Time is the lady who won't take no for an answer. With her it's always yes, let's keep moving! She's the original Lady in Red who thinks you'd be better off dead. When you ride her train it's always one way, so enjoy the ride and the view while you can, the next stop may be where you get off. But it's great while it lasts, especially if Lady Luck is along for the ride, too. (I envision an accompanying illustration, a willowy lady in red gown with this, the gown having a hood or veil hiding her face. Her accessory: a scythe. But no, that's too obvious ...)
Saturday, August 30, 2008
FREE OFFER
Robert this time will be different.
There is no cost or obligation.
The countdown has begun!
Free dinner seminar
on how to determine
when you will be financially able
to reserve your place.
Limited time offer. Some
restrictions apply. See
other side for details.
There is no cost or obligation.
The countdown has begun!
Free dinner seminar
on how to determine
when you will be financially able
to reserve your place.
Limited time offer. Some
restrictions apply. See
other side for details.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
A few haiku
Walking Mitchell Canyon
escorted by a squadron
of ladybugs ...
06-20-2005
Vanishing into the woods
as soon as he sees me:
a big buck ...
06-20-2005
Leaves swirl on the trail
swept by in this morning's breeze
and fall's first touch ...
08-24-2008
"Eradicated"
3 years ago, wild berries
we miss your taste!
08-24-2008
(c) Bob Loomis
escorted by a squadron
of ladybugs ...
06-20-2005
Vanishing into the woods
as soon as he sees me:
a big buck ...
06-20-2005
Leaves swirl on the trail
swept by in this morning's breeze
and fall's first touch ...
08-24-2008
"Eradicated"
3 years ago, wild berries
we miss your taste!
08-24-2008
(c) Bob Loomis
Monday, August 11, 2008
Dimly, and late in life
DIMLY, AND LATE IN LIFE
Dimly, and late in life
It comes to him
As from the dense text
Of a complex poem long pondered
That he has paid too little mind
To the expression of caring,
Has let what’s most important
Slip past, unseen, unheard,
Unrecognized until almost too late. What
Use regret now?
No matter,
He would have said when younger;
There’s time enough and more
To reach out with a gentle touch
And be aware when help is needed
And know how to give it freely.
Now, almost too late, he understands
And vows henceforward to embrace
Each who shares his life
Before ignorance becomes oblivion,
Before, in the eyes of those remaining,
Indifference becomes his legacy.
(c) Bob Loomis
08-11-2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Sweet Arc of Time
Space bubbles
adrift on a sea
of darkness.
I dream much,
remember little.
Sweet arc of time
drifting down now.
Nobody knows
when it ends
or exactly how. But
there is no "if."
These sweet nothings
whispered in God's ear.
But God's not so easily
seduced ... at least
not as easily as we'd like.
Come here, my dearest.
We'll dally a while,
time permitting.
(c) 2008, Bob Loomis
adrift on a sea
of darkness.
I dream much,
remember little.
Sweet arc of time
drifting down now.
Nobody knows
when it ends
or exactly how. But
there is no "if."
These sweet nothings
whispered in God's ear.
But God's not so easily
seduced ... at least
not as easily as we'd like.
Come here, my dearest.
We'll dally a while,
time permitting.
(c) 2008, Bob Loomis
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Looking Back
Don't look back said Bobby Dylan, but that's what I'm finding myself doing a lot of lately. It started with an offer of a gig for the Martinez Historical Society. When I went to look at the gig site I learned that the Martinez News-Gazette was looking for former staff members to interview for a story for the 150th anniversary edition. I don't go back that far (yet) but I did work for the then-Morning News-Gazette from 1964 to 1966. It was the first newspaper job I got after receiving my bachelor's degree in journalism from San Francisco State.
I went to the News-Gazette office and was interviewed by Lorena Castillo, a reporter and photographer for the paper. We pored over the bound volumes of the N-G for 1964 to 1966 and I rediscovered how stingy newspapers were with bylines in those days. But we did find a few things and I managed to rummage around at home and come up with a photo of myself circa 1965 and a couple of old clips.
That led to recontacting a former editor of the News-Gazette, Bob Neuman, and his former wife, Connie Neuman, who was a reporter for the paper. More recycling, this time of old colleagues.
Meanwhile, at home, Bev and Devin and I have been painting the back bedroom that used to be Shannon's. It has served as a computer room/guest room/catch-all room for the past 5 years or more. The painting project has led to uncovering further geological layers of the life and times of yours truly. Old photos, old artwork, old writing, you name it.
Yesterday the nostalgia got really intense. I started sorting through hundreds of old LPs, many of them record albums that I bought starting right round the time I went to work for the News-Gazette. My initial thought, being thoroughly sick of having so much STUFF, was that I would simply take the records to used record stores and be rid of them for whatever price I could get. But of course that fell by the wayside as soon as I started looking through them.
Among them, for example, is a 1958 Bo Diddley self-titled album on the Chess label that was his first LP. It was purchased by Bev around the time she was attending Stanford U. It's in great shape, too, I hooked up my turntable and played it all. There are also albums by Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Stan Wilson, Elvis Presley, Odetta, the Youngbloods and on and on. Oddly enough, out of all these albums by pop music gods of the '60s, the one I picked to play after I'd listened to Diddley was the New Riders of the Purple Sage. This is partly because a friend, John Gallagher, recently saw them (or the current version of them) at a BMW Motorcyclists convention in Wyoming so our conversation about them was fresh in mind.
