so anyways...

i have to go to the bathroom, but the cat is on my lap. he looks up at me with trusting green orbs, blinks, puts a soft paw on my arm. dang it. i have to go to the bathroom!
we had such a great time in swellay. actually hollywood. i'll have to post more later.
oh good: kitty just remembered he really is a wild, only-semi-domesticated beast & swiped at me with claw. off the lap, beast!
now i can meet nature's call...
here's a poster i made for saturday night. i'm gonna play on this show.
ahhhh.... vacation: leisure time! i like it. :)
may your holidays be filled with love & not too much internal conflict as you reconcile breaking bread w/dear ones in commemoration of a genocide... i choose instead to focus on the fam!

happy birthday elvis happy birthday elvis happy birthday elvis

flyer by mark! pert-near-full lineup at www.sofein.com!

!!!!RAEY WEN YPPAH

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! may yours be happy, honest, purposeful, creatively fulfilling, & w/o too many regrets.
THE ELVIS SHOW IS COMING... see www.sofein.com for the flyer. :)
just got back from "vacating." the dogs were patient & stalwart travelers. iron butt briggs got us home by new year's eve, for which i was grateful. summary:
-> day 1: 574 miles to richfield, ut. food: cracker barrel dumplings. music: voodoo jive, chuck berry oh yeah, jimmy yancey vol. 3. conditions: white christmas snowy. cold!
-> day 2: 466 miles to denver. food: mexican in denver. music: just rockin’ & rollin’, more bad habits, the sadies. conditions: 4wd on icy roads, snow everywhere, frigging cold!!
-> day 3-4: boulder-denver. food: lucile’s boulder (biscuits, grits, beignets). music: rockin’ bones boxset from generous paul! conditions: cold, snowy, yuppie boulder, downhome denver, good women's mtg.
-> day 5: 200 miles to trinidad, co. food: feta pizza at whole foods denver, lee’s bbq trinidad – the best! hershey’s chocolate shake, buttered vienna roll, bbq sandwich, battered jalapenos, nice service. music: rockin’ bones, npr. conditions: warming up, found jawbone at truck stop.
-> day 6: 251 miles to albuequerque. food: overrated harry’s roadhouse sta fe, delicious homemade tortilla & empanadita in las vegas, nm, sopaipillas & sweet rice at garcia's kitchen abq. music: night train to nashville. conditions: cool little towns like raton & las vegas, lost in touristy santa fe, nice old square in abq.
-> day 7: 804 miles to home. food: couscous & tofu pudding at macy’s flagstaff. music: the very best of the 5 royales. conditions: long invention & brainstorming session w/b as we head for the barn, pedal to metal. fog in kern county, blessed home.
-> home: overly tired, meltdown. today: tired but copacetic. happy new year. :)

merry christmas! & whoohoo!!!! let's celebrate the king (of rocknroll, that is) (some would disagree, but falalalalalalalala)... :) :)

the avalon is at 1735 vine st (at hollywood), LA CA, 90028. show starts 5:30 pm. proceeds benefit the firemen's fund. for more info, keep checking www.sofein.com ... i know we & manuel will be there, & many of art's friends, wonderful performers from famous to little-known... it will be great to hang out w/manuel & listen & watch as everyone remembers elvis!!!
packing for colorado... brrr.... merry christmas, happy hannukah, happy festivus, happy new year!!!! :) :) :)

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. :)

dds at ronnie mack's barn dance tuesday!

in smellay! thx mark for the flyer, tho we're on at 10 pm... the show is free! am looking especially fwd to mtg cari of cari & the black rose band, as well as ronnie mack, & seeing friends, & putting on the best mini-show possible. was worried for about 5 secs that we wouldn't fit in w/the alt-country lineup, but art fein reminded me, "conformity has never been a concern of mine, nor your'n [took out his ref to odious politician], far's I know. nobody [ref again omitted] doesn't like rock & roll. it's what you do." whatta pep talk. :)
last night i was home twiddling my thumbs & TWO MORE SONGS PLOPPED OUT! (i'm picturing a clucking & shucking fat hen, & mebbe you are, too.) played them tonight for the guys, & they liked em! then we had a band mtg & it went on so long we missed fattkatt's crystal palace show w/swell & "bona fide" (in the o brother where are thou usage) musicians, gentleman larry petree (boy, that man is dapper!), "suitcase" red simpson, billy mize, sonny langley, mel lawrence, tommy hays, jimmy phillips, & i'll bet more of the bakersfield sound old-timers, too! it's cool & right for fattkatt to showcase our musical forefathers... tomorrow night friend o.t.'s band mroscat's playing at dagny's, 6:15 pm (free!), & i'm sure bassman kram is playing SOMEPLACE this wkend... so nice to play w/these fellers. we are the band w/the plan... plan nine from outerspace... beep beep beep beep beep

