february 2, 2008

dear friends-

I write to you tonight, just three days before the super tuesday "national primary," when voters in california, and around 20 other states, will choose candidates for november's presidential election. i feel compelled to write in support of barack obama for president.

a month ago, obama was my second choice, after john edwards. I had originally gone for obama but i really appreciated the passion john edwards brought to the issue of poverty in this country. but to be honest, i liked all of my choices among the democrats. i never ever considered switiching to republican to vote for ron paul, even though i can see why some people like him. unfortunately, for me, he is not acceptable until he publicly disavows the john birch society, his biggest champions. but among the democrats, dennis kucinich is a great voice for peace. bill richardson strikes me as a conscious person. in the back of my mind, i rooted for hillary clinton because i think we're way past due having a woman president. i always liked the clintons, although i never saw bill as the greatest democrat, in a category with bobby kennedy or paul wellstone. i wish that the first serious woman contender for president wasn't hillary clinton, but if it comes down to her versus any of the republicans, including john mccain, i'll easily and happily vote for her. the day she was inaugurated would make me proud to have always considered myself a feminist and i would share in her victory.

that said, something happened on the night obama won in iowa. i started to see "again for the first time" what others had seen, up close. (the polls suggest that anywhere that people actually get to see obama up close, his numbers rise dramatically. i remember seeing his speech at the democratic convention in 2004 and having the feeling he would be our first black president. it was a very powerful moment.) i started to see that it was possible for obama to win. the whole idea is very exciting to me. for the first time, we would have a president who looked like most of the world. (of course, electing hillary would have a similar effect since more than half the world's population is female.)

why do i want to see obama elected president and why do i implore you to consider voting for him, too? for one, i knew from before the war started that it was wrong and so did he. millions of people around the world knew it was wrong and took to the streets. the administration ignored the rest of the world, including the pope. hillary went with bush and voted to authorize the war.

the emotional shot it was to read caroline kennedy, calling for an inspirational "president like her father," the fact that bobby kennedy's widow ethel first introduced obama as the next president three years ago, and compares him to her late husband today, the record numbers of young people getting into the process of voting, rap songs on youtube and the new song from the black eyed peas' will.i.am - all just add to the excitement for me, about this young man, running for president.

i remember watching clips of jfk press conferences with my friend dana one day. we both nearly wept, watching this intelligent, thoughtfull and compassionate young man as he answered each question, and thinking that, as children, we were robbed of him as our leader. i think of my little boy and the world he is just getting to know. i want him to know that i did everything i could to help elect a president he can look up to. and maybe he'll forgive us all for the dangerous clown that was in office when he was born.

i could go on for pages and pages but i'll stop here, and ask you to take a look at this video , a song by will i am and frends , directed by jesse dylan, and listen to the words. then please join me in voting for barack obama on tuesday.

thanks,
ted

YES WE CAN!!

LET'S LEARN AND PLAY THIS SONG - EVEN PUT UP DIFFERENT VERSIONS UP ON YOUTUBE


YES WE CAN (by Will.I.Am)

G-B-E-C

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality.

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics...they will only grow louder and more dissonant ........... We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea --

Yes. We. Can.

ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO:
O-B-A-M-A!!

 
happy birthday fred

the big 5-0

altho not really

but i will be (hmmm)

how does it feel to be 44 forever?

once you would have said

"i'd rather see what 50 is like

and don't ever say 'he's in a better place...'

if i was going to go to a better place, i may have chosen brazil"

but what would you say now?

i wanted to tell people about you

desert stories

nobody told better stories than you

a cigarette in one hand, a coffee in the other

the stories lasted until dawn...


fred drake born january 28 1958

taft california near bakersfield

died joshua tree california june 20 2002

and this is the music that was playing


once upon a time

because that's where all stories begin

in a land that was once an ocean

and still retained that sort of pull

the alluring landscape

the rush of a cosmic breath

the depth and the breadth

the inescapability of birth and death

the boundlessness the bountifulness

there rode a cowboy angel

upon an arabian stallion

playing slide guitar as la mujere

sang to la luna.


