3/26/06 WOW!! What can I say. Microwave Dave blew us away. This concert was everything I had hoped it would be. We had a full house of enthusiastic customers who really enjoyed Dave's take on the blues. He got a standing ovation when it was all over and raucous applause throughout. Comments included "Amazing", "Outstanding" and many more such superlatives. The crowd stayed enthusiastic through the whole two and a half hour performance. I had heard Dave on the radio, but in person he is so much more. His guitar work is excellent, he brought down the house playing slide on his cigar box guitar. He is a master with the loop and at times ended up sounding like a whole blues band, and once an old time jug band. In a way he jams with himself. His vocals and demeaner just fit together with his guitar and he works the audience well. It was just a great show. When it was over Dave shouted out "Lets do this again sometime" Come on back Dave we'll be ready. On a personal note it was nice getting to know Dave and Blair, they are class people.

3/25/06 Yesterday Fred Arceneaux held a book signing at the store from 1-5. He set up a table with his books and some publicity items at the back of the store in front of the stage. He did several reading from his book "Soul to Soul Conversations with Jesus" and talked to many customers. He was pretty exited that he sold all of the books he brought with him and considered this a suceessful event. He will be doing another book signing at Barnes and Noble store in Birmingham next month..

3/21/06 Last night was our open mike, due to the storms the turnout was low, but we had a good time. We had more poetry than usual. A couple of Wallace State students read their poetry; Josh James read some of his with Newby playing in the background and Meleah told a touching story and read a poem about a friend of the family that had recently commited suicide and than sang some of her favorite songs. I was surprised that her favorite songs were Moon River and Adelwise (? the song from Sound of Music). Jennie Stevens read some poems from a book of poetry written by her Mom and the Stephens family performed some of their old folk songs and stopped the show as everyone sang along on Puff The Magic Dragon. It always surprises me when the college students know all the words to those old folk revival songs. Robert sang a couple of sad country songs, Carlo did two Monty Python skits and Julie rounded out the show with several of her balads.

3/16/06 We are still getting many favorable comments about the play that was held here last weekend. I have been asked if we would put in on again in 6 months, and if we would do productions like this on a regular basis. I was also told by several that they came mainly to support us and really didn't expect the quality entertainment that they found and were very excited by it. Some said they would like to see it again just because it would probably take a second showing to get the most out of it. I agree with that, I saw things the second night I didn't see the first. I was also told that for a play like this, one would normally have to go to a university town. Anyway good comments, thanks again to Chuck and the cast. They will be performing it at the Renasance Theatre in Huntsville next month I think. Regarding future productions, we have no plans at the present time to do any, but are open to it. However, Jerry Puckett, Chuck's brother, Moses in the play, has a one act play he wrote that he is interested in performing here. Stay tuned.

3/13/06 Last Friday and Saturday night, the world premier of Chuck Puckett's original play "Tell Me Why" opened at the Coffee House. Although originally I had a few misgivings about doing this because I wasn't sure how something like this would go over in Cullman Alabma (it was quasi religious and I thought could offend some legalists and literalists) and also because of the total morph each night of the coffee house into a theatre and back to a coffee house, which was a lot of work, but it all went very well. The play itself was good, well written and got plenty of laughs, it was after all a comedy. On the surface it was a real good play, but for those who wanted to delve deeper into the metaphysical, Chuck provided some interesting things to ponder as well. In fact during the second time through I was able to pick up things I had missed the first time which added much interest. The set was simple but very appropriate and the lights and sound were really good. The acting was superb, the cast of five, including three high school seniors, were very professional. I would be remiss not to mention in particular Ruthie Pucket's performance as the devil, which was the highlight of the show I think. Carol Puckett as director had everything well planned out and ready. It all went without a noticable hitch. We had a nearly full house Friday and a full house Saturday. It appeared to have been received well and I had many many favorable comments. Again I would be remiss not to report that I did hear from one person who did not like it and said it took too many liberties with the bible, one out of eighty, not too bad I think. I hope we can do this again.

3/7/06 About ten people performed at open mike last night. Many of our regulars were there, Carlo, Seth, Josh, Newby and Garlan (who didn't perform unfortunately for us, he was under the weather). Opie and Meleah did a couple duos. Jason Anderson read two poems, I want to post one on the web site. Dub Williams and Arlan Paige were newcomers, Dub performed some old songs including one Jimmie Rogers, and Arlan fingerpicked a couple. We had about forty people in attendance. It was an enjoyable night. I even did a couple of old folk songs. I have been having trouble getting the pictures up on the web site, but I think with Jason Nunneley's (my web master) help today I can now do it. My learning curve is high. Terry Harbison has given me two discs of really good pictures he took of the last two open mikes so I have plenty of material. I'll try to get them up as soon as I can. They will be on the "coffee house images" page under "performance pictures" I have a few up now and will keep adding them.

