"Son Of Saul" & The Magic Of Doing What You Love

Happy Super Late Night, my Darling.

My late start always coincides with my first night off, but you already knew that. I am writing from home, of course. Didn't do much this afternoon except walk down to Northridge Libe to pick up a movie I ordered : "Son Of Saul", which I watched this evening. It won Best Foreign Film at this year's Oscars and my sister recommended it to me. A harrowing experience, for sure, with a gripping performance by the lead actor, a Hungarian man whose name I don't recall at the moment. It's a Holocaust film, directly about the Sonderkommando, who were the teams of prisoners tasked with the removal of bodies from the gas chambers. The film follows the one man, who goes grimly about his horrific work, but all the while has a secret objective that is personal to him. I can't say more without it being a spoiler, even though this may not be your type of film. At any rate, I would rate it as one of the most powerful films about the Holocaust that I've seen, very affecting, especially after having read "KL", that landmark book on the concentration camps that I finished a while back.

On a lighter note, I loved your post, accompanied by a photo, about the magic of concerts! That was perfect, and I am glad that you love your job. That makes me happy.  :)

Yep, I can remember the feeling I used to get when I was leaving a show, and especially with my favorite bands of the 80s like Judas Priest, Van Halen or Rush, and I'd just feel like "this is Real Life to me".

At concerts was where I felt "the Most Myself". It was the excitement and the music, for sure, and the lights and volume and adrenaline rush, but there was also something else......some other factor that you'd only feel upon leaving after the show was over.

That feeling was like Getting An Answer......

"This is what it feels like to Be Yourself. This is where You Belong".

And of course rock n' roll has been my life since I learned how to put a record on a turntable at 4 years old, and I don't know where I'd be without it.

And live concerts are the alchemical events that bring to life the magic within the recorded music.

You are right in the middle of a fantastic period in your life, and it will be something that you both look back on and look forward to, as your life in music and photography and videography continues.

You were meant to be doing what you're doing.

Life always tells you what is right, and you always know it on the inside.

It can't be described in words, except to say it's Magic.

That's all for tonight. I will see you in the morning, SB.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Capturing The Music Scene + "Most Dangerous"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Well, tons and tons of great shots this morning. Wow! I loved all the action in those picks (especially the guy laying on his side), and the colors are great, too. Good pics of Sarah and Steve. You certainly have developed a style, I must say. Most photographers stay in one place, up at the stage or barrier, but by moving around, you capture the whole venue. As I said early on, it is really cool to capture a city's music scene, as the punk rock photogs did here in L.A. in the 70s. Therefore : keep shooting!  :)

We are Still Sweltering here, enduring a spell of ultra-humid Monsoon weather, even though we don't get monsoons here, the humidity blows in off the ocean. Bring on the Dry Heat of July and August!

If you go out to the desert where the air is thin, it's mega-hot but in a good way cause it's super-dry with no moisture, like being in a pizza oven....

No movie tonight, but I am starting two new books : "The Third Way" by Dr. Farrell, an investigation into how the post-war Nazi influence has survived to this day, and has used terror and financial fraud to destabilise both Russia and America. It's a complex subject, but when you know the background - that Germany surrendered in WW2 but the Nazis did not - and that key members escaped to South America with huge sums of money, and that the US imported thousands of former Nazi spies to help the burgeoning CIA, and Nazi scientists to help with our technology.....well, you see where we are heading. Those men of that era are long dead, but their successors and their philosophy survives.

I am also beginning a book called "Most Dangerous" by a pseudonymous author named Sherwood Kent. Kent is really S.K. Bain, who wrote "The Most Dangerous Book In The World", a frightening compilation of all the evidence that 9/11 was more than just an extreme terror operation, and that it was an occult "performance ritual" by some very, very powerful people who believe in such evil things. It involves a lot of Masonic philosophy, numerology, Satan worship, and on the surface you would think it's a joke.

But it's not.

At any rate, "Most Dangerous", the follow up book, is the story of what happened to Mr. Bain and his family after he wrote "The Most Dangerous Book In The World", and it's pretty frightening.

I will comment more as I go through the book.

Tomorrow afternoon begins my week off. Relaxation will ensue.

And hikes and movies.

See you in the morning, SB. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Super Humid + Great Photo + Super Steep + "Brooklyn"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

It is a sweltering night here in Reseda, still super humid as I write. The humidity made the mid-90s temperature seem well over 100, and so - being the Nutty Person that I am - I went up to O' Melveny Park for a One Hour Hike at 3pm. I mean, I'm not just doing it to be nutty, or even for that reason at all. I do it to keep in shape, and the thing about hiking as opposed to walking is that you can't do it at night, cause a Mountain Lion could eat you, or you could fall off a cliff.

So you've gotta hike during the day, and anyway I do indeed like hot weather (though I could do without the humidity).

Today's hike was something different; I went up a trail I had not really explored before, except for just a cursory 100 yards or so a couple years ago. It's called the "Grotto" trail and I'd forgotten about it. It's off to the side of the park and easily unnoticed, but today I wanted to try something different and keep my "uphill" legs in shape, so I went all the way in this time and came to a super steep hill, one of the steepest trails I've been on. At first I thought "no way", but when you start up a steep trail it and you are actually on it, it's not as bad as it looks from the starting point. But it ultimately proved to be too steep near the top, because the dirt on the trial became granulated like powdered sugar. Going up, that isn't a problem, but going down definitely is, because chances are with that kind of dirt, you are gonna start to slide. And then you might wind up on your butt, so I said "that's far enough". I will try again maybe after a rainy season (if we ever get one) when the dirt has become compacted once again. It was cool to try a new trail, though.

Having not watched a movie for a couple weeks, I was due for one, so tonight's was called "Brooklyn", which came out last year and starred Saiorse Ronan as a young Irish woman who emigrates to New York in the early 1950s. It has a great period look, and though the subject matter is not typical, it is pulled off very well, due in large part to the lead actress Ronan, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role. A surprisingly good film, based around a love story and themes of homesickness and family loyalty, with lots of great Irish character parts. They ought to make more movies like this.

I hope your day was good. Your "swag" photo was great, capturing the action of the guitarist and with perfect positioning of his glasses between the lights. Great color, too.  :)

I only saw one post, of the gal from White Empress, her side project. So maybe another new client?

Quite good, I think. You seem to be working steadily.......  :)

That's all I know for tonight. See you in the morn, post if you can.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Ticket To Ride at Warner Park w/ Bob Eubanks + Wanna Sing All The Time

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope your day was a good one. I am guessing you did not wind up going to High Noon Saloon for KX, cause I saw your posts this eve for other bands, perhaps ones you are or will soon be working with. I just figured you might've gone to the KX show because two of your bands were on the bill, but anyway, whatever you wound up doing I hope you had a blast.  :)

We had good singing in church this morn, and we got some nice compliments once again. Someone said we sounded like a much bigger choir than we are, with only ten members present today, so that was nice to hear. As I said before, I kind of like it when we are just a small "singing group", because you can hear the individual voices (and also because I get a chance to belt it out.....)  :)

I'm currently influenced by Ronnie Romero........   :)

And also Andy and Jennifer Ann, the Opera Couple.  :)

This evening, I went to Warner Park in Woodland Hills (about 8 miles from the Northridge/Reseda area) to see Ticket To Ride. They are of course the Beatles Tribute Band I've seen many times, and mentioned many times, and they play Warner Park every Summer. There was a big crowd, perhaps 5000 people, though I've seen even bigger crowds in the past for these guys. Tonight there was a special guest : Bob Eubanks, who is a local legend in Los Angeles because it was he who promoted the very first Beatles concert here, at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964. He wound up being the promoter of other L.A. Beatles shows, too, including the 1966 show at Dodger Stadium that my sisters went to (the time I got to ride along in the car to take them there).

Eubanks was also on TV when I was a kid, hosting a daytime show called The Newlywed Game, which was fun and even a little risque for those days. Most recently, he co-hosted the Rose Parade with a lady named Stephanie Edwards, and they held down that gig for about the last 25 years or so (maybe more).

He was also a disc jockey at a famous radio station called KRLA, and that was how he came to be The Beatles' promoter. So it was kind of cool to have him at the show tonight, and the timing is good because I am still reading the John Lennon book by Phillip Norman.

I'm almost always doing something involving Beatles.  :)

That's all for tonight. I trust all projects are coming along well. You've been getting some killer shots lately!

