Hardly Strictly

Perfect, sweet Bay Area fall weather for Hardly Strictly... as usual, there is no possible way to see everything: when informed via text about Gillian & Dave joining Robyn Hitchcock on Candyman, I thought, arg, another one gets away! Until last night at the Fillmore when I got to see it from the second row. Bliss! Gillian wore a beautiful new pair of caramel-colored boots with her name in cream mirror-image script. (Image pinched from the Indiana Daily Student)

Happy Birthday Gillian! Thank you Warren!

The Castle

At last, I have seen it live & in person…

The pool that every swimmer dreams of swimming in… (well, the decadent swimmers anyway—can’t speak for the sporty austere types).

I did not actually jump in, but you better believe it took some self-restraint.

I woulda been glad just for the chance to spend a couple hours staring at it & walking around it, instead of the few minutes I got.

Overhyped? No way.

to keep always at hand

How many times have you heard “Guantanamera” in your life? Ten thousand? A million? I thought I knew what that song was, until I saw this:

No kidding, we had rented Soul Power & when I couldn’t stop watching this outtake over & over, I knew I had to buy a copy to keep always at hand for moments of depression, discouragement, outrage, whatever may happen to plague me & make me forget about the existence of pure joy & musical magic. Celia’s embodiment of time is so deep here. Time, & a buncha other important stuff.

It’s like I never heard the song before.

There’s some other good shit on the disc too, like, you know, James Brown….