Piano Red - Right and Ready - 1953

piano red had the most natural & beautiful force this side of big manny, my friend manuel, rip.

i am in love with piano red!! not romantically, but in that agapic, storgic, ludic manner, i think, as well as the seeing-through-this-mortal-plain-into-the-vastness way.  especially this song. play it full blast.

yayyyyyyy!!!!!

feel so good about this new year. :) hope you do, too.

jumping jehosaphat, casey hensley sings like no other!

ant, me, beloved james on happy new year's eve 2015-2016...

arrrrrrrr

i just wrote a total rant! instead of impulsively publishing it here, i'm just gonna put up some pix. :)
yay! happy happy joy joy.

bum ba-bum bum

meeeeeee (hope you sang that, to the tune of the tums tv commercial of old...) i've just not wanted to write for some time... but this morning i realized it's that i haven't wanted to get on my computer because then... i have to... pay... ...
BILLS.
with this realization clear, i leaped up, turned on the ancient laptop, got it done. relief!!!
don't know why i procrastinate so at times. mebbe cause i don't have other bad habits, other than occasional descent into considerable depression & self-pity (& binge eating)... i rip articles from the NYer mag with plan to read them later. there was one on procrastination i kept for some months. but of course, i never read it. (badump-bump!)
geez, it's been a month since i wrote. i had my sobriety bd: 20 YEARS! didn't go to the international drunks convention in atlanta (HOTlanta, as dan m called it). got beautiful flowers from friends, pearls from james, cards, cakes, sobriety chip. my bd was a big huge happy wow. :)

Photo by Kaykay Jagger: me on really nice Roland, James w/new guitar.

mama recently had a 50 years reunion of her bakersfield college choir, the little choir that toured & sang all over europe, becoming the first americans ever to win wales's prestigious eisteddfod festival. at the college, i got to see their informal "concert" (they'd had just one practice) & with the first notes, dad, me, & the man to my right burst into tears. the sound of all of these reunited septuagenarians was that beautiful, that moving. we were watching something special & unique, all these talented once-20-somethings reconvened as 70-somethings, voices & hearts still so filled w/soul & conviction. choir director joe huzsti, who with his wife melinda have been huge life-long mentors to mama, talked about what this choir always has meant to him, tho he's since traveled the world many times, winning  many awards with other, more prestigious choirs, teaching musicians who've gone on to greatness. "they have a special something," he said (i paraphrase), delivering song so sincerely & w/a commitment that makes young musicians sound comparatively plastic. i thought of james. i thought of me. we're certainly not classically-trained maestros, but we are hard-working, hard-loving, hard-stomping & dedicated musical preservationists. the greatest compliment i ever got, i think, was from david nigel lloyd, who called me a "working-man's musician."
mr huszti was on the nose: no matter the musical genre, a few off notes, some clams, if sung or otherwise performed with unabashed, undiluted heart & soul, beam a life force that leaps from stage into the heart of the audience. such a performance can't help but move, being human, humane, transcending rather than "perfect"!
i'm so grateful i got to be there, as well as to help at the after-party at mom & dad's house! what nice folks! what talent! what testament to the power of music & hard work & love!
james has been having a wonderful time lately at his shows, both w/the newly-invigorated band & with me. he says so, & i can tell it's true. i'm so pleased for him!
we've gone out of town left & right. traveling, gigs, visiting family. friends have visited. we've played many music shows together, good, middling, great, fantastic! gotten magical feedback. i've worked at the library. still like it, still disconcerted to be doing one task at a time. i can get immersed in putting the books in order, tho. arranging all the deweys on all the books' spines is calming yet exciting, lulling, tranquilizing yet invigorating, like counting my footfalls when i run. that's the other thing! i've gotten to do some really cool jog-runs! and lotsa fun yardwork! even got some tomatoes growing, tho some butthead varmint's been eating them. and we've had a great time in the morns watching the birds, squirrels, & chipmunks chirping & hopping & munching & splashing at the birdbath/feeder area we set up under the window amongst some trees. the quail have birthed a new branch of the covey, so there's at least 20 of them running around here now, cooing so cutely, fatly, sweetly.
saw a coyote in the arroyo & for the 1st time since i watched one eat my cat in 2011, i didn't wish i could shoot it with a bb gun. as james has said, he's just trying to make a living. other than a deer, bunnies & hares are the only other animals i think i've seen... oh! and the biggest horny toad ever! i guess all the creatures have come down out of the forest to Civilization in search of water...
that's this wkend's biggest news: a huge storm washed in on tails of gulf hurricane. rain was beating the house like the band & i was sitting w/peeweenie (his name when he's being a turd) when i heard a great rushing swooping roar. i ran to the window & what a sight! storm runoff from higher climes had plummeted down the ever-dry, parched arroyo, creating a shooshing restless riverlet, a swifting running muddy creek! i got on galoshes & ran down there to chronicle the event... it smelled wonderful, like colorado used to (sure it still does, but i don't go there no mo) like wet pines, sage, earth.

