south then north, some summer fun coming

Tomorrow I'm flying to L.A. for some long overdue hanging out with my dear friend and songwriter extraordinaire Ruthann. We're playing a show together on Saturday at the Echo Curio, and tomorrow I'll be at the Hyperion tavern, with sweet Fort King.




Then next week heading north to Mendocino for the Invisible Ocean Festival
A heap of talents, a farm, organic food, the ocean nearby, some homemade brew and friends...what more can one ask for?

my new love

more seaside, seagulls

cloudy but still nice.

with lifted fog. I like the soft lines of the mountains.

bundle of kids jumping up and down in the first waves in Half Moon Bay.

*

There isn't any time really, but in the midst of a whirlwind of tasks it's quite calming to look at these photos from the past couple of weeks.
And for a soundtrack: it was the first album of hers I ever heard and I think it's still my favorite - the sound & poetry of it...:

Love and Architecture

I usually get a little sad when I finish a book I like. Sometimes I even stall reading towards the end, just so I can stay with it, it can stay with me, a little longer. Last night I finished reading this one, Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. It's a semi-fictional account of the liaison between Frank Lloyd Wright and one of his client's wife (in actuality his client as well), Mamah Borthwick Cheney. I didn't know anything about Wright's life, so it all took the allure of a novel to me, and I got quite attached to the characters - especially Mamah Borthwick. What they had to go through - what she had to go through - in order to live truthfully... quite a lesson in living. The writing is easy going wihtout being too easy, and I was quite delightfully transported to the 00's and 10's of the 20th century. Their story brought to life a lot of issues about feminism, the human condition, the weight of society and the choices we are to make in the course of a lifetime. Not to mention the role of the woman in the creative life of the 'genius'....I was particularly taken by the vigor and scope of the Woman Movement at the time, and by Mamah's remarkable intelligence and humanity. She feels like a dear companion now, thanks to Nancy Horan.

***

Then today I was in Oakland and walking through Old Oakland after brunch, where they have these neat suspended doorways (although not quite as visionary as Frank Lloyd Wright's work, but a little eerie just the same). We ate some delicious grub at a place called B.
Here's a nice map. I also like this place.

Beach

At last. First swim. And with tea, almonds and berries.

Inspiration

I went to the MOMA yesterday, in search of inspiration and to take my brain on a little vacation. Even though it was crowded (free first Tuesday of the month), I still got something out of it - like this painting with butterflies, "Pray" by Damien Hirst. I'm not sure about the artist persona after reading about him, but I liked the painting.

Then to the Richard Avedon exhibit. The one photo that moved me the most was of a Hiroshima pilot, a Claude Eatherly, taken August 6, 1945. The expression on his face was so intense, with a tear in his eye not quite able to even come out, as if the horror was beyond what a human being can possibly cry about. At least that's what I saw in it.

He (Avedon) can take Marilyn Monroe out of her glamour into pensiveness and vulnerability. And I like how he uses the space around and between his subjects:

The museum has now a rooftop garden, perfect for sitting in the sun with a sense of abandon. I met a nice German lady there, another expatriate. We talked about second hand stores, unfinished projects, and how wherever you go it's always nice to be in Europe.

Other things that caught my attention : Andrea Zittel's travel trailer, so perfectly outfitted with wood panelings and glass jars; and Robert Frank's "The Americans" - I didn't have time to look at the whole thing but what I saw I liked a lot. And Jack Kerouac wrote the introduction to his book, a collection of photographs taken all around the United States over a period of a year and some odd months. Both a renewed inspiration for travel, of which I haven't done enough lately.

Afterwards I sat outside the cafe for some tea and writing. It was still warm outside by 6 o'clock, it felt like summer again. At last.

Some other inspiring items in my life right now:

reading Nabokov's Transparent Things
listening to Colleen in the mornings

I've just added the moon phase lil' gadget on the right. As you can see it's pretty much full. I'm ready to get on a train to somewhere exciting and far away - if only.

But for now: figuring out how to release a full length record, all by myself. Exciting! Intimidating! Scary.