rockin' 50s III - what happened!!!!!! (pix below)

(i'm gonna try to do this art fein style, for brevity's sake. ha!)
day 1: we arrived in green bay, befriending janet of bomp records' invisible eyes. we took her to her hotel & went to ours: the wingate is a stone's throw from both the oneida casino, where the fest took place, & austin-straubel airport - convenient. got dressed, got wristbands, got up to the stage for little richard's set. the crowd quickly stuffed the giant oneida ballroom. richard's bandleader came out & said "absolutely no pictures" - a collective groan of protest ensued, but most people complied. (i remember one time taking pic after pic of richard from about 15 ft away altho i could tell the flash was blinding him... yes, best not to take pix so he can concentrate on performing...) richard came out bejeweled & beglittered, pancaked, bewigged, famous ferocious smile flashing, & on crutches. when his brother passed away, his sciatica started acting up - hence the crutches. he still stood between songs to bless & mess with the crowd. he danced at the piano bench. his black eyes flashed, playful, crazy-dangerous. his set was long & loud, with extended breaks for patter & reflection. little richard seems to be feeling his mortality, actually threw into the audience the shiny watch he usually taunts with, talked about old people, going to heaven, introduced his bass player - his son! we'd never seen him do that. two drummers, three sax players, a back-up pianist... 74 yrs old, little richard does what he can to put on the greatest show possible. no pictures, but we were grateful to again get to see the living legend!
(i've already exceeded art's word count, so i'll just go on...) watched a bit of the uptown savages, got the lay of the land for the fest (vendors, purcell lounge, casino stage, where slim jim phantom - with keith richards junkie glamour: greasy pomp, black-ringed eyes, sash around his neck - held nightly jam sessions). we were blown away by the 5 keys, backed by deke dickerson, the horton bros., others... the singer closest to us (stage left - i don't know his name!!!!!) had eyes full of "pain and love and so much emotion," brian later told him. the harmony singing & true emotion had me near sobbing (especially with the first incredible notes of "my saddest hour"!!!), but it was too early for that, so i sucked it up. the studied & rather stoic young(ish) acolytes who backed the 5 keys were a curious contrast to the raw emotion & warmth of the band members themselves: throughout the weekend, the older performers in general were friendlier, warmer, more approachable, with less airs - grateful to be in this place where they were treated with such love & support? old musicians, like old people in general in america, can be ignored, dismissed, even scoffed. at rockin' 50s, all were adored.
we wandered in a daze after that, then called it a night.
day 2: we ran into the 5 keys & brian heartily complimented them. we headed to the "tiki brunch," where the masterful & gentlemanly carl sonny leyland played. this fellow knows his piano!! he ripped through 2 sets of perfect stomps, shuffles, boogie-woogies, strides, sang with a pleasant, unaffected blues voice reminding me of gene taylor a bit, & was very friendly after the set. he backed up at least 8 other acts we saw over the week, & knocked my socks off again when, after all the boogie & rock&roll, he switched into top-notch honky-tonk, too! carl knows all the styles & never misses a lick, providing the backbone of every band he plays with, grinning shyly when a frontman didn't properly cue the band. he never was anything less than perfect & humble. carl sonny leyland rules!!!! also on the day's bill were sonny burgess & rosie flores, billy lee riley, the crickets... we took a break & had dumpling soup, pb&j, & a pineapple malt made with wisconsin ice cream at our favorite dark smoke-filled lounge-restaurant, kroll’s east, on e. main in town… then we returned to the oneida for the performance by carl's alter-ego, incredible, maniacal jason d williams.
i saw jason open for buck owens many many moons ago... at that time, he was downright strange, this skinny, red-headed kid aping jerry lee lewis to the point of obsession. he seemed to play piano even better than the killer, but the considerable talent was placed second to impersonating his idol. now jason's just as skinny, & when you see him play, you'll know why: this is the most athletic, hellfire-&-brimstone kind of pure rock&roll act around - jason runs across stage, leaps atop the piano, stands on it & shakes, lays on it to play upside down, plays mostly standing or crouched on the ground, howls & wails & sings in a strong southern rock&roll yell that rattles your bones, laughs & leers & whoops, flashing his eyes like woody woodpecker on whites... different than the killer is that jason comes off like a crazy but nice southern boy, with the lascivious sneer being fun & buoyant rather than scary. you don't have to fear jason d. - but you'll stand in awe of his talent & energy. at the beginning of jason's set, there were two rows of (mostly) gray haired folks lining the stage, but few of the "hip" kinda rockabillies; 15 mins into his insanely fevered set, i turned & saw an ocean of bobbing & nodding heads - the rockabillies outside the lounge had heard jason williams & ran in for more!! providing perfect foil to jason the mad-rabbit was his calmly handsome, dignified, cash-esque guitarist jimmy davis, who plays also with sleepy labeef. rounding out the band were a bassist & guitarist who kept pedal to metal: i think these guys must lose about 5 lbs at every show! commented brian, "this is why they tried to outlaw rock & roll in the 50s!" watching jason d. williams is the closest a person could come, i think, to knowing what it was like to see jerry lee lewis or little richard in their prime. what an amazing experience!!! (www.rockinjasondwilliams.com)... it actually was hard to watch anyone else for a while after seeing jason d. williams, but we wandered to the casino lounge, where eddie angel's new act, surf-garage rock band the neanderthals played.
that day, too, we watched ferlin husky with leona williams, doing wonderful bakersfield-texas honky-tonk; chicago-style blues from rubber-faced englishman big joe louis & his blues kings (smooth & accomplished jimmy sutton on upright); dawn shipley & the sharp shooters, fronted by dawn's nostalgic voice & girlish comeliness; conny, a rockabilly devotee from japan; & the stars of the 50s show - lew williams, eddie bond, hayden thompson (in strong voice), & glen glenn. i met miriam linna & billy miller of norton records & the a-bones - they were really nice!!!! robert gorden & chris spedding, mike sanchez, dave stucky, the lonesome spurs, the list of amazing acts goes on & on. we had to make choices, tho, so we picked big jay mcneely, who made his entrance by strutting through the crowd all bent over his bass saxophone, in a loud sequined vest. i ran over to try to peek as he pushed his way through, then up to stage right, where i stayed to watch carl play. suddenly, big jay was coming our way! he stopped right in front of me & his eyes bulged: next thing i knew, he'd locked my arm in his, &, still honking on the sax, started strutting up onto the stage. aaaaaah!!!! the crowd cheered as we got center stage & i concentrated on watching him play, then, knowing i was supposed to dance or whoop it up like a carefree 50s gal or seasoned seductress would do, but being a music nerd instead, i lost my nerve & beat it, laughing. big jay is 80 yrs old; brian was right when he said, "he just wanted a pretty girl to go up onstage with." not that i'm so pretty, but i'm sure it's true that he always grabs whatever gal he notices near the stage to go up with him, being the ladies' man that he seems to be… later in his set, he started singing to a group of japanese girls front & center, who screamed like they were watching the beatles. he actually laid down on his 80 yr old belly to croon sweet-nothings to one of the girls, who beamed ecstatically. what fun. :)
that night i returned to the hotel & crashed and burned. too much excitement.
day 3: absolutely blown out, we drove to door county, “the cape cod of the midwest.” saw bright green pastures, jersey cows, old barns, raised wood houses with basements, lake michigan. had an ice cream made with door county cherries. listened to ipod marty robbins. back in green bay’s old downtown, at a place that’s loud smoky bar on one side, clean & cozy, quiet eatery on the other, had the most deliciously fresh beer-battered walla-walla with potato pancakes (corner of howard & broadway). we got mellowed out, replenished to face more craziness & excitement.
on the bill were sid king, frankie ford (in the casino, i heard fats domino! what’s fats domino doing here? i wondered, running for the casino lounge… it was frankie ford, sounding dead-on like the fat man.), the penguins, the lucky stars, the hollywood combo, the justices (crash & rory) and (dang it! i can’t believe i missed them!) the members of high noon doing the day-time jam session. we caught sleepy labeef, “the human jukebox,” who during the stars of the 50s set, ably filled the time slot when two other performers couldn’t show due to illness.
the vincent black shadows, a relatively new chicago 8-piece band fronted by black-haired gabrielle & her two back-up singers, were really fun. sounding like ronettes meet link wray meet wanda jackson, the cramps and a-bones, the vbs’s rocked! gabrielle’s voice was strong & adaptable – she sounded like wanda, like candye, like ronnie spector. this was a hard-rocking, fun-loving act – wow! i really liked their version of “skinny minnie,” here called “skinny jimmy.” they also did some ronnie dawson tunes, and when we left & entered the main ballroom, ray sharpe was doing “monkey’s uncle”! after ray sharpe came barbara lynn, who looked healthy & happy compared to some of the frail old male performers. she kicked off with “good thing going,” then did “please please please”! after this was the head cat, featuring lemmy from motorhead. i noticed a crowd shift as the head cat readied to get onstage – more punks, more metal-looking people, more veiled aggression. the head cat look fantastic – danny b harvey’s shy, blond rockabilly gentleman look contrasting slim jim phantom & rough-looking lemmy, who, with skin-tight pants, “indian” tats, & greasy long-hair & fu-manchu, is bad-biker monstrously ugly & cool. lemmy scream-sings, & plays a washburn bass like a rhythm guitar! picture the origin of this "high concept": “let’s start a rockabilly band fronted by LEMMY!!” danny b harvey actually told us this band’s been together 6 yrs: again, i'm hip to nothing! the head cat’s version of “somethin’ else” definitely was fun, & the novelty kept you wanting to hear more, despite the threat of deafness, – but we truly didn’t want to burst our eardrums, so we called it a night.
day 4: i called art fein to see if he’d gotten to the show. art got hurt! he was stuck in a room in chicago, immobilized, sounding like crap. we also found out bo diddley had had a stroke & wouldn’t be performing at all. what a time for bo & art! bo diddley’s recovering as of this writing, & art is too, tho still not home… charlie gracie, roy head, the clovers, carl mann, levi dexter, jimmy sutton’s 4 charms, 3 bad jacks, charlie thompson, the ecco-fonics, etc. etc. – the music kept coming!... we watched a few minutes of roddy jackson, james intveldt, & got a salad in the lounge, where we saw carl sonny leyland, noshing away at a nearby table with big joe louis & a gal named gail. i think she was the only woman there with her “natural” (silvery-gray, not rollered & pomaded) hair – she was striking for it, with her olive skin & pretty smile. the legends of the 50s hour featured mac curtis, show-stealer ray campi, strong-voiced johnny powers, & joe clay. joe clay, slim & spry as a teen, in pink satin jacket, was greeted with absolute adulation. his songs were not huge-sellers, but were such great ones, they’ve gathered him a strong & adoring following amongst rare record lovers – cracker jack, get on the right track, duck tail, jellybean, 16 chicks… joe kept 'em coming, skipping & dancing around the stage, playing the left hand at carl’s piano, the upright bass, even replacing the drummer for a tune.
then came the act we’d been waiting for – the collins kids. what can i say about them? look at the pictures below to get an idea of the life, grace, & good cheer they radiate. brother & sister larry & lorrie make you feel just wonderful, so happy to be in their presence. (and if not, i don't wanna know it!) larry’s guitar playing is still up to snuff – amazing to see this handsome, easy-going fellow & think of the hyper, hyper-talented little pipsqueak he was! he & deke harmonized & traded off lightning speed solos & duets on double-necked mosrites (made in bakersfield originally, you know). i wondered about how a prodigy makes it to adulthood – so many do not, their own premature brilliance snuffing them out. how does one transition from child savant into well-adjusted adulthood? larry seems to have done it. regarding larry’s older sister, lorrie's youthful talent was singing, & she doesn’t sing at all like she did, but her beautiful smile & shining eyes give her such a lovely & loving presence, it just doesn’t matter... backed by deke dickerson initially, the collins kids were also joined by dave stucky, who jumped out onstage with an acoustic, obviously beside himself with happiness to be with his heroes. the capper was after the encore, when larry & lorrie brought out the one & only legend herself, wanda jackson!!! this was tremendous – we were gonna miss wanda’s sunday show because we had to go home. but there she was, tiny little apple-shaped wanda with her big black hair & red-painted smile & that unchanged voice, sounding kittenish, girly, knowing & naughty… the collins kids, WITH the dave & deke combo (“we’re the only one who can get them to speak!” larry commented), WITH wanda jackson… this was the end-all for our amazing week at rockin' 50s. it was time to come home; we'd've died if we'd seen any more.
what a wonderful & unforgettable experience rockin’ 50s III was. it was definitely worth the trip cross-country, the fatigue, the eye & sinus infection i got from airplanes & allergies & who knows what. no one died, except with happiness at all the great music. in a way these kindsa things are a little like being reborn, revivified, shocked back alive by the thrilling & inspiring force called rocknroll. (check links at right for more information).

