redirect that luck
We have a horny cricket outside our bedroom window. A very loud one indeed. It would be funny if it was because we put mating crickets at the end of one of our songs- Betwixt Fear and High Key, but I’m pretty sure its just that time of year. This is my first time hearing crickets in my 3rd summer living in Southern California so it’s fun to think that we lured them here with our song. Lucky us!
The sound of crickets! Memories of hot summer nights in Kentucky. Crickets, cicadas, frogs. Outdoor critter noises of all sorts. I was living with my Grandmother, “Mammaw”, when I discovered the calming force of such nature sounds and realized the safety with her was this total belief that everything was going to be okay. I haven’t felt like that with anyone else until Michael. I think it’s something about being around genuinely good people that creates some kind of invisible protective forcefield that everything is going to be okay.
“Mr. Scrapey legs” will appreciate this Yo La Tengo album, I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One. The percussion seems to jibe well with these nature sounds. Such a great album. Michael speaks of a show that he co headlined with Yo La Tengo (when he was with the Flaming Lips) at an old train station in Germany “Somewhere like Cologne”, he said ,“Real nice people. Laid back. Cool.” He starts to laugh, “The venue ran out of beer and people were pissed”. I wonder if the band was able to lull them into a cricket trance of some sort to take their minds off the lack of beer. “Big Day Comin’” (from the album Painful) is Michael’s favorite.
I saw Yo La Tengo live in Louisville in the the aughts. I was working at Sweet Surrender Cake Shop (one of my 7 different jobs at the time). Debbie, the owner, always wanted me to sample the slices of cake. “Try this”, “Does this taste good?” And I would and it did!!!!! My favorite was the Italian Wedding Coconut Cake. A fluffy spice cake with walnuts, layered with Raspberry sauce and vanilla butter cream icing and coconut flakes! Needless to say, it was the most delicious 10 lbs I’ve ever gained. Anyway, as soon as the last lingering people left the cake shop that night, I drove as fast as I could to Kentucky Center for the Arts in hopes of seeing the Yo La Tengo show (sans ticket). The show was sold out, but I was determined to see them anyway. I had this magical power during that time in my life and would sneak in to shows or people would give me free tickets to things. I couldn’t afford it otherwise! And how exhilarating. (They actually made a documentary of guys who did this). I never had to jump a fence or anything crazy like that, but I had dumb luck. I had the biggest balls of anyone I knew at the time and just walked in like I was suppose to be there. So that night, after working about 3 jobs, I sat on the stair with probably the best seat in the house. The ushers were sitting on random stairs too. It was the coolest show because people weren’t so rigid about rules and stuff like that. They just let us sit there and no one said a thing. Their music has a way of relaxing people into some hypnotic state and hopefully you’ll come out a better person. Kinda like with the crickets.
I support artists and bands in anyway I can these days. Lord knows, The Flaming Lips have taken a bunch of my hard earned money. Funny that I would end up with the best bassist they ever had. Money well spent!
Yo La Tengo translates into “I’ve got it!” There’s a cute story on the web about how they decided on that name. They are playing in LA in September. Hope we are in town for it.
Another great listen- Mort Garson’s Journey to the Moon and Beyond was featured on Bandcamp and it is well worth it. My favorite background music for my stick figure and daily doodle drawings. I had no idea about Mort Garson and his infamous Moog. He died not too long ago in his 80s. I love the sound of the Moog and was first introduced to it by the beautiful and talented Faith Kelly who has been playing a sub 37 Moog since 2015.
Speaking of Faith, Michael and I had fun playing along to one of her songs, ‘Livin the Good Life’ today. I played drums and Michael played bass. It was so fun. Livin’ the Good Life feels like a protest song of some sort. Faith told me its based off a book by Helen and Scott Nearing about “How to live sanely in a troubled world… a life saver”. She said we could Lolly Bomb it up, but I really think her voice should be on it. She’s a one person show most of the time with her Moog, guitar, extraordinary vocals and bad ass dance moves! I hope I get to see her live someday or even better play and/or sing with her. What a voice!
-The age old question - Art vs. Industry?
Protect the ARTISTS, the actors, the musicians! Protect the actual art! ACROSS THE BOARD!
This is why we, as artists have to keep creating, keep doing and fighting for the protection of our work and our rights as artists! IT’s important! The ones who think out of the box or question the norm! WE should be taking care of these people- our people!
