Spinal Tap - Stonehenge

No one knows who they were...or what they were doing. Love you Amy!

Pagans!!!

Happy Beltane Eve/Walpurgisnacht to our pagan brothers and sisters! It can be a weird one (Adolph, meet Nyharlathotep), so take care and watch those fires – don’t be like Thoreau!

No Pictures!!!

A common device among we bloggers is called "Wordless Wednesday" (bloggers are big on alliteration), on which a blogger will post pictures in lieu of any words. Being a rebel (it's true, if you didn't know that) I am going to go against the grain and inaugurate the ocassional "Primarily-Text Wednesday".

There are many bloggers who really inspire me with their "flow", or facility in the verbal direction. My wife is definitely one of them when she helms the blog, and there are some others who I really enjoy reading. But I feel like my own abilities are more in the area of posting pictures, or sharing other people's work. I wish that I were a little more more adept with the writing, and I found a couple of things recently that moved me to think about this.

These two pieces are from a man named Henri Nouwen who was a Catholic priest. He was widely published, and thoughtfully examined his own devotion to writing. Although he died in 1996 before the whole blogging thing, his words seem pretty appropriate to why a lot of people might do this (thanks to Brighthaven Times):

"Writing can be a true spiritual discipline. Writing can help us to concentrate, to get in touch with the deeper stirrings of our hearts, to clarify our minds, to process confusing emotions, to reflect on our experiences, to give artistic expression to what we are living, and to store significant events in our memories. Writing can also be good for others who might read what we write. Quite often a difficult, painful, or frustrating day can be “redeemed” by writing about it. By writing we can claim what we have lived and thus integrate it more fully into our journeys. Then writing can become lifesaving for us and sometimes for others too."



I like this a lot, and I really feel like posting the pictures, etc. can do the same thing as well. But writing does really make you think about your experiences in a deeper way. I like this one too:


"We have to trust that our stories deserve to be told. We may discover that the better we tell our stories the better we will want to live them."


While I don't think that we're doing more things now just because they can be blogged, I do think that part of the enjoyment of some of our experiences now is sharing them with people through this medium. Hopefully this includes sharing it all one day with the kids, if the whole system doesn't crash and lose it all! Anyone know anything about saving all of this stuff?


Anyway, as a finale for Primarily-Text Wednesday, here's a poem that I saw on the great site 3 Quarks Daily:




The Meadow


Marianne Larsen


this evening the meadow seems the essential thing
and because of it
what we talk about this evening
includes stalks and streams and frogs
and insects and eggs and blackbirds
and lack of worries about work and contracts
rent contracts and other contracts
this evening
not far from us the children are walking
hand in hand with their grown-ups
it is a meadow
true, there’s a city on top of it



Pictures next time!

Weekend!!!

What a super-fun, but kind of crazy weekend!! Two gigs, a great third birthday party, and one train ride later, I think that I'm finally ready for the 40's. At least things haven't slowed down at all!

The weekend got off to a not-so-great start with a weird gig on Friday night. We were really looking forward to playing at the Cinema Bar in Culver City since the people there seem pretty cool, but when we got there, they had booked someone else to play at the same time! Despite our best efforts to keep everything civil (well, maybe not our best efforts), it did get a little contentious. When the other guy was finally done (it was a solo performer), he introduced us with: "And now here's the other f***ing band." Since we were (both) supposed to open up for the main attraction, and since the guy before us had gone 1/2 an hour longer than he was supposed to, we only had about 45 minutes left to set up and play. For us that's about a song and a half, so unfortunately we weren't really in the mellow groovy mood that is essential for doing what we do best. It was pretty bad to start off with (too fast, too loud, yuck), but luckily the headliner was about an hour late, and people were actually digging it, so we kept on going, and it ended up to not be a complete disaster. One guy even put a $20 on my effects pedals!


Anyway, Friday wasn't too bad, but Saturday was much better!! We had a great party in the afternoon at our good friends Josh & Adrienne's house. They have a beautiful house that is perfect for parties - especially with kids!! There was awesome food, great people, and perfect 70's music. The pictures really don't do it justice, since I was too busy enjoying myself to take many pictures (as is often the case). With all the kids running around and Gordon Lightfoot playing, it really did have a wonderful 70's kind of feel. Huge thanks to Josh and Adrienne, and Em of course for ending up a perfect 40th birthday!!