rockin 50s green bay!!!!!!

8 days to rockin' 50s green bay...

http://www.actionpackedevents.com/Oneida%20Fest%202007.htm

oh, professor, you're full of whimsy!! www.old99.net

-> "well, it's midnight, & i wanna go home / driving union avenue all alone / eucalyptus trees frame the old moon / i'm in a terrible place, i don't know what to do / so i'm driving into bakersfield / motels line the avenue wide / broken dreams, old places, neon signs / this town used to be so grand, old 99 was big buck land / & i'm driving into bakersfield" ... that's part of a near-rhyme tune i wrote several years back, about driving & crying & loving-hating bakersfield, & was pt of the dusk devils' genesis... a happy turn is my newest band is called OLD 99! our drummer recently went to the rob's house & laid down about 8-9 drums tracks for songs, then in a burst of enthusiasm, came home & made a bunch of whimsical pictures. (thelma todd: oh professor, you're full of whimsy! groucho: you can tell from over there? that always happens when i eat radishes. - Horse Feathers) this is my favorite, capturing the appropriate way i feel we should approach this musical project, which has been increasingly exciting. (too, i have happy memories of going to big boy w/auntie rita & my sister & cousins.) it's all for fun - nothing lasts - don't take yourself so dang seriously (rule 62) - whee!
-> soon enough, there'll be the equivalent of an LP's worth of music available on the band website at www.old99.net . the music's mostly honky-tonk w/emphasis on harmony singing, also some old R&R, rockabilly, R&B, & softer stuff, which i'm really having to get used to. i think i can, since the fellers are so generous in spirit. so far, old 99's been a welcome & unexpectedly nice surprise.
-> feliz fin de semana to all who read this. :)

a posting for jim b

here's a clip from my all-time favorite TV event, recorded by granada television (uk) in 1964. you can order it from www.videobeat.com w/keywords "Don't Knock the Rock" granada & some of the artist names below... jl lewis is a bulky & seductive musical harry powell-elmer gantry kinda powerful-perverty figure here, & the wild rock&roll frenzy is (in a good way) a crazy-making thrill. (forgive the lazy writing; the happy fellowship of this wkend's drunk convention salved my physical ills, but was draining)... the other footage, esp of gene vincent & little richard, is absolutely amazing!! - follow the youtube clip below to watch more - one guy posted most of the show there in snippets for now.

upcoming shows you gotta gotta goada

if you can get there, that is... i'm a-goin. just gotta. life's too short not to.
-> THE PONDEROSA STOMP, house of blues, new orleans, LA www.ponderosastomp.com
-> ROCKIN'50s III, oneida, green bay, WI www.http://www.actionpackedevents.com/Oneida%20Fest%202007.htm (pix from Rockin'50s I, Spring 2002)

nothing flip to say on this day. glad to be alive, is all.

they're coming to take me away, haha, hoho, heehee... "the only proof he needed for the existence of god was music" plus a few little gush-fests

BREATHLESS exgirlf...

-> R.I.P. kurt vonnegut, the (i think, dang it!) eternally hopeful and quotable: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/k/kurt_vonnegut.html
and http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut ...
-> art fein, who sent me a copy of "man w/o a country" last yr, told me last month that his girl was researching vonnegut & desired his j-hancock (i wrote about kesey at her age, but he already was pushing up daisies) & he actually GOT IT for her... what good timing for the young lady. who knows - maybe she will be one to help carry on the spirit of such outraged, brave, & humane satirists.
-> lately my research has taken a happy turn & i've become hopeful that young folks may save this world, w/the social networking revolution perhaps being a good sign that they want to commune & be involved & the volunteer soldiers who persevere despite inadequate federal support evidence of the driving, inner voice, which manifests itself uniquely, but seems to come from a common & benevolent source. specifically, my stepson, quite the party boy, also does engineers w/o borders & is becoming involved in a green engineering project; young local activists & punks do food not bombs, feeding the homeless, every sunday at noon at central park; my 13-yr old niece, who seems to have eyes only for manga, has a benevolent, fully-formed, animistic spiritual belief at an age when all i wanted was candy, mad magazine, movies, & piano... i think beyond the youtube narcissism & foisted, all-pervasive celebrity-consumption culture, our young people look to be better than we are so far, more other-directed, less vision-obscured (or maybe less dualistic? more accepting of "difference"?), more engaged.
-> well, i woke up too late & piddled around & missed an apt this am, so here is what i did instead, more crude & peppy solo music. brian p & phil are gonna go play this wkend, so i didn't practice w/them yesterday (i'll be at school this wkend - no sense in me being there last nite wasting time when they could've been readying for sat), so i hope that's fruitful for them...
-> in my new band, old 99, www.old99.net , we're doing stuff like 3-part harmony & slick playing, but then when i listen back, i don't barf at all, it's kinda like when i sang choir years ago - whatta pleasure to be a part of a bigger, effusive, team kind of spirit!... then, bonus, the other day we did a chuck berry medley that was swell: i thought, good gracious, wow, WOW!, if we can have this energy level here & there, i'm home!!! the occasional slow or poppy song, well, i guess i can hang w/it. i like that everything's coming from a traditional C&W kinda base rather than anything more "modern," too: this band definitely respects the roots. rob even wants to do some zydeco stuff. yahoo! and there's none of that fake middle-class bluesman stuff that really is gross... we have some recordings down, but they asked we use them for practice, not public, even tho they sound 100x better than what i do alone. (however, i'm realizing how blest i am to get to do it all - the crude & wild alone stuff; the rocknroll duskdevils stuff; the crystal palace-kinda old99 stuff)... a person has to keep trying & occasionally realizing, don't you think? vonnegut's great words: "If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED / FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD / WAS MUSIC" .. ah-men.

