Jm's Jazzrap Cafe

Blasting Into the Past and the Future

2011-07-18T03:32:00.000-07:00

Remember the good ol' days of peace, love, and trips to Psychedelia? And music, music, music. I was abroad at the time. I received enlightenment in Afghanistan then went on to Pakistan, India, and Nepal in a whirl of sensation and discovery. We didn't even analyze or beg for hope then. We lived it. It's a mental condition really.

Well it's the 60s again around here with minor variations. I'm in the United States of America presently, and chronology has caught up with memory. My mental condition is still subject to whim, although my get up and go stays put a lot more. I'm not sure I could make it to the Afghanistan so easily. But hey! The decade is young. Who knows what magic will appear? The 60s seem to hold a key.

Happy Birthday Love!

Let's boogie!

What a World

2010-07-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Darlin'!

"However doubtful it may seem, I really do care about you, and hope that your day of birth is a beautiful one. May you have many healthy years ahead of you."

As said to me.

Above a Whisper

2009-11-16T04:19:00.000-08:00

Secrets are safe with me. I like keeping them, actually, and I can do it forever. I have some though that I can't decide upon, and keep thinking I might reveal them eventually.
If they need out, they'll get out.

Singing by the Lake

2009-11-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

Celebrating the Arts

Here I am, picking in my favorite park. It looks as though I know how to relax, my dream come true. Maybe I do.

Sleeping By the Lake

2009-10-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'm closing up my summer retreat and heading down for the winter. Luckily, it's projected to be a mild one here in the high valley. I hope there's no big blizzard. The last one flooded my bedroom and the one before broke the frame of my van. I'd enjoy not being distracted by disaster right now so I trust they are right. I'm on an anti-hysteria regimen as well in efforts to improve my performance and production level.

There's a lake down there and as always, I put my bed by the window so I can breathe fresh air in the night after an evening of philosophical chat on the porch. Now is the time to savor this tonic, staying in the groove.

Melodies and Maladies

2009-10-04T04:54:00.000-07:00

Many many moons ago, as I was contemplating my meager performance wardrobe, I looked at a skirt and said to myself, "I can make that." Little did I know I was about to embark on one of the craziest, most exasperating journeys of my previously sweet life. And once bitten by the sewing bug there is no known cure. No amount of health care legislation can help me now.

So my recent absence can be readily explained. I've had a recurrence of symptoms and I'm ripping, stitching, and steaming my way to relief. My problems are my own, which is also a relief.

All frustrations aside, the art of clothing construction is fantastically creative, sensually exhilarating, and emotionally therapeutic. Here is a local artist who knows.

I'm experimenting again in the chem lab I call my life. It's so odd that we human creatures have this added task. The endless creation of changing skins.

Amusing Grace

2009-08-01T00:24:00.000-07:00

It was suggested recently - on my birthday in fact - that my life be filled with song and love. The only way I can guarantee that is to fill it with these items myself, so I'm going to follow up on the idea.

I was raised with no television in a very social family. My mother was particularly noisy, a great entertainer and a crowd favorite. She did everything but sing. That was my area of expertise, and I excelled. My sister and I have taken over the melodic duties and now we sing love songs, especially when she's blue, which is frequently. Love and song do have a tendency to travel together.

So it's decided and written in space. And validated. Tune up the pipes and let's roll.

Attachment

2009-07-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

It's emotionally impossible to be without onions in the house. I get scared when it's down to one. The thought of zero terrifies me. I won't consider it. Same with garlic. I'm down to 1/4th of a bulb and I'm getting nervous, but I have a full 3# bag of onions at the moment so I should be fine.

2009-07-18T04:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday.

Scrambling the Dove

2009-07-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

We got into it today. Enough is too much. Peace? We'll see if this creature means business.

The dove intimidates all the more delicate birds around, but today I opened the door and played my music to the crowd. The shy ones got aroused and spoke up, snapping and twittering, neutralizing the depressing whine of the loud one. So it looks like the damned dove is going to get me to express MYself. MY VOICE. And all the lively little ones I love.

We have to get together on this.
Power to the chirpers!

Leisure Time

2009-03-20T02:44:00.000-07:00

In lieu of a patio for now, here are a couple of chairs. I'll get cushions for our bony bodies so we can be comfortable.

Rhythm

2009-03-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

Musicians can be quirky.

Covered and Comfortable

2009-02-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

I want to build one of these over my bed. Not complicated and I think it would change my life. So much to do that I never do. But I should do this one. Universe, grant me the motivation.

Paying Attention

2009-02-20T02:41:00.000-08:00

I'm going to enjoy this spring. Seems like I missed the last one. I've got to stop doing that. My ash is mad.

