Emmylou

I saw Emmylou Harris at the bowl last night ..she was singing with former members of Dire Straits. Now, I’ve been following Emmylou for a long time ..ever since the early days when she played the local colleges with Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. I sort of have a of a soft spot for her. I’ve been to just about every one of her bowl appearances over the last 10 years. However, I’ve never been what you’d call a Dire Straits fan ..never seen them in concert ..but I like them ..even have a few of their CD’s .. ‘Love over gold’ and ‘Brothers in Arms’ ..but I sort of lost track of them. I never imagined I’d ever see them play together. So, here I am ..8th row center ..watching Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler singing duets like ‘Michelangelo’ and ‘Why Worry’. Emmylou was wearing bright green snake-skin boots ..very cool. I look around ..and it’s like I’m in a hippie colony ..there are a lot of grey beards ..Birkenstocks ..organic dresses ..and that sweet old smell of something. I look at the people in the seats next to me ..a young lesbian couple on my left ..and an even younger, straight couple ..almost high school age ..sitting on my right. Surprising. The two young women share some of their pot with me. They dance to tunes like ‘Espresso love’ and ‘Sonny Liston’. They keep yelling: “louder” ..and complain about all the ‘ballads’ ..they want to rock and roll ..and head down toward the stage. The quiet couple sitting next to me enjoy everything ..they ask me where the ‘noisy girls’ went ..I tell them they needed more volume ..and laugh. We listen to some really beautiful duets like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Far away’. Afterwards I ask them whether they are Emmylou fans or Dire Straits fans ..half expecting them to say Dire Straits ..they say: “Ohhh, Emmylou by far”. (However, we all agree that Dire Straits are fine too.) That’s great, I say ..surprising but great. He tells me he’s in a band ..and that his father turned him on to all the greats like Gram Parsons, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman. She says she was a go-go dancer at the Whiskey in Los Angeles. That makes sense, a lot of rock legends started out there. She tells me that's where she met her boyfriend ..he was playing in a high school ‘battle of the bands’ show while she was dancing on the stage. I wonder if his father could of ever imagined that. Ahhh, but they were really sweet. Gram Parson’s fans ..I would of never imagined that.

Daybreak in pink

I wake up this morning with the sunrise ..I see pink fog drifting by the window ..I sit up and stare ..it looks like another planet out there. It seems like this immense pink presence is trying to get in .. pushing on the walls ..and pouring through the cracks. I go around opening all the window covers ..it’s even waiting for me at the door ..and getting brighter. I go outside to sit and stare ...watch the mist pass around me and under the tables and chairs. I drink some coffee and read the paper ..but the words slide off my eyes and disappear into pink air. I shake my head and try to think ..but there’s nothing but a bunch of half-baked ‘sleazy’ ideas rattling around up there ..by ‘sleazy’ I mean ‘shadowy and unclear’ ..like the fog passing by ..intriguing ..but nothing I can hang on to. Better let them dissolve and pass ..leave space for the next ones to come and take their place.

Stepping out

Solstice Celebration

I guess if I had to choose .. my favorite part of the parade was the Viking ship. It looked like a dragon ..and there were ‘Vikings’ dancing around it to the beat of Congo drums. It's not just a parade ..it’s like a moving theater ..because they were frequently attacked by hordes of ‘barbarians’ ..armed with big rubber mallots and swinging balls ..who called themselves the ‘corporate raiders’. Everything else was relatively peaceful. There were costumed gymnasts doing back flips ..traveling minstrels ..inline skaters doing trick stuff ..elves and fairies either passing out flowers ..squirting water or throwing confetti eggs ..that sort of thing. No nudity this year. Not that I’m a perv ..I just see it as another sign of growing intolerance. Later on Brian asked whether or not I saw the giant jelly fish squirting purple fluid ..I’m afraid I missed that ..but I could see the purple stains all over his shirt. Smelled like Burgundy. When we got to the festival in the park, there were people, music, funny looking costumes ..and just about anything else you can imagine ..coming at me from every direction. I particularly like the scent of patchouli oil. I went to a booth and tanked up on lemonade. I wanted to be ready. My favorite part of the festival is dancing to the circle of drummers ..I guess that’s because, for me ..it’s the closest thing to an outdoor rock concert. There were belly dancers wearing earth tone chiffon ..‘ocean’ girls, from the parade, painted aqua blue ..and tons of tie dye. The lead drummer looked like he commanded some kinda' respect ..with a big, tall conical hat ..long grey hair ..violet color spectacles ..big ivory beads ..and African shorts. Anne came wearing a long red-and-silver skirt, pink tee and a dark blue sequin vest .. how festive! She also brought her own tambourine ..so I guess you could say she was ‘with the band’. I swear my body has it’s own memory for old rock shows ..as well as a few recent aerobic classes ..because, after awhile ..I don’t have to think much about what I’m doing.