easter/prospera pascha sit et pacem in terris

(the above just means "easter/happy easter and peace on earth")
my first "video" (tho my 13-yr old niece is right - it's just a "slideshow"):

hope you like it, anyhow. :)

happy to be living, obsessed: chicken, waffles, toxic sodapop fuel the monkey

first of all, we all lost another friend the other day. he was lucky, maybe, to go very suddenly, but still, how sad (especially for my hubby, w/whom he was friends; i know b admired j very much, like everyone did). j was taken too early... he was one of two people i recall from '91, when i lived every day in a sick & altered state & yet couldn't see why i had such blasted bad luck. thru then-called-kernview hospital, i wound up at the drunk club (didn't come back til '95) & the smiling, rangy-athletic fellow w/the buzzed, prematurely-grayed hair helped make me feel at home. may he rest in peace, sweet soul that he was. i know he will be well-remembered; we wish his family solace.
i know it's saddest for us still living when we lose someone... being a friend of bill w's means i have more camaraderie & fellowship than i ever could've possibly dreamed, but then loved ones go, suddenly or slowly, here & there, & it stinks each time, but it's life. i know soon enough i'll be shuffling off myself, so i guess the best thing is just to stay with the herd, appreciate & love people while we're here, & try to remember them gratefully & reverently, not sadly & self-centeredly, when they leave.
maybe i'll be so lucky, but i guess that part doesn't matter... remember marcus aurelius, so noble, writing repeatedly that one must act & live from a place of one's own truth, w/o worrying about the condemnations of others, & how the 1st book in his "meditations" pays loving homage to his many role models... he obviously was a man who loved & appreciated many, but knew not to pay unnecessary heed to critics & those lacking vision.
on to the mundanities of life: today, dedicated to polishing off part 3 of my thesis (been at it all wk & sick of it), i sat at the computer for 9 hrs & embarked on a strict regimen of chicken & waffles (a whole essay could be written on this alone, but i'll spare everyone), swashing it down w/a particularly creepy yet delicious sodapop, maybe even deadlier-better than diet big red, called diet pepsi jazz caramel creme... do you think the ingredients of such a potion could fit on the side of a train car? but hi-dee-ho: let's have another can.
that the paper's done & i still live is a really nice deal. :) there's all kindsa music stuff to attend to, especially w/my new band "old 99" (those fellows really want to get stuff started asap... i do wish it were that way w/dusk devils, but not for now, i guess). i have been a little negligent in my saintly duties, as well, but it all has had to wait cause i have had research monkey brain (haven't even been sleeping lately; too many ideas sloshing around in the noggin). by 3 pm, i had birthed another 18-pg paper & it was jig time. we're supposed to turn in 8 pages by april 14, and i've written 42. my thesis is up to over 60. i am very pleased!!! overachieving is necessary in this context; i won't get done by august, otherwise. (btw, i found out guitarist keith wyatt went to new college!!) the toxic chemicals, i guess, help, in the short run (tho kill in the long, but what the hey, let's play play play). not to mention obsession... productively funneled, the latter can be quite a boon. :) (P.S. - tho roscoe's down south has the world's best, dope-wonderful chicken & waffles, J's Southern here in town serves them, too... j's is finger-licking good stuff, dang worth it, on ming avenue, but tho lisa paxton - I MISS LISA!!! - knows the name of the cross-street, i don't.)

why i don't write poems

trying to do research / drinking my milk malted / hearing the dogs snoring / gories, blasters, little walter / my toe's a little rainbow / tho the black & blue's receding / and i'm a real expert at / avoiding heavy reading / burma shave
**
-> kafka's "metamorphosis" (http://www.mala.bc.ca/~Johnstoi/stories/kafka-E.htm)
-> wikipedia analysis (interesting section: "lost in translation" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis)
-> mark twain's very funny "the awful german language" - http://www.kombu.de/twain-2.htm)... this one's a dainty-deterrent, i think. don't drink milk while reading it. :)
***
(two days later)(i should have broken a finger instead of a toe, i think)
- a didactic ode to my idols -
axolotl / little lizard / always keeps its youthful shape / is the human it resembles / young & vital or a flake? / the culture sells that 16 / is the only place to aim / but it's futile sad L7 / chasing sameness, botox, fame / so to the critics, give the bird / and grow by staying green / life's short, be weird, & speak your truth, / you rock boppin' machine

arrrrgggggghhhhh!!!!!! my toe!!!!!!!! plus american sweetheart karling abbeygate at fishlips tonight, 3-22; skip heller, three shows 3/28, 4/4, 4/18

i just busted my toe!!!! i was lifting weights & a 6-lber slipped from about chest-level & WHAM! there was that swelling moment of this-isn't-so-bad, then AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!! so tonight after the drunk club adjourns, i will hobble to part of a music show at fishlips, karling abbeygate, the "america's sweetheart" kind of pin-up girl who has absolutely blanketed myspace. this is perhaps awful to say, except that i'm usually the last fool to know what's cool, but i actually didn't add karling for a while because there are loads of shapely, genetically-gifted gals on myspace with one billion "friends." what besides beauty do they offer? (no cheap jokes, please.) i mean, jerry angel places babes on the top 8 of the blasters' page regularly, but i'm a vanilla school teacher... everyone likes a pretty girl, but can she play? sing? draw? write? dance? juggle? make balloon people? shape foreign policy? finally, i listened to karling & found out 1) she does that ultra-traditional honky-tonk that i love, recorded intentionally to sound old-timey; & 2) boy, she can sing!! i imagine she could end up as the next neko case (as you prob know, NC started singing western tonk tunes & now is big big as a solo act), tho her image is softer, girlier. anyways, karling will be on tonight, plus one of cesareo's 800 bands , the iron outlaws, & another westerny act. one of KA's guitar players is none other than mr paladins-hacienda bros himself, dave gonzales! that's sure to get brian paxton there, for a chance to maybe see mr guild guitar in action... as if karling needs any more "friends," here is her link, so you can hear her terrific sound: http://www.myspace.com/karlingabbeygate ... recently, my new friend rob said that i "can sing like a bird," & i thank him so very much, what a nice thing to say, but i think that compliment goes to karling. what an appealing voice! now, if she plays instrument/s, too, i'll be an even bigger fan. :) pretty is one thing, but pretty & multi-talented, well, i wanna see more gals like that, good role models for all. not that looks should count... multi-talented women & men, especially ones with clear vision & spark, those are the ones who change this world ... well, time to go cry over my elephantoesis. see you at fishlips & tomorrow, hello, san francisco... otra vez!

romance of lonely love gone south soul hankerings

the sadness of life can bring such lonely pleasure; does anyone relate? i wrote a song long ago about driving long distances at night: "i got that happy lonesome feeling..." solitude, especially when coupled with action (walking, driving, music-playing) puts a soul closer to something ineffable & everlasting & beautiful, something that's calling & we're all gonna see it, and the lonely times give just a little glimpse...
i know this line of thinking isn't one bit original, so here are some more tunes. taking a small breather from school & messing again with the free audacity mini-mixing program, i know these tunes still sound rough as a badger's behind, but i don't care (obviously). the process is so pleasing, & maybe someone else'll try this. why not? :) ... i still've got that problem of tweaking the dials too high & it all comes out kinda squacky, messy, rough, lame, corny, embarrassing, but with those moments of pretty & exciting & even cool, like life, you know (haha - i can justify anything!) ... ok, time to go to the doctor now. :)

SADIEBROWN the exg...

