The Broken Spoke Newsletter

July thru December 2007

The great news at the Broken Spoke is that we are the proud grandparents of a new beautiful baby boy christened James Lamar White Peacock born July 25, 2007 at 8:19 am 9 pounds 1 oz. This is the new son of our daughter, Ginny, and Michael Peacock. We took lots of pictures of the occasion to be added to our genealogy history. Ginny is a great Mother and taking good care of "Baby James". We kept seeing the big blue ribbons at the hospital as we had a false alarm, and a little scare the morning they induced labor when they had to rush the expectant Mother to the operating room, but an excellant doctor and quick thinking staff delivered James Lamar by C section then Ginny got her blue ribbon on her room too. We want to give a big "Thanks" to Dr. Chris Wilson and to St. David's hospital for treating us all so well. Dr. Wilson remarked to Mike who was wearing a Bruce Robison t-shirt "You know I delivered all those Robison babies". Ginny and Mike were just carrying on a family tradition at St David's Hospital since Annetta and I were both born there and so was Ginny. Ginny & Mike have already brought Baby James for his first visit to the Spoke when he was 6 days old. James Lamar loves to hear the country music from all the bands, but as Ginny remarked he's been listening to it for 9 months, so why shouldn't he like it. Besides bringing up your babies country "it's a good thing". I guess we now have a "New Boss" in town. I can't wait until we can get him in a cowboy hat and boots. It's a tough job but we'll raise him right as a Texan with a lot of Texas pride.

I always tell the story of how I took Ginny down to the Spoke for her picture with Ernest Tubb when she was 11 days old, and then later on got her picture with Willie Nelson when she was 5 months old back in 1976.   We talked about getting Baby James Lamar's picture with Willie some time in the near future. Well, Lana Nelson came in to party on Oct. 13th, and we talked to her about our idea. Lana said come on out on Tuesday October 16, Daddy "Willie" is filming a video at Luck, Texas, and I'm sure he'll be glad to take the picture. Well, Annetta and I, Ginny & Mike and Baby James drove out to Luck about 10 am. Everyone was there!! Ray Price, Johnny Bush, Jessica Simpson, Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson, Freddy Powers, Dan Rather, and Lana Nelson was the director with her daughter, Rachel, helping her Mom. There were so much star power it was hard to take it all in. Of Course, the weather was a little misty which wasn't very good for a baby. Being a careful Grandmother Annetta strolled him under the roof of an old building, but after several hours he got a little fussy. Annetta decided to push him in the stroller behind the video shoot so his hollering wouldn't bother anyone. James Lamar settled into the strolling when up drove an old 70's black pickup with Willie driving it. Annetta called Ginny to come with the camera, as she talked to Willie then Grandfather, James M. White, strolled up. Willie looked happily surprised, and said "James is this your Grandbaby? and he hugged me, and we began to talk of good old times. Willie remarked there would be a lot more good memories because I'm coming back to see you at the Broken Spoke it has been too long. James Lamar was wearing his boots and his "Onezy Willie Nelson" outfit which Ginny had ordered over the internet. After a few minutes Annie told Willie everyone is waiting on you, but he wasn't in any hurry. He really seemed to enjoy the moment. The video was a riding lawn mower race with lawn mowers called "Bad Boys" which cost about $9,000 each and there were 25 of them. Of course, Jessica Simpson's mower was painted bright pink with her name on it. Willie was singing a song about "she don't think I'm funny anymore". The gossip of the day was about a Texas Hold'em game the night before at Willie's place, I'm sorry I missed it, but I'd hate to take Willie's money, Ha Ha. Annetta remarked how much this visit to Luck, Texas meant to all of us. We saw and talked to so many old friends, got some wonderful pictures, and Mike got to meet all the celebrities. Be sure and look for the pictures next to the bar of Willie and James Lamar 2007 & Ginny & Willie 1976.

I apologize for being so late with my newsletter, but as you have just read I wanted to talk about my new grandson. So here I am with pen in hand to tell the latest Spoke news. Another reason is that postage just keeps going up and up, so please e-mail me at jamesmwhitespoke@AOL.com so we can shorten our mailing list and save postage and add your name to our E-mail list.

