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- i've been thinking a million things, so here are some: driving & crying the other day, home from kicka*s mfing fantastic show in seal beach, welled up w/sorrow listening to chuck berry tribute on kpfk, was thinking how one of my most favorite things to do in this life is to drive & listen to chuck berry. i wrote a song about it, in part, 20 years ago. chuck berry's music & driving have been an inextricable part of my life. so many emotions, so many feelings, so many memories... god bless chuck berry, even if he personally was a mfer. some of the most talented people on earth, i know, are more than part-crazy, & a big part of that can be mean as a junkyard dog. it all just goes together... then that night i dreamed i was married to manuel, my dear departed friend who played beautiful rockin chuck berry guitar, & god bless james, i told him about my dream & he gently quipped, "i dreamed i was married to manuel, too"... bloodshot bill posted on facebook a CB pic he'd cut out of a library book & hung on his wall when he was young and... I CUT THE SAME PIC OUT OF A LIBRARY BOOK & HUNG IT ON MY WALL WHEN I WAS YOUNG!!! (it's still up there, in fact!)... so i watched one of bb's more recent videos in which he plays w/a band instead of just himself (no lewd joke there; that's been his wild shtick) & there were too many bodies on the stage; it was unnecessary; but i still dig his charlie feathers/hasil adkins vocals, even if mister page says they're contrived. to contrive to sound like those cats is universes cooler than the contrived vocals many other musicians bleet & blah. it's like "girl" singers who ape wanda jackson or janis martin or "girl" scenesters who ape bettie page: just about who on earth is cooler to imitate than them??? i wonder when "girls" will start trying to be like sister rosetta or big mama or poison ivy?... then suddenly on kpfk came the most horrible, putrid, lame-a*s version of "come on." i began to scream; in my rage, i nearly wrecked my car!!! it felt like my ears had been hit by a dumptruck of sh*t!! simpering, whining sh*t!!!! turns out this "come on" cover had been the rolling stones' 1st single, & i knew in that very moment why james has always despised the rolling stones... their version of "come on" was SO, SO, SO, SO BAD!!!!!
- the brit invasion bringing american music back into the world was not just ironic, but a catch-22: ironic cause they loved & still love our music more than we do, catch-22 bc back in the early 60s, new audiences were being exposed to our wonderful american music via lame, flaccid, face-bashingly bad covers! had the stones' version of "come on" been released 10-15 years later, i like to picture, american music purists would have stomped the crap out of mick & the stones & all others who did injustice to the CB catalog!!
- i calmed myself; the terrible cover ended; kpfk played some more great chuck cuts.. then, just like that, like projectile vomiting, ELO's "roll over beethoven" came on... WHY HAS NO ONE KILLED THEM FOR PUTTING THIS OUT?!?!?! WHY DID CHUCK BERRY NOT GET A TRUCKLOAD OF DYNAMITE & TAKE OUT EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM?!?!? i am married to someone who once pelted in the mug w/a grapefruit a certain phony pop-rockabilly icon, right in the middle of the icon's big fancy stage show (& then was removed, laughing hysterically, by bouncers, who "beat the sh*t" out of him while he continued to laugh maniacally)... and that rockabilly icon, phony as he may be, at least had the decency not to desecrate a chuck berry song by releasing it as a single... Editi used to think ELO were merely innocuous, but now i know: ELO & all like them  who re-record our great american music with evil intention of "improving" upon it must be stopped... STOP THEM BEFORE THEY RECORD!!!! CHAIN THEM!! KICK THEM REPEATEDLY!!! SEND THEM TO THE CORNFIELD!!!
- this week, w/great music on my mind so much, i flashed on this dunce i was involved with in a 2-year mistake that saved a place for james. this genius used to say things like, "you're just judgmental. i like ALL styles of music because I'M open-minded" (this from the most judgmental person i had ever met). then the person would talk about the one gig he did in his entire life, in which he of course named the band after himself (it was most likely just a set, not an entire gig)... but i know that, rather than me being "small-minded,"i have good taste, i know what i like, & he was & probably still is a do-nothing turd. james & i know what's good!!! we will not budge on what is good!!!!! life is too short to listen to bad music!!!!!!
- oh, it has been such a long week already... i think i'm kinda delirious...
- we are supposed to go see the gene taylor trio on friday; i can't wait! gene posted a vid of himself  playing, & his hand position is so perfect, so loose yet firm; he can play every run with perfect ease & groove; his attack is so solid, so friendly, so rockin... phil alvin will be joining the trio. james & i will, i hope, have a swell old time. and if that combo pays tribute to chuck berry with a song, i know one thing: it will honor the king of rock'n'roll. it will be worthy....
just realized i forgot the pix. i'll put them up another time... gnite.

