City of Legends

My new boots showed up. I know, big whoop. But for me that’s important, as my boots are what own my outfit. I special ordered these, will wear them today to make sure they fit right (so far, so good) and then will pack them away for the tour. I am particularly impressed with the arch…as much time as I spend standing and pacing during a read, boots with little or no arch are an invitation to pain. I am happy.

I also think I have found the jacket I want for the ensemble. I can’t talk about it without giving away a lot, but trust me…it will work.

I have solved the logistic problem on the broadsides for the tour, and have reached out to Jerry, the very talented guitarist with Sugarcamp, to see if he’d like to jam with me on August 17th. I have also invited Jazz to join me onstage in LA. If I can hook the DareDevil hisself, Dave Demeter, for one or more of the West Coast gigs, I will be most pleased. Dave has worked with me before and there are few more talented percussionists on the planet. He’s played with the big boys.

I’m looking into a headset microphone for the tour…I’m better with a microphone than I used to be, but I still hate to lose the use of a gesturing hand, and I will not be tethered to the proximity of a standing microphone, even a good parabolic. Not enough mobility, we’re getting testosteronal in the staging. I have some answers to give to some questions I have asked and been asked and I intend to give them loud.

I’ve been picking up some nice feedback over at AuthorsDen since I returned over the weekend. Maybe it is a good thing I remained. I’ve only posted three poems and "As such…", but getting a fair number of hits.

My Grandmother is resting comfortably and I have communicated the best wishes of my friends to her.

Having recently announced to the world that I am pulling out of AuthorsDen, a site where I had been in residence for many years, I just today reaffirmed my commitment to them and decided to re-assert my presence there.

Then mere moments ago I get a notice and a call from my friend and collaborator Daniel S. McTaggart, announcing he is dropping out of AD. I had to laugh.

Dan, you will be missed there, and anytime you want me to post anything of yours or let the world know about an upcoming project or event, just drop me word (and that goes for any and all of my writerly friends). Mi blog es su blog (we know how much trouble that can lead to, eh?)

Dan has stood by me through thick and thin, sharing some very bizarre events in my life, and I am proud to have not only designed the cover for his book Midnight Muse in a Convenience Store, but also co-authored an anthology with him, Psalms of the Monster River Cult. He has made multiple appearances on my lagging podcast (I’m getting back to it, I promise). Both books are available at fine bookstores and online. Go. Buy. Sheesh.

Seven months ago (or so) I did a blog at AuthorsDen about a question someone had asked me about what my ten favourite things are. The list I gave was as follows (in random order):

1. KIssing
2. The sound of thunder
   
3. A woman, biting her lower lip.
   
4. The smell of bacon frying
   
5. Snow
   
6. Spooning
   
7. Nailing a moment in a poem
   
8. Pachabel’s Canon in D Minor
   
9. Making love
   
10. God

I was considering making a revision to the list, but upon second reading realized I couldn’t. Yes, there are hundreds of things that from moment to moment make their leap to the level of these ten, but to demote any of these? Get real!

1. Kissing is wonderful and wondrous, a way of being sexual without having to be sexual. The art of kissing, I think, has been lost. Well, in my recent experience. My second wife did not like to kiss (read into that what you must or will) and thus I have felt its absence in my life for about a decade. Best kisser I ever kissed? Wow, let’s stir that hornet’s nest…hmmm…Alisha. By a slim margin, and I won’t say over whom.
2. The sound of thunder is a relaxing sound to me. It puts me in my place in the universe and reminds me of being at home, in the confort of my room, listening to a late night thunderstorm.
3. A woman, biting her lower lip. I don’t know why, for sure, but this one facial expression hits me in several places at once and makes me totally melt. Ask any woman who has ever used it on me, intentionally or not.
4. The smell of bacon frying. Breakfast, first moments of wakefulness, home, camping, the promise of something yummy. All in a flash to the ancient brain. And yes, I like my bacon crisp.
5. Snow. God, but I love snow. I love to go outside after a snowstorm and lay in it in shorts and t-shirt. I love watching it fall. I love the way it sticks to my eyelashes and brushes my face, I like the way it covers a multitude of surface flaws.
6. Spooning. Yes. There you go. I am a cuddler. Before and after. When Brigit left, back in Venice Beach, I took to cradling a blanket in my arms and sleeping with my futon folded into the sofa configuration for the illusion of having someone next to me. If you don’t sleep more soundly in an embrace, you’re sleeping with the wrong person.
7. Nailing a moment in a poem. A real sense of accomplishment, when you have just written something you read it and it blows you away. After all these years, you’d think I’d be immune to that…not a chance.
8. Pachabel’s Canon in D Minor. Takes me back to college, and just the overall ethereal beauty of this piece is so perfect a tranquilizer, musically.
9. Making love. Don’t make me expain this. I draw strength from intimacy, one of the reasons I find myself in a fractured and depleted state at this time, lacking one of my core revitalization methods. I won’t bore you with the details.
10. God. I believe in God as much as I believe in anything else my senses tell me exists. God made me, but S/He made me who I am. When I write, I feel His/Her pleasure. And more than the love of a good woman, the approval of a friend or family member or the dollar signs on a royalty check, that’s all I really need to get through the day.
11. Oh, and E.J.? I noticed the change to the blog layout. I approve.