last tuesday afternoon of 2010 in postcards

**this one is to my pal, u. in san francisco. the CDR mentioned in this note is the podcast of Comedy Death Ray. I’m commenting on the Dec. 17 xmas episode. i've never seen "Bored To Death" but i'm a fan of its creator, Jonathan Ames, and actor Zach Galifinakas.**

Tues dec 28^th 2010 – closing in on the end of the year…

After what seemed like weeks of uninterrupted rain we’re having some bright, sunny, warm days here. Warm enough for shorts, but still I’m in pants. The weather reminds me that I haven’t worn flip-flops in 2 mos. TWO MONTHS! What kind of living is this, I ask? Thinking of popping in @ my local nail salon to just say hello. The new year provides a good excuse. :) ¶ Spent some time @ a new-ish used book store near Kaldi: found a 1^st edition of M. Chabon’s “Mysteries of Pittsburgh!” I’m not a collector, but picked it up. $15.oo cheap. I’ve read it so many times. :) ¶ Listened to the CDR xmas special. A Bob Ducca ailment caused me to laugh loudly @ SL Coffee. Good thing the patio was empty but for me. :)

**I once visited with my sister Deb while she made a meatloaf of ground turkey. At one point as I helped her by pouring dried oatmeal into the bowl as she mixed it she asked, “do you put oatmeal in your meatloaf?” Unless lentil burritos are considered “meatloaf”, I’ve never made one. That she thought I had my own “meatloaf method” killed me. this card is going to her.**

12.28.2010

So, Elvis’ cook used saltines where you use oatmeal. Maybe it’s a southern thing. :) Funny, I’ve had this postcard for years waiting for just the right recipient. When I saw it today I said, “yes!” ¶ Thank you for the merry xmas text your sent! @ 6:30 am. You are an earlier riser than the rest of us. The double whammy of broken-foot & torrential rains kept me from my xmas ritual of hiking followed by a movie. Spent the morning putting on soup in the slow-cooker. Spent the evening sitting at an outdoor café chatting w-a woman who reminded me of my pal, Vinnie, drinking cappuccinos. Today is bright & sunny – I’m soaking in sun, sipping iced coffee, writing post-cards & watching the neighborhood go by the café patio. I’m off until Jan. 3. Work is shut. Still can’t walk w-o crutches, so I’m a bit stir crazy. This sun is helping, tho. Spectacular day!

Oh! You’ve got the wrong zip code for me!

**for a couple years now i've received letters from my sister even though she's using the wrong zip-code.**

**this to my friend and college-era housemate, s. in santa rosa.

Hey! It’s the last Tuesday of the year… After the days & nights of crazy rain & cloudy days we’ve got some brilliant, sunny, warm weather. The days are still short: The sun is down by 5pm, but while it’s up, I’m gonna be sitting here. :) ¶ This is the kind of day that has a person resolve to Do Something. To Get Things Done and Be a Good Person. You see Potential. I’m fortunate that I have enough experience w-this feeling tht I’m not writing down any of the ideas for action nthat are popping into my head: the enjoyable part is just considering them all. The good stuff will surface again on a not-sun-soaked afternoon. When I am willing to act on it. :) I think the coffee has plenty to do with it. And the groovy tunes. Man, the advent of the walkman in the 80s changed my young life. And here I am w-an mp3 player & headphones in 2010. But, of course!

**this one to my pal, mel: my college-drop-out-era housemate, and old friend.**

3:15p – from a still sunny spot on the patio of Kaldi Coffee – Atwater Village.

The sun is bright & warm today, but it is still winter so it’s low in the sky. Although it’s still early in the afternoon the shadows are getting long. This time of year, at this time of day I am unsettled, trying to remember which café patio has direct sunlight the longest. [I think it’s Silver Lake Coffee – will likely head there soon] I’m looking for the highest ground on the north side of the street. :) ¶ 30 min ago I was feeling all the potential & momentum that a dry sunny day brings after rain. But then I went into the café to order a cappuccino. Had to wait for a while. Then had to put additional coins in the parking meter. By the time I sat down the spell was broken. The breeze is stirring, cool. But then! I took a sip of this coffee: brilliant! AND the song, “Lake Swimming” by Laura Veirs came up on the mp3 player. Gorgeous! ¶ I brought knitting, a novel & postcards out today. Ended up just writing postcards. Something I noticed: when I’m writing letters or p-cards, I spend time looking around @ traffic, people, birds, the sky. When I’m knitting, I’m always looking @ what I’m working on. This is a good enough reason to write at least one p-card every time I plant myself @ a café. Make the most of being in a public place. :) Think I’ll pull out a quilt top in progress from the depths of the closet tonight. Haven’t sewn in months & it’s starting to wear on me. Boxed up this proj. over a year ago. Alright then: IT’S ON! (there’s that potential I was talking about!)

**I notice that while I am writing the last card I am trying to recapture the glow I felt in the third. So much so that I dare to write down a Big Idea when I said I wouldn’t.**

transcription stuff of note:

snax: avocado, cucumber tomato sandwich. xmas cookies from u. in sf!

tunes: richard swift: the atlantic ocean; duke's birth announcement mix

cuffs

saw this lying on the ground near the dumpster at my apt. bldg.
not sure if my neighbors are fugitives or fetishists.

