Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train...

 Kris Kristofferson passed away recently and I started to think about what I knew him from and how I got to know him as an artist.

I had always liked his acting choices- Convoy, Heaven's Gate, (of course) Star is Born, Silver City, Lonestar, Blade Trilogy (don't judge, I really like those movies), and Big Top Pee Wee.  In his younger days he could really rock an unbuttoned shirt and his quiet demeanor made him a kick ass vampire hunter. 

To me he is in the Sam Elliot catagory of acting- interesting on screen to watch and always with a little shadow of mystery surrounding them. 

For his music besides writing "Me and Bobby McGee," I really didn't know much about his music. 

The Highwaymen was my first introduction really (besides his songs in Star is Born) and though I was a little late to the party I kind of got it. I watched a PBS concert fundraiser drive thing and it was really good. I saw that he was playing with the pros and killing it. I ended up purchasing their music, but not delving into his discography. I liked the collaboration, but at the time wasn't interested in going deeper into their individual catalogs. 

I got my undergraduate degree through a weekend program. Once a month I would have class for 16 hours. I had a friend in my class who I ate lunch with and got to know really well. Side note- sad that we lost touch, I really liked this person. Anywho, she and I were sitting eating our lunch at some cafe on Valencia Street and we were talking about amazing shows we had seen and she mentioned that one of her most memorable was Kris Kristofferson at the Great American Music Hall. The show sounded amazing and I always kept that information in the back of my mind.

Life traveled on and I would see him on venue calendars now and again, but it was never the right time. 

I was in grad school and broke (his tickets tended to be a bit pricey), I was not in grad school still kind of broke and other shows looked more interesting to attend, had a baby and what limited free time I had Kris Kristofferson wasn't on the menu. This was until he was on the bill of the Roadshow Revival. It was a Johnny Cash revival type festival in Ventura. The bill was The Blasters, Lee Rocker, X, and Kris Kristofferson. It is no secret that I am a super fan of X (and a pretty big fan of the Blasters) so even though I was 7 months pregnant I was still game to go to the show see bands I love and FINALLY get to see Kris Kristofferson. I had missed out on seeing Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings (have seen Willie a few times), so I was excited to cross Kristofferson off the must see list. 

Holy cow. What a boring show. He stopped a song to start it over SLOWER than it how they had started it. He kind of mumble sang his lyrics. The band was uninteresting and the highlight was when some para-gliders passed by behind the stage.  My hope is that we got him on a super off night. I can't blame it on my very swollen ankles because the mood around us while we were watching was "what the hell is going on?"

It was such a boring and lackluster show that I have never forgotten it. The unmemorable-ness has made it memorable to me and the husband. The set seemed super long and also only like 4 songs. Kris Kristofferson created his own vortex that the crowd fell into and was only released when he had to retune his guitar and play a different song? I dunno. It was sure something. 

Thanks Kris Kristofferson. 

I am one bend away. I am one step away from the precipice of crazy. I am holding all the pieces in place.

 I am really into bands/artists from Australia and New Zealand.

I have probably written about this before because my down under obsession has been going on for some time now.

My first run-in was the movie Starstruck. It is a typical early 1980s new wave movie about a group of kids wanting to be rockstars. There is a local competition (on TV that is how the whole town will see them), some prize money, love interest, and a great soundtrack.

I discovered the Swingers. They were in the movie (which I saw on Night Flight) and I want to say I saw their music video on Video One with Richard Blade. Totally hooked. Phil Judd would depart the Swingers and start Split Enz with the Finn brothers. Ooooooh how I love the Finn brothers (still mad I didn't get tickets for Crowded House at the Fox). From here I seamlessly became fans of the bigger names Midnight Oil, INXS (The Swing is their best record if you ask me), AC/DC, and Men at Work. Then I moved to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cruel Sea, and Hunters and Collectors. I was shocked later in life to find out that The Little River Band are also Aussies. Have YOU heard about the lonesome loser? Beatin' by the queen of hearts every time. And of course we can't forget Air Supply. 

I have a fond memory of me and my friend driving back from the Spoleto festival (we saw Damon Albarn Gorillaz symphony - epic) and since she had a doctorate in musicology and I was getting my master's in musicology and we were coming from an amazing musical experience it is not a shock that our conversation turned to music. I asked her what her favorite band was from down under and she without even taking a beat said Air Supply. We listened to their ultimate collection and live in Tokyo recordings back-to-back for the rest of the drive home.

But this isn't really what I wanted to write about...I was with a friend the other day and they were processing some drama they are going through and they said to me quite glibly (is that a word?) that I didn't have problems. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but as I was going to sleep last night that is all I could think about. Does this person really think that? If so, fuck you. But also, thanks? Perhaps I don't have "problems" in the area of their drama? What one might think is not a problem is to others. You know kind of like someone's trash is another one's treasure. Is there some secret qualifier chart to what can be considered a problem? I am not one to throw up my "problems" on people (though there are some lucky folks who have worn my emotional vomit on their shirts) so it may appear that I do not have problems. I think it was a throw away line, but it got me thinking about personality masks.