The doom and gloom that looms and the big fear of no one listening or watching or reading or worse judging…. But really who cares? Does it even matter really? We have to fight for our right to ARTttttttttayyyyy!!! That inner critic can be a little bitch sometimes, but just keep going! Why? Because creating reminds us that we are human and we can connect with each other on a deeper level this way! It makes life worth living.
The path of destroying individuality among the human race as we know it as well as the planet seems to be a trajectory that can be changed. It might even be changing right now! Is it possible to shift the dynamics of where the money is going? Is it possible to make this world a better place or are we just screwed? If we had complete transparency of where our money is going, who is supporting who, who is protecting the gems of society and our planet then we would know what to consume and how our money as individuals is making a difference for the generations after us. It can be a big ole spiraling out of control headache trying to solve the world’s problems. Since my neighbors are out of town, I can bang out my frustrations on the drums, then listen to some more Yo La Tengo. The horny cricket puts me right to sleep.
______
Time. Even though an illusion, there never seems to be enough of it. Always wanting more to put all those wonderful ideas into action, but wouldn’t it be better do it the kind and “right” way. Not getting enough sleep and burn out has never turned out that great. In yoga, there are eight limbs. The first limb of yoga is composed of the Yamas including Ahimsa (non- violence to self and others in thought, word, and deed). Aiming for much more than is humanly possible, could lead to negative self talk especially when stuff doesn’t pan out or get finished when expectations aren’t met. If I didn’t love sleep so much, I would be creating nonstop and probably have a serious drug problem or getting mad at myself or others if things weren’t happening in the ideal time frame. When I do that, I would not be practicing Ahimsa, would I?
Trust your inner teacher!
Take Breaks!
After working all day on Sunday, our friends came in town and so we had a fun night catching up, listening to tunes, telling stories, staying up way too late, and pool time at their hotel. We got back to work sluggishly on Tuesday. I have left the calendar by the way side and just going with my gut and do that instead of making lists: wake up, drink water, meditate, coffee, practice rudiments, play with Michael, exercise, shower, work on music video, play more drums, listen to Michael tell me I am powerful and beautiful, believe it, eat, animate, practice guitar, blog, chant, Wordle, sleep.
These lists! I can’t get away from them! If I don’t stay connected to a schedule most of the time, I feel like nothing is getting done and if I don’t catch myself in time, things seem to get out of control. I throw a little hissy and then realize that I am the boss lady of my life and I just gotta take the bull by the horns again and do what I have to do to get the job done.
Good, true art takes time. Substituting art for some immediate gratification time saver such as A.I. at its worst will destroy the creative process. Everything the artist does takes time. Even something that seems like it might not take very long, still takes more time than expected. Even if no one is watching or listening or reading what you put out there, after it is complete you think, hmmm okay, I did that! Wow! It might be weird or weirder than you expected, but you look at it or listen to it and go well, that was an experience! And for me, I feel a little more like oh, so this is what life is all about and it just feels right because all of a sudden it’s the present moment again. Creating brings us back to the now! I’m not having real babies over here, but lolly bomb babies are pretty freakin awesome!
-If you have an opportunity, take it! Even if you are an introvert or not sure if it’s a weird idea or not.
Being a lifetime student and having a love for learning, when I saw on on the IG that Milo Gonzalez, from Particle Kid (Micah Nelson’s band) was offering guitar lessons, I jumped at the chance! Since he lives in the same area as us, he came over the other day and showed me some stuff! How cool!!! I knew my finger placement was probably not the best, but practicing this new way with my thumb behind the neck feels super awkward. This is going to take some practice. Hoping to get another lesson from Milo soon.
“Beginner’s Mind”! I have so much to learn and I’m up for practicing all night long except right now we still have a time limit of when we can actually play music. It feels very restrictive, but sleeping babies are involved so I get it. We are still sharing walls with 3 other condos.
I’m getting pumped up for our new space even though we haven’t actually found it yet. I’m going to remember the mad luck as a younger me. Hoping to redirect that luck towards a more suitable place for us to live!
Note: Milo Gonzalez and friends are playing a show at Merrihew’s Sunset Garden in Santa Monica on Aug 13th from 6-9 with Hiroya Tsukamota and Runson Willis. It will be a real treat.
