D.B. Shovel has a new website.
It’s just getting started so there is only some basic content up. When I find a WYSIWYG editor that I like, I will “spruce” it up some. Until then, head on over and bookmark it so you will know when we are playing next!
When I was a little boy around 12 years old, I was big into motorcycles. I wanted to be a motocross racer! I had no interest in music. I rarely listened to music and I certainly had no notion of playing music. One day I was riding my bike through the back woods of north jersey and I happened across a little shack. I thought it was a cool little place and had no earthly idea that someone actually lived there. I got off my bike and went inside. It found an old man hunched over in his chair with an old guitar laying on the floor at his feet. His mini "Pignose amp" was still on and there was a slight hum coming from its tiny speaker. I asked "mister, are you ok?" He replied "my time is here, sit with me a while". I did. He talked and told me stories of how he was a guitar player and then some of his stories from his adventures touring across the land. I was enthralled! His stories were magical and so tall they sounded made up. I listened intently anyway. I was enjoying myself immensely. After a couple hours, he said to me "I have no children and no family. I have no one here with me in the end but you. I want to pass on what I have learned but have no one to pass it on to. Will you take what was once given to me?" I didn’t know what he was talking about but I knew he was about to pass on. So I said "yes sir, I will!" He smiled and held my hand as he passed on.
A few months later, I could no longer fight the urge that had been growing in me since my meeting with the old man, to play guitar. I sold my motorcycle and bought an old beat up guitar and a Pignose amp. Looking back now, I don’t ever remember learning how to play. I kind of just knew. I only had to get my fingers to convey what I already understood and felt inside of me.
I have been carrying on what that man gave to me those 32 years ago, the best I can to honor him and the life of adventures he lived. I will do so until it is time for me to pass it along to someone else willing to accept.
That man’s name was "D.B. Shovel".
I will be playing my guitar with my band “D.B. Shovel” this Saturday night at the Loading Zone at . 2825 Smith Springs Road Nashville TN 37217
C’Mon out and drink some beer and listen to some good music! No Cover charge!
Do all people have blonde hair? No of course not. So generalizing to that extent is not very accurate. Are blonde haired people more prevalent in Norway? Probably so. even though they are not ALL blonde, the majority are. Why? Years and years of selective reproduction. This is not rocket science. People with fair skin and blonde hair were at one time considered more attractive in that region. That preference has continued for generations to the point where people are raised feeling an attraction to what they have seen their whole life and the “type” continues. Just like all Italians are not Dark haired and dark skinned but it is the preferred look so it perpetuates. This is not news and has been well studied and I believe accepted knowledge.
Take this knowledge to the dog world yet again. I have discussed this topic a bit before. Pit bulls specifically. Are all pit-bulls aggressive? Of course not! Are the majority of Pit-Bulls bred in America aggressive? That could be a more accurate statement. MOST people that breed this dog are attracted to a specific look and a specific temperament. The people that buy these dogs and perpetuate the type WANT a tough dog. This supply and demand is what perpetuates the aggressive dog trait in Pit-Bulls. There are aggressive small dogs as well but being that they are too small to inflict too much damage to people other than babies, breeders simply find it cute and just call it “tenacity”. There was a time when German Sheppards and Rottweilers were bred for aggressive traits. Does that mean they are ALL born with those traits. Of course not. Being that breeders that have successful businesses in breeding a specific breed, are the ones selling most of the dogs, they are the breeders that basically dictate the traits that become prevalent. Some breeders are credible and do their best to breed well tempered dogs. However, being that those dogs are not as desirable in society, they are the minority and their dogs are not as big a part of the breed’s perceived character. Same as black haired Norwegians. Yes some people are attracted to black hair in Norway and they do procreate, perpetuating the type or look. However, they are few and far between in that region. So the popular blonde type or look prevails.
As far as traits go, people in NY City are more aggressive than people in say Hawaii. So saying that humans are aggressive based solely on your NY City experiences wouldn’t be very accurate. One would be naive to not see the difference. People in NY City find aggressive behavior to be accepted and probably attractive to an extent. Maybe even looked at as strong and take charge. Whereas that temperament in Hawaii would be looked on as NOT attractive. So Hawaiians perpetuate what the culture sees as acceptable and desirable. Same with people in NY City. The same goes for dog breeding. the “Pit-Bull” in North Dakota, might very well be a kind and gentle version of a dog once bred to kill relentlessly. Here in TN, the dog is still bred often for the aggressive traits that give the breed its name.