My first high

I take a deep breath ..hold my breath ..then let it out slowly ..feeling the locks on my brain dissolve. We’re in an abandoned horse stable, off the beaten track, somewhere between high school and home. Biff is looking at me through squinty eyes and smiling. I smile back. “What do you think ..?” he asks. “Sweet” I say. He nods appreciatively and tells me I’m in for a treat ..this batch was cured in DMT. I tell him I don’t know what that means. “It’s psychoactive” he says. Halfway through the next hit my fingers start tingling ..then go completely numb. My hands swell up like balloons ..which makes handling the joint a major task. I try to explain this to the others when I realize that my lips have gone numb and I can’t hear myself speak ..until half a second later when it sounds like my voice is coming out of loudspeakers, located somewhere over my head, going “where did you get this shit, Biff ..?” I look around to see where the sound is coming from and everyone starts laughing ~ flash ~ all I can see are Mike and Biff squinting and grinning at me ~ flash ~ now I’m squinting and grinning back. Images are actually reaching me in flashes ..like a movie in slow motion with some of the scenes removed. I feel like I’m 20 feet tall handling a tiny burning ember ..and trying to make sure I don’t swallow it while inhaling ~ flash ~ we’re walking down a trail leading to a residential street ~ flash ~ it looks like Mike and Biff are switching directions in front of me and so I shout. They tell me that they’ve been going straight ..I’m the one who must be switching directions. I’m convinced we’ve been walking in circles and are no farther from the place we started ~ flash ~ we’re passing around a garden hose in someone else’s front yard ~ flash ~ Teresa pulls over and goes “Hello boys, wanna’ ride?” and I’m like ..thank God. Then I stop and go “Wait, you OK to drive? I mean we’re pretty stoned.” Mike looks at me, laughs and says “just get in and maintain.” Teresa is looking at us from the front seat and laughing “You guys are pretty fucked up, huh?” I mumble something incoherent ..causing her to laugh even harder. I hear her say “I have to run by the gift shop ..you guys mind?” and I feel a jolt of paranoia shoot up my spine. The gift shop is by the donut shop where the cops hang out. I hear my brain shout “engage maintenance faculties NOW” ~ flash ~ I’m trying to find my way out of the gift shop ~ flash ~ HORROR!! The cops really are at the donut shop, I can’t leave now. I start pacing back and forth ~ flash ~ I smile as we drive by. The cops stare back so hard ..it looks like their necks are stretched out and their heads are actually in the car with us ~ flash ~ I’m standing in my driveway ~ flash ~ I’m kneeling on my driveway ~ flash ~ I’m fishing for the keys inside my pocket, which has grown an extra foot deep. I’m relieved to find one that opens the door. My throat feels like a dusty staircase .. I drink some juice and feel it splash down every step ~ flash ~ I wake up and it’s noon the next day.

Dos Equis

I’m careening recklessly down the street, swearing at anybody who even thinks about getting in my way. I arrive at the credit union just in time to pay my mortgage before they start charging late fees ..and, in my paranoid state of mind, threatening to make arrangements for me to begin living on the street. I cruise along the shoreline with the top down trying to soothe my nerves. I make a sudden stop to parallel park ..and hear the sound of another driver calling me an asshole. I walk out on the sand ..drop my shorts ..and run into the water ..drenching the last frying nerve fiber. I still can’t seem to think straight. I walk into a liquor store ..dripping wet .. pick up a few bottles of Dos Equis ..a newspaper ..and a towel. I go back out to the beach to try and clear my head. Now something I’m reading doesn’t make sense. It says President Bush has just created the largest marine preserve in U.S history. Great, now I'm imagining things. I shake my head ..drink some more beer ..then read it again very carefully. Sure enough, he did. Says he was inspired by reading a Dr. Seuss book. The 'Lorax' reminds him of the ‘sleepy-eyed monk seal’ off the coast of Hawaii. That’s wonderful ..! My favorite Dr Seuss book is ‘Horton Hears a Who’. That’s where an elephant shows everyone how precious life can be no matter how small, humble or poor. I wonder if Bush will get around to reading that one too.

Chain reaction

There are some things in my life I don't understand ..well, actually ..many things. What I have come to notice, however, is that most things happen in cycles. For instance, I have a sleep-wake cycle ..as well a daily energy cycle. There are cycles for refreshing my senses ..keeping information flowing freely ..as well as cycles of integration going on inside my head ..keeping my ideas fresh and up-to-date. The ideas I have one day don’t always agree with one’s I have on another day. However, I don’t think of them as ‘contradictions’ ..they’re part of a natural rhythm that keeps me flexible and in tune with the world-at-large. When that rhythm is lost ..conflicts emerge. Suddenly things aren’t going the way I want ..or expect them to. Usually happens when I haven’t been keeping up the practice of refreshing my ideas. When these conflicts go unresolved too long ..they compound ..and I begin to feel at odds with the world. Harmony is lost ..and delusions appear. When harmony is lost ..friends come around offering advice ..when this fails ..and my life slides further into disorder ..doctors and lawyers appear.

