You Can't Save Them All...but Maybe One

(Initially written via my iPhone at 1am this morning!)

The most trippy random thing just happened! And who says it’s boring up here at seven hills in union city? Heard a knock at the door. The dogs went crazy of course. I opened the door a tiny crack with Jerry the Dog right there to protect me just in case. Saw a chick with bright red dyed hair lotsa tattoos and piercings looking scared and lost. At first I was sure she had to be one of my kids’ friends right? Of course...she frantically told me she was lost and her phone died and her guy friend had told her he lived on Appian way!"There are a million little streets called Appian way!" She yelled. I believed her and felt her pain remembering how I got lost finding my own house.There are dozens of Appian ways here that'd drive anyone nuts!

But here was this frantic chick at my door with a dead phone. Jen had awakened and told the chick to be quiet because the baby was sleeping. She said she’d charge her phone for her while I stood outside on a cool clear night noticing hundreds of stars because there are no lights on our street and we are in the hills. Jen and I had both giggled incessantly when we noticed this chick with the smeared makeup had a hello kitty zombie tattoo on her arm and hello kitty furry boots. We both looked at each other and said Megan!

So this chick went on and on loudly in the night. She wasvisiting this guy friend she’d known her whole life. Oh but she's married andhas kids so she escaped from her house because there were problems and he wasmean to her. And even though Adam was kind of a stoner he was always kind toher. She said stuff about him I can't repeat here.

So apparently this guy was short and wore makeup at schooland kids picked on him but he was always her best friend and grew up to be thisgorgeous guy but now she was list because he didn't give the street address andthere are so many Appian ways. There's a sucker born every minute because eventhough I could smell the alcohol in her breath I felt bad for her chanting thatall too familiar mantra in my head you can't save them all.

Jen managed to get the phone charged and said shed callthis Adam guy to get an address. She went back inside.

The chick went on to say that no one would help her except an 18 -year-old gas station attendant who got her to Appian way and how her momwas a hippie chick sort of like me and had that said that in her day if peopleknocked on the door and needed help people really helped but nowadays peopleare scared not that she blames them though.

I remembered how people used to come to our flat in San Francisco at times in the middle of the night. Like Betty from up the street who ran away from a mean boyfriend or random people I didn't know. They always ended up in the kitchen or the living room. And my mom talked to them forhours. You can't let them in anymore. But sometimes you can.

Finally we figured out where Adam was. Jen wrotedirections down and he was only point one mile away! Do you really think Ishould see him now? Jen and I nodded yes. After all that? He's waiting for youout in the street and wearing orange. There was no way this chick could driveback to Castro valley. No way.

She gave me a huge hug and said thanks. Said her name wasJenny but that she went my raven as well and we found out she knew someone Jenknew! Go figure. I watched her shuffle off to her car in her furry hello kittyboots. So old yet so young...sigh. I like to think that maybe just maybe Jen and I saved a life tonight.

Here's the note Jenny showed me last night...no specific address and there really are dozens of Appian Ways! I hope she found the person she was looking for.

Life is trippy, filled with irony...and typos (most of which I've gotten rid of here, but probably still a few snafus... remembering all of my kids' friends who'd end up at our place...

The San Francisco and Niles Musical Adventure!

I said good-bye to Baby Jeremiah as I headed out to San Francisco this morning. He's eating oatmeal in his FAVORITE spot, John Lennon presiding and ukulele always close by. Had to stop him from strumming ukulele with oatmeal crusted hands though. :) 

 I'm heading to San Francisco to meet fellow San Francisco uke rebels in golden gate park for more uke playing! After five hours yesterday? Our Fremont uke jam yesterday was over the top cool! My fingers still hurt from playing the 8 string uke the whole time! Will definitely bring the Kala today. Here comes yet another adventure!

