California Dreaming; blues and news

Today I drove 20 minutes to look at snow, the headed into El Cajon to see what was up at Downtown Cafe since someone had suggested it.   They had a bunch of blues harp players there to promote the annual harp fest.  That is harmonica, not the lovely stringed device which elicits visions of Heave and beautiful angels.  I like harps.

That is neither here nor there.  There were several players at the cafe, some with their own bands, although the same drummer and bass served more than one group.  It was that sort of thing.  Most of them were good players but, I hate to say it, I found most to be boring and unoriginal in content and personal style of play.

Now that I figured out I am more of a Texican at heart, I don't mind admitting that I'm not your garden variety blues player.

There were a few older guys who played that veteran musician card, but the best harp, and group, were young guys---maybe 25 to 30 something in age.  Maybe younger.  Red Lotus Revue, a local group.

It could be that they reminded me more of some of the Memphis blues outfits I liked, or because the harmonica player had more style ad imagination than the old hotshots.  Those guys were good but it is like they are phoning it in--just nothing unique at all.   That is a problem with a lot of blues players--they resist bringing anything to the table that is new, and skilled as they are, it gets old quick.

Overall, though it was a great time.  I knew a few people there--not the players so much.  I am familiar with the hardcore blues clique ring leaders, ad for that reason I avoid them like the plague.  If there are lines here, you may find something between them.

Lots of people there, and some interesting sights which involved near see-through spandex.   And no players were bad or painful for more than a minute.  I may be a snob, I think.  Lots of those guys seem silly trying to look like Mr. Badass.  Really?  Are you going to fight someone or what?   Live and let live, and be nice.

Last year I went to the big harp fest because Jason Ricci was playing a set--and it was good.  I feel guilty that most of the groups just don't hit me where I live.  This year, we'll see.

I almost posted a link to a video that is up of me playing a cool song with some locals.  None of us had really played together, as far as I know.  I do know most of the players, though.  It was a cool tune which I'd ever heard but they all had.  Minor key thing.  I overplayed and wished I hadn't so I leave it out of this.  I reviewed it and voted No.

The good thing about seeing these other players is that I can pretty well rate where I stand, which is in some other field altogether, for the most part.  Not saying better or worse, just in a very different place, and today reinforced that.  I enjoyed just being an anonymous element in the crowd.  No desire whatsoever to up there playing, and there were good people on guitar and such.  It either speaks to you or not, and today was not.

Women smiled at me, and a few people suggested I should be playing, so my ego was fed a few crumbs.

The girl up the hill has a baby shower or something the night Los Lonely Boys are playing.  I told myself I'd go ahead and get tickets if she wanted to go.  I figured if I went to all that trouble I'd be sure to get lucky.  So, no go on that and not sure if I know anyone else who'd enjoy such a evening.  Maybe I'll just go, and then head north aways and camp or something.   I think I put enough guilt out there that I might get lucky anyway when convenient.  Or not.  I'm possibly just fooling you.

If the text is missing any N's it is because my keyboard has issues, mostly with N.

The moral of this story is that I am already playing music with the best people I could have found, and I should make time to work on things more with them, particularly Cliff because he has time, and he's one of a kind and leans toward original efforts.  And he's got that kind of talent that can't be taught.

Quite often the diamonds are in your backyard.  No need to go after blood diamonds in Africa.  Now if K and L could make the time, it would be eve better.  Here on ballistic Mountain I have my 3 favorite players, and I just fell into that.  Life does me that way, yet I still seem to believe my job is to ruin my life no matter what.

I'm trying to change that.   It is touch and go, and gets to the point of being a little bit scary every now and then.   Totally an inside job.  I can't blame anyone, because I am treated by people and the mysteries of the universe far better than what mere odds would dictate.  It may be an art.  Or just luck of the draw.  Or both.

Oh.  I just found out, never mind.  My family is growing like the rabbit family under the cabin.

Those kids picked perfect cities.  I already know Seattle is great and maybe one of the only urban areas I could dwell.  And Austin is a hotbed of my favorite music.  Plus I like Texas.  I'll let the nephews fight it out for who will take me in and support me for the duration.  I'll charm their daughters into forcing them.

