City of Legends

Made a commitment to myself this morning, based on how much energy I seem to have (too much, actually, which can be annoying).  I promise you, dear readers, to have the most manic weekend of my online life (that’s a pretty damn high bar if you know my last 15 years online).

Watch here, on Twitter, at blip.fm, the Amomancer blog, Facebook, and everywhere else I manifest…we are going for a ride.

Strap in.  (yes, in.  No, I said in…why must you always read something dirty into everything I say?)

Van Morrison croons "Crazy Love" into my skull as I compose these words, these thoughts and noughts.  Let’s hear it for blip.fm, I am deriving great enjoyment from them.  Plus, a lot of my videos and recordings are bouncing around on there, getting international airplay.  No complaint.

Did some writing this weekend, but it was more of an experiential weekend.  Doing things…reading, going for walks, playing with the dog, discussing ten thousand points of wonder with the boys, making plans, agonizing over my reading lists for Guerrilla Poetry Day on July 5th (don’t get me started on the itinerary).  I even got my Brazilian phone connections to work and got to spend a few precious moments Liza Lorraine, with a friend down there (yes, the same one I have been writing poetry about…do your own math).

I am a fortunate soul.  I have seen things you wouldn’t believe and done things that would confound even me.  No ego to that, merely awareness of how complex and amazing of a life this is. 

My friend, Lupi Basil, surfaced on FaceBook.  Lupi, you may recall, is/was the publisher and editor of "Emotions" magazine, which has been very kind to me in the past.  Previously one of her sons did a breakdown of one of my CDs on this very blog…I’ll have to look it up again some time, it was wonderfully detailed and analytical. 

A few misplaced friends surfaced.  Some seemed to slip further into the dispassionate ether.  The suspected bone spur in my right heel is getting worse, but I am determined to intensify my training.  Pain is a state of mind.  I have developed, I find, an aversion to doctors for anything other than emergency surgery.  My limp is becoming pronounced as the pain intensifies.  Maybe Ann was right and I will end up in a wheelchair one day.

Oh, I am now ten days free of measurable caffeine in my diet.  The first several days were painful, but having seen the health risks, the damage already done and known so many people in my life over the years who have been bent and broken by their addictions, I am determined to identify and eliminate my own.

Okay, I could use a new addiction in my life.  Something in a new woman, perhaps…just a thought.

I’m going to be attempting to get some online housecleaning done this weekend, while I am not Twittering, FBing, Blipping and recording.

No promises.  Where does the time go?

No, Jazz, I am not mad at you.

I was looking at my friends’ list on Facebook and realized I have an awful lot of people who have played roles of significance in my life on my list.  Present and past.  For instance:

• Relatives?  I have all four of my sibs, as well as the unofficial 5th DeVault brother.  6 neices and nephews.  My Mom.  My poetry bro, Larry Jaffee (founder of Poets for Human Rights as well as the writer of the foreword to my book Love Gods of a Forgotten Religion).
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• Book and CD  connections?  I three different editors for my books, including the stalwart Jan Innes.  I have the cover and inside illustration model for The Compleat Panther Cycles.  I have the cover model for my CD Nightblooming.
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• Muses?  Nightblooming Jasmine (of course), the Butterfly, Suede, The Selke, The Mad Gypsy herself and the older sister to my first real muse, Alabaster.
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• Various and Sundry?  My first girlfriend (from the 6th grade!), the person who has done more interviews with me than anyone else (Barb Holmes), my "Teal Protege" and various friends and inspirations responsible for dozens of my works and some significant good in my life, as well as assorted writers, editors, publishers and recording artists (even Billy Vera).  People I might otherwise not have regular contact with.  People hiding in plain sight (yes, some people are not who you might think they are, some don’t know I know who they really are).  People I have sat down to dinner with, read with and written about, as some have written of me, readers, lovers and critics.

I see there’s a lot of good to my Facebook friends.  I think I’ll keep them.  And collect more as people choose to enter into my lifestream.  I enjoy the process and the people I intersect with.

