Ground Plane VII

 

maybe swim a mile down the Nile

 

Dear Dance Partiers,

Hey!  It's your summer dance tune for the day!  Brought to you by Radio Dodo; where we never have ads or donation drives, and we care about your comfort and the correct spelling of 'partiers' (not partyers).  

dot & line

 

funnin' ya, again

 

Fabulous shoes for playing virtual dress up!

Dear Summer Fun Seekers,

Another week of fun possibilities!  I know you have noticed it; the days are getting shorter, and the ideas for fun are becoming scarcer:  I worry a little that I won't be able to find enough to get us all the way to the Equinox....

Visit a swimming hole.

See a movie at the Drive-In.

Play 'virtual dress up.'  How?  Find an outfit, but don't buy it!  Here's what I'd wear!

Read poetry out loud.

And, here is your dance party tune for this week!

See you next week, where we can hopefully keep the fun flowing!

landscape

 

make stopping sense

 

Dear Sensors,

Here are two fine dance tunes for you which share some words, and sounds:

Girlfriend is Better

Making Sense Stop

They are your songs for today!

square of light

 

fare thee well

 

Dear Listener,

Ooo!  Here is a beautiful, haunting jewel of a song for today!  I could listen to it all day; how about you?

Ground Plane VI

 

Fun; con't.

 

Phyliss Madonna's Cheese Pie.

Dear Fun-Loving,

How is your summer of fun progressing?  Does it feel like a habit now, to have your twice weekly dose of fun?  Is it too little?  Too much?  Can you tell the difference?  I think too much would be if you need to stay in bed all day the day after the fun, and too little is when you want to stay in bed all day the day of the appointed fun.  Alles klar?

Here are some suggested funs for week four of summer fun!

Build a tiny home.

Bake a (cold set) pie.

Dance music, and again.

Turn some resin.

Draw a pastel still life.  Part two.  Part three.

See you next Tuesday, for more fun!

yesterday evening

 

Miss Print.

 

watching cartoons

 

Dear Friends,

Here is your song of the day, Watching Cartoons, and yes, this one is for watching!

fifteen hundred

 

One thousand five hundred days! 

Dear You,

Where are you at?  Because I want to meet you there!  I think maybe you are worried that you are on a different level, and that I might not want to skate with you, but that couldn't be less true!  I want to skate with you wherever, whoever, you are.  If you have never skated, I want to go with you to the rink and rent skates with you, hold your hand, and show you how to play the "Numbers Game."  If you want to just put them on your feet, stand up, and sit right back down, I want to loan you my skates and be at your side on the bench or sofa.  If you are way, way beyond me and three-turning, waltz jumping, hurricane kicking, hill bombing, and dropping in all over the streets and parks, I want to come and timidly roll on your sidelines!

It's possible that you have some other concerns; maybe you worry you will get hurt, or maybe you worry that you are too old, or that your friends will ridicule you.  To these concerns, I suggest taking it slow, no one is too old, and keep it secret.  Or, if secrecy isn't your thing, you can just ignore criticism, just like (hopefully) always.

It's a funny co-incidence, but in sifting through my old papers, I found a note of criticism, from a dearly admired painting teacher of mine.  Do you know, that it was rubbish?  No, really, it was terrible!  It suggested that I needed to have 'a break through soon.'  A break through?  To what, for pete's sake?  I spent the rest of the day mentally searching through my teaching interactions, praying that I would not remember myself saying such a stupid thing.  A thousand curses upon me, if I did such an ignoble thing!  I tossed this old letter, and I thought I might take a few minutes sometime soon to mentally immolate the people in my life who have said similar things.  I notice, in considering these people, that they are all white, old, men, and that they 'held' a lot of power over me for various reasons.  Of course, that's the deal with paralyzing and damaging criticism; if you didn't care what they said, it wouldn't matter what they said.  

I bet you are already thinking, "but, if you burn them up, if you erase their negative words from the record, won't you have to delete the positive things they said, too?"*  I have wondered about that, but I think that the positive lessons from these people are already integrated into my thoughts.  Also, I have a plan!  I am going, by removing this dusty junk, to make space on the shelf for some really encouraging words; some real appreciation for my own work.  Yes, you guessed it; I am going to put the words there myself, and I am not even going to ask anyone's permission to do it!  

To return to my main points here, I encourage** you to try roller skating, and, to also think hard about what words would encourage you, what words would make it safe for you to try, what words would open the door, give a little nudge, or reassure a person, and then, please, speak those words to yourself and to others!

* The very tiny scraps of praise that keep you coming back, whimpering for more from these masters?  Hmm, maybe the praise isn't that great anyway.  If you can see yourself as this kind of pitiful dog (and I know I do!), call to the poor pooch, and give it a biscuit, won't you?

** Roller skating encouragement for the very young.

shadow world

 

What's for fun this week?

 

Watermelon and Knife, 1989, Wayne Thiebaud, 

pastel on paper, 85/8 x 97/16, collection of the Crocker Art Museum.

Dear Funsters,

Another summer week, and another list of fun possibilities!  

Read a summer romance.

Attend a performance.

Dance music.

See an art exhibit.

Build a rocket.

See you next week, with even more fun!

two tales of the dale of oil

 

Dear Ones,

I give you today, in this summer of songs, two songs of Oildale:  

Oildale

Oildale

I would be knocked over by a feather, if I should hear that The Creston Line's songwriters were not influenced by Mike Beck, and yet, it is possible.  I think, though, that the more important thing to notice is how one song, possibly written from the strains of another, is not just another disposable, shadow thing, but a really lovely addition to the conversation, which, as listeners, we are invited to participate in, and to actually construct new dialogs and stories- like those re-arrangeable magnetic words on refrigerators.  

If you expand your circle of contemplation of these two songs, you will come to Buck Owens, Tom Petty, this song about Sherry, a long list of outlaw country stuff, which might suggest Buddy Holly and Hank Williams.  What can you make of that?  Well, don't forget the Delta Blues, because 'country' music ain't nothing without the blues, and pretty soon you are in Africa, so maybe listen to this fine pastiche.

PS  

In my own song of Oildale as Shangra La, I might have a carload of ersatz lovers arrive only to find ruins, or worse, big box stores, mile after mile.  Or maybe it would be a more positive John Prine thing; the lovers arrive, till the soil, grow their own food, and their children grow up playing soccer.  Send me your ideas for an Oildale song, to the usual address in Pueblo, Colorado, and I will send you a bumper sticker that says:  My Other Life is in Oildale, California!

The highs and lows.

 

Refrigerator Pies,  Wayne Thiebaud, 1962.

Dear Listener,

It's a summer of songs, this one, and here are two more, for you, for today.  River Deep, Mountain High.  How Deep is the Ocean.

PS  Do you love your pie?

It's fun; calling again

 

Lemon Leaf Macrame

Dear Fun-Seeking,

Oh boy, have I got a list of suggested funs for you this week!  Run, don't walk, to these funs!

Invisibility cloak (make your own!).

Dance track.

Cookies, fast and slow.

Craft.

Try new things.

Until the next fun!

I'm afraid I can't help it.

 

Dear Revelers and The Rest of Us,

Here is your song for today.  Thank goodness for songs for every occasion!  Here's a charming bonus feature.

wrack & water