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

Opera At The Library Again

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Not much to report today, although I did go see the Opera Couple again, Andy and Jennifer Ann, whom I mentioned a few weeks ago. This time they were singing at the Mid-Valley Library, which is about 3 miles down the road from the Northridge Libe. My sister did not accompany me this time as she was babysitting, but she was the one who tipped me off to it. It began at 11am this time - pretty early because I often sleep in do to work issues as you know - but I woke up, had some coffee and headed over. The "set list" (do opera singers have such a thing?) was the same as it was at Northridge Libe : half traditional opera and half Broadway tunes, which I am discovering I like, lol. Rogers & Hammerstein and stuff like that, Gian Carlo Menotti. Even a beautiful song from "Phantom Of The Opera" called "All I Ask Of You".

Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to admit I like songs like that, but hey! : Straight guys can like them too. Music is music, I'm a sucker for romantic themes, and if it's good it's good.

I may have gotten into musicals as a result of going to see my sister Vickie, who was a teenage actress, perform in Junior High & High School productions of "The Mikado" & "HMS Pinafore" and a play about Pocohantas, the title of which I don't remember. I would have been a little kid then, and music was music, good or bad, and I always knew what I liked.

This afternoon I went up to Aliso for a full-length walk. Pretty hot out, but not roasting.

I only saw one post by you, the one about the horses, so maybe you were doing a shoot with Cory again, or something along those lines?

Tomorrow morning, church and choir of course. Our song will be an easy one to sing, "Thou Shalt Love" (can't remember the composer) which is about the First Commandment.

There are only Two, both mentioned in the song, and it must be said that both Commandments are pretty awesome, because in both, we are being commanded to love.

After Tuesday I will have a week off, including 4th of July.

See you in the morning and then after choir practice at 1pm.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Walker & Wisconsin Hikes + Thoughts On Human Reality That Are Hopefully Not Gibberish

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice day and that your weekend is off to a good start. I went for a Hot Hike (HHs are classified as less than 100 degrees) out at Walker Ranch, which as I've probably mentioned a bunch of times is located at the far end of Placerita Canyon. It's a two mile trail, and you can either park at Placerita and walk to Walker, or vice-versa. I went to Walker, but because it was a One Hour Hike, I didn't go all the way to Placerita but instead went shorter distances on all three of the Walker trails, one of which goes very high up. I didn't take any pix; the famous Walker Shadows (depicted in 2014 photos) seem to emerge better in late Summer and early Fall. But I had a nice time anyway.

I saw your post of Sarah's picture, and I see that she likes hiking also (although a 6am hike is beyond my capabilities, lol). The picture she posted almost looks like Ireland, because everything is green and there is a hill in the background that looks like it could be an ancient burial mound. I know they also have them here in America, most famously I think in Ohio, so maybe you have them in Wisconsin as well. Or maybe it's merely a hill. I know your landscape has rolling hills..... :)

I also liked the post from the guy in Starset, except he lost me when he began to talk about human existence as possibly a reality only existing within someone else's (perhaps alien) technology, or that in the physical reality of sub-atomic particles, everything is subjective and anything is possible.

The reason he lost me, is because of feeling and intuition. It's everything that Oswald Spengler talked about in "Decline Of The West", most importantly the "glimpses" into The True Nature Of Things, the way things really are, that we used to talk about back in 2012, 2013 or so.

Technology is really pretty feeble when you think about it (though still beneficial to an extent), but what I mean is that they will never - repeat never - create an AI that has human capacity.

Humans have a stream-of-consciousness running through their minds at all times, no matter what they are doing, even the most mundane tasks, their brains are running full speed and creating a train-of-thought in their heads. It never stops running, even when they sleep, hence our dreams.

That stream, the voice of the mind, is a connection to Spirit, or to Soul, or to the entire pool of human consciousness - I of course don't know, nor do I presume to.

And at the same time, the Human Heart is running a stream of emotion, which is not as convoluted (hopefully) as the Mental Stream, but it still runs regardless of what we are doing.

In short, no matter how technologically developed we become - in 50 years or 5 Million - we cannot hope to comprehend what Creation is, and how it comes about, or what Thinking is, as it relates to Being.

We can't comprehend something that created Man, and yet was, as is, uncreated itself.

That's where religion comes in, or if you prefer, theology, which is merely the pondering of God.

Once you take away all the human judgement and fallibility from various religious organisations, and place the pondering of God back into the individual mind, and heart, you cannot help but come to the conclusion that we did not create ourselves, nor did we come about through evolution. That is a ridiculous idea, that the Human Mind and Heart, and the Glimpses Into The Spirit, came about from a random selection process.

When you get away from a focus on technology, which in human hands is, and always will be, limited (no matter the spectacular things we do), and when you get away from the off-putting aspects of some versions of organised religion, then you can get back to - and get really deep into - your own magical thought processes and emotional workings that form a trail toward The Unknown.

God, or whatever you want to call it if you are secular, is Unknowable in the human state we are in. WE can only get Glimpses. Our reality is related to our five (or six!) senses, and has nothing to do with the world of subatomic particles and quantum physics.

Quantum Reality, and the Matrix and all the AI stuff relates only to the physical world, and even the most advanced Artificial Intelligence Robot will ever only have a Physical Existence.

Human Beings exist primarily in the Soul, then coming forth, becoming mobile in the Spirit World, and finally becoming projected into Human Form, being born as babies into this world, on Earth as the currently chosen planet.

It's all so far beyond the comprehension of the human mind as to why this has happened (hence the ultimate question of "why"), and so - secular or religious - all we can do is wonder, in the best sense of that word, and have faith.

I myself believe that Humans, in Spirit Form, pre-exist the creation of The Universe.

That's how complex, and original we are.

(hopefully this won't read as a lot of gibberish, lol....)

See you in the morn, SB.

I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Excellent Photos + More Lists (yeah, I know....)

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Those were some great shots you posted this morning! Wow. It looks like you were all around the theater, capturing the action from every angle. I love it, and I am sure the bands will too. I see also that you have another new connection, with the producer of the event (Frank Productions). That is great! I just think the whole thing is great, all of the jobs you've been getting, shows you're shooting, new clients. Big time congrats, and again - those were some excellent shots today.  :)

I see that you posted something new as well, via a friend, about what looks like a concert in Appleton at Jones Park. So maybe you were there, too. You are all over the joint, SB. You've got it covered.  :)

Well, it's gonna be a great Summer. Also, that is a nice theater where Stitched Up Heart played. It looks like a restored Classic Movie House like we have here, and I am guessing that's exactly what it is.

Today, a Typical Thursday with a trip to the hair salon for Pearl, so no hikes and nothing to report....

....Which means more lists.

Favorite Athletes:

Baseball : Pete Rose
Basketball : Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Football : Kurt Warner

Best Pizza : Angela's (next to Thrifty at Nordhoff/Reseda in Northridge, sadly no longer in existence)
Second Best Pizza : Morigi's (just a block down from Angela's, and also gone)

Best Mexican Food : El Indio (at Roscoe & Balboa, probably mentioned them before)

First Five Concerts Ever Seen :

1) California Jam (April '74 Ontario Motor Speedway)
2) Electric Light Orchestra (May '74 Santa Monica Civic)
3) Rick Wakeman (September '74 Hollywood Bowl)
4) Camel (November '74 Whisky A Go-Go)
5) Roxy Music (March '75 Santa Monica Civic)

That's all for tonight, SB. I will see you in the morn. Tomorrow I will try for a hike.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Oh Deer + Good Pic + Ahem! (Bieber) + Horror Books

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope you had a nice day and that all projects are coming along well. I was glad to see that you got to shoot a show last weekend, Stitched Up Heart, and I guess that's what you meant by your post yesterday of Jenni holding the CD cover. I liked your photo (and you know I always love lens flares & effects!), and it is super cool that you keep adding more and more bands to your portfolio/clentele.

My day was good, especially because I saw those deer at O'Melveney Park. I had gone on one of my special Hour Long Hikes at 3pm, which I do a lot these days because work is more involved. Anyway, I went higher yet on the O'Melveney Trail, and when I came back down, and got back into the park itself, that was my reward. I was just walking along, heading back to the car and all of a sudden There They Were. Four of 'em, two Bigs, two Smalls. I posted another photo on Flickr. Anyway, what surprised me was how unafraid they were. I did not go stampeding toward them of course, and I stopped in my tracks as soon as I saw them. But then, wanting to get a closer shot, I took a few quiet steps forward every few seconds, and they saw me and didn't budge. They just kept eating and drinking from a trough the park keeps handy. They were on the wide main lawn of the park, which must be at least 15-20 acres. At any rate, they did that Deer Thing, where they turn their heads and stare at you, and the fawns seemed to be the most curious, so I continued to creep up......and I got within about 20 feet.....and zoomed in and got my pic.

