Maximum Crowdiness!

How nice of Bethel Woods to send me this e mail... they included links for maps and important info. (Bethel was the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.)


***Dear Concert Guest,
We are proud to welcome Bob Dylan and his Band to
Bethel Woods on June 30. We are expecting a capacity
crowd this Saturday. Please leave early and allow
sufficient time for traffic while traveling to and
from Bethel Woods. Please take a moment to review
the concert information below and get ready to enjoy
the show!




Portable Hair Dryer Girl does not like crowds at all... her idea of the perfect venue would be Bob at a small club, with these guys sitting at her table.



The concert will be a nice break from my "watching the world go by" routine.

Chedwick's Family History Vol 1.

I was inspired by some other blogs (The Gold Poppy,The Dishwasher's Tears, Other People Exist) to post an old photo and something about genealogy.

This is not actually me in the photo, but it is my great great great grandfather Chedwick, who was the son of an untitled nobleman.

I was named after him. He was small but wiry, and worked as a professional mouser in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also was an actor in amateur theatricals. He is pictured here with his human companions Carrie and Daniel, a very kindly couple who worked for a huge rose-growing concern just outside of Pittsburgh. They picked long stemmed red roses, packed them and shipped them to florists all over Pennsylvania, and to major cities like DC, NYC and Boston.

Great great great Grandpa Chedwick lived with them in their tidy little home and was treated like a king. Daniel read classic books to Chedwick and Carrie taught him to appreciate poetry. Chedwick later brought home a wife, Fluffina Marie (aka: Fluffy) and together they raised many kittens. (And that is the beginning of my life story. )

A bit of coincidence enters into it also... it seems the gentle humans pictured here were the great aunt and uncle of one of my blog assistants, Portable Hair Dryer Girl.

We are all connected.

Capote, Guerlain, and Dylan

Reading short fiction by Truman Capote, I came across this mention of L'Heure Bleue. Capote also mentions other perfumes by Guerlain in his books. Other authors who like to spritz a little Guerlain into their stories are Maeve Binchy and Ian Fleming. Fleming loved Guerlain products and the women in his James Bond books always smelled extra sexy.

I have been buying a few books lately, as well as hitting the libraries. I suddenly find enough time on my hands to read a book every day. I was sitting in the mall having coffee, and took this snap of an old woman. She was sitting very peacefully, emitting good vibes. But not for long-- her daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter arrived. The great granddaughter was in a stroller, dozing off, but the daughter and granddaughter were wide awake, and totally unpleasant. They were loud, non-stop complainers who bullied the older woman to join them in a quest to squander her retirement funds.They came into my personal space and were so loud and dramatic they changed all of the stale mall air around us into "crazed hostile mall air." they hustled the poor agitated woman off and forced her to march to some stores to power shop.

I wandered over to one of the bookstores and picked up some books. This morning I was thinking maybe I should write down the titles of books that mention Bob Dylan. Non-fiction and social science books will often mention his impact on culture. Novels may have a setting where a Bob Dylan song is playing, or a particular lyric is mentioned. His name does pop up much more often than you would think, and yet it is never a surprise, since he is a legend throughout the world. This week I came across him three times in books (In Sharon Butala's memoir she recalls traveling across winter Canada to see Bob in concert, In a novel by Donna Masini the main character listens to Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks", and Bob gets a brief mention in a novel by Eva Heller.) Someone must be documenting this, but not me. I wonder how often Bob himself runs across a mention of himself in books he reads. Maybe he shrugs it off, for him it may be like reading a mention of some familiar product, just a bit more familiar than a bottle of your favorite perfume.

The Rock Chronicles

My favorite rock...and how odd... a cylindrical mass of ...Nails?


From a distance, it looked as though they were imbedded, and I thought "impossible!" as I had lounged on that rock many times --I would have noticed nails.

But they were just sitting there, forgotten by one of the roofers. These big rocks are all over the place, but this one is close to the house and never gets overgrown by vines and thorny brambles. Plus a tree is attached to it--a very cool rock.

