Archive for the ‘Music’ Tag

My Sky Is Full Of Passion   1 comment

Sunset Photos 10-17-12My Sky is Full of Passion — Image by kenne

 

Arizona Fleabane Wildflower   1 comment

Arizona Fleabane-3172_edit blogArizona Fleabane — Image by kenne

“May your life be like a wildflower growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day.”

— Native American Proverb

Cumulus Congestus Cloud Over Burro Fire   2 comments

Burro Fire-2900 blogCumulus Congestus Cloud Over Smoke from the Burro Fire in the Santa Catalina Mountains (July 3, 2017)
— Image by kenne

mountains
on high
are dry
months
without rain
now burning
leaving behind
gray dirt
black trees
left unguarded
by the gods
a troubled land
covered
in the sin
of silence

— kenne

Hiking The Aspen Loop In The Santa Catalina Mountains — Photo Essay   6 comments

Hikers-2840 blog IIHikers in a New Aspen Grove Up from Marshall Gulch On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne

In 2003 the Aspen Fire destroyed many homes in Summerheaven and thousands of acres on Mt. Lemmon. Last Friday the Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists led hike was on the Aspen Loop that goes through some of the areas destroyed, now recovered by new aspen and pine groves. 

A precursor to the Aspen Fire was the Bollock Fire, 2002 in the eastern part of the Catalinas. Parts of the area burned in 2002 is now experiencing the Burro Fire that started Friday and has now consumed 9,000 acres. The Burro Fire is one of a half-dozen wildfires in the Coronado National Forest. Did I say it is hot and very dry in southeastern Arizona?

— kenne

Slideshow images by kenne

 

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Hotel St. Michael Window   Leave a comment

Prescott-1830 Hotel Window Art blogHotel St. Michael Window (Prescott, Arizona) — Computer Painting by kenne

Window Facing Mine

I look at the window across from my window
seeing nothing inside the hotel walls,
yet I wonder what’s going on in there?

Is somebody or something in there
looking back at me from deep inside
the room with the half-pulled curtain?

I’ve been told of ghosts living here
but I don’t believe in shadows that
move in dark spaces of dark rooms.

Yet, I find myself asking questions
of something I don’t believe — maybe
it’s because I do believe in the shadows.

How many times have I said,
“Only the shadow knows?”
Is it a belief or just an expression?

Ah, those old radio shows have a way
of coming back to haunt me, like brain
droppings making noise when stepped on

as I back away from my window
wondering if I should partially close
the curtains adding to the mystery.

. . . but then, only the shadow knows.

kenne

Ken’s Stuff and More Stuff   Leave a comment

Kenneth Harris-1613 blogKenneth Harris (May 20, 2017) — Image by kenne

“Stuff.”
One of my favorite words is stuff.

“That’s Super Stuff!”
“Make Stuff”
“I Love Free Stuff”
“The Good Stuff”
“My Stuff”
“Stuff in My Life”
“Stuff That Works”
“The Right Stuff”
“How’s Your Stuff?”

There are so many variations on the use of the word stuff. This last May we attended the last “Ken and Mary’s Blues Project” house concert in Porter, Texas. Before the music started, Kenneth Harris told the story of how the Project came about from his listening to Sunday blues on Houston’s KPFT. One Sunday he was listening to Nuri Nuri’s Blues Brunch.

“. . . he [Nuri] was interviewing this guy, and they played some of his stuff, and I called Nuri on the phone, and I said Nuri do you know anybody in the Houston area that can do that type of stuff, and he told me you meet me at Billy Blue’s like next Saturday night.”

Long story short, Kenneth found that stuff in the form of the Moe Hansum Band.

As I listen to Kenneth’s story I couldn’t help but think of Guy Clark’s “Stuff that Works.”

Stuff that works, stuff that holds up 
The kind of stuff you don’ hang on the wall 
Stuff that’ real, stuff you feel 
The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall

Continuing on this theme of “Stuff,” in the 1970’s there was a jazz-funk band called “Stuff.” The members were Gordon Edwards (bass), Richard Tee (keyboards), Eric Gale (guitar), Cornell Dupree (guitar), Chris Parker (drums), and later Steve Gadd (drums).

There is good stuff and not so good stuff, because of what we do with our stuff. We have too much stuff. Earth’s beauty is being scarred by the stuff we throw away daily. As someone who spends a lot of time outdoors admiring nature’s beauty, I see stuff on our trails, hanging in trees, blowing in the wind, in our lakes and streams.

In December of 2007, a short documentary was released. The documentary was critical of excessive consumerism and promotes sustainability, which has gone from a movie to a movement over the last ten years — a Community of more than a million changemakers worldwide, working to build a more healthy and just planet. This land is our land! You can join the movement. 

