The Key we rolled up in

“Let’s play in the key we rolled up in!” was an oft-heard pronouncement upon arrival during my many years traveling with a Multi-Media Performance Group. This group of “Neo-Vaudevillians” was so rag-tag in fact, that whenever She had to dig deep into the Bank Bag (where we kept our earnings), our Treasurer (and Lead Vocalist, Fiddle Player, Yogini and Belly Dancer) would pull out $.42 and exclaim, “Now that’s something to build a dream on!”

On one trip we went into a Worm-hole in Gainesville, Florida and didn’t come out again until Lincoln, Nebraska. That trip, which ended in early May of the year 2000 (also a Presidential Election and a Leap Year), produced one of the Group’s great unperformed Dirges to the Open Road, aptly named: “Triangle Mountains”, (there is at least one other, “Rough Road”)as the tour ended in Colorado.

Another trip, this time in the Summer of 2004, took three Transmissions over 5 weeks (and simultaneously spawned the Cryptic Phrase “Anj Mitten Trance”) and cost us most of our unsecured and valued items (like digital cameras, cds, laptop computers and personal journals) when our Van was burglarized in a Pay Parking Lot in San Francisco. Oddly, the thieves left over $6000.00 in cash sitting in a plastic container (inside the Bank Bag) under the first Pew, which we lovingly called the “Shot Princess” (as it was behind the “Shot-Gun” seat and second most comfortable Bench Seat after the “Princess Seat”, the extra long Pew at the very back of the Van).

While times on the road were not always so rough, those are the times that burn lasting grooves into the wax of our memory banks and become exaggerated as they grow. I have found that time as a memory does not stand still. It is constantly stretching out in all directions. Sometimes a little more this way and others a little more that, as the 3 Mustaphas 3 would say, “Forward in all directions!”

Of course, the Positive Experiences were what kept the Program on the touring Circuit for well over twelve years. We went to some of the most out of the way and subsequently, most beautiful spots in the entire Country, Europe and the Caribbean and thereby met some of the Most Outrageously Creative and Cool Individuals inhabiting the Earth during that time.

Another popular saying within our ranks and almost always directed toward the slumbering percussionist was: “This is what it looks like coming in.” His Father, a College Graduate, had taught him as a young Boy to always be aware of his surroundings. So, when he first entered the Group, down none other that the Gang-Plank of an enormous Steam Ship, working in the Caribbean Cruise Trade, he asked us to wake him up on the way into a town where we were going to perform, so he could see what it looked like around the town and not just the Back-stages and Alleyways and Vegetarian Restaurants.

Atmospheric Pancakes

Sometimes I am a Selfish Little Bugger and sometimes, I am as wide-open as the Clear Blue Sky, expanding onward and upward through the atmospheric layers straight into the Heavens that stretch on into the limitless depths of imagination. The selfish side of me is more like wallowing in the Primordial muck, the basic unknowing part that is inside of everybody, how we all start out, the wide-open part is what is best in all beings and there is a way to get there which is a good part ethereal.

Watching the Bees buzz around in this changing light of Autumn, in this cool fall air, which puts coats of dew on the insides of my windows, reminds me of the effortless way of achieving Peace. This Peace is as fundamentally of part of each of us, as much as the Selfish part is. Neither require much thinking to get to, although at times, the Selfish may be summoned more quickly than the Peace, which may take a while to regain once the Selfish has reared its ugly head. I see the Bees in the Sunlight and the Yellow Leaves and the Blue Sky beyond it all, blue like a dome lid covering everything but the Blue isn’t really a lid, it’s the illusion of a lid, it’s really the layers of the atmosphere all stacked up on each other like cosmic Pancakes. If I were to put a pad of butter between each one and drown them in Pure Maple Syrup (I’m speaking of Grade A Dark Amber, not the Log Cabin Brand), I could chop them up with my fork and knife and eat them so quickly, these soft, light layers and I would have that Cosmic Breakfast for lunch and dinner and a midnight snack!