It is really too much of a boulder and too wild to ever be a pet rock, but I am very fond of it. I'm 99.9% sure it will never wander off or be taken away. It is pretty solid all the way around, and does not provide any room for a snake to live under it (which is more than I can say for some of the other rocks nearby.)


Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Slash, Ron Wood, and other rockers have written their version of what happened, helping to make 2007 "The Year of Rock Memoirs."

The last critical success in the "Rock Book World" was three years ago when Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Vol. 1 quickly sold over 750,000 copies and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award.

"The thing that made Dylan's book so successful is that he has always been an enigma, this was the first time that anyone heard a lot of his stories or insights."

~ Kyle Anderson (Spin Magazine)






*Rock Star, the perfume created in 1993 by JP Gaultier never became very popular. It is filled with Spices in a woodsy amber vanilla musk base. Nothing to freak out over. It could have been called the crooner.
*Rich Hippie also sells a scent called Rock Star ($185) I have been assured that this one is also spicy, and that you could save almost $180 by buying Old Spice instead. Really... try before you buy is the best advice.
*Rock N' Rose is a perfume launched by Valentino last November. A soft floral with a green edge to it. This is for women who can wear wild florals, but it is also the best of the "Rock" perfumes.
Rock N' Rose starts off with a Citrus and Black Currant note, with a hard Green note and opens into Orange Blossoms, Gardenias, A powerful note of Wild Roses and a little Heliotrope! All of this in a Sandalwood, Vanilla, Musk base. Valentino makes a half dozen good scents that are fairly easy to find and sample, and are well priced.

NoT Easy being Me!

As you all know, I am a very famous spokesmodel for the perfume industry. I know it looks like a glam life, but believe me it is hard work!














I fell asleep and I ended up in the tabloids: just look at this awful photo they published--and they compared me to lowlifes like David Hasselhoff and Paris Hilton. I never get drunk, that was just a bad picture of me --they have no business filming me while I am sleeping inside my house! Not fair? sure, but it comes with being a celebrity.













Also, CatPeople Magazine printed this picture and said I had gained a lot of weight in my midsection and buttocks regions, and they also stated that my head had shrunk from lack of thinking. Not true! I have a lawsuit pending over this one. A photo like this one can kill a career, but does CatPeople Magazine care? No, they are heartless lying scum. If my head had shrunk, could I blog? No, of course not. But some people believe whatever they read or see on the "tee vee news", so innocent hardworking cats like me are the ones who suffer loss of wages.







Do you think it is easy to wake up from a nap and exactly two seconds later be all stylish and sophisticated for the camera? No, it isn't easy, but I am a professional spokesmodel, so I snap to it and look good when called upon to look good. I will continue to do my best despite being harrassed by the press.







Crystal Noir is a "Florientalwoodsy" scent. Sexy and feminine, an evening scent.
Notes: Gardenia, Orange Blossom, Sandalwood, Amber, Musk, (and a note called Air (Oxygen) that was dreamed up by Donatella Versace--probably inspired by the oxygen bar craze a few years back.)
Crystal Noir settles down and mellows out fairly well. Great sillage, for formal occasions, after dark.

5 Days Until Bob Dylan

We are getting excited about the concert coming up this weekend. Bob and his band are practicing nearby, getting their set list together. I think it is going to be a good mix of old and new songs.






This poor kid has to wait until his parents listen to some of their crappy cds before he can listen to his favorite cd. See how disappointed he is that he has to wait to hear Bob?
But... great choice little guy--I love listening to "Time Out Of Mind" also--every song is a gem.

Guess what crappy CDs this little guy has to endure before he gets to hear some good tunes? In your opinion, what is the crappiest music out there?

Special Delivery

Special Boulders being delivered to the Catskill Region, where we so desperately need even more big boulders. I felt slightly uncomfortable driving directly behind this truck full-o-boulders, so I changed lanes...but driving while taking pictures? Well, I needed the photo for my BLOG...


OK, exit here and follow the signs for Swan Lake. See? It wasn't a long drive, I often drive to the mountains and back as a day trip.


Once you crest yonder hill, take a quick sharp right.

