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Took this pic during one of the parties out at the Hardcore Texas ranch house in Aledo, Texas. It's called "hardcore" because the Texans who attend these get-togethers are hard to the core Texan sumbitches, fellas and gals who like to have a good time, good eats and good company.
William Bryan Massey III, poet laureate of Cowtown (click on link to watch a video of him reading his poem "White Pox") and head of kitchen at Fred's Texas Cafe, is out back walking around doing God knows what while I'm aiming my Nikon D50 for a shot of the back of the ranch house with a gorgeous Texas blue sky in the background.
This place is so old that water tank, used for the laundry room next to it, doesn't work and ain't got no water in it.
I call this shot the epitome of what white trash, redneck country livin' Texas is all about. It's a simple life with no noise from the busy city and no lights from that city either. Out at the ranch you can look up into the night sky and see the stars clear as day.
It's so quiet at night all you hear are the yowls of coyotes and the buzzin' of insects.
The HCTX ranch house is Texas, brutha, and nuthin' but Texas.
At our all night and into early morning parties we take bottles of Miller High Life or Schlitz out of ice and beer filled coolers, pop the tops off of them happy puppies and drink the refreshing alcoholic beverages down while sitting out on the porch smokin' cheap ass cigarettes and talkin' bullshit and listening to some turned up all the way rock 'n roll, whether it's Nirvana or Pantera.
Sometimes we get silly and grab the pump-action BB gun and take aim at shit out in the yard. Or toss horseshoes.
The face William Bryan Massey III (click his name to see a video of him reading his poem "Buttwiper"), head cook at Fred's Texas Cafe, made in this photograph was caused by the incredible stink emanating from the still freshly decaying goat head he held up in his right hand.
"I had to shake all of the maggots out of the skull before gettin' ahold of it, " WBM III told me.
Yew wee!
The goat was drained of it's blood, after its throat was slit open, and the skin ripped off at the Hardcore Texas ranch house a week earlier by Fred's Texas Cafe's self-proclaimed "Outlaw Chef", Terry Chandler, for a special dish he had planned at his white trash eatery in Fort Worth. He used the goats innards for the feast.
So Bryan placed the goat head on a fence post and let the maggots and other bugs do their bidding in eating away its guts and skin. He said, as I was visiting the Hardcore Texas ranch house he shares with Hippy Steve in Aledo, "C'mon, let's get a pic of me with that goat head for a book cover I'm doing." Bryan self-publishes his own poetry books. They're wonderfully constructed and are one of a kind jewels, especially the words in them written by Bryan.
So we went out back and I took quite a few pics of him holding it before getting this winning shot.
He kept saying, as I took shot after shot, "God damn, this motherfucker STINKS to high heaven!"
Of course, this had me laughing my ass off and, fortunately for Bryan, I can take pics fast. I don't do fancy posing or lighting when I take pics of people because I do it the best way possible, all natural with no gimmicks, and so Bryan didn't have to suffer too long with that goat head next to his nose.
Hell, yeah, Texas style all the way, man.
When me and two ladies from work went to Thrift Town, on Jacksboro Highway in far west Fort Worth, Texas, I decided to take pictures of the surrounding area while they shopped. In the same shopping strip as the thrift store was an Arby's with one of its original huge neon signs, which looks like a tall ass cowboy hat. I wanted to document this bad ass sign so I took this picture of it. I love the colors, maroon, yellow and white. And look at the words "HURRY IN" followed by a notice that the place is "OPEN LATE". So why be in such a hurry if it's open late?
My second ex-wife told me she once worked at an Arby's in Erie, PA, her hometown, and said that the 'roast beef' was actually a HUMONGOUS and heavy piece of frozen meat formed into a round ball that they cut up in the back. So just think of that when you bite into one of their roast beef sandwiches. I know they're good but that shit arrives totally frozen and in a huge ball-like mass.
Yeah, I want to "hurry in" and eat that shit. NOT.