On this sunny Sunday morning, the light is dancing through the colored leaves and tickling me all over and makes me want to jump and run and be a Child of the Woods and smell the smoke and feel the cool air in my nostrils and filling up my lungs. It makes me realize the tight connection to all of the ages, all the way back, of which I am just the latest link. I am clinging to that realization and wondering more and more whether I am the knot at the end of the rope, that does stretch, no matter how you think of it, all the way back to the first little magic spark that ever happened on this Earth. That magic spark squeezed itself right out of thin air and so began the madness and the struggle that is building into either perfect peaceful bliss or indeed, complete destruction.

Although, I do admit, that the destruction might not be complete and if Humans were somehow wiped from the face of the Earth, as the Dinosaurs were, some other next great group would surely come along and adapt to the situation. Only an incredible cosmic accident could complete destroy life on Earth, the explosion of the Sun or an asteroid so big that it would just reduce us to bits of dust or some other unknown thing.

Today though, is just one day and it’s a beautiful day and I am hoping to survive it and watch the sun go down and to eat my Supper and read a book or draw a picture and go to sleep in my bed, with my little Dog by my side on the floor and the Kitty curled up on the couch, purring lightly, causing a vibration that reverberates into my dreams, then I will wake up on Monday morning with my batteries charged up full of this creative juice and I will make some wonderful art and have a successful week and be at peace and share some of that with anyone who is also open to it!

Tickling My Senses Ale House

Something is itching at the back of my Brain or my Heart or wherever things will itch me when they want to jump out and take form in the World that I imagine is real. Where is that place, exactly? And is it important to know that location, is it where inspiration speaks to me? Is it just a cluttered area, like my studio, out of which ideas fall into place, made up of various pieces of odd things that would never normally fit together? I can’t say for sure, I only know that spending too much time trying to figure that out will cause the original itchy thing to disappear, even if it never fully took form inside of there, I think it was really just the longing to make a little piece of writing that would shake up the world somehow, the world I imagine to be real, the one in which my computer appears before me and I type in the words that pop up in my brain. Outside this morning it smells like Earthworms, like all the dew on the grass is that sticky stuff that gets on your hands and dries up after you have been handling Earthworms. There are leaves on the grass, too and maybe they are what makes that smell. The leaves are brightly colored now because it’s Fall but they are still fresh, they haven’t started to fade and turn into soil yet. The weather has been extremely nice, which is wonderful but it gives that feeling of sadness, that last little bit of warm weather, that fleeting feeling that everything is on the brink of changing. It is much cooler at night but still in the 80s during the day and the sunlight is perfect now, golden and illuminating everything, causing it all to glow. So much is happening right now in the world, not my imaginary world but the one that I hear about on the news, that people talk about by the watercooler or on the sidewalks and in the restaurants and cafes. The world is turning topsy-turvy, it isn’t just the changing of the seasons but the changing of ideas and those who refuse to be open to the new ideas, who are standing in the way of the advancement, those people are mad and they are swelling up and I can feel them growing and bulging, like they are going to explode. If only they could see it the way I do. If only they could see the good that comes with a little more knowledge and a dash of hope. Unfortunately it may be beyond their control, it is certainly beyond my control. I am just a Human, trying to get the itchy thing out from inside of me, the one that wants to jump from my thoughts and take form right here in front of me. It’s almost as if I could create some new life, some new thing, some whole other existence. Doesn’t that seem so bizarre?

