Proud Mama

This morning, as we were headed out the door for school, the boy asked, "Mommy, what's your favorite song?" I said it would have to be something from the Mutton Birds, and I asked if he remembered seeing a video featuring some dude on a small drum and some dude singing on a guitar? He said "Hmm" (meaning "yes" in boy). I kind of blew his answer off because he sees a lot of music videos.

I sang the line:

At the hightide line, driftwood and shells...

and lo and frickin' behold, the boy sings:

She's been talking to my friends.

the Lurgy returns, Levon Helm, and off to the Mendocino Coast

• Have been bathing in a pool of my own sweat. Got struck down with the Lurgy that everyone in town has/has had. It is running its course. The sweating is only intermittent now.
  
• Off to Mendocino tomorrow afternoon to go camping with friends from Matty's UC Davis days. Erin will be there! She is game to be my bad girl in crime and to sneak off to the North Coast microbrewery for a pint. Erin has always been so good to Matty and me.
  
• We are picking up a 10x10 Kodiak Canvas tent. I'd bought a cheaper one made of nylon, but decided that with my advancing bad hips, more forays in car camping, and the possibility of more New Zealand bands visiting, I'd better not cheap out. So, I bought a good tent that will last a very long time. Luckily, returning the nylon tent, still unopened in its box, will be a piece of piss.
  
• Saw Scorcese's "The Last Waltz," and Levon Helm ("He can drum, he can sing!") moved me. Somebody once called him the only drummer who could make you cry.
  
• My dear Mutton Birds' English penpal of many years, Spence, finally got to meet Don McGlashan the other day. He and fellow longtime birder Dave were lucky enough to catch Don McG do an impromptu set in Sherwood Forest before the Crowded House show. McG is touring as a member of the CH band. Spence and Dave also got the chance to do an interview w/ McG after the show. I was thrilled for them. They have worked so hard over the years to foster folks' interest in the band and to archive all that is available. Roger King was a star to arrange the tickets, passes, and meeting. Don McG seemed to indicate that there will be a U.S. West Coast tour in the not too distant future. I have cast my lines out for the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, Don McG, and the Phoenix Foundation (folks here still ask after them often). Fingers crossed that I'll know how to set my lines if and when the time comes.
  

The soundtrack of my life - live in LA

Don McGlashan, the man whose songs played on endless loop in my head for over a decade, is opening for Crowded House on their American tour. McGlashan was behind the bands Blam Blam Blam, the Front Lawn, the Mutton Birds, and his own solo efforts. My Mutton Bird and NZ music partner in crime Bibi is flying out to Los Angeles from Atlanta, and I am trying to convince fellow Mutton Bird forum listees Steve C. in St. Louis and Marc H. in San P that now would be a lovely, lovely time to meet. Matty will be there for one of the two nights and watching Wyatt the other.

There will be the stress of trying to have nimble and accurate fingers on the computer the morning of the presale. There will be the excitement of seeing McGlashan perform the songs that have been the soundtrack to my adult life live. There will be the sober grown up things that Matt and I have to address in the days after the shows, when we take Wyatt to his diabetes and now, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) consultations (the Prevacid only works so well).

Ever the Pollyannaistic opportunist, I have fired off an earnest letter to McGlashan's Manager Roger King pitching Bishop as a wonderful decompression spot for singer songwriters who like playing in front of enthusiastic crowds. Luckily, Sam Scott put in a good word for our efforts when he was on tour with King last year.

Nothing ventured....

*and I might ask for my first autograph ever if Harry Sinclair, one half of the brilliant brilliant Front Lawn, should be there.

10 year anniversary

Folks and this week's news have been reminding me that it is coming up on the 10 year anniversary of both the release of the Mutton Birds' Envy of Angels and "the Handover" of Hong Kong back to China from the Brits. Both are so intertwined for me, with Envy providing a soundtrack to that whole marvelous, emotional, special year spent with such special people.

The other week, before the Phoenix Foundation show, I put on my headphones and went out into the garden to tend the tomatoes. I had my own "best of" Mutton Birds compilation on. I nearly wept from hearing those songs together again. (The last time must have been when I went into labor.) I'd almost forgotten how deeply I loved those songs, that band.