sheltering in place

facetiming w/mama & dad (later we will try zoom w/them)

peewee & penny crash the women's zoom mtg

looking toward tejon ranch & I-5 from the trail

early wildflowers on the high school x-country trail

spring storm two days later

not sick in a time of sickness; goodness prevails

knock wood.
so strange to be feeling physically well, when so many are ill all around. :(
i was ill for the longest ever (yet in this life), about 43 days. however, this week, it finally lifted except for lingering congestion. been able to jog/hike with dog girl again, a wonderful thing! after all, we humans are inherent runners. (see bernd heinrich, why we run, as well as a host of other titles, primarily born to run by christopher macdougall.)
dr anthony fauci is 79, works up to 20 hr days as head of disease control for our country, still finds time to jog/power walk 3.5 miles daily. he's fit a a fiddle, doing major good for us all, contradicting the blowhard-in-chief as needed, telling the truth! a brave, hale old man... like our dad if he'd chosen medicine & public office rather than education!

amazed not to be ill, waiting for students on zoom.
still not pushing up daisies.

james returned from southern cal speaking ominously of night-time roving gangs in face masks, bored young a**holes made dangerous by idle time & lack of morals/maybe finances, but definitely morals. however, except for a porky dude on a quad i spotted scoping out houses last wk up & down our road, i've seen mostly good acts during "this uncertain time." jim from our favorite show the office made a heartfelt video, some good news, posted on youtube & enjoyed by millions. angie & mama are making masks, many, many masks. many, many are making many, many masks! -- donating masks to ppl w/o them so they will feel safer. yes, the masks don't help medically, but as the LA mayor said, they serve as reminders... please, keep your distance. at least for now.
(maddy informed me fashion masks already are a thing in korea...)
i was meditating & heard the words, "god sent this to get rid of t*ump!" instantly,  knew that was ridiculous, but still, "shelter-in-place" definitely runs counter to t*ump's philosophy of money, greed, me over you, domination, ignorant sputtering bullying, spend spend spend, give it all to me. ads on tv speak (disingenuously, for the sale, but still speak) of family, togetherness. ppl cannot go out & idly spend, tho i spose the true shoppers can plow ahead online (some have speculated -- half-jokingly, mebbe -- that the virus was started by amazon).
i got 10 boxes of books from sue, our thoughtful local librarian, yesterday. was able to PACK our little library & put word out locally online. hope ppl get books before the snow hits tomorrow & this week.
one neat phenom is video mtgs, which, i read, have let the genie out of the bottle: ppl don't need to commute hours daily to get to work; the lonely don't have to be isolated. one drunk mtg, broadcasting from the yukon, featured over 500 ppl! major "experience, strength, & hope" was on display at that one... :) i've gotten to call, text, email, & zoom w/my students & their families in effort to stay in touch, but no zoom this wk w/my dear kiddies bc of spring break. so last night, james & i started making music again, had a fun "jam session," & w/work brain shut down for this upcoming staycation wk, musical ideas started to seep to the surface. music brain & work brain seem to be exclusive in me for some reason, so mebbe song creating will be another good to come of this unprecedented time in our lives.
may you be well, stay safe, make something good, share it.

teaching online, teaching online, teaching online, teaching online

the future of america (we can relax)

vickie and one of her humans

how are you? i am a remote teacher now -- not in temperament, but in physical space from my students. my students are now doing what i did at NCOC SF: distance learning. i am happy. i want to tap dance. i am speaking by phone with my kiddies, and friday we'll have a zoom meeting, so i'll be able to see them. yay! i love my students. one is a bright, artistic, handsome boy from el salvador (w/equally sturdy, friendly brother & father). his beautiful mother used to attend my english classes at the library, & the boy sent pix of some of his animals. his family leads a pastoral life out in lockwood valley, a golden plane rimmed by forest about 10 miles west. when i told him that i loved pigs & asked if they raise them for meat or for pets, he sent me a pic of a pig they have named vickie, writing, "vickie is now your pigy [sic]." (one hour later...) i've gotten to help a student walk through/talk through a division problem & some add/subtract, discuss PE ideas, a ray bradbury story i assigned, etc etc... out the window the sky is blue, blue, blue with snow expected this eve; only feet away, western bluebirds, brilliantly colored -- nearly cerulean, w/tan chests -- are peeping & flipping through the tree branches like tiny aerialists.
james is away at lake hughes helping others; charts show the virus is leveling out in california; i will see my kids friday for a zoom meeting; & on day 37 of my illness (NOT covid-19; i was tested!) i continue to get better... considering this is life on life's terms, all is good, very good.

