PEACE, LOVE & DIRT

 EXPERIENCING LIVE OAK

   When I told someone we were going to the Live Oak Music Festival they said "Oh, Woodstock West!"

    For 24 years they've gathered at the Live Oak campground in the Santa Ynez mountains just north of Santa Barbara for a Father's Day Weekend of music and good times. "Peace, Love and Dirt" as they say.

     Live Oak is sponsored by KCBX, Public Radio for California's Central Coast.  It features a wide array of music, living up to the Festival moniker. It is also a major cultural event.  This post is a photo odyssey, attempting to capture a bit of the breadth and nuance of Live Oak.

     The drive to it and the setting are gorgeous, along the mountains dotted with forests and copse of Live Oak.  Once you are there, it's up the hill, on foot or on hay.

   One glimpse of the main stage area and you understand the name. The Live Oaks also provide a blessed shade.

    The music flows from breakfast to midnight as the sun arcs through canopy and sets behind the mountains.

    The spectacular setting is bounded by a kind of main street.

     The vendors and "shops" range from tie dye to massage. Our friend Mike, a veteran of Live Oak, played his flute at the massage tent.

     My favorite was the shop selling guitars and banjos made
from an unbelievable array of material.

 I've posted a short YouTube video below-Sound Check.

    Clustered around the hills were thousands of camp and RV sites, a virtual city. And almost everywhere you'd see and hear people jamming.

   There was a second stage, Stage Too, for workshops, and interaction with the artists.

     And there were the "sights!"  Some of them just inexplicable.

  Not everyone opted for a straw hat, but they are the popular head gear.

ABOUT THOSE INSTRUMENTS-

SOUND CHECK

   It is easy to see why people keep going back. Woodstock West?  No, I don't think so.  This is a multi generational, family event.  Maybe Son or Daughter of Woodstock is more accurate but it is a uniquely California mellow gathering.  Next year will be its 25th Anniversary. For the record, the music was superb!

    See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) GIFTS FOR ALL

THE CONCEPT IS TO ENJOY

     On most Fridays the words of Tamar, a driver I hired in Israel come into mind, "no self respecting Israeli man would come home on Friday without flowers."

      Friday's and weekends are special, especially here at THE WEEKENDER:) where the point is fun.

     ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS WATCH

But these may make you want to move

     A couple of special WEEKENDER :) videos this weekend and they've been highly suggested by friends and readers.

       The irony of the first video is part of the amusement-

(as always I suggest you watch on youtube in a larger format-just remember to come back to Light/Breezes)

     You don't need to be a basketball fan to enjoy this one.

You are in on the secret-the "old man, Uncle Drew" is really 

Kyrie Irving, the 2012 NBA Rookie of the year.  Make sure to 

watch the faces of the people who are looking on once 

"Uncle Drew get's going."

(as always I suggest you watch on youtube in a larger format-just remember to come back to Light/Breezes)

Have a great weekend.

See you down the trail.

FRACTIONS OF A SCENE

MISSING IN NEW ORLEANS

     People rallied in New Orleans today, led by prominent jazz musicians, trying to reverse a decision that has shaken the Big Easy.  The 175 year old Times Picayune newspaper laid off 32% of its staff and announced it is was going publish only 3 days a week.  In the newsroom alone 84 of the 173 employees were sacked.

      The Times Picayune has figured prominently in the jailing of corrupt politicians, a Louisiana tradition. That watchdog roll will be missing.  And people complain about the end of a morning tradition of coffee, the paper and maybe a beignet.

       On-line news can do a lot, but nothing is like the morning paper.

OYSTERS VS ENVIRONMENTALISTS? 

     An interesting fight continues here in the California Republic.  Senator Diane Feinstein's record of environmental support is in question because of her support of an historic and popular Drakes Bay Oyster Farm.

      It is explained and put in context in the East Bay Express that you can link to here.

         The beautiful Point Reyes area is part of the equation.

PIECES OF THE NIGHT

AT THE PAINTED SKY

    The multiple Grammy nominated and extraordinarily talented Peter Case played the new Painted Sky in Harmony last night.

      Case is a songwriter's songwriter who counts Bruce Springsteen as among this fans. (He tells a great story about his first meeting of the Boss.)  

