just feeling reflective (not like a bicycle reflector or a disco bulb or a wading pool, as lightning-minded james would maybe quip...)
james's friend, musician joe houston, recently passed on, & also a few wks back the world lost bakersfield sound pioneer red simpson, who lived to the ripe age of 81. tough for musicians to make it to their 80s, i think, w/the wearying lifestyle of weird hours, smoky places, booze, pep & other substances, crappy pay for most, stress & violence, promoters & club owners, & lonely, lonely
mr handsome, tony lopez & some gray-haired woman |
rest in peace, joe houston as well as red "suitcase" simpson, a decent man, prolific songwriter, friend to so many, & hard-working musician til the end.
i worked at a different library in the south valley yesterday, a gladdening time. it's not a fancy library like the one on the mountain, but has more volumes, & i got to do lots of heart-warming & soul-bolstering librarian tasks with patrons & rub elbows with cute little latte-colored black-haired tykes & hushed but earnest parents. i love that part of library work best, the helping humans part, information-seeking 2nd. my spanish will get much better at this position, & i'm happy now to get to both play music & work in these knowledge repositories, bolstering literacy & community & safety...
we've had some gigs lately, me & james along with tony lopez on drums, & especially taft -- TAFT!, the once-sundown town i used to be skeerd of! (as late as in my teenaged yrs, i seriously thought me & mama might get hanged if we went there) -- has the warmest, friendliest folks. like i felt when i lived in backwardsville, many of the ppl of taft feel they have to apologize for their down-home town, but there's a lot of good going on there as well as the dumbness &/or violence, which everyplace has... a few wks back we drove out to taft college so i could talk to its english dept staff about online teaching & i discovered taft college recently was rated #5 in the CCC system! that's a huge WOW!
i hear sleepyhead stirring in the other room, so i'll sign off now except to say i hope joyce simpson will have comfort & peace in these first weeks w/o her beloved husband. extra prayers for my friend candice, the widely-admired & adored "toughest woman alive," & my wild aunty rita, who just won't take care of herself, but we all love her anyways... & reflecting on ppl i've known who are ill or just wondering how they are these days... may all be well. (except you. yes, you.) :)
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