The heat and the time difference is knocking us around. Having to do alot of sleeping, and waking up at all hours! Just when i think i’m getting on top of it, I’m exhausted again! Maybe the frantic pace of the weeks before are taking some toll too.
I’m not sure if Oklahoma City is ‘oh so pretty’… at least not on the south side where we stayed for the first 2 nights… hemmed in by freeways, struggling to take the right service roads to get to and from anywhere. Finished our shopping and are all set with camping gear and supplies for the next 6 weeks. Peter has built a platform in the van and we have two layers for efficient storage. Double bass and esky and food supplies on top. Suitcases and other instruments down below.
Found our way out to an Acoustic Music store to purchase Mandolin strings and Peter ended up buying a fiddle that was there on consignment. Synchronous happenings…. The fiddle was from the estate of the late Amos Hedrick Jnr who played with Hank Thompson and the Brazo Valley Boys and it seems belonged to his father, ‘Famous Amos’ Hedrick Snr who played with none other than Bob Wills. It is a German Stradivarius copy from around the 1890’s with a sweet tone…. Back to the hotel, pick up the instruments and we are off to our first bluegrass jam, a fair way out in the suburbs of Tuttle, which became pretty rural, pretty quickly. It was a jam with a difference. A circle of mostly older folk (quite a bit older than Peter:), most playing through small amplifiers and a microphone passing round the circle most politely. But it was cool, no-one was too loud and we were heartily welcomed. There was one main soloist playing a telecaster! One lovely old lady (I’m guessing Octagenarian), was in hot pink, had her walking frame next to her and her guitar on her lap and belted out ‘Milk Cow Blues,’ ‘since we’ve got a fiddle’. Peter was the only fiddle player and he gave Amos’ fiddle a bit of a test run! Of course they loved the fact we bought in a double bass too – and we were from Australia!! Told us it made them “all lift their game”…. I can see me know, just like that…. Walking frame and guitar! Never too old!
Next day went to the Stockyard City area, where everything is Western!
Entry to Cattlemens Restaurant
Place seemed deserted, so hot! Went to lunch at the famous Cattlemens Restaurant to find it was teeming with people. Great food – no wonder! Bought fabulous boots, made in Texas (not China)… took ages to choose from the myriad of styles…. And a hat made from Guatemalan palm leaves that you can soak in water and mould to different shapes and then it sets. Amazing! Won’t matter how it gets mangled on the way home! Wondered into the Rodeo Opry and the woman showed us the theatre… and lo and behold there is a poster of Hank Thompson and the Brazo Valley Boys (Amos’ band –spooky) and we learn Byron Berline is playing this weekend…. So instant decision to stay in OK City for a few more days. Some searching on the net finds a picture of Amos with the fiddle – in a band with Byron, so the plot thickens. Hope to talk to him on the weekend, Peter remembers when he played in Adelaide with Vince Gill. (Who is apparently born and bred in OK City).
So, a night in Bricktown – the entertainment district – a nice change from the first stop. The city is easy to get around. We found the ‘American Banjo Museum’ but it really was a monument to Jazz banjo/4 string instruments with only a token mention of 5 string players and a few on display.
American Banjo Museum
Amazing collection of 4 stringed instruments though – incredibly ornate. (Jazzy John from Noosa, or Graham Black from Gosford would have loved it)
Today, we visited the Oklahoma City Memorial Monument – a museum and beautifully designed reflective park and space dedicated to the memory of the hundreds of people killed and injured in the Oklahoma Bombing of 1995 (including 19 children under 6!). A few remnants of damaged buildings remain and one incredible Elm tree that survived the blast. I remember the images in the media, particularly the images of little children being rescued – but of course you forget the detail – the blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a sixteen-block radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings!!!! The first thing we saw was the wire fence on the street,
Wire Fence outside Memorial
which apparently still stands from the initial fencing off of the blast area…it is literally covered with memorabilia – toys and trinkets, t-shirts and flowers, wreaths and dedications –the sadness of it all takes your breath away – such senseless loss and destruction – I asked a passerby who told me those things have been up there all that time, since 1995…
We were thinking of testing out the camping gear and drove out of town to Lake Arcadia but it was just tooooooo hot, so we are chilling in another air conditioned motel room for a few more days till the weekend show….
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