dolly sez... el cid's a really cool joint. and more...

a friend alluded to this quote, & i like it, so here it is: "i think of my make-up as a box of crayons & i look at myself as a blank canvas – i like getting paint on there. it makes me feel better. i'm not a natural beauty. it's not that i'm beautiful w/all that s**t, either – it's just that's what i enjoy & what makes me comfortable." amen.
ronnie mack's barn dance at el cid in smelLAy was great fun. :) i'm still recovering, 2 days later, & i don't even drink!! carilu, western band leader & nurse, had a warm demeanor & powerful, truthful-kinda voice that made art go "whoa." her 1st song, i said, had that bayou swing, & he just looked over & grinned like a kid in a candy store. dear manuel was there w/his friend max & we did the encore together, the one we'd practiced over the cell phone, but not in person! what fun it was to be on stage w/manuel, as well as my "handsome ugly guy" band, as mark calls them (he's wrong. they're character-actor handsome, i think). :) they brought their families & friends & all seemed to have a great time eating, drinking, & hanging out at a really cool venue...
more folks than usual took pix; i've just seen two sets, w/many strange "singing-face" pix of me!! (it's good for my ego to see them, how weird i can look...) :) you can see more pix at www.myspace.com/electricearl, in fact (thk you, earl, & how nice to finally meet you.) the pix here are from dear brian, & the nicknames you read are phil's. :)
i think more folks showed at el cid than sometimes do in bako, among them young cody; blue-eyed smokey miles aka count smokula; art; maureena; russell scott; ray campi; twinkle-toes walter vb; burnin' mike vernon of austin; rabkid david; & more! skip edwards & harry orlove were there in the awesome house band, & more musicians whose mugs but names i don't know. i thanked ronnie mack for having us as we left the stage & he took my hand & said gently, w/a sort of weary lincoln-esque smile, "you are wonderful." :) i heard skip heller dedicated a song to the band, but i missed it while talking side-stage w/all the nice folks who came up afterward. david serby was kind & complimentary, & my regret is we had to get on the road home to work the next morning & missed his set. next time, i hope!... there might be more to say about the eve, but i can't recall right now... so it's off to the drunks for me. :) next we gear up for our show oct. 18 w/dear candye kane in san diego. woo-hoo!
a beautiful weekend to all who read this... be gooooooood, or at least be. :)

music all weekend in smellay: 10 riffs, zero sleep

1. too tired to sleep. so here are some pix.
2. i didn't get my song to phil alvin because our dang computer cd burner BROKE!!!! ARRGHHHH!!! oh well... i tossed a band packet in his car. phil h says he now will think i'm a stalker. :) he'll get it, maybe he'll throw it out the window, either way, i can't much care: i did my piece. :) and candye kane & others liked my song, so really, i can die happy now, if i think about it much. :)
3. i get spooked when people comment on my makeup. and then i put on 2x as much. sometimes 10x as much. i'm sure it's deeply psychological. but will SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHEN IT'S ALL OVER MY FACE?!?! i would do that for you!!!! i guess i need a wardrobe AND makeup consultant. would someone please volunteer?????
4. i just love ruben & manuel. i've known them for 17 YEARS!!! manuel asked me to play on his christmas record. what a wonder that will be: xmas songs AND manuel. :) i could nearly cry, just thinking about it. i loved watching manuel watch others this wkend, his love of music & people, his child-like face: he's full of love & music, which are one when the world's right, i think.
5. skip heller & art fein look like they're related. luann & i commented on this & skip deadpanned, "we ARE related. we are both sons of zion."
6. it was great fun to hang out all wkend w/different people, but i find that when i speak & people laugh at just the sound of my pipsqueaky voice, i get all wound up & start acting like a clown. i know there's balance in all this... & i'll find it!!!! meanwhile, it IS fun to make people laugh. :) i like that far more than being told i look like cleopatra or am i "hooked up" or scary stuff like that...
7. donna once again put me up at her nice place in laverne (site of The Last Drink 13 yrs ago) & we thrift-shopped & watched "shaun of the dead" & ate at casa jimenez & then i saw them off when they all went to see "the dark knight"... & realized again how fortunate i am to not just still be alive, but to have adventures & friends & so many people whom i love & who even love me. :) it's all icing, when a soul really should be pushing up daisies, so i gotta remember that.
8. manuel doesn't merely sing, but soars, his voice as much an instrument as his earthy & skilled guitar-playing (& bass: fri night, his plus-sized fingers brought in the walk on "tequila" like laughing thunder from the heavens!!!). so it was shocking to go from the beauty of his pipes to the blasters show, at which phil alvin performed for 90 mins w/laryngitis!! people plied him w/whisky, & the poor guy lost any self-protective inhibition & started singing anything, no matter how larynx-ravaging, which was painful to watch & hear. the good part was, he pattered a lot more between songs, infamously weird & smart, such a character, w/a generous spirit toward the audience i've never really noticed much, but really appreciated this time, & he played more, in his intense & authentic vernacular folk-blues style. his force of personality & uniqueness make the blasters inimitable, i think, & i'm far from alone on that. :)
9. THANK YOU, jeff, for putting me on the blasters show list. jeff puts on super live music shows & is a really nice fellow... a texan, you know. :) i think that's what does it. unlike my bro-in-law, i've rarely met a texan i didn't just like, but love...
10. the midnight drive home wasn't bad. my night vision cooperated for the most pt & when i dropped into the valley, it spread out wide-black & velvety-clear, & w/the chuck berry b-side cassette music sailing, i was filled w/that wondrous feeling of aliveness...
then i rolled down the window & the magic was choked by the stench of dairies. welcome home. :)