I just got a call from the Discovery Travel Channel TV that they are going to use The Spoke on their show. I gave them an interview and they are also going to use my "Broken Spoke Legend" song which I sang and wrote. We are going to be on BBC TV Channel 3 about a teenager traveling to Texas so watch for it and send me a copy. We had a good write-up and photos in FOAM Magazine. We were in good company with a photo of the Austin skyline, Zilker Park, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and of course this red rustic old building called the Broken Spoke. No photo of "Los Manitas". It was good to have movie star William DaFoe, and he really enjoyed himself. I was contacted about being in a movie about a snow cone stand with a cameo of me and a "red headed stranger" by the name of Willie Nelson. Who knows what it's about. It was so hot today that eating a snow cone sounded pretty good. We're going to be in a book about dancing "Can I have this Dance for the Rest of my Life". I suggested "Waltz Across Texas", we'll see what happens. I did a radio commercial for Serrano's Mexican Restaurants who are celebrating 25 years of serving mesquite fajitas. The owner, Adam Gonzales, an old friend, asked me to do it. He's been coming to the Spoke since high school days. I remember when he opened his first Serranos, and now he has about eleven. Tonight Annetta had to cook at the Spoke because our cook got sick. The Spoke is truly a Mom & Pop operation. I don't think you would see a McDonald's or a Red Lobster with the owner in the kitchen cooking. Thanks to Southwest Airlines "Spirit Magazine" for writing about dancing at the Spoke. It really makes me feel good when I'm flying and I open their magazine and it's all about the Spoke. It makes me want to stand up right there and start bragging "Hey, here's my place of business and this is me". Of course, I'd never do that, right!! Look for us in a write-up in "of all things" Golf Magazine. Golfers like to dance too, thank goodness they can only golf in the daytime or this story might not have been written.   No we don't allow golf shoes on the dance floor, but if you want to drive your golf cart over here that's fine with us. We are going to be on CNN TV, I guess this is where the news is at!

The rain seems to be over and the "dog days of summer" are here, just like the ones I remember when I was a kid. Annetta and I have been cutting grass continually. I hooked up my shredder onto my John Deere tractor with the help of my good friend Hurricane Rick Holloway for the first time in three years out at the ranch since the weeds were taking over. The good news was that I didn't have to feed hay everyday to my cattle which was very expensive. We had the worst drought since the 1950's, then we've had more rain than we've had in 50 years. But, we were all praying for rain and we got it, and then some, but the creeks are running and the water tanks are full. My catfish have reproduced since they had plenty of fresh water, so everything at the ranch is great.   My niece, Leah, from Santee, California came down for a few days with a few of her friends and they stayed at the ranch. They loved Texas and the ranch, and they played a game called Botchey Ball. I'd never heard of it but I E-mailed Leah and invited them back since they forgot their balls at the ranch.

Thanks again to the Texas Legislature for coming out to the Broken Spoke on Tuesday for years when the legislature was in session. Tuesday night was known as "Speakers Night". Our good friend Speaker of the House Billy Clayton had speaker night going for many years making it famous recently passed away. He was a dear close friend and will be truly missed. His going away memorial was at the Broken Spoke. Speaker Clayton is part of our Spoke history! This session State Representative Harvey Hilderbrand got us several get togethers. He named them "Chairman's Night". We've known Harvey since he was in college, so you might say since he was a youngun.

It's hard for me to believe but we just had my 50 year Wm B. Travis Class of 1957 Reunion at the Broken Spoke. Where have the years gone? My class was the first class to go 9th thru 12th grades at the first new high school in South Austin.   You bet I loved the 1950's I lived "Happy Days". I-35 was a dirt road and they had just begun to work on it, the sad news is they are still working on I-35. I totaled my first car on the way to school a 1947 Ford when I was 15 years old and Oltorf was a dirt road. I had to drive two months without brakes. I would slow down to let one of my buddies out at the filling station, circle the block, slow down, gear down, and my buddy would lean against the hood to stop me so we could get gas. Everybody chipped in a dime or a quarter which now days wouldn't get you a good smell and then we were off again. I learned to drive pretty good with no brakes by cramming gears or hitting a telephone poles then I finally got some brakes. About a week later I was on the way to school when I hit a parked truck in the middle of Oltorf with a flat tire. I never saw the truck since the sun was in my eyes, and if you've ever driven at that time of the morning you know what I'm talking about. I got a knot on my head from breaking out the windshield, and it really could have been much worst. The truck was full of Mexicians who were changing the tire. Nobody was hurt, and they just scattered into the fields leaving the truck behind. The good Lord was looking out for me because I never saw the truck until I hit it going fairly fast.

