A Day In The Life

Yesterday's Song O' The Morn took me back to what I consider to be the happiest day of my life, so I wanted to share it here...

6/6/07 - Stand By Your Man - Tammy Wynette

I'm not sure exactly how old I was (I'd have to say somewhere around ten) but one summer day, my Mom took me to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village for the day. I sat and alternated between watching two sets of performers for hours. One was a Beatles cover band called The Leaves. I sat cross-legged on the ground, transfixed as they brought to life those songs I'd been listening to on the radio and my mom's turntable pretty much ever since I was born. I was amazed to be hearing those songs live and, for me on that day, these guys might as well have been the actual Beatles. This little Beatlemaniac (or in this case, Leavesmaniac) sat and listened and watched and clapped through each set they did, smiling as big as I've prob'ly ever smiled in my life throughout the afternoon.

So where do Tammy Wynette and her signature song enter into this idyllic childhood memory? Well, I'm glad you asked!

Between Leaves sets, another group of performers would set up and perform a puppet show using these really cool, life-sized, animal puppets/marionettes. The puppeteers were charismatic, funny and a hoot to watch. They used music for some parts of their show and one particular segment included a giant bird-looking thing with ridiculously big boobs (clearly referencing Dolly Parton) crooning "Stand By Your Man" and then inserting itself in a large cardboard box and ostensibly mailing itself to its man, choreographed to a Woody Guthrie song: "I'm a'gonna wrap myself in paper/I'm a'gonna dot myself with glue/Stick some stamps on top of my head/I'm a'gonna mail myself to you".

I can't recall a happier day in my childhood and, honestly, few days in my adulthood have been as purely joyful as that day was for me. I revisit that day often, picking up my mental crayons and coloring the images a bit deeper and a bit brighter each time, lest I begin to forget...

And to think that most days by noon I can't remember what I had for breakfast...

6/6/07 - Round Here - Counting Crows
Yes, I'm aware that this song was originally recorded by Adam Duritz's pre-CC band, the Himalayans, but the version I woke up to this morn was the one from August and Everything After (an album that, I regret to say, got one listen and then languished in my CD rack for about a year until I went back and realized just how great it was. I do this a lot. I'm sloooooow. Just ask Dave). Round Here is one of my fave songs and, as I'm sure I've mentioned, the one I used to usually close my solo acoustic gigs with (thanks for showing me the signature riff, Dave). There's a lot of space for extemporaneous improv in it, especially at the end. I think, of the songs I perform, it's Gab's favorite... aside from the ones I wrote for her.

Gabby's been doing great today, post-biopsy. She called me early in the day and said, "Well, it fell off" ("it" being her newly-pierced boob) and went on to tell me she'd put it in a jar with formaldehyde. I told her that ice woulda been a better bet if she'd had her eye on reattachment but that if she just wanted to keep it for some high schoolers to have for dissection ("Save a frog! Lop off a boob!"), formaldehyde was the way to go. Really, she says that it's just been kinda itchy. And that's why the lady is a champ.

Spent the evening at La Casa Vullo having din-din and watching comedy. First up: Eddie Izzard's Dress To Kill. Fookin' hilarious! I then introduced them to Mitch Hedberg as we watched Mitch's Comedy Central special from the Mitch Altogether CD/DVD. A fun time was had by all!

Half Dome, taken from the Panorama Trail just below Glacier Point, 1989. Four more days... In the background to the left of Half Dome is a peak called Cloud's Rest. Below is a pic of me doing a bit of death-defying bouldering on Cloud's Rest. Ah, the stupidity of youth...

To the left is the front edge of Half Dome... Not knowing how to climb back down from the rock I'd just scrambled up on, I chose to simply jump back down. Not the smartest move, but who at 19 years old isn't immortal, right? If a strong gust of south-blowing wind had come as I prepared my mountain goat-esque leap, I would've prob'ly fell a few thousand feet before coming to a very sudden, very messy stop.

It's nice to still be here.