Left:  Tim playing my classical guitar and Mama (Xmas, 1979);  Right:  Tim playing John's strat (Xmas, 1990.)  You may be asking, why doesn't this excellent guitarist, who used to sit in with Z Z Top when they were known as "The Moving Sidewalks," own his own guitar?

Best ask him.  I'll throw this web page his way and invite him to respond.  If he does, I'll post it, if he approves!  But now let's talk about ME and music.  I too got the calling as early as my brother did.  Though the photo to the right is torn, that's me playing the piano alright and Tim sitting right beside me.   It must have been a family conspiracy of sorts.   Maybe to annoy Dad?

Age 4-5, Alvin, Texas, and there I am above that piano again.  Am I a muse or what?

Performing for friends at my birthday party in honor of turning 6 years old.  2/14/61.

 

age 11, 1966

age 13, 1969

age 14, 1970

 

Left and Right:

12/87, age 31, Tempe, AZ

 

 

Above:

12/28/77, age 21, Alvin, TX

 

No gift is sweeter than when it's shared.  And at the time these pictures were taken, there was nothing in my life as precious to me than my beloved Caesar (b. 1978 - d. 1996) and my baby grand piano.

 

 

 To the right:  Cousin Mary Ann (age 11) in her inimitable imitation of Janis Joplin in 1971.  See?  She got the calling too.  She's the daughter of my Aunt Kitty, Mama's sister.  These other photos were taken when she was lead singer of the band "Skyblue" @2/79 in Houston and Austin TX.  

 

Neither me, my brother, nor Mary Ann ever fully actualized our musical selves professionally to the degree we would have liked.  However, I believe we all made significant contributions to the well-being of others and ourselves all the same.  And still do whenever we can.  As far as any "stardom" is concerned, it will be up to an entirely new generation to accomplish that.  I know that Mary Ann's daughter, Olivia, is supposed to be a real firecracker.  Then there's my beloved niece, Chelsea, Tim's daughter, who is already playing the french horn not even 12 yet.  In fact, I'm going to ask her if she's got any pictures I can post on this page as she is continuing the family tradition.  

For my deeper thoughts on music and my pioneering in "music parapsychology" -- you must wait for my book.  Perhaps I'll start publishing excerpts here and there.  Don't know yet.  Finally, in dedication to all of the brave souls who get the calling to be a creative artist in spite of the indifference shown to them by family and friends, I dedicate the following poem by Marge Piercy:

 

For the Young Who Want to

 

Talent is what they say

you have after the novel

is published and favorably

reviewed.  Beforehand what

you have is a tedious

delusion, a hobby like knitting.

 

Work is what you have done

after the play is produced

and the audience claps.

Before that friends keep asking

when you are planning to go

out and get a job.

 

Genius is what they know you

had after the third volume

of remarkable poems.  Earlier

they accuse you of withdrawing,

ask why you don't have a baby,

call you a bum.

 

The reason people want MFA's,

take workshops with fancy names

when all you can really

learn is a few techniques,

typing instructions and somebody

else's mannerisms

 

Is that every artist lacks

a license to hang on the wall

like your optician, your vet

proving you may be a clumsy sadist

whose fillings fall into the stew

but you're certified a dentist

 

The real writer is one

who really writes.   Talent

is an invention like phlogiston

after the fact of fire.

Work is its own cure.  You have to

like it better than being loved.