REDLIGHT jennyange...

the city by the bay, schooling, driving, 3-part-wang-dang-ding-dong-harmonalizing, pax tecum (y'all)

my life lately's consumed with school. school school school school. in sf yesterday, i turned in my 2nd paper & lunched w/my wise & gentle advisor. my thesis is four parts: problems "young" people face developing a sense of authentic purpose; a few suggested solutions; a school curriculum based on the philosophy of the solutions (help people feel safe so they can learn, grow, become happy, useful); & last, how to make the philosophy workable & successful when it faces opposition... i stayed in a gorgeous hostel at ft mason in the n. reaches of the city, w/dining rm overlooking sf bay, view of the golden gate bridge, presidio, sf, all just so lovely, w/verdant & safe ocean-breezy jogging paths beneath giant trees, all only $25 (tho the beds were paper thin)... home takes forever on boring I-5, tho less so this morning in golden sunlight, then we had a big family powwow w/my visiting tx cousin & her brood, full of enchiladas, tamales, rice & beans, champagne cake de smith's, embarrassing stories, little cousins running & screaming, loud laughter.
the band had a great & crazy uptempo rehearsal the other day w/wonderful phil on bass & brian paxton & i getting along; it felt like energy was zapping our cans again, & that's nice. i've practiced 2x now w/some nice guys who are looking at putting up a more expert gig, w/the exciting part being full 3-part harmonies. they have their eye on big shows, professional musicianship, & this unnerves me a bit since i'm adrenaline & little polish, but for now, i love the rich harmonies, which thrill to the bone: it's pleasing, plus doubles the music i get to experience... listening to npr this am, i learned this wk to watch for ronnie spector & patti smith, both going into the R&R Hall of Fame, plus the new stooges LP... if you're lucky enough to be headed for sxsw this yr, tell austin hi for me & drink up all that good music like sunshine & oxygen... for me, this yr it'll be school instead, but this MA program is changing & restoring my life, so i'm all for it, even if i can't wander so congress & guadalupe & sneak into sxsw events like last yr. also, we're going to rockin' 50s in may, & that'll be the living end, bound to be as good as in 02 (www.actionpackedevents.com)... pax et felix tecum, & may you ride joyously thru your day.

champion jack dupree, master on the keys, knew what this world needs, the next rhyme's up to you, i'm through

"When you open up a piano, you see freedom. Nobody can play the white keys and don't play the black keys. You got to mix all these keys together to make harmony. And that's what the whole world needs: Harmony." it's just a dang good quote, so there you go... (part of his story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champion_Jack_Dupree)

"well, you can't be my lover, darlin, cause you ain't got the style..."

some people have asked why the band sounds kinda different in these posted songs... this isn't the band: it's just me! ain't that obvious?!?! :) notice the lack of decent guitar & male voice, for one thing, as well as significantly different energy level & production value... thank you for your comments, anyhow - it's fun to think someone as rowdy musically as i am could be construed to be a band! that's how the dusk devils started, after all... anyway, i have been having a blast perpetrating fast & rough songs upon a largely indifferent networld. here is another, an experiment with actual multi-tracking. this is really fun, i tell you! what other sane reason could there be for performing music than to express & transcend, even if it's in the manner of a clumsy, madly grinning, leaping tasmanian devil... "this is it, now, baby, we're gonna have a time tonight..." feliz dias, mis amigos...

ONDOWNTHELINE mp3 ...

FINALLY!!!!!!!! rr bill & count the days

here are some songs i recorded... very lo-fi, i might add... :)

RRBILL-theexgirlfr...

COUNTTHEDAYS theex...

"hapy valentime's day"

it's weird to not be giving a classroom full of kids valentines (or "valentimes," as many of them call them) this year.... i've given out mostly monsters & superheroes cards in past yrs, the simpsons more than once. it's fun to pick them, to address them, to give the extra-special ones to the kids who don't expect them... no kid in my class has ever been left out on v-day (unless religion forbids it): i was the kid who was left out, so i keep my eye on those ones in particular so that they feel someone's rooting for them, too... now that the school district says you can only give students store-bought, "healthy" snacks in schools, i think v-day school parties must be comparatively sad affairs, bereft of homemade frostinged cupcakes, cookies, and cakes dotted with red hots and conversation hearts. poor little kiddies. this standardization trend, including the food that goes into kids' mouths, must end sometime. all big bureaucracies must fall. here's to falling - to the fall of the unchecked powerful, to the falling into love. here's to my valentine, brian, who's one of a kind & has been there for me when i haven't deserved it, & with whom i've learned to be something resembling an adult... sort of... whether you got a special someone today or not, here's to you who read this, too, as well as a homemade valentine. may your life have love, which comes in many forms beyond the romantic (i didn't used to know that). dang, i miss teaching kids... it'll be good to get back.

what a weird & wacky world this is

while many places suffer dissolution, desolation, despair, here, we live by distraction: internet, hollywood, fast food, ipod, iphone, myspace, youtube, a world of fantasy & division: "my people [are] forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people... wear cardigans and drink highballs. We... sell our bracelets by the road sides, and you... play golf and eat hot h'ors d'oeuvres. My people... have pain and degradation. Your people... have stick shifts" (wednesday playing a noramerican native in addams family values). ferinstance, on the butt-end of a mighty cruddy wkend in which i returned from the lone star state to miss the figurative sf bus to school, i felt bummed out, but then noticed that on my little phone i could record stuff (crudely, which is how i do it, anyhow). the doom lifted as i sat at piano with phonelet on record, bashing a serving tray with foot to keep time... it was a release!, & what a crazy, superfluous wonder, to be able to do it. i sent a few friends the results via audio msg, & awesome bloodshot bill msged back for me to send more!, so i made another one...
this helps the world not one iota except that maybe someone reading this will try the site below - you can upload phone msgs to your blog, so i did. my gosh, i felt just swell after all that nonsense. the distractions i have nowadays enable me to live in a near-constant heightened, fantastic, virtual state, by techno proxy, were i not tied to respiration, sustenance, & elimination... oh well. pounding music & the ridiculous giddiness of uploading the scratchy, terrible recordings to this blog (what a lotta work figuring THAT out) distracted me from my own pity-party for a bit, & in that, enable me to go out tomorrow & do something worth a darn. maybe... quoth pogo, "i have met the enemy and he are us." happy week to all who read this.

Gabcast! luddite in the 21st century #4 - Count the Days - Piano Red & #3 - This is It - The Blasters

recorded thru cell phone - keys, voice, foot-stomp

elvis show slide show, whisk away them texas blues

these are some unedited photos by ron jones, www.ronjones.org, from the recent elvis show in hollywood (including my protruding undershirt in shots with blasters, & all of our ddevils double chins) ... email ron at his site to see all 300+ photos (& read his fitness tips). thanks to ron for being there & to art fein for having us. go to www.youtube.com & search Dusk Devils for a partial-sound representation of our set, as well as of others who played... wise words for the day: what does not kill us makes us stronger... and thank the good lord for that g*d*m rock&roll, which along with doggies & a few other things makes this life tolerable.

his favorite song was "precious lord"

yesterday, my union invited me to a breakfast to celebrate dr MLK jr's birthday. the mlk center here was packed with people of many backgrounds, good hearty food, politicians playing nice with each other, & several tall, tall men in good suits who were honored. i saw a friend i'd lost touch with whose dad wrote beach boys songs - she was happy & obviously doing just fine, filming for local tv with a camera the size of a morris mini... a certain pretty young assemblywoman with flashy smile, asked to speak about dr king's legacy, talked about herself. dolores huerta commented that we're all here to celebrate, but what can each of us do in our own lives to make change? it's nice to sit here and remember, but what can you do personally? : "si, se puede." dolores huerta did not draw attention to herself gratuitously, for her message, which she carried humbly, was what was important. others, redolent of american idol contestants heady with the thought, "it's all about me," would do well to take note...
the high pt was when a small, smartly-dressed, dark brown woman with close-cropped hair came out & began to sing: from her mouth came startling, powerful, effortless, & moving song on par (i thought) with any of the best gospel singers i've heard on records... i was proud to find out she used to be a teacher at a school i used to work at, in the same overgrown, underfunded, maddeningly top-heavy district. her name is wanetta crenshaw. tellingly, there's not one word online about wanetta crenshaw if you google her, whereas there are many pages about fools such as i... again, great people don't need to grandstand; they're just great. i'd do well to pay attention, but monkey-mind & flying keyboard fingers prohibit me from exhibiting much composure a lot of the time... oh well. that doesn't mean i can't continue to look for heroes, & finding them, be inspired by people like sra huerta & mizz crenshaw.

