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!"

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

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**

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. :)

setting things to rights

today is a big day.

without going into too sordid detail: the banks that hold my credit cards have seen fit to raise the APRs on them with no cause other than they've "revised their business model." two cards were from the same bank. APR: 27.24%

fuckers.

so. today was the day i got to pay one off completely and take the other one down to a very small amount. when i signed my name to the checks i wanted to write something pithy like, "get bent!" in the memo line, but i resisted.

i didn't expect it, but i felt such a huge relief as i walked away from the post office. felt that i'd regained control of something that had been beyond my control for so long. (i'm not one of those people who is constantly shuffling money around or switching credit cards. i just stick with what i've got. i'm just lazy that way. or was. :) )

i've been committed to paying cash for everything. the only time i use a credit card is for travel: plane tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals. anywhoo. this felt great.

after i'd signed the checks and before the post office i walked down to peet's coffee for a cup o' the great stuff (decaf sumatra). as i walked in i saw it on the shelf: the Nissan Thermos thermal coffee mug. this is the Red Rider b.b. gun of coffee mugs. i have owned 3 in my coffee drinking career. the first for 6 years. my last was nicked from the dish drainer while i was working on "The Cleaner." (i think it was someone in the U.S. of Tara production office, but i can't prove it...) since last spring i have been using my second string travel mugs: the thermal french press (hard to drink from), the "excite" mug that was MacWorld swag in 1997 or something (coffee gets cold fast){see inset}, and the Rad Thermos (can't drink from it, just for transport).

i bought a new mug. tomorrow morning my coffee will stay hot. i will be able to sip from the cup as i drive to work.

today is a big day.

also: went to lunch with the full post-prod staff today, AND did some knitting at my desk.
AND sorted all my accumulated receipts for the year to date. trying to get a little head start on the taxes, don'tchewknow.

rad thing of the day: my thermos

i love this thermos.

for years i've been using a thermal coffee mug to tote my joe. i love this mug. but that mug has been sidelined as i left it at a neighbor's house weeks ago. in the interim i've been using the thermos.

when my neighbor, beige, moved to philadelpia she shed a few belongings. she gave this thermos to me.
it keeps my coffee hot for hours. this is important. it may seem to be overstating it that this thing is good at what it does, but i have several second string thermal mugs that are not effective: they drip, they don't keep stuff hot, they're awkward to use.

so.

my first ever Rad Thing of the Day post is dedicated to my thermos.
thanks, beige!

screen door (non) up-date

my hope of hiring my carpenter neighbor to install the door has come to naught. i think i'm gonna start asking in the construction dept. at work. this has been stupid for years now.

harumph.

in other news: just ran into my pal, yuri, down at catering. he's a background actor in a couple of scenes today. bonus!
snack of note: mango flan! turkish coffee

i've never met ruben kinkaid

i'm not one to get too star struck. most of the time. but...

i just had lunch with shirley jones.
really.
she's a guest star in the current episode of the show i'm working on. she sat down with the editorial staff and chatted with us all.

as an 8 yr old i taped up clipped pix of sean cassidy on my wall. now i am now 1 degree removed from sean and david cassidy.

O! Hollywood! what a weird town you are.

also: steve landesburg (sgt dietrich from barney miller!!) is in the ep, too. he was sitting at the next table. just seeing him put his lunch tray down made me all giddy. and last week i met joe don baker! mmmmitchell!!

ps. snax of note: turkish coffee, choc chip cookie from catering.

