DingoPress Tales

Fasting is the latest craze here in Los Angeles. The "master cleanse" is a more recognizable term on the streets of Los Angeles then say "Habeas Corpus". Although, I suspect with the right kind of marketing spin, you could get some L.A. people to sign up for the Guantanamo Bay Health and Weight Loss Spa. After all, Michael Moore says they have the best free health care in the US.

But let’s not go there. This is just a simple story about my continued slip into the sometimes vapid culture of Los Angeles. Don’t get me wrong, I like living in L.A. and I can assert that all the folks I spend my time with are far from dull and insipid. On the contrary, my friends think deeply, express deeply and flutter to the deep cultural events that steep in the off beat theaters and music halls of this city like moth to flame. Sure, it’s not New York City or San Francisco, but it sure isn’t Miami, or Providence, RI or Dallas for that matter (…I am not too sure what I mean by this comparison either so don’t read too much into it).

Recently, in fact, we all handed over our credit cards for some tickets to a show at the famed Disney Hall. This amazing building was designed by the inspiring, architect Frank Gehry (See the cool Frank Gehry Movie).

Crazy pipe organ at Disney Concert Hall

We went to see a new favorite musician named Joanna Newsom. I would describe her as a kind of "New Bohemian". She is a classically trained harpist from a musical family. However, she has studied voice and harp from a variety of cultures with the result being some strange hyper-melodic bard songs that fascinate and mesmerize. On this night, she was playing with a full symphony and it was a delight. Here’s a video of her…

It was a memorable performance. The concert hall acoustic were the best I have ever experienced and I truly had moments of incorporeal realization. I floated along the waves and foam of the architecture like rising and fading chords of light and vibration. Everyone enjoyed it and she got a tremendous write up in the Los Angeles Times that week.

That’s Joanna’s Harp in the Middle

So, you can see that it’s not all fake boobs and lip gloss out here. Even so, however, the fads and shallow fabrications can often permeate into one’s daily life so that you find yourself suddenly thrust into a surrealistic chain of events leading to an "ah ha" moment.

This past weekend, such was the case when Kate recommended we try a fast. I’m generally a slovenly hermit who lies about quitting cigarettes. So my girlfriend Kate thought it would be good for both of us to take a day and try to do something positive and healthy. Thank god for this woman. She is always positive and always thinking of ways we can feel better.

The basic idea is that toxins build up in the intestines over a lifetime and what the body needs on occasion is a way of cleaning things out down in that gentle area of evacuation. So what’s a body to do? Well, fast of course and then send some organic version of metamucil down the old gullet to sponge everything up and flush it out. It’s kind of like the "Liquid Plumber Foaming Pipe Snake" method of proper colon health.

On Saturday we decide to give it a shot. We wake up and head out for a hike with Dingo avoiding the standard Saturday coffee and muffin and being sure to keep ourselves well hydrated with water and fruit juice. Kate has a recipe for the organic metamucil stuff which she got on good authority (i.e. a random student from her yoga class that she has never met before). So we then go on a tour of health food grocery stores looking for cilium husks and chlorophyll. There is something truly wrong about fasting and then going on a tour of grocery stores.

This is a good place for a picture of meat from my sweet ass Weber Grill.

By mid-afternoon, we were well delirious standing in line at the bulk health food store on Hillhurst Ave. with our organic sundries. I was a bit sketched out. We were both low on blood sugar and acting on edge.

I was blunt and raging when a few minutes earlier we encountered some vendor pushing a product called "Green." It was being served in little Dixie cups and it was a bubbling green ooze that did not look very appealing. Apparently the product was a conglomeration of dehydrated and powdered greens like kale and seaweed. I was not interested in the sample.

My first thought was "Why not eat kale?" But I kept that to myself. Instead I decided to say "Soylent Green is People" in my best Charlton Heston earnestness to the sample girl.

"What?" says she.

"You know, Soylent Green, Charlton Heston…"

Blink, blink…

"Um, the movie. The famous line from that movie." I look at Kate who also didn’t know the reference and was annoyed at my stammering, inelegant gesticulations. I was perplexed but it gleamed from my manner like rude assertions that everyone was crazy and ignorant except me.

"What are you talking about?" Kate says.

Someone else steps up and I say: "Soylent Green?" to them in hopes of a connection. But again, I get a blank stare and an "excuse me?"

By now I was clomping back and forth like some lost bull at a cowboy matador tea party.

"The movie, the Charlton Heston line from that movie."

Nothing.

Kate changes the subject and starts talking about the girls product, because she cares about people, especially the ones with guts who put themselves out there.

