top 20 LPs (for when i drop dead)

upon my demise, i please would like to be 1) cremated in a sparkly outfit; 2) eulogized by those who loved me but won't be too heartbroken, at the alano club; 3) with music played from the following LPs, heavy on the uptempo, humorous, & NOLA-kinda cuts; 4) with lots of flowers, beads, & food covered w/barbecue sauce... (prompted by recent passings of friends as well as a thought-provoking myspace bulletin [no, that's not an oxymoron!]) happy weekend to all who read this!!! :)
1. chuck berry - the great 28
2. the blasters - the blasters (rolling rock & slash LPs both)
3. the gun club - fire of love
4. x - los angeles
5. the cramps - gravest hits & psychedelic jungle & songs the lord taught us
6. jerry lee lewis - london sessions & the greatest live shows on earth
7. professor longhair - house party new orleans-style
8. little richard - the specialty sessions
9. fats domino - the legendary imperial recordings
10. little walter - le roi du blues series
11. los lobos - ...and a time to dance
12. buck owens - i've got a tiger by the tail & i don't care
13. the paladins - the paladins (wrestler records)
14. ronnie dawson - rockinitis + the song "rockin' bones," of course!!
15. the collins kids - rockin'est
16. wanda jackson - queen of rockabilly
17. the stooges - raw power & rubber legs
18. the five royales - think
19. james brown - live at the apollo
20. the buena vista social club

slim the drifter tribute tonight

-> read bako's top newsman bob price's profile of scott "slim the drifter" sturtevant here: http://www.bakersfield.com/138/story/174197.html
-> price got it right, as usual. he always writes with conviction & heart, about what he knows - crucial so that a piece doesn't smell of phoniness (i write this from sore experience - used to get slapped a lot in journalism days - always AFTER going to press - for being the self-professed expert of the world). a true leader knows him or herself, & bob price truly seems to. :) another solid local writer i really admire is steve mayer (music figures heavily in the lives of both fellows, too... hmm...)
-> tonight will be the slim the drifter memorial tribute show at fishlips, 18th st downtown between chester & eye. the show starts at 7 pm & will feature a whole bunch of friends & admirers of scott. the show was arranged by scott's dear friend jean errasseret, who also this wk published a very nice obit for scott in the local daily. some of the performers tonight will be tanner & monty byrum; glenda robles; & several others who play out more & are much better known than yours truly. my friend greg will do some spoken word. eddie ruff's coming out for one song, then going home. i'll do two solo songs right before 3 chord whore goes onstage: i know scott would've dug my one-woman band set-up, so it'll be a fitting place to debut it. :) "scott woulda loved this," said jean. "all his friends gathered around to play music and talk about HIM." :)

sat morning ditching school

-art fein asked me to rewrite the green bay entry from here for www.sofein.com, so i sent it & he flatteringly declared it "magnifico" :)... it'll pub around 1st of the month. i didn't submit a bio to him this time, tho wrote one just for kicks, here: "jenny angel is a bipedal hominid, about 70% water. she plays w/bakersfield honky-tonkers old 99 (www.old99.net) as well as a cracked one-gal band. dusk devils por vida." :) -freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. :)

