Steve comes back to Minnesota!

It's been a long while since I last posted...Steve Earle was at a concert at the Minnesota Zoo, they have a great amphatheater, but now that there's 8 inches of snow on the ground, that series is shut down for the season.  He was, of course, incredible, but he always is for me.  I talked to him after the show, gave him a gift for their baby John Henry, and left high as a kite...but, no dope involved.  

A Long Time...

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted about Steve, his tour hasn't gotten him back to Minneapolis, but we hope it will soon! He and his wife, Allison Moorer, became the proud parents of little John Henry this Spring. We were all so happy for them both, what wonderful bedtime songs that baby must hear!

We had tickets for Justin Townes Earle's stop in Minneapolis in October. Unfortunately, the rest of his tour has been cancelled while Justin is in rehab. Those of us who love him are praying he finds his way back, staying sober is a long hard road, I know it myself as I have been clean nearly four years. There have been some times, under medical supervision, I've used Vicodin for my chronic pain problems, but things are pretty clean now. Everyday is a struggle while you are trying to stay clean. I know that.

Blessings to all of you as we enter the end of the another year!!

Wow

I can't beive it's ben been so many months since i last posted on this blog...nothing about Steve has held me back, saw him twice on the Townes tour and was able to see Joe Pug twice since I saw him with Steve summer 2008 in Texas...my dear friend and I are going to see Justin Townes Earle andJog Pug this week in St. Paul, maybe I will have some people to post then, they are both incredible...

And Allison and Steve Waiting for little John Henry to arrive! Such a special time! We all want to wish them the best of luck and God bless your beautiful little son. Get ready for some long nights, but they go by so quickly. Now our three babies are 21k 18 and 14 and three living in the arms of the Grandmother who weren't able to stay long with us.

We love you both, Allison "Crows" is beautiful, and Steve,. well you know you have been my hero since way back in the Texas Days...

Joanna Backman

Meeting Steve in Texas!!!

Well, here's the picture of the century...for me anyway......getting to meet Steve Earle after his show in New Braunsfels, Texas.....a great night!!

Long no time see....

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted to this blog.....well, sorry....long story and I'm sure folks have other things to do.....

We just got back to Minneapolis after spending two weeks in Texas with my sister and her husband and were able to see Steve on his Townes tour. It was, of course, incredible. It was held at an amphitheater in New Braunsfels, Texas, actually not very far from where Steve grew up (Shertz, Texas), hotter than a Laredo whore, dusty and bugs the size of Buicks everywhere....Steve swatted at them and crunched them under his boots and gave his usual $500 worth of music for a $28.00 ticket. We were really close to the stage and I got to meet him afterwards, talked for about 45 seconds and played with Blue, his blue tick healer who travels with him on the bus. It was, for me, another night of magic....I'm going to be able to see him again on July 23rd here in Minneapolis, never can see too much of Steve Earle....so, I'm going to post a few pictures here and wish you all the best and hope you, too, are able to catch Steve on this Townes tour!!!!

Trying that again

well, i have been off a long time, can't seem to get my pictures to cooperate....my brain has been frozen due to the temps of the last few days, the highest a blistering 14....sigh....

Just some pictures to warm the winter...

The Dead Season Arrives

December 12,
2008

Wow,
I guess it's been awhile since I last
wrote...the dead season, as i fondly
call it, has rolled into Minnesota.
now, we won't see or talk to
anyone for the next 5 months...that is kind of an
exaggeration...kind
of. people hole up here like chipmunks in the winter,
you see them
leaving home in the mornings and coming back at night and rarely,
if ever,
does anyone really speak to you. it is one of the most
isolated,
and isolating, places to live, especially for a girl from Texas who
really
loves to talk....the loneliness can sometimes get you down. it's the
worst time of the year for me to stay clean and not drink or use. And,
to
that...I have 15 months clean. the longest I've been sober in
well....nearly 20 years....

and,
the very sad thing is that Steve Earle is
probably not going to come back
this way for some
while. It's hard to live with that
knowledge. YouTube is
great, the Cd's
are great...but, right now I could use some
revved up powerful live
music.

Hope
you come back
someday....soon....Steve....

pictures of Mark and the gang...