Halfway home

I swear I cannot make it to the top of Franceschi today ..I break down about half way ..feeling parched and sore. I lay in the shade for a while ..then stagger over to the nearby photography school ..where there are no drinking fountains ..just vending machines and microwaves. I'm standing in front of them telling myself not to forget to bring cash next time when a student comes over and shows me a conference room where there’s a huge barrel full of ice and bottled water ..and I’m like ..Eureka. I coulda’ hugged and kissed the guy. If I had twenty bucks on me ..I would have given it to him. Next, I wander aimlessly through the photo galleries ..learn what the ‘layer-mask’ tool in PhotoShop is for ..then head back home through the County Bowl ..where the marquis reads Emmy Lou Harris and Mark Knopfler ..and I think: what an interesting show that would be ..the box office is closed ..I’ll have to check into that when I get home.

Summer time

I jump in the Alfa ..roll down the top ..slip in Melissa Etheridge and head into town. I stop at IHOP ..tell them I need a big table to spread out the morning paper ..my journal ..plans ..notes and things. Serious business. There’s a German family at a table nearby laughing ..they’re definitely on vacation. I put my eggs ..over easy ..on top of a stack of folded German pancakes ..the irony is not lost on me ..after two hours of strategic thinking I have no idea what to do next ..the sleeves on my jacket are a bit long ..just enough to make me look like a street person ..I decide to take it to Maria in the big old Victorian house at the corner of Chapala and Haley ..I drive down Anacapa to avoid State street (which is like Main street) ..passing by the library, I go "Hey, that sure looks like Anne" ..wearing blue spring colors and a matching cap ..I holler but she can’t hear me ..I cut across traffic, turn left through the intersection and drive around the court house ..wondering where she may have gone ..I look inside the library and find her over by the CD’s ..we chat for awhile and agree to meet later on and make plans for solstice ..there’s always a party in the park ..live music ..and a lot of people running around wearing funny looking clothes. Solstice is definitely my favorite holiday ..pagan idol worshipper that I am.

Cosmic Charlie

When stars flare-out at night ..they send invisible waves of energy washing up on the shores of Earth ..unseen but not unnoticed. Cosmic Charlie sees them ..or rather, he feels them ..like ripples of water bathing his skin ..as he sits outside his hut and watches the night sky ..high up in the Himalayas. “Another star bites the dust” he says to himself “Shiva is dancing like a wild woman tonight”. You see, to Charlie ..the night sky in not an empty void ..it’s alive and vibrant ..a colorful dance of cosmic beauty. He lies naked, stretched out on a rock, and lets the celestial rhythm pass through him ..replacing the worn out cells of his body. They can make him large or make him small. However, by daybreak ..he’s usually back to normal shape. Charlie hasn’t eaten in days ..doesn’t need to. He lets this cosmic exchange take place without interference ..replenishing his body ..cleansing his senses ..and refreshing his mind.

Aerial snowboarding

A flying wing is the ‘holy grail’ of aerodynamics. It would be the fastest and cheapest way to fly ..capable of taking you from Los Angeles to Europe in a little less that five hours ..and at half the cost. If you’ve never seen one ..it looks kind of like a boomerang ..and moves like a snowboard. Point it forward, it speeds up ..turn it sideways, it slows down. It would be the first plane to zoom like a fighter ..and float like a glider. First thing they gotta’ do ..in order to keep it from tumbling head over heels ..is make it behave like a snowboard. To do this, they have to load the onboard computer with everything that a snowboarder knows from years of experience. Things like the feel of the board .. changes in surface conditions ..body motions ..timing, etc.. So, don’t be surprised to see a bunch of geeks crashing down the slopes this winter. And don’t be too tweaked by this new type of sponger ..it may have some dead presidents to trade for what’s inside you head.

(I keep track of developments in biomimicry ..I'm weird that way)

Biomimicry

I am a true believer in the benefits of ‘biomimicy’. Biomimicry is the practice of overcoming obstacles by looking for ways in which nature overcomes them. For example, psychologists are learning how to treat depression by studying the traits of people who are resistant to depression ..computer scientists are developing speech recognition systems by studying the way people communicate in real life. I used to advise all second year psychology and computer science students to take at least one course in ‘naturalistic observation’. I’m reading today’s LA Times where researchers in the field of medicine say that biomimicry may be the only way they have left to fight life-threatening diseases like cancer and AIDS. The AIDS virus is a changeling ..it mutates so fast that doctors have a hard time developing drugs fast enough to recognize them. Vaccines don't work because antibodies can’t see them either. They’ve got sort of like a Star Wars shield protecting them. However, we are beginning to see that not everybody who gets the infection suffers from the disease. It turns out that the best chance we have of fighting AIDS is by looking for naturally occurring substances in the body that give these people built-in immunity.

Europe 2005

German Biergarten: Sister Nancy, Me, Saint Teresa and Dad

Online privacy

I’m not sure whether to be more concerned about online privacy ..or the incompetence of the Justice Department. They want Internet companies to tank up so much raw data (two years worth of online chat, email and websurfing) ..when they need information, it’ll be like trying to take a sip of water from a fire hydrant.