Okay, I just wanted to show everyone some of the "flair" I created over on FaceBook. It was fun converting book covers, CD case artwork and even a few odds and ends to buttons to send to my friends and acquaintances.

Now comes the fun part. I am declaring a scavenger hunt for my flair. Not too difficult, no? perhaps more difficult than you might imagine, as a few of the pieces, while relevant to my works, are not obviously labeled as such. You’ll figure it out (hint: this will be slightly easier for my "friends").

So, you may find it simple to locate the covers of amomancer: nightblooming or from an unexpected quarter, you may have a harder time with the less obvious flair. To be fair with the flair, I will tell you know that there are a total of 14 pieces.

The first person (based on my received email timestamp) to collect all 14 pieces to their flair corkboard on FaceBook (remember to refresh so they show) and email me here so I can verify by looking at your profile, wins free CDs and books from the City of Legends Store worth more than $50.00. Not a ton of bucks, but if you’re smart this should take you all of 15 minutes to complete, so that’s about, what, $200 bucks an hour? And I’m paying postage, so it doesn’t matter if you’re in the USA, or Australia or Portugal or South Africa (here’s your chance, Rich).

In the last 48 hours I have encountered more Ghosts of Christmas Pasts than I thought existed. Old friends (and a few not so friendlies) emerging from the ether to speak of things that they felt I needed to hear, or at least they needed to say. And it is all good.

I’m not going to pretend the past year has been anything short of a proving ground for some principles and philosophies. I’ve failed on a few, won on most of the rest and am still waiting the sound of falling shoes on a couple. All in all, a stellar year, and one I will remember fondly (believe it or not).

My dear Mother is prone to say that I am the sort of person who can fall in horse shit and get up smelling roses. She’s right. I may have my dark times, usually when I am in pain of a physical or spiritual nature, but I am pretty durable and amazingly optimistic. I perceive hate, fear and rage as venoms against me, even when I am their source, and thus I don’t let them stick around long. They do their damage, I heal and hope I learned something from the encounter that will reduce the likelihood or intensity of the next meeting.

You can condemn my methods, my talents and even my results, but that merely means you have issue with them. I won’t deny I’ve screwed a few things, a lot of things, up and badly. But on the whole, if you assemble in a room the 100 people who know me best and have seen me in my broadest spectrum, I am content I get an acquittal, and maybe even a round or two of applause for the effort.

The mere fact I am right now pondering the logistics of assembling such a group indicates how daft I can be. The second sign of daftness is that many people who think they know me best don’t have a clue. And there are some people who figured me out in the first thirty seconds I knew them whom I would love to see in that assembly.

I slept badly last night, my back is sore and my neck is stiff. Pollen is driving my sinuses bonkers right now. I pulled a muscle in my shoulder doing yard work and I’m still wearing yesterday’s socks (ugh). I have to deal with the possibility of canceling my tour, or at least scaling it back, due in no small part to an 89 cent burrito from Taco Bell that almost laid me out. It’s bad when you see strips of your own stomach lining. I felt like a starfish.

But I am resolute and working hard to finish the CD and get myself in the best shape I can for touring. I am working hard on my emotional hygiene, as that will be more important than anything in my making it to and through the Evangelist Tour. I am asking a lot from myself. More than ever before.

I pondered taking a lover, but Karla, of all people, smacked me upside the head and reminded me that without the spiritual aspect, it would do me more damage than good. Of course, she’s gotten some more recently than me, says one side of me, looking to shout her down.

I got cute yesterday and made "flair" on FaceBook of all my CD and book covers, sans one which I withheld out of respect for the feelings of a few people who would not hesitate to butcher me in public if they thought it would ease their personal pain. You should, if on FaceBook, swing by and get some…and sign up as my friend, I can always use more friends, even if you haven’t yet passed the test (no one has, so don’t sweat it, I just sleep with one eye open and am tougher than I look).

My son, Elric, is helping me with the music for the final tracks for the Evangelist CD. That is exciting, in many, many ways. And, if you haven’t been over on Amomancer in a while, or don’t like the tone of the malediction poems, wait a few days and strap in…there’s something coming up that will melt the icecaps and dry up Iowa. At the same time.