Anyways, here's an interesting tidbit I found on Wikipedia.org about Arby's:
"In the mid to late 19th century, a saloon was founded in West Texas by a retired Civil War Captain, Daniel J. Arby. The saloon gained much renown throughout the pan-handle for it's fine southern food and large gaming hall. After five years of outstanding popularity among Texans, Arby decided to expand his saloon to neighboring towns where the menu expanded and included his famed roast beef sandwich and family recipe barbecue sauce. After generations of the Arby family passed down the recipes and the saloon chain gained popularity in the early 20th century, the saloon was updated to restaurant status and included nightly entertainment (everything from magicians to minstrel shows). In the 1930s the family lost almost everything as the United States fell deeper into the Great Depression and was forced to sell their beloved restaurant chain. The Arby's name changed hands over the next 30 years, being owned at one point by the great Howard Hughes, until it was finally bought by brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel in Ohio, who were determined to own a fast food franchise based on a food other than hamburgers. The brothers were insistant on changing the name to the preferred name of "Big Tex," but that name was already being used by an Akron businessman. They eventually decided on the Arby's moniker, based on R.B., the initials of the Raffel brothers [1] and also because they realized they could accomplish this without changing the original name, thus Arby's, LLC was born. (By coincidence, R.B. can also be short for roast beef, the company's main product, a point which was used when the backronym "America's Roast Beef, Yes Sir" was used as an advertising campaign in the 1980s.) They maintained the cowboy hat logo in reverence of the humble beginnings of the fast-food chain."
UPDATE: This sign is gone. So is the Arby's restaurant. It's boarded up. This is why I take photos around town of stuff like this knowing at some time or another it will be gone to make way for something new, er, worse. It's important to document with your camera your surroundings because one day a picture you took something of will no longer exist.
My buddy, Motel Todd, got his nickname, bestowed upon him by yours truly by living at the Caravan Inn for a year and a half, from March '98 to October '99.
This motel has been at its same location, at the corner of Jacksboro Highway and River Oaks Boulevard in Fort Worth, for as long as I can remember, and that's way back to the '60s.
In fact, my step-father told me a funny story, that I can't recall the particulars of at the moment, about him driving his car into the place's pool in the '60s.
Todd's room was a typical motel room with the usual amenities. I think he paid $520 a month for his one room, though he had to pay weekly and he didn't have a kitchen but used a microwave and cooler instead. He said the free coffee was in the lobby sitting on a little table in the corner.
This extremely cool neon sign represented a shoe store from many, many moons ago. Now this place is called the Red Goose Saloon. It's in Fort Worth's noted Sundance Square downtown entertainment district.
The owners of this bar, thankfully, chose to keep the classic sign and called their place the Red Goose Saloon because there used to be actual Red Goose shoes sold at this place.
On the Fort Worth Architecture website it says, "This is a wonderful example of early 20th century architecture in Fort Worth. The original interior is intact. For many years it was the home of Solomon's Juvenile Shoe Store. The Red Goose Saloon occupies both floors of the early Fort Worth retail structure (1903). This is a prime location for a restaurant/bar."
I took this photo from the Park Central Hotel's 5th floor balcony on the day me and Hippy Steve went to the Tool concert.
This is the 'flying saucer' design that sits on top of the Fort Worth Convention Center where the show was. It's the FWCC's 12,000 seat arena, where the people sit inside of the 'UFO' while watching hockey, basketball, rock concerts and graduation ceremonies, etc.
A guy at work said that back in the day when the FWCC was built his architecture and design firm headed up a team of local A&Es in constructing the place. Around the UFO bowl of the place is a motif design (see it better by clicking on the photo) that was created by a man in his office. He said the guy never explained to anyone why he designed the motif or what it meant or meant to him. It's a beautiful, simple design that is really cool looking. But the secret of it's meaning, motivation is lost since the dude who created it is long dead.
A UFO with a mystery. What else is new?