the crappy & the cool: "dark eyes" in lotusland

most trips this yr've been to sf for school, so i've missed LA w/that longing a soul can get for things both seedy-beautiful, haunting-exhilarating, & crappy-wonderful. got to climb the grapevine listening to "maybelline"! then descended home to the live version of "roll 'em pete" on the blasters' over there ep, looking out on kern county farmland, green-flat & smog-hazy, & thinking how rolling down the rd & certain tunes are fused in me - maybe for you, too? my trip was a mix of the crappy & the cool - crappy: the disappointment of NOT seeing my favorite band due to... well, it'd be gossipy speculation, so i won't go there; got a pkng ticket outside roscoe's because i was a dog-tired cheapskate; juke joint night at harvelle's instead had karaoke & funk... cool: sta monica & venice walking (tho the bohemian freedom makes me want to smoke, dang it!); lovely color-popping ocean-breezy flowers & greenery all around; crossing the venice canals & looking left-right down on the little boats; thrift & other wacky shopping; soul food from roscoe's & los burritos; good times & supping w/music friends & family; meeting net friends for the first time, unexpectedly, at 3 balls of fire show in marina del rey (insect surfers' dave, chrome oxide's steve, south bay surfers' david, big tiki dude jeff... & then geno walked in w/jimmy v of thee midnighters - geno who used to manage the blazers!); watching bassist vic gerrard (late of the derailers & many other acts) smile & groove w/his astounding 15-yr old drummer son victor, both cueing in to every move from somber, lumbering frontman mike vernon (whose fingers express what his golem-like countenance doesn't - a seeming contradiction for such dramatic, lush, evocative sounds to come out such a guy!).
to southland friends i didn't see, we'll meet again. :)this kind of solo happy-lonesome blow-off thing i'm blessed to be able to do now & then really fills a person up. i do a lot of stuff alone, but sometimes it seems more fitting, to be able to savor experiences others might not enjoy if they were along.
now on: "el paso," "my babe," "dark eyes," x, freddy fender, the mavericks, sadies, fess, roky, mr owens, los straightjackets, etc etc... if you're still reading, well, may you move gently or goofily thru your day: whichever pleases you most! :)

john conlee tonight!! thurs 6-14

rose colored glasses, back side of 30, friday night blues, common man, i don't remember loving you, ... the guy with "the saddest voice in country music" will be here tonight, 7 pm, at 212 E. 18th St (at Union), "uncle buck's club extreme." 661-203-5546. that's where the la movida nightclub is, a big sit-down place w/nice seats. your car'll be safe. go listen to songs so rapturously beautiful & sad, they'll make your hair stand on end!!

"i'll never love another even if i can, come to me baby, i'm a 1-woman band"

-> woohoo! tonight i got tired of waiting for all the proper gear & bungeed a high hat to my little keyboard's stand so that when the bass drum pedal kicks back, it hits the high hat. then i learned a slim the drifter song for an upcoming tribute show (june 27 at fishlip's). i might not be a punk, but i have been a drunk, so i could relate to the song. scott wrote some strong stuff, & 3 chord whore's shantell flattered me by saying she thinks of me singing when she hears this particular tune, one i'd heard before & liked, in that thrilling creepy-crawly alcoholic way (reading bukowski does the same)... up til tonight i didn't know if i could play piano, sing, & kick the drum at the same time. whoopee!! the drums sound like the cramps... you know, on the early LPs where they really couldn't play? i don't care, tho - what fun! how nice of shantell to think of me - i don't even care if i get to be part of the show - this lit the fire of a new experience under my butt!
-> my spouse walked in, saw my set-up, & intoned, smiling weirdly, "you are a tweaker."

"if you wanna hear some boogie like i'm gonna play, it's just an old piano and a knock-out bass..." lotsa websites ref'ed below, too

this wkend at school, we did a writing workshop w/sharon doubiago (http:// www.new college.edu/ review/doubiago.htm - parental guidance suggested). she had us write about 1st memories, of which i've thought i have few. i was grateful, once the unearthing began, to realize mine are of family, safety, color, music (my baby mobile, my crib, smiling parent faces & support, the piano). i found myself writing about the piano & realized how its formidable comfort & resonance completed me (i was a backward kid, like so many). the piano was my companion for so many yrs! i still play on a 1930s-era kimball spinet, which mom & dad bought from my lovely piano teacher, a classically-trained welshwoman who let me play boogie-woogie. the piano & i had each other, & we still do... in a few hrs, i have my 1st piano lesson w/carl sonny leyland (www.carl sonnyleyland.com)! i've also had one lesson each w/nat dove (www. nat dove.com) & gene taylor (www.gene-taylor.com), the latter of which was especially useful! w/all the banging & pounding i've done w/dusk devils, i've worn out my thumbs & wrists some. carl suggested the book "pain free" by pete egoscue -- after just one day of its gentle moves, i can now again play for 2-3 hrs w/o pain! here's a link to the book: www.egoscue.com ... now i'm working on joplin & gershwin from manuscript, trying to get those fingers to stretch & cooperate like they used to & rebuild muscle memory (i'm happy how fast it comes back!). it's wonderful to be able to play again w/o suffering. i've forgotten the tactile pleasure of "really playing" & hope to get "rhapsody in blue" back up to speed, to play for mama's birthday (she doesn't read this, so she won't know). other exercises i've been able to do lately post-surgery are from "western yoga" (www.are store.com), recommended by my kindly little "witch dr" bridget (www.drbbonnet dc.com) ... they really get your heart going & energize!
so that's enough linking for now, my friends. hope you visit these friends' sites! wish me luck that, in front of awesome carl, i don't freeze up. he told me he wants to "hear how i play." yipes!
i know, tho, that it'll work out & i'll be a better player from it. i relish the chance to learn from carl, who is super-studied & devoted, in addition to considerably talented!
this is so exciting!!!!! the more i think of it, the more.... wow!!!!! :)
(sing) happy trails to you, until we meet again...

