Raggin' Piano Boogie
| The TRAVELING PIANO Information Page | READ THE DAILY LOG - Flight of Peregrinating Musical Exploration! |
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Since 1987 |
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September 31, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada |
September 30, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada |
September 29, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada |
September 28, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaWe we're in Redrock Canyon today. It is almost a full moon and the last time before the park begins to close an hour earlier because of day light savings time. So, I could stay in the dark and have that experience. I took my time and we met a lot of people. My hand is sprained from sleeping on it so I could play the piano but getting in and out of the truck felt almost impossible with my lack of energy these days. It feels good to be able to do whatever I can do. 
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September 27, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada |
September 26, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaWe all live in a society and have a civic responsibility for our part in it whether wanted or not. My work in communities, the music, who I am, my activism with the homeless and mass gun murders, etc... comes from a set of values, limitations, boundaries and ethics that I am part of, that make up the society I live in. I must stand up to support other like minded people who think and act as I do on whatever level. To think you can respect and appreciate my work, the creativity, the fun, the love and passion while supporting all that is opposite of what goes into my spirit... does not work for me. It shows a lack of respect for both of us. So that leads into the fact that Presidential History was made today. The media barely reported on it. The first president in history to stand with the people on the picket line for decent salaries, the first president to overtly stand up to corporate greed. It is a big deal! Some media outlets did not report on it at all, others just normal news. They choose to focus on Hunter Biden's nothing, the Hollywood writers strike ending but most of all another trump ruling on his criminality was front and center with photos of him communicating "oh well, what are you going to do." 
If it was Biden as a criminal, the photos would have been outrageous. There is a dire disease happening in the media with the inability to support or even report on the success and accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration representing democracy. There is an inability for respect. With trump, on every issue you will find thirty spinoff articles, takes, opinions to keep him alive. On any good the the Biden administration accomplished, it gets reported and the disappears. While other politicians play politics and while the media incessantly bashes Biden's popularity with industry paid for polls... President Biden forges on with the work of leadership, support and funding from tax dollars for the people of America, for the betterment of all. On facebook I have been listing Biden administration accomplishments. I am up to 67. I know people are getting irritated in seeing them because they specifically do not want to see any good that is happening. They are being taught not to. It is a challenge for me to stay on track when I see the truth of spirit being consistently attacked and spun with insidious evil. I've thought a lot about whether it is all just a distraction for me. No, it is not. It is part of the whole that is my life. |
September 25, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaI was ready to go out again, it being 91º once I was outside it was just too hot. I got into filing data... all day. I have this deep desire to do something big with my work but I just do not do what is needed, there is no focus on anything big enough to want to pursue so... enjoying what I am doing and Mo in every moment of life is enough. It feels kind of good to not work with the truck when I can. So much of my "doing" is with a need to "do" it while whatever is possible. For example, the suns out need to take advantage of that, The temperatures right, I have some energy, need to go out while I have that going, etc... To say, I'm going to do what I want and do not care what anyone else thinks (not that there is anyone who care's) ...letting go of all self imposed obligation and expectation... thats nice. Its also nice to have some photos to post that are recent. 
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September 24, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaI took the Traveling Piano out again today. Two more fragile issues came up for the equipment it will just be another wait and see. My friend Dave Hull got onto the piano to play some Fats Waller. I am posting one of his songs for today the Alligator Crawl. The core of my health and energy problems are coming into focus, the need to get honest with the fact that I have found myself back at square one with my weight. It was an integral part of this journey from the start and has been a life long yo-yo situation for me. Part of my commitment with this journey was to become lighter and I had lost two pounds a month steady for the first two years the right way. That was with diet, attitude and exercise. I was riding high with self-image, energy , etc... and now I am back to the same weight as when I started and am seventeen years older with it all and then there's the longterm covid, etc... the idea of starting over and how long it will take (if I survive as long as it would take) is just disappointing. But I must move past that and get back on track or die. I do not care if I die, but I do care if I live. 264 pounds |
September 23, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada |
September 22, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada |
September 21, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
I felt very connected to the homeless community over the last few years. Not interacting with everyone over time... I've pretty much lost the relationships now. Feeling part of, connected, respected and appreciated was a great feeling but as I have petered out. People have moved on. My sense of purpose, my passion and feeling of worth... the need to create all that for myself becomes more and more a challenge. I have to put out to get back what I need to function in life or there is nothing. That is the way it has always been for me. Life never comes to me first to fill up, I have to always go get it. Thats getting more difficult to do. Another person was shot and murdered outside tonight. Someone gets killed about every two months here. That never makes the news because the city does not want to scare people away from downtown. Of course the police and different mafia's make so much money off of the rift raft they do not want to run them off. The city just covers for them.