Saturday night was pretty great too. After the party, we had another gig at Dave's Chillin' and Grillin' in Eagle Rock. Again, no pictures, but it was a long hot crazy night. After the usual technical difficulties (forgot the mic stands; bass amp blew up), and especially after the screwey night before, we really played up a storm. People were having a great time (especially Dave who chills and grills), and it really turned out to be one of our most enjoyable gigs. For those who care about such things, we played a burning Uncle Johns' -> Playin' -> Wheel -> Playin'. Our vocals were a little sore (especially with the forgotten mic stands), but it was pretty groovy : ) Also, a niiiiiiiice Bird Song! So Dave says he's going to bring us to play in Hawaii, but he was doing a little chemical chillin' and grillin', so we'll see how that works out.

So by today, about the only thing that could top it all off was a ride on the Griffith Park train. We walked there from our place with the boys and Julie's daughter Scarlett, and had a nice trip around the park. With a late afternoon swim, it was the perfect way to end a truly memorable weekend!

Shakespeare!!!

Happy 445th birthday to William Shakespeare!!! Now I don't feel quite so old. By the way, he also died on this day. Of course he wrote some good plays & poems, but did you know that he was also the first person to use the word "eyeball"? And "zany"? He also coined about 1700 other words! Much love and respect to him.

Earth Day!!!

It's definitely starting to feel like summer around here - 96 degrees yesterday!!! We're more grateful every day for our new pool, and the wonderful gift of air conditioning. It also seems more and more appealing to get out of the house and into an ocean or a woodsy campground somewhere.

With that in mind, and in honor of Earth Day, here are a couple of nature things that seem timely.

One of the places that Em & I love to go in the summer is Catalina Island. It's so fun to travel somewhere by boat, and even though it's only 26 miles across the sea you really feel like you're in another part of the world - one with buffalo and other questionable beasts. It also really combines two great camping ideals because it's nice and woodsy, plus the ocean is right there, and seems somehow more tropical than at the L.A. beaches. The picture above is from our 2006 trip there where we almost killed Finn by camping out in a crazy dust storm. Heading outdoors is not always perfect, but it always feels like an adventure!

We're going to try to get over there this summer, but in the mean time, I found this great live feed that shows you what a family of bald eagles is doing on Catalina all of the time (except at night - too dark). Actually, they don't really do that much. It seems like bald eagles would be constantly flying majestically around glorying in their freedom and symbolism. But apparently they seem to be pretty content to sit there in their nest for much of the time. However, it's still pretty cool to watch them for a while, and every so often, if you have good timing, they feed their baby bald eagles!!! Trust me that this is worth seeing. Here it is:

Video clips at Ustream

Finally, here's a thought from Edward Abbey, who was writing pretty great books and articles about the environment long before it caught on in the mainstream. I've had my students read some of his stuff in school, and always hope that those super-urban kids might think a little more about nature - stupid hippie. Anyway, I like this one:

"One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast... a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards."

Happy Earth Day!!!

Birthday!!!

Happy 193rd birthday to CharlotteBronte!!!

Blooming Heather - Kate Rusby

The summer time is coming. If anyone knows Kate Rusby, could you please ask her to come to America? Thanks!! If you like this, check out her album Awkward Annie.

Sunday Morning!!!

Better Day!!!

Now as days go, this is more like it. Happy birthday to Leonardo da Vinci!!

Ruination Day

Hope you all made it through OK. Peace & Love!!

Gillian Welch - April The 14th (Part 1)

San Diego!!!

The whirlwind continued on Friday (D-Day) with a trip to San Diego to see Grandpa Hank and to wipe ourselves out. We went to Sea World on Friday, which is always fun (thanks for the tix Uncle Mark!), but a little much the day after Disneyland. The kids had a great time, though, especially since they didn't get to go to Disneyland - in fact they didn't even know we went! And it is pretty amazing to see those jumping fish - excuse me, mammals. Sharks are cool too.

We had a really nice birthday dinner with Grandpa Hank, and the next day we went to see the U S S Midway, which is a Korean War era aircraft carrier permanently docked in San Diego harbor. On top of the ship and in the hanger are an impressive collection of fighter planes and helicopters that have taken off from the ship. It was really interesting, but it was even better to see it with Grandpa Hank, who knows a tremendous amount about fighter planes, having designed and built this sort of thing during his career. Neither Em nor I are particularly pro-military, but it is pretty awe-inspiring just to see how incredibly competent people must be to design, build, run, and keep all of this stuff from blowing up.

One of the great things about the Midway exhibits is how much they let the kids climb in stuff and play with the controls. In this litigious day and age, it is refreshing to see them playing with lethal weaponry. Of course, being boys, they loved it!

We headed home on Saturday afternoon and I think that the looks on the boys faces speak for all of us. It was a great trip, but we're happy to get some rest!

