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Sunday at the Bluegrass Festival

October 3, 2011 at 3:55 pm

Went into SF yesterday, first stop the Apple store at the foot of Stockton Street. Big decision to make: the 11″ or 13″ MacAir and finally settled on the 11. Going to lighten my travel load all around. The Panasonic Lumix G1 has cut the weight considerably (from a Canon 20D) if I want to take a  serious camera along. I’m going to Hong Kong in early November to oversee printing of the Tiny Homes book and will take a few weeks to explore Borneo or some place yet to be determined. (One possibility is surfing on an island off the coast of China.)

I missed Dr. John, but heard the Blind Boys of Alabama, then Ray Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Totally wonderful. The Blind Boys have still got the power, after 60 years. There must have been 5000 people in the glade. “Take the high road to the valley (3 times) if you want to meet the promised land.” Toward the end they said they’d just done their first country gospel album, and did a gorgeous 3-part harmony rendering of a white gospel song. By the end everyone was dancing, punching the air.

Ralph Stanley, 84, stood there all alone and sang:

“O, Death

O, Death

Won’t you spare me over til another year…”

Then did a bunch of songs with the bluegrass boys and are they good!

I felt a tap on my shoulder, turned, and a guy passed me a joint. I usually think of weed partaken of at rock and roll and blues events, but the air was redolent with bluegrass smoke yesterday.

At 7:30 last night I went to The Riptide bar, a hip, warm neighborhood bar with good Feng Shui on Taraval out by the beach and heard CB Brand, a great little country band from LA playing classic country songs.  A great day of music.

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California Dreamin

September 2, 2011 at 5:59 pm

First, the sun is out and it’s morning. We’ve had two months of fog, maybe clearing in the afternoon. But now with the slightly harsher colors of fall in the air, it’s a sunny morning and the blackberries are ripening. Second, the entire California coast is surf city right now. Big south swell. Third, bi-coastal exchange: we are actually getting theNew York Times delivered in our driveway on this dirt road. A miracle! What a relief from the San Francisco Chronicle.

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A Few Treasures Above Kitchen Sink

August 26, 2011 at 5:22 pm

Left to right in front: jade seal; piece of abalone found on trail to beach Mendocino county, very old, worn down; little blue shell found in Indian shell mound nearby; abalone; native California snail shell; in back, piece of worm-eaten bark from British Columbia.

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Trip down coast to Santa Cruz

August 5, 2011 at 4:47 pm

Got up at 4:30 yesterday AM and drove down Hwy 1 along the coast to Santa Cruz  to see grandson Maceo and his parents and some old surfing friends. Was deeply foggy and actually raining in Pacifica. I love this drive, been doing it since I was 18, mothership (San Francisco) to beach fun (Santa Cruz). Artichoke, brussels sprouts, strawberry fields alongside the ocean. Down Swift St., past Haut’s shop, West Cliff Drive to Steamer Lane. (Don’t get me started on the old days (50s) in Santa Cruz…sniffle, sniffle…)

A few photos: Swanton Berry Farm, I highly recommend stopping there. Union workers, organic strawberries (and shortcake), good coffee, vintage photos of the area 100 years ago. Totally good place.

A little further south, I spotted this hidden road down to beach. Mental note to go down it on a future trip, maybe taking surf matt and fins…

Farm buildings: it must be the 3rd or 4th time I’ve shot pics of this little barn that looks like it’s floating. Farmer’s architectural zinger. This time I shot other buildings as well. 

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Long post from the foggy coast

July 8, 2011 at 6:31 pm

Visitors from France on Tuesday, before I left on trip. There will be 8 pages on their rustic commune in France in the small homes book. Check out the homemade bike. On their way from LA to Oregon. Kindred spirits seem to abound these days.

Whew! Where to start? I left home early Wednesday and drove up to the Sierras with my son Evan to meet with the star of our tiny homes book, a world champion snowboarder who has built a most incredible house in the wilderness. We had been struggling with the layout — a huge number of great photos — and lo and behold, our builder had done stunning layouts, 10 pages in all, of his creation and its spectacular mountain surroundings. Yes!

This book has its own life. It’s like a living organism right now, changing and assembling itself. We’re just there to help. No kidding. It started slowly, and now it’s roaring along like a locomotive. Stuff is pouring in. We’re already beyond our (224) page count, and it’s obvious this is going to be a series (we’ve got tons of material for another book). It won’t be out until February — such is the reality of our slow production process and the logistics of printing and shipping from overseas.

Then back from the Sierras through the heat of the Sacramento Valley. In Auburn we stopped to shoot photos at a place that sold a variety of Teardrop trailers (popular in the 40s-50s, being rediscovered now). In Fairfield I dropped Evan off at his car, and proceeded westward to the coast. By the time I got to the Russian River, there was a cool freshness in the air, and I drove along the river out to its mouth at Jenner, then headed north in the night along the foggy coast.

Yesterday I went into Gualala with Louie for breakfast at Trinks, a triple threat cafe — excellent lattes, breakfast, and speedy wi-fi. I downloaded a ton of email. Hoo-whee,things are popping right now, on all fronts. Sunday I spent 5 hours getting filmed and interviewed about skateboarding for AOL. It’s for a series of 1-1/2 minute videos they run on their website, called: “You’ve got…” There seems to be a lot of interest suddenly in someone of my, um, age, skating.

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