Some from the Archives...

a while back I began diggin' thru the archives...

boxes upon boxes, slides and negatives,

dust and scratches

the years pile up just the same

so i must return and take another look

relive, rejoice, recreate

LIFE






below is the ol' backyard for a few years...
Middle Fork San Joaquin River, California



...and this is the panorama...

|||THE FULL VIEW|||



AHhhhh, Mr. Ol' Calfee....John Lefty....out in the country

where he's happiest.

Drizzly Grey Day Lazy Magic

What can I say?
What words can possibly describe?

Grey and cold
Tired and feeling sort of sick
I walked and drove thru the drizzling rain
and fog
and looked upon things of this nature.

I woke up to this
Greeted the day with coffee and thought
in the woods above Santa Cruz
my friend's place

Take a step outside
and Look Back
nice

the 
perfect
pick

room for rent

Northern Harrier and the seaside flower fields

a lurking slab amidst the long coast

and a bit later
out with the beer
and a new song
appears.

and the forest dances through the grey morning cloud

Big Valentine's Swell

I'm still on the coast, and if the waves stay the way they are, I'll have no reason to leave...it's just too good...





Played a fun show at Asana Teas and Cafe in Santa Cruz, Thanks to All who came and stayed thru my Crazy Experiment of a show....then we jammed nearly all night with friends, and managed to wake up by about 1pm, Sunday to get some food and coffee in the belly by 2pm, and hop into the surf near 3pm for an EPIC 3 hours of sandbar perfection...no photos from this session, but the others hint at what's goin' down right now in santa cruz...sweet sweet sweetness.



ahhhh freedom how I love you. Freedom is my Valentine this year.

Along the Pacific...

For the next little while I'll be kickin' it along the pacific coast of California...drivin' around for surf, music, and to meet up with old friends. The David Rawlings Machine (which involves Gillian Welch and members of Old Crow Medicine Show) is playing at The Fillmore in San Francisco on Tuesday (2/9) and I just grabbed a ticket for that to gain some inspiration and simply groove and listen to the sounds of my favorite acoustic guitar player...




Meanwhile I hope to gather inspiration from the moist climate, green trees and hills, roaring pacific, and clean waves and carry that on into my own shows....
(Friday-2/12 in Oakland at the Nomad Cafe (6500 Shattuck Avenue, CA 94609) from 7:30-8:30pm, and Saturday-2/13 at Asana Teas and Cafe in Santa Cruz (103 Lincoln St., CA) starting at 8pm and going till 10:30 or so...with perhaps a few friends joining in at the santa cruz show...

I'm polishing a host of new songs, including a few new cello songs and am excited to debut the new material.




Meanwhile, right now, the wind sings in the trees, and a light rain patters out of the dark night, good swells roll in off the ocean, wrapping even into the insides of deep bays to peel along sand bars, and the walls of a friend's old cottage seem to resonate with a warmth and humanity that I really only feel along the coast. It is a fine place, this California Pacific....and I think I'll lay my head down and rest upon it awhile...

a poem of thought

late at night
a restless surge of idea-less
notion
a desire to create
but from what
into what
can I make
with nothing but a silent room
a sleepy head
tired eyes.

but there it lies
inspiration
naked and alluring
calling and singing
"You've Got It"
RUN RUN
while you can!

(perhaps I'll make it before thought gets in the way?)

nope...too late.

Sugar Skiing in the Pinon-Juniper & Mountain Mahogany

Ahhhhhhhhh the sweet taste of sugar still lingers in my mouth....



Miles and miles of pavement gave way to the steel shimmer of Mono Lake on Tuesday afternoon, and before the sun could finish it's descent, I'd parked the car and found one of my own, arcing turns in the opens spaces between pinon pines and mountain mahogany above the shores of one of America's oldest lakes. It felt better than a breath of fresh air, it felt like a completely new stash of blood running through my body.

Home Sweet Home YES!!!! The sparkle and hiss of dried out desert facets days after the last snow, effortlessly skied in a nearly 30 year old pair of lace-up leather boots riding brand new mid-fat Karhu 10th Mtn. waxless touring skis. No one around, no other tracks, just sunset fading pink over the lake, and a beautiful ski line under my feet.





I got home to find my band Old Coyote Moon getting ready to practice...drum kit, amps, beers and friends in the livingroom with nothing to do the next couple of days but play music and ski.





Dry-side desert skiing, with nothing but the finest sugar. Some whoompfing kept us off the bigger stuff, and focused our sights on mining the small stashes...




With yet another storm already raging outside, I can't wait for the next round of clear sunny dry weather along the Eastern Front.

Folk'n Cello Home Recording Session

Since December 21st I've been eddied out in Kirkwood Meadows, California, skiing, writing, playing music, and hanging out with my folks that are visiting from China. They are only in the States about 6 weeks out of the year these days, so time together is important...all this time of course has led to an incredible itch in my fingertips...not because I haven't been playing but because I hadn't taken advantage of the great acoustics to make some recordings...well, one afternoon I suddenly found myself alone in the house, with about two or three hours to spare. I set up my mics (nothing fancy, just an MXL4000 and companion MXL603s), and mixer and ran the line into my computer. Turned on the iSight camera on the laptop and started filming. What you have here are the two best clips in my opinion.

SHADY GROVE:::



CALIFORNIA (orig.):::