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September 20, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
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September 19, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
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September 18, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
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September 17, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
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September 16, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada |
September 15, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
Goodbye to the Oldest, Biggest and Only Original Tree in all of Downtown Las Vegas. It was healthy and grand. A new sidewalk is being put in but incorporating the trees base into a couple feet of sidewalk (to be at least 15' in width) ...either too much effort or not profitable enough. Same for simply trimming the tree for any safety concern. The tree served as a major connection to nature for me. It was right outside the door where I live. Now, as you can see in the picture the environment has zero aesthetic worth. Across the street there we're three huge old palm trees now gone. The streets department with its landscaping contractor for Las Vegas is the biggest money laundering operation from what I have experienced since living here. That outside of the casino business which I know little about. The city spends hundreds of thousands (probably millions) on trees and plants that they just leave to dry up and die or let them become so overgrown that they need to get torn down, but not replaced. Zero, maintenance for healthy growth or a continued asthetic look of any nature whats so ever.
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September 14, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaThe temperature to take a walk at night is now down to 80º. Thank God for that. I can already feel more ability to walk as a result. The city took down a massive tree outside today to put in a new side walk. That tree has been a major link to nature for me over the last seven years. They really didn't need to do it but it makes money for the contractors and the apartment management could not care less except for the fact that they now have no responsibility concerning it. The sad part... it was the last tree standing in all of Downtown Las Vegas. It was the oldest tree and the biggest tree. This makes me feel sad. Across the street a few months ago they took down three tall and original palm trees to the area for the sake of just plain cement. They are making the sidewalks 20 feet wide! For what? Out my control... as I have been writing over the last couple months... a practice in acceptance concerning my control but not acceptance for what is happening. |
September 13, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaAI surveillance is seeping into our everyday life and most people do not see it, most will not see it until it is too late. Commercial entities are selling it, Ocean City NJ is implementing into their public schools and for use in public areas like the boardwalk for security surveillance looking for objects that might be concelled guns, what could go wrong wit that?. Washington State is beginning to use it in their parks and forests under the guise of fire protection. AI first and foremost will be the biggest destroyer of humanity. The top 400 developers of AI "all" penned a letter saying to stop using it, it is not ready. Money talks. There is nothing to be done to stop it now but I suggest what not to do. The words that comes to mind is "denial" or "rationalization," "excuses" for it, or becoming part of the herd that willingly "partakes" and "supports"...do not do that for the truth of spirit. This, because living or not, we are all safe and secure through the truth of spirit. Looking forward to getting back to the music... waiting to get better from Covid and for the piano speaker to get fixed. |
September 12, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaI absolutely must pull away from the world news. The frustration, anger, doom and sadness that it creates is interfering with my life. This does not mean I need to put my head in the sand and just ignore or hide from everything. The answer is to practice objectifying it in a professional way as I do with the homeless. Everytime I see someone having a difficult time on the street which is often, every day, I send up a prayer for God to help them. So, I will also start doing that everytime I see the world in difficulty and then just let it go, turn it over to a power greater than myself as in God, the Universe, whatever because there is nothing I can do about it. This summer has created a major practice in letting go because of my newly developed limitations with the heat and my health. I am learning to accept that I can only do what I can do. Acceptance is the name of the game. There are no worries about being in denial about what I am able to do and not these days. |
September 11, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaWhile trying to get a grip on reality I must realize that most people in the world are not living the individual experience that I am not even close to it. All my trials and tribulations are my own, of my own making, no one can or nor would I want them to experience them for real. Many people in this world have no trials and/or tribulations. And also, they are oblivious to the world's trials and tribulations for many different reasons that are really none of my business nor would I be truly able to comprehend even if I tried. Maybe if I can insert myself into their wonderful worlds to make my world more wonderful? Unfortunately, that is not the way life works. If I want their world and I am sure in most scenarios I would not, but if I did I would have to make it for myself. To use other peoples worlds as a model maybe I can pull bits and pieces. The bottom line is that I have little choice in how I live and create my world in a conscious sense as I have made the choice to live consciously. Living into maturity and with responsibility is the only choice for me even if that does in include aspects of the perceived wonderful lives that others live that I think sometime I want for myself. |