I stumbled back into the cramped health food aisles. A lady with her baby was coming down the aisle.

"Do you know Soylent Green?" I say to her.

"No" she says. I begin to wonder where am I? How is it I am the only person to have this cultural reference? What boundary line did I cross unforeseen? Was it really a movie, or did I have a prescient vision of some horrible future?

"Jack, no one knows what you are talking about. Now get out of this lady’s way. She is trying to get past you with her baby." Says Kate handing me a gallon bottle of  unfiltered apple juice and nodding me towards the checkout. We were obnoxious to each other for the next few hours, even screaming back and forth in delirious fits and then falling apart in laughter at the realization of our self induced insanity.

At the checkout, the organic foaming pipe snake ingredients come out to $60.00. "Yikes! Sixty bucks," I think. I pull out my wallet and hand Kate some money. "Boy, fasting is expensive," I say. Everyone in the checkout line has a good laugh and I realize this is another L.A. moment.

October

We celebrated Kate’s birthday at the beginning of October and found a good excuse for another bar-b-queue party at my house. We celebrated righteously with roast meats and cake. We welcomed all our Libra friends and had a fantastic time as usual.

Libra’s Kate and Cynthia at the Libra Birthday Bash

A great shot of Casey at the Libra party wearing the hat I bought him

Also Libra, Bob Nisi who has not yet moved to Los Angeles despite rumors.

I got a lot of emails this year from Boston friends bemoaning the loss of our Dinner Salon Halloween parties. We used to rock the house with a great house band, crazy costumes and general good times. I miss it too. This year, in fact, I did nothing. I didn’t even wear a fake schnoz. Fortunately, my neighbor Joe came by to remind me of the holiday:

Joe walked around all day with this thing on his head.

November

In November, we had Thanksgiving down in San Diego with Kate’s family. Kate’s sister’s family, her cousins and I all got together and assembled a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Kate’s Aunt and Uncle’s house in La Jolla. Kate’s adorable grandparents joined us and we had a great time. I made the turkey and it came out pretty damn good if I do say so myself.

Kate, Grammy, O.P. and me with said turkey

After Thanksgiving, Kate and I rented a cabin up in the mountains outside of San Diego. It was a good long weekend and a fun time for all. On the way home, we stopped at some crazy fast food joint for french fries. I wrote Kate a song and put it to this funny video of her eating french fries.

In the mountains near Julian, CA

Happy Birthday Sophia!

Amazing babies are being born all the time. I’m very pleased to announce that Sophia has joined us in the month of November. She’s a Scorpio. A hearty congratulations to my great friends Romi and Timo on their new baby. Now both Ron and his sister Romi are parents. How cute.

Romi and the brand new Sophia

Timo and his new BFF

Dingo The Dog

I often get requests for more pictures of Dingo. He’s got a lot of fans out there. So, the following pictures are for all you Dingo fans.

Art and Stuff

With all this fasting and working in the huge media corporation and hosting parties and being a boyfriend, it’s kind of hard to also keep up my competing persona as a less than mediocre artist. But over the past year I have been able to do a few artistic things.

I continue to work on my "Folk Art" tarot card deck. It’s slow going. At my current rate of production, I should finish the deck sometime around my 113th birthday. Here are some paintings I worked on this year:

Major Arcana #4: The Emperor

Major Arcana #5: The Hierophant

Major Arcana #6: The Lovers

I have also written one song. I haven’t worked on it too much, er not at all really but here is a link to the scratch track from my 4-track.

See You Next Time

Well that’s all for this quarter of the year. I hope you all have a fantastic holiday season and that it doesn’t get too cold for all you folks back east. Sadly, I won’t be home for Christmas but I am psyched to be with Kate and her family in San Diego. I’ll have to see you Boston folks again when the snow melts.

O, check out this site: http://www.catalogchoice.org/

“No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

-James Madison

Being often in a state of outrage and dismay over what has happened to us all in the past several years since 911, I tend to mention it only in woeful asides on my blog. I am traumatized, as are many I know. But still, in some quarters I try to discuss the facts, the clues, the subtle and not so subtle outrages perpetrated by our government over the last few years, and I am surprised by how little some of my fellow Americans are clued in to the implications and who some are taken aback by my deep resent and dismay over events and realities.

It is difficult for me to express myself openly on these matters, especially since my career path has lead me to be in bed with the corporate systems for which I so often express loathing. My full feelings on this philosophical dilemma, this inner dichotomy, are not as yet clear; my heart tells me that righteousness is out of reach until I muster the will to bring these feelings to resolution. And so I avoid the topic, but for occasional allusions, and focus on the simple relations and events of my life.

