The richness of all that’s unfolded since the start of last year’s tour
is a bit much to tackle, so here it goes in fast forward…
These people went on a revival tour celebrating humans:
Up up!
Singin' about the issues... like, puttin' our junk in things we don't love.
My Faye.
Funniest woman on the plan... on the plan. Cristin O
Shappy.
Mike McGee and the Gang.
Professor Dog, relishing a moment backstage.
Amarillo By Evenin'.
On the Queen Mary in Long Beach with Mindy Nettifee.
Victory Gardens in Chicago with Robbie Q Telfer and Shira Erlichman.
The Foooooaam.
Minutes after seeing "Where the Wild Things Are" the day the van broke down in Albuqurque (a favorite day of mine on this holy planet).
Anis Mojgani.
Derrick "Clifford" Brown.
Buddy Wakefield.
The Elephant Engine High Dive Revival.
And here are a few of the reasons why:
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Chicago, IL
Ann Arbor, MI
Gunnison, CO
Baltimore, MD
Seattle, WA
You know you know, Wileen and Shona. Thank y'all for caring and carrying.
Hi Mom and Dad! We did it! Also, at this cool meditation course just prior to the tour, I stepped into, over, under, around and upon an incredible understanding of equal parts both of y'all, in and as me. I sure love you both very much. Thank you for the gifts you passed forward, and the untold ways you both continue to inspire me.
Happy New Year, E’erybody!
Routing and scheduling for our fourth Revival go-round has already begun.
If interested in booking (late September – early November) The Night Kite Revival World Tour of America, 2010!!
by all means have a look at the new Revival website
and email me, buddy@buddywakefield.com.
If interested in booking April’s (2010) AWKWARD WHILE AIRBORNE: The Andrea Gibson – Buddy Wakefield Tour
please contact Christen Greene, fauxpasproductions@gmail.com.
My partiality toward Andrea and her work (which
rarely fails to leave me speechless) is no secret.
I am always excited as all get out to do shows with Andrea.
Dueling ukulele’s, unmentionable dares, and laugh-peeing of the pants
are bound to happen. Oh, and a 1 on 1 basketball-to-the-near-death rematch
(she’s still pretty annoyed about last year’s performance,
which surprises me since neither of us are the least bit competitive).
(available on both our webites soon)
Life is rich with detail and experience and keeping me
well-aimed at priorities, thus my lapse in journal entries,
but it has been on my mind quite a lot lately
to publicly express gratitude for another successful year of the Revival.
A great many thanks to each person who came out
to participate in your existence.
I finished reading “Life of Pi” two nights ago.
I hope you will make it your next book.
Also, my name was drawn from a lottery to participate in
a triathlon on May 2nd in San Francisco
called “Escape from Alcatraz.” They have accepted me to
take part in this event despite the fact that under
“Previous Experience” I wrote something along the lines of,
“Used to be fat, but now I’m super healthy.”
I’ve been very busy learning to properly swim and cycle
and am happy to maintain that focus in order to follow through.
Richard Parker is Gone from Here,
Piscine
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Equanimity
October 31, 2009
I returned from my first 10-day course four years ago today.
“It’s the most excruciating and rewarding thing I’ve ever done.”
Hello Bret and Marie, and Oliver.
Top of the Head, Tips of the Toes
P.S. Happy Halloween!
So me and my old buddy from high school, Jaime
were walkin’ through the shopping mall in Bryan, Texas today
to pick up some wears for the road. I couldn’t help but notice
these fine designer crosses (note the sweet leopard print option):
Jaime pointed out the Lolita-scented candles in the same store.
Lord, who’s Lolita, and what does she smell like?
The other establishment that really drew us in (long enough
for me to stare at the owner in wonderment and take a photo)
was Hobbyland Toy Store, great for all the kids:
Obama was also in town today, with George senior, over at Texas A&M.
There were lots of protesters against Barack because…
they hate health care?
Couldn’t help but notice the uncanny number of rebel flag bumper stickers
which apparently signify “pride not prejudice.” Pride in…? The roots of prejudice?
So I entered “rebel flag” into Wikipedia…
Curious as a Cat,
Whiskers
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Greatest Day Ever Day
October 15, 2009
Today when I got off the plane from Baltimore into Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
CNN was plastered in front of my path with breaking news.
There was a 6-year-old boy zoomin’ 8,000 feet high through the sky
and into the clouds on a balloon his dad had been using,
and while crapsayers shook their heads
and tragedy addicts spoke their dead thoughts
and a few people laughed with wonderment
I felt my entire body light up and unfold a smile.
