Clouds Over the Desert — Image by kenne
— kenne
November Days, We Spent More Time Inside — Image by kenne
— kenne
“I Contain Multitudes” –Photo-Artistry by kenne
— Bob Dylan
A New Orleans Moment (12/27/14) — Image by kenne
— Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, Psychedelic Hair by Milton Glaser
He Plays To His Shadow (Afternoon Drinks On the Copper Queen Saloon Balcony)
— Photo-Artistry by kenne
On A Bisbee Afternoon
— kenne
Montgomery County Friends of the Blues, 2002 Fund Raiser — Image by kenne
— kenne
Member of Bryan Lee’s Band Taking A Break Outside the Corner Pub (June 2, 2007), Conroe, Texas — Image by kenne
Computer Art by kenne
“I always thought that one man, the lone balladeer
with a guitar, could blow a whole army off the stage,
if he knew what he was doing. I’ve seen it happen.”
— Bob Dylan
Tom Russell posted the following on Facebook and I felt a need to share it — a collaborative effort of three great singer-songwriters:
“Exciting news….we were walking through the old Greenwich Village this afternoon, vastly changed, and I thought – “it would be great to do an album release show at The Bitter End.” So we walked into The Bitter End, and out walks the owner. He warms up to us and I tell him I used to work there every Sunday…so we might hook the opening gig there for the next album release tour.
Maybe a return to The Bitter End! Lets make Greenwich Village great again! This is Lucinda Williams and myself doing Bob Dylan‘s “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” off of the record “Mesabi.” All records and books: www.fronterarecords.com
Your reporter for Nova Beat at the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal….”
Bumblebee on Aspen Fleabane — Image by kenne
— kenne
Thomas R. Turner, May 23, 1942 – November 13, 2014
Today we are flying to Seattle to be with my brother’s daughters, Vanessa and Lisa and their families and friends to celebrate his life in words that communicate thoughts and feelings manifested in knowledge, experience and love.
My brother often shared and laughed about the closeness to home the following Woody Allen quote was for us:
“It reminds me of that old joke – you know,
a guy walks into a psychiatrist’s office and says,
hey doc, my brother’s crazy!
He thinks he’s a chicken.
Then the doc says,
why don’t you turn him in?
Then the guy says,
I would but I need the eggs.
I guess that’s how I feel about relationships.
They’re totally crazy, irrational, and absurd,
but we keep going through it because we need the eggs.”
Saturday’s celebration of Tom’s (aka, Bobby) life will include a “sharing” program, because we need the eggs!
You may call me Tommy, you may call me Jimmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me T.R, you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say.
You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
— minor changes to Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody”
Click to see a pdf file of “In Loving Celebration of Thomas R. Turner.” Tom’s Celebration
kenne
Until my brother, Tom, stop sending emails in 2010, many of the titles would read “The ‘blank’ is in the well,” and the message would include this cat image. We never talked about the image or the use of the phase, but he used them often as a preface to the message and a reflection of his condition.
In an October 16, 2009 email titled, “Cat’s In The Well” he wrote:
Your blog was splendidly poetic….(Visually and Verbally)!!!! Such a graceful turning inward and reflecting on two brothers and kindred spirits
…..
I love yah
Talk to you very soon
t.
Again, I would think about the phase and the why he would use it, e.g., “Photography is in the Well with the Cat.”
One can gather all kinds of meaning from the image and the phase, but it wasn’t till one day while running and listening to Bob Dylan on my iPad and I heard, “The cat’s in the well, the wolf is looking down.”
“That’s it!” I thought, maybe this was the connection, Dylan’s “Cat In The Well.”
The cat’s in the well, the wolf is looking down
The cat’s in the well, the wolf is looking down
He got his big bushy tail dragging all over the ground
The cat’s in the well, the gentle lady is asleep
Cat’s in the well, the gentle lady is asleep
She ain’t hearing a thing, the silence is a-stickin’ her deep
The cat’s in the well and grief is showing its face
The world’s being slaughtered and it’s such a bloody disgrace
The cat’s in the well, the horse is going bumpety bump
The cat’s in the well, and the horse is going bumpety bump
Back alley Sally is doing the American jump
The cat’s in the well, and Papa is reading the news
His hair’s falling out and all of his daughters need shoes
The cat’s in the well and the barn is full of bull
The cat’s in the well and the barn is full of bull
The night is so long and the table is oh, so full
The cat’s in the well and the servant is at the door
The drinks are ready and the dogs are going to war
The cat’s in the well, the leaves are starting to fall
The cat’s in the well, leaves are starting to fall
Goodnight, my love, may the Lord have mercy on us all
The theme of the song is apocalyptic — very mythological. The cat’s in the well and there’s just no escape.
Goodnight, Tom, may the Lord have mercy on you. Although broken and mangled, you were one “cool cat.”
kenne
In Memory of Brother Tom/Bob, One of His Favorite Poems.
Thomas Robert Turner (2000) Image by kenne
Diamonds and Rust
Well, I’ll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that’s not unusual
It’s just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I’d known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall
As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin’s eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the Midwest
Ten years ago I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust
Well, you burst on the scene, already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes, the girl on the half-shell
Could keep you unharmed
Now I see you standing with brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you’re smiling out the window of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there
Now you’re telling me you’re not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
‘Cause I need some of that vagueness now
It’s all come back too clearly
Yes, I once loved you dearly
And if you’re offering me diamonds and rust
I’ve already paid
— Joan Baez
Lemmon Rock Lookout On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
“All Along The Watchtower”
Keep practicing the art of living.
Like any art, the art of living
will evaporate if you don’t stay involved.
We often hear the statement,
“If you don’t use, you lose” —
a principle most obvious
in our physical bodies.
Spend three years sitting down,
when the three years are up,
you won’t be able to walk.
The same applies to any skill.
Stop using your
creative imagination
and it will evaporate.
Stop stimulating
and challenging your brain,
it will slowly deteriorate.
Stop caring,
and your conscience can switch off.
Look for opportunities to stay involved.
Not only should you stay involved,
but the quality of involvement
can produce a better understanding of reality.
None of us are immune
to the influence of our own world –
our friends, our family, and the books we read
are constantly shaping our thoughts and our feelings.
Life is what our thoughts make of it.
George Bernard Shaw
won a Nobel Prize when nearly seventy;
Ben Franklin
produced some of his best writings age eighty-four;
Pablo Picasso
put brush to canvas right through his eighties.
Isn’t the issue how old we think we are,
not how old we are?
Keep practicing the art of living.
“May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
when the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
and may you song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.” *
— kenne
( *from Bob Dylan’s song, “Forever Young )
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