It is also likely that the poet in me feels this outrage more than the logical part of me can articulate. Thusly, do I also council myself towards some restraint.

Today, after the reports from General Petraeus and the consequent heartache that Joe Biden exhibited on the Chris Mathew’s show in response to the hearings, after the Blackwater incident in Iraq, the apparent increased militarization of American police, I am compelled to throw up this blog.

Below are links to a collection of articles, videos and informative references that I somehow feel are related. I would just ask that you take a glance at them and come to your own conclusions. To you, they may not be compelling in any way. But I think they are important tidbits of information about what is going on. Like it or not, as Americans we are involved in this.

1. Got Fascism?

A good definition of fascism and some evidence used by the left to link the neo-con administration to that term:

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

2. Perpetual War

An interesting article discussing Argentina’s slip in to fascism and reviewing the warnings of James Madison about the state of perpetual war:

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1025-07.htm

3. Old Gimlet Eye

A true story about the potential hazards of unchecked corporate power:

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=883

4. "If we can find the money to kill people…"

Military Budget of the US. In particular, notice the spending comparison to other nations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

5. Goons pounce on Rev. Yearwood

A video of Lennox Yearwood, a peace activist and minister, being taken down by the Capitol Police outside of the Petraeus hearings. They broke his ankle in the scuffle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiradcejA6o

6. Dan Rather Sues CBS

An article about Rather’s lawsuit. The money, if he wins, will go to promote independent journalism:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/business/media/19cnd-rather.html?hp

7. Police Out of Hand

Shows the far reach of police attitudes towards the citizenry fostered by the "concepts" of the Patriot Act:

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/3020

8. Blackwater Shadow Army

Really, you should know about Blackwater. Perhaps one of the scariest realities of our current age:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqM4tKPDlR8

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3623111&page=1

9. Taser Everyone

So, this kid is kind of a dick, but please. Keep those tasers in your pants will you!

http://www.winknews.com/news/local/9849252.html

10. We win?

911 - 2,974 Americans Killed

Iraq – 79,999 Iraqis Killed (a conservative estimate)

Should we not be concerned with human suffering?

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

11. What is Posse Comitatus?

This law may be in jeopardy of loopholes. See Blackwater above and belwo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

12. Blackwater in New Orleans

Is this a violation of Posse Comitatus?

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091005A.shtml

13. The Bill of Rights

Which of these are still in effect?

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/funddocs/billeng.htm

14. What is Habeas Corpus?

This idea was popular back at the signing of the Magna Carta. I remember my jr. High history teacher, a strange bird, used to keep a copy of the Magna Carta in his desk. It appears to be not so important these days. Not where our security is concerned. But really, which should cause the greater fear the chance of a bomb or the chance of tyranny?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00340#position

15. Live semi-free, or die.

Why do we need this. Really? What is the real reason?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5js647wds8jqn7Eq5uNoIlWeoeHcg

No man drowns if he perseveres in praying to God…and can swim. ~Russian Proverb

It seems like I was sleeping while the summer came and went. If it weren’t for some of these photos I have of me swimming around in oceans and ponds, I would think that may indeed be the case. If it were the case, then most of the sleeping was done in my cubicle at the Disney factory. Some of the finest “Imagineering” can be accomplished only in a state of perpetual sleep.

I like to swim. I cannot say that I am a particularly good swimmer. The front crawl, although totted as the fastest swimming style, has never been one of my favorites. Yet when I think of the conventional “good swimmer” it is usually someone who excels at the front crawl. Personally speaking, I hardly consider that swimming at all. It’s more like rushing to somewhere but you happen to be in the water. No, give me the good old back stroke any day. I want to float my immensity in the wine dark coolness and gaze upon the open blue sky. On occasion, if I feel the need to gain the middle of the pond or get out beyond the breaker waves quickly, I will revert to the good old side stroke. In either case, my swimming style is exactly the same as my sleeping style. I might even say that the definition of swimming for me is “to lie down in water and sleep under the heavens.”

Living towards the eastern side of Los Angeles, it’s easy to forget that I live on the California coast. Just like driving from Boston to some beach on the north shore, it’s easy to hop on the 101 and head out toward Malibu. On a weekend, it takes about 40 minutes or so to make the trip from my house in Silver Lake to the shores of Malibu. Kate, Dingo and I found a nice dog friendly beach at the Leo Carrillo State Park in Malibu. Although Dingo needed to stay on leash, we still had a great time and it was one of the first swimming adventures that Dingo was able to go on since we moved to LA. He loves to swim that dog, but –like me– I think he prefers a nice cool lake.

