Elizabeth Cook Revisited, Two Syllables of Love

Okay....I have to say it again...Elizabeth Cook is amazing....I Love her music...I mean luh-ove, thats two syllables of love, love her musisc...Rodney Crowell who produced her album compares her to Lorreta Lynn...I keep thinking she is the new Patsy Cline...yeah I know Rodney knows a (caution:understatement ahead) 'tad more than me' 'bout music....but my perception is that Patsy broke down barriers and Elizabeth in her own sweet way kicks the shit out of any music barriers that get in her way....and each song on Balls (yeah thats the name of the new album) is so distinctive....today I woke up to "What do I do" playing in my head....that song is as pure as it gets...

and I have to put my adoration for Elizabeth Cook in perspective...I'm a quasi ex-hippy kid who was raised in Orange County California...raised on LSD and Pink Floyd, so the fact that a kid who was raised on acid rock is in total love with Elizabeth should be further testament to her greatness...

Wandering Americana & a Barefoot Sundress

Arrgggh, the re-discovery of Terry Allen has had some ill effects...I cant get the FFA song out of my head...all my conversations are limited to commenting: "he's the blue jacket pride of the FFA and future Father of some President, who'll be another pain in the ass for the USA"...kind of the Americana version of "Its a small world after all..." the mega annoying Disney ditty played during the "small world" theme ride...

On the other hand, I have discovered XM12 and some incredible new artits, er artists, like Elizabeth Cook. I was first impressed by listening to Elizabeth being interviewed and then I heard she had covered a Lou Reed song. Huh?? Load the paint ball guns with Red Bull and fire me blissfully. I guess Elizabeth is like that...she makes you think beyond yourself. And the live feed XM12 did from Bonnaroo was pure music, not over produced or commercialized, simply pure music...I listened to the Klezmer Al-Stars...not something I would do willingly...my perception of Klezmer is something akin to Al-Quaida torture...like the way the keep drug dealers out of the city parks by playing Tchaikovsky...but the Klezmer was brilliant...Grateful Dead type Klezmer...soaring, sometimes meandering and again pure....after listening to the live feed from Bonnaroo, all I wanted to do was take a road trip....start slowly heading to probably Austin, letting myself get Route 66 side-tracked, french fries and a malt, thank you ma'am side-tracked on a search for the new Americana...searching for the ghosts of Bob Wills and Hank Williams. Looking for the new Dwight Yoakam...(caution:stolen image ahead) a barefoot girl in a sundress asleep in the backseat of the car....asleep in the back seat of the car.

Speaking of Americana (I need better segues), I found a friend of Terry Allen who is lovably whacked, peyote leaking into the well water whacked...Jo Carol Pierce...my gah-odd, I love her, yeah two syllables god, she is that good...in my next life, I want to have Jo Carol on speed dial...go over to her house on Sunday for well-water lemonade & Fiddle-fuck Chili...

and she is a modern type girl....with a myspace account...check this out:

http://www.myspace.com/jocarolpierce

A coupla quotes from Jo Carol....

"I need to send this song out to all you guys out in the world who have not had the courtesy to fall in love with the bad girls yet, because y'all really bother me -- although not as much as the ones who did."

"One of the odd things about the borderline tango is that its a waltz"


--Jo Carol Pierce--



...asleep in the backseat of the car...cream-colored sundress...the faint smell of the white gardenias she is a dreamin' about wafting through the car. I look up and could swear the Pine Tree air freshener is smiling...the gardenias reminding him of a girl he once knew...a girl that made him happy...

searching for America...sleepy and barefoot....

...Just a country boy without angels

Every once in a while I remember Terry Allen....the album "Lubbock on Everything" was brilliant...Im not a music guy...that is I dont have an Ipod...I rarely turn on my stereo...there are very few songs that I have heard that I truly truly love...New Delhi Freight Train (click link for excerpt) is a song I truly love, a song that effortlessly penetrates my crusty soul, transports me....it does what music should do...my guess is that New Delhi Freight Train is what Lowell George listens to in heaven...nah, I'm sure that's what Lowell is listening to...

