The Brookston Family Blog
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Well it’s official, Tucker and Debbie are engaged. No date has been set yet (no surprise there). Congratulations to them both.

A favorite band of mine, the Duckhills is pretty much of an unknown, having been together only a short time in the early 1990s in Austin, Texas. I first heard them when I visited a couple of good friends from high school, Lance, Diane and Bugs, who had moved to Dallas. My friends took me to see Poi Dog Pondering at a club in Deep Ellum and the Duckhills were the opener. All three of us were captivated and thought the Duckhills put on a better show than the headliner we’d gone to see. Perhaps it was something about expectations. You know how you generally don’t expect much from an opening act and so when they’re good it’s all the more exciting because it’s so unexpected. Anyway, I bought Remembering Spongecake, their first cassette at the show. I actually re-taped it at one point because I was listening to it so much I was afraid I’d wear it out and not be able to replace it. Then the Poi Dog tour brought the band briefly to California. Luckily, they played a show at – I’m shooting on memory here – the Catalyst Club in Santa Clara which is exactly where I was living at that time. So I dragged some friends out and saw them a second time. I also picked up Kayak at that show, which was their second cassette. That was it for live shows but I tried to keep track of the band and eventually bought their third effort, the Litter CD, as well. The band apparently broke up shortly after Litter but for whatever reason, I still enjoy listening to them. All three albums are even on my iPod right now.

That’s the background. Today I got an e-mail from their bassist, Jim Thompson, who’s a schoolteacher outside of Houston these days. He’d been Googling his old band and came across my profile for the blog listing them as a favorite band. It turns out his nephew is also autistic and lives in San Mateo. He was also curious how someone from California had come to be a fan of what was essentially a local Austin band. I got quite a kick out of hearing from him and wrote him back right away. And he’s likewise responded so I guess we’ve started a correspondence of sorts.

The whole episode reminds of a song I love by Harry Nilsson entitled Mr. Richland’s Favorite Song, which is about a singer whose fanbase dwindles as he gets older until in the last verse:

The time has come the walrus said to speak of other things
Like a fallen star who works in a bar where yesterday is king
The fans will stay for an hour or so, they still remember his fame
But the time has come, the walrus said, to call your fans by name

Anyway I’m listening to the Duckhills as I write this and they still sound great to me.

Those of you who’ve known me for a long time, know I’ve had a small braided tail since 1980, or about 25 years. I originally grew it when I got out of the Army because I didn’t want to go back to having longer hair but I also didn’t want to be mistaken for a guy in the military any more. So I grew a tail. Seemed like it made sense at the time. But now it’s been 25 years and I’ve always said I’d take it to the grave with me. Originally, most of my family members hated it and my recently departed grandmother was probably the worst of all. She never failed to suggest I should cut it off whenever I saw her or spoke to her. Well, I’m sure there are people more stubborn than I am or hold grudges longer than I do, but I just don’t know any of them.

This weekend I had an interesting conversation with my buddy Sean over many beers where he may have persuaded me that it is time to retire the tail and cut if off. We concluded that I’ve stubbornly hung on to it for the same reason I find it difficult to divest myself of my too many possessions; because I invest them with meaning, nostalgia and emotions. Throughout my life, this has made it near impossible to get rid of something, including some pretty ridiculous things I still have. Sean also thinks it looks like crap, which perhaps is true. Now that we have the kids, it’s harder for us to keep up with it the way we used to and as a result it gets rattier and stays that way longer. Because of that, when I finally do take it out of the braid, I lose a lot of the hair in clumps (quiet, Karen) and then it’s harder to re-braid because it’s too thin. So more often than not these days it’s in a pony tail rather than braided while I wait for more hair to grow long around it so it’s thick enough to braid.

So my question is this. Should it stay or should it go? Please let me have your thoughts, especially those of you who’ve known me a long time. Just post a comment here and I’ll make up mind over the next few weeks.