Oh my goodness.
Myyy gooodness dear God of all that is Awesome would ya look at that…
A surge of adventure and ocean and joy filled me up
as I imagined his thoughts and fears
and all his vast miraculous.
And I don’t care if he was really in a box in the attic.
UP,
Helium
And this too:
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Released
October 13, 2009
Hey Friends and Friends of Friends – The following is the announcement
I just sent out to my mailing list. I’d be thrilled to bits if y’all would pass
this on to your mailing lists. I feel like that may be a bit much to
ask seein’s how none of y’all have ever asked such a thing of me, but
I’m just so freakin’ pumped. Just puttin’ it as far out
there as I’m able. Here it is…
From Buddy Wakefield:
By the time most of you get this it will be October 13th, 2009, the
official release date of my new CD, LIVE AT THE TYPER CANNON GRAND,
released on Ani Di’Franco’s Righteous Babe Records. Available on
iTunes, buddywakefield.com, Amazon, Write Bloody Publishing, RBR…
everywhere.
I’ll be back in the van with Elephant Engine High Dive Revival in the mornin’
headed to University of Maryland, then Goucher, then flying down to
College Station before takin’ a break to do some proper promotion.
It’s outta my comfort zone to be such a salesman lately, but I sure believe
in this CD and wanna make the folks at Righteous Babe Records proud
for all their believin’ in meh.
If you’re a close friend or family member y’all know how much this one
means. Been a lifetime in the making to have finally arrived at such a
kickass fantastic point. My CD is posted on righteousbabe.com
sandwiched smack dab between Miss Ani DiFranco Treasurebelly and King
Utah Phillips. I wanna cause a Revival at Righteous Babe with a
turnout of support, if ya will. Mom, Lace, Straussa, Seth, Dogger,
Joe, Jon, Ben, D… y’all know the rules… Sell a case of CD’s each
(Christmas is comin’!) or else Bubba has to get the wet willy finger
greazed up, and the fire ants. You don’t want the fire ants again do
you? ‘Member the blisters? Hmm?
I sure wanna thank everybody who pre-ordered and the incredible show
of support on this tour so far. It’s easily shaping up to be the best
and most consistent tour of the last 10 years. Gosh, I’m excited…
Lemme reel it in and wrap it up by saying this:
- Many thanks to those who’ve showed up to celebrate with us.
- I’m excited to tour more this year and hope we get to cross paths
(including AWKWARD WHILE AIRBORNE: THE ANDREA GIBSON – BUDDY WAKEFIELD TOUR, April 2010; now booking!).
- Specifically to the close friends and family who know the whole
story and see the blessing and are riding the ride with me: My
Gratitude is aimed at you.
Sincerely,
Floodlight Face
P.S. If you have your own mailing list, I’d be tickled to pieces if
you sent this message out to it. Many thanks.
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From the Fast Lane
September 24, 2009
My stomach is sore from laughing.
My body is sore from experiencing the City Museum in St. Louis today.
On the way to our show tonight.
Check out this Elephant Engine High Dive Revival Tour video/photo blog
being updated by our cameraman, Christian Saxton, on this link: Elephant Engine
Wheels, Ferris
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OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 13, 2009!!
August 28, 2009
Righteous Babe Records has given me a release date…
LIVE AT THE TYPER CANNON GRAND will be in stores
(and on this site, and their site, and the Write Bloody site,
and on tour, and Amazon, and iTunes and most everywhere else) OCTOBER 13, 2009!!
Still smilin’ ear to ear and heart to head
since the moment I got the news.
I WILL HAVE COPIES FOR SALE ON TOUR starting September 14th.
And if you go to the merch page on this website to order one now,
ya might can get it even sooner than the show…
Feelin’ especially incredible about this CD effort,
Jon Berardi’s production and attention to detail/quality (again),
the crew at Righteous Babe, my gratitude for Ani,
for Matt Wignall (the generous cover artist and photographer),
and all the back-up musicians and power crowds who make this CD
so much more than a string of impacting poems.
Live at the Typer Cannon Grand is one big breadth of work
from the span of my time onstage over the last decade.
Safe to say I’m filled with fair amount of excitement, accomplishment and joy.
What I really wanna say is this:
At the zoo I saw a Violaceous Turaco. It’s a bird. The first note on
the informative plaque next to its cage read, “awkward while
airborne.” My middle name happens to be Violaceous Turaco.
