In a new video out yesterday, October 13, Don Winslow teams up with Bruce Springsteen, who recently celebrated a birthday. Read more…
MusiKaravan Visits Ventura County
“Hello Gwendolyn! This is Etienne. We are two violinists traveling and performing for employees of organic farms and wineries,” read the text.
Friends of mine told Etienne I helped harvest grapes at Clos des Amis Winery on South Mountain above Santa Paula in Ventura County’s Heritage Valley.
“Maybe we could join too, play, capture some images? We make videos of our encounters and about the craft and life of the artisans we meet.”
Valerie Kaur: “The heart is a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it becomes.”
Mother Teresa says that if we look at all that we have to do, at the mass of it all, we will be overwhelmed and never act. Instead, “Begin With The One,” she advises. Find the one thing, the one step, the one persons, and focus your energy there.
Valerie Kaur “In See No Stranger” says “The heart is a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it becomes.” Read more from Valerie Kaur here.
So what will you focus on? How will you use your heart? Here’s what I’ve been up to.
World Blind Wine Tasting Challenge 2020: And the winner is…
On this day last year, I woke in the Loire Valley, France. We were staying in an Air B n B that snuggled up to a limestone cave. In fact the kitchen was IN the cave. Our accommodations, a two story structure, adjoined the cave.
And there was a hot tub where I soaked and drank my tea on that misty morning. The night before, we enjoyed oysters and a pet nat.
From there, we visited Vouvray’s Vincent Careme, a master of Chenin blanc wether still, sparkling, or sweet, and after lunch at Chateau du Pray, a Michelin starred restaurant also built into a limestone cave, we arrived at Chateau Chambord, possibly the most impressive castle in France, if not of Europe.
Just outside of Chateau Chambord were our next accommodations. This is the view from my bed:
And why was I in the Loire staying at a Chateau? Read more…
October is Blogtober 2020
Did you know that October is Blogtober?
The challenge of Blogtober is to post every day of the month of October — all 31 days! Read more…
Happy Birthday to the Boss: Bruce Springsteen
“Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
There’s a war outside still raging
You say it ain’t ours anymore to win
I want to sleep beneath
Peaceful skies in my lover’s bed
With a wide open country in my eyes
And these romantic dreams in my head”
Bruce Frederick Springsteen: Born Sept. 23, 1949
“Throughout the darkness that has settled on this land, I have listened to music,” writes Ron Wells. “Lots of music.
“And Bruce Springsteen continues to provide words and music that have lifted me up, replenished my soul, kept my spirit in the light.”
Well, I’ll take my blessings at the riverheadI’m living in the light of Maria’s bed.
“Let me know if you’ll be playing any Bruce songs today. I’d love to hear your choices.
“I just read Brian Hiatt’s article, a trickle of tears roll from my eye’s,” writes Marshall Sheridan about the September 20, 2020 cover article about Bruce Springsteen titled “Ghosts,Guitars, and the E StreetShuffle: How Bruce Springsteen confronted death, saw Clarence in his dreams, and knocked out a raw and rocking new album with the world’s greatest bar band.”
Bruce and a fan when they were both young
“Memories of friends, road trips, late nights in parking lots, songs, The Big “C”. missing live music, growing older. It all comes to passing with time. So I say grab a shot of Patron, turn the lights down, raise your glass sit back and listen to The Jersey Devil tonight and wish him a Happy Birthday, and many more.” Here’s Marshall’s play list:
#UrineTroubleTrump #ByeHannity
Following the release of the forward to Micheal Cohen’s book Disloyal where he describes what he did for Trump including:
“When Trump wanted to reach Russian President Vladimir Putin, via a secret back channel, I was tasked with making the connection in my Keystone Kop fashion.
I stiffed contractors on his behalf, ripped off his business partners, lied to his wife Melania to hide his sexual infidelities, and bullied and screamed at anyone who threatened Trump’s path to power.
From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump’s clandestine lovers, I wasn’t just a witness to the president’s rise—I was an active and eager participant.”
This led to one of the best hashtags that ever trended:
#UrineTroubleTrump.
Possibly explaining his recents rants about shower power…
Mail sorting machines have been dismantled in many states.
PA and MD were notified today the the Post Office may not have time to get mail-in ballots delivered to homes, and then collected before the election deadline.
One Postal employee reported that a truck pulled away today with 80,000 pieces of mail still on the loading dock because the driver was ordered to do so.
As the 2020 election ramps up, we can’t forget what we’ve learned, what we’ve observed. We can’t let him do what he wants and grab America by the pussy.
Even if he manages to destroy the post office — we must– and we will– vote him out in 80 days!
2019 Documentary: The Quiet One (Bill Wyman)
reviewed by Ron Wells
Some of the more notable facts are that he changed his name in 1964 from William George Perks, and he was brought up primarily by his grandmother who always believed he would one day be famous.
He mentions all three of his wives, and tells how he fought his first wife to get custody of his son. Glyn Johns and Andrew Loog Oldham are discussed, as is the death of Brian Jones. Wyman asserts that he was never addicted to drugs, but he did find escape through sex.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the film is when he talks about meeting his hero, Ray Charles.
by guest blogger Ron Wells
What’s the Point? The Point is Poetry!
Team USA 2019 at the competition site Chateau Chambord; photo courtesy of the French US Consulate.
The point is not the point, the point is POETRY!And we all know what Robert Louis Stevenson said about wine, right?
“Wine is bottled poetry!”
I became a bit obsessed with points there for a bit trying to figure out how they would be calculated to determine who would be on the 2020 US Wine Team (read more here).
Read more about Louis Roederer Champagne and its American cousin here.
Cheers and congratulations to the 2020 US Wine Team!
- Kristen Shubert, Los Angeles County, CA
2016 Team USA: 3rd place with 100 points at World Challenge (with Ulf Palmnas)
2018 Team USA: 14th of 23 teams at World Challenge (with Lisa Stoll)
2018 US Open: 1st with 124 points (partner Lisa Stoll)
2019 US Open: 4th place
- Taylor Robertson, Texas
2019 Team USA: 30 points (with Sue Hill, Jacob Fergus, and I)
2019 US Open: 1st with 101 points (with Jacob Fergus) - Ulf Palmnas, Sweden
2016 Team USA: 3rd place with 100 points at World Challenge (with Kristen Schubert)
2017 Team Sweden: World Champion with 115 points; read more here - Lisa Stoll, Ventura County, CA
2018 Team USA: 14th of 23 teams at World Challenge
2018 US Open: 1st with 124 points (partner Kristen Schubert)
2019 US Open: 3rd place with 59 points - First Alternate:
Jacob Fergus, Texas
2019 Team USA Captain: 30 points at World Challenge
2019 US Open: 1st with 101 points.
Or more accurately, bottled poetry, AKA wine!
Read about these two wines in an expanded version of this post here.
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
art predator 