LOS LONELY BOYS - Senorita. Live concert (HD)

This is my idea of a band.
None of the people I play with know who these guys are.  I'm stunned.
Inundated with Neil Young and Eagles, but this is way more me.  Way, way, way more.
Makes me jump and dance, and forget my disillusionment with being me and alive.

Last Will and Testament: part 3813

Be it known, that whether I am killed by the CIA making me catch cancer, like the late Senor Chavez, or kick the bucket by other causes, known or unknown, if Jesse Jackson and/or Sean Penn show up at the funeral for any reason, just shoot me, then shoot them, or at least give them a good tazing.

In Jesse's case, I understand his fondness for Hugo;  Jesse is a thief and extortionist, much like Chavez.  They both pretend it is all for a good cause and betterment of the little people.

Don't cry for me, Venezuela.   But, please please please, can you just keep Jesse, Sean, and any of the other idiots who are there helping you grieve over your departed dictator?   If you will keep them, we will find some way to repay you.  We'll give you Ft Lauderdale, or Chicago, or maybe Connecticut.

Jesse mourns his pal, makes speech in Venezuela--overcome with grief

So, I don't know why anyone like that would come to my funeral, but just in case.  Actually, I don't think I will have a funeral.   I will go missing for quite some time, then just be declared tardy, or absent, and soon forgotten.  I'll leave no footprint.  You'll never know I was here.

If I am found, please burn the evidence and scatter my ashes over the naked thighs of beautiful virgins over the age of 18.  If none can be found, then just scatter me over the naked bodies of all those who rejected me, and those I rejected but shouldn't have.

Even so, I'd rather leave no mark than be remembered because I was part of the corrupt power structure of a nation or anything else.

Still, it is a shame to know you leave nothing of consequence or value.  It is a world of idiocy in which most of the rich and famous and powerful are negative examples of life, and evil doers--often because they haven't the ego control required not to become unbearably insane once they taste a bit of power and acclaim. .

Woke Up This Mornin'; or did I?

What a wonderful world.

Dennis Rodman, world class intellectual and moral compass, says Kim Jong Un is a great guy.

If you can't take Dennis Rodman's word for it, who can you believe?   I did not hear what he had to eat while there.   Maybe they roasted up some starving peasants.

photo lifted from huffingtonpost.com

Celebrities love dictators, and mass murdering heads of state.  The pretense required to make the celebrity feel righteous is so thick you couldn't break through it with a shoulder launched missile.

Update: He ate a baby pig.  lifted from tmz.com

Undaunted, the rich and famous will pretend that their hosts are the Second Coming, despite the evidence of suffering and abuse.  They envy that power, and the way the captive audience of peasants has no choice but to cheer with approval.

Hollywood types, in particular, love that kind of spotlight.  The kind that comes from being a King or Queen who wields absolute power.   Look at me!!! or else.   Love me!!! or else

Sick bastards.

The same mentality has infected those who aren't rich and famous, but who possess just enough education and intelligence to assume they are among the elite, and that they'll be running things when all things in life are finally run by elite boards and committees.

That group either got picked on too much as kids--or not enough.   I can't stand the pompous creeps.  Piers Morgan syndrome.

OK.  D Rod is da man, and not terribly bright.  He did manage to party in N. Korea, possibly eating them out of house and home.

It's just crazy enough--it might work!

D.Rod may reform and liberate N.Korea, create a warm and fuzzy relationship between them and the US.   This is worth watching.  Will they hide their wimmins when he returns?  Or the opposite?
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Sometimes the world is entertaining, if bizarre.

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Valley Ain't Dead

Perhaps you've noticed that valley speak is not just for California valley girls.   In the SoCal environment, it took me a few years before I could understand what women under 35 were saying, but I have it almost mastered now.

The downside is that understanding the words doesn't go a long way toward making sense of the content.

Knowing that it is futile to attempt much in the way of understanding, I've settled for mentally cataloging certain characteristics in valley pronunciation and sentence flow.  It is mandatory that a proper valley girl end sentences in a low sort of girl growl.

News women have picked up on this, so it is a bit of a national epidemic.  May as well include flight attendants who aren't satisfied with emphasizing unlikely prepositions and such.  We've got a crisis ON our hands.

