Holiday

500 hundred miles or so into tomorrow, I will turn and stretch in my car seat and look out into the darkness, scanning the horizon for that hint of light, that faded lovely glow in the distance. Birmingham. The Magic City. I will look to James and smile sleepy tears of excitement. Soon I will see our families. Soon I will hold my grandmother's hand.




Christina Courtin - Rainy -
one of my favorite tracks recently posted on Said The Gramaphone.

Winter 1993

Sometimes, dearest, I just stop. Because I don't understand.

Sometimes I look at my life and say...yes. All of these things.

Sometimes I turn and look at you.

Sometimes I remember that trailer on the edge of town. Sometimes I remember a white bench seat in an old two door, the engine humming in the chilly Winter wind. The awkward windows. The scene on the screened-in porch. Weren't they all scenes. Weren't they all waiting. Why didn't they say one thing. I was in the midst of a Midwestern Austen adaptation. Longing. Silence. Longing. Silence. Whispers. Anticipation. Silence. All in the middle of a god-damned cornfield.

You were there, corn silk hair and gray eyes. You were there, all form and no function. You were there, hands in pockets and digging at the gravel road with the toes and heels of your shoes. I was there and I walked away, cold air burning red into my tear-stained cheeks.



Sharon Van Etten - For You from the album Because I Was In Love

Pied Piper Triumphant

I reached down to nervously clutch my purse. My hand furrowed down between chair and desk to find a lonely lunch bag. I caught myself and stared up at my Advisor. I had almost captured her lunch. "So..." she smiled and dragged one hand across her hair as she tapped and tapped the mouse. She turned her head to me. Her bangs stood out sideways from her head, a dangerous angle, sharp and satirical.

"Um...I don't know. Um..." We stopped for a moment as I fumbled through the papers upon my lap. I was so ashamed of the amounts of Ds and Fs and what-have-you's on my transcripts, but so proud of the memories that they produced. Every year of incompletes, save one, stood for this lovely, terrific life I led. Every F for a series of mornings, overslept or just delinquent...from what adventures? From stuffing students into my little blue car for seemingly pointless but truly amazing day excursions to St. Louis. To the family farm. To Denver, Colorado. To defunct Utopian communities dotting the Midwest. To shows in Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, and New Orleans. To late night rock shows at the Nick. To laying about on rainy days discussing nothing but the weather while Red House Painters beat the din that marched my heart to it's adolescent sadness My only regret is time. That I am 31 and have so much math yet to learn.

"So? What do you think?" She had brushed her unwieldy bangs down. Her eyes peered through her slim glasses. Click. Click-click.

"Yes. I think that's great. Those classes sound perfect."

And with that...I became a student again. At last.

Múm "Sing Along" from Team G on Vimeo.

Trip the Friday Fantastic!

-friday FANTASTIC shortmix-

Melbourne - R. Stevie Moore
No More Heroes - The Stranglers
Andy Warhol - David Bowie
Kay-ray-ku-ku-ko-kex - Mum
Wake - The Antlers
RR vs D - AU

Layers

While making bread this afternoon, I swayed a bit, leaning back and forth from foot to foot. Karen Berquist from Over the Rhine belted from my living room "My Funny Valentine." I realized that I could no longer feel my toes. In their place, I felt nothing but cold. Fingers stiff and covered with flour, I forgot, I forgot the flour. I reached down to touch my shoe, just to make sure my foot was still there. Yes. And now my Doc Marten Mary Jane was also covered with flour. The cold is unusual to me. I guess I've been spoiled by 8 years of Alabama weather. Our cavernous apartment has tall windows which still seem to let in little light. I've invested in leggings and long-sleeved knit shirts to put under every piece of clothing that I own. How could I forget? How could I forget the quiet bitter cold of the North? It stole so quickly into my days. The summer hung around so long, lazily reclined upon our living room couch, throwing his drunken stare in every direction. Fans and air conditioning units were installed and shifted from room to room. And instead of the bumbling, snail-like exit I had expected, Summer stole away in the middle of the night, leaving in his place this hollow dreadful chill.

fall falling footsteps

Fifteen lines on country roads. Fifteen hearts entangled. Turn a corner, down the lane, a darkness overtakes us. Through the brush and tottered trees, through the frozen Autumn eve, breath like cotton, hands curled close, gingerly, we follow.

