THERE ARE NO WORDS TO EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE TO MONET FOR SO GRACEFULLY CARRYING THIS BEAUTIFUL CHILD INTO THIS WORLD.
FOR HER FAITH, I HAVE BEEN ETERNALLY, PROFOUNDLY & DEEPLY
BLESSED...
TO BE ABLE TO CALL SAGE, MY SON...
GREAT WORK, MOMET!!! NOW THE FUN BEGINS!!!
------------------------------------------
my sister debra called from cape cod to say that her priest and her congregation is praying for sage. she told deb that sage is "cradled in prayer..."
----------------------------------------------------------------

my parents drove out from l.a. to visit sage, monet and me, got me a room, made sure we were fed...thank you!!!
i got to hold sage in my arms for the first time. i have never been swimming with dolphins but i imagine this feeling is something closer to flying with an angel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INVOLOVED and other happy typos...
---------------------------------
all you need is.....
LOVE.. I find it no coincidence that on the birth of your son
and
at the time I slipped that tape in my tape deck..that john lennons
original
hand written lyrics for All you need is LOVE sold at auction for 1
million
dollars...I planted my seed packet for sage that I got at the baby
shower..I
got yellow banana peppers..may they grow and flourish...your boy is
gonna be
something..and I can tell by his fingers...there is going to be a
guitar
involoved.....love ya and call me!! xoxoox judy
-----------------------------------------------
dude!!!!!!!!!!

awesome daddy!!!!!!!!!!

wooooohoooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

- raechel indigo
----------------
Hey Ted,
Mark + I were just talking today and he said you had your baby (wow!), and he said you named him Sage (double wow!; my oldest is named Sage)... All the best. Peace, Chris Callon
------------
JAI MA (& Pa)!!!
sunny
-----
You have achieved the infinite.

Bravo to all.

jb
--
congratulations and praises for the beautiful boy...i pray he will be
a blessing to all he encounters in this life..... love, vic
-----------------------------------------------------------
I hear Sage showed up yesterday!
whee!!

happy birthday Sagey!

shari elf
--------
teddy and monet,
i looked this up for you and sage... some fun stuff. thought you might enjoy. i had fun looking up my own birthdate.

love you lots,
lots o' congrats
xoxox
sue

On this day...
1773 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny Mtns completed, Schoenbrunn, OH
1786 1st newspaper published west of Alleghenies, Pitts Gazette
1899 1st motorcycle race, Manhattan Beach, NY
1914 1st transcontinental phone link made between NYC & SF
1920 1st transcontinental airmail flight from NY to SF
1928 Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" is released
1936 RCA shows the 1st real TV program (dancing, film on locomotives,
Bonwit Teller fashion show & monologue from Tobacco Road & comedy)
1952 1st nonstop transpacific flight by a jet
1956 Jacques Cousteau's Calypso anchors in 7,500 m of water (record)
1957 Jack Paar's Tonight show premiers
1958 Pres Eisenhower signs NASA & Space Act of 1958
1965 Beatles movie "Help" premiers, Queen Elizabeth attends
1968 Volcano Arenal, Costa Rica erupts
1969 Mariner 6 begins transmitting far-encounter photos of Mars
1973 Greek plebiscite chooses republic over monarchy
1974 2nd impeachment vote against Nixon by the House Judiciary Committee
1978 600,000 attend "Summer Jam" rock festival, Watkins Glen, NY
1978 Penny Dean swims English Channel in record 7h40m
1978 Pioneer 11 transmits images of Saturn & its rings
1981 Prince Charles of England weds Lady Diana Spencer
1987 Ben & Jerry's & Jerry Garcia agree on a new flavor Cherry Garcia
---------------------------------------------------------------------
great idea , sue!

here are a few other notable july 29's in history

births:
1869 Booth Tarkington
1905 Clara Bow
1938 Peter Jennings
1953 Ken Burns
deaths:
1890 Vincent Van Gogh
1974 Mama Cass Elliot
-------
Congradulations Daddio ,
What a lovely Day . TQ the new Daddy , Its a wonderful thing .
All The Aliens say na nu na nu . and will watch over the Little One when needed. Much Love Peace and Tranquility . Dana
---------------------------------
(8/20 IS sagefest..)
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!! I just got chills!xoxoxoxo
robyn
-----
Wow - congrats to you, to monet, and of course, to sage - a Joshua Tree
native.

I hope this bears continued good fortune.

keep dancing,
-ldk
----

Congrats, you lucky dog! Give my love to Monet & Sage.
Glenn (patrik)
--------------
A boy.

Perfect.

Congratulations, Peace to you, brother have a safe, and inspiring
journey.


Namaste

Geoffrey Earendil
www.medicinerockyoga.com
------------------------

My heart beams for you and your beautiful child!

I request your address for I have something for you!

I hope I have the privilage of meeting this wonderful new person in the near future... my travel plans keep getting pushed back, but I know it will happen.

LOVE and best wishes to daddy mommy and baby, just hearing of your joy has inspired me to great lengths.

lovin' you, K8
--------------

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

T.QUINN - M.BLAIR - S.QUINN-BLAIR
PO BOX 912 JOSHUA TREE CA 92252
-------------------------------

yellow banana peppers forever!!!

 


dads grandkids
boys: 4
girls: 2
born on the 29th: 3 casey megan and sage!

(from diane)

also, they are each of the first kids, of diane's, bob's and mine.

also, bob quinn's first son, garey, was born on his own birthday (12/22)
as our grandmother lucille's first son, bob lytle, was born on hers (11/01)

plus, my mother and both of her daughters (phyllis, debra & diane) are born on 18's
(12/18, 6/18, 5/18)

 

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

I'M DOING FINE AFTER A GOOD NIGHT OF SLEEP. NEGRA WOKE ME UP LIKE IT WAS CHRISTMAS MORNING AND MOON WAS RACING AROUND THE HOUSE LIKE A BOLT OF LIGHTNING...MY FOLKS ARE ON THEIR WAY TO SEE THEIR NEW GRANDCHILD AND SAGE IS BEING WELL CARED FOR...
MOMET IS DOING WELL, NOT EVEN NEEDING ANYTHING FOR PAIN...
MUCH LOVE & GRATITUDE FOR THE GOOD THOUGHTS & WELL WISHES!!!
------------------------------------------------------------
hey there dad...how is everyone today??? yesterday I was so proud..I
was so
glad I was there and got to see sage..he is sooooo beautiful as I knew
he
would be..... I wanted to tell you that my new car has a tape
deck..but I
did not try a tape till on my way to the hospital..I grabbed magical
mystery
tour and not sure what was cued up..but when I put it in..it was "all
you
need is love"..how appropriate...I love you guys!!!!! you too were so beautiful and proud
yesterday...and monet was just lovely...give a kiss to sage and mommy
for
me.. xoxooxox judy
------------------
"You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth."
-Kahlil Gibran
(from linnea)
-------------
Ted...

