Winter’s Bone Trailer

Posted on May 1, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

“The trailer is now up on The New York Times site. They have a link to it on top of the right-hand column with a still of Jennifer on the porch (http://movies.nytimes.com/pages/movies/index.html). I hope they keep it there through the weekend. It’s great placement. And then here’s the direct link to the trailer: http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/456874/Winter-s-Bone/trailers?ref=movies. I wish they posted in higher quality, but all their trailers look this way. It must be a bandwidth/server space issue on their end. On Monday, when the exclusive’s over, I’ll put it up on YouTube in HD, which people can then embed wherever they want. Apple usually takes a little longer to get stuff up. But they’ll have the HD file first thing on Monday. Then we just have to wait on them to get it up there.”

This post via Debra. Take a look, it’s great!

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Chuy’s

Posted on April 24, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

I first discovered Chuy’s on a trip to Austin about 20 years ago in search of information on how to create and install an Emergency 911 system in Howell County. The Quill paid my salary, while Ozarks Medical Center and the Howell County Commission covered expenses.

Asking the state officials who were loading me up with information where I could get a good dinner, they first began telling me about this fancy restaurant out by the lake.

“Yeah, but where do YOU go for good Tex-Mex?” I countered.

They answered in unison, and the answer was Chuy’s.

.

I went to the location they told me about, to find a ramshackle house looking like something that had started out as a cabin, but then was built onto, one room at a time, for a number of years. Inside, the decor – a wall hanging consisting of three early ’50s Buick hoods, the kind with holes along the side, in Flamingo pink, Lemon yellow and Aqua – was matched in uniqueness only by the three slushy machines behind the bar, all loaded with pre-blended margaritas.

And oh, the food. First night I tried chicken enchiladas with sour cream and a heavenly chili verde sauce. I went back a second night determined to try something else to see if the food was all that good. But I ended up ordering the same thing again. It was just too good to miss.

This time, I went back to see if anything had changed. The slushy machines were now digital. The Buick hoods had gone, replaced by a series of rear fenders from 1959 Ford Galaxies, black, with taillights aglow. The chicken enchiladas with chili verde were about the same. Maybe better.


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Compadres

Posted on April 23, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

This is my cat, Priscilla, a harlequin calico with, as you can see, a checquered ancestry, who adopted me after a long conversation in which she informed me that she would only stay if I promised not to scare her. She has been so appreciative that she recently made me a present of three adorable kittens. One is all black, one a tortoise tabby and one white with gray ears and gray rings around its tale. In three weeks, they can be yours… Priscilla’s full name is Priscilla-Queen-of-the-Desert.

You thought I was gonna say Presley, didn’t you? This is a different breed of cat.

This is all we've got right now. Zoni doesn't hold still for long even in her ripe old age. Here she is disguised as a witch's assistant about 10 or 12 years ago. Photo credit; S. Denton

This is my #1 dog, Amazonia, or Zoni, as she is known to her many fans. She was named by her mother’s people, after her habit of charging the communal food bowl  and knocking her siblings aside like ten pins when dinner was served. She’s developed better, or at least different habits at her ripe old age of 16.5 years. Now she just goes to her food bowl and barks until it miraculously refills itself. Good trick, yes? We’ve been good pals and traveling companions over the years, despite the fact that she is almost certainly a Republican.

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A wild-ass Texas Fiddler

Posted on April 22, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

The fiddlers’ convention was a world of its own, with no organization to speak of, except for signing up to play in the little auditorium there at North Arkansas Community College. Oh, and they designated certain rooms a s “Electric” and “Texas-style.”  Other than that it was just non-stop jamming, with a different group in every room. Kinda surreal. It was as though the janitor wandered off and left the school building unlocked and all the classrooms open, and a very large band of wild gypsies had just moved in. When we left Friday night about 11:30 p.m. only five or six groups were still playing. The next morning at 10, the rooms were all full again, as well as the lobby, the corridors, and good swath of the entrance and beyond. Saw several people I knew there, including Kim and Jim Lansford and Mike and Rachel Luster and baby Owen (and almost baby brother).

But the highlight for me was the duo of Billy Ward and Tedi May. May, who is a little bit of a thing, is an

Tedi May at her bass.

outstanding wielder of a giant German upright bass (named Rastus). Ward plays an ancient piece, although that’s putting it much too lightly, like something that would take place in the normal world. Instead, the snuff-spitting, horse-laughing country boy turns into a dervish with the fiddle in his hands, roaring off into riffs that roll out to the edge of comprehension and jump off that edge, only to land solidly on his feet, on the beat and in tune, making it look easy. When I first heard I would be working with him I asked Kim Lansford who he was.

He’s a wild-ass Texas fiddler, she replied. That doesn’t say the half of it.

Check out some of these YouTube clips.

Jerry Helen Billy Tedi
Tedi May and Billy Ward Train
Tedi May records Scratch Tracks for My Ice Cream’s Too Cold in 200+ year old Indian cabin
Jazz Banjo, at The Fiddlers Convention in Harrison, AR

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Players at the Fiddlers Convention

Posted on April 21, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

In the back on bass, Tedi May, front left, ___, front right on fiddle Billy Ward.

L to R; Billy Ward, Jonathan Scheuer (producer of Winter's Bone), ME!, and Tedi May.

That's me, in Harrison at the Fiddlers Convention.

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Hotel Seville

Posted on April 21, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

If you’re planning an overnight in or near Harrison, Ark., check out this place. I stayed there at someone else’s whim during the Arkansas Fiddler’s Convention , while hanging out with Winter’s Bone Executive Producer Jonathan Scheuer. Jonathan, it turns out, is not only an old time music buff (with a jones for fiddle tunes especially), but also into interesting architecture. The Seville captured his attention when they were scouting movie locations a while back, and he was determined to try it out.

I’m including pictures in this post because without them you simply won’t believe this place. Don’t know if it’s the owners’ doing or if they got grants, but the circa 1929 hotel has had more than $2 million invested in returning it to its former grandeur, and the results are breathtaking. My small room had a wonderful bed, flat-screen tv, good closet space and a very efficient bathroom with my favorite kind of walk-in shower. And all of it at once historic, outfitted with all the modern amenities and neat as a pin. Their continental breakfast was spare – your choice of cereal or biscuits and gravy, plus coffee and OJ.

And the price was just under $80. Jonathan, I think, paid the same for his, and he got one of the suites, as he stayed for the entire festival. Anyway, it was an experience I’d recommend. Here’s just the lobby. Cool, yes?

The lobby of Hotel Seville.

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Dauphin Island

Posted on April 20, 2010 by yarnspinnerpress

Mar on Dauphin Island. The ferry will take you to the Florida panhandle. Photo; S. Denton

Dauphin Island, on the south side facing the Gulf. Photo; S. Denton

Marideth (standing on right) with Don Bland (standing on left), Sarah D. right and Lois R. on the left. Photo; A. Denton

Marideth, Dauphin Island near the Mother Tree. Photo; S. Denton

Marideth near the Mother Tree, Dauphin Island. Photo; S. Denton

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