"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. :)

deficit omne quod nasciture

rest in peace, my childhood friend, a bright, big-eyed girl who in her adult life became, i believe, defeated; and rest in peace, my favorite childhood teacher, a talented musician, a noble soul, a vietnam veteran, a drunk. marcus aurelius kept a journal of thoughts on life & death ("meditations"):
1. Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.
2. Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else.
3. Everything that exists is in a manner the seed of that which will be.
4. Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. 5. Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it... Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.
6. It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
7. Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.
8. Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.
9. Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.
10. The act of dying is one of the acts of life.
11. When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
12. Where a man can live, he can also live well.

elvis show next mon 1-8-07 in hollywood

the line-up is at left - from legends to sorta-knowns to peons like us! the music'll be uniformly good to terrific, however, with performances full of heart and skill (well, in my case, mostly heart)...
and candye kane will be there! she is just beautiful, a great, expressive singer; a thoughtful writer; a talented songwriter; a human-rights activist; a warm-hearted soul ... and "has mondo cleavage," says brian p... she has something for everyone, in other words. :) read about her and buy her music here -- http://www.myspace.com/candyekane and http://www.candyekane.com/ (the link to her blog, also, is at right)... it will be a fun event, & we hope to do a fairly obscure song with bassist phil. welcome, phil! :) i hope to be able to watch my favorite band, the blasters, as well as other acts i've come to very much anticipate each year. thanks, art, for having us! :)

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappy new year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

feliz navidad, prospero ano, y felicitad :)

today was family- & food-filled, lots of laughing & good times, & if you read this, hope your day was swell, as well. my family likes to spearhead game-playing marathons at holidays, & i have to resort to mad-nerd buffoonery to cover up my ineptness... my hubby & stepson, both engineers, killed everyone at the game inventions, which requires one to be able to study & interpret diagrams, i think (my mom killed, too, but she is the family genius)... we also played rounds of mexican train & balderdash between helpings of tamales, chile relleno, flautas, carnitas, enchiladas & etc. mom & sis are killer cooks, so i have to deliver my spouse to them frequently so that he may eat well. he doesn't mind, & i'm lucky to have such an understanding guy. as my niece told me, "auntie jenny, you don't have many woman skills, do you?" and i guess i just don't in the traditional sense, can't cook or sew or the like, so music & the arts & trying to help others avoid the bigger speed bumps of life, as well as any other semi-skills i might have, will just have to suffice for now...
... our christmas music shows were fun! : friday night more than sat, i thought, but each night about 20 friends came out to support me & friday night the crowd was large & very enthusiastic (both nights were receptive, actually, but i could hear much better fri night, which always helps me have a better feeling about things in the end) & folks seemed to enjoy some xmas cheer, something to be mighty grateful for, & i am. thank you to sally & friends, mo & tom, lisa, my family, the lloyds & rafi, 3 chord whore, tammy & byron, greg, lyrch, the people who came up to get biz cards & ask about the band, & if i didn't mention you here, well, thanks to you, too!
fri at fishlips i met a beatific, beaming young guy from bakotopia named jose, 21 looking 16, who danced with big ray & chatted winningly with me at breaks. it seemed appropriate to meet such a cheerful person at christmas, & he seemed good to the bone, a music-lover-musician & a genuine soul, sort of a christmas angel, i felt. sat night he grabbed me to dance a little & probably regretted it since i only know how to twist & maybe pogo, but those guys certainly were fun to watch oi!-ska bouncing & rolling around the dance floors like big puppies... thank you so much to cesareo & matt for playing with us both nights, too: their expertise & good spirit really helped! i always have my fun, but afterwards i sometimes suffer when thinking about my hack playing... but i know what they did really made our sets sing, & i know people were enjoying the performance, so my job is to just not let my magic magnifying mind take over & make everything go fubar... brian p & i got to wear glittery & tacky holiday costumes; rocky nash was lovely & announced she will be a mom; a hip hop singer whose name i don't know, impressive in stature & voice, sang with the sat hip-hop act; & mento buru, well, they are just top-notch, the best in town, producing a professional, dance-inducing, monstrously musical sound always... i am again grateful to have been able to participate in all of this & now will sign off to go digest my tamales (or maybe go eat another one). :)

u-huppa-huppa-coming shows

dusk devils have holiday shows!!!! fri 12/22, fishlip's downtown; sat 12/23, sandrini's downtown... mon 1/8/07, elvis presley birthday show, henry fonda/music box theatre, hollywood... more info on the first two below or at www.bakotopia.com ; more info on the last at www.sofein.com ... yesterday at salvation army i got a xmas cassette tape for 54 cents (their pricing is strange) full of gems! : little eva & big dee irwin, elvis, the platters, frankie lymon, robert gordon... FIFTY-FOUR CENTS!!! :) happy hohoho or happy whatever you celebrate... or do not... happy.

oh-ho, the mistletoe: where's the dang mistletoe when i need it?? holiday shows 12/22, 23 (flyer below)... providence in boulder, blasters forever!!!

(photo by jerry angel) just back from colorado... and how are you? something swell happened, so i want to write about it, for when immersed in the pleasantness, mundanity, & occasional even horribleness of life, the important thing seems to be to learn from the drags, but heed the cool, so... we were in boulder visiting my hubby brian's (not to be cornfused w/brian paxton) mom, in the gigantic & warm hotel rm, nestled in against the snow & skimming the free alt-newsweeklies & i saw... heavens to betsy... surely this is providence... THE BLASTERS WERE PLAYING IN DENVER!! we made plans to drive to the show the next night. minutes later, hubby called from the commode-room, "they're playing TONIGHT!" i corrected him, tho i was the wrong one... they were on that night right there in BOULDER... this all may not mean a fig to you, but me, well, i've been enthralled with the blasters for more than a few decades, & i'm no spring chicken anymore, tho my squeakyish voice may falsely hint of youth: it's been a while! then the story gets incredible as in the dusk devils i've gotten to actually meet the blasters & see shows more than many times; interview their bandleader (whom i used to want to be my future ex-husband, but it's too late for that now; interview link on this pg); take my little sis to a "reunion" blasters show in socal that was filmed for a doc, & appear in it (for a few frames, that is...); & even do two elvis BD shows in hollywood, which the blasters headlined! it's all amazing ... when it gets down to it, so what? it'll mean nothing in 50 yrs. but for now, such happenings add to my temporal little joy. :) the "lattice of coincidence" (repo man) makes me wonder, all the time: there seems to be so much "random" fortuity! the only constant is change, yet there appears to be order underlying all. what is that order? the scientists may it discover; meantime, i marvel & wonder at its possibility & seeming appearance!
the show was at a wine bar in yuppie boulder, alma mater city of my hubby & art fein, too (more coincidence?). boulder is denver's yuppie little cousin, but i like them both, tho for my money, denver much more. anyhow, we were early & walked the trendy pearl street mall, freezing our keesters off, with no cares... what bad could happen? this was boulder! we sure didn't have to worry about getting brained or boosted... the wine bar led to a back-room, medium-sized theatre w/raised stage. it slowly filled with 50ish folks. even with the walk, we waited a long time. blasters fan club pres billy davis ran out, set up movie camera, audio recorder into board, tuned guitars, etc. finally the band came thru the crowd to loud cheers & my friend, drummer jerry, gave me a hug. phil alvin swaggered out like a jack emperor, smoking & grinning (or maybe i just imagined him smoking)... BLAM! they started. i moved stage right so i could see both bassist john bazz & guitarist keith wyatt's necks, lined up one atop the other (from my P.O.V.) as they played. the guitar, i think, was designed by beelzebub & just makes no sense, but keith was wheedling all over the place. he is certainly awesome! tho i could follow john b, i could never play five of his lines consecutively, especially not with his force, without breaking my fingers & wrist: he is the most awesome bass player in rock&roll! at the end of the second song, bazz yelled, "what are YOU guys doing HERE?" "visiting his mom!" i yelled, pointing to brian... jerry angel looked 30 if a day, black hair in 'billy do, & beat the skins with the precision & force of a guy who's played with everyone, punk to c&w, sneaking in surf fills that made the loud music ride higher... phil alvin has one cool, handsome band with these three guys, complimenting his beefy, bugs bunny on speed kind of grimacing wise-guy allure & expert showmanship & drive (he was born to be onstage.)... they did songs off "4-11-44," the tempos slowed for dancers in many cases: the sound was heavy, hard roots-blues, with johnny paycheck's "precious memories" louis armstrong's "i'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal, you" (dedicated to GW) & charlie rich's "rebound" grooving uptempo, intense, country-dixielandish. the blasters rocked!!! they curtain-called with "rock boppin' baby," bazz & wyatt's bottom-top melody lines jibing in such a sexy slinky way, even dorky me wanted to dirty-dance, & i got right up under phil at stage left, & he has this way of looking at a gal that will make you about faint, so he did, but i rode out my vapors & next was, of course, "american music," & on the famous chorus, phil replaced the word "rockabilly" with "norteno." god, i just love that!!! the blasters play music the people love, for the people. there's no dress code & there's no category. it's not just for boulderites, or rockabillies, or the haves: it's gritty, blasting "american music," which includes vernacular mexican, scots-irish, R&B, rhumba, jump blues, dixieland, hillbilly, etc... after the show, we said our goodbyes & talked a bit out back in the frozen alley with phil: moms, hiding out in nederland, the STPers, phil's union boss dad, who organized the area back when brian was in the physics dept wanting to smash atoms. i was grinning like a stupid moron, kite high on music-buzz, but it was time to go... sweet sleep didn't come til early that morning, even with french fries & calming, boring hotel TV, but i was only deaf til the next day: good news... as we left: "you playing the elvis show?" i about jumped out of my shoes!! "i hope so!!" i yelled. "yeah," phil said, "we told art fein we'd do it." "see you at elvis, then!!" i yelled, but we'll see!... that will be jan 8 in hollywood someplace. go to www.sofein.com for more details... and we have two little christmas shows coming up, too (below), & i say this as much to myself as you, to remember to watch for the good & for coincidence cause why not? why not? feliz cumpleanos to all...

