Getting ready for our annual pilgrimage to San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival , we were saddened to learn of Amy’s passing from friends.  A beautiful musician. 

“She could do it all,” Alvin said. “She was a great string arranger. She would multitrack the violin and viola and everything else and suddenly you’ve got the L.A. Philharmonic behind you. She was brilliant on that.”

The Guilty Women will never be the same.

…………………………………………………….Mr. DeVille!

Sunny

Sunny Lucas has passed away.  I can’t tell you how many times I was in the middle of a crappy day and surfed over to Rachel’s blog and LOLed .  I sure did! That’s I’ll I can say right now.

Fans Flock to Mourn California, 1849-2009

…”California loves children,” said Vermont. “California loves children, because deep inside California is a also a child — full of innocent wonder, and the belief that any budget wish can come true as long as you just wish hard enough.”

True or not, the charges alienated many longtime fans, leaving California in an ever worsening financial position. In 2003 the state rejected suggestions that it was facing bankruptcy, saying that “I can’t be out of money, I still have checks left.” Amid the maelstrom, though, it fired tour manager Grey Davis who many blamed for California’s financial woes. In his place, California hired Arnold Schwartzenegger to help engineer a career-saving comeback tour.

Under the management of the flamboyant Austrian body builder / therapist, California began a rapid descent that ultimately ended in death. Some faulted Schwartzenegger’s unconvential therapeutic methods and prescription spending pills, including state pension steroids that some say were powerful enough to kill a Scandanavian industrial power. Schwartzenegger denied culpability, saying that his spending pills “help build de upper financial torso and lats, and deese other sings and so on.”…

Drive south with the one you love...

Mrs. Sepulveda and I had quite a weekend. We started off Friday night up in Davis, CA to see k.d. lang and her new band at the Mondavi Center’s stunning Jackson Hall. Then we saddled up Silver, our trusty 4-Runner and headed 550 miles south for Zog’s memorial service. Bill’s wake was very well attended with laughing men and weeping women.

Lots of weeping women. 

My favorite moment of the service came at the end after all the stories had been told. A guy named Rick from Sonoma who seemed to be officiating, asked for a moment of silence so we could all focus on our favorite Zog memory. It was quiet out there in the warm desert twilight. Little tiny hummingbirds buzzing through the ocotillo…just a beautiful place. Rick looks to his wife in the second row, smiles and says “I know what you’re remembering and I’m getting kind of mad.” Everybody just bust out laughing.  

One more thing. If any of you reading this ever has an overwhelming urge to crush walnuts with your sphincter, Montezuma Valley Grade is a five star place for it. 

I had a friend and kindred spirit down in the Anza-Borrego desert. A good man named Bill Herzog.  Today, on YouTube of all places, I found out he has passed away.  Relationships are different nowadays.  Search engines can change your life – or maybe not. In the end, despite the world drifting by on your computer screen, it’s still the boots on the ground around you that really count.  

The ground those boots are on makes a difference too. Some people are more sensitive to this than others.  How is it that some people can see courage, humor and beauty all around them and others just drive right by it day after day?  Is this ability a blessing or a curse?  I don’t want to answer that today.