August 8th, 2012:
I once had a dream in which the rock goddess Patti Smith appeared to me and told me that I should start a band named Sailboat Robot. Isn’t that lame?!
Things are better with my Dad. I had a nice long talk with him by phone the other day and he seemed quite chipper. I love my dad so much and want him to be okay, however at the age of 84, I realize he’s going to have his good days and his bad days. I had hoped that my parents were going to come to visit us in October, but now I think that’s not going to happen. Instead, I think we may visit them for Thanksgiving. We’ll probably stay at my brother’s house.
Last week Spider and Jessica got together to start working on some songs for their Motown inspired band. Spider said that Jessica’s singing was wonderful, that she has the perfect voice for the music, and Jessica told me that she was impressed that Spider could pick up a whole song after only hearing a few minutes of it. These two are going to be great together.
On Saturday evening, our friends Paul and Sel took us out to dinner, a belated birthday dinner for Spider. We went to a favorite East Indian restaurant here in Oro Valley. The food was yummy and Paul and Sel were fun to be with. Seems like we hardly ever get together with Paul and Sel and yet we live only a couple of miles apart. Don’t know why. Time just slips by. Anyway, it was good to see them, especially Paul. Paul is special to me.
On Sunday afternoon Spider and I went with Cindy to see a new documentary about Tucson’s El Casino Ballroom. Founded in 1947, the ballroom has hosted the stars of Mexican cinema, Latino music, jazz and more (in the 1950’s and 60’s artists such as Fats Domino and Little Richard played there), also a place where the Latino community gathers for weddings, sweet 16 parties, memorial services and other celebrations. Although the premise of the documentary sounded interesting, I thought it was rather boring and flat, just a bunch of talking heads without any photos to give the viewer a sense of the ballroom’s rich history. After the film, we walked to Hotel Congress and had cocktails in the Tap Room.
Terry and Rex left for Portland to visit old friends for a couple of weeks.
On Monday night, Spider and I sat outside on our patio and watched a magnificent lightning storm. The air was super warm and humid and the lightning was flashing sideways across the sky, lighting up huge billowing monsoon clouds as though angry gods were fighting with lightning bolts, followed by loud cracks of thunder. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing for us to do, sitting outside with lightning just over our heads, but we were both mesmerized by the intense show of nature.
Things are getting back to normal for Spider and I having just gone through a dark storm of our own, and it’s true when they say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, as both Spider and I feel stronger in our appreciation for the wonderful life we’ve been blessed with. We have a beautiful home, an awesome dog, supportive family and friends and most of all, we have each other.
