life goes on without me

- to quote louis prima, my future ex-husband in my next life... the consequent lyric in that wonderful tune doesn't apply much to me cause tho i sometimes have that feeling that "i ain't got nobody, nobody cares for me," i know it's just the shyster between my ears letting itself be heard like it sometimes does, the bugger.
- this summer's felt in a way like crunch time thru & thru: 1st moving, w/all the accompanying strife & slipping out of town semi-frequently to try to avoid heartache; then the extra work week; then the hoop-jumping teacher class; then the trip of a lifetime; then my sobriety bd (friends! cake! love! thank you, dear jani, dan m, sally c, & all others who wished me well!); then trying to pass my library class (put in an 11-hour work day to finish the final assignment the other day) while cousin & brood & all these family members visited; then band practices; then uncle henry's funeral w/full military honors (b showed up, sincere & responsible, because uncle henry was his friend, & w/water for the old people, & tho i was grateful he was there, it made it much sadder)... only now, after today's gig, do i feel like i can start relaxing, tho tomorrow i take my cousin to the airport up north.
but today's gig! what fun! drummer jim hit most spots right, & he's developed the "push" i like to hear, the oomph, the torque (as brian p used to say) a good song needs. philbert & mark were duded up, friendly, funny, & played really great! as we were trying to get the sound dialed in, we bantered w/each other like we do & the girl announcer said, "yes, ladies & gentlemen, you probably didn't know the dusk devils are a comedy act, too..." we started the 1st song & the piano glopped from the monitors like pure mud, like the bottom of a bathtub, only discernible when i moved above middle C. still, i could hear my vocals & the others, so as is so often the case, pushed on thru! dedicated one to uncle henry, kids danced, people clapped & cheered (& left their relay laps to sit down & listen!)... overall, i think this was the best relay for life gig i've gotten to do. not bad!... afterward, we all drove back to bako, the dusk devils comedy show, til mark started nodding off. then we got fish & chips at the bowling alley & came back to my house to unload & watch pt of faster pussycat kill! kill! while waiting for mark's 2nd gig that night. when we found out it was cancelled, everyone went home & now here i sit, feeling thankful to get to play music w/such swell friends. i feel pretty calm & happy, not wired & weird, like sometimes happens, so believe it'll be mimis time here shortly. life is good, in my clean little house w/my new yamaha clavinova peeking at me from the living rm. (know will have to go play it for a while before turning in.).
besides scoring that great piano (from salvation army! 250 bucks!!), the most exciting music event for me recently was seeing the preservation hall jazz band in fresno. mom & dad took me for my birthday & w/the 1st notes, tears jumped from my eyes & my throat swelled w/happiness: if you've been there, instantly you were transported back to the big easy, filled w/such a longing to be there again RIGHT NOW, but that would mean missing the romance of that lovely music, the loose dixieland bluesy-woozy feel, the exquisite camaraderie & friendly repartee, the warmth & generosity the band radiated to the audience... i bought every bit of swag they had & then at the end of the 2nd act, they did 2 amazing things: one was a 2nd-line around the tower theatre's perimeter, band leading audience, on "when the sts go marching in;" then a finale in which the band caravanned up the aisles & out the door, playing the whole way the rhumba-clave "el manicero," & drew the audience out to the foyer where all grouped around as the musicians continued playing out on the street, just like they would in nola, & then they concluded & the audience cheered in the happiest union of audience/performers i've seen in some time. all the way home, dad, mom, & i yakked a mile a minute, so swelled up w/love & music & gratitude to have been together to see such a great new orleans institution... if you get any chance to go, don't miss the preservation hall jazz band!!! http://www.preservationhall.com/ choko mo feel no hey, and bonne nuit, baby!!

