The days since Thanksgiving have been good and intense. We had a lovely day and beautiful food with some good friends and three dogs. The dog part was a little crazy. Aero, who I began calling the Devil Dog, was a little more than out of control. What looks like a sweet cattle dog puppy was really an unpredictable crazed beast that we had to be careful with. The other dogs really had it rough, we had to break up a few fights because of the crazy puppy. So outside of dog drama, everything was good until I got a message that an old friend died on Thanksgiving in an ATV accident in the desert. I hate those things and would never put my body on one and I was angry that she had. Lorna (we called her Doone) was a super fan. She was a friend to many San Diego bands, especially the Beat Farmers and a reggae/ska band that I played in called the Trowsers. She brought people to shows and was there to help with what might be needed. She lived a wild life and had a heart of gold. She was a very giving and sharing person. In the past year she had settled down, quit smoking, was losing weight and for the first time had met a really nice guy that she loved and he was in love with her. He moved from Chicago to be with her. Right when she was most happy now she is gone.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving I headed up to San Francisco with Elisa Ovrahim to record on her project Agness Twin. The first part was getting through L.A. where I went to pick her up. We start heading towards a freeway and there was so much traffic, we couldn't figure out why. All of the regular routes were clogged and then I realized that it was Sunday after Thanksgiving which means the Hollywood Christmas parade. I remember going as a kid and my dad complaining because of all the traffic and not being able to park. So we change plans a little and head towards Loz Feliz to get on I-5. This is a weekend that I prefer not to travel but Elisa got the time off from work for the recording. Finally, we're moving although there are a lot of cars. Through the valley, over the Grapevine. Southbound traffic is super heavy after the holiday weekend and then we hit fog and things slow to a crawl. Winter in the San Joaquin Valley can be really foggy especially after rains which we had the on Thanksgiving. It took 2 hours longer than it would usually take to get to S.F. from L.A. We were beat when we got there. The next day I would record cello parts for 7 songs for a total of 10 hours in the studio. I know I'm not getting any younger but I can't help myself.