We are so happy to hear all is well with Mama & Sage...

How are you?

Lots of Love, Love, and more Love,

Auntie Rana, Uncle Ian, & Tucker
--------------------------------

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! How great to welcome Sage early.*
I wrote you that email yesterday about the nesting and sensitive time that you are in, just 40 minutes before Sage came.
When I said the time BEFORE baby, I meant Weeks - not minutes!!!! AND TEN minutes after Sage came I led the most peaceful, centered yoga session this particular group has done.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!
See you soon,
Love to Monet AND SAGE XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(ellen & billy really shooo)

- SAGE IS ALREADY MAKING THE WORLD A MORE PEACEFUL, CENTERED PLACE (*although i don't say he arrived early. he's right on time, his time, according to his own instincts)...xox.tq

 
THIS JUST IN FROM HEAVEN!

FRESH FROM THE UNIVERSE:

sage andreas quinn-blair

````````````````````````

"Children, learn to be relaxed in all circumstances.
Whatever you do and wherever you are, relax and you
will see how powerful it is. The art of relaxation
brings out the power that exists within you. Through
relaxation you can experience your infinite
capacities.

It is the art of making your mind still and focusing
all your energy on the work you are doing, whatever it
may be. Thus you will be able to bring out all of
your potential. Once you learn this art, everything
happens spontaneously and effortlessly."

~ Amma -

````````````````````````

monet, with still mind and focused energy, has given
birth to a beautiful baby boy.

sage andreas quinn-blair at 17 inches long , weighing
in at 5 pounds and 10 ounces, was born at 8:50 am, on
this day, july 29, 2005, in joshua tree, california.

mother and child are relaxing this evening.

with great love & thanks,

ted

````````````````````````

dear sage-

today i witnessed a miracle. the most beautiful thing i have ever seen or felt. your mother (MOMet) did all the hard work while her mother (and midwife), inger, and i did our best to make it easier for her, and for you, to come into this world. i had told my dad yesterday (5/29/26) that we were hoping you would wait until the 29th (of august, your so-called 'due date') to be born, like your cousin casey (5/29/81) - my dad's first grandchild. (plus , your uncle bob's first child, megan, was born on the 29th (january, 1990.) maybe you thought i was asking you to be born today (7/29/05)!!

whatever the case, i'm so grateful to you for coming into this world and for choosing me to be your father. you did well in picking your mother. i am grateful that i got to talk to you alot today, to tell you that i completely trust your instincts to be born today, 'early' as it may have been. surely you know something the rest of us do not. maybe it was getting too crowded in momet's tummy...

thank you for opening your eyes and looking over at me while i was talking and for squeezing my finger.

i love you, i thank you and i respect your intuition and may you always do the same.

in today's news of the world:

- the british army has begun closing or tearing down some of its military installations in the irish republican army's rural stronghold, in response to the militant group's pledge to disarm, one day after the IRA commanders ordered their units to get rid of their weapons and renounce all violence after a more than 30-year armed struggle against british rule. (cbc news , canada)

- a so-called 'right wing' senator (and physician) from tennessee, bill frist (republican) publicly separated himself from the republican president, listening to his conscience, on the issue of stem-cell research saying, ``it's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science.'' (cnn)

- vienna's prestigious leopold museum offered free entry to "the naked truth," a new exhibition of early 1900s erotic art, if they showed up wearing just a swimsuit -- or nothing at all. (l.a. times)

- st. alexius medical center, a catholic hospital in north dakota, has dedicated a $350,000 solarium and meditation room that may be used for such things as burning sage, cedar or sweetgrass, or for singing or drumming. (seatte post intelligencer)

- researchers at the university of illinois foind that oxygen speeds healing, while stress slows it down. (medical news today)

so thank you, sage. your presence in this world is already having a positive ripple effect on everything and it can only get better from here.

i love you too much for any more words right now,

your daddy,

ted

````````````````````````

"god bless all of you; he already has , and all the rest of us, too. we’re thrilled and excited and very, very happy for you.You’ve brought into our world someone who will be a gift to the rest of the world as well. We’re so glad and thankful that mother and child are so well and we trust that father is none the worse for wear."
- phyllis & jim quinn (your grandparents on your daddy's side)


