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!!!!