dad's book!!! ... and practicing patience & powerlessness

amazing & wonderful children (many of my faves here)

dad's book finally got published!!!! here is the link: race, sports, and black unity ... yay, dad!!!!!!!
here is a wonderful pic mama took last monday of an act from our end of year elective show. we had dancing, singing, music-playing, puppets, art work, acrobatics, comedy. mama & madeline made the drive up the hill to catch the 1st show; the 2nd was postponed when killer bees decided to swarm near the art room where the kids were performing. by wednesday, the swarm had

james's early music biz years were with the chad watson band,
which also featured dale watson (no relation)

mister handsome and i

moved so  we had the 2nd show, but i was so sick i really didn't know what was up. i believe the 1st show went better tho at the 2nd, my dear little samuel (yellow sweatshirt) was able to play his horn on "saints go marching in" & "going to mardi gras."... then after end of school, last weekend's blues express show & helping corey at school, things turned weird. all was well, happy happy, but around here, happy can turn to waaaaaay too happy which can lead to myriad storming emotional states, so one night last week found me driving & searching, then returning home to experience total powerlessness -- to practice the world being beyond my control. in other words, to be realistic. the situation righted itself, so we went to bakersfield as planned, where it was blazing hot but we were with loving mom & dad & got great meals & i had nice trots in the heat with penny the dog. james had 2 doc appts which we (miraculously) made. at one i received emphatic lecture to take care of urgent james bidness & at 2nd james had allergic reaction & was laid up & monitored for several hours while  i practiced patience & powerlessness some more. as a result, we ended up staying with the gias one more night, which was fortunate; it's a safe & pleasant place to be, &, as dad said, "it's good sometimes to come home to the roost."
last night we had dinner out then drove to maui sugar saloon in reseda to meet chad watson, who helped bring james into the business. chad's a hugely tall, friendly, winning, generous performer; accompanying him was harry orlov & house drummer i did not know. along the way i practiced patience & powerlessness again as we thought james was having a relapse of allergic reaction, but the eve ended up just fine tho challenging to endure when (in my rarefied american-music snob opinion) much of the music just flat sucked (tho not that of chad, james, & harry). as james said, "open mics are tough, but they pay the bills." chad, grinning gently, pleasantly, did a bada** bass solo (!!) on "cowcow boogie," demonstrating a skill level of different realm than most musicians we know. james's shout-singing & showmanship got a big reaction from the audience in his 3 short songs. harry orlov, whom i know primarily from the elvis shows, then called me up sing. surprised,  i complied with "mean mean man," & it was another experience under the belt, not my best singing (hard to perform without piano barrier), not my worst, just another moment.
time for a nap before school board meeting in support of corey's principal-ship.