Fri, 09/05/2008 - 8:41pm — Sarah
and this's one of the poets.
That's Waddie Mitchell, for you greenhorn / tenderfoot folk.
If you can't run a Google search, let me just tell you to go to Amazon and take a look at his books.
Or listen to his work read out loud.
Man flat can wrangle words.
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How 'bout a few lines
of one of your favorites?
Heh. I'd be lyin' if I said that wasn't temptin'.
Sadly, though, I can only refer you to places you can read/hear them with the copyright holders' sanction.
Here's one:
http://www.cowboypoetry.com/waddie.htm
and you can listen here:
http://www.mp3.com/artist/waddie-mitchel...
I'm partial to Baxter Black, too. Met him once in Stephenville. Nice fella, tells a good story.
You can hear him some mornings on NPR.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
great portrait
and i love cowboy poetry.
Do come back with a post-poetry report, Sarah
and hope you have a heck of a good time.
Not to project, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if you're as thrilled by the messenger as the message. (It's OK – we’ll keep that a secret.) Mitchell is a heck of a nice guy, met him some years back in Elko (that's a town in Nevada, for you greenhorns) at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Baxter Black, also a good guy, recites there too along with a passel of others. An old buddy of mine, former partner (administratively speaking) in a commune actually, sings old timey songs and is a big hit there every year. Wallace MacRae is for my money the quickest draw with wicked wit there is, a real working ranch cowboy and flat crazy besides.
Elko is in the middle of gawdawful nowhere but that's part of the charm, keeps out the riffraff, has the best Basque food this side of the Atlantic and the world's record polar bear mount; who could ask for more? Go early, if you can; the real craziness happens before the crowds roll in.
Love the length of Waddie's boot-cut jeans; dressed for snake country, heh.
OR maybe some recordings?
That would be fun.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Well, I ended up working the "teardown shift" so I didn't hear
him after all... don't know about photos either, as my beloved has to get them off the digital camera, and there are other things on his agenda first.
Sigh.
Got my chuck-wagon dinner, though, and I have to tell you, the wagon boss at the wagon where my plate came from -- a lady from Petersburg Texas -- knows her business. Good, tasty beans, a chicken-fried steak you can cut with a plastic fork, and fluffy lightbread. All cooked over coals in dutch ovens, by the bye.
Saw the Texas Tech Ranch Horse team demonstration. Good points on how to work young or green ponies so they're able to handle cattle in the pens or on the range without spilling even an un-seasoned rider in the process. That the demonstration team was Dr. Kris Wilson and two students, I expected; that the students would look like they'd be at home in the Baywatch cast as well as in the saddle, I hadn't.
Pretty little 15-hands bay roan three-year-old working up to turn 180-degrees within the length of his body at a walk, lope or trot. Good horse, not a bad rider, much patience on the part of both -- and she won some praise not just from her instructor in the pen but from the audience, because she had sense enough not to make things harder for the horse. The other rider had a copper-colored mare, flashy and quick and a bit more finished; but she also had, and used, a quick spur a bit too often.
The other event I saw was a horse trainer from Henrietta, working a five-year-old in schooling to show at reining events. It's nice to see and hear knowledgeable people talk about how to bring a horse along to do the horse's job, whether it be carrying kids on a trail ride or doctoring cattle in an open pasture (and this horse does both in his real life), and have sense enough to do both jobs with the rider's safety and ability in mind as well as the work he's doing.
I enjoyed the parade. Didn't get to the poetry readings or the music, but I did see the Pitchforks' wagon (yes, the Pitchforks still works range cattle and feeds its hands off a chuckwagon on the range) and I did help sell some books, so it was a good day overall.
Had a wonderful time in the several hours I did have between shifts, though, and got introduced to something I'd never even imagined before.
Pecan praline cheesecake fudge.
You know those little half-a-thimbleful sample spoons you used to get at Baskin-Robbins? This fellow was giving away samples of about 17 flavors of fudge, yesterday. Decadent doesn't come close to the starting line on how good this stuff is; I've never in my life tasted anything this good that didn't involve either steak, or chocolate.
Bringiton, tell me more about Elko.
(Oh, and as far as being on the edge of forsaken nowhere, have you ever been to Lubbock?)
The next big events like this are in New Mexico, I guess. Nara Vista (two weeks from now) and Lincoln County (November). I'd like to go to Ruidoso, but I don't know if I'll have the wherewithal.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
"Pecan praline cheesecake fudge."