Chit-Chat on Islands

The First in my mechanized Whale series

I imagine that somewhere out there in the Sparkling Sea, there are people making chit-chat on Islands. I think of this as small talk, the kind of exchange done out of politeness mainly but also to get some quick information. I guess if it gets more developed than that, they have moved into full blown conversation and their coffee is cooling off and the morning is melting away into the day. I have always been a fan of Islands and often remind myself when traveling to them that “if it is not the Ocean, then it Is Land.” An Island, is land. Yes, I live high, high up in the Mountains of Western North Carolina and have done so for many years but part of my Heart is tangled up in the Water. I have dreamed of living on Islands or by the Sea Shore, or at least on a Lake but so far, I just have a tiny little creek running through my backyard, the Moore Creek, is my only water feature. Yet, I still dream of the Sea, the Magic of the Ocean, the sound of the tide against Cliffs, the taste of a mouthful of saltwater, the bite of the wind when the storm is raging, that unmistakable feeling of being on a boat. I think I am a Seafarer stuck inside a Landlubber. I want to hear the wind whistling through the rigging as we make a full head of steam, see the bow rip through the water as the Dolphins dance on either side, celebrating the Human Triumph in a way we could never appreciate them, those Aquatic Cousins, long gone from the Land. I would feel at home in a Steamer Chair with a cup of Hot Cocoa, watching the Sun go by overhead and all around me nothing but Ocean from Horizon to Horizon. Now mind you, I would not like to be set adrift, to float with no hope of rescue, no I would not like that, unless I landed on a tropical Island, either unpopulated or inhabited by some very friendly Natives. As I sit in my chair on dry land and type this and see only Mountains and Forests and Sky, I appreciate the rustic, inland situation but I do long for the Sea and the journey to get there is already begun.

My Blurb

I am constantly working on this kind of thing, my biographical synopsis. So I am going to post it here and see  how it looks:

I have been making drawings and paintings since I was very young (I started out drawing Bugs in the Garden at Age 2). I always did them, as far back as I can remember. In Grade School, I was allowed to draw during class, I often entertained several other Children at a time with my Pictures and Stories. In High School, I was the Art Editor of the Student News Paper and in College, I drew Cartoons for three different publications. After College, I tried, unsuccessfully to become a Syndicated Cartoonist, my work was too far in Left Field, I was told repeatedly. So, by default, I became a Baker, it’s still creative. It was through Baking that I became associated with the Performance Group, Snake Oil Medicine Show. All the way back in February of 1997, was the first time I heard their music. I first met jay Sanders and Steve Peterson, through a mutual friend and they introduced me to the other members, George and Caroline Pond, Andy Pond, Jason Krekel and Aaron Price (each of these humans changed my life much more than I could have realized at the time). I was immediately drawn to their Upbeat, Quirkiness. They were drawn to me, too, and we began talking about combining Live Painting with their Musical Medicine Show. In August of 1997, at the Jehosaphest (Snake Oil’s one and only Music Festival), I did my first Live Painting ever with the Band. After that, it became a regular Gig for me and at least one other Painter a the same time. That was a great thing, not only did we have a Live Painter in the Group, we had at least Two! As time went by, we traveled all across the United States, from Maine to California and even Alabama, then we left the States and Traveled in Europe and to the Island Nation of Jamaica, in the West Indies. Jamaica is famous for a Type of Music called Reggae and in 2003, Snake Oil Medicine Show had been invited to Perform at a Special Party there, called the Chinese New Year in Jamaica or CHNY for short. The event is put on by a Outfit from Atlanta, Georgia, called Deep Blue Ripple and it benefits the Jamaican People and especially the extremely Bright and Promising Young People there. CHNY
has developed a kind of Humanitarian Tourism and invites participants to “Party in Jamaica for a Good Cause”. We in SOMS immediately Became good friends with the Organization and have been involved for over 6 years now. I create the Artwork for each year, this is the Year of the OX, coming up in 2009, I have done Art for the Year of the Dragon, the Rooster, the Dog, the Pig and the Rat. I have donated Large Paintings to this amazing Non-Profit and also to the West North Carolina AIDS Project and the Moog Foundation. I have learned that if you can’t make a contribution in cash to help out your favorite causes, there are still several ways to help, Art is just one of them. I hold firm to my belief in Art Magic. Art, which I define simply as Human Creativity (not to discount the creativity of our fellow Earthlings, the Elephant and the Monkey, to name just two), has a very powerful ability to heal on many levels. I also want to mention my involvement with the French Broad River Festival (where I create all the Visual Art and help with things like the Sponsor Kit and Post Cards, T-Shirts and Posters for the Event) and the Dynamic Art Gallerie collaboration with Bob Seven
and george Pond and the OUR Festival in Western New York State. Plus the yet to be named children’s book project, tentatively entitled “Party Animals”, which started as a song by the Royal Rascals for a Children’s Album. I have also designed over 75 CDs for Bands and printed countless T-Shirts and Posters. I also painted many murals across the South East including the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company and the Reuter Children’s Center in SOuth Asheville. In 12 years with Snake Oil Medicine Show, I painted over 100 large paintings during the numerous live performances (each painting took me anywhere from 5 to 20 performances to complete).

