favorite dog videos

-whistling puppy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHAshi4vdbg&feature=related
-"i love you": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXo3NFqkaRM&NR=1&feature=fvwp
-puppy falling asleep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCYaw5tGYAs
-intelligent border collie puppy (roscoe is just as smart, tho not as trained): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf0Vr0MSdHg#watch-main-area
-this is what gusgus looked like when we came home on the plane from texas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yCulYWicQc

gratitudes

(in no order)
1. aunty rita is getting out of the hospital
2. drummer randy got out of the hospital
3. phil & mark, funny generous buds
4. beautiful clear blue skies above & snow-capped mountains surrounding this usually smog-choked valley
5. sister angie visiting & cheering me up
6. noble, kindly former spouse
8. amy the angel, squarely in my corner
9. friends of bill
10. the pic above: drummer randy smiling confidently :)

14 days of plague

this is getting really ridiculous. and probably dangerous. i hope the rx today will bring help. mama says i need to insist that they help me.
going to lie down.
may you be better than i am.

day 10 of plague, fun w/dusk devils, the stupid poison of self-doubt, the juanenos & dear grandma mary live on

this is day 10 of my plague. but i know i will get better. so andale.
1st angel said we were "too good for bakersfield" (she is so sweet), then randy flattered the crap out of me the other night after treating the band to dinner @ the crystal palace (where token okies played). we had laughs, a ton of food, mark & i fought over the gigantic desserts (the mud pie was spectacular), then said our goodbyes & it was then that randy proceeded to say i was about the coolest thing since sliced bread. he is excited about the band! his enthusiasm is so neat to see! i felt very grateful! :however, also a bit like a weasel, for i fear i'd prompted his compliments by being too typically self-deprecating (tho, in my view, realistic) in stating that if we DO have professional photographers shoot us (the guys've been talking about this), i would prefer the cameras be ABOVE my head, not below, the latter not being exactly the most favorable angle for a middle-aged gal... randy, what a mensch, disagreed & basically said i had no bad angle.
well, if you go to youtube, you will see the latest video from the elvis show. and i will leave it to you to decide if being filmed beneath the chin really is my best angle. personally i think the shots on the big screen behind me look much better! anyways, thank you, franklin o & art, for posting our video. am thinking of barnum now... no publicity's bad pub...
........
...
suddenly pictured mama smacking me for writing all of this at all. she says my sister & i spend too much time worrying about our looks, & rereading this, well, i guess she's right! body dysmorphia plagues all american women to some degree, tho, says my friend. & lately i've been really thinking about a beautiful & talented woman i know named candye & how proud she is of her plus-sized frame, & how full of self-confidence & sexiness & awesomeness & courage she is & i feel a little foolish for worrying about this dumb sack of bones & skin "i" presently inhabit. so maybe if i live to be 100, i'll be over all this & will see it's what's on the inside that matters, & even if the world might judge me by my outsides at times, why the heck should i do that? how does that insanity help one bit? thanatos or eros: what do i choose? or rather, what SHOULD i choose?? life's just too short to boo-hoo about one's shortcomings. too dang short!!!
today we went to uc irvine, my family & i, to make sure we stay on the juaneno rolls. we went in honor of grandma mary, who always wanted to see the tribe, her tribe, be recognized. this is supposed to be the year it happens! am trying not too be too cynical about the whole thing, wondering why in the world the u.s. gov would give prime so-cal real estate to a group of indians. maybe in grandma's memory; maybe in the name of miracle; maybe in the name of mercy & fairness; maybe it will happen. why not hold the hope? there were 1500 people there today, a huge crush, a far larger swarm than the 100 or so they'd anticipated, of medium-hued & tan people w/long straight black or graying hair who'd traveled from as far as arizona, lots of people who looked kind of like my sister & i, several who touchingly (for us all) resembled grandma mary enough that mama looked so happy, & dad teared up, & i felt comfortable, & maybe these were our people, after all, maybe i DO belong someplace on this earth. the star people, the acjachemen, the juaneno band of mission indians live on, exist, thrive, recognize one another, & maybe in 2010, will be "recognized" by the united states of america. i do hold the hope, mostly in honor of prudencia maria antonia elizabeth ollivares forquera, who ate abalone & mussels & played w/her brothers & sisters & was adored by her father & grew up along the shores of san juan capistrano, then los angeles, then pond, then finally delano, where she became our beloved grandma mary, whose memory we so cherish & hold dear in our hearts. maybe for her & all those like her, the beloved & departed ones, the juanenos will be "recognized."

