Nativity Scene

I actually shot that a year ago, but thought this Nativity Scene may be a good start for a photo blog. 

Ich habe mir gedacht, dass dies ein gutes Bild sein koennte um meinen Photo-Blog zu starten, obwohl ich dieses Bild vor einem Jahr schoss. 

Nativity Scene

I actually shot that a year ago, but thought this Nativity Scene may be a good start for a photo blog. And yeah I used this pic this year in a blog. 

Ich habe mir gedacht, dass dies ein gutes Bild sein koennte um meinen Photo-Blog zu starten, obwohl ich dieses Bild vor einem Jahr schoss. Aber es diente mir dieses Jahr in einem Blog. 

Saenger Chadd Thomas' Todesursache unklar

Nach verschiedenen Presseberichten von Austin Medien, so unter anderem des Austin American Statesman und der Fernsehstation KVUE, wird die Todesursache des Rockabilly Saengers Chadd Thomas vom Travis County Gerichtsmediziner nun als "unklar" bezeichnet. 

Thomas' Leiche wurde am 11. Juli dieses Jahres (2011) unweit seines Hauses entdeckt und war urspruenglich als Mord klassifiziert worden. Bereits drei Tage nach seinem Tod, meldete die lokale Fernsehstation KXAN, dass der charismatische Saenger in drei Auseinandersetzungen verwicklet war. 

Nach den heutigen Meldungen, kam der Gerichtsmediziner zum Schluss, dass die Todesursache wegen der drei Auseinandersetzungen nicht mit Genauigkeit festgestellt werden koenne. Die drei Vorfaelle schliessen neben zwei Taetlichkeiten, auch ein unbeabsichtiges Anfahren eines Autos, dass von einer Bekannten von Thomas gefahren wurde, ein. 

Laut den Meldungen gehe die Untersuchung allerdings weiter und schliesse die Moeglichkeit fuer andere Strafanzeigen, wie Koepferverletzung nicht aus. 

Chadd Thomas' Death Not a Homocide

According to the Austin American Statesman and KVUE, the death of Austin rockabilly musician Chadd Thomas was reclassified by the Travis County Medical Examiner as "undetermined."

Thomas' body was discovered on July 11th, 2011 off South Congress Avenue and was originally ruled a homicide through blunt forced trauma. But already three days after his death, local TV station KXAN reported that the charismatic singer has been involved in at least three separate incidents on the day of his death. 

The Medical Examiner was, according to several sources "unable to determine which of these incidents would've cause Thomas' death." The incidents include being accidentally hit by a car, driven by someone Chadd knew, a second altercation at a party and probably a third one where his body was later found. 

"The investigation continues", and "the change in classification does not exclude the possibility of other criminal charges (like aggravated assault) being filed." 

Wynonna Judd and Cactus Moser engaged

Wynonna Judd and Cactus Moser got engaged on December, 24th (2011), according to Nashville PR Agency "Webster & Associates." Wynonna, daugher of the famous mother-daughter duos, The Judds and Highway 101 drummer Scott "Cactus" Moser are presently touring together as Wynonna and The Big Noise. 

I don't know how, Wynonna told mother Naomi, that she is engaged again. Maybe she used the lyrics of the Kenny O'Dell ("Behind Closed Doors") penned and first Judds nummer one hit "Mama He's Crazy."


Kix Brooks (of Brooks & Dunn) and Don Cook are the writers of "Who's Lonely Now," the last nummer-one hit (12/30/89 - yep this week 22 years ago) for the quartett Highway 101 before lead singer Paulette Carlson quit the band and was replaced by Nikki Nelson. Cactus is pounding the felts in this video.



Big Noise, the new band behind Wynonna had it's debut on November, 27 of this year at Lindsley Bar & Grill in Nashville. Some amateur clips of this rockin' show can be found on youtube.
Cactus' son Wyatt also could celebrate a debut when I was allowed to sit in with the band.

Wynonna Judd & Cactus Moser verlobt

Wynonna Judd und Cactus Moser haben sich am 24. Dezember verlobt, dies teilte die Nashville PR-Agentur "Webster & Associates" mit. Wynonna, Tochter des bekannten Mutter-Tochter Duos The Judds und Highway 101 Schlagzeuger Scott "Cactus" Moser sind im Moment gemeinsam als Wynonna und The Big Noise auf Tournee. 

Ich weiss nicht, wie Wynonna, Mutter Naomi mitteilte, dass sie nun wieder verlobt ist, vielleicht zitierte sie den ersten Nummer-Eins Hit der Judds, das von Kenny O'Dell ("Behind Closed Doors") geschriebene "Mama He's Crazy".


Das von Kix Brooks (Brooks & Dunn) und Don Cook verfasste "Who's Lonely Now" war diese Woche vor 22 Jahren (12/30/89) der letzte Nummer-Eins Erfolg fuer das Quartett Highway 101. Ein Jahr spaeter verliess Lead-Saengerin Paulette Carlson die Band und wurde durch Nikki Nelson ersetzt.



Big Noise, die neue Begleit-Band fuer Wynonna wurde am 27. November 2011 in Lindsley Bar & Grill in Nashville vorgestellt. Einige Amateur-Clips der recht rockigen Show finden sich auf youtube.
Mit von der Partie war auch Cactus' Sohn Wyatt, der dort sein Debut gab.

Honky Tonk Christmas

Well - Christmas and Honky Tonkin' normally just don't go hand in hand, sin and salvation just don't mix, it's like water and oil. But the tradition is deep-rooted, and many a Honky Tonk singer, recorded gospel and/or Christmas albums as well. It almost has a catholic feel to it; go confess your sins, mumble some prayers, do some rosaries and you may be forgiven.
Whatever - Michael ONeill posted a great little ditty on my facebook page called "Beer Can Christmas Tree (visit this site for a free download)." What a great idea and concept, and as you can see above it takes quite some work to achieve the task of building (emptying) an aluminum pyramid aka "Beer Can Christmas Tree."
Well Michael allowed me in writing to share his song (with collaboration by Jimmy Baldwin) with y'all.

Well Honky Tonks are normally closed on Christmas Day as the majority of patrons stuff themselves with a 3500 calorie meal containing an amino acid called L-tryptophan and enough booze, wine and beer which puts them to immediate sleep and out of reach of any beer serving joint. The ones which are open may also attract the loners who want to share just one too many tears in their beers. Hank Williams recorded a song with that name in the early 50s but decided to not release it. Son Hank Jr. used  electronic merging technology and it seems as he would be playing with dad. That video was released in 1989 and was awarded the Video of the Year by the Country Music Association (CMA), it's Californian counterpart the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and they were able to "share" a Grammy as "Best Country Vocal Collaboration."



Well there is not much of a loner crowd in one of Austin's fav Honky Tonks on Christmas night. For years one of Austin's favorite Honky Tonkers, Dale Watson invites the "aamasses on Christmas into the Continental Club to celebrate, you guessed it a "Honky Tonk Christmas." Well my international readers in Europe should visit his tour page, in early 2012, he has shows coming up in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, The Netherlands and France.

Get More: Honky Tonk Christmas, Dale Watson, Dale Watson Videos

And now please eschcuse me, I gottttaaa wourk on miy Beer Can Chrischmasch tree. Happy Holidays y'all.
Well I had to add one more, I used to play the heck out of that Mickey Gilley song, when I was a DJ at the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Cheers everybody!