Fried Eggs

Today I am feeling a little crazy. It is partially due to the fact that somehow during the night, I developed a huge “crick” in my left shoulder, that is causing dull pain to go up into my neck and makes it hard to turn. Beyond that the Universe is throwing me some new twists and curves to deal with and the bad economic news is kind of scaring me just a hair. I don’t own stocks or anything of that nature but I do have a house and make mortgage payments. I am sure everything will be fine, in fact, just the other day I decided this would be my best year ever, so I guess I should not be worried. I am going to chant positive things and keep dreaming BIG! I need to remember to listen to music and the crickets and to draw pictures and drink tea and to take walks, all the best things in life, that are relatively inexpensive. Tonight I am helping with an Auction at the Merrimon Art Gallery that is to benefit the Forest. That’s right, the Forest, you know, the one with Trees. Also, my Friend, James Owen is performing and showing some of his wonderful Artwork at the Harvest Records in West Asheville, around 7:00pm. James is a very talented musician and artist (visual). The Mad Tea Party is performing in Greenville, South Carolina, so check them out if you are in the Area: http://www.themadteaparty.com

Wheel Whale!

as seen earlier in another format:

There is a Tiny-sized Whale, inside of a Big Box, feeding case-fulls of Cod through a little door in the wall to a Big Whale, which spins around, shooting sparks and stamping fresh shingles out of old wheel-wells from Trailer Hubs. The First Whale only eats one fish at a time, Kippered Herrings, all stitched up, like the Skipper, with Gilligan! This all takes place inside a Gigantic Whale, the size of your average Universe, which is flying at top-speed, completely out-of-control, and headed your way!

Welcome You Back

In today’s installment: The Summer is almost over. I am not looking forward to the Winter. I love to be able to stand outside and feel the warm breeze. When the cold winds start to blow, I must take down all the window screens in my house and roll in the old-timey windows, then seal them up with a plastic coating that makes everything outside a little bit blurry. The blurry plastic cuts down on the light, too, of which there is already not very much in the Winter. I love the light, I am constantly surrounded by my protective Light Bubble but it is more of an ethereal light. It’s that big orange fire-ball in the sky that makes the light I crave. Today in the office, my Dad and I are studying the Panamanian Real Estate Market. Looking for any good finds, there is a Beautiful Bed and Breakfast for sale, built right on the water. It could be very good to go there and bask in the warmth, instead of freezing here and paying ridiculous fuel prices. This is my home, however, Western North Carolina, and the trees are still a brilliant green and the Sun’s warmth is still coming in the windows. Outside a big truck makes loud noises and the familiar smell of diesel fumes (which always remind me of traveling) waft in through the open portal. So I will stay here a little while longer and try to make some more art!

I just got my dog, Lucy (aka: the Goose), back from her Haircut and Bath. She looks and smells wonderful. At thirteen plus years of age, this won’t last for long. She has been super-itchy and the Folks at the Grooming Place suggested she take a Tablespoon full of Canola Oil in her dinner to help her get some grease in her coat. I’m gonna try it.

New Blog

Hello, this is my new Blog. I am writing from my desk at the Home Office here in love-i-ly Woodfin, North Carolina, aka the Nork, in my own native (altar-native) lang-u-age. I hope you are doing well as you read this. It is my intention the have the number one Blog Universally, while also helping to encourage and inspire the likes of your fine self and I hope to let you in on some good news from around the way, including, especially, music, art and other writings from all my Heroes, great and small! I will update this often with new news, so please check back and put this link into all your Websites, and other Social Networking Areas and your own Blogs, as well. I am also hopeful that I will soon receive a new keyboard that types correctly for my hunting and pecking style! Good Day.