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here is a little video to celebrate great music, friends, & a bee-yoo-tee-ful day... huge, huge birds are in the trees out the window! they must be a foot in height each! wow!

mos def as chuck berry!! "...a lot of people call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists."

->in the movie "cadillac records," the singer/actor (tho diminutive, younger, w/different singing style) looks so much like berry, he does many scenes even sans pencil-mustache. his 1st scene was so great, i started blubbering w/joy!!! this movie, to my cashiers-du-cinema [sic] mind, was fair, w/moments of excitement, but mostly inducing the mopes as swell blues & R&R music morph into the slow stuff, but the topic... SO WORTH IT!! and beyonce, jeez, what a movie star: marilyn curves, beautiful baby face, husky southern drawl (but the movie was weird in having the actors "interpret" the [i think] uninterpretable songs... leave the songs be!!!)...
now we need movies fully devoted to specialty, king, imperial, verve, & of course, sun, then eccentric later labels like arhoolie, norton, rollin' rock, rhino, slash, bomp, uh uh... add to the list! on CR's soundtrack is a slithering, smoldering tune "let's take a walk" that i thought was some great 50s female soul singer, some unknown-to-me plum... then maybe al green... but no, it's raphael saadiq, & feeling like vincent price in "last man on earth," i didn't know of him!!! if you don't, either, here's his site: Www.myspace.com/raphaelsaadiq

i don't care about history, cause that's not where i wanna be, i just wanna get some kicks, ...

i love that song. i love rocknroll. i love teaching. they seem exclusive sometimes. yes, at times it's hard to be "the man" - that is, the teacher. two days in, & yesterday was quite a looloo. no class list. no classroom key. so of course the class was wild. two of my three classes are intensive (lowest level). the poor dears don't read. some can't, some can't or won't concentrate long enough to try. one group's so loud & "easily distracted" (as is said in eddication), it's lion-taming right now. herding cats, some say. i'm hustling from one room to another to sub for the librarian (job i'm applying for) while trying to on-the-spur mentor the sub who has my class. not sure what materials i can/can't use in the other classroom that is not mine. have to copy 110 5-page tests (pared down from 12). the copier is out of paper. someone wants to talk. why would i say no? the person is nice. a parent wants to talk. we want to talk to parents. always.
all of this is time-consuming. the campus is big. my feet hurt. wah wah wah. teacher comes in & says the kids saw someone messing w/my car... a few hours ago. i go out & see that thieves have removed my catalytic converter. over $1000 to replace. i want to use four-letter words, but i'm a teacher. thank god i'm a teacher.
my folks drive me home. b & dad go get the car, which now sounds like a rocket (a beat-up one). call the insurance. call the repair place. take the thing over. borrow another car for tomorrow. thank goodness for family & support. thank goodness for nice & supportive boss. file police report. go talk to the campus supervisor. two other teachers say they saw someone under my car. i want to sock them both.
many people would be completely ruined by this, dad reminds me. they wouldn't have insurance, be able to afford the repair, get to work, get the kids to daycare. ruined. this would be it for them. no one was hurt, mom says; it's just stuff. who cares in the long run? redistribution of wealth, dad says. this is the price of poverty. people are desperate. the economy is in shambles. it's just a car. things will get better.
they are right. if i have to get hit, & we all have to get hit here & there, i guess i was lucky this time.
the kids are cute. most of them are well-behaved. two-thirds want to learn. :) this, too, shall pass. :) i am fortunate.
tho the lyrics to "rock & roll high school" are more realistic of students' attitudes, i prefer right now the following more optimistic ones. probably because i'm the teacher. :) this song also has the most rockin' & thrilling concluding guitar/piano surge. wow.
i wish i could know that all my students, all kids, have a fun & safe place to go after school, be it home or soda fountain, but i know it's not the case...
more important, then, that we are there for them. bless you, my fellow teachers. bless you, students. and your parents, too. we are in this together.
Hail Hail Rock & Roll
Up in the mornin and out to school / The teacher is teachin the golden rule / American history and practical math / You studyin hard and hopin to pass / Workin your fingers right down to the bone
And the guy behind you wont leave you alone
Ring, ring goes the bell / The cook in the lunch room's ready to sell / Youre lucky if you can find a seat / Youre fortunate if you have time to eat / Back in the classroom, open your books / Even the teacher dont know how mean she looks
Soon as three oclock rolls around / You finally lay your burden down / Close up your books, get out of your seat / Down the halls and into the street / Up to the corner and round the bend / Right to the juke joint, you go in
Drop the coin right into the slot / Youve gotta hear somethin thats really hot / With the one you love, youre makin romance / All day long you been wantin to dance, / Feeling the music from head to toe / Round and round and round we go
Hail, hail rock and roll / Deliver me from the days of old / Long live rock and roll / The beat of the drums, loud and bold / Rock, rock, rock and roll / The feelin is there, body and soul.