Cordova's very own sometimes annual In 'Em Fisher Folk Fest

Next Thursday, May 9th, one week before the first opener on the Copper River Flats, on the new moon, at low water, in the Anchor Bar & Grill is the (drum roll, please!)

sometimes annual

In ‘Em Fisher Folk Fest

May 9

7pm

Anchor Bar & Grill

Cordova, Alaska

Come for an evening of song, writings, poems and stories of commercial fishing and all the flotsam and jetsam that go along with it.  From skippers to greenhorns, deckhands to slime liners, come get hooked by the tales of men and women who make their living from the sea.

This occasionally annual event has been going on in Cordova now for about 10 years, give or take.  This is the small fry version of  Astoria's Fisher Poets, but Cordova style. Performers are still piling in but so far on the confirmed line up, we have, in no particular order:

Dennis McGuire

Mike Mickleson

Rob Eckley

Katy Boehm

Lloyd Montgomery

Steve Schoonmaker

Jen Pickett

Buck Meloy

Patty McGuire

Eric Manzer

Steve Schoonmaker

Buck Meloy

LLoyd Montgomery

Dennis McGuire

Yours truly

  See you at the Anchor!

The nightmare of Frankenfish

As most of you know, a few weeks ago I was the 16th Annual Fisher Poets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon.  It was a fabulous time!  Its so great to see old friends and meet new ones.

This year, I emceed one evening with my buddy Lloyd.  It was my first time as MC and one thing I liked about it was that while I usually run around venue to venue chasing radio fish, as MC I had to stay put.  As a result, I caught acts of folks I hadn't heard of and never would have checked out.  Phil Lancing, for example. He memorized his entire 15 minute story that was quite good and funny! He is a hoot!

And speaking of being a hoot, that brings me to fellow Fisher Poet Dennis McGuire.  He is a character, to say the least.  Some of his poems and stories are pretty outrageous, but by just looking at Dennis, you know they are true.  He is a long time fishermen on the Copper River Flats out of Cordova Alaska and well seasoned at Fisher Poets.  Below is a photo of him a few years back at Cordova's In 'Em Fisher Folk Festival.

Dennis McGuire

While most of Dennis' stuff is quite humorous, some does have a political message to it, like his poem Fish Farm that talks about genetically engineered (GE) salmon. If approved, this Frankenfish would be the first genetically engineered animal that our Federal Government has ever approved for food consumption.  Scary stuff!  To say the least. Unfortunately, this threat is REAL! More details about this nightmare can be found here: http://trap.it/DrPW8L

But, before I digress down that rabbit hole any further, check out Dennis' Fish Farm poem.  My description of it doesn't do it justice.  Best to just watch it for yourself here on this YouTube link.  First is Dennis' favorite part, the

 Piglet Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whMJ7ABfx-4

Fish Farm  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA-2sj0cGC

GMO-Awareness's photo.

 
The following was taken from the GMO Awareness Facebook page. GMO Awareness

*** BREAKING NEWS: FDA has just extended the comment period on genetically engineered salmon until April 26! (see the article below). Here are FIVE ways to voice your opinion:

1) Cornucopia Institute has an excellent sample letter that you can submit electronically or by mail:
http://www.cornucopia.org/2013/01/action-alert-genetically-engineered-salmon/

2) Then you can sign this petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-approval-of-genetically-engineered-salmon

3) And this petition:
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/738?t=6&akid=700.469184.lqqeGr

4-5) Lastly, you can post a message to the following two Facebook pages:
The FDA: https://www.facebook.com/FDA
The USDA: https://www.facebook.com/USDA

Read the breaking news article here: http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/NewsEvents/CVMUpdates/ucm339270.htm


We gotta do something about this nightmare.  Join me in signing these petitions to stop yet another threat to our fishery, our jobs, our livelihood, and most importantly, our food!

Please join me in saying NO to Frankenfish! 