I just got home and apparently I missed a whole bunch of stuff! Today I went to my old stomping grounds in golden gate park to play ukulele at the band shell! At least that's still the same. The path from where I got off the good old newer version of the N Judah streetcar at ninth and Irving hasn't changed...same park I know and love...the old green benches and some fountains and the old band shell still intact and I could see a bit if the Japanese tea garden. But I tried not to look at that new De Young museum or the academy of sciences or to imagine the expensive underground parking that I just found out about today. 

The Band Shell in golden Gate Park still just as I'd remembered it my whole life!!! some things don't change and some things do...
that is just the way it is.

Instead we played ukes and sang at the band shell on a beautiful cool sunny day...people sat on benches and listened. And when my G string snapped on my uke! I broke my G-string! Now what will I do? I can’t play my ukulele with only three strings.

Then Emeline, my good friend from the uke rebellion, pulled up on her bike and saved the day! She had ukulele strings for me and she’s a super hero! And Nancy showed me how to replace the string! Now I have one purple titanium G string on my ukulele and three Aquila nylgut white strings (C, E and A!)...I was back in business and able to play San Francisco Bay Blues with the gang in no time! YAAAY FOR EMELINE AND NANCY! 

Me, Dean, Nancy, Vicki, a random new guy I don't know and Mark...and a few others not pictured here...playin' ukes at the band shell!

For those wonderful moments of time I felt transported back to the beautiful San Francisco I know and love so much. We even had an audience -- people who sat on the old green benches...the same ones I remembered as a kid and felt the warm sun beat down for a while before it cooled down...listening to us play and sing our songs. I loved Everybody's Talking At Me which we played from the Daily Ukulele Songbook. We played a bunch of our familiar songs from the "Rebellious" songbook which is still a work in progress...songs like Five Hundred Miles by the Proclaimers, Friday I'm in Love (the Cure)...Secret Agent Man (one of my faves) and many others! 

More people jamming on ukes including Dave (DRW) who drove to the City from Sacramento! He's part of the  Sacramento Strum Shop gang I also love so much!

Then someone requested us to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World" Iz style and everyone groaned, hehehe! Not that we don't love that, but it seems that every time someone requests it, sort of like when people think of you playing ukulele, they think you're going to play "Tiny Bubbles" or "Tiptoe Through the Tulips!" We played it and sang it and sounded nice though...

Then Emeline and me played and sang "Dream A Little Dream of Me" together...it was cool that she also knows it in the same key I do. and it sounded good when we played it together! I hope we can get together and jam soon...Emeline is so awesome.

And I felt space ageish with that clipper card you swipe on the street car. When I attempted to show the driver my card and explain I paid for a round trip she said don't tell me! Tell that! And pointed to a scanner! Trippy! Then there's another card for BART. I was sad to leave the city for some reason like I belong there. 

When I got back to Union City, I headed straight for Niles...it was a beautiful clear night and the mountains surrounding Niles looked golden as I drove through what felt like a time warp in space and time into Niles...and called my friend Brian who told me I MUST remain outdoors until 6:12 pm because a SPACE STATION was flying overhead! At first, I thought perhaps he was joking. "For real?" I asked.

I was already running late for the 6pm show at the Mud Puddle, Michael McNevin's tiny place that's fabulous for acoustic shows as well as jams -- always jams after the acoustic show with the group he refers to as the "Horribles" I absolutely love being a part of the Horribles, but you'd think I would have had enough ukulele playing for ONE weekend right? Apparently wrong.

Anyway, I'm walking down the street talking to Brian about this alleged space station. I even mentioned it to a random couple who walked out of a store right in front of me and they laughed. they probably thought I was nuts.But when I got right in front of the Mud Puddle, listening to Michael McNevin play and sing my all-time favorite song he wrote, "Things Are Going to Change Around Here," I looked into the horizon and saw the yellow dot heading our way. It just had to be the space station!

As I watched the Space Shuttle squinting to make it out...flying in from the west where the sun was setting and the sky was all shades of orange...that's the way it looks in the hills....and listened to Michael McNevin sing, for just a moment, I thought -- yes, maybe things really are about to change in my life...! But no time for thinking.

