Shakesthegrounds Rumblings

[Wayne]

Goodness Truman.       Life is something.  Thanks for sharing it with us.     

[vkm91941]

Bless you Truman

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Thank you all, ain't words a wonderful thing.

I finished reading The Old Ace in The Hole this week, a really good story, it has a similar tone as The Shipping News. It is amazing to me how many gay characters, both latent and open, Proulx manages to put in her stories. Well the only bokk of hers I have not read now is the first one, Heart Songs and other stories. My library does not have it so I guess I'll check out Amazon.

Getting excited now about the Brokeback gathering in Boston. I was so tickled my partner was like sure, we can go then. He was moved by the movie, but not to the extent I was. My friends Judy and JoJo will be there from the Wyoming trip, plus many others I have corresponeded with and read. I came to the conclusion this moning that it is important to have friends who live in other places, important to maintain contact with old one who have moved. The more connections around the world a person has the more likely we will be to get along in the long run.

Beautiful day here, and all my clothes and dishes are washed at the same time.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

A beautiful time this morning, driving to work, just after nine in the morning I cross the old bridge, soon to be replaces after 75 years, and make my right hand turn in front of the line of box cars whirling past. They seem so fast but by the time I reach 45 mph I look up thru the trees to my left and see I am passing them. On the right the river is running the color of chocolate milk from last nights rain. We are all travelling in the same direction, each of us some force of nature. The sun is shining and the air is clear and my partner calls me to read me my horrorscope. It is going to be a wonderful day.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Last night I finally got to see Adam and Steve, a terrific movie by Funnyboy Features that is now out on DVD. while it was no Brokeback, I throughly enjoyed it.

It is set in NYC (as are about 90% of gay movie) and tells the story about a couple of out guys who fall in love, only to discover they have met before, years earlier. I won't give away anymore than that. It is well written, positive, and while is does have this strange dance number toward the end, it will have you thinking the next day.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

I believe it would. There is intimacy, but not the sex act itself. There is drug usage in the begining but it is done in a way to show the consequences of their actions. Yes, I think you all should see it.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

LETS DANCE!

http://www.floydcountrystore.com/

A buddy of mine who lives out of town has been wanting to go to the Friday Night jamboree at the old country store in Floyd, Virginia, for some time. So this week when I ran into him at his grandma-in-laws funeral I said hell yeah lets go Friday night. His wife is in her thrid trimester so she could not go, just the two of us, and it was such a good time.

Now, you might think, does this guy ever do anything but go to funerals? Well, let me explain: it is a small town an I know a lot of people. I am also kin to a lot of people. I think it is good to honor them as they leave this world, and see folks who have come in from out of town and reconnect. Plus they always have a great meal afterward. I met my partner at his Aent's funeral. I know people who refuse to attend even the funeral of a spouce they are so opposed to the proposition of death, but hell, for me it is like going to the car wash.

We traveled about 40 miles, taking an hour because Floyd, Virginia is up on the mountain. It is a small town of local mountain people and trust funded hippies who have sent the realestate prices thru the roof. The store itself no longer functions in its original capacity but is more of a music hall for old time and bluegrass music every friday night and sometimes a special show on Saturday night. Admission is $3.00 and there is a drawing for a ham each night. Lucklity Floyd does not have a fire marshall (I guess) the place is always packed. Mostly locals attend, very authentic people, and last night they had folks from Ontario and a soldier from Baghdad. I have seen Africans there (as well as African Americans, regular attendees).

My buddy was amazed by the crowd, two groups who was picking outside on the side walks and the alley next to the store held our attention for a while. We went inside and "Twist"ed our way to the front, glad to have arrived after the first hour of gospel music. The Smith River Band was finishing up a song and starting a slow one. A local boy in jeans an a straw cowboy hat and chained wallet took the opportunity to get a bottle of water. When next they began the Orange Blossum Special he was leaping over people to get back to the dance floor, where he put his hands on his hips and faced the audience and began to pound the floor. Soon he was joined by a dozen others and when they all began pounding that old oak floor in unison it was like the heart beat of everyone in the place was beating in unison, mesmerized and bobbing, harkening back to the days when people lived out doors under the moon and all the cycles we in sync.