A Humpy

Rumor has it, many of you thought I fell off the radar. You'd swing by my blog, hoping for a fresh read and there was nothing.  You got skunked.  Found nothing but an old Holiday Recipes post from way back in December, and that was even rehashed from last holiday season.   I owe you an apology and I'm sorry.  I guess I did fall off the radar.   Turns out, Columbus was wrong.  The world isn't round, its flat and I fell right over the edge.  But no worries, dear reader, only just slightly worse for the wear, PickFish is back!  As my buddy Steve would say, for be reals this time.  Or should I say reels? I know, lame joke.  Don't worry, that's my only one and that one is included in the price.  Did I mention worse for the wear?

Anyway, after being chased down and nearly accosted by readers and by one cowboy, in particular (okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, on which part, you decide) wondering why they are not getting updates of my blog in their in-boxes,  I thought for my own safety, I'd better slide my boots on, climb into my raingear, pull the anchor and get my net wet.  Or in other non-fishermen speak, post a blog.  I mean, a reader can only take so many skunks. (And to be sure I bridge the gap for you non-fishy readers, a skunk is when a fishermen sets his net and gets nothing, no fish, no nada, zilcho, zero, a water haul).  If nothing else, I had to write another blog just to get that cowboy off my back.

Speaking of cowboys, its almost that time of year again for the 16th Annual Fisher Poets Gathering in Astoria OR.  Its coming right up Feb 22-24.  You can find out more information here at www.fisherpoets.org, Facebook.com/FisherPoets and you can even follow us on Twitter at FisherPoets. For those wondering what cowboys and fishermen have in common, the answer is nothing, but there is one token cowboy at Fisher Poets, Ron McDaniel.  Now I'm not sayin he
is the cowboy on my back for not writing,  I'm was just sayin' there was a cowboy on my back for not writing. And though he claims not to truly belong at FPs, because he is a cowboy, he has killed at least one fish commercially, so, whether he likes to admit it or not, he's just as ruined as the rest of us.  I mean, he legitimately qualifies as a Fisher Poet.  But I got off course.  Ready or not, dear reader,  its time for PickFish make another set and post another blog.

Now, the big question is what write about after so many months of being away.  The pressure is on.  You guys and gals have been patiently waiting for me to return and I'm sure you have certain expectations.  I mean, you probably think that I have been diligently writing this whole time and will return with some big catch, a monster halibut perhaps. You know one of those record breakers that barely fits into the back of a pick up truck?  I'd hate to disappoint.  I mean, you probably think that maybe I've been taking writing courses, poetry lessons, or even been working on my book.  Seriously, what else would I be doing for so many months? Again, I'm sorry dear reader.  I hate to be the one to tell you this, but if that's what you thought, you'd be wrong.  In reality, I got nothing.  I've been a total slacker.  Dead weight, drag, a water haul, as useful as flotsam and jetsam.  You are expecting monster halibut and here I am, I show up with a humpy.  And a spawned out one at that. You think I was off doing grand things and really, I just went out on deck to take a pee and fell overboard.  With my fly unzipped, to top things off  I mean, how glamorous is that?

But a few of you had faith that I was still out there afloat, somewhere.   You sent out a search party for me, sent me a life raft, told me to stop belly aching and to climb on in.  You gave me some hot chocolate, a little shot of whiskey, put a blanket around me and asked me if I was alright.  I nodded yes and you said Good. Now get your ass in gear and get back to writing.  Roger that.
And thanks Ron!

A Fisherman's Reverence

This has been a sad, sad week for fishermen and their loved ones.  Some are calling it the “most deadly 24 hours” in recent history for the Pacific.   Off the coast of Washington and Oregon, six men, five fishermen and one federal fisheries observer, lost their lives this week and three boats have been lost.  Four men are missing from the 70-foot  F/V Lady Cecelia, a trawler fishing off the coast of Washington.  The U.S. Coast Guard suspended their search last Sunday.  Two other men lost their lives when their boat capsized near Gold Beach.  A third boat, the F/V Chevelle ran aground on a jetty in Newport, OR.  All four survived but the 70-foot crabber remained slammed against the rocks, getting torn apart with each crashing wave.   Click here to read more: www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-new/index.ssf/2012/03/five_deaths_off_oregon_washing.html.

