Highland Jazz and Blues Festival

For years I bought into the hype of Shreveport being an inferior city in the league of Great American Places.  I ran with the idea of nothing to do and nowhere to go and just an overall apathy of being a Shreveportian.  But, recently I've realized this just isn't true.  Shreveport is a great place to live...and there's even more potential awesomeness in the works.

I have lived in a few other cities in Louisiana, but none in what you would consider my "formidable" years. But, I have traveled a good deal and have soaked in what is good and bad about other places.  For me, and my likes, I'm impressed with Shreveport.  For example, less than two miles from my house are paved biking and running trails.  Unpaved mountain biking and trail running paths. A river perfect for kayaking or canoeing, especially fishing.  How wonderful is that, I mean, how many other cities can tout the beauty and accessibility we are afforded. The only thing outdoorsy Shreveport lacks is Rock Climbing, something that can easily be fixed.

An interesting indicator of how Shreveport digs deep into you and hangs on can be seen by those who move away...they almost always seem to find there way back.  I want to give you guys a couple of really good websites/blogs to check out...these will keep you informed of the fun, funky, and fabulous happenings in the community:

A Better Shreveport - This non-profit is dedicated to improving the city.

Shreveport Blog - This blog will keep you informed of the great events around town.

I guess my sense of pride for Shreveport, at this moment, is from a successful Highland Jazz and Blues Festival.  This half day music and food filled festival is a yearly tradition and always a fun highlight of November   I'm extra proud as it occurs in my neighborhood, interjecting some culture and life into an area in need of continuous love.

The performers are local grown talent, jazz and blues, and it culminated this year with a New Orleans based Preservation Jazz Hall Band (regionally local).  It was a great day, with cheap Louisiana Beer, Great local Food vendors, and some soulful music.  I definite must-do next year.

I could go on in much more detail about the goodness of Shreveport and the greatness of the Highland Jazz Fest, but who wants to read a ten page blog post.  But, I will add my twitter "tweets" of the progression of the festival...join twitter if you can, follow me if you like.

David P. McCormick

@DavidtheYippie Shreveport, LA

Seeker of Adventures, Husband, and Man among Men

http://familymccormick.blogspot.com

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DavidtheYippie David P. McCormick 

Thanks you @HighlandJBF

14 hours ago 

DavidtheYippie David P. McCormick 

Random fact: "You Are My Sunshine" written by former LA Gov. Jimmy Davis. Performed by #preservationhalljazzband at #HighlandJazzandBlues

15 hours ago 

DavidtheYippie David P. McCormick 

Preservation Hall Jazz Band bringing it home! #HighlandJazzandBlues pic.twitter.com/yiawwOKv

16 hours ago 

DavidtheYippie David P. McCormick 

I need a better word than Eclectic to describe the folks at the #HighlandJazzandBlues. Perhaps Fantastic can suffice. #shreveportrocks

16 hours ago 

DavidtheYippie David P. McCormick 

Just saw someone dressed as a Jedi at the #HighlandJazzandBlues festival. It's, apparently, Star Wars approved! #addedbonus

17 hours ago 

DavidtheYippie David P. McCormick 

Cheap beer great food amazing homegrown talent. Why aren't you here at the @HighlandJBF festival? #funshreveportstuffpic.twitter.com/7dvc0XcG

18 hours ago 

DavidtheYippie David P. McCormick 

Jazziana killing it on stage at #HighlandJazzandBlues.pic.twitter.com/B1w58Nkt

19 hours ago 

DavidtheYippie David P. McCormick 

Buddy Flett kicking things off at the @HighlandJBF. Gonna be a great time. pic.twitter.com/gdfI2Rhz

19 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

Percentages

This Occupy Movement has me a bit befuddled, I must admit.  Now, I will fully offer the fact that I am not the most read when it comes to the meat and potatoes of these "peaceful" protests.  I don't know what agenda they, as a whole, are pulling for.  But, it seems to me, they don't know either.  Are we really surprised at this, considering they claim to be the 99%. That's a lot of folks to put into one category.

Yes I understand the great dichotomy of the 1% with the "work-horses" of the American populous.  And yes I do believe reform is needed.   But, these seem to be desperate acts of desperate folks.  I don't know if the spark of the Arab Spring gave the momentum or catalyst for the now global "Occupy" movement, but we can hardly place these two in the same category.   I wonder what happened to the grass roots movements of the past,  is this how they have evolved, or is this what happens when the grass gets too high.

I support the protesters, I support the need for change, I support their rights, I support the pain and desperation from 3 years of financial turmoil.  I do not support wanton police violence, I do not support a display of power over another person, I do not support subjecting someone to feeling inferior as a result of a broken system.  But, this being said, I can't feel good about these movements.