3/6/06 Our Singer-Songwriter night last Sat went very well. Seth Willams did a good job setting up the venue and being the MC. John Lott did a fabulous job performing his original songs. His songs are very captivating and plumb the depths of life experiences that most of us can relate to. His voice and guitar work just complement the material so well. Josh Brooks performed some of his older material and some very new works in his wonderful style. Seth, Julie and me rounded out the evening. I wish I had the means to record this stuff and put it on the web, maybe some day. Chuck Puckett and his cast did a rehersal at the store Sunday, this was the first time I heard the play. I think it will be a good experience. It is reminicent of coffee house performances I saw in the 60's and 70's in California. Some of our strict fundamentalist customers may not appreciate it, although it is not pornographic nor profane like some I remember. It is a humorous look at the creation, the events of the Garden of Eden and the lives of Adam and Eve and takes some liberties with the characters and events including God, Satan, Moses, and Adam and Eve. I would not recommend it for children.

3/2/06 March 2nd is an important day in my life. 39 years ago I was shot down in Viet Nam outside of Khe Sanh on the Laotion border just south of the DMZ. I am thankful to be alive. I had gone down once before, but that was a piece of cake compared to this. I was told at the time that I was the only known pilot who ever managed to land a chopper with such severe battle damage and everyone walk away. At 800 feet above a fortified village we were shot up by a 50 caliber machine gun during a strafing run. We were marking the target for a flight of jets. I was a Marine Forward Air Controler (Airborne) also known as an FAC(A) piloting a Huey (UH1E) gunship. We had just inserted several Marine Force Recon teams into the area and were looking for target for our support jets to unload their unexpended ordanance since thay could not go back to their base and land with it. I found the fortified ville in a free fire zone and was marking it for the jets. I was shooting at them with 2.75 WP rockets and they were shooting back with 50 caliber machine guns, a real duel. We called 50 calliber tracer rounds "flying beer cans" that's how big they looked coming at you. My rockets failed at 800 feet and we were hit immediately. I knew it was bad, I knew my engine was gone, but my crew chief Charlie Maddox called me on the intercom and told me he saw the tail rotor fly off. He also said he was going to jump out since he didn't want to crash and burn. I told him I could take it down and he didn't jump. I had fogotton that exchange until I met Charlie at a Marine Combat Helicopter Association meeting in Pensacola a few years ago. Anyway we survived. When you lose a tail rotor the chopper will torque around the main rotor and become uncontrollable at an airspeed below about 60 knots, over that it will slipstream and is marginally controllable. I was able to find a clearing in the jungle and somehow managed keep the chopper above 60 k and fly it in without a lot of directional control. We came in fast and then flared off our speed right before impact and then crashed it straight down on the skids before it started to torque out of control. It worked and we all walked away. We were close to the village and would have been captured soon except for my wingman Dave Baccitich who followed us in and flew us out under very heavy fire. We salvaged our guns and radios. I consider it a miracle that we all got out. Charlie posted a picture of the crew and a short narrative at the Marine Combat Helicopter Association website popasmoke.com picture number 736. I flew 783 combat mission in Viet Nam and was shot at alot of times, but this is the one I will always remember and be thankful for.

2/21/06 We had three really good musical events at the coffee house over the weekend, John Lott played on Sat afternoon, Bimini Road on Saturday night and then open mike last night. Bimini Road played their usual great style of folk rock; they are very proficient musicans and have a high energy presentation with wonderful vocals and jams. They set up in front of the tree on the south wall instead of on the stage, which I wasn't sure would work well, but it did. This may in fact be the best way to present larger groups, just takes more moving stuff around than before. Two of the five members of the Group, Ruthie and Daniel, will be going off to college this summer (Univ of AL). I hope we can get one more concert from them before that happens. We had thirteen players, singers, musicians and poets at open mike. Some really good stuff. A newcomer Rebecca Van lehe stole the show with dynamite vocals. Dane Braun read a really descriptive poem about his granny's house, you could have heard a pin drop. If I can get a copy I will post it, I've been wanting to put up a poetry page. Ronnie Knight played several slide guitar blues tunes. We seldom get blues musicans here, it was great! Seth Williams, Josh Brooks, and Roger Snow all local singer-songwriters, showcased some of their works. Garland Talbert read some Edgar Allen Poe. Jamie sang her upbeat stuff. Keith Barrier, Opie, Jim Brown and Mac and Robert also played. No one signed up to go first so I had to break the ice with a couple of folk songs. I am working on a picture page which will allow us to post pictures of the groups and open mike participants soon I hope. Terry Hogland is our official photographer and as soon as I get the pictures, I will try to set that up.