Monday, December 22, 2008

Music P.S.

I saw two good shows this weekend: Oasis and Ryan Adams at the Patriot Center Saturday night and Last Train Home yesterday at Iota. Ryan Adams was quirky and funny (and good), and Oasis was LOUD.

I was thinking -- from my excellent seats in the third row on the right (thanks, D.O.!) -- that that volume of noise can not be good for your ears. So I made some tissue-paper ear plugs and then enjoyed the show. The lead singer is really full of himself but the music was fun, especially the only two songs of theirs I actually know: Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova.

Last Train Home was awesome, as usual, and their Sunday afternoon gig at Iota was a nice way to kick off this last crazy week before the holiday. I also hope to hear them out at the Flathead Lake Brewing Company in Big Fork, Montana in 2009. They've played there before and say they're planning to again -- that would be a blast.

And finally, my all time favorite band this year, Old Crow Medicine Show, will be on the Conan O'Brien show Tuesday, Dec. 23rd, at 12:35 a.m. They're also doing two shows at the John Paul Jones Arena at UVA on April 17th and 18th -- they're opening for the Dave Matthews Band. If you can see them, do it -- they are the shit, as Nickie would say.

Solstice Optimism

OK so it may be only 17 degrees outside, and with the whipping wind it feels like 3, but yesterday was the winter solstice. That means each day from now on it gets lighter just a little bit earlier, and although it may indeed be freaking freezing out there, we are on the upswing to summer.

I'm about to head out for a run. This will be the coldest day so far for me, Evelyn, Lynn and Nellie. Ann already left for a two-week holiday trip to Utah and Hawaii, so she'll miss today's fun. We'll be well armed thanks to the nifty face masks Evelyn gave us for presents. We'll all look like outlaws -- or Hannibal Lector -- covered below the eyes in black foam with breathing holes over the nose and mouth area.

This is the third winter solstice since I started this blog. Three times I've noted that the shortest day of the year has passed, and we're on the upswing to lighter, warmer mornings. Lots of changes around here as three solstices have come and gone. Lots of howling at the moon and then just getting on with things.

As one more year winds down, I'm trying not to think about the novel that still sits unfinished, the bills that have to be paid, the hard work required to make my business a success, and other challenges I can't avoid in the new year.

For now I'm gonna put on my running shoes and my Jesse James mask and head out into the frigid pitch dark morning. I'm gonna hit the trail and log my four miles, because I know it always makes me feel better, calmer and ready for anything. Just gotta keep moving, and the rest will take care of itself. At least that's the mantra I use to quell the worried voices in my head.

I usually write these posts after my run, when the endorphins are flowing and my natural optimism is riding high. I should be there in about an hour -- and hopefully by the next solstice I can report that the novel IS finished, the business IS making it and all the other stuff has also taken care of itself. Inshallah.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Change We CanNOT Believe In!

Tom Vilsack for Secretary of Agriculture in the new Obama administration? Talk about the fox guarding the hen house! Vilsack has been a huge supporter of industrial agriculture, CAFO's (factory farms) and genetically engineered crops, and was voted "Governor of the Year" by the Biotechnology Industry Organization.

To protest this outrageous sign of business as usual from our new 'agent of change,' who took money hand over fist from these guys on his way to the White House, sign this petition by the Organic Consumers Association.

They are mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to say NO to Vilsack. Their website links to several alternative choices who would move us forward toward safer, sustainable agriculture -- in other words, real change.

Monday, December 08, 2008

The Beautiful Truth


Check out the trailer for the new movie The Beautiful Truth, about the Gerson Institute and its organic, plant-based approach to healing cancer and other diseases. I was psyched to attend the opening in L.A. in November (thanks to my fabulous San Diego Thanksgiving with Lynne and co.), and hope to do some work for the organization and its warm and inspiring executive director, Anita Wilson, in the new year.

Max Gerson came up with his novel, nutritional approach in Germany in the 1920's. The mainstream, allopathic medical industry in the U.S. has been trying to discredit it every since. Why? Because there's no money to be made encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables! The "war on cancer" -- and heart disease, etc. -- is a multi-billion dollar industry in this country. Big pharma and big agriculture are big business.

If everyone quit eating chemical-covered food and feedlot meat, ate a natural plant-based diet the way Americans did 100 years ago, and quit taking all the drugs and vaccines our doctors/drug pushers are so quick to recommend (because they've been brainwashed by the pharmaceutical industry, which provides huge amounts of funding -- and control -- for their education and research), we'd be a lot healthier and see far fewer of the chronic illnesses that plague our population: obesity, diabetes, MS, CF, autism, Parkinsons, and of course CANCER.

That's the beautiful truth, as discovered by a 15-year-old boy who travels around the country exploring the connection between nutrition and health for a school (or homeschool) project. It's an eye opener.

Other good movies on this subject that challenge the way things are: Healing Cancer From the Inside Out; Eating: The RAVE Diet; and Food Matters. I like this quote in Food Matters: "One quarter of what you eats keeps you alive, and the other three quarters keeps your doctor alive."

Despite our quick and easy diets of cheap, abundant and convenient processed food, and despite the FDA's and USDA's shameful dereliction of duty as they feed at the industry trough, everyone knows the old adage -- and we also know in our hearts it's true: We ARE what we eat.