santa claus, where are my presents?

this wednesday, dec. 4, 9 pm-midnight in long beach, ca:

dear friends and loved ones (and all yall),

here's a little card i made up for the holidays (boy, i miss photoshop!!)... this has been a year of big change for many of us. here's to the hope that in all change is growth as well as opportunities for reflection, greater knowledge and wisdom, and, ultimately, satisfaction and betterment.
i wish you happy, peaceful holidays and a bright new 2010.
if you're interested in our show w/rev horton heat and 800 lb gorilla at narducci's on fri jan 1, 2010, please contact any of the following guys for tickets:
phil hickerson at philman.dude@hotmail.com
mark powell, markdoodage@aol.com or firebrats@gmail.com
randy journey, randy@journeyac.com
with warmest wishes and love,
jenny

hope this verse'll do; if not, voodoodoo doodoo you (ipod ramblings)

(note: first word is the unstressed syllable. now you may proceed.)

when did careful mix tapes turn to shuffled ipods?
why am i writing in verse, you might mention?
moreover, when most of my mind's on the nod
why do i perversely attempt to do scehnsion???

well, i feel a slight pressure lately to write
so scribble i shall, while music a-listenin'
tho life's quite mundane, really, to be polite
...downright boring's the actual description

yeah, i got hives the other day bad
and wanted to jump off a cliff and to drink
but dad sez it's stress and that caused me glad
cause stressors will terminate with time's what i think

now phil alvin's on, my future ex-husband
tho i know he's even more batty than i be
i first saw his face when four plus a dozen
and broadsided by hormones went blasters-band crazy

so now i'm just sittin and drinking detox tea
helped angie move to new house this p.m.
hoping this stupid itch will soon leave me be
so tomorrow with dusk devils i'll flat-git-out rock 'em

so now you can see why i ain't a verse writer
it's so hard to focus when allergy's're itchin
please comment and tell me how you be a fighter
cause when i pay heed to you i stop a-bitchin

ps - re below comments: no, that's not my sister, but my friend tammy in the pic, tho surely we are genetic relatives along some branch of the human tree, further evidenced by our nasal resemblance... & no, heheheheh, that's not me on the rev horton heat poster, but thanks for making my evening picturing that while i sit here itching & scratching & feeling like some bloated leviathan, wondering what the heck i'm allergic to this time aside from the whole frigging planet earth.
aaah.... the isleys... aaah... the red devils... aaah slim harpo... life is good in spite of me. :)
btw, you can still buy big manny's christmas LP, on which i participated, at this website: The Big Manny Christmas Album

kicks!

-> listen to manuel's cholo-rocking christmas tune "santa claus" (farmer john) here! :) :) :) -> http://www.crackedpistonrecordings.com/music-53.html
-> we got to take the train to hanford yesterday w/47 great friendly folks & sat w/the funnest couple, dan & marylou, who spun ideas for inventions & movie scripts (lately have thought it'd be fun to do a film short)... like if i were gonna make a movie, it might come out something like this poster (gene v, esquerita, & sputnik m would appear only in ghost form)(& i dropped the library-murder scheme dan suggested, tho librarians'd probably laugh w/great satisfaction at it)... they really fired my imagination. philbert suggested a storyline wherein we go town to town playing music, then i lure people in & he kills them by hitting them w/his guitar & we all split to the next gig (once again, i realize philbert & i are more alike than it appears) & dan & brian concluded the movie should be strange, shocking, nerdy, kitschy, noirish, funny, innocent, yet redemptive. good lord! what a task! so i'll just make a poster for now & call it good... still, i know so many folks w/really good character mugs & great personalities. it'd be so fun to see them on the b&w big (or small) screen; then if anyone saw it & enjoyed, that'd be the lagniappe!
-> ... mebbe i'll try to do this. only the great eggnog knows...
-> am still recovering this a.m. from the ice cream sundae we had in hanford at superior dairy (AFTER dinner! it was somewhat obscene!): banana & maple nut ice cream w/walnuts & marshmellow. if i lived in hanford, i would be sideshow-big bc of this wonderful place -- was slurring my words after just a few bites: it was that sugar-overloaded delicious... now it's time for a little penance, a nice run, my 1st in near-2 wks cause i'm finally getting well!!! then philbert & marko come over & i will give them new songs to sing. so what a nice day, & best to you who might read this... feliz navidad, prospero ano y felicidad....

geez louise. bettie page is gone.

