Good show.

we had a great time. my max bangwell kick drum, one of his old snares, kept bouncing away, which was a fly in the potato salad. gentleman stephen hodges (hodgie, whom james met when he roadied for the james Harman band when james was 15 [!!]) said we need to bolt it to a plank of wood. when he got up, with this awesomely gigantic kick, even his wouldn't stay put. "hollow stage," he said. it was a terrific, sold-out, cadillac-zack-presents show. zack said he's had over 2000 shows! james was in fine form, thrilling & virile, the band detonative. 2 fans said tell james to bring back the keyboard full-time. i said i had been doing that for a while, but it's too macho: i didnt fit in. zack, eavesdropping, said, yeah, but with you in the band, the misogyny drops by at least 10 percent. james laughed out loud! well, time for work.

musings & bemusings

(picture: abandoned dog house in fields near mom & dad's house, n.e. bakersfield) yrs ago, a cousin of mine got a really great job as 2nd-hand-man at spacex ("before elon became evil," his mom, aunt pam, cracked). the other eve in bakersfield over healthy foods with mom & dad, mama told us this cousin bought his parents a 12.5 million buckos pad ON THE BEACH, ON CORONADO ISLAND, WITH AN ELEVATOR!!! i laughed heartily! it's the first time that evidence of mabillionaire wealth surfaced in our family. gadzooks! and the thing is, his folks are so great: my favorite aunt/uncle, really. the bad ones have moved away or are languishing in carehomes, & the other faves of mine are in heaven (or wherever aunty rita is! she was such an instigator!) or i never see them (in hawaii, on their ranch). this aunt & uncle so deserve this kinda great dig! even cooler, the first ppl they thought of were mom & dad, & they made calls & figured out how to deliver our dear parents from bakersfield to coronado, dooor to door. this news required another big laugh. wow! it's all so wonderful!

today we have a gig & i have SO MUCH GEAR. james said ppl try to get on this particular gig but can't, so i feel somewhat charmed. it means i've got even more duty to put on the best show i can. i've been reading thich nhat hanh & so hope to have the correct spirit, too: i am alive, i am happy -- then that gets transmitted to those around me, just like your energy/message is transmitted to all those around you. we contain all of those who preceded us & our spirit, like a firework!, spreads in all directions to those we encounter. will i spread goodness or bullsh*t? kindness or greed? (etc. etc.) "no [wo]man is an island" - j.donne.

lately, 3 cheers! i'm in better heath & breathing mostly clearly, pulmonary test upcoming. grateful to have insurance to get these tests done! whatever the results, ppl get by all the time with deficits of health, intellect, life conditions. it shall be what it shall be! getting older is a process of adjusting... for those of us who GET to get older in this realm! lastly, have you seen primetime with robt pattinson? am more than mildly obsessed with the romantic duo stars of the old twilight movies, pattinson & kristin stewart, tho've never seen a-one of those teenage vampire flix. it's fabulous how they both took their enormous pop fame, influence, smackers, & turned toward weirdo art films. i love that two young celebrities are deep down strange-os with excellent taste & no desire to be status quo! i think that's it for now. time to wake the man.

whiteboy james & the blues express with opener jenny & the phantoms

r.i.p., R.S., the cool cat jolly giant of the bass, never a snob, a friend to all. https://www.facebook.com/events/1093262156449798

graaavest gravy, graaavest gravy

because of asthma, and a raucous beginning of school, and my own indolence, and hoodahellnose, i do not yet have a copy of this... and now it's mostly sold out. i am losing my edge. this is what happens. damned gravity. will i again ever be mehitabel-like toujour gai? only the shadows knows. blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla blablabla blablablablablablabla