It's always good to see our good friends Chris Baumann, from New Mexico, and Bobby Dan Wood, from Sweetwater, TX, with his girl, Shannon. Of course, Allen shows up when they are in town. Allen always wants a "Handicap" parking place because he studders. He's never happy. I already gave him a treasured present when I had to tear down the "WOP" (worn out peters club) club where "Little Hunk of Heaven" lived a few years back. One night I gave him "Little Hunk's" commode seat, it was Valentine's Day. A memorable present on a memorable day. I wanted to give him something she used a lot. Allen told me it was the nicest present he'd ever gotten. Anyway, thanks to Chris Baumann for giving me a framed write-up about one of our "Colorful Characters" from years ago. I had the privilege of knowing him back in the 1960's. His name was "Horse Collar". The name fit him well since he was a rough and ready truck driver and a helluva cowboy from the old school of hard knocks. He never shyed away from trouble or fight, and sometimes was the cause of the trouble, but I liked him just the same. I've seen a lot of the trouble and humor first hand while working my 16 hours shifts in the beginning of the Spoke. He loved to ride his horse right into the bar and some of his stories or pranks would go on all day long. He loved to arm wrestle but if he got beat, he wanted to fight then and there. His conversation would start out "Horse Collar's my name, how you goin to act!" This went on for hours all day long over and over. Horse Collar believed in getting an early start on his drinking. He would spend a lot of money, but you never knew what to expect. I used to take him home, and would feel relieved because of the worry of Horse Collar starting a fight. He lived down on Barton Creek when he was the only house down there, No SOS. He would probably think that stood for Sh– on Shingle (hamburger meat with gravy on toast). Anyway many times Horse Collar would beat me back to the Spoke. One day he stood at the bar for several hours with his band in a brown paper sack. Every now and then the sack would thump around, of course I thought it was his hand. He said "No, I got 3 toes in here". I said who is 3 toes? Horse Collar told me it's my pet alligator. He's missing one eye and only has three toes. Naturally I thought he's Bsing me again. He told me he wrestled the Moma alligator and kept the baby alligator. I had to go into the kitchen and get a cold beer mug out of our chest freezer, but when I looked up there was 3 Toes. He was snapping at me about an inch from my face. Horse Collar thought this was real funny. You never could tell what he'd come up with next. This is just one little story, and this is why I'm going to write a book about the Broken Spoke in my spare time.

I want to dedicate this newsletter to our very good loyal friend "Gerry". We sure miss him. He was our official telephone operator. He was at his post at the front of the bar or out on our front porch with the mobile phone when they wouldn't allow smoking inside anymore. He was here every night. He loved the customers and entertainers, especially Pauline Reese the pretty lady, the country music and the Broken Spoke. We know he's is in a better place, but we miss him.

Say me and Bobby Earl Smith got our picture with all the socialites in the high society section of the Austin American Statesman along with John Paul Mitchell, at least that's what he is known as. I first met him on stage at Antone's a couple of years ago. Annetta said "Don't you know who you were talking to?" Now, I do, but back then, I didn't. She said that's Paul Mitchell the famous beauty products person. I've talked to him many times since and in one of our conversations he thanked me for buying "Patron Tequila" which he invented. He told me he got tired of waking up with a headache, so he went to Mexico and invented the best tequila they could make. I guess that is why he is a successful business man because he keeps a finger on his business and he knew that the Broken Spoke handled Patron.

One last thing, then I've got to get this letter to press. Annetta and I love to go to Robinsonville, MS in Tunica Co. There are about 10 casinos here in the Delta area right in the middle of cotton country. We can drive it in about 10 ½ hours and two tanks of gasoline. We love to play Texas Hold-em and there are a lot of reasonably priced tournaments here. The Gold Strike is our favorite place, but there's Sam's Town, Horseshoe, Sheraton, Bally's, Hollywood, Grand and others. We get the schedule, figure out our game plan, and usually play two tournaments a day which leaves a little time for eating. If you lose out early you can walk over next door and get into another one which started a little later. Sometimes they last 4 or 5 hours and you can get in for $60.00 or more. Well, I don't want to brag but I came in the money 4 times the last time we were there, and Annetta came in 4th once. I came in 1st, 6th, 7th, and 4th which was in the money. I love to beat the "young guns" of poker. You know the young guys who aren't dry behind the ears, but they know everything but really know nothing. They usually bet a lot and go out quick, and then wonder what happened. They pay different amounts according to the number of people who get in the tournament and the cost of the tournament and added money. Annetta was waiting for me to finish a tournament and was playing slots and won $300.00. Annetta likes to play the slots, so we got two free nights in the hotel and two free buffet breakfasts. James talked to the head guy in the poker room about getting us a better room rate, and he said he'd see what he could do. Our bill when we checked out was $10.98 for a movie we rented. This is the real deal, and a lot of fun. The dealers all know us now and say they're coming to see us at the Broken Spoke.

                                                                                             I gotta go now, I'm wheeling and dealing in Texas Hold Em

                                                                                                                         James M. White