My heart sinks typing this.  While I don’t think this is every fisherman’s nightmare, I think this is the nightmare of every fisherman’s friends, family and loved ones.   We fishermen don’t fear being lost at sea, but our families fear it for us.  I’d like to take a moment to remember those lost at sea.  Not only those lost this last week but also all who have been lost at sea.

Before I read the news of those lost men and boats, I had been planning on answering the request of posting some videos from this year’s Fisher Poets Gathering in Astoria. Then I read the news and my heart sank.  Through out the week, I grappled with whether I should stick to my plan or write about the recent tragedies at sea.  I knew I couldn’t just ignore the heartbreak of loosing fishermen but I also wanted to keep sharing the stories of fishermen.  And that is what I decided to do, to share our stories in the remembrance of all those lost at sea.  I wanted to revere those men and women who are no longer with us and who can no longer tell their own stories.  It is up to us to keep their memory alive by telling their stories for them and continuing to tell our own tales of the sea in honor of those men and women who only the gulls know where they lay.

Fisher Poets Dave Densmore says it well in his poem “The Edge” found on this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dep6CcJ1xdY.  He nails it again

with his poem found below, “The Ride” where he talks about being rescued at sea by a passing Japanese fishing boat. 

THE RIDE

by

Dave Densmore

Those men on there were fishermen,

Fish and sea, were our ties.

The sympathy and solicitude

Showed plainly in their eyes.

Well, the did all they could,

As though we were their very own.

I’ll be forever grateful

To those men who brought us home.

Now you can draw your own

conclusions,

I know I sure have mine.

I thank God, every day,

For this life so sweet and fine.

Fisher Poet Mary Garvey has the voice of a nautical angel.  Her song “Tie it up and let it rot” is one of her many original sea shanties about fishing.  Check out her video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77sHORKXf_w&feature=related.

My own poems, Value, Free and my silly Xtra-Tuff song  can be found on youtube here at: http://bit.ly/yylEfw. 

Other Fisher Poets can be found on Pat Dixon’s page “in the tote” found here: http://inthetote.com/.

Until next time, fair winds and safe returns.

My Pacific Fishing Article

Its Arrived!  My article in Pacific Fishing!  Admittedly, it was a bit weird  writing an article about an event that I was a part of, but hopefully, I pulled it off OK.  You be the judge!

This past summer saw fisher poets emerge in gatherings form Kenai to Olympia.  We've got photos from most of them, with this in-depth report from Kenai by Jen Pickett

A summer of fishy verse

Kenai residents schooled up to hear poetry about and by those who make a living on the sea.  Pat Dixon, Rich King, Meezie Hermansen, Steve Schoonmaker, and myself all trolled up rhymes and rhetoric.  Toby Sullivan was on the bill but was stuck in Kodiak due to bad weather.

Pat emceed the event and also had an exhibition of his fisherman photography on display.  He stared us off with a poem entitiled 1980 Marine Radio Opepator, taking us all back to those days of listening in to one-sided conversations with beeps.  He says Fisher Poets "is a taste of the tapestry that we weave."

Steve busted out his guitar and sang about his reverence for the fish that fills his holds, his pockets, and his belly: "S.A.L.M.O.N...thanks again."

He started writing about what bothered him regarding the interactions between humans and nature until it evolved into writing about fishing.  One year, a friend encouraged him to go to Fisher Poets in Astoria.  Steve thought "Astoria?  That's the big rodeo" -but then figured, "What the hey?  I'll give it my eight seconds."

Rich started writing songs and poems to entertain the kids while fishing. "We just happen to have all this fodder, and Lord know plenty of funny things happen on a boat."  He now hears stories and says,"When it comes from an old fisherman you love and admire, you're pert near under pressure to write about it."

Meezie, who hasn't missed a summer of fishing since she could walk, says the tradition of fisher poets is "authentic becuase it's our lifestyle."  She writes because "you get slapped with enough salt water, it has to drip out."

Here's a sample from Meezie:

Whether angry or nice,

like a horrible vice,

the sea calls to those who hear,

For the ocean's roll

is part of soul

of those with a nautical ear.

Me? I like it because of the comaraderie.  Fisher Poets is like coming home. Everyone is so encouraging and supportive, even when my voice cracks on stage while reciting a poem I wrote about that one time almost dying crossing the Kokenhenik Bar on the Copper River Flats.