elvis show report

had been in bed for 2 days, but was reminded the show must go on, so suited up & waited for a  friend to drive me to the elvis show. he showed up late, so already i was in a mild state of panic. then we got lost! argghhh! before that, as we ascended the grapevine, i felt pressure in my ears & the left one closed up – whop! it stayed that way for 18 hours!!! when i was singing, i could only partially hear what i was doing – this is 2 shows now i’ve done not in good voice! anyways, the place was packed & you should’ve seen all the cameras flashing! people cheered & laughed. art had us do 3 songs! he threw his head back & yelled “yaaaay!” at the end of my babe. yes, there was a great, positive energy in the place. the guy who brought me said, “so this is your thing; you're in your element.” he doesn’t listen to rocknroll, but i could tell it was lighting him up, anyways. no one can resist the pull, the fun, the oomph of this music! he commented on how amazing it was that once i’d been a fan & now i get to be on stage. i told him that yes, w/much elbow grease, much trying & trying, much tenacity, i did get to be up there now, & yes, it was amazing! w/my sites only on fun, & by stepping into it & taking an active pt, i get to take a dip in the "stream of music," as phil alvin described it.
my band mates were happy. randy & i had a red bull shot; that helped my energy level for a while. we hung out a lot with whiteboy james, who is cute & funny & gracious & crazy-nice. “how’d you like to have jenny for a librarian?” he crowed, when told what i did. james has the rubberiest face & is totally into universal monster movies. he stole the early hrs of the show singing “trying to get to you”! what a terrific voice & stage presence the guy has! phil alvin sauntered up, emperor-like, in a red sharkskin-like zoot suit he’d gotten for 6 bucks. he planted his lips on my cheek & kept them there for a good ½ minute while my friend snapped a pic. wow! carlos guitarlos was funny & “a dirty old man,” said philbert. we took a pic & he prodded me & commented extensively on the size of my waist (small). i said hello to count smokula (who performed w/screamin’ jay-like nose bone), lynda kay, paul body, south bay surfers david, ronnie blakely, rip masters, greasey george, danny dean, skip edwards, todd eckhart, lisa, blasters, mike vernon, john palmer, jessie fein, lisa finnie, dave raven, marty rifkin, etc. etc. manuel was sick & wasn't there! :( john k showed up from bakersfield w/his lovely daughters! dave alvin came in w/his hollywood-beautiful girlfriend, all decked out in elvis leather. michelle shocked gave an eccentric performance, looking like the little tramp. groovy rednecks were hilarious, as usual! before carlos went on, art told to him to keep it short bc the show was running over, so what did he do? a 12 min version of “shake rattle & roll,” w/all instruments taking 2, even 3 goes-around & a sing-along w/the audience! these guys like to rattle poor art’s cage, for sure. despite it, art ran around w/that happy, glazed smile on his face. the joint was jumping! his show was a huge success! candye kane showed up in her feathery splendor & giant, warm smile & tore up the stage w/a fiery version of “bear cat/hound dog”! she & laura chavez & drummer, son evan, were nice & friendly & warm as ever. earlier, i’d heard phil alvin saying the blasters would do “american trilogy,” but i thought he was kidding. well, they were up last, & they indeed did do it! i was blown away… phil took what could’ve been corny, ironic, a diss & delivered it w/such sincere power, it knocked everyone on their ears. he never plays to the hipsters; he plays to the music. w/his magnificent confidence, “american trilogy” was powerful, so memorable! then, in a move that just killed me, they went into “do the clam”… i was blown away by the coolness of his song choices! :) whiteboy james & i stood together in the crowd & laughed & laughed, instand friends! then the show was over & phil drove randy & i home. phil is a bull! he had worked all day & was up near-24 hrs by the time he dropped me at my doorstep. i just love my band, made new friends, saw a lot of familiar faces, had another memorable elvis night. since then, i’ve been lying around limp as a noodle due to stupid head. tho the ear has opened up, i still feel pressure on both sides, as well as pain, malaise, bleh… stupid, stupid head!! again, if only i could get around w/o it, i’d be fine!!
happy bd to the king of rocknroll, & thank you to art & ronnie mack for having us once again at the show! :) i couldn't be luckier, really.