Cheez-Its, Etc

**special props to BeeKay of Fancy Italian Words for today's title**


just about two months ago i made a whirlwind trip to Chicago. left los angeles at 4:30am on saturday and was back sunday at 10pm.

i don't know that i have much time to write about that short trip, but these things happened:

--4:30 am run to Ontario airport with easily fooled quoting "30 Rock" and dishing season 1 of "Mad Man" the entire way
--right off the blue line in Humboldt Park popped into the Boiler Room for a restorative before heading to hotel s & s for some of this:
--and this:
--at 3am cabbed to chez superschein to find a bed all set up for me.
--woke at 9:30am to the sound of the toddle upstairs running wind sprints on the wood floor.
--then breakfast with allison @ over easy: my. favorite. breakfast. spot. in. chicago. *swoon*
(i agree that the humpty dumpty painting back there is creepy.)

what's really brewing under this clumsy string of pix is what the week of my birthday was like. i'm not implying besotted shenanigans, but a small thing, the arrivial of a piece of correspondence in my mailbox, that changed things. for the better. but still, felt like i'd gotten walloped with a big fish. i'm not trying to be coy by being vague, i just don't have time to get into it.

also: the rest of the week was pretty terrific.. :)

10am and things are HAPPENING!

Barry and Ben, the floor installers are here and making changes in the kitchen!
the fridge and stove are in the vestibule. the old lino is coming up!
here are some articles that Ben found when he moved the fridge:

Before they leave they are also going to move my piano away from the wall so i can paint back there! i've been wanting to paint that wall, but couldn't bring myself to ask my friends to move the piano. it's a player, and just too heavy. but i will be more comfortable asking them to move it only once, back against the wall.

more to come!

the gents pulled the piano away from the wall and discovered a lost set of house keys. today is full of found stuff already.
here are some progress shots:
the piano away from the wall. i've started taping off the mouldings.





me behind the piano! haven't been back here for almost 7 years.



floor progress shot: the wood flooring laid down, awaiting the application of cement.

and now i'm running out of energy. and masking tape. as long as i get a chunk out of this task this morning i'll be confident i can get it all finished, and piano back in place by sunday afternoon. oof. now i have to move a cabinet of cds to get to part of the piano wall. need food...
DONE!
I'll take a clearer pic of the tile after i've eaten. i thought they'd be done about an hour ago, so i hadn't planned to be w/o lunch. it's lovely! they did a terrific job!
oh man...hungry...more when i come back.

taupe, smokey taupe, carriage ride, neat sail...

these are all names given to shades of color of paint. matte, flat, eggshell, luxe, semi-gloss, latex...names of finishes. i am painting today! just one big wall in the living room. i might do the hall tomorrow. (i'd do more of the living room but i can't move the piano by myself)
i've decided to blog my efforts. i'll keep the text brief (so that i can get to the painting), but post some pix. first off, the foundation of all good work: breakfast!

note the Larrupin' sauce. this is a loving tribute to the Tom/Onion from Los Bagels in Arcata. *pine*
for the record: the book is PG Wodehouse's "Life With Jeeves", coffee from Stumptown roasters, Portland OR.

last night i moved the furniture and taped off the moldings. the light isn't that good at night in this room so i was wearing a head lamp while taping. there is an inverse relationship between the rad usefulness of the head lamp and its ability to make one look like a dork. NO REGRETS!

more in a few..
here we go! i started with the trim. remembered to turn off the pilot on the heater (why has that been on all summer?)
i was going to do 2 coats of trim, then do the walls, but time is of the essence so having completed the trim, i'm just going to launch into the first coat on the wall.

these pix are grey b/c we have an overcast sky today (HUZZAH!), but the color looks terrific! can't wait to get the first full coat on. and so: to it!

trim painting soundtrack: Roxy Music: "Siren" followed by Preservation Hall Jazz Band: "Preservation"
next up: Helio Sequence: "Keep Your Eyes Ahead"
now drinking: mineral water. refreshing!

i had a special request from my ms. cp for a pic of me in the headlamp. please keep in mind this is a simulated action shot, so the light in the room is quite bright. :)
COAT ONE APPLIED! behold:
this pic has a yellow cast to it. :\ and b/c all the trim is covered with masking tape, you can't see the nice contrast between the new paint and the white trim.
here is the rest of the wall, continuing to the left:

i don't want to jinx myself, but so far i haven't walked in any wet paint spills, or gotten paint on too many things that i hadn't intended to paint (my legs, for example).

i've got another 3 hours to let this dry. on my list: get in a walk and some quality iced joe. and maybe some tacos. what's not to love about tacos?

days in the neighborhood

i took this pic surreptitiously from my car. it was meant to capture an actor/comedian, of whom i am a huge fan, who happened to be standing on the opposite corner. i felt like an ass taking the pic, and was kind of relieved that it turned out i was holding the phone so low that he was obscured by the car at the light. no real story here, i just thought it would be a funny pic for the page. intersection of note: Commonwealth @ Los Feliz Blvd.

in an effort to take advantage of time off this summer, i've been doing a lot of sewing and knitting. i've got a still-unfinished dress draped across my sewing machine. i have to move the pieces every time i want to use the machine. i put in some time on it last week: finally got the collar in. next up: easing and shaping the sleeve caps. not a ton of work, really, just tough to get my (summer scattered) mind around it.

last fall i bought a book called "one yard wonders." it's full of projects that require only one yard of fabric. i thought this would be helpful in my plan to use some of the yardage in my closet. many of the pieces are one yard or less, intended when purchased to be used in quilts. so far i've made 3 projects from the book. really two, but i made one twice. :)

here is what i finished this morning: a new ironing board cover:
i LOVE this fabric. i bought it at least 8 years ago while on vacation in Arcata. i bought enough of it to make a dress, but as the years passed and i filled out *cough* i lost my enthusiasm for a dress that might draw comparison to the little cows on the bottles. so, i've been toting YARDS of this for YEARS. i used a little of it when i made some potholders a few years ago.