one spring morning he wandered up the road.

there was room at the inn

and the party was just about to begin.


but first, there was a moment of silence, of reverence.

there was a calm before the drums.

a deep sigh of silence before the dance.


and then there was a celebration.

the first new years eve after you left

we could see you on a star

cradled in orion's arms.
but when you were here

we celebrated in the monument,


hey, remember when mario sang nature boy

for elia's birthday

on top of a rock up in ryans

i can still see your wide smile

under the brim of your cowboy hat

as your father the texas oilman

stood there holding the flashlight

for the fine naked gay black man.

those are the kind of moments fred inspired.


after you died it seemed like a dozen more followed behind

mario and brenda and gregg and sabu and noah

kyoti and gothic and ben and hazel and

as hard as we tried we couldn't stay together


when the wind blows

spirits move around

passing right through the walls of our houses

they penetrate our bodies

and they brush up against our bones

scattering seeds everywhere

and after the wind died down

and the horses stopped screaming

you could not hear a coyote

or that lone truck downshifting up the morongo grade

anymore

and it seemed like everyone was gone


on christmas morning i received the news

that a child was to be born

and so he was

when the last of the stallions was called home

and when the child was born

this is the music that was playing

and from the dust in this desert

and from the friction of bones and flesh

the child bears traces of your soul


now we look out the window and see

galleries and minstrels

red arrow and the art queen

the multitudes

and black haired boys in black clothes with skulls

with bleach blonde girls who dare to show dark roots

bearing their scars, their hearts

waving to white buses

filled with the returning soldiers

and i know the work you'd begun

is coming to fruition

a lone pilgrim brokeback cottonwood tree

white and naked as winter

stands in a garden with it's arms outstretched

limbs like elegant fingers

pointing in the direction of spring




ted quinn
1/26/08

 
wow!! it's been a full season since i blogged on this site. this is testimony to how full the days and nights have been. the highlight, of course, was sage's second 2nd birthday party at pappy & harriets on july 29th, which looked like this:





and thankfully, was well-documented, thanks to ingeborg's hi-8 camera - and vic2's mini dv, along with klaus

& butter & morris, and sharron loree, sage's faerie godmother from woodstock.


i made an almost from scratch carrot cake at inge's, which was a smash!!

nice having my folks there, all the way from l.a.


needless to say, sage got a ton of cool loot!! (including a trike!)

BIG thanks to everybody involved!!


sage and i attended didier's gallery show and i go to play with the really shoo orchestra -

a wild experimental 'la porte indiana'. really fun!!


another big highlight was sage & my first ever overnight camping trip to the monument - beautiful jumbo rocks!!! with sage's new tepee from his aunties...
monday nights reality show at pappy's is a blast. also a lot of fun: playing at water canyon a couple times recently, with friends such as kevin stetz, shannon ackerman, monet, tal, kinkie, ralph gorill joining me at various times...then, a couple nights ago i had a great time playing at the cracker camper van beethoven campout (albeit indoors. when do i graduate to a mainstage?? maybe never. who cares, when you're playing music that makes you feel really good.
i had a really great band: bingo on lead, bobby furgo on voilin and keys, slammin' sam willmore and the lovely and bad ass of the bass, carol ann, along with the tal, johnny ray, butter and shawn mafia, aka the one-six-pack-away-from-gay-men's choir plus krissie and victoria.

what a summer. had art in two shows (rock star at shari elf's art queen - go to sharielf.com for a good time - and at red arrow, three pieces for the exquisite corpse show, done in collaboration with jesika von rabbit and travis d. cline...plus, been recording off and on with tony mason, for a new album (tentaively entitled 'mother & child') as well as mastering something we're calling "deserted sessions I: the best of ted quinn - as recorded at rancho de la luna - with fred drake & tony mason, 1995-2004."



a couple of visits from my friend paulina helped the summer go along nicely. driving her convertible jaguar(!) , to drive-in movies, picnics in the park, made it feel like i was on summer vacation.

