beautiful, funny, sad & true

I have got to share today’s horoscope with you. As soon as I read it, I almost fell out of my chair, I was laughing so hard.

“Your job for the day might include dealing with groups of people who are not interested in hearing intimate personal details.”

I’m sure you can imagine why I, as an avid blogger, found that so amusing.

Tonight was a lunar eclipse during a full moon, which is an extremely rare occurrence. It was also Play Reading night, so those of us who were there early stood out in the middle of the road–only place that the moon was visible amidst all of the huge trees–and watched until we got too cold. Then we went back inside and realized that our view of the moon was almost completely unobstructed if we watched from the living room window. Thpffft.

The play that was read tonight was “Speed the Plow” by David Mamet. An excellent play, and we had a tremendous time reading it and playing toy piano along with it.

I wish I had a picture of the blood-red, eclipsed moon to accompany this entry. I’m sure I will never forget that sight as long as I live. I was lucky enough to witness a total solar eclipse when I was about eight years old. That was an incredible experience, and it’s a subject that is certainly worthy of its own entry, as soon as I get around to composing it.

In the meantime, suffice it to say that this lunar eclipse was beautiful and surreal, and I hope you get the chance to experience one too.

Things I’m excited about:

1. This blog being redesigned and having its own domain name.
2. Playing the toy piano at the play reading tomorrow night.
3. Playing a huge gig with Susie at the Doug Fir on Friday night.
4. Playing with and hanging out with Brandon and the band again in Seattle on Saturday night.
5. Hanging out with my brother and his family on Saturday day and Sunday day.

Things I’m not excited about:

1. The puddle of cat pee on the floor of the bathroom when I came home just now.

In my quest for material to use in my 80’s Röck Blög series, I came across a funny web site about the ten ‘eightiest’ movies, called The Decade of Rad.

Here’s a sample, from the description of “Over The Top”. You know, the movie in which Sylvester Stallone is the arm wrestler:

This is THE arm wrestling movie. In the ‘80s, movie executives didn’t make a film about every single possible subject matter, but it wasn’t due to a lack of trying. “Gentlemen, have we done a picture about lawn darts yet? How about. . .C. Thomas Howell leads a group of teen lawn darters to save a. . .wildlife refuge. No, a salad bar. Speaking of bars, what if a robot entered the Olympics as a pole vaulter? Why am I phrasing that as a question? Make it happen.”

For the purpose of continuity with my 80’s Röck theme–and though the article conveniently fails to mention it–the theme song from this movie is the first time Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar collaborated on a recording. How 80’s is THAT?

You will be glad to know that this blog is going to take a leap to the so-called Next Level very soon. It’ll probably change its look a little bit, too.

I wanted it to exist under its own name. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with the ‘blogspot’, but it was just time, y’know? I also wanted more flexibility and better security.

So yeah, I’ll let you know when the new one is:

• locked and loaded

• ready to rawk

• fresh and clean as a whistle

• ready for prime time

and many other things, too.

The dream I had two nights ago was a nightmare. The dream I had last night was supremely beautiful.

TWO NIGHTS AGO:

The setting is an amazing house on a bluff on the coast of California. There is a pool, and a deck, and a patio, and multiple levels to this party. There are approximately two hundred people at this party. Everyone is chatting and laughing and having a great time. I am standing near the back of the crowd.

From the adjoining bluff comes a round of gunfire. There is a man on the edge of the cliff who is pointing a gun and strafing the crowd that I am a part of. Lots of people are shot, and everyone else completely panics. I fall down on my side on the patio, with my arm over a young kid who’s standing right near me. The people who haven’t been shot are all falling down, pretending we’re dead so that the gunman will leave us alone.

I pull a blanket over myself and the kid who I’m protecting, and I wait for the gunman to leave. After a couple of interminable minutes, he is looking over my shoulder. I start to freak out. I think, ‘If he sees me move, I’m dead. I’m dead.’ He moves the kid next to me and lifts the blanket I’m holding. I make a point of keeping my arm limp, to preserve the illusion of my death.

That’s the point at which I woke up, scared to death, heart racing and sweat pouring out of my entire body.

* * * * *

LAST NIGHT:

The scene is Portland’s Sunset Highway. For those of you who live elsewhere, the Sunset Highway is a curvy highway that links one of Portland’s suburbs to downtown, via a tunnel cut through the middle of the forested West Hills. You go instantly from natural beauty on one side of the tunnel to downtown Portland on the other. It’s very striking and amazing.

It is the middle of the night in the dream, and the moon is very bright. It has snowed recently, and there are two-foot high snow drifts along the center and both sides of the highway. It is also unseasonably warm, and the snow is melting quickly. So quickly, in fact, that there is a torrent of water flowing down the steeply banked highway. I am not driving, but I’m floating above the surface of the road, approximately ten feet off of the ground, while still restrained by the retaining walls and barriers of the road below. A new red Volkswagen Beetle goes sliding across all of the lanes on the road beneath me, but the driver manages to regain control just before he enters the tunnel. Almost–but not quite–another car crash dream.

The Volkswagen enters the final turn before the tunnel, and I wonder if I will be able to go over the retaining wall. My pace slows, and I find myself floating higher and higher above the ground, and I do pass over the wall, over the hills, and into downtown Portland.

The moon is bright, but fog shrouds the city. As I fly higher and higher, the fog gradually clears. I start to see the buildings of downtown, lighted from within. There is a carnival near the waterfront, and as the fog continues to dissipate, I’m able to see more and more detail of the colors and patterns of the multi-colored lights. ‘Wow, this is really beautiful,’ I think, continuing to fly even higher. ‘Yes! More color!’

I never thought I’d say this, but if only I hadn’t left my clock radio turned on and tuned to NPR, because the distraction of the 3:00 a.m. broadcast of Morning Edition is what woke me up.