i used the pattern to make covers for the smaller, tailoring ironing board that i have:
there is a 2nd board for pressing sleeves on the underside of this board. i've got two more small domestic projects like this that i'd like to make: a clothespin apron and a sewing machine cover. as ever, choosing the fabric is that bit that slows the whole process. i vacillate between the cute/kitschy and the pretty. eh.

last month i made a bag for my pal l.'s birthday. this was also in the one yard book. i used light cotton where they recommended a heavier cotton/canvas. i had trouble finding fabric i liked for her in the heavier weight, so in the end went for the pattern i liked best.

it wasn't a complicated pattern. the bits that took the most time were the curved seams. since i used a busy fabric, i didn't stew about whether there were folds in the curves. i had a couple of small ones. (excluding 2 full days of fabric shopping) overall it took about 3 days to make. you could cram it into two, but it would have to be pretty focused. i had a deadline, so worked at a steady clip for the first day, completing the exterior of the bag. i spread the lining and clasp construction over a couple days.
here are some construction pix:
the finished bag exterior:

the lining: the (comically small) pocket pinned in place & the top band with half of the magnetic clasp in place. [this was my first time installing a mag. clasp. it's heavy for such a light weight bag, but otherwise i dig it]

**bonus: you can see the old ironing board cover under the pieces here. it's stained from steam and batik wax: eyesore is the word that comes to mind.
here is the finished bag:
i'm going to make one for myself from some grey wool suiting. (of course i bought the suiting when fab shopping to make this bag.)

i've also been logging some long hours reading and staring off into the blowing palm trees at my favorite cafe patios round town. and knitting. so far: 3 pair of baby booties, and 10 baby clothes hangers. 'tis the season among my friends. in an effort to get some of these knit goods out the door i'm sending the booties and hangers separately.

after a light rain this morning, the sun has broken out. i am heading out for some patio/cappuccino time.

of note:
pre-post lunch: rad salad that included bleu cheese crumbles, eye of the hawk ale
music: m. ward, "post war"-->frightened rabbit, "winter of mixed drinks"
on deck: pedicure

sometimes i dream of willie mays

it's been slow going, but i've revved up my post-card and letter writing mojo and am putting missives into the post again. here are two cards i posted this week.
the title of this post is from a song by the Baseball Project. it's a recollection of being a kid and making the trip to Candlestick Park to see Willie play. i've been on reminiscence overdrive for the last month and this song has been in heavy rotation in the homestead.


further postcards...

i wrote this a couple days ago to my pal, m. in s.f. The pic is of a statue behind the SF Giants' ball park. it's commemorating the SF Pacific Coast League team, the Seals. (damn, but i've got baseball on the brain lately. O! Summer!)

Weds June 30, 2010: the last day of June. Tomorrow begins the torturous countdown to the end of my vacation. alas! This afternoon finds me sitting at a neighborhood cafe, feet up, Americano at hand, writing a few cards & putting some effort in toward my summer reading.
I just had this moment: sitting in breezy shade looking @ blue blue sky, trees & power lines, the door to the cafe was propped open & I could hear Peter Frampton singing, "Show Me the Way." Took me directly to summer 1975--sitting by our backyard pool, listening to KFRC and those big, open, endless summer days. Too many chores as an adult. housekeeping. the minutae of day to day living gets in the way of those wide-open days. well. in the coming month i'm reducing that drek to its bare minimum! Deadlines be damned. oh! i am going to Outside Lands this yr. if yr not in MA that weekend think about coming out w-me! Gordo's! mmj! what could be better?


#2: written to my long ago san jo roommate, mel. some of the things i wrote to her are similar to the card #1. mel & i were roommates when we both worked at tower video. when i moved to humboldt, we corresponded for awhile. eventually we lost touch. thru the tendrils o' f/b we were recently reunited.

the day finds me sitting on a patio in a residential part of Echo Park. For some reason this summer i've been particularly reflexive-thining about summers past. I suppose it's b/c I have so many strong memories of summer from my childhood. The result is that i'm listening to a mix of songs from 1974 on my headphones and staring off into the trees & power lines. ("Rock the Boat" -> "Bennie & the Jets." heady stuff :) )I'm reading Michael Chabon's "Mysteries of Pittsburgh" for probably the 4th time. it's set during the summer. the summer after the narrator finishes college. I love this book. I know if I'd read it when i was younger i'd love it, but from a very different perspective. I'm an absolute fan girl for m. chabon.
I've been doing quite a lot of sewing & knitting: baby shoes by the gross. I've got a rad dress that's been on the back burner for months. it's a 1950's style shirt dress made in fabric decorated with red, yellow & green tractors. My no-pressure goal is to have it finished in July. I have 5 yds of Elvis fabric that i want to use to make another, but FIRST THINGS FIRST!
While i was in portland i got to see Ron & Dave (i can't remember if you knew dave...) it was terrific. Really something to be w-these guys who knew me @ 19. After so long Just one of th things that put me in that reflexive place. Whew. Since getting home its been on odd mis of pure-slack & high drama. Me, i'm more about the slack. :)
ps. attended 25th anniversary of Pee-Wee's Big Adv. last sunday. FANTASTIC fun! "Pee-Wee, listen to reason!"

can't get "South Hampton Dock" out of my head.

