Bobby, Baby

Capo 2nd Fret

Em

Verse 1: There’s a bump on the hill, where your body lies

D
There’s a stone in the ground, reads “this man did try”

Em
If you look to the east, you see your estate

D
Weathered and hollowed out by your mistakes

CHORUS:
Em G
Oh Bobby, baby, we all know the truth

D Em
You were looking for love in all the bad that you’d do

G
Bobby, baby, we all know the deal

D Em
Your row was hard and long and straight up a hill
Am Em Am Em
Your mother was gone, your daddy did wrong

Am Em D
Your brother died by his own hand

Am Em   Am Em
Your wife tried so long, but you she disowned

Am Em D Em
Your daughter was lost with your land, with your land

Verse 2:

Every once in awhile, I still can see

Your blue eyes searching a way to be free

And I go to your grave, bottle in hand

And pour out your freedom right there in the sand

CHORUS:

REPEAT CHORUS:

in Bb Minor Capo first fret: Am,  Dm, E7, Am

Shift: C, Am, E7, Am.  It’s possible I missed a word or two in the transcription. If I did, leave a comment and let me know the correct word.

Verse 1: 

Hush-a-bye-, don’t you cry.

Go to sleepy little baby.

When you wake, you shall have,

All the pretty little horses.

Verse 2: 

Rest your head,

Mama said,

Go to sleepy little baby.

When you wake, You’ll have cake.

To go to six little horses.

SHIFT:

Blacks and bays, dapples and greys,

All the pretty little horses.

Verse 3: 

Way down yonder,

In the meadow,

Lies a poor little baby crying

Bees and butterflies,

Flutter around his eyes,

Poor little baby crying mama

SHIFT 2: 

Blacks and bays, dapples and greys,

All the pretty little horses.

Repeat First first verse: 

Am, G, Am, C, G, Am  throughout. 

She stars with the CHORUS:

Shady Grove, my little love

Shady Grove I say

Shady Grove, my little love,

I’m bound to go away

VERSE 1: 

Cheeks are like a blooming rose,

Eyes of the deepest brown

She’s the darling of my heart

Stay till the sun goes down.

CHORUS:

 Verse 2: 

I went to see my Shady Grove

She’s standing in the door,

Shoes and stockings in her hand,

Little bare feet on the floor.

CHORUS:

Verse 3: 

I wish I had a needle and thread

As fine as I could sew,

I’d sew my true love to my side

And down the street I’d go.

CHORUS:

Verse 4:

I wish I had a big fine horse,

And corn to feed him on

And a pretty girl to stay at home

To feed him when I’m gone.

CHORUS:

Verse 5: 

Peaches in the summertime

Apples in the fall.

If I can’t get the girl I love,

I don’t want none at all.

Video Contest Guidelines 

1. You must use one of these songs: “Goober Peas” by Rickey E. Pittman from his CD Bard of the South (you can get this on iTunes) or “Ima Hogg Boogie,” also on the same CD and on iTunes.

“Goober Peas” tells of a love for peanuts!  “Ima Hogg Boogie” tells of the most famous Texas Hogg in history, a young girl named Ima!

2.  You or you and others must create a video to go with the song you select. You can use a constant video, or go picture to picture (PowerPoint easily can become a video), or even use original art work.  You can be in costume or regular clothes and you may use props and masks. It can be made inside or out.  You can lip-sync (i.e,. pretend that you’re singing) or sing out loud along with the song or with the chorus of the song (that would work best). Watch a few Youtube videos to get some ideas. You can tell a story in text or in pictures on the screen.  The main idea is to create something funny, fun, and that goes along with the song.

3. GUIDELINES:

1. It must be posted on Youtube no later than May 20, 2012.

2. You must give credit on the first and last slide or frame of the video like this:

“The Ima Hogg Boogie” a song by Rickey E. Pittman, bardofthesouth.com

OR

“Goober Peas” a song by Rickey E. Pittman, bardofthesouth.com

3. You must list all actors at the end of the video as well as the school and city and state you are from. You must give your video a unique name.

4. There must be NO profanity or anything inappropriate anywhere in the video. This should be viewed as a school project.

5. You must email me at rickeyp@bayou.com and tell me the video is posted and give me the link. It should look like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8r-_OAW2Fk

In fact, watch this video to see how I made a video to fit my friend Jed Marum’s song.  If you win, I will contact you by email and make arrangements for you to receive your prize.

6. This contest is only for students from 4^th grade to high school. I may have a college contest at a later time

PRIZES:

First prize: $50.00 in cash

Second prize $25.00

Third prize: A CD of your choice (I have two, Bard of the South, and The Minstrel Boy by the Bard of the South—You can see their song lists on my website.)

