A FAN'S SNAP COLLECTION-CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH

CSN AT VINA ROBLES

   Some evenings you never forget. From the moment David Crosby rated the new Amphitheatre a good venue and barefoot Graham Nash invoked the private joke when he said hello to "Paso Robles, or however the fuck you pronounce it," the magic was loose beneath the wine country stars.

   The two set evening was a chain of performance highs, virtuosity and fervid appreciation.

   There were plenty of CSN classics-Carry On, Questions, Military Madness, Southern Cross, Just a Song, Delta, Don't Want Lies, Cathedral, Deja Vu and more.  Our House became an audience participation moment.
   Stephen Stills reached back to his Buffalo Springfield days and rendered a greatly muscled up version of For What It's Worth. He remains a preeminent rock guitarist.
  

  There was some great new work as well.  Crosby said he was terrified as he sang his new What Makes It So.  

   Graham Nash unveiled his powerful new and complexly rich Myself At Last, only his second performance of the multi-layered anthem written with band guitarist Shane Fontayne.  
   Another emotional high point was Cathedral, preceded by the back story emanating from a youthful journey to Stonehenge and Winchester Cathedral, taking LSD, wandering into a cemetery, feeling a tingling in his leg to notice he was standing on the grave of a young soldier who had died on Nash's birth date in 1799. 

    Crosby and Nash took moments to talk politics and peace and as Crosby said a "piece of my mind."
    Nash led the highly charged Burning the Buddha which he wrote with keyboardist James Raymond, pictured below. 

 It was inspired by the self immolation of 128 Buddhist priests in the last year, their action in protest to the Chinese occupation of Tibet.  

 Raymond is a Paso Robles native and is the son of David Crosby.  The political charge remained high as they transitioned from Burning the Buddha to Almost Cut My Hair Today.

   Nash dedicated a song to couples in the audience who appreciated the touching  refrain "here for you." 

      Touching also was Back Home, a tribute to Levon Helm of The Band.

 There was a controlled hysteria when they asked to audience to stand and sing along with Love The One Your With.

   Other players in the band, who Nash said was the best they've had, are Stevie DiStanislao on drums, Kevin McCormic on bass, Todd Caldwell on Organ along with Fontayne on guitar and Raymond on keyboard.

    I've never heard CSN sound so good.  Many others were saying the same thing.  Masters, at the top of their game.

A night to remember.

    See you down the trail.

PERPETUAL LIGHT-SELFIE HELP-HE'S BACK

BRIGHT

BRIAN WILSON

Living Legend

     If there was a Mount Rushmore of rock and roll, Brian Wilson would be up there.  More than two hours of high energy performance and what you get is hit, after hit, after hit.

    The principal Beach Boy was joined by his pal and an original Al Jardine for a powerful evening at the Vina Robles Amphitheatre in Paso Robles. Jardine lives just up Highway 1 in Big Sur.

    When you open with California Girls, Dance, Catch a Wave, Hawaii, Shut you Down and Little Deuce Coup you set a mood and the audience was into it.

     Wilson has assembled about as tight and solid a band that a living legend can get. Scott Bennett and Darian Sahanja lay in vocal support that is every bit as good as what Wilson got from the Beach Boys. He is a musical savant and still pushes the edge. Who else would stage a live performance of Heroes and Villains-a tricky number even in the controlled environment of an edit studio? He introduced a fully instrumental Pet Sounds and asked the audience to "just listen what a band can do without vocals."

     Wilson's rapport with the audience was warm and genuine. It appeared as though he and Jardine enjoyed sharing the stage again.

      The maestro introduced God Only Knows as his "greatest song writing accomplishment." His "best!" But there were plenty of others, In My Room, Little Surfer Girl, Then I Kissed Her, Don't Worry Baby, Wouldn't It Be Nice, Sloop John B, Help Me Rhonda, I Get Around, and etc. It seemed as though the Amphitheatre jumped up in mass when they played Do You Want to Dance. And the place practically levitated when he lead into Good Vibrations.

      By the way, Jardine's voice is magic. He still sounds like a kid in his 20's. Brian is older, the band is bigger, but he's still a musical magician and can make you feel like kid and as if you are in perpetual sunlight. 