Here are some pictures from our frolic on the Malibu coast:

The month of August rolled around quick and we celebrated our 1 year anniversary of hitting the road from Boston to Los Angeles. Time moves ever faster as the years tic on. Yet the gods are good to us. They know we are biding our time waiting for some clouds of trauma and uncertainty to pass. I try meditating on the simple good things the summer affords: swimming, bounty from work in the garden, the love of friends, the embrace of my best gal, the old gods in the clear summer moon.

Basil, Cucumber, tomatoes and pepper from the square foot garden.

Back To Boston

At the end of August, I left Dingo with Bernard and headed east. I was bound for an overdue, extended trip back home to Arlington. My niece was getting married and asked me to play some songs at the wedding. Kate came with me to meet and greet the family after an absence of many years.

I got to town before Kate and stayed in Arlington at my Mom and Pop’s.

My Dad, John, holding court at 28 Crawford St.

Romi and Timo hosted a fun welcome back party at their new house in Swampscott, MA. Romi was radiant and glowing over 6 months into pregnancy. The house was beautiful, near the ocean on the north shore of Boston. Of course it was beautifully decorated and full with life, the interest of a life and the promise of life.

When I left a year ago they were wild artists renting a small flat in JP. It was down a dead end road, just a block from Franklin Park. We would walk in the park with Dingo and bare witness to all manner of sites. I recall a huge rugby tournament where bloodied men hang on each other with beer and duct tape and waving phallic banners. A homoerotic sport on steroids. And once we found remnants of a strange voodoo mass in the dark rocky secret spots. One year later, Franklin Park is far to the south, while Romi and Timo are still wild artists with property by the sea and a baby on the way. This bodes well for us all.

Bob and Emily were the first on hand at Romi and Timo’s house.

Our old pals Eva and Ron in the yellow. The dark mysterious stranger is Laura Fey’s new best guy Barry.

Laura Fey hanging on in the backyard of the new Swampscott digs.

It was a fun time. Jeremy Galvin showed up riding his new bike and looking svelt. JG has been practicing the secret arts of the Ninja. As far as I can tell it involves getting pummeled by your fellow students on a regular basis, but sometimes they do it outside.

But best of all I finaly got to meet Katia Kai Nigro face to face and boy is that a cute face. Kirsten was on hand with Ron and the cute new baby and she is so precious. Boy a lot sure can happen in a year!!

Me and Katia Kia. She was a delight. Although I hear her emotions got the best of her on the way home

…Me too.

Locke’s Pond

Before the wedding and Kate’s arrival, Laura and I took Niesha (AKA Larry) to Locke’s Pond for a hike. It was great to see ol’ Larry again. I wished Dingo could have come to meet up with her too.

.

It was a delight to walk through the park again in the summer months.

New England is so lush and beautiful in the late summer. The bees were about on purple flowers. The trees were flush with green. The mud creek was full of mudding water. Somewhere in the midst of it all, you feel far away from war and corporations.

At the end of the path, I was happy to see the lamas out in frolicking in the weird back yard adjacent to the park. Another secret place I know in the greater Boston suburbs.

I know the blog is long. And this adventure is just getting underway. Imagine me though. Sitting here. Typing. Clicking. Wheeling the mouse wheel.

Kate Arrives and Music

On the first Tuesday night, Kate flew into town and we had a musical adventure. I picked her up around 10:00 PM at the air port and whisked her off to beautiful Union Square Somerville. (As I type, Kate is on a plane to Rome where she’ll will be presenting a Kinetic Learning program to business consultants. She developed the program with her mother and at the last minute they called for her expertise. Now you tell me what is more glamorous and high profile? That’s my gal!)

Casey’s band was playing in Union Square at a terrific dive called P.A.’s Lounge. The weird thing is that Casey is a guy from our neighborhood in Los Angeles. He recently moved from Long Beach to Silver Lake with his gal Julie. He joined up with this band touring the US just before I left and he had reached Somerville the night that Kate got into town. We caught the last song of the entire tour. It was sweet.

The three of us jumped over the river to Brookline afterwards and caught Timo’s jazz/funk explosion over at this pub Matt Murphy’s.

It was wild to see Casey and brought a warm glow from LA. I felt good about the choice to move there and great about all the bounty and love that has come to my good friends. Some wrapped in sadness and fate, but all delicious and enlivening for the soul’s refinement.