my hero part 1,000,000,000,000...

james posted the entry below on facebook along w/one of the pix lisa knapp sent him from a photo shoot he had done in hollywood when he was about 20, he thinks, & was pointed toward acting til he got too busy with music. what a glamour-puss! dad said, upon receiving the photo from james, "i'm looking at a picture of a young stud." mama said, as i thought she would, "you're cuter now!"
the writing below is typical james, & it's garnered lots of comment. what got me was what he said: "i wrote it to try to make people feel better. and me, too. i wanted to feel better."
i thought of my post below & realized what a troll i can be.
james wanted to make people laugh. that's what he does. that's only one of his methods of rescue. (at his last show, last sunday, he threw toilet paper to the crowd between songs.)
i can learn a lot if i really look at what he does before i do most anything
. my hero. :) enjoy the post.
-------
Hello, James here. I don't get involved in most stuff that flies around on social media, & I'm not worried about getting the virus myself. My body is full of all sorts of wonderful mind bending manic inducing goodies........There is, however, one thing I'm not happy about......Here goes.... I've been playing music in bars, honkey tonks, at weddings, birthday parties, bike runs, festivals, freaky bachelorette slut parties, freakier bachelor parties with dudes I used to think were decent people acting like they have never seen a naked woman in person ( Yes Bill Bloughst, that means you, freak boy) house parties, Elk's, Moose, V.F.W. halls and just about every other place that does not have a stage, air conditioning, bathrooms that don't stink......Anyways, I'm getting off track here. Here's what I'm getting at. Almost every place I've ever played at (been doing music since I was 16, see photo), at the end of the night, I steal the toilet paper.....Have not paid for a$$ wipe for 35 years. It's the only crime against civillians that I continue to be actively involved in. It's one of the only adrenaline rushes I get to have...Stealing toilet paper, WOOOHOOO. Well, that's all over. C19 (whatever it's called) came to town, & the bars, honkey tonks etcetera have been closed, I can't get my T.P. hustle on, never kept any spare rolls around, i'd just bag some more Sat. night at Shenanigan's or whatever tight a$$ed establishment fired me for singing about humpin', beating up some jack a$$ that would not quit doing what I told him not to do or some ding bat assistant manager dude or chick that refuses to turn off the go#%#mn juke box or the jockstrap contest on the 75 inch hd plasma, surround sound, built in E.S.P.N flat screen....You know, the one that's less than 5 inches from your head while you're singing? $h*t!
To make a long story longer, my shows are all cancelled -- not just mine, all my incredibly talented, hard working people in our So. Cal. blues, rock, rockabilly, hillbilly, jazz, tribute bands, karaoke hosts (what's up, Maria?) kitchen staff, all my fav. super cool bartenders (Dave Hayden, Bro. Thomas Wheeler, Avocado Sandra) and most of all, the wonderful extended family a musician is blessed with. The music lovers. I don't like the word "fan" -- I consider the people who come down to the club and join us in our super duper lowdown, dirty, nasty, funky, boogie woogie roller coaster rides to be my friends. Heck, a lot them have become part of my family. This whole thing sucks, we know that. Worst of all, I've got to go immediately to the throne and feed the warden (Prison jive for having to go poo poo).
There's no Charman to sqeeze at the Piggly Wiggly, and worst of all, no show to play, no way to quiet the carnival in my brain, and no more toilet paper to steal.........Fu##! I didn't see this one coming. I love and miss all of you. please be good to each other -- we'll get through this thing. Goodbye, I've got to find a corn cob........

our turn

it's our turn to suffer. when people around the world have suffered, so very often, due to man-made troubles/tragedies or mother nature's volatile whims, i don't hear those around me expressing concern for more than a week or two (including me). 

the shelves in stores are empty. the richer the store, the emptier the shelves. james says, "poor people don't have time to worry about the end of the world." he went out in the snow to run final errands "before the storm hits" & came back grinning cheerfully. he had seen a friend of his who lives in the riverbed under the bridge & asked how he was doing. "i'm good, man," the friend said. "i never use toilet paper, anyway!"

