THE BODARKS: McKinney's Modern Bluegrass Pioneers, Had The Square Stomping Last Night at Churchill's Pub

The Bodarks at Churchill's on the Square Last Night

Firstly, this is not a tired pub band,  rather it is a solid regional bluegrass/roots band who happened to have their album release show at Churchill's Pub in Historic Downtown McKinney.  The Bodarks came ready to take the roof off, or maybe just to do the floors in from all the stomping.  They accomplished both. 

I first came across this band in October during a patio show at Cafe Malaga.  It was a special night for the band as they were playing for a fundraiser to support the McKinney Boyd High School Orchestra; a cause held near and dear to the heart of Bodarks' fiddler, Shelly New, who directs these students on a daily basis as the orchestra's director. 

Last night, after just two years of playing shows and writing material, The Bodarks released their album, and it seemed as though half of McKinney was there to celebrate it.  For four hours they kept the pub packed to the brim, and even held drawings for novelty garments and band flare.  Then they brought up a birthday girl to play tambourine, with guitar/banjo vocalist Jeffrey Brooks claiming the song was written for a tambourine solo.  In addition to playing through their excellent songs from the album,  they brought out some "new to me" bluegrass renditions of notable chart toppers such as "Fat Bottomed Girls" by Queen, and "Zombie" by The Cranberries.

The Bodarks are a band to keep watching as they continue to grow, because as an American Roots "hootenanny string band" as they call themselves, they can easily fill a British pub.  With my enthusiasm for McKinney life, it made me happy to see so many people out in the square to see this band celebrate over two years of hard work and showmanship.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thebodarks

http://www.facebook.com/thebodarks

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM DAN+McKINNEY, TX

THE WEEK OF DAD STUFF

While being a parent is day-to-day, forever, time off at home with the family is a good time to get clever with activities, a great time to bond with the baby, who in the blink of an eye is six months old today.  They say time flies, and that is 100% true.

I finally found my Ergobaby carrier after the move to the new house and had entirely too much fun with it.  Not only is it comfortable, and I can actually complete tasks if the baby decides to stop napping right in the middle of me loading the dishwasher, but it makes for some excellent #dadselfie time.  Yes, you read it right.  Hashtag DAD selfie time.  Instead of being all stuffy and proper, after a pretty lengthy day of being spit up on, doing husbandly and fatherly duties, and running on empty, I decided to spin it all totally positive and have a little selfie session with the baby.

These things from the "Myspace Angle" look like a parachute.

Fish and Tots and a baby.  Had enough going on to eat at the countertop that night.  It was a "won't nap" day in addition to multiple other to-do's.  Ergobaby saved the day.

The look of confusion?

Chin munch.

THE WEEK OF MOM STUFF- (DAD'S TOTALLY ON BOARD WITH THIS).
Because in our house we do NOT support Gerber or any processed jar baby food, we make it ourselves.  Over the break I supported my lovely wife's initiative to make 2 weeks worth of baby food, in our ongoing effort to provide our baby with farm fresh produce.  After discovering all the chemicals present in processed baby food, we are really making an effort to completely adopt a Ground-to-Market-to-Blender lifestyle with our baby's nutrition.

You will be seeing many more posts elaborating specifically on this initiative with much better photography, which will hopefully inspire all you parents out there.  With a Farmer's Market as good as ours here in town, Sprouts, Market Street, AND Trader Joe's, excuses are hard to come by.  If you have some pointers or ideas you'd like to share, this is a very community topic.

Labor intesive activities aside.  Nothing beats seeing wife and daughter spending quality time together amidst hectic work schedules, and busy weekends of running around.

Hope everyone had an excellent holiday! Now some Miles Davis Jazz Classics on the turntable to bring the time off to a close.

I didn't quit blogging! I promise! Four Words: "Moving With a Baby"

So while my time is presently limited I will call this my "I promise I didn't quit blogging" blog.  I'll just fill you in on the goings-on.  A lot of McKinnians may have noticed the real estate market is hot.  In a matter of 2 total weeks we jumped at the opportunity to sell our West McKinney home and buy another one closer to all the action further east.  Most people would not take on moving house with a 4 1/2 month old baby....except us.  It was that fine line between foolish, and smart for jumping at the opportunity to take advantage of a super hot real estate market before all the Toyota folks get here from California.  We literally were probably 72 hours away from signing an apartment lease and my lovely wife did it again.  She found the perfect house, in a quiet neighborhood with just the right amount of space and features.  It was surprisingly hard to say goodbye to the old one but we are slowly but surely, as time allows, settling in to the new one unpacking a couple of boxes at a time and working our way out of survival mode.

