POST No. 100: THE GREATEST COMIC EVER!!!!

i found him online!!!! the greatest comic book character ever!! (well, except for 10 others, but at this moment this seems like it was my favorite ever because i could NEVER FIND this comic)... when i used to pinch mad, tomb of dracula, love and rockets, howard the duck, mister x, american flagg!, & superman (this was eons ago, if any students are reading, and i got caught one time & it was QUITE HUMILIATING), i would PAY FOR reid fleming, since it seemed so special to just be able to get my hands on one. here's the website: www.reidfleming.com

it's the greatest sound, right from the u.s.a.... & the rest of the world, too, you know... :)

here are some ron jones band pix from the show saturday... just got to do something else fun, a "visiting artist" gig for the Arts Council of Kern (http://community.kern.org/artscouncil/ - currently showing an awesome collage exhibit by william lichtfield!!). thank you, david nigel lloyd, for considering me! so this week i go to outlying communities around kern county & teach migrant farm workers' kids about american rock & roll! i was reluctant to do it at first since i believe i'm an entertainer, a hack, a "just do it," throw it in the pot & lets see what comes out type, certainly not an artist... but troubadour dnl, who schedules these things, convinced me i'm a "workingman" kind of artist, and well, i certainly liked the sound of that. also, the purpose of this program is quite appealing: to show children they can do more with their lives than work the fields; that their lives have possibilities. :) who could say no after hearing that?? ... it was a positive experience. i miss these kinds of kids; they were quite polite, sweet, & loving. my little keyboard & i (no mikes; i could become a shout singer, if this keeps up!) hacked out "la bamba," "hound dog," "go, johnny, go," "tutti frutti," & more as the kids sang along. they got to practice funny singing - mooing, mewing, barking, yipping, growling, all the sounds that loosen up the throat & the sense of seriousness that can bog down the music... mature & collected young ursula lloyd is my "assistant" this week, & she was so much help; afterward we got boba & drove around the old parts of town a bit. another amazing day, when, i must remember, i really should be taking a dirt nap. this dispatch concludes with a pic of the happy paxtons. :)

those were people who died, died, they were all my friends... and they died

that's an awesome jim carroll band song i can't listen to because i get this lump in my throat when it's on & it becomes impossible to swallow... today in the obituaries, there he was, another friend, someone from meetings who used to ride his bike by our house on his way to work, used to read out of the big book with us all, a stout, friendly, early 40s fellow with curly dark hair & olive complexion, an addict who didn't stay clean & sober, and now he's gone, gone, gone. my experience in 10 years, 357 days has been that most people in our condition, allergic to the poisonous stuff that other people can put down when they "start to feel it," are unable to put it down, think they can control their usage, and then it's "jails, institutions, and death." rest in peace, V. :(

like sands through the hour glass...plus my face for the world to...[fill in the blank]

well, today's long beach adventure (ink & iron show at the queen mary) went fairly well all things considered, i'd say. thank you to cesareo for playing with us. pac west/brent m did sound - great job! we kept the songs rolling well enough that i didn't have to "tell my joke" (i have one little joke that i tell when brian starts futzing or we stop playing for too long... so i said, "i'm gonna tell my joke," and he said "AWWW, naw you don't," & launched into the next tune. it worked!) big crowd, lots of tattoos, people moving to the music though they didn't much come up to the stage, cute girls dancing had us sign drumsticks, nice green room (though the energy drinks were gone by the time i wanted to drink one), nice crew and promoter (trac edwards), lots of motorcycles & hot rods, a more varied sellers hall than at, say, a straight biker run (counterculture stuff from rue morgue mag to tattoos to vintage clothing, though i was sad no hollywood book and poster...). the queen mary is quite a dinghy; if you like art deco, you should go down there and check it out... the breezes on deck were a quenching respite. today in bakingfield, it was 112 degrees! it was a nice ride home with the paxtons & jones of atlanta, but when i got here & loaded the day's pix, i was horrified to discover i'd committed Yet Another Wardrobe Felony. what's new! feliz domingo a todos & if you live here in "bakerssippi," as i heard it called recently, well, try not to keel over from the heat.