happy birthday, elvis; dusk devils in LA times

narducci's: mama mia's pix & the rev rocks

read below about dusk devils at elvis birthday show this friday, jan. 8, 9 pm, at the echoplex in los angeles!
last friday i got off the plane from nyc @ john wayne airport in oc & ran to baggage claim, where my sister, mama, & maddy were waiting. we jumped in angie's car & sped home. angie andretti got us to bakersfield from santa ana in no time! i'd been traveling for 15 hrs by the time i jumped in the shower. i threw on the nearest stage-kinda outfit & drove to narducci's. the rev horton heat's gigantic tour bus was out front; the place was beyond packed. the guys looked dapper in black; philbert wore the shirt i got him for xmas! tim gardea's crew put up a security gate between audience & stage, then turned on the floodlights. we did "let's go let's go" for soundcheck, then they opened the doors & people RUSHED in! this was the 1st show i ever did where i felt light-headed, prob from the heat of the lights, all the bodies, & my extreme fatigue. the huge audience, there to save their spot for when the rev came on, packed the rm & screamed & roared between songs! fantastic! unreal! my head swam; i couldn't see the piano keys due to the lights; all i could do was smile & look over @ the guys, who all beamed, & focus on standing up, not fainting, steamroll ahead... when i started to sing, i realized i only had about 3/4 voice due to all the cigarette smoke & my tiredness... oh well! the show must go on, & it did! :)
because the rev's gear dominated the stage, we played w/all 4 of us in a row across the front of the stage, & i liked it! i could see everyone. we gelled better. i think this might be our new stage setup! after, we got tons of compliments, & some more gig-bites, i hear. lovely mia grabbed me as i jumped off the stage & said "time for family photos!" i went looking for her later, but she was lost in the crowd; some of her terrific photos are here. 800 lb gorilla played while we ate some tasty narducci's chow served by friendly waitress & hung out w/lovely sister angie, the tidwells, & randy's & phil's friends. the paxtons were there, & it was nice to see them, too!
i hear everyone had a good time late into the night; myself, after eating, i poured myself in my truck & drove home. sleep didn't come soon enough, but it did.
what whirlwhind fun... i'm still wiped out!!!!

he'd be 75 this year...

we'll be on around 9 pm...
thanks again to art for having us @ his annual elvis birthday bash! we'll do 3 tunes then be off...

i heart ny, eat a whole loaf of ezekiel bread, & more happy new year blablablaing!!