 There are people that I have known, heck even related to that I have no idea really what they are feeling. I am positive that they have and had problems (issues, situations, difficulties, worries) but they did not share them out to me at all. I think that there are also folks who are more comfortable with sharing out problems, issues, situations, difficulties, and worries. This is not a judgment, just an observation.  With the check-ins (usually a quick text) that I do (since 5 of my friends died) with my chosen family, it is all about effort. You do what you have the capacity for... I am always available to be a shoulder, ear, soundboard, or whatever for people I care about. Even when I am having a problem. But sometimes I feel like the song I chose for the title of this blog. Not today. But some days.

The band is (you guessed it) from Australia. They are called the Middle Kids and this song is a favorite on John Richard's show on KEXP, my drive time listen. And if you live in the bay area can now listen to on the radio proper at  92.7. I know. Old school.

You are not alone. 

And the sky was made of amethyst and all the stars were just like little fish...

 The album "Live Through This," by Hole came out 30 years ago today.

I know every note on that record. I can play many of the songs on guitar and/or bass and for 36 months it was one on HEAVY rotation in my musical soundscape. 1994 was a good year for my record collection, besides the Hole record others were:

Bakesale, Sebadoh

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Pavement

Mellow Gold, Beck

There's Nothing Wrong with Love, Built to Spill

Grace, Jeff Buckley

Weezer S/T (Blue Record)

Strangers from the Universe, Thinking Feelers Union 282

Foolish, Superchunk

Ill Communication, Beastie Boys

The Coup, Genocide and Juice

The Crow soundtrack

Ruby Vroom, Soul Coughing

American Thighs, Veruca Salt

and of course Dookie by Green Day.

These are of course the bigger artists. 1994 was filled with small club musical experiences of all kinds of genres and that could be a separate blog post. San Francisco 1994 was filled with music of all sonic shapes and sizes.

"Live Through This" is probably first for me. I don't listen to it much, but when I do it instantly brings me back to a time and place emotionally. Living in SF, playing music with one of my musical heartbeats, and becoming an adult. 

A friend of mine from a thousand years ago came back into my life recently- thanks Instagram. And they asked me the other day if there are songs that I lose myself in and I have to say that "Violet," gets me every time. I understood the lyrics, I felt the lyrics. They were very similar to what I was writing in my journals at that time. Uncertain confidence. Naive and reckless. Scared and fierce. Goldfish memories.  Slow motion reality.  Friends. Romance. Laughs. Tears. Lots of drugs and alcohol. That is how I remember 1994.

Happy Anniversary to all the music of 1994.

I'm buried in this house, I'll never leave the floor. A page full of je t'aimes for you, I know I should have said it more.

 Looking back on a lot of my blog posts, I saw that death was what stirred my insides to write. I have been tippa-type-a on this blog business for the past decade(+) or so and the last 6 years for sure have been about loss. So. much. loss.

ANYWHO

When I was in my 20s, I wrote a lot about love. How love made me happy, crazy, sad, frustrated, depressed, resigned, kinda angry (and vague) and lost. 

I re-watched La La Land the other day. Parts of the movie resonate with me.

 Got me thinking - Do reconnections with old flames work out? What about reconnections from people of your past that maybe were not old flames, but part of your history. Do those relationships work out?

There is a fire (at least there was for me) when you are young that is often hard to contain and the people you share it with know how to hold it, smother it, fan it, and/or try to put it out. Now I am not saying that you can't have this later in life or anything. It is maybe because love the romantic kind is new to the 20 something psyche and it feels like "they do in the movies." So when you reconnect with someone from your past, there is a shared history, and a comforting context that sparks the flames again. 

All love stories can be great and can happen whenever, I believe that. 

But so many expire, fall away, or wash out with the tide. 

 A quick anecdote-

I have a friend who has had lots of serious love relationships. I asked her how is able to fall in love so much. Her answer to me was, "I believe in and never give up on love."  Huh. Okay back to La La Land...

When Mia goes through the "what if" montage when she is in the club and hears the tune I get that. I am always going to love you. Well done movie, you captured a moment that resonates with how I would describe a love scenario.

The romantification of it all is why La La Land works and why it is frustrating. It is like it is a love letter to love itself.  The part that works. The feeling that is left is one of ambiguity. The frustrating part. I am a person who needs a little more closure in a movie. I do like it though- the beauty, sadness, hope, forgiveness, and "what-ifs."

But I don't sit idly by... I'm planning a big surprise... I'm gonna fight for what I wanna be...

What a year. 

I realized I haven't done much blogging and I am okay with it.

Short-handed at work. Editing a book. Moving (yeah, we got a new place). 

Now we are deep into the holidays.

Life is busy and I am okay with it.