This post is going to be a little bit different from my usual writings because it is admittedly rushed.  It is a shameless plug of local businesses combined with lessons learned, and a promise that I did not quit.

10 THINGS:
#1 Milestone Electric really do fix it in a flash- just like the jingle that gets stapled deep into your head during NBC5 commercial breaks in the morning.  We had some screwy electrical issues within the first day of moving in and problems were solved quickly.  Electrician- true expert and trustworthy individual.  Customer Service reps- Second to none.

#2 Fence companies love to talk nasty about one another when getting bids.  Dang! Be nice guys, keep it professional.

#3 Choose your movers wisely and breathe down their neck- yes they do this every day, but they still haven't learned their lesson about not grabbing washers and dryers by the knobs.

#4 Vee's Appliance Repair- Great experience.  On time, reliable, and actually fixes the problem in a timely manner.  He actually cares about his customers and put my daughter's needs ahead of his own.  Clean dry clothes for my baby and fast, adequate solutions.

#5 Albertson's is NOT your store. It is a dated, non-innovative cesspool of rotting produce, processed chemically enhanced rubbish, and the awful idea of "variety pack" combinations of meat.  Sorry I do not want moldy fruit or chicken juice in my 4 days past the sell by date ground beef.  I know I said I would not speak negatively on this blog, but I'm rebelling today.  Once you have experienced McKinney Farmers Market, Sprouts, Urban Acres or Trader Joe's....everything else sorta sucks.

#6 Trader Joe's is awesome.  Nice to have one nearby, and an Urban Acres share pickup down the street twice a month.

#7 Who would have thought that living further away from work actually makes for a quicker commute in the morning and evening.  It's achievable when you don't live 7 miles from any major highway and your nearest major highway is now one quarter of a mile away.  Toll bill goes up, but time spent in car angry about morning routine, 9 school zones, and terrible traffic ALL goes down and away. 


#9 Not having an HOA now is awesome.  It is nice not to spend $480 per year anymore to be menaced and sent nastgrams about the single weed that grew in my yard that morning while I was at work.

#10 Moving into a "project house" really makes me want to go to Lowe's and play.  Wife has the same bug.
"OMG! A gutter extension piece.  Sweetie, I need a gutter extension piece! And tacks!" 

Sunday Brunch at Harry's at the Harbor: Food & Family

Photo Credit: Livin The Good Life: Blog

ADVENTURE:
I may or may not have mentioned that I watch a lot of Food Network, Cooking, and Travel Channel; taking a liking to Anthony Bourdain's Layover and No Reservations.  I also regularly have these channels on while the road-tripping hosts such as G. Garvin, Guy Fieri, and others of the like are on.  I find that I like doing sort of a localized version of these various adventures.  Sorry to disappoint, but I'm still not a foodie blogger or a food critic.  I don't like being critical.  A good meal is a good meal, and an adventure is an adventure. 

THE WANDERER (My Wife)
I love wandering with my wife, Katie, because it seems that she always stumbles upon the good food! Since she is the chef of our household, I trust her judgment on these places, and when she cooks, I eat everything she puts in front of me. We wandered upon Harry's at the Harbor while striking a pose or two for maternity photos around the water fountain down by the tower in Adriatica Village.   Unfortunately, doctors generally recommend that while pregnant, seafood should be limited, so we shelved this gem in our minds for a future visit, not knowing at the time that they had a full-on Brunch menu that included an English Breakfast! Being half British, I never pass on an opportunity for a traditional English Breakfast. 

HARRY'S AT THE HARBOR:
Last weekend I got a call from my Aunt Harriet asking us to join her, as well as my Memaw, and great Aunt Violet Crouch Beatty for lunch. Since my Aunt Harriet is not a McKinney native, she always asks that I recommend the location for McKinney gatherings.  A perfect opportunity to try this gem we had stumbled upon! Another McKinney adventure in the making. As the great decider of Sunday Lunch, I revisited the idea of Harry's at the Harbor and noticed they had a brunch menu, and some nice Opening Hours for an independently owned eatery for a Sunday.  The festivities of McKinney Oktoberfest were full swing into Day 3 in the Square, and I needed a quaint spot to spend time with my elders, and pass Little Fi around for cuddles.

Family time is always to be cherished, so where we get together as a family for a meal is also really important.  Harry's is advertised as a sports bar, but while I'm there, I don't feel like I'm at Buffalo Wild Wings during the World Cup.  I have yet to experience Harry's by night during a major sporting event, but by day, Harry's at the Harbor was spot on.

