help candye kane & chris gaffney

candye kane, the wonderful & vibrant blues singer & activist, recently found out she has pancreatic cancer. like too many in the u.s. & in particular most working musicians (not the 0.000001% that "make it big"), she lacks health insurance.
there was a syndicated article in the paper about this phenomenon yrs ago. candye is young & strong, but too many older musicians (saw a bunch last night at trout's, & now wonder how many locally are in this boat), after decades of long nights singing & breathing in smoky bars filled w/drink, dope, lechers, & lonelyhearts, find themselves in poor health w/little way of getting medical care. poor families have car washes; ill working musicians, even those making it w/their music, like candye, must rely upon friends, family, &, if they have them, fans, asking for donations & having fundraiser shows.
candye is pro-active: since diagnosis, she has made huge lifestyle changes, & last wk cancelled her european tour to "get my health back," she wrote, adding, "If you want to donate $$ to the cancer fund, check out my myspace www.myspace.com/candyekaneband for a benefit near you or you can send money thru www.paypal.com. My user name is candyekanetour@aol.com. Or you can send a check to: candye kane cancer fund, 315 s. hwy 101 #47, encinitas, ca 92024."
chris gaffney of the hacienda bros & dave alvin band also recently was diagnosed w/liver cancer. a long-time close friend of the blasters & many more, he's a well-respected vocalist-musician in his own right. you can help out chris & his family by visiting www.helpgaff.com .
the inscription inside the "mighty woman with a torch" reads in part, "give me your tired, your poor..." our social & sacred duty is to care for all, & governmental change in november may allow that to again begin to happen.

buzz buzz buzz goes the bumblebee...

whoo! time for sleepytime tea, after tonight's fun show!! yes, the tribute to the legends of the bakersfield sound festival will be going on all weekend - tonight's music started around 7 pm, tomorrow's will begin around 6:30, & sunday's at 3 pm. thank you to annie & don kidwell for doing a great job w/sound! (when i lost power in the middle of "mercy" -- of course, of all the dang songs! --, they were right up there fixing things), rockwell & lynda for being the consummate cheerful host/hostess, & rick for doing the gig, period! he's getting an award in san diego tomorrow morning!! i showed rockwell my al hendrix cd & he grinned & exclaimed, "i love that guy! he is the nicest man! 72 yrs old & he sings like he's 21!" wow!! he was really hip to things, & his enthusiasm is infectious! he put the cd on while we set up & introduced all the acts like a pro. i think this guy is on to something, w/his generous & friendly promoter personality... lloyd reading was there, all dressed to the western 9s, & larry petree the same, & inez savage, & i'm sure there were many more bksfld sound historians there, but those were ones i saw...sonny langley opened the show w/some beautiful acoustic western ballads. it turns out i know promoter lynda's mom real well! i saw glenn pogatchnik coming in as we left, & hope to visit w/him more later in the wkend... yes, the rest of the festival lineup can be seen at www.myspace.com/troutsblackboard. bob manning & nashville west as well as surefire country drove 1000s of miles to get here for it, & tomorrow's "legends" night w/red simpson, tommy hayes, a big "special guest," & more, so if you can, head on out to trout's this weekend for some good western swing, vintage bakersfield sound, & rockabilly music!

tribute to legends of bakersfield sound fri. march 28-sun. march 30

we're on at 8 pm; cover is $5 each day/night.

SACRE BLEU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! christmas in march!!!!! shakin like a monkey in a coconut tree!!!!

