Posts

Posted on

Progress at The Nook

My dad’s bar has come a long way. He has over 70 beers available and 10 beers on draft. He has multiple coolers setup to keep the beer at their preferred temperature, too.
The building is slowly coming a long, too.
The NookThe sign at the street is

being redone, which is badhy needed. The original sign was painted with what looks like a roller. It is hard to paint letters with just a roller. Both sides of the sign don’t even look the same. But, this will all be fixed with the new sign.

With the sign fix on the way, the inside of the building is the process of being painted to tone down the Irish green that is everywhere. The bar had been Patty’s Pub at one time so everything is covered with bright green and the colors of the Irish flag.

They are going the start some radio advertising, too. My dad has not decided the details, but it is in the works.

Posted on

Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza 2007

My folks called and indicated they were thinking about heading down to the Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza at the Flying Monkey Art Center in the old Lowe Mill.  I checked with my pregnant wife and she said go!

We headed down around 7:30 and arrived as John Lowe was playing.  Everything was setup on the east side of the Lowe Mill so, the sun was down behind the building and everyone was sitting on the grassy lawn.  I spied my friend Dave Gallaher and had to give him an update on Karen’s pregnancy.  Dave indicated he would be playing after the next act, Robert Hamilton.  Dave reminded me that his cigar box guitar is a Lowebow made by John Lowe.

John is a one-man-band playing under the name Johnny Lowebow.  He is playing the drums with both feet and sliding on the Lowebow with his left hand while strumming the Lowebow with his right hand, which also is holding a drum stick to play a snare drum while strumming.  I know that sentence was a mouthful, but you had to see him performing.  When he signed my arm band, I asked him if the performance was like exercising.  He said it was a full cardo-workout.

Robert Hamilton, of Low Country Messiahs, came on next accompanied by Shane Speal.  They played a great mix of tunes with both musicians playing cigar box guitars.  I picked up a copy of Low Country Messiahs’ latest album, Biscuit Palace.

Shane Speal is founder and curator of the National Cigar Box Guitar Museum, which he brought some of it to the festival (see the picture above).

Following Robert Hamilton was Huntsville’s own Microwave Dave Gallaher.  Dave started his set with some traditional songs of his before picking up the Lowebow to play “Trail of Tears”.  The crowd has thrilled to hear Dave play.  He has been entertaining Huntsville for many years.  You can check Dave playing with the band The Nukes all around Huntsville and the southeast.
Click the photo for more pictures.

CigarBox Armband

Posted on

House Remodeling

We are slowly remodeling our house.  Everything started in our bathrooms by pulling down the wallpaper.

Presently, we are working in the dining room.  We have pulled down the wallpaper and repaired the walls.  (The wallpaper was hung without the walls being prepared correctly.)  As of today, we have painted the walls with “Linen White” and “Earth Tone” from the Behr paint collection.  The trim will be done in “Clamshell” from the same collection.

After the dining room, we need to get back on the baby’s room.  We still are needing to paint the trim in that room.

Posted on

Progess on Our House

Dining RoomWe are starting to make progress on our house. The dining room remodeling is starting to show signs of the end.

We have had so many problems with the walls. The original wall paper was not hung correctly. The wall paper pulled a lot of the sheet rook off, which makes the repairs very hard. After many muddings and remuddings, we finally finished prepping the walls for paint.

Today, we started the painting just have some the wall to pull off onto the paint roller. But, we will have to just wait until tomorrow to see how bad the damage it going to be.

Hopefully, it will only require a little repair so we can wrap up the dining room and move onto the next project.

– Brian Allen

Posted on

Memorial Day

Well, it is time to kick back and fire up the grill all while remembering those who gave us this freedom.

I could drink a Freedom Ale from Tun Tavern, which would seem appropriate. Or, I could drink something from Yuengling, which is the oldest American brewery.

Hamburgers are the correct food for day.

Posted on

Larry Woellhart at The Nook

Larry Woellhart played at The Nook last night and the place was packed. With Larry performing, we put out the word in order to introduce a lot of people to The Nook. We had invited coworkers, friends, and the Huntsville Free The Hops group.

Everyone enjoyed Larry's music. My dad indicated that Larry was the exact type of performer that he was looking for his bar. My dad is wanting to have a bar with entertainment start directly after works. He doesn't like the idea of a band starting up around 9 o'clock at night.

The Free The Hops guys and gals enjoyed the great beer select. To quote Dan of Free The Hops,

“Well, a few of us checked out the Nook last night, and I was pretty impressed. They are off to a great start with this place. The beer list was impressive for Huntsville, and the place is clean and non-smoking.”

Karen, my pregnany wife, got to show off her growing belly. Most of our friends know she pregnant, but they haven't seen her.

I know that I had fun. It was great get together.

The staff at The Nook was overwhelmed a little, but Betty and Beverly keep up with the pace.

Posted on

Heading to The Nook with the Buds

After work, I am heading to The Nook with friends from work. I think it is good to get out. Because, I know that I will be doing less of this in the future.

I want to introduce some of my coworkers to The Nook especially now that the beer selection is improving. I just hope the beer selection continues to improve.