Bambi trotted off after that, but not far, and the whole family stuck around and kept eating.

It's not the first time I've seen deer at O'Melveney, and if you look in my 2014 photo album on FB, you'll see the first time. I've also seen one at Whitney Canyon in Newhall, which is also on FB, probably in 2014. Anyway - it's great, cause I saw Bunnies at Aliso on Monday, and then the Deer today. :)

I am lucky (and probably shouldn't jinx myself by mentioning it) but I've only ever seen the Cute Creatures on my hikes, the rabbits, deer, and even baby geese, etc. And I've never once seen a rattlesnake or (thank God) a Mountain Lion. Both are indigenous to our area, but don't seem to come near the trails much, nor do I want' em to......

Still hot here, but only mid-90s today, and much cooler tonight. Steven Wilson just announced a Fall tour and tix go on sale Friday for a November show at one of the Downtown L.A. Theaters (The Belasco, which I have never been to), so I am stoked......

Now listen here, SB : I know you were tryin' to get me with that Bieber video. And you did get me, but I will be ready next time (um, at least I think I will)....

You won't believe this, and neither will I, but when Bieber first came out (when was it? back in 2009 or so?), I thought the guy was awesome. Not because he actually was awesome, mind you, but because I just thought : "how can anybody come out and be like that"? I mean, Donnie Osmond he wasn't. 

Ahh, if he'd only just quit back then, or remained just a face in a promotional photo. But no, he had to come to life. And now I am tormented.... :)

A quick list. Horror Novels! I dunno if I can think of ten right off the top of my head, cause it's not fair to do all Stephen King books (just like it's not fair to list all Beatle songs on a list of greatest songs), so I'll limit it to one book per author and see how many I can come up with:

1) "It" by Stephen King. I am re-reading it now, and it holds up as The Greatest Horror Novel Ever Written

The rest are in no particular order:

2) "Boy's Life" by Robert McCammon.

3) "City Infernal" by Edward Lee

4) "The Count Of Eleven" by Ramsey Campbell

5) "The Great And Secret Show" by Clive Barker

both Barker and Campbell are from Liverpool, just like The Beatles....

6) "The Lost" by Jack Ketchum

7) "The Curse" by Charles L. Grant

and that's all I can come up with at the moment. But, not too shabby, eh?

See you in the morning, Sweet Baby.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Lists (yeah, boring I know, but what can you do....)

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I know you are probably still working on your videos, and I have nothing to report except that it was slightly cooler today (though still sweltering at night). But I wanna write anyway, so I'll do some lists......

Let's see, Top Ten Beatles Songs, just to make it official :

1) Penny Lane 2) Ticket To Ride 3) Help 4) Hard Day's Night 5) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
6) Strawberry Fields 7) I Saw Her Standing There 8) All My Loving 9) Hello Goodbye
10) Please Please Me.

So there you have it : 5 Johns, 5 Pauls. (what, no George songs?!) Well, it is true that George wrote some of the greatest songs ever written, Beatle or otherwise. "Something", "Here Comes The Sun". But we are talking "favorites", not greatest, and the above are my favorite ten Beatles songs, after much consideration.

Favorite pianists. There's a new one! Having discovered Sofronitsky in the past couple years, I think he is the greatest of them all, and possibly the greatest musician I've ever heard, because he is so transcendent. When you listen to him, it's like he's playing to God, and you just happen to be in the audience too. There's only two other guys like that, Dinu Lipatti and Wilhelm Kempff, so those three are my Holy Trinity of Piano:

1) Vladimir Sofronitsky 2) Dinu Lipatti 3) Wilhelm Kempff 4) Glenn Gould 5) Alfred Cortot . I like many others, of course, like Byron Janis, Alicia DeLarrocha, Arturo Benedetti Michaelangeli, Martha Argerich, Mitsuko Uchida, Maria Joao Pires, Clara Haskill, Maurizio Pollini.......

But the first five guys are the most musically transcendent. Some players that are highly regarded, like Horowitz or Richter, do nothing for me. Nor do many of the Supreme Technical players of today, like Yuja Wang or Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Today's players are technically perfect but lack the soul of the earlier pianists.

I listen to a lot of classical piano music, but only select stuff. Just like with Metal : I am not a "Metal Fan", per se, but rather a big fan of a few select Metal bands, like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I'm never a genre fan, but a fan of specific artists.

Vocalists : 1) Greg Lake. Yep. I know that today's audiences aren't familiar with ELP, and even if they were, they might not be fans, but I can remember the first time I heard Lake belt out "Jerusalem" in that huge choirboy tenor of his, and it gave me goosebumps. Still does. If I could pick one singer that I wished I could sound like, it's him. 2) Doug Pinnick. The first six King's X albums are the evidence, a run of greatness as great as any band ever, including The Beatles. 3) Rob Halford ('nuff said). 4) Peter Hammill (Of Van Der Graaf Generator), possibly an acquired taste, but the original English Shakepearean Vocalist. Johnny Rotten was a fan, and said that even Bowie ripped Hammill off. 5) David Gilmour. When you add it all up, the vocals, guitar and songwriting, he just might be the greatest rock musician of them all. 6) Alice Cooper. Nobody sings with as much originality and ferocity, and he's still doing it, closing in on 70. 7) John, Paul & George. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Beatles. They probably should be higher on the list, but it's hard to pick just one. If I've gotta pick, it's Paul. 8) Russell Mael of Sparks. Maybe the most unique singer on my list, and one of the most technically accomplished. He sings mostly in high tenor and falsetto, and hasn't missed a freaking note in over 40 years of touring. An incredible singer. 9) Eric Johnson, another triple threat (guitar, vox, songwriting), only you might not expect EJ to make a list of great vocalists because his voice is thinner than any of the above mentioned singers, and he is in no way a "lead singer" in any sense of the word. But his vocals so match the music he writes and plays, and are an integral part of the magic that results. I can't imagine anyone else singing his songs, and I don't like it when he uses guest vocalists.

For #10, I'll have to do some considering, just like I did with the tenth Beatles song. There are so many to consider......

Well, that's all for tonight SB. I could do lists all day, cause I love to quantify and qualify stuff, even though it is ridiculous to do so! But I could do it all day...

For now, however, I won't. See you in the morning instead.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Scorcher + Bunnies

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

The story here today was the heat. Good Lordy Moses was it hot. I of course like it, so that's not a complaint, but when it gets up past 110 (or even over 100, really), you do indeed notice the difference. Today was undoubtedly the hottest day of the year, and if it gets any hotter we'll be breaking records.

Naturally I wanted to go on a hike, but the air conditioning wasn't working well at Pearl's, and so I thought I'd better go get a fan to help circulate the air. I went to Target and got a big box-type fan, it's humming along as I write, and the white noise seems to have a calming effect on Pearl & Kobe, too. They are both asleep at the moment.

As any denizen of the Valley can tell you, it's not so much the hot days as the hot nights. The houses soak up all that heat energy during the day and then act like a radiator all night long, so if the AC isn't working it's often more uncomfortable in the house at night than during the day. Hot and humid.

I did go on a walk at Aliso Canyon this evening from 7 to 8pm. That's when the Bunnies come out, and the place is full of them, darting this way and that. One stood still long enough for me to get a picture, my first Bunny Photo of the year, which I posted on FB.

I saw a post by you, via your friend and colleague Katie. It was the second one she has posted from Los Angeles. She gets around a lot, it seems. Have you guys finished up your Arizona project yet?

Well, anyhow, that's all the news for today. It's supposed to "cool down" perhaps 20 degrees tomorrow, into the mid-90s. Ahhh, a nice mild day.

See you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

48 Hours A Day + Hot Start To Summer + the "rrrr" (and "er") sound + C'mon Ritchie, do a tour

Happy Late Sunday Night, my Darling,

I am guessing you are in post-production mode once again from the Versus Me shoot yesterday, which means you may be working on two videos at once. If so, I will further guess that you are now staying up 48 hours a day instead of the usual 24, until you complete the editing process.  :)

From the VM posts, and one of your own, it looks like you guys had a good time and a successful shoot, so congratulations!