Mt Pinos rocks (photo by Harriet H) from hike w/H

here comes the rain again! a cool heavy steady mountain shower! the rumble & flash of thunder & lightning! so invigorating! so scary! so beautiful! so overwhelming!
life! ah, life! we have it! :D

squirrel!

1. squirrels & chipmunks recently have been ever-present, scampering fatly, adorably around like cartoon cuties (the little vermin...). obviously down here to find sustenance, they leap straight up to snatch the fat yellow flowers from the elderberry bush, james noted, which they then devour with great fervor.
2. yesterday while clearing brush off the side slope (i.e., raking it madly into the arroyo so it can't catch & ignite our property if there's a forest fire), i was relieved to hear  "our"  quail again,  endearingly rustling & chirping away from the tree behind me. we've been wondering where they went, if hungry predators had gotten them, since all the animals seem to be off their marks, mebbe due to drought conditions. our covey of california quail live. woohoo!
3. a weed i've been pulling up indisciminately, i found out yesterday at the ridge route museum, actually is a medicinal plant called indian tea. cool! it's a nice little museum, another thing that makes me like living here.
4. today all properties must be cleared, & ours, after much back-breaking work, is. :)
5. i realized lately at one of james's gigs one of my delights in life is to stand with back to wall in dark club (preferably with non-alcoholic beverage in hand) watching the action. it's a silky, secrety, fly-on-the-wall, safe & fun, intro-extrovert feeling. i got to make an amend that eve, too, so that was a real bonus.
6.  our duo finally has legs, tho not yet sea legs (more practice), but you can find our page & upcoming gigs at www.facebook.com/whiteboyandjenny ... it's a splendid feeling to work this thing alongside one another... we don't have to teach each other any style elements, like how to "do it right," what to play/not play, what to say/not say, how to sing it, what fits & what doesn't: we have the same musical heroes, references & understandings, plus we are scrappy stompers of song in love who onstage give no quarter! and we want to share the passion & fun with everybody... so catch one of our shows, if you can!
7. what have you discovered, learned or been reading lately? i don't wanna write anymore, so here's a vlaaaaahg.

no blablablablabla! happy june!!!!!

how are you? i just haven't felt like writing lately... all is swell! :D we are busy with life. here are some pix. this upcoming week we start our duo gigs... i will write more later, mebbe... life is goooood, to quote geoffrey holder (r.i.p.), the un-cola genie of commercials of old (as well as renaissance man & recurring figure in james's dreams!)...

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

sitting here at my favorite picture window in the office area of our dining room... it's my favorite window in the world cause it looks out on the arroyo & mountains, always a beautiful view. the snow's been falling off & on for 3 days now, all types of it: big & sloshy; icy pellets; soft & gentle; plump flakes; dancing, steady, cascading, plummeting, frolicking, disappearing into the ground, sugaring the trees & earth, forming icy packs; & more. right now, it's falling like movie snow, blanketing the sky & land with quiet white calm. :) except for blizzards (only been thru one since moving here: yecch!! i had cabin fever after four hours!!!), i love the pretty

i am very, very, very, very, very lucky.

snow, & who wouldn't, if not besieged by it, as is happening in the eastern u.s. these days? snow brings cleansing, comfort, contemplation & beauty.
the wide & parched san joaquin valley's been getting rain as part of this weather pattern, & it needs it badly. so happy my dried-out, too-often dirty home area is being washed & quenched by the rains!
back where i lived from 2012-2014, they had a freak snowfall on the beach this a.m., but upon closer reading, turns out it was hail. i'm just glad i'm here now, that we're here, that life is unfolding as it is!!