And I thnk we all agree it's a lot like fishing, like I say in the Halibut Diaries: "I don't do it for the money, I do it, just for the halibut."

Thanks for tuning in!  If you enjoy my blog feel free to "follow" here, leave a comment "like" me on Facebook under Pick Fish or follow me on Twitter: @Pickfysh.

Until next time, eat fish!

I'm out.

PickFish Friday Poetry

This PickFish Friday I wanted to try something different.   A few readers have sent requests for poems that were read at Fisher Poets.  So, without further ado, here goes.  Enjoy!

Fishin’ Again

 

The seas were high

Yet there was I

Standing upon my boat

Whilst the waves were mean,

Gruff and green

I manage to stay afloat.

Though thoughts turn

Towards headin’ back to town

Where it is safe and warm.

But them salmon keep a runnin’!

And them bills keep a comin’!

So out my net does go.

These waves come a crashin’

O’er my bow

And slap me in my face

I taste the salt

Upon my lips

And ponder ‘bout my fate.

But “keep fishin!” says I!

It’s do or die

Its now, I must keep the faith

And low and behold

What the sea does unfold

A king as big as I!

So I set out again!

And fight with the wind

This struggle to keep alive.

The riggin’ is singin’

Yet in my head is a ringin’

“Something here just don’t jive.”

But if this day looks bleak

By the end of the week

This tide is sure to change.

I’ll stick n I’ll stay!

And I’ll make ‘er pay!

The hour be not too late.

So keep fishin’ I must!

Or this season, a bust!

Then I’d be the one

To pay.

Cuz’ the ocean, you see,

Is intertwined with me

As the same salt runs through our veins.

And I need her

As she needs me

And so I go out

Fishin’ again.

O’ Jelly

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

Do you sting me in my eye?

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

You make me want to cry

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

Oh, the pain

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

It comes again with the rain

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

Are you in every mesh of my net?

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

In every single set

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

You come in by the tons

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

You just ain’t no fun

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

You are such a tease

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

I can’t even sell you to the Japanese!

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

You make me so blue!

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

Oh what’s a gal to do?

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

Do you torment me so?

O’ Jelly O’ Jelly Oh Why?

I guess I’ll

Never know

 

Halibut Diaries

March 16, 1995

Portage, Bay

Chatham Straights,

Southeast Alaska

Halibut trip #3

7000 lbs to catch

Aboard f/v Ptarmigan

Jack’s 42’ stern-picker

It’s the first year of IFQ’s

Individual Fishing Quota

The season opened yesterday

With gale force winds and snow.

Good luck to us.

Pinta Point

It’s evening and here we are anchored for the night

40 knot winds in Chatham Straights

We had to hang the bait over the side just so it would thaw

The box has been frozen since yesterday.

It’s hard choppin’ bait

But even harder choppin’ frozen bait

But, chopped is what the skipper wants

Me to hack up bait with this old rusty cleaver on that chunk of tree

We haul around for a choppin’ block

But that’s how Jack likes to do things

Old School

Probably because he’s old

He turns 80 this year

I hope he makes it

I don’t want to have to pack him in ice,

Like a halibut.

But that’s how he says he wants to go

Fighting a king salmon or big halibut

I don’t like this plan

Call me selfish, but I don’t want to

Have to fish with a dead guy

March 17

Saganoff Bay

St. Patricks Day.

Woke up to find a card on my bunk

Wishin’ me the luck of the Irish.

Wish I had a whiskey of the Irish!

Goldie, the cook left it for me.

She doesn’t go out on deck, but she’s sweet.

And makes Jack look like a spring chicken

She’s 89.

How’d I get on such a geriatric boat anyhow?

These people don’t look that old.

They should have to wear a sign or something.

We are waiting for the weather to break

Last night the wind sounded like a freight train

Comin’ through my bunk.

30 degrees and blowin’

And that wind just ain’t satisfied

Until it has cut me to the bone

It’s so damn cold.