Talent

2009-02-05T22:44:00.000-08:00

Several of my interests are represented here and I've developed considerable skills, although painting I'm pretty weak in. I plan to learn when I'm in my 80s. As far as globe trotting goes, I might travel to Sikkim, but not much further than that. I'll see. After I learn how develop photos in the darkroom.

Toy Chests and Copper Lined Boxes

2009-01-23T04:07:00.000-08:00

I've neglected my dolls.
Time to go talk to them.

Fine Dining

2009-01-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

Do you think they're invited to the inaugural luncheon?

Veal is being served.

Validity

2009-01-09T00:49:00.000-08:00

The Plaid Dress
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Strong sun, that bleach
The curtains of my room, can you not render
Colorless this dress I wear?
This violent plaid
Of purple angers and red shames; the yellow stripe
Of thin but valid treacheries; the flashy green of kind deeds done
Through indolence; high judgements given here in haste
The recurring checker of the serious breach of taste?

No more uncolored than unmade
I fear, can be this garment that I may not doff;
Confession does not strip it off
To send me homeward eased and bare;

All through the formal, unoffending evening, under the clean
Bright hair
Lining the subtle gown ... it is not seen
But it is there.

On the River

2009-01-01T02:03:00.000-08:00

Human consciousness has many levels. It's been compared to the structure of a Mayan pyramid. The medulla, the location of our self image, the core consciousness which tells us about our relationship to the external world, and the cerebral cortex which fills our consciousness with memories.

It's not that one of these levels has been destroyed in Maria's brain. The interplay between these levels has altered and it could be that the center for discipline has been destroyed.

Nature has set us up in such a way that no thought, no memory, no sensation is stored solely in one spot. They are distributed throughout the brain and that's why it's so difficult to completely destroy a person's memory.
From My Sister Maria, a documentary about Maria Schell by Maxmillian Schell

Perplexed and Addled

2008-12-25T02:47:00.000-08:00

Am I a musician or what? A poet? I can sort of sing and my rhythm is good. I tickle keys occasionally. But where is the source of song? Why sing?

2008-08-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

The earth simmers
All is calm.

Hawaii volcanoes: Brad Lewis

2008-07-31T03:16:00.000-07:00

Morning ride.
All is still calm.

Sweet Nothins

2008-07-31T02:57:00.000-07:00

The South

2008-02-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

I See

2008-02-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

How words have enchanted earth-dwellers for so long. Where did they come from?

And So He Walks and Feels

2008-01-30T03:12:00.000-08:00

Will miracles never cease?

Afternoon Flamingoes

2008-01-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

Women in hot kitchens
feeling their way
Girls in cool kitchens
Flamingoes in the light
talking
talking
talking
waiting

Photo:William Gedney

Under the Moon

2007-12-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

A voyage on the current
for 2
slithering fish
rhythm
Comfort.

I Salute You

2007-12-10T02:54:00.000-08:00

Wise and great ones.

On Board

2007-11-18T03:02:00.000-08:00

This train is bound for glory, this train.

Passageways

2007-11-05T03:26:00.000-08:00

Am I seeking dark or light?
Sullivan Street Abstraction. George Ault. 1929

2007-10-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

I use my tricks, my bag of kicks
In the most unusual way
Something about the way I am
what can I say?

Tribulations

2007-10-22T15:56:00.000-07:00

If you come around and ask me
I'll tell you what I know is true
I believe in something, I believe in you
I believe that you can make it, if you get up and try
You know it's never going to happen
If you cry, and cry, and cry

Wash away your woes in the water
Wash away your woes
Wash away your woes in the water
Wash away your woes

Tell you what you can with some of the things you think
Take it down to the river and watch it sink
Throw out your troubles, throw away some of your cares
You've been carrying them around with you
for too many years

Wash away your woes in the water
Wash away your woes
Wash away your woes in the water
Wash away your woes
Photo: Baptism in River. Doris Ulmann

Dinner

2007-10-12T16:46:00.000-07:00

Is served.

2007-10-03T04:34:00.000-07:00

2007-10-03T01:11:00.000-07:00

I think I see something down there.

2007-10-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

2007-10-02T03:29:00.000-07:00

Photo: Martine Franck

2007-10-01T03:50:00.000-07:00

2007-09-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Kadimiros

2007-09-24T03:41:00.000-07:00

Rock me on the ocean

rock me on the sea

Twirling down the eddies

And up the foamy peaks

2007-09-22T05:43:00.000-07:00

My man is a crazy man
Completely wild, totally mad
My man, tell you what he did
Blew his wires out when he was a kid.

2007-09-22T02:05:00.000-07:00

Refuge: Paul Klee

Money

2007-09-19T04:25:00.000-07:00

Money .. by Jm.
Money.
Money. Hmmmn...........
Money? Money!!??
Oh money!!!
Money. HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
Heh heh heh!
Money.
Money! Sniff, sniff!
Money. Sniff!
Money!!! Waaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!
MONEY!!!!!?????!!!!!!!
MONEY!!!!!????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEEEEAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Money.

