98 in the shade or why i love folkie boot camp...

dateline - kerrville texas


made it.  been set up at camp nashbill for a couple of days, now.  man, did i ever need this.


i'm still kind of reeling from my mother's passing.  even though there is all the logical "she had been so sick for so long" and "hell, she hasn't known who i was for several years and wasn't sure who she was for the past year or so", all of which leads to "she's in a better place".......


and i'm sure she is, her faith in such things was pretty strong.  we all find the healing we need where and when we need it.  


once all the funeral hoo hah was over and the last car with the last seen long ago relative had departed the restaurant my brothers and i were left with........"well, shit, mom's dead and i'm incredibly sad...sad for all the questions that will never be answered, at least not here...sad for the way she left this world (angry and confused)...sad that, hell i'm 64 years old and my mom is dead..."


time, brothers and sisters....time.  i need to learn to show it a little more respect. 
so here i sit in the kerrville, texas, blessedly air conditioned and free wi-fied public library.  had a wonderful night of music, both listening and playing...like i said, we all find the healing we need where and when we need it.  sometimes we have to drive a few lonely hours pondering the state of the universe to reach our destination, get out of the car only to be engulfed by the healing powers of friends and their amazingly wonderful musicial hearts...


(hmmmm, is crying allowed in libraries?)


i love you all very much.


here's a shot of my good pal matt harlan kicking off the kerrville festivities with a great set.

so much more great music to come....

listening to.....well, everybody!

paper heart in the dirt...

dateline: santa fe, nm


...boy, sure haven't been keeping up with the whole radio/blog thing...
will try to rectify that in the future.
suffice it to say, been some places...and i'll post about 'em.
but for now, it was a wonderful pre=spring spring day in the north of new mexico.   didn't want to go to the gym and be inside so instead i walked to the post office and the library and the grocery store...then walked home carrying a big bag o' fruit and "bully - the life and times of theodore roosevelt "... saw this paper heart lying on the parched desert ground... pretty nice day off the road...

listening to: moors & mccumber - "gravity"

watching: season 6 of "weeds"

  

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