Greetings!
Time flies when you are trying to release a compiled CD
of all of your Native flute music, but that is how we spent our fall in Talent
this year. In a team effort we rerecorded 41 tunes on a dozen different Native
American flutes, added percussion parts, engineered a finished product and
designed a CD cover. All of this was emailed to a production house that shipped
us the finished "Canyons and Crossroads" discs only days before we
departed on our 2017 concert tour. Add to this the whirlwind of holidays and
home ownership for the complete picture of our past several months. All of this
is a happy memory as we now find ourselves in the very familiar (and enviably
sunny) environs of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. We hope you
are building good memories of your own and that we can help create some of
those with you in 2017. ~ Brian & Andi
Wish You Were Here
As you approach Slab City, east of the Salton Sea in the
south central California desert, you pass a sign directing you to the local landfill. When you reach Slab City, you may wonder if you missed a turn and ended up at the dump after all. That was perhaps our first impression of this no-rules, free-for-all community perched on the concrete slabs of a discarded World War II Marine camp. Sun seekers and hermits and alternative lifestylers find a weird kind of Mecca amid the desert gullies and sere flats of Slab City. Dead and discarded trailers dot the landscape, almost indistinguishable from the inhabited RVs. Art projects reflect the local disdain for conformity, as displayed in the wildly painted "Salvation Mountain" that welcomes you on the edge of town as well as the eclectic and random collection of bottles, tires, iron, vehicles, and scraps of all nature composing the massive park-like installation dubbed "East Jesus." The variety in visual creativity is matched by the musical offerings at "The Range," an open air stage featuring weekly talent shows in front of rows of deteriorating lounge chairs and sofas. We arrived on a recent Saturday afternoon and heard a hot electric guitar player with flowing grey hair, a classical violinist, and a touring 
duo with vocals, harmonica and guitar. Audience members danced in flowing robes, billowing harem pants, knitted cowboy hats, fairy wings and tiaras. We doubt that California's recent legalization of pot made any difference to the happy, puffing crowd at Slab City, some of whom were just visiting, and a minority of others who actually brave the wickedly hot summers to live there year round. Lest this sound like a judgement of this unusual and spirited place, let us just say that we defend the right of all who wish to be different and we enjoyed a peaceful night boondocking alone yet not alone in a solitary patch of desert behind Salvation Mountain. We were profoundly happy to have the ability
Life on the Road
Snowbirds, that's what people call us. At the first sign
of winter we flee the cold weather in search of warmer climes. Seeing different
birds is one of the many rewards of traveling north in the summer and south in
the winter. About the time we learn names of the common birds in one area,
we're off to another place and a whole new set of feathers and chirps. Some,
like most types of hummingbird, are migratory as well and have chosen places
like southern Arizona as winter homes. Others enjoy the desert all the time,
such as Gila woodpeckers who are comfortable amid cactus and mesquite. There
are a few old friends we see thriving in a wide range of habitats, such as
osprey, dove and raven. Right now we are being entertained by the high-speed
feeding antics of vermilion flycatchers, who dart and zip near our RV,
flashing us with their brilliant red bodies. Even on a modern Air Force base it
is obvious that their nimble beauty puts human mimicry of flight to shame.
Did You Know
Dateland, Arizona is a small unincorporated community
about an hour east of Yuma on Interstate 8, the southernmost interstate out
west. It is little more than a Texaco station yet it hosts the Dateland Travel
Center, a gift shop specifically featuring the sweet desert palm fruit of its
namesake. There are more than 100 varieties of dates found in the world and
half a dozen are available here, complete with descriptions and tasty samples.
We succumbed to a bag of Khadrawy dates, small, dark and chewy. And no visit to
Dateland is complete without sampling a "World Famous Date Shake." We
felt it was our duty to test their claim. Conclusion of our research –
delicious!
Coffee Chat
Laurel Canyon looms large in our consciousness as the source of much of the popular Southern California music of the 60's and 70's. We traveled up Laurel Canyon Blvd out of West Hollywood to visit the one small store that services the locals just so we could absorb the vibe of those who had shopped before. Canyon Country Store is a well-stocked mini-market with fresh fruits and veggies, canned goods, deli foods, office supplies, basic household needs, and a coffee stand out in front. We purchased a can of espresso, a pair of scissors and a jar of capers, then bought lattes and breakfast pastries to enjoy on the porch. There we sat and immersed ourselves in a piece of history, both seeing it now and imagining it then. Homage was paid with our cash, our time and our attention to the ghosts of musical geniuses past.
