Descanso Gardens + Movies and Other Important Stuff (late night PS)

Hi Elizabeth,

I hope all is going well, be you in Arizona or Wisconsin. I don't know if you were on FB today, but if you were you may have seen my pix from a place called Descanso Gardens, which is located out near Glendale and is one giant-sized botanical garden set on 150 acres. The layout and size of the place is similar to the Huntington Library, and the Huntington has beautiful gardens as well, but is also a museum. At Descanso, the emphasis is almost all on the gardens, and it's so beautiful that you don't wanna leave. I had heard of it all my life cause it's a local landmark, but I had never been there. I went with Pearl and her daughter Helen, who have generously invited me along on trips to the Huntington last year, and now to Descanso Gardens.

I have also been watching movies this week. I watched "The Visit" by Shyamalan, which I thought was very good, a return to form for him. It's the kind of movie where you don't wanna give even the slightest spoiler, so I'll leave it at that. Night - as he is known - is back with old school, creepy horror.

I also watched the final "Night At The Museum" movie, and yes!, I am indeed a fan of all three Museum films. Normally I don't go in for a lot of modern CGI type stuff, but these movies are so well done. They have a lot of heart and I love the Museum characters.

I also watched a really tense and effective thriller called "The Gift", which again I don't wanna ruin by describing the plot. Sometimes it's better to go into a film knowing nothing, and for me that is almost always the case. In this one, the director really knows how to keep you on edge for the entire movie, harkening back to great thrillers of the 80s and 90s (the classic era of that genre) like "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" or "Fatal Attraction". It's an exercise in really knowing how to keep the continuity going throughout the film, not breaking the feel. "The Visit" was excellent in that respect also.

I know I have missed several days posting of late, and I wanna keep writing (obviously), and I know you are working and busy, but because you are mostly not on FB these days, I just ask once again to let me know if you want or don't want me to keep writing to you. I guess I am not sure where I stand these days, that's why I skip writing so often lately. There doesn't seem to be any response from you anymore, and therefore it make conversation via blogging to be difficult.

I will be here no matter what, and it's all good on my end, and of course I know that you are working hard (as I am too), and that you are not a big FB person to begin with. But since things, i.e. conversation between you and I, has really dwindled down to near nothing for a while now, all I ask - as ever - is to let me know if you want me to keep writing, and I will do so if you want. Otherwise, I am apt to go back to my mode of years past, of "writing to myself" and just letting my thoughts pour out about whatever strikes my fancy.

So please let me know if you have a chance. I only mention it because on FB, it's not like it was in years past. I know a lot of that is due to work, but anyhow......gotta have communication for the blog to survive in current form.

I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Super Late Night PS  : I am still awake (for a few more minutes), and I saw a few new posts on FB, on the "posts You like" link, and perhaps you just now posted them? I don't know, but they pertained to how hard you are working. One was via Sarah, about how inspiration is slow in coming, taking many hours sometimes, and the other was via Nate Porter, about working 14 hour days. I sympathise with all of that, and I know you are busting your you-know-what.

I think the whole thing is fantastic, please do not forget that. Life is magic, as you know, and what we have seen happen over the last four years is magic.

So the bottom line is No Worries. I am not going anywhere. All I wanna know is, should I write about my own stuff if you don't have time to correspond........I am an empathic person, and in past years, when I had no one to be empathic to, I was only tuned into my own life and my own feelings, and I wrote about my own life.

Now, what has happened in your life in recent times has been amazing to me - like magic.

Being a person who runs basically on telepathy, or shall we say long distance communication, I can get by on small amounts of information. It basically comes down to you, and what you want out of our connection. Whatever you want, that is what I can do. It's all down to the amount of communication we have, that's all I wanted to say. But no worries, because I am here in any case.....

Soy Cuba, Hillary in Madison + AZ too

Hi, Sweet Baby,

Happy Western Time Zone Late Night. :) Assuming you are still in Arizona, that is, and you probably are. Judging from your photo this morning, it looks like you guys were working out in the woods somewhere, in a beautiful spot. Is this gal a student filmmaker or a graduate like yourself? I am guessing the latter, just because of the distance traveled to the location, not something that would be convenient for a student.

Well, I hope you are having a blast in AZ. This afternoon on Facebook I watched a live feed of Hillary Clinton speaking in Madison, so she has the the home front covered.  :)

The crowd response was really good, and I am hoping she will do well in Wisconsin. I can imagine that a lot of folks there are feelin' The Bern, but if Hill can win then maybe he will start to Bern Out, a slogan that I just now thought up. Or how about "Bernt" for short?  :)

This evening I watched a film called "Soy Cuba" (aka I Am Cuba). I have had the dvd since last Fall and have been meaning to watch it all this time but put it off for one reason or another. Well, really only one reason : because even though I'd heard a lot about how great it was, I had also heard it was made as a Soviet propaganda piece about Cuba in the early 1960s, and therefore I thought it might come off as a dated docudrama, and as it is 141 minutes long, I just thought...."hmmmm, maybe I'll watch it when I have nothing else to do".

That time turned out to be tonight, because the movie I wanted from Redbox - "Carol" by Todd Haynes - was out of stock. So I finally unwrapped "Soy Cuba" and popped it in the player.

I should've remembered that it was directed by Mikhail Kalatozov, which of course I knew, but more specifically I should have remembered that he made Art Films, not mechanical propaganda pieces. I had seen two of his films before, the classic "The Cranes Are Flying" and also the underrated "Letter Never Sent".

Both feature major league black and white cinematography, on par with anything before or since.

And so I was pleasantly surprised, as I began watching, that "Soy Cuba" is an art film as well.

The other thing about Kalatozov is that he created some of the greatest camera moves in the history of cinema. The reason that most moviegoers are not aware of this is obvious. He was a Soviet director and his films are 50 to 60 years old. To most folks, he is obscure, but to the more artistic of modern filmmakers, he is well known and his moves have been copied.

The cinematography in "Cranes" is some of the best ever, but in "Soy Cuba" it reaches a whole new level. I was Googling after the movie ended, to see "how did he do that"? There are crane shots that seem impossible, because of the heights and lengths they move through continuously during long takes.

I think "Soy Cuba" has got to be a progenitor and a benchmark for current high motion cinematography, where the camera is part of the action rather than a static observer.

The film itself is epic as well, set in Cuba as the Castro revolution is about to happen. The film's politics are presented from a Soviet point of view, but even so, it's hard to argue with them. The only argument could be whether Castro was any better than his predecessor, the guy he overthrew (Batista), and in America the answer was "No" for the last 50 years. I tend to agree with that assessment, but in the film there is no doubt why a revolution happened in the first place - Cuba was always a pawn between capitalist interests like United Fruit Company, which wanted the sugar cane, and the Soviet Union, which tried to put nuclear weapons there, to point at Florida which is only 90 miles away.

That happened in 1962, and was a huge deal. It is why we have had an embargo against Cuba for all this time, a half century. They drive cars that are from the 1950s because we will not trade with them or export goods to them, due to what happened in '62. But now that Obama has just visited, things will be changing.

And The Rolling Stones are gonna play a concert there soon, their first ever show in Cuba.

Communism never works - just look at Soviet-era Russia, and in China, their previous version of Communism under Mao was on the verge of collapse as well, until they switched in the 90s to a hyperactive capitalism for their economic system. Now they are a wealthy nation, but they still have a communist social system featuring horrible human rights abuses and lax industrial standards regarding pollution.

But while communism never works, it always arises as a popular reaction to the excessive greed of capitalism gone out of control, as happened in Cuba.

That's one reason why I am right down the middle politically, because extremes never work, be they right wing corporate 1% super rich capitalism, or the other extreme, full on socialism which is communism by any other name, and leads to the end of the individual.

Sorry about the soapbox, but the movie was really provocative.

I say "Go Hillary"; Viva the Middle Class, and a more moderate capitalism, with no ultra rich nor desperate poor. The way America used to be for a very long time.

That's all I know for tonight. Continued success on your film and on enjoying Arizona!

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Easter + Arizona + Bunny

Hi, my Darling,

I hope you had a Happy Easter. I saw this morning that you are back in Arizona and working on the same film as on your last visit. Are you guys flying back and forth? Driving? Well, it would be an adventure either way, as well as a great experience. I liked your photo of the mountains. It almost looks like it's part of the Grand Canyon, but you probably would've said so if it were, so maybe it's part of the Painted Desert or near Red Rocks or Sedona. From pictures I've seen, the mountains of Arizona have that look all over in many locations. Colorful mountains with plateaus.

You are racking up a lot of work already this year, almost non-stop! I am guessing your latest band video has been shot and perhaps awaiting post production? So you are in full-on scheduling mode, which is what happens when you are a pro.

And you are in fact a Professional now.  Pretty cool, eh?  :)

Our Easter service was really good this morning. We had many more people in church, as often happens on Easter and Christmas, and so we got to sing in front of a good crowd. We did good, and several choir members reported compliments afterward. I had one young guy whom I've never seen before shake my hand and say "Thank You". So that was pretty cool, too. I have been having fun watching online videos from the Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy, which trains a lot of American Idol people and those types of modern professional singers - i.e. people who belt it out, lol, and so I was belting it out myself this morning, and I miraculously hit all my high notes. Thank you Ken Tamplin. That's learning by osmosis once again.

I was sort of wanting to go to the final David Gilmour show which was tonight at The Forum, but it didn't work out (didn't wanna go by myself and Grimsley didn't wanna spend big bux for a ticket), so I just chilled instead. I am just grateful I got to see Thursday's show at The Bowl, and it was a great week, also seeing that amazing performance of "The Passion Play" last Wednesday.