james has been saying "the grid is going down" since i met him. he saw stuff like that happen in the military. he's doing fine right now, not a fear. he just continues to quote men in black (people are dangerous animals) & tell me "we're gonna be fine, baby. i'm trained for this!"

we went to walmart saturday. all looked normal til we went by the food aisles, the cleaning product aisle, the paper aisles. there was a barricade in front of winco; they were limiting the number of people who could enter. aldi was limiting purchases to two of this, four of that. the rice i bought had a tear in the box, so i went back to get another... but there was no more. at all. 

 the most hard-hit of all was the long beach whole foods that is located in a brand new behemoth of a spankingly expensive westside-style mall that was dropped where one of our favorite decrepit motels had been. this whole foods was empty, empty, empty... well, about 70% so... and full of determined, well-fed, athletic anglo people in expensive casual wear.

yes, those folks in their north face & lululemon gear definitely use toilet paper.

they have time to shop. they may have extra home, fridge, freezer space. they have the income to buy it all. and to hell with everyone else as they grab theirs & everyone else's, too.

i heard about biden's calming speech, but seems to've come too late. americans are freaking out from coast to coast. relatives in texas & kentucky say it's just as nutty out there.

meanwhile, the italians are singing on balconies.

yes, we consumerism-brainwashed americans definitely are sick. :(

anyways, i haven't posted in a while bc i've been physically sick since feb 19. it's not cov-d 19... it's not! it's not!!! i have self-diagnosed flu into acute bronchitis into maybe walking pneumonia into ear infection... but yesterday was nice when james propped me up to go w/him to his "birthday gig," which wouldn't've been possible today bc the governor has ordered the bars closed to stomp out this virus. sat we'd had such a nice dave's bbq lunch with "my side" of the family, then yesterday outback w/"his side." in the emptied middle-class restaurant comfort, hygienically clean, we had so much good eating, so much good sharing. we are so very fortunate. then we drove to his gig at the marina & i graded papers in the car, like last sat not willing to be around a bunch of ppl & hazard worsening my health, then i walked in the eve, feeling so weary as is my usual this past month, & looked at the beachy scene & thought once again, man, this is nice, but definitely not my thing, then i picked him up & we had shake shack & drove home. i laid back & rested & he sang along w/& exhalted the musical excellence of bob wills & the texas playboays as the wind knocked the little red car around the road...

today the snow finally is sticking. it's been too warm all day, so it's been coming down then melting, but now, looks like about 4 inches already in the past half hour. so turns out they were right to call a snow day. schools will be closing for a month come wednesday, so i think they were equivocating a bit, too, anticipating that, closing it today to get a jump on things. looks like so many kids would've been gone today, anyhow, parents keeping them home to be safe. likely very few kids will come to school tomorrow, so maybe they'll call a snow day tomorrow, too, since it's sposed to come down pretty heavily thru then.

i cried on james's shoulder when i learned about our schools closing. i'll miss my students a lot. i'm sad for us all, but it's our turn. hope we teachers do get called to be disaster workers like i read we could so we can take food to families & i can visit my students.

i am worried about the poor up here. but we sure are good, even w/my crappy health, & tomorrow is james's birthday. wash your hands & stay safe.

elderberry, cherry cherry, blackberry, port and cherry

https://youtu.be/g0lmX06odhw
james just told me this is sonny terry & brownie mcgee!
i pulled up this song because i just had my first taste of elderberry syrup, & it cut my flu to the point that i was able to get out of bed!!! i love elderberry syrup!! it is delicious, & articles i just read state that research backs that it can cut flu symptoms by four days.
get some elderberry syrup!

i don't get around much anymore

https://youtu.be/Snixos3tr6g - only known tv footage of piano red, says the description... i think this shot might also contain... jan michael vincent? maybe? very cool. very very cool. i mean, the piano red part. i don't know anything about jmv except as a face on tv in the 70s. the best parts of the video are red playing & singing; red talking; & red not moving an extra muscle, just keeps playing while a tv-show fake fight breaks out right by him, red true in the manner of the boogie-woogie players of barrel houses of old.
the show must go on.
and the stupidest part is tony franciosa saying, "red, play me some blues. some real low-down blues," with that cheesy grin on his face.

