haunted # 4 – Janis Joplin

My love for October and Janis Joplin have been well documented on my blog. These are truths of me, glimpses
into my core. I can’t help it. The Janis thing has been with me probably since the last year of high school or early college. Her voice unleashed something raw and beautiful, or at least made me recognize it when I saw it.

She was damaged and struggled throughout her life to come to terms with who she was, fighting her insecurity, but one thing she had was ambition and total balls. She was a contradiction and I can appreciate that. I can aspire to her best parts and learn from the others.

Today is the 39th anniversary of her death. I have pictures of her here at the house, a lovely framed shot of a photo I hadn’t seen of her before. Han got it for me last year.

I also have a smaller photo of her on my desk that was a gift from my friend, Robt. I can’t actually find a shot of it online to share here. So I guess you could say she’s always around and that’s good for me. I found a couple other shots that I like.

And of course, there’s plenty of stuff all over YouTube. I selected this one (couldn’t get it to embed), which is from the Dick Cavett show done about 2 months before she died. She looks happy to me, in full Pearl mode.

And, of course, there has been poetry. Mentions of her or straight out about her. I’ll leave you with this one. Rock on, Janis.

Visitors

full moon tonight is a pearl
by another name
this woman’s voice
ghost in my living room
happy with whiskey & wine
while I
boil spaghetti & drink milk
stand at my open door
let pearl moonlight edge
brightly over my threshold
along with strange city heat
not sultry
but angelic
warm breath of a lover
& night colors
no master can capture
purple grey of diffused moonlit clouds
most people would simply call blue

silver veil draped over bright white
casts shadows that trace my silhouette
tease my toes in their darkness
caress my neck with its texture
voice takes to the sky
she’s here with me
in the spaghetti I make
in the people I kiss
in the car I drive
in the songs I sing
in the prayers I taught to myself
in my belly
under my skin

I am hypnotized by pearl
the moon
the ghost

- Lizzie Wann (1997)

(man, the poems I’m posting are all old! maybe time to write some new ones?)

 

bad router blues

As I mentioned in my last post, my internet connection was sporadic over the weekend.  And then, on Monday night, it was all but impossible to get online at all.  After a fruitless call to Time Warner, we determined that we needed a new wireless router.

So Tuesday, after work, I went to Best Buy (ick) and purchased one, then brought it home and let it sit in the box for Han to deal with it the following day.

What was I to do?  No internet?  No ability to answer emails, track down venues, update calendars…this was foreign territory.  Han had a show to attend (Sara Watkins on the Hornblower ship for a radio thing), so DK & I made cheese enchiladas and watched “License to Wed” and then “Mamma Mia!” (still, the joy of that movie is awesome).  It was quite a pleasant evening.  Maybe I should do that more often, take one night off every week, no internet, no computer at all.  Wow, what a concept!

I did talk to my mom last night and learned that they were heading out to Utah the next day.  I had completely lost track of their schedule so I was glad she had called to let me know.  They’re probably in Beaver, Utah right now, or where do they stay these days?  Anyway, I’m sure Sandy is anxious to get her boy home and to hang with the parental units.

Back to the router, after a frustrating day on the phone with “support,” Han was able to get everything hooked up and all seems to be well in our interweb world.  The other troubling technological issue of late is that I seem to have misplaced my iPod.  Extremely sad.  I’m hoping it will just turn up one of these days, but it’s a slim hope.  I just have no idea where it is.  Sigh.

That’s all for now!  Until next…

 

catching up

Meanwhile, a week later…

This weekend, my internet has been acting quite temperamental.  Perhaps it’s the heat, because there’s a lot of it.

So, a quick rundown of the past week and the bits of joy I picked up along the way:

Monday: Drove up to Fallbrook for an appointment with a potential house concert host for the Acoustic Duo.  While it was hot, the drive was lovely and a nice variance to the routine.

Tuesday: the best part of the day was watching the All-Star game.  Now, I’m not keeping track or anything, but someone from the Padres has had a hand in each of the last 3 years of National League losses!  Oy!  That’s not good, but you can’t beat watching the game’s very best in a baseball-centric town like St Louis or even get a little choked up at the reception Pujols got from the hometown crowd, or marvel at how cool Obama was to throw out the first pitch.  Nice.

Wednesday: On Wednesdays, I take DK to church.  It lasts from 7-8:30 pm so I use that 90 minutes to just hang out on my own rather than driving back & forth to home.  I found this little random garden cafe, kind of just in this little courtyard between 2 office buildings.  They serve coffee & soda.  Last week, I went there and drank a Coke and read for a while.

Thursday: Han had a gig, but I chose to stay home because I had some work I needed to finish so the joy of that day was getting my work done.

Friday: Friday’s joy was an at-home date night with Han.  We grilled steaks and had some cocktails, lounged in the air-conditioned room and were just mellow.  Very nice.