So when people that defend Pit-Bulls and say they are gentle and kind, may very well have a gentle and kind example of the breed. That’s wonderful! Love your dog! That does not mean that ALL Pit-Bulls are gentle and kind. the MAJORITY are bred to NOT be gentle and kind but rather to be aggressive and to not back down from any threat human or K9. It take many generations of responsible breeding to remove what many generations of irresponsible breeding took to instill.
OK enough of this topic! 🙂
The 2 parties of our country’s political system are the extremes of bad parenting. On one side we have the Democrats that are like the parents that give their children everything they want or cry for. On the other side we have the republicans who want to give nothing to their children and let a nanny raise them with no love.
Democrats are raising “children” in this country that are learning no self sufficient skills. There are so many programs and ways of dishing out money to people that people are forgetting how to take care of themselves. Look at hurricane Katrina. Look at how many people just stayed and waited for someone to come help. When help didn’t come, they did not handle things on their own, they simply bitched and cried to the media that “no one helped us”.
Republicans are no better. They want to simply let everyone fend for themselves. I believe when everyone fends for themselves, a huge divide between the extreme well to do and the extreme poor happens. When you give nothing to children, no love, no tools, no guidance, some grow to be bullies and some grow to be bullied. Some grow to have and some grow to have not. There is much less middle ground or middle class in that scenario.
I don’t know why it has to be one or the other. Still, to this day, I do not understand the need for the only 2 political parties to be such polar extremes. We need the middle ground in the political arena just as we all know the most stable and well grounded children are those that are given the tools and the love they NEED but are not spoiled with everything they WANT and too much pampering. Give your children love, support and help them self achieve and they will grow to be strong people. Give the people of our country guidance and the laws they NEED and they will grow to prosper and be self sufficient. Give children too much of material things and no love and they will grow to be abusive and self centered. Give a country no laws no guidance and you will have a society of financially rich bullies and poverty!
1st off… Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for winning Super Bowl 44. Great job! It looked like imminent failure during the 1st quarter but they pulled it together and won. This would be no easy task on any given Sunday. Payton Manning can win at any given moment. He has the ability to drive his team down the field to score with a speed and determination not matched by anyone in the league. They can rack up 2, 3 or even 4 touchdowns in a single quarter. So how did the Saints prevent this from happening? Was it their great defense? Was it the blitz and pressure on PM? Well they were both part of it. They did work hard and make plays. So what was it? The Saints did what the few teams that ever beat the Colts do. The kept Payton Manning and his offense on the bench! Payton cannot score if he’s not playing! The Saints took their time getting down the field keeping control of the ball. If they were to blast down the field and score quickly, the Colts would have come out and scored just as quickly and it would have been a high scoring shootout. Instead the Saints played methodical football, gaining ground a short 10 yards at a time and eating up the game clock. In the end, there just wasn’t enough time for PM to come out and play. When he did, he wasn’t warmed up as he sat on the bench cooling down for tool long! Smart football! The Saints didn’t try to beat Payton Manning and his offense by out playing them. The just didn’t let him play! Good job!
At the end of 2009, I took my car to a mechanic for some work. I drove the car in and after a 1 hour test drive, the car was no longer drivable. The shop said sorry but it’s not their fault. Actually it was! The car drove in fine. I told them what the issue was and they didn’t listen. The mechanic took the vehicle out on the interstate even when I told him that the car was misfiring at interstate speeds. He tried to diagnose the problem for 1 hour. During which the catalytic converters got so hot while burning the unburned fuel caused by the misfire, that the melted and closed up. I had to have the vehicle towed. When they got it back they said it would cost me $3000 to fix! I towed the vehicle someplace else to have the converters replaced. $1700. The car still misfired. it was diagnosed in 5 minutes as being a bad coil pack. EXACTLY what it told the 1st mechanic who didn’t believe me. After replacing the Coil Pack, the car is running as it should. So I brought a running car into a mechanic, he rendered it undriveable and refused to pay me for his mistake.
I went to the Better Business Bureau and they said they cannot do a thing as I already had the vehicle repaired! They won’t even remove the A+ rating that the mechanic shop had. I said I chose them for their A+ rating and it turns out they don’t deserve it. BBB won’t do a thing.
I wonder if the BBB charges companies to list them with an A+ rating? A little more corruption going on? Probably so. Now I am filing with the Consumer Affairs dept in Nashville to see if they can do anything.
skraMnoR 