You would call me the 99%.  That's what I would be on paper.  No denying it.  It's who I and my family are.  I've had some lucky breaks and many, many blessings.  But, I attribute this to good decisions, not the failing of others.  This is where I separate myself from those who claim a down trodden existence at the whim and legislation of wall street.   But, what do I know.  I'm not in their shoes...

I also support the clearing out of the camps by the municipalities.  I feel these places have become a refuge for those who take advantage of the outcries of those in desperation.  A place festering with feces, drugs, and criminal activity.  It's fitting and somewhat poetic these camps foster crimes in which the citizens report to the police who, later on, force them from their confines.  A symbiotic relationship, like star wars...just not as cool. But, I support their First Amendment rights.

A reason companies excel and capitalism thrives, is due to organization, planning, and implementation.  A Strategic, Attainable, and Measurable (SAM) goal.  A force of research, options, and mostly a business plan.  This is what moves things forward.  It seems these SAM goals and plan of action is absence in the movement.  Perhaps they should establish an Executive Council, or appoint someone to be CEO of the group.  Another person who can handle the general operations from day to day...we'll call this person a COO. And someone to handle all meetings with the press, I don't know, how about a PR person.  And someone else to stream it all online, an IT guru. Oh, but someone must handle international efforts.  This is, after all, global.  Or is this just what happens when the boomer generation of hippies finds they have not planned for the future.

To garner more than 1% of public support of the 99%, to be against the 1%, we need to realize more needs to be communicated.  Until then, I wish you all luck in your camps as winter approaches.  Perhaps all that time hidden from the winter's chill will provide for you an opportunity to plan...for a united effort I can get on board with.  Until then, I will admit to being the 99%, but not agree to having the 1% of the 99% talking for us all.

Is that legal?

I french kissed a giraffe yesterday.  Yeah, not what you expected to be the opening line.  Don't worry, I gave her dinner first, I am, after all, a gentleman.  Now hold off, before you go calling authorities or blowing me up on the twittershpere, let me explain.  There is, after all, a method to the madness and no cause for concern.

It was at the State Fair.  I haven't been to the fair in over a decade.  This is owing mostly to the fact that it is first of all, not safe after dark...or late into the afternoon, and two, it's rather expensive.  But we were drawn to the fair this year. It was a calling, neigh, a desire for something.  Something unique, special, something fairtastic!  It was...wait for it....almost...RED VELVET FUNNEL CAKE!  And it was worth every calorie filled, artery clogging, dying younger bite.

Doesn't this look soooo Good

A friend told of us this wonderful anomaly, so we had to go and try it out.  We decided to go on Eliz's day off, in the early afternoon.  We actually timed it quite perfectly.  The weather was great, there was no fee to get in, and it was a Dollar Day, with lots of specials for only a dollar.  That's how we got away with two hours at the fair and only spending $8.  Yeah, we rock!

So 7 of those dollars was spent on the funnel cake (Worth It).  The other buck was spent on carrots to feed the livestock. In this case a Giraffe.  They had goats, pigs, cows, tigers, elephants, ducks, turkeys, zebras, etc, etc, etc.  But, my darling wife was mesmerized by the longneck. So, we dug deep, pulled out a dollar and bought carrots.  She fed him a couple and had a good laugh.  With her remaining two carrot sticks, she graciously gave me the honor to feed the big gal.

 First carrot, give by hand...the "traditional" way.  The second carrot I put in my mouth (mostly hanging out of course) and the giraffe, bent his long neck over the fence stuck out his 12 inch tongue and grabbed that carrot like it was dipped in gold.  With wide eyes, a sour face, and some definite giraffe spittle on my chin, I pulled away to raucous laughter from my wife and bystanders.  It kinda freaked me out...and then Eliz wouldn't even give me a kiss, what's up with that.  Totally worth it though.  I mean really, how many people can pontificate on the time they made out with a giraffe.  Now I can cross that one off the bucket list.  Next up teeth cleaning clinic for crocodiles, what can I say, I'm a giver.

the tongue in action

Muddy Buddy

This weekend Eliz, Drew, and I went to Dallas, TX to compete in a mud run.  We were in town for less than 24hrs.  The weekend started Friday night with a music festival in Shreveport at the McNeil Street Pump Station. We woke early on Saturday, ran 10 miles, 6.2 of which was in a schedule, sponsored race.  We rocked the race, came home, packed up and headed to Dallas.  We arrived in Dallas just after 3pm.  We met our friends, the Delaneys, who were so nice to let us stay with them. Colin Delaney, was to be my partner in the ever exciting Muddy Buddy Race.  But, we had tickets to the awesome and talented Avett Brothers.  These guys are a pretty awesome band out of North Carolina, worth checking out.  The concert was in downtown Dallas, we were staying in Mckinney.  Meaning after the concert was over and we got home and to bed, it was 1:00am.  At 5:00am when the alarm went off, we were still tired.  We piled in the car and took off for the race. 

