God only knows.....

 

When I heard Brian Wilson and friends 9 years ago, he was somewhat frail but the music he wrote and played, including the Beach Boys hits, never sounded better.

He was a senior maestro, sitting behind the piano and conducting a stage of talented players and singers, who made his music, even live, sound perfect. It was scary brilliant, and so was he.

Paul McCartney calls God Only Knows the best song ever written.

Without the legendary Pet Sounds album, there would have been no Sgt. Pepper. That musical brilliance was the Beatles answer to Wilson's innovation. 

Nobel Laureate and Bard of the 20th Century, Bob Dylan said he "admired his genius."

Listen to the hits, or to his avant-garde' creations and the sound infects you, with happiness and the never ending summer of youth, and it is marvelous.

It was bitter sweet hearing the tunes again, when the genius was being mourned. And when the idiot king sends the marines to Wilson's home area, and illegally federalizes the national guard. It doesn't matter anymore that no one in LA wanted them there, not the Governor, Mayor, Police Chief or the citizens.

The idiot king is mad and vengeful and a nation destroyer. Standing in front of uniformed troops and talking his insane trash politics demeaning not those he savaged only, but taking the US to new lows, dangerous and deranged lows. 

Yea, hearing Brian Wilson, his brothers and cousin Mike and buddy Al was a dose of sunshine, but poignant to the point of tears. It seemed only a temporary railing against this nose dive. Oh those happier, innocent times when we wanted to salute our land of liberty. As grade school kids, even in an imperfect and not yet fair US, we had a nation we were proud of.

 Just a fews hence from when that Cub Scout in uniform stood on the back row under the watchful eye of an untrusting teacher and next to his buddy John Smith, we Boomers would be under the thrall of a political system that seemed bounding with hope as a young President invited us to ask what we could do for our country and when even those of us in the great mid west wanted to go surfing...surfing USA.

A sweet time, rich with what will be, shinning with dreams.

We grew up tough though, doing duck and cover drills. Remember those? We'd have to duck under our desks and cover our heads to protect us from the Atomic bomb. I had nightmares about the bomb. I read a lot about the bomb and why we had to worry about it. I decided then the "duck and cover" was not going to stop any of us from being incinerated or vaporized, so I stopped ducking and covering. When my mates were being compliant, and Mrs. Rogers would be scorning me to obey I tried to explain how it was all useless. 

But there was hope too. Our government had developed a vaccine against dreaded polio that was killing and crippling our generation. We lined up to be Polio Pioneers, testing the Salk Vaccine.

Health Secretary RFK jr would just boil himself wouldn't he? It was a time of honor, a time when science and medicine was making for a better future. It was a time to be smart, to reach for the stars. We believed that our leaders also believed in the words of the Pledge of Allegiance "...under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

I listened to a lot of Brian Wilson's work over the years and like that pledge I believed what I heard, especially California Saga

Have you ever been south of Monterey?

Barrancas carve the coastline

and the chaparral flows to the sea

'Neath waves of golden sunshine

Have you been north of Morro Bay?

the south coast plows the sea

and the people there are of the breed

they don't need electricity.

That's precisely where I sit, remembering Brian Wilson and that era. My electricity comes from the panels on my roof.

 

Have you ever been down Salinas way

Where Steinbeck found the valley?

 

There the monarch's autumn journey ends

on a windswept cypress tree.

Again this Father's day weekend, my daughters and grands will join Lana and me on our annual trip to the Live Oak Music Festival. It's a tradition out here.

Have you ever been to a festival

The Big Sur congregation?

Where Country Joe will do his show

and he' ll sing about liberty. 

And the people there in the open air

are one big family

Yea, the people there love to sing and share

their newfound liberty.

I expect California music veterans and longtime emcee Joe Craven will have a few things to say this year. There will be mention of Sly Stone, and Brian Wilson. There will likely be more. Live Oak is a fundraiser for our public radio station. Yea, that kind of targeted, enemies list, media. So, maybe we'll get put on the idiot king's list. A badge of honor. 

As we take this nostalgic pause, we rightfully should recall those men called POTUS who actually quoted song writers and poets. And they all visited the Kennedy center to enjoy the arts. Not one of them showed up only to fire the staff!