Sober

There's a funny song by Piano Red by that name. When you're sober, you agree to no longer imbibe artificial instantaneous (tho temporary) relief. A sober person's just gotta take life's lumps and learn to deal w it, be willing to grow up, to show up, to give up... All that, tho, to get a life.
I've been sober 1 day at a time for 8,973 days. If I continue, I will get to celebrate 25 yrs w/o booze in Detroit at the world convention July 4 wknd. Nothing's more important & this whole life I get to live rests on my sobriety.
But most ppl don't stay sober. Jails institutions and death are the usual. Or going on day after interminable day. Or repeatedly stumbling, which I think over time would beat a soul down.
So far that's not been my lot.
I am supremely thankful, & I pray right now, again & again, that I don't forget.

little free libraries, angie & missy

the nice local librarian, sue, lets me take box after box of discards from the library donations. these are books the library cannot add to its collection or even sell due to condition or type. (coloring books are never accepted, for instance.) i then get to sort through, adding most to the free little library out front of the house, the rest to school. and some stay with my bibliophile family members bc the variety of books is amazing!! i'm astounded over & over & over & over at the vastness of titles & subjects.
the other day penny was barking her head off outside. i investigated & saw a man trying to look at books in our free little library. most of the tomes within had been ruined by the christmas snow storm; the worst i already had chucked; the remaining, tho still damaged, were readable. i grabbed penny to bring her in so the man could peruse the books.
"it's ok," he said, "she's a good guard dog."
 a few minutes after, i happened to glance out the window. the guy was taking ARMLOADS of books to his car! i later told sue & she said, "oh gosh, i hope he wasn't using them for firewood." (many folks up here really struggle; the weather's harsh in winter, there are few jobs, & if a person's w/o wheels, the steep, steep roads make a hike to the store arduous.) i didn't think that sad thought was the case bc the books still were damp, therefore not flammable -- at least immediately. and he wouldn't be able to resell them due to their condition.
i concluded this guy was a REAL READER &, maybe like i am, grabs whatever he sees that loved ones might enjoy.
i'm so pleased to be the conduit allowing books to stay in kern county rather than going into the dump!
now if only james or i actually could get access to the REAL dump...
(not a hoarder, not a hoarder, not a hoarder, not a hoarder)
yesterday james went to his gig & i drove mom & dad to a wedding out in the mojave desert at the exotic feline conservation center (http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/). the bride has been sister angie's best friend since age 7, a shy but cheerful sprite in love w/cats & rave culture. missy's been volunteering at the place for year & years, meeting her husband there. this place is so very worth the visit! astounding to walk a cement path & view sleek, lithe, gorgeous, lolling, pacing creatures such as lynx, tiger, jaguar, cougar... wow!!
the ring bearer was a serval on leash. the groom wore traditional tux, the bride 6-inch monster platforms, a sparkly mini dress, & bright pink hair in bunny-ear tails. best of all was when my sister got up: she was the minister!! i burst into tears. the ceremony, which she wrote, was funny, silly, warm-hearted & wise. i remembered angie & missy, tiny girls, playing barbies on the steps outside our 1st real house on hollins street in the early 70s. here they were! wonderful.
afterward, we drove along desert roads, abandoned sun-& wind-wrecked buildings all around & a rhyolite mine on the hills in the distance, & had family luncheon at a mexican restaurant to celebrate mary fafa's birthday. it was a wonderful day & only would've been better if james had been there.
this morning i drank coffee, had pb&j, & got to read about 30 pgs of a fun 1897 title from the library discards. the pursuit of the house boat by john kendrick bangs features a bunch of dead famous folks, shades in hades, in search of their ship, stolen by capt kidd. this victorian satire --  hamlet bickers with noah, shylock with samson, etc -- struck me as the granddaddy of mad magazine: absurd, silly, irreverent commentary on society. leading the mystery is sherlock holmes, who in 1897 temporarily  was dead, killed off by arthur conan doyle in "the adventure of the final problem." sir acd was burned out on writing holmes installments, but approved of & enjoyed his character's appearance in his friend bangs's parody.
a penultimate note: a quick search disclosed that assembling disparate characters, real & imaginary, is known as "bangsian fantasy."

