still reeling from last night, sage, monet, krissie and i went to pappy's tonight for tacos...it was quiet except for the house music. robyn and linda, also, still feeling the presence of last night. butter had a batch of great photos, which we'll be posting here soon. this one of robert and me is by the lovely klaus wille. this morning, krissie, travis, dj , victoria and i had breakfast at crossroads. some people around there felt bad they had missed last night - or for other reasons known or unknown to only them - and so tried to play down how cool it was, but, wink wink, nudge nudge, WE knew!!! others, perhaps with less at stake in the preservation of their egos, were sorry they missed it but could actually express excitement and happiness for those of us who had the experience of playing with robert plant. krissie said it was as if an angel had lighted on all of us in that room and given us a blessing, the ripple from which will be felt for a long time, to mix up the metaphors a bit...
humbly yours...
tq ...love on...
ps before i forget who was in the band or singing with thrift store all stars last night:
our benevolent leader travis (obviously), ray woods, carol ann, bingo, victoria, craig stark, tal, dj (mandolin), sue bradley, jesika rabbit, butter, kevin chicka, myself...missing in action: don lombardo, tim easton, bill maresh, john whoolilurie...ever in our land of ports: jessie carrot & sir lewie longmire. i think tal's pal michael played bass at one point in the set as carol ann held baby zoe...
tal served as the conduit that made this event happen. if robert hadn't liked tal, or pappy & harriet's, for that matter, none of this would have happened. robyn says robert appreciated that there were so many of us, so many different styles, all getting along...it was raw and real and spontaneous, unrehearsed and unpolished and absolutely the essence of rock and roll.
and this is how it felt at the end of the night...
A HISTORIC NIGHT IN PIONEERTOWN: A Poem of Loving Ideals of Openness
TONIGHT I REALLY SANG ON STAGE WITH ROBERT PLANT
along with a dozen or so of my close friends, with another hundred or so people in the audience, INCLUDING SAGE (here with kevin),
monet, krissie, judy, klaus, didier, monet's brother sean, his girlfriend denise, their baby riley, uncle carl, ofelia & benjamin, jane, shea (sp?), butter and many more of the lovely people of joshua tree and the surrounding area, at PAPPY & HARRIET'S...
LAST NIGHT, sam, robbi , kripa and i
played at JAVA JO'Z in murrietta, out toward san diego. leaving the high desert with sam, we heard 'all of my love' on the radio, sam told me stories about led zeppelin, john bonham in specific. i told him that when fred, terry johnson and i drove to NYC in 1989, we noticed there was never anything decent on the radio...mostly christa=ian and/or country stuff (and not the good kind of either type of music)...except, on occasion, maybe every other state or so, we'd hear a LED ZEPPELIN song. we always celebrated with a joint - and we rechristened the big country we were crossing, THE UNITED STATES OF LED ZEPPELIN.
sam and i got to the gig, with robbi and kripa following in their van, and played for a lot of teenagers i seriously didn't think were all that into us. i thought, we're their elders though. monet had said 'spread the word,' so i took the opportunity to do mostly anti-war, anti-racism type songs. at the end of the set, bunches of these kids bought cd's from us, the cafe owner said we reminded him of THE DOORS and PINK FLOYD, we got invited back to play again and to play at a music festival down there in may!! it was a huge success!
so, sam drives me home and what do we hear, just as we are pulling on to my street? LED ZEPPELIN. this time it's 'stairway to heaven.' without saying, i think, i used to be kind of over this song. it was so overplayed, the all-time everybody's-favorite, etc, etc. but, you know, it still is a great song and it sounded really good to me last night.
so, when i got inside and there was an email from TAL HURLEY, saying he had just driven ROBERT PLANT home to desert hot springs (2 bunch palms) from pappy & harriets WANDA JACKSON show, i thought of what a cool coincidence it was. that tal had been harmonizing while robert sang in the car was even cooler. that tal said robert was going to try to come to see thrift store all stars play today was even better, although i took it with a grain of salt, thinking it had an air of 'waiting for guffman' about it.
besides, i had just heard that good old don knotts had just died. i thought of the three films i did with him as a kid: "the reluctant astronaut", "the shakiest gun in the west" and "the ghost and mister chicken."
of course, don knotts is best known and loved for his role as barney fife on "the andy griffith show."
anyway, i went to pappy's, only half-believing that robert plant would show up. more importantly, monet was on her way with sage, so i stopped off at rite-aid for some ear-plugs for him. the pompous pharmacist wouldn't suggest which type i should get but instead said "a baby shouldn't be in a place where there's loud noise." oh well, i got the ones for kids. (that pharmacist, sage, was obviously unaware of how many cool stories you are going to have to tell one day...)
at pappy's, johnny ray martin had his new puppy, bodhi. sage and he hit it off right away (negra liked the puppy, too.)