And the word "you" no longer rhymes well with the word "who".  You is pronounced "yeow", and is best said at the end of sentences in a fading girl growl.

There are many words like that, but yeow is the best example.  Lots of times the vowel E is pronounced as if it were a A, but that gets tricky.  Example: OK, say whan (when).  The last words of sentences must include both the growl and the vowel butchering.

Conspiracy?   Perhaps.  I suspect the young women are being brainwashed at the tattoo parlor, and the waxing/bleaching salons.  I'm not suggesting any legislation at this point, but beware.

I'm wondering if people practice this accent, then go try it out on their friends at the local night club.   Probably so.

I wonder if this ties in with the whole weapons ban controversy.   Admittedly, at this point the connection is not clear, but few connections are when it comes to legislative feeding frenzies.

Think yeowww.   (thank is another word which must be altered for proper valley speak)
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Adios, Hugo, Guess You had to Go

What concerns me most about the tragic death of a dictator is the impact it will have on his pal and protege, Sean Penn.   Venezuelans must possess more patience than I when it comes to certain things.

yes, the campaigning is fun and we can feel important and better than all the little people we protect

I can't imagine some actor or celebrity from another country riding around with a candidate for president and that not having backlash.  I have a hard enough time when the president of Mexico advises us about how to treat people running from his country.  Not to mention his immigration laws are far more draconian than ours.

I don't know.  Even if I were rich and famous I'd find it more than a bit arrogant to insert myself into another country's political life.  But then, I doubt I'd be a real fan autocrats in any case.

...and then Fidel says, "If that's not a Revolution-sanctioned golf ball, then you get a hole in one; En su cabeza!! boom".  hahahahahaha

This must be the worst day for Sean since they shot Che.


The moral of the story is: even otherwise intelligent people can be complete idiots.   Celebrities, by nature, want to be liked, so many of them come off like parrots playing the role that wins peer approval.   There's a snowball effect.   Sean, though, really seems to believe ruthless theft or murder, for an, allegedly, ultimately benevolent cause is OK.

He always manages to hang with the more equal people when he visits these wonderful egalitarian dictators.

Iditarod Justice

...because sled dogs need a good lawyer




...
.Probably not affiliated with earth justice; because the earth needs a good lawyer.  I see a day when we will face off in court

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Why Stay; or Go? California dreaming

If I were even slightly in the mainstream of authorized life, I'd probably leave this state.  If you are rather wealthy, or not even on the scale, it works out OK.  The in-betweeners are screwed.   They try to screw the nebulous entity know as "the rich", but have only met with mild success.  If one has no tax specialist on retainer, I guess times are tough.  I don't know.

In my case, I lucked into the right place at the right time, and for now I see no better option.  So, I stay put.

The latest in California political buffoonery, if you don't count Maxine Waters claiming that "the sequester" will cost more jobs than exist in this country, is the plan to raise the tax on gasoline.   Why? Because people aren't buying a much as they expected them to when they set the last gasoline tax.

This is a state in which you often find specific parking places, up front by the handicapped spots, set aside for hybrid vehicles.   Yes, we reward you in you can afford a hybrid car.  

The hybrid perks are supposed to encourage being green and using less fuel.  Whether that all pans out when one considers various aspects of carbon footprint is not commonly explored.   I don't think it is anyone's business, but I'm in another universe, obviously.

So, go green, ride your bike, don't drive, great white sharks are people, too, welcome to California.

By the way, since you people are not using enough gasoline, we are going to raise the tax on it.  I guess they first used changing behavior as the rationale for upping the tax, and now they openly complain that they want more money because people changed their behavior.

In the long run, many of us will drive less, buy even fewer gallons of gas, experience even higher prices, and finally give up and move to Utah or somewhere.

This causes me to conclude that all the talk of wanting the leetle peeple to use less gasoline, drive less, etc., had nothing to do with environmental concern, but rather control and "revenue".   The revenue part is ever enough, so now they will punish the frugal for budgeting their automobile use.

If I were just a little bit closer to the border, it would make sense to buy gas in Arizona.   I don't trust the Mexican options over that border.  Besides crossing the border is too much trouble.  Search this and search that, and can't bring guns in case the Mexican police or gangsters (which is which?) decide to kidnap or kill me.