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer, and here in L.A. and especially in the Valley, it looks like the Sun got the memo, as it timed perfectly a heat wave that is gonna start the season off with a bang, or a meltdown. It was over 100 today, and they are calling for 110 tomorrow. It comes all of a sudden. You can have overcast days, even misty days as we had a little over a week ago when I went to O'Melveney. It can be low 80s, and then Whammo! : overnight you can get up over 100. It doesn't usually happen in June, but it can, and when it does it usually signals a Long Hot Summer.

For me, that calls for Three Cheers, of course. Grimsley said the perfect day for me tomorrow will be to climb to the top of Mission Point during the hottest part of the day, and he's more than half right, haha. I can't guarantee I'll be climbing The Point, but I'll certainly be on a hike somewhere (and well hydrated and sun protected of course, so no worries). I don't know what it is about the heat, but for some reason it works for me.......

Here's to a Happy Summer!

Not much else to mention, 'cept for good singing in church this morn. "Shall We Gather At The River", a famous one we have sung before, and which our director insists we pronounce as "Riv-ah" in the lyric, otherwise he says it comes out as a harsh "rrrrr" sound if we sing it as "Riv-ER".

I just do what I'm told, though I've always wondered why JFK, from Massachussetts, pronounced Cuba as "Cube-er". You have a background in linguistics; maybe you can tell me.  :)

Speaking of singing - and playing - the second Rainbow show was much better than the first, and all is forgiven for the rhythm section, much maligned after the first gig. This time, they played with high energy, and maybe they read some of the comments, or maybe because it was the first-ever show with this lineup, and the first Rainbow show in 20 years, to account for first night jitters. But on the second night it was a different story, and now we are getting somewhere. I really hope RB will keep doing Rainbow, at least for one tour and maybe an album with this new singer Ronnie Romero, who is really fantastic.

Man, I used to see Ritchie play almost every year from 1974 to 1987, a few times with Deep Purple but mostly with Rainbow. Then he just stopped touring nationally, for the most part. The last version of Rainbow played here in 1997, but I missed it for various reasons (tough time in my life). Then it took 8 years for him to come back here with Blackmore's Night in 2005, and I was in the front row for both of those shows. But basically, he has only been to Los Angeles twice since 1987, and I have only seen him on the 2005 tour, so after seeing him every year for a thirteen year period in the 70s and 80s, now I have seen him just on one tour in 29 years.

My goodness. And now he's 71 all of a sudden. But he's still doing it, so.......maybe he'll tour, one more time.

"1974"......."1987"......13 years........2005.......2016.......29 years.........71 years old.....

Man, this Time Thing is Really Weird, SB. It goes Really Slow for a long time, and then when you get to be about 40 it starts to speed up, but then it stretches out like an elastic band.....and then it snaps back, and then it stretches again, until all the back-and forth years seem to become simultaneous in a way.

That's all I know for tonight. Yeah, I know LeBron won the championship, but I didn't mention it because I am determined not to let it ruin my Summer, which is off to such a Hot Start.

And anyway, "yeah, sports...I know". It's just sports.

See you in the morn.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Big Production + Limekiln + SBism

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Wow, that is some big production you guys are working on with Versus Me. I guess it shot tonight? That's means you are most likely editing at this very moment!  :) Actually, I don't know exactly what your role is this time, because you were listed as a "co-producer", but I do know that if there's editing to be done, and if you are the one doing it, that you are Doing It Until It Is Done, haha.

Which also means it will be Well Done, of course.

So now you have two projects going at once, and good things are happening. I'm still not clear on the 360 video shoot, whether it's a format or the name of a sponsor or company, but maybe Versus Me is getting some backing? That would be awesome for you as well.  :)

But I'd say that you are on your way no matter what. There's no turning back now.

Today was a hot one here in the Valley, not roasting hot but about 90 or so, hopefully a harbinger of hotter days to come as Summer will soon be upon us. I went for a medium sized hike at Limekiln Canyon this time, just two miles round trip, but a good one. The main attraction at Limekiln is the creek, always kind of ghostly looking. One of the books I am currently reading is Stephen King's "IT" (which I first read in 1986), and in it, there is a place called The Barrens, a woodsy canyon adjacent to town where the schoolkids play, and where other stuff happens. Limekiln kinda reminds me of The Barrens, not so much in the horrific way as in the book, but just in the way it looks. They are only a couple miles apart, but if Aliso Canyon emits a "Lord Of The Rings" magical vibe, then Limekiln is more "Blair Witch".........

"whitch" is perfectly cool with me, naturally.  :)

Your post via your friend Cory could well be an example of Sweet Babyism, and if so, it is the ultimate one yet, at least in the footage I saw in that video. That is some newborn Sweet Babyism right there.  :):)

Well, tomorrow morning is church and a return to singing. Our director will be back from vacation.

So, I will see you in the early morn around 8:30 and then again after choir practice at about 1pm.

Looking forward to seeing your new videos!

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

One Woman Video Gang + The Return Of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I was glad to see your pic of the crew & musicians from last weekend's video shoot. You have no doubt been working hard on post-production, and I will look forward as always to seeing the results! You are a "one woman gang" when it comes to video production, my goodness.......   :)

I was Googling this afternoon for reviews or clips of the Rainbow show at Monsters Of Rock. For a long time nothing was coming in. I figured that, the concert being 8 or 9 hours ahead in Germany, that Ritchie & Company must have gone onstage about Noon or 1pm California time. By 3pm I went on my usual Friday Santa Su hike, and then did more Googling back at Pearl's. Later this eve, about 7pm, the first clips were posted.

My first reaction was that the new singer was pretty incredible, vocally almost a replica of Ronnie James Dio, but I thought the band was lacking in energy. The pacing seemed slow on some of the clips, but that could be expected with Ritchie being 71. It wasn't the pacing so much as the energy of the rhythm section. But then I considered that I was watching and hearing clips that were recorded on a cell phone. Later on, a different guy posted a full song, "Mistreated" (by Deep Purple, Ritchie played both Rainbow & DP material at the show), and that entire song sounded pretty good and fairly powerful. So you never know. Overall, I'd rate what I saw - all clips total - as about a 7. You probably can't expect a "10" from Ritchie at 71. David Gilmour did indeed deliver a 10 (or even an 11!) back in March, but then he is playing laid back music with about seven or eight backing musicians. Ritchie is playing hard rock. If you'd have seen Rainbow in the 80s, as I said before, they played fast enough and tight enough to make your head spin. Well, it was only the first gig of four, and it was overall fair-to-middling and certainly not terrible, and even pretty good in places. All of this being based on crummy cell phone video, too. If you were shooting it, the band would have looked and sounded incredible, and I'm sure they will work out some of the first night bugs and kick it up a notch at tomorrow night's show. You are gonna be shooting that one, aren't you?   ;)

Bottom Line : God Bless Ritchie Blackmore, and Rainbow and all the music and live shows they have brought us down through the centuries (literally, haha). Down through the Millennia, even! In a year when we have lost so many musicians and artists, to have Sir Richard still out there doing it, 55 years after he began!, is certainly a God Blessed thing. I just wish he would play Los Angeles again. I've only seen him once in 29 years......(c'mon, RB).

No movie tonight, I have instead been watching the last few nights episodes of an Australian mini-series called "Anzac Girls" that I found at the Libe. It is the story of nurses from the Australia New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) and the work they did in World War One at a battlefield called Gallipoli, which is infamous in Australian history. The Aussies have never gotten enough credit for their roles in both World Wars. The mini-series is quite good, even a little bit of a chick-flick as it focuses on the women, but's that's fine as I like chick-flicks.........there is always romance in 'em.

That's all for tonight, Sweet Baby. I will see you in the morn.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Solving Problems In America

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Sorry I didn't write for the last couple days. I didn't see you on FB, you might've been busy with your video, but my days on Tuesday and Wednesday were just regular, standard-issue work days, and so I had nothing to report. It's always easier to write if I have something to respond to.

Anyhow, I did see two of your posts today. One was via your cousin (I think he's your cousin), who is very articulate and really summed up a lot of feelings about the gun issue and the current state of America. He sounds like a smart guy. Is he in politics or entertainment? I ask because he mentioned both meeting Madonna and also having dinner at the White House. His post was right on the money, though. My own views on guns are well known by you - I hate 'em - and I have also tried analyse my own hypocracy on the issue (hypocracy being a technical term here rather than a pejorative one), and I have always come to the conclusion that, while I personally detest all guns, I cannot condemn all gun owners. Even eating a can of tuna makes one a killer of a living creature, and then one can get into the realm of the possibly ridiculous when mentioning vegans as killers of plants and such.