Tonight - you might not believe this one but it's true - I went to return a movie to Redbox ("Room", a subtle yet very powerful and moving film) - and after that I went for a CSUN walk, down to the Orange Grove. And I was walking past the duck pond, all the ducks and geese tucked in for the night, and as I turned north on the cement path that leads back to the campus, I heard a scurrying sound coming from the row of orange trees on my left. I am always attuned to my surroundings, and interested in anything unusual, and it kinda works on autopilot, I think. Because for some reason the scurrying sound caused me to stop.

Things happen fast when you notice something, and your mind makes calculations and decisions before you are aware of them. You react after your mind has done these things.

So, in real time, I was walking through the orange grove, past the duck pond with it's sleeping birds, and I was thinking of nothing in particular when the sudden scurrying sound caused me to stop. And I think it was because I had also seen a shape, running away from the orange tree as I passed by.

The shape said "squirrel". But my mind said, "squirrels are asleep at night". Maybe it's a possum.

But the scurrier had stopped. Possums never do. And the scurrier was small, like a squirrel.

So I stopped, and then took a few steps back, because the small scurrier had stopped as well, in between two orange trees.

I wanted to see who it was, and it was a Bunny. Yeah, no kidding.

I have been walking through the Orange Grove for many years, and have never seen a single bunny rabbit, because there are none up at CSUN. Bunnies exist on the outskirts of the Valley, on the trails and parks where I hike. But I have never seen one on the campus.

Not until tonight. On Easter Sunday. And only because I heard the scurrying, and stopped to investigate.

I have a bunch of photos of Bunnies at Aliso Canyon and other locations. Maybe tonight's Bunny was saying, "Yeah.....but I'm the Real Deal, the Easter Bunny himself"!

In accordance with the meaning of the holiday, it strengthened my faith.

I love you and will see you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Uncle Earl and The Bees + Love + Hope You Had A Good Show Tonight

Hi, my Darling,

I am writing from home, off work until next Friday. Been relaxing this evening and I watched a movie called "The Big Short", which was really good, about the economic collapse of a few years ago. I hope you had a nice day and a good show this evening. I know you got a lot of good shots and will look forward to seeing them as always.

I don't have a lot to report, just still absorbing the energy and feelings from the concert last night. So much has happened in addition this year, with losing so many musicians and others, that it takes a while to process it all. Sometimes a concert is bigger even than the performer or the music, just because of the times of life it happens in, and sometimes such a concert can transform the time in which it occurs. Such was last night's show.

In lieu of writing about guitar solos tonight, I will offer a short anecdote (or semi-short because you know I tend to ramble on, haha) about a day trip I took in the Summer of 1966, with Dad and Uncle Earl, to Laguna Beach, which is down in Orange County, about 75 miles south of the Valley. Laguna is a very picturesque and well-known beach in Southern California.

My family was down there because we were actually staying at a beach house owned by a friend of Dad's named Phil Singer, who was also in the film business, and had once written a "jingle" for Pepsodent toothpaste that made him enough money to buy a house in Beverly Hills. That's showbiz : one hit and you're all set. Or sort of; "Uncle" Phil (another of my unrelated Uncles) used to call himself "The Poorest Man On Roxbury Drive", which is in BH, and full of very wealthy people. What Uncle Phil really did was to sell film. He worked at the time for Agfa Gevaert and bought back "short ends" (excess camera film) from the studios to resell for other uses. It was Uncle Phil who got Dad his job at MGM after Dad lost his job at Deluxe, so indirectly, Uncle Phil was somewhat responsible for me getting my job at Metrocolor many years later, when Dad got me in.

But now I am rambling, so I will curtail it.  :)

In 1966, in the Summer, my family was staying at Uncle Phil's beach house in Laguna Beach. I have a memory, among others, of playing my sister Vickie's Beatles album, "Help", over and over on whatever record player was available. I loved that record and it became one of my favorites by The Beatles.

We stayed at the beach house for about two weeks, and it was just the greatest place, except for one thing.

The backyard had a gorgeous, full flower garden. And it was absolutely full of bees. Like, everywhere.

That was when I really became afraid of bees, though I think I was born with the tendency. I loved being at the beach house, but every time I went into the back yard, I was terrified. There was that sound.

Of buzzing......

Well at any rate, six year old me learned to avoid the backyard flower garden.

One day, we had a visitor. Uncle Earl Hamner came down to Laguna Beach to take Dad and I fishing, which was a favorite pastime of his. I had fished a time or two at the Reseda Park pond, and I don't think fishing was Dad's thing, per se, but we went.

That trip, to go fishing at a cove near Laguna Beach has left with me a memory and lasting impression for all my life. Because I had been at the beach house with all it's bees, and worse! - Bumblebees! (they are louder and clumsier and go "Bumble, Bumble, Bumble" like bombers...).

And now, at the cove Uncle Earl chose for us to fish at, it was even worse. In addition to being overrun with bees, there were also hornets everywhere. Yellowjackets! The scariest stinging, flying insects known to man, and also to six year olds who are terrified of them...

I was scared out of my wits, and didn't wanna fish. There were bees and hornets everywhere, flying in your face and all around.

Uncle Earl and Dad tried the old, "if you don't bother them, they won't bother you" routine, but I wasn't having any of it. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I made some excuse to go back to the car, which was parked a fair distance away.

My lasting memory is of being inside the car, with the windows all rolled up, on a hot Summer day. I don't know how long I had been in there, but probably only a few minutes. I wasn't suffocating  or anything, though it was very hot. Better the heat than those awful bees, though... (and hornets!).

Those awful bees.....and hornets!.....and the way they flew all around and the noise they made.

All of a sudden, someone was rushing up to the car and opening it. Opening the door.

It was Uncle Earl. He was upset.

"Why, Adam"!, he exclaimed. "What on earth are you doing sitting in here"?

I will always remember Uncle Earl's voice. He was from West Virginia and had an accent, but it also sounded like an English accent. It had that tinge to it.

"Adam, you can't sit in here with the windows all rolled up"!

And I had thought I had it all figured out; a solution to The Bee Problem.

He got me out of the car and we went back to where Dad was, at the fishing spot. Dad brushed it off to "boys will be boys", and he was right. It wasn't a big deal. But I was still terrified of bees. Even more so now. That incident at Laguna Beach solidified my fear for years to come.

We didn't see Uncle Earl a whole lot in the later 1960s and into the 1970s, because that's when he hit big with "The Waltons". And we had a lot of family problems in those years, after Dad lost his job.

But Earl was a lifelong friend to my parents, and some years later we did see him, perhaps when I was about 12 or so.

He asked me if I was still afraid of bees. I said yes, because I was. The 1966 incident was memorable for both of us. 

I became Facebook friends with Uncle Earl about four or five years ago, and when I did, he sent me an IM. He wanted to know if I would like to have lunch one day. Not having seen him but once or twice for close to 40 years, I just said, "that would be nice" but didn't pursue it, because I am a shy person and also because Earl was in his late 80s then, and I thought maybe he was just being nice by inviting me. Really, he was friends with my parents from their radio days. I only saw him mostly when I was a child.

But it was nice that he asked. He was that kind of man.

If we'd actually had lunch at his invitation, I would have hoped he would have asked me a question:

"So Adam, are you still scared of bees"?

And if he had asked me, I could have told him......"no"!

No, I am not scared of bees any more. Yippee! It's awesome not to be scared of bees! I mean, just so long as I am not near a hive. everything is cool.I am not scared of wasps, either. Yellowjackets are another, thing., however -I think everybody is scared of them. Even Grizzly Bears and Sharks are scared of Yellowjackets.....

But I would have liked to tell Uncle Earl that his advice, and Dad's, had perhaps sunk in after all those years.

"Don't bother them and they won't bother you".

Slowly but surely, it has worked! And I am not scared of bees anymore, haven't been for maybe 15 years now. I can be trimming rose bushes at Pearl's, bees buzzing here and there, no problem.

I can even walk through Placerita Canyon, where millions of bees must live, and where you can even here "that Sound" (that horrible sound) in the distance as you walk along. But as long as it remains in the distance, I am okay. Not scared of bees anymore, in general.

So that's a lasting memory I have of Uncle Earl Hamner, from that day of fishing at Laguna Beach in the Summer of 1966.

Some days, and some memories, you never forget. And certain people are with you For Life.

Thanks, Uncle Earl. //////

And thanks for reading, Sweet Baby. I Love You and will see you in the morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..........!!

David Gilmour + Uncle Earl + Love

Hi Sweet Baby,

I am just getting situated after returning from the David Gilmour concert at The Hollywood Bowl. He played three hours to a sold out crowd. I think I am out of superlatives for this one. I've seen a lot of concerts, and the Pulse show by Pink Floyd in 1994 was probably my favorite, but tonight was right up there. It was not all that much different from a Pink Floyd show, in fact, and it had some of the incredible lighting effects PF shows were known for, especially on the Pulse tour.

I could write a lot about it, but I am kinda stunned right now, in a quiet way. His music has had quite an effect on me, and on millions of people for a very long time. To think that he just turned 70 a couple weeks ago, and can still play like that, and also be part of a show like that, and tour with it, is really amazing.

Just before I left for the show I learned, via my brother on FB, that my "Uncle" Earl Hamner had died. He was 92 and had been ill so it was not a shock. Earl was not really my Uncle, but my Dad would call certain people, like Earl or Rod Serling, my "Uncles" maybe because my siblings and I did not have any actual Uncles, or any relatives at all. So Dad's friends became "Uncle" So-And-So.

Dad and Mom knew Uncle Earl from when they all worked at WLW radio in Cincinnati in the late 1940s. Rod Serling worked there too, for a short time. He went on to create "The Twilight Zone". Earl Hamner came to Los Angeles in 1954 or thereabouts, a little while after my parents moved here, and my Dad was the one who picked him up from the airport when he got here. I'm not sure if "Uncle" Rod had already arrived in L.A., but anyhow, ultimately, all the old gang from WLW ended up in Los Angeles.