 

 

Archie Bell at Ken and Mary’s Blues Project — Part III   Leave a comment

Archie Bell-1632 art II_blogArchie Bell at Ken & Mary’s Blues Project — Computer Art by kenne

Houston, Texas has a lot of legionary musicians, not the lease is Archie Bell. You all timers, like myself will remember the 50’s & 60’s group, Archie Bell & the Drells. Remember “Tighten Up?” When it comes to great R&B, Archie Bell is among the best! His appearance at Ken & Mary’s Blues Project — The Last Waltz was a real blessing for those of us who have attended the Blues Project concerts over the years.

There’s more to come.

kenne

 

Blues Project — Part II   1 comment

Blues Project Art blogKen & Mary’s Blues Project — The Last Waltz
Computer Art by kenne

Down the east Texas road,
there is rain in the wind
as the musicians’ setup
for an evening of the blues
with friends gathering 
the last time at 
Ken and Mary’s Blues Project,
the best house concert ever.

In recent years we’ve missed
some of the concerts in
the woods 
having moved
to the desert southwest,
then last February, we received

word of the “Last Waltz”
for the Blues Project —
plans were made immediately.

With Coleman cooler,
yard chairs 
and
cameras in tow

we walked over old
bottle caps toward the  

Blues Project stage,
to be greeted with 
hugs and kisses — Welcome!

Mary announced the food
was ready
, and Ken shared some
background on the beginning
of what became the Blues Project.
Not long after 
the music began,

lighting lit up the darkening clouds
with thunder adding to
the magical evening.

Other than an occasional
drop or two, the music played on
until, as if the plug was pulled,
the dark sky began to fall.
A rain delay was called
as the tarps were brought out
to covered the equipment.

Using our smartphones
we could see radar showing
the rain would be lasting
for an hour or more.
As has happened in the past,
the musicians gathered inside
to continue an evening of music.

Most of those who remained
were inside or on outside porches,
knowing the best of the evening
was yet to come —
jamming the night away
on a hot, humid night
in the piney woods of east Texas.

It may be the last waltz
for the Blues Project
but that doesn’t mean
the party is over,
the music still plays on
and on, and on — may
we stay forever young.

We’ve got to go, but our friends will stick around.

— kenne

 

Moe Hansum Band @ Ken & Mary’s Blues Project — The Last Waltz, 2017 Part I   Leave a comment

The blues is life itself.

— Billy Gibbons

Images and Video by kenne

This Side of Paradise   Leave a comment

Yellow Bird of Pardise-1522 framed blogA Yellow Bird of Paradise Blossom — Image by kenne

Sunday morning

after a late night,

a time to relax

and listen to the dark

rhythmic sounds of 

Avishai Cohen —

“There is a crack in everything.

That’s how the light gets in.”

Enjoy the grove as you

drift into solitude.

— kenne

Tucson Folk Festival   Leave a comment

Banjo Man-1508 II art blog II

Yellow Door-1509 art blogTucson Folk Festival Creations by kenne

What we’re sayin’ is…

Hey, Jimmie, Joe, John, Jim, Jack
Even little tigers lose their knack
When somebody twice their size
Can’t see the world through children’s eyes

— from “Hey, Jimmie, Joe, John, Jim, Jack” by The Limeliters

Children, A Stream And Connecting With Nature   Leave a comment

Boy & Girl By Stream-1116_ art blogChildren, a Stream, and Connecting with Nature — Computer Art by kenne

A picture may seem not what it is.
Two teens may appear more interested in a
phone than a stream slowly passing at their feet.

Like most images, it’s up to the viewer
to place it in some element of their reality.
Put in the contact the image was taken,

the teens are sharing pictures taken in
my iPhone photography class where they

learn to connect the eye, to the mind, to the heart.

— kenne

Seduction   1 comment

Chris@The Moon6.21.03 II_Art blogSeduction (Chris Duarte at the Cactus Moon)– Computer Art by kenne

Live music can inspire you,

it can thrill and drain you,

sometimes get inside you

and fucking seduce you.

— kenne

It’s Always The Poet Than Tells Us — If Only We Would Listen!   1 comment

Whether they write it,

read it or sing it

we could see the future 

if only we would listen

to the poets!

— kenne

A Thistle And Exposed Cleavage   Leave a comment

Thistle-1144 Art blogGrunge Art by kenne

Let anyone that has
an eye for beauty
take a view of the thistle.

Its grace and symmetry
will but complement 
a string of pearls near

her exposed cleavage 
to which we share 
music and a glass of wine.

— kenne