2007-09-16T13:59:00.001-07:00

2007-09-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

2007-09-16T11:59:00.001-07:00

2007-09-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

A Toast

2007-09-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

To health
To freedom
And to relaxation.

2007-08-31T04:15:00.000-07:00

I'm a mountain gal.

2007-08-25T03:39:00.000-07:00

Evgeny Mokhorev

Downside up.

A Future

2007-08-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

Puttering, plotting, and expecting growth.

2007-08-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

Bridges everywhere. In the news, over water, across gaps of all kinds. I find them inviting, especially traveling on foot.
Photo: Melba Levick

2007-08-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

Water and stone.

2007-07-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

Silent trumpets

The New Expanded Jazzrap Library

2007-07-20T02:09:00.000-07:00

KJ mentioned that she likes books so I decided to remodel and add to the library to cover her desires. I'm not reading much these days, but I intend to spend a little time seeking knowledge in those soft and generous chairs, perhaps with some virtual libation to moisten my throat. The library will be open all day and night so feel free to browse anytime. You can even nap if you'd like. There are plenty of coverlets.

It Keeps Coming

2007-07-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

Inner light, this time.

2007-07-06T23:52:00.000-07:00

I go places at midnite
many light years from here

Hmmmm ......... B#

2007-06-29T03:53:00.000-07:00

There ain't no business guaranteed to win
I'm a gamblin' woman like I always been
I shoot straight. I just might win.
Gonna hit that jackpot watch it all roll in

It's an unusual game.

Dinner at ?

2007-06-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

I made dinner reservations. Problems is, I forgot what time. So we'll have to use telepathy if we wish to dine together.

2007-06-15T05:12:00.000-07:00

Another light.

A Light

2007-06-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sending up this flame in celebration of purity in the cells, relaxation in the muscles, and strength in the bones.

Health is not always what it appears to be. Sometimes a flawed body contains a healthy mind and spirit, if even a body exists at all. So this light applies to any body we choose to appreciate.

Open Up

2007-06-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

The Saturn in Leo fairy with Neptune is coming in. Dissolution of boundaries and abandonment of fear are suggested. You can always get them back.

And here she is!! She's got a coin for anyone who dares to enter the spotlight.
Good luck and do your best!

Illustrations by Peter Collington

The Best Things

2007-05-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

These baskets contain everything.
Take as much as you like.

Guardian

2007-05-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

I'm designating this owl to watch over me and my companions with her keen wisdom and nocturnal detachment. She will do well.

She Shall Have Music

2007-05-11T02:56:00.000-07:00

Wherever she goes.

Air and Water

2007-05-06T01:31:00.000-07:00

And fire.

Attention all Designers

2007-04-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

I like the design of this gown, but I thought the shoulders were a little too extreme. You could harpoon something with them. So I changed the curve from a right angle slightly (pictured below). Do you think it's an improvement? The points have pizazz..... but. It does change the look, such a small variation. The hat would probably get in the sauce if she dined in this. I like the bustline much better than today's styles which push those odd balloons upward and together in a most unappealing way to my eye. Cleavage has sure changed over the years. Used to be you couldn't get a credit card in the middle, but now there is a chasm. Very odd.

Burning Stone

2007-04-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Out of the hot dark

air and sweetness

warm nourishment

For the body

Thoughts

the soul

2007-04-15T04:14:00.000-07:00

Do pleasure and pain always accompany one another, or can they be experienced separately?, I wonder.

The Spotlight

2007-04-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

And music.

2007-04-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

I, jm, solemnly do swear to uphold all traditions and be the zaniest, most creative human being possible in the universe. One of a kind, with no template to copy.

Muddy Rivers and Carpets

2007-04-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

I bend my strings for a dime
Spirits rise from glasses
Brown liquid and gold
Spirits come up from low mud creeks
through the carpets to my strings
Ooze, slide, and stretch
I sing
Jm

Illustration by Jean-Francois Dumont

A Late Spring Afternoon

2007-04-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

In all this confusion I've been looking for
I've been looking for
Simplicity of mind somewhere in a single line
With no particular reason to the the rhyme

No particular tale to tell
No words of wrath to ease my mind
No particular people treating me unkind
No particular sorrows moaning
No questions pressing on my mind
No particular situations to define

Yes it's a simple matter sometimes
When an afternoon is born
In green silk and sunshine
And a few distant horns.

This is an excerpt from a tune I wrote on a typical sunshiney afternoon in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was especially content that day. Santa Fe was a vivid experience, both good and bad.
One thing amusing was the Governor at the time, Bruce King. In one of his speeches he referred to a situation as a "Box of Pandoras". Just sailed on by and made me laugh forever.