The Wedding

Two days later we were off to South Berwick, ME and the wedding of my nice Morgan to her fiance Russ. Both of them are just solid. They will be fantastic.

Morgan & Russ

That’s Morgan’s Step-Mom, Maryjo performing the ceremony. (This is the rehearsal!!

…O, and MJ is my older sister)

My sister Michelle and Kate watch the rehearsal

We swam the next day. Before the wedding. We found a big pond out in the woods of ME or NH and swam. The water was relaxing.

After swimming, we met up with my Mom and Dad staying in the same inn. It was a weird old inn, but interesting. Kate had some wine with the innkeeper’s son and some friends. We swapped a couple of guitar songs. I rehearsed for the wedding.

The Wedding Party

Megan, sister of the bride and my god daughter, or is that goddess daughter?

One of the two male offspring from the up and coming generation: Chris, master of strange dancing.

Rob, boy genius. “Good nephews… eat more food.”

Father of the bride known well on the UNH campus as Tom Smith. We call him Butch. Nice mafia outfit hey?

The also sister of the Bride, my niece Kate and her BFF Sean.

The wackiest niece (so far) Chris’s sister Renee.

Mom and I drinking G & Ts at the gala event.

Johnny and Kate laugh it up!

I know. No pictures of the bride. Well, what can I say. I played three songs at the ceremony and left my camera somewhere, so… she was gorgeous!

OMG! Could there be more to this frigin blog?!? You still with me …?

After the wedding, the next day, we swam and had lobster.

Sister Jill’s Kidos

Back in Boston, Kate headed down Cape Code and I went to visit my Sister Jill’s kids over in Lexington, MA:

Dad and Molly

Meredith playing Monopoly with Nana

And holding the title of freshest member of the clan (next to Russ I guess) is Molly and Meredith’s lil’ sister Melanie.

My sister Jill had a bunch of my Dad’s paintings. Here’s one he did of a New England scene:

And here’s one I did that I found at my sister Lee Anne’s house (Any similarities? …well, he’s had lessons):

Night of the Troubadour

While Kate was down the cape, I engaged my local comrades for a night of bellying up to the bars.

The famous Dave Alpert. Of Dave Alpert fame.

Dropped the new Bernard Bernard CD off at Toad with Jeff the bartender.

Guitarist Steve Mayone, Jeremy Galvin, and Long Beach native, Ben Abrahamse (Currently of Montreal, Canada).

Steve’s gal Suzie. They just bought a house too. (What the hell is going on?)

We all made it home just fine thank you very much.

Last Stop Cape Cod

My last visit was to meet up with Kate in Cape Cod and hitch up with some of Kate’s friends from New York. We stayed at Jen and Paul’s house in Harwich, MA with their darling girls Ava and Eddie. It was a real pleasure. Brandy, Jessa and Maya also came for a visit as well as a bunch of other delightful people I haven’t seen in years. It really was a special reconnect with everyone. We swam more. We marveled at life and change and we were encouraged.

Well, did Jen and Paul do a fantastic job or what. That is some serious cuteness.

Jen’s husband Paul. The proud daddy of those two cuties above.

Left to right is Maya, Jessa, Kate, Brandi, Jen and Paul. Really it was a delightful time. Good food, good people, games, dancing, love, hope, wine and the rest.

The End

Yikes, that was too much. I got burnt out at the end a bit. One sitting and all that. Ouch, my ass!

Hope you enjoyed. Smaller next time I promise. I hope you had a great summer and that you are all looking forward to the fall and to the calendar pushing us all closer to 01.20.09 and whatever comes next. Hang in there! Shit ain’t that bad yet. Call a senator or something.

C U next time! Hope you like the new blog format.

After some silliness with my old hosting company, I’ve jumped on over to GoDaddy. I’m in the process of updating a few things and bringing my blog directly into DingoPress.com.

So far so good. But keep posted for more updates as time allows.

Cheerio,

Jack & Dingo

Growth Spirt

One can easily fall into a daze. The summer months - so long sought - when finally they arrive, pass in a blaze. Even with the Sun in pleasant agreement to stall about and shine longer and longer up to the midsummer marker of slow decline, the hours run quicker and the days speed by. So it is. So it has been. So here now do I finally sit to write and find myself many months without a peep or a scribble on the page. Much has happened. Please let me recount.