Saturday: I was kind of worthless yesterday because of the multiple cocktails from the previous evening.  I didn’t do much but watch movies, some new (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Tropic Thunder), some well-known and quite familiar (Enchanted, 27 Dresses).  Our friend, Barbara, was over recording during the day and it’s always good to see her.  She’ll be off to Austin in a few short weeks.

Sunday: Today’s joy so far is just getting stuff done.  I went to the grocery store, planned the menu for the week, and I’m about to start some laundry and do dishes. Another friend of ours, Kristen, is also leaving town and her farewell party is this evening so we’ll stop by to give her our best and then plan to go see the new Harry Potter movie

And now here we are!  Hope you’re having a fine Sunday!

 

the Sunday edition

Sleeping in a bit…Denver omelettes with toast, hash browns and bacon…reading in a recliner…a cool shower…

That’s my Sunday so far and there’s not a thing wrong with it. I’ll be here with the family the rest of the afternoon, then I’ll be heading back down to San Diego in the evening.

Last night, we went to dinner at Panda Inn which was pretty good.  After that, we got home and took our requisite family photos in front of the house.  By the way, Sandy looks great.  Slim and smiley. I told everyone these would be my “before” pictures.  Now to create a program and stick with it.

Later, Sandy & I went to the store for a 6-pack of Coronitas, then I tackled the garage.  I went through some boxes of old clothes (my old tennis uniforms!), but also found some old pictures from when I was 4-H, plus a bunch of my old concert shirts.  One is of The Cure, I’ll see if DK might want to wear it.  Then I shuffled back & forth between Sandy & Dad chatting on the back porch, to talking with Mom in her room.  It was a pleasant evening.  T was happily playing on his DS.

Got a text from Han before I went to bed saying the Acoustic Duo gig that night had gone well, which I was glad to hear.  That’s all for now…until next time, consider everything I’ve written about in this post to be my daily joy.

 

the return of Java Joe’s & the rest of what’s happening

I’m behind!

I didn’t post on Thursday because almost as soon as I got home from work, Han & I were out the door to run a couple errands before heading down to the new Java Joe’s.   Earlier in the year, Joe was planning to open up a new spot, but now he is co-opting (so to speak) with an existing place and booking music and running the place 4 nights a week (Thursday thru Sunday).  Han is scheduled to play there every Thursday in August with John, an old friend of ours.  The 2 of them used to play together back in the days of the first Java Joe’s in Poway.

It was cool to hear them play together again.  Han on his drum and John singing and playing guitar.  Han’s talent on the drum is truly remarkable.  The crowd was light but enthusiastic.  Hopefully, as word gets out, it will take on a new life.

Yesterday, I missed posting because I had a busy day at work, then after work, I drove up to LA to my folks’ house as my sister and her son are in town to visit.  Sandy will leave on Monday so I’m spending the weekend up here.  When I arrived last night, we hung around the dining room table and chatte for a while, then watched some TV.  I went to bed around 11 pm.  I was tired!

This morning, after eating a gigantic croissant, Sandy & I went to the movie.  We saw “The Proposal.”  It was better than I thought it would be. I forget how much of a sucker I am for those rom-coms, but they always get to me.  After the movie, we met my mom, dad & T at Puffy Taco, a place that’s been featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.”  I had the taco plate (2 puffies, rice & beans).  I selected carne asada to fill my ‘puffies.’  We brought it back home and it was quite tasty.  Tonight, we’ll be going to Panda Inn (Panda Express’s parent).  This visit seems to have quite the gastronomic flair to it, eh?

To catch up on the joy-seeking:

Thursday’s joy: being back in the familiar atmosphere of Java Joe’s and thinking about all the memories I have of each of its incarnations

Friday’s joy: eating In ‘n’ Out Burger and hanging out with the family and the summer night air of this high school town of mine

Saturday’s joy: so far…hanging out with my slim sister and more just overall family time

 

7-8-9

Too bad I wasn’t writing this at 4:56, then it would be 4:56, 7/8/09.  Or maybe waited 10 more minutes and it would be 7/8/09, 10:11.  That one’s cooler.

Anyway…one last comment about MJ, now that my mom, my dad, my sister and my aunt have all posted.  I was glad (from the parts I saw and what Han described) that it seemed, as much as it could, like a family funeral, with a mostly dignified respect that everyone deserves.   Of course, hearing his daughter speak was powerful and I definitely feel for the kids.   I have the same kind of feeling I had after Kurt Cobain died.  His daughter was only 2 years old.  She’s 17 now and I have a feeling we’ll be hearing about her more as she gets older.  I think the same will be true of Michael’s kids.  May they retain a  groundedness that they seem to have already (somehow!).

Beyond that, I don’t have much to say really.  More and more I’m striving to find a measure of joy in each day.  My sister has a simple one line note on her blog called “Today’s Joy.”  I like that idea.  Perhaps I will try to emulate it.  Perhaps if I am aware that I should notice where the joy is in my daily hours, it will become easier to only see that.

Today’s joy: Han making chocolate chip waffles for dinner (and noting that he knows they’ll probably never be as good as my dad’s).