dusk devils downloads available for a short spell

we had a really fun rehearsal tonight (learned THREE songs i've written recently!! & the guys make the songs sound great!!), after b & i spent day visiting cody in smellay (carney's, petersen museum RV exhibit). we dusk devils've got some fun shows coming up, listed above & at bottom of this post. woo-hoo! to all who read this. :) sorta strapped for time lately (to put it mildly), i'm pasting below my blurb from myspace. hope you'll copy/paste & listen to the songs, & that you'll like them!!
-> sharon marie at B2 studios here in bakersfield just put up a song from the EP we recently recorded. it will be available for one week (til next saturday), & here it is (look for "tearin' my hair out' the dusk devils " on the player):
www.myspace.com/b2studio
-> our bass player mark also has some songs on his player. go to www.myspace.com/markallenpowell & look for songs by the dusk devils (mark plays in about 28 bands)... :)
-> if you like the songs, please spread the word. we hope to get everything straightened out & have CDs available w/in the month. we thank you for your kind comments & support, & thank you a bunch. :)
jenny, phil, mark, rick, the dusk devils, www.myspace.com/theduskdevils
upcoming music shows:
sept 27 - b.rider's, 9pm-1am, bakersfield, come down & sit in, have a drink, etc
oct 7 - ronnie mack's barn dance, 8:30, el cid, hollywood, ca
oct 18 - opening for the one & only candye kane, tio leo's, 9 pm, san diego, ca
oct 31 - halloween extravaganza, narducci's, 9 pm, bakersfield, ca

dusk devils at safari sam's

at club bim bam, come on in, chief big jam session about to begin

(to paraphrase the late great ronnie dawson...) here's a pic of our sound check from last night. the stone bar was beautiful, & reminded me of the original king-king! it was a good night, tho i feel like a sack of jello right now; we got home at 3 am, & i ain't used to it!!!
it was a fun evening, tho my try-out of a different piano stand (borrowed from bassist mark-thx!) didn't really work! i wonder if i'll ever figure out ALL the logistics that go w/this? i also couldn't hear myself sing, which means i screamed my voice out early in the set. oh well! people seemed to enjoy us. "something different" is what we always hear. "YOU are just incredible," one woman told me, beaming. :)
lil mo is one super-energetic performer; he reminded me of one of the bowery boys. his band did straight-up rockabilly, along w/an R&B tune & some "born bad" tunes like "save it" & "tongue-tied jill"; i really liked those!! i loved the songs deejay lucky la rocka spun between bands, an eclectic combo of primitive R&B, rocknroll, rockabilly, & more. he really mixed it up, & i always appreciate that!!
we had a good set & the folks at the stone bar were ultra-nice to a one: lucky, who invited us; carl, the owner; the door man; the bartender. we even got some dough! who says there aren't good people in hollywood? :)
it was fun to hear art fein cheering because he literally yells "yaaaaaay!!" & claps loudly, & to see his friend randi's (heaters & blasters fan #1) huge enthusiam. art's friend luann speculated about places in austin we might play. yay! who knows? i guess it could happen! that would be so swell... :)
john bazz & i crossed paths last night; ironically, he played bakersfield (not with the blasters) at fishlips. "meet you at the starbucks on laval road," he joked. hope he had as good a show as we did! i thank blb for driving us to hollywood in the super van; that sure made the traveling easier. :)
a show i won't be going to today is local son john owens' public debut w/his stroke-of-genius-named band buckshot - they're on at 2 pm at trout's for lloyd reading's 89th bd party & BBQ, open to the public. it looks like they'll do contemporary country, but if i hear otherwise, i'll get to another of his shows. john had & probably still has an unbelievable singing voice, a cross between his dad & roy orbison. if his songs are as amazing as his pipes, i'll become a fan, no matter what. :)

HULA SWING & PUMPIN' PIANO ROCKNROLL!!!