The race was a blast! I had a great partner, this is the second mud type race we have done.  The first being the Warrior Dash.  We were lucky to have a couple of spectator/fans with us.  Including Colin's 4 year old son Jackson (this kid has the best and most infectious laugh I have ever seen).  He even got to run the Mini Buddy...he had a blast.

After the race we went back, showered and left town before 1pm, so less than 24 hours.  Too bad because I do enjoy spending time with the Delaneys.  There will be other chances though.    Drew is a pretty good photo man, and he took some pics, so I have to add them.  But, big thanks to Colin and Liz Delaney for being great people and wonderful hosts, thanks!

In no particular order:

Post Race and Clean Up.

After finishing, big thanks to the wives for the costumes

Yeah, he had fun

Team Legs of Lead, getting toward the end

Jackson's Foot, Drew is a pretty good photog guy

Jackson spent time throwing rocks as big as him in the lake as Colin and I did the race

Preparing the Mud Pit

Before pic, you can't see the mustache I'm sporting...probably a good thing.

Game Face

After Jackson's Mini Buddy...my favorite pic.

Jackson and Colin Running the Mini Buddy

Power of Please

There's a difference between "May I have that." and "May I have that, Please."  It may seem inconsequential, simply an extra half breath. They can both be delivered in a positive and polite way. But, when you are on the receiving end, it changes all intonations of meaning.  How difficult is it to add a please to the beginning or end of any request?  More over, how does it reflect on you when you don't.

We are in the midst of a service life.  We need, we grow, we want, we get. We are constantly going after something.  This puts us, repeatedly, in a position of relying of others to both give us goods and services.  This interaction marks how we see the world and how we see other people.   The nature of our humanity can be seen in the way we conduct ourselves when we shop. 

Two Examples:

Often times when checking out at the grocery store the clerk always says "hi, how are you today?"  I always respond and then I ask them how they are.  More often than not, no one has asked them this simple return questions.  I've even had them thank me for asking, for which I assumed no one or very few, had the manners to return the question.  I don't see how.  I can't and won't understand how we become so self involved, or worse, so self righteous, we can't take the time to encourage another person.  I hope it's not a sense of "being better than" them, you, us, it all.  Cause if that's it, allow me to let you in on some not so secret info, you're not that special.  Despite what your mother, husband, wife, nurse, grandmother tells you, no one is so good or elevated they have the right to be mean or dismiss another person.  Ever.

Secondly, and most recent.  Friday afternoon my buddy Drew and I went to a local Running/Outdoor store to pick up our race packets for the Autumn Breeze 10K the following morning.  It was about 2:00pm when we got there.  They had been open and handing out packets to runners since 10:00am, yeah, that's 4 hours.  After standing in a brief line, I walked to the counter and requested packets for both my wife and myself, adding an innocuous please at the end of the request.  He repeated our names, and then looked at me, preparing the packets.  As he handed them to me, he informed me, I was the first person all day to say please.  I mean, come on, 4 hours, over a 1000 people in that race and no one had said anything to him.  Now that is just wrong, but mostly it's just sad.  The thing that bothers me the most is the type of people who shop there are very diverse and both very affluent and then not so affluent.  All walks of life.  I apologized to him that people had been remissed to say one little word, which in his case, made a big difference.

How do I know it made a big difference?  Cause at the race the next morning, after we had finished, Drew and I were again chatting, enjoying a post race beer (one of my favorite parts of running 6.2 miles) when he came up to us.  He called us by name, first name, and asked us how and what we thought of the race.  He remembered us, by name, from 3 minutes of interaction.  It blew me away and even more so made me resolute to use please and basic manners in everywhere I go, no matter what kind of day I'm having. 

It's just a breath, one of thousands you take in a day.  But, a simple "please" can mean the difference.  I know it's a bit Sunday School to talk about. But, apparently the lesson was never learned, so a little remedial review can't hurt.  So, PLEASE, go forth and be nice to your fellow man and woman and child, if not for them, then for you. 

RIP Steve Jobs

Although merely narrated by Steve Jobs, one could easily say he was the example of which he speaks.  The best props to Steve Jobs I read was from a tweet from Barack Obama.  It said something like, "A great tribute to Steve Jobs' legacy is how many people learned of his death by one his inventions."  Or something to that effect.

Let's hope the imagination continues to run through Apple Inc and we continue to see game changing technology.  Thanks for seeing things different and the best in what could be.