This CD is my safe landing.
Floor It, Bigfoot
P.S. I am at Vipassana September 3-8 and absolutely unreachable unless you’ve got serious psychic skills. If you have any questions or butterscotch cookies for me, I will answer to them as soon as I’m able. buddy@buddywakefield.com
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ADELA PATRICIA BERARDI
August 12, 2009
Hot diggity.
Welcome to the world my new little friend
Adela Patricia Berardi!
That’s Adela with her big sister, Mia Louisa Berardi
“who currently leads the pack in hugging and kissing little Addie,”
says my excited friend and producer, Jon Berardi.
He and his amazing wife Sherri (responsible for the loud contagious laughter
in Run On Anything and Live at the Typer Cannon Grand)
both went against my better judgment
when it came to naming the children.
I wanted Mia to be named Chestnut, and
needed Adela to be named Macadamia.
Opportunity lost on the awesome name suggestions, Berardi’s.
If there’s a third, we gotta name her Hazel.
But despite their names, Mia and Adela are still the luckiest girls I know.
The wholesome familial-ness their parents AND their grandparents create
continue to be a role model for me and warm up my heart.
It’s nearly too much goodness… makes me wanna
eat Ofis’s belly. Here’s Ofis with Adela: (Fonzie and Chomby not shown.)
Jon had this to say in his announcement:
“Adela was born on 8-8-09 at 1:25pm.
She weighs 7lb 5oz, makes squeaky noises and enjoys breast milk.”
Sherri and Adela had this to say:
A Toast, Healthy Bits
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Hurling Crowbirds at Mockingbars (Hope is Not a Course of Action)
August 11, 2009
If we were created in God’s image
then when God was a child
he smushed fire ants with his fingertips
and avoided tough questions.
There are ways around being the go-to person
even for ourselves
even when the answer is clear
like the holy water Gentiles drank
before they realized Forgiveness
is the release of all hope for a better past.
I thought those were chime shells in your pocket
so I chucked a quarter at it
hoping to hear some part of you
respond on a high note.
You acted like I was hurling crowbirds at mockingbars
and abandoned me for not making sense.
Evidently, I don’t experience things as rationally as you do.
For example, I know mercy
when I have enough money to change the jukebox at a gay bar
(somebody’s gotta change that shit).
You understand the power of God’s mercy
whenever someone shoves a stick of morphine
straight up into your heart.
It felt amazing
the days you were happy to see me
so I smashed a beehive against the ocean
to try and make our splash last longer.
Remember all the honey
had me lookin’ like a jellyfish ape
but you walked off the water in a porcupine of light
strands of gold
drizzling out to the tips of your wasps.
This is an apology letter to the both of us
for how long it took me to let things go.
It was not my intention to make such a
production of the emptiness between us
playing tuba on the tombstone of a soprano
to try and keep some dead singer’s perspective alive.
It’s just that I coulda swore you had sung me a love song back there
and that you meant it
but I guess sometimes people just chew with their mouth open
so I ate ear plugs alive with my throat
hoping they’d get lodged deep enough inside the empty spots
that I wouldn’t have to hear you leaving
so I wouldn’t have to listen to my heart keep saying
all my eggs were in a basket of red flags
all my eyes to a bucket of blindfolds
in the cupboard with the muzzles and the gauze
ya know I didn’t mean to speed so far out and off
trying to drive all your nickels to the well
when you were happy to let them wishes drop
but I still show up for gentleman practice
in the company of lead dancers
hoping their grace will get stuck in my shoes.
Is that a handsome shadow on my breath, sweet woman
or is it a cattle call
in a school of fish? Still dance with me
less like a waltz for panic
more for the way we’d hoped to swing
the night we took off everything
and we were swingin’ for the fences
don’t hold it against
my love
you know I wanna breath deeper than this
you know I didn’t mean to look so serious
didn’t mean to act like a filthy floor
didn’t mean to turn us both into a cutting board
but there were knives s-stuck
in the words where I came from
too much time in the back of my words.
I pulled knives from my back and my words.
I cut trombones from the moment you slipped away
and I know it left me lookin’ like a knife fight, lady
yeah you know it left me feelin’ like a shotgun shell
you know I know I mighta gone and lost my breath
but I wanna show ya how I found my breath
to death
it was buried under all the wind instruments
hidden in your castanets
goddamn
if ya ever wanna know how it felt when ya left
yeah if you ever wanna come inside
just knock on the spot
where I finally pressed STOP
playing musical chairs with exit signs.