blablablablablablablablablablabla

dumped all last yr's pix online finally & found these from last
springwhen we had a really nice time in baton rouge & new orleans

this is a good-nite post. i've tried all day to work on school planning, but it ain't happened. therefore i will just do a little yoga after this, then hit the sack early to get up in the a.m. & work. the weather's been cooperating lately so it shouldn't be too arduous, getting up & getting to work. in fact, it's been dang beautiful here, like a song, a gentle song, a dream, like this morning i get up with my coffee & look out the screen at the shadowed snow-dappled mountain across the way & all these fat little quail chirping & digging & squawking & jigging on the driveway & i think, i don't remember EVER looking outside & feeling such peace, not ONCE, when i lived in bakersfield... dad does it all the time, but i was not awake back then, not really alive in many ways...
life changes if we live! if we live!
i've not participated for yars, but it's still weird there's no longer an art fein presents elvis's birthday bash. those things dwindled to smallish, & last yr i actually did get to perform, tho i guess art thought i'd cancelled & gaped when i showed up. one song went well, one tanked (i assumed the house band'd play it just like elvis did, so that's the way i larned it, but that wudden how it came out). sigh; que lastima. i guess since ronnie mack moved to bakersfield, art's got no partner to put together the show. and so it goes. all things come to an end. the earth, the continents, the oceans, the elvis show, you, me. requiescat en pace.
i was thinkin bout this because the other day i got a facebook msg sent to me from JAMES, my husband, & that is something that's never, ever happened in the 7 yrs we've had a facebook page. and it said, "jenny! i met you 10 years ago tonight! I love you! james." this certainly is proof Things Has Changed Round Here. i was over the moon -- just that little note! he thought of me; he's considerate; he's just as kooky, creative, tough, foul-mouthed, big-hearted, & sweet as ever, but now... responsible & thoughtful, too? my short life is amazing.
we did meet at the elvis show, jan 8 2010, so i always gotta thank art fein for having it, tho james says we woulda met anyways. i've detailed The Story of How We Met on here many times, so i won't go into it again... we were watching rick steves the other night, shows about normandy & scotland & the ireland one was too depressing, with all the warring murals & extremist people shown, & i thought, am i really sitting here with whiteboy james watching RICK STEVES?!?! we were enjoying it, too, tho i realized rick steves might be such a smilingly engaging nebbishy dude cause he's half in the bag mosta the time: all episodes featured a lot of drankin. then i've been reading a book mama lent me, a funny funny thing by peter mayle about eating in france, which after skipping the chapters about wine, eating pigs (nono for me) & frogs (nono for james), was a quick enjoyment, & i brings this up bc drinking to many folks enhances life, but for me, it's death. and my life with james has gotten good, better, best since he put the plug in the jug close to 6 months ago... and  he said not to make a big deal about it
but i will say this: i'm just so very grateful & proud of him. in near-25 years, i've seen so, so many people who stop, then start drinking again, or disappear, up & die, or don't drink & are such  know-it-alls or jerks you just wish they would drink so maybe they would chill out a little, & james, at least for today, is a humble positive example of the sober life. who woulda thought.
who woulda thought.
i mean... who woulda thought.
and watching rick steves, an episode on northern italy, i thought about "the haircut," the one i got in pisa decades ago bc bettie page was on the cover of rolling stone & i didn't know it but it had started a hairdo rage, & the stories that go with that, & the compliments i still get for "the haircut," even tho it's now gray, especially from black women, maybe cause my damn hair's so straight, & i hope i get to go to pisa with james, & normandy, & brittany, & scotland, & paris, & all the places we want to go because now we can, at least today. yes, right now i am so darn grateful tho who knows what tomorrow will bring... i hope good, but i'm not god, so quien sabe.
well, goodnight. but first, oh, how's this for a fine one? “Nearly every night before I go to bed I ask myself, "Have I vibrated in tune with the Infinite today, or have I failed?” (don marquis)

happy new year!!!

we had the most low-key ny eve ever, tucked in bed with animals. i found a countdown on youtube one  minute before midnight, counted down, then kissed sleeping james on the forehead before turning out the lights, leaving the tv on low as it streamed the fireworks extravaganza from london.
eight years ago last night, i slipped out of a gig with karling's band (after our set, of course, & missing phil alvin, who popped up unannounced, but i didn't care, which told me things were REALLY shifting for me!!!!) & met up with james, and then it was on, at least for those days, as it had been in late september, that 1st time we met up, but then we were off again since both of us were mired in bad relationships. those didn't last, but we have.
it was crazy times back then, but not now, not now, & i'm grateful.
to get away from snow, & on heels of christmas family travel (to bakersfield, to orange co), last week we went to the beach with dog girl (well, we took her) & went out one night to see his friend john marx play at a beautiful, beautiful place, grapes & hops, which i'd spotted earlier while walking old main street (a wine bar! but oh, how lovely it was, & they served non-alcoholic beverages & delicious stuff to eat), & the whole entire trip was so happy. here are some pictures from hotel room & a few of james, in one just sitting there yet so iconic at grapes & hops, in the next goofing around with hotel towel & fluff from dog toy that penny had murdered.

