Flanfire

Two worlds connect in a yellow submarine - or something very similar. I have two very good friends who happen to be brothers-in-law (one is married to the other's sister) and whom I know from very different parts of my world. Last Saturday my attorney friend invited the babe and me out to his house in the Hills for "an evening of fine art, fine friends, fine food, and fine wine" - with the art being that of British painter and sculptor Edward Povey, who was present at the gathering.

A native Londoner, Povey began his art career in Wales, but has become a world traveler, painting and living in the West Indies, the West Coast, and the West of Britain. While his work is placed in galleries here and there, he has chosen to convey his art mainly through private gatherings, where he tells stories about how his works came to be. He gets very up close and personal, creating bonds with his audiences that can lead them to investing in pieces that have personal meaning to them. As an example, Povey shared how he had been taken to a maximum security prison in the Texas Panhandle to share his work with 150 inmates. As he related a story of how each of us always has the boy (or girl) we used to be at our side, we can always have a window to see the man (or woman) we have become without condemning ourselves. As these prisoners wept upon confronting their own selves as children, they took him on a tour of their personal workshops, talking freely to him as a creative equal.

Did I mention that the catered food and shared wine were indeed fine? I also got to know my attorney friend's wife, who is also the sister of my musician friend, and to meet their parents. The evening also produced joyful sounds in my ears as some of the other attorneys recounted to others in my presence how they rely on my writing. AhhhhH!

Sunday morning the babe and I trotted down to Maria's to catch a set by the Dimestore Poets - who have a new CD and will have a CD release show at the Cactus on June 23. Karen Mal has joined the band, and what can I say? She's like buttah!

Tonight, after staying in with the babe early, I trundled on down to Momo's for the first of many 10:00 Tuesday shows by El Kabong - aka the Kim Deschamps blues band. Willie Pipkin was playing hookey, so Kim persuaded fellow Charlie Robison band member Kevin Carroll to sit in (on 2 days' notice). I had just about given up and decided that this quiet evening had led the band to lethargy (not musically, as the whole set was hot, but physically, as they were just standing - or sitting - still and playing away)when Tony Velasco jumped up on some tables, some speakers, and other nearby high places during the final song of the evening. Kevin, by the way, will be fronting his own group at Momo's four of five Wednesdays in June, and he may show up again on Tuesdays to sit in with El Kabong. Jackson the walking Jukebox was in the house, as was Kim's better half Karen, who told me not to miss another young Canadian who will be coming to town on Saturday for two weeks of playing and recording.

One more thing - Props to my pal Shelley King, who has learned that Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood have just released a CD that features her song, "Texas Blue Moon." She's movin' on up, to the bigtime, just in time, too with a little son on the horizon.