Here's how some of the big kids arrived-

A MESSAGE FOR MALES

Are you paying attention NFL?

HELP FOR OUR AGE

WITH A SMILE EVEN

     A HAPPY UPDATE

     Those of you who have been following this blog for a few years will recall the posts about my friend and former colleague who wrote of his battle with leukemia including a bone marrow transplant.  I'm happy to include recent thoughts and a photo from Bob Foster.

   Photo Courtesy of Iowa State/Bob Foster

Never did I imagine that I would again be testing the wireless broadcast system on the sidelines at Jack Trice Stadium before a Big 12 game.  Resuming duties as a game site producer on a Big 12 Football radio broadcast seemed no longer possible.  Saturday afternoon was very emotional.  I wept several times and knelt in sprayer of thanksgiving before the game began.  Now, I am better prepared mentally and emotionally to approach with intensity the game broadcast at Texas on 10/18.  It is all because of Jesus I am alive.
Bob Foster.

See you down the trail.

   

ROCK COOL? -THE MEANING OF LIFE-KNOWING PARENTS-WHAT'S NEXT?

WHAT'S IN THE CARDS?

    Speculation and politicking has begun though Attorney General Eric Holder says he won't leave office until his replacement is confirmed.

      Who's in line to replace the most liberal member of the Obama government? What's next for Holder, the Supreme Court?

       There's been a not so silent pressure on Justice Ginsburg, the eldest of the Supremes, to step aside. She's been quoted recently as saying she has no intention of going. A logic being voiced is that if she goes now, Obama can replace her with another liberal, but if she waits and if the Senate majority changes, the President's nomination would face trouble. Pundits have a new political wrinkle to toy with and about which to exhort. 

      It will be interesting to watch as Holder has been one of Obama's closest associates.

-MEASURING THE HOLDER RECORD-

      The Holder record is mixed and a source of controversy.

He was strong on enforcement of civil rights, pushed for same sex unions, voting rights, a change in drug sentencing laws and pushed for what he called a more fair criminal justice system.  At the same time he approved NSA snooping of American phone records even those not charged with or even suspected of a crime and he approved and directed the use of subpoenas at journalists. He was part of the brain trust that has made access to some government records more difficult, if not impossible, at the same time as putting a chill on leaks and even conversations between reporters and government employees. 

      These last matters are key in what I consider to be among this administration's failings.

       The debate over the confirmation of a new AG will likely be another circus.

CONNECTING

     An unexpected benefit came to mind as I reflected on the recently concluded Roosevelts-An Intimate History aired on PBS. I gained what I can best describe as a sense of awareness of my parents. 

      Writer/director Ken Burns and writer Geoffrey Ward delivered a series that is a rich immersion into the times and mood of America then. Seeing it in such vivid detail gave me a setting from which to better understand and "know" my parents.

      Karl and Mary Helen were born when Woodrow Wilson was President. Teddy Roosevelt died when they were youngsters. FDR and Eleanor were huge characters on the public stage during their young adulthood. 

     They were active in politics. Dad was a combatant in the South Pacific and later worked for the post war government before going into private business. Mom remained a political activist. She was a business woman before my birth and returned to work when my youngest brother was in high school. She remained committed to issues of workplace fairness and equality. They were among the survivors of the war, depression and the accelerated changes and adjustments in the world from WWII forward. They were of the Roosevelt era. 
      My mother met Eleanor as she was assisting a friend who had suffered from polio. In the reception line at a women's event Mrs. Roosevelt asked my mother and her friend to meet her for a private conversation.  In that chat Eleanor took an interest in the well being and treatment of mom's friend, as well as an interest in my mother, at the time a young army wife. That moment had an indelible imprint on my mom and was a kind of measurement by which she judged all public figures from that time forward. 
     The PBS series is a rich compression of history and culture both fascinating and highly informative. The connection with my parents was an unexpected joy.

CHEERS

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

   Terry Gilliam continues as a master of surreal artistic movie making.  The American born Brit and one of the Pythons delivers another dazzling visual and mind tickling treat in The Zero Theorem. 
   Oscar winner, Christopher Waltz is superb as a neurotic data cruncher who awaits a call that he thinks will give his life significance and meaning. He waits as he undertakes trying to solve a mathematical and computer based theorem. From the opening scene, Gilliam serves up his psychotropic wonderment and you simply take a ride through a fantastic world that throws a few bon mots about the nature of existence, the meaning of life, love, intimacy and such.
   If you like Gilliam's work you'll enjoy this in what he considers the completion of the trilogy of films including Brazil and 12 Monkeys.