Katia Kai Nigro

_{Katia Kai and Mom}

Well the biggest news this time around is birth of Ron and Kirsten’s cute new baby Katia Kai. She was born 10:51 PM on Monday, April 30, 2007 and she’s super sweet. I’ve seen several dozen photos since then and she keeps getting bigger and cuter as time moves on. Mom, dad and baby all seem to be doing well and we’re all very happy for them. I know it’s hard to believe that Ron “Danger” Nigro could have had a
hand in creating such a beautiful little creature, but I guess that’s
what makes Mother Nature so amazing (just kidding). Best whishes and lots of
love to all those cats. I can’t wait to get home in August and meet Katia
Kai.

_{Katia Kai
and Dad}

Alice’s
Birthday and JD Visits

Kate’s sister Alice turned 30 in April. She had a fun
party at funky Mexican restaurant on Sunset Blvd. We drank margaritas and ate
fancy Mexican cuisine. We were also lucky enough to get a visit from the former
co-captain of the Arlington High Grey Squad cheerleaders, JD. She came with a
cute baby named Eddie and stayed in town visiting from New York for a few days.

_{Me &
JD}

I was looking for something groovy and unusual to get Alice for her birthday.
While trolling the super hip markets in Sunset Junction (my LA neighborhood), I
came upon this strange red hat and it called out to me:

_{Alice the
birthday girl with her new hat.}

_{Alice’s guy Mike a
la red hat.}

_{Bernard
Bernard with the hat.}

_{Kate and
hat.}

_{Me hat.}

Later that week we chilled out at my swinging bachelor pad
and ate some bar-b-queue by the fire pit.

_{JD, B2
& K8 at the fire pit}

Mr. Dingo Fish Update

The rest of April and most of May was kind of a blur. Dingo,
while recovering nicely from his “Escape from LA” eye wound,
developed a pretty significant limp in his front legs. The poor guy has spent
most of this Spring at the vets office fiercely defending his hind quarters
from the probing fingers of those foolish enough to think they will get his
temperature. “Hell, at least buy me a milkbone before you try that kind
of action,” said he in a rather unfriendly tone and the showing of sharp
teeth.

_{Mr. Fish,
exhausted from his season of trials}

Anyway, after several weeks of limping around town and a few
hundred dollars of leg x-rays we found out that Mr. Dingo Fish has a pretty
severe case of (canine arthritis)
in his front toes and elbows. No doubt Dingo’s positive test for Lyme
disease some few years ago have
contributed to this early onset. We’ve decided to put him on a drug
called rimadyl which seems to be working pretty good for him. He still runs
around the park like a wild dog when we go for walks, but for sure he has
slowed down a bit. The good news is that Bernard and Beauty have been hosting
doggy day care over at their house every day. I drop Dingo off in the
morning and they have a great time together while I am at work. Dingo’s
escape attempts have pretty much stopped, and he loves hanging out with his new
pack.

Big Sur and Bay to Breakers

_{Get me the
hell out of LA!}

Kate and I escaped from LA ourselves recently and headed up
the north coast to Big Sur. This part of the California along the pacific coast highway
(PCH) in the middle of the state, is a stunningly beautiful display of nature.
The Pacific Ocean beats up against mountains
of Sun tanned rock and slopping fields of lush greenery. Highway 1 hooks along
the coastal ledge past hidden vales and hippy villages.

_{The view from big sur}

The first night at Big Sur,
we made reservations for the hot tubs at
href=”http://www.esalen.org/place/hot_springs.shtml”>Esalen.
Esalen is an amazing artists retreat hidden in a steep coastal mountain side
off of the PCH. They offer all kinds of artist programs, meditation, massage,
movement arts and they have been host to many an artist, writer and great
thinker. Regular folk, like Kate and I, are welcome to enter the site to use
the hot tubs from 1:00AM to 3:00AM. So we crashed out in the Honda Element on
the side of the road and slept a bit before 1:00AM.

_{Doorway to
the deep?}

Walking down into the Esalen campus at 1:00AM we were with a
group of about 10 other couples. They asked us to walk quietly and they led us
down and down steep roads out to an amazing open air concrete building sitting
on the edge of the rhythmic pacific under a clear night sky full of bright
stars. The building had about 10 different hot tubs, jutting out over the coast
and we moved from one to the other over the 3 hours, gazing at stars and
luxuriating in the warm sulfur waters. Kate, of course, wanted to devote
ourselves to a life in Big Sur.
I suggested that our trust funds were not quite up to the task, so we moved on
with heavy hearts.