"may you grow to see the face of god in all things"
- kripa robbi deepthi

"QUEEN OF HEARTS ...a wonderful card and it is VENUS to
monet and 4 cards from 'you'...JUPITER..."
- ming

````````````````````````
delivered by doctor mylinda l. bielman on white feather road
your first pediatrician: daniel j. fraschetti

your first music:
brian eno 'another day on earth' (labor)
fred drake 'sky party' (birth)


your first sounds recorded thanks to jusy wishart
your first photos taken thanks to bob fergo

my first ride to see you thanks to fred burke
my first ride home from seeing you thanks to sue bradley

godparents to be announced shortly

 
yay!!

jane wants me to buy this house

she says fred passed the torch to me

my family knows this is right for me

my loved ones know this is right for me

the great universe knows this is right for me

i know this is right for me

last night was a great politically-charged
atmosphere at OM with linda sibio hosting

i performed a piece inspired by amma ji, elia arce
and based on herman melville: "the only true voice
of god is silence". i stood on stage. it a stick of nag
champa and handed it to dakota. i placed my twin towers
peace sign pin on dakota's shirt and gave him an honest hug.
then i made eye contact with each person in the packed
room, in silence.

art kunkin read his mission statement for the free press
to roars from the crowd and he named me his music editor

i ended the night with a slow 'ambient' rendition of
"this land is your land" with clive on guitar

a marine named matt asked me who the song "shocked and awed"
was and i could tell him it was my dear friend
robert allan floyd, and burn him a copy
before he left to go back to the war.
with a tear in his eye he said he wasn't fighting for bush,
but for me and robert and our right to freedom of speech.

fred burke helped me remove the items from this
webpage which no longer seemed relevant to me and
helped me order the gift monet and i picked for our
baby showerers

ming c. lowe gave me permanent permission to use her photos,
such as the one of monet's belly on this page

yesterday, monet and i ate healthfully thanks to the gift
certificate from robert and wendee

thank you thank you thank you

 
thanks

kashmir, for the inspiration, companionship and joy you gave our friend fred...

and to fred 'b', for bravely going over to see kashmir with me that afternoon
and indulging me while i dug the first shovels full of earth for his grave...
and for being there when i opened the letter from jane...and for seeing
the drakes and reporting back to me on the state of their well-being...

karen, for caring for kashmir in the last 3 years of his life,
after fred , and for bringing him to fred in the first place
and for calling me in l.a. (even if you don't remember) 8 years
ago to tell me the lil' abner cabin (which i kept calling 'my house')
at sunset and vine was up for rent...

and jane, for entrusting elia and me with her place, on this
crazy wash, against the little mountain, with the view of
heaven, and for writing to us before putting it up for
sale to someone else...

and my friends who offered their help with the house:

one , who offered to buy the house and let me stay here...

another who offered to buy the house for me and talk to his
publisher about my songs...

another who said he'd play music in any sort of benefit
to raise money for me to stay here...

another who wrote from new york to say she would ask someone about
doing one of my songs...

and one, who just understands my predicament and sends her prayers...

and one, who has a job for me to help 'ease the stress'- and for
the visualization techniques he taught me...

and the one who has a place for me to go, with my trailer and all,
just in case...

monet, for helping me get through those hours when i was most
stressed out...

and elia, for telling me that if i want to keep this house, it's
mine...and for paying me for the honor of her singing my song in her performance 'the fifth commandment'

my dad, for saying i never ask for anything and if i need to, i
can... (yes, i have asked before, dad. you're just too swet to remember)
and for the stories he told me about our roots...

and to a student at university of michigan who pulled through
and got me the info i need to get back to recording...

and to the friends who 'fronted' me the money for the gear i
needed...

and the one who loaned me some of the other gear i need...

and the one who called to see how i was doing when he got off
his tour...

and the friend who called to say she has a friend who is a dj
at an important radio station who she wants to give my cd...

and to bill maresh, just for being born, and for loving
'if only i could remember my name' as much as i do...

and bob dylan, for the song, 'dear landlord'...

and brian eno for his new album, 'another day on earth,'
which served as the gateway between how i was feeling the
past couple of days to the way i'm feeling today...

grateful .

 


may you ride into each sunset
may you ride into the sky
on your saddle or bareback
may you ride a long, long time

may you fly away from your nest
may you fly upon the wind
with your feathers in the sunlight
may you fly a long, long flight

may you live the life you choose to
may you live the way you like
without fear of who you really are
may you live a long, long life

 
today's gratitude-

i woke up in plenty of time to take negra for our little walk. the wash is muddy from the weekend of rain and the sky has dramatic white thunderclouds.

i took monet to the doctor, who was in a cheerful mood. so was monet. sage was sleepy inside of her.

when the doctor sent us to the hospital to observe sage's heartbeat, he liked what he saw.

he said, in a week, monet can stop taking the anti-contraction drug. sage could healthfully be born any time after that. :)

last night i got an email from mark london, who remembers telekin fondly and also happens to have a bunch of old freeps lying around, which he reads from time to time. he suggests we ask rodney bingenheimer to do a column!! (rodney-on-the-rocks is a myspace friend of mine!)

i had been thinking that we should do a regular column: '40 years ago this week in freep headlines.' art liked that idea and...

art had printed out my 13 item email and liked all my ideas he said he was going to place the printout under his pillow to absorb them and the energy i put into them.

ruben played on my show last night and was beautiful...his selections, his picks for the playlist, his wife angela. his quotation from the gospel of saint john steinbeck. fred & matthew, sue & art, robert & dakota were there, as was linnea of course. today is linnea's bithday as well as my friend laura's daughter, who is in recovery. a man from county cork. ireland sang at the end of the night, paddy powell, with his lovely daughter and her boyfriend, from the town where the quinn's originated, long before la porte, indiana. paddy lost his wife, suddenly, recently, and is taking each of his 4 daughters on separate trips. i got to send 'home' one of my cd's with them, to the place where my ancestors were born.

i'm thinking i'm glad i got to be with fred and his mom on that last mother's day before he passed along. if they weren't mother and son, they would have been identical twins.

 
grateful ted

(i missed yesterday so i have 14 today)