-> don't mean to sound sacrilegious, but after flying home yesterday from nyc & going straight to a great gig & then waking this morn w/this weird feeling of surreality & opening my mini fridge hungry & wondering blearily what the heck i'd find & seeing not just ezekiel bread, but coffee already made in there, i knew there was a god!!!... today i've done nothing but eat nearly the whole load of ezekiel, read a dumb book (wishful drinking by carrie fisher, recommended by mom & angie, neither of whom are alcoholic, as funny, but i thought it was just sad!! - so full of self-loathing!!), unpack, & look @ pix from my trip.
-> THE TRIP! i was gone for 7 days & yes, what a trip! feel like i'm still there a bit, tho i'm happy in my little house, & it's swell not to be freezing anymore!!
-> these are some things i loved about nyc:
1. central park!!! was there every day, exploring & walking (broke it into quadrants, pretty much, & explored a different area ea day), tho the day i was to run around the famous lake, it froze, then the next, snowed... if i lived in nyc, i'd be in central pk 2-3x a week!! what a wonder; what a treasure; what a gift of the city to its people!!!
2. the rockettes!!! after watching the somewhat corny but magnificently produced christmas show at beautiful radio city music hall, w/its magical sets (especially the numbers w/the toy soldiers & where they seem to drive around the theatre district, & the gorgeous creche/nativity scene w/blues & & pinks & purples & live camel & sheep, even!), lighting, & dancing, i realized if a) i'd grown up a "normal" girl; & b) in nyc; c) i would've wanted to be a rockette! a rockette gets to dress up & be whatever she wants, accompanied by all her rockette sisters, & she gets to learn all these cool dance steps that must be a tremendously fun workout & she gets to be pretty & fun & innocent yet alluring all in one!! i want to be a rockette!!
3. the upper east side markets, filled w/friendly, down-to-earth people & your coffee made up just how you like it (they say "milk & sugar?", then fix it for you before smartly brown-bagging it up) & delicious cheap fresh food, like an egg sandwich on a kaiser roll for $1.50!!
4. new york pizza!!! folks say ny pizza is better bc of nyc's municipal water system: it's sweet, clean water. i thought, bull! how can mere water affect how food tastes?!? so the 1st place i went to have a slice, the italian owner, when asked why the food in nyc is so much better, replied w/o a hitch, "it's the WAWDUH!" i gladly ate crow cause along w/it came delicious nyc plain pizza w/just sauce, a little cheese, thin, slightly crispy crust... now the problem is that bc of that pizza, along w/the water-boiled then baked ny bagels i enjoyed, i'm RUINED & CAN NO LONGER ENJOY EITHER IN CALIFORNIA!!! (fortunately, w/my sieve-like memory, i'll only be ruined for a few wks at most...)
5. christmas lights & decorations everyplace! what a festive, magical place to have gotten to be over the holidays!
6. walking about 10 miles a day! (tho took the subway quite a lot, & cabs a bit less...) it felt great to explore everyplace on foot. went as far north as 112th st in harlem, as far south as greenwich village, as well as east & west sides;
7 all the cute & beautiful & wonderful dogs being walked everywhere, tho i wondered how those dogs lived, w/no yards & no real place to stretch their doggy legs... a dog is such a lovely & loving creature, & to see so many added to the yuletide cheer.
8. steam heat in the hostel rm, reminding me of my old 1920 apartment in bako... i love steam heat! -and along w/it, a really hot shower, wonderful after a cold, cold day.
9. the man ray exhibit @ the jewish museum!!!
10. the hostel rm, w/its cozy crawl-space futon bed, which you climbed a ladder to reach;
11. the sign at the airport when i flew out on christmas day: "FLIGHT 1225 TO NORTH POLE: Limit one reindeer per passenger"
12. walking in the cold xmas night, looking for a bite to eat, cozy while bundled up, w/festive people walking their dogs (i waited for them to 1st say "merry christmas," in case they were jewish, cause why be the presumptuous gentile?)... then watching saturday night live christmas & the office on tv in my hostel rm (i don't have tv, so this was a real treat!)
13. reading malcolm gladwell's outliers one night, w/its particularly fascinating chapter about pilot semantics & something called "power distance index" & another about why some people fail/are unhappy despite genius intelligence (i have many friends like that!!)... this slim book, a quick read, has much thought-fodder!
-> things i didn't like:
1.  THE WEATHER!!! good lord, i've never experienced brutal cold quite like that, even on the motorcycle trips thru colorado i used to go on! one day, it was 16 degrees & then an arctic front & windstorm blew in, painfully penetrating any coat layer, & suddenly it was way below zero!! @ times square on new yr's eve, i thought i was gonna croak from the cold... then it started sleeting!
3. the stress of having to change rms @ the hostel, tho all worked out bc i got into a better rm w/a view of 73rd st, even, so when it suddenly snowed dec 31, & when firewks were shot off from central pk that eve, i got to see it all!!
4. accidentally erasing my 1st set of pix!! crap!
5. crazy crowding @ the museum of natural history... the place was overrun by holiday mobs, insanely packed!
6. the scheister restaurant owner near times square who jacked up the prices on his food to rip off people trapped w/in the ball-drop barricade ($25 for soup, two cookies, a roll, & hot chocolate!), then not just closed his bathrooms to the public, but blocked the door w/a frigging pastry cabinet! what a jerk!!
7. this pop song about new york that @ the time i thought uninteresting & now can't get out of my head &, worse, don't know the name or artist of!!
-> anyways, that's enough for now. later i'll try to write about our awesome show last night w/rev horton heat. i got home to bakersfield from new york city at 5:45 pm yesterday & was at the show at 7:15. whoopee! what a day! what a week! what an experience! :) hope you, too, have had a holiday adventure, whether you went on a sojourn or stayed right at home. feliz ano nuevo. :)