Fifteen paces over hill. Fifteen miles upon us. Fifteen years we've lived until another night of burning light, of scorching heat, of feigned delight. Another moon leads us to stand around the burning embers. Your face distorted, features sharp, then fading with the flick of dawn.

*************************

J. Tillman - "First Born" from Vacilando Territory Blues from Western Vinyl on Vimeo.

Thank you.

Two days, 300 miles or so, not enough coffee, a paper bag full of Indian take-out, one hyper-active English sheepdog, one pint of whiskey, fake blood on hospital scrubs, a gypsy, a pirate, a tiger, a frozen lady, a wrecked kiddie car, a bamboo cane, a tiny mustache, a bowler hat, a bunny suit, and a pair of cheap glasses...all make for the beginning of a beautiful birthday.

nein on nine

We stopped in at the ever amazing Grammers on Saturday night for the Nein on Nine! shindig. Lovely and awesome.
I ran into the 5ch4r7z and his lovely other half in the lobby. The consumption of good beer and an insane array of pretzels and cake (one of which D later pulverized in the parking lot after someone dropped it on his car) and a great amount of inspiring discussion took place. Thanks for inviting us all out. Great evening. Love this video:

NEIN ON NINE! from PROJECTMILL on Vimeo.

Vote NO on Issue 9!!!

Starring Charlie Gibson
Manifesto Written by Mandy Levy
Shot and Edited by Pete Ohs
Music by Bad Veins

theprojectmill.com
peteohs.com
badveins.com
mandylevy.com

corrosion/colors

I climbed onto the table and stretched out, turning my gaze for a moment as I lay down, glancing lightly and quietly at the huge plastic and metal circular mouth of the MRI machine. My head came to rest upon a small pillow. The radiologist placed a frame over my head and locked it into place. I smiled up at her. "Woman in the iron mask," I nervously joked, staring up at the small mirror attached to the frame. My nose stared back, attached to a smile, attached to my eyes, my crinkled worry-worn forehead, attached to my face. The mirror was tilted strangely. It was supposed to reflect the radiologist's booth outside of the MRI room. It's purpose was to make the patient feel like they were not trapped inside a large magnetic machine, that the patient was still connected to the outside world. I kept staring at the reflection of my nose and thinking, "That is my nose. I like my nose. It's kind of pretty." As I thought these thoughts and kept quite still, the radiologist rolled me back into the machine, and then her voice came over the loudspeaker. "This should take about two hours. We'll take a break towards the end to do the injection. The first scan will be five and a half minutes." I closed my eyes. My breath became a slow rhythmic timer, my only companion. Charged little clicks and whirs resounded, then the pulsating, unending, staccato-ed "BUUURRRR" of the machine.



Give me this new lovely season. Give me cold air and cars rushing by. The leaves will start to turn. We'll sit on our porch in the crisp autumn evenings, smoking cigarettes and singing, squinting and smiling at the people walking past.

"i cross the line
and see a face that can’t be mine
through a long long night
to find a place where we all thrive
where every frail thing can survive
where we can live this dream of life..."

from handkerchiefs by the Winterpills

shortmix - songs to listen to while i cry into my yoga bolster

Head Home - Midlake from The Trials of Van Occupanther

Famous Blue Raincoat - Marissa Nadler from Songs III

In Silence - Low from Drums and Guns

Lump Sum - Bon Iver From For Emma, Forever Ago

Blue Line Swagger - Yo La Tengo from Prisoners of Love

Madzangara Dzimu - Green Arrow from 4-Track Recording Sessions

Freely - Devendra Banhart from Smokey Rolls

Clothes of Sand - Nick Drake from Time of No Reply

Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) - Peter Sarstedt from The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack

Self-Portrait in Three Colors - Charles Mingus from Mingus Ah Um

I Give You What I Want - Hope For Agoldensummer from Ariadne Thread

Drive Me To The Center

Most probably my top pick for MidPoint Music Fest:

The Seedy Seeds - Drive Me To The Center from Soft City Lights on Vimeo.