**another day, more quality hours logged at Kaldi cafe. wrote this p-card to my pal, p. in white plains**

Sunday May...15? 16? eh. Sunday.
Walked into Kaldi coffee this afternoon and heard something familiar playing. Turned out to be a Marillion song...one of those that at one time was in heavy rotation chez moi. A couple of yrs ago I pulled a bunch of old CDs out to sell. I gave a few of them a last spin to see if I wanted to keep them. This Marillion album, "Misplaced Childhood" was one of them. As anthemic & prog-y as ever, but my heart wasn't in it. And so, to Amoeba...
This album was so a concept record that I can't remember the song title b/c they were all so obtuse. :)
Anywhoo. It kind of blew my mind to hear it out in a cafe, not in the studio apt. of a friend w-a bunch of D&D figurines. Since I'd outted myself as having a soft spot for the Prog during that R. Waters Coachella set, I knew you'd be the right ear for this story. :)

**a couple years ago p. & i spent a day @ coachella. the headliner that night was roger waters. he was playing a varied first set, then coming back and performing "Dark Side of the Moon." i had to leave early b/c i had an early work day. as r. waters took the stage, p & i had some dinner, then started across the grounds to leave. now. this is when my dormant pink floyd zeal came to the surface... we got near the stage, i recognized the song he was playing, grabbed p's arm and yelled, "it's "Fletcher Memorial Home" from "the Final Cut!" I've never heard him do this before!" at which point we stopped to listen. 20 min later, p was laying on the grass and i was still enthralled by the music.
now i wanted some coffee for the long drive home. while waiting for joe, waters & band took a break, and came back out to perform "Dark Side". at the end of "Time" i told p. we had to make a break for it or i wouldn't leave until the end of the show.

i was what you might call a serious teenager: distracted by the cold war, and the threat of a nuclear war (ahh, the 80's). the anti-war, critical of the existing powers (ronald reagan, margaret thatcher) era of pink floyd was right up my alley. it wasn't a new thing, i credit my brother with turning me onto them when i was very little. he was 13 when "Dark Side..." came out. he called me into his room, had me put on his headphones, then played "On the Run". that's the wild stereophonic piece. blew my little mind.

my parents wouldn't let me recreate the album cover of "The Wall" on my bedroom wall, so i used the back side of a 4' x 5' sheet of paneling, then hung that up. when "The Final Cut" came out, i left school early and caught bus 82 to tower records to buy it. when i heard on the radio that the band had broken up, i went into our basement found a plastic floral wreath, spray painted it black, and hung it on my locker door at school.

so, i was serious, but still a dork. and i still listened to Cheap Trick, Triumph, the Greg Kihn Band, so it wasn't all about dying in a mushroom cloud or during a nuclear winter.
(after typing this i reached over and grabbed the thesaurus on my desk. i've had this thesaurus since i was 9 yrs. old. this is a pic of one end: ha!)

i don't have any pink floyd albums on CD, and don't ever play the records. but i still have most of them. getting completely caught up in the music walking across that field at coachella, was a total surprise to me.

since roger waters started releasing solo records in the mid-80's i've been to lots of his shows. oh my, some good times, those shows. (again, ahh, the 80's ;) ) but i don't think i'll see this "wall" tour. maybe it's the cost, maybe the scale. eh.

i have a feeling side 1 of "Meddle" is getting played tonight. that run from "One of These Days" to "Seamus" is pretty fucking great.**

absolute trust keeps me moving in the Right Di-rec-tion

**since getting back from my road trip i've been getting back into the postcard writing groove. i wrote this while sitting outside Kaldi coffee in Atwater Village. when i walked in to order my drink, "The Good Thing" by Talking Heads was playing. Made me smile.
below is a card i wrote to my friends stacey & harlan in texas. the picture on the p-card is of a quilt sewn by Annie Mae Young. it's from the photos of quilts from Gee's Bend.**

5.14.10 Thurs
Things Rad & Not So Rad (NSR): talked myself into riding my bike to this cafe (Rad). On the way mailed 2 bills, 4 postcards & 1 letter (Rad). All the patio umbrellas have gone missing from the cafe (NSR), but it is cool & breezy enough to sit in the direct sun (Rad!). was served a stellar cappuccino (rad). Decided to try a Japanese drink b/c it's clear & carbonated. turned out to be soda pop (NSR) alas. A Eurythmics song from 1988 or so just came up on the shufle (Rad). For a few boyfriends between 1988 - 1997 this served as my record to listen to upon breaking up. Now, I just love it. :) (neat) Im in week 3 of what I hope will turn out to be hiatus (not just unemployment) (Rad). Grant-Lee Phillips played Largo last night for the first time in many months (super rad). The old casket store/funeral service shop has moved up the street. in its place: some kind of medical marijuana UNIVERSITY. (just plain odd). for the first time since my job ended i have nowhere i have to be tonight (fucking awesome). took a week long solo road trip (rad). saw 2 minor league b-ball games (OH, SC) & 5 concerts in 5 states (rad). Brilliant way to leave my old gig behind. :)

**follow up: i sat in the sun writing p-cards and knitting long enough to get a sun burn on my shoulders. sigh. amateur hour, i tell you! also: it's official, the show i worked on last season was cancelled. so: we call it unemployment, not hiatus.**

also, after typing this it took me 15 min of jumping through log in & transfer links and pages to post it b/c blogger switched something around. i wasn't notified BEFORE i typed it. pain.in.my.ass. grr.

anything to not clean any more: postcards from march!

this pic is of a plaque outside of Stage 2 on the Sunset-Gower Lot where i used to work.

since thursday i've been cleaning my apartment. i've been tearing things apart, so it's slow going. however, last night i started to see some real progress. i have a few tasks to do that will take me out of the apt, so things are on a bit of hold until tomorrow.
today i have to take my car for it's bi-annual smog check. it's 20 years old this year, but well cared for. i'm hoping for the best. a few years ago my car stereo was stolen. while the car was in my car port. sigh. two days after the stereo was stolen, the thieves broke back into the car to steal some wiring they'd missed the first time. as my car was like a convenience store for thieves, i decided not to replace the stereo. well, after driving a rental car with a working stereo for a week, i've decided that if my car passes its smog test i'm going to put in a new stereo. something not too shiny, but SOMETHING. (the stereo that was stolen was one i'd bought only 4 months previous. i'd replaced all the speakers in the car, too. so all those terrific speakers are in there laying dormant.)