I’m gonna cause you a miracle
when you see the way I kept God’s image alive.
Forgiveness
is for anybody
who needs a safe passage through my mind.
If I was really created in God’s image
then when God was a boy
he wanted to grow up to be a man a good man
and when God was a man a good man
He started telling the truth in order to get honest responses.
He’d say,
“I know.
I really shoulda wore my cross
again
but I don’t wanna scare the gentiles off.”
All thanks to Reverend Kathianne Lewis for the two lines regarding forgiveness. She was quoting someone else when she used them but she’s the one who passed them forward, and gracefully so.
Thanks to my incredible cousin Lace Williams who texted me the subtitle regarding hope which was somehow worked into conversation where we agreed that “Monsters VS Aliens” was a bunch of fun.
Lots of old loose lines I’ve tossed around before finally found a home in this piece.
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Alotta Pinata
August 7, 2009
I started writin’ an entry way back
but there was a journal glitch with this site.
So now in fast forward:
I got a pinata for my birthday.
I always wanted a pinata. Friends made it happen,
filled it with chocolate and little bottled beverages
and confetti and a cap gun and a fake snake
that came coiling out. Oh, and this special superscore
to keep me well-groomed and fashionable:
That’s right Ladies, a mustache switchblade comb.
Ahh yeah. Who wants it?
Next in my summer vacation
I started thinkin’ about my first memories
and my first friend, Jimmy Jones.
We were best friends. Because we told each other so.
I lived with him and his family for a while in Kirkwood/Binghamton, NY.
We were four then. When I moved four hours away
our parents would put Jimmy and I on the phone with each other
and I remember that there would be no conversation…
we would just laugh real hard for about ten minutes.
This is me (#42) hugging Jimmy on the day we moved away:
Funny little thing called Facebook led me back to the legend himself.
His response was so stinkin’ joyful I nearly spontaneously combusted
into streamers and Elvis poses and heavy metal and Wrestlemania,
the certainty of our friendship still so alive and well
absolutely untainted by whoever it is either of us think we are now.
I was overjoyed to catch up with him on the phone
and to learn that he’s the lead singer of a band called
Jimmi Jones and the Family Jewels.
We get to cross paths for a reunion in September.
This summer turned up bunches of quality new folks and events…
I transplanted to another part of Seattle,
saw a WNBA game (not to mention
the upcoming Mariners/Yankees game
with my newly wedded friends, Ross and Heidi!),
and I had a sweet yard sale during the Greenwood car show,
cleaned, a lot, got pre-approved to buy a home,
played the Poetry Olympics in Michigan,
bought a season pass to the zoo with my gal Lindsey
(who is a voice of reason, and she jogs with me around Greenlake,
and calls me Sunny Buns, which makes me chuckle),
and there were a whole bunch of blessin’s,
especially my new friend Brian
who introduced me to The Center for Spiritual Living
where I finally found the kind of fellowship I was seeking.
It’s been a city of great parties and BBQ’s too. Hey,
here’s one of my new friends, Albert, and I
sharing corn on the cob at one of said delicious parties:
We were so dang hungry. Ravenous really.
The Fremont Solstice Parade tends to be
one of the best days of the year in Seattle. This year was no different.
More naked bicyclists than ever, crazy floats, tasty foods, music, festival,
gardens of beer, and the frickin’ awesome sun.
Our buddy Malcolm (one of the photographers for this site)
let us cool off inside Fremont Studios for a minute or ten.
We were dehydrated and wobbly
and there was a mock raptor fight inside.
Raptors are super ferocious.
Anyhow, that’s Brian (who also showed me the cathedral on Capitol Hill
after 11 years of admiring it from the outside) in the front left of the picture,
with Marty. After the parade, Brian and Marty and I went back to my house.
We wound down and left the doors open and listened to a bluegrass band
playing in my neighbor’s back yard. They were impeccable. The mood was so good.
I remember they sang a cover song by Old Crow Medicine Show called “Wagon Wheel.”
I like that song a lot.
I also got to play on a co-ed softball team with the badass crew from Second Use Salvage.
When I say badass, I mean to say that they were really bad at winning softball games,
but who gives an ass because they’re so dang fun to be around.
My boy Rod Dogge, who’s been a huge part of pretty much every CD I’ve put out,
introduced me to all those folks a few years back for poker.