homelander, love lies bleeding, my life in france, & mo

we have had sad events here (and frightening health issues! do not drink diet sodas, if you have an overactive immune system!), so here are some of my summer obsessions: 1) antony starr as homelander - his mercurially twisted handsomeness & seemingly unstoppable true menace made the boys especially thrilling! since the show ender in june, my obsession has shifted to the tremendous artistry evident in some of the action figure heads of starr. wow! (james sez they are 3d-printed, but didn't someone have to create the designs? maybe it's all ai-generated.) 2) a24's love lies bleeding, which i read in a few reviews to be a "sapphic fever dream" but even more is a quirky, gritty crime caper, a happily-ever-after body horror underdog love story featuring magnetic, kickass, charismatic kristen stewart & katy o'brian! oh how i loved its wonderfully surreal, then morbid, then true-love-affirming ending! 3) julia child's my life in france, so charming, smart, lovely, & chummy, i have to read it in short bites, like nibbling at a delicious dish so that it lasts its longest possible; 4) our new stove, which i got on facebook marketplace, & that fits perfectly, replacing our old scary, vermin-infested oven. after james sealed the mouse highway in the wall, i fashioned a tiny shelf from sheet metal scraps, made a jeweled backsplash from dollar store placemats, filled the cabinet below the stove with all our cast iron cookery, then festooned it all with favorite antiquey tchotches. we now smile every time we walk in the kitchen. turns out james was rather horrified, too, by the old oven.... & now i can cook again without being creeped out!... i don't know what more to write except school's about to start back up, james is getting a new guitar, & boy i hope some music will be crackin soon. i spose in my final school yr, there's always playing & singing daily in the classroom with my 3rd graders. this has been my latest entry, dear diary, & i hope not my last. (ps, i watched an LA band do a truly horrible rendition of the truly horrible -- but fun! -- theme song from faster pussycat kill! kill! the other eve, which led to a documentary in which john waters, great auteur & wit, described FPKK as not only the best movie ever made, but the best movie that probably ever will be made. that certainly deserves an LOL!)

another revolution

so the plan for the next 300 or so days is that i will teach one last yr, playing music here & there, then burst back upon the world of vernacular music like a quazar, back into the rocknroll circus, as my seester calls it, but the question is will it still catch fire like it did? before this chapter, i was free lonesome selfish glamorous, & so many were here who now are not (except in spirit). they were important ones who made life thrilling, people like Manuel & Art, filled up with american music. this chapter's been so long, it took out lux interior, little richard, chuck berry & muhammad ali, & tina turner, lorrie collins, dearest gene, dex romweber, so so many i can't even keep it straight. jimmy carter, apostle of southern goodness. not to mention all the family. i'm here at the coast with family to celebrate mama's bd, mine too today, & just finished a moving book, anachronistic but memorable, the four winds, & guess it's got me thinking. long as i have two hands that still move & a voice & brain that still work i will want to play american music. guess i just hope i've got more than a yr left on this plain/plane to do so. thank you to anyone reading this & to memphis mike out there, too.

you must

get this important book, if you don't already have it. i could hardly put it down!! maila nurmi, as described sensitively & skillfully by her remote but adoring niece, was glamorous, frustrating, tempestuous, wildly innovative, pugnacious. the story ultimately is touching as told by talented niemi: indelibly humane & memorable. orson welles, marlon brando: both were her boyfriends? the streets & insider scenes of hollywood in the '40s & '50s? that's just the start: in between bouts of poverty & deprivation, both self- & other-inflicted, maila's life unfolds, enabling readers to enjoy maximum shivery fly-on-the-wall thrills & chills. willful, eccentric, difficult, she also was stubbornly admirable, gifted, prodigiously creative: a bona fide iconoclast. thank you, phil s, for getting this for james, who lent it to me... & now i'm keeping it! it has a special spot now in my bedroom bookshelf, where the most cherished titles go. sometimes when i'm resting, i look over at those most precious tomes & feel so happy to be alive to have read them... i'm not kidding -- READ THIS BOOK NOW!! (the link is to abe books, but it's also on thrift books & elsewhere online.) i hope sandra niemi, maila's niece, has written more, for she is a certain talent!