Monthly Archives: August 2020

No Regrets

Posted on August 31, 2020 by bullersbackporch

Tip of the hat for today’s topic goes to Mark Blumenthal of the American Botanical Council. I first met Mark in passing years ago as a friend of the folks who ran Nothing Strikes Back. A few years back, I … Continue reading →

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Another Bar Bites the Dust — Farewell, One-2-One

Posted on August 29, 2020 by bullersbackporch

We are sad to say that we are no longer going to continue, and One-2-One Bar is now for sale. — August 20 social media post from Gregg & Destinee Ware, owners of Austin’s One-2-One Bar Even from a thousand … Continue reading →

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Walking in the Long Shadow of Grief

Posted on August 25, 2020 by bullersbackporch

This camel stops at every tent. —a Persian proverb my friend and colleague, Bijan Masumian, shared with me upon hearing of my father’s death Death is inevitable. We each will die. Before that, people that we know die. As you … Continue reading →

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Songs of Will T. Massey — “Fading Away Like My Jeans”

Posted on August 22, 2020 by bullersbackporch

This song comes from Will’s early days in Austin, one of 2 songs co-written with Mark Luke Daniels, another frequent performer at Chicago House. Will included this on his 1988 self-released cassette, Kickin’ Up Dust, along with the other co-write … Continue reading →

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Miracles & Angels

Posted on August 19, 2020 by bullersbackporch

Austin Kleon has often said, “A notebook is a good place for bad ideas.” Maybe my back porch blog here is a good place for incomplete poetry or songs. I recently found this  poem that I must have written at … Continue reading →

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G.M.C. Massey Memoirs — Preface

Posted on August 15, 2020 by bullersbackporch

In trying to publish my grandfather’s memoirs, I confront issues with the “original source” materials. I work primarily from my own transcription of the pages and scraps that Mom left in a box labelled “Daddy’s Book.” They are incomplete and … Continue reading →

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More a State of Mind than a Porch

Posted on August 13, 2020 by bullersbackporch

I explained long ago that despite the name of the blog, I rarely actually write it on the back porch itself. The phrasing is intended to describe a state of mind, or perhaps even more accurately, a way of looking … Continue reading →

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Remembering my Friend, Mike MacNaughton (Part 4)

Posted on August 9, 2020 by bullersbackporch

4th and final — for now — installment in a short series of stories to share about my best friend who recently died unexpectedly his sleep. When I met Sara and fell in love with her immediately and decided to … Continue reading →

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Remembering my Friend, Mike MacNaughton (Part 3)

Posted on August 7, 2020 by bullersbackporch

Part 3 — In the wake of my best friend’s death recently, I’ve been trying to walk myself back through our many years of friendship and companionship, sharing short summaries of significant phases while highlighting a few stories along the … Continue reading →

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Remembering my Friend, Mike MacNaughton (Part 2)

Posted on August 4, 2020 by bullersbackporch

Part 2 of frustratingly incomplete memory snatches of my best friend, Mike MacNaughton, who died unexpectedly in his sleep recently. I’d known him for 50 years, so any tribute is obviously abbreviated. Even spreading some of these stories out over … Continue reading →

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