THE FOOD & FAMILY:
I wanted an Englishman's breakfast. I got one. I had been craving an English Fry-up for weeks, and have been too on-the-go to stop and have one.  I ordered the Banger Breakfast which consisted of 2 Banger Sausages, 3 strips of bacon, 2 pieces of toast, and 2 fried eggs.  It showed up to the table nice and hot, like a perfect plate of food.  Katie ordered the eggs Benedict, which she subsequently discovered was the best Eggs Benedict in town and that we must come back often.   Harry made a stop at our table, and had some very kind words to say to us about the many generations sitting at our table.  There were four generations sitting at the table for lunch, and shortly after, there was one giant piece of Strawberry Shortcake and 5 spoons sent to our table on the house.  Good service,  a kind gesture, and a wonderful treat.

UNWINDING:
So, we now have a new breakfast hangout to throw into our Sunday routine, not to mention, a new place to throw into the rotation for family birthday celebration dinners.  To top it off, I can come back later to unwind.  I'll sit on the porch overlooking Adriatica Harbor and have a Franconia to bring the weekend to a close. 

Photo Credit: getmckinney.com [Amy Rogers]

HARRY'S AT THE HARBOR HOMEPAGE

HARRY'S AT THE HARBOR ON FACEBOOK

Weathering the Occasional Life Storm: Where's Your Happy Place?

Photo Credit SNUG ON THE SQUARE - Coffee House and Good Eats Cafe McKinney, TX

 I like to think of myself as a positive person, at least a realistic 85% of the time.  I can only count on one hand the people that see me when I'm not having the best of days, when I'm truly in a horrid mood, things are not working in my favor, and I'm not thinking rationally.  God Bless the people I work with who see my 15%, and in addition to being my business associates, end up being part psychologist, part some sort of counselor or life coach.  What can I say? That's how it goes in business sometimes, and I guess you could say I'm one of the "wound up like an 8 day clock" types who has that passion for my industry and success; and it probably translates to others as some really boisterous B+ off Broadway Musical or theatrical spectacle. The good days are excellent and bad days are just every kind of not awesome imaginable and I'd be lying if I said I was totally tolerable during those lulls. Sometimes I bring it home on my shoulders and my lovely wife takes the brunt of  this occasional storm cloud, and God Bless her the most.

I would also be lying if I told you that I'm capable of always having 100% positive subject matter.  But here is the good news, I'm going to find some way to turn it back around and make it that way.

For those of you who are fans of FRIENDS, prime time past or like myself, king of the re-runs, I can only think of Alec Baldwin's guest appearance as Phoebe's boyfriend, Parker, who is physically and mentally incapable of being negative or unhappy.  It's unnatural, comical, and towards the end of it, a little annoying.  After a while all I could think was 'Shut up dude! There is nothing interesting about tail lights or cab rides in traffic!'

If I've lost you, watch the clip.
FRIENDS "The One In Massapequa" S08E18 © Warner Bros. Television 1994-2004

If you couldn't tell by now, it's not my favorite week, but I'm writing this, and it's making me feel better.  That's got to count for something, right?  It's my happy place. Stack it with a late morning or an hour before closing, 'zone out on the couch time' at Snug on the Square. Quite frankly, I need to do this more often because it's therapeutic.  At work, I also walk a lap or two around the office complex pond.  That works exceptionally well when I face the temptation of regrettable actions or words. I get fresh air, inspiration, and clarity.  If your office complex has one of these, grab a bottled water from your office fridge and take a lap.  It may do you some good, as I've recently found that it's beneficial for me.

The office pond.  If your workplace has one, spend time there.

This brings me to my point and question.  You don't have to be a Parker.  Most people are not Parker.  We will all inevitably have many crappy days and we will experience negative. 

So I ask you this. Where is your happy place?  That one place where you can decompress, escape the negative, take your mind off a stressful, wretched day, and get clarity and perspective?

I want to hear from you!

-DAN+McKINNEYTX-

Yours Truly, Dan+McKinneyTX @ Elm Fork Shooting Sports

Family: It's a Team

Before my next feature I just wanted to take a quick recess, and reflect on one of my themes.  Family.

Around town, I see all sorts of teamwork going on.  There are youth sports teams, high school drill teams, charity teams, street teams for bands, debate teams at school.  You see a lot of teambuilding exercises at work.  I even see some great teamwork going on between the vendors at the McKinney market.  But there is one team that sits at the top for me.  Family.  I don't often see family be compared as a team; a unit of people working together to function and accomplish all sorts of goals. 

I ponder a lot of ideas, and get a lot of my inspiration for blog topics from my own adventures and life events, usually while holding my baby daughter.  Yesterday I had to remind myself while she was in need of consolation, this is a team effort. As the man of my house, I have to be there through the best and worst of times and keep my head in the game.  I have to be there for my team. 

