Speechifyin' Puffin! (where ya been? part the second)

dateline:  newport, oregon


ah, nothing like a trip to the sea for us desert dwellers...it's always good to see for myself that it's still there.


the oregon coastal museum was right next door to the hotel.  saw this guy there keeping his audience enthralled.  pretty sure it's a puffin and not an auk...great speaker either way.

the aquarium was pretty cool...it's a giant tank with a series of tubes running through it...you walk through the tubes and get a 360 degree view.

silver streaks overhead...

sharks under foot...

then there was this guy...

"hey, you eyeballin' me?"

pen plants...

jellies...

just up the road past nye beach is the yaquina head light house

the obligatory spiral staircase lighthouse shot...

and the obligatory sun streaking behind the lighthouse shot...

i was there at low tide and able to wander around the tide pools...

man, when your job sometimes is actually a day at the beach...the end of the work day can be pretty freakin' glorious...

the window of a glass gallery next door to a great thai restaurant...

not a bad day a'tall

the next day's drive inland to portland had it's beautiful moments, too...

looks like alice already took a nibble

next stop, kerhonkson, ny for the NERFA conference

listening to: dick rosmini - adventures for 12 string, 6 string and banjo

hey, where ya been? (part the first)

dateline: newport, oregon


wow, been having so much fun traveling i haven't gotten around to posting anything for awhile...so here's the first part of a catch up to this fall's wanderings.


started the fall travels back in RI where i attended my first ever high school reunion.  had a good time catching up with folks i hadn't set eyes on for a long long (looong) time...let's just say, the last time these folks saw me i was this guy...(the woman is barbara rivkin, the person who taught me how to fingerpick...thanks, barbara!)

it was funny, most folks reaction to my still being a musician was "wow, you're still DOING that...following your dream, etc".  but there were a couple of "wow, you're still doing THAT?"...it's all in the inflection, i guess.  hell, i feel both ways some days.

took a ride down to the RI shore while i was there.  still a beautiful place.

after RI, i finally got to spend some time in chicago...man, what a cool town!
once again, courtesy of my baseball fanatic agent, i had great tickets to a white sox game. boy, something about seeing a game up close...

also spent a day at the chicago institute of art where i got to visit with these guys...

also got to spend time with some old familiar faces...

a print of this hung on my wall for a long time.  simply amazing to stand in front of the original...

also saw an exhibit of incredible stained glass work by marc chagall

and these guys live on the roof of the harold washington library downtown

but after all is said and done, there's nothin' like coming home to a front yard filled with flowers...

and a back yard full moon...

next up, back to the pacific northwest.

listening to: tom waits - glitter and doom live

BAHB!!!

dateline> albuquerque, nm


well, here's the one shot i managed to get at the dylan show tonight before the incredibly efficient photo cops swooped in....guess bob don't like havin' his picture took...

...that part aside, it was an incredible show...sure, bob may be down to a three of four note vocal range, but it's bob freakin' dylan singing a dylan song...i'll take those four notes over most...and while he only played guitar on a few numbers, preferring to hang on the keyboards, every once in a while he stepped up to the mic as lead singer of an incredibly tight band...i think my favorite part was watching his body as he worked the mic...the way he leaned back with the stand in hand and led charlie sexton and the boys with flicks of his wrist was much more akin to sinatra at the paramount than mick jagger....

ah, what can i say?  i'm a total dylan freak and had a wondermous time.

off to the buckhorn saloon and opera house in pinos altos for a weekend gig.

listening to:  well, duh, bob dylan ~ blonde on blonde

wow, some days....

this is the key

what opens the door

what leads into my new home....

AND i get to open for eliza on the santa fe plaza???

man, some days is just golden...

listening to bombino - agadez

free james!

dateline: santa fe


it's a good summer for free shows in santa fe.  hayes carll a couple of weeks ago.  eliza gilkyson this week (with, ahem, yours truly opening...i'm so excited)
and this past weekend, james mcmurtry...kind of like song school a few weeks early.  had a good time.  good friends.  great music.  and a beer or two too far...nice spot, too, the santa fe railyard

a few choice sartorial choices

local musicistas andy primm & michelle ledig

santa fe performance exchange's rick adesso (speaking of a beer too far...pretty sure i agreed to be on the board)

and one hell of a songwriter...

listening to:  bruce cockburn - small source of comfort