After Michael McNevin finished the song, I announced to all that a space shuttle was heading our way! some people got up and ran outside to look. Michael McNevin wasn't thrilled about people leaving after the show started, and I can't say I blame him at all. I was just so excited about the space station or the space shuttle...oh now I'm confused.

"That's just a plane in the distance," one guy said.

"No, it's not!" someone else said...as we watched it fly towards us...just a mere yellow dot in the sky flying in right at the time Brian said it would. I had to let Brian go and get off the phone because of all the drama and hoopla...and shuffling around -- and Michael McNevin attempting to gather us all back in again...which he did. Ira Marlowe who was the headliner on Sunday night, thought the whole space station thing was cool and even referred to the space station and me in one of the songs he performed that night! I was thrilled and honored...but I have Brian to thank because I had no idea a space station would be flying overhead to be honest. Nancy Cassidy opened the show with her rich voice and Ira Marlowe sang and played the most beautiful songs -- I loved the one about the guy who thought the world was going to end and what he did...dress up in a suit, quit his job and give the waiter a huge tip because he figured it was the end of the world, so why not? And the spooky song about the kid whose weird neighbor transforms into a beast, or so he perceives...

And afterwards, I was a part of the HORRIBLES...and I loved it. 

It was a good day.

Driving into Niles on Sunday night...golden hills in the distance.

Ira Marlow

Michael McNevin starts the show...

Nancy Cassidy

Ira Marlowe

Fremont Ukulele Jam RULES!!!

Diane and Me at our FIRST Fremont Ukulele Jam at Bronco Billy's!
October 27, 2012! Even Baby J was scared! I wore devil ears all day! we had so much fun!
Diane and I are like "soul sister friends!" I love her so much! we rock!

It all started last October in San Jose when I attended this ukulele gathering in San Jose down in Japan Town with my friend Steve and others from Silicon Valley. We sat outside a coffee shop and listened to some beautiful ukulele playing -- even classical stuff. My friend Steve WOW'd everyone with an amazing solo that started with Zeppelin and morphed into other stuff. That dude NEEDS to be FAMOUS, I'm telling you.

That was the afternoon that I met Diane who sang and played one of her original songs, her beautiful voice crooning...she was a down-to-earth chick and she got super excited when I told her I lived close to her in Union City! She said she really wanted to start a ukulele group there, and I agreed that would be cool and I'd be happy to help out in any way I could. Of course I had NO idea that I'd hear from her practically the next day after this gathering in San Jose because she had 'booked' a room at Bronco Billy's Pizza Parlor for October 27th and would I help her PUUULLLEEAAASSE...! At first, I didn't even know which Bronco Billy's this was much less where it was located. I'm not that familiar with East Bay or the Fremont area. Just moved over there a year ago.

October 27th is a day I always remember because it's my mother's birthday and she would have turned 80 this year (or was it last year? Gosh I can't remember) if she was still around. I remember that I went to Santa Cruz to play ukuleles on the beach that morning and people were dressed in costumes for Halloween. In the spirit, I was wearing my Rocky Horror Picture Show t-shirt -- and my friend Bill put these devil ears on my head...and I never took them off. In fact, I even forgot I had them on throughout the entire ukulele jam! We had so much fun. We started at 4pm and stayed until the pizza place shut down at 10pm, serious jamming going on!

Our first jam in Fremont! October 27, 2012. 

Steve Lussie ALWAYS "wows" everyone with his amazing talent!! We were jammin'...I loved those people wearing matching ukulele shirts too!!! and there's Margaret, my good friend, ukein' it behind me while I'm taking a break to hold the babe...and Linda on U-bass.

Then we met again in December, but it was more hectic because the owner put us out in the main part of the pizza place...around 25 people showed up to sing and play Christmas and holiday songs on ukulele though...!

It's all trial and error, trying to get it right.

Today we are going to rock out in Fremont ukulele style! Big fun at bronco Billy's pizza parlor today! And we will most likely close the place down with ukulele craziness! Eclectic fun! Lotsa people coming! Uke players kicking it old school style! Warning this may be way too much fun! Wonder who can handle it!