I thought to myself: I want to host a BBM get together here sometime, I want people to see this. And that I will do, maybe next summer, on a night with a full moon. C'mon and get you can of potted possum.

[YaadPyar]

Soon he was joined by a dozen others and when they all began pounding that old oak floor in unison it was like the heart beat of everyone in the place was beating in unison, mesmerized and bobbing, harkening back to the days when people lived out doors under the moon and all the cycles we in sync.

I thought to myself: I want to host a BBM get together here sometime, I want people to see this. And that I will do, maybe next summer, on a night with a full moon. C'mon and get you can of potted possum.

Love the image of everyone's heart beating together...it's the thing that used to create community, and I guess in some places still does.

Dare one ask what a can of potted possum is?  What you do with it?  And why it's called that?

[Shakesthecoffecan]

I have seen groups of guys, usually younder ones, up there dancing. I think we'd have to teach the band the sang thought...that is such a good album, do you have it?

As for the possum, it is mostlikely regular potted meat, with a different lable on it. I don't know anyone who has ever actually opend a can. Possum is one of the ledgends, that back in the old days when people were so poor they would eat the unbelievably greasy meat. One bands there has a song about a man needing to feed him family and the refrain is: "I got five pounds of possum in my head lights tonight!"

[Shakesthecoffecan]

I have been to Wyoming twice this year, and both times I heard the same song.

Driving up from Boulder to Laramie in chilly April I had the radio tuned to this cool station and on came this driving guitar and I was like "hell yeah" and this woman singing: "you ain't the one for me" I looked at the speedometer and I was going 85 mph!

Come June, a beautiful day I am on I-90 rolling down the road from Billings to Buffalo and up ahead is the Welcome to Wyoming sign, and on the radio, here comes that driving guitar again "Ohhhhhhhhhhh no, ohhhhhhhhhhh yeah, yeah, yeah, your not the one for me" I turned it up, I made a mental note to find out about that song.

The other week I was listening to KFOG out of San Francisco on my laptop and here it come, I recognized it on the first note. It is "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" by K.T. Tunstall, a talented woman I think from the UK, it has been a while since I read up on her. I ordered the cd, and here are the words to the song:

two, three, four

(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)

well my heart knows me better than i know myself
so i'm gonna let it do all the talking.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
i came across a place in the middle of nowhere
with a big black horse and a cherry tree.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)

i fell in fear, upon my back
i said don't look back, just keep on walking.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
when the big black horse that looked this way,
said hey lady, will you marry me?
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)

but i said no, no, no,no-no-no
i said no, no, you're not the one for me
no, no, no,no-no-no
i said no, no, you're not the one for me

(ooooo,woo-hoo)

and my heart had a problem, in the early hours,
so it stopped it dead for a beat or two.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
but i cut some cord, and i shouldn't have done that,
and it won't forgive me after all these years
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)

so i sent her to a place in the middle of nowhere
with a big black horse and a cherry tree.
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)
now it won't come back , cause it's oh so happy
and now i've got a hole for the world to see
(woo-hoo,woo-hoo)

but it said no, no, no,no-no-no
i said no, no, you're not the one for me
no, no, no,no-no-no
said no, no, you're not the one for me

(ooooo,woo-hoo) (not the one for me, yeah)
(ooooo,woo-hoo)
said no,no, no,no, no, no, no
you're not the one for me
said no,no, no,no, no, no, no
you're not the one for me


big black horse and a cherry tree
i can't quite get there cause they've all forsken me
big black horse and a cherry tree
i can't quite get there cause they've all forsken me

Today I stopped by the P.O. and there was the cd, I popped it in and headed to the office. Even on a monday in the humid southeast I was transported, I was headed to meet my friends in Wyoming. If you get a chance take a listen.