i don't get around much anymore

https://youtu.be/Snixos3tr6g - only known tv footage of piano red, says the description... i think this shot might also contain... jan michael vincent? maybe? very cool. very very cool. i mean, the piano red part. i don't know anything about jmv except as a face on tv in the 70s. the best parts of the video are red playing & singing; red talking; & red not moving an extra muscle, just keeps playing while a tv-show fake fight breaks out right by him, red true in the manner of the boogie-woogie players of barrel houses of old.
the show must go on.
and the stupidest part is tony franciosa saying, "red, play me some blues. some real low-down blues," with that cheesy grin on his face.

Sober

There's a funny song by Piano Red by that name. When you're sober, you agree to no longer imbibe artificial instantaneous (tho temporary) relief. A sober person's just gotta take life's lumps and learn to deal w it, be willing to grow up, to show up, to give up... All that, tho, to get a life.
I've been sober 1 day at a time for 8,973 days. If I continue, I will get to celebrate 25 yrs w/o booze in Detroit at the world convention July 4 wknd. Nothing's more important & this whole life I get to live rests on my sobriety.
But most ppl don't stay sober. Jails institutions and death are the usual. Or going on day after interminable day. Or repeatedly stumbling, which I think over time would beat a soul down.
So far that's not been my lot.
I am supremely thankful, & I pray right now, again & again, that I don't forget.

little free libraries, angie & missy

the nice local librarian, sue, lets me take box after box of discards from the library donations. these are books the library cannot add to its collection or even sell due to condition or type. (coloring books are never accepted, for instance.) i then get to sort through, adding most to the free little library out front of the house, the rest to school. and some stay with my bibliophile family members bc the variety of books is amazing!! i'm astounded over & over & over & over at the vastness of titles & subjects.
the other day penny was barking her head off outside. i investigated & saw a man trying to look at books in our free little library. most of the tomes within had been ruined by the christmas snow storm; the worst i already had chucked; the remaining, tho still damaged, were readable. i grabbed penny to bring her in so the man could peruse the books.
"it's ok," he said, "she's a good guard dog."
 a few minutes after, i happened to glance out the window. the guy was taking ARMLOADS of books to his car! i later told sue & she said, "oh gosh, i hope he wasn't using them for firewood." (many folks up here really struggle; the weather's harsh in winter, there are few jobs, & if a person's w/o wheels, the steep, steep roads make a hike to the store arduous.) i didn't think that sad thought was the case bc the books still were damp, therefore not flammable -- at least immediately. and he wouldn't be able to resell them due to their condition.
i concluded this guy was a REAL READER &, maybe like i am, grabs whatever he sees that loved ones might enjoy.
i'm so pleased to be the conduit allowing books to stay in kern county rather than going into the dump!
now if only james or i actually could get access to the REAL dump...
(not a hoarder, not a hoarder, not a hoarder, not a hoarder)
yesterday james went to his gig & i drove mom & dad to a wedding out in the mojave desert at the exotic feline conservation center (http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/). the bride has been sister angie's best friend since age 7, a shy but cheerful sprite in love w/cats & rave culture. missy's been volunteering at the place for year & years, meeting her husband there. this place is so very worth the visit! astounding to walk a cement path & view sleek, lithe, gorgeous, lolling, pacing creatures such as lynx, tiger, jaguar, cougar... wow!!
the ring bearer was a serval on leash. the groom wore traditional tux, the bride 6-inch monster platforms, a sparkly mini dress, & bright pink hair in bunny-ear tails. best of all was when my sister got up: she was the minister!! i burst into tears. the ceremony, which she wrote, was funny, silly, warm-hearted & wise. i remembered angie & missy, tiny girls, playing barbies on the steps outside our 1st real house on hollins street in the early 70s. here they were! wonderful.
afterward, we drove along desert roads, abandoned sun-& wind-wrecked buildings all around & a rhyolite mine on the hills in the distance, & had family luncheon at a mexican restaurant to celebrate mary fafa's birthday. it was a wonderful day & only would've been better if james had been there.
this morning i drank coffee, had pb&j, & got to read about 30 pgs of a fun 1897 title from the library discards. the pursuit of the house boat by john kendrick bangs features a bunch of dead famous folks, shades in hades, in search of their ship, stolen by capt kidd. this victorian satire --  hamlet bickers with noah, shylock with samson, etc -- struck me as the granddaddy of mad magazine: absurd, silly, irreverent commentary on society. leading the mystery is sherlock holmes, who in 1897 temporarily  was dead, killed off by arthur conan doyle in "the adventure of the final problem." sir acd was burned out on writing holmes installments, but approved of & enjoyed his character's appearance in his friend bangs's parody.
a penultimate note: a quick search disclosed that assembling disparate characters, real & imaginary, is known as "bangsian fantasy."