Oh, the FWCC is also where Fort Worth's infamous Hell's Half Acre was located. This once outrageously rowdy (think HBO's brilliant Deadwood) spot in Cowtown is where the famous photo of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and their Wild Bunch gang was taken, the photo the authorities used to bring the outlaws down since they knew what all of them looked like.
Hell's Half Acre was full of saloons, gambling spots and whorehouses and Butch fancied one, her name being Etta Place.
She's the woman who fled with him and the Sundance Kid south to Bolivia where they met their demise.
This white trash soul food eating place makes the dreamiest pancakes you'll ever put into your mouth.
Buttery, sugary, greasy homemade goodness.
For more info on this long-time Fort Worth institution, located at the intersection of South University Drive and Interstate 30 in Fort Worth, visit Fort Worth Culture.
The place has changed ownership, from reading reviews online, and people now say the old staff, little old ladies who worked hard, are now all gone and the food sucks. That is too bad. It was a great place to congregate. Every class of folk went there. Reading these bad reviews of it now makes me sad but that's life, with everything changing for the worst, as always.
Fair well, Ol' South, you were an oldie but a goodie but, apparently, not anymore.
This neon sign, which is pretty f-ing cool lookin', is for The Ranch country radio station that resides inside The Jett Building in downtown Fort Worth's ritzy tourist trap, Sundance Square.
I'm not a fan of modern day country (it's just rock 'n roll with a twang) but I am a fan of cool signs and this sign qualifies as cool.
From the dressed up cowboy roping the word "ranch" to the Texas state flag design below that to the rustic old fence that the word "ranch" is branded on.
All around cool and colorful.
If you enjoy country music check out The Ranch.
This mural is painted on a building in downtown Fort Worth's Sundance Square entertainment district.
Got this photo (click on it to see it full size so you can appreciate it's grandeur) of it after eating lunch at the Cajun restaurant Razzoo's.
Here's a paragraph about the mural from Michael Schuman
"The impressive and then a link for info on this really cool painting:trompe l'oeil ("fool the eye") mural, painted by Richard Haas, covers an outside wall of the Jett Building in Sundance Square downtown. It depicts two cowboys on horseback watching over a cattle roundup and it appears that the longhorns are charging right off the building."
www.fortworth.com/01visitors/0101westernher/010103fwhisto...
Three ladies from work took me out to lunch and I got to choose the eatery.
I picked my favorite burger/ice cold beer dive, Fred's Texas Cafe, where my buddy, William Bryan Massey III, is the joint's head of kitchen operations and head cook.
I got the No. 1 burger in town, the Fred Burger w/cheese, which won the FW WEEKLY's 2007 Reader's Choice award for best burger.
Before devouring the mouth-watering and luscious-tasting all-American meal, I took out my travel camera, a Nikon D50 carrying a Nikkor 18-135mm AF zoom lens, and snapped this shot.
Now that you're mouths are watering I suggest you eat something immediately to satisfy your up-in-arms palette.
The marquee on this ancient one-screen movie theater has been promising a "new" New Isis Theater for going on years and years now. One website calls the New Isis Theater "decrepit" and mentions its "long stalled promise of a new New Isis Theater." Another website writes, "The New Isis Theater was originally built in 1913 in the days of silent movies. It was damaged by fire in 1935 and rebuilt again in 1936 when it was renamed ‘The New Isis Theater’. During 1988 it was closed down and put up for sale."
The theater is located on Main Street in Fort Worth's historic Stock Yards.
In an e-mail from Robert Adams, from June 7th, 2007, who is apparently an owner or co-owner of the new New Isis Theater, states, "The New Isis Theater is currently in the architectural phase of renovation. This will probably take 3-4 months and the renovation approximately 14-16 months. Hopefully we can achieve a look which will remove us an expertly crafted list of Stock Yards buildings in need of repair. It would be very helpful in this process by informing your web viewers that the original seats from the inside of the theater are available for those who would like to purchase a piece of history. These will need to be replaced because they are only 16 1/2 inches wide compared to modern theater seats which are 21 inches in width, a testament to the decline of our culinary tastes over the last 70+ years."
