![]() ![]() Dent has Doc pushing himself to the limit, testing whether or not he still has it. Right after this great scene, Doc takes charge of a seemingly hopeless situation, he dives off a 100 foot cliff, swings from tree to tree like Tarzan with Hannah on his back. This is great stuff! And it sets up the rest of the book where Doc pushes himself to the limit in scene after scene. These seem minor but they set up a startling revelation in Chapter 9! Pages 83-85 (Bantam) are remarkable! After being caught by surprise by some thugs, Doc feels ashamed because he should have been ready and is plague by self-doubt, wondering if some part of his mental ability might be slipping and how he can reconcile that with his love for adventure. Doc needs a rope to climb a wall, he makes a mistake trying to escape. Also he is roughed up by Hannah - the female lead - and experiences pain like he never did before. Here is a poignant insight into Doc’s character that one simply does not find in the earlier books. 25-26), Doc is also humanized by (what is for me the first though I haven’t read the books in order)his admission that his abilities make him uncomfortable and how he hadn’t thought much about them when he was younger but does now that he is more mature. ![]() Early on in Chapter 2 (pg.17 of the Bantam) Dent gives us a description of Doc that emphasizes that his greatness stems from “personality and character” rather than ability. This one was written in ’43 and Doc is not the all-powerful Doc of old. Having just finished this one, I think it IS memorable not so much for the story, which is only mildly interesting, but for the subtle touches Dent uses throughout the novel. I wish him the best of luck as it’s a record that deserves an audience.This one has become something of a “grail book” as it is the last of the Bantam singles. Woody will, I feel certain, spend considerable time and effort promoting and playing, doing his level best to ensure this collection of songs is heard. Such is the case for the working musician. The future of this independently recorded and released record is still very much in the air. The music is also punctuated with guest appearances that I feel should be kept Star Wars-style surprises. That’s not so surprising as the current incarnation of the Happy Bones band includes some significant Augusta talent, including the semi-legendary Jo Bones, one of this writer’s favorite bass players. It’s an amalgamation of musical styles and, more particularly, those musical cues that have proved most popular and influential in Augusta music. There are nods to hip hop, hippie rock – nearly any classic pop form capable of telling a substantial story. There is acoustic folk and hard riffing, deep funk and Southern boogie. While always cohesive, the eponymous album draws from a variety of musical sources. One of the more interesting aspects of Happy Bones is how difficult it becomes to pinpoint and describe its very distinctive sound. He is, in fact, an artist of impressive musical means and now, with the very first Happy Bones album – a record some 25 years in the making – he’s ready to prove his point. He has something significant he wants to share and it extends far beyond the broken-couch blues often associated with him. It was, to be sure, a comfortable place and one I certainly enjoyed visiting from time to time. My thought has always been that Woody felt a certain sense of satisfaction, writing and performing in the very finite universe of his own creation. It’s an act that local musicians have always thought highly of, that fans have followed from one bar gig to the next but has flown, somewhat criminally, below the radar. The performance project of one Judge Shawn “Woody” Wood, the Bones, in its many varied forms, has been gracing Augusta stages since the mid-1990s. That, quite clearly, is not the case for the Augusta act Happy Bones. Far too often I see acts perform before they are prepared or, even worse, enter the studio. There’s nothing more painful than art that seems incomplete, ill-considered or dashed off. It is, I believe, important for an artist to take their time.
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