Emily’s Page

Thanks to Chris Sloan for sending this. We had a great time in the Portland, OR area!

On the cruise last January

One of my very favorite shots.

A.P. Hill’s HQ

More from the General’s Birthday

General Pickett’s 181st Birthday

One of my favorite shots – Hugo in the studio

Braving the chilly weather to hear Hugo!

Dave Calhoun and Greg Taylor – June 2007

New Friends at the Icicle River in Washington State – Sept 06

Alive in Gettysburg

Hugo in Vegas

Hugo & Kelly

Hugo & Kelly McGuire

 

 

 

On the cruise last January

 

 

 

31 August 2009

 

My father would have been 89 years old today…He got to see 80 – even 81. 

 

My birthday is in June, and when I was little it seemed as if it were forever between my two favorite days of the year; my birthday and Christmas.  It also seemed to me that one ’school year’ was about eight years long.  Now it feels as if I’m celebrating my birthday, and three days later – it’s Christmas.  I know that science tells us there is a reasonable explanation for this.  Apparently one of the chemicals in our brains that is responsible for our perception of time passing becomes more active as we grow older.  Not fair.  I want a “Benjamin Button” on this one.  

 

It also occurs to me that when we were children, we only thought about today – or today and the next fantastically marvelous event that was to occur in our lives.  We didn’t carry notions of billing due dates.  We didn’t calculate in our little brains the number of days before the next paycheck arrives.  We just were.

 

I’m not sure that I truly remember how to just “be” anymore.  The ability to do nothing or to fulfill an obligation only to myself have become  somewhat foggy memories.  There are times, however, that the reminder to do these things is sent in a message that is too strong to ignore.

 

Yesterday, I got word that the son of a friend had been in an horrific accident.  When I heard about this, his life was hanging by a single, tenuous thread.  As a mother, this is the worst nightmare I can imagine…hell could not be this scary.  I took my very nearly grown son in my arms, and through a wall of tears again reminded him to be careful.  He can’t understand the feeling I have….but he will….someday.  I told him how much I loved him, that he is “la luz de mi vida”, my life.  He understood.

 

Then, rather that clean my house as I had planned, I went to lunch with friends.  We laughed and shared each other’s food.  We chatted up the waiter, and I didn’t say a word about the overcooked eggs.  I didn’t give one thought to another moment beyond the one in which I was living.  After lunch, my friend and I settled in and watched a movie.  Usually I give some thought to when I’ve got to leave to go home, what I have to do, yadda yadda yadda.  Not yesterday.  My cell phone and earpiece were left on a table with the ringer on vibrate.  Although I think it may have rung once or twice, I didn’t pick it up.  I enjoyed the movie thoroughly…..but the company more.  I was reminded how lucky I was to have this day to treasure.  Every day I want to remember this; I want to do better at living this way before it slips away.

 

 Please send prayers and thoughts to this young man and his family…….names don’t matter……it could be any of us.

 

27 August 2009

Tempus Fugit……….indeed it does.  Since I’ve last taken the time to write here, we’ve made the trip to Six String in New Orleans.  I love Louisiana…don’t get me wrong.  The people down  there are about as nice and down to earth as any I have ever seen.  They are kind in a “Gone With The Wind” sort of way…but I still do not love New Orleans.  Although it’s a photographer’s dream – and I got more than a thousand shots of New Orleans (outside of Six String), but the narrowness of the streets and the promise of sequestered grandeur hidden behind wrought iron gates make me feel closed in  - its hard to breathe.  Someone I overheard in passing compared to Paris….nope, not even close. 

 

Paris has wide streets and an open air quality to it that makes one, (well, me anyway), feel as if I’m standing on a mountain.  Funny, though…Hugo and I were walking from the hotel to the venue and he asked me where a particular street was in relation to another.  Without hesitation I replied “It’s two blocks past Duval”.  Oops…I mean Bourbon Street. 