THROWBACK ROCK COOL

    The mid to late 60's had not yet turned to the "summer of love" and the arrival of FM rock.  It was the last of the era of  AM "hit radio" when this was a "cool" promotional shot.

    Pretty young ladies, a Jaguar XKE and radio personalities just hanging out in the middle of the antennae field-something we did every day, right? In a year the ties were gone, the hair was longer and cool was morphing into groovy.
     I wonder where I got those shades?

     See you down the trail.

DOING SOMETHING ABOUT BANNED BOOKS-PLAY-THE NEW TRIP-WHERE DID THE WATER GO?

FIGHTING BACK

    The battle over book banning will play out in this window 24 hours a day for the next week.

     Tim Youd will essentially live in the front window of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial library as he types, on a typewriter no less, the entire Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury.

     The effort is spurred by the American Library Association's continuing fight against the banning of books.  The Vonnegut is a natural as his Slaughterhouse Five has faced occasional banning and even burning since the 1970's.

      Indy Star writer Will Higgins provides a profile here.

      Full disclosure here; I'm a member of the Vonnegut Memorial Library and a great fan of the Indianapolis native. A previous post takes you to the Vonnegut Memorial Library which you can read here. Being a first amendment absolutist I abhor book banning, even those that I might consider trash, subversive, offensive or any other such subjective objection.  Free is free.

PLAY

    As work spaces go, the office, winery and tasting room at Halter Ranch sets an example of great modern California architecture and a nice place to work.

   The drive in is pretty sweet as well.

   Harvest time is underway in the Paso Robles west side.

THE TRIP TO ITALY

    If you enjoyed Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in THE TRIP, you will probably enjoy the THE TRIP TO ITALY.  

    Plenty of laughs, gorgeous Italian country side and a foodies delight of kitchen, restaurant and meal scenes.

    We left and headed to Giuseppe's for Italian grape and repast. We couldn't help our self. 

Here's the trailer

THE DROUGHT CLOSE UP

   California's need for rain is critical.  This scene, from between Paso Robles and the Pacific Coast Highway is all too common.

    

   See you down the trail.

HITTING WHERE IT HURTS-A MUSICAL CHRISTENING-MAKING MEMORIES-A WAY BACK THROWBACK

HITTING THE NFL HARD

     Something good may come of the domestic brutality cases haunting the NFL. People are talking about the pathology of abuse and abusive relationships. Sponsors are flexing their muscle and putting pressure on the league and individual team endorsements. That too will help raise consciousness and provoke more talk. 
    Perhaps the major sack out there is the effort to revoke the tax exempt status of the NFL. If you were unaware, the league has estimated revenues of 9 Billion dollars but is tax exempt, as a not for profit entity. Incredible you say?  This link takes you a Mother Jones article that explores the matter.
       There is also the matter of the 44 Million dollar salary of the non profit's Commissioner.The story of Roger Goodell's salary and the NFL Not for Profit status reported here by Esquire Magazine.   
   These are fluid times for the NFL, teams and those who help fuel the giant entertainment dynasty.

WHERE TIME IS NOT IDLE

    As the old TV soap opera announcer intoned, "Like sands through the hourglass, these are the Days of our Lives."
    That was a favorite of my grandmother and great aunts so I heard it often. I think of it often as I watch the surf erase foot prints in the sand."
   Jackson Browne wrote in These Days "These days I seem to think a lot about the things I forgot to do for you…"

 Visiting with friends we are reminded of the swift flow and the wisdom of not leaving things unsaid or kindnesses undone,

  or of the joy in keeping the child in us alive. 

     When we arrived in Cambria, recent retirees and just beginning the throttle back process, our wise plumber Phil told us to go out to Moonstone beach, settle into the sand and search for moonstones. "That'll help you relax."  Indeed it does, still.

   A concert served as the inaugural event at the old Woodland Garage where, as promoter Steve Crimmel said, "nothing had gone on" in decades.

