Saturday Night Soup for the Soul (26)

ild flowers, especially those that spring forth in an arid environment are such a joy. I shot quite a few pix of such flowers along the eastern banks of the Columbia Gorge in April. Can anyone ID this beauty for me? One of the hallmarks of the flood are the boulders strewn across the landscape. There are places in eastern Washington where the rolling landscape, made up of “ripples” that are ¼ mile between the peek and the trough of the ripples (caused by waves that were 100’s of feet high) is littered with boulders sitting in the middle of no where that are the size of a house. These are the “pebbles” carried by the flood. Here we see but a grain of sand. Waiting for the Son? At first flash of Eden, we race down to the sea. Standing there on freedoms shore. Waiting for the sun Waiting for the sun Waiting for the sun Can you feel it now that spring has come? And its time to live in the scattered sun. Waiting for the sun Waiting for the sun Waiting for the sun Waiting Waiting Waiting Waiting Waiting Waiting Waiting Waiting Waiting for you to come along Waiting for you to hear my song Waiting for you to - tell me what went wrong This is the strangest life Ive ever known Yeah! As you can tell, I was facinated with the the huge massive chunk of lava that juts out into the Columbia River that I wrote about last week. It withstood the cataclysmic ice age floods, with waves 350 feet high that tore through everything else in its path. I like that. The immovable object. I feel your heat and dusty whispers on the open road This apparently neverendimg Road Trip Diary damned well better end next week at Stonehenge. In the mean time, come in, sit anywhere you like, and have a bowl of audio soup for the soul. 1. Waiting for the Sun is from the Doors Morrison Hotel LP. I have a love/hate relationship with the Doors. Or more specifically, their iconic heart and soul, the late and great Jim Morrison. The problem is that he was an alcoholic. No, I am not one of those: prissy, preachy tea totaler. Hell’s bells, I was a bit toasted last night at Rickys on some fine Hungarian sweet red wine. But taken to excess, alcoholism seems to go with a sloppy and insensitive personality type that is repulsive to me. Like that clip of the Hoff slobbering on the greasy hamburger that made the media rounds last month. All addictions (substance or behavior driven) seem to match up to personality types. One could argue that I am being hypocritical since I am no stranger to addictions, or perhaps that this sounds like a personal problem. I plead Nolo contendere. Okay, now I can jump down from my soap box and tell you that at his best, Jim Morrison was knock-out swaggeringly stunning. This song brings back memories of a adolescent summer, and of a leather bar. This is very homo erotic music for me, and more than a little of the S&M leather scene. Big fricking time. ‘Nuff said about that. 2. Another Country is from Electric Flag's “A Long Time Comin’”. Damn. This is one of the all time lost masterpieces from the Psychedelic genre. It is all that, and blues, Memphis Soul. Holding it all together is the burning guitarist Mike Bloomfield. Bloomfield is all over Dylan’s legendary Highway 61 Revisited (Like a Rolling Stone). Another Country even has clips of LBJ’s Vietnam War speeches woven into the Psychedelic center of the song. If you are not familiar with this song, have a listen. It is absolutely a masterpiece. 3. Trans Lunar Rising comes from a CD titled Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest by The Fireman. I featured this CD once before on Saturday Night Soup back on February 17, 2007. It just seems to make emotional sense to use thsi sister track as a soup garnish today. All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your bowl of Saturday Night Soul for the Soul by clicking the jukebox.

Signs of Spring: 2010 Edition (4)

Rhododendron "Vibrant Violet" and Dillodaffs Rhododendron "Unique" (above and below)

"Baptism in the Swamp"

I sketched this painting out on canvas, before I started painting it, in the midst of a torrential downpour. I've never lived in a place that rained so much, even in Hawaii. Even when it's not raining, water seems to just bubble up from the ground everywhere. Properties advertised as "Water Front" usually mean "Swamp Front". The ground sort of oozes up water as you slosh through it. Being from Southern California it seems odd to me that I never see anyone watering their lawn or plants, and I have seen a single sprinkler since I've been here. Swamps, pools, rivers and lakes seem to surround Savannah (all of them with alligators living in them), but people value them knowing they're the main line of defense against hurricanes and flooding. So the word "swamp" has become part of my everyday vocabulary, life, and experience. "Baptism In The Swamp"24"x 30" Acrylic on Canvas Swampily, TONY

"The Patron Saint of Schizophrenics"

This is the latest in my "Made Up Saints" series. Others have included:- The Patron Saint of Chain Smokers- The Patron Saint of Ants The Patron Saint of Chihuahuas -The Patron Saint of Gardenias- The Patron Saint of Painters- The Patron Saint of AIDS Prevention -The Patron Saint of Parrots -The Patron Saint of Bamboo- The Patron Saint of Dogs  And this is: "The Patron Saint of Schizophrenics" 24" x 24" Copperleaf and Acrylic on Birch Wood Wishing you good mental health, TONY