nothin's as fun as playing the drums

well, some things are... but the near-rhyme's what matters for now. :)
mwahahahahahahaha.... heppy halloveeeeeeeeeen...

musicus interruptus, daughter of yodeling bombshell, feliz cumpleanos to bomar, the oldest living graduate

yippee! art fein sent me a mix cd titled "rule88jen" (so tired from wk, i had to ask him why "rule88" & not "rule62" & he said "piano, dummy!!" duhhh...) so excited to receive a disc made just for me, full of rockin' piano hillbilly R&B rockabilly, i opened it & dang! art forgot to put the disc in the jewel case... he said he'll be at the post office tomorrow, so i've still got something to look forward to there... i decided to record the solo act w/sharon marie (country yodel-western singer carolina cotton's daughter - read elsewhere on this blog about dear mrs. cotton - & sharon herself's a piano player & local musician, too!). i like that i'll be doing it local - i AM from backwardsfield!!! i like sharon a lot, plus this way there'll be the spirit of mrs. cotton, w/whom i taught school... it feels homey & family & "right," those things that keep me centered instead of manic (i seem to go both ways)... well, it's bomar's bd, so we're off for a halloween/bd bash in sonora (gold country) w/motorcycle-program good friends from afar, then tomorrow i have my masters program graduation ceremony in sf. best to all who read... & to all who read this... & to all who help others to read... blablabla

so long, don't know where i'm going, but so long

So long, don't where I'm going
But so long, you know you done me wrong
So long, because I know I'm not the one

Goodbye, please tell me why
Goodbye, you always make me cry
Oh why, why are you never satisfied

So long, I'm all packed up and on my way
So long, you'll need me some ol' sunny day
So long, yes I'm, I'm going to stay



http://www.tous-arts.net/fats7.html <- here's a "newer" version of this song, with its so-sad, so simple, so beautiful solo, not ruined by even one wheedle-wheedle of show-off guitar -- i think it's just perfect, the aural equivalent of a huge shuddering cry, like the end of that saul bellow novella i mentioned below... these kinds of songs aren't knock-offs or throw-aways or "simple" to me at all. they're all heart & soul sincerity, & give me hope & make me want to live & love another day.

missin the spiritual sceneo, seein the hillbilly dino

this time of yr i'm SUPPOSED to be in the sequoias at a spiritual retreat w/women from all over the state, something i always anticipate happily... but on a dang day i was wiped-out-sick home from work, i goofed & ordered tickets for us to go see ron white that same night!! yes, tater salad, that suave & hunky lone star comedian (who had a markedly different look early on - see pic! i like it!!)... drat! but the guy's finer than frog hair split four ways, handier than hip pockets on a hog, slicker than deer guts on a greased doorknob, so we're going.
i'll miss out on good & serene times w/my galfriends, so i hope tonight brings lotsa laughs. (laughter! one of the sacredest human states!) :) & that maybe ron white will go back to his chubby good-ole-boy look, instead of texan-dean-martin...

catapult to musical stardom thwarted by I-5 closure

:) ... well, i TRIED to get down to frank sprague's wichita falls studio in no-hollywd yesterday, but nature had other ideas. a huge truck pile-up/accident near newhall has closed I-5 in both directions near the 14 interchange... 2:30+ from bako to castaic, stuck in solidly-jammed traffic, after many confused calls to family, friends, iceman, art fein, frank trying to get road info, i heard the radio compare this damage to that of the '94 sylmar earthquake. that's it: i knew i had to turn back to bako.
immediately i was flying back up the rd at 70mph, instead of the 0 of before! "that's so program," said friend clancy, whom i was supposed to meet at a mtg in his area (a mile from friend kristi's 40th bd, which i also missed due to the accident!!). "change directions & everything flows smoothly."
ain't it the truth!
i got home safe. not so for people hurt & killed in the crash. i have nothing to complain about, no worries...
w/upcoming wkends booked solid, looks like my career as a D-league cult music figure is on hold again... oil well. :) like i've said, i can't understand the big picture, so why should this upset me? i'm smaller than a quark in this big life, so w/this chance dashed, now will look under some other leaf for the next possible big or small fun.
c'est la vie, yall! stay sick, turn blue, rock & roll hoochy koo. :)

the cowboy rides away

a young cousin by marriage passed away suddenly the other day. he was a most upstanding, personable, polite, friendly boy, a true winner of a human being w/a wonderful sister cut out of just the same strong, beautiful cloth. only 16 yrs old, he died in a riding accident while doing chores. (the family work w/horses & ranch. they are kind, hard-working, likeable, upright, solid, not one bit neurotic.) what a shocking & sad deal. why him? thoughts about "a life cut short" overwhelm, if a person's not careful. why do some get to go on (at least for today) & others perish? life just ain't fair.
my feeling is we're all so tiny in the overall scheme of things, we are absolutely incapable of seeing any big picture. it's just impossible. so what seems so important on the individual scale is nothing in the end. i likely won't matter in 100 yrs, & you likely won't, either. that's the way of life & we all get one shot, so take comfort in that non-importance & seize the day (saul bellow).
people don't die to teach me anything. however, i did learn from midnight (he was born at the stroke of, so that became his name), who lived a happy & full life, more in 16 yrs than many do in 4x that. sat., the ranch in springville, where the family lives, will be packed w/every kid from north high (where midnight was a student) & 100s of others. heck, maybe thousands. i hear the family ordered 60 tables, a dance floor, & has plenty of food. their beloved boy will be well-remembered w/tears, gratitude, & lots of love.
i wish tommy, yolanda, jennifer, michael, & family peace.
the absolute only good to come of this is our bestest cousin flew here from tx w/her kids to be w/the family. "i wish i was here for a happier reason," she said last night. in the end, all there is is love, & what could be more important?

ramblin' man, rockin' jesus, mercy w/false start

today i've spent recording, then uploading, then trying to send one-woman band stuff to frank sprague for next wk's recording session... a couple obscene metaphors/ colloquialisms would describe my tedious missteps, false starts/stops, & problems (continually breaking high hat, sore throat hampering singing, fingernails sticking between keyboard keys [i forgot to cut them!!! duhhh!!], files too large to be uploaded needing to be reconfigured & resaved)... i ended up also uploading some stuff that sounded a lot better, the songs i did for the tribute to slim the drifter back in august. i can't remember where i put the mike that time, but it worked!! i need to diagram this stuff!!
might have to go back to using just the bass drum, w/cymbal bungeed to piano stand & sounding on the bass drum kickback. the high hat/bass drum set up is too problematic right now!!! i guess i'm just gonna have to go into the vault & go buy a new high hat set-up...
anyhow, here also is a snippet from what i recorded for frank - evidence of my technical difficulties!

mercy with mistake...

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slim the drifter t...

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luddite: the boom is back

using the program "slowgold" (the old99 band bought it for me for my bd!), i no longer have to try to use my "ear," but can use a "computer program" to actually SLOW DOWN the songs, "loop" sections of them so that they play over & over & over, & then be able to parrot solos to the best of my (limited) ability... (www.slowgold.com) i used it the other day to learn pt of "the auctioneer," & mebbe it'll help me learn to yodel like old99 rob (oh, i mean "iceman").
on the 1-wmn band front, i've been playing my bass drum backwards.
properly "orientated," it now booms again! :)
i'm glad brian lee hubby discovered this before i go record w/franky lee producer next wkend down south... :)