Earl was a writer like Rod Serling, and ended up writing several of the best "Twilight Zone" episodes for Rod. Then in 1970, he had his big break with "The Waltons", which was a huge hit, a #1 show for several years running. "The Waltons" was a wholesome show about a different time in America, and would never get made now for those reasons. It was really about Uncle Earl's family when he was a child. He was the character of "John Boy", which was a very famous TV character in the 70s. The show won several Emmys and made Uncle Earl some serious money, though I don't think he made a killing off it like people do now.

Because of the kind of show it was, and because of the way America has changed, Earl did not have the kind of lasting name recognition that someone like Rod has had, perhaps because Rod created a sci-fi show based on philosophical allegories, topics a little more timeless. But people who were around then remember how big "The Waltons" was, at the height of it's popularity. It was huge, almost for a decade.

I even drove my sister Vickie to an audition for a small part on the show, in 1979. I remember it because it was the day Sid Vicious died. What a thing to recall, right? But it shows how the world had changed. The convergence of The Waltons and Punk Rock.

I have a couple of great Uncle Earl stories that I am debating whether to post on his son's FB, or maybe I'll just write about 'em here when I am not as tired as tonight. They are just one or two paragraphs each, but they come from a couple day trips with Uncle Earl that have become lifetime memories.

At any rate, I am excited to see your photo this morn, with the band and crew from your video. I knew you were working on something, and I am also glad to see you have another show tomorrow night.

I will write more tomorrow, and after tomorrow afternoon I have a week off. Many sleep ins will ensue!

For now, I will see you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Color Timing, Whiplash, and Solo #5

Hi, my Darling,

Happy Tuesday Night. I hope your day was good, and I did see a photo you were tagged in, with you and I am guessing a member of a new client band. There was a wooden deer in the pic, too. Maybe you are working on a shoot. I also neglected to mention yesterday that I saw your post about the color grading you did for the your friend's entry at the Wisconsin Film Fest. As we know, color can set a mood for a scene, and at CSUN the professor was just discussing the use of color desaturation in Tarkovsky's "The Sacrifice" to achieve the mood he wanted. Back in the days of film, when I worked at Metrocolor there were guys called "Timers". I don't know why they called it "timing", because it was very similar to modern color grading, and these guys at the lab had the final say on how the finished prints of a film would look. They worked closely with the directors and cinematographers to set, in general, the dominant color of a print (i.e. some films look more "red", etc), and then they could do all kinds of things with the tones of colors, in order to refine things for the final look of the film. This was done because, even with all the preparation undertaken by cinematographers, directors and lighting crew, even at the best of times the film as shot, when the negative is developed and first printed, did not always look exactly as the director intended.

Hence the job of the Color Timers in the lab. Timers worked harder than anybody. They were the big shots at the lab, and when a big movie, like a Spielberg or Star Trek, was nearing deadline, these guys would literally set up a cot in their section of the lab, and just stay there and sleep there until their job was completed. They were not "on the clock" in the sense of regular lab employees, but rather were invested as contributing artists in the film itself. Timers always got listed in the credits in movies.

So yeah, I am glad to see you are doing the color grading for this film. You have the technical skills at all aspects of the filmmaking process, and now that you are gaining experience in all of these skills, make sure to take some time, just here and there when you can, to analyse the artistic dynamics of, say, a certain color scheme, or use of a dominant color, or the use of desaturation, or anything to affect the mood, the emotion, of a scene or even an entire movie.

The use of color is one more technique in your bag of tricks to enhance whatever feeling you are trying to get across. Color is mood and emotion just as sound is. All these things combine set a tone, and of course you already know that. All I do is remind you to analyse the inner workings of it, to see for yourself why certain schemes do certain things, and to see what it is they do.

Today while Pearl was at Golden Agers, I watched "Whiplash". I know I am always way behind on movies that everyone has seen, and I am often about a year behind on Oscar winners and other popular films because I have so many of my own favorites to watch, and many are older, like Westerns, Film Noir, et al.

I know "Whiplash" was much lauded by critics and it won an Oscar for the lead guy in the film, I wanna say JJ Abrams but I know that's not his name, lol. Anyhow, I did think his performance was very good. Maybe not Oscar caliber, but well done. The drummer kid was good as well. But the movie as a whole I thought was really not all that great, to be honest. The main problem? Bad script, as is the usual culprit nowdays. I don't know if you've seen the movie, and I won't add spoilers, but it boils down to 105 minutes of a music teacher spouting violent verbal abuse at a student until that student finally, at the end of the film, performs to his full capability. I found it aggravating to watch, and there was a lot of useless or ridiculous plot stuff, like a girl who is in the film for no reason, or a horrific car accident that the drummer emerges from to run straight to a performance he is late for. So in all, a movie with an interesting premise, a good "look", good performances and subject matter that initially holds one's interest, but which is undone after about thirty minutes or so by really bad writing. You might disagree if you saw it, and I know a lot of people loved it....

And now for Guitar Solo #5 on my list : I was listening to a few today, and it came down to two different guitarists for the fifth slot. The other one will be mentioned tomorrow, but today my selection was the solo from "No Trains To Heaven" by the great Bill Nelson, from the album "Axe Victim" by his band Be Bop Deluxe. I first heard the album, and thus the song and guitar solo, when I was hanging out one day in 1974 at College Records. It was pure smoke from start to finish, but it wasn't a heavy metal solo like I was used to. It was played over chords and a bassline that had a '50s rock 'n roll feel, but the guitar was running these very fluid melodic lines, with incredible inspiration, tone and feel. The guy playing it was on fire, and it turned out to be Bill Nelson, who would ultimately go down as one of the greatest players in the history of rock guitar. The measure of a great guitarist is that they sound like nobody, and nobody sounds like them, and that they can take the listener on an incredible ride with their playing. That's Bill, to a T.

Well, that's all I know for tonight. I will see you in the morning. I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Bach's Birthday (rest of post is extremely weird, proceed with caution) + Love

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I am sitting here, going through lists of Bach keyboard works on Wiki and elsewhere, trying (so far in vain) to locate an incredible piece I heard on KUSC about two or three years ago. I am pretty sure I posted it then, and I wanted to post it again tonight for Bach's birthday. But because many classical works are numbered rather than named - and I am used to names (in rock songs), I just get lost.

Hmmm, was it 585? 565? I seem to remember it had a 5 at the end......

I also don't know the difference between a toccata and a fugue, although I get the general idea of a prelude.

The piece I am looking for is not super famous, but is very fast, complex and intense. I would mention that it's full of counterpoint and melody, but that describes all of Bach's music.

I'm afraid I'll not be able to find it tonight, but I will indeed be successful in the long run because I am relentless in that way, lol. I've had the same problem with a few Mozart piano pieces, trying to recall them and knowing their melodies but not the numbered titles, but I ended up finding every one that I was looking for. :)

At any rate, Happy Bach's Birthday. For me he is the greatest composer of all time.

Happy Spring, too.

I liked the doggie you posted this morn, the "morning cuddle" dog. He was super cute, and obviously a graduate of the Good Boy school.

This afternoon I went to see "Mad Max" with Grimsley. He had been bugging me to go, ever since I mentioned my puzzlement at it's Oscar success. I didn't mean that it might be a bad movie, only that I would never have thought of a "Mad Max" movie as an Oscar contender, let alone a winner of multiple awards.

But having seen it, I now understand all the fuss. While my taste these days runs mostly to art house fare (and Westerns, haha, and a whole bunch of other stuff.......basically anything that doesn't have Adam Sandler or Danny De Vito in it), I must say that this movie was probably the ultimate action film I've ever seen, pretty much non-stop. I have no idea how you would edit such a film, let alone choreograph the thousands of stunts and hundreds of camera set-ups. The credits at the end ran into the thousands. A very impressive piece of work, for the action/fantasy medium.

And now for two more Guitar Solos, on my list of The All Time Top Ten. I've already listed Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth and David Gilmour, and so......

Number Four has got to go to Eric Johnson, who has perhaps the greatest range of guitar skills I've heard, or seen.

4) "When The Sun Meets The Sky" by EJ. A song so beautiful you never want it to end. I first heard this song in the late, great Mr.D's car, while we were driving out to the Mojave desert one early morning in October 1996 to go to Edwards Air Force Base for their annual air show. Eric's album "Venus Isle" had just been released, and I'd purchased it the night before, so this was the first time we listened to it. We wanted to get to the air show early, because the crowd is always huge, and the traffic can be very bad. So we left while it was still a little dark outside, and then, while we were on the freeway, away from the Valley, heading out to Mojave, driving in the open, the sun began to come up, and........well, that's when this song began to play in Dave's car stereo. For real.

And it was one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, right off the bat, with a solo to match, on an album I'd describe as possibly the greatest album of guitar playing I've ever heard : "Venus Isle". Not just great in the technical sense, but in melody, tone and most of all inspiration.

I know I said I was gonna list two more solos for the Top Ten, but now I am getting tired cause it's late, so I will leave it at just this one. It's more fun this way anyhow.  :)

On a side note, because my friend Mary is once again posting a lot of pro-Trump/anti-Hillary stuff on FB, I am tempted to respond, but again I am too tired to do so in depth tonight. To talk, or write, about this subject takes a ton of concentration and stamina, because it is an overwhelming subject and also because it has gone on now for over a quarter century.

I am always looking for things to write about. In the past, on Myspace, I spent several years writing about What Happened In Northridge in 1989. I know a lot of people read it, people who were involved and yet don't want to talk about it because they don't understand what it was that happened to them. They are scared, and also confused by the probable vague nature of their recollections.

An enormous part of my life has been the study of, and a very successful attempt to recollect, what happened to all of us, and what took place during the seperate incidents that made up the whole of what was a horrible and surrealistic experience.

To focus on just one aspect of it takes hours, and there are so many aspects to consider.

For tonight, and for Mary, I would just say, once again, why were you at that apartment building?

