The Live Oak Way

  

        Singer songwriter Hattie Craven told the fans she had grown up at Live Oak. Her talented father Joe has been the poet emcee for most of the 35 years of the central California music festival.

        People do grow up, grow old and grow together in Live Oak nation.

 

      Live Oak has been a June delight for us since our move to the west coast 17 years ago. The music is extraordinary and so are the "Live Oakies." Peace and love mean something to these people.

       The music, food, California summer light, mood, and color make it a paradise for a people watcher.

      Some folks camp or glamp for the weekend. Others take it by they day and it's a benefit for KCBX, public radio for the central coast. And, it's all good.

        See you down the trail.

      

As Summer Visits.....

         The scene above, summer evening in the park on the square in Paso Robles captures my sense of summer spirit.

        The busking singer songwriter, a young man full of dreams, children at play, families strolling, green foliage, blue sky and a gentle, peaceful scene.

        Summer is still a time of hope, for ripening gardens, an improved game, no matter the sport, leisure with friends, evenings of simple relaxation and reflection. The scene speaks to me of that essence and it is evocative of a simple time, still possible.

        Lana's orchid cactus's have celebrated summer's arrival with an array of giant blooms. They are dazzling.

        So we celebrate the solstice, and the days of summer with a few scenes of the way it is around here, on the California central coast, a place of "endless summer" in so many ways.

        As members of the US Senate ponder their post summer plans it might be good for the Judiciary Committee to rally an investigation of sitting Supreme Court Justices, all of them if they prefer, but certainly Thomas and Alito who may well have proven themselves unfit to serve. As the House January 6 Committee presented a document to the nation and future generations, perhaps it is time to look into the snake pit on the high court. 

The photo above and below were taken by Lana while tending to her garden.

While here she tends, harvesting fava beans.

An evening in another garden, as Jill Knight and Eric continue to create the score of our lives in Cambria.

Sweet Summer....

    I hope that your summer is peaceful, gentle and includes lazy naps.

   See you down the trail.

A couple of things that must be said....

 

        A few shots of local color and a couple of quick thoughts

        The US media needs to chill. They've been on a frenzy, doing their best to make hysteria about the budget default conversation. Most years it is almost always a political show, not so much showdown, but kabuki theatre.

        As they would of had us think we were about to fall into the default abyss, cooler heads and those who have seen it all before, tried to remind us it is always loud, noisy and accusatory, but it gets worked out.

        True the Republican Red hats are renegades bent only on breaking democracy, so the stakes were raised this time.

        

        But, and this is the second point, Joe Biden has been around and knew exactly how to play it. Once again he played the negotiate card.

        Biden's reliance on the old game of bipartisanship has scored one more win for Democracy in America and US citizens.

        His legislative record in the first two years surpasses most US Presidents. All of those years in the Senate instructed him that things happen when people meet, talk and and are willing to compromise.

        Biden allowed Kevin McCarthy to beat him up in the press, realizing Kevin's puppet strings have many masters including some genuine anti American kooks. Kevin could get his mean talk press clips but Joe kept them talking and making progress.

        Here's the thing, unless we all look like the critter above, the "got to have it my way or no way" boneheads in the Republican caucus and in the Democrat progressive caucus" must learn you rarely, if ever, get it your way. Everyone wins when everyone leaves something on the table. That is how it works, when it works and it is working better now than in generations. Score one for experience.

    

        An imported shot reminds us of what happens when autocrats, tyrants, authoritarians and anti democracy crowds take the controls

        Putins's "victory" in Bakhmut means what? 

        This is insanity captured in a photo. Putin is repeating in Ukraine what he and Assad did to Syria. 

        Democracy may be loud and messy and rancorous--maybe no one gets everything they want, but that is life. 

        This week Democracy, guided by a Democrat won. 

        Cheers!

        See you down the trail.

Tina was a queen

 

Photo Courtesy of THE TELEGRAPH

        I was lucky to meet Tina Turner. It was a late afternoon in early '66 and I was doing an air shift on WERK AM in Muncie. A black Cadillac pulled onto the gravel driveway of our rural studio. The office staff had left for the day and the only people in the building were Larry McCabe, our program director and me. 

        Ike and Tina and another man were at the station looking to buy ads to drum up business for the Ike and Tina Turner Revue  playing Muncie that night, just hours away. Ticket sales had not taken off. I don't recall there had been any publicity. This was before their 1966 hit River Deep Mountain High before-producer Phil Spector had seen them and saw magic. 

        On this day in Muncie they were simply trying to sell tickets, to pay the venue and make enough to stay on the road.They were an R&B act who had charted R&B tunes, which meant they were not stars, but struggling musicians. In the '60s R&B, horn bands, and some blues artists drove between small cities in the mid-west and south, playing venues like supper clubs, National Guard Armories or community arenas. This was a long way from the glamor of music stardom.

