Tommy Isbell and yours truly, Dr BLT
Radio personality, poet, actor, Walter Stormont
Guitar genius, Tommy Isbell

The date was 04/09/09.   The time was 7 until about 10:30 pm. 

Busy is good, especially if you're busy in the BuckaROOM, the home studio where kccrockers gather to bring a new twist to an old Bakersfield sound, taking it to nu bako heights. 

Tonight was a night of drama and music.  Local guitar legend-in-the-making Tommy joined me as we began work on a Merle Haggard/Animals medley, involving Merle Haggard's Swingin' Doors, and a Dr BLT adaptation of the Animals song, House of the Rising Sun, I call House of Bakersfield.  When you bring the two together you get a Merle/Animals House of Bakersfield Medley.

House of Bakersfield is about Trout's Nightclub on North Chester Avenue in Bakersfield.  The medley is part of a broader project involving music and drama, a project known as Psychology Comes Alive.  The medley will make even more sense when I bring in the drama, compliments of Walter Stormont, and the students I teach at Chapman University, who will act out key principles while I attempt to convey those same principles with mostly original songs.  Stay grounded in the underground Bakersfield sound here, and stay "tuned" at


The Merle/Animals House in Bakersfield Medley
Dr BLT featuring Tommy Isbell

Dr. BLT adaptation of Animals House of the Risin’ Sun

And I've got swinging doors a jukebox and a barstool
And my new home has got a flashing neon sign
Stop by and see me anytime you want to
Cause I'm always here at home till closing time. . .


There is a house in Bakersfield


They call Trout’s Honky Tonk


And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy


And God I know I'm one


Bonnie Owens was my mama


She sewed my new blue jeans


My father was either Buck or Merle

It’s not clear on my family tree



Now the only thing a kccrocker needs


Is a guitar and trunk


And the only time I’m satisfied


Is when I’m at Trout’s gettin’ drunk


Solo

Oh mothers tell your children


Not to go by how you feel


To spend your lives in sin and misery


In the house of Bakersfield



Well, I got one foot on the Blackboard platform


The other foot on the train

I'm goin' back to Bakersfield

To wear that ball and chain




Well, there is a house in Bakersfield


They call Trout’s Honky Tonk


And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

And God I know I'm one