“Here, beneath this tree, she had lain on her back in the sun and watched the butterflies. Part of her would linger there for ever: a footstep running tip-toe to the creek, the touch of her hand on a tree, the imprint of her body in the long grass. And perhaps one day, in after years, someone would wander there and listen to the silence, as she had done, and catch the whisper of the dreams that she had dreamt there, in midsummer, under the hot sun and the white sky.” — Daphne du Maurier, Frenchman’s Creek.
Art by Lucy Campbell
Three of my favorites in one painting: a wolf, a raven, and trees. I’d love to curl up and hibernate in a mighty oak guarded by my beloved animal family — to dream of butterflies and seashells and other simple but profound bearers of joy.
I don’t talk much about the part of Southern California where I live; other than my beach, lagoon, and the stupid local government. I’m about thirty or forty miles or so from the city, and while I don’t often get down there, I do love old pictures that chronicle the history of San Diego far more accurately than words.
Here’s a photo of San Diego Bay taken in 1892 from the vantage point of State Street and Broadway. It all looks calm and free of tourists, exactly how we locals like our life here in SoCal.
San Diego Bay / Photo from Reddit
I always thought the oldest bar in San Diego was the Waterfront, but it’s not, because the Waterfront opened in 1933 when prohibition was repealed,
The oldest bar in San Diego is the Tivoli Bar, opened as a saloon in 1885. It’s located on a lot originally owned by Alonzo Horton who helped develop most of downtown San Diego.
Tivoli Bar/Curated from SFGate
Built in 1864, the building was first called the Walker House and functioned as a boarding house, feed store, and blacksmith shop. The Walker House was converted into a saloon and kitchen in 1885. The original bar (still there) was built in Boston and brought to San Diego by ship around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, a journey which took three to four months.
The original cash register from the turn of the 20th century and the old safe are still displayed in the bar.
The Tivoli Bar has hosted many famous characters including Wyatt Earp and his wife Josephine, whose photos are prominently displayed over the entrance to the bar, along with Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren.
The bar flourished during a time when San Diego was a boomtown and the Gaslamp was the city’s red light district, an area then known as the Stingaree. A warning sign from the time reads: “This area is known to be populated by anarchists, confidence men, cut throats, shady ladies, hop heads, perverts and thieves.”
Here’s an 1882 crime report from a local newspaper: “About 8 o’clock on Friday evening, a fracas occurred in the Tivoli Saloon between Gus Young and one Ballantine, in which the former was struck over the head with a chair in such a forcible manner that the latter is of no further service, and will have to be sent to a furniture store for repairs.”
I bet there were some wild times inside the Tivoli–if only the walls could talk! It’s a certified dive bar and I can’t believe I’ve never been there. I think it’d be fun to take the train downtown and check it out.
Have you heard of reporter and author Max Miller?
Max Miller was a reporter for the San Diego Sun and author of twenty eight books. In 1932, he wrote I Cover the Waterfront, an interesting account of San Diego’s port community that inspired Hollywood movies and became the title of a jazz standard sung by Billie Holliday, Frank Sinatra, and Sarah Vaughan, but sadly, NOT Leon Russell.
The book’s characters include true-life sea captains, Portuguese fishermen, flying squid, sparkling Garibaldi fish, movie stars, Charles Lindbergh, Babe Ruth, and a beautiful young woman who got away.
Miller also drew from his experiences living in Everett, Washington and when he attended the University of Washington. He also wrote Harbor of the Sun: The Story of the Port of San Diego, which is a fairly difficult book to locate. He died in La Jolla.
Here’s Sarah Vaughan with her 1946 version of I Cover The Waterfront (I couldn’t find a Leon Russell connection this time at all…LOL).
FYI: This is not a post written with the intention to extol any vacation virtues of San Diego. We REALLY have far too many visitors here but I’m sure there are other lovely places to choose for a holiday…
Written by Bill Janovitz, this nearly 600 page New York Times bestselling biography of Leon Russell, Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History was a gift from the original Angel Boy.