Today we had our BEST ukulele jam yet, and more is still to come...I told Diane we had to do it every month to keep the momentum going. At least 40 people showed up this time including people from South Bay -- San Jose and beyond...

And I am still on this trippy uke jam high! I really didn't think I'd have it in me and I would say today's rocking Fremont uke jam at bronco Billy's was a roaring success! 

My friend James showed up so we could practice Across the Universe and Give Me Love for the next Poorhouse Bistro Uke jam in San Jose -- it had been James' idea to do the Abbey Rd. medley in early December, an experience I will never forget as long as I live. 

Steve played U-bass...there's James on the right, and Jeff...Bob and Laurie, yay!

Ukein' it up!

We jammed for five and a half hours! We went through my whole jam packet that had at least 30 songs including several Beatles songs, of course. We played and played, people came and went. After we got done playing songs from my packet, Dave F. from the Silicon Valley Uke Club pulled out his, people got out their Santa Cruz Ukulele songbooks and jamming continued. 

Baby Jeremiah and Jen showed up and had dinner...and Baby J was rockin' to the ukes and wanted to be a part of it...

SERIOUS Jamming towards the end when the guitars, etc., come out! Steve's playing his brand new U-Bass...! he has a serious case of UAS (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome). 

Baby J wants to be part of the action

Sue came all the way from San Francisco...people travel far and wide for good ukulele jams! Linda and Jeff drove in from Sonoma! They've been at all of our jams so far. My friend Albert was there too! Me, Albert and Steve have jammed together many times...they both came to the new year's eve bash at the Mud Puddle and we celebrated the new year playing music with the "Horribles!"

It was a perfect day...Diane even cut my hair for me before the jam and we managed to eat something...because once the jamming starts, there really isn't much time for anything else. That's just the way it is. I kept calling out songs, and people had their jam packets (which I will perfect for the next meeting)...

By the time we left at close to 11pm Saturday night, that was the end of an incredibly fun day. And our next Fremont Uke Jam is March 16th! We have a date, yayy!!!!

Diane now has a U-BASS yay!!!!!!

The Unexpected Friday Night Adventure

I was feeling under the weather all day -- even took the day off work which I don't normally do, but after a night and a day of lying on the couch, when I heard from my friend Brian who told me what time "Beast of the Southern Wild" was playing, I was ready to at least go out and watch a movie! I haven't known Brian for too long, met him in my Screenplay Writing class at DeAnza. We always go out of our way to have these really cool, long conversations... and the week before we had gone to the movies to see Les Miserables, which I ABSOLUTELY loved! I really thought I'd have to see that movie alone and was amazed Brian had seen it a whole bunch of times and he knows so much about movies too...

Anyway, so we met at the Coffee Society and walked over to the Bluelight Theater to see this amazing movie about these people living on an island off Lousiana...it was all about where you feel most at home and on Saturday when we sang one of our songs at the Fremont Ukulele jam, "Deep River Blues," I thought about that movie... We held hands at the movies, so I guess you can call it a "date!" hehe!

Afterwards we stopped at Woodham's to see my good friends whom I hadn't seen in a while -- Larry and his band, "After Sunset." I used to hang out at Woodham's all the time and I knew a lot of people there...it was fun to revisit and see old friends and introduce everyone to my new friend Brian. :)

We had a fabulous time there...and I was surprised to find that Brian CAN dance (better than me probably!). I don't know what's going on for sure, but it's fun to find out!

this is the coolest photo EVER! Brian took it with my iPhone...with Larry and his son Daniel playing in the background!!! TOTALLY ROCKIN'!!!

My FIRST Valentine...perhaps love is possible?

My older kids' half-sister Jennifer has been through so much in her life...and now finds happiness...! Jennifer, I remember when you were just a small child and I hung out with you and your sister Kristina in San Francisco and we sang songs together (late 70's early 80s)...I'm sooo happy for you. thanks for being an inspiration to us all reminding us that true love does still exist...and to never give up on the dream! have a wonderful life...

