Nothing Since Last Wednesday? Really?

I can't believe it has been nearly a week since my last post. I meant to make several by now, but, well, you know how things go sometimes. All, or mostly all of my excuses are reasons, and most of them are good.

Besides all of the writing I've been doing on Book Three (or for Book Three, I should say, as it's mostly research, notes, and character interviews), I got a new web job that's pretty exciting, and a lot of fun. And I've started getting ready for Lynette's reception a week from Saturday, following her book signing. The only bad thing is that I'm having a little trouble getting my body adapted to the new meds I'm on, but that's a learning experience anyway...

What's Your Blues Name?

Mine is "Blind Boy Bailey".

Two More of My Weird-Assed Dreams

Dream #1-Friday: I was in New York City, dressed in black velvet and a big, droopy hat. I was sitting in a little cafe in the Village, listening to some cat at my table going on about how he touches fire. He was Jack Kerouac...

Get Back

Fifteen years ago in California, I went to my doctor about some low back pain that had begun to bother me. It wasn't extreme pain, but enough that I thought it warranted a visit. He took some x-rays. When he brought them into the examination room to discuss (imagine that! No radiologist, no separate visit, no waiting for results!), he said, "I have news that I hate having to tell anyone who's so young." (I was in my 40s back then.) He showed me where two discs had begun to deteriorate, and a large, hook-like bone spur on one vertebra. "This is Degenerative Disc Disease," he explained, "and I'm afraid it's not going to get any better. In fact, you could be in a wheelchair by the time you're 60 if it's not taken care of."...

Peace, At Last

I never paid any attention to Etta James until one summer night in Kansas many years ago during a long trip I made in my VW van. I met a guy who collected records--LPs--vinyl, mostly the blues. I loved this song so much, I asked him to copy it onto a cassette for me. It was nearly all I listened to all the way back home to California.

Thank you, Ms. James, for all you gave us.

Just Wow!

Here's a video of our own Bob Slentz-Kesler's group, Avante. They're fabulous!

Bob is the author of three books, numerous articles, and a blog called Neither Clever Nor Witty. Worth mentioning is the fact that the photos used in the video are the only ones I've ever seen in which Bob isn't mugging for the camera. Until today, I'd never seen what he actually looks like—and we've been blog buddies for 10 years!

The Essence of Yo

Once upon a time, back in the '80s, I amassed a collection of yoyos. I remember how it started, too. I was working as Maestro Salazar's assistant with the Ventura County Symphony at the time and one night at a Nutcracker rehearsal, the guy who played the bass clarinet pulled one out and began using it. It was like a meditation. Beautiful, fluid, calming. He didn't do a lot of tricks, or show off, he just...  yo'ed. I enjoyed watching him so much, he gave me that yoyo. We were, all of us, sitting in the orchestra pit and things can get kind of chummy down there...

Streamline and Drag

Many years ago (24, to be precise) Maestro Frank Salazar taught me a lesson. Well, the six years that he mentored me were stuffed with lessons, but I can only handle them one-at-a-time these days.

When I first met him in 1986, Frank's house was kind of tired looking. The house itself was fabulous, perched high on the Ventura riviera overlooking the Pacific Ocean, but the interior hadn't been decorated since the 1970s. Green and yellow shag carpeting, sagging open-weave drapes, some lackluster color on the walls, heavy art. It was shocking. I think I worked there with him only a handful of times before it was redecorated...

Stranded at Sea

When I'm especially tired after a couple of months of steady merry-making, like now, I like to play hidden object PC games. I've in fact played a ton of them over the last couple of years. I don't like those whose theme is vampires, ghosts, werewolves, Jack the Ripper, or other murder-and-mayhem, fearmongering subjects, but I also don't like the cutesy fairy tale kind that are geared for pre-teen girls. The kind that I like have to have beautiful graphics, nice music (doesn't have to be mind-melting, I do like some soundtracks that are more intense, too), and a reasonable story line. Mostly, I just like to disappear into the game's world and imagine that I'm actually there. That's what has brought me to this post...

2011's Personal Best & Worst

Best Party: There've been so many this year! The best though? The wine party we threw for Micah and Dr. Kielbasa.
Worst Party: Is there such a thing around here? No way!

Best Casual Get-Together: One night when the Dr. dropped by and we all sat around the kitchen talking and laughing.
Worst Casual Get-Together: There's no such thing...