I can't help it. I heart them like the madness.

Catch The Seedy Seeds @ the Contemporary Arts Center on Thursday, September 24th at 10:30pm.

Blue Ridge Mountains

Red Squirrel in the Morning

"Red squirrel in evening,
Red squirrel in the morning,
I'm coming to take you home...."
from Sun It Rises by Fleet Foxes

Sometimes I'm a little late. Sometimes I arrive hands wide open and wandering. Sometimes I turn and finally notice. Sorry it took so long.

These summer days have been long. I'm thankful that the weather has grown slightly cooler. I'm glad that the busy part of this season is over and we can finally enjoy a few weeks of quiet recreation and rest.

After James arrived home from the Vermont workshop, we packed up the car and set off for NYC. I was worried that such a big trip might add to the stresses of the Summer (workshop, broken toe, general hot season MS fatigue) but I think we both found the adventure rejuvenating. Two of our closest friends, Will and Amber, played host and guide for our very first visit to New York. We waited in the sauna-like subway, saw our first city rats, wandered the streets of Chinatown and Greenwich Village, pillaged Yogurtland, shopped in Soho, searched through the stacks in the Strand. The Strand is extraordinary and overwhelming. I found an out-of-print Nancy Mitford novel, Don't Tell Alfred. James wandered a bit, eyes large, taking it all in. It was a bit like the first time we reached the upper room of the Ohio Bookstore. We could have stayed there for hours...but we needed more coffee.

The Antlers CD release for Hospice was that Friday night at the Mercury Lounge on the Lower East Side. The show was incredible. I love the record. The narrative of the record is so powerful and I was unsure if they would be able to replicate that on stage, to interpret something so beautiful in a live (and uncomfortably hot) setting. I should never have had a doubt. They pulled it off beautifully.




Upcoming Events...happening in the near future...as in the next two days:

Tomorrow evening there will be a poetry reading at Sidewinder Coffee in Northside featuring several poets including but not limited to: Kristi Maxwell and Mitch Raney.

Saturday:
There will be a free performance of As You Like it at Eden Park.

Poet Matt Hart is reuniting with his band and playing in the front parlour of the Southgate House? That's the rumour, Kids. We'll be there to see if it's true.

Also, later in the evening we may stop by the Freddie Mercury Birthday Bash at Grammers.

Inbox (14)

The Birthday of James the Jim

For James's birthday, I shall post a song about his new ultimate hero:

(Parental discretion is advised (parental units, this means you!(I'm serious!(not kidding.) You can celebrate James's birthday by watching something else heroic (like that movie "The Great Escape" (or for instance the Billy Wilder film "Stalag 17")))).)




(This blog has been approved by the Strunk and White edition of the Elements of Style.)(somewhat)

Scoot, scoot. Hobble, hobble.

I hear the lovely beat of this song in my wobbley gait across the file room. The hand claps cheer me on.

Dear You -Thursday Clips

Check out this short interview with Chad VanGaalen on Stereogum. And then download the Black Mold track.

Then watch this: "Molten Light" Chad's latest record on Subpop/Flemish Eye, Soft Airplane.



Also: I've found an awesome replacement for Terry Gross, should she ever decide to retire.



or maybe I just wish that Joe were my grandpa.

This weekend, I'm going to try to make it out to the Sons of the Desert gathering in Clifton. I'm excited that there is an actual Laurel and Hardy Appreciation Society in Cincinnati. Check out details at the Chimp Tent

Wednesday Song Awesomeness

The Besnard Lakes

five little fingers

Covered in stripes, strips of adhesive, adhering to me, keeping me stable, keeping me safe as I flip through these files, sharp edges with every turn, sharp little revenge for my morning's laxity.


And I'm back...from the holiday weekend, from the dry summer heat, from the strange little things that keep me from taking the time to post. So much I should have told you about. Sorry kids. I'll fill you in now.