With teambuilding at work, where you're sorting out routine processes, people may be learning how to work together, putting a Band-Aid on some sort of procedural glitch, and create a professional harmony.

With a sports team, like baseball or basketball, it's a group of people working together, each bringing their strong point (position) and the end result is baskets and runs.

At the market, it's a "hey can you make me some change for this 20?" scenario....

But the family team is lifelong.  It's not a seasonal thing like a sport, and it's not a 9-5 thing like work. It's loved ones working together to function, or achieve many goals ranging from very simple to very complex and challenging.  Obviously this evolves over time as we all get older and our roles change in our loved ones' lives.  Children become adults, adults become parents, and parents become grandparents, etc.  But even as things evolve over time, family still requires teamwork.

I've found as a new dad, this is something I occasionally have to remind myself when I get off track.

I welcome your input.

-DAN+McKinneyTX-

Mo’Joe Matt: From Casinos to Coffee Trucks

Photo Credit: www.mojoeagogo.com

MO’ JOE A GO-GO: McKinney’s First and Only Mobile Coffee Truck

A recurring theme I keep gravitating toward is McKinney’s own “Unique by Nature” slogan.  While the city has it’s suburban standard, and western and northern sprawl of 135,000 and rapidly growing, it also has its pockets uniqueness and a deep sense of community.  With this combination of rapid, but sensible growth and an ironclad community centered around a sensible blend of history, healthy lifestyle, and uniqueness; you have the perfect foundation for giving back to the community.  What better way to achieve this than by way of the ever-growing mobile cuisine aka “food truck” culture?  That is being accomplished in great strides by McKinney’s own Matt Drew, owner and founder of “Mo’ Joe a Go-Go” McKinney’s first and only mobile coffee shop.  

THE MOBILE COFFEE EXPERIENCE:

I came across his glowing shrine of a vehicle in the back of the McKinney Farmer’s Market around May while my wife and I were taking part in our Saturday morning routine.  There was nothing discrete about his parking job, or the truck for that matter. After all you have rows and rows of booths, stands, and then a completely overhauled FedEx truck with a cosmic paint job, a window, and an outward facing sound system.  We walk up and it’s essentially a coffee shop on wheels.  Before I get too Hemingway’s “Farewell to Arms” and ramble a never-ending chain of events I’m going to get to the point.  It was the best coffee I’ve ever had, and everything we have ordered every Saturday morning since, has been delicious.  What sets this coffee apart from the rest other than a pleasant avoidance of being served lukewarm or watered down, is that it is sustainably and organically grown, and avoids artificial flavorings, preservatives, and GMOs.

 CORPORATE GRIND TO COFFEE GRIND:

On Board the Mo'Joe a Go-Go truck: Matt Drew @ work on his
UNIC Stella di Caffé in which only 85 are available in the US.

This past Saturday, I was welcomed onboard the Mo’Joe a Go-Go truck where I got to see behind the scenes what all the hype was about, and get to know the man behind the coffee.   This ultra-friendly guy in the window with a Mo’ Joe tee, and a down to earth personality is the former Director of Marketing for MGM Grand Las Vegas and just prior to starting Mo'Joe, he was the Director of International Marketing for Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma.  What does this have to do with coffee you may ask? Absolutely nothing.  Matt’s passion is serving the community and specialty coffee.  So just over 2 years ago he and his wife moved to McKinney. “Being from the Pacific Northwest, I could take it for granted, or be somewhere like McKinney where it hasn’t really caught on yet and offer something new to my community,” Matt says as he passes one of his specialty Mochas down to a customer. “One thing that Vegas did not have is a Farmers Market, and so what better way for me to sort of switch gears in what I was doing in my career than to come here to McKinney and focus on something I’m passionate about?  This is my way of bringing something to my community that they didn’t really have yet, sort of my way of giving back.”  The giving doesn’t stop at the coffee or in McKinney.

GIVING BACK:

Matt has set up Mo’ Joe a Go-Go as a partner with Heifer International, a non-profit organization centered around empowering developing nations to self-sustain and become less dependent on foreign aid.  A percentage of Mo’Joe sales go towards quarterly purchases of livestock for these developing nations to work towards building a thriving agriculture-based economy.  In addition to giving to these developing nations, he brings it on home as well, to McKinney’s Samaritan Inn, where he donates unsold pastries and goodies.