Sat @ Queen Mary, Long Beach (details below)

Sat at Long Beach Tat Fest, Double-D's feature el bombero fabuloco, the one & only C. Gar :)

SAT June, 25 2006 at Long Beach Tattoo Convention
The Queen Mary, 1126 Queen Hwy, Long Beach, CA, 90812
Cost: $20 adv. / $25 door
Set Time 4:45-5:30
w/ Charley Horse, Cadillac Tramps, James Intveldt, Manic Hispanic, Jake LaBotz, Cacti Widders, Danny Dean & the Homewreckers, Hayride to Hell, Yard Dog Road Show, Los Creepers, & more... Deals on rooms start at $135.
www.electricinkpromotions.com/HTML/LB/09-LBT-Schedule.html
That same weekend at the Queen Mary is the Long Beach Bayou Festival, as well!!!!!!! The music'll be stomping and a hopping and a dancing... and it'll be just the place to get drunk and tattooed, if that's your thing. :) ... We're fortunate to have Mento Buru's & Moonshine Deathbed's Cesareo Garaza on drums for this show, so you won't wanna miss it, if you can make it!

marlo venus was a beautiful lass she had the world in the palm of her hand she lost both her arms in a wrestlingmatch to meet a browneyed handsome man

... or blue eyed... or hazel eyed... or fill in the blank eyed... say, where are my arms?
everyone says it better than i can...
"if it's got more than three chords, it's jazz" (lou reed)...
"if ya ain't got it in ya, ya can't blow it out" (louis armstrong)...
"we are all of us living in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" (oscar wilde)

i've been everywhere, man, i've been everywhere

i ain't been home in 11 days. first was a stay with dear friends in encinitas/carlsbad, sleepy and sea-friendly, next to salton sea, desolate and rankly romantic, then to desert hot springs, calming and 50s resort-style rejuvenating, then to hollywood, busy and glittery and invigorating... next i got on the plane for the lone star state to stay with my dear cousin and her nice little family in granbury... texans aren't like californians: they are unequivocably dang proud to be texans. i sure do envy such certainty. LA people have freeway maps imprinted in their brains; texans have farm and county roads. my cousin, to get her family's supplies and run work errands for hubby, will drive to cleburne, fort worth, weatherford, acton, all over the darn place like it's nothing... texans are like bakersfieldians in being stubborn & bible beltish, but texans are friendlier, or maybe it's me friendlier to them... austin's the best, combining stubbornness/fortitude with open-mindedness, inclusiveness, good health, and respect for american musical tradition like no place else on earth i've been, and there i heard a bunch of dang great music & left a part of me, like i always do, like a kid leaving disneyland or on the day after christmas, a bit heart-broken each time i have to go home, but since i'm grown-up, ready to return to everyday responsibility... tomorrow it's home, me and gus the puppy. eighty bucks it'll cost to take the new pooch home via airplane, but it was that or he was to go off with a stranger, or be offed via rifle shot. he'll leave behind his ranch doggie, goat, and horse brethren here to make his new place in backwardsfield, where he'll be a welcome little brother to roscoe the wonder dog. junior the mammoth and mammothly grouchy cat will not be happy, but he never is. my family thinks if j.r. becomes an indoor-outdoor cat, it might melt some pounds off him. and maybe improve his attitude, too!
can't wait to get home, can't wait to leave. this push & pull in me is familiar, but i'm not unique. there are plenty of us squirrels, wanting to burrow and nest for a bit before venturing out again for more of that happy lonesome feeling going brings. not just in california, "land of fruits and nuts," as bomar calls it - i think it's just human to want to stay and want to go, that yin-yang, tension of life thing. i'm going outside now, to hear one last june bug, cicada, frog and cricket central texas night-time symphony.