Dream About Gene Autry

I've meant to post this for some time after mentioning it to Brook awhile back. That sunset photo was so gorgeous, I felt inspired to share my dream about Gene Autry that I had several months ago. It's real simple and goes like this: Something bad had happened; things had changed; were bleak, colorless. And I was sitting with Gene Autry on the ledge of a tall building, and he was singing to me and playing the guitar while recording it on one of those "old" casette recorders with the buttons that are hard to push down. Then he handed me the tape and said, "put it in your pocket". Then I woke up. I've never felt as great as I did after waking from that dream. I didn't know who he was, couldn't remember his songs or movies---but he was in my consciousness. Now--I read about him all the time and just ordered a CD and plan to order some films. The singing cowboy. Where's my horse?

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

For those who haven't heard, there are free screenings of this new documentary released this week. One is tonight (Tues.) at 7 p.m. at the pipefitters union on Spring Street in Johnson City. There is also a free screening at the Acoustic Coffee House on Walnut St. at 9 p.m. tomorrow (Wed.) Nov. 16. Even though I avoid Wal-mart and have, completely, for the past 5 years, I still shop at Target and other places that also regularly rape the public. But you gotta' start somewhere. Maybe this film will be of help. A weekly in Durham, NC, called The Independent, had a huge spread on it this weekend.

Anyhow---it's a "we hate Wal-Mart" party!

Haiku for my brother's house

Hello everyone. My brother felt the earthquake that hit Asheville several weeks ago, so I wrote a haiku.

house on fault line quakes
invisible visitor
brother holds his head

I'm doing fine since leaving one small-town paper and getting hired at another, mainly because now I get to work from home. I'm SO relieved. Now all I need is Steve Martin to serenade me on the banjo.

Singing Mice

posted this on the ugly is blog today -- so cool i thought i would share:

"Songbirds may be the Sinatras of the animal world, but male mice can carry a tune too, say Washington University researchers who were surprised by what they heard. Scientists have known for decades that male lab mice produce high-frequency sounds — undetectable by human ears — when they pick up the scent of a female mouse. This high-pitched babble is presumably for courtship, although scientists are not certain. But it turns out those sounds are more complex and interesting than previously thought. "It soon became ... apparent that these vocalizations were not random twitterings but songs," said researcher Timothy Holy." Read More Here.

Listen to a singing mouse here.