The next morning we decided to keep heading north. We made
it up to Santa Cruz
and checked out the beautiful campus at UCSC. We slept just outside of
w:st=”on”>Santa Cruz and headed for
w:st=”on”>San Francisco early the next morning. Our
goal was to visit a couple of our favorite resteraunts for breakfast and lunch
and to check out the Vivienne Westwood exhibit at the deYoung Museum.
Westwood is a clothing designer who was married to the manager of the Sex Pistols
and she was famous for punk rock fashion I guess. This is really Kate’s
area, but I dug it. The deYoung is an amazing new museum in
w:st=”on”>Golden Gate Park
and the exhibit had some funky designs.

_{At
Kate’s Kitchen on Height St….mmm…tasty
breakfast}

_{Kate on
the observation deck of the deYoung}

Little did we know, but it turns out the day we got to
w:st=”on”>San Francisco was also
the day of the Bay to Breakers
road race. Like so many events in San Francisco,
this is basically an excuse for crazy San Franciscans to get naked and walk
around the city drinking beer. This so called race, goes from downtown near the
bay, across the city and through the park out to city beach. People dress up in
all kinds of crazy outfits or no outfits what-so-ever and travel across town
pushing kegs of beer. I took some of the following photos:

_{href=”http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/bigbird/default.php)”>Snuffleupagus}

_{My
favorite. Naked guy photographs naked people.}

_Purple
head

_{They were
singing Billy Joel songs to the accordion}

_{Believe
me, this is the better side}

_{No frills:
1 Red Flyer + 1 keg o beer = 1 rough day}

_{These
girls are tuff. Do not mess with them.}

_{C is for
Cookie}

Mr. & Mrs. Kick Ass Wedding Anniversary

Mike and Jess (AKA Mr. and Mrs. Kickass) had a big party for their 7^th
wedding anniversary. As usual the food was great and the crowd was plentiful.
They have a great house with a couple of patios that are perfect for an LA
party. Lots of hugs and champagne at this place. I wish them many more years of
love.

_{The Lovely
Bride}

_{The
Dashing Groom}

_{The
champagne spectacle}

Laws I Love Volume 2

Not least of the activities over the past few months has
been the culminating period of Bernard’s new CD Laws I Love Volume 2. The
finishing touches have been adding all the lyrics, last minute guest vocals, final
mixes, getting it all mastered up and doing the cover art. I was honored when
Bernard asked me to work on the cover art for him. He gave me a rough sketch of
the design he wanted and talked with me about the theme a bit. So I painted the
front cover on a 2’ x 2’ canvas and then worked on the song titles
for the back in a much larger canvas. The CD sounds fantastic, and Bernard
seemed real happy with the art work. You can check out some tracks at
Bernard’s My Space site. I play a
little bit of harmonica on a couple of the tracks also.

If you’ve got the bandwidth, I put this little video
together about the CD. It’s about 8MB but you can download it here if you want.

That’s about all folks. Hope things are well out there
with everyone else. I will try to keep up to date a bit more like my friend
Dave Alpert. I’m just not as clever as
he seems to be on a daily basis however. O well.

Hmmm…I also notice Steve
Mayone has a new CD out. He’s great. Check it out
here

I’ll leave you with some recent shots of the garden.
Bye!

_{Things are growing}

_{The summer crop}

_{I just ate that cucumber and it was delicious!}

Clutches of the Worm Moon

The full moon in March is called “The Worm Moon.” Because of the mud. But here the rains have been few, and back east the snows still fell. Yet, despite the weather, it seems the worms boiled up. Sudden infestation of both unhoped-for muck and infectious mirth filled the month. In the beginning the grounds sank around us and Dingo was stuck by a mighty wound. As time wore on, he healed well, and promised joy came to us by way of many Pisces celebration. My own included.

But first, here’s this little video for you. Last month in the desert, we ran into some dancing mountain goats. I realized recently that this used to be my favorite coffee. You can get it at Quebrada near the movie theater in East Arlington. It’s tasty. Get some, watch this video, and let me know if anything happens.

_{Click image to see the Dancing Goats}

So it was a busy month. Dingo was injured (gruesome photos below), many many birthday parties were had, gardens grew and time moved along. Busy enough in fact to keep me from finding time to post the March any earlier than April. I find I have little to say. Or perhaps too much to say, but I’d rather just make you look at my pictures.

Jail Break

Dingo is not one to be kept in a pen. I thought a cool outside space would make Dingo a happy dog as he waits the hours for people to show up at the house. Turns out his only desire is to be free and roam about the neighborhood visiting friends. Over the weeks, I would come home and find him wondering up towards the park or Dingo’s pal Joe would call me at work saying Dingo was at his house. I thought I had found all his escape routes and blocked them off. He was actually crawling under the fence where it would bend back when he pushed his body through.