I’m thinkin’ we should stick to poker.
Hey, here’s a pic of Rod and Brian and I
lookin’ fairly Aryan by accident:
That’s Wyleen on the far left (from Human the Death Dance)
and Shona is in the middle. The two of them are the reason
I had a home when I got off the road after that couple years in the car.
The other gal is Rose. She’s the reason I found out that the goal of all living things
- according to Freud – is death.
We’re there at the beautiful outdoor wedding last weekend
for Beverly and Charles. Congratulations Beauties!!!
And that first dance… whew, you two were soo SMOOV.
The once little girl, Ruby, who did vocals for Run On Anything
(“You still don’t know you’re amazing for the things you see.”)
is now a gorgeous 11-year-old, and at the reception
she spoke to me a poem about how her mind hugs the moon.
We danced together.
Also on my summer vacation so far
I went to the Bay Area for a visit where there was
scrumptious lunch with [completely] Joe
and an awkwardly fantastic show with Berzerkeley Slam,
and Tourettes Without Regrets, where I got to do a set with Jim Greer of Rondo Brothers
and jogging around Lake Merritt with Jon,
and rugby-style water polo on July 4th at Ted’s
and then I returned home to Seattle and got to perform
with Damien Jurado and Rosie Thomas at The Triple Door.
Knowing I was to fly down to Shreveport soon to visit my grandmother
as she was passing, I dedicated Guitar Repair Woman to her that night.
Rosie really shined on the piano.
I flew into Houston where Mom picked me up.
We drove to Shreveport together to say goodbye to
my father’s mother, my last blood grandparent to pass,
in the place where I was born.
My father’s sister and brothers were there.
They told me stories about my dad I hadn’t heard.
He fought every weekend, for money,
against other fellas who wanted to fight for money.
Uncle Rob never saw him lose.
He drag raced and had already owned some
ridiculous number of cars by the time he and my mother married
because they would bet the titles of the cars at the race.
My inner alphadork rejoiced as I listened.
Here’s Aunt Pam, Uncle Ricky, Uncle Rob and Memaw:
G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E!
My grandmother was in a lot of pain
but something inside me refused to erase the smile from my face.
If all she ever wanted was Heaven, and she was really about to go,
there would be joy in my eyes, and it was gonna glow on her when I spoke
to whatever degree I was able. Our goodbye was tender and right
and she knew there was no tragedy for her in my heart.
Godspeed Memaw! Do it up, Angel!
On the way back to Houston
Mom and me stopped in Kilgore, TX to surprise visit my Aunt Tina
who owns a liquor store there. Stop and say hi if yall ever drive through.
While Mom and Aunt Tina caught up, I drove to Longview and watched UFC 100.
I was by myself in a bar with lots of ripped drunk dudes.
Luckily I got there early and had the best table in the house
so I had four extra seats and jokes to offer in return for protection.
Back in Houston, I got to see Bruno with my sister and her husband.
The guy at the ticket counter warned us we had exactly 30 minutes
from the start of the movie to get our money back. That got me pumped.
The scene in the wrestling arena was worth the watch.
I only covered my sister’s eyes once.
I think it was when Bruno spoke with his urethra.
Here’s the two of us together at her college graduation a couple years back
(Sandy, send pictures!)
A heat wave was waitin’ just around the corner back in Seattle
so the fellas and I went tubin’ down the Wenatchee:
What a perfect way to spend a hundred degrees.
Next was SeaFair where the Blue Angels spent 3 days flying over Seattle
and boats filled all the surrounding waters
and every great thing about summer was in full swing.
We got to watch one day from a boat.
The boat turned out to be 30 minutes from sinking
when we finally pulled it into the repair slip.
The next day we watched from a rooftop.
The next day we recorded our farts on iFart.
Which brings me to now…
I’m just finished up with a new piece
“Hurling Crowbirds at Mockingbars.”
I sure do like it. There are two lines about forgiveness in it
which are a direct result of listening to Reverend Kathianne Lewis.
I cannot take credit for their power.
I hope folks get as much out of those forgiveness lines as I do.
I’ll post the piece in a day or two.
Word has it from Righteous Babe Records
that the live CD should in fact be released before
The Elephant Engine High Dive Revival Tour,
mid-September.
The Revival is gearin’ up to be out on the road for 2 1/2 months this year.
I hope we do for every venue what this video did for me:
Have a great rest of your summer, E’erybody!
Intention, Al
