, "odd." i suppose yet another growing experience. "grown-up" life is full of such things. so last night, to see my friends & to abate the odd feeling, i went to 4 meetings in a row to celebrate the local drunk club being open now 53 years. at the 3rd mtg, an old man who'd been sitting in seeming anguish for hours, a passer-through town on the holiday weekend, blurted out that the state of texas had just executed his son. he burst into sobs & stumbled out the door. ed r, who was leading the mtg, stood right up and provided what my friend jani called "an old-timer minute": he followed that fellow right outside to help him. i've always kinda had a little platonic crush on ed, who's a tall, silver-haired, straight-standing southern gentleman type who plays honky-tonk barrelhouse piano. it became such admiration at that moment... it was just the right danged thing to do. i'm lucky to have made lots of friends in the past decade who are like that, bomar being a big one. they just do the right thing, no matter what; it's inspiring, & they're not doing it to show off at all, which just makes it more inspiring... i drove home, overwhelmed by my good fortune, to have been part of the human & humane events of the evening, couldn't sleep, thinking about Life, loved ones, returning monday to my kiddies at work, my newly healthy physical state & the "good witch" who's got me there, hepped up on caffeine, so i did the best i could - made a collage. it was too late to pound joyful heartache tunes on the piano or listen to some music, so this was the next best thing. when my soul is grateful, it hears songs. these pictures help me hear the music and remember to be grateful... & to want to share it with other people.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
gratitude
the thanksgiving weekend this year turned out to be, as bomar said
, "odd." i suppose yet another growing experience. "grown-up" life is full of such things. so last night, to see my friends & to abate the odd feeling, i went to 4 meetings in a row to celebrate the local drunk club being open now 53 years. at the 3rd mtg, an old man who'd been sitting in seeming anguish for hours, a passer-through town on the holiday weekend, blurted out that the state of texas had just executed his son. he burst into sobs & stumbled out the door. ed r, who was leading the mtg, stood right up and provided what my friend jani called "an old-timer minute": he followed that fellow right outside to help him. i've always kinda had a little platonic crush on ed, who's a tall, silver-haired, straight-standing southern gentleman type who plays honky-tonk barrelhouse piano. it became such admiration at that moment... it was just the right danged thing to do. i'm lucky to have made lots of friends in the past decade who are like that, bomar being a big one. they just do the right thing, no matter what; it's inspiring, & they're not doing it to show off at all, which just makes it more inspiring... i drove home, overwhelmed by my good fortune, to have been part of the human & humane events of the evening, couldn't sleep, thinking about Life, loved ones, returning monday to my kiddies at work, my newly healthy physical state & the "good witch" who's got me there, hepped up on caffeine, so i did the best i could - made a collage. it was too late to pound joyful heartache tunes on the piano or listen to some music, so this was the next best thing. when my soul is grateful, it hears songs. these pictures help me hear the music and remember to be grateful... & to want to share it with other people.
, "odd." i suppose yet another growing experience. "grown-up" life is full of such things. so last night, to see my friends & to abate the odd feeling, i went to 4 meetings in a row to celebrate the local drunk club being open now 53 years. at the 3rd mtg, an old man who'd been sitting in seeming anguish for hours, a passer-through town on the holiday weekend, blurted out that the state of texas had just executed his son. he burst into sobs & stumbled out the door. ed r, who was leading the mtg, stood right up and provided what my friend jani called "an old-timer minute": he followed that fellow right outside to help him. i've always kinda had a little platonic crush on ed, who's a tall, silver-haired, straight-standing southern gentleman type who plays honky-tonk barrelhouse piano. it became such admiration at that moment... it was just the right danged thing to do. i'm lucky to have made lots of friends in the past decade who are like that, bomar being a big one. they just do the right thing, no matter what; it's inspiring, & they're not doing it to show off at all, which just makes it more inspiring... i drove home, overwhelmed by my good fortune, to have been part of the human & humane events of the evening, couldn't sleep, thinking about Life, loved ones, returning monday to my kiddies at work, my newly healthy physical state & the "good witch" who's got me there, hepped up on caffeine, so i did the best i could - made a collage. it was too late to pound joyful heartache tunes on the piano or listen to some music, so this was the next best thing. when my soul is grateful, it hears songs. these pictures help me hear the music and remember to be grateful... & to want to share it with other people.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
kinky goes to hollywood
-> thanks to my kind doctors, i am beginning to feel consistently well for the first time in months, so i went to a little fundraiser for kinky friedman at lucie's in hollywood. kinky (top R pic), country singer-songwriter ("a**hole from el paso"), mystery writer ("god bless john wayne"), now politician, is running for gov of texas. how does that affect ca? queried kinky, whose heroes are mark twain & will rogers & buds are willie nelson & jesse "the body" ventura. well, if an independent takes the lone star state for the first time since sam houston, big money pols (the blues & reds) will be quaking in their loafers. right now, kinky's at nearly 23% in the polls -- far beyond what ventura had this time of year during his successful run for gov of minnesota.
-> kinky's from a family of teachers, like i am, & i was drawn by his outlaw-absurd reputation as well as a terrific recent new yorker article (http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/050822fa_fact). kinky's campaign started as pure satire, but people responded to his humor, openness, & down-to-earth populism. as a result, the jokester now finds himself possibly about to become an elected official... kinky's education program is called "no teacher left behind" & will require all education appointees to actually have "classroom time" in their background. "the teachers are getting screwed," he said, "and the good ones are leaving." sit an experienced teacher down & you'll hear the same. children aren't being instilled with a love of learning under the present system. "we're teaching the kids to pass tests, and that's it," said kinky.
-> the crowd included actors, musicians, artistes, texans, lots of tall folks & eclectics a-plenty -- chuck e. weiss, tony gilkyson, jimmie lee maslon, van dyke park, danny hutton from 3 dog night; ruth buzzi, bud cort, max gail, david steinberg; bill osco, director of "flesh gordon," etc. many faces looked familiar, & i relied on my friend art to fill me in. kinky's right-hand man, "little jewford" (jeff shelby, top L pic), wore a flashy elvis jacket under a beatific baby face & curls, but chuck e. weiss (bottom, with art) stole the sartorial shoe show with his spankingly fantastic teal and brown stacy adams wingtips. he said that mr. florsheim himself had made those shoes especially for him.
-> an interesting evening? most certainly, all y'all. as the candidate would say, "may the god of your choice bless you."
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
better stay 'way from him, he'll rip your lungs out, jim
before you's a tiny pic from a halloweenish C&S biker party. the impromptu garage band played off the cuff 50s-60s tunes. i had to quit after a while; no stamina these days. the others kept going for hours. john smith, middle pirate & bassist for 70s' band duke & the drivers, led a very fun version of monster mash. the others are steve (knight) & johnny garcia (pirate) & two nice folks whose names I can't recall. the drummer, mike, was outstanding & very nice. wish i could've kidnapped him for the dusk devils.
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