- was posting manuel's xmas shows (tomorrow at the game in temple city; go to www.myspace.com/bigmannyband to see) & chuckling w/him excitedly about the record when i read that bettie page died. :( 85 yrs old. (not young; she had a heckuva hard life: abuse, pinup yrs, holy roller, insanity - tho in her last photo, at age 80, she looked great!) she made the rest of us women look like little men, i think. considering she's a patrician blonde, gretchen mol did a pretty darn good job as bettie in "the notorious bettie page," getting her spirit (i suppose), but gretchen mol, too, looked like a little man compared to the real bettie.
- she exercised daily before most women did. she had the most perfect, lovely figure (revealed most beautifully in bunny yeager's shots) & bewitching features. i saw color film footage of her once & she was indigenous-brown. she was a teacher for a while. she didn't drink or smoke, which gave me hope when my life was very dark. later in life, she struggled big time w/mental illness. (i did too before i stopped drinking, tho i never stabbed anyone. bettie did.)
- i think if i hadn't had to clean my life up, i'd've been one of these rockabilly gals steeped in bettie-worship, who blackens & rolls her hair just like bettie, dresses just like her, drives herself bonkers being in love w/"being" bettie, but i did, so i don't. plus who am i kidding??
- she was more magical than 500 of her impostores. none can come even close because soul, which bettie had, is organic & free-flowing & imitation is studied & ironic, the opposite of soul. in black & white, she was the sweetest angel, the naughtiest devil, the mightiest queen, & everything in between. the wanna-betties (that sounds harsh; what's a better name?) can't imitate that amazing quality because it was spontaneous & authentic; like elvis impersonators, they can only ape. oo-oo-oo!
- but heck, i guess it's cooler to ape bettie than say... heck, most anyone else. so don't mean to sound unnecessarily harsh, but i think the point is, why ape at all? there'll only ever & always be one bettie page, & now she's gone. so just be yourself!... whatever THAT means!!
- row row row your boat, c'est la vie, memento mori... forry, bettie, the evidence keeps building. i guess ain't none of us getting out alive, so go have fun, friend, kick up your heels & go.

yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!! baravelli on cirrhosis: "so roses are red, so violets are blue, so sugar is sweet, so so are you."

... to which wagstaff (groucho) replies, "i can't see him, but i'll bet i know who he is..." b celebrated 20 yrs w/o the hair o'the dog today! thus cirrhosis, at least for today, again has been averted by 200% in this household... unsinkable uncle henry left icu for a regular hospital bed today. :) my hives went away - no more itching!! the librarian pt of my job is beautiful! my little oral language festival team is quite great! the teaching pt of my job, generally horrifying this yr, has seemed nearly manageable lately (knock formica), w/improvement nascent! i feel warm & fuzzy toward young-uns i have wanted to run screaming from (preposition dangle)... we practice this eve w/all 4 ddevils & fueled on a $1 store energy drink & funny friends & music, i was rocketed into the 4th dimension. :)
manuel finished his record today!! i sent him final artwork tonight. next it's off to the printer's in (i think) missouri or someplace... i'm excited to hear the final mix! (here's the back cover i made. mono is his little dog.) :)
my favorite time of yr is here... family family family family family friendship fellowship food food food food food laughs warmth love music music music music music... the phantom turkey run is thursday!! we might do a little holiday gig next wkend!!! we'll see. stay tuned fo mo on the latter, if it floats your boat. :) :) :)

HAPPY BD TO JANI!!!!! :) plus: "i've never cried at a session before..." & singing it "more cholo"

-> my dear friend jani is having her bd week... happy bd, my friend!!! :)
-> today in music in my tiny life, i finished playing a glockenspiel pt on "silent night" & looked over & there was "big manny" in his armchair, in tears. "that was so pretty," he said, wiping his face & smiling. "usually at sessions, i'm like, 'you son of a b**ch,' or want to slap someone..." & then he laughed. next, after a little coaching (he's teaching me to be a bit less obvious, more complex musically), i did a fake strings pt & there he was again, sniffling, so i stepped over & gave him a big hug & felt so happy cause i knew i was on the right track... "thank you, you guys; i'm so blessed," said generous manuel.
-> manuel & bassist/engineer leo record on manana time, but it's so nice to hang out w/manuel & family, i don't mind, long as i have the gas $$, time, & stamina to get to his little place off the 60, as well as the understanding spouse who lets me go go go (phil & i were talking last night about our respective huge fortune in this area). in the fall, manuel & i developed a take-off on a terrific 60s e-side soul song i don't wanna name yet but think will be a real holiday hit if it gets out there - truly! so, bonus, he let me sing harmonies on it this eve, & what fun, to really belt out into a nice condensor mike a cool, funny song w/leo & manuel bopping their heads & grinning. (even aged uncle guillermo, sitting on the nearby couch, was smiling some.) manuel stopped me at one pt & said, "no no no -- you're losing your character. more cholo!" so i sang it again "more cholo" & he beamed, "ah, jenny, you're a real live performer." i wasn't sure what he meant, but it felt good!
-> as i rushed out the door & hugged everyone goodbye, guillermo stirred from his seeming nap & took my hand & shook it. "i like you, too," he said softly. :) then it was back on the yoyo to bakotown, w/b smiling, "you have that light in your eyes," & he did, too, having spent the day w/cody, so home we sailed to the swingin, rockin&rollin sounds of a bitchin comets LP recorded at rollin' rock studios, & such a night, oh such a night it was, it really was such a night!!