We celebrate St Paddy’s day with our nightly

Slice of cheese and

Can of cold beer

‘Cept for Goldie

Her Happy Hour starts about 4

She likes her gin.

March 18

Hogette Bay

We took a pounding running, but we made it

Jack says he’s been fishin’ here since 1941

But he’s never fished halibut this early.

Now I know why.

Everything on deck was frozen this morning.

Oh, What a day, what a day.

What a miserable day.

Blowin’ n Snowin’ n fishin’

It just don’t mix

My fingers are numb

My hands are cold

My cheeks are cold

Gusts of wind

Up to 40 knots

It keeps blowing rain in my ear!

Man alive,

what a mess, what a mess

We try hauling the gear from this direction, then that.

It’s all no good

Fighting the gear,

Which is tight as a drum and

Threatening to snap in two

Before we can get it aboard

All that misery for 9 halibut and 3 lousy red snapper

The weather man says tomorrow will be better

I hope he’s right.

March 19

Day 4 and only 700 lbs of halibut aboard

Is this purgatory?

I’m sick of baiting hooks

March 20

Another 17 hour day

And I’m tired.

Worked from noon til 11pm

No break, no dinner

Too tired to by the time we quite eat anyhow

Caught some fish, though

March 21

Patterson Bay

The first day of spring!

Though not here

Everything on deck was frozen

Again.

Even my oil skins

I had to beat them

Just to climb into them

After that

We couldn’t even set the gear because of

The 1 inch prison all around us

Ice

We wait.

Finally! we catch 2000 lbs

It was a big day and

Brings our total to

3500 lbs of halibut on board

The weather came down today but is supposed to pick back up tomorrow.

Forecast is for 35 knot winds from the north

That’s too sloppy to run home so we might as well stay and fish.

Says the skipper

March 22

Day 7

I can’t wait to take a shower

It’s getting harder to keep the dread locks at bay

And I think even my breath smells like halibut now.

I thought today was Wednesday,

But the weather report says Thursday.

Down to tidbits for breakfast, now

Laughable, isn’t it?

That’s the new sayin’ on board

Found a Tums on the floor today

Went to pick it up but Jack said to leave it there.

He said “I like to keep some in reserve.

You never know, you might end up on the floor

Needing one.”

There’s 2 inches of new snow on deck

And they’re callin’ for Small Craft advisory in

Chatham Straight

6 foot seas and 25 knot winds.

Listening to country music hits from the ‘70’s

Is better than the Frank Sinatra we were listening to.

Our 1 hour run turned into 4

But we finally made it back to Gut Bay

And it was frozen.

Still trying to hide from the weather

But am told this is a good bay for northerly’s and westerly’s

But a south east will blow you right out of here.

Lucky for us its blowin’ from the north

March 23

Day 8

Finally, finally, finally

We’ve beat our way back across Chatham Straights

Then smacked ourselves through Frederic Sound,

But made it into

Petersburg!

Sold our halibut for $2.40/ 2.25

With a 25% profit share.

We’ve lost money so far on this, but keep tryin’

Just for the halibut.

Fisher Poets 2011 Videos Are Here

Finally, what you all have been waiting for!  My Fisher Poets Vids.  Ok, not all of them are up yet, apparently, this is a work in progress for the technically challenged.  Speaking of being technically challenged, these aren't the best quality vids either.  However, the sound is just fine.  I hope you enjoy and check back, there will be more soon!

Saturday night at the Voodoo Room, a reading titled "The Halibut Diaries" 2/26/11

This one was the first night's open mic night.  I'm hard to see but you can hear me just fine.  This is the poem titled "Fishin' Again"

The other video is an excerpt from the book I'm working on.  It's called "A Fisherman's Commute" and is the story of running out to the fishing grounds on the Copper River Flats, Cordova Ak. 

Fisher Poets 2011

Rich, Veronica, Pat, Ron, & Jon

Well, it rocked.  I can say that.  It was great.  Amazing.  You should have been there.  But, if you weren't, no worries.  With any luck, I should be able to post some vids of the occasion.  I hope.

But, allow me to recap first.  It was almost as intense as a fishing opener!  Somehow, with the same amount of sleep, too.  None!  One guy mentioned he'd have to go out fishing just to get some shut eye!