I did what I could to put file cabinets, chairs, bags and what not in front of each area of the fence. After this, Dingo pushed a chair out of the way, ripped apart a huge bag of vermiculite, bit through some bungee cord and pushed himself through a tiny whole in the chain link. Unfortunately, he caught the lower part of is eye lid on some of the fence and got himself a nice laceration. Joe called me at work saying Dingo was at his house and pretty messed up. I left work, Bernard met me at home and we took the poor guy to the dog hospital. They put him under anesthesia and stitched up the eye.

Thankfully, Dingo recovered pretty nicely over the course of the month and now he is no worse for the wear. He’s got a tough little scar under the eye, but otherwise he seems just fine. Below are a few shots of Dingo over the month. It was a pretty nasty incident. Since then, he’s been confined to the house and we’ve got some folks coming by to check on him during the day.

_{On the way to the vet. Take with my cell. That big red patch is a flap of skin. Ick!}

_{Just back from the vet. Ouch!}

_{Lots of stitches}

_{Scene of the crime}

_{Can you believe he crawled through this little whole?}

_{One week later, cone head.}

_{A little better, but not much.}

_{The stitches come out. Nice scar!}

_{Getting Better for sure.}

_{“I’m gonna rip your eyes out puffer fish!}

Dingo is much better now. All the hair grew back over the scar and you can hardly tell that anything happened. Now he’s having some problem with his shoulder. Thank god for credit cards!

_{Um..wait a minute. Are these things native?}

_{The garden sprouts are sprouting.}

_{Just the neighborhood peacock I guess.}

Jack’s Birthday

It was kind of strange to have a birthday celebration in California this year. It was good time to reflect on the journey. I missed having the “End of Winter Pisces Birthday Bash”, but managed to get some very nice folks together for bar-b-que. Yup, it is nice to live in Los Angeles sometimes. I went out and bought myself a new Weber grill and I looked up some great pork rip recipes. We had quite a time and ate a lot of ribs.

Birthday Ribs Oblivion Video (3MB)

_{Workin’ the Weber. (4 hours to get the ribs just right.)}

_{Hanging on the porch.}

_{Let me eat cake. (Kate got me that cool fire pit. It’s sweet.)}

_{At the fire after dark.}

It was a fun party for sure. My little dump in the rough has come a long way. It’s a lot cozier around now with the bar-b-que and the fire pit. The following week, we were off to another Pisces party for our pal Michael Dunn and the week after that we went to Lauren’s birthday party at a cool Irish pub and the week after that to Casey’s birthday party at his house. I forgot to bring my camera to Lauren’s party, but we had fun. We drank in the afternoon and played pool. It was like being in college again.

Michael Dunn’s party was at a funky new restaurant in Eagle Rock. So new in fact that it hadn’t yet opened. Michael and Jessica are friends with the owners and they rented the whole place for a private dinner. It was great. The food was southern soul food and it was delicious.

_{Me in my birthday suite…um, I mean birthday party outfit.}

_{That’s Julie, Casey, Bernie, Yo-Yo and Zack. I guess Zack wrote the movie “stranger than fiction” check it out. It’s pretty good.}

Hmmm…I guess I have a lot to say after all. So the week after Michael’s birthday party, we went to see some friends play music at our favorite local theater called “the bootleg theater.” I was waiting around outside, and this beautify Siberian husky showed up. He had no collar and was just wondering around. He was to nice of a dog to just let wonder around LA. I slipped a leash on him and drove him to the nearest shelter. I think he may still be there. If you are looking for a beautiful dog, check out http://www.laanimalservices.com click on “Animal ID Search” and enter A861874 to check him out. Maybe you want to adopt him. I sure can’t. Dingo would be opposed. If he was a female, I would consider it. He is quite a handsome dog, and though naturally cautious, he was quite well behaved.

_{Lost Dog at the shelter.}

_{Sad to see him behind bars, but it’s better than the streets of LA.}

_{He’s sweet. Hope he gets adopted soon.}

Well, I am reaching the end of my blogging energies. Those are the big events of the Month. I know it’s still cold back east, but I hope that ends soon. Happy Easter, happy Ostara. Spring blessings to everyone. Below are some shots from Casey Butler’s birthday party. It officially happened in April and he is an Aries, like my mom. Happy birthday Mom!

_{Happy Birthday Everybody!}

_{Birthday boy Casey Butler}

_Emily

_Kate

_{Dance Party.}

_{More Dance Party.}

_{Is that a monkey on your back?}

February Blog Click Here

January Blog Click Here

December Blog Click Here

November Blog Click Here