and then, i was asked by my (one of my oldest!!) friends mark bernstein and his partner roxanne to come out to albuquerque and marry them!! yes, i became a universal life church minister (online, and you can do it too if for some reason you want to administer. officiate or otherwise execute the solemn dutes of a person of the cloth!!)...

ok, now one of those cosmic unexplainable series of things that happen whenever we're lucky enough to notice...
i was thinking of a girl i knew a very long time ago.


i wondered what in the world ever happened, to her, to us (i was 16, she was 14)...i even tried to google her name, but i was spelling it with extra letters. so, next thing you know, i swear on a stack of boulders, i get a message on myspace, with the subject line: "there can only be one," or words to the effect. now, say what we will about myspace. owned by rupert murdoch, a great all-volunteer information-collecting device, the perfect patriot act-era place to socialize and tell all...or just annoyingly slow, with its 70 million members, myspace has also been the vehicle for reunions with people i may never have run into again otherwise. such as my neighbor leon malloy (now 'milo'), ages 4 to 12, very close pals in formative years, the wonder years of woodrow wilson drive, now living in france, writing experimental clasical music (!)...what a gas!! turns out i first heard dylan coming from his older brother kip's room, and leon started playing drums, inspired by my older brother bob.
packy bercel, the younger brother of my brother and sister debra's 1960's bandmate, chris, resurfaces with great pictures thirty five years later...even francesca lia block makes myspace contact, after years of very little communication between us... but the "there can only be one" message was the craziest. (there is another ted quinn. he's the head of the nuclear society or something and smokes cigars)

but, yeah, that's me.
i mean, i had just been googling her name, albeit with the wrong spelling. and so, it was, jayni shuman found me, just after i was looking for her. okay, is it a strange universe or what??

so, sparing the details, we talked, we decided to meet up & drive to albuquerque with sage for mark & roxanne's wedding. besides, denise

would be there, too. and she may even have a cow for sage.

so we took a road trip, sage, jayni and me, to albuquerque to marry mark & roxanne. here's sage, pushing his stroller on route 66, in williams, arizona,



we climbed on red rocks along the way, spent two days going and two coming back, it was easy and funny. i asked jayni if she ever heard the name bob dewitt. i knew bob when i was 15, 16 years old, in mariposa, california, when my sster deb lived there and ran a natural food cafe. they had a sunday hootenanny where i became friends with an eccentric, brilliant, hilarious mountain goat poet, pen and ink artist, potter named bob dewitt, who ended each sunday evening with his friend woody's song, "so long, it's been good to know ya." bob meant a lot to me in my formative years. i wrote a ton of poetry inspired by him, his red mountain ranch, and his fiery way of getting me to read my words LOUDER...


(from my untitled memoirs: "deb moved to the little town of mariposa, near yosemite, where she and her new girlfriend, mary, started a health food store and cafe. i loved summers there, swimming in the merced river and reading my poetry to a crowd of open-minded bohemians. one of the most encouraging at the cafe was an old man named bob dewitt, who took me in like any visiting poet!


for my 16th birthday, dewitt composed a nice beat-style poem:


ted quinn

holy bo

gautana bo

bo raga

tree of life

5500 years bo

16 summers

bo bo bo bo

in the life

raga to ted

nov 12, 1974



we hiked together on his 1000 acre ranch, while his wife doi made supper out of the food they raised. dewitt had owned a cafe in topanga canyon, where leadbelly and woody guthrie were frequent guests. their home was a stopping off point for traveling musicians, poets and artists of all kind. i still have some of the pen and ink drawings dewitt made for me. the narrow highway through mariposa filled with army trucks, bob kuhn and me standing on the side of the road like two teen dharma bums. goats and buddhas dancing. bob dewitt, himself, was a wild old goat and bodhisattva who stood upside-down and naked in the stream every morning at sunrise. he said the "indians" had taught him that trick, so you wouldn't be cold all day. he threw beautiful, rough pottery in his barn, half-joking that he was a cracked pot that could still hold some water.


