—The Obscure Penguin— Before the internet happened I had a different state of mind. My father was in the Air Force. As an Air Force brat, I was the perpetual new kid. I went to eleven different schools growing up. There were a lot of kids like me, but as a general rule, unless our […]
—The Obscure Penguin— Some of the best experiences (and a couple of the worst) I’ve had working in news, have been the time spent with news photographers, or videographers. In the old days a reporter and photographer would go off to do a story together, a duo with separate functions, but working to achieve the […]
—The Obscure Penguin— I experienced a brief moment of terror as I suspected Rodney and I were going to be arrested for hitchhiking inside the Luling city limits. The Highway Patrol had pulled up behind the Ford Pinto driven by a woman who had asked us if we needed a ride as we sat with […]
—The Obscure Penguin— On Independence Day, 1976, I woke up to the smell of piss under a sprawling oak. I was in a city park in Gonzales, where the first shots were fired in 1836 in the Texas Revolution. A rock dug into my shoulder and a root poked into my back. I wondered how […]
—The Obscure Penguin— The band was funky. Funky country. A bit like Little Feat. In later years I thought maybe it was Delbert McClinton, but I never found evidence he was there that day. Rodney and I found a small depression of dirt not far from the stage and staked our claim. It was hot […]
—The Obscure Penguin— On July 3rd, 1976 about 8 in the morning Rodney and I were hoofing it in Austin, heading south on Lamar. The mechanic had told us the street would eventually branch and we were to take the Guadalupe side all the way to 29th and turn right. Oat Willie’s was there and […]
—The Obscure Penguin— This July 4th will be the 41st anniversary of my journey to see the Willie Nelson 4th of July picnic in Gonzales, Texas, 1976. I’ve always appreciated the fact I was “on the road,” like Jack Kerouac, on the nation’s bicentennial, the birthday of the Declaration of Independence, and the day began […]
—The Obscure Penguin— You know after you milk a cow and you let the milk sit, the cream rises to the top. You’ve probably heard that saying, referring to excellence. Producers have a way to modify that. They call it homogenization. The fat droplets are emulsified, meaning they mix with the rest of the milk. […]
—The Obscure Penguin— I haven’t seen him cruising around in his sporty car lately, but one of my favorite memories of Potter County Judge Arthur Ware is at Teel Bivins’ memorial service at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in 2009. I ran into him outside. It was autumn but the Bivins neighborhood was still green. I’ve […]
—The Obscure Penguin— I’m no longer working at ABC 7 but I’m moving toward a situation in which I hope I can make more of an impact on the industry I’ve worked in for a quarter of a century. That makes it sound longer than “more than twenty years,” right? That’s the business I’m in. […]