1.friday dr. appointment for monet glucose test went well.
2.i got to do some errands while she was in, including changing my tire, making more sagefest fliers. later,a very lit meeting w art & co re: the neww los angeles free press!
3.i got to make monet (and sage) some food at her mom's house while she rested. she remains calm and graceful, on total bedrest. i played trumpet & ukelele into sage's warm chamber and he seemed to relax, too.
4.it rained and lightning struck all night friday. the air filled with the scent of creosote.
5.saturday morning, engra and i walked along smooth, marblized wash across from monet's place.
6.i borrowed monet's car to go to the produce market where i had nice visits with the avocado guy (x-navy 20 yars and dylan fan), bethany, charlyn & mayah...before meeting up with wonderful sue.
7.sue gave me a ride home with her big smile.
8. i finished putting on my tire with the metaphysical assistance of michael k.
9.i received an email from ming with a gorgeous photo she took of monet's belly (above) and a letter from dr. emoto ("i love you, water.")
10. i spoke with my parents and my dad told me some great history of how we ended up moving to california and how that relates to the new supreme court justice nominee roberts.
11.the internet went down, i thought, so i decided to go work at the beatnik but bumped into stephanie who invited me to watch 'four rooms' by tarantino, et al.
12. i went to the beatnik and wrote until 3am, thanks to mateo and jessica. the email was to art regarding the freep and all the ideas i have for it.
13.at 8 am today, michael from the beatnik showed up , showed me the plug i had unplugged for the internet and we talked for two hours about pkans for the beatnik & the freep. an email of appreciation arrived from from art. rae also stopped by to say hello before she left to record with mateo and bob...
14. judy also called to check in. MOMet is doing fine. she and sage have been enjoying the second full day of showers, thunder and lightning.
15. ruben dropped off a cd of his picks for tonights show, 'radio free joshua tree,' with a new feature 'small thing considered.'

 
this gratitude thing is spreading
(fromm laura to me to sue to judy...who's next?)

1. david lynch, for stating that 'bliss is our natural state.'
$7 b for meditation centers? why not? (we give that much to
halliburton for food they dont deliver to hungry iraqis.)

2. garry's tires for having the right (almost ) fit and making
good suggestions re: getting my tire on (the jack doesnt go
high high enough so dig out beneathe the tire...)

3. the birthing center for helping monet get the glucose
test this am even tho we forgot the lab order. (better not to fast
again tomorrow or next week..tamwork, as monet said. i told sage ,
never let a bureaucracy tell you something can't be done
(if approached with open heart and kindness, the main part
i need to remember.)

4. a good night's sleep at monets. solutions to the ride
questions. must hurry off to get jen to work right now...
but i have 3 more to go...

5. my sister diane's good sense of humor.
(the funny mix up where i thought the 'jamie'
emailing for studio time was my nephew...)

6. a cooler morning for dealing with tires, etc.

7. a meeting today with art & co re: the new freep,
ways to get everything done, xeroxing the sagefest update flier, etc.

(bonus: you mean all the attempted attacks in london
yesterday were duds? that's either a miracle or a
spooky covert action...either way, i'm just glad nobody got hurt...)

 
grateful

last nights OM at the beatnik:

1. tal made it home safely. he and sue and i sang to gether like no time had passed or rather, as if some time had passed and we were more in harmony than last time, maybe.

2. laura came by and i got to tell her i've been doing this practice of seven items of hratitiude each day, and now sue is doing it too.

3.mike was there and had tweaked the soundboard & everyone sounded good. we had enough microphones to handle the night.

4. i had sent a list of moon songs to the cafe va mike's wireless system: the stones 'child of the moon', bowie's 'moonage daydream', cat stevens 'moonshaddow,' beethovens 'moonlight sonata', glenn millers 'moonlight serenade', etc.

5. eric watkins sang of simplicity, he was a kid named snot when i met him. now he sings like an expectant father, all smiles and love.

6. i got to announce my show with ruben martnez coming this sunday. i got to tell arjuna, ray duff and wooden nickel that we should be able to record again sometime soon. laura expressed her sadness about the rancho (fred's legacy) and josh heinz ytold me my nephew jamie davis is playing guitar in the band he wanst me to record (vega).

7. after running out of disc space, it was relatively easy to find some old files to throw out to make rom for more recording.

BONUS GRATITUDE:

8. elia got accepted for a full scholarship at university of houston, to get her masters degree, in a town where she has good friends and artistic support. this, a year after we officially split..things are going right for her and for me.

9. robert alexander sent me a link to a story about gram parsons and joshua tre national park, two days after joh pirozzi told me he feels GP was under-rated. i disagreed at first but maybe i wasn't seeing the larger picture.

the rock and the rocker

10. monet has a doctors appointment and it's time for me t o meet her there, which i can do, on a thursday morning, being one of the few dad's-to-be who actually goes to every doctor's appointment.

 
gratitude adjustment
1. i woke up this morning & the air smells like creosote, which means rain is coming.
2. it was cool enough to walk negra & it's tuesday morning & i have that option.
3. karen hollered 'hello' so we strolled over & got to see good ol' kashmir, who is 31 and seems very serene in his corral.
4. last night, i met up with john pirozzi & carol ann. john showed us a program from patti smith's meltdown festival in london. also, a program showing the 'blacks in wax museum' in baltimore with pictures of john filming mario van peebles. art kunkin emailed me the logo to the los angeles free press for the next edition of my sage festival poster...
5. i ran into linda sibio, who was kind. we are not as close as we used to be and she is involved in a little war with my friend dana. i am doing my best to not take sides. i appreciated that she didn't mention it at all and we only talked about our art projects and my baby.
6. dana stopped in yesterday afternoon and i was glad to be able to give him some water for his transmission and suggest he take the path of 'no resistance' by not trying to drop off his truck in 29 palms before riding his motorcyce into l.a. for a job.
7. elia, gary and matthew expressed their concern for monet & the baby, and monet is taking good care of herself, even though she has been suffering the past few days.

 

gratitude
1. it was still cool enough at 8 am to take negra for a walk and by 6:30pm it was cool enough again for another walk.
2. monet called me before i left the house to meet some friends for breakfast, but if i had already left, she could have reached me on the phone i bought (thanks to my folks) or on the phone michael mckinsey gave me, for exactly the reason of being reachable in case of an emergency.