We made it through Spring quarter, but barely. Had a great end of the year party at Dietrik's. Said goodbye to a few friends. Did some Spring cleaning. We only had a few days before James left for Birmingham for a week to visit family. While he was gone, I baked. A lot. And listened to music and watched some movies and gardened a bit and then went to see the Dirty Projectors in Columbus.

Beautiful. Amazing. Show. I didn't really get them at first, everything seemed sort of stuttered and discordant and strange. James put a couple their songs on his latest mix and I just didn't get it. But he made me promise to go to this show. I'm so glad that he did.

I've talked about the Sunny Day Real Estate show in St. Louis before, how seeing them actually changed the way that I listened to their music... and actually all music...from that moment that they broke into the first song from How It Feels...my entire perspective changed, it was cloudy and disorganized and all of the sudden, with the writhing bit of guitar and bass and drums, it became this clear and lovely vision of light. James talks about art, how real art should change the way that you see things. This...the Dirty Projectors on stage at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus...was one of those moments.





Can I also say that I love the new video for Stillness is the Move? And no, it's not the balloon panted jumpsuits or the mountain Yak. I actually don't know why I love it at all. But when it ends...I always have a joyous smile upon my face.

shortmix for a rainy thursday

King Porter Stomp - Jelly Roll Morton
You're Driving Me Crazy - Django Reinhardt
Toby Dammit Part One - 13ghosts
Slide Show - Travis
Monty Got a Raw Deal - REM
Book of Angels - Jim White
Downtown - Dexateens (coming to the Southgate House next week! (playing the parlour))
Katy Song - Red House Painters
A House - Doves

Today I am the dusk.

If I go about this like I should, you wouldn't get very far. You wouldn't be able to follow me down this particular path. You'd stop in your tracks and look around and begin to wonder and wonder and I would be gone. I would have disappeared from your line of vision, and more importantly, within a matter of seconds, I would have disappeared from your thoughts as well. Today I am the dusk. I'm those gray moments, dulling your surroundings. I am the wilting, careless dream.

Today I am the dusk.

****************************************

One of James' very favorite videos
Bat for Lashes

Little Lost Lolita and the Literaries short mix

Little Lost Lolita and the Literaries
Originally uploaded by SaraLeah

I felt this tightness in my chest. I felt this extraordinary light headedness. I floated, I fled, I found myself at the bar. The bartender placed a large Arrogant Bastard ale in one hand, a cold glass in the other. I turned with twisted appreciative expression on my face. I sat down beside Lyz and began to consume. The warmth calmed me. The conversation did too.

I couldn't believe how nervous I was. We'd come in about 7:30 to set up. Peter had broken a string on his guitar. I was to use the guitar to guide the David Bowie song. I would fake it. I would strum and turn and sing and hope that no one noticed the small amount of sound coming from my instrument. I think it worked. We sounded wonderful.







Here is my shortmix from the week of the show. My moodmaker, my heartshaker, my constant encouragement. At work, I forget that anyone is around at the end of the day. I listen to this and file and sing my heart out. No one has complained yet. I guess that's a good sign.

Marry Me - St. Vincent
Falling out of Favor with the Neighbors - Through the Sparks
Five Years - David Bowie
What Do - Vulture Whale
Some of them are Superstitious - Midlake
Hold on, Hold on - Neko Case
Annabelle - Gillian Welch
1000 Books - Leslie Helpert
Everything's Different Now - The Innocence Mission
Rebel Prince - Rufus Wainwright

Word with End

After two fierce full practices we are ready to go on the road...






an entire block and half away...

Tomorrow night, Peter, Brian, Lyz, and I will be debuting our latest at the Catskellar on UC Campus. Here's the info:



Hosted by The Cincinnati Review

Friday, April 3, 2009 at 8:00pm
University of Cincinnati, Catskeller

"Come join us for our first annual Word Without End, an open-mic, cross-genre extravaganza.

Read your own stuff—excerpts or pieces entire—read someone else’s stuff, play an instrument with a missing string, or sob uncontrollably while passing around pictures of your childhood dog. Make YOUR loss OUR loss.

