"the hotel room in spain had the cutest little water fountain..."

happy birthday, mama! today, she's 29 again, like i will be next week... :) gene taylor, the greatest boogie-woogie piano player around, the king of the 88s, former & current wildman, sent this picture with that caption. gene, whom i've admired so much since my teenage years, turns out is a real jokester. :) he says i'm his "favorite piano student," but i'll bet he just says nice things like that easily: he flat-out radiates good vibes in hilarious writings & pictures like this from the road. right now he's out with his long-time band, the fabulous thunderbirds (www.fabulousthunderbirds.com) ... he has played piano since childhood & also is one of those geniuses who can play anything (guitar, drums, bass, sax, probably the accordion, lap pedal, harp, even tuba or glockenspiel, i'd think...). he's played with the blasters, canned heat, ronnie hawkins, rick nelson, & grew up, like the alvin bros, playing with legends like big joe turner & t-bone walker... i feel so very fortunate to get to know people like gene, even just a bit. "gene is a national treasure," said skip edwards... that is, skip edwards the fantastic piano player himself! people with this caliber of talent don't have to be so dang nice, but some of them sure are... it gives hope to a jill of all trades like me that if i keep sawing away at it, some day my fingers will play the melodies my brain hears. did i tell you gene sings, too? he has one of those great, wistful, light-touch chuck berry-little walter kind of voices i just loves. he has a cd out on pacific blues & you should get it, if you can. http://www.pacificblues.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&products_id=187