Guest Book

My beef is roasted..My Grandbabies are napping (finally!) and life is good... Heartfelt prayers for Little Milton and Dru.....Keep in mind, that a coma is not always as ominous as it sounds, but natures way of totaly resting the body when it needs it most....Keep these good men in your prayers, Yall.. Please also keep a very young Georgia Man.. a wee 4 years old...named Bennett.... in your prayers beautiful Peacheads... Kevin and I had the pleasure of meeting Bennett this weekend, on Georgia's Golden Isles ....Bennett suffers from an extremely rare condition known as Morquio Syndome, and had just come through, what I'd bet is one in a number of surgeries...He was confined to a half-body cast.....still, the magic of Billy Joe Shaver had this sweet young man laughing and spinning around ,dancing in his Mama's arms.... While she held him close, swept away by the strains of wonderful music, I couldnt help but think how lucky they were to know such pure, deep, love... Billy Joe Shaver is one of a kind...If you get the chance to go see him...GGGGOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! His setlist can only be compared to our own Brothers....its that good...Every song..every word......intense, soulful , and sometime brutaly honest....He could not have written them, had he not played out the part, in realty....His realty has been a hard one....leaning towards the Blues... He did not mention Dickey on this fine Sunday evening.... he didnt have to....The young Cowboy lead guitar-man, band member and friend of Billy Joe's late son Eddy, spoke lovingly of Eddy and Dickey both, with the licks he coaxed from his guitar.... a fine young band to compliment a master.... He did talk about how much Eddy LOVED the ABB...something we all understand....he talked about how much he loved his son, and his wife of 40 years, despite a road that was rocky at times....He lost the love of his life..his Brenda ...to cancer ....shortly before Eddy overdosed....New Years Eve of 2000....and he wore a funny belt... Bennett's Grandpa, who put together the benefit, saw to it that we met Billy Joe....Kevin is a HUGE BJS fan...It was great to see a smile creeping across my good Man's face.... I asked Billy Joe about his belt...I thought it looked oddly familiar....I realize now how much it looks like the guitar strap that Brother Duane used to wear..... He was thrilled I asked.....He told me how his wife had made this belt for him....and he easily opened and closed it several times, but this was lost on me..... Kevin is such a sweetie....he asked me if I caught on about what Billy Joe was saying about the belt, why it sparked such joy when I asked....this is the reason Kevin explained.......Billy Joe lost several fingers in an accident while He and Brenda were young newlyweds, and Eddy was a baby....A hard-working man, he lost those fingers in sawmill accident....His wife Brenda...took from the thing she loved most dearly, her saddle, and made that belt for him, with one of the saddle-rings....Kevin guessed it would be easy for Billy Joe to open and close that belt, and that was what he was showing us....This blew me away..... I wonder, if years later, when Brother Duane saw that belt, maybe even admired it..he knew the story behind it...felt the power of love.... $2500 pure profit was raised for the Bennett Foundation......and lots of love....... Lana, THANKS for posting pix of Billy Joe onstage, belt and all......eap, Ca