once, i took my girlfriend lily martens, a girl who had acted with me in "80 steps to jonah" and later was a classmate at north hollywood high. bob kuhn and melodee went with me on other visits to mariposa. dewitt especially got a kick out of bob kuhn. kuhn was so endearing, with his ragged looks belying his intellect and wit. plus, he could play the heck out of all the great dylan opuses. dewitt loved poets and spotted the soul of one in kuhn.")


anyway, he was originally from topanga so i thought maybe jayni had heard legend of him...the name sounded familiar but she couldn't say for sure. well, i always wondered what happened to bob and was sort of scared to find out for some reason, assuming he was long gone. i'd stopped going to mariposa when deb moved to san francisco and had lost touch with dewitt, as i had with jayni, leon, packy, francesca...a few days after our trip, jayni called me with some news, from that day's local topanga paper:



Passages


Robert (Bob) DeWitt - 1913 - 2007


By Robert L. DeWitt


Robert (Bob) Moran DeWitt, born January 5, 1913, to Ashley and Nellie DeWitt in Lincoln, Nebraska, died at home on August 22, 2007, of natural causes.


Bob was surrounded by family members at his beloved Red Mountain Ranch during his final days. He is survived by his wife Doreen (Doi) whom he met at UCLA and married in 1940. Bob was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, and a daughter. Surviving family members include his sister, Eileen Murphy of Huntington Beach; his children, Norah Corbett of Stockton, Robert of Santa Cruz, Eileen Woodward of Bend, Oregon, and Bill of Mariposa. He is also survived by nine grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and 10 nieces and nephews.




PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT L. DEWITT
Robert Moran DeWitt, better known as Topanga's "Barefoot Broker," with some of his beloved artwork.


Bob was a real estate broker, licensed by the State of California in 1939. He opened his office in Topanga Canyon, where he was known as the "Barefoot Broker." He was a lifelong artist, working in ceramics, oils, watercolors, and pen and ink. Bob and Doi owned and operated a health food restaurant and concert stage in Topanga that hosted numerous performers such as Will Geer, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lord Buckley, Odetta, and violinist Marshall Moss, along with numerous beatnik jazz groups.


Moving to Mariposa County in 1963, Bob continued to support folk, Americana, and international musical artists by providing performance venus throughout the communities of Mariposa, Oakhurst, and El Portal in cooperation with The Finegold Trust and the Mariposa County Arts Council. Local concert goers may remember attending concerts by Utah Phillips, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Kate Wolf, Kim Angelis, and Peter Rowan.


Bob will be greatly missed by his family and all the artistic community whose lives he touched.


The family requests donations to John C. Fremont Hospice (5189 Hospital Rd. Mariposa, CA 95338) or the Mariposa County Arts Council (P.O. Box 2134, Mariposa, CA 95338) in lieu of flowers. A private family service has been held to honor Bob's life. A celebration of Bob's life is being planned to be held in Mariposa at a later date. Funeral arrangements have been made by Mariposa Funeral Home.

sigh. he definitely touched my life. i will miss bob, even though i didn't see him for thirty years. but it gives me some kind of closure to know that he lived to be 94 years old, and that he had his family with him, there on red mountain.


one of the many dewitt-inspired pieces in my lufe were the lyrics i wrote on a road trip with fred drake in 1989. joe garcia took the chords i figured out on an autoharp and made it rock...


red mountain
i grew up upon red mountain/ i rode pony jesus/up hills and down them/bare-back-style like a native american/i rode pony jesus til he threw me right off of him/ how can i find my way back here/in case i lose my innocence somewhere/how can i find my way back here/in case it doesn't make sense out there
and how much farther is where we can rest/stop/fill up unload n stock up on some food/i won't go to exxon so we better keep on drivin'/up to new bethlehem/there's a thunderstorm over clarion/how can i find my way back here/in case i lose my patience somewhere/how can i find my way back here/in case it doesn't make sense out there
single-lane obstacle courses for big rigs with great dane mudflaps/they pass us we pass them like some mating ritual/flying past speed traps/and american legionnaires with rifle racks/gypsies with ice chests and road maps/making good time flying past little speed traps/that are on no road maps/with ice chests and road maps/how can i find my way back here/in case i lose my license somewhere/how can i find my way back here/in case it doesn't make sense out there/how can i find my way back here/in case i lose my innocence somewhere/how can i find my way back here/in case it doesn't make sense out there
i grew up upon red mountain...