blablablablablablablablablablabla

dumped all last yr's pix online finally & found these from last
springwhen we had a really nice time in baton rouge & new orleans

this is a good-nite post. i've tried all day to work on school planning, but it ain't happened. therefore i will just do a little yoga after this, then hit the sack early to get up in the a.m. & work. the weather's been cooperating lately so it shouldn't be too arduous, getting up & getting to work. in fact, it's been dang beautiful here, like a song, a gentle song, a dream, like this morning i get up with my coffee & look out the screen at the shadowed snow-dappled mountain across the way & all these fat little quail chirping & digging & squawking & jigging on the driveway & i think, i don't remember EVER looking outside & feeling such peace, not ONCE, when i lived in bakersfield... dad does it all the time, but i was not awake back then, not really alive in many ways...
life changes if we live! if we live!
i've not participated for yars, but it's still weird there's no longer an art fein presents elvis's birthday bash. those things dwindled to smallish, & last yr i actually did get to perform, tho i guess art thought i'd cancelled & gaped when i showed up. one song went well, one tanked (i assumed the house band'd play it just like elvis did, so that's the way i larned it, but that wudden how it came out). sigh; que lastima. i guess since ronnie mack moved to bakersfield, art's got no partner to put together the show. and so it goes. all things come to an end. the earth, the continents, the oceans, the elvis show, you, me. requiescat en pace.
i was thinkin bout this because the other day i got a facebook msg sent to me from JAMES, my husband, & that is something that's never, ever happened in the 7 yrs we've had a facebook page. and it said, "jenny! i met you 10 years ago tonight! I love you! james." this certainly is proof Things Has Changed Round Here. i was over the moon -- just that little note! he thought of me; he's considerate; he's just as kooky, creative, tough, foul-mouthed, big-hearted, & sweet as ever, but now... responsible & thoughtful, too? my short life is amazing.
we did meet at the elvis show, jan 8 2010, so i always gotta thank art fein for having it, tho james says we woulda met anyways. i've detailed The Story of How We Met on here many times, so i won't go into it again... we were watching rick steves the other night, shows about normandy & scotland & the ireland one was too depressing, with all the warring murals & extremist people shown, & i thought, am i really sitting here with whiteboy james watching RICK STEVES?!?! we were enjoying it, too, tho i realized rick steves might be such a smilingly engaging nebbishy dude cause he's half in the bag mosta the time: all episodes featured a lot of drankin. then i've been reading a book mama lent me, a funny funny thing by peter mayle about eating in france, which after skipping the chapters about wine, eating pigs (nono for me) & frogs (nono for james), was a quick enjoyment, & i brings this up bc drinking to many folks enhances life, but for me, it's death. and my life with james has gotten good, better, best since he put the plug in the jug close to 6 months ago... and  he said not to make a big deal about it
but i will say this: i'm just so very grateful & proud of him. in near-25 years, i've seen so, so many people who stop, then start drinking again, or disappear, up & die, or don't drink & are such  know-it-alls or jerks you just wish they would drink so maybe they would chill out a little, & james, at least for today, is a humble positive example of the sober life. who woulda thought.
who woulda thought.
i mean... who woulda thought.
and watching rick steves, an episode on northern italy, i thought about "the haircut," the one i got in pisa decades ago bc bettie page was on the cover of rolling stone & i didn't know it but it had started a hairdo rage, & the stories that go with that, & the compliments i still get for "the haircut," even tho it's now gray, especially from black women, maybe cause my damn hair's so straight, & i hope i get to go to pisa with james, & normandy, & brittany, & scotland, & paris, & all the places we want to go because now we can, at least today. yes, right now i am so darn grateful tho who knows what tomorrow will bring... i hope good, but i'm not god, so quien sabe.
well, goodnight. but first, oh, how's this for a fine one? “Nearly every night before I go to bed I ask myself, "Have I vibrated in tune with the Infinite today, or have I failed?” (don marquis)

happy new year!!!

we had the most low-key ny eve ever, tucked in bed with animals. i found a countdown on youtube one  minute before midnight, counted down, then kissed sleeping james on the forehead before turning out the lights, leaving the tv on low as it streamed the fireworks extravaganza from london.
eight years ago last night, i slipped out of a gig with karling's band (after our set, of course, & missing phil alvin, who popped up unannounced, but i didn't care, which told me things were REALLY shifting for me!!!!) & met up with james, and then it was on, at least for those days, as it had been in late september, that 1st time we met up, but then we were off again since both of us were mired in bad relationships. those didn't last, but we have.
it was crazy times back then, but not now, not now, & i'm grateful.
to get away from snow, & on heels of christmas family travel (to bakersfield, to orange co), last week we went to the beach with dog girl (well, we took her) & went out one night to see his friend john marx play at a beautiful, beautiful place, grapes & hops, which i'd spotted earlier while walking old main street (a wine bar! but oh, how lovely it was, & they served non-alcoholic beverages & delicious stuff to eat), & the whole entire trip was so happy. here are some pictures from hotel room & a few of james, in one just sitting there yet so iconic at grapes & hops, in the next goofing around with hotel towel & fluff from dog toy that penny had murdered.

and now it's 2020, so let's drink a cup of kindness for this new year burst to life.