I started off with my flight out of Anchorage delayed about 2 hours then arrived Portland about 7 am on Thursday. The whole plane groaned in unison as we broke through the clouds of Oregon on approach.  All of us were expecting to see green, as far as the eye could see.  What did we get instead?  White. Snow.  Looked just like Alaska.

I was worried  when I got into my rental car, some cute red thing, the radio said practically all of Portland was closed.  School was cancelled, all the city buses had to don chains and could not go faster than 25 MPH, and were all, therefore, late.  This college was closed, that one was delayed.  I think even lunch was cancelled.  I was nervous, I mean, I can drive in snow like the any other Alaskan, but in a new city?  Its intimidating.  Alaska doesn't even have a freeway!  Not one in the whole state.

So I put out, white knuckled before I even left the garage.  And what to I find?  Nothing!  Not a thing.  Sure, it was snowing, a little, but it wasn't even sticking to the pavement!  And, on the grass, there was maybe, maybe an inch.  I guess I shouldn't complain, I think others coming down from Washington did get into some hairy sitchs with the white stuff.  But, not me.  Anyway, I did get lost though.  Then met up with my pal Kris, who I know from my Ohio State Day in the early 90's.  I think that was about the last time we saw each other, too.

After that...........IKEA! What a treat!  We don't have that in AK either.  And they won't ship to us.  I had to use extreme willpower and not buy everything, I still had to pack it back home.  With that, I headed west to Astoria.  After stopping at a few discount grocery stores, another thing we don't have up here! Wine for 4 bucks!

Anyway, Fisher Poets was great!  I was on at the Astoria Event Center Friday night on stage, lights a blaring, in front of a crowd of several hundred people and was also broad casted live on the radio.  No pressure there.  I kept thinking "don't f*#k up, don't f*#k up.....and don't say f*#k!"  I was also interviewed on the radio after my performance.  All the acts were great.  One of my favorites was the Cowboy's Trans-vocational act.  A cowboy gone fisherman, too funny. Then,  I finished out the evening listening to Ray Troll's band at the Voodoo Room.

Cowboy!
Ron McDaniel,who's turned "trans-vocational"
Half cowboy/ half fisherman

This just in.  Due to technological difficulties, I'm not currently able to post vid to this blog, but, I have my people on it (AKA, my guy).  Hopefully, it will be up this weekend. Now back to the regularly scheduled blog, already in progress.

Saturday was even better.  I had this amazing breakfast at the Columbia then went to a songwriter's workshop.  I'm not a songwriter, but figured, what the hay.  Turns out, it was amazing!  There was a panel of musicians, guitar in hand, to give advice on songwriting and perform a few of their own.  Allen Estes, http://www.allenestes.com/allenestes/Allen_Estes_Welcome.html from Souls of the Sea, http://www.thesoulsofthesea.com/music.shtml  a band from Gloucester was the first to sing.   And, man alive, were his songs moving.  I don't know if it was because it was the first time I heard them, or if it was because he was sitting about 6 feet in front of me, but his songs had a punch!  I was fighting back the tears.  Of course, they were all about Gloucester men lost at sea, not a happy subject by any means.   Jon Campbell http://www.jcampbellwampum.com/ was next, another east coaster, followed by Gordon Bok, http://www.gordonbok.com/ also from the east coast.  A few others pipped in, too.  Like Mary Garvey, an amazing  songwriter, a true natural with a great voice, too. They were all great.

Saturday's performance went much smoother for me.  I was way less nervous since I'd had a few open mic's under my belt and an impromptu story hour on stage that afternoon.  Plus, I was at the super cool Voodoo Room,  http://www.columbianvoodoo.com/voodoo/ a small, intimate joint. I read a few poems, the one I posted last night and another one called "The Halibut Diaries".  Again, the vid should be up soon.

I think though that Sunday was my favorite.  It was open mic at the Event Center and it was just fun!  Great music, everyone was on stage together, everyone was relaxed, mostly because we were all spent from the weekend.  But, all in all, it was an amazing time.  Not only because it was basically my first time on stage but because of all the collective talent.  There were many great poems and songs, to be posted soon.  But, I think for me the thing that made it most special was the camaraderie, the sense of community.  Being with so many like minded folk, fishermen, and on top of that, fishermen who write and sing, well, it was like coming home!

