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The Boy Is Back In Town

Hey Soul Mates,
I hope that your week was good. Miss me?

Florida was fine. On the coolish side, with a little rain one day I was in Vero. Got to hang out with family and friends. Spent quite a bit of time with my pal Mike, who is about to publish his first novel, Jacob Have I Loved. He also runs and edits the very popular
DVD Movie Central. I'm very proud of him for getting his book finished and I can't wait to read it. It's been a nice cycle of inspiration as I've been thinking about putting together a book of musings and lyrics.

I didn't get a lot of reading in (just the first chapter of Gandhi) or listening (did have Remain In Light and A Hard Day's Night playing); mainly cleaning out closets and the garage of decades of ephemera. Drop by the house, I might have a prize for you.

The trip started with a visit to FCCJ where
Tibetan monks were crafting a medicine Buddha mandala. We saw the closing ceremony in which they destroyed this beautiful and intricate work of art to symbolize the impermance of everything physical. Wild to see that. It was accompanied by lots of chanting, hornblowing and bell ringing. Then they passed out small packets of the colored sand from the mandala, I got one, to the onlookers. I also bought a wooden bead rosary which I had blessed by one of the monks.

We did get to one movie: Pan's Labyrinth, which was a mind-blowing fairy tale set during the Spanish Civil War. Not for the faint of heart, but certainly fanciful and original. I was glad to see it get a half-dozen Oscar nominations.

There was a lot of dining out involved on this trip. Gmom is always ready to go out for eats (esp. good eggs benedict). It was lots of fun spending time with her. I got to show off all of our pictures from the UK and some video from Huddersfield, which she was excited to see.

For the third year in a row, we made it down to
Boomtown last Thurdsay night. Boomtown is a subterranean restaurant/experimental space in Jax's Hemming Plaza. Highly recommended. A wonderful place to hang out with a plate of sweet, curried Boom Booms, a glass of wine and watch local artists do their thing. Thursdays are "Pulp Fiction Theatre" nights at Boomtown. So we were treated to some original theatre featuring some wonderfully energetic young talent. Plus, Stephen Dare's food can't be beaten.

We also went to the
Cummer museum's exhibit "Egypt: Temples and Tombs." Amazing to see history and artifacts from 4000 years ago. Dang, those ancient Egyptians were amazing. It has reinforced my desire to visit Egypt. I'd also like to see Morocco, while I'm at it.

While at the museum, I also got a neat picture book about artist
Romare Bearden. One of his works, "Jamming At The Savoy," hangs above the piano here. I actually got to meet the artist when I was a youth in Cleveland. Inspiring. I may put together our CD cover using his style of collage.

So that's the brief on my trip to Florida. Hope I hit all of the juicy stuff.

Back to LA...
I'm very excited because according to
Billboard, the Police are reuniting to open Grammy Awards. A three piece with a lead singer on bass, what's not to like? I Can't Stand Losing You and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic are my favorites of theirs. I still have to get a tux for the show. Yikes.

I've discovered a fun hip-hop artist outta LA,
Pigeon John. Heard him on Nic Harcourt's show two weeks ago and bought a few tracks from Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party from the iTunes. Relatively clean, but with some really choice raps, references and samples. John's been a part of the LA scene for some time, but I missed out, til now. PJ will be in Jax on April 1, for any who care.

Time to bust a move and get the day going. Sorry to everyone who's been writing on MySpace, etc. I haven't had a chance to catch up yet, but I will. Promise.
Love, Power, Peace

Comments

Anonymous said…
Woooo-Hoooo!!!! Welcome Back!! The Police have been rehearsing in Canada for the last 2 weeks...I can't tell u how excited they reunited for their 30th Anniversary!! My very first concert was the Synchronicity tour Fall of '83 at the Houston Summit!! It will prove to be an interesting summer too as Van Halen has reunited with Dave Lee Roth (with Eddie's son Wolfgang replacing Michael Anthony on Bass)...now I gotta save some dough-re-mi for all the bands this summer!!
-Dave

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