I don’t think he (or the Angel Kids) quite understand my passionate interest (read obsession) with the one and only Claude Russell Bridges (Leon Russell), but he’s supportive in his own way, although he wouldn’t play “A Song For You” on our piano because he said it had been too long since he tickled the ivories and it might have looked simple to play, but it was a very complex piece of music and he didn’t feel he could do it justice. Or at least that’s the excuse he gave me.
So…this BOOK. It’s comprehensive, it’s respectful, and it delves into areas of Leon’s life that even I didn’t know. Yes, there’s some sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but the overarching theme of Leon’s life and music is LOVE.
The life path that took a child born with cerebral palsy during the Second World War, who overcame his physical challenges to become a classically trained pianist — and was catapulted to the top of the music scene–is inspirational. He was and always will be the Master of Space and Time — a visionary.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is from his friend and fellow musician, Ann Bell:
“One night everybody had gone to bed, and it was about four o’clock in the morning. All of a sudden, I woke up; I could hear him playing. It was a classical piece; he’s in the living room, where he had a piano, and he’s playing this piece that’s forty minutes long, from memory. There was no sheet music. I sat down on the bench, and I didn’t say a word. I just thought, ‘They didn’t understand the depth of his well.’ And when he was done, I was crying. He goes, ‘Girl, what’s wrong witchoo?'”
From the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The definitive New York Times bestselling biography of legendary musician, composer, and performer Leon Russell, who profoudly influenced George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, and the world of music as a whole.
Leon Russell is an icon, but somehow is still an underappreciated artist. He is spoken of in tones reserved not just for the most talented musicians, but also for the most complex and fascinating. His career is like a roadmap of music history, often intersecting with rock royalty like Bob Dylan, the Stones, and the Beatles. He started in the Fifties as a teenager touring with Jerry Lee Lewis, going on to play piano on records by such giants as Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Phil Spector, and on hundreds of classic songs with major recording artists. Leon was Elton John’s idol, and Elton inducted him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Leon also gets credit for altering Willie Nelson’s career, giving us the long-haired, pot-friendly Willie we all know and love today.
In his prime, Leon filled stadiums on solo tours, and was an organizer/performer on both Joe Cocker’s revolutionary Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour and George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh. Leon also founded Shelter Records in 1969 with producer Denny Cordell, discovering and releasing the debut albums of Tom Petty, the Gap Band, Phoebe Snow, and J.J. Cale. Leon always assembled wildly diverse bands and performances, fostering creative and free atmospheres for musicians to live and work together. He brazenly challenged musical and social barriers. However, Russell also struggled with his demons, including substance abuse, severe depression, and a crippling stage fright that wreaked havoc on his psyche over the long haul and at times seemed to will himself into obscurity. Now, acclaimed author and founding member of Buffalo Tom, Bill Janovitz shines the spotlight on one of the most important music makers of the twentieth century.
I give this book all the stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and tophats 🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩
In my opinion, if you don’t know who Leon Russell was, you should, and reading Janovitz’s biography is a good way to learn about him and to be amazed at his musical genius. You’ll understand why he’s referred to as the Master of Space and Time.
Leon Russell and the GAP band on The Midnight Special with Wolfman Jack:
Lately it seems that I see POGs popping up everywhere on social media.
Do you remember them?
For a brief, crazy intense moment in the ’90s, POGs and slammers were everywhere. If you grew up during that era, you might remember collecting the colorful cardboard discs, the thrill of slamming your favorite POG stack, and swapping the ones you didn’t want with friends on the playground.
During that frenzied time, I was involved in a business that not only produced POGs (milkcaps) as business promotional giveaways but created a line of them called The Safe Neighborhood Club, complete with an inserted educational booklet. Some of these designs were included in books about POGs.
Photo by Enchanted Seashells
For a time, POGS were even outlawed in a few school districts, that’s how popular they were.
The story of POGs began in Hawaii, where children used caps from Haleakala Dairy’s POG juice (passionfruit-orange-guava) to play a simple flipping game.
Alan Rypinski bought the POG trademark in 1993 and transformed it into a global brand. With the World POG Federation at the helm, POGs exploded into toy aisles and schoolyards, becoming an integral part of ’90s culture. POGman, the game’s cartoon mascot, became as recognizable as the discs themselves. He made millions during the craze but was out of the game when the bubble burst.
