Too Early

Very Nice Day Ends Here

All’s Swell That Ends Swell

What Would Bob Marley Do?

The name of the beach is Las Palmas (AKA, Playa San Pedo) and it features a picturesque walk through a grove of tall palms, weaving in and out of their their trunks (many unfortunately scarred by a bad fire some years back) on a path framed by a steep, cactus studded hillside on the left, and lush, lagoon watered jungle on the right, to a wide sandy beach sheltered by an eye-pleasing outcropping of rocks. This day it was “crowded” with a total of eleven souls on its wide expanse, but oops I forgot the four additional dog souls, lots of waterbird souls, a little bitty crab soul or two, and a good number of minnow souls.

                                                                                  

Another day, another dawn

Good morning everyone.

I don’t often get up early enough to greet the dawn back in Sonoma County, especially this time of year when it can be below freezing. But what a joy it is here in Baja. A little different every morning but always gorgeous. Roosters crowing, trucks starting up for the days work, dogs barking, hot water in the kettle whistling. Excuse me while I go get some coffee.

Those Amazing Humans, #458, Johnny Otis

Happy Birthday, Johnny!

For many years I knew Johnny Otis only as the originator of “The Hand Jive”. But over time I began to notice the name “Johnny Otis” recurring over and over in my biographical reading of favorites Etta James, Little Esther, The Coasters, and countless others. The man was a major mover and shaker in the early years of rhythm and blues and rock and roll, both as a bandleader and a discoverer/promoter of stars-to-be. And then he moved to my neighborhood in the early 90’s. After settling into a ranch in Sebastopol, CA, he opened an organic grocery store, where he sold produce from his own ranch and stocked the shelves and bins with nutritious foods,  and wines from his vineyard, and decked the walls with his art work. In the evening he would roll back the shelves and bins, pull out a stage, and perform with a quartet of trusty sidemen and a featured vocalist or two. We were fortunate enough to catch the opening night of this small venue. With about 100 other fans we were able to see this historical master of vibes and drums get busy with an evening of his own material and lots of popular R and B covers. During this time period (ending in 2006), we were able to hear Johnny on local radio station, KPFA, every Saturday morning as well. His radio show featured musical selections, Johnny’s commentary on the music, politics, public service announcements for Johnny’s many causes, and organic gardening information. Johnny’s health problems brought an end to this phase of his career by the mid 2000’s. He is certainly missed by his many Sonoma County fans, and I wish him improving health and and a prosperous New Year on this day, December 28th, his birthday.

Wikipedia:  Johnny Otis (born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes; December 28, 1921, Vallejo, California)^[1] is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario. He is commonly referred to as the “Godfather of Rhythm and Blues”.

 

Otis, the son of Alexander J. Veliotes, a Mare Island longshoreman and grocery store owner, and his wife, the former Irene Kiskakes, a painter, is the child of Greek immigrants.^[1][3]

He is the older brother of Nicholas A. Veliotes, former U.S. Ambassador to Jordan (1978–1981) and to Egypt (1984–1986).

Otis is well-known for his choice to live his professional and personal life as a member of the African-American community. He has written, “As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black.”

He is also the father of famed musician Shuggie Otis.

After playing in a variety of swing orchestras, including Lloyd Hunter‘s Serenaders, he founded his own band in 1945 and had one of the most enduring hits of the big band era, “Harlem Nocturne“. This band played with Wynonie Harris and Charles Brown. In 1947, he and Bardu Ali opened the Barrelhouse Club in the Watts district of Los Angeles, California. He reduced the size of his band and hired singers Mel Walker, Little Esther Phillips and the Robins (who later became the Coasters). He discovered the teenaged Phillips when she won one of the Barrelhouse Club’s talent shows. With this band, which toured extensively throughout the United States as the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan, he had a long string of rhythm and blues hits through 1950.

In the late 1940s, he discovered Big Jay McNeely, who then performed on his “Barrelhouse Stomp”. In the 1950s he discovered Etta James, for whom he produced her first hit, “Roll With Me, Henry” (also known as “The Wallflower”). Otis produced the original recording of “Hound Dog” written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with vocal by Big Mama Thornton, and was given a writing credit on all six of the 1953 releases of the song. As an artist and repertory man for King Records he also discovered Jackie Wilson, Hank Ballard, and Little Willie John, among others. He also became an influential disk jockey in Los Angeles.

He continued to perform, and in April 1958, he recorded his best-known recording “Willie and the Hand Jive”, which relates to hand and arm motions in time with the music, called the hand jive. This recording went on to be a huge hit in the summer of 1958, peaking at #9 on the U.S. Pop chart, and becoming Otis’ only Top 10 single. His most famous composition is “Every Beat of My Heart”, first recorded by The Royals in the 1952 but which became a huge hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips. In 1969 he recorded an album of sexually explicit material under the name Snatch and the Poontangs. In 1970 he played at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival with Little Esther Phillips and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson. In the 1980s he had a weekly radio show in Los Angeles, playing R&B music.

Otis continued performing through the 1990s and headlined the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1990 and 2000, although because of his many other interests he went through long periods where he did not perform.

He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a nonperformer for his work as a songwriter and producer.

Frank Zappa has cited Otis as the inspiration for his distinctive trademark facial hair, stating in an interview conducted by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and Guitar Player magazine editor Don Menn, “It looked good on Johnny Otis, so I grew it.”

 

Local Coloring Page

Of course one drawback to going on an extended vacation is that you don’t get to see your grandchildren, and they don’t get to see you. So I am making this blog entry a coloring page in hopes that their mom will find a way to make copies for Stella and Opal. Maybe Ms. Foster, the most excellent director of Loving and Learning Educare Center, will be able to print a couple of copies for them (and the other kids too, for that matter). Just make sure that you re-emphasize that Gail is holding an insect repellant stick of incense and not a cigarette. We love you, kids. Color us happy.