3. by the time i got to monet's, she was feeling better and the doctor had told her that the reaction she was having to her medicine was 'normal' and then switched her to a different medication.
4. i was able to take in the prescription, stop to talk with ben at rock-it-man (i had just heard a brand new brian eno song on the radio) to ask for the new eno album and to ask ben to co-sponsor the sage fest, which he agreed to (and placed an order for the eno cd!)
5. last night, i was able to hang several prototype posters for sagefest in town. the poster shows two small hands holding a bundle of sage (i altered the image from picasso's famous 'flower' drawing and xerox'd the poster, then hand-colored the sage bundles with green crayons.) art kunkin agreed to have the los angeles free press co-sponsor the event. robyn my new great friend at pappy and harriets gave me a nice saturday night (august 20)to have the festival, a week before the baby is due, outside in the pappy's amphitheatre. so far, victoria williams, amritakripa, tony mason band, honky tonk train and mark zero have agreed to perform, along with me & the tree/wooden nickel.
6. a lady outside the doctor's office had a bumper sticker with a slash thru a 'w'. another lady at the health food store in yucca valley - whose daughter is a nurse, demetria, in the birthing center where sage will be born - gave me a thumb's up regarding the button i was wearing on my hat: which says 'bush lied' (i crossed out the 'd' and wrote in an 's' so it says 'bush lies' with a picture of a flag-fraped coffin.)
7. monet braided my faux-hawk in exchange for me hanging bamboo shades in her room.this definitely made us both cooler. i got to jump in the pool to cool off furthur before i drove home today.

 
a friend of mine who recently beat cancer and i sat up talking very late last night. we have been friends for a long time - but she had no idea of some of the events in my life of the past several montths. i didn't know the details of hers, either. one thing she shares is her daily practice of listing seven things she's grateful for.
what am i doing up so early? we talked until close to 3am before she left. i've been sleeping outside these warm nights, looking at the stars in the moonless sky and the sun wakes me up, by seven at the latest, especially when the kitty has been pouncing every time i move my feet. i have just returned from a morning walk with my dog, negra. i turned on the radio for the npr news and check my customized www.news.google.com page. there's a story about meditation from india and, on the radio, i hear a story about the reduced likeliness of a woman giving birth to a son, who is not living with the father. i am so grateful that sage is coming and that he's a boy!the story makes me aware that his being a boy is even more unusual than i knew! i didn't think i would care, boy or girl, but i admit a certain added happiness about the child being a son. is it conditioning or nature? i don't know. it's not like i want someone to help on the farm. i like to think i'm not so egocentric that i want to see a little 'me.' i don't expect him to be that. all i ask is that he's healthy and happy and safe - and utterly himself.
seven things for which i am grateful this morning:
1.) it's monday morning and the only place i need to go is to monet's doctor appointment.
2.) i feel asleep last night looking at a clear sky full of stars.
3.) when i woke up, my dog was waiting for me by the door, to take me on a walk.
4.) i got home and had fresh fruit and tea waiting for me.
5.)the swamp cooler is keeping my house nice and cool.
6.) the water and power are both turned on and i can bathe before i go out today.
7.) the car in the driveway is running fine and i can get to the doctor's appointment, where i will be able to listen to sage's heartbeat.

MY KISSES AREN'T LIKE HIS

added bonus points: i got to go to work last night and watch bob dylan on the computer screen, doing a concert from the night before for amazon's anniversary. several friends, including bobby furst, jane and bill (honky tonk train) came by the beatnik cafe to watch with me. they all shared my enthusiasm for the concert. dylan did the following songs: maggie's farm, tell me that it isn't true (which HT train covers on their almost-released new album! how's that for synchronicity...), i'll be your baby tonight, lay lady lay (two out of nine songs are from 'nashville skyline'?!), most likely you'll go your way (and i'll go mine) (which makes me laugh after another friend comes in to tell me how much he loves dylan's songs, but hates his performance, i reflect later that, as dylan once said, his music is 'mathematic', only for those who understand the equation...honky tonk train, bobby and i get excited by each slurred phrase and altered melody, as if we're algebra students, uncovering a new result from some old riddle. each dylan performance feels, to me, like an education. sure, he changes the formula every time. he's a mathematician and a magician, solve et coagula, an alchemist taking apart and putting back together some ancient and brand new new truth...), blind willie mctell (at first unrecognizble, but newly worked up into a lush blues jam), watching the river flow ('what's the matter with me, i don't have much to say..' , he jokes, 'people disagree everywhere you look, makes you want to stop and read a book,' a sly nod to his amazon audience, the best-selling authors in attendance - or a plug for his brilliant 'chronicles volume I'? answer: all of these things and none of them, most likely....), ballad of a thin man ('give me some milk or else go home,' he sings to those who don't like the taste of the strange brew he offers to this party), i shall be released (sung with norah jones, in a rare nod to an opening act. i speculate that he feels paternally towards ravi shankar's illegitimate daughter, plus the fact that the girl can really sing - and man, she looks really good in her jeans, tank top and platform shoes. again, all of those reasons and none of them , maybe. dylan can be experienced but not known, like the greatest lessons in life. how does it feel to be on your own? a complete unknowable...it must get lonely at times. half of his audience, even those who 'say you love me', scratch their heads at his artstic choices, not even recognizing them as such. but he goes on, night after night. 'all of these awful things that i have heard, i don't want to believe them, all i want is your word.'

i am so grateful to have seen bob dylan - even though there was not one close up of his face - playing his minimalist keyboard parts, blasting his harmonica, singing his songs as if he is searching for its true melody, every time he opens his mouth.

 
i wrote a letter to my congressperson this morning:

Dear Congressman Lewis-

It is pitiful and embarrassing that the entire Republican party stands by, without any sign of conscience, blindly goose-stepping in line with the Bush administration on everything from the war in Iraq to the leak of CIA operatives names.

The White House has made a mockery of its claim of compassionate conservatism, with rampant spending, secret dealings and the greatest crime a President can commit: Sending troops into battle for false reasons, continuously changing its reasons for war with every new piece of evidence of its deadly misstatements of facts.