"so long, it's been good to know ya."

i'm still sorting through what it all could mean, but i have a few ideas...




sage with the cow denise gave him in albuquerque.

 
it was my sister debra's 15th birthday so the whole family went up to monterey. the airplane had painted faces and so did i.

L-O-V-E, love.

i was eight years old. both the mamas AND the papas wore dresses. the air smelled new and exotic. hair was everywhere. a tent out of arabian nights, filled with pillows, with the strange new beatles record playing - ancient like their mustaches and uniforms - as prince brian of jonestown strolled by, with pan playing his flute. it was like walking through a musical cartoon. what do i really remember and how much of it is a dream? it took place sometime between the first 'happening' and the 'death of hippie', planting seeds of wild herbs and flowers in my developing psyche.

i'm sure it was a huge factor in both the way i make and present music, interested in an assortment of sounds which all relate to eachother, just as the diverse mix at monterey got along so harmoniously. it must also have been an aesthetic influence for it's bright colors, eastern tones and electric powered california soul flavor.

the combination was just right, as never before or since, when indian spice met day-glo bathtub chemistry and threatened, for a moment, to unravel the cold war machine from within. the word, love, long ago washed from our foreheads, the reveberations live on in every living thing, in our genes.



ted quinn's reality show
mondays at pappy and harriet's
7pm

celebrating the summer of love
(june 18 sir paul mccartney's birthday)
"it's getting better all the time"

 



hi friends-

i'd like to invite you to any or all of the events
coming up over the next several days and weeks. most
of them are fun excuses to get out, see people and
play music. all of them are chances to hear a great
variety of sounds.

monday may 7 - ted quinn's reality show at pappy and
harriet's is an open mic with a twist. upcoming shows
will feature themes, such as Great Songwriters
Birthdays and "It Was Forty Years Ago Today"
celebrations of the music of 1967 and the Summer of
Love. (see below). sign up is 6:30 pm.

wednesday may 9 - beatnik cafe open mic. i've enjoyed
hosting this weekly gathering on and off over the past
five years. it's still always full of surprises. this
one goes late, and seems to always get really good
around midnight. sign up 8pm.

friday may 11 - the high desert acoustic music
festival, in the lot on park boulevard behind the
joshua tree saloon and coyote corner in joshua tree.
i'm playing with tony mason at 7pm but there's great
music all weekend, including a gospel set on sunday
morning. presented by ralph at joshua tree music
store.

sunday may 13 - shari elf and rand polumbo present
'rock star' at art queen, an exhibit of art by
musicians including daniel johnston, ann magnuson,
johnette napolitano, graham nash, jesika rabbit,
victoria williams, as well as shari, randy and me.
also, there's a free concert there. 4-7pm. 61855
Highway 62, Joshua Tree, California (in back past the
trailers)

monday may 14 - bring your voice, your trumpet, your
violin, or whatever else you might play, up to pappy's
for the reality show. sign up at 6:30. or just come
and enjoy it from the audience.

wednesday may 16 - beatnik cafe open mic. the only
place that stays open for music til 2am in the middle
of the week! sign up 8pm.

monday may 21 - dylan week begins with the reality
show. come up and play a dylan song or two and we'll
put you on the list to play at the unofficial
celebration of bob's 66th birthday on thursday night.
pappy and harriet's. sign up 6:30 pm.

wednesday may 23 - dylan week continues at the beatnik
open mic. come up and play a dylan song or two and
we'll put you on the list to play at the unofficial
celebration of bob's 66th birthday on thursday night
at pappy's. sign up 8pm.