right.

during my cleaning i found a xerox of some postcards that i'd meant to post here. so in the interest of clearing stuff out of the apt, i'm posting them now.

card 1: written to a friend in san francisco who i knew was in chicago for some music

Saturday 3.13.10
Today is my first day off since President's Day and it's gotten off to a weird, but ok start. weird: cell phone & smoke detector both beeped at intervals during the night and woke me. (it was due to a power outage.) But! this morning i found my MISSING SINCE NOVEMBER flip flops!? They were sitting on the shoe rack the whole time (they were hidden among the skirts of hanging dresses). And now, i am sitting outside a new (!) deli cafe on hillhurst, drinking a good coffee, enjoying a scone and reading a little John Hodgman.
I'm particularly grateful to him this morning b/c the novel i'm reading has gotten very heavy hearted and i just couldn't bear to read it this morning. so. two cups (1/2 caff) into saturday. You are, no doubt in the vicinity of the Vic as I write this. Oh! I got a reservation confirmation for PFT (Paul F. Tompkins) last night. woo! now, i just need to finish work on time that night. :)
If i go home right now I just know i'll start doing chores. Just don't know if i'm ready for that yet... Hope to see you soon!

card 2: written to my sister & brother in law who live in the bay area

3.21.10 Sunday -- 2:30pm
It's been slow going getting my sunday m.o. in action: finally sitting out on a patio w-an iced coffee drink, listening to some great music. Yesterday i took out my earphones just in time to overhear a woman say to her friends, "It's like Tyra Banks says, 'the way to tell a good model from a bad one is the amount of airbrushing they require" immediately i put my earphones back in, and remembered what compels me to wear them in the first place. :)
Just had the standard "baseball is too slow for me" conversation with the owner of this cafe: he's not a baseball fan. as we started discussing team strategy more customers came so we had to stop chatting. can't wait to point out the diff. between Ntl. & Am. Leagues to him! When i go in for another drink, i'll pick up the conversation there. :)
Hope spring finds you enjoying your home office/pool!

**ok, i sound a positive dork about baseball in this second card. spring training will do that to me. my fervor mellows out a bit by mid-may.**

Quaker Brand is the Favorite Brand of Grits of the Charleston Riverdogs

**friday morning. i've definitely caught some kind of bug. sore throat, exhausted. eh. i'm still in the hotel, waiting for the food to arrive. my bags are all packed and waiting by the door, so as soon as i eat, i'll be back on the road, heading for raleigh.

here is the second half of my annotated show notes from wednesday's my morning jacket show in charleston sc. again, this is a cut and paste from the mmj forum.**


ok. in the interest of finishing what i started, but not being up until 2am, i'm going to list my set list notes as written. this might be comedy since the notes are not so clear. ;D

another great thing about seeing the show with Ruckus is that i could say to him, "there's only one bass in tom's guitar rack. you think their travelling light on this trip?" without him looking at me like i was speaking to him in a foreign language.

when the band came out carl sat at the pedal steel, so i had no idea what they were going to play. here begins the transcription...

--tonight i want to celebrate with you: IT'S ON.

--@ dawn! diff jim bit (i think this was referring to a really loud, or odd key start to the song by jim)

--gideon --diff outro. (i think this was an uptempo outro. i love when you're digging a song and it takes an unexpected turn. i was thinking "where are you going?!" it's exciting {i sound like an absolute dork, but it's been a loooong time since i've seen a show. so.})

--OTR: the sun is down now, but still dusk. tom & carl exchange a "ready?" type look. the eyes in back drop are lit red

--wonderful man!

--amazed: at end jim shoots pat w/toy gun as he falls

--touch me pt 1: enter drunken bargers

--golden: ok. side bar: overall the crowd was great. the people around me were having a great time without being creeps. but. the drunk chick contingent was strong. the "this is my song! let me tell you why while they play it!" girls were out in force.

--thank you too: jim's gretch beautiful! (i'm not a guitarist but i have a soft spot for the sound of these.) end of song patrick mimed shooting jim

--mags! mid-set mahgeetah. it's crazy to hear it coming out of such a slow groove like TYT. starts off a bit swingy. fucking brilliant.

--lay low

--low down!

--wonderful

--librarian: the girl to the left of me (non-drunken contingent) was miming some of the story of the song. kind of sweet, really. :)

--STEAM: NONE OF THIS IS PHYSICAL really beautiful. really. (this tour coincided with the end of a very demanding job. so, being outdoors, singing, hollering, dancing, being on the road, it's all part of a big joyous picture. and that is what i was thinking here.)
at the end ruckus tapped me on the shoulder and said, "best steam engine ever"

--smokin from shootin: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! soooo good to see mmj doing this again! at the top of the song the stage was bathed in read light, by the end it was glowing white. striking!

(crazy how they ride the momentum of smokin into...)

--end of run thru: carl leap! 3 guitars up front just badass (this is just rock show fucking badassery. i just kept shaking my head at the epic-ness of what was happening up there.)

--touch me pt 2: tom uses a pick on this song. who knew?