Happy Easter everyone!!!!!

Old!!!!

Well, I turned 40 on Friday. I can't say that there's much to recommend it so far, other than that it beats the alternative I guess. But a great big thanks to everybody who called and wrote and made it somewhat bearable. A great big special thanks to my wonderful wife who took me to Disneyland on Thursday so that we both felt pretty young still : )
That Thursday started off a huge whirlwind of activity the last few days, so I'll have to post it in chunks, starting with a great Disneyland trip! Although some people might think that a better 40th would be something like wine-tasting or going to a fancy restaurant, Disneyland always brings out the kid in us and so it was really a perfect way to spend such a fraught ocassion.

As you can see, especially from the picture of Em, we really did have a fun, goofy time. And it was even better because we met Bell and Steve there. They are definitely Disney faithful and we had a good time picking the crucial rides (Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean twice) and eating the perfect Disney food. This of course means the Blue Bayou Restaurant, and Bell is one of the few people in the world who would know to make reservations there online. We got the best seats in the place - right across the swamp from the rocking chair guy! Bell & Steve are also great people to wait in line with, and we had fun answering, "What is the worst movie that you've ever seen that you really liked?" and other good time-passing topics.

Other highlights of the trip included a cool pirate band who played actually really good nautical folk music and had a mysterious young mascot, a canoing trip that was fun and relaxing, and seeing Rachel Pearl there in front of the shooting gallery! Also, we went out to a great dinner at the new Disneyland hotel outside of the park. It's a beautiful hotel with tons of carved wood and river rock - a lot like the old ski lodges in Oregon. No pictures unfortunately, but we had a teriffic meal and got to get some real adult drinks before heading back into the park for the evening.

Finally, we left exhausted but happy as the fireworks exploded over the castle. Thus, my youth.

So the next morning, Finn came in and wished me a happy birthday. He said, "you're 40 years old Daddy!" So I asked him if I looked any different. He said, "Yeah, you have less hair on your forehead."

He's out of the will.

Diamonds from the Deepest Ocean!!!

Whole lotta Dylan lately. I just finished a documentary about him called "No Direction Home". It's by Martin Scorsese and it's incredible. There's so much great footage - interviews and concert stuff - and so many things I didn't know about him. He played at the 1963 march on Washington before Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" Speech! There's a double bill for you. Also, great footage from when he was first going electric and his folky fans want to kill him. I'd heard about it, but it was fun to see that beard yell, "Judas!" and Bob turning to Robbie Robertson and the boys and telling them to play louder. Plus great stuff with Joan Baez. Anyway, the whole movie is terrific.
Speaking of Bob, here's a nice little interview that I just saw today where he's talking about Obama. It can be easy to think of Dylan as a caricature, even if you like him, but here's a great example of what a smart guy he really is:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6043331.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

I'm feeling really lucky today as my computer problems got resolved reasonably well. A terrible virus whacked my computer a couple of days ago, and we were really nervous for a while. It would have been awful to lose so many family pictures, songs, and hours of school planning. However, the Geek Squad at the Los Feliz Best Buy did a great job and saved most of what I had. I'm still puting in all back together, but it could have been much worse. We now own an external hard drive and I'm a backing-up fool. Good wishes to everyone this Holy Week!!

Bummed!!!

I'm so bummed! My computer had a major virus attack that may have wiped out all of our files, including pictures, music, school stuff, etc. I'm hoping that the Geek Squad can get it all figured out, but it's a little nerve-racking right now. There has been some back-up, but it would still be a big drag. I'll let you all know how it goes. Hope that everyone else is having a good Fig Monday!

They Don't Love You Like I Love You!!!

There's this group in L.A. called Fallen Fruit that came up with a pretty cool idea: they make maps of neighborhoods that show where you can find public fruit trees. So you could take a long walk around Echo Park or Larchmont scavenging a large variety of free public fruit.

I like this idea for many reasons including the basic hippieness of free stuff, nature, health, community, etc. But I actually think that my favorite thing about it is that I just like maps : )

After all, I'd probably just as soon go to the store or a farmer's market for good fruit, but it's just appealing to me to see a map of our neighborhood with fruit trees marked. So this is an excuse to share some of my favorite maps. If you have any that you like, please send them over.

Here's the Fallen Fruit site if you want to check it out (it's actually unexpectedly slick):

http://www.fallenfruit.org/index.html

And here are some cool maps:

By the way, I'd probably put the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' song on the jukebox, but Em likes me to keep it mellow, so it's the Allman Brothers instead. Happy Friday everyone!!