WAKE UP AND FIGHT 

Happy New Year to You. I hope and pray that this year brings great good things to you and yours, and lots of love and good cheer throughout.

Here, as we're in the midst of several Woody Guthrie tributes and studies and I'm in the process of learning a handful of new Woody songs, myself, I thought I'd post this wonderful photo of Woody's resolutions from 1942.

My ex used to joke about how many Woody tributes there are, but hey-- there's a reason for that. His songs are still relevant and his spirit, and…

Filey Brigg 

Filey Brigg


Didn't wanna go

But then, it's so good to be gone

 Here along the beach

The North Sea sings her song Seagulls wake me Make me shake the time  Right the wrongs Sometimes it takes a whole lot of nothing before something good comes along Filey Brigg Filey Brigg Since I quit dancing with the devil I walk upon your back instead Beyond the dirt In this sand and mud Across the moors and in the hurt We sing our song Follow the lead of the heart In the wild wind,  Hear Justice call

Sometimes it…

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"Sometimes I feel very sad....." 

Was running just a little bit late to Bell Labs Studios the other day.  It was our last day to mix the VAGABONDE record-- finally!  But I was also running out of gas, so stopped at the Love's at Exit 120 where the sign said the price for unleaded was $1.99..... By the time I finished filling up and was pulling away, the sign then said the price was $1.97.  I looked at the receipt, and damn, missed it.  

Everything is in the Timing.   I'm out of time. Out of money. Out of patience with the time that it's… Read more

...just because there's no new blah blah blog for a while doesn't mean there's not sumthin' goin on....On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur.  L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.   

It was late when I stopped by Mom's apartment. 

She answered the door whispering to me, "Daddy is asleep in the other bedroom."  "Huh?  Dad is?"  "Yes," she said, "Daddy is...or is it Mother? Well, someone is."  I didn't argue with her. For all I knew, there really was someone asleep in the other room.   Even though in this reality there was nobody asleep in the other room, and i would soon be sleeping in there.   In that other dimension, maybe there was someone in there.  In fact, there probably was. … Read more

C'était le temps des fleurs 

Yahia, my dear old friend, used to say unequivocally that Paris was "La Plus Belle Ville du Monde." 

Which surely must be true.

But the Metro smelled like piss.

Maybe every metro smells like piss. I took the RER from Gare de Lyon to Chatelet les Halles and waited for the connection to Charles de Gaulle airport.   It was rush hour crowded but i got onto a car of the tram that held less than a dozen people. I dumped my heavy bags and my guitar on the seat in front of me and crumpled into the chaise across… Read more

Heaven.  Hell.  Borderlines.  And stuff in between....... 

What is the definition of heaven?  

A French chef, a German engineer, an English policeman, an Italian lover, and a Swiss banker. This was one of the only jokes I used to know.   Brent in Switzerland recited it to me the other day and it was funny to hear it again after all these years.  I reminded him that I had told it to him a long time ago when i used to play my steady gig at Rick's Cafe Americain in Tulsa and they used to all come out on Wednesday evenings. On the TGV now going back to Paris… Read more

Reste de l'or. 

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day Nothing gold can stay.  Robert Frost Funny, I come to France and see The Outsiders, this film that was made in my hometown.  The theatre was packed.  Fabien, the director of the festival, introduced it, the complete novel version.  And we all became engrossed in the beauty of the greasers and their… Read more

Just another day, Part 3.....American Express-- go ahead and leave home without it. 

"Press 9 only in the case of an emergency such as death, rape, or abduction."

This was the after hours voice message of the American Embassy in Paris. It was good to know they considered such things emergencies. The fact that I had no money, though, did not fit into that category so I hung up. Ah, La France.   I'd forgotten all of its charm! And I feel fortunate just being back here. If souls were to have a nationality, I'm pretty sure i have a French one. So, I spent 5 hours walking in the cold rain… Read more

Just another day..... 

Part I: 

Feel like I'm from a different epoch, a different century, maybe I'm just back to the future, maybe I'm from another planet.  I haven't flown IN YEARS.  Who are these strange creatures?  What is this incredible security system. Is everyone a terrorist?  Why must they confiscate my huge brand new bottle of Smart Water and test it before they dispose of it? I've only had a sip, just eaten a salty meal.  I'm an idiot.  


Never thought I'd fly again.  Been there, done that.  So much beauty in the… Read more

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! 

 

It was after midnight when our train pulled into the station just beyond the outskirts of town. Why a train station outside of town?  It was late and we were in Portugal.  Little made sense.  The few passengers who got off at the station dispersed into the dark and only my traveling companion and I were left. The station was closing and they shooed us away.  But where to go?  The buses had stopped running for the day.   There was not a hotel nor a hostel anywhere near.  No all-night cafe.  Nothing.

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