After a couple of miles you may or may not see this unmarked driveway. Drive down a little more than a quarter mile and you're there. Welcome! (remember to save these directions for the big Blogstock party we plan to throw!)

Let's Hope That the Roof Stays On

Catskill Mtns. Update: A new roof over my head. The new roof replaced "old leaky roof" and was tested by lots of heavy rain. The new roof is superfine.


"I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I'm gone.
You always said people don't do what they believe in, they just do what's most convenient, then they repent.
And I always said, "Hang on to me, baby, and let's hope that the roof stays on."
--From the song
"Brownsville Girl" written by Bob Dylan and Sam Shepard.


My search for WiFi in the Catskills was arduous. The local college library summer staff didn't know the password, and the local internet cafe is only open on weekends. I am going back up to the mountains tonight, so I will check the cafe out this weekend.


I finally found a pub that had signs proclaiming it was also an internet cafe, but the barmaid told me "The thingie is broken." So my attempts to blog from the Catskills went nowhere. The libraries have their own computers, however there were long waits to use one. I felt like I had climbed this ladder and ended up on the rooftop, stranded, unable to even read any of my favorite blogs. I was dying to know what Merle was up to!



I got a mini bottle of Le Baiser du Dragon by Cartier. A light warm woodsy fragrance, slightly almondy. (iris, musk, patchouli, amber) Smells good on a man, so it should be a unisex scent. So light it doesn't last long-- of course it might wear better in winter. Nice bottle design.

Belonging

Bob Dylan was a very young man when he adopted his daughter Maria, who was a toddler, but he was mature enough to be a good father to her, always. Anyone who has ever spent time with a small child knows that they can get you out of a bad mood with just a smile and "paint the daytime black" with a tantrum, or by getting into an awkward situation. The song "She Belongs to Me" should really speak to those currently being amused and confused by some little person.

Young children are a group of artists, and if they lock you out and lose the key it's not done with any real malice, it may just be a performance art piece.

Anyway, Bob wrote this song inspired by Sara's daughter, Maria, shortly after he met her. He felt she would always be his daughter, even if the legal adoption they were talking about didn't go through. A sense of belonging is very important to a little girl, and he was able to give her that gift. He was able to legally adopt her later that year. Maria was just three years old.

She Belongs To Me (1965)

She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black.

You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
But you will wind up peeking through a keyhole
Down upon your knees.

She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She's nobody's child,
The Law can't touch her at all.

She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks.
She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks.
She's a hypnotist collector,
You are a walking antique.

Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
For Halloween give her a trumpet
And for Christmas, buy her a drum.

Photo: Bob with drum.






Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
--Picasso


PS: Typeface designer draws dylan with garamond typeface--watch it happen here:

http://www.ni9e.com/typo/typo_dylan.html

Navy Blue Bird

Don't get much graffiti in Mytown, USA.


It may not last very long.


This is the actual graffiti -- when I spotted it I thought of Steve immediately. I put down my bag of cat food, to take the snaps.


The shadows on my wall were produced by lamplight, a wicker chair, an iron railing and my hand.




"i saw a navy blue bird
Flying way above the sea
i walked on and i learned later
That this navy blue bird was me

i returned a paler blue bird
And this is the advice they gave me
"you must not try to be too pure
You must fly closer to the sea"

So i'm walking through the desert
And i am not frightened although it's hot
i have all that i requested
And i do not want what i haven't got

--Sinead O'Connor

Bob Dylan and Fyodor

Bob Dylan was awarded Spain's Prince of Asturias arts award, one of the country's most prestigious honors, yesterday.

"He's considered one of the most important figures of song, a form in which he combines, in a majestic way, the beauty of his poetry and ethical commitment," said the prize foundation in a statement.


The Sopranos finale featured a scene where AJ and his new girlfriend listen to Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma" and are amazed by how relevant the song is today, even though it was written more than forty years ago. Then they start making out and the SUV they are in catches on fire.