thursday may 24 - bob dylan's birthday bash. an
evening dedicated to the greatest american songbook of
the past fifty years. there is no end to great dylan
songs (www.bobdylan.com lists the lyrics to over 450),
or singers out there who like singing them, so this
promises to be a special night at pappy's, in honor of dylan's
66th birthday. for more info, contact me at
myspace.com/tedquinn or by email at
tedquinn@nomadhouse.com.

monday may 28 - ted quinn's reality show at pappy and
harriet's is an open mic with a twist. upcoming shows
will feature themes, such as more Great Songwriters
Birthdays and "It Was Forty Years Ago Today"
celebrations of the music of 1967 and the Summer of
Love. (see below). sign up is 6:30 pm.

wednesday may 30 - beatnik cafe open mic. i still love
hosting this weekly gathering, after five great years.
sign up 8pm.

friday june 1 - chuckwalla music festival. all weekend
in pappy's outdoor amphitheatre. i'm playing with my
band and wooden nickel this evening. low cover charge
with proceeds going to arts programs for the kids in
the area.

monday june 4 - ted quinn's reality show at pappy and
harriet's is an open mic with a twist. upcoming shows
will feature themes, such as Great Songwriters
Birthdays and "It Was Forty Years Ago Today"
celebrations of the music of 1967 and the Summer of
Love. (see below). sign up is 6:30 pm.

wednesdays - beatnik cafe open mic. sign up 8pm.

monday june 11 - ted quinn's reality show at pappy and
harriet's: the first installment of "It Was Forty
Years Ago Today," a celebration of the music of 1967
and the Summer of Love. Forty years ago today, Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released in
England, while Jimi Hendrix ignited his guitar and the
Summer of Love at Monterey Pop Festival. play a song
from 1967, anything from Jefferson Airplane to Stevie
Wonder, Grateful Dead to Velvet Underground, Tiny Tim
to Pink Floyd, Cream to Leonard Cohen, Procol Harum to
Eric Burdon, the Mama's and the Papa's to Otis
Redding, the Monkees to the Mothers of Invention.
for more info, contact me at
myspace.com/tedquinn or by email at
tedquinn@nomadhouse.com.


coming monday june 18 - ted quinn's reality show at
pappy and harriet's: "When I'm 65" Songs of Sir Paul
McCartney.

also, SAGEFEST 2!! in july.

Mondays will celebrate the music of 1967 throughout
the summer. Be sure to wear a flower in your hair. For
a pretty good list of songs and records from that
year, go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1967_albums.
i'll bet there are at least a dozen songs that you
love from 1967. start practicing some of them now!

hope to see you. all shows listed above are free, with
the exception of chuckwalla and day two of the high
desert acoustic music festival.

"All You Need Is Love."

tq

Labels: spring/summer of love 2007 schedule

 
busy days


sleepy nights





i've been multi-track recording sage, playing hammond organ, hand drums, slide whistle, kazoo, electric guitar & singing his new avant classical piece...meanwhile he's at work on a mixed media painting/drawing (could be the cover for the music he's been recording)..we promise to put it out eventually...looking at a release date around sage's 2nd birthday in july..but there's no hurry. after all, it's the process that's the most important...

i had a lot of fun the past two thursday nights at pappy's doing a new variety show. last week, i was accompanied by drummer sam willmore, andy gorill on upright bass and guest guitarist kevin stetz. featured guests were walt young and sherry & the bop-cats...

this week, butter (david butterfield), carol ann ('john prine's 'christmas in prison'), krissie gregory and victoria williams did songs between sets by tony mason, sam willmore and me. tony and i did a medley of 'are you experienced' with 'woodstock,' some other old folk songs, as well as a bunch of our own, including a new one i wrote for sage, for valentines day, 'pure love' ... which you can hear in raw form at www.myspace.com/tedquinn...


more variety shows to come...


thank you robyn & linda & everybody at pappy & harriet's...


mom & dad &


the beatnik cafe & fred & ingeborg & jacob & kevin & klaus & matthew & monet & nohelle & sharron &
all the great musicians of joshua tree...

 


one from the archives of jeremy gilien,
jeff morrison & me at the old ash grove, late eighties.