Michael Martin Murphey Concert

 

We had such a fun time recently! Mike and I went to Red River, NM to attend a Michael Martin Murphey Concert and it was great! He sings at the Rocking 3M Chuckwagon 2 nights a week every July and August. His warm-up singer was Carin Mari; she was also a very talented songwriter and singer.

The venue is beautiful. It is on private property a few miles out of Red River, in the mountains by a pond. We were first fed a nice meal under a big tent structure. Even with the show being sold out, it was still a small, intimate setting. We were in the 2nd row, right in the middle. Perfect!

Let me back up a bit...like over 50 years. My brother was a fan of Michael Murphey (back then he didn't use his middle name). Through exposure to the music my brother played, I also became a fan. I loved "Wildfire" and "Carolina in the Pines". Since then, he has just kept cranking out great songs.

Over 30 years ago, Mike and I took Maria and Ben along the first time we heard him in concert. It was at the fairgrounds in Lewistown, MT. Ben, age 4 at the time, heard that Michael was giving autographs afterward. I didn't want to wait, as many were crowding around, but for Ben, I did it. It was just a mess, no particular line. It was hard to get his attention. But when I said that I was a Murphey, too, also spelled MurphEy, his attention turned to me. He asked a lot of questions about where my Murphey side of the family came from. Then, he signed on the piece of paper I was holding, "To the Murpheys! Michael Martin Murphey."  I guess I hadn't quite got around to telling him I had a different last name now. 

I have to tell you the best part of this story, though, occurred as we walked away. It became apparent that Ben didn't know what an autograph was, just that if this guy was giving something away, he wanted it. When I handed the paper to Ben he said, "What good is that? It is just a stupid piece of paper that's wroted on!"  He didn't want it, but I still have it.

The 2nd time we saw Michael Martin Murphey in concert was in Casper, WY. It was also a small, intimate setting and we got to visit with him afterward. That was at a time when we had our first cell phone. I wanted a photo to send to my brother so Mike took one with the cell phone, with Michael Martin Murphey's arm around me.  When we got out to our car I opened the cell phone to see it. It wasn't there. Back then, if you didn't hit SAVE before closing the flip phone, no photo was saved. I was bummed.

I was ready this time! We bought one of his t-shirts before his concert, just for my brother. Afterward, when I went for the autograph, I also had pulled up the screenshot from my brother's Facebook page that included his name. I asked Michael Martin Murphey to sign the shirt for my brother and showed him the screenshot, making some dumb comment about wanting to be sure he spelled it correctly. It took him a second, but then he realized what he was looking at and he laughed. For those of you who don't know, my brother's name is... Michael Murphey. There are many Murphys in the world, but it is rare to meet another spelled with the "E".

 Michael (singer) again asked a few questions and we agree we could be related, but didn't have enough information to know. He then graciously agreed to another photo. Mike (husband) was ready but Michael's road manager had Mike also get in the photo and he took several for us. We didn't lose them this time!

I will publish this post, hopefully, about the time my brother gets an unexpected package in the mail.

Thanks for reading!

Tutorial - How to Disable Word Verification on Blogger

Before I begin my tutorial I would like to start with an icicle photograph from my deck this morning.  I hope no neighbors were looking out as I was on the deck in my flannel jammies flashing my camera before the sun was quite up.  They are probably used to that kind of behavior from me I suppose.

Yes, it is Winter in Wyoming again.  I don't mind so much this time of year as I know it won't last too long.  We've really had a mild winter.  Isn't it beautiful here today?

OK, now on to some technical details...

 As I mentioned a few days ago, the Word Verification feature is MUCH more difficult lately.  The letters are smooshed together and mixes of black and white.  I have trouble distinguishing an ol from a d for instance.

I took the word verification feature off my blog some time ago.  I'm not saying that everyone should do that but I've not had any real problems.  I also removed the comment moderation feature so that your comments on my blog should show up right away.  That may have been a questionable choice on my part but I'm wild that way.  I've had a few comments that were spam, but they were kind of entertaining.  They usually have a word or two in them that coincides with my post, enough that I struggle to make sense of it, but the sentences are usually a big strange.  When I click on the link of the person who left the message (I ALWAYS do that, by the way.) I find an advertisement.  I just delete the comment at that point.  If I ever get vulgar comments I suppose I will reinstate the comment moderation feature.

 When I posted on the trouble I was having with reading the Word Verification words on other's blogs I learned that I was certainly not the only one annoyed by the changes.  I received a comment from Trisha that she didn't like it but she couldn't figure out how to disable it.  I was kind of baffled because when I disabled mine, it was easy.  I decided to go back to remember how I did it so that I could tell Trisha.  That is when I discovered that with the new Blogger interface that option isn't displayed anymore.  I've no idea why that is gone but this morning I whipped up a quick tutorial on how to get around that problem.

1.  When logged onto your own blog site, click Design.

2. Click on the little Settings Wheel and scroll down to choose Old Blogger Interface.

3.  Once you are at the old interface, choose Settings.

4.  Click on Comments.

5.  Scroll down on that screen and you will find this question regarding word verification.  As the saying goes, "Just Say No!"  I mean, if you want, that is.  I'm not going to judge you if you wish to continue requiring the word verification feature.  I am sure you have your reasons.  

6.  Oh my!  I almost forgot, you MUST scroll on down and click SAVE SETTINGS!  That SAVE feature is something I have learned the hard way.  Did I ever tell you about the time Mike used my phone to snap a photo of me with the singer, Michael Martin Murphey?  He had his arm around me!  I LOVED his music as a teenager and the 15 yr. old in me was sooooo excited about that moment!  My brother was also a Michael Martin Murphey fan and I was totally planning to send that photo to him to rub it in that he'd had his arm around me!  Well, Mike handed the camera back to me and I could see that the photo was very cool.  I did NOT touch SAVE, though, and I lost the photo!  Anyway, lesson learned.  I don't think my brother believes me but I really, really did have that photo!  ANYWAY, please select the save button.

7.  When all is well, simply go back to the top of the screen and click on Try the updated Blogger interface and you are good to go!