       Last night's audience was treated to his skills on 12 strings, 6 strings, electric guitar, harmonica and piano.

       Most of the music was original though a cover of Whiter Shade of Pale brought a palpable electricity into the room. It's been done countless times by more artists than we know but this performance was one of those moments in the rock ether when performance angels swarm around and frame the moment to lift it away and place it in the hall of timelessness and greatness.

        Case is the music curator at the Getty Museum in LA, an author and a blues expert as well.  He told about seeing Honey Boy Edwards shortly before his death.  He took us behind the music when he tuned down his 12 string "the way Leadbelly did it" and then ripped out a gut bucket "30 days in the workhouse."

        Some of the greatest lyrics of the night came from one of his new tunes exploring change, loss and time-"we'll meet again at the end of the long good time."

         Playing his 12 string with a sweetness that was ethereal he explored poignancy in a tune he penned in Scotland with the refrain "someone sees the dreams we hide."

       Case had an arc as a rock star when he fronted the Plimsouls and was lead in the new wave band the The Nerves.

       Case teaches and plays frequently at the legendary McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. We hope he'll find his way north again for another night in the magic of the Painted Sky.

PIECES OF THE SCENE

See you down the trail.

A BOY THING

FOREVER YOUNG

      Late spring/early summer means it's car show time
in California.  From the central coast south and north, the fabled Pacific Coast Highway will vibrate with the creations 
that are classically California.

    California is holy ground for the car culture.  Customizing
is never out of fashion.

   Even though we begin to notice "age" on some of the boys and their gals, it's lost in the shine and gloss of chrome and paint and like so many other things about playful California everything is forever young.

FOR THE REAL FAN

SEE THEM MOVE

See you down the trail.

FOLLOWING LUXURY & WHO NEEDS A MAP

THE LUXURY MARKET

     Louis Vuitton has drawn attention for their embrace of viral and whimsical marketing tools.  Clearly an upscale product that goes beyond the needs of simple utility, Vuitton is out with a new sales piece that may set a trend.

        It's a creative play, and as we used to say in the days of 

American Bandstand, it's got a nice beat.

DAY BOOK

WANDERING BACK ROADS

     Driving around in the Paso Robles appellation is a 

pleasure unto itself. Evidence here why this is called
the "American Provence."

See you down the trail.

WHAT IF & THE SURF

MIND GAMES

    Following neural links of a writer's imagination could provide a blue print for a wild ride at Disneyland or Universal Studios.

      The lights flickered, the computer and television stuttered and the phone blipped before we were inundated in darkness.  The only illumination up here on the ridge were solar powered foot path lights.  There was no wind, no rain and no logical explanation.

       Someone hit a power pole?  No sirens, no emergency wail.  An earthquake?  Nothing shook or trembled.  A rolling brown out?  Where and why? There had been no peak demand.  News time on a Sunday evening and the world goes dark.  A deliberate sabotage?  Now the mind is off and racing as I scramble for flashlights and lanterns.  

        Being forcefully unplugged from the grid, mid sentence in an e-mail and mid story on the news and weird thoughts race into mind.  The practical uptake was a stark reminder of the What If factor.  How inconvenient, then how difficult and eventually how isolating it would be to have no lights, no power, no ability to know why all the while growing in helplessness. Heaven forbid any of us have to live through that, though there are places in the world where it's real.

ANOTHER EXERCISE IN WHAT IF

      On break at tennis this morning we chatted about the 

recent Woodward and Bernstein historical perspective on

how dangerous and how bad Watergate and the Nixon conspirators really were.  The advantage of historical research and the emergence of recordings, data and records under girded their new accounting.

      It was worse than we thought, which you will understand by linking here.

      One of the foursome is a retired Wall Street Journal editor.  He and I chortled over how when a group of journalism students were asked how would they uncover the Watergate scandal some replied they'd enter a Google search.  Really!

      As you get over that one, try out the idea, What if

Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee listened to some of his carping senior staff and refused to give young Woodward and Berstein freedom to pursue the investigation.  And the big What If Nixon and his compatriot's lying and cover up were never exposed.  We'll just let that one hang out there for a while.   Could be the basis of a helluva screen play huh?

ENOUGH PARANOIA?

LET THIS SOOTHE YOU

A DAY BOOK VIDEO

See you down the trail