September 10, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaMost of my closer friends want to find out what is going on with me now through social media. I am not going to give up my personal life to social media. And this blog is my base on the internet to find out what I am doing with my work in detail. If people do not want to come here, so be it. I've nothing to sell. This blog is an offering and nothing more. There is communication in person, by phone or email. I held off as long as I could with texting but that now has seeped into my life. As long as texting stays private as in not being recorded (to the best of my knowledge) I'll use that now too. But, the most personal aspects of my life will not be recorded on social platforms to be used by AI or algorithms or for big brother. The internet in general is more work oriented for me. It is used more discretly with what I say and how I say it than in personal life than with personal in person thoughts. I may appear as an open book online but the internet is in fact, one dimensional in many ways. These days it feels like my friends now prefer the one dimensional aspects of myself and only want to see and hear about how I am happy or making others happy or what they are interested in for themselves. But then again, most of people and life runs that way, eh? Thank God I have found meditation to help dissipate my need to vent and just be ok with just myself. And then, thank God for this blog also as it is pretty close to the real me, in most ways. |
September 09, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaAfter a doctors visit today I realized on a deeper level how, in todays world the health system sucks. The personal, relational, singular intuitiveness in medicine and healing has almost disappeared. There are just straight black or white answers from testing and if the doctor is smart enough some additional deductive science is involved. Without the ongoing one on one personal relating between doctor and patient, individuality disappears and so does the ability to truly heal. Worse, the need for everyone on all sides to legally protect themselves especially involving medicine itself is just terrible. No one can truly be honest with their thoughts. Everything gets censored and sifted through a screen as the priority over trust, true facts and feeling. It has been a while since I mentioned that the doctor who delivered me from the womb. Dr DiBello died in 2016 and he was the only doctor I saw throughout life. We were as old school as it gets and he never once ever diagnosed me wrong in our 65 years together. I had never been in the health system as it exists today not even the insurance part until about three or four years ago. The insurance part just wants to rape the government financially using people. Meanwhile it has no interest in fairness or ethics. Without insurance, the health system just goes for the throat of individuals to rape people financially. |
September 08, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaWhen I leave this earth I was thinking, what will I miss most? The Feelings of Music I relate to, high end music and some junk music too. That fact that I can appreciate maturity, intellect, creativity at its best. The ability to share and manifest empathy and compassion, the feeling from others as a result. And of course the fun, friendship and respect from my work, the meeting of strangers and enjoyment in that. Movies, how I enjoy a good movie. Nature, silence in nature as well as all the stimulating sounds, the feeling of a perfect temperature and air, a breeze, the ocean I so love the ocean. The pure joy in relationship that I have had with both Boner and Mo, sex was a pretty good thing to experience in life and I do not think anything can compare with the oneness that can be felt with another person. Good friendship, the love of strangers and seeing other people experience joy. As I get on this role I find I could go on and on. Eating, that is a big one. Living in a space I have created, that too. But I think what I will miss most is experiencing the magic and surprise that happens in spiritual ways. |
September 07, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
I am spending today taking it easy, it is the only thing to do as I am isolating myself for a few days so I do not infect anyone. In this blog I wrote some years ago about this present challenge I have entered in life. At least I think I wrote about it. For sure, think about it from time to time. My challenge is not to get lost in doom and gloom, the untruths of others, to keep hold of my anger and use the energy of anger in positive ways. Also, I want to move through physical difficulties no matter how slow the moving becomes until the end. To stay in gratitude and enjoy what is to the best of my ability, to acknowledge good and others doing good, be happy for those accomplishing good things in good ways. That does not mean I do not ever want to lean towards hate and despair and all that can create. Life is a practice and thank God I have the awareness that I have worked a life time to achieve. And also that I can strive for a closer everyday contact with a power greater than myself for the good of all.
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September 06, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
Well, damm! I have covid. Do not need a test. The first time I had it was obvious just before the pandemic came alive. The second time, weird physical experiences and feeling... a test verified it and now this time. A brain fog, weird physical experiences, and then deep flu like symptoms. It is what it is. Each time adds on to the previous and I realize the ramifications are permanent especially as I get older. Makes me think about all the assholes who we're in denial about Covid when it first started, those that never care about anyone but themselves, who have made it so easy for Covid to thrive permanently worldwide and those refusing vaccinations. Before Covid I had become against flu vaccinations because I suspected strongly they are a scam. With Covid, you just cannot take a chance, even the smallest chance, even a one percent chance of it being worthwhile or not. The one percent chance that it might help just might save a life. Just get fucking vaccinated. Both your life, everyone you know and my life may depend on it. The photo posted for today was from a few months ago when I filled the truck with popcorn and Gatorade for those living on the streets.