As a Republican member of Congress, you are complicit in these crimes until the day you break away from the mob mentality and stand for true Republican values: Fiscal conservatism, less government intrusion into individual rights and non-interventionism. Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and especially, Dwight D. Eisenhower, are spinning in their graves. This is no longer a political party with the best interests of our nation in mind. It is a shameful mockery. You know this, in your heart of hearts, despite your recent claims that the war in Iraq is justified. You know that the reasons for this war have changed with every new distortion. You know how many of our servicemembers have given their lives. their limbs, their mental ad physical wellness, in this disgusting sham and you must know that in order for you, Congressman Lewis, to be on the 'right side of history,' you must act immediately to make penance for your well-intentioned but mistaken adherence to this path. Speak now, Congressman Lewis.

You know that God will always believe in your ability to mend your own ways. Or is it too late and you have actually come to believe that this evil is for the good? How many deaths will it take for you to change your position?

Start by demanding that Bush's "brain," campaign and war architect, Karl Rove is fired, his security clearance stripped and an investigation is begun into the larger issue of the false reasons which led to this immoral war. "Yellow cake uranium," indeed. You owe it to this nation which has given you so much.

Ted Quinn, Joshua Tree, CA

 

THE BEST KIND OF REVIEW, ALL THE WAY FROM BARCELONA
RADIO FREE JOSHUA TREE WWW.BEATNIKRADIO.COM, SUNDAYS 8-11PM (PST)

Hi Ted!

How are you? How is Negra and everybody in Joshua Tree? I suppose now  you're getting burnt in the desert! I hope
you will survive because I want to see you again.

I want to thank you for your help with the house and for the days  you've been with Dani and me. We had such a
great time! This travel has changed me a lot. Since my trip in India, where I suffered an accident, I  was afraid
of anything, I was convinced to not travel anymore, it didn't  make sense for me. But my stay in JT has been so
peaceful that I've  changed my point of view and I have more  forces to afront new challenges.  Also, in Joshua
Tree I learnt that in US there are nice people an very  active, so it helped me a lot to trust in life and human
beings. Sometimes I listen to you on the Beatnik radio.  It makes me feel near  to you. It's funny. And the music
you choose make me feel calm and  happy. Life in the city, even if the city is Barcelona, is very stressfull.
Lots of sounds, pollution, cars, lights, ambition, competition... and  your voice reminds me the peace I found
in  the desert.

For all these things, thank you again.

I want also to invite you. I'll be glad if one day you decide to come  to Catalonia. We have some mountains,
deltas, deserts, little rivers and beaches for you and your company. My apartment isn't ready yet, I guess
it will be OK next spring, but if you decide to come before, I don't  care, we can organize the rooms.

Lots and lots of kisses,

Miss you,

Miss M.
(Mercè)

much besos y besos back to you, miss m...
yes, the desert is very hot, but peaceful these days
sage, the tree and i will gladly accept your invitation,
and to my dear friend, dani garcia, all the best..
ted

 

RADIO FREE JOSHUA TREE WWW.BEATNIKRADIO.COM SUNDAYS 8-11PM PST

THIS IS THE BEST KIND OF REVIEW, ALL THE WAY FROM BARCELONA.

Hi Ted!

How are you? How is Negra and everybody in Joshua Tree? I suppose now you're getting burnt in the desert! I hope
you will survive because I want to see you again.

I want to thank you for your help with the house and for the days  you've been with Dani and me. We had such a
great time! This travel has  changed me a lot. Since my trip in India, where I suffered an accident, I
was afraid of anything, I was convinced to not travel anymore, it didn't  make sense for me. But my stay
in JT has been so peaceful that I've  changed my point of view and I have more forces to afront new challenges.
Also, in Joshua Tree I learnt that in US there are nice people an very  active, so it helped me a lot to trust
in life and human beings.

Sometimes I listen to you on the Beatnik radio. It makes me feel near  to you. It's funny. And the music you
choose make me feel calm and  happy. Life in the city, even if the city is Barcelona, is very stressfull.
Lots of sounds, pollution, cars, lights, ambition, competition... and your voice reminds me the peace I found
in the desert.

For all these things, thank you again.

I want also to invite you. I'll be glad if one day you decide to come  to Catalonia. We have some mountains,
deltas, deserts, little rivers and beaches for you and your company. My apartment isn't ready yet, I guess
it will be OK next spring, but if you decide to come before, I don't  care, we can organize the rooms.

Lots and lots of kisses,

Miss you,

Miss M.
(Mercè)

MUCHO BESOS Y BESOS BACK TO YOU , MISS M.
SAGE AND THE TREE AND I WILL GLADLY ACCEPT YOUR LOVELY INVITATION!!!
AND TO MY DEAR FRIEND, DANI GARCIA, ALL THE BEST,
TED

 
I HAVE BEEN TOLD I LOOK LIKE
- a girl (actually, a lady at disneyworld when i was 12 told my mother what a deep voice i have for a little girl. that was actually a highlight of living in florida that year.)
- an ugly girl (by my friend craig tufeld's older brother when i showed up in glitter-drag to a party when i was about 14.)
- david bowie (by a cute girl who is married so i can't say who she is)
-mick ronson (when i was younger, wearing eye make-up and had long, blonde hair. i can't remember who said it.)
- john lennon (by a sweet hippie boy in arizona when fred and robert and i arrived there to play once. maybe i was wearing round sunglasses. i think my sister diane told me that once, too, though. sage's mommy-to-be, monet - insightfully as always, and maybe that's why the benevolent universe chose to plant my seed in her belly! - thinks i take on traits of the people i love and admire, which may account for this and some of the others.)
-paul mccartney (by a nice drunken cat from liverpool on mac's birthday recently at the beatnik cafe in joshua tree. he didn't say i looked like paul mccartney but he said i would if i got the right haircut.)
-george harrison (by a beautiful girl named brandy who had moved to joshua tree to escape the record industry and had actually met george harrison once. no one has ever told me i look like the sweetest-looking beatle, ringo.)
- neil young (by the lovely and bad-ass carol ann, but she was talking about a picture of me in the paper where i'm playing guitar. someone else said the same thing about that picture.)
- charles manson (by my own mother when i had facial hair and long hair. ouch. i tried getting back at her by saying my dad looked like nixon. he didn't at all , though. he looks more like a kennedy. handsome, irish, bushy eyebrows and sweet eyes. i have manson's birthday too, which is also neil young's. november 12. it's auguste rodin's and grace kelly's too, but no one has ever said i look like them. i hated having manson's birthday because i thought he symbolized the dark side of the hippie dream and was the first beatle fan to make being that a scary thing. he probably didn't even do anything he was convicted of and it was all that vincent bugliosi creep trying to demonize beatles music and hippies for nixon or something. that's how conspiratorially my mind works. or maybe not. those girls were pretty scary with their swastikas carved into their foreheads. i stopped worrying about it when i heard gram rabbit do his song, "garbage dump.")