(that's johnny, bodhi, sage and me with our friend craig stark.)
sure enough, robert plant showed up. we did a thrift store all star set of mostly travis songs, i usually just sing and bang on some percussion unless it's one of my own songs that i know how to play on guitar.
then, robert plant got up with us and did a few songs: elvis' "love me", "fever" and the lovely LZ ballad "thank you." jesika rabbit sang some of 'fever' with him and we all did the backgrounds, including the jordanaires part for "love me". the place went completely nuts and the energy on stage was dreamlike and ecstatic, especially upon the opening lines of "thank you:"
"if the sun refused to shine, i would still be loving you..."
bingo fullfilled every boy guitar players fantasy by playing the jimmy page solo for the song...
then, we took a break.
after the break, TSAS opened with the medley i do of joni mitchell's "woodstock" and david crosby's "what are their names". jesika rabbit did "sugartown," with spoken interludes between us, where she referenced me being a child star in "sugartown," where i said "i shook the sugar down," a la bob dylan's "trying to get to heaven."
after "you are my sunshine," then vic's song about huddie ledbetter (maybe she didn't write it , but it's HER song, "red bird") and travis' timeless sing-along "my friend", robert rejoined us for "sea of love", "money (that's what i want)" - after which i handed him the tip jar to pass into the crowd...
that song was like a mantra for abundance , a truth not lost on robert, obviously a very wealthy man, and those of us musicians who are playing for the love of music, scraping to get by. it was a spiritually powerful moment...) next, tim hardin's gorgeous "if i was a carpenter"...then somehow robert morphed into buffalo springfield's "for what it's worth" combined with donovan's "season of the witch", straight into the gospel "oh happy day." again, the force of robert's voice, the band and the half dozen or more of us singing with him was intense, uplifting and unforgettable. truly, the whole night felt like a cosmic dream. we were all grinning ear to ear. it was a case of light attracting light. robert and i had many moments on stage where our eyes and smiles met, mostly when i reminded him of a verse to "for what it's worth" or "witch," or during a moment of harmony. his generosty and sweetness were so palpable, the entire full house was moved to tears, shouts and dancing...
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
God's Chief Musician, A Poem of Godly ideals of openness. Perfectly clap your hands, all people; shout to God with the voice of triumph.
Light's Chief Musician, A Poem of Lucid ideals of openness. Perfectly clap your hands, all people; shout to Light with the voice of triumph.
Spirit's Chief Musician, A Poem of Spiritual ideals of openness. Perfectly clap your hands, all people; shout to Spirit with the voice of triumph.
Truth's Chief Musician, A Poem of True ideals of openness. Perfectly clap your hands, all people; shout to Truth with the voice of triumph.
Love's Chief Musician, A Poem of Loving ideals of openness. Perfectly clap your hands, all people; shout to Love with the voice of triumph.
God's Law most high is awesome; Equanimity is a multitudinous Ruler over all the Earth.
Light's Law most high is awesome; Equanimity is a multitudinous Ruler over all the Earth.
Spirit's Law most high is awesome; Equanimity is a multitudinous Ruler over all the Earth.
Truth's Law most high is awesome; Equanimity is a multitudinous Ruler over all the Earth.
Love's Law most high is awesome; Equanimity is a multitudinous Ruler over all the Earth.
God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
PSALMS 47
also in attendance, michael and zoe...
and sweet jane gave me a really nice soft shirt that's all gold and bronze and covered in sunflowers...and sweet krissie drove me home. i had let my battery go dead by leaving the key turned on...regardless, it was hard for any of us to leave, this shared experience...
"And so today, my world it smiles,
Your hand in mine, we walk the miles,
Thanks to you it will be done,
For you to me are the only one."
thank you, mr. plant.
todays' poem. (when i'm lucky, i get an idea for one. sometimes it comes with a melody and even chords. i just had the idea that when i get one, and i'm near the computer, i'll just go ahead and post it. that way it's instantly published. i wont worry about if it's good or bad. (see rolling stone #992, neil young interview, january 26, 2006) i'll just go ahead and write it as it comes out, without editing.)
paper or plastic
paper or plastic
they always ask me
before they put my groceries
back into the basket
i don't know how to answer
i always have to think about it
which one is better
which is less damaging
i once told a farmer at the
farmer's market
the new american flag ought to be a plastic bag
cause i see them flying everywhere
from every tree and in the air
i see them in the desert and
i wonder how they got there
the farmer he looked at me
as if i was crazy
a new american flag? he asked
i fought defending the one we have!
i realized that sometimes i should keep my concepts to myself
it didn't do me any good
to ruffle his feathers
a friend of mine yesterday, well, actually my baby's uncle
was helping me repair my truck
well, he was doing all the work
he said he used to be a staunch environmentalist
but now it only drains him
to be so passionate
he said that there are more people
who just don't give a shit
i understood his feelings
but i thought about my baby
and i couldn't go along with it
paper or plastic
they ask as if it matters
one destroys trees and the other's made of chemicals
paper or plastic
or plastic or paper
i thought about my neighbor
turns out he's a land-scraper
i couldn't believe it
when he turned his little paradise
into a parking lot for
tractors trucks and trailers
now they drive by every day
sometime around seven
and they always wake me up
i say what can i do about it?
i have to learn to live with it
and so now i imagine
i live along a railroad
where a train rolls by each morning
paper or plastic
i usually choose plastic
i use the bags for garbage
and they bury them in landfills
it seems like such a strange thing for
the grocery clerk to ask each time
as if the supermarket
is doing its part for the environment
paper or plastic
paper or plastic
