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Ry Cooder

We visited the “They Drive By Night” concert in the Carre theater in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. After years Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe returned to our country to play their favorites for the fans.

Originally the two would be joined by Flaco Jimenez, but the Tex Mex accordion player known from the Texas Tornados couldn’t attend as the result of a hernia.

The Carre theater is beautiful and has a nice atmosphere, but I hate it being stuck in comfy chairs between the aging audience sitting passively. I prefer some room to move and appreciate more involved listeners. The overpriced tickets didn’t help either. Still I wanted to see the person responsible for some great music and I wasn’t disappointed. Not the most the exciting concert or any big surprises, but still a great evening.

People say Ry Cooder doesn’t like to tour, but from the start he walked on the stage he was in control and at ease. I think the band was enjoying themselves very much. The mutual respect was obvious. They played good and the concert had a good relaxed feeling. I loved Ry Cooder’s hat and his suite, Nick Lowe was great with his horn rimmed glasses and the orange polo shirt.

Ry Cooder played a few items from the triology Chavez Ravin, My Name Is Buddy and I, Flathead. However the majority of the numbers were classics from the past. He played “Crazy About An Automobile”, “One Meatball” and “Teardrops Will Fall”. The audience frequently shouted requests, an activity I never have understood. Ry Cooder ignored them politely “We have many requests, so many requests, the following number is one of these requests”.

Nick Lowe

The girls from the opening act, Juliette Commagere and her pianist, added some nice background vocals. In particular a must have for the song “Chinito, Chinito”.

Of course the majority of the material was written by Ry Cooder, but Nick Lowe took center stage at regular intervals. He played “Half A Boy, Half A Man”

They ended the concert with a great final. Nick Lowe finished with a beautiful performance of “What So Funny About Love, Peace & Understanding”, the original song known from the Brinsley Schwarz band. Then the band played “Little Sister” and “He’ll have to go”.

Mountains, Desert & Beaches

New Mexico Desert

The trip takes us from El Paso to Galveston at the Gulf Coast. Driving from the desert and mountains in the west all the way to the low country near the coast and beaches in the east.

Texas is not an obvious choice for most tourists and. For most visitors a significant detour given the distance from other tourist attractions in the surrounding states. Furthermore you should visit the state in early spring with the moderate mild temperatures. Summer is just too hot for most people.

We started our trip after a flight from Houston through to El Paso. From there we started our trip eastbound returning to Houston.

Hueco Tanks State Historic Site

Pine Springs Campground

The first day we visited Hueco Tanks State Historical Site. At the location you’ll find rocks with native American paintings.

Unfortunately few paintings can be viewed without park rangers. Still you can make a few small hikes. There are rocks with large holes (tanks) collecting rain water used for drinking by native Americans and animals.

Guadalupe Mountains

Carlsbad Caverns

After climbing the rocks at Hueco Tanks we left and drove further to the Guadalupe Mountains near the border with New Mexico.

We camped at the Pine Springs campground between the cactuses. There were few campers and we were pretty much alone. As soon as the sun disappeared behind the mountains the temperature dropped and the wind picked up. Later in the evening we were rewarded with beautiful night skies filled with stars.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is home to 3 species of horned lizards – the Mountain Short-horned Lizard, the Roundtail Horned Lizard, and the Texas Horned Lizard.

Carlsbad Caverns Natl. Park

Carlsbad Caverns

The following day after a breakfast of oatmeal we moved and visited the Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.

In the past we have visited some other caves both in the USA (Lehman Caves at Great Basin Natl. Park, Nevada) and Europe (Niaux, France). However you should see the caves at Carlsbad Caverns. They are the biggest by far.

The caves are huge, enormous chambers with beautiful stone sculptures (stalagmites, stalactites). Regardless the weather outside, it’s about 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit) inside. Take a sweater with you, it will be chilly underground coming from the warm desert. You can explore the caves on your own. We stayed about 4 hours, but you can easily spend more time.

There are a lot more caves in the neighborhood, but you wouldn’t guessed it driving around.

The 110-plus caves of Carlsbad Caverns National Park were carved out not by running water and streams like many limestone caves in the world, rather these caves were dissolved by very aggressive sulfuric acid.