(here they tried something new...insteading of ending cold after TM pt2, they segued into OBH. they may have done it last week: i've kept myself in strict set-list black out since the tour started. ;) )

--OBH: big fun! carl came out to the edge of the stage, playing and dancing with the crowd
--------------
ok. nothing could have prepared us for this:
--over the rainbow: the sax player in PHJB, the man whose name i don't know, but is listed on the set list as Weenie, stepped into a spot and played this solo. fucking stunning. just heart breakingly beautiful.
soooo happy this call was made. (whoever suggested this in the set-list, this was an inspired move. cheers! )

--wordless: knee slide!

(phjb comes out...)

--evil urges! (not used to hearing this in the middle of a set!)

--DANCE: OUT OF CON... (this is what i scrawled as i was leaping around, grinning at ruckus and losing my shit. WHAT A GREAT TIME!! currently i am nursing a bit of a sore throat. all evidence points to my activity during this song. ;D )

--HIGHLY: continued mayhem with the band and PHJB

--carnival time: love watching many of the guys on stage singing along to this

--move on up: curtis mayfield. curtis mayfield. curtis mayfield. huge!

the sound was terrific! even up front. the mix coming thru the audience monitors on stage was so even. often bo's music gets lost amid the guitar amps close to the stage, but not last night.
as i was leaving the show i kept singing out loud the bright horn part from move on up. ;D and i realized that i was in such a hurry to get to the show (arrived in charleston just in time for rush hour) that i didn't make note of where i parked. since this wasn't the oakland coliseum, that was not an issue {like that roger waters show in 1985...}.

there were a few cars post-show tailgating as i left. the people behind me were playing james brown. fucking a.

it's been so long since i've (we've) seen mmj perform these songs live that everyone is a surprise.
and now it is 2am. and i intend to leave here at 9. so.
thanks for tolerating, and often encouraging my profanity-laced stream o' consciousness reviews. :D


damn. what a great fucking time!

**for the record, i was up until 2am writing this. it never goes as quickly as i'd like to think.**

pop stand: blown! my snowy egret count is OFF THE CHARTS!

so, after years of no summer vacation, i am on the road! this afternoon i am sitting on the 5th floor of a holiday inn in charleston, sc. i made the drive up from st. augustine, fl yesterday. i'm doing a little road tripping, seeing some my morning jacket shows and minor league baseball. i took the pic above somewhere between savannah & charleston. i thought to watch out for fire ants as i walked up to the sign, b/c last time i was in nc i got bitten by one. and there was a fire ant hill right by the sign! i avoided it/them and am feeling pretty good about that. :)

you may know i'm an armchair birder. comes from living next to the bird sanctuary in arcata. i started counting birds when in got to FL. heron: 1, snowy egrets: 2. on the drive yesterday, my egret count went off the charts. this territory is ALL marshes, creeks, swamps and rivers: water fowl turf, so i am all agog. it's a wonder i didn't drive off the road.

the bit below is what from what i posted on the mmj forum (blogs, forums. really? lord.) about the show in charleston last night. so far, it's just about the preservation hall jazz band. i've got to go outside, so more on the show later.

**pic of me before waiting for the show to start.**
just slept 10 hours, showered and have ordered up room service coffee.

got to see the show last night with ruckus and his pal, jordan! it's always great to be around people in the crowd who are there to see the show. sounds like a no-brainer, but you know, there are those who go to a concert as an event, and those that go to see the performers. i just find the peeps there to see the show make better company. :)

i left st. augustine at about 11:15. turns out the hwys between FLA and SC run through a lot of little towns, so the trip took a lot longer than i'd expected. add to that a the street i wanted to use to get from one hwy to another in one of those towns (speed limit 25mph) was shut for a bike race/street fair/butter churning. i don't know, but it made finding my way out of there challenging.

anywhoo.

i got to charleston, checked into my hotel (populated by 175 teens, a youth group or something. apparently the room next to mine was party central. oof)

the venue was lovely. who knew? i expected it to be much bigger, but it didn't seem massive. the light & sound boards were on the ground level at the end of the court.

there was not a cloud in the sky. really, just beautiful. the crowd was really slow to file in. it's such a funny thing about when an act tours with a supporting act. everyone is in the lot or lobby until just before the headliner takes the stage. i've done this, but when you're inside seeing it happen, it's just weird.

bear antics: when pooch & denise came out stan* (name changed for discretion) put them with denise stage left, pooch stage right. but before the show started, someone else came out and swaped them. what cracks me up is that there is a particular arrangement of who goes where.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band:

--jelly roll
--short dressed gal
--a bad ass song that reminds me of "sing sing sing". it's just drums and trumpet for most of the song. cannot convey the swing of this song.
--ole man mose
here, mark braud introduces the band, then brings out jim for...
--tennessee hustler (when jim came out the girl next to me said to her boyfriend, "he's cute!")
--a jimmie rodgers sounding song that may have been blue yodel...jim was yodeling, some of the phjb were singing along. wonderful!
then patrick, carl, bo and tom come out to play percussion (lots of shakers!) for...
--st. james infirmary sung by clint maedgen

i think this was the last song. my end of set notes are always spotty b/c i get in the momentum of the show. at the end of the song, clint m. sat down. there were a couple of looks exchanged among the band and they ended the set. they probably had another song or two to play, but cut it short. either b/c of the late start or b/c st. james was such a blow-out.

the crowd for the start of these PHJB sets has been SMALL. small enough that as the band takes the stage you can see them marvelling and shaking their heads at the hilarity of it all. and when they start playing some of the crowd seems not sure what is happening, but two songs in and the crowd loooooooves them. which is fantastic.

i watching them last night i kept thinking that this tour is really special. that we're getting a chance to see PHJB like this, outdoors, small crowds, swinging, swinging, swinging. fucking brilliant.


snack note: room service coffee, fruit salad
groovy tunes: wilco "theologians" on the shuffle

finished!

in brief: after much languishing, i've finished the 50's dress in fish fabric! this is a pic from the inaugral wearing. taken used photobooth in my dark office, so not the most flattering.
but you can see there are pockets. (!)

the keen-eyed office supply aficionado will spot the heavy duty 3-hole punch on the table.
bonus points if you can pick out the pic of Pee-Wee Herman & Cowboy Curtis sitting on Chairey.

don't you need zoning for a day care?