and now it's 2020, so let's drink a cup of kindness for this new year burst to life.

holiday show!

today we have our holiday show at school! the teachers insisted we do it on the big stage, so we're gonna do it. i don't think they realize we haven't had much time at all to create & prep this show. the kids came up with all the acts (well, i nudged one that couldn't focus, so now they're doing a variation on whose line is it, anyway?). at the end, the staff is SUPPOSED to sing. james & i will do a few numbers. and i'm so happy my long-haired boys, who can be alienated from school, are going to perform. they are so talented. one, we found, can sing like johnny cash, so that's what he'll do today. the other dropped right in on high hat & ANYTHING HE CAN HIT WITH A STICK & is laying down a perfect 2-beat. this angelic boy is a supremely talented musician; he can play anything. a quartet is performing a play they wrote. when james came to watch a rehearsal the other day, i saw his face beaming w warmth as these little ones danced & sang. middle school is so interesting that way: kids are on the cusp, some still so innocent, others heading into adulthood, some unfortunately much more sophisticated than they should have to be. i am so sad about one of our girls, who was mistreated terribly by some boys. i still have high hopes for this girl, who is sharp as a tack. so many of our kids have horrible lives bc of their adult custodians. then there are others whose only offense is poverty. some parents toil bravely under such conditions. i am glad right now we are reading dickens, & that i get to be there with these little lives, watching them, supporting them, hoping to shape them. i love them so very much now, in my middle-aged years. i am grateful for this change of my heart.

yesterday's show

was so wonderful. so much talent. only one snob. that snob should know even if that snob knew big manny well, manuel would never go for someone being a snob!!! i am trying to get ready for work, but i am overwhelmed with self-consciousness due to having seen a video. my vocals sounded horrible!!! i look like a fat cow!! ok, i'm over it now. i have to go to work.

everyone was wonderful. the snob played really great guitar, schooled by manuel.

james kicked butt, as usual. ruben & raul showed up. jaime & tommy harkenrider are complete gentlemen.

ok, i just heard a school bus go by. i am going to go to work now & be a teacher & not think about screaming into a mike trying to hear because i didn't check my monitor & wearing a dress that made me look like a fool.

manuel would have loved, loved, loved the show in his honor. that's the thing to remember, not a snob & how sh*tty i looked & sounded.

i'm going to work now.

tomorrow!! sunday!!

https://www.facebook.com/whiteboyandjenny/photos/a.511826072306344/1437056106449998/?type=3&theater
updates: we'll have a raffle of little cool stuff for christmas gifts, oneself. raul medrano will be there! when i talk to raul on the phone, it's a little spooky in a nice way bc he sounds so much like manuel in inflection & just what he says, which makes sense since they were friends most of their lives. everyone is happy raul will be there! james will get to see tommy harkenrider, who played in james's band years ago! (i think most everyone played with james's band!)... actually, the so-cal & beyond american music  scene has many cross-overs, connections, & incesty [sic] parallels. i'm not sure what i mean by that except to say everyone seems to know everyone, even when the scene is nearly dead! like with manuel: at various times, he played with karling's band (with whom i played), had mike vernon playing with him (a texan guitar player i used to know), and,,,, and,,, well, i need more coffee, i think. i had many, many connections a minute ago.
...but like we go someplace & see at least one someone with whom one of us have played or one of us met, knew, friends of someone, even when we're out of state, like it's happened in new orleans, in boulder, green bay, milwaukee, paris, etc.. this sounds braggy but it IS interesting, i think... time for more coffee...
aaaaaah. better. (insert ken nordine; man, this is just swell! listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k88msPKWkKY )
...maybe it's not incestuous except where ppl who played in bands together like bros & sisses then get involved, which has happened & near-happened to me before i met james. maybe the connections are more like the three degrees of separation. that does seem to be true. many are easy these days for me bc  james has met so many famous, really bada** people, but let me see if it works, truly works:
1. the resident of the u.s. -> mike tyson -> us
...yeccccccccch.
2. barack obama -> mike tyson -> us.
...i like that one better.
3. muhammad ali ->> mike tyson -> us.
4. lady gaga -> mike tyson -> us.
... maybe if you meet mike tyson, you have indirectly met most people of the world! let's go another direction...
5. arnold schwarzenegger -> james -> me
6. elon musk -> cousin paul -> me
i think it works!