This makes me think...oh yeah, the dreaded Valentine's Day is coming up...but instead of freak out or yell, "Valentine's Day is evil!" like I have done before, I think of how my son Stevie met Liezl on Valentine's Day a few years ago. :) through Craigslist no less! they are the first people I know who actually ended up in a loving, successful relationship...LOVE YOU FOREVER, Stevie & Liezl!!!

But then I remember how I also told my friend Tim whom I kind of liked and used to talk to every single day about how my son met the love of his life on Craigslist...he went home and found someone almost right away, within a couple of days! I didn't hear from him much after that. How do these things happen?

So, here's MY story of my very first "valentine..." It happened a very long time ago...

GETTING LOST (1967 or 1968 San Francisco)

It was one of those cool, summer days in San Francisco – I was around 11 or 12, can’t remember which, so it had to be around 1968 or 1969. I still remember that day as clearly as if it was yesterday, when me and David Hirrell set out on an adventure at Sutro Forest, the forest of eucalyptus trees that rises up above the massive UC Hospital right up the street from where I grew up.

For some reason, it was just me and David that day – he could be the meanest kid in the neighborhood, but sometimes he could be the nicest. He stood almost a head taller than me with his sandy blonde hair and dark eyes offset in his chubby face. Sometimes he made me so mad and he was mean to me, and I was mean to him too. But today we were having one of our nice days.

I still remember walking close to David, our bodies touching many times – but neither of us doing anything about it. It was probably the first time in my life I felt that weird connection with someone that was more than just friends, just a tiny glimpse, though.

I don’t know where the rest of the gang was that day, the Solis boys, my brother and sister or even David’s little brother Barry. I just remember it was me and David – and we decided to take off on this journey hiking up at Sutro Forest on rugged trails, sometimes right along sides of perilous cliffs on the hillside. I had picked up a stick and used it to crash through vines and as a walking stick of sorts.

As David continued onward, both of us suddenly realized that we might be lost.

“Where the heck are we?” I said to David.

“I dunno!” David shrugged. He didn’t even seem to mind that we were lost.

So we continued to walk onward, our bodies touching from time-to-time, our sweaty hands almost clasping but not quite – here I was with the biggest, meanest kid in the neighborhood. These were tender moments. I knew it, but I dare not say anything about it as we trudged onward because it might break the magic spell we seemed to be under that neither of us could explain.

Suddenly when we were really, super lost in the middle of Sutro Forest, high above the rest of the world, the north part of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge stretched below us beyond UC Hospital, David stopped. He pulled out a scout knife and made his way to a eucalyptus tree close by.

“What are you doing?” I asked as he began to carve on the tree.

“You’ll see. But hear me now,” David said all dramatic and everything.

“Yes?” I tried to keep from laughing.

David didn’t say anything for a few moments. I could hear birds chirping, but all the sounds of the city were far away and muffled here in this forest that we were lost in. I wondered if we’d be able to find our way out or if we were destined to wander these trails until dark. What would be do? Camp in the forest? Would anyone be able to find us?

“Okay, there! But you’ve gotta promise, you’ve gotta swear!” David said, moving away from the tree, “Before you see this.”

“Before I see what?” I tried to peek around David, but his massive body stood in the way.

“You’ve gotta promise never to tell anyone about this – swear to secrecy.”

“Okay, okay,” I laughed.

  

“No, for real.” David sounded all serious. He used his bossy voice even. It’s the first time I’d heard that voice all day.

“Okay, all right.” I crossed my heart. “Cross my heart, hope to die, poke a needle in my eye!”

David seemed satisfied with this, so he moved aside so I could see what he’d carved into the tree.

He had carved a huge heart on the tree, and the in the middle of the heart were the distinct words, “David & Mary were here.”

I didn’t know what to say. I knew that was special, that it somehow meant something and I understood why David swore me to secrecy. “Whooooo!”