That's how Lucky La Rocka is billing our show next Saturday in Hollywood... details below, or here: www.myspace.com/klubbimbam... The flyer's so pretty, I'm gonna post it again right here: Hoohah! Fershlugginer! Potrezebie!
today i got to run a 5k & came in 2nd!!! (this was a very very small event, please note...) it is just gorgeous right now in backwardsfield (not a contradiction of terms as of this moment!)... w/3 days left of school, i have no complaints & look forward to going back to the drunk convention today at the doubletree. friends! a common solution! nice people! and tomorrow's band practice - yahoo! we want to play music, help spread the word about good old rocknroll boogie-woogie & guitar-twanging american music... & meet others who love it, too! please let us know if you got a show, or know someone who does... & thank you mucho!!
so at this second, this is a nice life. hope yours is, too. :)

deke dickerson, exotiki, DUSK DEVILS

we have two great shows upcoming! here are flyers:
-> have seen deke many times, most impressively w/the collins kids (his stuff w/dave & deke combo & untamed youth also was very cool)!!! he knows every joe maphis lick, so they always pick him to play w/them... he writes a column for guitar player mag, too, & is a stone-cold guitar/amp expert/ scholar. a link to the venue is here, www.myspace.com/tularedust, & you can find deke's website easily via google. there's a lot to read, & guitar players will plotz!!
-> exotiki, playing hawaiian-swing, has an all-star lineup you won't want to miss... here's a link to the venue: www.myspace.com/klubbimbam ; i'm certain you can find exotiki on myspace, & if you know this music, you'll appreciate the band members' expertise & history!
->tho i love playing for any crowd, i'm thrilled that at both these shows, everyone there will know EVERY song in our sets (except the ones i wrote, that is)... yippee!! i do hope to meet other '47-'63 vinyl nerds, & see people singing along; that would be so cool!
-> visalia's only 1 hr north of bakersfield, hollywood 70 mins south. hope you who read & are nearby will consider going!!! thank you ahead of time for helping to spread the word, too! :) :)

swing it

this is incredibly wonderful :)... wait for the duo between louis prima & pee wee russell... & who is that on piano? the guy's really getting a workout. imagine playing like this! even watching it: what joy! imcomparabile! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxBYC3gEnZs

"wail, baby, wail!!!" FPKK sat., honey piazza fri., the shack's shakin'!

absolutely no socially redeeming value dept: come see the only flick my spouse has watched more than 5 times (hmmmm... could the 3 main actrixes' large, large lungs be the draw??)! enrique acosta (action folk singer) is reviving my old film society, BAMS, converting it to monthly midnight movies, still free!, tho now in the confines of a REAL theatre (instead of the backyard, where we used to have shows). here's a link to the event:
http://events.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuse
action=events.detail&eventID=394121.2968
... greg goodsell & i are on the BAMS board, but really it's enrique's baby, now. :)
& tonight! not just FLICS at the FOX (7 pm, www.flics.org), not just terry hansen & the westerners at trout's oildale, but honey piazza, beautiful, accomplished boogie-woogie pianist, & her hubby rod's jump-blues band, the mighty flyers, at the doubletree, 7 pm, $20, hosted, as always, by pat from world records' no stinkin' service charge blues series... if this dang horrid dust storm will blow off, i'm going!!
tues is elvis's birthday! & the elvis birthday bash! (see posts above, below)...
& on 1/18, bloodshot records' legendary shack shakers will appear at fishlips w/local metal-punks 800 lb gorilla...

duskdevils "green door" youtube / POST #200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

art fein put a new (old) video up on youtube of the dusk devils. (also videos of candye kane & carlos guitarlos!) it's listed on his page at www.sofein.com (look for screen shot of me looking like the wicked witch of the west) :)
you also can see it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc18WHzIsJE (copy & paste that address into your browser)
ps - if your comment disappeared below, it's cause of a misunderstanding w/art over what he wanted posted as a comment... i had to hide all comments under that date so's not to inconvenience/embarrass mr. fein, who's been so kind. you can't delete just one on here...