2007-04-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Dust motes swimming in the dark
Light in boxes from above
An arc forms from the ceiling where
Melodies fall
Colors spill
The audience is encircled
The dust hums in the key of G

I sing.

Forest for the Trees

2007-04-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ken Duncan

I'm in the mood for these woody protuberances of late, and I sense a burgeoning interest in our environment worldwide. Maybe it's not humans who will save the planet, but the planet who will save the people.
Impossible to say.

?

2007-03-21T17:27:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking to myself all day
Trying to figure it out
Trying to figure what the riddle is
What is it all about?

Neurons fire
The geese cry
One more increment is passed
Progress

Drawing: Study for the dedication triptych by T.F. Insalaco

Shoots & Grasses

2007-03-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

The seedlings are coming. There's watering to be done soon, as life renews itself in the never-ending cycle. Tender heads and fibrous roots, as the earth continues to feed us.

Photo by Fred Maroon

2007-03-13T04:03:00.000-07:00

Drinks on the veranda.

We'll watch the rice grow.

And talk about what is.

ZZZZZZZ

2007-03-09T03:51:00.000-08:00

A terracotta warrior napping in front of Chinese Emperor Quin Shihuang's tomb.

Eggs-tra! Eggs-tra!

2007-03-07T04:21:00.000-08:00

An eggstra special eggstravaganza is planned.
It promises to be very eggsciting!

Please Enter

2007-02-18T21:40:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what's behind this door, but it looks promising. Another portal, another dimension, another surprise.
I'm going.

Enchantment

2007-02-16T19:30:00.000-08:00

Chris Van Allsburg

Ode

We are the music makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams
Wandering by lone sea-breakers
And sitting by desolate streams
World-losers and world-forsakers
On whom the pale moon gleams
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
Arthur O' Shaughnessy, 1884

Paint, sing, play, weave, and speak we will.

Jeweled

2007-02-12T04:02:00.000-08:00

Big fat rhinestones. My favorite.

Get your Specs

2007-02-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

The Jazzrap library is now officially open. Whispering is aloud. No limits on reading or borrowing.

The Captain

2007-02-06T02:49:00.000-08:00

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloodied, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley

Illustration by Leonard Everett Fisher

Eclipse

2007-02-03T03:26:00.000-08:00

Moon on ivory.

Please Come In

2007-02-02T00:17:00.000-08:00

K.Y. Craft
Help yourself to everything.

2007-02-01T01:36:00.000-08:00

Rob Gonsalves. Poem: Sarah L. Thompson

imagine a night
. . . when -- listen! -- you can hear
a farmer play his fields to sleep,
a lullaby for leaf and stem
and dreaming root.

2007-01-31T22:37:00.000-08:00

I got the Jelly Roll Blues, but I'm gonna dance the night away.
Got the Jelly Roll Blues, gonna dance the night away.
When tomorrow comes, I'm gonna Jelly Roll all the day.

Slow and Lazy

2007-01-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ridin' down the river on a lazy afternoon
Ridin' down the river on a steamboat built
for two
Muddy River...
Carry me home with you.

I wanna swim with the fishes on the way
down to the deep blue sea
Sometimes I wishes I could fly like
the birdies in the trees
Muddy River...
Keep on rollin' and carryin' me.

I think I see something big and fat
I think I see a big 'ol channel cat
Don't get your pole, don't even get your line
He's too tough to chew, I couldn't eat'em
if I tried

Ridin' down the river underneath
the pale moonlight
Lookin' at all the stars in the velvet night
Muddy River knows...
Everything gonna be all right.
Muddy Rih-hih-ver knows...
Everything gonna be all right.

2007-01-29T22:04:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking............

.............

The Archer on the Bridge

2007-01-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

Ed Young

Ready......aim......

2007-01-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

This is the eternal fire which will provide radiance and inspiration for everyone until further notice. Come and get warm.

2007-01-26T03:39:00.000-08:00

Alex Berenzy

For all you storylovers. I'm opening my secret forest hideaway where we can spin yarns to our hearts' content. Please feel free to come anytime day or night.

Another Winter Ends

2007-01-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

The birds are returning, the March winds are blowing in, and the winter is finally getting ready to leave the stage for the year. As rough as this one was in Colorado, it's still my favorite season.

Illustration by Trina Schart Hyman.

The Best Intentions

2007-01-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

You can say anything you want to me
I'm minding my business and I'm keeping it clean
I'm minding my q's and looking at my p's
You're secret is safe as it can be
I'm not talkin
I'm not talkin
I'm not talkin to anyone
But myself

Talk is cheap, I have heard
Got to be at least 10 billion words
Quit your babblin when you said enough
Open up, put your money down, and shut your mouth
I'm not talkin
I'm not talkin
I'm not talkin to anyone
But myself

I wrote this tune many years ago when I was sick of listening to everybody's crap. Obviously, I haven't heeded my words.