Tag Archives: Texas

Eighter From Decatur

Posted on by Bill Chance

“But we must come to realise that every word is perfect, including those we scratch out. As my pen moves across this page the whole world writes. All of human history combines at this mere moment now to produce in the flow of this hand a single dot: Who are you and I, dear friends, to contradict the whole past of the universe? Let us then in our wisdom say yes to the flow of the pen.”
― Luke Rhinehart, The Dice Man

Decatur, Texas

Legend has it that a local, Will Cooper, was credited with the phrase, “Eighter From Decatur.” Will played dice with his sweetheart Ada by his side. He would roll the dice and yell “Ada from Decatur, county seat of Wise,” for luck. The expression was spread by the travelling home guard and Army regulars. The phrase eventually turned into “Eighter From Decatur,” when a hard eight roll of the dice was needed.

Decatur, Texas

Hard Eight…. That reminds me of one of my favorite movies – I’ll bet you haven’t even seen it – I’ll make that bet – it’s better odds than a hard eight.

Everything Conceals Something Else

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.”
― Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

Downtown Dallas

Made of Earth and Rain

Posted on by Bill Chance

“At night I dream that you and I are two plants
that grew together, roots entwined,
and that you know the earth and the rain like my mouth,
since we are made of earth and rain.”
― Pablo Neruda, Regalo de un Poeta

Petrified Wood Gas Station,
Decatur, Texas

Ghosts Of Our Old Loves

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Of all ghosts the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes

Nasher Sculpture Center
Dallas, Texas

Songs About Broken Hearts

Posted on by Bill Chance

“People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands – literally thousands – of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss.”
― Nick Hornby, High Fidelity

Kickin Brass Band, Arts District, Dallas, Texas

Expressing the Inexpressible

Posted on by Bill Chance

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”
― Aldous Huxley, Music at Night and Other Essays

Kickin Brass Band, Arts District, Dallas, Texas

I remember, long ago, having an argument with someone over whether it would be worse to be blind or deaf. I said I would rather be blind and they couldn’t understand. Blindness would be a real pain, I’ll admit, but I can’t imagine living without music.

Invent the Reality

Posted on by Bill Chance

“We live in a world ruled by fictions of every kind—mass merchandising, advertising, politics conducted as a branch of advertising, the instant translation of science and technology into popular imagery, the increasing blurring and intermingling of identities within the realm of consumer goods, the preempting of any free or original imaginative response to experience by the television screen. We live inside an enormous novel. For the writer in particular it is less and less necessary for him to invent the fictional content of his novel. The fiction is already there. The writer’s task is to invent the reality.”
― J.G. Ballard, Crash

Woodall Rogers Expressway, Dallas, Texas
Click to Enlarge

A Few Squeaks

Posted on by Bill Chance

“I wanted to play saxophone, but all I could get were a few squeaks.”
— Stevie Ray Vaughan

Dots Hop House, Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

Black Boots

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Black boots, said Rawlins. Aint that the shits? I always wanted to be a badman.”

― Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

Klyde Warren Park, Dallas, Texas

Eat Me

Posted on by Bill Chance

“Whether you take the doughnut hole as a blank space or as an entity unto itself is a purely metaphysical question and does not affect the taste of the doughnut one bit.”
― Haruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase

Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

Glazed Donut Works