the universe has been very good to us.

and how are you? i'm just swell, blabbing on a bit in the warm house looking out on the lovely snow cause i'm a little trapped today. couldn't hike in it today cause it never let up enough, but i did a few other times in the past week, always such an experience for which my heart fills w/gratitude & happiness: steps crunching, muscles warm & straining, lungs & heart pumping, breath pluming, inhaling the fragrance of wet pine & sage, enjoying the cool sting on my face, stooping to hydrate w/handfuls of the clean cold white stuff, just standing there, elevation-dizzy & dazed by the gorgeousness all around. wow! on the penultimate hike of the past week, i found a big chunk of deer skeleton for james, a bone collector, the biggest specimen i've brought home to him yet! the poor creature, no doubt coyote-killed, was reduced to meaty ribcase & spine as well as hip to hoof still encased in delicate, nubby fur: macabre, fascinating. james was delighted!
on another front, the other night we recorded 17 songs in 6 hours w/young producer nick, who got everything down w/adept speed & skill! after i laid down all my vocals, i visited my dear friend donna, just around the corner from nick's little studio, for a bit & we had one of our big, gigantic laughs & ate some delicious food she'd made for her daughter's party (& sent home for us -- yumyum!) & we watched a show about the dead sea scrolls before i returned to pick up dear james & we hit the late-late-night road for home... we goofed here & there on instruments, as would happen when going live at such a pace, but the only thing that needs work is the guitar sound:  james is confident he & nick'll get it beefed up just fine. yes, we went live, instruments 1st, then vocals; nick captured the very best piano sound i've ever gotten in a studio setting, really pumping & mighty & rich, as well as terrific vocals from james, who happens to be one of the greatest vocalists on this planet!!... we can't use all songs for a demo or to sell at shows, but we will have more than plenty once the mixing is done!
that reminds me: james's shows start back up march 14 w/a birthday show at LB's shenanigan's & i need to make a poster; he & i start up weekly in taft at the bank this thursday. music music music: we're jumping back in the mighty stream!

donna & i having one of our big snorting gasping guffaws

ooh, it's falling harder & starting to blanket the hills... what another lovely day, i pronounce unironically. i will put up posters for shows as well as more on our recordings as all shapes together... the snow's really falling now as night approaches, but the quail are bobbing & pecking around on the 2nd driveway so cutely, joined now by two new babies!, none of them deterred at all by the cold... meanwhile, peewee the genius cat jumps adorably, trying to catch snowflakes thru the picture window... wish everyone could see it, or something equally heartwarming.

very excited very excited very excited very excited!!!

so much fun coming up... have to take a break from computer bc am getting too manic thinking about it all.

"whiteboy" james page photographed by jenny page (shpoush)

this week: a consolidating, positive change that also will save us moolah. after that, freedom! freedom! freedom & music! (and peewee...) don't mean to be coy or covert here, but shouldn't write about specifics til they're over &/or on so i don't jinx anything... but am so thrilled, must mention a bit that good things are afoot! yes, invigorating, pleasing, adventurous things are afoot for james & me, & we'll share that spirit w/others, to be sho!!

"therrrrr goanna put me in the movies..."