By 1997, the POG market had imploded. Oversaturation, school bans, and changing fads pushed the once-beloved game into obscurity. The discs that once sparked heated debates and trades among kids now sat forgotten.
Now, nearly three decades later, whispers of a POG revival are surfacing. Can a nostalgia-driven resurgence bring this playground staple back into the mainstream?
Why Revive POGs Now?
I can’t explain it, but POGs definitely ARE making a comeback, not just as a nostalgic collectible but also with a digital component and a focus on both physical and digital gaming.
The World Pog Federation launched new physical sets and online games to engage a new generation of players. They are also exploring partnerships and collaborations to expand the POG brand.
I’ll have to dig around in the garage ‘cos I know I still have a massive collection stored in binders and I can’t wait to show them to the Angels. Maybe they could start it up again at their school; wouldn’t that be awesome?
This is the post I planned for Monday before we had that 5.2 earthquake. Since then, terra firma has been quiet around here, but I did finally install the earthquake warning app to be ready for the next one.
Here’s the word of the day…tsundoku.
I had no idea there was a specific word to describe a pile of unread books.
In Japanese, “tsundoku” means collecting books and letting them pile up, not for neglect, but for the joy of knowing they’re there, full of untold stories.
The word “tsundoku” is a combination of “tsunde-oku” (to let things pile up) and “dokusho” (reading books).
My professor son has stacks of books all over his house and is guilty of acquiring as many books as he does plants for the garden. Half of them are for teaching and the others are for pleasure, he says. They live sort of near the guy who won a lot of money on Jeopardy, Tom Nissley, and he opened Phinney Books, which is cool. Both of the kids have shelves of books, too, so it runs in the family.
Here’s what’s on my bedside table. I confess that I actually NEVER read AB’s book in its entirety, but since I proofed the first draft, there’s a bit of me in there somewhere. Of course there’s Leon (I know, I’m so predictable) and gifted books about crystals and gardening. I didn’t include all my chick lit books because they’re immediately devoured. I get most of those secondhand from DIL because we enjoy the same authors. She’s a neuroscientist and those reads are a way for her brainy brain to unwind.
“Once in a lifetime across your lifeline crosses an energy like no other. This is Leon Russell to me.” Gary Busey, musician, actor, long-time friend of the Master of Space and Time.
It’s a sunny and warm November day here in SoCal, a perfect time to sit outside on the deck and read Leon Russell In His Own Words.
It’s not a huge book but any light shed on the mysterious, charismatic, and enigmatic MOSAT is appreciated.
It features memories by and about LR from his childhood, high school bands, session work in Los Angeles, and some of his tours.
I’m always amazed at the sheer numbers of records that benefited from Leon’s words, arrangements, and productions. He was a legendary musician, composer, and performer whose musical influence can’t be overstated.
Leon Russell was a one-of-a-kind human; I don’t think we’re likely to experience that kind of genius in several lifetimes.
This little book was enjoyable and informative; I totally recommend!
Now I’m waiting for my Christmas/Hanukkah gift: another book about Leon Russell ; this one is written by Bill Janovitz: Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History
“Once every people in the world believed that trees were divine, and could take a human or grotesque shape and dance among the shadows; and that deer, and ravens and foxes, and wolves and bears, and clouds and pools, almost all things under the sun and moon, and the sun and moon, were not less divine and changeable.” — W.B. Yeats
Has everyone read The Little Prince? It’s packed full of wisdom, like this quote from the book:
For nothing, in truth, can replace a lost companion. Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of shared memories, so many bad times endured together, so many quarrels, reconciliations, heartfelt impulses. Friendships like that cannot be reconstructed. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Little Prince visits various planets, including Earth, and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. The story of the prince and his rose is a parable about the nature of enduring love.
I only recently learned that the same month that the book was published, Saint-Exupéry joined the Free French Air Force, and in July 1944 he disappeared while flying a reconnaissance mission, reportedly shot down. Isn’t that unbelievably sad?
