Monday, January 30, 2012

Monday Meanderings - 1.30.2012

Had a lot of thunder and lightening this past week. Very, very frightening. And a lot of rain - about 5 inches, overnight. Just down the road they had a tornado. Rain is good; roofs blown off not so much.

Busy week. Westover hosted the Stream worship conference, and there's a lot of fetching and carrying sound system-wise for Ken Young whenever he does one of these. The Stream conferences started back in the mid-nineties in Midland, Texas as "Stream in the Desert" - a reference both to the Isaiah passage and Midland's locale. When Ken began holding them in other cities, they became simply "Stream where ever." This weekend was Stream Austin. It's a great weekend, with a lot of behind-the-scenes effort involved to make it appear as a restful, refreshing weekend.

Mike Cope was the speaker; he was warming up for the Renew Conference in Fresno in two weeks. We sent him on with our blessing.

And Stream was my last official duty behind the sound desk. Off and on, for more than 30 years, I have been involved in church sound systems. It's time for some younger guys to take over that role, so this was the grand finale for me. I will not miss it.

Add Stephen Tyler to the list of aging rock stars that should no longer sing in public - especially the Star Spangled Banner. It's getting to be a long list of guys who no longer can hit the high notes. Of course, I'm still wondering who convinced Neil Young he should sing at all.

And speaking of National Anthems, I am seriously freaking out that there will be only one more football game; then it's the long drought until next Fall. Sigh.

Article in the AS about "Less drawl in 'y'all'." A research project at UT says Texas accents are fading away, along with a number of colloquial expressions, such as "yonder" (some distance away), "drouth" (drought), "rench" (rinse), "shinnery" (scrubby oak thicket), "snake doctor" (dragonfly), "light bread" (white bread), "clabber cheese" (cottage cheese), and "snap beans" (green beans). Hmm. Some of those I know, some I do not. How about you? On the other hand, they say Southern standbys such as "cup towel", "lightening bug" and "y'all" have not only endured, but are spreading beyond the South.

And can you tell me what is wrong with this placard we saw in the Bob Bullock Museum a couple of weeks ago?

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I agree that Texas accents are less Texas-y, especially in big cities like you and I live in. And many of those phrases, Troy's grandmother used faithfully -- but she's the only person I've ever heard use them (keep in mind I am not native).

Also -- the Port-Neches Groves Drum Majors MIGHT have written notes of encouragement to their predecessors. You know, "Good luck in college," etc. But if it was the one taking over, yes, it would be the successor.