no, not me, but someone the other night told james, "you could be a movie character!" he had just met karling's beau johnny tong & they were scrapping & circling around the parking lot like jets & sharks, if jets & sharks were fun-loving maniacs who talked trash & rumbled to entertain themselves & everyone around... james, johnny & karling ALL could be movie characters, i think. johnny is an unusual person for us to get to meet: an accomplished performer (magician in the sideshow tradition, featured on ripley's, for instance, sticking a snake up his nose), wingnut (firing up his eyes & laughing wildly to match james), & productive member of society somehow (he & karling do magic shows for children every morning!). "johnny is just so crazy & wild," she said, "people either get him or they don't -- they either love him or hate him!" i smiled; i do know this one. :)  her johnny, of whom we used to perform a song i didn't know was about HIM, is about our age but looks much younger -- he's chimpanzee strong & lean, & karling's lovelier than ever, i thought, seeming much happier. yes, they were so nice & fun to hang out with, a strikingly attractive match as i write reminding me of one time when art fein described seeing lux & ivy walking out of the movies in so-cal: "they cut quite a figure."
 i quit karling's band back in '12, when james's & my romance was in its initial roaring bonfire (now a steady, hearty hearth, thank you, good universe), but i've missed her & regretted having had to quit, hoping all along her new love & life were a comforting fit for her. there were parallels, i thought, between what happened romantically in her life & mine, so i'm very happy for her, & for me & james, too! :D
omnia vincit amor! ... et amor gignit amorem!
here are some pictures of my british friend & me as well as my handsome husband & his "new brother," who apparently is in the giant head club with james & me. (mom & dad always consoled me this way: "big head, big brain." since angie & karling have normal-sized heads but are both very intelligent, i don't know if i buy this, tho i appreciate the love behind the sentiment.) one thing i know: a big head, better seen from the back row, is the head of a performer, so i'm glad we have them! :D well, i'm nearly 47 years old today... good gravy! time to go get ready for visiting family.

together again...

-> taking a break from unpacking... this whole moving week's been an exhausting blur of backbreaking labor, mental strain, frustration, sitting around waiting, fatigue-induced blubbering spells, & the payoff -- exploring & hanging out w/my husband last night, a time of fun, elation, freedom, romance & possibility. what a mix! what a rollercoaster! and we're coming off this ride worn-out but just fine, even exhilarated & ready to ride more. stronger, safer, & more alive! thank you, james... (refer to ike & tina song)
-> a song keeps waltzing around my brain & it brought up memories... i wonder if the older i get, the more memory takes over til if i'm not watchful, i'm permanently lost in it, not present cause the mental hard drive's so filled up w/data? hope not; hope to stay awake & alive; hope the ever-thickening panoply of remembrances will add layers of life-experiences allowing ever-deepening wisdom & appreciation rather than drooling absent-mindedness... please tell me you think about this stuff, too???
-> anyways, many lives ago in bakersfield, i was in the employ of a country-western tv star-singer who called me up to his office cause he heard thru his son i played piano. he asked if i wrote songs & at that time i had a grand total of two -- didn't start songwriting much til a few yrs after i sobered up. i was too intimidated to play anything in front of the old man -- even tho the beautiful grand in the office did provoke in me a longing, i was a crappy musician in those days & knew it. i was way more interested in getting loaded than playing piano, & while i've always been able to plunk out melodies & could even then, blind drunk or high, i couldn't coordinate my hands to do anything even a bit more technical, tho i would try sometimes. how embarrassing to recall the faces of puzzled friends trying to be polite, no doubt thinking to themselves, i thought she said she could play piano? and maybe even, oh g*d, she sucks!! she must be cracked to have said she knew how to play!! ...ah, my delusional, idiotic youth!  :D
-> anyways, back to the story, years later i was told that the old man's office was bugged so he could steal songs, which now that i type it, sounds kinda paranoid, but the old man was both a really good & really terrible guy, from my experience & understanding, both philanthropic & downright mean, so maybe it was true... i've heard stories since about other artists of high repute, some of my musical heroes, even, who rip off songs from others. so disappointing, but i guess laziness & greed (& possibly desperation from creative drought) of this kind is part of some human's nature... even if that human's a million-record seller!
-> my old friend ruben, late of east la's the blazers, told me to do a poor man's copyright after i finally put out my 1st batch of songs in the early '00s -- "then if someone steals one of your tunes & makes money on it, you go after 'em!" he said, grinning. what you do is, you record your compositions, seal them in an envelope, then mail them back to yourself, leaving the package unopened. i did it, & one tune DID get recorded... my payment? i got a CD containing the guy's version of the song. the rest of the songs i've written, hundreds of them, sit in drawers & boxes around here. yeah, i'm sure not getting rich off songwriting, but on the other hand i still've got the creative satisfaction of having written them as well as the considerable pleasure & gratitude of knowing this desire lives in me & continues to produce... do what you love, love what you do...
-> anyways, i keep thinking of one of buck owens' lovelier songs as i unpack, wondering now if he even wrote it, & if he didn't, who did? did someone someplace write these lyrics, then get ripped off by mister o? if so, i hope their pride in having written something beautiful soothes the what-must-be horrible pain of having a baby stolen...
-> together again / my tears have stopped falling / the lone, lonely nights / are now at an end / the key to my heart / you hold in your hand / and nothing else matters / we're together again / together again / my gray skies are gone / you're back in my arms / back where you belong / the love that we knew / is living again / and nothing else matters / we're together again
-> ok, back to unpacking... may you have a day, & then another, & then another... :)