       Only a couple of hours before showtime, McCabe explained it was too late to cut commercials but they could buy 15-30 minutes of air time for an impromptu interview program called WERK SOUNDS OFF.  In small market radio there was always a way to make a sale. The details are hazy, but I'm sure Larry asked how much they had and settled on a price including tickets to the show- as long as we did not re-sell them.

    So, in the middle of my shift, before the day time station signed off for the evening, I was in our small studio sitting elbow to elbow and butt to butt with this exotic and sensual woman and her husband who at the time was given to mumbles and nodding off and who would suddenly be alert and blurt something about the timing and pace. 

    I was familiar with Ike and the Ikettes. I loved dance music. Soul and R&B were on our playlist. The Ikettes were a college boy's fantasy with their leggy moves and bumps and grooves. Sitting next to Tina my heart was in my throat. Ike sort of rambled on about the evening's playlist. When he nodded off Tina, in a soft voice, talked about how she and the girls put so much into the music and the show. She pleaded with folks to come and see them.

    There is no disrespect in this, only a recitation of the facts. It was clear they had been on the road in the car since the last night's show and apparently had missed a shower. Ike was in his flashy stage shirt. Tina was wearing a long coat over a go go style skirt, but she was perfumed in some exotic aroma that only strengthened her power over me. She was kind, almost frightened, shy at first, but came alive when she talked about the Revue. She was adorable.

    I was a fan for the rest of her career. She had an arc to life. I met her when she was on the beginning curve, but I can tell you I knew on that day in Muncie she was something very special. She was a queen in waiting, waiting to be freed and given a chance to fly on her own. She gave us a lifetime of pleasure and joy. RIP Tina.

    See you down the trail.

        

Repeating mistakes

NEWS ABUSE

         Serious people can take comfort in how viewers, critics and other media summarily criticized CNN for their abandonment of principal and their failure of sound judgement in giving a free platform to the anti democracy, impeached ex president. 

        CNN CEO Chris Licht has acknowledged there were mistakes in the so called town hall meeting. There was such a clamor he had to back peddle from his original crowing about the broadcast. The idea was bone headed and Licht was made to take some medicine.

        As the ex-president is the leading republican presidential candidate the legitimate media has an obligation to cover his campaign, but does not include free and unchecked use of a network to, predictably, lie, demean, bully and to do his grift of fundraising. The appearances are his primary means of financial endeavor, bilking true believers to fund his legal defense needs and to bankroll his tortured campaign.

        It was CNN under the deposed and tarnished Jeff Zucker who gave the reality television actor free airtime that propelled him into the lead of the republican field in 2016. You would think CNN has some institutional memory and at least a residual sense of shame and guilt for their role in foisting the ill prepared man onto the American public and into the White House.

    It seems journalists are wrestling with how to cover the as yet un-indicted ring leader of the January 6 insurrection. Viewers and advertisers can and should leverage influence as well. There is an odious and ignominious cloud over CNN now.  Licht needs to heed the overwhelming public revulsion.

TIME TO SAY GOODBYE

       California Senator Dianne Feinstein is exercising faulty judgement and so is the exclusive club to which she is clinging, the US Senate.

        Feinstein has been an exemplary public servant most of her life, but it is obvious her health is no longer robust enough to meet the obligations of representing California. 

        Long time members of the Senate do not go easily but Feinstein and her staff are ignoring public good for the vestiges of power. At 89 it is best for her to attend to her health and it is best for California and the Senate Democrat caucus that she step aside. 

        It is time for the "Senate Club" to address the issue of absence, illness, incapacity, and the ability to fulfill the obligations of Senate work. 

MICKEY 1  SWAMP CREATURE 0

        The other blunder of judgement getting our attention is Governor DeSantis' decision to go to war with Disney. Presently DeSantis is getting his head handed to him by Mickey Mouse. DeSantis is being cast as a dud, early in his challenge of another cartoon character for the Republican nomination. 

        The fact Disney is threatening to pull back billions of commitment to future building and work in Florida is evidence enough the bully Governor's self righteous moral crusade was not only overstepping and wrong it was also bad for Florida business. 

        Somebody please suit up the governor, it would be fitting to make his campaign appearances in a Goofy costume. 

ARAB MENDACITY

SYRIAN SLAUGHTER & SAUDI SUCCOR

        Syria's readmission to the Arab League is an offense to civility and the idea of diplomacy. Syria's Assad is guilty of slaughter and brutality that could be the worst in recorded history. He is a war criminal and butcher and deserves the strongest dose of discipline the world can apply. Instead the bazaar prince MSB, who issues kill orders and slimes his way to power in the "Kingdom," has embraced Assad and welcomed him back to the league. There is no honor among thieves and the next 1001 Arab nights deserve close scrutiny. 

     Stay vigilant. See you down the trail.