MIXING BUSINESS WITH PASSION:
While the “Mo’Joe a Go-Go” mobile coffee concept is unique for the community, Matt Drew is living a recurring theme I see from time; the inspiring “Corporate businessman-gone-local business owner” feel-good theme.  In this case, it’s “Corporate Grind to Coffee Grind” where he molds his high level marketing skills with what he truly loves, and makes him happy.  “I’m not doing this to get rich.  It’s my opportunity to build a fun and unique brand, and interact with people every day” says Drew.  “Like any start-up, it has its challenges” --but “I’ve always been more of a glass half-full kind of guy, and this is more about what we do, than the challenges we face.” 

WHERE CAN I GET MY MO' JOE?

Come down to McKinney Farmer’s Market in Chestnut Square this Saturday morning, August 30 from 8:00 AM to NOON parked next to Johnson House.  This time of year, I highly recommend the Frozen Mayan.  Mind=Blown.

Mo'Joe a Go-Go Links
Website
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook

Family: The Epicenter of Adventure

As I was watching my 7 week old daughter, Sophia, sleep in my arms last night, all my ideas started coming to life about our future here in the wonderful city of McKinney, TX.  It got me reminiscing about my lovely wife Katie and I's discovery of the Farmer's Market in Chestnut Square and how our Saturday morning routine really kicked things off for us as a family; getting out there in town, meeting people, building relationships, stumbling across local treasures, and simply discovering the new and the old. 

Photo Credit Mike M Photos

Becoming a father really shaped me as a person, and kicked off a whole new adventure for my wife and I.  A blessing really.  We have lived here just over 2 1/2 years, and in those two years the city's slogan on the water tower "Unique By Nature" made more and more sense.  There is a lot to discover here that is not the everyday norm of your typical suburban community.  That is a value that we plan to instill in our daughter and incorporate into our family life.  A sense of community, respect, being unique, and hope that some of it comes naturally.

I thought the appropriate kick off to this blog following the brief "gloaty" family history lesson was to put emphasis on the importance of family, and how family is the epicenter of adventure.  What greater feeling exists than showing your young children the concept of simply living, meeting people, discovering new ground, and getting them active in the community, starting at just 2 weeks old? If we're going the opinions route, I'd say not many.

Proudly Used Without Permission ;-): Sweetie Pies by Karen

Who makes up this Uniqueness by Nature? The people? The Families, and individuals alike.  I am beyond excited about this adventure and all of you who stop by for a read.  I hope to meet all of you around town on this foreseeably endless adventure.


-DAN+McKinneyTX-



DAN+McKinneyTX : an INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome to my blog, DAN+McKinneyTX.  Here you will find subject matter pertaining to topics outside of the office.  Feel-good stuff.  Things that hopefully don't make you want to pull your hair out, and will take your mind off the grind.  A large number of my posts will be McKinney, Texas specific.  Having spent the first 25 years of my life living in Plano, I began the trend of taking my heritage back to McKinney, TX.  It wasn't until I actually moved to McKinney that I realized just how deep rooted my family was, here.  I don't use it for any sort of "street cred" or anything, but I am the great grandson of Isaac Crouch.  His name is on this building for those of you who frequent the McKinney Square.  His daughter, my great aunt, Violet Crouch Beatty, is a lifelong McKinney native and can show us all a thing or two about living life to the fullest and getting ourselves active in the community.  I get all my history lessons from her.  She and my grandmother, Betty, are the best direct sources of history lessons.


Photo Credit: City-Data.com

Like I said before, not for "street cred" but it's hard not to feel pretty awesome when I walk by this building every time I go into the square.  As I look at this photo while I write, I start sort of day dreaming about my future down the road and how neat it would be to have an office or small business in this building and just live here forever, and have one of those historic homes down the way; just like you see in the movies with children swinging on the large oak tree. 
As you may have noticed this intro blog has sort of turned into a "gloaty" personal history lesson, so please bear with me, I apologize. I need to build a foundation on why I have called my blog "Dan+McKinneyTX".

My great grandfather Isaac owned and operated the below funeral home Crouch-Moore Funeral Home on Tennessee Street, which is now home to Charles W. Smith and Sons Funeral Home


This brings me to the whole basis of my blog.  Living in McKinney.  As we gravitate our way out of the "gloaty" personal history lesson, which some of you might or might not find to be rather fascinating, just let it be known I will be covering mostly uplifting McKinney-based subject matter, as well as personal interests and hobbies.  I know for the last 2 1/2 years since my wife and I moved to McKinney we have loved it.  The square, the farmer's market, the locally owned businesses, the not-so-routine suburban culture.  I hope to capture the interest of McKinney residents and visitors alike. 

This is home now.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.  Thanks for visiting, tell your friends.

Photo Credit DALWORTH RESTORATION

-DAN [McKinney, TX]