This is something I have pondered for all this time. Why was Mary - a movie star then - at that building, a non-descript apartment complex in Reseda, in the San Fernando Valley. Why was she there that night?

I don't know why.

Maybe you do, Mary. And maybe if you do, you will start to consider talking about it, which I know is difficult because you are still a famous person.

From my standpoint, all I know is that I was involved in an everyday domestic dispute. At the end of the dispute, I was seen by paramedics. And then the next thing I knew, Mary Sean Young was at the building, and wound up driving me to the hospital, in her car, with other specific people riding with us.

Why was Mary there? Maybe because she knew, or was connected to, somebody else who was involved.

But she was there indeed. If I took a lie detector test, I'd pass.

Mary, I know you post for Trump and against Hillary Clinton. I know that a lot of people consider the Clintons to be criminals or bad people in general. But you and I know something more. We know that Bill Clinton was involved in what happened to us in 1989, in events that lasted longer than just one night, and that were so weird and frightening that to this day no one has ever talked about them.

I am getting older, and I am starting to feel that if I don't make every effort to talk about what happened to us, that my life will have been wasted.

But I also want to live my life, and enjoy it, and I have already written and posted everything I know about What Happened In Northridge in 1989. I did all that ten years ago. I want to just do fun stuff now, and enoy my life, though I'm not done with 1989, and never will be until I find out what happened to me, and why.

And so I urge you to tell what you know, because you seem interested in the truth, and in what goes on behind the scenes in the power corridors of America. If you don't like the Clintons, say why.

Tell the real reason why.

For me, I do support Hillary, and Bill too, though I know what happened in 1989, and I know it was incredibly scary and horrible for many people. It was that way for me, too.

Remember, it is something that has never been acknowledged, let alone talked about, even though many important people know that it happened, including people in the hierarchy of the LAPD, including Governor Jerry Brown (who was present for part of it), and including other famous people, including one Pretty Woman and the guy who became the President of The United States.

So Mary, stop focusing on Trump, who has no power to solve anything. He has no connection to the military, or to it's secrets. He is just a guy with a semi-appreciable amount of money, who is also an adept showman who has somehow captured the temporary fancy of the media. Despite what you hope for, he cannot even be elected, let alone "overthrow the oligarchy" as you say.

The Clintons, on the other hand, do have these connections.

Bill Clinton was there, and you know it. He may be a bad guy, as you think, or he may be a good guy, as I say. But he was right in the middle of what happened to us.

You should talk about what you know, even if you find it difficult.

This is life, after all, and one day we will all be 95 years old, and then it will be too late.

I have talked about it myself. I've written out everything I know. I did it ten years ago, and then I hoped someone else might join me, but no one did, which in retrospect I understand because for a lot of people it's scary.

But for you, Mary, you seem to have interest. That's why I mention it. That's all I wanted to say.

For almost 27 years, I have wondered, "Why was Mary at that apartment building"?

Maybe one day we will all have the courage to discuss it, and not diverge into meaningless political struggles.

For my Sweet Baby, I am sorry for the extremely unusual subject matter tonight, but I have had not a lot to write about of late, and so I am just bringing to light a few things that needed as much.

For anyone, Mary or anyone else, I would just say that - for me - I have written all I know about 1989 ten years ago, and so there are no bad feelings on my part whatsoever. All I hope for is that people will talk about it one day soon. If you do, you will begin to understand what happened to you and that while it was extremely weird, it can all be explained as well.

It's just a matter of understanding the technology that exists in the world today. Not what you are told exists, but what actually exists.

Thanks for reading, and for my Baby I say goodnight, and Sweet Dreams. No worries about the subject matter. It's just something that once happened, and was real. As you know, I more than love to write about so many, many other subjects as well.

I Love You and will see you in the morn.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Sunday NIght + The Kobester has two phDs + Guitar Solos

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

All is quiet here at Pearl's, with KUSC on the radio. Kobedog has taken to hanging out with me for the last several nights, because once, about a week ago, I gave him an extra late-night spoonful of dog food. He did not forget it, haha, and now hangs out with me past midnight, hoping for a repeat. He's a canine genius, now completing his phD in Dog Food to go along with his other phD in Goodboyism.

Pearl was surprised to learn that he has actually taught classes in How To Be A Good Boy to other dogs, while we were at church on Sundays. I discovered it myself, having walked in on one of his seminars.....

Yeah, I know I'm a complete goof. But it's true, I tell ya. He really does have two phDs. (phDog)..

I hope your day was good. We had a good morning in church, good singing and practicing for Easter Sunday next week. A regular day other than that. You may have been busy today yourself, perhaps prepping for a video? I say that because I saw one post, via your friend Brian, about the revolving camera rig....

I know you have some other shoots coming up - a lot of stuff, right? - and I will be looking forward to the results as always.

I am always looking for something to write about, and so what can I do tonight? Maybe another list?

We will do Top Ten Guitar Solos, just cause they were one of my favorite things when they were played, and especially in their heyday from the mid-70s to the mid-80s.

1) "Burn" by Deep Purple, solo by Ritchie Blackmore. This one was off the charts from the first time I heard it. It still is, and the energy, technique, musicality and especially the personal signature he put into it will never be equaled in my book. The all-time guitar solo on perhaps the greatest hard rock song of all time as well.

2) "Still So Many Lives Away" by Uli Jon Roth in his "Electric Sun" incarnation. Classical fluidity while retaining rock feel, so smooth, fast and beautiful. An army of shredders couldn't touch it. In his short lived band Electric Sun, Uli Jon Roth played many of the greatest guitar solos I've ever heard, ones that I can still hum, note for note, over 30 years later.

3) "High Hopes" by Pink Floyd, played by David Glimour. Why did I not choose "Comfortably Numb"? Because it is too easy a choice, and because it has been played a trillion times. Now, you can't play a song that great "to death", as they say, but what happens is that the solo, which is what we are evaluating tonight, becomes so much a part of your dna, from millions of listens, that it becomes a tad too familiar. Just a tad, mind you - everybody knows it's one of the greatest - some say Thee Greatest - solo ever played. I will not argue, for you already know my choice, but for Sir David I will choose his incredibly moving pedal steel solo on "High Hopes" from my favorite album of all time, "The Division Bell". Guitar is all about feel; even more so when it comes to the solo. On this highly dramatic song, the structure builds and builds until the release comes with Gilmour's solo. And when it comes, so does the emotion, which takes you as far away in flight as you can go. An absolute masterpiece of composition, articulation and execution.

Well, I know I said I'd do my Top Ten, but I didn't realise I'd get so into it! And it is now late, 1:30 in the morn, and the Kobester is still with me, hoping for another spoonful. Maybe I will give it to him so he will stop staring me down.

But I will have to continue my guitar solos another night, when lists are appropriate once again. 

I will see you in the morn, Sweet Baby. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

George Harrison, Christ, Happy Saturday

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope you had a nice Saturday. I was shopping with my sister Vickie, and then this evening listening to my new Bill Nelson CD, "Perfect Monsters", which just came in the mail. I also watched more of Martin Scorcese's George Harrison movie (did I mention I was watching it?), and because it is 3hrs. 45mins. long, I am watching it over a few nights rather than all at once. That's okay to do with a lengthy documentary, to break it up in pieces, but never ever for a feature film!

I must stress that as a Rule Of Cinema. :)

At any rate, between the book and the movie, I am All George Harrisoned Out. In a good way, mind you, but still. I have been steeping in Harrisonian details for some weeks now, and I think he may just be the most interesting Beatle, which I probably already mentioned, too. I also finished the Lita Ford book, which is one hell of a rock n' roll story, especially from a woman's perspective, and that of a former Runaway.

So now that I have begun the year with several rock bios, including the excellent Van Halen book, it is time to get back to the mysterious writings of Dr. Farrell and maybe some yet unknown writers and books who will keep me interested in All Things Weird And Yet Truthful. You can never have too much Weird, you know.....or truth.

That was a very touching post by your friend Tristan, and I think it illustrates a point about not judging people. As a preface, I will say that while I believe in Jesus Christ, I do not identify as a Christian, per se, and that is for a lot of very specific reasons, having to do with groups and group mentalities and labels and all kinds of other things. To me, the idea of being a Christian is on the inside, though having said that, I love singing in the choir at Pearl's church, and our Pastor gives incredible sermons that go right to the heart of Jesus' words......

But for me, because of the judgement, and thus the argument - on both sides, from atheists and judgemental "Christians" - I don't want to participate in that. And it doesn't happen in Pearl's church, where the message is wonderful and the people are nice, so I just mean in the American scene in general.

Christianity as portrayed by America, and distributed by the American media.

For me, I will just tell you that when I was very little, like four years old, I knew there was my parents. They were "in charge" and I obviously depended on them for everything as a small child. But - and I have memories from being very small - I can remember being all alone, maybe at night in bed, and just feeling this other, immediate presence. A direct connection. And I knew what it was.

And so I've been talking to God all my life. I just don't wanna get caught up in the group argument, or even the group agreement of the whole thing. God, and Jesus - for me - is a private thing.

I have mentioned that when I was in my early 20s, as I assume your friend Tristan to be, I too was......what was I?.........an Atheist?.......I'm not sure. I think I was, but it was probably a defensive stance. Or a "know-it-all" stance. When I was in my 20's, I knew everything there was to know.  :)  (good grief, Ad)

But at any rate, all of that is just me. Tristan is very observant, and inclusive, to open himself up to accept the prayers of a lady he does not know. And from what he writes in his post, she does not seem at all like the obnoxious "Christian" stereotype that has been portrayed over the past several decades, i.e. the kind of person who says "I will pray for you" while inside sending vibes of judgement at the person they are praying for. Tristan's story showed the motives of a person coming from a true Christian perspective, I think.

A person who cares about another person, pure and simple. 