Well, I guess that sums it all up.
Oh, I used Paint Shop Pro X2 to liven up the old beat up theater after first processing the raw file in Capture NX.
Thinking Pappas Burger might not be all that great ---- it's got the usual "flare" and wall decorations you see @ TGIF and Bennigans, etc., --- I was extremely surprised at how comfy and cool a joint this actually is. Sure, it's got what the other corporate dine-in places have --- "fun" food and a happening atmosphere --- but I sensed something different about this place the moment I walked into it. I was there only because my dad called me up and asked me if I wanted him to pick me up from work and go eat lunch @ Pappas Burger.
I immediately sensed this place was different and, to my surprise, it was.
First off, the food is top notch. Sure the prices are top notch too, the price of the burger I ate was $9.95, but it's worth. And you do get free refills on your drinks, soft drinks, I mean. I know that's a LOT of dough for a burger and fries but I'm telling you this burger was extremely delicious, tasty (the bacon was crisp and it had my taste buds all in a flux) and filling. So I can't bemoan the price at all --- but my dad did pay. It was a full meal (and I'm 227 lbs) and the hickory-smoked cheddar bacon cheese burger meat was juicy, tender and flat out top notch beef. The fries were well-seasoned and tasted fresh. I didn't even bother throwing Ketchup on them so as not to mask their genuine flavor.
Pappas Burger's advertising folks says this about their home away from home joint, "A one-of-a-kind burger haven serving Texas-size burgers with fresh and flavorful toppings. Watch the game on Pappas Burger’s big screen televisions or just enjoy our fun and laid back atmosphere."
I couldn't agree more. And there's no doubt about it: I'll be going again, whether I pay or not.
I ate at Pappas Burger (located in Fort Worth at Interstate 30 and Forest Park Boulevard) with my youngest nephew and my dad and step-mother, and, before going inside and enjoying a tasty Hickory Cheddar Bacon Burger, I stood in the parking lot and took this shot of the place's old school neon sign.
Whoever designed it --- look close, it's a hamburger --- did a fantastic job.
It's rare that a new restaurant/business spends the money to have a nice neon sign designed and made instead of settling for a cheap p.o.s. manufactured sign that doesn't stand out amongst all the other 21st century cookie-cutter business signs.
Heck, I wouldn't call'em signs. I'd call'em eye pollution.
Plus, less neon signs means less neons signs to take pictures of!
LONG LIVE NEON!
Went to lunch at Red Hot & Blue --- Texas, a BBQ joint that got its start in Memphis, Tennessee, with two ladies from work and painted on the dining room brick wall was the restaurant's icon, two pink piggies jamming with guitars.
As usual, I had my Nikon D50 with me and took it out of the bag I carry it in and took this shot.
Loved the neon strings for the guitars. The place also had real guitars and posters of blues rockers, including Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn and well-known black blues artists that made the atmosphere excellent.
The food was very good too. I had the pulled pork bar-be-que sandwich. And classic blues songs were played over the sound system to boot.
I was in the back seat of a car being driven by a co-worker while we went to lunch and at a stoplight we rolled up to a huge dual cab pickup truck that had two gorgeous German Shepards looking out a rolled down window. Since my work buddy's back window electric control didn't work I told her to roll it down from her end and as soon as she did I immediately stuck my camera out the window --- I always have a Nikon digital SLR at the ready during our lunchtime excursions --- and had enough time before the light turned green to get off two shots, with this one being a keeper.
And, fortunately, they weren't looking at me, I think that would have ruined the shot, but at some people getting gas at a gas station located on the other side of our car.
I noticed the added reflection of the sky on the truck as I reviewed the pic on the Nikon D50's LCD screen, which made the shot even cooler. I couldn't wait to get home to open it up in Capture NX 2 and do my editing work for it.
I printed it out and put it up on my cubicle wall at work (it's own my personal gallery) and people who looked at the pic all mentioned the sky's reflection.