"been trying to title this for 10 minutes" post

last year i heard that my sister suzie was collecting strips of fabric to make rugs, so i sent her several years worth of fabric strips i had. this was at the start of my house clearing movement, and i was really excited that she could use them.

last night i came home to a package on my doorstep. in it was this small rag rug crocheted by her.

when i pulled this rug from the box i had an unexpected emotional reaction. i chalk it up to these things:
-when i make a gift for someone i spend a lot of time thinking about them as i'm making it. that my sister had me in mind like made me feel loved.
-this rug is made from the fabric i sent her: i recognized every piece as being from quilts i made my brother, my friend nora, my aunt, my friend who isn't aware that i have an unfinished quilt for her in my closet...and the quilt i just finished sunday night, which i am sending to this same sister. also in there: a couple of dresses i sewed, the tail of a plaid shirt i cut off in college.
-and this: the other person to make a rag rug for me was our grandmother. when i was very little, for my dolls. i still have them. familial continuity can be a wonderful thing. :)
i love it. it's so beautiful! i put it in front of this wooden chair in my bedroom. it's where i sit to put my shoes on. but this morning i just sat in the chair in my robe, holding my coffee, with my bare feet on this soft, cushy rug.

if this love is wrong, i don't want to be right.

**letter written while sitting in the front cafe section of "stories" bookstore in echo park." it's on some well traveled green lined paper that i carry around just in case the letter writing mood hits. also: i JUST figured out how to put links in the text. look out!**

sunday 2.15.09 5:30p
mostly cloudy sky, dusk, lighted signs getting turned on.

i am in love.

i am in love with this bookstore. last weekend i noticed it for the first time. it's on sunset blvd in echo park, near the echo. it's a bookstore and cafe. the front of the long, narrow shop is all glass. there are tables and a long bench up here. i'm sipping an americano, that, when it was hot, was quite good. :)

the shop sells new and used books! it's not a big space, so you can imagine the selection is...select. (damn, painted myself into a language corner there...) there is a small craft section with good & interesting books on sewing, knitting and needlework. including a book from "subversive cross stitch", of whom i am a fan. :) )
the cafe counter is in the back of the shop along with...a back patio.
patio.
number two on my list of wonderful cafe attributes, second only to remarkable coffee. it's too cold out this evening to sit outside which is how i came to be here. now that i know about the patio. well.

this stretch of sunset blvd is also part of my favored bike path route in the summer. used to be: bike to millie's, eat, then bike to sea level records. since sea level shut in 2007 i've ridden down here, but only to turn around when i get close to dodger stadium and head back.

consider all these attributes--independent book store, new & used books, coffee, tables that look out onto echo park foot traffic, the patio, bike route--and put them all in the space that used to be sea level records. yup. same store. well. what's not to love?

bonuses: they are playing velvet underground and have free wi-fi. so. for now, until all the screenwriters & students discover this spot, i have another cafe to add to the rotation.

before writing you i was reading (oh! i hear the coffee grinder from the back of the store!) michael chabon's book, "Maps & Legends." i've just started the first piece (it's a collection.) this line made me laugh out loud:
"An entertainer is a man in a sequined dinner jacket, singing "she's a lady" to a hall filled with women rubber-banding their underpants up onto the stage."
this in the same piece in which he mentions nabakov, nurse romance fiction, and star wars. i love his writing. (i was going to write, "i love him, too." would have added symmetry to this letter but just seems a little too familiar. :| )

additional cool things about this book store: the guy sitting at another table was just served a salami sandwich. the bread is really crunchy. sounds terrific! and: a woman just sat down at the table next to mine and struck up conversation about the m. chabon book on the table.

ahh! and randy newman is playing now! good lord. how do i keep from spending all my time here? (oh brainstorm! back patio may be ideal for a knitting group!)

alright. it may be time to head home. before coming here i was @ orchard supply. bought a sheet of screen to install in my door. Believe it! and a new broom. it's time. :)

**as i transcribe this i realized i haven't properly finished this letter. well. i packed up, headed home. i didn't get the screen installed last night. wanted to wait until daytime to do it. {black door, black screen...just easier to see in the day} i spent a considerable amount of time standing on a stool in my kitchen re-arranging the glassware that belonged to my grandmothers, and great grandmothers. this put the sangria pitcher is a more accessible spot. key for summer!
also: my hallway is FULL of containers of fabric and yarn from the closet. found just the right fabric in there. :D

it's monday morning. i've spent it sewing in my pajamas.**