 Austin based Eliza Gilkyson and guitarist extraordinare Nina Gerber initiated the new venue in a Painted Sky presented concert that blessed the old place with sweet sound, vibrant energy and remarkable artistry. 

   The old garage has been refurbished to provide relaxed seating and lounge space.

   Who would have thunk the old garage would grow up to be a nice funky concert venue?  We hope Steve will book more shows into the Main Street gem.

 THROWBACK TO THE THIRD GRADE

    This blogger is in the class photo from Garfield Elementary School. Want to guess where?

     See you down the trail.

WE CAN'T CHANGE THE PAST---STILL CONTROVERSIAL

GETTING PERSPECTIVE

Courtesy of Indiana Historical Society and Indiana University

     To quote Ed Murrow "this just might do nobody any good." To paraphrase his 1958 speech to the Radio TV News Directors Association (RTNDA), at the end of this a few people may misunderstand what I'm saying, but here I go.

      We need to find a balance point where those who wish to address and treat sins of the past do not also destroy history or use deconstructionism without restraint and/or the balance of intellectual buffers.

      A case in point-The Thomas Hart Benton mural.

Controversial when it was created in the 1930's it is said to make people uncomfortable now. Why?  The depiction of the KKK. An honest appraisal of Indiana history cannot ignore the Klan. 
       If you are disturbed by the Klan portrayal consider proportion and perspective. The hooded terrorists are counter weighted by a white nurse attending to an African American child. More visual counter punch is the left anchor of the Benton panel composed of the press, an editor/writer and reporter that challenged and broke the Klan's extraordinary control of Indiana politics and the 1920's Republican party.  

      The media's battle with the Klan is iconic. Pulitzer awards have been given. I was awarded a National Emmy for my investigative documentary of the modern Klan in America. I've been an enemy of discrimination and prejudice, including racism, sexism, ageism and other manifestations of bias. My body of work is deep in reporting on these issues.

      We should find a way to be aware of sensitivities without trying to edit the past. The mural is not, as some have said, a glorification of the Klan, rather it is a depiction of fact. Reality, regardless of pain or absurdity cannot or should not be retrospectively edited or worse, deleted. Knowledge dictates that we recognize historic truths.

     History appreciates with understanding and by sifting nuance and seeing things in context through an honest assessment.  Later we may come to advanced understandings, gain insight, change our minds, learn, discover information and evolve, but the ground from which we and knowledge derive is historic fact. What we see and call history must be understood not only in the context of our time-but in the framework of what people knew and did in their own time. 

     As a high school kid I spent time in the city room of the Indianapolis Times. A giant replica of the front page announcing the Times winning a Pulitzer for their investigation of the Klan adorned a wall. It made a huge impression. When I took the stage in New York to accept the national Emmy for my own investigation I stepped into a slip stream of iconic history. The Benton art tells part of that story. 
    Though you may think the behavior is offensive, the painting itself of klansmen and the burning cross should not be regarded as offensive in intent  but rather as part of that stream of history. In the painting the Klan is seen as small, yet the nurse doing good service and the press loom more significant and impressive.  And if you look carefully you will see the klansmen are dominated and overridden by circus performers. There was a time when most circus acts wintered in Indiana. I think Benton was expressing a bit of poetic contempt and mockery by that juxtaposition.  

     No the Benton mural is not offensive, and those who think it is are simply wrong. It is history and should be taught and respected as such. And as I study it again I am reminded there must always have been those who like to ignore or even forget as well as those who may be rightfully upset with our past, who would like to expunge it. We can not help but analyze by virtue of what we know, but we must keep in mind that we are only as effective as we are fully and historically informed. 
       We cannot change the past.

PROJECTS
a time of season

   A bath modernization is underway and so….

  the master bedroom is a staging area-complete with new appointments

  while the deck is a work and storage area.

  For a curious guy, watching the craftsmen has been a fascination.

  Lana's recent kitchen project-a less enduring output.

  While I'm going to war with gophers.  Is it ok to call them bastards?!

  Despite the noise of tile saws or hammering, or my grumbling about gophers, Hemingway's project is to emulate Garfield.

   I think he's got it all figured out.

   See you down the trail.