candye kane, dusk devils tomorrow! (read below) + coolnesses #1-23

it's been so dang long since i wrote, i'm just gonna list:
1. we pulled up to the lamplighter in visalia & saw in the winders posters for our show! we swung open the doors & the kid at the desk said, "jenny! we finally meet!" everyone was smiling. we felt like royalty!
2. everybody got his or her own room!! in mine, two beds, sliding glass doors, microwave, fridge, wifi...
3. philbert & i walked around downtown visalia & ate at a diner. the waiter comped us french toast!
4. phil offered to unload all my stuff, so i had time to foofoo up w/o worrying. this was a big deal!
5. i descended the hotel stairs in the cool spring eve feeling like touch of evil - teetered over to the gig & there was brian, covered w/road dirt & grinning. he'd ridden over on his motorcycle from the run he was at!
6. phil & i winged some songs w/jd from motel drive during sound check... stomping fun!
7. john bruce, all draped out, introduced us & we crashed on in. everything i said, the audience laughed! i love that. brett got our sound dialed in quickly... i could really hear myself, which means i was able to sing just fine. as sick as i've been, my voice & energy cooperated surprisingly well!
8. there was so much energy in the rm! during whole lotta shakin, i swear i could hear people roaring & cheering while we played. it was wild!!!
9. after, all these young folks were heaping on the compliments. we walked around & jawed w/lots of folks, including becky's new drummer & his girlfriend: what nice people!
10. motel drive was fun! my band watched from outside, hanging on the wall like the little rascals.
12. we went joyriding w/mark & geanna for a while... came back as becky was going on. those guys are tight & high-energy these days!! fun to watch...
13. back at the rm, i ate the comp french toast & surfed the net. phil told me the next a.m. he buzzed off the pillow all night, didn't sleep a wink! we had a quick bite & he got me back to the oildale mtg by 930 am. cool!
14. the next saturday me & phil rode out to famoso & waited in the dust at the coolest abandoned diner... agreed it'd be a swell place to snap band pix! phil was decked out - spectator creepers, vintage pineapple shirt, black slacks... that guy can really style!
15. the others showed & we caravanned out to relay for life at the high school. people were sooo nice, but the sound from the stage was nonexistent! as sick as i've been, i thought w/doom, if the 2nd gig's like this, i'm gonna be dead. i was singing really hard, tho i knew i shouldn't, just to feel my own voice & gauge my pitch! w/no monitors, the others had to watch my lips the whole show to know where we were..
16. highlights: a southwestern granny w/beautiful gray hair & red lipstick/shirt bopped away gently in her seat, on her face such a look of happiness & longing, my heart melted; a chubby, darling, bespectacled little girl just stood there, head cocked like a puppy, smiling up at me...
17. they whipped us up delicious carne asada tacos & sodas for the rd. yum!!!! i think i ended up eating most of them...
18. we sped back to bako to the johnny burnette trio & started hauling stuff down the sandrini's stairs for the pub crawl gig.
19. where's all the people? i asked mark, & he replied, oh, they'll be here. boom! suddenly the rm was PACKED elbow to elbow w/all these young people in blue shirts - all roaring drunk!!! the underground cave-rm was a cacaphony of screaming, whooping, yelling, guzzling, happy little borrachos!
20. we began & everyone started jumping up & down like mad, writhing, wriggling, pointing, howling, jumping on the stage... kids were even dancing on the tables!! at the end of each song, they would scream at the tops of their lungs & snap a million pictures, wild w/alcohol happiness... who'd've thought it'd've been so wonderful to play for a packed rm of young inebriates? they looked so happy... i wish i could get some of those pix...
21. the promoter slapped the dough on mark's amp & charged out like the pied piper, the screaming blue shirts in tow... just like that, everyone was gone to the next pub & we suddenly could hear how ear-bleedingly loud we were! the bodies had been soaking up the noise all along...
22. we packed up & took phil's friends to jake's tex-mex. they ate like birds & we had jake's cake, which is so tasty, it seems indecent.
23. i don't guess there's been any more gigs since last wkend... we have had to turn down a few, in fact, due to phil's boy scout commitments! i say that's a great reason to miss out, tho... but stay tuned for tomorrow night: we open for candye kane at the doubletree... whoo-hoo! come on down! (read below)

uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh...

(sound of panting, sound of jogging, sound of too too busy, sound of exhalted king lux huffing a microphone...)
today i got the best possible health news from my biopsy results & then zoom!!! everything took off like a rocket!! anyways, i guess i'll catch up w/last wk later - no time now! a friend said now should be a time of celebration of good health, but i just gotta get this done & get some shut-eye!!
tomorrow: 5k at csub, registration 7-8, race (shudder) 8 am, $10 plus can of food, pancake breakfast after, whoopee!! details here or here: www.andynoise.com or www.bakersfieldtrackclub.com
the rest i'll paste from myspace. please come out & see us, if'n you can & wanna!!! :) :)
-> 4/25/2009 2:30 PM - Dusk Devils, Relay for Life Wasco/Shafter
Wasco High Football Field Wasco, California 93280
Cost:? Description:Wasco High School Football Field (corner of Palm Ave. & 5th Street). We’ll do a mini set at 2:30 pm. You can catch us later that day in Bakersfield, 4 pm (read up).
-> 4/25/2009 4:00 PM - Dusk Devils at Sandrini’s, Downtown Pub Crawl
20th/Eye Streets Bakersfield, California 93301
Cost:? Description:We’re on as part of the Downtown Pub Crawl... Come on down, all the way down, to the basement pub called Sandrini’s, and whup it up with us. :)

dusk devils' upcoming shows

-> fri. MARCH 28, 8 pm: tribute to merle, buck, & the bakersfield sound at trout's saloon & the blackboard stage... this is a 3-day event paying homage to our great local country AND western music. more info: www.myspace.com/troutsblackboard
-> sat. APR. 5, 11 am: alzheimer's assn. memory poker run at ethel's old corral, 11 am... this'll be lots of fun, w/riders stopping in while on the charity ride... more info: www.adakc.org/
-> APR. 19, trout's, bakobilly show, details tba
-> sat. MAY 3: CSUB, relay for life
-> sat. MAY 31, 9:30 pm: stone bar, 5221 hollywood blvd, klub bimbam w/thomas yearsley's exotiki, www.myspace.com/klubbimbam
-> woulda, but couldna... the dusk devils trio was gonna do art fein's poker party, but we'll be on various vacations, & my cousin'll be here from tx, & it's spring break, so we had to say no. boo-hoo! art recently divulged he's unofficially our manager, so i hope that means he'll find a spot for us in upcoming months... :) hey, art, how bout the barn dance? :) also, kevin/styx from fattkatt is organizing the local r'billy hayride for summer, so that'll be fun!
-> so if you wanna hire a little 3 piece w/a lot of energy, please get hold of us at one of the contacts at top. we put a lot of heart & sweat into our sets, & guarantee you'll enjoy a dusk devils show. :)