 

At that moment I knew that I was really in Key West – West.  Amazing how much that feeling pervaded the weekend.  Maybe it was having the pleasure of seeing special friends that we usually only have the joy of seeing once a year at MOTM.  Maybe it was the heat.  (I’m ready for jeans, sweatshirts and BOOTS.) 

 

Outside of the obvious pleasure of being able to witness my friend finally getting some  well-deserved recognition for his eloquence of song,  it was so …(searching for a superlative here …. maybe ‘awesome’ will fit),  awesome - to be able to see people like Steve & Gayla Mitchell; to have the incredible luck to meet some folks that I swear I’ve known all of my life, (feels like that anyway); William & Kelly Melton and Drew Higgs; to get to hear James White play the guitar, (and to see Adela and their girls again after too many years); to have the opportunity to listen to musicians that I had never heard – Dennis Davis, Joe Rathburn, Thom Shepperd, Jerrod Neimann – to name just a few, and to be able to just ramble around and take photographs.  What a luxury….and what a lovely way to spend four days.

 

Dennis Davis – “if y’all ain’t never heard that name – you WILL“.  I had a “Don’t Be Fooled By the Hat” moment.  As soon as I realized it, I fully expected to turn around and see Bill Engvall standing there if only to say….”Here’s your sign…”  That’s OK, Bill.. I said it to myself.  I know – STOP BEING CRYPTIC.    I shall explain…

 

As much as Hugo and I wander around the country, (and beyond), we have the occasion to meet a lot of people.  Whether on the periphery or in the mainstream of whatever event in which we’ve come to participate, sometimes we’ll meet folks that fancy themselves songwriters….wait, that may be wrong.  In the grand scheme of things, if one writes a song, then one is , technically, a ‘songwriter‘. 

 

Then I shall rephrase…sometimes, we meet folks that fancy themselves to be magnificent songwriters….they have written “Kenny Chesney’s NEXT HIT RECORD“…uh huh….  I really ponder, sometimes, why it is that these particular individuals are never shy about playing that next hit song for me, Hugo, Hugo AND me, or everyone else who happens to be within 100 feet. 99% of the time, I could stand a football field away from these folks and point them out with pinpoint accuracy.   Don’t misunderstand..these people are wonderful, sweet people and everybody has something of value to share, however…they just ain’t songwriters.

 

(I can say this with the utmost authority because I have yet to write a song, a verse, or even a phrase of a lyric capable of squeezing anything more than a desolate groan out of Hugo.)    

    

I digress….

 

Truthfully, I DID NOT think that Dennis fell into the ‘next best thing since Elvis category’.  In my overheated road-weary state I was fooled by his hat….and he wasn’t even wearing one.  Dennis is a regular guy – he’s tall, nice looking, has a great smile, and was arrayed in nothing tropical on the evening I met him in New Orleans.  He had his guitar by the pool, and was playing for some folks that “kinda” looked familiar to me.  Hugo and I renewed some old friendships, and wilted in a chaise just outside of water range.  I felt no great calling to hang out,  so I made a Diet Coke run.

 

Upon returning from my quest, I noticed a  huge grin on Hugo’s face and his eyes dancing as they followed Dennis’ hands running the neck of his guitar.  I got back only in time to catch the last phrase of Dennis’ song……  I liked it…..

 

Shortly after this, we were excommunicated from the pool deck…”too much noise”.  Oh brother…isn’t this New Orleans…..isn’t it JUST 10:00 ????  The party just moved upstairs.  Hugo and Dennis sat right across from each other and begin to trade songs.  At each turn, the music got better and better…Hugo pulled out “Legend” in round three.   Dennis answered every challenge, even after the late arrival of  Mr. Kelly McGuire.  Kelly played his Ace, (as far as I’m concerned),  by opening with “The Flood”. 