Here is his own testimony about  his passion for and experience with muskie fishing:

LOREN: I began fishing for muskies in 1953 on Lake Winnebigoshish, Minnesota, with my father. He had lived in Motley, Minnesota, for a few years while his father served the Methodist Episcopal Church there as its minister. We then began fishing for muskies on nearby Cass Lake in 1954, and fished Leech Lake on and off, as well. I fished Pymatuning Reservoir in Pennsylvania probably in 1965 when I taught at Grove City College. Since I’ve moved to Missouri, I also fish for these toothy critters at Pomme de Terre. I’m a Life Member Muskies, Inc., having joined one of the earliest-formed chapters at Pomme de Terre. I’ve guided muskie fishermen as a summer-time job until last year. That’s when  the Coast Guard issued the requirement that all inland water fishing guides be licensed as captains. I’m about to begin studying for my license. Four about the past six years, I have provided design ideas to Paul Jensen, sole proprietor of Jensen Jigs. I am his chief field tester for Jensen Jigs Musky Clatterbaits, and so far, his designs out-catch the major brands. Three of my design ideas at the Cass Lake Cisco, a walleye pattern, and a perch pattern (with a Cass Lake variation). I am a frequent contributor to KMMO’s “In the Outdoors with Brad and Brian,” here in Marshall.  The station’s signal covers roughly the upper third of Missour, with listeners as far south as Warsaw. Brian Sowers, the morning show host, dubbed me “The Muskie Professor,” so that is my brand. Fishing for muskies involves a lot of study and fine tuning.  I’ve discovered that having a GPS structure map and an excellent sonar help me locate the habitat and muskies themselves, but weather, water conditions, conditioning against certain bait patterns, and fishing pressure challenge those of us who are obsessive enough to pursue these elusive, intelligent creatures. Muskies are like elephants insofar as they are prized by fishermen, but I no longer care if I boat a muskie: they are fragile and easily stressed to the point that they will not survive a catch-and-release. Many people mishandle them, which further diminishes the chance that they will survive. 48” is now the *mimimum* legal limit. In 1953, the minimum size was either 30 or 36 inches.

Gruber has an excellent website here: In addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of the species, on his website he provides guide services for those who have dreamed of catching a trophy muskie, he provides tips to muskie fishing success (I learned they are not the easiest fish in the world to catch), there are testimonials, and he has tested muskie lures and has the test results posted there. He also has a radio program on KMMO-FM and www.kmmo.com on Sundays. 7-8 p.m. Central time.

Here’s a picture of the Muskie Professor (bearded one on left)!

The Muskie Professor!

Loren C. Gruber

Here’s a photo of Loren,  with Tessa, a graduate student and friend of mine at Missouri Valley College where Loren teaches English.

Ozark Creative Writers Conference

Bronwynn and I lived in North Dallas in an upper-middle-class neighborhood.  We had just graduated from high school. We lived and looked like the rest of the emotionally charged, music-driven Led Zeppelin generation about us, killing time and brain cells with drugs, alcohol, sex and rock music that was almost as loud as our own inner chaos. We were woven into the tapestry of that milieu.

But the zeitgeist that enveloped our hedonistic generation is only the backdrop for the dark story of witchcraft I need to tell.

"Those big brown eyes . . . Definitely my kind of girl."

Under the Witch's Mark

Under the Witch’s Mark is Rickey Pittman’s second published novel. His first was Red River Fever. You can order that novel here:

The hyper-politically correct likely won’t like the novel, but as a committed Texan who had ancestors in the areas raided by the Comanche and Kiowa, who has seen the graves of men, women, and children murdered in those raids, I can at least understand the point of view of the Texans who suffered and fought to build lives and homes in a hostile land.  The reader will learn much about Texas geography, flora and fauna, history, Native Americans, and the life of the Texan pioneers. Le May begins with an epigraph that captures their spirit. It reads:

“These people had a kind of courage that may be the finest gift of man: the courage of those who simply keep on, and on, doing the next thing, far beyond all reasonable endurance, seldom thinking of themselves as martyred, and never thinking of themselves as brave.”

They were a tough and self-sufficient breed of people.  Perhaps I’ll write more on that later. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“But you get used to unresting vigilance, and a perpetual danger becomes part of the everyday things around you” (6)

“It so happens we be Texas…so we can’t leave off, without giving up that they (our ancestors) were fools, wasting their lives and wasted in the way they died . . . A Texan is nothing but a human man way out on a limb” (66-67).