hohohoho holiday show

we'll do nothing but yuletide songs! uptempo and rocking ones! fun and sing-along ones! come out for a beer, to bend an ear, some christmas cheer!
more show details: (friday night) fishlips, 1517 18th St, (661) 324-2557, www.fishlips.com ; (saturday night) sandrini's restaurant, 1918 Eye St, (661) 322-8900. both places are downtown eateries slash music venues known for good food (fishlips, seafood & some southern; sandrini's, italian)... i imagine we'll be on early, probably after 8:30 pm... go to bakotopia for cover, dinner reservations, etc.

driving through the winter night, lovely winking christmas lights, rocking chuck berry b-sides

it won't save the world, but it sure is bliss. in that way, it saves my world, at least for this evening. happy holidays tooyall!
AND GOOD GRAVY!! LISTEN TO THIS!!!: http://thehound.net/19881224/mp3s/start06.mp3 huey smith & the clowns, silent night... for more, or if this link doesn't work, go to http://thehound.net & look for the december shows... wonderful wonderful stuff!! life is worth it!!!!

it's the most wonderful time of the year.. time to buy more crap!!

i can't find the coolest christmas picture i've ever seen to post here!!! we used it long ago for the cover of a local underground paper, and it showed esquerita (left above) as santa claus!!! it was an image ripped off from norton records http://www.nortonrecords.com/index2.html , so maybe you'll be able to find it there in the upcoming month, not to mention many cool records.
well, tinsel & lights & commercial xmas is up all over; that kid put his gargantuan light show up at CALM for some really wonderful cornball loveliness; traffic & blood pressure's rising as the gift-buying frenzy intensifies; that crazy-crackup christmas story movie'll be on 24/7 soon enough; i have my annual wintertime headache & lack of air; & this all means it's time to post some christmas musical suggestions!!
MP3s: go to http://thehound.net for tons of free 40s-60s yuletide primitive rockandroll, RandB, and CandW!! (dang ampersand's not working on keyboard)
LISTS: go to http://www.ratso.net/cheat03.html for DJ ratso's finest (but i doubt you'll find many of these titles on limewire, blubster, or morpheus!)
RECORDS: i recommend these compilation LPs: a john waters christmas; rockabilly christmas; tejano country christmas; blues blues christmas 1925-55; rhythm & blues christmas; blue yule; christmas blues and shout; as well as tis the season for los straitjackets; merry texas christmas y'all (asleep at the wheel); merry christmas baby (charles brown); and the elvis, johnny mathis, johnny cash, brenda lee, new orleans, and andrew sisters christmas records. all these are available online from amazon, i think.

gobblegobblegobblegooblegobblegooblegobble

happy feast day! a few (very) simple thoughts: we're most of us americans "mixtures," but being indigenous american (YES, i use that term!) & italian at thanksgiving (or is that columbus day?) can be confusing!.. did anyone else grow up baffled about "what you are"? i've always loved the words, the music, the philosophy of underdogs, misfits, sad-sacks, & downright nutcases because anyone who's not these things more likely has instructions to life, privilege, slickness, conventional beauty, ideological certainty, those things that allow them to be on top, a lot of times by stepping on the heads of others. who needs them!! to paraphrase the christians, the meek shall inherit the earth, & you know what they say about the rich man entering heaven...
and i attribute this misfit-love to being mixed-race, being, like most of us USAnians, a "mutt." our dear little grandma was juaneno mission "indian" from san juan capistrano. she was devoutly catholic, & for that reason, i never bash the Church. i see a rosary or a "blessed mother" statue & think of grandma mary. the tribe has gotten very active & is one of those so close, yet so far from federal recognition, at which point we build casinos & get scholarship money. why not? i think such reward, tho insufficient (yes, & cynical), is tiny payback for near-eradication of an entire race. grandpa was mexican via chile, but i know nothing of his background, really - just have surmised that he was a talented, brainy man poisoned by cultural self-loathing from prejudice... all i know of the other side is that in italy, all the cousins, irregardless of age, drank vino, & "Papa" was always on tv. they served this regional dish, a ham loaf with eggs & pimientos & such that tasted (i'm sorry to have to admit this) just gross. dad said his uncle & father used to come home from union events talking about guys standing on the factory scaffolding & throwing hammers at scabs. sounds pretty old-world-violent. such are the measures to which the disenfranchised may resort to claw for power, i think. i wouldn't know, always having been lower-mid to (now) mid-class. we kinds kill ourselves with affluenza, self-absorption, & idle hands, i think. my last quadrant is english, & i know nada of that except that my dad was raised by a kindly, patient, parsimonious grandpa whom i never met but am grateful for because i think he taught my dad to be the gentle, circumspect man he is. that grandma's an ex-deputy, 83, a world traveler. :)
anyway, thanksgiving celebrates something very weird & uncelebratory, when you get down to it, so like so many things, i prefer to limn, float across the reality so that i may keep myself dopily grinning. to get into its implications, well, it's just too heartbreaking & makes me worthless. thanksgiving fundamentally for me is about loved ones, & giving thanks. i have a wonderful, precious family & so much love in my life. i have food, shelter, companions, music, books, opportunities for service to fellow humans, the things a soul needs. i also am 11 yrs past my due date, so on thanksgiving, i will give thanks for having another day on this precious planet. hope if you're reading this, you, too, may find good things for which to give thanks, & take action to improve the bad. if you want to comment on family or heritage, please do.

slaaaaaaaaaahd show

i just put a slide show on the dusk devils' myspace site. go to www.myspace.com/theduskdevils to see it! i rearranged & chose some new pix, but for some reason, they're not showing up. i'll check again tomorrow & see if the changes have shown up... meanwhile, enjoy the blast from the past these snaps provide, & comment if'n you wish! :) we had many good times, amidst all the "dysfunctional family" problemos common to music ensembles... my sister band, the ex-girlfriends, have recorded 5 of their 12 new songs & likely will post them to www.bakotopia.com once they figure out how to go from digital 8-track to cd... if you have such expertise & want to share it, please email! :)

la musica ed il video per uno spaventoso halloween il giorno... zombi rocknroll!!

happy halloween again! got a minute? here are links to video (below) & a few songs you've maybe never heard... rockabilly ain't the stray cats, & video (plus psychedelics & heavy metal) killed the radio star & rocknroll, period! this stuff, tho, to me embodies adrenalinized, greasy, wild rocknroll music, & in the spirit of the special day, here you can listen to & download crazy halloween tunes, to create a fun, rocking, out of this world spookfest soundtrack! http://thehound.net/19891028/ , http://thehound.net/19901027/ , http://thehound.net/19931030/ ...
how about some video? here are links to my most favorite videos by the ultra-photogenic cramps, the band that lives halloween all year long... it's hepped-up, gross & cool fun - don't watch unless you like zombie-monster sci-fi sleazybilly stuff, & if you do, you've probably seen all of these already! god bless youtube. these videos used to be so very hard to find! ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kpYUuHMhkg (garbageman) , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQcSiq--F0I & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3h315SyLmw (human fly & teenage werewolf - unused footage from urgh! a music war!) , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCQ4QLFl01g (tear it up from urgh! this part of the movie warped & moved the lives of nerds & misfits everywhere! at least it did mine!), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFxqJs9PdKI (interview w/hilarious bollywood footage used later in movie "ghost world" - lux is hilariously spacy-deadpan & very cool)... I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST! this is super funny & pretty tasteless (i guess)... if you like that kinfa thing, it'll make you laugh out loud!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGToQt1EylY (creature from the black leather lagoon) ... here are some more non-cramps halloweeny videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONKzJS1T_XM (screamin' jay hawkins - i put a spell on you!) , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdiCLpRgvEw (the mummies - justine!) , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRM3LO2ZCac (screamin' lord sutch - jack the ripper)... well, that's enough for now. there is so much more, so watch now, cause the recording & movie industries are cracking down... aaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooo!!