Worth a post, Sarah.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
lubbock?! woman, that's bright lights, big city
for edge-of-forsaken-nowhere, ever been to freer? but i'm guessing a cowboy poetry event is unlikely to ever make it to freer [or even be welcome there, possibly].
horses, hope you got photos of them. my first horse, a flashy palomino, was a semi-retired cutting horse and barrel racer, so i got into rodeo on a small scale [because of her advancing years and my limited budge], and then when we moved east, she and i went into three-day eventing, again on a small scale [same reasons as before].
ruidoso is one of my favorite places on earth, several summer vacations spent camping there, and some skiing in the winter. i hope you get to go. if you do, will you post pictures?
Recipes, and thanks
for the visual pictures! Brought me back to my horse days, could see 'em for a sec, thanks.
Any of those delicious recipes would be super, yes especially the amazing dessert.
I've heard a few readings.
Go cowboy poets!
If I get to go and I can make some. Meanwhile...
this is a photo from a past NCSC parade. I'm pretty sure I saw this same horse and rig yesterday, though, in the parade.
Oh, and the fellow who makes that fudge has a website: divinitybydave.com.
I want to tell y'all about that parade.
Have you ever seen a Conestoga wagon pulled by a team of Percherons?
Have you ever seen a bicycle-wheeled sulky with wagon bows and a canvas shade, going down the road behind a trotting miniature mule?
If not, next year you should come to the NCSC just for the parade!
Freer? Yeah!
This is an even older photo, from the 2002 Avalanche Journal story on the NCSC. But this is how the parade still looks.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
driving lessons
sulkies and miniature mules, yeah! the horses and i moved around a bit, and one of the places where i boarded for awhile was a farm with a team of 4 matched shetland ponies that pulled a wagon, and another team of 2 miniature mules. i spent many a happy hour [as opposed to happy hour] learning to drive them in all combinations, but my very favorite was heading out in the sulky with one of the mules. by that time the cutting horse/rodeo horse/3-day eventer was doing nothing more strenuous than a pleasant trail ride through the woods, or the occasional beginner level dressage demo, but the younger horse [another flashy palomino] took to pleasure driving like a fish takes to water.
later on, i had the chance to get into fine-harness driving with saddlebreds, which i loved [and love riding the gaited horses too], but i'm against the whole long hooves, weighted shoes, set tails thing, so that only lasted a year or two. one of the nice things about living here in almost-alabama is the prevalence of racking horses [as pleasure mounts, not a lot of organized events locally] and i spent many a wonderful day on the trail riding a handsome bay with the sweetest, most unflappable disposition and the silkiest, smoothest gaits. but i recently checked them out on the web, and while it looks like the racking horse folks are still against all the cruelty involving tails, they're getting more and more into the shoeing and extreme gait for the show ring. argh. [and don't get me started on the morgan horse]
a long-time dream of mine has been to eventually retire to my portion of the family farm, acquire a couple of nice percherons [i'm also partial to the suffolk punch], and use them in growing something other than the gmo commodity crops we're growing now. i have to admit to a secret guilty hope that the oil economy will suddenly collapse overnight and those of us who know how to ride and drive horses [and breed and train them] will become ascendant parts of the culture and economy. of course, one of the downsides to that is that even abusive and cruel persons would be using horses to get around [maybe we could reserve the few remaiing cars for them].
love the photos, especially the mules [hmmm... maybe mammoth mules for the farm...]
you know what would rock?
these poets vs. all other types of poets nationwide in big US poetry slams : >
Another clearinghouse...
Although the elite in me says there's a lot more bad poetry than good. Ducks, but there it is. OTOH, it would be good to bring the good stuff up and make it recognized.
You know, the interesting thing is that the internet should go up as prices go up. People will travel virtually. (And as bandwidth goes up, text will rule even more than it does. We are in a good place.)
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
So long as ever'thing doesn't devolve into variants on 'rap',
amberglow, that might rock along nicely.
Doggerel need not be dissed because it doesn't clear an arbitrary bar; some of the doggerel I wrote and turned in as a college junior actually caused my instructor to smile, and he ended up the poet-laureate of the state of Texas.
We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
the ones i've been to have always
been respectful of all who stood up and tried, i've found...i've never gone to any really formal competitions tho--only in bars.
i like doggerel--my fav poet is Wordsworth, who many consider to be that, i've found--to my surprise. : >
Outsider art
I agree that the unexpectedly good exists.
However, Sturgeon's Law (95% of everything is crap) will apply here...
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Like it does in blogging, Lambert? N/T {;>)
We can admit that we're killers ... but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes! Knowing that we're not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Alas, yes
With the rare exceptions, such as ourselves, where every post is a gem. Not.
Seriously, over thousands of posts, a 5% non-crap number is pretty good.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Wait a second -- who gets to decide which posts are or are not
crap -- and what is the rule by which to judge?
Is generating hundreds of comments automatically not crap?
Or dozens of comments?
Or maybe not getting any comments at all, but having your readership go away humming a song, or smiling at an image you've posted?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18