So, a beautiful story, and I hope your friend is doing well.

You know I am strongly against the negativity and divisiveness that is plaguing this country, and I know you are too, and it's time for some reflection, and respect, on all sides.

For me, I do not have an opinion on anyone's religious or spiritual beliefs may be. I only know my own. All I wish for is peace for people.

I think that if you nurture that feeling, no matter what your religion or philosophy, you are on the right track.

I also saw the Sweet Baby pic, on the beach, from your friend Vaia. I think it was meant that way..

So here's to Sweet Babyism! 

Wanna go to the beach?  :):)

I Love You and will see you early before church and then again after church, around 1:30pm.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Friday Night + Stuff + Einaudi

Happy Late Friday Night, my Darling,

I hope you had a nice day, as always. I was waiting around for the mechanic to call, so I could pick up Pearl's  car which has been in the shop since Wednesday. Finally it was ready around 2pm, so after that I did some shopping. Nothing fancy in other words, but soon I will try for a hike.

I liked your post about people who focus on what they don't like. That was right on the money, because I was just thinking about this election year, and the vitriol that is being spewed. Sometimes I wonder, especially when I watch the news or read FB, "don't you people ever get tired of name calling all day, every day"?

And I mean, Sweet Baby, for some of these guys who post on FB, it's like an all day thing, every day almost without fail. Republicans vs. Democrats. And that's just on the subject of politics.

The news media stirs it up, and so many people never get away from the news media, or electronic media in general. Now, just so I won't be a hypocrite, lol, I must admit that I am, obviously, almost always fairly close to a computer during work hours (which for me are many), but the computer is merely a tool, a piece of machinery. Just as with a TV set, one can choose to look at whatever one fancies.

But it seems, at least from what I see, that a whole lot of folks are focusing on negative stuff, i.e. what they don't like.

And that's the real reason they are unhappy, and why the world is the way it is.

Well, I won't go off on a tangent. I would tell people to watch a Tarkovsky film instead.

People are so easily manipulated, but that's probably always been the way of the world and I'm not sure it's gonna change anytime soon.  :)

I saw your Einaudi post, too, and all I can say is that if he comes your way, which he might because he has a new album out, do not miss him.

I got to see him, as you know, in June 2013 at the John Anson Ford Theater, which is like a miniature Hollywood Bowl, and outdoor amphitheater set against a Hollywood hillside. I was in the second row, in the center, and it was such a great concert, each piece just built and built, and you could feel the emotion in the audience. I was thinking, "man, this has both the feel of a rock concert and the precision of a classical concert". Go see him next time he plays, and you will be glad you did!

I will be going to see David Gilmour next Thursday at the Hollywood Bowl, which I am very much looking forward to. Radiohead had announced yesterday that they were gonna do two shows at The Shrine, a famous old hall that once hosted the Oscars. I (sort of) wanted to go. I have most of Radiohead's albums and when I am in the mood for their music I find them to be very awesome indeed. And I have heard that they have a great light show and sound, ala Pink Floyd. The tickets were 80 bucks, which is standard nowdays. No biggie. But both shows sold out in 15 seconds, just like the Lush show at the Roxy did last month.

I wasn't that bummed. For one thing, 80 bucks is still 80 bucks, and for another, I like Radiohead a lot but do not have to see them live. I suppose the major thing is that I am tired of going to concerts by myself, so I only go to the "must-sees".

All I need is somebody to do stuff with (hint, hint)........  :)

That's all I know for tonight, Sweet Baby. I Love You and will see you in the morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

PInball + The Final Tarkovsky + Love

Happy Late Thursday Night, Sweet Baby,

I was having fun just a little while ago reminiscing with Ono about our favorite pinball machines, which you may have seen on FB. I haven't been in an arcade in ages, and I don't even know if arcades exist anymore because of home devices like X-Box, but I wonder if there are still any of the old pinball machines around. It would be a blast to play one, and the thing is - I bet kids nowdays would like 'em, too. They were a blast, and we used to play 'em all afternoon at Thrifty Drug Store when we weren't hanging out at College Records, which was right next door. Ono worked at College, starting when he was only 13, and that's how I met him - playing pinball at Thrifty. So if it wasn't for pinball, and meeting Ono, I might never have started to hang out at College. And my musical education could have developed differently......shudder the thought!

Of course, all things are meant to happen the way they happen. At least it seems that way in my life.

I hope you had a nice St. Patrick's Day, and I liked your photo this morn. It's interesting to me because the hills look very Santa Claritan (to coin a term),  and I like the very old cemetery and the Celtic cross on the headstone. I am very much interested in the old world, and even the ancient world, as you know, and in our hills too - which as mentioned have a resemblance, at least in that picture, to the Irish hills - I am certain there are burial grounds which are unmarked. After all, they had to lay people to rest somewhere, and the Indians lived here for millennia. So when I am in Santa Su or Rice Canyon, I sometimes wonder what is around me and beneath me.

I hope you wore green today, or at least drank a green beer. :)

I saw several of your posts today, both band and food related. On the band front, it looks like a lot of good things are happening with your friends, including SXSW for Sarah's group, and another friend with Hollywood Undead, which I don't know a lot about except that they have a big following. Good connections rippling outward and back towards you.  :)

On the food front, I have usually been in line with your friend's posts, haha, and although I like carrots, I too will pass on the carrot chips. If I am gonna eat a chip, it's gotta be made from a potato or from corn.

Although, man....I have gotta get back to being strictly on the No Fun Diet and eating stuff that is boring, if I am to stay in shape late into my 50s, haha. I've been pounding way too many chips lately, and all kinds of other goodies.

My goodness, Ad. After all that progress and discipline......  :)

I hope you are having a blast of late, and it seems like that is the case!

Tonight at CSUN we saw the seventh and final film by Andrei Tarkovsky, "The Sacrifice", a heavy, heavy film, but also tremendous. It was made in Sweden with a Swedish crew and actors, many from the Ingmar Bergman camp, and it feels like a Bergman film, though still very Tarkovskian : lots of philosophical dialogue, slow camera movement and painter-like cinematography.

I think he made it his final statement deliberately, knowing he had terminal cancer while he was filming. I won't try to describe it too much except to say it has an Armageddon motif that was featured in other films of the Cold War era, and especially in the 1980s, but because it is Tarkovsky it is a film that is unique and personal to him, and therefore unlike anything else. Having seen all his films now on a movie screen, I really can't overemphasize how great he was, with the stipulations I've made previously for the uninitiated, about having patience and not expecting anything remotely resembling a Hollywood film or even any film as you would normally think of it. For me, he was one of the very best, and a total original.

Well, my Darling, that's all for tonight. I will see you in the morning. I Love You!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Ben-Hur + Copeland + Sense Of Wonder (EB White) + Astronomy

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Tonight I was at the Valley Performing Arts Center, which you already know if you saw my FB post. And if you saw it, you also already know that I saw - with my friend Dennis, who gave me a free ticket - the Stewart Copeland version of the 1925 silent film "Ben Hur". Copeland created a score that corresponds exactly to what is happening on screen, and to hear it live in the VPAC, as played by the Pacific Symphony and Copeland himself, was mega. It is a whole new way to see films, at least silent ones. "Ben Hur" is an action movie, which helps, and the action is incredible: epic crowd scenes and battles (over 120, 000 people were used as extras), and there is a very famous chariot race scene that is even more realistic than the one in the more famous 1959 remake with Charlton Heston.

The whole thing kicked major-league you-know-what, but it was the music and the use of orchestra, and the sound inside the VPAC that just gave the film a whole new dimension. I am hoping that maybe Criterion or someone will put out a dvd of this version, because it's really something to see with Stewart Copeland's music. I am glad I got to see it live, and it will go down for me as one of my great cinematic experiences.

I really liked your photo this morning, and the E.B. White line that you added. That is a great angle, looking up from the rocks as they ascend up to your friend Kyle and his dog, who are positioned just right in the balance of the picture. And you also got the blue sky and white clouds to top it off. I love that factor, at least on my little camera, where it adjusts for sky when you point it upwards. That's the only way for me to get clouds and grey scale (or blue color) in my pics with sky in them, is to angle towards the sky.

I of course try to maintain my sense of wonder everywhere I go, and I really can't help but do it, it's my standard operating procedure, just so long as I'm not in traffic or watching the news, lol.

It especially is "on" when I am in a good pattern of hiking, and music listening, and reading interesting books by someone like Dr. Farrell.

For me, it is important to be "in my Zone". It's not always easy these days, but I somehow still do it.

I just wanna live a life that is interesting, and keeps me curious, and has mysteries to solve and incredible things to think about. So I have to dodge the 24/7-ness of it all, and the relentless media and stuff that people in the modern world think is important but actually isn't.

When I am up high in the Chatsworth mountains, and I look at the rock faces from Indian times, hundreds and thousands of years ago, I know that's what's important. And other stuff too.

Stuff that makes you wonder, and stuff that keeps you wondering.

Curiosity and interest is what it's all about.

Lately, because I have just read Dr. Tom Van Flandern's "Dark Matter", a truly genius book, I have had a fantasy of wanting to become an astronomer. It is something that has been a small part of me ever since Dad took me to see the Palomar telescope when I was about six. But now, since reading this book, which is mindblowing, I have a fantasy when I am on my walks and looking at the sky.

I think, "hmmm...I wonder how many courses you need to begin as an astronomy student".

And then, because I have never been a college student, I hate the idea that I would have to have all sorts of prior physics and math courses. "Why can't I just start taking astronomy, and go from there"?, I think.

I think about the years required for degrees, and I think, "Man...I'm almost 56 now...I could have a phD in Astronomy by the time I'm 70, and then I could be an astronomer until I'm 90 or so. For twenty years. I've always been a late bloomer anyway. Didn't learn to ride a bike till I was seven...  :)

It's always the prerequisite courses that break my fantasy, because I never went to college and don't have all those requirements to get into astronomy classes.