happy all hallows eve, all sts' day, dia de los muertos, plus a bunch of pontificating & psalm-singing no one cares about, including me...

bako has the #1 haunted house in the nation! go to http://www.chamberofchills.com/home.html for specs (thru 10/31/06)... show starts nightly at 7 pm...( i just looked at pix, & it looks way too scary for me, & i am a long-time horror movie freak, my favorites listed at bottom. doesn't seem "appropriate for all ages," to these eyes!! however, parents should decide for themselves. if i had little, medium sized, or just impressionable ones, they'd definitely not be going!)
happy birthday to blib! :) for halloween, we were haystack calhoun & the great moolah this past weekend, with friends in monterey. haystack's beard & moolah's red wig bit the dust, but it was fun enough... happy trick or treat & nighttime merry making to all who read this... & kind remembrance of those loved ones & seas of souls who've left before us. i love halloween's whistling in & laughing at the dark, followed by the colorful ceremony & reverence of all saints day & dia de los muertos. but can you fathom there are still some (here locally, A LOT more than some, sad to say) who think halloween is "the devil's birthday"??? that's what they actually call it! children in my classes, parroting their parents, say it. where does this fear come from? halloween, an "evil" celebration? in my view, evil is people who interpret their sacred texts for oppressive & violent purposes. evil is those who hurt fellow humans (& animals, which opens up another can of worms all together). evil are those who let their little ones dress up in "pimp" & "ho" costumes. (or maybe that's just stupidity... there have been articles recently about the sexing up of little girls' halloween costumes... yeccchhh!!! what can "adults" & manufacturers be thinking to encourage this mindset in children? i don't even wanna think about it. that certainly would make me think evil thoughts, like going out & slapping the crap out of someone.)
dressing up like "evil" to poke fun at superstitions & fears... to me, that's admirable! to show courage, to live bravely in the face of impending death, the death that is built into all of us, is the way to go. a definition: "Ignorance coupled with fear produces what is referred to as evil. "
boo!
these are my 13 favorite halloween movies:
terrifying (no children allowed!): 1. zombi; 2. texas chainsaw massacre (the original)
funny-gory (again, no kids!): 3. bad taste; 4. sean of the dead.
comedy-horror (ok for kids): 5. young frankenstein; 6. the addams family.
classics: 7. bride of frankenstein; 8. dr jekyll & mr hyde (1932); 9. the mummy.
psychological horror: 10. island of lost souls; 11. night of the hunter; 12) targets.
campy: 13. the abominable dr phibes
music: the cramps, the groovie ghoulies, screamin' jay hawkins, screamin' lord sutch, plus born bad and halloween rock & roll compilations galore. it's halloweeeeen!!!! wheeeee!!!!

jenna jenna jenna won't you come along with me jenna jenna wooo jenna jenna

i tried adding this pic to the below post, but it wouldn't go. blogger's funny like that sometimes. so here are jenna & i at the jerry lee lewis show last week down south. whatta kick! (too bad her "bakersfield" sweatshirt logo is obscured, tho.) it's funny how small the rockabilly & primitive R&R enthusiast subgroup is, no matter where you go. it can feel friendly and familiar, despite the dress code insisted upon by some! ferinstance, i saw that evening a fellow who was at the don't knock the rock gun club movie show back in june as well as a few musicians from green bay wi's rockin 50s fest back in 02 & several popular rockabilly musicians lots of folks know & like as well as friends of art fein's whom i've only read about on his site. (art took the photo.) now i can attach faces... tomorrow it's back to the city by the bay for school, where blib & i will stay with smitty, ex rso bassist, ex sometime model (one time he described in rhapsodic detail a photo shoot he did for playboy with some gorgeous babe), & early-retired schwab millionairo, now gardener of lombard street... john has a samurai kind of job these days, nourishing the famous plantlife while chasing off tourists & bikers who show bad driving etiquette along the crookedest road in the world... happy weekend to all who read this!

jerry lee lewis, stories of lennon & dylan

(ok, i just got an email asking for more show details, so i'm fattening this post...) these are photos by young jenna from yesterday's record release mini-show in hollywd by the one & only jerry lee lewis, promoting his new CD, "last man standing," featuring tons of guest artists ( http://www.amazon.com/Last-Man-Standing-Jerry-Lewis/dp/B000GRUQYW ) ... the record is full of energy; jenna enthused, "he sounds just like he used to!!" the thumping thumping bass, wild-abandon guitar, & shagging tempo of the mall-piazza packed show reminded me of the fabulous "don't knock the rock" video i seem to write about now & then (it's fantastic! look for it & get a copy!)... the killer did a 20-min set: two chuck berries, two of his, all pulsing-rocking. he stood up & smashed the keyboard with his foot & plonked it with his butt, but that was it for wild dramatics: jerry lee's been rode hard & hung up wet, not like the flaming wildman little richard still is... JLL has arthritis now, & so stuck to 3-4 of his never-fail thrill-to-the-bone piano tricks. i sympathized, having somewhat-arthritic thumbs from the tiny bit of key pounding i've done. jerry lee is one inimitably talented & tough mother to have assaulted the ivories all these years & still have such strength & dexterity, even if he isn't a wailing-wild good ole boy anymore... afterward at mel's, jenna & i had fries & onion rings while art fein ate off our plate (he had his own order, but does this) & told nonstop stories about the brown derby, cobb salads, working at variety, capitol, with the blasters, the cramps, hanging out with john lennon & yoko as well as bob dylan, phil spector, the fella's known & knows lots of famous folks... jenna was refreshing company & talked excitedly about the rousing music of the 50s in a way i've only heard art express, in a way i've always felt, too. she was a wonderful traveling companion. :)

"the greatest true psychobilly"...a backhand-slap of a compliment: remembering the earliest "dusk devils"

my sister wrote to exene & original sinners to say "thank you for putting my sister's band on your site." i figured they were recognizing the band of me & the guys playing rockabilly cover songs since late 2002. however, the o-sinners' reply indicates otherwise!
in 01-02, songs began pouring out of my craw like rainwater over a dirty gutter... nearly all were about old relationships (train wrecks, hostage situations, near murder/suicides). like many songwriters must, or how in the world would they move forward?, i felt i had good melodies & lyrics. i pried open my wallet, purchased the 2nd-tier tascam tape portastudio & started laying down tracks. problem is, i'd never sung before & was seriously rusty on piano. at that time, i was on the heels of having played bass in a hessian-type band, but that was it - no ivory stomping since the high-as-a-kite country beau days, when i'd forge out buck owens, rodney crowell, highway 101 by ear in the wee am hours on his bartender roommate's bitchin' yamaha cp-80...
slowly, very slowly, i would work out the crudest of guitar parts. it took hours & hours to play one little crappy sounding line!! i have this beat-up kay, so beat up, even phil alvin wouldn't play it... i had no amps: everything went straight into the portastudio. no effects: i'd sing into a trash can, even, to try to get some kind of different sound. most of the singing, i'd double the vocals w/a tight harmony to fill the sound up, like buck & don or louvin bros manque... the signals were always too high or low. my timing would go off constantly cause it was so hard to hear what i was doing. i used drum tracks off a keyboard my father was sweet enough to buy me, since my earlier efforts with chopsticks to make "drums" were too bad even for me to abide. with each track addition, there would be degradation of another. it was a mess, but it was mine.
so many people were doing this kind of thing in the earlier net years, pretending to be a band, but working solo at home, trying to get their music out there. i certainly didn't feel unique, but it was certainly fun & exciting, too: i felt like a low-rent, nobody, distaff ed wood. but productive!! creating!! no matter how rotten the track, if it recorded, i'd usually roll with it, mostly out of fatigue & determination. this was when i'd just started a local underground paper & my total attitude was, just do it. don't look it too closely or you'll balk. make something, do something, or SHUT UP!!!
i took my crude but heartfelt love, loss, revenge songs, made a tape called "the dusk devils," & gave it to many people. i'd give them out, then run. maybe SOMEONE would hear the songs, through all the mess. the cover was a photoshop i made of me, me (me as twins), & my husband being choked by a young andre the giant. johnny fire in fl ended up recording one of the songs professionally - "my heart remembers when." recently, i pulled out the old recordings to see if any of them were salvagable for another music project i sort of have... i decided NO WAY!!! i was happy to realize, tho, like brian p has said, my playing has improved since back then, so i guess i need to tell him "thank you" since he was right. i used to scoff when he'd say it. those old recordings were not only emotionally naked in sentiment, but REALLY REALLY RAW (read: bad) in many ways!! i don't think i could or would ever perform them, but i like my lyrics & melodies, & i like my pretty, rottenly made songs, their stubborn horribleness & grit & yet how some parts ring out like lovely truths & how does that happen, anyway? there just must be a god.
these are the recordings that the original sinners & exene liked. :)
here's the letter angie, my younger sissy who had a birthday yesterday, got. thank you, ang, for sending the thank you note. i never would've thought to do so, & so never would've known that exene & her band liked my first songs, my earliest music. :)