Take us back to the trail, Brian.

"I may not always love you

but as long as there are stars above you

you never need to doubt it 

I'll make you so sure about it.

God only knows, what I'd be without you..."

To my kindred of age and temperament, keep on rockin' in the free world.

See you down the trail.

DIVERSION BY BEATLES

            The gears of our psyche have been adjusted.

        Some seven hours and 45 minutes of intimacy with the Beatles and entourage produced a retooling of attitude. 

        Over a couple nights we took a deep dive, to January 1969, and the 22 days that became the supernova of the singular creative force that changed music, lifestyle, lives and the world. 

         

        The previously unseen and impeccably shot film, edited and curated by director Peter Jackson, (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies) is riveting and immersive in the documentary Get Back. Lana dreamed about it, and I continue to marvel. 

        We laughed that just 4 months after the filming, we walked into Apple Records in London, thinking we might just "bump into" one of them. 

        Get Back, the documentary series, has the capacity to time scrub your brain and fill you with the zest and verve of that era in our life. It is a trip that rocks you with the passion and playfulness of our own youth.

        For a generation reaching the autumn of life, Get Back is a full on reminder of how good it felt, and how hopeful and limitless was our future.  

        We see our minstrels of revolution at their peak, in their 20's, writing and playing music, talking about their future, and it has the ability to vacuum the uncertainty and unpleasantness of that "future" we now occupy. 

        Watching John Lennon and Paul McCartney write songs, and seeing the duo work them through is astonishing. It is lightening in a bottle. There are moments when the two are  riffing, playing around, having fun while amping up their creative force. 

        There is something pure, innocent and even loving in watching McCartney's fascination as Lennon vamps, and then as Lennon, wryly acknowledges McCartney's new melody or set of lyrics. And on it goes. 

        Watching almost 8 hours of unscripted and pure Beatle creativity not only reminded us our own earlier dreams and life without limits, it is a balm.  

        Time and exposure can dull our senses. Remembering greatness, and seeing it so intimately is a thrill.

central coast autumn colors

        A lot of pundits have used the old bromide about the dog catching the car when talking about the right wing getting a court that now may overturn Roe v. Wade. Given overwhelming public support for abortion rights, it could become a big negative for many Republican candidates.  

        The larger question that occupies me is how will the Supremes handle the inner issue of being so out of step with where most of the nation is on choice. It is particularly delicate in this political culture because the court's very credibility is on the line. It will be interesting to see how they handle it and how the decision is written.

        Be careful, stay well.  See you down the trail.

 

    

Down The Path and Reel Stuff

 life altering experience

the tree once had more lofty goals and heights to reach. it adapts

reel stuff

   As the negative commercials and political bombast continue, the big screen offers a couple of great diversions.

    Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger is an enduring American hero, someone to celebrate and who lifts our spirit with the knowledge of our ability to be great. Tom Hanks is a great and timeless actor and Clint Eastwood is in a rare supreme category in film directing. Obviously Sully is worth your time. Everyone should see how our NTSB system functions and how the US Air landing on the Hudson was handled, where blame spreading and butt covering was an intent. Hero judgment and response saves the day, again.

   

    Some of us were so caught up in the Beatles mania we were not thinking about the impact they had on touring and what touring did to them. 

     They were the first to do arena and stadium rock-long before the mega equipment and rock tour entourages.

      The Beatles-Eight Days a Week-the Touring Years is a Ron Howard handling of archival film and recent interviews with Paul and Ringo and others. 

       Those earlier boys were bright, entertaining and capable of conquering the world. We revisit those days with annotations from now. The music, footage and infectious joy and mania are like a sip from a time machined brew. It leaves you high with a dose of the expansive and youthful feelings of the sixties and seventies. It feels good to channel those years. Howard does a brilliant weave of moments so that one feels part of the tour. It is an intimate look at the real boys to men.

missed opportunity?

some see a bloom

others see an old choke

perhaps you see a missed side dish

 down the path

  don't you think pathways are one of our better ideas? they can be inviting, especially so at sunset

 an ice cream truck awaits

   The arrangement behind the wine barrel, the stack of "spears" is the business end of an old hay rake. A ranch tool.

the shadows lengthen and a party awaits 

   See you down the trail.