It's always cool to be at the right place at the right time to get a photograph like this one. It's why I love photography, that spur of the moment shot starring at you and you at the ready to punch the shutter button.
As long as I've been alive (since 1960) Joe Daiches Credit Jewelers has had a storefront in downtown Fort Worth, one block north of the Tarrant County Courthouse.
Also, for about the same amount of years the sons of the owner, Alvin and Larry, made these god-awful, clumsy 30-second commercials on local t.v. that were hilarious because they tried to be funny but the fun part of the spots were them, they're stiffness, comfortableness, etc. They were a couple of dorks who meant well but should've hired one of those loud car salesmen instead. At the 1:36 mark of this video you can watch one of their commercials. It's from the '70s.
Now, there's no telling how old its neon sign is but I found on a genealogy site the man who owned the company who produced it. You can see at the very bottom of the sign (click on the sign to see the full version of it) the words "Melton Neon." Well, from that genealogy site this is what it says about Mr. Melton, "Julian Chappell Melton was born on 6 Sep 1898 in Lima, Beaverhead Co., Montana. He died on 31 Aug 1984 in Fort Worth, Texas. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery. Lived 86 years. Julian had golden hair and bright blue eyes and was very handsome. He was an fighter pilot ace in the first World War. After a plane crash he went to the hospital at Berrings Field, Texas. He recovered completely. He owned the Melton Neon Sign Company on East Lancaster in Fort Worth, Texas. He was also an artist."
Of course, the man's company no longer exists but, obviously, his firm did good work.
I shot this photo of Johnny Smith Used Cars in the summer of 2008. This tiny car lot had cars for sale for years and years and years. Seeing it empty and closed up was shocking but with the economy the way it is it must have been an early victim of our nation's economical nosedive. Or maybe it was something. Now if you look at a larger size of this photo, or you have outstanding eyesight, you can see that the orange sign near the front door reads, "Estate Sale." So maybe ol' Johnny passed on and his family shut the car lot down. Maybe that's what it was. Who knows but it did sadden me to see the lot empty since I'd seen this place for most of my life, espescially when I used to play golf across the street at the city of Fort Worth's Rockwood Golf Course.
Since I took the photo while being a passenger in a car driven by a co-worker on one of our lunch time trips to Thrift Town on Jacksboro Highway I didn't think the original was that great, showed the character I thought the car lot projected, so I first used Capture NX and Color Efex Pro 3.0's 'Polaroid Transfer' filter and then opened it in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 and further fixed it with the 'Poster Edges' filter to get it to look the way I think of it looking in my medulla oblongata.
Took a lunch time trip with a couple of co-workers to a Salvation Army thrift store on Fort Worth's north side and as we were driving down NW 28th Street we came upon this wild ass lookin' tattoo parlor. The woman driving stopped in its parking lot, all gravel, and I hopped out of her SUV and snapped this pic. Look at the clown. Look at his pants. See that chopped off arm clinging to his pants? OH MY GOD.
And, hey, this place has a badass website. Check it out here by clicking this link Apathy International and here's a story about the place from the FW WEEKLY, Skin Deep.
I've never gotten a tattoo. Not that I wouldn't want one. I just have never figured out what I'd want tattooed on my ass. Well, not my ASS, literally. But if I do think of something to get emblazoned onto my flesh I'll go to this place for sure. In fact, this might inspire me to really think hard on what I'd want. Now, if I think of something then I'll draw it myself and take it to them. If I'm gonna get some "ink" then I want it to be something I've drawn, something original.
Anyway, this place is fucking cool, period.
TEXAS TIRE CITY (pulled in here once to get a flat tire plugged. Great service despite the scumbag look)
SINGLETON'S BATTERIES (a dumpy place on Jacksboro Highway that gives off the aura of 'WTF?')
HENDERSON STREET BAZAAR (Fort Worth's best & most visited weekend flea market)
MICHAEL JORDAN MOTORS (obviously no relation to the NBA Hall Of Fame superstar)
FORT WORTH GOLD & SILVER EXCHANGE
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