My book group meeting was last week. I was supposed to have purchased a copy of "Crime and Punishment." I rebelled at the bookstore and got a lot of short story collections instead. But one of them is "The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky" (Including Notes From the Underground.) Fyodor writes a great short story. I vaguely knew about his imprisonment in Siberia. I never knew he was once led in front of a firing squad, thinking that this was the end. I never knew he translated Balzac's wonderful short story "Eugenie Grandet" into Russian. I never knew he had an uncanny gift for getting into debt, or had become famous at such a young age. People have lives that are crammed with interesting facts, stories, adventures-- not just famous people, but everybody. We may not get a crapload of major awards or survive something like years of hard labor in Siberia, but our lives are still filled with truly amazing experiences.

I have a feeling that this will be my summer of reading Fyodor.



"It was a lovely night, one of those nights, dear reader, which can only happen when you are young. The sky was so bright and starry that when you looked at it the first question that came into your mind was whether it was really possible that all sorts of bad-tempered and unstable people could live under such a glorious sky." --Fyodor Dostoevsky

You Smell

I smell too--I got my spray on.( I stand still so they can spritz my little backside ) So... I'm wearing Sun, Moon, Stars by Lagerfeld. (which I tested on my humans first)
I smell freshy-fresh ... kind of like roses and candied almonds. What are you wearing?

My favorite food smell is roasting bird... what's your favorite food smell?

Emeraude

Once upon a time in 1921, Coty introduced a wonderful bright green colored perfume called Emeraude. It was an instant success but was soon overshadowed by Guerlain's launching of Shalimar in 1925.
Some people thought the perfumes smelled too much alike, but Shalimar had a warm dark side that Emeraude did not, and so it felt sexier and outsold Emeraude.
By the 1950's Emeraude was a bargain perfume, known by many as "The poor man's Shalimar." True, many people when they couldn't quite afford Shalimar, would opt for Emeraude, which was readily available at any drugstore or five and dime.
How much longer will Emeraude be available? It smells crisp and delicious. While it vaguely reminds me of Shalimar, there is no confusing the two. Emeraude offers a sharper citrus top note and mellows into a very fresh scent. It is getting harder to find bottle of Emeraude.

Every year hundreds of new bland perfumes flood the market pushing wonderful perfumes like Emeraude into the bargain bins and eventually killing some off completely.

Blue Smoke & Parasites

If they made a blue smoke bush it would be the centerpiece of many gardens. The actual plumes are a reddish color, although there is one a few blocks away that is a buff color. The plumes are very unusual in shape and design.



Parasites. Yes a museum of parasites. Someplace in Japan.
I received this pic via e mail this morning. This is the pretty part of the museum. The other nasty part of the museum shows what these little beauties do to the human body.

Bob Dylan and Dennis

On June 30th Bob will be performing at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts along with Lou Ann Barton (an incredible blues singer from Texas) and Jimmie Vaughan (The Fabulous Thunderbirds, brother of the late great Stevie Ray.) There are still a few tickets left if you are wondering what to do with yourself and can travel to the Catskills.




Part 2:
This is my exhausted friend, Dennis
Dennis wants to be an entertainment news reporter and really high-pressured me to put his story on my blog. He worked all night writing it, so here it is.

NICK NOLTE IS A BIG CRYBABY by Dennis Conrad
Hollywood June 8, 2007

A hysterical Nick Nolte was sent screaming and crying back to jail Friday after a judge ruled that he must serve out his sentence behind bars rather than in the comfort of his mansion.

"It's not right!" wailed Nolte, who violated his probation in a reckless driving case. "Mom!" he cried out to his mother. "Make them stop!" Nolte sobbed throughout the hearing, dabbing his eyes, and his body shook constantly. Several times he turned to his mother who was seated behind him in the courtroom, and mouthed, "I love you."

Hours earlier, the 66 year old actor was taken handcuffed from his home in a black-and-white police car, paparazzi sprinting in pursuit and helicopters broadcasting live from above. He entered the courtroom disheveled and weeping, hair askew, without makeup, wearing a fuzzy gray sweat shirt over slacks.