Our following stop is Big Bend Natl. Park in the south. You will be driving through empty country with small, deserted towns.

Big Bend Natl. Park, Texas

This part of Texas isn’t very populated. A strong wind can blow freely though the mostly deserted towns. watching the tumbleweeds bounce around. You will find an occasional dinner, a gas station and the long trains on the railroad tracks. But that’s about all the excitement you can expect.

You will find a lot of farmland with cattle, some cotton growing and as expected numerous oil pumps silently pumping the oil from the wells.

Big Bend Natl. Park

Chisos Mountains

The Big Bend Natl. Park lies remote near the border with Mexico.

The most impressive mountains are actually on Mexican soil, the Rio Grande is the border and circles through the park. At some points the river disappears in gorges cutting through the mountains. You can hike these gorges.

The US border patrol checks the for illegal border crossings and unauthorized trade by Mexicans. Whatever your convictions you should be carefully buying stuff at the roadside and never take hikers with you. Expect checkpoints in the middle of nowhere and the police with impressive sunglasses wanting to search your car.

The Alamo

In the summer the Chisos Mountains campground should be avoided, but in February a wonderful place. As a result of the extreme heat camping is free during the summer months. You’ll find the prickly pear cactus everywhere. Deer are cautious, but can be viewed. Javelinas roam the campground. A javelina is a wild, native, pig-like animal found in the USA.

Equipped with the most efficient heat receptors in the animal world, rattlesnakes distinguish not only direction of an object that differs in temperature from its background, but also distance, sensing changes < .001 degree Farhenheit.

The panoramas show the desolate, but very beautiful landscape. Take time to drive around, hike a bit and enjoy the vistas. Everywhere dinosaurs left their marks and at parking lots along the roads you will find markers explaining the history of the area.

San Antonio

Beach House

San Antonio is the city of the Alamo, the birthplace of the state Texas. The Alamo included a fort and church surrounded by walls. Dissatisfied Texan landowners fought against the Mexicans in 1836. They were defeated, but their rise marked the turning point and the inevitable independence of Mexico. Texas became one of the United States in 1845.

We walked along the San Antonio river with the tourist shops and restaurants. A boat trip takes you through the center and the guide explains the history of the city. We did the mandatory shopping in the mall nearby.

North of San Antonio we stayed at the Sunset Motel, Blanco. At the local restaurant breakfast is free when you eat the three large pecan pancakes they serve. Don’t try it.

Nearby you will find Pedernales Falls State Park. The falls were almost non existent and only a small stream was left, but the big boulders forming the riverbed are fun for climbing. We hiked a short trail along the river.

Gulf Coast

Downtown Galveston

Next we drove from Port Aransas to Corpus Christi. The Texas State Aquarium at Corpus Christi is modest, but the touch tanks with small sharks, stingrays and small crabs are a kid’s favorite. We think the jelly fish and otters are always fun. At the end we watched the dolphin show.

Now relax and enjoy the beach at Freeport, but watch the waves and forget the oil refineries nearby. The beaches at Galveston are much better. Of course a bit more crowded, these beaches attract more tourists and locals from Houston. There you can even park your car on the beach.

Envy the big beach houses in various yellows and greens. Nice porches or balconies with ocean vistas. The houses are build high on poles to protect them against possible high tides.

Downtown is also worth a visit with a small shops and some nice terraces for eating a sandwich & drinking a coffee. Some buildings have been renovated in the recent years.

You can take a walk along main street, buy a shirt and have a bite at one of the restaurants.

Tom Freund

I saw Tom Freund perform a month ago on the Blue Highways festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands. I listened to his latest album Collapsible Plans to get into the mood and was immediately interested.

The performance was fun and diverse. Accompanied by great musicians he delivered a very detailed show and enjoyable from start to finish. The next day I almost visited his show at the Paradiso, Amsterdam. I definitely wanted to see and hear more, but unfortunately I had other obligations.

His music has been compared to Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and many other great singer-songwriters of the last 50 years, but Tom Freund creates a folksy blues-tinged genre all his own. So the comparison gives a hint of what to expect, but expect a personal sound different from his predecessors.

He has been working with Ben Harper and Jackson Browne. You can find several movies on YouTube to get an impression.