Cheesy Rat Blues

  My grandfather spent some time in El Paso, Fort Bliss specifically during his time in the service in the late 1940's. Some of his musical tastes definitely were influenced by his time in the south-southwest, as he would play cassettes of Tex-Mex music in between his choice of Mexican music stations on the AM radio in the central valley of California. He would play his radio with these stations on as he would shuttle his grandkids around from house to house visitng family and having a good time. The five of us, my two cousins, two brothers, and me would pile into his green van and go caravaning around the unincorporated farm lands and family homes of Merced County. A trip to the convenience store for candy for each of us to pick and either a tall can or four pack of Michelob for grandpa ("the champagne of beer") would fuel us the whole day through.   I listen to an absolute pile of jazz these days, and it has only grown in the past few years. But at my core are two disti...

I gotta put this down somewhere just so I can remember what matters when I can't hear myself. Why love, creativity, and curiosity matter the most to me and should matter more to us all.  Love To be a part of, to draw from, to give to, and live with community. One, or a few, or many, but to live for each other, to foster connection, in recognition and celebration of our individual and collective humanity. To live in gratitude, and to express gratitude, for all we have and all that has been given to us, through all means. Creativity To experience, and seek to experience. And to express what that experience means to us, how it has affected us, changed us, supported us, and connects us to each other. To express this Curiosity To learn, to seek to learn, to develop and create new knowledge and come into understanding and possession of new thoughts, ideas, truths, facts, realities, and values. To teach, to foster curiosity, growth, and love of learning in others. To inform and seek to in...