 |
Ed & Charlie's Tea Room, Caddo Lake, East Texas |
I was white knuckling it in a guide's bass boat. My eyes all teared up.
We were going so fast I barely saw the place.
When I got a good look, I asked the him to stop.
He circled back twice then put the boat back on plane.
Sightseeing was over it was time to fish again.
When I think back on that trip, I remember. I didn't catch any fish. I paid him a lot of money. He scared the crap out of my morning.
However, I did see a lot of the lake in a very short period.
I fell in love with the place. Caddo Lake is amazing. The history is just as rich as the natural environment.
Of the white men's involvement, I would say Ed and Charlie's speaks volumes.
Later when I came back, I would be able to get up close and personal with the old stilt house.
The old fellers from the boat dock across the lake told me the shack was once a hell of a juke joint.
Having spent a little of my youth in such places, I was naturally curious.
They say the "swells" from Houston and Dallas would come to the lake's fancy clubs to fish and hunt.
At night they would ramble across the lake, to Ed and Charlie's Tea Room.
These men came from a rigid, highly structured society.
Once away from the the city they let loose.
Out front there's an old sign nailed to a tree. The sign's faded over the years. The words are barely visible.
It says:
Rules for Ed and Charlie's Tea Room
Rule # 1
There ain't no rules.
Rule # 2
There ain't never been no rules.
Rule # 3
There ain't never gonna be no rules.
Come on in.
Look at the pictures and let the place take your imagination. I went three or four times. I wanted to shoot it every season from every angle.
I don't know why. Maybe I was trying to bring back a way of life.
Maybe I was trying to recapture a long ago night in another swamp and another juke joint.
It was kinda like this.
Can you hear the blues ah wailin' ?
That piano man can play the boogie woogie. Can't you smell the catfish frying ? Come on, let's sneak a hush puppy or two.
 |
Gracious Ghost, Caddo Lake, Texas |
Can't you hear the laughter ? That great roaring laughter of men as boys and boys as men. The rites of passage as young men joined the older ones in their shared secrets.
Can't you see the yellow lanterns glow? The windows open to the world?
 |
Government Ditch, Caddo Lake, Far East Texas |
Can you hear the cackle of the old women frying fish and taters? Won't you listen to the bawdy laughter of the night ladies? Listen to em' over there just a whooping and a hollerin'. My, they're havin' a high old time.
 |
Caddo Lake |
Can you smell the big cypress trees and swamp rot ?
Can't you smell that mud?
Can you hear the bullfrogs and crickets?
What about grunts of the bull gators, hear em'? You'll hear 'em when you paddle that pirogue home tonight.
 |
Winter on Caddo Lake |
There's splash of a big bass somewhere out in the dark. Did you hear it?
What about that big old moon with it's streak of gold runnin' cross the water? That's got to go to your heart. That Old Flamingo Moon. It did it to me. I think it touched her too.
Tonight the young men will go to sleep half in love and half ashamed but mostly drunk. The old men will go to sleep smilin'.
 |
Spanish Moss on Caddo Lake |
Hear the skeeters buzzin', folks swattin, cussin and carrying on.
The bands shoutin' the blues. How'd they get that honky tonk piano out there? People dancin', floors a shakin'. Yeah, they're havin' a time.
 |
Gracious Ghost, Caddo Lake, Texas |
Folks hanging out on the big gallery. The night women having a drink decidin' who's who and what's for.
It was all there and more.
Call this little blog "portrait of a juke joint". It ain't art, it's Ed and Charlie's Tea Room.
 |
Working for a livin' Caddo Lake |
"The Boomer Magazine"
Boomers entertaining Boomers !!!
http://boomermag.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-introduction.html
John Boykin, Blogger
john@commimage.com
http://www.commimage.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment