Hey, Juanita, Fajitas y Dos Cervezas, por favor!

Just another snowy night in central Alaska. It's been coming down all day long. Not dumping, but a nice light snowfall, stopping for awhile here, starting up again for awhile there. In the past week it's been above Freezing maybe a handful of hours, maybe two handfuls. I guess for most of the Lower 48 and Canada, eh, this would be winter weather most people wouldn't really wanna deal with. Here and now this is just Fall.

Kinda sorta if I really put my mind towards thinkin' about it, makes me wanna kick back in some cantina down along the Texas-Mexico border, drinkin' disgusting see-through yellow beer while listening to a little Tex-Mex. Part of me is Texan in spirit, longing to ride the range on horseback, live a cowboy life that's not very easily found in the United States anymore. The fact I can't stroll down the street with a couple of 6-shooters in holsters, well, that ruins it. Who was it who decided that wasn't legal anymore? That person needs to be strung up!

Then there's the other part of me that wouldn't mind just bein' a bum. Cantinas and lonely roads in the desert. Cervezas y Tex-Mex musica to fill the nights under the Texas sky. Ahhhhh.

But how about instead of the pee beer, I'll have some hot chocolate and listen to some hippie dude Texan with ties to the Grateful Dead? Hmmm, okily dokily, neighborino, methinks that'll be a fun little listen on this Friday in Fairbanks.

First, a couple new pieces of wood in the stove, get some heat in here, and away we go...





Texas Tornados

The Best Of

[1994]




Who Were You Thinkin' Of
(Hey Baby) Que Paso
Wasted Days And Wasted Nights
Guacamole
La Mucura
Adios Mexico
Mentiras
Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone?
A Mover El Bote
Una Mas Cerveza
Soy De San Luis

I've always wanted to give a listen to something from Doug Sahm... now finally I have. Sahm was born a Texan and for awhile lived a life as a San Francisco hippie. He and close friend Augie Meyers started the Sir Douglas Quintet... who, I do believe, have shared the bill with the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane back in the late 60's. Through the years he continued to make music, forming the Texas Tornados in 1990 along with Meyers and Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez.

Before pressing play, I was wondering if this was going to be a country music album. I've gotta say no way. It ain't like George or Waylon or Willie. It certainly ain't NashVegas-style. No, this is way off from those. This is Tex-Mex and so much so that one should know Spanish to be able to understand all the lyrics. I've got a pretty decent grasp on Spanish, at least enough to manage a short trip to Ciudad de México or Barcelona... or Miami, but listening to Español sung like this, uhhh, it kind of loses me when trying to understand the words. The music is still good, though, that's for sure. Some of it even reminds me of a cajun zydeco sound from the swamps of Louisiana because of the accordian played by Jimenez. When the Spanish kicks in, that's when it really transports me to Texas and Mexico.

Ahhh, one of these days, I'll go bummin' 'round those parts, soak in the life for a month or two around Christmastime, when it's not so dang hot and sweaty, and just kick back and enjoy this music night after night. Unfortunately I won't be hearing Doug Sahm or the Texas Tornados... he sadly passed away in 1999. But this music will live on!

Dos cervezas, Juanita!!!

160 kbps dload found @ Deaconblues1103