Lyrics:

New Delhi Freight Train
Some people think that I must be crazy
But my real name is just Jesse James
An I left them half-crocked, hard-knocks of black rock county
Just to ride on that New Delhi Train
Ridin on that New Delhi Freight Train
Ridin down that New Delhi Line
Ridin on that New Delhi Freight Train
Well I left my love behind
Yeah I left my love behind
Yeah I'm just a country boy without angels
ahhh just a country boy without gold
An I been to silver cities load of rainbows
Where I pillaged and I killed and I stole
Ridin on that New Delhi Freight Train
Ridin down that New Delhi Line
Ridin on that New Delhi Freight Train
Well I left my life behind
Yeah I left my life behind
Then I killed a man named smilin Jordan (Jeer-dun)
Yeah I killed him with one of my guns
And I knew that I had did what I had not ought to
But I welcomed the run from what I'd done
Ridin on that New Delhi Freight Train
Ridin down that New Delhi Line
Ridin on that New Delhi Freight Train
Well I left my guns behind
Yeah I left my guns behind


After 7 years, I found my Terry Allen tape....yeah, a cassette, can you believe that? I know its been 7 years because my tape player hasnt been connected for that long....I listened again...save a place in heaven for me Lowell...never mind, I'm already there....

Epilogue:

Doing a little research, it turns out that Terry and Lowell George were friends...not surprising as I can hear the ghost of Dixie Chicken in Terry's music...also I found the entire lyrics to Lubbock on Everything Fuck me, I wish I could write like that...genuis...Jim Harrison probably just listens and shakes his head....and Borges is mumbling "Madre de Dios...."

"No one with access to a convertible, an empty highway
and a good radio station ever should need a psychiatrist."

--Terry Allen--

Fade to Family, Retraction

The fade to black soprano whack theory described below has been retracted...as my Mother's memory was incorrect...

According to Steve Jaxon Vicario:

Episode one this season...Tony answers Bobby's question (What do you think its like to be whacked?) with : "You never see it coming"

Of course it could still be argued that Tony got whacked because we never saw it....nah!

Fade to Family

9:38 pm, Monday June 11...I notice a voicemail on the cell phone, call voicemail and hear my Mothers voice. Oh no, my Mother never calls me this late...momentary panic ensues as Im afraid that a family emergency has occurred. Whew. No, everything is fine. My Mother's tone of voice is cheery, confident maybe even smug...as my Mother explains on the voicemail..."I figured out the ending to The Sopranos...Tony did get whacked...it has to do with a conversation between Bobby and Tony...and something David Chase said long ago..."

Huh??? Tony got whacked? wha--at? Did my Mother have magic 3d glasses? Was she able to see the missing 10 seconds? Or do I need to have a talk with my Mother about her prescriptions? "Uh, Mother dear...I need to talk to you about the prozac..."

Okay, before I cast too many aspersions on my Mothers mental state, I should point out that my Mother is fairly brilliant...not too many women in their 70's lacking formal education have a basic understanding of quantum physics or string theory and can do double acrostic puzzles in their heads while making a brioche. 56 across: Eating adds existence (Latin). "Edo ergo sum" she responds whimsically as the garlic mashed potatoes are pulled from the stove. In addition to superstring knitting skills, my Mother may have pulled off the greatest scrabble move in history by spelling "bezique" (yeah look it up, I had to) generating a 10 pt triple letter, triple word and 50 pt bonus all in one move...I'm not quite sure but she may have scored 170 pts on that one scrabble move...scrabble devotees, please genuflect. The point is that if my Mother has a theory....well maybe we should pay attention. Listen carefully. There is probably some intelligent thinking behind her thinking. Of course then again, maybe her medication does need to be re-balanced

Anyway, as an ardent & hardcore puzzle junkie....my Mother looks at everything as a puzzle...she is always going back in her mind, searching for clues to solve, puzzles, riddles and mysteries. Talking to Mother this morning she explained her theory about Tony getting whacked this way...

Before Tony and Bobby got into the fight....or maybe after, Tony asked Bobby to go whack the guy in Canada. Bobby asked Tony what he thought it would be like to get whacked....Tony's reply:

"...fade to black..."

Do anyone else remember that or is my Mother whacked?

I think my dear Mother's theory is a little thin...we need some DNA evidence to support her theory...its a intriguing theory, but still needs more evidence...then again, my very first blog concerning the death of a friend was entitled "Fade to Black"...so if nothing else, Mom's theory generates personal artistic and poetic resonance...so, since I personally have used "fade to black" as a metaphor for death.....well, hmmm. Maybe. What did David Chase say? How does that fit?

Im not sure what to think...as the screen went black, my immediate thought was that the final scene in The Sopranos was a basic affirmation...in the end, all you have is your family....then again, my family thinks differently...all I really know is that I am blessed to have them...my family that is...yeah, I'm blessed...onion rings anyone?