a two-pet night & joy to the world!

peewee on my left, penny on my right... that's the 1st song i remember singing along to, "joy to the world," from 3 dog night, & never did i consider the meaning of the band name til i moved here & learned what perfect bedwarmers pets can be!
and now it's snowing again! returned to frazier mountain yesterday at dusk to a winter wonderland! - to the delightful sight of snow-dappled evergreens & snow-piled mountains & the park filled w snow bunnies, hundreds of them!, their cars lining the roads everyplace, then going up the road, the sky a white mist, more people, more families, laughing, lobbing snowballs, slipping, piling it on their flatlander vehicles to preserve a snowy bit, sledding down the hillsides, what a lovely sight indeed! once home, i was happy to feel that my shower curtain insulating had worked sufficiently as well as the parabolic heater we got last week at the thrift shop, so no need to build a fire, i just climbed under the covers w the pets to finish my book & snapped this pic.
oh boy, it's really coming down now, not in big lush chunks like the other day, but in icy needles bc this afternoon it's supposed to warm into a rain which i hope will not flood "downtown".
there must be over a foot out there; the backyard's mostly buried. so glad for my snow boots & warm sweaters & coats. the holiday spirit is here! i want to make snowshoes! i want to read in bed! i want to write! i want to sing! i want to celebrate & play music! it's good to be alive in this season -- in all seasons, true, but the palpable joy of winter, the promise of christmas, they fill up my heart right now in particular.
i mean, how sweet it will be to return to school & get to continue reading to the kids "a christmas carol," one of my favorite novellas, with scrooge's miraculous change, particularly parts like this, so tantalizing, so scrumptious, so warm & lively (quoted in "charles dickens - food and drink"): It was his [Scrooge's] own room. There was no doubt about that. But it had undergone a surprising transformation… Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam…

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

james took off last night for the harp blow-off one day early, & good thing! i woke up to this:

in other great news, my funk of the other day lasted only a few hours... such an improvement over the long-lasting blues of (i hope it remains in) the past! the sun is come out now... such a beautiful thing, all the fluffy whiteness below that deep blue sky with cottony billows scudding across! well, just caught a video on facebook fort tejon chp stating they'll keep the grapevine open, so after breakfast, i will pack up girl dog & make a break for it!
happy hollydays to all! if you in smellay area tonight, go early to this to watch james destroy the stage then maybe chuck-berry- or maybe elvis-like, leave the building... https://www.facebook.com/events/2417149781858951/
here are pix from recent 5k i did w/christy z at fort tejon... and only 5 people showed up!! that night i did 5k w/sis in bakersfield, blacklight run... and 1000s showed up! in between, i did 5k w/penny in hills behind gias... and next day brought much muscle soreness but also happiness! running is a wonderful wonderful activity that humans are designed to do often!... and lastly, big manny christmas chango jam 2 is shaping up so very well. i know in my bones & heart manuel would be so very happy to know a christmas show is continuing in his name, w/a music fund set up, also in his name, for young musicians & -- thank you, jaime saenz for great idea! -- gear drive!!! more details to come on this show...

stupid coconut

i have no reason to be bummed out except sometimes my neurochemicals are busted
this, too, shall pass

