Hot Rock Lukewarm's Photo Of Smoky Midland Texas Surrounded By Wildfires

Incoming photo from Hot Rock Lukewarm, currently out in Midland, in West Texas, where his band is playing in a gala at the Midland Petroleum Club.

The above view was from last night, looking south from beautiful downtown Midland, where the smell of smoke was strong, very windy, with fires burning in several directions from Midland.

I have not heard from the Queen of Wink, yet, as to the status of her realm. Wink is to the west of Midland, about 30 or 40 miles, I think.

What happens with all those oil wells in West Texas when a wildfire burns through?

When you drive through the West Texas zone the air reeks of petroleum.

We are now past 3 in the afternoon in my zone of Texas. As you can see in the latest weather update, what was earlier predicted to be 'A Severe T-Storm," has turned in to "A strong t-storm in spots."

Currently my zone of far east Fort Worth is not one of those spots. It is relatively sunny, birds are chirping, the wind has died down.

And I think I'll go for an afternoon swim with no fear of incoming thunderbolts.

The Queen Of Wink & The West Texas Yoga Trio

I knew the Queen of Wink is extremely talented. I also knew the Queen of Wink is extremely limber, able to contort herself into yoga positions I could never dream of managing.

Being so flexible has all sorts of practical uses as one goes about ones daily routines. Or so I would think.

It seems West Texas is a hotbed of retro. We have that melodrama in Midland called Summer Mummers, that is straight out of the Vaudeville era. Or before.

And then there is the aging rock band that calls itself Hotflash and may be leading West Texas into being the world's latest hot new music scene. When Seattle was the world's hot music scene it gave the world Grunge. If West Texas becomes the world's hot music scene I suspect it will give the world Sludge.

And then we have the Queen of Wink & The West Texas Yoga Trio (aka the Ross Sisters), channeling Betty Grable's 1940's, mixing in some 60's Wild Child-ness, combined with some modern era girl on girl on girl action.

I have seen the Queen of Wink remain steady, in that position you see her in in the above picture, for 20 minutes, effortlessly. It's amazing.

Check your West Texas club listings to see where the Queen of Wink & The West Texas Yoga Trio are appearing if you'd like to catch their act live. If that is not possible you can listen to the girls sing "Solid Potato Salad" and watch them do their yoga contortions in the YouTube video below...

The Queen Of Wink Starring Saturday In Summer Mummers At The Yucca Theatre In Midland Texas

This coming Saturday, June 12, the Queen of Wink joins Kathleen Turner and George W. Bush as the latest celebrity to take the stage in the Yucca Theatre's production of Summer Mummers.

Summer Mummers has been an annual production, since 1949, taking place in the historic Yucca Theatre in downtown Midland, Texas.

The Summer Mummers is a locally written melodrama, plus a production called an Olio, which is sort of a comedy/variety show.

Each year the melodrama script follows pretty much the same plot, with the theme of the story being a heroine and her hero sidekick finding themselves in some sort of woe. Then a villain and his sidekick try to take advantage of the heroine's woe. After a predictable struggle the heroes are victorious, the villains in ruins and the hero and heroine fall in love.

An alliteration lover makes up the titles for the Summer Mummers scripts, with a non-alliterative subtitle.

Such as "Debauchery on the Drawbridge (or More Than Just Another Sworded Affair)", and "Mayhem at the Moviola (or There's A Sexy girl Over My Body)" and "Dastardly Doings on the Diamond (or The Latter Batter's Chatter Rarely Flatters)".

I really like that The Latter Batter's Chatter Rarely Flatters subtitle.

After the melodrama ends, the Olia comedy/variety show begins.

The Olio has 20 acts, give or take 1 or 2. All acts are set to music and are, at longest, 90 seconds. Each year there are new acts, but many remain constants.

Like The Cow. This act is basically a man in a cow suit, dancing to music with back up singers.

Les Girls is a female dance troupe that is a sort of strip show, removing clothing til they are down to some sort of corset. (I do not know if the Queen of Wink is in Les Girls. I do know she was in a production of Hair in New Orleans.)

The Guys is the male version of Les Girls with this being a male strip routine.

In Mule Train a cowboy runs on to stage lip syncing the Frankie Lane song "Mule Train." While he sings the cowboy whips a small, stuffed goat.

For the Olio Finale the entire cast gets onstage to sing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "You're a Grand Old Flag."

Throwing popcorn is part of the fun throughout. You can get a bag for $3, 2 for $5, or really load on the popcorn at $20 for 8 bags.

Booze is sold, both mixed drinks and beer. You buy alcohol tokens to redeem for your drink of choice. Cast and crew get half price tokens, which they are not allowed to use during a performance. So, what is called a "beer bitch," is designated to turn the cast member's booze tokens into drinks and deliver them backstage.

During its 3 month run, Summer Mummers sells more popcorn than all the Midland theaters sell in an entire year.

I don't know how much alcohol Summer Mummers sells compared with all the other alcohol vendors in Midland.

It will be interesting to read the Queen of Wink's review of her Summer Mummers experience. I hope with pictures.

Texas Miscellaneous Madness

Another goofy day in Road Rage Mad Fort Worth. Up before the crack of dawn, swimming at day break. Computer burnout continued over from yesterday.

I am finding myself learning way more about Texas than I think is healthy. My Regions of Texas Project is wearing me out. I'm learning all sorts of odd things. Like little Midland, Texas is nicknamed "The Tall City" I assume by people who have never seen a tall city. Midland used to brag that their 22 story Wilco Building was the tallest building between Fort Worth and Phoenix. That's like saying that some building in Spokane is the tallest between Seattle and Chicago. Or so it would seem to me.

And then I got one of the more absurd comments in a long time, from what I assume to be either a know-it-all Texan or a Chesapeake Energy shill operating out of Oklahoma City. This comment was in regards to yesterday's blogging about today's EPA meeting at D/FW Airport regarding pollution from cement kilns.

Anonymous said.......

Dude, Seriously, you think that a drill rig that uses 1000 gallons of diesel fuel per day to drill a well is "pumping" out more fumes than all the cars and trucks in the DFW area in one day - You are getting some seriously wrong information. There are over 1 million cars in DFW and all of them are using 1 gallon per day bud... and there are only 72 rigs drilling in Texas as of today. Go ahead and drive your car to a meeting about pollution... That a joke. you are the problem - not the solution.

Apparently the Anonymous dude does not pay a lot of attention to the news. As in last week it was widely reported that Dr. Al Armendariz was right about the Barnett Shale drilling operations contribution to North Texas air pollution.

With the State of Texas agreeing.

As in "State environmental officials say that an SMU researcher (Al Armendariz) was correct: Gas drilling in the Barnett Shale contributes about as much air pollution to the Dallas-Fort Worth area as car and truck traffic."

I'm guessing that Anonymous Dude is one of those Texas Road Ragers that have us being America's second most mad drivers.

I'm hitting the road in a bit, to head north. It being Wednesday I'm likely going to go to Sprouts Farmers Market while I'm out dodging Road Ragers.