Planet Texas

Cleaning out the attic, Ducknik and Plotnik have decided to confront the boxes of old cassettes. Plot bought a cheap Cassette to Mp3 deck which takes cassettes and brings them through a USB port into Itunes. But that means he's had to listen to a lot of old Plot Tunes, as well as many unmarked cassettes with Bud knows what on them.

First off, Plot advises any writers out there to take all the old work-tape cassettes, recorded when you turned on a microphone while you were working on a new idea at your old upright piano, wrap 'em all up and throw 'em under the first bus that comes by. Those song ideas that never became real songs? There was a reason, Bro.

But here's the good part. Plottie found several treasures. One is a version of his old friend Andy Parks's song "Planet Texas." Kenny Rodgers recorded that song and did a great job of it, but Andy's voice was unlike anyone else's. If you U-Tube it or I-Tunes it you'll find Kenny's but not Andy's version.

So Plottie decided to find Andy again, and it sure was easy. There he is, living in San Antonio, Texas. Plot sent him a friend request and he wrote back, saying he's currently in Paso Robles, putting a new band together, and was anxious to hear about what has happened in all these intervening years.

Plot will be happy to tell Andy about his piano -- it was in front of Andy's piano where Plot wrote a lot of good songs in L.A., as well as all those fragments he just threw out. Andy gave that old upright to Plottie when he and his wife were moving back to Texas, and Plottie and some friends hauled it up the stairs on Avon Street in EPark. Then, when they moved up here, they played it forward to a Chinese family who had no money but wanted their child to learn piano. Andy will be glad to hear it went for a good cause.

The piano was a tall old fashioned upright, looking like a player piano, and if you opened it up and looked inside it still had the signature of the person who had tuned it in 1915. Hope someone is still using it.

When Plottie just wrote Andy on Facebook, Plottie told him he would kill for The John Andrew Parks voice, and that he still might, so look out. He hasn't heard back yet.