oh, i wish i was an oscar meyer weiner, that is what i'd truly like to be, for if i were an oscar meyer weiner, everyone would be in love with me...

that was a test. if you knew that song, you are of A Certain Age. it taught all us kids at that time use of the subjunctive, even if we didn't know that's what it was called (& who needs to know nowadays, anyways? except that the subjunctive is the coolest of all tenses, i think!: the "what if?")... i was dreaming about being in a car with my family & james & a big, big wave was crashing over the car as we kept driving, probably related to beautiful surfing videos we watched in eatery yesterday when our conversation went frm hawaii to hell. then he & i were driving right to the edge of a deep, deep canyon & i was saying, "look, honey, look!" & we both were scared & vertiginous (i just wanna use that word!!), but we were gonna go down in that deep, deep canyon to see what we could see! then i was following exene into a bookstore... i didn't talk to her, but she was talking about honky-tonk music & then there i sat at a piano, playing some moon mullican... obviously i'm no lucid dreamer cause i only ever get snippets like i just wrote down, but the next thought is this: how DID a weenie like me marry such a tough man? that man is tough as nails, w/a mouth that'd make a sailor cry & the sometimes ferocious pugnacity of a fighter (which he was). but he's also sweet as a puppy. sincerely! i relate cause i'm either gidget/mary poppins or a blubbering lump of want-to-die. the moods shift like earthquakes, like tsunamis! yesterday, i just LOST IT! i was all alone, so i could really let it rip, let those demons fly! but from that particularly violent mental crash came sweet release & calm & then we had an afternoon & eve of total love & adventure... we headed out for a benefit/tribute up north, but had mechanical failure & our plans were dashed. we were disappointed, but mama said, you can only do what you can do, & you can't do everything... yes, i feel different today. do you ever need to really lose it to gain it back even stronger? a weenie's gotta get cooked & burst some before it's really good eating. i know that metaphor makes little sense, but james is real good at them, & i'm working on it by osmosis. ok, now that i'm ready to serve, time to go for a run. yes, this weenie likes to run. good day or eve, sir or ma'am.

gratitude -> revelation -> restoration -> thanksgiving

just found these on a website. like them all, & may you, too... Thoughts about Thanksgiving: Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. (- Estonian Proverb)... Do not get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. (- Galatians 6:9)... We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. (- Ritual Native American/Pagan Chant)... for what today do you give thanks? mine: 1. mostly sound mind; 2. sound body; 3. sobriety & the ability in it to learn from mistakes; 4. love philial, filial, storgic, platonic, &, now being married, of eros (don't wanna write erotic; must be the prude in me); 5. awareness of/appreciation of/desire for agapic love (tho am more pantheist than deist, agape -- backed by selfless action-- would be the most worthy goal of humankind); 6. my husband's & my deep love for american music (as musicians & fans); 7. intellectual curiosity & creativity, instilled in us by our folks; 8. my good little truck, running like a top, all registered & insured, w/money to fuel it & time & opportunity to go places in it; 9. today at thanksgiving, watching angie's ex-husband chat w/her new husband, & then watching my ex-husband chat w/my new husband james, & all were friendly & generous, real men acting honorably, w/o fear, pettiness, selfishness, just interacting w/class & dignity; 10. our 1st family thanksgiving at which more family of choice were present than family of blood, including my new, darling, shining little black-haired, bright-eyed niece (now i have two nieces!) & her beautiful parents (my new brother & sister-in-law), & everyone got along just swell... for what today do you give thanks?

friday! saturday! sunday! and listen to whiteboy james on pandora!