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September 05, 2023Las Vegas, NevadaI can clearly see how people find a dead end road for themselves. As they continue to work under personal adversity, everyone thinks "well, they are still working, they are making me happy and others happy, they must be ok, it can't be that bad." Everyone wants to relate to the "ok", the good happening, sometimes only that. This thinking seeps also into family and friends, the basic support system. It can become a very dark situation as the happiness is what a person creates... it is not who they are all the time. People get tired of hearing about, do not want to hear about personal downsides so they just detach. Sometimes they have their own issues going and just cannot cope with more from someone else. When a person reaches out for help or worse does not know how to, or cannot find a way, or just does not have the inertia, or it feels like no one is there... not a pretty situation. I know someone is thinking, what is this about? Yea, I am having issues, mentally, physically, financially, relationally, cognitively right now. I feel this way sometimes (more and more these days) but I am aware of it so... there's that. I know people are available to talk to but it does not make sense or is not comfortable enough especially if there is not present ongoing relating with the other person. 
 If anyone reading this feels they need to help, send some financial support. My $1000 speaker broke, I need to print a promo card in order to find sustainable income. Thats probably another $1000. And then, the truck direly needs a paint job, that will cost about $4000. I am so done with fundraising, ugh! The finances are not what this is about... at all. It is just a no brainer that people are going to say "do you need someone to talk to, I'm here" (which feels embarrassing) and "what can I do" (oh, there is a lot but you won't want to do it when I tell you, lol), so I am trying to head people off at the pass so to speak and I live off financial contribution, barely so that is always a help. Basically, I just want to vent here. I am posting this as part of who I am and my quest to be transparent in life. Hopefully, it will help one other person and for people to know me in a deeper way. Sometimes, there is just nothing that can be done by an individual or friend, family, spouse, whatever... we all simply live through and out. It is what it is. |
September 04, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
I'm really going to try to stay on top of this blog. For the first time in years... this year, it has been slipping away from daily entries. The weather now is tolerable outside. Lets hope it stays that way. I need to build up my stamina and so I took the Traveling Piano out for just an hour. Mo and I met some people which is always fulfilling. While trying to create music, the speaker just sounds like crap. I have no fun creating music and it is soo... difficult. I called up the guy who tried fixing the keyboard last month and drove over to see him. The speaker horn is blown. There is no high end to the sound. Just another hassle... and money. Luckily he can get the part and will do the repair, another couple hundred but compared to a new one if I could even find one, it would cost... $1400. Because of forward thinking, I have a spare but I am holding off from using that for a last ditch need. It is Labor Day... wow, holidays have gone from my life and they used to mean so much.
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September 03, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
I cannot ever remember having as much resistance as I have had for last two years in creating a simple promo piece to hand out with the Traveling Piano for support. Well it needs to be done real soon or its all over because I need support not in dollar bills but much, much, more. Online I sent out a message asking for a graphic artist to help setup material for printing and a guy came through within twenty four hours. He is a burner. As in the community of Burning man. They are modern day hippies of a sort in that they believe in giving and sharing and radical free expression. So... with this guy Jacob's support, I spent the entire day, about twelve hours trying to figure out what I want to say and how to say it. In the old days that would mean four to six hours of work. Having been at it for twelve hours today I was still not finished and my mind felt completely confused and lost. You would think that having done this about fifty times over the years it would be a no brainer. Well, it feels like I have no brain and still...
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September 02, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
After a good hard steady rain in early afternoon I figured we had some time before another wave came through and the temperature was perfect. There was a little blue in the sky so we drove to the Redrock Overlook. I waited until the vehicle left in the parking spot I wanted and swooped in. Then the rain began again while Mo and I just sat it out. When it was clear again we started doing what we do and it was easy to interact with people. One girl there, was getting photos in her Quinceañera gown so I invited her onto the Traveling Piano for a photo with Mo in her lap. I just love opportunities like that! The piano and speaker, it is fine for those hearing it but playing it for me sucks and I hate the sound. I so much do not want to dump this piano and speaker as they are fairly new. The heat and just the fact that every new keyboard made is less and less quality, this one has lasted only two years. Thats a couple grand in cost the keyboard and speaker together. Makes me want to cry. I have a spare, thank God but do not want to start using it until I absolutely have to. It will be the last piano unless something good happens with this journey.
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September 01, 2023Las Vegas, Nevada
It was a hard rainy day and I was out of it totally. Heavy rain in Las Vegas happens maybe twice a year and so this rain today is due. I spent a few dry minutes over at my friend Jocelyn's new store space and she brought me lunch. That felt good to just get out of my room. This month I need to get back on track with this journey and its needs. With the rain, the temperatures are cooler. I know it will still be hot this month but hopefully we are out of the 110º weather everyday. The Traveling Piano work must get going again and some exercise and giving Mo everything life can offer while he is still with us. Hopefully, he will come back to life more once we get going. He's been losing his senses from age.
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