 

I watched this volley and heard myself saying to no one in particular..”he’s really good”…and “I wonder if he has any CDs??” (He did and he graciously presented me with one,  which was immediately added to my IPOD).  Dennis is good…he has a great deal of talent….and he told Hugo and I that he hasn’t been at this for too very long.  Touche, my man…I believe you have  “it”.  In addition to his musical talents – Dennis is just a really nice guy.  Ater a day or so of being herded up with us always in tow, he finally figured out that we’re pretty much just regular folks, (no visible horns or large facial worts anyway).  He and Hugo got caught up in more than one long conversation about writing….it was cool to just step back and watch this process.  When the weekend was over, both Hugo and I felt like we’d known Dennis for years.  Just one of them thangs…

 

I was  fooled by his hat and my own momentary lapses .. just when you think you know something – it turned out that I knew nothing.  Man, am I glad I was wrong.  Y’all keep those ears out for Dennis Davis…you WILL see him again.

 

there’s more…much more…but not much more tonight.  manana;  BUT I won’t say manana if I don’t mean it.

uh huh.

 

 

24 June 2009

It’s amazing how quickly time passes anymore….when I was a kid, it seemed as if it took forever for the time to pass between Christmas and my birthday, (almost exactly six months).  Now,  that time passes so quickly that I can barely keep track of the months; much less the days.

To paraphrase my friend Anne Marie, some people talk about living their life, and others are too busy living their lives to talk, (or write) about it.  I suppose I fall into the latter category….happily.  I’ve never been one to sit on the sidelines and gaze dreamily into the distance and ponder the “what ifs”.  I was blessed, or cursed depending upon one’s point of view, by a burning desire to participate in whatever I can.

I’m sitting here listening to Hugo learn a new song….a talent I’ve envied for a LOOOOOOONG time. (It takes me forever to learn something.) The peaceful overtone to the day is emphasized by the gentleness of the guitar; punctuated only by “what did he say”, or “what does he do there”.  Neither are questions that I’m expected to answer – purely rhetorical; thrown to the wind knowing that the universe will supply the answers in a fashion that is easily understood by those that don’t just play the guitar, but that have a love affair with the instrument.  It’s evident to me that the love is returned by this guitar in particular.

3 November 2008

As Hugo and I were making our way up from Key West, a car passed us up near Ft. Lauderdale. I looked up and saw waving hands and happy faces smiling at us from the car.  i immediately recognized these folks from this past week at the Hog’s Breath; both at the shows and at the Fan Appreciation Party. I waved back, and tried to let them know, while flying through South Florida Turnpike traffic, how much I appreciated their letting Hugo know – through these gestures – that they had had a good time last week.  Hugo was sound asleep; although cramped, not able to straighten out his legs, and generally twisted up like a pretzel.  It dawned on me that you have to be pretty exhausted to sleep in a position like this.

He roused enough to see the car just disappearing in front of us, smiled when I told him of what had just happened, and said how nice he thought those folks were for caring enough to let him know that they appreciated his music.

This past week was hard.  It’s always hard to be at MOTM for several reasons.  In addition to regular work, the week just prior to MOTM is full of last minute preparations for the Fan Appreciation Party, making sure the band members that don’t live in the area, (and don’t routinely travel with us), are all set with transportation, and other details that I never gave a second thought before this journey began.  We spend that time reviewing new merchandise orders, doing inventory, making sure our transportation is in working order, etc., etc., etc.  All of these pre-MOTM preparations add to the stress that we both feel; but is felt so much more acutely by Hugo because of one fact - as always, he wants the show that he presents to be the absolute best that he can do.

There are so many of our friends at MOTM each year that we only see once a year, (Steve & Gayla - you’re prime examples), and he not only wants to orchestrate and present the best show he can, but he wants to spend time with all of our friends.  We figured out a few years ago that this just can’t happen.  Although he, (and I), would love to hang out with our friends, if we’re going to do our jobs – we just can’t.  This is the hard part.

Throughout the years that I’ve been on the road with Hugo, my eyes have really been opened to this “on the road” stuff.  You see, as Phil Vassar says so eloquently, we’re “above the below and below the upper, …stuck in the middle where money gets tight”. Although a knowing that Hugo’s music will one day receive the recognition it deserves, always exists, we do deal with the “now” reality every time we go on the road.