ThePlanet, a server farm that host an estimated 3 million websites, including some major website support sites, had an "electric fire" yesterday that took down some or all of their systems until at least later today.

The "electrical fire" included an "explosion" that "took out three walls". But several sites managed by ThePlanet have gotten word out that they expect to be restored later today.

Effected sites include EntreCard and StatCounter. I can live without the EntreCard for a bit…but StatCounter? Ack! They are part of my morning ritual.

ThePlanet has reassured their clients that no servers were actually damaged.

An explosion that took out there walls and an electrical fire. Sounds like a slow day in Hades for some, today.

In completely unrelated news, the minor muse known as Suede added herself to my list of FaceBook friends. Wasn’t even sure she was still alive.

And yes, Susan, I am in a good place. My place and space.

Somebody asked me the other day about who in my circle of friends on FaceBook are actually friends and whom are just acquaintances. Those of you who know me know that I have a very narrow definition of friend (someone you could trust behind you with a sharp knife and a good reason) and this makes relationship taxonomy difficult, and sometimes insulting to others…but at this time, to clear up any confusion, I’ll give it a stab as an intellectual and emotional exercise.

The person right now in my “friends” who I have known the longest is, by narrow margin, Jan Innes. I met her through “the panther” and she has served as editor on two of my books. I trust her and I would call her a friend, to be sure. We have each helped each other through some difficult times.

Narrowly losing out in the antiquity game is the great Larry Jaffe, whom I once described as the Second Greatest Living Poet. I stand by my position. He has always been there for me when my back has been against the wall and was a great source of emotional and spiritual strength during the panther era, being the first friend who had the cajones to tell me “She’s not good for you”.

Third, chronologically, is the great Billy Vera (“Billy and the Beaters”, best known for their song “At This Moment” which probably played at your wedding). We met through a mutual friend in Los Angeles and I attended several of his performances. I have three good anecdotes about my interaction with the man, but I’m trying to save space. More acquaintances than friends.

Yes, we have a muse on the list. Jazz Bread is a friend I have known for many years, but only in the past year or so have we become close friends. She hasn’t quite made the leap to true friend status (it is hers if she wants it), but she is fascinating enough to have been the source of many of my more recent and brilliant poems and songs. Take a bow, my dark angel.

About the same time I first met Jazz I met Misty Miller, who was a student at a school where I was working as a mentoring facilitator. She’s all grown up now and has a baby and is just one of the nicest, friendliest people I know.

Chanda Willard is the Community Relations Manager for the Barnes & Noble in Morgantown, West Virginia, and has been a terrific supporter of my work, booking me in for several readings and events. She is very pleasant to deal with and cute as all get out.

We have two primary clusters after that: AuthorsDen, where I have been posting work for years, and Teletech, where I taught for a while.

The AD people I have generally known longer, but less well, although I count myself close to Candy and Susan Sonnen, two remarkable ladies who could steal any man’s heart and will. I also enjoy very much the company of the Lesbian Firebrand Novelist Sage Sweetwater, but of course, knowing my relationship history (most of you get the irony here) it makes sense.

Others from AD include Zinta Aistars, Sandie May Angel, Regis Auffray and Mary Lynn Plaisance. All worthy souls, I just haven’t got to know them very well, yet.

The Teletech people include Chris Singer, who was a fellow teacher there, as well as his significant other, Sherea Bolyard, who is terrifyingly cute and sweet. Chanda Prince was one of my students and I rarely say her name without a sigh, she is charming, lovely and very, very bright. Crystal Decheine was another student and is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. Anant Venkatarman, from Teletech, is brilliant and has a natural grace with people that is remarkable. Ladies adore him. I guess I should hate him.

Finally we have my two FaceBook buddies, the two people I have met on FaceBook, Yvonne Lilian Walker and Genny Hoskin. Both are engaging, clever people that I hope to get to know much better as time passes.

So there you have it, for now…not as long of a list as many, but containing a good mix of real friends, interesting strangers and a few women who inspire me to write and dream of better days ahead. Life is good.