“I ain’t so sure we’re through it. A thing like this an make trouble for a long, long time” (124-25).

“There is a great independence and a confident immunity to risk, in all drinks made out of cactus . . . The tequila was thinking in Spanish now” (218-19).

“Like most prairie men, they had great belief in their abilities, but a total faith in their bad luck” (261).

“The lost years had left an invisible mutilation as definite as if fingers were missing from her hand” (288).

The storyline has always moved me, but now even more since I’ve found it’s based on historical events. Evidently Le May researched 60 or so cases of kidnappings by the Comanches/Kiowas and it seems to be based most on the story of Brit Johnson, an African-American teamster who ransomed his captured wife and children from the Comanches in 1865. He also searched relentlessly for a captured girl named Millie Durgan until he was killed by the Kiowa in 1871.

Here’s the MLA Works Cited for the edition I used:

Le May, Alan. The Searchers. New York: Berkley Books, 1992.

(from http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20120325/OPINION02/203250319/The-artist-formally-known-Jindal)

It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved. This was the advice handed down by Niccolo Machiavelli 500 years ago in “The Prince,” subtitled and translated from Latin to mean “How to Tyrannize for Dummies.” “The Prince” describes the crafty, shrewd and unprincipled methods by which an individual may acquire and maintain political power. Surveying the shredding of our representative democracy, otherwise known as the 2012 legislative session, it is clear Louisiana has obtained its very own prince.

Consider the case of Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, who was canned from his post as vice chairman of the House Committee on Insurance for voting against an education tax rebate plan pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. Never mind that Ritchie was the dissenting vote on a measure that passed overwhelmingly by a 12 to 4 margin. Never mind that Ritchie’s office received more calls from his constituents against than in support of the plan. Here’s the message: don’t vote your conscience, don’t vote your constituents; vote as the prince instructs. Our prince, the artist formerly known as Gov. Jindal, is utilizing tactics that are more Machiavelli than Madison, more Kingfish than Kennon.

James Madison wrote, “In Republics, the great danger is, that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority.” The demotion of Ritchie is one such example of disrespecting the minority and silencing opposition. Blocking access to committee meetings, scheduling an entire education package of three bills and 114 amendments into one 33-hour period, sending minions to hijack a press conference are all examples of a lack of tolerance for dissent. You know who else has no tolerance for opposition? North Korea, Syria and Iran. With respect to Madison, the present opposition may not actually constitute a minority. Most teachers, superintendents and school boards across the state are on record as being opposed to the prince’s so-called education reforms.

Consider the case of Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite. His constituents are opposed to the so-called reform package by a two-to-one margin. For speaking out and challenging the governor, Edwards was served a public records request for all email correspondence between him and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers; his school district, Tangipahoa, was served a public records request for every teacher’s home address; and his district, District 72, has been blanketed with anti-Edwards mailers and robocalls. His only “crime” was opposing the governor and representing his constituents.

I know for a fact that many local legislators have received more calls expressing their opposition than support for the governor’s so-called education reform package. I know for a fact that many legislators have expressed reservations, privately about the governor’s so-called education reform package in its present form. The reaction towards Edwards and Ritchie will undoubtedly cause many of these legislators to remain silent, even if it means voting against the will of their constituents.

Effective representative democracy requires a balance between the demands of the general public, affected public, political victors (majority), and political losers (minority). Effective representation requires an open, public discussion over a period of time to ensure everyone’s best interest is being served and that the best approaches are being implemented. This has not happened in the education reform debate.

We need reforms in Louisiana. Cramming the entire debate into a 33-hour period during an 11 week session is not effective  representative democracy. Retributive measures against your political opponents are not effective representative democracy.

Alas, Jindal is not solely to blame. We have 144 people who serve in the state legislature. They’re supposed to elect their leadership and they’re supposed to schedule debates; however, they have ceded its power and authority. Our legislature allows Jindal to tells them what, when, how, and why to do their business.

Our legislature allowed Jindal to demote Ritchie and allowed Jindal to make life miserable for Edwards.

Our legislature needs to stand up to the governor, exercise independence, and practice representative — not princely — democracy.

Joshua Stockley is a professor of political science at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Email him at stockley@ulm.edu.

Question 1: You design fantastic websites. Tell me about your training for this. First, thanks for the compliment! I actually have no formal Web / graphic design training. Everything I’ve learned has been self-taught, with the help of a few friends in the field. I’ve been in the Web/graphic design business for almost four years now, and by far the best “training” has been practice itself. I love to learn new things and new ways to accomplish said things, so I’m constantly learning new and more efficient ways to accomplish a given task.

