It's The Music, Man

in the aftermath of the petraeus-crocker dog and pony show, the American Person was asked how he "felt" about it .... you know how the "media" is always asking how people "feel;" that's because we're no longer capable of thought and, because we're so emotionally impoverished, we have to live vicariously through the feelings of others .....

but i digress .....

he replied, "the dog ate my ability to think critically and dispassionately; then the dog ate the independent media and all the independent journalists ....."

the American Person took a deep breath and, holding his hands behind his back, continued: "The dog must still have been hungry, for he ate my ability to detect bullshit, or tell a blatant liar that he was lying to me."

"He's a bad dog ..... a very bad BA-A-A-A-A-A-A-D dog ....."

"You wanna know what he did then?

He ate my homework for dessert."

enough, already ...... saturday i bicycled around lake tahoe; that's a seventy-three mile ride, at altitude, around one of the world's prettiest lakes; it was a day of flawless jade, and the lake sparkled like an emerald .... a perfect riding temperature, not too hot and not too cold--it was just right--and i was only forced off the road once, this time by a redneck driving a tanker truck .... i was so focused on staying on the road, on making it up and down the mountains, and still catching the views, that i didn't think about "the news" once .....

later i stopped---and stopped traffic--to watch three bears lumber out of the woods and amble across the roadway .....

"why did the three bears
cross the road?
so they could hear
my lungs explode ...."

speaking of loud noises, i'm thinking about my upcoming show at the lark theater, in larkspur, on september 29 ..... it's going to be a good show, and i'm very excited about it ..... through the years i've done acoustic performances and i've played amplified shows, but this is the first time i'll be able to start playing acoustic and segue into playing what we used to call "power trio" ....

this show will cover over thirty-five years of material, including selected songs from black kangaroo ..... this isn't one of those "let's cash in on geriatric nostalgia before we die off by playing songs that had significance to teenagers forty years ago but appear ludicrous and disjointed when performed badly by sexagenarians whose mental lapses could once be attributed to drug abuse but now let's chalk it up to senescence or alzheimer's because you can't abuse lisinopril or celebrex" shows ...... i'd rather eat my cheeks than perform material i can't relate to emotionally, or that maintains a modicum of integerity .....

ha ha .... no wonder i'm fucking broke ......

no .... seriously ..... some of those songs are priceless and eternal: for example--billy's tune, from "black kangaroo," is a prescient piece of work that, as a spoken word recording presaged rap, while thematically is as timeless and as bleak and as apocalyptic as ever .....

mayhem and institutionalized chaos never go out of fashion in this country, do they?

anyway, i've never really had the opportunity to showcase my my guitar talents--the diverse stylings, from acoustic finger picking to flash 'n' trash electric, all in one evening ..... and the wide range of material: from sophomoric to puerile ....

no .... ha ha ..... just kidding ....... there is some really great stuff here .....

i'm thinking about having a contest, asking the audience to answer the eternal question, "and what kind of music does peter play?"

other than loud, of course ....

i'll be playing with michael lindner (alleyonemusic.com) .... michael and i played together .... well, thirty-five years ago, on one of black kangaroo's notorious ventures into the heartland of america .... we found it to be cloggged and pre-coronary, and were grateful to escape with our lives .... you'd think that, after thirty-five years of playing together (well, not uninterrupted) that michael would be able to play the material without his copious notes .... but he can't ..... and i'm glad he's taken all those notes ....

because i can't remember the stuff, either .....

no .... ha ha ..... whenever i fuck up i make it look like it's his fault ......

in addition, i'll have backup singers ..... my old friend kenni will be singing harmonies .... she's done most of the vocal arrangements and performances on "going home" and "beyond help!" i perform with her whenever she'll let me and i'm thrilled that she'll be performing with me at this show ....

in addition, the legendary lee parvin will make an appearance ..... you can hear lee's distinctive piano stylings when you go to my myspace page (www.myspace.com/peterkaukonen); he's a wonderful player, engineered "traveller," and i've threatened him with bodily harm unless he sings backup with me ....... i won't tell you what kind of keyboard he'll be playing; i want you to be surprised ....

i'm doing a special run of "traveller" for this show; it'll finally be available on compact disc, along with "going home," "black kangaroo," and "the archives ....." and a special edition peter kaukonen t-shirt .....

it'll be a great show ..... i hope to see you there ......

next: dr. pete pumps up his tires ......