driving through the winter night, lovely winking christmas lights, rocking chuck berry b-sides

it won't save the world, but it sure is bliss. in that way, it saves my world, at least for this evening. happy holidays tooyall!
AND GOOD GRAVY!! LISTEN TO THIS!!!: http://thehound.net/19881224/mp3s/start06.mp3 huey smith & the clowns, silent night... for more, or if this link doesn't work, go to http://thehound.net & look for the december shows... wonderful wonderful stuff!! life is worth it!!!!

it's the most wonderful time of the year.. time to buy more crap!!

i can't find the coolest christmas picture i've ever seen to post here!!! we used it long ago for the cover of a local underground paper, and it showed esquerita (left above) as santa claus!!! it was an image ripped off from norton records http://www.nortonrecords.com/index2.html , so maybe you'll be able to find it there in the upcoming month, not to mention many cool records.
well, tinsel & lights & commercial xmas is up all over; that kid put his gargantuan light show up at CALM for some really wonderful cornball loveliness; traffic & blood pressure's rising as the gift-buying frenzy intensifies; that crazy-crackup christmas story movie'll be on 24/7 soon enough; i have my annual wintertime headache & lack of air; & this all means it's time to post some christmas musical suggestions!!
MP3s: go to http://thehound.net for tons of free 40s-60s yuletide primitive rockandroll, RandB, and CandW!! (dang ampersand's not working on keyboard)
LISTS: go to http://www.ratso.net/cheat03.html for DJ ratso's finest (but i doubt you'll find many of these titles on limewire, blubster, or morpheus!)
RECORDS: i recommend these compilation LPs: a john waters christmas; rockabilly christmas; tejano country christmas; blues blues christmas 1925-55; rhythm & blues christmas; blue yule; christmas blues and shout; as well as tis the season for los straitjackets; merry texas christmas y'all (asleep at the wheel); merry christmas baby (charles brown); and the elvis, johnny mathis, johnny cash, brenda lee, new orleans, and andrew sisters christmas records. all these are available online from amazon, i think.

gobblegobblegobblegooblegobblegooblegobble

happy feast day! a few (very) simple thoughts: we're most of us americans "mixtures," but being indigenous american (YES, i use that term!) & italian at thanksgiving (or is that columbus day?) can be confusing!.. did anyone else grow up baffled about "what you are"? i've always loved the words, the music, the philosophy of underdogs, misfits, sad-sacks, & downright nutcases because anyone who's not these things more likely has instructions to life, privilege, slickness, conventional beauty, ideological certainty, those things that allow them to be on top, a lot of times by stepping on the heads of others. who needs them!! to paraphrase the christians, the meek shall inherit the earth, & you know what they say about the rich man entering heaven...
and i attribute this misfit-love to being mixed-race, being, like most of us USAnians, a "mutt." our dear little grandma was juaneno mission "indian" from san juan capistrano. she was devoutly catholic, & for that reason, i never bash the Church. i see a rosary or a "blessed mother" statue & think of grandma mary. the tribe has gotten very active & is one of those so close, yet so far from federal recognition, at which point we build casinos & get scholarship money. why not? i think such reward, tho insufficient (yes, & cynical), is tiny payback for near-eradication of an entire race. grandpa was mexican via chile, but i know nothing of his background, really - just have surmised that he was a talented, brainy man poisoned by cultural self-loathing from prejudice... all i know of the other side is that in italy, all the cousins, irregardless of age, drank vino, & "Papa" was always on tv. they served this regional dish, a ham loaf with eggs & pimientos & such that tasted (i'm sorry to have to admit this) just gross. dad said his uncle & father used to come home from union events talking about guys standing on the factory scaffolding & throwing hammers at scabs. sounds pretty old-world-violent. such are the measures to which the disenfranchised may resort to claw for power, i think. i wouldn't know, always having been lower-mid to (now) mid-class. we kinds kill ourselves with affluenza, self-absorption, & idle hands, i think. my last quadrant is english, & i know nada of that except that my dad was raised by a kindly, patient, parsimonious grandpa whom i never met but am grateful for because i think he taught my dad to be the gentle, circumspect man he is. that grandma's an ex-deputy, 83, a world traveler. :)
anyway, thanksgiving celebrates something very weird & uncelebratory, when you get down to it, so like so many things, i prefer to limn, float across the reality so that i may keep myself dopily grinning. to get into its implications, well, it's just too heartbreaking & makes me worthless. thanksgiving fundamentally for me is about loved ones, & giving thanks. i have a wonderful, precious family & so much love in my life. i have food, shelter, companions, music, books, opportunities for service to fellow humans, the things a soul needs. i also am 11 yrs past my due date, so on thanksgiving, i will give thanks for having another day on this precious planet. hope if you're reading this, you, too, may find good things for which to give thanks, & take action to improve the bad. if you want to comment on family or heritage, please do.

slaaaaaaaaaahd show

i just put a slide show on the dusk devils' myspace site. go to www.myspace.com/theduskdevils to see it! i rearranged & chose some new pix, but for some reason, they're not showing up. i'll check again tomorrow & see if the changes have shown up... meanwhile, enjoy the blast from the past these snaps provide, & comment if'n you wish! :) we had many good times, amidst all the "dysfunctional family" problemos common to music ensembles... my sister band, the ex-girlfriends, have recorded 5 of their 12 new songs & likely will post them to www.bakotopia.com once they figure out how to go from digital 8-track to cd... if you have such expertise & want to share it, please email! :)