The Voodoo Room

Cowboy N Moe Bowstern

Pat Dixon & Jon Campbell

Tune in over the weekend and hopefully my technical staff will have the videos ready to go!

Catch ya on the flip side

Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again...

First off, I'm very excited to let you know that I'll be performing at the 14th Annual FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria Oregon next week, February 25th and 26th!!   I'm on both Friday and Saturday night around 7:30 P.M. Pacific Mountain Times.  My Friday night's performance will be broad casted on 91.9 FM KMUN  @ www. coastradio.org.  To give you an idea about this celebration, I've taken the following is taken from their website  http://www.clatsopcc.edu/community/fisherpoets-gathering. I'll have more on this next week but in the mean time, check it out!  The schedule and all that is on their website. 

The FisherPoets Gathering (FPG) is expecting a record number of more than 80 fishing and maritime industry people from several states and British Columbia to bring their original poems, stories and songs to Astoria.  Along with several local musicians who also have strong fishing-industry ties, they will present their readings and music at this 14^th annual weekend program, February 25 to 27. 

"Fisher Poetry" comes from experiences living and working in the industry, and ranges in writing style from fast-moving rhyming couplets to crafted free verse or literary prose, and includes poems, songs, short stories, personal memoirs and essays, along with art.

KMUN-FM community radio broadcasts both evenings live 6 to 10 p.m. from Astoria Event Center at 91.9-FM & www.coastradio.org.  Enjoy!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog

Hanging panels

No EGG-zadgeration, putting the Humpty Dumpty back together again is no easy task. That is one term of endearment that I call the Egg, my recently purchased 12'  1955ish camper that I am renovating.  Did I just say I?  I meant to say Vince.  He seems to be currently doing most of the work, for now.  Mostly because he has more patience than I do and, as a result, better carpentry skills.  If left to my own devices, I would be done by now, but it probably wouldn't look too good.  Turns out, remodeling is a big task, a bigger task than I ever imagined possible.  But, I'm committed now and just too stubborn to turn back.  I also did a bit more research on discovering the make and year of the Egg.  I found this website http://www.tincantourists.com/ featuring old, excuse me, vintage camping trailers.  I emailed Ron, the founder of this organization and he speculates that the Egg is from the mid 50's but said that most manufacturers just copied each other back then and couldn't guess on the make.  Thanks for the info Ron! If you're into vintage campers, here is another cool site: http://www.ynotcamperrestoration.com/Index.html
So, its looking more like the Egg is closer to 50 than 30 years old!  Wow.  It'll be eligible for social security soon.  But, I got to tell you, the wooden ribs on the inside of the camper are beautiful!  No knots anywhere and for the most part, with the exception of a few portions of the ribs, they are still all good and solid.  The plywood floor is in a little better shape and again, no knots at all, a sign of older wood.
This week's progress was hanging some of the panels up.  We thought we would just fly through it and be on to installing the bunk by now, but we are still hanging panels.  That's OK though, we are taking out time and it shows.  I think it looks pretty good.  One of the reason its slow going, the main reason, is that the Egg is not symmetrical.  Guess after 50 some odd years of shimmying down the road, I'd be a little off kilter, too.  We've had to accommodate for that.  A panel might be 1/8-1/4 inch off from one end to another. Or ribs will not be aligned and things like that.  Anyway, we are getting there.  We got the two ends covered and the ceiling up.  See our progress below from measuring out the panels in the garage to hanging them.

Cutting panels to fit

One down, many more to go!

Measure twice, cut once

The finished ceiling

Currently, Vince is making forms for the walls.  First, he made them out of poster board to copy the curve of the back wall.  Then he transfered the poster board and copied it onto a left over piece of insulation.  After that is fitted correctly, then he will copy that onto the paneling, cut and install.  Easy peasy.

Making forms for side panels

Tune in next week to see if we are pulling our hair out by then, I mean to see our progress.  And, I'll see you in Astoria!