I’ve been toying with cutting my hair on and off for a half year. Last week a cousin in Germany sent me a photo of our great grandfather on my mother’s side. I’d never met him as he died a couple of years before I was born. Looking at the photo…. I decided I finally was ready to cut my hair…. for better or for worse.
‘Almost Cut My Hair’
~Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young~
Almost cut my hair
It happened just the other day
It’s gettin’ kind of long
I could’ve said it was in my way
But I didn’t and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly
And I feel like I owe it, to someone
Must be because I had the flu for Christmas
And I’m not feeling up to par
It increases my paranoia
Like looking in my mirror and seeing a police car
But I’m not giving in an inch to fear
çause I’ve promised myself this year
I feel like I owe it, to someone
When I finally get myself together
I’m gonna get down in that sunny southern weather
And find a place inside to laugh,
Separate the wheat from the chaff
I feel …
Like I owe it, to someone, yeah
In nature it is the margin areas that are the most productive….. land animals need food from the open areas that grow it well… but they also need cover and housing in the brushy areas that don’t grow the best browse. Margins and borders are very important in human civilization also… it is the borders that mix the attributes and characteristics of two peoples into one amalgam… in agriculture we call this ‘Hybrid Vigor’. The inculcation of new germ-plasm… new DNA makes a species and a population stronger and more resistant to disease…. the blend of cultures makes for a stronger culture that has thrown off some aspects not conducive to modern life, yet retains a sense of wonder and awe in both cultures…
Afro-Celtic Sound System is a band that incorporates African rhythms, Celtic singing and instruments and Mid Eastern sounds into a strong mix… haunting… ethereal…. hard to pin down.. enigmatic. I love it.
One of their songs that I like best is Ionen…. I don’t ‘get’ the lyrics, but I like the sound.
Me and my Annette, we was as fond as we could be
We was set to marry in October ’33
I set my sights on courtin’ her, as fine as she could be
I never ever noticed her best friend Marilee
Took a job at the saw mill and I bought my girl a ring,
Had a pre-wedding party, close friends and family
Everything was fine, eatin homemade ice cream
I swear I never noticed maid of honor, Marilee
My Sweet Annette was left standing at the alter
Marilee was taken ill, it was several miles from home
Back then it wasnt fittin’ for a girl to leave alone
Sweet Annette, she asked me to walk her to the door
As innocent as children back before the war
My Sweet Annette was left standing at the alter
Lord have mercy for what we done,
Lord have mercy when two people get along
Neither one of us had done anything like that you see
By the next sunset, I had eloped with Marilee
And my Sweet Annette was left standing at the alter.
‘The Water is Wide’ is an old Irish tune that’s several hundred years old
Yeah, few can say it like the Irish
The water is wide, I can’t cross oer
Neither have I the wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I
Oh love is gentle
and love is kind
the sweetest flower
when first it’s new
but love grows old
and waxes cold
and fades away
like morning dew
There is a ship and she sails the sea
She’s loaded deep as deep can be
But not as deep as the love I’m in
I know not how I sink or swim
I leaned my back against an oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
So did my love prove false to me
Oh love be handsome and love be kind
Bright as a jewel when first it is new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the morning dew
I sowed the seeds of love.
I sowed them in the springtime,
Gathered them up in the morning so soon
While small birds sweetly sing.
My garden was planted well
With flowers everywhere.
I had not the liberty to choose for myself
The flower I held so dear.
Now, the willow tree may twist
And the willow tree may twine.
I wish I was lying in that young woman’s arms
That once held this heart of mine.
When cockle shells turn silver bells
Then will my love come back to me
When roses bloom in winter’s gloom
Then will my love return to me
The water is wide, I cannot get oer.
Neither have I the wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I.
I’d love to be able to control the weather, but I know I’d crack under the strain of knowing that while it blessed one person, another would be hurt by whatever weather I put down.
And while I hate this gloom, the interminable rain keeping us from harvesting cactus… and the damage that wind does to structures and trees, and tall cactus plants…. I know that as soon as June comes along, we’ll likely already have been a couple of months without rain… and I’ll be wishing we had gotten more….
Wish in one hand…. hold another under a cow.. see which one fills first.
So while I can pretty-much do nothing but sit back and worry about runoff, landslide, shingles, windows, trees and other elements of destruction…. I can at least watch some good movies, and listen to some good tunes….
But what is sitting and longing for sun,
but a wishing for old days that shine in the mind.
Luckily it is the sunny times… that we remember most.
From the sea to the hills one can travel in a day on foot here.
In the mind, such a trip is faster than light.
All you need is to see it once,
and it’s there for you anytime you need it.
always keep the sun at your face…
and you cannot see the shadows…
~Hopi proverb~
Those were the Days is a song popularized in English by Mary Hopkins in the late sixties. But it was originally a Russian song called ‘Dorogoi Dlinnoyu’ and first recorded in 1920. Maybe Russian music appeals in this weather…. it tries so very hard to be sunny and optimistic…. but we all know the deprivation that has stalked the Russians for centuries…. I found a Russian language version of this song on YouTube… it is beautifully rendered.
What I get a kick out of is the Asian audience…. probably on a tour-vacation. I like their participation… they made it a more delightful experience for the musicians I am sure.
‘What is good for the Russian will kill the German’
~Russian proverb~
Please say a prayer for the folks in Haiti,
and for the people in the California wildfire areas…
they are likely to get a lot of rain and mudslides.
