Jed, The Joads, & Me

I didn't strike gold, or get blown west by dark dust bowl clouds, but in the Fall of 2017 I made pretty much the same migration as the Clampett's, Woody Guthrie, and Faulkner's famous family.

Texas to California

Most people that know would say me and Texas fit together like boots and jeans, but sometimes life takes us all places we never thought we'd go. Sometimes things fall apart so better things can come along, and make no mistake that my life is better out here in Southern California than it was back in the windy Texan Panhandle.

My journey started way back  in the fifth grade but of course I had no idea back then that it would lead me to the Golden State. I met Connie in Mrs. Davis's class. She hadn't gone to elementary school with me before then because she lived in a neighboring district but her old school did not have an Enriched Learners program so she transferred over to Oakdale. We had no whirlwind puppy love romance, but we were friends until her family moved to California our seventh grade year.

More than two decades later we reconnected through the powers of social media. This eventually led to me and my two boys moving west and it has been great for us all.

Food, Funk, & a Few Folks 

I am told I have an accent but if you ask me I sound just like everyone else. Nevertheless, the first question I get asked is, "Where are your from?" Guesses range from Arkansas, to Georgia, Tennesee and often Louisiana probably because I often wear a New Orleans Saints cap. (By the way if you are reading this Roger Goodell you and your corrupt NFL officials all suck. I stick by my theory that the NFL Commissioner caught some venereal disease from a Bourbon Street prostitute during a bygone Super Bowl in the city and has held a private grudge agasint my beloved Saints ever since)

But I digress.

The second question I get asked is, "What do you miss most about Texas?"

My mom tops that list, but she is finally coming out to visit at the end of the month. Friends are also on the list but the power of social media and with a few visits back and forth and it is not hard to maintain those relationships. 

Live Music is not quite the same beyond my cherished Texas dive bars, but I have found a number of cool venues, including The Cave up in the mountains at Big Bear, which hands out warm pork rinds as you wait in line to get inside. 

Little-by-little immersing myself the the Southern California Music scene. I have also been fortunate enough to see Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, and a few other of my longtime favorites that simply do not play in or around Amarillo.




That brings us to food.

Man oh man do I miss Texas cooking. Not always, because I have my smoker and grill and to stoke my own wood box I can cook up some damn tasty meat. Good thing too, because what passes for BBQ out here in California is a damn shame.  

Tex-Mex is few and far between, but the chain Cafe Rio does the subgenre justice and they easily have the best queso I have found in the state.

Californians do love their avocado this and mango that. And for the love of Gad stop putting fruit in sweet tea. Raspberry, passion, watermelon. All of that shit is perfume water not suitable for hydration. McCalisters Deli can you please bring your southern sweet tea to SoCal?

And don't even get me started on quality french fries. The venerable Golden Light Cafe in Old Route 66 in Amarillo, Blue Sky, and Coyote Bluff all serve up a hand-cut style of fry that might as well be a Brontosaurus in California. 

In-n-Out is not Whataburger. I don't hate their small little round burgers, but I have to eat two if I want to be satisfied, And their bland fries are palatable, when dipped in the imported salty greatness that is Whataburger ketchup.

I have railed enough for today, but soon I will be back to highlight the things I love most about my life here in So Cal. 

 

 

Abacadabra, Don't Make Me Stab Ya

I was recently talking to a non writing friend of mine (they need a cool muggle-like moniker so we writers can quickly establish things when speaking about our not writer friends) when they asked me why I spend so much time researching when I write fiction.

"Just make something up," they said. "Why do you care if the neighborhood is right, you can see that bridge from the corner of that street, if a doctor would really prescribe that medication with those symptoms? It's all make believe anyway."

I nearly choked. I was downright incredulous on the inside but I smiled and racked my brain for a way to describe the magic of a fiction book to an obvious non-believer.

Then it hit me. Magic is the answer.

The really good authors truly are magicians. But we don't have smoke, mirrors, and scantily clad women in tight sequined dresses to fool the eye. we have clever words, emotions, and honest storytelling to deceive our readers.

I'm gonna go ahead and say it -- David Blaine, David Copperfield, Lance Burton. Y'all got nothing on Kent Haruf, JK Rowling, Barbara Kingsolver.

It's all an act, an illusion. The people who buy tickets or gather on the street to watch a magician and those who purchase novels all know they are being duped, tricked, bamboozled to believe in what is not real. And this is where the research comes in. So long as that audience or reader do not see up the sleeve, or spot the wires dangling they are perfectly willing to suspend their belief. A simple mistake ruins the whole thing whether it be a magician knocking over that mirror or me writing about Amarillo being overrun with Armadillo's. Armadillo's are a rare critter here in Amarillo, but can be found aplenty not far south of here.

I've read novels, otherwise good novels where the author made a simple or stupid mistake that jolted me out of the book. Once a readers pauses to think Uh-uh Buster, that ain't how it works, you've lost them.  And that my friends is a very non magical explanation of why I'm anal about the small things when researching my novels.

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Yeah it's been a while since I blogged but I've been in morning over the price of bacon. It's hard to sit down and right posts on a blog with Bacon right there in the title and not get a little choked up. Also I've been editing polishing and otherwise writing my butt off in the hope I can afford more bacon. Now on to the beer portion of this post ...

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If you are a discerning beer drinker and are not on www.untappd.com you my friend are missing out. Beer drinking social media that keeps track of the different beers you have consumed, offers recommendations based on your personal ratings and puts the social in social drinker. Look me up by name.

You can share pictures along with the reviews like this one of what might be the best beer I've ever tasted.

Ola Dubh 12 Year Special Reserve
Harviestoun Brewery

And here was my original Untappd review ...

Hell yeah! Puts hair on your chest and a smile on your face. Smells harsh but tastes smooth. Thick malty and robust.

That's it poured up in a glass. Nice and dark, like a good beer should be.