We're hosting a silent auction of once-lost-now-FOUND objects. If you have fabulous crap (like a lone sock, a filthy barbie with matted hair, a pineapple, a hungry hippo) we want it! Proceeds go to the Cincinnati FreeStore Foodbank, which serves more than 160,000 people throughout southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, and southeastern Indiana."

Musicness and other stuff

The view from where we stood:

-rows of wooden CD bins.
-the back of a smartly bespectacled woman's head, her hair a strange platinum fluff growing out of brown straight strands.
-a gigantic neon colored Minnie Mouse purse.
-Japanese finger puppets.
-a bin card for Kaki King
-lovely worn and dusty wooden floor.
-a middle-aged man in a military jacket pacing nervously in the latter alphabet of the rock section.
-my black Earth shoes
-Randi's green t-shirt framed by a long black cardigan sweater.
-Two young men with guitars.

Those two young men were from the Annuals. They played a rather lighthearted short set, four songs in total. Wedged in at the end of the sales room, between bins, stood frontman Adam Baker and lead guitarist Kenny Florence. I was taken aback by clean brilliant banter of the lead accoustic. I had anticipated a bit of raggle-taggle acoustic chord flim-flam that I'd seen thrown together so often other bands' in-stores. Maybe I was always just going to the wrong stores. Or checking out the wrong bands. In any event, the midday adventure with Randi to Shake It records was well worth it.

I picked up a few records on my way out ("way out" consisting of an hour and a half of mindless wandering through the bins, wondering what I had even listened to lately, what I had written on that list of albums that sits on my desk at work, wondering what my name was, while Randi thoughtfully fueled my record ramble with a coffee run to Sidewinders).

Latest Acquisitions:
Richard Swift as Onasis

Vashti Bunyan - Just Another Diamond Day



Jelly Roll Morton - The Complete Library of Congress Recordings

Clem Snide - Ghost of Fashion

St. Vincent - Marry Me


*******************************************************
Future Dates of Awesomeness

Wednesday - March 25 - The Heartless Bastards instore at Shake It Records
Thursday - March 26 - The High Strung @ the Comet

The Birthday of the Ruth and other good puppetness

Happy Birthday Ruth!!!! Hurrah!!!
May your day be filled with lovely random hugs from bus drivers and incredible mix tapes.


Ruth's Birthday Puppet

********************************************



Randi and lil Randi

Randi and I spent Friday evening at Sidewinder's crafting to the sweet and scary sounds of a death-obsessed singer songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. I can't remember his name, but as part of his mid-set death trilogy he be-wailed Joe Strummer's death and growled about recent death threats of his own. And honestly, over-all he was a very cheerful, almost cheeky individual. He kept thanking us for being there (as Randi and i were the only two in the room for his set...and the whole time he was playing, we were making things out of felt and string - but we did "woo-hoo" and applaud him after every song. That has to count for something.)
I really do love the back room of Sidewinders and would love to see another show there, or perhaps work to organize a reading sometime in the near future.



lil Randi

**********************************

Last weekend Randi and I attended the Knot Only Knitting crafting circle at the Northside branch of the Cincinnati Public Library.



lil Amber in the works



lil Sara Leah

and the end product of last weekend's crafting craziness ---->


lil Amber, Gizmo Aloysius Records, and lil Sara Leah

Scene from the street on a rainy Wednesday morning.

I had to reproduce it for you in a sketch, because traffic wouldn't permit an actual picture. How sweet and sad, the abandoned little televisions consoling each other on a dreary day.

*************************************

Our Valentines dateness actually took place last Thursday. James and I ventured over to the Southgate House in Kentucky to see the Sea and Cake.

Here is my blobby cell phone representation of the beauty of the Sea and Cake. Apologies in advance:



We sat on the back corner of the balcony. The railing in front of us lined our view of the stage. We shared a Three Philosophers cherry lambic and watched the smoke curl around the room. I felt at home. Tears did not well up in my eyes with recognition of particular songs (which is usually bound to happen with any show that I've waited this long to see). Instead, I closed my eyes. I reveled in the repetition of Sam Prekop's vocals, the intricate drums, my god the intricate drums....the drummer was incredible. I can tell you that I hardly understood a word of what Sam was singing, my ears were waiting for what John McEntire would do next.

