there's a river running under your feet

haiku

the truly great thing about growing up is that you just stop worrying about most everything. all the bullshit, the tap water, the disease, the heart palpitations, the will he/wont he, the am i or arent i, wondering if there's any poss way to know whether or not the plane will go down, or your daughter will survive the whooping cough, or your husband will ever understand the meaning in all things. it becomes moot. the pain takes over, you become familiar with the ground, the smell of food again, and the way the sun never fails to rise even if you are quite, quite sure you would like to die today.

it is so simple. and incomprehensibly beautiful. and not in your control anyway, so relax. if the plane goes down, it fucking goes down. did you think that was the END of the story???

changeup

and that's final.

on tuesday my phone rang and it was my ex, calling to say he hadnt yet gotten the papers notarized but could we talk on friday and have both done the deed and sit down and drink a toast?

actually he called about a few things, like how juliet was doing and summertime plans and the movie he's working on, but after i hung up i realized it was a d-word call. i brought it up. and we did need to talk about it but still.

birth of a considerable artist

several weeks ago i went to watch juliet perform in an end-of-year showcase performance.









from the opening moments of the piece, which is called clearly. simply. yours. it is impossible to look away from the thing she is unfolding, and that's a fact. in part its the weight of presence that comes when a person is able to be entirely without argument with the world around them and to fully and hugely fill out their own frame. she does this. the other part is that her choices are completely devoid of pithiness or imitation or anything saccharine; the movement is all heart and soul made visible, pulling no punch. seriously.



she is utterly fearless. that alone is art.

graduations and weddings

conratulations, eric! (future pulitzer-prize-winning author)
congratulations twice, sam! (soon-to-be husband and future leader-in-world-affairs)

i will be missing both. meanwhile, the record is coming along, tour stuff is coming together, i finally have real shampoo, not sure about glastonbury but looking at a calendar of boeing 787s nonetheless, and man, somebody's gotta do something about this full moon! ;) its insane.

but this is for the graduate-rs, and the wedding-goers, and all the june rush:


"'tis five years since, `an end,' said i;
`i'll march no further, time to die.
all's lost; no worse has heaven to give.'
worse has it given, and yet I live.

i shall not die to-day, no fear:
i shall live yet for many a year,
and see worse ills and worse again,
and die of age and not of pain.

when god would rear from earth aloof
the blue height of the hollow roof,
he sought him pillars sure and strong,
and ere he found them sought them long.

the stark steel splintered from the thrust,
the basalt mountain sprang to dust,
the blazing pier of diamond flawed
in shards of rainbow all abroad.

what found he, that the heavens stand fast?
what pillar proven firm at last
bears up so light that world-seen span?
the heart of man, the heart of man."

poem by a.e. housman, a shropshire lad



john hunter said that to me and some other people on an important day a long time ago.





but also:


"humanity i love you
because you would rather black the boots of
success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both

parties and because you
unflinchingly applaud all
songs containing the words country home and
mother when sung at the old howard

humanity i love you because
when you're hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink and when
you're flush pride keeps

you from the pawn shops and
because you are continually committing
nuisances but more
especially in your own house

humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it's there and sitting down

on it"

ee cummings, tulips and chimneys

peace out

here's what poor jimmy's has been through in the last week:
poor jim

but then again, ive been hiding in my bathtub (i shit you not) as a tornado came knocking on my front door last mon or tues, and thousands of people and a handful of panda bears too have been dislocated by wild wooly world events, so jimmy's maybe has it good ;) they'll be open soon.



sadly over the weekend tho, i missed getting up to an event i so very much wanted to be at in dallas, and that had me as good and mad as i get. i can see missing things for reasons outside of our control (read: tornados, typhoons, earthquakes, a bad full moon), but the things that are in our keeping, if we are keeping council with good things, it is unforgivable to miss. so: it hurt, and i only hope all the reasonable people in the area got out to what was probably the best deal on a live event as your going to ever see. kristy kruger, whom i havent even met yet in person, seems a stand up and lovely and perfect leader for a three-ring event like saturday's benefit. if you missed it, be sure and look her up and throw something at her effort-she's raising funds for her pooch, who if anyone ever had a pet, you know vets, along with dentists and doctors, are about the best way to spend everything you dont actually have before you even get to the office. here's her connection:

miss kristy

bomb-diggity

photos above by maurice

ruta maya: great sound, good people, wolf-lovin folk ;) carley's wolf, winter, joined us onstage as well as during her set and i highly recommend you your own moment onstage with a gentle white presence like that. we had a great time.





photos by rockslide photography (john grubbs)



thanks to good people who were there, so amazing to see faces from all over-- and from a hundred years ago!

obama is off-book

as we say in the acting business. meaning, he isnt working off a script. he's talking heart talk. i saw it toninght.

i got back from rehearsing for tomorrow's show and my friend carole was watching the updates on indiana and the carolinas, and barack obama was coming on to speak. she said a lot about the diablical behind-the-scenes of corporate hilaries. when he came on to speak, after he led his lady down the steps safely to her seat before returning to speak, the man spoke off-book, no script, out of a full experience of what he was talking about. i switched horses tonight.

this guy is for real. can i say, i may have been wrong? i may still be, but this man is talking from his heart and that's pretty much the proof i was looking for.

anyway, we learned each other's songs today and come on down, we plan to sing em for you, all the way, tomorrow night.