David looked right into my eyes and I looked back into his. “This is just between you and me, okay?”

“Yes, I understand,” I said.

Then David actually grabbed my hand and pulled me along, “C’mon, let’s keep goin’!” He said.

 I held on to David’s hand for as long as I could. It felt warm and inviting even though we were both sweaty. 

The other time David had grabbed my hand was that day we went to the beach and I almost got swept out to sea by this huge wave – our mothers had warned us about the undertow at the beach, but had we listened? No, of course not. I remember how the wave had knocked me down and I sputtered and spit water out because my face fell right into the salty cold water, and just when I thought for sure I was a goner, feeling the pull of the ocean, I felt a hand grab mine. “Grab on!” David had shouted, and he’d pulled me right out of the water. I was convinced he saved my life that day.

As we trudged onwards, I didn’t want to let go of David’s hand. I wanted to hang on forever because as long as I held on to David’s hand, it didn’t matter if we were lost…

Monday Blues Turns to Monday UKES!

It's Monday... and I'm fortunate that the work police haven't caught me playing "All You Need is Love" on my ukulele while sitting at my desk at work! Or perhaps they've noticed, but nobody is saying anything. That's okay too.

Diane knows me too well! is this the coolest poster ever? and I'm in front of her YELLOW car! yellow is Diane's favorite color and it's always been mine too, ever since I was a little girl. YELLOW is such a wonderful, happy color, don't ya think?

I love my friend Diane! She gave me this awesome poster which totally matches my new yellow submarine tshirt and my uke guitar strap!!! Sooooo fabulous! Me and Diane are hosting a uke jam in Fremont sat afternoon!

This was after an awesome uke jam at Poorhouse Bistro in San Jose Monday night -- I was late, but I still got there and had fun!

Ohhh fabulous! Must go to store. Now. The cat is giving me dirty looks. No more cat food. Also no toilet paper to be found anywhere. Baby j and mama Jen asleep.. A good thing! I wish I could walk to Safeway like when I lived in Sunnyvale! Megan and I made a few midnight runs then. Good times!

And, today...here is my yellow submarine poster at work. I'm wondering how long it will take for people to notice and perhaps tell me to take it down. But no one has said anything yet, so hopefully it can stay. This poster makes me happy!! :) anything bright or Beatles-related makes me happy!

Ukuleles Players and Writers

I'm on the 71 bus in San Francisco! Headed for writing reunion bash at Adair’s! Sooo cool that the San Fran BART runs straight through from union city! Looking forward to seeing my writer friends! It's been awhile. Also how ironic that tomorrow I'll be traveling to the same area if the city for ukulele rebellion! Carpooled to Santa Cruz this morn with Margaret...sang 32 songs on the beach with about 75 people ten of which were Beatles songs! Good times!

Me and Adair and a fellow author named Mark I believe.

Last night I was reminded over and over again who I really am...speaking with my fellow writers who remember my stories...when it comes down to it I am a writer who relays the stories. Looking back. Looking forward. as the chick on TV just said re the jr high band in New Orleans that made the nationals. It's all about the journey. I perused the book shelf at Adair’s house of published books by writers who took Adair’s party and was ecstatic to hear my friend Jackie's book comes out next week...

YAAAYYY JACKIE!!! 

...one I'm intimately familiar with as we were critique partners...it's the story of suddenly losing her grown daughter Susan...so sad and made me cry many times as I read it.

Me and my good friend John...whose memoir about his daughter Casey losing her life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge never ceases to amaze me...he and Erika are the strongest and most courageous people I know. And I still have that bumper sticker on my car that says "I LOVE CASEY." :) to support their cause as they've devoted their lives to helping other teens with depression...

And Adair I promise you the effing book will be published! 

Today it's all about Mardi gras Super Bowl and another journey to San Francisco with my uke. Another journey begins as I head right into the heart of much craziness via bus and subway! No not New Orleans but most likely the closest I can get!