*****************************************************************

MARK YOUR CALENDARS, KIDS -
(well, you kids that live in Cincinnati)

February 23, 2009
Juana Molina @ the Southgate House

March 4, 2009
The Annuals @ the Southgate House

March 6-8, 2009
Bockfest!

March 26, 2009
The High Strung @ the Comet

Cincinnati Shortmix: CAC - Tara Donovan Exhibit

Lovetown - The Glands
Fire - Jason Collett
Chasing After Deer - Midlake
Corpus Christi Carol (for Roy) - Jeff Buckley
Songs Without Words (Opus 19 No 2)- Paul McCandles
Circles - Shortwave Radio
Teenage Phantasm - LYLAS
The Summer - Yo La Tengo
When It Begins - Broken Social Scene presents Kevin Drew


que: MUSIC


Tara Donovan's Exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center:













The exhibit will continue through May 3, 2009

Also note: Next weekend
Saturday, February 21, 4pm & Sunday, February 22, 12:30pm

Minimalist musical performance in response to the materials and forms of Tara Donovan. Visit the CAC on Saturday for a classical guitar and cello duet between local musicians Isaac Hand & Ethan Philbrick and then again on Sunday with a performance by the Flux Capacitors.

Snow Day Infinity

Wing Finger

What was once the only thing
Has transformed into everything
Even you...
Even you...

I sat in the dimly lit room without windows. I stared at the milk colored walls, the paper covered table, the plainly labeled boxes of medical supplies. The young resident neurologist sniffed and sighed and asked me another question. I stuttered my thoughts through tired lips, twisting words, reasoning, reciting...this is what happens. Every two seconds I thought of something else to tell him. Half of those things never got told. They didn't really matter. What mattered was the image on his computer screen. My spine, discs angular and beautiful, a column of uneven lines, a white and dark pattern. The spinal cord itself was stained, small splotches, patches, dark little places in the midst of gleaming bright white. The resident flipped through images, the successive MRI's of my spine and then of my brain. The brain was completely clear, but for a few older lesions. I have a very pretty brain.

Walking
We are growing at the speed of light
Every single piece is synchronised
Even you...
Even you...

I've been waiting for the results of a certain test. Dr. Melanson ordered the test after putting together all of my symptoms at our first appointment a few weeks ago. She thought that there was a possibility that I could have Devic's Syndrome. With the myelitis and optical neuritis, it's understandable.

I started researching Devic's in the meantime, reading everything I could, throwing my energy into this new idea. The trouble is that it's not an easier disease....it's actually much worse than MS, with fewer treatments and no preventative therapies at all. I think that I just became so enveloped by the thought of it because it was something different. Something other than what I've been living with for so long. The results of the test came back negative. This is a wonderful thing, that I just have plain old MS. Plain old MS. I should be joyous that I do not have some degenerative disease that most definitely ends in blindness... But that evening after I found out the results, as I stood in the kitchen making supper, I became completely paralyzed with disappointment and frustration. It seems so silly now. It seems ridiculous. But I just wanted a different answer. I wanted there to be a fluke, Dr. Melanson walking in and saying, "You really don't have any of this. You're just a beautifully dramatic hypochondriac."

Teradactyls, abandoned pianos, your stepdad's bongo drums, the snails that live inside aquariums

Doo-doo-doo-doo...

What was once the only thing
Has transformed into everything
Even you...