Already the highest prices in the US.  I thought I'd hit a real bargain yesterday when it was only 429.9 for a gallon of regularo.

What I do like about where I live is that I do not experience the harassment of gimme dollah guys like in Memphis.  There was almost nowhere you could go that you weren't bothered there.  Especially if you looked a little like me.  Four, five, six times a day if many errands were to be run.

Unlike some more urban areas, out here we don't have great herds of people clamoring for money or power under some mass ethnic hypnotic spell.   That is the advantage of more sparsely populated areas.  People do what they do and mostly shut up.

You still have riffraff, but they don't run things.  In town, the tweekers and criminals pretty much run the show, wear the badges, and cut the ribbons on crooked crony projects.

I'm not sure I could ever live in a more urban area again.  Especially the way the culture is trending.   It must be hard to continue the big pretense in those places.

We in CA are leaders.  Maybe if gas is so expensive in your state that you find ways reduce consumption, you too will be rewarded with additional per-gallon taxes.  It's for the children, I think.  Or maybe it is for Moonbeam's high speed rail to and from places which draw no riders.

We Are The 2%; this is what demagoguery looks like

Numbers are not that complicated, provided you are not associated with government and don't do business with them or a variety of credit card companies.

It puzzled me that all the sequester talk in DC involved discussions of cutting back Coast Guard activities by 25%, leaving ships in need of refueling, and the public without police protection (somewhat of an oxymoron in most cases), fire department services, and a host of items for the children. So, I put pen to paper to see how much of a chunk was really involved.

There is probably no way to be accurate, but close enough for government work.  After all, didn't they lose dozens of billions of dollars in Iraq?   I mean literally lose it.  They don't know where it went.   No one can account for it.

What I hear is that this latest crisis involves 85 billion in cuts to overall expenditures of 4 trillion.  If that is right, we are talking roughly 2.1 %.  Two percent.

Couldn't that be accomplished better by cutting all non-urgent studies funded by the feds, all salaries of Pres. VP and Congress---or at least their healthcare and other perks?  Maybe just cut foreign aid for awhile?

Cut off the ATF and DEA altogether.

It is a joke.  One of the dumbest, biggest scams ever.  Welcome to BigBrother/BigSister Land.

A self made crisis designed to force through a budget no one likes and "raise revenue"(higher taxes = higher prices no matter who you gouge).  A hoax which further sends us into utopian beehive.  To me, the Dystopian beehive.

                            Don't worry, be happy. Celebrate


I've thought about it and concluded that under the philosophies espoused by both Republicans and Democrats, the end result is inevitably totalitarianism.  Neither understands the difference between being a subject of the state, and a free citizen of a place.

Also neither grasps the fact that plain old democracy does not promote freedom.  I hear the word "democracy" thrown around as something holy, but it is not so benevolent if you are in the minority.  At best, it involves imposing the will of the majority on all.   It comes back to haunt you. Mob rule. Neck tie party..

It is also a widely spread misconception that our only rights are those listed in the Bill of Rights when, in fact, all natural human rights not expressly forfeited to government and prohibited by law are guaranteed.  But, then one needs to understand the difference between a right and an entitlement to grasp that notion.

Natural rights don't need enumeration.  Restrictions on those rights do.  The Bill of Rights was designed to ensure that means of countering power happy types could in no way be abridged.

A right does not require involuntary action on the part of others, and doesn't interfere with their right to conduct life as they see fit.  You have a Right to a house if you can build or pay for it.  You cannot require it provided and call that a right.  Sorry FDR, Jimmy Carter and your philosophical progeny.

At worst democracy involves a forced equality, as in a communist state.  Of course, some are always a little more equal--like elected officials who travel with armed guards while proposing rules which make it tough for a citizen to protect him/her self.   Mayor Bloomberg, and Sen. Feinstein are two examples.

Majority rule within very narrow limits on its power over the individual is about the best tool, provided it doesn't step on the individual's rights.  But it mostly is used to elect representatives who then vote on behalf of their people.  We're a republic.  Sort of.  Supposedly limited by a charter called a constitution. Only way known to slow the inevitable power grab.  Pretty much down the tubes, but not totally.