"me, i don't care what people say / talk is cheap, anyway / if you got nothin good to say / well, it's best you don't say a thing" :)

- the blazers & me -
things've been down, w/death of friends, post-surgery complications, painful realizations i've had to make re music/friends... i was surfing & came across - yeegad! -a T-shirt i designed 15+ yrs ago for the blazers! it came up along w/the most rockin' tune, too (lyrics excerpted above), & took me instantly to a better place. a worshipful moment! music again saves a life...
back to the T-shirt: actually, manuel gave me the frame, then i took it to dr derek lamar, who then had the art dept downtown, & we put the design together... & there it is still online today, along w/that cheerful blazers song from way back in the palomino days.
i was intoxicated on music & substances 24/7 back then, & so enamored of the blazers' down-home roots-rock&roll innocence, grit, & heart, i could scarcely touch earth. flyweight ruben & sumo-ish manuel, buddies since childhood w/ea other & w/los lobos, led this east-LA band, their repertoire influenced as much by vicente fernandez as chuck berry. i was crazy (really, tho i didn't know it) over their then-bassist, a 6.5' ladies' man w/penchant for dark humor & drink, & became the blazers' "#1 fan" (there've been many since, & such a determined creature features heavily in any band's success, i think!): wrote their monthly newsletter; designed show flyers; press kit; copied & mailed out promo tapes; wrote 50-60 letters to record co's (one actually got bill bentley's attn & they were signed to rounder!); drove down 2x or more per mo to watch their shows (& hang w/"boyfriend," of course). all this from bksfld, & them in e-los! i couldn't dance, but my skirts & enthusiasm were so high, i don't think most cared. the blazers filled me w/good cheer, w/life, w/soul when i could only find it elsewhere in bad habits.
manuel & ruben don't play together much now, tho both still have many options, ruben working w/pete anderson still. they are well-loved & respected individually, but i think most who know them pine for the day they'll reunite. i'm so lucky to still know them both, good men, brimming w/musical spirit & humanity & humor. i hope eventually they'll reconcile musically, as i always hope i will, too, when i have to part ways w/a friend...
eventually, love & communication & music can bring rebonding; if not, probably there was nothing to a relationship to begin with. (some people never come back because they were never meant to be there in the 1st place...) i parted ways w/the blazers having to get sober. it was painful, but from it, a new & better life came. like they say, "pain is the touchstone of growth." old-timer mudd, may he rest in peace, used to say, "i'm gonna grow, or i'm gonna go..." positive action, tho too often prompted by pain, is what is needed to keep evolving, to honor this beautiful life.
i'm there. it's time. like manuel wrote, "talk is cheap, anyway." "if you're feelin sad & blue, don't sit around & cry, no one's feelin sorry for you, you're just a-wastin your time." wise words, pleasantly put!!
blazers links follow: discography: http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/artist/Blazers/a/Blazers.htm ; manuel's page: http://www.myspace.com/thebigmanband ; the blazers' page w/music! http://www.myspace.com/theblazers