(on another celebrity killer note, a girl tried picking me up in the gaslight once by telling me that her boyfriend was the night stalker, richard ramirez. i excused myself to go to the bathroom and snuck out the back door. in an odd coincidence, i had once slept with a girl i met in the frolic room who, along with her brother, had just that day caught richard ramirez looking at a picture of himself in the newspaper in east l.a., had given him chase and caught the little fucker. she celebated that night by going out drinking and then going home with me. i was so proud to take her home to east l.a. the next morning in my studebaker lark! she was a real live heroine!!!)
- iggy pop (by a cute little punk grrl on the sidewalk in the french quarter when iggy was in new orleans recording 'american caesar'. she actually nudged her boyfriend, pointed at me and said: 'that's iggy pop.' i had long, stringy hair, skinny body and some decent muscles as well as a gaunt face at the time, i think.)
- christopher walken (by the boyfriend of a cute girl i met the other night. he even asked if anyone ever said that before and i said no, although i think someone may have. i just didn't want to give him the credit. he already had the girl and she wasn't going to leave with me.)
- bob dylan (by my best buddy judy, who took lots of oictures one night when i was playing and it wasn't even the time don lombardo and i were in white face like 'rolling thunder review.')
- gene wilder (twice but i can't remember who said it. first time i didn't like it but by the second time i figured it must be somewhat true and i always loved him in that movie johnny depp hasn't ever seen.)
- johnny depp ( go figure. i look nothing like him. he is very handsome and the sexiest man on the planet, according to some. my friend ken-doll said i should have gotten all the parts he got. then, this cute girl said the other day that i could have been edward scissorhands. now,that was a great compliment!)
-charlie chaplin ( the great performance artist and my lover of several wonderful years, currently still one of my greatest friends, favorite people and mentor, elia arce, called me charlie chaplin (and sometimes a leprechaun) i think because of the way i dance. i used to dress up like him to go out to play in clubs in hollywood in the 80s long before i knew her. anything in common with the great charlie chaplin is something i treasure but do not take too seriously or i would be a genuinely insufferable ass, which some may already find me to be.)
- little richard (by the throat singer arjuna and this is by far my favorite of the celebrity look-alike things. i was in hutch's handed-down-to-me blue sharkskin suit and had a pencil-thin mustache and my hair was sort of teased up with some kind of glue. i saw little richard once, preaching from his limo to the homeless on hollywood boulevard. his skin, unlike mine, is porcelain-perfect. wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a wop-bam-boom!)
- a cherokee (a blue-eyed cherokee, to be exact. by fellow blue-eyed cherokees. my mom always said we had some cherokee blood but until i met a bunch of different people who looked like me and asked if i was one, i didn't know whether to believe it. i hope so. i like to think i'm an indian. i think i am in spirit, if nothing else. i was born in la porte, indiana, which translates from the french as having come in to this world through the 'indian door.')
- not as amazing as i really am ( by six year old bella, who had heard her mommy and daddy playing my music and liked it - but when we met, after they pulled away in their car, she said "he's much more amazing than he looks!" and that, my friends, is the best compliment i have heard.)

all of this , in chaplin's words as spoken to einstein, means nothing. but what DOES it all mean? have you ever been told you look like anybody? how did it make you feel?
one time, my friend ken-doll was told he looked like me, by someone who didn't know we were friends. now, that was fucking weird!!!

 

ted quinn and tree
pappy and harriets
pioneertown
thursday july 7 at 7pm

amritakripa keyboards tamboura
teddy daze drums
tony mason bass
robbie robb guitar sitar vina
ted quinn guitar vocals


This week at Pappy & Harriet's:

Thursday: July 7th: Ted Quinn & Tree 7pm
Don't miss a wonderful night of music..Ted's CD is on a constant shuffle here at Pappy's...we love him and you will too.

www.joshuatreetraveler.com:

Ted Quinn is a singer/songwriter, producer, activist and artist. Host of Peacenik at the Beatnik webcast (www.beatnikradio.com), founder of Nomadhouse, organizer of Chuckwalla Music Festival and frequent collaborator with the late Fred Drake of Rancho de la Luna studio, "He's local but he belongs to the world. Joshua Tree's psychedelic folk/rock bard whose music runs strong and deep. He's relevant, thoughtful, intensely personal and compassionate." (Steve Brown, The Sun Runner, April/May 2005) "MUST HEAR 'Help Wanted,' This haunting CD ... got me through more good and bad times than any other 2004 album." (Put Local Recordings At The Top Of Your Wish List This Holiday by Bruce Fessier,The Desert Sun, Dec.19, 2004)*

thanks, robyn & linda. we're looking forward to being there with you.

love,
tq

*http://www.joshuatreetraveler.com/musicalartistofthemonth.html

set list: the ocean. peace in the desert. love on. one side singing/one side silent w/ billions & billions. silent bullets w/ thirst for god. pilgrim w/ warrior. when i was young. high price of oil. highwy 61. something to look forward to. tar beach. skylight. shepherd boy. indian nuclear summer w/momma w/ motherless child. if you do. sage's song (born innocent) . death of cool

 

this week marked two landmark occasions in the history of rock and roll. but, to say that alone is to miss a larger point. because, although rock and roll has lost the urgency and revolutionary spirit it once had, there was a time when this music was dangerous and upsetting to the status quo. it was called 'nigger music' by the less diplomatic of the white establishment when it burst fresh upon sleeping, mccarthy-era, post-war, baby boom america. and again, ten and twenty years later, when it rattled the halls of injustice and reawakened a generation which was falling into a self-congratulatory coma.
the music was not just revolutionary fun, it made a much needed rebellion happen. it drew the battle lines between the complacent and the challenging, the dead weight of the past and the promise of the future.
this week in 1955, bill haley and the comets 'rock around the clock' hot the world via the big screen. 'blackboard jungle' was not a literary masterpiece in the same sense that 'east of eden' was, but it hit a nerve...hard. teenagers, that new american underclass was identifying with the 'rebel without a cause' james dean, natalie wood and sal mineo - marlon brando having just passed the barrier age of 30 by doing a sticky sweet, slick hollywood version of the musical, "guys and dolls." dean and wood may have been the ideal teens to idolize but the soundtrack for their angst was haley's theme for "blackboard jungle." when that song exploded off the screen, theatres were spontaneously destroyed by 'wild' teenagers, deprived of the rites of passage that less 'civilized' cultures offer their youth.
