My cousin Cher back in the Lou wants me to continue with the old picture theme, so here are a couple of doozies.
Picture 1 is of Joy. I love this picture.
Picture 2 is a group shot--Marty's, Self's, and Brooks, although I must admit I can't identify who is who, except for Joy, Jim, Steve, and isn't that Karen with the glasses?--
Joy help me out here! Who are the rest? What year?
Click on the pictures to get a closer view.

Another Unknown Picture

Another picture with no identification.

Some old pictures

Old pictures: Me and grandma, 1963. Me and Robert, 1976. Uncle Jim and Aunt Cathy, 1952.

Life In A Boomtown

Recent reports place Houma as #2 in the country for increasing home values. We were very lucky a year and a half ago to get an incredible deal on our home when we bought it. We live in a neighborhood of doctors, lawyers, business owners and oil people. Shipping and oil are big businesses here. Seems like most of the men I meet around town work on boats or offshore on the rigs. Anyway, retail businesses, hotels, banks, and restaurants are popping up everywhere, and new neighborhoods are also being developed.
Soon after we moved here in our house on Buena Vista, someone in the oil business purchased the one blighted looking house on our street and had it torn down. (It is across the street and one house over from us). New construction has begun and I've been told it is a $500,000 house being built. Thats a good thing. Sure to raise our value here even more.
Picture is of the construction of the house being built.

Soccer/Football Rant

I am a soccer fan. For those of you outside the USA, I am talking about football. I never really understood why we call it soccer here. I always thought that "other game" where they wear the helmets would be better named "tackleball". Of course, I am a fan of that game too-- I follow the Rams, Saints, Colts and Dolphins in the NFL, and Notre Dame and LSU in college.
Anyway, I follow the European soccer leagues a little bit, and the last couple years the MLS here in the USA. There is no team here in the New Orleans area, although we have a low level developmental team, the Shell Shockers. For the MLS, I try to follow FC Dallas, and Los Angeles (I like Alexei Lalas, and yes, I still think it is fun to watch Beckham). I like some of the players from New England and New York, but I'm not much of a fan of those two teams. Don't know why, just because.
I was really pulling for St. Louis to be the next MLS franchise. Even though I am down here in south Louisiana, I still consider the St. Louis area home. Everything is in place to build the St Louis United stadium in my hometown of Collinsville, Illinois, but alas, the latest franchise was awarded to the Philadelphia Athletic Club. I can't really argue with that decision, because Philly has a massive population compared to the Lou, and I foresee a very successful franchise there. Lots of great soccer tradition in Philadelphia. Still, I am bummed out there won't be a team in Collinsville....just yet. United undoubtedly is now the favorite to be the 17th franchise during the next round of expansion.

Bernadette Loses A Tooth

Bernadette lost a tooth today. She pulled it out in the middle of 9:00 mass at St. Francis de Sales. We celebrated in the evening by taking a few pictures. Colette read a book. Bridget wanted me to chase her, and Frederick wanted to stand on his head. Lauren grilled steak and hamburgers outside. Happy Lose a Tooth Day, Bernadette!

DC5

I was saddened to hear that Mike Smith, lead singer of The Dave Clark 5 passed away. The DC5 are one of my all time favorite bands. I think they ended up having about 20 top 20 hits here in the USA and sold about 100 million records. Incredible numbers, but you don't hear too much about them anymore, although they are to be inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in a few weeks. Dave went on to become an ultra successful businessman and producer. The DC5 catalog is currently out of print. Luckily, I have a greatest hits album on cassette from the early 90's. Anyway, Mike passed away after being in ill health for the last few years following an accident that left him partially paralyzed.
Back in my days with The Rockouts, we were known to play the DC5 hit "Anyway You Want It" during live performances. The last several years I've been known to play "Glad All Over" (my favorite DC5 song) around the house. The picture is of me playing "Glad All Over" with Bernadette and Bridget. Colette took the picture.