If you’re like me, before I knew any better, I thought that the musician’s life was pretty easy.  Just show up, plug up, and play.  HA!  When I saw those folks on the turnpike today, it reminded me that very few people are aware of just what the daily life of the ”above the below and below the upper” musician entails.  Today for instance….

After having what I can only term a marvelous show last night, and bidding farewell to our casual and closest friends at around 2:30 in the morning, we packed all of the gear into the truck.  OK, I say ‘we’ packed the truck….. HUGO packs the truck.  I take everything to a staging point, in a pre-determined order, and make it ready for him to pack.  His ability to pack any square peg into an existing round hole is legendary.  Besides, I gave up packing the truck when it dawned on me that every time I put anything in the truck, he inevitably removed it, found a more space efficient spot, and re-packed it.  I couldn’t argue – he’s way better at it.

That being said, the truck was finally packed at about 3:30 am.  We returned to the band house, grabbed a sandwich that Woody had picked up, and both crashed a little after 4:15 am.  Although the alarm was set for 10:00 (band house check out time is 11:00 am), neither of us could sleep, and were up shortly before 9:00 (less than 5 hours sleeping time).  Coffee, quick showers, and the packing begins yet again.  We not only have our personal items, (suitcases, etc), but bring a bath mat for an incredibly slippery tub, the “coffee bag” – containing Splenda, Bustello Robusto coffee, creamer, cups, (paper cups are for the birds), coffee filters, spoons, etc - ‘over-the-door’ hooks – there are never enough on which to hang your towels; a couple of small power strips, (do you have any idea how many plugs it takes to charge ipods, telephones, bluetooth earpieces, toothbrushes, etc.), and other such uncommon items.  There are rules, too, for packing - 1.  NO HANGING CLOTHES (they obscure the view of the road via side mirrors); 2.  ONE SUITCASE PER PERSON (OK - we also get “one personal item”  for me, it’s the blessed makeup bag!  3.  COORDINATE WHO’S BRING WHAT GUITAR(S).  Because of space requirements, three is usually the limit.  4.  DON’T FORGET THE COMPUTER – impossible to find time and privacy at an internet cafe, but e-mail and websites still have to be checked.  Business continues.  5.  BRING YOUR OWN PILLOWS.  It’s the only way we’re guaranteed to have comfortable ones or ones that are LARGE enough.

There are more rules, but I’m a little zoned, and just can’t remember them all.

We left Key West about 12:00 noon after running three business errands, and accepting a close friend’s offer to ship a box we just couldn’t wedge into the truck with a shoehorn and axle grease.  Gas, oil, (the truck has over 212,000 miles on it, so we have to treat it nicely), and we’re off.

Food was a Southern Style chicken sandwich and fruit salad from McDonald’s and a diet coke.  Then, Hugo drove until Florida City, and then I took over.  After less than five hours sleep, we parked for the night 8 hours up the road.  More take out, a familiar hotel with a great shower, and we’ll be in the truck by 10 in the morning.  Hugo’s been asleep since 9:30 – the release of the tension he’s stored this week knocks him out.  We’ll be home by 8:30 or so tomorrow night – Good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.  Then, we’ll go to the storage building, unload the truck, and I’ll traverse the 10 miles across town and be home about 10:30 or so.  Then, it just about starts all over again.

There are no tour buses, no roadies, no guitar techs, no stylists – there are the two of us, our respective “significant others”, (how politically correct), and our friends.  Without our SOs and our friends, we couldn’t do this.

This was just a quick look into one “day in the life”; some tiny insight into Hugo’s life, and mine.  Everytime we leave MOTM, both of us are sad about not having the time to spend with someone special.  The stress of the Fan Appreciation Party engulfs Hugo until about two days after it happens.  There’s always someone who he just simply forgets to thank, or mention in some way.  Last year, it was me – this year, someone very significant in his life was omitted.  This is never his intention, but just his overwhelming sense of gratitude to all of the people who choose to help him in some fashion, causes this emotion to surface and knock everything else out of his head.