one look at the hit parade from the time explains it thoroughly. you had a seriously watered-down frank sinatra singing of the glories of 'love and marriage,' the four aces letting us know that 'love is a many splendored thing' and 'mr.saturday night', perry como blandly informing us that 'it's beginning to look a lot like christmas.'
something else, namely sex, was on those teenage minds after watching the menage trois of dean, wood and mineo burning up the screen from the griffith park observatory, while the man, the cops, hunted them down.
'rock around the clock' expressed in few words , with a strong sexual beat (the moral majority types of those days were just as scared of sexuality as they are today and used 'wildness' (race) as the club to beat it down, so to speak.
fast-forward ten and twenty years. 1965 had brought the intellect and mounting anti-establishmentary impulses of a new generation to rock and roll, via the words and music and moves and hairstyles of the rolling stones, the animals and many more, led by bob dylan, after the beatles somewhat politely blew the door wide open. but by 1975, the new moralists were back to sanitizing that teenage feeling once again. kc and the sunshine band were imploring us to dance in the new discos (safer than woodstock and altamont but full of teenage sexuality, as well. i was a disco (bi) boy for a minute, down at the sugar shack in north hollywood - it wasn't the gentrified 'noho' for another two decades- but i knew something was missing. pre-AIDS, although the pill and roe v. wade and quaaludes were making sex a 'safe' afterschool activity for all the kids, the rebels of our brothers and sisters generation had become lame caricatures of themselves. lennon had stopped making records after being hounded (although not yet to death) by the nixon government, the rolling stones were a cartoon version of their formerly gloriously flaming s elves. even david bowie had opted for making a nice dance record (although, thematically, 'young americans' would still beat almost any dance record's skinny ass off the disco floor today.) pop radio had entirely stopped playing any form of the music of rebellion which had been it's staple throughout the previous decade. rock and roll, for all intents and purposes, was dead. the only artists of interest were too avant-garde for pop stardom (roxy music and, especially, brian eno) or too outside (challenging to easy-listeners), such as an emerging young boho, who ingeniously borrowed, musically, from the jazz –era, not rock and roll, tom waits. what passed for rock and roll on the radio was dull, white bread and parent-pleasing stuff like fleetwood mac, peter frampton and the eagles. it was a horrific time to be a teenager. i personally had to rifle through my older siblings records for anything decent to listen to (such as cream, as eric clapton went terribly mainstream, the doors, hendrix & janis joplin, who had not survived their moment of greatness, the airplane, who had become something called starship, with no connection to their former psychedelic rebel magic - we called them ‘jefferson wheelchair’ in my circle...)
then, one day a review appeared in the l.a. times. (thanks, robert hilburn. although i laughed at you with my friends, about your springsteen- and don henley-worship, we did read your column just in case there was some kind of breakthrough.)
it talked about a poet-turned art-rocker (there was not a word for 'punk yet) who had a new record. i didn't run out and buy it but my friend bob's hip step-dad, a rolling stones fanatic, did. he gave it one listen and didn't like it. who was this chick who stared straight ahead, androgynously beautiful, like a tender young boygirl keith richard? hipster-stepdad thought she was too masculine and rejected her. she may as well have been a chick with a dick.
("female, feel male," she would soon write, in a poem.)
bob and i put the record on the turntable (sorry, kids today have no idea of the thrill of that moment, of anticipation and promise, says grandpa ted.)
"jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine," she announced, but was she a she? she was no stevie nicks, no joni mitchell. she wasn't here to seduce us with her poetry. she was here to challenge us to stand up and be counted. she was inviting us to explore what is called the dark side, by the timid, a growling girl rimbaud.
with that album, patti smith invented a new style of music, a new art-form.
thirty years later, right now, as i listen again, i remember. sure, she was full of piss and vinegar. sure, she was a rebel with no cause but her own liberation, a self-emancipating woman. out to fuck shit up. like jesus with a sword, turning the money-changers tables on their heads, like those teenagers in the movie theatres of 1955.
she did it with poetic finesse and primal rock and roll energy; no pussyfooting here. none of the pompous pretensions - the pseudo-classicism - or, classism- of what had been called art-rock before that day. no falling back on easy stereotypes of women singers. she had the energy and mania of morrison, jagger and hendrix in her and she was going to let it out, no matter what anybody thought.
but a deeply spiritual being was behind the work, the words. (for those who went with her on the ride, her later work makes that completely clear.) throughout 'horses,' she pays homage to the rebel poets and to the rowdy rock and rollers whom she had summoned up. when she sang van morrison’s "g-l-o-r-i-a, gloria", it was a benediction and a gender-blending cry of love. when she beckoned us to the "land of a thousand dances," she straddled a thousand wild horses and galloped over mercurial seas of infinite possibilities.
at the end of her introductory masterpiece, produced by velvet underground's auteur, john cale, she acknowledged the "first black man who (she) wanted to fuck," she would later say, making him more dangerous than any black panther or black muslim, to white man's america, her beloved jimi hendrix, by paraphrasing the words from his explosive 'experience': "trumpets and violins, i hear them in the distance...but i think it's sad, it's much too bad, that our friends can't be with us today..."
by that moment, i was infatuated; some would say, in love. hearing the album today, i broke into tears. i had no idea of, just an instinctive feeling about, the greatness i was witnessing as a teenager in 1975. the affair i have with that record and her records and books and shows which followed, continues to this day, thirty years later.

patti smith marks the occasion of the recording of 'horses' in a concert held in london this week, with the surviving members of her band, the patti smith group, and john cale, her producer. our friend john pirozzi has the distinct honor of capturing the performance for us on film.

i will play the album in its entirety tonight on peacenik at the beatnik (www.beatnikradio.com) 9pm - pst.

for historical perspective, we'll also hear some of the 'hits' of 1955 and 1975, before bill haley & the comets, and patti smith, shook us to our senses.

(hail, hail rock and roll. it's 2005. so, who's next?)