Okay, I am going to try my best to get these pictures to show...this is the second time I've done this, so there are no promises...but, please remember you are working with someone whose brain is not fuctioning on all tracks these days....

Mark Jungers Comes to Minneapolis.....

Well....first off, let me apologize to Mark and Company for waiting so long to post this bit. I have no really good excuse, probably it has a lot to do with laziness and the dull drag of the summer....but, here goes...
In July, Mark Jungers and his fellers came to Minneapolis and played the 331 Club in that fair city. Mark is a terrific musician who reminded me a little of Steve Earle (who else?) and Jerry Jeff Walker other fellows who occupy big places in my musical heart. Mark's style is Americana, I hope I am getting that correct, and real easy to listen to while drinking a tall cool one. Okay, I don't do that anymore (they frown on that in AA) but it was still a grand evening, sitting in that little club, like lots of the ones I used to frequent a hundred years ago when I was working on little newspapers in Texas, and hearing music that has the sound of the Texas hill country. Growing up in that part of the world was the best thing that could happen to any Texas native, in my little opinion, and the 70s and 80s were the best time to be anywhere near Austin, Texas, or Bridgeport, Texas, or Gainesville, Texas....well, you get that line......
I was able to talk with Mark before their set began. As fate would have it, Mark and his lovely wife live right down the road from my Daddy and his wife, in the sparkling burg of Martindale, Texas. Small world....my Daddy had been telling me about Mark for months, but, it would seem he didn't mention that he had a daughter living in Minnesota. Fate would further have it that Mark is a native of this North Star State (Minnesota)....that, to me, is incredible. We changed places, I reckon, on the map (but I wish I still lived in Texas, Martindale or Tow or Muleshoe or Mission...sigh.
Mark was wonderful and it was all I could do to pull myself away from the club and drive back home. I really hope they get up here again, I've told some friends about his wonderful sound and they would like to be at his gig, too. Who wouldn't? He is really a grand singer.....
If you ever get a chance.......well, you know....I post pictures of Mark and Company from his web site. I never remember to take a camera with me....

Steve in Duluth

Well, okay, these pictures are probably not the best ever taken of Steve Earle, but considering we weren't even supposed to be using flash cameras, they came out pretty good. I stopped taking them after this really big Security guy came around, and I am really sorry if I blinded Steve even for a minute, but I had to get the pictures....how could I ever live with myself if I never saw him again??? So, thanks, Steve, for understanding...

Steve and Allison in Duluth, July 19

Okay, now how far would you drive to see the singer you have loved for over 20 years...I reckon folks have driven long ways for that. July 19 a friend and I drove a 340 mile round trip to see Steve and Allison in Duluth, MN. If possible, that show as better than the one in Minneapolis in March...and that one was incredible..They were at St. Scholastica College's Mitchell Auditorium, the sound was incredible and we were lucky enough to have gotten front row center seats.
I have a feeling a lot of the folks there were season ticket holders to the College's concert/play programs. They were quiet, very polite and there wasn't much hoopin' and hollerin'....but I kept the front row noticed. It's kinda hard to act like that when you are 10 feet from the singer, but I can't help it. Steve's music is magic to me and I really can't stay in my seat.
I am in my tenth month of sobriety now, ten months have passed with one Vicodin or one drop of tequila. So far, I would say there hasn't been one day of pure peace, some days are not as bad as others, some are worse than most. I hear it takes a year and a half to get back to "normal" but I am not even sure what that would be at this point.
So, I follow Steve and his music around as much as I can. He sang a lot of the old favorites, the ones that, I confess, still bring me the most comfort, remind me most of the good times in Texas when I was younger and things really seemed possible.
We didn't get to see him after the show, granted, I did plead with the feller at the tour bus to let us have just one minute....but, no deal...I can't imagine what it's like to have people want you to sign your name to something, that kind of appreciation and love. I feel like a groupie definitely at times like that....
If I were able to speak with him at any real length, I would tell him "thank you for sharing your gifts and helping those of us who struggle with their own demons to make it through another day."
Steve and Allison are coming back to Minneapolis on September 1 for a Labor Day rally..ha, the same day the Republicans get together to discuss whatever Republicans discuss! I'm sure that day was not chose at random!
I will be there.....early....maybe I can say hello and thanks then.
God bless Steve Earle..