this weekend will bring music! music! music! friday we hope to go busking to make song & maybe a bit of dough... saturday, james & the blues express will blow the doors off audie's olympic in fresno, where i think i used to play w/a rockabilly band i was in (can't really remember, tho!), then sunday... see flyer! :D james has a pandora station now. here's the link! whiteboy james & the blues express on pandora radio... what interested me is, the logarithm calculated him to be quite rockabilly, judging from the bands deemed to be similar to him -- as well as jump & swing & all the other fantastic american music he does... to paraphrase his (& now my) friend of blasters renown, we play what & how we do to carry forth the stories & styles of those who came before us musically... the joy of that, & to make people happy, to give them catharsis, to make them feel the passion of the music that makes life worth living: there's no other reason to play, i don't think!! no fame in this, no acclaim, just joy joy joy! :D

"baby, you're a song writin' machine!"

for a few yrs, i didn't write many songs -- just sad stuff... the only good one that came out was "just wanna boogie," tho i like that one quite a bit, i must say! shortly after writing it, i played & sang it for my friend & he retorted, "tell your band i said if they don't do that song, they're f**kin' stupid!" :) the dry spell's ended for a bit, & lately songs've just been pouring out! i don't know from whence they come, but i am so happy. :)
here's two from the last two days...
MEDDLERS: she's the problem, not you, baby / he's the problem, not me, baby / they need to get out of the way / they need to get gone & stay / this ain't jealousy, you & i just need to be free of these meddlers, meddlers, meddlers... / he needs to respect his place / she needs to get out of my face / i like em all just fine / til they get out of line / it's a matter of respect / they won't have no teeth left, these meddlers, meddlers, meddlers... / where do they get off, anyways, thinkin they can step in & make a play? / what makes all of these fools think they can get between us, anyway? / they don't know you or me, & we like it that way, honey / no amount of their stupid games can mess with us, no charms or money, meddlers, meddlers, meddlers... / i trust you, you trust me / its a new thing for us, you see / we like em all a lot as long-as / they give us room, & don't bug-us / just show some respect & fun / don't come up & act all dumb, don't be a meddler, meddler, meddler...
DO YOU FEEL IT, TOO? is that him? is that the one i've been waitin' for? / i see him looking at me w/a gaze that i adore / we ain't met in the real flesh til this night so neat / it's the start of a real friendship, something oh so sweet / i stepped out of the darkened club, & he seemed to be / standin right there with a big ol' smile, looks like he's waitin for me! / we talk oh so easy just like we have known each other forever / how can someone oh so cool be also so cute & clever? / then he said, do you, do you, do you feel it, too? my heart said yes, it's true / do you, do you, do you feel it, too? i fell so hard for you / thru the night, while we stood & talked, he was trying hard to see / was i there all by myself, or which man was there with me? / when i look back on this fateful night, i see signs from the beginning / we fast friends eventually would send each others' souls & hearts a-spinning, then he said, do you, do you, do you feel, it, too? my heart said, yes, it's true! do you, do you, do you feel it, too? i fell so hard for you!

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you,

mom and dad...
- how generous are they? how kind? my bd gift from them: a new piano/keyboard... i am bowled over with gratitude & happiness. it's a korg sp-250, not a top-of-the-line model, & kind of homely-looking, compared to some of the sleek, even flashy stage pianos out there, but heck, it's more than enough for me. it replaces my 8-or-9-yr old korg sp-200; i have busted two keys in the left hand register, so w/more sure to perish, i can now retire the old beast before she becomes too, too decrepit.
- thank you, old beast. you've served me well, & we traveled many many miles together.
- i deeply love my new piano/keyboard, maybe more than a person should an object, so caution's in order. the piano, after all, was my first real true friend, so this is a relationship that goes way back. don't know how the korg people with this model so-well electronically mimicked the resonance of a real piano. every electric keyboard has piano patches, of course, but this one is quite outstanding compared to my others; it has a richness, fullness i've not heard in any electric keyboard i've allowed myself to even consider having... what a pleasure! yes, one can really luxuriate in the sp-250's authentic tones... nothing, of course, can compare to a real piano, an instrument of great soul & humanity, but the sound of my new korg is more pleasing than the other keyboards i have. (and all i care about's the piano sounds... other effects are confusing & seem superfluous...)
- this is crazy: at this point, i have four keyboards: two yamahas, two korgs! thank you, thank you, japan. yes, a small family has developed. i shall call them "the 88s"... tho i spose my smaller yamaha only has 61...
- well, better get to bed so i can play some more tomorrow. much beloved & life-giving music to you, dear person reading this, truly truly truly truly truly whoever you may be. :)

a jolly mania numero uno

laissez les bon temps roulet!!!!

how you, baybee? my mardi gras started from the couch (i'm always physically sober, but passed out around 4 am from sheer exhaustion, movie on being the generally not-worth-it-unless-you-like-feeling-slimy "dogtooth"). awoke to a phone call from my recuperating friend who once lived in new orleans & now look out on "my" mountains as visiting cat friend happily grooms herself, perched on the window... am celebrating this last-hurrah before lent w/a pot of community coffee & wonderful nola sounds such as these, both so, so thrilling (particularly the unison singing at end of "i'm gone"!), & all i can think of as i listen is warmth, friendship, smiles, affection, happiness, romance, travel, cool music, love... dang!
cat just jumped on the keyboard! "kitten on the keys"! :) she's reminding me to stop being mushy, maybe...
fabi dean's right that it'd be better to be at mardi gras today, but, as we discussed yesterday at breakfast at affordable, delicious cafe casse croute, it's great to be anyplace...
yes, we're not pushing up daisies... surely that's something to be happy about!
a smile on this mug, i wish you a lovely day. :) :) :)

outside in & inside out, you're my meat... you're fat & forty, but lordy, you're my meat

heck, what they got away w/lyrically in the pre-no-holds-barred musical era!... for me, clever & humorous euphemism & metaphor's so much more fun than let-it-all-hang-out lyrics. to express salacious affection this way, w/a smile & a poke, is much more thrilling, i think, since comprehension's embedded w/delight & surprise. :)
the other night, nuts from the incessant, battering wind up here, i jumped in the truck & headed down for music in the southland (if my new dress fit, i would go; if it did not, i'd stay home & watch larry sanders to drown out the teeth-grinding wind), then tagged along to norm's for eggs & jam-slathered toast w/some bakersfield gals & friends, then checked in at a swell little motel off the long beach circle, a place i love but will keep to my greedy self cause it's cheap & vintagey & humble, but you can email me & i'll tell you about it... w/o the distraction of my ipod (which ran away last wk), i hit the bed by 4 am, which enabled me to next day hit the swap meet!! i found great treasures, best of which was a piano-shaped jewelry box, as well as an i-hope-appropriate gig dress & some juicy red & orange bell peppers & a girl scout shirt & some millet for my birds!! i drove around long beach for quite some time (cause i was lost) & found envy prickling me, as it does not when i go to other beach towns, but LB seems to have that desirable combo (for me) of funky & fun & pretty & rough... i just started to get an attitude, so sought comfort at one dollar bookstore in an old barnes & noble @ LB's pike shopping center, an overwhelming assembly, tons upon tons of tomes! my biggest score was a learn-japanese-using-manga title for my niece; there was a whole lotta junk, but for every $1 you spend, the bookstore donates a book to the local school district, which is a terrific idea! too bad more communities don't have this kind of place (one dollar bookstore locations)... obsessed w/locating a restaurant i'd read about, i drove & drove in long, long ovals & angles for an hr before resorting to old-time navigation: the thomas guide, which took me happily to a gigantic booth at king's hawaiian on w sepulveda near the 91/107, a wonderful place!! languid, swooning hawaiian tunes played as i gazed upon a giant aquarium & ate sweet rolls, rice, kim-chee, potato salad, & various juicy-sweet bbq... delicious! the place also has a lovely bakery w/cakes fecund w/fruits & creams, but i was about to bust, so headed for home, a fat smile on my face. http://www.kingshawaiianrestaurants.com/
then i hit the gaseous parking lot known as the 405.
the only good thing about the "drive," if you could call the interminable inching progress i made that, is it took so dang long, i hit my area in time to view the frazier mountain sunset filled w/sighing clouds out of maxfield parrish...
now the wind's still blowing... wonder what escape will present itself next?
a good day to you. may the wind not blow your skirt up.
unless you wish it to do so.

tweedly-deedly-dee, dee-dee-dee-dee...

(rest in peace, don cornelius of soul train. may your suffering have ended w/the pulling of that trigger & may your family have peace sooner than later. depression is a horrid monster. what a way to go.) :(
love the drum part on the song ref'd at top (rockin robin). used to clear out the cal state pub playing that, sea cruise, maybelline. anyone who didn't want to hear those songs should've left, anyhow, & fallen in a deep mudhole... the other day at practice w/karling, cesareo & i switched instrus on a run-thru of jackson; i was terrible, but it was fun. i love the punishing pain of trying to keep the kick drum going, or playing thru as muscles scream at a show; the way we play, esp in dusk devils, is kinda like going for a long jog.
well, the birds have been all over outside today, which is por quoi the original reference. crap - that reminds me i'm sposed to be studying french. going there in april w/becky & fabi to play music & tourist around; amazing! becky even sez i can open the tv show we're gonna do w/fats domino's "blue monday" since she says the studio has that same name...
mind seems to be hopping around a bit. am watching a show on the secrets of the pyramids. reading wonder woman as well as 100 volunteer vacations & 101 foods that will save your life & also rumi & jim thompson. applied to volunteer this summer at the gesundheit institute in WV, that clown hospital run by the great humanitarian doctor who "prostituted" himself to be subject of that maudlin robin wms movie to draw attn to his good cause... wonder if they'll accept me? wonder what tomorrow will bring? wonder wonder wonder wonder won: who wrote the book of love?
had a visitor yesterday & today. we drove in circles & ate at denny's (2-4-6-8 menu is cheaper than cooking, hate to say). i love having visitors. i love being home. i love being gone.
what's up with dusk devils? we've been sick, so will get some percussion personnel soon... gigs are upcoming w/karling & the atomics (KA & her "bakersfield band -- aren't they cute?" she said at last show & inside i winced cause i felt so uncute, but outside i grinned like a chipmunk) & w/becky (cattie ness & revenge) & w/dusk devils, even tho we are flying bassless for the moment... at big's the other night, we opened for big sandy, as i had w/becky the wk before in fresno; the set went well, wild & rowdy, as had the set the wk before w/revenge; KA & atomics practiced beforehand in the dining rm at big's & i almost wiped out the whole table of drinks hitting a volleyball that was for some reason in the rm; then i had a panic attack over my fat arms & karling so kindly cooed, "show me your arm," then, when i'd removed my sweater to show her the ham hock, "why, that's a perfectly nice arm; that's a fine arm," as if she were consoling a child, & in a moment of clarity i realized, stop being so gd self-centered!! this is her show!!! then karling added, "besides, you look like a crazy cat lady, wearing your sweater," but i'd already decided i'd ditch it... during the set, bsp got to sing "jackson" w/karling & i did some don rich on her buck owens songs, in keys so high, i felt i might flip inside out... afterward, cesareo told me about astrology & what'll work or not in my love life (drat!) & bsp & i watched big sandy for a while before hitting the road & then it was 5 am, then 5 pm & i was heading from bako to home in that post-show funk, so took the long way back along southern country roads & came upon a desolate long-abandoned oil company & explored & picked it as the sun set, accidentally disturbing a roosting white-faced owl & roadrunner in two separate bldgs (there were 8 buildings to explore!) & 3 cottontails, too, then i had to bail cause darkness fell, so i walked around the truck stops near the grapevine & by the time i got home, i felt really swell (... long phone call...) well, my friend & i just yakked for a long while, speculating about ancient technology & lamenting the burning of the alexandrian library & he told me about a book he read about joan of arc, sounds interesting, written in 1st person, even, & now i'm out of gas, hoping to catch the bus tomorrow morn cause i'm so sick of driving, so now it's time to watch more roku or read a bit more or hey, here's a novel idea: go to bed. :)
hope you're well, if you've read this far. :) xoxoxoxo

wisdom of the ages...

I tell you, we are here on earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different. -- Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)
schhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifoolhouse rock - youtube... somehow am now at the pt where am too busy to blog. as well as lazy. heeding vonnegut, i feel totally ok with it! :) :) logorrhea will return, no doubt -- for now, farting around (& getting over this interminable cold) prevails!