Question 2. What do you like best about your work and website design? The great thing about website design is that I’m usually free to make any creative decisions I want. Most clients come to me with a need for a website with certain types of content, but they have no idea where to start in terms of layout, colors, etc. Frankly, most of them don’t care, as long as in the end their content is displayed in an effective and easy-to-navigate manner. Most projects afford me a very high level of creativity in the design and execution of the project, which is really nice. Another thing I really like is to see my work actually being used. It’s great if I create a top-notch website that the client and I are both happy with, but it’s even better if it’s a high-traffic website that many people from around the country (or even the world) see.

Question 3. What do people need to know or have done before they contact someone to design their website?  Do you have guidelines for prospective customers? Great question. First and foremost, people should have a clear goals that they want their website to accomplish, whether it’s an E-Commerce site (think Amazon.com), an informational site for a business, a portfolio site (possibly for an artist or photographer), or something else. If it’s E-Commerce they’re after, then the focus will be on effectively and  prominently displaying products in a fashion that will promote sales. If it’s an informational site for a business, the focus will be on company history, services, how to contact them, and maybe a portfolio. Additionally, they should have some specific content in mind that they want to make available to the world. I do have a somewhat standard set of questions I ask potential clients to help me get a better idea of what they have in mind. It turns out that these questions help the client just as much as they help me, because often times they haven’t even answered these questions themselves.

Questions such as:

• Do you already have a business identity (logo, colors, etc)
• Do you have a domain name (example.com)?
• Do you have a Web hosting account, or should we provide website hosting?
• Will you require custom email addresses with your domain (ex. hello@example.com)?
• In what timeframe would you like to have the project completed?
• What features would you like your website to have? (selling products, update the site yourself, contact forms, etc)
• Have you considered a budget for this project?
• Do you know of any websites with a “look and feel” similar to what you have in mind?

Question 4.  What do you think are the key things that make a website work and attract traffic?  Another great question, and one that most people don’t think about, at least initially. The single most important thing that makes a website attract a lot of traffic is content. By content, I’m specifically referring to text. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing all use the text on your website to index content and determine relevant keywords on your site. They then use this information to return relevant results to people searching for keywords. For instance, a link to your website/blog might be returned to someone who is searching for “Southern Author and Musician”, whereas my website (SquarePlanIT.com) might be returned to someone searching for “Louisiana Website Design” or “Monroe Website Design”. Of course, there are so many variables that go into a search and its corresponding results such as location, previous search history, and pages you’ve “liked”.

Question 5. What are some common mistakes people make when they make websites? There are so many factors that go into building a great website, both on the client’s end and on the designer’s end, that there are many mistakes to be made, some worse than others. For instance, without the client providing good text content, the Web developer is unable to include good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that encourages search engines like Google to index your site. Also, some Web developers can create beautiful websites, but they’re made up mostly of images, and as I said previously, search engines base their indexes off of text. Also, the more images you have on your site means your website takes longer to fully load, and search engines also take page load speed into account when returning results. They’re much more likely to return results with faster page load times.

Question 6. What are some of your favorite websites and why do you like them? I appreciate both good design and simplicity. If a website incorporates both it’s even better! A couple of websites that I really like in terms of design and simplicity is http://shiftcreative.com/ and https://stripe.com/. In terms of pure simplicity, I don’t think you can beat Google’s homepage. It has everything you need and nothing you don’t (basically a search form!).

Question 7. What trends in the future do you see for websites? Right now, the big push for websites is mobility. People tend to say “everything is going mobile, to phones, tablets, etc”. While they are correct that these devices are used more now than ever before to interact with the Web, I think it’s incorrect to infer that desktops and laptops are going anywhere. Don’t believe me? Ask businesses, and more importantly, their IT managers. You can’t beat a full size computer, be it a laptop or desktop, in terms of power and usability. It’s not practical to type a report on a touchscreen device. In fact, right now I’m typing this on a 27″ iMac. I do think, however, that websites will become more like Web applications and will become much more powerful and akin to current native programs, such as Microsoft Office. Google Docs is an excellent example of this. While Microsoft Office won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, I can certainly see a shift “to the cloud” where applications will be offered as a Web service as opposed to a program that must be installed on your computer.

*This interview may be freely reproduced in its entirety without written permission as long as credit is given in the article to Rickey E. Pittman at  http://www.bardofthesouth.com/ and to SquarePlanIT  at http://www.squareplanit.com/

Here’s a picture of Cameron and his beautiful wife, Amelia.