But it's still fun to think about having a phD in astronomy, especially after reading Dr. Van Flandern's book, because I know, in my case (without sounding presumptuous, I hope) that I really could just jump in there, towards an astronomy degree, without all those prerequisite classes, because I already understand all that stuff. I could learn the technical language the same way I am learning to read music after having been put into the choir.

I can learn things by osmosis, as my Mom used to say, which means by absorption. And that is because I have never lost my wonder of life.

It is built in.

I am fascinated about things, and thus have endless questions, and the answers come to me because I seek them, because I want to know.....

I am curious, and that goes hand in hand with my sense of wonder. ///

I Love You, Sweet Baby, and I will see you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Five State Sweep + Love

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Well, Hillary did it - El Sweepo! She won all five states, including Missouri where she had been trailing Sanders most of the night, but she eked out a win in the final count. So it's a huge night for her and basically for all intents and purposes gives her the nomination. Once more I will say "sorry" if you are a Bernie fan, and if you are, I hope you aren't one of these people who - for reasons I can't fathom - seem to think Hillary is the Devil. There is so much BS propaganda nowdays, and it gets blown out of proportion. Are the Clinton's corporate? Are they Establishment? Do they have big money behind them? The answer is yes to all those things. But trust me, the only way you get any changes made in this country is through the Establishment, by becoming part of it.

Then you can begin to change it from within.

Bernie wanted to change it from the outside, with a "political revolution". That kind of rhetoric is good for getting people fired up, but it usually achieves very little. Look at the Occupy protests of a couple years ago. Nothing happened. Even the genuine, and massive, social and political attempts at revolution in the 1960s - though they stirred up a firestorm - in the end did not achieve much.

And that is because the American Machine, which more or less runs the world, is far too massive and powerful, and entrenched, to be overthrown by protesting civilians. We have a military/industrial complex in place that enforces it's will all over the world. It has technology that would make your head spin, some of which has never been demonstrated to the public.

Bernie wanted to metaphorically "throw rocks at Goliath" via the votes of civilians who have no idea what they are up against. It didn't work in the 1960s, when activism was at it's peak, and it won't work now.

The Powers That Be are The Powers That Be because they have a military the likes of which has never been seen on Earth, and the according technology. No one is going to overthrow them with a revolution. If someone could overthrow them, it would be another powerful country like Russia, with it's own gigantic and powerful military. Except that we already defeated Russia during the Cold War, by outspending and outdeveloping them on technology. We are never going to be a socialist or communist country, though as previously written, we do have some socialist policies and frameworks due to necessary taxes.

But the only way to get anything done in America is from within the system. A simple analogy might be a restaurant. You think the food sucks? Well, you can either eat somewhere else (i.e. leave the country), or stand outside and protest : "The Food Sucks Here"!

Or you can apply to work at the restaurant, maybe as a chef (which you can train for), and then you can start cooking some awesome food. You still won't own the restaurant, because very powerful interests own it. But now that you are the chef, you can make some changes on the menu that might appeal to everybody.

The main thing, and this is what the Clintons were so good at in the 90s, is to restore the economy and thereby restore the middle class. Without a middle class, you are left with a modern version of Feudal society, with billionaire owners on top and minimum wage slaves on the bottom. This is why people are pissed, and I understand it. But Bernie is not the guy to fix it, and Trump certainly is not. That MFer (sorry about my language, but he's a rotten SOB who has not offered one single policy detail of how he might fix things. All he has done is create a circus and bring out the violence in people). That's what I wanted to say about Trump, that he sucks. He's the worst candidate in American history, and he may even be an Agent Provocateur, sent in to disrupt the Republican party via a sideshow, but in any event it ain't funny. So screw him.

But really, change is gonna be slow to come in America. Nothing is gonna happen fast because of the oil industry. They have been in power for 100 years or more, and have been behind the creation of modern America, with it's cars and freeways, and it's distribution system of goods and food, which is transported by diesel (gas) powered trucks. Our ships run on oil (mostly, except for some nuclear powered subs).

You can't just overthrow a system this big and powerful. Not even close. The technology boom has happened so fast, and in roughly 150 years (only a little bit more than Seven Grandpas in the Adam measurement of generations!) we have gone from covered wagons to the Prius, and from hot air balloons to Mars Landers.

And from bullets to nuclear weapons.

And The Powers That Be have had control over the development of all these things, with the citizenry, even we are are informed about things, just along for the ride.

It is still our country. After all, there are more than 300 million of us, and comparatively few of The Powers That Be. We can demand changes - like a 15 dollar minimum wage, and health care, affordable housing, etc. And we can and should - and we will - get those things. That is how we will restore the middle class, through demand and pressure from the voting public.

But we are not likely to overthrow those in power, because what they have created over the past century is so powerful that even other powerful nations cannot touch it, let alone citizens.

That's why I support the Clintons. They get things done. Also I have personal reasons for supporting them. My friend Mary, who knocked Hillary again today, knows all about this. But I will leave it alone for now. I am just happy for the sweep of all five states tonight. There is no doubt Hillary is gonna be our next President, and she will beat Trump no problem. And then we will have our first woman President, long overdue.///

Sweet Baby, I was happy to see your photo this morn, and am glad you got out on a hike. I will try to do one myself later in the week. Tomorrow I have to call AAA cause Pearl's car won't start. Gotta take it to the mechanic and get it fixed. So maybe a hike on Friday or even Saturday, if Vickie doesn't come over.

I haven't seen any other posts by you on FB for several days now. I know you are busy, but post if you can, if you wanna. I asked them at FB to fix my news ticker a few weeks ago now, and it was the third time I've asked them since November, and they still haven't done it, so I guess I will never have a news ticker again. It really sucks, because that was my main means of seeing your posts and communicating with you.....

Well anyway, I Love You. I just always need something to write about, is all.

See you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Your Pictures (plus Mary, and 1989. Sorry about that....)

Hi, my Darling,

Happy Late Night. I was glad to see you back today, and to see your pictures also. You got a bunch of good ones. I indicated three that I noticed for particular reasons, like #6 of 27 (Weather Station) where only the girl's head is visible within the light, and then you notice a hand reaching out of the lower right corner. At first I thought it was the hand of an audience member, but on closer inspection it is her hand on the guitar neck.

So it's that kind of thing that makes a special pic for me. Just little details, like in #16 of 27 : the tilt of her head and her face, holding the emotion of the song, combined with the sparkle and color of her cape. There are a lot of others in that set of pics that are really good. Look them over yourself and spot the details that stand out for you.

Your professional website is really looking good, too, with a lot of variety and great shots. All I can say is what I always say : just keep shooting, as much as you can. I mean, I know you do anyway, because it is now your career.

That's pretty awesome, I must say, and it makes me happy because I have watched it happen.  :)

Not a whole lot for me to report, just that my job is time-intensive now (which I've already reported before). I am reading my George Harrison book and also Lita Ford's new book. She was the guitarist for The Runaways, as you may know. She is very honest and her book is full of great stories and anecdotes, and it really details the life of a rock star in the era of excess (70s through 90s) - and George Harrison's book does the same, for that matter, because he lived a rock star life, too, despite the spirituality - but really, though it's all fun to read and interesting, too, because I've been a fan for my whole life, the lifestyle is really kind of depressing to read about. Kind of gross, really.

I just love the music, but am glad I'm me. I could never live that kind of hedonistic life.

Tomorrow is a big day for the election. I am hoping that Hillary will run the table and sweep every state that is up for grabs, or at least gain a big increase in delegates, enough to really begin to shut the Sanders camp down. I say this because I've seen what a split in the party can do, or to be more accurate what a far-left candidate can do to damage a legit candidate's chance to win. I've already mentioned Ralph Nader. He is remembered now as the jerk who cost Al Gore the Presidency. I don't think Bernie is a jerk, and he is at least a legit candidate, because he is a Senator after all, but he has no chance to become President, and so by continuing to stay in the race, he causes Hillary - who does have an excellent chance to become President - to have to focus on him, instead of Trump, who will be the end of this country as we know it. It's not just Trump, but his followers. He legitimizes violence in low-brow, ill-educated people.

I hate to say it, but there are a lot of really stupid people in America.

I don't mean that they are stupid because of their views. If their views were well thought out, if they possessed erudition, articulation, if they could think and verbalise those thoughts in anything resembling an intelligent way, that would be one thing.

But what I see at Trump rallies is just a bunch of really low-brow people.

When you combine low-brow (which in the literal sense means someone with a low forehead, meaning a caveman) with anger, then you have the beginnings of Nazi Germany.

Sweet Baby, I am gonna take a moment here to address a side issue :

My friend Mary posted on FB today something about Hillary being a "warmonger", a Youtube video. I did not have the time to watch it, and I probably would not have anyway because I am a Hillary fan and am voting for her. But the reason I even mention it is because Mary used specific language which made me think her post was directed at me personally. In writing about the suicide of Keith Emerson, I mentioned the everyday "programming" of people via the 24/7 news cycle, etc. In Mary's post, which was on FB the next day (yesterday), she used the same word - "programming" - in reference to people who might vote for Hillary, which I have indicated I will do both on FB and here at the blog.

The video Mary posted was sponsored by Trump people. I hope Mary is not for Trump. I saw today that Pete Rose is for Trump, which was disappointing because Pete is my favorite baseball player, but then he is also perhaps not the most philosophical guy to ever come down the pike.....

But Mary is an intelligent woman. Very intelliegent, and was run out of Hollywood partially for that reason. Men in Hollywood do not like, and fear, women who are intelligent.

If you could take all the lowlifes in Hollywood, in the movie and music business, and put them all in the same place, it would fill a sports arena if not a stadium.