**this from an unfinished letter to my sister. it's on what is possibly the most adorable stationery i've ever used.
after more than 2 weeks of it sitting unfinished in my back pack, i'm putting it in the post tomorrow.**


4.2.10 Friday, 1pm

Today is a union holiday: Good Friday. I decided to spend some time @ a cafe that I usually visit on the weekend. It's in an old residential neighborhood in Echo Park. I have to drive here.
On the weekend it's pretty quiet. The patio out front has a tall bamboo hedge along the sidewalk which helps temper the bus noise & stuff. The week days, however, are proving to be a different story...something i'd not noticed before: there is a pre-school across the street. or maybe it's just day care. (some of those kids are at least 7 yrs. old.) They are all running, playing and HOLLERING. In the house next to the cafe (directly behind me) there is a small dog who has been barking for at least 20 min, and who shows no signs of stopping.
Usually in this situation I have headphones on, but i've been reading a book. (oh my god, one of the kids actually just said this, "nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah." i'm going in for a coffee refill, then coming out to put my headphones on.)
{ok, i'm back w-a fresh hot cuppa joe. and as if by miracle, the children have gone indoors! hooray! also, the little dog is quiet. perhaps the two were linked.}

There is a young guy working in the cafe, I've not seen him here before. When i went in for my 1st cup I ordered drip coffee and asked him what the difference is between the 2 they have brewed. When I chose the one he described as "lighter but stronger" he actually had a "yes!" reaction that was really funny. It felt good that the cafe guy thought i'd made the right choice. ha! i'm a dork. but he is cute.
I'm in a bit of a weird state today. I blame 3 things:
1. this is a holiday wknd but i may have to work tomorrow, but don't know yet.
2. I'm starting to get crampy
3. i'm doing a dance with fed-ex to receive a pkg. I paid for 2 day shipping, but it will be 4 days before I can get it. it's my fault: i thought the pkg was being sent via US Post, so i gave them our mail room address @ work, not the office address.
Also, my job ends in a few weeks and i haven't made an effort to find my next one. This is b/c i've got a short road trip planned at the end of April. I don't want to back to work right away.
I am really hoping that "Mercy" gets picked up for another season, or my old boss' pilot gets picked up for series. Either way I could take a couple months off knowing I have a job to come back to. Next week i'll whip up an "i'm looking for a gig" email and send it out. That will do for now. :)
(wow, the temperature has dropped about 10˚ since I got here. And the clouds are rolling in. am now lamenting my decision to wear flip-flops, not sneakers. hmmm. I'm also learning that trying to write a letter w/o wearing my headphones is difficult b/c i am easily distracted by other peoples' conversations.)
How are things in Yuba City? Are you feeling settled? I'm hoping that since you've been there for awhile drama and newness are starting to taper off. :)
i've been loosely formulating a road trip up north to see family. I don't have any dates yet, but would like to hit the Bay Area, Sacramento, Yuba City, see some baseball...Again, i'm hoping to have some time off this summer. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
now 4.18.10, sunday night-- i never got back to finish this letter. thought i'd send on what i'd written. 3+ pages and i feel like i was just ramping up...

**if all goes well, i will have this in the post tomorrow.
beer of note: rogue dead guy
radio: gary calamar just played "white girl" by X**

choice of self expression

finished! over the summer break i'll find a frame for this. i plan to put it up in my next office.

in between working days i've been working steadily on the Endless Stripey. i am now knitting the Last Ball of Yarn on this blanket. it's been cooking since january 3, 2003. cannot wait to get it out of the "in progress" stack and onto my bed.

also: last weekend i FINISHED the 50's style shirt dress! i had to do some damage control where the front pleats and facing meet, but am happy with the result. i laundered it. it needs pressing. the ironing is the true test. once it's pressed i'll post a pic.

i could use an iced coffee. anyone?

day 14: still no sign of land

for a long time, in the "what's cooking" column to the right i've had listed as "currently knitting" the Endless Stripey blanket. i started knitting this blanket the first week of january, 2003. i remember the date b/c i've got a quilt on my couch that i started at the same time, and the date is embroidered into the quilt back.

i'd been knitting for less than a year when i started this. i intended it to be a baby size blanket. bad math, and ignorance of how cotton will stretch conspired to make this much bigger. when it out grew portability it languished: for a few years i spent very few nights knitting at home. and it's tough to bring this kind of project on the road. :) the blanket is so wide that each row takes me about 20 min to knit (or one episode of 30 Rock.)

during the writers' strike i started chipping away at all the unfinished projects in my craft closet. this blanket came out of retirement. i've not finished it yet. kind of on the home stretch. i've got one ball of each color left.

currently it's about 4 x 5'. this isn't necessarily an accurate measurement b/c i "measured" it when i spread it out on the couch and laid on it.