chango jam 2

December 15 at the Redwood Room will be the 2nd annual Christmas "Chango" Jam in celebration of the yuletide spirit and memory of Big Manny Gonzales. The show will benefit The Big Manny Young Musicians Fund to put instruments in the hands of East LA kids and teens. Big Manny was co-leader of East LA's roots-rockers The Blazers (Rounder Records), who, after parting ways with musical partner Ruben Guaderrama, led the Big Manny Band and played around town with everyone from The Blasters to Tierra to Guaderrama, with whom he remained life-long friends. He was especially loved this time of year for his Christmas shows and now is remembered during the holidays as a sort of "Chicano Santa Claus" -- the cover of The Big Manny Christmas Album features smiling Manuel as Santa beside an open fridge, holding a Christmas toy and a Gibson. At 6'4" and 600 pounds, Manny was known by Ronnie Mack as a "gentle giant," and although he sang like an angel, his fiery rockin' guitar playing was puro Chuck Berry meets Jimi Hendrix. Last year's show featured musical friends of Manny's such as Bordertown, Joey Delgado, Ronnie Mack and Cody Bryant, Whiteboy James and more. A "chango jam," Manny once said, with typical weary humor, was when "you got 15 guys up there [on stage] all playing 'Rumble' all at once." The show promises to be a good-natured reunion of East Side Soul, roots-rock, cumbia and rockabilly artists who will gather to remember "The Big Man" and celebrate his love of Christmas. https://www.facebook.com/events/2459375944339100/

ultra double-triple FUG

james played this last night on the tv: just listen. JUST LISTEN! listen to chuck's badass interstellar solos and how he messes & messes w the hippie backup band & they hang in there. how many horrible backup bands did chuck berry have to play with, ones who didn't even know the canon of rockandroll america, "chuck berry songs"? (remember bruce springsteen in hail hail rock and roll doc, excitedly talking about the wild ride of trying to back chuck berry... a band shouldn't've ever done it unless they at least knew the keys, songs, & were smart enough to FOLLOW THE BANDLEADER!!!) james commented, about playing w sh*tty backup musicians, we've all had to do it; even chuck. look at him!, as the hippie musicians flail along, grinning like christmas, god bless em, they do it.
chuck is gigantically tough cool cool cool in this, & intense, & smooth, & monstrously awesome, & even if he was a total a**hole, like so many of the greats, man, just  LISTEN TO THAT GUITAR!! this is rockandroll. this is america. this is eccentricity, not giving in to the norm, not giving a damn, knowing oneself & displaying that to everybody, genius. chuck berry in toronto 1969
ps, again, anyone who says, at all disparagingly, or dismissively, "oh, i know that chuck berry stuff," then goes on to play it w any iota of hippie or metal... GO DIE!!!!!!

Dolemite is my name... And...

A mystery bird has been singing all day, a three tone melody of 2 beats, 1, 1: I think the notes are c, f-a flat. Keep meaning to go check it on the piano, but I'd have to get up. (addendum: checked it! it's singing a minor fifth, tho i was a half-step off on key! here's a charming site: tonality of birds) (& another: this talented woman translated avian music to fiddle! musicality of birdsong) (search "do birds sing in key?" & you will find a lot) ...I'm tap, tap, tapping away on my broken old phone tucked under covers w gently snoring James & the breeze blowing in is lulling, shadows starting to dapple mountain, aaah. Am sleepy after productive day cleaning, cooking, reading, piano, yardworking. As I swept, Penny went into a bark fit, & I looked out just in time as the object of her pique, a grown deer, leaped lissomely out of sight. Wildlife & sounds have abounded today, maybe making a last show before autumn's end...? Dunno, but it's sure lovely... There's a website I subscribe to, https://bluespianosheets.com/,  & finally after many yrs I got round to printing out a bunch of pieces, so today got to focus on Ammons' "Jump for Joy" & started wondering if he was a lefty. It's a thrilling boogie-woogie I first heard while driving listening to a new bw comp cd: had to pull over -- it was that astounding! I think it's just right for me, the left-handed pounder, to commit to memory. Wow, am I lucky!! ...Couldn't play last night, tho, bc James was too excited: "Dolemite Is My Name" finally came out on Netflix. He's been waiting for months to see it!! It was a terrific, fun film, the most entertaining in memory for me, & I'm now a convert. James has talked a lot about Dolemite/Rudy Ray Moore for yrs, but I never got it til now. James is so excited that now the world is being reintroduced to Dolemite, whose toasts James has memorized (just one of his many verbal specialties) & whose outrageousness certainly has had a large influence on the WB James persona, as well. Before we watched, my husband turned 10 yrs old, laughing, yelling, dancing, gathering all his Dolemite videos (the pic of us is a setup, of course; his ebullience was real, my annoyance not).  He came upstairs dressed as you see at top & announced, "Now I'm ready to watch it ." What a fun eve we had; the movie's well-worth your time, if you're not overly

sensitive. Finger is cramping up; time to wake the man.