LIFE SPAN OF A LYRIC

IS THERE A SHELF LIFE?

      An especially placid and expansive blue Pacific rolled by as Paul Simon's I Am A Rock jarred a stream of memories awake.
       Then I began to wonder what Paul Simon thinks of the lyrics today. What do they mean to him now?  There are some wonderful lines beginning with the "Deep and dark December" and "the freshly fallen silent shroud of snow."
"Don't talk of love…it is sleeping in my memory"…"I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died"…"I have my books and poetry to protect me." What does the current Mr. Simon think of that 1965 version songwriter?
      Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Peter Gabriel tunes followed and I wondered again, how do songwriters think about earlier work, especially those that were hits and choreographed seminal moments in the life of a generation?
      We've changed and our perspective on those passages of life that played against the music of our era have morphed as well. Some lyrics no doubt mean the same today as they did then and as they will tomorrow, but some seem more fragile, or wed to an ethos that existed then. Is it a matter of sensitivity, emotion, a breakthrough or insight? Or perhaps it is all in the ear of the beholder.  Still, I wonder  how Simon, Dylan, Lennon, McCartney et al regard some of their early work and their labors at being profound.
      Then I hit a button and was enveloped in a Stones set and cruised up the coast in a slip stream of Wild Horses, Jumping Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man. Pretty sure there's been no slippage of meaning in those and the boys can still bang them out. Maybe somethings don't change, they only age. Cheers to the vintages.

TWIN BAMBIS

     Birthing season in Cambria brings a somewhat rare set of twins.

   Double the munch, a reason gardeners resort to fences.

SIMPLE AMUSEMENTS

    John is one of the village's most active citizens. At 90 he's learned a few amusements here between the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Pacific.

   His co-star is "Jay" as John has dubbed him.

    Our buddy Reg also gets into the act.

    Jay looks right…

 …looks left

   And he scores….

   Coming back for seconds.

   See you down the trail.

IRONY OF ICONS

ICONS

     Paul McCartney playing with Nirvana may have been the  cosmic rift that some have attributed to the Mayans.

      First at the Sandy benefit international broadcast, 12/12/12 and then again on Saturday Night Live (SNL), McCartney assumed the late Kurt Cobain's role. That is not something we saw coming, nor would ever expect.

        By virtue of his "Beatledom," McCartney is probably the reigning star in the Rock realm.  Some ascribe such cultural and musical shaping influence to the Beatles they belong in Darwin's theory of evolution.  Of course most of that is true.  And Paul is a superb player, in addition to writer, composer, arranger, producer and by most accounts a grand fellow.  He certainly held his own, and in a way was saying, I maybe the grand old man and the master of pop and ballads and lyrics, but I can still kick out the jam.  Still

McCartney with Nirvana was just plain weird!

THE LEGEND MAKERS

     One more item of Iconography.  One of the greatest sports legends, because it is true, is the "Goliath killer" Butler Bull Dogs.  

       The small Indianapolis north side University thrilled NCAA fans a couple of years ago with back to back national championship runs, ending up as runner up two years in a row.  Over the weekend the "Dawgs" worked their way into the nation's top 25 again by knocking off the nation's number 1 powerhouse, neighboring Indiana University.

       The IU Hoosiers lay claim to 5 national championships and 8 final four appearances.  To some, IU under Bob Knight, UCLA under John Wooden and Duke under Coach K are the epitome of college basketball powerhouses.

      Well,...way back, in my kid hood, we remember the great and historic Butler teams under the legendary Tony Hinkle.  Always a small school, but with a brand of basketball that cast a national shadow.  

      Under former coach, now athletic director Barry Collier and coach Brad Stevens, Butler has become the favorite little guy. Their intelligence, determination and toughness remind millions of how basketball excellence can look.  

      If you saw the classic movie Hoosiers written by Angel Pizzo, you may be inclined to say the real Hoosiers in Indiana-the little guys who knock off the big boys, are the Bull Dogs!  Great stuff.

Day File
at the coast

  See you down the trail.