I spend more time in the car with my commute and so we have Sirius XM radio. Of course, I am a fan of the 1st Wave channel (#richardbladeforever) and the 70s channel. I listen to SiriusXMU to compliment listening to KEXP and listening to Pitchfork.com playlists, sometimes they play older indie hits. This popped up and I blasted it and started scream singing.

This record was a staple for me for at least a decade and "Waiting Room" is one of Fugazi's best tunes.

It felt good to be with the song. It brought back feelings and an energy that I sometimes miss.

The kid is really into the 1980s (especially the new wavers) and we listen to a lot of music from my youth which I totally don't mind. And I understand why people as they get older listen to the music that is familiar to them. Though I do my best to keep up with some new music, thanks Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, and college radio.

This time of year is filled with all kinds of feelings. Missing friends and  family (okay, my grandmother) who are no longer of this earth. Dancing with the ghosts of Christmas past, drinking mulled wine with Christmas present ghost (I don't like mulled wine, but I dislike egg nog even more), and wondering what the ghost of Christmas future has in store for me.

A quick dance-

I loved living in San Francisco when I was in my 20s (and some of my 30s).

The other night we were in SF and as we were driving around at night, I felt reminiscent of living there and going out to see shows or having drinks at one of the million bars we went to -

Zeitgeist

Kilowatt- shows and a great bar!

Dr. Bombays

Drunk Tank

The Bitter End

Would You Believe? Cocktails

Toronado

The Gold Cane

Sadie's Flying Elephant

Plough and the Stars

Expansion

Lucky 13

Latin American

Orbit Room

Rat and Raven

Lexington

Dalva

End Up

Albion

Molotovs (or Midtown when it is was a better bar)

Purple Onion

Trocadero

Nightbreak, Thirsty Suede, Nightbreak

Boomerrang

Chameleon

El Rio

Lone Palm

Trad'r Sams

The Mint

Chances (later The Page)

There are more I am sure I am missing.

Whew! I used to drink a lot.

I don't do much bar-hoppin' these days.

I wonder- How many of these places are still around?

So far this holiday season has been nice and low stress (keep it up!) and the holiday spirits are suggesting to me that a few new traditions start in our household.

2024 is looking like it will be jam packed with a b'mitzvah, travel, lots of working, and hopefully a lot of laughs.

Maybe I will blog more in 24. 

 

You load 16 tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go--- I owe my soul to the company store...

Oakland. Oakland. Oakland. 

We have been looking at buying a house in Oakland on and off for about a year. It is frustrating for a variety of reasons. Not a lot of inventory, price(s), mortgage rates, blah, blah, blah all the stuff you read about in the news. 

This experience (so far) I have come away with some take-aways LIKE-

house stagings vary A LOT

"needs work" can mean anything from $10,000 to $300,000 in repairs

photos can be deceiving

realtor apps are amazing

you don't have to read every single word of a disclosure

open all doors

look out of all the windows

look up- example- went to a place the other day and the bathroom had been redone and there was a funky ceiling panel with weird fuzzy stuff coming out of it.

and down- example- there was a house that had a buckling floor in the corners of multiple rooms.

look at who your potential neighbors will be- examples 

    there was a place that had a hoarder next door, I can still see the broken Christmas lawn ornaments, half pitched tents, and 3 mowers on the front lawn

    another place had no parking (red flag) and the realtor said in passing at the open house that there was some discussion about the side yard with the neighbor- the side yard was filled with junk as was the front yard of the next door neighbor

Another major factor is that semi-decent places go over asking. Months ago places were going WAY over, now not so much, but they still are going over.  I don't get it, I understand it, but I don't get it.

And maybe it is because of the Idon'tknowhowmanyhouses we have looked at I only every think about 2. One that went over 100,000 over asking the other one was at the beginning of our journey and we didn't know what we were doing. 

Oakland is my home and I don't have any interest in living anywhere else. So fingers crossed that we find a place. But I am realistic and know that we may be renters for the foreseeable future.

Oh, drawn into the stream. Of undefined illusion, those diamond dreams. They can't disguise the truth...

 Our lil' g'ma gummers left this earth recently.

I got her as a wedding present for the husband. She was with us for almost 18 years. 

Such a complicated kitty cat. 

For the first handful of years of her life she didn't like women and a few select men. She insisted on licking the back of my husband's head. I know, gross. I was useful only when sleeping (we "shared" a pillow) and at feeding time.

Loretta loved my husband. He often did not meet her expectations. She wasn't afraid to let him know when she wasn't satisfied with a particular situation (like not sitting the correct way for her to sit the way she liked in his lap) or when he would not put our space heater on fast enough. 

Loretta was into the sun and the heater. Any sun that came in through the window would be occupied by her. Later in life when she could hang out on the back porch and not jump the baby gate, she very much enjoyed her outside sun time. She would sit so close to the heater that her hair would fall out. The last weekend she was with us, we put the electric blanket out for her. It was a happy place. 

Forever the softest kitty in the world. I will miss cleaning up the sand castles you would make with cat litter, your paws on my face at 3am, and your demanding purring. 

Say hi to Andy for us.