And all you other folks at home feel free to color in your own Local Coloring Page, post it on Facebook. Let your freak flag fly!

Color me aged parchment white.

Media Command Center, Baja Configuration

The MCCBC is coming along as nicely as could be expected. To achieve maximum capability we’re gonna need an internet connection where we can stream video and music without fear or limitation, and at least a 32″ monitor.  Where are the anonymous benefactors when you really need them?

Christmas Sunset de Las Brisas, Todos Santos, BC Sur

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kool Kwanzaa and whatever else you celebrate!

Those Amazing Humans, #457, Carlos Castaneda

Will the real Carlos Castenada please stand up.

Carlos taught me how to find my “place of power”. Unfortunately when I found it, it was right in front of the TV set. Seriously, I was really moved by this man’s narrative in my nascent hippie days and I still find him interesting in my geezer hippie days. We seemed to be going on a similar spiritual odyssey back in the late 60’s, what with the hallucenogenic diet, spirit animals and all. I think he was a jaguar. I on the other hand was a jellyfish. “Float like a jellyfish, Sting like a jellyfish”, was my motto in those days. I had an idea that Carlos’ whole shaman training program was more metaphorical (fictional) than real, but that didn’t lessen its power and persuasiveness for me. I think I may go back and reread the first book again to see if … but then again, nah. Wikipedia:

Carlos Arana Castaneda (anglicized from Castañeda; 25 December 1925 – 27 April 1998) was an American anthropologist and author.

Starting with The Teachings of Don Juan in 1968, Castaneda wrote a series of books that describe his training in shamanism. The books, narrated in the first person, relate his experiences under the tutelage of a Yaqui “Man of Knowledge” named don Juan Matus. His 12 books have sold more than 8 million copies in 17 languages. Critics have suggested that they are works of fiction; supporters claim the books are either true or at least valuable works of philosophy and descriptions of practices which enable an increased awareness.

Castaneda withdrew from public view in 1973 to work further on his inner development, living in a large house with three women (“Fellow Travellers of Awareness”) who were ready to cut their ties to family and changed their names. He founded Cleargreen, an organization that promoted tensegrity, purportedly a traditional Toltec regimen of spiritually powerful exercises.

Immigration records for Carlos Cesar Arana Castaneda indicate that he was born on 25 December 1925 in Cajamarca, Peru. Records show that his surname was given by his mother Susana Castañeda Navoa. His father was Cesar Arana Burungaray. His surname appears with the ñ in many Hispanic dictionaries, even though his famous published works display an anglicized version. He moved to the United States in the early 1950s and became a naturalized citizen in 1957. In 1960, he was married to Margaret Runyan in Tijuana, Mexico. They lived together for only six months but, contrary to rumor, were never divorced. On August 12, 1961, Carlton Jeremy Castaneda was born in Hollywood, California. Carlos spoke of CJ as his biological son and is listed on the younger Castaneda’s birth certificate as his father.

Carlos Castaneda was educated at the UCLA (B.A. 1962; Ph.D. 1973).

Castaneda also married Florinda Donner-Grau in Las Vegas in September 1993. According to his will of April 23, 1998, Castaneda adopted Nuri Alexander.

In all, twelve books by Castaneda were published, two posthumously.

Castaneda was the subject of a cover article in the March 5, 1973 issue of Time. The article described him as “an enigma wrapped in a mystery.” When confronted by correspondent Sandra Burton about discrepancies in his personal history, Castaneda responded by saying: “To ask me to verify my life by giving you my statistics…is like using science to validate sorcery. It robs the world of its magic and makes milestones out of us all”. The interviewer wrote that “Castaneda makes the reader experience the pressure of mysterious winds and the shiver of leaves at twilight, the hunter’s peculiar alertness to sound and smell, the rock-bottom scrubbiness of Indian life, the raw fragrance of tequila and the vile, fibrous taste of peyote, the dust in the car, and the loft of a crow’s flight. It is a superbly concrete setting, dense with animistic meaning. This is just as well, in view of the utter weirdness of the events that happen in it.” Following that interview, Castaneda retired from public view.

In the 1990s Castaneda once again began appearing in public to promote Tensegrity, a group of movements that he claimed had been passed down by 25 generations of Toltec shamans. On 16 June 1995, articles of incorporation executed by George Short were filed to create Cleargreen Incorporated. The Cleargreen statement of purpose says in part, “Cleargreen is a corporation that has a twofold purpose. First, it sponsors and organizes seminars and workshops on Carlos Castaneda’s Tensegrity, and second, it is a publishing house.” Cleargreen published three videos of Tensegrity movements while Castaneda was alive. Castaneda himself did not appear in these videos.

Castaneda died on 27 April 1998 in Los Angeles due to complications from hepatocellular cancer. There was no public service; Castaneda was cremated and the ashes were sent to Mexico. It was not until nearly two months later, on 19 June 1998, that an obituary entitled “A Hushed Death for Mystic Author Carlos Castaneda” by staff writer J.R. Moehringer appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

Four months after Castaneda’s death, C. J. Castaneda, also known as Adrian Vashon, whose birth certificate claims Carlos Castaneda as his father, challenged Castaneda’s will in probate court. For many years Castaneda had referred to Vashon as his son. The will was signed two days before Castaneda’s death and Vashon challenged its authenticity. The challenge was ultimately unsuccessful.

Day Three

After this we drove over to our friend’s (Cara and Gordon) house for a Christmas Eve Dinner. Barbecued turkey, green rice, salad, brussels sprouts, corn, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, good conversation and a panoramic view. Relaxation is now begiining to hold sway.

Partial Panorama