i should clean house more often!! dios mio, heavens to mergatroid, i just found a dvd/cd that someone made me, i believe fredo in the netherlands (he mailed it, then i lost contact w/him for yrs til myspace came around), that has SIXTEEN HUNDRED FOURTEEN SONGS on it!!!! the emphasis is on female r'billy, hillbilly, & blues singers & rocknroll piano... there's a gal named ginny angel who (i'm not kidding) i sound a little like. every song's super rocking!! i called art fein, nearly out of my skin, & he was someplace (i couldn't hear where bc i couldn't bear to turn down the music) but did hear him say "i'm happy for your embarrassment of riches" & "wow - that sounds like too much" - i'm so happy i'm about to go visit my sponsor bc it really IS too much... i don't even know where to start song-wise, but will w/bob correll's "piano man," which i've been playing over & over & over, so thunderingly over the top rockin sloppy w/just that right mix of driving honky-tonk psychedelic jerry lee that makes a soul go wild!!! thank you, heavens, for bob correll, who has forever erased from my nightmares that other song of the same title by a certain pop-pianist whom i shall not name -- THANK YOU, bob correll!!
here's some to look up, if you wish: buffalo bop "doll" series; varetta dillard, teresa brewer, davis sisters, charline arthur, big mama thornton, big maybelle, bonnie guitar, keely smith, bonnie lou, damita jo; all them chicks at the hop, gals of the big d jamboree; rocknroll w/piano vols 1-6; 6 gene vincent LPs!; wynonna carr; various rockin' gals; ruby wright; real gone girls; ella mae morse; memphis belles... and MORE!!!!! i may owe fredo my 1st born now...

like fish out of water, like fire without oxygen; felice/feliz pasqua

spring break this yr: my cheerful cousin & her kiddies visited from tx; rt 66 thru ca & nv popped w/romantic ruins & cactus & wildflowers in purple, gold, yellow, white, red; flagstaff was again cool, great bbq, lovely old hotel signs; sedona was gorgeous but boring, w/a puzzling hole where history should be, kinda like vegas that way, didn't get to meet heaters mercy, either (art tried to set it up), but maybe another time; the dogs got their sea legs riding along & got to do much frolicking; and again here i am w/asthma, even went to emergency rm last night... on the bright side, i'm still breathing (shallowly)... goddang, i guess this is just my lot now, & so be it. i know it'll get better, & i'm not alone in being sick, for instance, my friend the beautiful plus-sized full-of-life blues singer is sick, too, & about to go on the road to europe, anyhow! tomorrow's easter & friday's the 1st of our run of 5 shows (see info above, below), so if a gal's gotta be chronically sick, i guess if she's got music, life's still worth living. :) here's a link to my easter vid from last yr: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhm6tRZ3Gd4

sunday morning coming down, sunday kind of love, ain't at sxsw & oh well palm sunday not-the-blues

many shows upcoming (read "dusk devils shows" post below). we're practicing today. family visiting from the lone star state. happy dogs at my feet. happy hubby at yoga. roof over my head, sweater to stay warm. no complaints. :)

when i die, buried 6 ft deep w/a rock&roll record at my feet, phonograph needle in my hand, gonna rock my way right out of this land

need to go to work today. the illness has moved into my throat & ears, so teaching 7th graders should be... loads of fun!!! get my rx diagnosis today, too, so maybe will have some answers for continual sickness. (or not, & will just continue to limp along.) sometimes i think i was supposed to croak 12.75 yrs ago, but was granted a reprieve for whatever reason, so now i get to be a happy person of fairly strong body but fragile respiratory health. weird!
this line of thinking is nothing but one tiny soul believing itself to be more important than it is. "we are all red blood & white bone underneath," said carl perkins, & after that ash to ash, dust to dust, then part of that billion-band of souls flying around & i hope having some fun while watching over the ones still trapped in their flesh & bone jalopies.

you don' t know me, but you don't like me / say you care less how i feel/ how many of you that sit & judge me...

have walked a mile in my shoes? (well, that's not what it says, but that's how i read it...) boy, homer joy wrote some good lyrics, there, well-expressing a local mentality, a sort of moral code that's not unique, but better than some i've heard in song...
but have you heard of al hendrix??? good gravy - this man was playing in bakersfield for yrs & yrs! is he still alive? is he still playing? i'm trying to find out... just listen to "train of love" (not the strong jc tune), then "monkey bite," then pick some others: http://cdbaby.com/cd/alhendrix ... his voice reminds me of charlies feathers & rich in its resonant expressiveness: brave, humble (both), humorous (some of rich's early cuts), homely (feathers). and many of these tunes blast because the old bakersfield sound was a hash of C&W, rockabilly, mexican, R&B, like eggs w/bacon, grits, biscuits & gravy, & hot sauce! (i like to add jelly, too.)
"sounds like a hillbilly," grinned hubby, not derisively a bit. when you're talking vernacular music, that's always a term of endearment - either that or the person speaking doesn't know what's what.
geez, i'm sick of being sick. if it's not cold & flu season here, it's allergy season. then there's summer asthma season. oh well; better than being mentally ill, i guess. olen sed his "mr oscat" honky-tonkin' kids' show at border's the other night had 100 people singing along! (see his link at right), & tonight the blasters are playing the 1st ever "grand ol' echo" in hollywood.
geez, i'm sick of being sick... but grateful for another day not pushing up daisies! :) hope you love al hendrix & order his cd, like i just did. :)