People aren't ready for it.  I hear of those who want to regulate more and more in the realm of private choice.  What can you do when coyotes are people, too, and the earth has a fever?

We'll figure ways around them.  People always do.  That is what made some of the old movies so fun--rebels sneaking by the Nazis or pulling one over on them, like in Casablanca.  

Gives us something to look forward to.  There is always a sense of purpose and satisfaction when one decides to overcome oppression and nasty odds, knowing it is the right thing.   Self-respect comes from choosing not to be a part of a jackboot monster, or cruel gang.

It is quite remarkable that such high stakes chicanery exists, let alone receives respect as if it were at all legitimate.

There must be something I'm too stupid or lazy to understand about this.  It is difficult to filter through the histrionics to find the facts and bottom line numbers.  Underlying view of societal organization is still the real culprit.

Maybe authoritarian rule repulses me so much for perverse reasons; it gives me something against which to contrast my own beliefs.  By doing so, maybe that reinforces my own sense of self.

I do believe that humans exerting power over others by force, when some form of self defense can't be cited, is against reason and decency.   I also believe that, even today, many would gladly enslave others if it were possible and acceptable.   And I believe minorities are at least as likely to accept such an offer, maybe moreso, as whomever is considered the majority.

Just the way it is.  In the mean time, I hope to get rich before becoming an insurance outlaw, forced to go live on the lam, finding medical care in back alley veterinary clinics.
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How To Make Best Potatoes Ever

Remember, I'm cooking on a glorified 2 burner hotplate.  If you have a normal stove, medium heat is probably OK.

First take two potats, slice long ways down the middle, Rotate 90 deg. and do it again, then cut cut cut into small pieces--not too thick.   I hate those places that offer french fries which are like half a potato each.  Lots of people have no clue what to do with spuds.

I don't bother peeling because I'm lazy.  I wash them and hope it gets most of the pesticide off.  Hell, in this state anything that keeps pests away from plants and humans is illegal anyway.

OK, pile the cut up potatoes on a plate, nuke it in the microwave for 2 minutes while the big frying pan is heating up.   But first, sprinkle some La Chinata--that hot paprika---on them.

Put some oil in the pan, just to cover the bottom.  Throw some regular paprika in there, along with a sparing amount of the Good Hawaiian salt--the red clay stuff.  Just a pinch or two.  And a cafeteria size pad of butter.  Not the size of a cafeteria, the size used in cafeterias.

The pan is hot--I always have a lid on it.  Remove the lid so you can now dump in the potatoes.   Failure to do so will result in junk all over the lid, and bad karma.

Now, pour in some half and half.  Put the lid on and thinly slice cheese of choice. I like cheddar.  Lay the very thin slices on the potatoes.   Do I have to remind you to remove and replace the lid every time?  Good, didn't think so.

Go boot up the computer and pull up your email.  Go back and put in some more half and half after scooping the mess up with a spatula and turning it over.  It will have a brown skin on the bottom  Got to get under that.  It is not to stay there.

You may be cooking other things at the same time--peas, salmon, who knows.  I never cook salmon so whatever.

Throw in a bit more paprika and chinata, if the stuff doesn't already look plenty reddish.    Don't overdo the chinata.  Be sparing. The regular paprika can be added very generously.  Maybe a little more half and half if needed.  Normally one dose at the beginning,  and one when you flip/stir the stuff is sufficient.

At the end of the process, there is little or no evidence of the half and half.  It becomes one with the potatoes.

Delete all the email that you don't feel like reading--ever.  These things take a few minutes.  Unless you have the burner way too hot, it is unlikely you will overcook.

Again, use spatula to lift that brown skin-on-the-bottom part and dump the potato extravaganza on your plate, leaving nothing in the pan.

It is better than any comparable potato dish you'll find at Chef Ramsay's or anywhere else.

You will thank me later if you do this right.   Don't know what kind of spuds I used.  I think it said russet.  Whatever ones are the best bargain, I say.

You say potato and I say whoknowswhat.

Another public service because I care.

It is for the children, our future, to support the troops, to give back to the community...etc.

Please help me pat myself on the back for my selfless generosity--it's all the rage, and has been forever.

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