Back in the Myspace days, I had a problem with certain people reading my blog. Sweet Baby might remember this. Now, I can't control who reads, and I really don't care, and in any event I don't mean Mary because she is an awesome person. Mary was involved in the events of September 1989, and there lies the problem.

Mary, you would do a lot better to talk about what happened. I mean, you were there and you know it. You were in a car, with me and a few other people, when we were attacked by a man named Howard Schaller at Northridge Hospital. Of course, you would not have known who he was, and for me - I have no idea to this day why you were there. I only know that you were.

And you know it, too. So you should talk about it.

I have been left to twist in the wind, all by myself, and what happened to me - and to you and others, but mostly to me - has never even been acknowledged .

I have had to live with it, and to deal with it, all on my own, for 26 years.

So in short, God Bless, and I don't mind if you read this blog, but really you should stand up for the real truth, and not just some surface-level political angle. You know as well as I do what happened that night.

In any case, though, thanks for reading. I would love to start a discussion on the events of 1989, and to share information so that we can see what we all remember. But so far no one seems to have the courage.

Only me. I have had the courage. Maybe one day someone will join me. ////

Sorry about that, Elizabeth. It's not a big deal and nothing to worry about, and the irony is that when I met you I finally had something else to talk about, and someone amazing to talk to.

I am not mad at Mary, or anybody else who reads, all I am saying is that if you were part of the events of 1989, you should stop pretending it never happened, and Talk About It. Don't talk about side issues; talk about The Real Thing, as I have done in the past. Stand up for The Real Truth.

Period. ///

Okay, I am sorry about that once again, Sweet Baby, but in actuality it's all good, everything is cool. It's just that there has seemed to be some stuff going on underneath the radar, and also this thing with Keith threw me for a loop. What happened in '89 was a humongous deal, and no one has even talked about it or even acknowledged it, and it was almost beyond comprehension, really. It scared the heck out of everyone involved except me, and so people glom on to what I write, to see what I will say.

I haven't said much about it for a while, because I have enjoyed talking to you. But I see, with Mary's post, that people still follow, and that's fine. Just please stand up and talk about what you remember, as I have, because 26 years of my life have gone by in the interim, and so far not a single person has ever said a thing.

And it's not gonna go away, because it was a huge deal, beyond anything you can imagine.  ////

That's all I know for tonight, and I'd rather write about regular things and interesting artistic things with my Baby, but was compelled to write about 1989 for the aforementioned reason.

See you in the morning, Sweet Baby. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Snowdrops, Keith & The Matrix (not the movie)

Hi, my Darling,

Happy Saturday Night. I am writing a few minutes earlier than usual tonight because of the time change. I love the extra sunlight of daylight savings time, but I don't like the "spring forward" part, where you get hit suddenly with an hour less sleep. So there might be a little grogginess in church tomorrow morn, but our song is a fairly easy one : "I Sing As I Arise Today", which is an appropriate title, haha. It's a St. Patrick's Hymn, also appropos since his day is near, and it has a nice Irish melody.

Yesterday, I forgot to mention that I liked your photo gif of the snowdrops. I remember your pictures of those flowers from way back, maybe back to 2013, and they always made me happy. This time, I am also happy to see that you are having an early Spring and are not being subjected to a deep freeze like the Arctic whateveritwascalled from 2013. I know, it was called The Polar Vortex! Well, I am glad it did not materialise this year. Spring and Snowdrops are much better, and yesterday, your picture was the best part of a difficult day.

This one has really affected me, because of Keith and his music, but also because of the circumstances. His girlfriend Mari, who is an FB friend to all of us ELP fans, is just devastated, and it is a crushing thing to feel.

The pain a person can feel can result in a split second decision which leads to so much more pain for the loved ones. And still, it is not for the rest of us to judge. When we love someone, even peripherally as fans, all we can do is communally try to absorb the pain, and it is still a futile effort.

When someone checks out suddenly and with no advance notice, by their own hand, Good Lord I cannot even begin to imagine the pain of the loved ones. And in this case it has certainly radiated outward to his fans and fellow musicians, and the one heartwarming aspect is that there have been so many tributes.

This world we are in is a matrix, not a reference to the movie but just an observation of the two-sided nature of things. Things Pass Through, from one side to the other.....

We come into this world as babies (Sweet Ones!), with no memory or knowledge from whence we came. But as we go along, we get the glimpses of things we have often talked about, and we realise that this world of "cradle to grave reality" and material things is not all there is.

Those of us who feel we have some perception of other things also feel that life never ends, that nothing ever dies but just continues on in another form, in another realm.

I think that it is likely that most people sense this. Most, if not all, get a glimpse of this two-sidedness at some point in their lives. But I also think that most people, who just live simple, non-contemplative lives that are set firmly in the material world, push away such glimpses, and don't think about things like life after death.

I think that the average person sees life in programmed terms, the terms dictated by things like the 24/7 news cycle, and the political process, and advertising.

A guy like Keith, who was a genius musician and composer, was also sensitive and intelligent enough, no doubt, to see clearly the two-sidedness of life, that we are either Here On Earth, in physical form, or we are Somewhere Else, in Spirit Form (we do not know for certain, but we have faith)....

But we are certain that we are always Somewhere. Here or There, on one side or another.

I became convinced of this first when my Mom died, and I could immediately feel her still with me. It was not wishful thinking, but very real. Dad too, here is also still here, except he's over there somewhere......

The trouble is, though, when sensitive people are fully aware of the two-sidedness of life, they can make a decision to "check out" from this side, the physical side, because of pain, whether psychological or physical.

Keith probably did so because of both. And I would guess it was a split second decision, not something that was long thought out.

I will never, ever judge a suicidal person, because I have felt the blackness of depression in my life, and also because I can't put myself in another person's shoes.

But I just hope that anyone who ever feels that depressed will pause, even just for a minute, to think about the meaning of this life, this physical life, and why it is so important. The truth is that we don't know!

That's the great mystery of life, that we don't know why it's important, or why were here. We can only feel the reasons, we can only get glimpses of the answers.

But when we are in pain, and in my opinion unless it is absolutely unbearable physical pain from a disease, I would hope that anyone would stop to consider the unfathomable meaning of this life, before using their pain, and their faith in the next life, as a springboard to exit this world.

Because in making that split second decision to leave, by their own hand, they leave behind their pain, and it multiplies outward to everyone who loved them, and especially to those who were closest, who then have to figure out how they, too, will heal, and will live this physical life to the end, and without the one they had loved.

It's all quite a dillemma. Jesus taught us about faith, and about suffering, and patience. He also taught us not to judge.

But maybe the only way to conquer pain, at least the psychological kind, is just to bear it and find strength in loved ones, rather than to exit and escape it - into the next world - and thereby spread it around to those left behind.

Or maybe it is the job of the loved ones, the stronger ones, to bear the pain individually and collectively, if the sensitive person could not.

I don't know, and I will not say.

But Keith was just about the last guy you would ever think would do this. And it's hard to see the pain in the people who loved him.

All that can be asked is Why, and the answer is never satisfactory, because suicide involves not just the individual, but everyone else as well. /////

Having said that, I think we all love Keith even more than before, and it makes us want to spread that feeling all over the world, and especially to those we love, in an earnest if futile effort to destroy the pain, or at least mollify it......

Because human lives matter, and love matters, and we must take care of one another......

And in Keith's case, music matters.

It's what he lived for.  ///////

That's all I know for tonight, Sweet Baby. I will be home after church about 1:30pm.

See you in the morn, I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Keith Emerson

Hi Elizabeth,

Tonight is not the happiest of late nights, but I wish you one anyway. The whole day just felt kind of surreal for me. I had been watching Nancy Reagan's funeral here at Pearl's, and I was very impressed by the number of dignitaries (former First Ladies, ex-Presidents, et al) who attended, and the reminiscing was nice to hear, even though I am not a Republican and was anything but a fan of President Reagan during his tenure. But as I have stated before, there comes a time to have respect for people simply as fellow human beings, and especially when a person has passed away.

I was watching the funeral, and got up to check my Facebook on the computer. It's something we all do several times a day in this era.

And I saw a post that Keith Emerson had died. I Googled it at first, immediately, because of all the hoaxes nowdays, but within a minute or so I could see that it was not a hoax.

I was blown away, of course. Keith Emerson was a musical giant in my life, someone who has had an enormous effect, and this is true for many people. He had millions of fans, and at one time ELP was a gigantic band worldwide.

About an hour later, it was being reported as a suicide. When I first heard he'd died, I was thinking, "what could it be"? I knew that his Mom had lived to be something like 98, because he used to post pictures with her, so I thought, "well maybe Keith was a heavy smoker" or something like that, because usually if you have that kind of longevity in a parent, it means you can live pretty long too.

But then when the suicide reports came in, his death at the relatively younger age of 71 made sense, or rather had an explanation. Suicide makes no sense.

I make no judgement about that, because no one can calculate the pain another person can be in, or the black and empty feeling from depression. We have all suffered a little bit from temporary depression, and we know what it feels like, and it's not just a matter of feeling sad. It's a blackness, a void. My Dad suffered from depression and in the year 1977, he barely got out of bed, literally. Dad had lost his job and got very depressed, and he just stayed in bed most of the time. Finally, one day he caught his foot underneath the bedframe while getting up, and he fell and broke his leg. He was in a cast after that, and the shock and hassle of the whole ordeal led to him getting better. Dad dealt with depression for the rest of his life, on and off, but he made it to 88 years old and was generally a happy person til the end.

I am glad we never had guns in the house. Guns make it too easy to make a split second decision that can't be undone. That's what I think happened with Keith Emerson, and it's really just terrible.

I was thinking today that I am not sure the great musicians of this age fully realise the effect their music - what they have created - has had on we the listeners, we the fans. We are the receptors, after all, so we hear the music in a different way. We receive it as a gift, as fans. And we can't do what these musical magicians can do, so we are also in awe.

