Where I'll Be

My make nice

Maryann,

It didn't quite register that this had happened. Anyway. It looks like I need to leave at 1 or 2 to get there on time. I take bookings out two-three months in advance. I'm playing up here July 18th. I'm already booked most weekends in June. I'd love to come back. One of your food trucks came at the end to give me a tip which I thought was cool. Thursdays are all open right now. It works itself out. I gave up my last double booking because the other party was a group of four jazz musicians who had already started setting up. I sold three CDs on top of the tips. 

Keep me in mind.

One for the Book To Be Written

So, I put in for a Thursday Night Farmers Market In Fountain Valley. The lady says I want to schedule you. I answer, great!. A week goes by. I email back, saying I'd really like to come. I get a message saying, 'I'm working on it.' Another week goes by. I get a canned message saying we are scheduling the next two months, Give us your dates, so I sent open dates in. Another week goes by. I send another message. Are you going to book me or not. I get a response: Yeah Thursday. Two Days. We trade emails Thursday morning. All is good. I leave at 3:00 pm -it takes me 1 1/2 hours to get there. She says something about trying to call me. Some guy is leaving because they double booked. I take my place. The other guy left I guess, because they couldn't reach me. Anyway I did my four hours and and come to find this crap in my email. She is emailing at 4:00 pm to tell me she double booked and can I not come.

Well, I played. I also got shafted by a little old lady who I thought had put a five in for a CD, but apparently only put a one in. After I was packing up, one of the food truck guys came and gave me a tip for the music. That's much cooler than anything else, because they are there the whole time.

Where I'll Be

Absolutely No Pictures

So, I retired the beginning of January and have spent the last two months re-landscaping 6000 square feet of sod in my front and back yards, (8 tons of sod) -pictures to come- I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The grass is gone, we have ground cover out of great wood chips and pine hay, my buddy provided and some rubber fake chips for dramatic effect. We're almost ready to submit the results to the DWP program. I had thought afterward to pour concrete over half of my back yard to create one of these rich man's patios, but am beginning to change my mind. (Maybe I'm tired) I want to create drama out of the space- I am a painter after all. I told my wife that we had to create the structure of the painting first, the over all planes of color, then began to orchestrate it with plants etc. What if we only did cement in the dramatic structural areas I dreamed of- I have a notion of a great catty-cornered place with a flying shade structure over a four post frame with the cement only there and leave the rest as organic ground cover. Ah, creation, design, what else is there in life? (I've lost ten pounds, and I'm in best shape I've been in, in a while. What a great way to transition to retirement- get rid of all your guilt in three months.)

Thousand Oaks

The last of the paying gigs at The Oaks in Thousand Oaks tonight. They are discontinuing the series. I told them to keep me in mind. I let it all hang out there, and its being Valentine's Day, they paid me extra, and I guess I sang things that touched people. One guy wants me to record with his group, had my picture taken 5-6 times- I can't remember. One kid recorded a whole number on his phone. The tips were incredible. There were people sitting just to listen to me and the applause was also something else. A young teenage girl came over to ask me to play some happy songs, which I did- I do have happy songs, but then did my saddest ones to make up for it later.

What's Coming Up