"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone", of course. And that is not me.

I do not condemn all gun owners, and yet, I wish we lived in a country that forbid citizens to own guns, or at least to own them without a battery of restrictions, and even then I would have all kinds of restrictions on the manufacture and shipping of guns.

What is more worrisome, to me, is why do people want to own guns?

Fear, I suppose. And again, it would be wrong of me to condemn anyone for that.

But I've had all kinds of stuff happen to me, and I still do not have the fear in me that would prompt me to buy a gun.

I was gonna ask my buddies over at the KX board - many of whom are in favor of guns - "what do you think Einstein or Steven Hawking would say about guns"? Would they be in favor of, or against?

I think they would have too much other stuff to think about.

And that, to me, is the real problem. Why do people dwell on guns? Why this particular issue?

Even though I don't want one, I can understand a person wanting one for protection in the home. But the anti-government gun nuts - and these are the ones who want assault rifles - think that having one of those would protect them from "The Government", who have F-22s and tanks. So it's all a joke.

Ignorant people, or to be more accurate, people of lower IQ, used to be more humble. And it goes without saying that all people, blessed with intelligence or not, should be humble and grateful for all things in life, but it is also true that in recent decades, the Lowbrow Crowd has become increasingly arrogant, and vehement about issues like gun control. And instead of trying to bring the lowbrows up a notch, as popular culture once did with intelligent programming and polite, non agressive advertising, instead now we promote and celebrate lowbrow culture, as if to say "It's good to be stupid. It's good to be macho. It's okay to be angry, to see women as subservient sex symbols. Hooray for you! Screw intelligence".

In the case of this latest massacre, there is probably little doubt that the gunman was closeted gay himself, and angry about it. And his religion forbid him expression of it.

But what really put him over the top was a Lowbrow, Macho Fantasy of Power, made accessible by easy access to guns. Macho Fantasy is rampant now, and you see it in the constant tailgating on the roads. Where I live, the norm is to have some guy in a hopped up car driving literally less than 10 feet from your bumper, at 45 miles an hour. And this is everywhere you go.

When I was a teenager, or in my twenties, the friends I knew, and myself, didn't have time to think about squealing our tires, or being angry at gay people, or any of that stuff.

We were too busy thinking about music, and movies, and in my case books, and just all kinds of stuff. I didn't know anyone who was "Macho" or "Angry". Astronauts were popular heroes to kids back then. Intelligence was promoted, or fun.

You never heard about guns when I was a kid, not as an "issue". Of course there was crime, and criminals did indeed have guns (as the NRA likes to say), but there was virtually no such thing as whack jobs shooting up rooms full of people.

Anyhow, I am rambling on. America used to be about, among other things, solving problems.

We beat Hitler and the freaking Nazis, for crying out loud. That basically equates to defeating The Devil.

And you mean to tell me we can't solve this mass shooting problem right here in our own country?

What a bunch of BS. The truth is that nobody, so far, has the spine to solve it.

I could solve it, if I were President. And I would solve it. So would've the generations of leaders that came before. FDR would've solved it for sure.

Do you think this would have been permitted to continue in earlier decades? Certainly not.

But then, we weren't dealing with an influx of idiots, and the aggressive promotion, eager acceptance of, and even celebration of Idiot Culture. 

The thing is, to get real about all of this, is that is being allowed to happen on purpose, just like 9/11. Or worse. This guy in Orlando was on a terrorist watch list. So go figure.

But anyway, enough of that. I get carried away, because inside I know I have both the intelligence and force of personality to solve problems, and I hate to see these horrors continue.

My Dad said, "Everyone is NOT entitled to their own opinion", and he was right. Some people just plain need to be shut down.

Well, SB, that is the "military school" side of me, also inspired by my Dad. Discipline is good. Intelligence is good. Leadership is good. Solutions are good.

That's all for tonight. Next blog will be about regular stuff.

I love you.  xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Editing Mode + The Return Of Rainbow + "The Honeymoon Killers"

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Today I saw a bunch of your posts, all related to music, so perhaps that means there are a lot of potential projects in the works? I think, for the most part, that things have really gone well so far this year. What has it been, about 18 months since you graduated college and finished your semester at art school in Italy? It seems longer than 18 months, simply because so much has happened for you, workwise, since your graduation.

I trust that your latest video (from yesterday) is coming along well, and I am guessing that you may be in 24 hour editing mode. :)

I am excited because there are only four more days until the Monsters Of Rock festival in Germany, and that means the return of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow for their first show in almost 20 years. I shouldn't use the word "their" I suppose, because Sir Richard changes musicians with regularity over the years, and this new incarnation is "all new", with a new singer most importantly. But what's exciting is that Ritchie - at age 71! - will be playing hard rock again for the first time since 1997. It will be cool to see him pull it off, and I have no doubt that he & the band will. The Rainbow shows in the early 80s, when RB was in his late 30s, were some of the fastest, hardest rock shows ever. Man did they play fast, and with incredible energy, and Ritchie was always the leader and driving force, an amazing live musician. I will be looking for Youtube clips as soon as someone puts them up on Friday; can't wait to see how it turns out.  :)

Tonight's movie was once again from Criterion (via The Libe), another low budget but artistic feature in a vein similar to that of "Blast Of Silence", the mafia flick I wrote about the other night. This one was called "The Honeymoon Killers", a true story of a nurse and her flim-flam boyfriend who posed as brother and sister as he answered "lonely hearts" advertisments and briefly married women with money, before bilking them of it, and then killing some of them, with the help of his domineering "sister". The film, like "Blast Of Silence" was once again shot in New York by novice but talented filmmakers, and once again is in black and white. Both films have a Scorsese feel, but "Honeymoon Killers" has a documentary look, as if you are watching real life. In that way the violence is more realistic, and therefore more off-putting, but overall it is a very effective (though strong) film, and very well acted by the leads, the ever reliable Tony LoBianco (of many New York films) and a stage actress named Shirley Stoler who is downright scary in the lead female role.

Well, that was it for today. I did an Aliso Canyon walk, full length, which is becoming a Monday ritual.

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

God Bless America + Thoughts On Life + Moon + Hike

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope the day's news did not ruin your video shoot. I mean, I know that at this point, with these events, we are all kind of numb, and none of us have the words any more to express how outraged we are. One of these things happen, and we are now expected to just get on with it, or maybe our defense mechanisms kick in and lead us that way, and we now go about our business as if it's a regular day (but not quite).

I guess what I'm saying is that we are tired of being outraged, and we already know that nothing is going to be done to prevent future occurrences. So what we do instead is just live our lives. And I think it's all we can do, which is why I hope your video shoot went along as planned, and that you had fun despite the news.

My sister called me, very upset, and I gave her the same speech : "If they didn't do anything to stop this after the Sandyhook event, when little kids got killed, then they aren't gonna do anything this time". I am not a cynical person, and I do believe that we are living in a phase, rather than a permanent reality, but sometimes phases can last a while. I explained to my sister that during World War Two, 60 million people died in a six year period as a result of the war. That's ten million people per year, for six years, or more than 25,000 every single day. Think about that number - every day  on average for six years.

And there were two World Wars in a 30 year period. It's a wonder my parents' generation made it through.

And yet they did, and the human race went to the Moon in 1969. So that is the other end of the spectrum, and it's important to look at that as well.

The gun problem might not be able to be solved entirely, not in the short term, but surely something could be done about it. But it's like going to the Moon : you've gotta want to get there. And so far, this country - as a whole - does not seem to have the will to get to that point, of serious gun control. //

At any rate, I shall say no more tonight on the subject. I will guess that your video shoot went well, and that makes me happy. I also liked your post with the pics from Camp Douglas. "A beautiful day for a hike" was the caption, and it looks like a great place for a hike. I am curious about the stone structures in the middle of the pic. That is the kind of relic I would love to explore. :) Maybe you have been there yourself?

I think it's almost always a Beautiful Day For A Hike, so let's go on one.  :):)

Today, no singing in church, as previously mentioned. It was a short service, with no choir practice either, so I will be glad to get back to singing next week. One of my favorite things, as you know.....   :)

Things are gonna get better in The World, despite the manipulative news, despite the gadgets and the agitated people. Most people, in any country of any race or religion, just wanna live in peace. That has always been the case, even in times of World War.