Oh wait--it wasn't Nick Nolte, it was Paris whats-her-name.

bLoGsToCk '07

I should host a Blog Festival this summer. Three days of peace & blogchat. Here is the view from the Catskill abode. As you can see, there is ample room for tents, teepees, and yurts. Beyond the trees there are more open meadows. The bears have not actually killed anyone that we know of.


If you notice a small white rectangle in the center of this photo, it is the Bethel Woods Center about 10 miles away.

Tangled Up Bloggers: Part One

When I started blogging I had never thought about actually meeting other bloggers, but then I realized some lived near me and I felt curious. Would meeting other bloggers be a surreal experience? Clearly, in my blog-dealings with Kurt, Jenny, Merle, Princess Haiku, Sidney, Ms. Water, and many others, I felt sure that they were bright, interesting people with a sense of humor and an appreciation of the absurd. You could only have a good time sharing a walk or having tea. You already know the basics, and sometimes you have been through birthdays or sad times with them, so you know some aspect of them that has endeared them to you. Everyone who has visited this blog is a person I would like to meet, because through their comments, and my visiting their blogs, I have found something intriguing and true in them. Pod was the first to visit, and I have a feeling I will meet him one day. Tangled up in reality and tangled up in fantasy, or illusion, it all comes down to a sharing of ideas, feelings, experiences, more ideas, self expression and welcoming others into our world, a world that is real, unreal, surreal and realized.


Yesterday I ended up meeting 3 bloggers, all people I feel I have to see again (in the "real world") and Reya's idea of "blog kin" makes a great deal of sense. Sitting together at lunch, we felt other bloggers were with us in spirit, (there was an extra chair for Pod or Merle or someone to inhabit in spirit.) The great thing about meeting other bloggers is they laugh and speak, and make eye contact and that just enhances the experience.

We walked on the west side, a wide-open landscape of concrete, metal, acres of railyards, no crowds. We passed two men fixing a car, a pizza delivery man on his bike, a man shredding documents, a man just sitting on a loading dock with his lunch. We had the luxury of empty blocks to walk down in perfect weather.

Multi-Tasker

In these hectic times if you cannot multi-task, your blog will suffer. Here is my human companion helping me blog. She is calling around doing research, writing drafts and outlines for me to approve, grooming herself and testing perfumes. (Yes, I test all of my perfumes on a human being first, before I try them out myself.) I wish I could say "No human was harmed doing testing for this blog" but that would be a fib. This isn't the only human who helps me with my blog, I also have a blog technician and a blog consultant. In these hectic times, if you cannot delegate responsibility, your blog will suffer.

Air Kisses, Shadows Touch

If not for you,
Babe, I couldn't find the door,
Couldn't even see the floor,
I'd be sad and blue,
If not for you.

If not for you,
Babe, I'd lay awake all night,
Wait for the mornin' light
To shine in through,
But it would not be new,
If not for you.

If not for you
My sky would fall,
Rain would gather too.
Without your love I'd be nowhere at all,
I'd be lost if not for you,
And you know it's true.

If not for you
My sky would fall,
Rain would gather too.
Without your love I'd be nowhere at all,
Oh! What would I do
If not for you.

If not for you,
Winter would have no spring,
Couldn't hear the robin sing,
I just wouldn't have a clue,
Anyway it wouldn't ring true,
If not for you.
--Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan: An Enigma

Bob Dylan:The Hall of Fame singer-songwriter offers well-received new work while his contemporaries peddle nostalgia.
he's still vital – and suddenly more human than ever. Of the handful of giants from his generation still recording and performing, only Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen (arguably more a devotee than a peer) come close to measuring up to his artistic determination and touring stamina, and not even Bowie has maintained as much mystique. --Ben Wener


This morning I took these snaps of a poodle through a Starbuck's window.
My friend Bruce asked me why I took pics of this dog (just as he was making disparaging remarks about the dog's breed and looks) I don't know why I took the pictures, but now you have to look at them.
Taking the snaps also made a weird loud-talking guy with a fake Irish accent come inside and tell me my puppy looked like he needed a wee drink. the dog had been sitting outside for maybe 3 minutes. His human companion was just getting a cup of coffee.


"The drinks are ready and the dogs are going to war."
--Bob Dylan