YET ANOTHER THING I'M KNITTING

4 or 5 years ago i bought a bunch of yarn at a bag sale down in san diego. i still have most of it in the closet. (last year i sent a full bag of 12 balls of raw silk to a friend in missouri. done!) i was on the verge of sending 20 hanks of this multi-colored, bouclé/slub yarn to the goodwill when my pal (enabler) petra convinced me to use it.

i'm combining the multi yarn with some cheap but nice black mohair looking lion brand yarn i bought at jo anne's. i know, i know. it's acrylic. i'm knitting a blanket, but instead of knitting it as one piece (endless stripey method) i'm knitting this one in one foot wide strips. this way it stays portable. (i got a lot of work done on the second strip while sitting on planes a couple weeks ago.) this blanket is really pretty, but not as soft as wool. it has a great weight to it, though.
it's not photogenic, but in real life it's cute.
i've been working long days for 2 weeks straight. i'm starting to pine for some good knitting and sewing time. [as is evidenced by this post.]

i have tickets for a couple of shows coming up this week. am hopeful that work won't keep me from going. perhaps if i get more work done tonight (ie: wrap up this post) i'll have a better chance of attending those shows...mrh.

omg. wtf. bbq. -- more postcards from kentucky

it's monday, presidents' day. it's snowing heavily and windy outside. i'm set to fly home this afternoon, but i'm starting to feel some doubt about whether that will actually happen. hmm.
i do have to check out of my hotel soon, so i best get this show on the road.

this first card is a pic of the then new, louisville greyhound station, circa 1970. i'm basing the date solely on the rear end of a car that looks like a '68 dodge coronet. i could be way off on this. am sending this to my pal, u. in san francisco:

2.13.10
I'm going to try to recreate something -- i hope this works out...
I just saw this drawn on the wall in the w.c. at the Heine Brothers coffee attached to Carmichael's bookstore in Louisville. Quite possibly the best graffiti i've ever seen. (is there an e in possibly?)
The 3 kids @ the next table just called their mom & begged her to come pick them up. awesome.
Hope you're having a great time up north!

*inset is my rendering of best graffiti: banner reads:
OMG. WTF. BBQ.
inspired comedy. :)*


i love a good window. one of the reasons i keep staying in my hotel so long in the morning: i just sit at the desk watching the snow over the new and very very old buildings here. reminds me a little of downtown san jose in the early 80's (but for the snow). anywhoo, all this window staring and cold weather...put me in a contemplative place.

this card i'm sending to my friends m & b in portland. b writes the blog bags of wind.

2.14.10
Winter! in Kentucky: It's Sunday afternoon. i'm sitting in my fave coffee spot in Louisville (Highland Coffee) with a great view out the window across the small parking lot to homes and falling snow. i was ready to write a letter. About snow, family, my fascination with family photos, my seeming imminent contact w-my long absent dad. My choosing to drop a lot of $ to come to KY by myself rather than visit my brother (who has had an epically shitty 8 mos.) or my mom, who is recovering from hip surgery. I wanted to tell you about the nephew I haven't seen in 16 yrs, who lives in Austin & sings in a Pantera-inspired Heavy Metal band and the photo of my dad I took when i was 10: Him standing in our backyard holding up the 20ft. C.B. antenna he was going to mount on our house, smiling big. But I don't have any paper. so, for now it's just a list. also a Gillian Welch song that reminds me of my dad has been positively haunting me. more soon.
ps. was thinking of B when i bought this card. --> natch. :)

bookstore -> book -> burrito = ode to downtown san jo

when i was in high school i used to spend a lot of time in a used book store in downtown san jose: twice read books (a note by Bay Area Books). [just looking online for a picture of the store has me waxing nostalgic about all those rainy days spent at twice read. i'm going to put off the love letter to the old, rough around the edges downtown of my formative years and get on to the post i'd intended to write. but only b/c it's after midnight and i have a long work day tomorrow...]

when i was sorting through my storage closet i found a book that i'd bought at twice read at least 21 years ago. it's a gorgeous illustrated book of poems by JG Whittier printed in 1886. i'm not a dedicated reader of Whittier or poetry, but this book is beautiful.

so, it's been in my storage cabinet for at least 6 years. before i moved into this apt, i don't know where i'd kept it: likely in another box somewhere. i pulled it from the closet and brought it into the living room.

this collection of poems was first published in 1848. When the 1857 printing was published, Mr. Whittier was still alive and wrote "A Note From the Author" to be included in the book. he regretted that his poor health kept him from editing the selections.
i love this bit:

"That there are pieces in this collection which i would "willingly let die," i am free to confess. But it is now too late to disown them, and i must submit to the inevitable penalty of poetical as well as other sins. there are others, intimately connected with the author's life and times, which owe their tenacity of vitality to the circumstances under which they were written, and the events by which they were suggested.
The long poem of Mogg Megone was in a great measure composed in early life; and it is scarcely neccessary to say that its subject is not such as the writer would have chosen at any subsequent period.

J.G.W
Amesbury, 18th 3d mo., 1857"


how wonderful is it to know that rolling one's eyes at our own bad, teen-poetry is something that's gone on so long?

{these pix of the Whittier book are crappy. i took them with the laptop while sitting in bed. if i can get it together i'll replace them with more representative pix soon.}

**the pic of Twice Read was taken by Avi Morgan. i don't know Avi, but found this pic among some of his shots of downtown San Jo. i got sucked into looking at all his shots of historic san jose. lovely and evocative. i logged a lot of miles on foot and bicycle checking out all the old nooks and crannies of downtown and still have a tremendous fondness for it. since i left san jose in 1989, i have this recurring issue: every time i go home to visit, my favorite places are gone: not just shuttered, but buildings razed and replaced. during the 1990's even streets would go missing, replaced by new highways.
my mom sold the family house (a large craftsman bought by my grandparents in 1964) about 10 years ago. when i do go back to san jose the only thing that really brings me downtown is La Victoria Taqueria. the picture on this yelp page is of the original location on e. san carlos street. they've since moved to...what is the name of that square? fun fact: in this pic of La Vic, you can see a fast food joint next door. it is the same jack in the box where i worked in high school.**