And in the future, the only thing that's gonna explode is love and creativity.

See you in the morn, SB.

 I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Plant A Seed + O'Melveney + "Blast Of Silence" + Muscle Beach

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

That is awesome news about your video shoot tomorrow! I love your description of the setting and I'll be interested to see what a "post apocalyptic grandma's house" looks like (although I can kinda picture it a little bit I think).  :) I guess you are working with Fall II Rise again? Well, congratulations as always. More work begets more work, and the jobs are gonna continue to come your way. It's that "plant a seed" factor that we talked about when you were still in college : tell yourself in advance and focus mentally on what you are gonna accomplish - plant that seed - and then watch it grow. We talked initially about you becoming the Go-To Videographer/Photographer in your area, and that is already happening, so you can see that the "seed" factor works. It's more than even believing in yourself, although that is part of it.

What it is, is knowing. Knowing what's gonna happen in advance.

Now, you may not always know specifically what's going to happen, but inside, you have a general idea. And so you focus that idea, and that's how your life happens. And now, it is!

So knock it out of the park tomorrow, and post a pic if you wanna.  :)

I had a nice day and a nice hike, which I don't usually do on Saturdays, but Vickie had car trouble so our shopping was cancelled, and I went up to O'Melveney instead. The weather was uncharacteristically misty and drizzly, which created a neat atmosphere going up the hillside, and I went farther up than I had before. This is a long trail that eventually takes you to Mission Point, the mountaintop I climbed to in 2014 from a different trail. Eventually I will do it from the O'Melveney Park trail, too, but I'll need several hours to do it, so it'll be on a day off. No photos today because of the drizzle, but next time.......

This evening I watched a classic noir from New York circa 1961, a low budget but very artistic gangster movie called "Blast Of Silence". I found it on Criterion, and then got it from the Libe, and it is a classic. I would guess that it had an influence on the Scorsese movies of the early 70s. It's in black and white and you get a good look at the grittiness of New York City at that time. The plot is basic, but it's a film in which every shot and every scene counts, and the result if first rate art.

Tomorrow morn, our choir director and our pianist both will be out of town, so we will not be singing an anthem during the service, only the hymns, which the congregation sings too, so actual "choir singing" will have to wait till next week. I will be around in the early morn and then back after about 1pm as usual.

I also saw your post, via your friend Katie, with the photo of her at Muscle Beach. I got a kick out of that, haha, because Muscle Beach is a famous spot, I suppose (especially was in the 50s and 60s), and even more so because I myself have never been to Muscle Beach, lol. I mean, it's in Venice, and I've been to Venice Beach many times, but I've never seen that particular spot she is standing in front of (on what has gotta be a pair of stilts!). But it's a cool pic, and next time I am down that way I will find the Muscle Beach Gym.......it makes me think of Hans & Franz from SNL.....  :)

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

Great Photo + "Conjuring 2" + First Road Trip In 35 Years

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Wow, that was a fantastic shot you posted this morning! I like the long shot and also the wide angle. The angling upward toward the trees and sky could have given it a "horror" effect, but because of the soft moonlight and the warm light coming from the cabin, the photo has more of an enchanting or welcoming effect. Really a great photo. You are making the Long Shot a bit of a trademark for yourself, like the one you have on Flickr of the girl at the end of the pier on the lake. The "all blue" photo. That too is a long shot, and in that one and also today's photo of the cabin, you have your subject (girl on pier, cabin) perfectly positioned.

Good stuff, and I will have to try more long shots myself. I am probably a middle distance shooter, never too close or too far away..........the eye sees what it will see, I suppose.  

Today, I went and saw a movie : "The Conjuring 2". I don't often go to the theater, but my sister and I saw the first "Conjuring" three years ago (and liked it), and then a couple days ago Vickie went to a screening in Santa Monica of the new one, with James Wan (director) and Vera Farmiga (lead actress) in attendance. She called me afterward with a rave review, so I figured I'd better go asap. And Vickie was right. It was pretty awesome; big league horror with incredible atmosphere. Wan sure knows how to light a room, and that quality of lighting and dim but distinct coloring in the nighttime scenes surely sets the tone and keeps the tension high. Also, there is some very imaginative usage of background imagery. I wont say any more, but this is one film where you'll find yourself glancing from one end of the screen to the other, to make sure you don't miss anything in the corners. If you are a horror fan, that is......and if you are, go see this movie.

So it looks like you are camping. On the road all Summer, it looks like. :) And Summer hasn't even begun, officially anyway, but you have certainly been all over the region up there, and taking great pics.

I will actually be taking a road trip of my own, at the end of July. In fact, it'll be my first extended trip in....

35 years! (omg) That probably requires a drum roll at the beginning, so feel free to go back and insert one if you like. Yes indeed, Sweet Baby, I have said before that I am The Least Traveled Person You Will Ever Meet (or at least one of them), and I'm still not venturing all that far on my upcoming trip, but I was invited by some old friends (David B. on FB and his sister) to come up and visit them in San Francisco, and I am gonna do it. I will drive up.

The "B"s used to live on the legendary Rathburn Street in Northridge, where my family lived too for 25 years (1970-1995). The "B"s lived there only until 1976, and have lived up north ever since, but in the time they did live down here, David was one of my best friends as an adolescent, and we did things like ride our bikes to Alice Cooper's house in Laurel Canyon. We hung out at College Records every day after school from 1973-76. We were together all the time, and their house was the hangout spot for everyone in the neighborhood. When they first moved, in Fall 1976, I used to visit them once a year until 1980.

But not since, until now. It won't be a long trip, just four days, but it'll be fun. I admit that I really don't have a Travel Bug the way most people do, but I do wanna see some stuff before I am Ancient (still a long ways off, I assure you), and what I wanna start with is just some road trips and maybe even train trips.....

Anyway, I've been up the coast 200 miles to Vandenberg Air Force Base, or 150 miles down to San Diego, but this will be my first trip to another distant city (SF is 375 miles) since I was 21. My goodness......

Well, that's all I know for tonight, my Darling. Keep taking and posting awesome photos, and I will see you in the morning!

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)  

Cheeseheads + Towsley + Internet Morons + Married

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I got a kick this morning out of James' Cheese Addict post, and I suppose I should expect as much out of you Cheeseheads up there, lol. Kids in Wisconsin are probably born with a genetic predisposition towards cheese abuse. The same should be true of California, and......okay, I just Googled it, and here is what came back:

 "The top cheese producing U.S. states are Wisconsin and California. Wisconsin's nickname as “America's Dairyland” punctuates the state's leading position within the U.S. dairy industry. More than two and a half billion pounds of cheese are produced in Wisconsin. California is the second largest producer".

I wanted to see which state produced the most cheese, haha, and we are second only to you guys. Why are we not known as Cheeseheads also? Maybe we can be honorary Cheeseheads.....  :)

I had a nice hike today at Towsley Canyon. I don't go there as much, even though it's just a half mile down from Rice Canyon, but it's a good long hike - 3 mile round trip like Aliso - and it's mostly flat like Aliso, but what it really has is great views of the backside of the mountains. It also has, at the midpoint in the trail, a closed in passageway called The Narrows, which is exactly what it sounds like, a very narrow canyon between two mountains. The rock on this side is part volcanic, so it's an interesting view. I've been all the way through The Narrows before, but this time I had to turn around shortly before the end : there was a stagnant puddle of water with a few dozen bees buzzing around it.

Which equals no thanks, on my part. But it was still a good hike, and I got a few good pics.

Your pic of Amanda (your model) was excellent, with the sun rays pushing through and complimenting the color of her hair.

I saw a few of your posts today, one was via Sarah about knuckleheads (or more properly, Idiots) who post derogatory comments. I would only say, or urge in the strongest terms, not to read that stuff. I know it's hard not to : you post a video of music you have created and worked hard on, and you want to know what people think.

But this is the Era Of The Internet. Bands before the Internet had only professional critics to deal with, and that was bad enough, but at least those writers were pros, and the criticism, even if scathing, was (hopefully) thought out, and certainly not emotionally driven or personal.

But in the Age Of The Internet, any Idiot, Cretin or Moron (remind me to expound on the 5 levels of subnormal intelligence sometime) is free to post his "opinion", which is very often emotionally based and not well thought out, among other things.

When I first met you, way back, I told you about my Dad's maxim on people's "opinions", i.e. that - contrary to the popular saying - everyone is not! entitled to their own opinion.