"No thank her, Angie, This is Jason from Sinners. Please tell her for me that I'm in love with that terrible tape recording they gave us in Bakersfield when they opened for us years back. ["We" didn't because there was no band, but I'm glad to think he remembers it that way.] I still have it and it doesn't leave our truck often. The over driven bass, the screeching squirps of the recorder, the synthesizer drums, and through it all the most beautiful songs. It's a complete disaster. I consider it one of the greatest true psychobilly recordings I've ever heard. True love, Jason Edge"

the killer awoke before dawn... he put his boots on...

i always thought it'd be cool to put jerry lee lewis's mug on a shirt w/those doors lines, since they're sinister & so is the killer, tho one is hotly & one is coolly so, like the difference between robt mitchum (hot) & charles laughton (cool), but both musical acts headed by magnetic, egotistical, manly SOB types... (i have a fever. bear with me.)
JLL'll play a little show at the virgin megastore, hollywood/ highland in socal, thurs oct 12 at (i think) 6:30 pm to promote a "new" LP...i hope to be there with my boots on, tho if this flu doesn't pass, i might die with 'em on instead. i wrote about it a yr or more ago, but the coolest video ever is "don't knock the rock," a bbc granada tv show from '63 featuring JLL, little richard, the animals, gene vincent... it is breathtaking, one of those musical deals that makes the listener want to go wild, jump out the window, make a break for it. i saw it when i was an ostrich teen & it nearly made me come to life (tho unfortunately it took the advent of partying to do it). i saw JLL many yrs back with bo diddley (lots of fun) and little richard (always the best, but did a set so short, our friends went for cerveza & the king-queen was done when they returned)... the killer at that time decidedly lacked oomph, but he could still run those keys, as i bet he still can. maybe i could partly follow a geriatric jerry lee, get some playing ideas! (doubt it.) ...oh, i gotta let the dogs in... just got home & they look so pitiful out there, in the drizzle... then to bed for something resembling death, sweet sleep, i hope. (pic is of great double LP - corny, raunchy, gritty, sort of horrible in its egotism & slop yet oh so cool stuff...)

the painter man: may he rest in peace

this am i got home from a trip where i visited wonderful sister b & my old friend donna & was told that our dear friend dennis died last night at around 11 pm. dennis had been to prison several times, said his middle name used to be "failure to appear" because of the length & nature of his rap sheet, lived on top of the silver fox bar for a while, but in the past 10 yrs had completely turned his life around. his new middle name, he said, was "willing to go to any length," & he lived that way. he had been reunited with family. he backed up his words with action. he was well-loved & respected in the local fellowship. he was hard-working, a jokester, a friend, someone who always had a funny, kind word for all, a guy head to toe sincere. "has anybody told you they loved you today?" was his most common greeting to men & women alike, accompanied by a cheshire-like grin & a hug. he always sat by the door at the oildale sunday morning spiritual meeting, &, in what surprised me in such a gruff-seeming guy, would loudly sing perfect harmony during "happy birthday." when i helmed the local roundup last spring, we asked him to lead the saturday night speaker mtg & a woman at this morning's mtg remembered, "he showed up wearing his shades & a flashy purple jacket & i thought, 'is that dennis, or dr johnny fever?' he cleaned up real nice."
dennis's dear buddy jimmy called brian & gave him the news last night at 11 pm as he drove up to fresno, where the accident had happened. jimmy was on his way up to bring home dennis's friend kathleen, who was on dennis's painting crew, saw the accident happen, saw dennis draw his last breath at the hospital (the story is so moving & full of so many "coincidences," but kathleen is the one to tell it, not me). when i got the news this am, through my tears i asked brian what jimmy & kathleen were doing now & he said, matter-of-factly, "they're on their way to the meeting." so in the truck we got & off we went, too.
dennis told kathleen, when his own father was dying & he was there every step of the way, "this is what we do." meaning that we take action, do the next indicated step, do the right thing, even & maybe especially even when it's tough.
dennis, dear friend, dear "painter man," as brian called you, we miss you already. you walked it like you talked it, died doing what you loved, surrounded by family & friends who loved & admired you. from a hopeless & incomprehensibly demoralized drunk, you had become a happy, productive, successful member of society who helped so many to find hope & have the courage to keep trying. we should all leave this earth & be fortunate enough to have lived like dennis did.

punk rock queen exene's top 8: dusk devils

johnny fire from FL emailed & told me exene had put the dusk devils on her myspace top 8... !!!... this is something of a small compliment, a big one, in old punk circles. it'll be gone soon, but here's the link: www.myspace.com/exenecervenka ... exene is a celebrity, like the great moolah or buck owens, about whom folks seem to have strong feelings. i saw her original sinners at jerry's one time, in a ear-bleedingly loud, screaming, shredding, but bouncy-fun & exciting event. exene, just a bit my senior, looked like a pretty, broken victorian thrift-shop doll. 3 chord whore's shantell had a punk rock book filled w/autographs she'd gathered from punk royalty: exene was flattered & happy to sign it. i had a scrap of paper; exene was not flattered or happy to sign it. this was one of punk rock's queens, what did i expect: pollyanna? it was a great show. not everything's personal!! ... when i was young & everything was personal, exene was to me cool & mysterious & more accessible than siouxsie of the creatures/the banshees... exene's band x was punk-poetry, but their guitarist, billy zoom, had the look & lines of rockabilly. they were quirky & stubborn people, you could tell, who covered the doors, jerry lee lewis, the troggs, whatever they wanted to, & wrote brutal & beautiful odes to LA life. they liked what they liked & i respect that, tho when their music went more metal, i stopped listening.

"some people never go crazy. what truly horrible lives they must lead." - bukowski

just concluded school wkend #2 in shaky town, the city by the bay, just can't call it san fran-sicko, that just ain't right... the 152 over pacheco pass is the way to go, i think, past the reservoir & casa de fruta, then on 101 where i stopped off in burlingame & caught the bukowski pic "factotum"... i am not shiteing you when i say i've dreamed many times of this movie house, from the windy staircases & terraced seating & partitions in the pie-shaped theatre to the mirror-backed tree growing in the foyer. it should've been creepy to finally see it, but it was downright cool & wasn't weird a bit! fri night a lovely & gracious 1st grade/art teacher put me up in her bernal hts home & i went walking in the cool eve & had the greatest malted at this little hamburger joint full of winking lights & flowers & chromed surfaces.
sat's classes dazzled me. after near-15 yrs in elementary ed, i'm so grateful to receive education (& to know i still can learn!)... my favorite teacher is neeli, who was drinking buddies with bukowski & has formidable credentials in beat poetry, street & school, life & learning: he's in line to be poet laureate of san francisco right now. he's this beautiful, broken-toothed, brilliant, big-hearted soul who spins wildly fascinating, rambling lectures. when the profs get going, & neeli especially, my heart pounds like it's love or music... it's too thrilling to learn learn learn, & i feel grateful, humbled, invigorated. Man has specific manifestations, but Man is one: i love it. i'm a bit of a slouch in the group, mebbe, having majored in english tho i should've majored in "pub" & learned little formally, but i feel worthy of my seat. i may not have big school breeding, comparative classics muscle, or polyglotism, but i've got life & i've got willingness &, doing the new college program, i'm getting my heart & soul back. (bukowski said, "if you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose.") a little more on neeli:
http://www.newcollege.edu/profiles/profiledetails.cfm?profileID=15 ...he & gary tombleson, the program's keen & regal director, took a road trip to smellay for the donation of bukowski's writings to the huntington. the info is here: http://www.huntington.org/Information/bukowski.html ... tho it doesn't feel as funky-safe as austin or as rambling-romantic as LA, sf's mission's diversity & rhythm invigorate me: stopping in for a burrito-blimp that lulls the maw all day, rummaging thru free books on a sidewalk, hanging out at a corner to listen to mexican or jazz music coming from bars while watching yuppies walk dogs & realizing that HERE, i look like a square, L7, a dork... cool! no one cares how much makeup i have on or what i'm wearing; no one stares, like happens at times in bako. it's like when i was a kid & wished to have powers of invisibility, but it's real & i can reappear at will, by smiling at or greeting a passer-by... due to brain drain, i forwent more movies at the corner roxie theatre ( www.roxie.com ) & hit the road, on the way home cheered to realize, tho my nocturnal vision's getting awful dim, if i can be a chase car & have music, i can drive all night: chicago soul, old crow medicine show on prairie home companion, classic country & western, reprises of creepy, wild wolfman jack shows: the songs kept the truck rolling & i was home before 10, greeted by spouse & menagerie.