One of the great old-time poet-philosophers, Johnny Cash, and one of his greatest songs… ‘Man In Black’
“I’d love to wear a rainbow everyday,
to tell the world that everything’s Okay.
But maybe I can carry-off a little darkness on my back,
till things are brighter, I’m the Man in Black”
One of the odd things with video is the big music companies trying to shut off display and sharing of their music videos, or the music they own rights to being used in personal videos and shared over the Internet through services such as YouTube.
I don’t know much about digital music…. but it seems to me that most folks aren’t going to know how to take the songs from the videos in a manner that will allow them to be kept on a player so they can listen whenever they want. So it’s not like they’re likely to lose a lot of business from potential customers. On the other hand, it could well be that many people will find out about an artists music through the Internet and listening a few times might be compelled to look the artist up and purchase the music online for their own collection.
I was happy to find one of my favorite current artists label has done such a thing with her music. Kerli’s tunes are now on VEVO through YouTube, and they give the code out so people can embed them legally into their web posts and share the music with others.
Now, I’m not ‘hip’. .. So I’m not often current on anything happening…. but I was asked to audition once for a music video for a young Estonian girl named Kerli. They wanted a ‘Creepy Guy’ for a song about a Creepy World. I didn’t get the role… maybe I wasn’t creepy enough… sometimes not getting what you want is good. But at any rate I became familiar with a young girl with loads of talent, a good heart and as Lancelot mused “She has a pretty face”.
After a week of near-constant rain, the sky stopped crying, the air cleared up… we were able to harvest and ship some cactus….
and we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset
Steve Ray Vaughan – The Sky is Crying ( Albert and BB King)
I passed a ‘Lincoln Park Inn’ in Santa Monica one day…. and I thought of this song.
Now, whenever I think of Santa Monica, this song comes to mind….
The song below is recorded by Bobby Bare…
It was written by Tom T Hall
‘Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn’
~Tom T. Hall~
My name’s in the paper where I took the Boy Scouts to hike
My hands’re all dirty from working on my little boy’s bike
The preacher came by and I talked for a minute with him
My wife’s in the kitchen and Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn.
And I know why she’s there cause I’ve been there before
But I made her a promise that I wouldn’t cheat anymore
I tried to ignore it but I know she’s in there my friend
My mind’s on a number and Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn.
Next Sunday it’s my turn to speak to the young people’s class
They expect answers to all of the questions they ask
What would they say if I spoke on a modern day sin
And all of the Margies at all of the Lincoln Park Inns.
The bike is all fixed and my little boy’s in bed asleep
His little old puppy is curled in a ball at my feet
My wife’s baking cookies to feed to the Bridge Club again
I’m almost out of cigarettes and Margie’s at the Lincoln Park Inn.
And I know why she’s there..
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Carroll County Accident
‘The Carroll County Accident’
~Porter Wagner~
Carroll County’s pointed out as kinda square
The biggest thing that happens is the county fair
I guess that’s why it seems like such a big event
What we all call the Carroll County accident
The wreck was on the highway just inside the line
Walter Browning lost his life and for a time
It seemed that Mary Ellen Jones would surely die
But she lived long enough for her to testify
Walter Browning was a happy married man
And he wore a golden wedding ring upon his hand
But it was gone nobody knew just where it went
He lost it in the Carroll County accident
Mary Ellen testified he flagged her down
Said he was sick and could she drive him into town
No one even doubted what she said was true
Cause she was well respected in the county too
I went down to see the wreck like all the rest
The bloody seats the broken glass the tangled mess
But I found something no one else had even seen
Behind the dash in Mary’s crumpled up machine
A little matchbox circled by a rubber band
And inside the ring from Walter Browning’s hand
It took a while to figure out just what it meant
The truth about the Carroll County accident
By dark of night I dropped the ring into a well
And took a sacred oath that I would never tell
The truth about the Carroll County accident
Cause the county ordered dead a marble monument
I lost him in the Carroll County accident
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‘It’s Four in the Morning’
~Faron Young~
Yeah…..
when I was a youngster songs like this were aggravating…
all the old folks listened to them.
Odd how I’ve grown into them….
I guess I’m moving on into that ‘old folks’ category
Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus?
You gotta help me make a stand.
You just got to see me,
Through another day.
My body’s achin’,
And my time is at hand.
And I won’t make it,
Any other way I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain,
I’ve seen sunny days,
That I thought would never end.
I’ve seen lonely times,
When I could not find a friend.
But I always thought that I’d see you again.
Been walkin’ my mind to an easy time,
My back turned towards the sun.
Lord knows, when the cold wind blows,
It’ll turn your head around.
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line,
To talk about things to come.
Sweet dreams and flyin’ machines,
In pieces on the ground.
Faith is something to hold fast onto.
But also keep your eyes and mind open…
remember the joke about the fellow who was told to evacuate because the flood was coming…
he said he put his faith in God who would tell him what to do…
Then the flood came, and a boat pulled up to his second floor window he was looking out of….
he told them to go away because God would protect him….
Later he was on the roof because the entire house was flooded, the helicopter hovered over him,
but he refused their help…
When he drowned and went to heaven, he was angry at God who did nothing to help him….
God said “But I sent the police to evacuate you, then a boat and a helicopter to rescue you,
but you turned my help aside each time”.