trout's on a friday night, tour d'backweirdsfield

the best thing that happened at trout's tonight was when joyce simpson kindly forgave me for something stupid i did yrs ago... she & red were there, & chris sprague said he was "shaking" to be in red simpson's presence. i stuck close to friendly frank lee sprague, who provided burly barrier between me & drunk fellows not put off by a wedding ring. i forget what can happen when people start bar drinking on a friday night, since mostly i'm in such places (& then only rarely, esp lately) only to play music myself... standing around not playing can be a spooky deal. larry petree was dressed to the country-gentleman 9's, wide-smiling & inviting as usual, & rockwell shook my hand. lovely joyce told me her grand daughter just graduated from berkeley (in 3 yrs!) & is coming back HERE to teach! i was happily stupefied to think someone so obviously precocious & idealistic would bring her talents back to this place so known for "brain drain"... the honky-tonk & truck-driving tunes rocked the dark saloon & tho a bit scary to me, the large drinking young cowboys were nice enough in the end, as well as were the line-dancing gals. i would go back to trout's again, in a second, especially if i had burly barrier, which my electric piano might nicely provide... i made the spragues a tour d'bakersfield, suggesting spots like okie ray's, the old river theatre, oildale saloons, el taquito, downtown signs & residence hotels, the arizona cafe, & the usuals like luigi's, old eastside basque places, & of course the palace, where buddy allan plays tomorrow night w/the buckaroos... i'll meet the spragues there at that time if they stick around, but i think hollywood'll call them back 1st.
frank gifted me TWO of his merseybeat cds, as well as the offer of use of his recording studio, stories of musicians far & wide, & talk of tx, from where he & bro chris hail, then walked me to my car so i wouldn't be killed (not that i would, but i'm a chicken). a nice evening, in other words. and like i said, best of all, forgiveness. dang ego sure makes me an ass sometimes. i was grateful joyce touched me with her grace. oh yeah, & tonight's meeting was good, too, & i even got a nap in earlier. :)

"just the thought of her lips sets me afire, i reminisce & i'm filled with desire..." such a night at elvis show

"such a night, oh what a night it was, it really was such a night"...(me and phil alvin - photo by jerry adonis angel)... i think my expression here might be called a "s**t-eating grin," and the makeup's definitely melted... but look who i'm standing with!! who cares??? ... we visited cody in hollywood and dined on kombucha and curry at a vegetarian spot, then it was on to art fein's 21st elvis birthday show at the henry fonda/musicbox on hollywood blvd... here's the line-up (if no comment, i was in the john or wandering): Harry Orlove (bearish, awesome house guitarist); Neil Morrow; Fleagles (friendly 60s garage rock); Truly Lover Trio (uptempo rockabilly); Billy Sheets (powerful, natural, southern-gentleman mien); Dawn Shipley (slender, lovely, girlishly winning singer); Crash Justice ("circus-big" basso-voiced rockacat in good suit); Justin Curtis (awesome honky-tonk set-let with wonderful houseband, including fantastic skip edwards, marty rifkin, dave raven); Del Casher (told charming elvis story); Dusk Devils (not many flubs, great audience reaction, huge fun playing with bassist phil!); Count Smokula (and the smokulettes: me, roobie breastnut, and charmaine - an impromptu lark!); Rod and The Tonemasters; Crown City Bombers; Fur and Steve (pretty country vocalizing); Fred Willard - (the king! he did the cape thing and all); Russell Scott (he dresses like heehaw, & what soul! sang in his light voice, didn't play); Carlos Guitarlos (awesome! i just loved his heartfelt shout singing and woolly chuck berry guitar); Lisa Finnie; Patty Booker (in the ghetto!); Lori Dewitt (this was the showstopper! i was in the can, dang it); Rip Masters (rip -appropriately named - just kills on those 88s! good god!); Candye Kane (SHE WASN'T THERE!!!!!!!!); Sheiks of Shake; Barry Holdship (art says he's a surgeon by day! this guy has the nicest stage presence, very appealing); Glen Glenn; Alan Clark; Tommy Sands (these were the historical high points of the show); Danny Blitz (fast, loud); Blasters (they get their own paragraph)... the blasters closed out the show with three tunes. "i know we are here because this is the birthday of elvis presley," proclaimed phil. "however, there are other things that are important. and sometimes you have to do what you have to do..." (or something like that) and then he lunged into "please please please"! i was standing with paul body (stoutly elegant in mariachi formal-wear) and we started jumping up and down and laughing, "that is one confident S.O.B.!!" : the whitest fellow in the room screaming and sobbing out, with entire conviction and success, a james brown classic at an elvis birthday show... it was wonderful, needless to say (but i said it :) ). next was "tiger man" (rufus thomas), which they have done the last three years, and finally, "such a night," originally done by the drifters. so like what we 1/2 did, the blasters did elvis songs not originally done by elvis... "down in the alley" was hank ballard and the midnighters - a nice fellow who declared "i'm your fan" told me originally the clovers.
such a night! exciting, fun, and, as you can see, educational. :) late-late night at denny's on the grapevine, dishing pancakes, the waitress suddenly was talking jazz pianists and live music, then we were back on the road and in a groggy blur were home, heads on pillows by 4 am. thanks again, art! i know you don't do it for me, but i get to be part, and it was wonderful, once again. :)