Mystic Roots, Great Cali-Reggae Band

January 22, 2013 at 8:17 pm

I’m too out of it culture-wise these days, living in the sort-of country, to know the presently cool musical groups, but once in a while I stumble upon something, like this delightful band.

   California to the hilt. Singer at mike: “How many people here have smoked ganja tonight?” All hands in audience go up. A little band from the Sacramento Valley, they’ve got reggae right. “California reggae is pumpin…”

   Kind of special to me because I spent teenage years on my dad’s rice farm in Colusa, a town of 3,000 people, and hung out with Colusa kids. My best friend in Colusa, Jim Davison, was a pianist, and I played the uke. A lot of boozing and singing. My first real sweetheart, Roxana. Parties, driving, swimming, cheeseburgers, root beer milk shakes, KGMS late night rock ‘n roll from Sacramento… It was special for me, a San Francisco kid, to be accepted into teenage culture of this small town — so I’m partially a Valley native.

   Anyway, Colusa’s not too far from Chico, so to have hung out in this area 60 years ago, and now hear this Sacramento Valley/Jamacia fusion was a jolt. Here’s some progress. Evolution. Seeds of Rastafarai have grown in NorCal farm country. To tell the truth, I find a lot of reggae boring, but these guys fresh and vital. Plus Katherine has got some chops. A rich voice, lots of power…

   Surfers, I guarantee you’re gonna like this CD: https://shltr.net/mysticrts (There’s also a DVD with this CD, haven’t seen it yet).

Tags:
Post a comment

Red Sky This Morning…The 20/20/20 Rule For the Deskbound

January 22, 2013 at 5:52 pm

It was vivid scarlet about a minute before this. (iPhone 5 panorama)

Good advice in NYTimes this morning for us keyboard users, article by Tara Parker-Pope: “…Jack Dennerlein, a professor at Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences in Boston who specializes in ergonomics and safety, suggests a variation on the 20-20-20 rule used to reduce eyestrain. In the case of the eyes, the rule is to take 20 seconds to look at something 20 feet away (instead of your computer), and repeat this every 20 minutes. But Dr. Dennerlein notes that this eye rule can be applied to movement as well. Every 20 minutes, walk 20 feet away for 20 seconds or more. Stop by a co-worker’s desk. Get a cup of coffee. Pace. Just don’t sit.…”
https://shltr.net/XwKjMc

Tags: , , ,
Post a comment (1 comment)

Lately (Ugh!) Around Here

January 21, 2013 at 8:43 pm

Jeez, has this been a shitty week. And jeez, am I a big baby. Yes. Any body part goes wrong and I’m devastated. I look at friends like Sherm in his wheelchair, can’t move a muscle or talk these days and he perseveres, and gets a twinkle in his eye when I give him shit. Or a bunch of my high school friends, who I saw recently at a 60th reunion. I should not complain.

  I had surgery to repair a rotator cuff repair a week ago,and it was only arthroscopic, for christsake, you know, “…minimally invasive.” Well I’ll tell you, my body does not like any kind of invasion. My arm’s been strapped to my side,with the bladder for an ice machine inside the bandage, all week. Can’t tie own shoes. Can barely sleep, have never slept on my back. After 3 days of the pain pills (oxy), I felt so groggy and shitty, I quit them. I don’t understand people taking oxy “recreationally”). Makes me feel like I’m in a hazy, fuzzy tunnel. I’ll deal with some pain in exchange for some mental clarity.

   Anyway, just started getting into gear last night. I had given Lucky Peach magazine several hundred of my photos to do a story in their next issue, which is on “the apocalypse.” The angle on me being homemade shelter, gardening, foraging, stuff you can do for yrslf in tough times. They let me comment on the 6-page layout (turned out great, they used about 50 of my photos), and I went through it with them yesterday (Sunday), and this got me back into the communication groove. Issue will be out mid-Feb.

Read More …

Tags: , , , , , ,
Post a comment (9 comments)

1948 – 1950: Lustron Homes Post-War America Experiments With Pre-Fab Housing

January 20, 2013 at 3:00 pm

John Kaay has left a new comment on your post “Demolition of 187 Low-cost Prefabs in UK Slated“:
This reminds me very much of the Lustron home my family lived in around 1950 – 1955, in Evergreen Park, Illinois. Prefabricated, everything made of steel in a factory. Even the closets and cabinets were built in steel. Here’s a link: https://architecture.about.com/od/periodsstyles/ig/House-Styles/Lustron-Homes.htm
Tags:
Post a comment (5 comments)

great tiny homes article on bankrate last week

January 15, 2013 at 10:32 pm

here i sit propped up in bed, an ice machine hooked up to my shoulder, macair and iPhone 5 at hand, (such a modern guy!), typing with one finger/no caps. (making less mistakes.)  i had rotator cuff surgery yesterday, something i’ve put off for years because of the long recovery period, but all the years of propelling self through world, shoulder strain of paddling surfboards, kayaks, and the inevitable falls from running, biking, skateboarding — and rotator cuff tear needed fixing.

i feel so great now that it’s done, and i’m day one into the 6-week/3-month markers, and full strength at 6 months. grrrr!

   it’s really a great time for shelter right now. the tiny homes book just took another jump. 40,000+ copies in one year

   v. interesting article in bankrate, the big financial services website, last week. writer sonya stinson wrote a well-balanced article on tiny homes here, focusing on the practical, rather than the bohemian/artistic domiciles. i got quoted accurately, for once:

“Kahn says the current tiny-homes movement, spurred partly by the downturn in the economy, is a bit of a throwback to the late ’60s and early ’70s.… It’s an idea that’s been around, but all of a sudden a lot of people are thinking in terms of getting smaller rather than larger,” says Kahn.”

   “(He) has noticed a growing interest among boomers in building small accessory dwelling units to accommodate aging parents.…Portland, Ore., and Santa Cruz, Calif., have ordinances that make it easier for people to build these additional units in their backyards,” he says.…

  what’s interesting is that sonya has made a case, with examples, of a mainstream approach for smaller homes. not everyone wants a tiny home, but the concept of small-er is a very powerful idea in these difficult (and scarce) times.

Photo: (c)johny87-fotolia.com   

music du jour, and i’m sure i’ve mentioned it a few times, sam cooke’s masterpiece “live at harlem square” playing on grooveshark right now. “…that’s not all sam will do for you.”

   spring is gonna be a powerhouse this year…

Tags: , , , ,
Post a comment (4 comments)