Saturday, December 9, 2017

FIRE UPDATE 12.9.17

Fire update 12.9.17-- The fires in the Sylmar/Lake View Terrace area of L.A. labeled "the Creek Fire" has burned 15,000 acres as of today.  All the horses at my horse's boarding stable including my horse Indy were evacuated on December 5th, then their evac stable itself had to be evacuated that same day as well. Since L.A. has a paucity of horse zoning places (less than 2% of the entire Los Angeles basin from Antelope Valley to Orange County,) this led to a disapora of horses trucked to hither and yon. 

For 12 hours I didn't know where he was. Now he's with his pasture buddy in someone's arena, safe and cared for. Meanwhile... his dressage barn facilities burned to the ground with Indy's tack with it. No matter, I am grateful he is safe. Much of the large, high-end, flagship facility south of us of which our stable used to be a part, Middle Ranch is gone as well although their horses are safe too. The facility north of us, Padilla Ranch suffered the deaths of 30 horses who perished in the fire.
Above, all ashes and ruins, photo by Tricia Hamilton, the trainer who, along with Kiley Lampier, saved all of our horses while the fires were blazing around them.
↓ Below is a screen capture from trainer Stacie Wight's video assessing the fire damage at our stable. Hers happily was okay.
 Below, more fire devastation of our formerly forested riding trails...

 ↓ Here is my horse Indy in the beautiful arena which is his temporary bivouac during fire evacuation. He is a tad nervous but happy with one of his pasture buddies, and I am grateful he is safe..
  ↓ Me riding Indy on trail and in a show during much happier times. He's a grey pinto, which means the darker parts of his coloring have lightened over the years. He is 23, and I've had him for 20 years. He was Sport Horse of the Year in 2002 for Dressage in his National Show Horse Registry of the whole American Horse Show Association, mainly due to his trainer (Christy Monfort pictured with Indy in the last photo at bottom) riding him in the one year I could afford to have him shown...



 On the radio news yesterday, I heard a news conference with one of the L.A. Fire Dept. chiefs saying, "I've heard 'no loss of life' mentioned today and that's not correct. A lot of horses died. The L.A. Fire Dept. believes that all lives are worth our saving."

This LINK* shows the neighboring, high-end flagship stables Middle Ranch consumed by flames. Where my horse boards now used to be part of it.

*https://www.msn.com/en-nz/video/animals/rapidly-growing-fire-destroys-ranch-in-north-los-angeles/vp-BBGjf0P

Monday, November 20, 2017

TONY ERBA AND FYPM CONQUER SILVERLAKE Passion Part 1


Nov. 2, 2017 at Los Globos club, Silverlake/Hollywood area Calif. rocketing all the way from the tombs of  Cleveland OH, hardcore punk rockers FYPM (acronym for Fuck You Pay Me, the Goodfellas homily) are Tony Erba, impassioned vocals, peripatetic stage travel and audience diving, Aaron Dowell, guitar, Alex Balmer, bass, Steve Callahan, drums in action! 

They tour the hellholes of the U.S. annually, and anyone who gets a chance to see this band immediately is ecstatic that he or she did. Clevo hardcore continues its allure: FYPM were VERY well received...
 






Friday, November 17, 2017

CANINE UPDATES

 Livia the new Borzoi puppy at 4 months old, Gia the 3 year old Scottish Deerhound and Sarabelle the ancient Golden Retriever
 


HALLOWEEN 2017

Just a pumpkin and a triceratops for Halloween...

Friday, October 20, 2017

INGER LORRE BRAVES A VENICE CALIF. GIG 9.23.17

 
Inger Lorre played famed Venice CA culture depot Beyond Baroque 9.23.17 with her Nymphs' bandmates TJ Rauch on guitar and percussionist/drummer Eric Contreras. Whereas her set of Nymphs' classics and newer solo original material remained a predictably excellent caliber, it proved a strange gig...


...which was illustrated far worse in the warmup set by legendary local Tequila Mockingbird (shrugging below left.) She had attempted to provide ambient music with her synthesizer, but no sound was heard. Luckily her masked Theremin player (below right) remained fully audible.

 
In the case of Inger's set, her lead vocals microphone wasn't heard as well. Fortunately for the patient audience, her strong voice singing of powerful emotions carried well into the venue, and the guitarist and percussionist followed through in adjusting their own volumes. Strange to deny the lead performer of both acts any audio whatsoever. We all were told later that the sound person had gone home at 9 p.m. for the 10 p.m. performance...

Thursday, October 19, 2017

ARWEN LEWIS, PETER LEWIS "The Yellin' Bells" plus CARLA OLSON 2x, and JACK RIVERA 1x

Jack Rivera solo last night at Molly Malone's as part of the International Pop Overthrow Los Angeles fête: cool blues & pop!
The International Pop Overthrow Festival lured songbird Arwen Lewis and dad Peter Lewis (yes, legendary singer/guitarist of Moby Grape fame) sporting their new moniker The Yellin' Bells to the stage of Molly Malone's back on 8.1.17. Father and daughter both remain such strong singer/guitarists that play beautifully off one another, so this set of classic Grape fare plus newer originals predictably sounded fantastic. 

Also on hand, another formidable singer/guitarist Carla Olson (of The Textones and various superior duet albums with onetime Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and the late Byrd Gene Clark) joined in to jam. Moby Grape songs haven't sounded this hot since their inception in the mid-1960s! 

Many artists played the Fête on assorted nights, but I was fortunate to catch this act just before the Yellin' Bells: legendary producer/musician Jack Rivera doing a fine solo turn. Quite the local legend for his stint in the Stains and notoriety as a great purist Hard Pop producer, Rivera initially had been introduced to me by his clients Dr. Boogie (LINK*) whose singer/guitarist Chris P. lauded him as "the person from whom I learned everything useful, like you can be out there musically as long as you remember to have hooks." Playing solo since his current band did not remain sufficiently healthy to gig, he offered a skillful set of self-accompanied originals.

Our next encounter with The Yellin' Bells and their talented chum Carla Olson erupted at Skinny's Lounge on Sept. 3, 2017 wherein the club apparently forgot to turn on any onstage illumination. Nonetheless, the crowd predictably was treated to quite a cool set.  The Yellin' Bells remain: Peter Lewis, Arwen Lewis, George Adrian, Nick Babishoff, and John Collinson.
 


Wednesday, October 18, 2017

PERSONAL STUFF CATCH UP

 New Borzoi (Russian Wolfhound) puppy Livia joins bitchpack with Scottish Deerhound Gia, Golden Retriever Sarabelle and yours truly...
 Mr. Twister and hounds before the former's morning coffee ↑

sleeping arrangements ↓
 



 
 
Picking up  puppy, literally and figuratively, in Gorman, Calif. rendezvous locale.

Below, fun birthday dinner last night at my very favorite Japanese restaurant (great sashimi and they play Reggae music in the background!) Thank you Mr. Twister, Chris and Carolyn. In the last pic, I sport the hachimaki headband for courage to endure another birthday (don't even ask...)
 



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