The reason being, is that if you are an Idiot, your so-called opinion is worthless.

The trouble is that the musician reading said "opinion" can absorb the childish emotion that inspired it, and can thus be made to feel bad, or to be otherwise distracted from their course of creating music.

And the Internet is full of Idiots, and worse. So, what I would say is Just Don't Read At All, comments on Youtube and the like. Play to live audiences and judge their reaction instead.

Or, if you are gonna read those online comments, develop a thick skin. But best to not read 'em at all. The Internet has given The Infantile, The Moronic and The Angry an even footing to express themselves because it allows them to be anonymous, to say things they would never say in person. The Internet allows people who are filled with poison to spew it, plain and simple.

Which is why we have Trump.

At that, I will end my tirade on that subject, except to say "just play your music" to all musicians. Don't absorb poison via the Internet.

As for your other post, the band that got married (Ultrea), I am all for that, as previously noted...  :):)

(when's the ceremony?)  :):)

That's all I know for tonight, SB. See you in the morning!

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

A Historic Night

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Well, it is official. History has been made tonight, and Hillary Clinton is the first female nominee for President. I can still remember the excitement (and later the extreme disappointment) during the California primary in 2008, when Vickie and I helped work the phones at Hillary's L.A. headquarters in Century City. She of course lost the nomination to Obama, and so as a long time supporter, tonight means a lot to me. Again, if you are a Bernie supporter, I know the feeling I had from 2008 and I sympathize. I'm sorry it didn't work out for him, but he ran a strong campaign.

I voted this afternoon at the Northridge Methodist Church which is just steps from my apartment. I'm so close I could see the voting room from my window. This evening, I took Pearl to vote at another church in Reseda. Then we started watching CNN to see the returns coming in.

Trump seems to be in some hot water for his remarks on that judge, and now that it's down to just him and Hillary, I think he is gonna get creamed. He is gonna look worse and worse to ordinary folks who might have believed in him. Of course his die-hard followers will vote for him no matter what, but tonight you see, in major population states like California and New Jersey, just how much support Hillary Clinton has. She doesn't get the amount of news coverage Trump gets, or even as much as Bernie Sanders got, but what she does get is votes.

So it's all very exciting, to me at least, and I will personally be very glad to have the Clintons back in the White House.

Other than that, I'm not very political, haha.......   :)

I hope your day was good. I didn't see any posts, so I guess you were busy, but I did like the concert photo you posted, beautiful orange colors in that one.

That's all I know for tonight. Post if you can.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

360 + Go Hillary + "Paranormal"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I am glad to see that you have another video shoot coming up with Versus Me. Is "360 Degrees" the name of a company or is it a technology? I have Googled it, and I see that various bands and artists have shot videos in what is called a 360 degree format, which appears to be an interactive format, but I am still not clear on the concept. Of course, being a low-tech person, lol, I am slow in this regard. But it sounds awesome, and you will of course knock it out of the park.

Today and yesterday, no news to report, just regular days. We did nail our song in church on Sunday, and now we are getting really good. I am looking forward to the more advanced material our director has in store for us later in the Summer.

Tomorrow will be Election Day here in California and several other states, and it will be a historic day because we will have, in America, our first official female candidate for President by the end of the day. Actually, the Associated Press reported this afternoon that Hillary already has enough delegates, but tomorrow will make it official. Trump already looks to be self-destructing with his recent remarks about the Judge, and I think it's all part of the script anyhow. He was never meant to be President. And of course he's not cut out for it, being a complete jerk and a loudmouth.

Tonight's movie was "Paranormal Activity : The Ghost Dimension", which is part five in the series. Nothing arty or profound here, but I have seen all five of the "PA" series and have found each one to be pretty scary, because of the techniques the filmmakers use, and the subject matter. This one was no exception, though the title is misleading because there isn't much of a "Ghost Dimension" to speak of. They aren't big budget scares like "The Exorcist" or movies of that caliber, but they are still effective, and I was a bit unnerved to discover that I was watching the movie on the night of June 6th - a date which looms large in the story.

That's all for tonight. Post if you can.....

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Opera at The Libe + Knots

Happy Late Saturday Night, my Darling,

I hope your day was good, and that your Summer is kicking into gear. It was warm again here today, not as hot as yesterday, but still nice. My sister Vickie came over and we saw an awesome free concert at the Northridge Library. Two opera singers sang for an hour, various arias and show tunes, and they were fantastic. We have actually seen them before, also at the Libe, and that first show was back in 2013, I think, and I probably mentioned it in a blog back then. Their names are Jennifer Ann Seidman (soprano) and Andy Watson (baritone), great singers both. It just reminds me how much I love opera, and the romance of opera, and the brilliance of the way in which composers (especially the Italian composers) used certain melodies and lyrics in their native language to convey the deep feelings of love and romance. It's all very powerful, and so I say......(clearing throat........taking deep breath.........and now singing the next part in hopefully operatic voice.....)

"Youuuuuu should lis-ten to some op-er-aaaaaaaaaa"!

I myself always listen to The Opera Show on KUSC every Saturday morning. To hear the singing in person and from just a few feet away was awesome and very inspiring.

I liked your post, via Ultrea, about tying the knot. Tying knots also goes with opera, it's one of the main themes.  :):)

Tomorrow morning, we will sing an anthem called "It Is A Good Thing", which will be a little tough because in the middle section the rhythm is all broken up into different parts, and as always the tenors have the "off-time" part. Sopranos have it easy; they always get to sing the melody line, never have to worry about weird harmonies or broken rhythms. I shouldn't complain, though. Altos may have the hardest job of all because they have to sing very unusual countermelodies in between what the sopranos and the tenors are doing. I don't think you can be an alto without reading music

Well, SB, that is all I know for tonight. I will see you in the early morn and then after choir practice at 1pm.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Trumbo" + ARW + Trump Is Toast

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope your weekend is off to a good start. I went out to Santa Susana this afternoon for what has become a regular weekly hike to the top of The Slide (i.e. the old Stagecoach Trail from the late 1800s). It was about 95 degrees out, so I got that ol' Summer Hiking Feeling for the first time this year. This morning, I was super excited to score a ticket to the Anderson, Rabin & Wakeman concert at The Orpheum Theater in November. I was worried that it was gonna sell out in minus-30 seconds, and that I might thus need a Time Machine to get a ticket, but thankfully this was not the case and I actually got a great balcony seat on my first try. :)

I know those names might not ring a bell, but they are three of the members of Yes, one of the ten greatest bands of all time. I have never seen Yes, nor have I ever seen Jon Anderson (one of my favorite singers) live, so this way I get to see at least a version of Yes, or part of it. I did see Rick Wakeman in concert, and I think I mentioned this a couple weeks ago, that his solo show at The Hollywood Bowl in Fall 1974 was my third concert ever. I haven't seen him since, so that 42 year gap will be the longest "in between" shows of any performer I've seen in concert. Pretty sure I mentioned all this, but anyway........stoked to get a ticket!

Tonight's movie was "Trumbo", starring Bryan Cranston as the famous screenwriter who was a victim of the Hollywood blacklist in the 1950s. The movie is very well done, and Cranston is great in the lead role. The movie is done with a somewhat comedic touch, to lighten the heavy subject of Cold War-era Communist paranoia. And Trumbo himself seems to have been a serious but light hearted guy, who really just wanted to write a lot of movies and get paid a lot of money. He lived like a wealthy man but identified as a Communist, and in those days you could get thrown in jail for those views. I wasn't alive in the 1950s, and instead was born into the turbulent 60s, when rebellion was in the air. People could, and did say anything in the 60s, Commie or no Commie, and I was raised on the Free Speech ethic, and the freedom to believe whatever you want to believe, so long as you don't hurt anyone, of course. I've even told you about my extreme left wing political views as a young man, which in hindsight were naive. But I was glad to have the freedom to believe in them at the time, and to say out loud what I thought I wanted to say.

That's why it is imperative to defeat Trump. He wants to take us back to those threatening and accusatory times of finger pointing and name calling. But I won't go off on a tangent about him, because he's gonna lose anyway. "Trump Is Toast", my campaign slogan.

Anyhow, a really good movie (a tad long) about an interesting and unsettling time in Hollywood, featuring real life characters like John Wayne, Edward G. Robinson and Kirk Douglas.

I like 'em all, regardless of their politics.