But it also is because Jerry Garcia played steel guitar on the album and Jerry could play with the best of the steelers, or could have if he'd stayed with it and forsaken that awful rock'n'roll guitar (joke). Oh, and NRPS was one of my favorite LPs when it came out. I learned to play Portland Women and I Don't Know You on flute because I loved those tunes so much. NRPS is right up there with the Clarence White-era Byrds for country-folk-rock sound, and relistening to this chestnut showed how well it holds up. Now I'm going to have to learn to sing those two songs and maybe more off this album.
Plus now I'm going to have to go back and listen to the old Van Morrison LPs. And the Sir Douglas Quintet LPs. And gawd only knows how many others as I slooooowly work my way through these albums. Of course, the closer I look at them, the fewer I'll want to sell. These are seminal, dude!
Not only LPs, though. When looking through my boxes and trunks full of old writing, I found lots of my own poems. Some are so bad I'd be embarrassed to let anyone else see them, but some are good enough to share, IMHO. And some of the rejects are providing useful fodder for my personal current poetry revival. I'll share a few with you in future posts.
Right now, I've got to get back to sorting through these LPs. Hard work, but somebody's gotta do it.
I'll bet some rap and hip-hop fans will be doing the same thing with their old recordings 30 or 40 years from now, feeling all nostalgic and wondering what their kids and grandkids can possibly enjoy in the music they will be listening to at the time. Oh, well, as we used to say, keep on keepin' on! And don't sell your old albums before checking them out again.
I went to the News-Gazette office and was interviewed by Lorena Castillo, a reporter and photographer for the paper. We pored over the bound volumes of the N-G for 1964 to 1966 and I rediscovered how stingy newspapers were with bylines in those days. But we did find a few things and I managed to rummage around at home and come up with a photo of myself circa 1965 and a couple of old clips.
That led to recontacting a former editor of the News-Gazette, Bob Neuman, and his former wife, Connie Neuman, who was a reporter for the paper. More recycling, this time of old colleagues.
Meanwhile, at home, Bev and Devin and I have been painting the back bedroom that used to be Shannon's. It has served as a computer room/guest room/catch-all room for the past 5 years or more. The painting project has led to uncovering further geological layers of the life and times of yours truly. Old photos, old artwork, old writing, you name it.
Yesterday the nostalgia got really intense. I started sorting through hundreds of old LPs, many of them record albums that I bought starting right round the time I went to work for the News-Gazette. My initial thought, being thoroughly sick of having so much STUFF, was that I would simply take the records to used record stores and be rid of them for whatever price I could get. But of course that fell by the wayside as soon as I started looking through them.
Among them, for example, is a 1958 Bo Diddley self-titled album on the Chess label that was his first LP. It was purchased by Bev around the time she was attending Stanford U. It's in great shape, too, I hooked up my turntable and played it all. There are also albums by Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Stan Wilson, Elvis Presley, Odetta, the Youngbloods and on and on. Oddly enough, out of all these albums by pop music gods of the '60s, the one I picked to play after I'd listened to Diddley was the New Riders of the Purple Sage. This is partly because a friend, John Gallagher, recently saw them (or the current version of them) at a BMW Motorcyclists convention in Wyoming so our conversation about them was fresh in mind.
But it also is because Jerry Garcia played steel guitar on the album and Jerry could play with the best of the steelers, or could have if he'd stayed with it and forsaken that awful rock'n'roll guitar (joke). Oh, and NRPS was one of my favorite LPs when it came out. I learned to play Portland Women and I Don't Know You on flute because I loved those tunes so much. NRPS is right up there with the Clarence White-era Byrds for country-folk-rock sound, and relistening to this chestnut showed how well it holds up. Now I'm going to have to learn to sing those two songs and maybe more off this album.
Plus now I'm going to have to go back and listen to the old Van Morrison LPs. And the Sir Douglas Quintet LPs. And gawd only knows how many others as I slooooowly work my way through these albums. Of course, the closer I look at them, the fewer I'll want to sell. These are seminal, dude!
Not only LPs, though. When looking through my boxes and trunks full of old writing, I found lots of my own poems. Some are so bad I'd be embarrassed to let anyone else see them, but some are good enough to share, IMHO. And some of the rejects are providing useful fodder for my personal current poetry revival. I'll share a few with you in future posts.
Right now, I've got to get back to sorting through these LPs. Hard work, but somebody's gotta do it.
I'll bet some rap and hip-hop fans will be doing the same thing with their old recordings 30 or 40 years from now, feeling all nostalgic and wondering what their kids and grandkids can possibly enjoy in the music they will be listening to at the time. Oh, well, as we used to say, keep on keepin' on! And don't sell your old albums before checking them out again.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Listening to Jazz
Always makes me want to pick up the flute but the flute irritates and aggravates my tinnitus and so I can play only for short periods now. I pick up the flute and play a few notes, or play along with whatever is being played on Jim Bennett's show in KPFA-FM radio and then sit down and insert an ear plug in my right ear, the one that seems most to ring and whistle and shriek after too much loud noise, especially high-pitched noise. Lately I have had urges to drop all my other music pursuits, to drop the singing and the instruments I accompany myself with (guitar, ukulele, guitar-tuned plectrum banjo, autoharp) and go back to my second love, flute, which I began learning in 1969. It is still the instrument I play best and easiest of all simply because of the 15 years or so that I devoted to it and to no other form of music-making. However, to do that I must find effective earplugs, earplugs that cut the noise to a tolerable level yet allow me to hear the nuances of music. Guitar, of course, was my first love and as such still holds a prime position in my musical priorities even though I fear I will never really be all that fluent on it. I will not drop it in any event. Singing and playing guitar remains an essential part of my musical life. So, the search for perfect earplugs is on! Meanwhile, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
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