So – after a little time of retrospection, I would like to thank these folks for both their help during the Fan Appreciation Party and throughout the week.  If Hugo has inadvertently omitted any of you, I hope you’ll accept my thank you on his behalf.  His exhaustion has taken its toll for this evening.

A special THANK YOU, specifically for your amazing help with the party to:  James & Kathy, Debbie, Toni, Dianne, Oh Captain my Captain – and PLEASE forgive me if I’ve omitted someone).  I also want to say thank you to the people that are so dear and that, though jet lag, highway lag, and too many boat drinks, were at the Hog to enjoy the magnificent music presented by Hugo, and to just lend your happy faces to us for the evening; Ron & Cindy; Kris; Bill & Jan; Donnas, (both of you); Brian & Michelle; Wendy; Doug & Mary; Roger & Evelyn, Tim L, Steve & Gayla; Cully; “Bonnie & Clyde”,  Anne Marie; and everyone that fits this category.  Also…thanks to Tom, Randy, Woody, Amy, Greg, and most of all, Hugo – for making this magic.

 

 

 

02 November 2008

Not much time now as we’re still in Key West, but I did want to say thank you to everyone who attended Hugo’s 5th (although some think 6th…wrong) Annual Fan Appreciation Party.  We had such a marvelous time and it was wonderful to be able to express our appreciation to everyone who has contributed to the success of Hugo and his music throughout this past year, and years past.  If anyone has photos of the event, e-mail them to me @ emily@hillbillybeach.com and we’ll make sure they’re added to the archive and posted here.  Thanks again to all of you.  Hugo’s right, you are the most important part.  PS – if you’re interested in purchasing one of the limited edition, hand-numbered DVDs, e-mail me at the same address and we’ll make sure your copy is reserved.  Thank you!  By the way, thank you doesn’t begin to cover the way I feel about all of the kind words and gestures that I, personally, have received during this past week.  Unfortunately, those are the only words available to me. So…thank you all.

6 October 2008

Just a quick update – no visit to Hollywood!  I was boneheaded to head us off 30 miles in the wrong direction on the PA Turnpike, so we arrived a little later than we should have.  Here are a few more photos of the weekend, and Jen – you looked GREAT on that horse!

e

5 October 2008

Morning everyone,

Just thought I’d take a few moments as we get ready to enjoy our private tour of the National Civil War Museum this morning, courtesy of the Museum directors, to post a few pictures and give a brief description of the marvelous time we had at the Blue-Gray Gala on Friday night.  Hugo and I had such a wonderful time as guests of the museum Friday evening.  It was our great pleasure to be invited to dine with both the Pickett family and a direct descendent of the Longstreet family.  We were also privileged to meet the actor Stephen Lang, who portrayed General Pickett in the film, “Gettysburg”; Stonewall Jackson in “Gods and Generals” and Ike Clanton in “Tombstone”.  He is most gracious and a true friend to the Pickett Society, and avid supporter of the Civil War Musuem.

Yesterday, still beaming from the Gala, we went to Gettysburg and spent most of the day on horseback, riding the battlefield.  We stayed in Gettysburg after dark so that we could try and take some photos of the boys that remain on that battlefied.  We were successful, I think!  Anyway, I’ve added some shots from yesterday.  The “ghost” photos will be posted later!

We’re planning a sort stop at Hollywood on the way home.  All ya’ll have a great day!

e

YEAH!

I am so excited about having this forum!  Thanks to Hugo for getting this up and running.  Now I have a place to share some of the photographs we’ve taken, the great times we have had, (and those yet to be had), and to answer some questions that I’ve been asked, for years, by our friends.  However, the best thing about this page, and this forum is that I will finally be able to acknowledge and thank the wonderful people I’ve been blessed to come to know throughout the years.

First and foremost – Hugo, thank you for allowing me to have the best job in the world!