SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

I hosted a house show for some bands that had been on a small tour. Lee Baggett had flown down from Washington to join Kind Word and Zeb and they played a bunch of shows on the central California Coast. I think this house show was the last one on the tour. Lee ran from my house to the surf shop to buy a surfboard bag so he could fly back and not break his board that he presumably bought along the way somewhere. I don’t know why but it is funny he ran a mile to the surf shop in the middle of the evening and made it back on time to play.

We had to have Ramona in the truck the whole time because we couldn’t have her in the house with children and a party with lots of people. She was really sweet and cooperative and Joni helped me check on her a bunch which was really nice. All the bands sounded played well and the socializing was mellow and respectful. This one guy had a strange ax to grind about my doorbell being loud that I didn’t understand and Joni also thought it was strange but it was also interesting.

This is a group of musicians and friends that have experienced a lot together. I went through a long period of being disconnected and maybe this marks a time where I get back into having friends and participating in music. Or maybe it is an aftershock or an echo towards the end. I’m not sure which of those it is as I write this now but it feels wise to document. Bob Thayer, who was instrumental in first introducing me to this crew, was also the brains behind making this show happen and I am grateful for it.

This is the Flyer for this House Show. I don’t know who made it but if you tell me I would like to credit it.

Here is a picture of Sterling playing bass with Sunny in focus in my living room. If I lived in a seaside cabin or where I had more time I would like to make this site function such that this photograph connects in a winding path to other photographs where this group of people played music together. This is a note to self that one day when there is more time I can do this, but right now I need to make a small amount of progress.

This photograph is poorly lit but I wanted one in here that documents more of the people that played. This is the Kind Word set.

SAN FRANCISCO

Today I have 10 benches I’m contracted to build for a restaurant, and there’s pressure to make them great. I’ve been working really intensely for several weeks though, on multiple projects. I’ve noticed that when I make mistakes is when I get burned out and my environment becomes chaotic and ill cared for. So today, rather than press on with intensity on work tasks, I decided to slow down, plan, do the dishes, do the laundry, wash the sheets, and do something creative that documents where I am, regardless of how mundane it may seem.

I’m tired, and not brimming with inspiration. The washing machine is humming with a load of dirty towels. The sky is grey as I type with the computer in my lap and the dog sleeping next to me on the couch. Arrayed in front of me on the dog scratched up coffee table I made are various binders and journals I use to keep track of ideas and ways of practice. The phone is buzzing with text messages about a music rehearsal I don’t feel like I have time or energy for.

All of that being said, I’m glad I took time today to enjoy the quiet, and take care of tasks that allow me to feel focused and intentional. I’m going to record a very short improvisational song on the EP 1320 next, because I have it my notes to do so. Then I will put that song here and be done, trusting that I have learned something that brings us closer to the life we’re meant to be living.

I MIGHT NOT LIVE TO SEE MY DREAMS IMPROVISED SONG

THE LIGHT SWITCHES

THE EP 1320 IS A SAMPLER BY TEENAGE ENGINEERING THAT HAS SAMPLES OF MEDIEVAL THEMED INSTRUMENTS AND SOUNDS.

RAMONA HAVING SOME SLEEP WHILE WAITING FOR HER AFTERNOON WALK.

MY FRIEND GAVE ME THIS BUTTON AND THE MESSAGE I USED TO TAKE A BREAK TODAY AND RECLAIM SOME TRANQUILITY AND ORDER.

PARTS FOR THE BENCH I’M BUILDING TOMORROW CLAMPED AND GLUED.

COMPLETED JOURNALS IN MY ARCHIVE ROOM THAT I DON’T KNOW YET WHAT TO DO WITH.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

On this date we endeavored to promote Pop’s Gardens, our small business, and to make some money selling art we made and tools and instruments we no longer used.

The sale was successful. We met lots of neighbors and friends and made about 600 dollars. We worked really hard and long so that’s not much money. I like how Keith Richards kept a journal of how much money the Rolling Stones got paid for each show they did in London and other small English towns early on, and I like reading baseball box scores in the newspaper.

I sold a combination tape player, radio, cd player that I purchased at the Sharper Image located at the Inner Harbor shopping area of Baltimore, Maryland when I was thirteen years old with my friends Sarah and Rachel Bizer who were visiting from Massachusetts. I listened to a lot of cds and tapes and baseball games on that player over the years. It played music at many parties in San Francisco at my house, and at a beach house I went on a vacation with my family to in North Carolina as a child. The CD player part of it no longer worked very well and there was paint spilled on it from when I hastily painted my house in order to move away for that long period that started in 2014. A smiling Russian man bought it for 5 dollars.

I sold a wheel barrow I bought to move rocks and bark at a project in Sonoma county to a guy who jumped off a work truck and offered me cash. I forget now how much but I think around forty dollars.

I sold a plate joiner I bought to make cabinets efficiently but didn’t really use because the people didn’t want the cabinets to look like they were made out of plywood. I think I got sixty bucks or so for that.

I sold some boxes and boards that serve as artistic wall hangings for bromeliads and sea shells that Joni helped me make for a holiday craft sale at the Rock Band Land Music school that didn’t wind up selling there.

I sold some other items that I forgot and some that are pictured below. Joni sold lots of clothes and some dishes.

Also, I met Joni’s friends and her cousin. They were really nice and liked looking around my garage archive room and how organized it is. This effort now in typing is an attempt to take a step further than just having everything accounted for and in its proper place in time. I don’t know what will happen, or if I will have time later to edit and format it better, but I had it on my list to write all this down, and now I have.

Joni made this very good flyer for the event. Sometimes the amount of effort we put into our work shows up a long time later. This is a digital collage. The sale had the feeling of being a long the side of a river and this picture looks like that. Also, I’ve wondered whether Cabrillo Street used to be a river that went to the sea.

I sold some of these VHS tapes from childhood. I remember the ending of the Bob Marley one is good. It’s some nice footage of the sun going down in Jamaica.

I sold this midi controller I used while traveling between 2014 and 2018. Everything you don’t use you are meant to sell.

I sold one of these birdhouses to my very nice neighbor Keith. It takes a long time to make these birdhouses and I wonder if I spend too much time keeping track of what happens to them, where they go, or making them at all.