the teachers you never forget

there was mr williams who ran track w/us & looked a bit like groucho marx; mr jackson (r.i.p.) the handsome nam vet & amazing musician who loved us kids so much; mr stidham the kindly & encouraging flat-topped high school art teacher... mom rescued me from the piano teacher who hit my hands w/a ruler. then for many childhood yrs i studied w/a lovely, soft-spoken, kind, beautiful woman from wales. she had me do a lot of chopin & some debussy (those are the composers i best recall), some gershwin from his multi-taloned manuscripts, but best of all, boogie-woogie, lots of it, which she pronounced "BOO-ghee WHOO-ghee."
"you really have a feel for it, jenny," she'd gently say.
i loved my teacher, tho i was a lazy child who wanted to use her ear, not take the time to learn to play properly.
when i staggered my way into college, my teacher was an instructor there. in a feeble stab at trying to be good, i took piano from her. i wasn't a music student & was lucky she took me. i rewarded her by going to lessons reeking of sauce, high as the ceiling. i remember the worried look in her eyes, my guilt, coming home from a wild wkend at the coast to a recital that i bombed. my hands wouldn't stop shaking at the keyboard; i flat couldn't play. yecch. what memories.
many yrs later, i got hitched. i didn't invite her. i didn't think people'd want to come to my wedding. many felt left out; i had, as usual, been wrong. this was just one more example of my being a perpetual heel, i think.
she came to my folks' house w/crystal goblets as gifts. i visited w/her a bit, so happy to see her, knowing in my heart i was a turd for not remembering her. she was a person of love & music, she loved me, i should've invited her. all this stirred in my head; for all appearances, our visit was lovely & i tho i knew i was a turd, i was still so grateful to have seen her.
right now mama's trying to help assemble a reunion of her bc choir, the 1st american choir to ever win the eisteddfod international choir competition. today mama lamented, "oh, i wish i knew whatever happened to yvonne," who'd been in a later madrigal incarnation.
i got online & w/in 10 mins found my teacher, now the music director for a beautiful episcopal church... in the same beautiful nw town where my long-lost uncle has long lived. i immediately called the # & heard my teacher's lilting voice, left her a msg about my now lovely life, & thanked her for always sharing w/me music.
i am so happy to know she is living in a beautiful & musical place. my mother will be so happy, too. heavens bless the internet. :)

dusk devils' upcoming shows

-> fri. MARCH 28, 8 pm: tribute to merle, buck, & the bakersfield sound at trout's saloon & the blackboard stage... this is a 3-day event paying homage to our great local country AND western music. more info: www.myspace.com/troutsblackboard
-> sat. APR. 5, 11 am: alzheimer's assn. memory poker run at ethel's old corral, 11 am... this'll be lots of fun, w/riders stopping in while on the charity ride... more info: www.adakc.org/
-> APR. 19, trout's, bakobilly show, details tba
-> sat. MAY 3: CSUB, relay for life
-> sat. MAY 31, 9:30 pm: stone bar, 5221 hollywood blvd, klub bimbam w/thomas yearsley's exotiki, www.myspace.com/klubbimbam
-> woulda, but couldna... the dusk devils trio was gonna do art fein's poker party, but we'll be on various vacations, & my cousin'll be here from tx, & it's spring break, so we had to say no. boo-hoo! art recently divulged he's unofficially our manager, so i hope that means he'll find a spot for us in upcoming months... :) hey, art, how bout the barn dance? :) also, kevin/styx from fattkatt is organizing the local r'billy hayride for summer, so that'll be fun!
-> so if you wanna hire a little 3 piece w/a lot of energy, please get hold of us at one of the contacts at top. we put a lot of heart & sweat into our sets, & guarantee you'll enjoy a dusk devils show. :)