We are grateful for receiving the gift of the music from the musicians, and we are also in awe of them for what they can do. And I'm not sure how much they realise it. I mean, I know that they know that the fans "love" them (quote unquote), but I don't know that they can know - as creators rather than receivers - the effect their music has on enthusiastic listeners.

I first heard Emerson Lake and Palmer when I was 13 years old, in November 1973. The album "Brain Salad Surgery" was released then, and I remember it was right around my Mom's birthday. She would have been turning 50. I remember hanging out at College Records one day, and they unpacked this one box of records and out came the album with that cover on it......the famous HR Giger cover. I'd heard of ELP before but didn't know anything about them, and then whoever was working that day put the album on the store's turntable.

And my life changed. I had never heard anything remotely like it. I still haven't, 43 years later, and I suspect I never will. BSS is, in my opinion, the most futuristic record ever made. I have even said, "in 100 years, it will still sound futuristic".

I remember I had to have that album right away, so I think I asked my folks for the $2.99 to buy it. It was Mom's birthday or right around that time. It was the sound of the Moog that got me more than anything, though there were a lot of other reasons. Mostly it was because it sounded like something so incredible, so high level and so musical as to be untouchable.

So that was my introduction to ELP, and to Keith Emerson.

Then, lo and behold, three or four months later they began to advertise in the L.A. Times newspaper for the California Jam. And ELP was going to headline.....

they were gonna headline after Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. All for ten bucks.

It was my first concert as you know, and I've written about the experience. Most of all I've written about Ritchie Blackmore and Deep Purple, who arguably stole the show that day and night, as the concert stretched into darkness.

Deep Purple blew me off the map. I was a kid, in a sea of a quarter million people. I'd previously witnessed the power of live music, and loud sound, during Black Sabbath's set. And they blew me off the map, too. But they came on in daylight. The real power of the concert increased as night fell, first with Deep Purple's now legendary set, and then....finally, with ELP.

You would have to have a lot of confidence to come on and follow Deep Purple. ELP was touring for the "Brain Salad Surgery" album. It never occured to me, as a 13 year old, if they could pull it off live. The previous bands had built the expectations of the show.

Nowdays, you can see on Youtube what ELP pulled off that night in April 1974. The drumming of Carl Palmer is insane, and in all the concerts I have seen, has never been matched. You would think he powered the group, but in reality he played to match Keith Emerson. They were the rhythm section. Greg Lake's bass, and guitar and vocals played a seperate, leading role. Keith and Carl were the power, and it was quite something to behold at high decibels and in quadrophonic sound, resounding around a huge auto speedway.

I have recounted the story of my first concert before, and in perhaps better detail, but today I was just trying to recall the amazement and sheer power I felt as I watched Emerson Lake and Palmer that night, at my first concert, as a 13 year old, with 250,000 people.

I am just a fan, and it must be hard for a genius musician who has scaled those heights to live a so-called "regular life". Whatever that is.

But depression can also factor in, and actual depression is a clinical thing.

Guns ruin everything, in my opinion, because what they do is final, and they are often used in spur of the moment.

 I hate guns.

But with Keith, what I remember - what I will never forget, because it cannot be forgotten - is what was achieved.

What was acheived was music that is permanent, like the music of Bach or Beethoven. Not all the music, perhaps, because a later album or two was not classic, but for a run of six albums, from their debut to "Works Vol. One", and especially the three album run of "Tarkus", "Trilogy" and "Brain Salad Surgery" (top that, anyone) ELP were the greatest band I've ever heard, or seen. And Keith Emerson was one of the handful of greatest musicians I've ever seen, and he gave me so much......

And he influenced my life in a big way.

And his music will be listened to forever, just like that of Bach and Beethoven.

He created something that is Forever.

Wow.   ////////

Thanks for reading. I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Mise-En-Scene and making a composed picture come to life.

Hi, my Darling,

Happy Late Night. Well, it was another Thursday night at the CSUN Cinematheque, and if you saw my FB posts, you know I was amazed by the film, and especially it's technical aspects. As with all the other Tarkovskys, I have 'em on dvd and have seen them several times each, but to see them on a movie screen gives me a whole new appreciation. Tonight, what blew me away as much as the film itself (the story and acting) was the integral part played by the camera movement and the editing. It's like he took a ruler or a protractor, and filmed everything according to specific angles that all fit together for the whole movie.

That, and the tracking shots, which would slide down corridors and then make a perfect 90 degree turn around a corner, or would move through rooms of a building or a structure while holding characters and objects perfectly in place. In the French critical terms of film theory, this is called Mise-En-Scene, meaning the placement of subjects (people) and objects (stuff) in the picture frame. The best directors use Mise-En-Scene like still photography, and that's what it really means. It's the same definition as composition in a still photograph. Meaning placement. And with placement comes structure, and most of all balance within the frame, like in a painting. The human eye can tell, and can instinctively feel, when things are in balance in a frame.

But the thing about Mise-En-Scene, when used by a guy like Tarkovsky (and other greats like Robert Bresson or Ozu or others, but especially the Tarkster), is that he can take an establishing shot of a scene - which sets the placement - and he will shoot it like a still photograph, perfectly composed. And then he will begin to slowly move the camera in ways that preserve the "still" quality of the scene, and yet make it come to life in three dimensions. That's Mise-En-Scene to a "T", and in "Nostalghia" he nails it.

Today was a basic day other than that. I am glad to see you have so many projects coming up. I know you are probably super busy, but I did see a post or two with Versus Me, rehearsing in one, shooting hoops in another. Those guys are cool and I am glad you are their photographer and maybe videographer too.

Post if you can. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Great News About All The Upcoming Work (plus Wanna Do Some Travelling Myself, Placerita Video, Please Go Away Bernie, & Pop Punk)

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

That was some itinerary you posted this morning! Wow. I knew things were gonna start happening once the year got going, and now everything is happening at once. :) That makes me happy. So it was an educational video in New Mexico, then? Maybe from a connection at the University, one of your teachers or classmates perhaps? It's awesome that you are getting to travel in addition to the work, and going to Arizona will be a blast. One of the places I wanna see real bad is the Grand Canyon, and also the Red Desert around Sedona. Man, I wanna drive all over America, or take the train, just cause I haven't seen anything. All I need is someone to come with me.

And the time to do it. But I could actually do some short trips during one of the times when I have a week off. I am tired of doing stuff alone, though. I already go to most concerts by myself, and all my hikes are by myself, because when you get to your 50s people are either too busy or they just don't have the energy for stuff. On that score, I need someone to go to Disneyland with me. I'm probably gonna develop a condition if I don't go soon, lol.

Today was pretty good. I took The Kobester to Northridge Park while Pearl was at her Reseda Woman's Club meeting. We walked at least a half mile, and it is amazing to see how well The 'Ster is doing. He is my buddy and I am so grateful to have him around.

Later, after I took Pearl home from the meeting, I zipped up to Placerita Canyon. Had time for a 75 minute hike about 2/3rds of the way to Walker Ranch, which lies two miles up at the other end of the trail. I shot a whole bunch of video snippets, most about 20 to 30 seconds long, and they looked good in the camera playback, but when I uploaded a couple, they looked "less good". I don't think the problem is entirely the cam, because everybody in the known world uploads video from all kinds of sources, mainly phones, and a lot of it looks pretty clear online. So maybe it's because of my Chromebook, I dunno. I mean, the stuff doesn't look horrible, but there is something "not right" about it. It happens mainly when you pan. Things start to "melt" a bit. If I pan verrry, verrrrrrrry slowwwwly........then the melt effect isn't so bad.

Anyway, I did do one splice, joining one snippet to another on Youtube, using their editor. It takes forever; five minutes just to upload a 20 second clip, and another five to process it. Other than that, it is pretty easy to use, and you can add fades and other transitions between clips.

I really loved tape, in the "old days", because you could do the whole thing in the camera if you wanted to shoot that way, in order. And then you could fix all the little "bumps" just by trimming the ends off.

This new digital process (or new to me, anyway, haha) seems to be very time consuming, and so I don't know how many vids I'll be able to put together, or if I'll be able to have as much fun with it as originally planned. That's what I do love about digital still photography, is that I can shoot and then - boom! - have it online as soon as I get to my computer. The video process is a whole 'nuther story, but I did figure out that one edit, and transition, so maybe I can figure out how to get the quality up to par. If not, no biggie......

We watched another debate tonight, and I thought Hillary did very well. I heard all the people chanting for Bernie while the pundits were talking at the end, and I won't say that I hope they wise up, because they won't. I just hope the polling predictions hold this time, despite what happened in Michigan. If they do hold, and the predictions are correct, then Hillary will win both Florida and Ohio, and the Bernie faction will quiet down. If she can have a big day next Tuesday, it can all be over except for defeating Trump. But I worry about the Bernie Backers possibly going over to Trump if he loses the Democratic nomination to Hillary, because it's really two sides of the same coin - disaffected extreme right-wingers going for Trump and disaffected extreme leftists going for Bernie.

Oh well, screw it. Bring on Florida and Ohio and then bye bye Bernie. Then Trump is toast, too.///

I saw a few of your posts today and they all seemed to have to do with music. One was another pop-punk reference, lol, so something is up with that, I think.  :)

Either it is an in-joke with your friends, or maybe a nudge at me, but if so, remember that I've said I actually like a few pop-punk songs, like Green Day or The Offspring or Sublime. I mean, it's nothing I would ever buy or see in concert, but there was some catchy stuff on the radio by those bands, and a few others, back in the 90s.....

So if you're tryin' to get me with pop-punk, it won't work I tell ya.  :)

Get me with The Clash, or something really awful like that. The Police, even.......  :)

(although they don't bug me as much as they used to.....I must be mellowing, not necessarily a good sign).

Well, that's all I know for tonight, Sweet Baby. I'm glad things are going so well, and I will now predict that the trend will continue!

See you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)