- lyrics from Wing Finger by Chad Vangaalen from the album Skelliconnection

shortworkday shortmix

Charlyn, Angel of Kensington - Jason Collett
Page's Instrumental - Hope For Agoldensummer
Night and Day - Billie Holiday
Wing Finger - Chad VanGaalen
Lost Verses - Sun Kil Moon
Foothills of my Mind - John Vanderslice
Blame it on the Tetons - Modest Mouse
Teree La Sebin - Amadou & Mariam

Wednesday Afternoon Adventure

He stood, fingers inches away from dangling cigarette, cigarette dangling from open lips, hanging jaw, eyes wide, eye brows raised, breath floating up through the cold air. He stood staring at me. Me - Flowing red leather jacket, jeans, lovely woven cap, new snowboots, all of me jumped up and disappeared into the black Rumpke recycling dumpster. Then I popped up, holding the top flap covering of said dumpster with my head as I dug through stacks of newspapers, bags of cans and bottles, boxes, boxes, and more boxes. Moments later I emerged victorious, holding the side of the dumpster for balance with one gloved hand and thrusting my tiny white United Healthcare Insurance Card into the air with the other. My audience stood staring still, across the parking lot. They stood and said not a word, heads turned and tilted - frozen in the moment. They did not surround me with thunderous applause carrying me back to my Honda Civic on their shoulders. No, I crawled out on my own, placed my prodigal card in my wallet. And then I drove away.

Album of the Day:

Cellar Door by John Vanderslice

Papa Guac - Birthday of the Big Dog

Birthday salute to the man who introduced me to the Beatles, Otis Redding, Burt Bachrach, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Chicago, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, America (the Band), Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Letterman, The Beach Boys, The Mamas and the Papas, Antonio Carlos Jobim, John Williams, Henry Mancini, Bert Kampfert, Paul Mauriet, Bud Shank, Chuck mangione, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Herbie Mann, Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Carla Thomas, James Brown, The Temptations, the Four Tops, Wilson Pickett, The Irish Tenors, The Boston Pops, Mannheim Steamroller, the Canadian Brass, The Brothers Cazimero, Krispy Kreme Donuts, White Castle, Steak 'n' Shake French Fries, Ollie's Barbecue, Colby-jack cheese, German Chocolate Cake, Pancakes, Crackerjacks, Beernuts, Coca Cola, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Amos Bronson Alcott, Emily Dickinson, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ozzie Smith, Bear Bryant, Jesse James, The Pony Express, Buffalo Bill Cody, Billy the Kid, The Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, the Sears Tower, Wall Drugstore, Star Wars, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Lawrence of Arabia, Amadeus, The Pink Panther, Singing in the Rain, The Music Man, The Mighty Wurlitzer, The Fox Theatre, The Alabama Theatre, New Salem, St. Louis, the majority of the 50 States, part of Canada, and so much more....

A recipe for you Dad - On your 61st Birthday

Guacamole - from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

1/3 cup finely diced white onion or scallion, including some of the greens
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
1 to 2 serrano chiles, finely diced
Salt
3 large avocados, preferably Haas
Juice of 1 or 2 limes

Set aside a few tablespoons of the onion, cilantro, and tomato for garnish. Grind or chop the remaining onion, cilantro, and chile with 1/2 teaspoon of salt to make a rough paste. Peel and mash the avocado with a fork. Add the onion mixture and tomatoes and seanson with lime juice and salt to taste.

If you're not serving the guac right away, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to keep it from browning. To serve, heap the guacamole into a bowl and garnish with reserved onion, cilantro, and tomato.

NMO

She had me walk in a line, toe to heel, toe to heel. I had to lift up my pant legs, they were so wide. It was the same as I tiptoed across the room and walked only upon my heels. My huge pants just seemed to get in the way. James later said that it looked really funny, but it got the job done. I sat through many other tests today, simple ones, touching my finger to my nose with my eyes closed, pushing my legs and arms against the doctor's strong grip. She is my new neurologist, a specialist at the Waddell Center at the University of Cincinnati Hospital. The interview today was really encouraging. She asked me several questions that none of my other doctors had ever asked me before and ordered some tests (bloodwork) that I had never heard of. We'll schedule the new round of MRI's next week. Maybe Dr. Melanson will be able to tell me something new. Maybe she will just help James and I manage my symptoms so that I can have a more comfortable life. Either way, I'm very happy and excited about the future.

Album of the day:

You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene