i'm depraved on account of i'm deprived

just sleep-deprived, that is (name the song & win a prize)... to balance my hypoxic "depravity," here's a nice graphic mark made. i kind of get a kick out of it! mark made this unsolicitedly, which is esp nice bc in the old band, i used to have an ongoing fight w/one fellow about this "jenny angel and the..." thing. not that i so much want to be in charge, but it does make it easier. and in 08, w/the rest of the band wanting me to be in charge, we've accomplished a lot i'm happy about!! i know they all are happy, too: there is enough spotlight to go around. it feels right for now, so i'm grateful for each day of it, & for them. :)
i'm just a-riffin' here, since ah'm so tahrd, as a countryboy beau used to say it... made a graphic last wk for manuel's xmas LP, too, but am not posting that here til he gives it or some spin on it the green light... we're gonna practice again next wkend. this wkend, i'm sleeping for THREE DAYS (excepting dd practice & family fiesta, that is)!! :) the HUGE dog & pony show's going on all wkend at safari sam's, set up by dave alvin to benefit musicians' medical coverage, specifically here for candye, drac, & chris gaffney's family. everyone from the knitters to the blasters will play. yes, it'll be rockabilly- roots royalty sat-mon, & for quite a good cause! (tho one that wouldn't be necessary, were the u.s. health system humane.) i've emailed/ talked w/about 10 folks who are going or've mentioned it; it's gonna be so great, what fun, wow! ...but i just can't go. but here's a link to all, so please go for me & tell me about it: www.myspace.com/safarisams ...
the lost rocker al hendrix won't be here after all next wkend, since his wife laraine's recovering from recent surgery. but you can listen to him here: www.myspace.com/alhendrix1 - he's the dusk devils' musical grandpa, the 1st full-on rocknroller from bakersfield!!!! al will have a new cd out soon - he's sending bb & i a copy this wk. :)
a bunch of the dd's ep songs are live on myspace at /b2studio & /markallenpowell as well as /theduskdevils - & the funniest compliment i got was from st rebekka, the beautiful brainy gal i remember from jr high nerd classes (she wasn't a nerd, tho): "i love your growly munchkin voice." :) soon enough the cd will go live on itunes & a bunch of other places, thx to llewop kram. he da best!!! ... every day i drag home from work feeling like my feet are gonna explode: exhausted. i imagine it's just getting- back- to- work fatigue, plus bakingfield 103+ heat. yesterday i musta had 6 cups of joe, trying to get to respiratin'. rick & i caught skip heller's set at narducci's in the eve. it was fun to hang w/rick, tho i couldn't get my peepers opened all the way. skip injected this show w/moments of dry humor. he'd looked over at us, then play something like googoo muck, or mix recognizable melodies into other songs (tho not smarmily, which is something that bothers me at some rockabilly shows. even when being funny, sincerity is key, in my libro). there were some lovely moments, too, in the way skip, drummer dale, & elegant upright bassist paul would lock in. wish phil had been there to watch the lightning fingers, but he's been working long long hrs, too - outside!!! in broiling kern co, that's a brutal mission... after the show, i had to beat it quickly bc of being so tired, but of course, once home, the caffeine hit & i was vibrating off the bed all night long. so i say buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, rock tonight, & i say buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, rock it right... well, gotta go to the salt mines now. happy weekend to all who read this. :) :) :)

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. :)

skip heller honky-tonk trio thurs 7/10; dusk devils in studio; this'n'that

1. go see skip's free show, 7:30-10:30 at narducci's (flyer below)
2. we're gonna finally record a live session w/sharon marie end o'this month. whoopee!! then we'll have professional-quality recordings for people who've been asking. :) and thank you for asking, people. :)
3. had such great sound & met wonderful folks at safari sam's sunday, from friendly DJ "texas" jeff to smokey miles, art fein, russell scott, randee & george, & of course birthday boy cody & friends; got to eat brunch (french toast - yumyum); got some dough; i got swung around the dance floor by a big feller named walter who's light on his toes as gene kelly; met & got critiqued by skip heller, who said i need a clavinet, & "you stick to that shuffle & gene taylor thing," & i thought, "well, that's all i got!" - his thoughts on music were prickly but interesting & i appreciated his perspective. & he's gonna get me some recordings of 5 royales (mine were stolen) & the diablos!!!
4. art fein's comment when i told him of skip's critique: "pope catholic?" :)
5. by now, all blasters fans know that bill bateman's back in that band's drummer saddle & jerry angel's joined touring band shurman. best wishes to gentleman jerry!!!!
5. "i'll never swim kern river again"... on a recent 100-degree-plus afternoon, orangy smog & smoke-choked sky like the apocalypse, b wanted to take his motorbike out into the kern river canyon & as we whizzed along that scorching ribbon of tar, brown walls above & angry water below, i started thinking about the men who've recently gone missing in the river. then the signs popped up: "help find beto." "help find gonzalo." :( too often, the people who go under in the "killer kern" are mexican & from southern california. i think when the weather's this miserable, the lure of a cool river dip overrides the fear of drowning. this is the kind of heat that raymond chandler wrote about: "meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks." it's desperation-heat, crazy-making, brutal, brutal, brutal. to want respite from it, no matter what, isn't much different (tho more innocent) than the depressed soul turning to a hit of dope.
6. so many people drown in the kern while trying to save someone else's life. doubly sad. i saw a car pull to the roadside & a brown-skinned man & boy got out. when we circled back to return to bakersfield, i noticed they had edged near the river, carrying long sticks & sad faces. they were searching the reeds for a dead man.
7. can you believe that people here criticize the river's missing & dead? people who blame the river victims remind me of those who blame new orleanians for wanting to stay in their hometown after katrina, or return to it. when you have the money to have a leisurely life, to travel, to conspicuously consume, to move w/out much life-disruption, or to just swim in a swimming pool when you feel like it,... well, it's easy to criticize the people who have to seek out a river or watering hole, who barely scrape by, who live desperately, who don't have the resources to move & start over, & beyond that, to whom many times home is where the heart is, even if that heart resides in a storm-prone delta bowl.
8. am reading harry crews' "car" right now, & if you want something good, go get it.

dusk devils at safari sam's

happy independence day!!!!!!!!!

it's a special day... a movie i recommend is "god grew tired of us." and "1776"!! songs? "man in black," "this land is your land," "american music." food? watermelon, of course!!!!
w/our smog & wildfire smoke, we really shouldn't have fireworks here in bakingfield, but we do, so enjoy safely. i LOVE LOVE fireworks, but increasingly worry about them...
hope everyone who reads has lots for which to be grateful. :) today i'm 13, & i have much. independence: what a concept, & how lucky we are to have it, relative to many on this planet. (some have more, i could complain, but why? not now.) focusing just on music: 7 new songs since home from texas; safari sam's sunday; fun friends to play music w/(read below); dusk devils just reached 3500 myspace friends!! to see, go to www.myspace.com/theduskdevils ... . not too smoothly worded, but i got buttloads of gratitude, in spades, & wish the same for you. :) :) :)

dusk devils at safari sam's this sunday & more live music, too!

also: fattkatt starts up again at the crystal palace on july 9; more info at www.fattkatt.com ... & there's live music 7 nights a wk at trout's/the blackboard stage: www.myspace.com/troutsblackboard

TROUT'S sat june 28; SAFARI SAM'S sun july 6

we'll be on at 7 pm!!!
we'll be on from 12:30 pm-2 pm!!!
on other notes: r.i.p., george carlin, whose cynicism never fully hid a hopeful & idealistic heart; ... in austin, i had the most wonderfully quenching & delicious drink, tho i don't know the proportions: combine crushed ice, coca-cola, cream, & vanilla syrup. the result: a cocablanca. heaven!!!!... finally, phil & mark are contributing song ideas!! (artistic mark also made the top flyer... cool!) what a happy thing this band is lately!! :) now we just need time to actually learn our new songs we're writing, & to play more shows, too! :) these are what i would call "golden problems," most definitely...

safari sam's 7/6 plus dusk devils demo cd available

i have a feeling i'll be writing while i'm gone on my train trip to the lone star state, but meantime, i'll post the following exciting (por moi) things!!!
the cd has six tracks: the texas song; mercy; rock boppin' baby; not goin' after him; green door; the mess around. please get hold of me if you're interested in one!!!