Going to Duluth to see Steve!!!!

Hello friends!!! I just got my tickets today to see Steve and Allison when they make another stop in Minnesota!! They will be in Duluth, about 3 hours from Minneapolis, on July 19....I've been scraping together my Ebay and milk money to get ready for this...I might even get a part-time job, but I don't want to set that in stone yet....

I never thought I would be able to see them again on this tour! It is going to be fantastic...they are appearing at Mitchell Auditorium on the St. Scholastica University grounds...checking on the website, Mitchell looks to be a great venue, small enough to feel a real part of the music, which, I think, is a must with a Steve Earle concert. There are about 500 seats, "in the round," so I am guessing it will be great from whatever location.

I hope, if you are wanting to see Steve again and you live in Minnesota, you can join us in Duluth on July 19! It will, of course, be a wonderful show!!

Keep rockin' Steve!!

Steve and Allison coming back to Minnesota

Yeah, it's almost too good to really be true!!!! After seeing Steve and Allison here in Minneapolis in March, I thought, "well, guess i won't get to see them again for a long time....." But, God smiled down on us here in Minnesota. Steve has added new dates to his tour and they are going to be back in the North Star state on July 19...in Duluth, MN, about three hours from the Twin Cities....I am just waiting for the presale to start!!! I told my dear husband I would sell everything I own on my Ebay auctions to get the money together...I figure $200.00 will hopefully cover gas, tickets and a night at the local roach motel...or, I will sleep in the van if I have to do that!!

I am just so happy they are coming back!!!

Chris Knight, my second favorite singer.....

Through some dear friends, I recently discovered Chris Knight...he sounds enough like the singers I grew up hearing in Texas to love, but also has his own great sound...you might want to look him up, lots of things on YouTube...I'm checking his tour dates all the time, hoping he makes it up to the increasingly thawing tundra...


Keep rockin' Chris!!
***********************************************

The sun came out in Minnesota!

Well, my part of Minnesota...I think it's the first time in at least two weeks since the day has started off well....the weather, while still cool, promises to be good...Hannah and I, and maybe Kyle (if we can convince him) are going to the Minnesota Zoo to see the Farm Babies exhibit...ducks and piggies and lambs and calves...just like back home.....

Hope your day is a good one.....

Flowers....and a picture of Steve....just because..

Back from Texas

We are back from Texas, here in Minnesota again and again waiting for the sun to shine....it was soul renewing to be back home again, even though the bluebonnets weren't as lovely as they were last year. I figured they would all be up the week after we left. They are temperamental flowers, too much rain and they don't stick their heads out of the ground, too little and it's pretty much the same thing. But, there were some and we did eat a lot of Mexican food and some of the best bar-b-que in the state in Lockhart, Texas, at Kreze's...I am including a picture here of the county courthouse in Lockhart, it's one of the most beautiful in the state. No photos of me, but one dear one of my 12-year old treasure Hannah Joy. She cried half way back to Minnesota, and I did, too, on and off. It had to be one of the most horrible plane trips ever, with turbulence and the parking on the tarmac for half an hour while they looked for some kind of part needed to take off...no air in the cabin and a serious panic attack brewing in me..but, then we left..once again, Steve Earle on my MP3 player saved the day...

Thank you, New West friends.....

I want to thank my dear friends on the Steve Earle discussion forum, New West Records, for their continuing support this last year....and especially these last months of my recovery. I never could have made it this far without you all.....

And, thanks to Steve Earle...his kindness meant so much to me.....

A summer in Mexico......

Last summer, and it seems like a thousand years back to me, we were in Nuevo Vallarta, a beautiful place in a beautiful country....this picture at least makes one feel warm, even while sitting and looking out at the snow....

Easter Snow

Woke up this morning to snow....Easter snow....only in Minnesota.....it will be 40 Monday though, so hopefully it will all be gone. We are all so ready for this winter to be over, it's been a hard one in many respects. Looking forward to a better spring.

Hope your day is a sunny one....