Featuring some very talented musicians as his backup band, mostly from right here in Houston.
Jim Henkel
Click for full size
David Beebe
Click for full size
The Dazzling Pete Gray
Click for full size
Skipper and Allen Hill
Click for full size
Eric Hughes
Click for full size
Vintage Triumph motorcycle parked on the sidewalk at 3700 Main.
Geoffrey Muller of the Sideshow Tramps performing with The Umbrella Man.
a.k.a. Christian Anarchy of The Hates
“The horn-heavy, continually evolving collective Free Radicals produces a wildly eclectic fusion that has as many influences as there are items in the Houston, Texas, pawnshop in which they honed their sound during all-night jam sessions.” -The New Yorker, 3/27/2000
The party celebrating the 12th anniversary of Technology Bytes was, by all measures, a huge success. We had a good crowd and a good time was had by all. DJ Amanda Robinson was excellent in the mix and The Free Radicals were quite a lot of fun, especially when they performed a version of the theme song we use to open the show each week.
Thanks to everyone who came out!
Here are some random shots I managed to take in between all the socializing…
As the rains began to fall I made for the main area next to the docks where there were some restaurants and shops and so-forth. Even with the precipitation I was struck by the stark beauty of this humble fishing community.
As I continued to ride the rain began to come down in earnest so I put on the hustle and made my way to the fish n’ chip shop I had passed earlier. Parking the bicycle outside I went inside and placed an order for the catch of the day. After they called my number and I collected my food I went out on the covered patio and had a seat.
My bus back on the mainland was not scheduled to pick me up for another 4 hours so there was no point in leaving right away. The dock on the mainland was just a parking lot where buses came and went as they dropped off tourists looking to catch the ferry to the islands.
I sat in the fish n’ chips shop and made friends with the local wharf cat who seemed content to beg for scraps from the wet and bedraggled tourists.
After I sat for a while the rain began to slack a bit and I decided to return my rented bicycle and have a go at the island on foot. As I was leaving the bike shop I was accosted by eager tour bus drivers offering a three hour tour of the island that included a trip up to Dun Aengus, a stone fort on the west side of the island.
I decided to pay the 10 Euro and take the tour. We drove past endless stone walls and got a bit of the back story on the island from our tour guide as we worked our way to the far side of the island.
Once we arrived we were given an hour and a half to climb the hill and explore the ruins.
It was a wet, slippery and precarious climb up the stony hillside to reach the top where the ruins of the 3,000 year old stone fort stood watch on the rocky shore of Inis Mór, but the view was spectacular (even with the rain). At the very top, within the stone walls of the ruins you could peer out across the vast ocean, squint and imagine New York in the far, far distance.
There were no railings here, no signs warning of the danger. Only a wet, rocky terrain that abruptly ended in a 300 foot plummet into the ocean below…
Of course this meant that I had to get as close as possible and peer over the edge…
I was probably taking a bigger risk than someone as clumsy as I am should have been…but there I was, on the edge of the world and it was spectacular.
I was so glad that I didn’t let a little rain deter me from having such a grand finale to such a wonderful trip.
Continued from Inis Mor – Part 1
Having settled on going back and exploring other sites on the island via bicycle I allowed myself a leisurely stroll as I made my way back to the road.
As I was watching the hares scamper about they all broke into a run and dashed down the closest hole they could get to. I couldn’t sort what had happened to cause the sudden panic until I spotted two Border Collies come up from beyond a small hill.
They eyed me warily and kept a good distance and just trotted off the other side of the pasture and on out of site. The didn’t seem all that interested in me or the rabbits.
I kept on walking toward the road and was stopped by two inquisitive donkeys in a walled enclosure out there in the field.
I wish I had been carrying something to give them. They were obviously looking for a hand-out.
I finally made it back on to the road and stopped to shoot some pictures of some of the many monuments on the island erected in the memory of a sailor or fisherman who’s body was never recovered.
These things were everywhere and most dated back a few hundred years.
This was turning out to be a splendid excursion…
…then it began to rain.
To Be Continued