Today I only saw your post of the gal looking through the Arriflex cam, so maybe that means you are working on something yourself?

Probably.  :)

And if not now, you will be in a minute or two.......   :)

That's all for tonight. I will see you in the morning.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

More Beatles Top Ten + McGoohan Instead Of Movie + L.A. Clientele

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope you had a nice day. All is currently quiet here in Pearl's kitchen, she and The Kobedogger having recently turned in for the night. No hikes today, this being a Hair Salon Thursday, but I will most likely do one tomorrow. The heat is cranking up here, upper 80s today, tomorrow is gonna be near 100. In other words, prime hiking weather!

Man, I love the heat.

I saw your post, via your friend and collaborator Katie, about building a West Coast/Los Angeles clientele. I recommend anything with Los Angeles in the description, of course. :):)

I tried to watch a movie tonight : "Tokyo Drifter" by a Japanese director named Seijun Susuki. He made a lot of hip, gangster type movies in the 60s. I saw a couple that were pretty good, but this was not one of them. I only made it through about a half hour, then I turned it off (something I rarely do with a movie) and watched an episode of "Danger Man" instead. You can't go wrong with Patrick McGoohan.

After thinking hard about it over the past few days, I have three more Beatles songs to add to my personal Top Ten. They are : "I Saw Her Standing There", a Paul song, with that macho vocal line he sang when he was just 21. Paul was always able to "throw" his voice, like a mimic, to adapt it for different styles. Listen to "Lady Madonna" for a perfect example; he sounds like a different person on that song. But on "Standing", he nails everything that was great about early Beatles, that hard rock swagger and melodicism that put them head and shoulders above every other band.

My other songs are "Hello Goodbye", also by Paul, with one of the greatest melodic lines in the history of pop music, I think. If I hear that song, I have to sing along, and then it will be stuck in my head all day. And finally, "Strawberry Fields Forever", a John song. John wrote a lot of the really far-out, advanced "psychedelic" type tunes, like "I Am The Walrus", "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite", "Tomorrow Never Knows", "She Said She Said", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and a bunch of others. But my favorite is "Strawberry Fields", quite simply one of the greatest songs of all time, and a forerunner of progressive music. John was a musical genius, and I think it is somewhat of a shame that he is mainly represented as a political icon nowdays, instead of an incredible songwriter and musician.

So anyway, here's my still unfinished Beatles Top Ten, as it stands now:

1) Penny Lane (written by Paul) (will always be my favorite Beatle song, as previously noted)

all other songs in no particular order, but the next three are ironclad:

2) "Ticket To Ride" (John)

3) "Hard Day's Night" (John)

4) "Help" (John)

in the early days, John was a pop craftsman, writing note perfect songs with a combination of rock n roll energy and smooth, original vocal harmonies. These three songs are masterpieces.

5) "All My Loving" (Paul). I will always think of this one as the perfect Beatlemania song. As soon as it starts playing, all those girls start screaming, and then that's what you hear in your mind for the rest of the song : pure Beatlemania, a phenomenon that will never be duplicated.

6) "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Paul). This is when The Beatles first went Metal. When they needed to really rock hard, Paul was the man for the job (see "Helter Skelter").

and then the three I've added today...

7) "Strawberry Fields Forever" (John)

8) "I Saw Her Standing There" (Paul)

9) "Hello Goodbye" (Paul)

so that's 9 out of the Top Ten. Five Paul songs, four John. One song to go, and it will have to be pondered. Should I include a George song, simply out of a sense of obligation? After all, "Something" is considered, by many, to be the greatest love song ever written. Or how about "Here Comes The Sun"? George did not write near as many as John or Paul, or have as many songs accepted by those guys (and they ran the show), but when he did write one, it was usually an all time classic.

But I can't pick a George song simply because of obligation. This is supposed to be my personal favorites, and it's hard enough to pick ten out of around two hundred, where almost every song is great in the first place. But the first nine are up, which leaves one to go. Check back in about a week.......   :)

That's all for tonight, Sweet Baby! I recommend an L.A. clientele, with me as a client....   :):)

Keep strumming those Beatle songs, too.

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

Weddings + "Two Days, One Night" + One Big World (3 Vlad cds from Russia)

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope your day was good. Hard to believe we are in June already, the year seems to be flying by. Today was my sister Vickie's birthday, as you may have seen by my FB post. A usual day for me (most days are, I know), but I did go up to Aliso Canyon for a full length 3 mile walk. I am doing that at least once a week now, because it's so close. I figure I might as well go.

I saw a few of your posts, my favorite being the one about wedding season. I am very much in favor of weddings!  :):)

And wedding photography too, of course, but that's besides the point.  :)

I liked your friend's photo of the foggy Wisconsin wilderness, too. He is right about your state; it is a beautiful place and there is beauty in every state, no matter the terrain. There is also something good in every state, because we are all on one big continent with imaginary boundaries, and we are all Americans. That's what I hope people realize, in this crazy election year, is what an awesome, incredibly beautiful country we have, and that we are all in this together.

Tonight's movie was "Two Days, One Night" by The Dardenne Brothers, who I may have mentioned before. They are Belgians and have made several noteworthy arthouse films, including "The Kid With A Bike", which I think I did mention a year ago. The Dardennes make films in a pseudo-cinema verite style, filming what looks like real life, but with conventional editing and storytelling, and in this case a famous actress (Marion Cotillard) playing a woman suffering from depression who is fighting to keep her factory job but who has been pitted against her fellow workers. It's a bit nerve wracking to watch, but in a good way because like all Dardenne Brothers films it's very well made. Cotillard has to repeatedly approach her workmates individually to ask for their support in a company vote that will determine whether or not she can retain her job, and her performance shows the tension and humiliation in a person who is already down and out, and at the end of their rope psychologically. It's a great performance, and you feel her strain. I recommend "Two Days", and all movies by the Dardennes, including another one I've seen called "Rosetta".

I got a package from Russia today. It's always cool to get something from such a faraway place, and especially when it's three Sofronitsky cds that I ordered a couple weeks ago. The plastic mailer they came in was lettered in perfect English, though with the kind of flourishes in the letters where you can tell it is a second language. Still, how cool, and once again it shows that we are all living on One Big Planet, and we all like Sofronitsky......  :)

He was actually married to Scriabin's daughter.

Weddings..............

Well hey, it's June. It's that time of year.  :):)

That's all for tonight, SB! I Love You and will see you in the morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Great Video + Goofy Ring Finger + Strum Some Beatles + Love

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Today was a Typical Tuesday workday for me, so not a lot to report on my end, though I did practice strumming my Beatles songs this afternoon. I am learning to switch between using my almost completely bent ring finger (left hand) on open chords at the end of the neck, because believe it or not, I can still use it to make a C chord, say, and a few other voicings of chords, and I can still use it to play lead. If you saw my left hand, this might be hard to believe because my ring finger is doubled over and my pinkie is hooked, but the pinkie is as useful as ever, and the ring finger comes in handy in certain places. But to play barre chords, I have to "ditch it" because it gets in the way. I can't play barre chords with a full-on clamp down anymore, so I have to make do with my index, middle and pinkie fingers to do the best I can. But the cool thing is that I am getting the muscle memory - just from repetition - of hiding or tucking the bent ring finger behind the neck on barre chords so it doesn't get in the way, and now, it hides itself almost automatically.

Really, it's just compensating. And despite the description of my hand, it's not as gross as it sounds. It only looks goofy if I extend all my extendable fingers. If my hand is relaxed, it's not as noticeable.

But anyhow, I am having a blast with my new Beatles songs, because I am finally after all these years getting the hang of singing and playing at the same time.

I think it's great that your video for The Fine Constant got put up on the MetalSucks website! Your name was mentioned too, as I'm sure you saw, and the video came out great as always, even though I know it was done as a live take without the usual production set-ups. The diffuse lighting looks cool, though.  :)

It sounds like Sarah is adding a lot of color to her music, as opposed to just shredding, which is good I think. In the recent songs I've heard, she does the shred in small doses but seems to be going for melody and different little stylings like an Eastern or Indian motif in the song you shot. It's a good move on her part, to keep developing her music. Let the other bands play a million notes per song. She should continue to go for musicality.

Are you gonna go on tour with TFC, or maybe just to the regional shows? If you do, have a blast! You have a lot of videos under your belt now, and a ton of great concert shots. Congrats and keep going.

And strum a few Beatles songs too along the way.......  :)

Tomorrow I will try for a hike.

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