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.