Ever have...

one of those days? when you wake up knowing you'd better grab your surfboard and get a slant on the day?

Agent Orange - Pipeline


...or am I the only girl in Oklahoma with a surf board hanging on her wall?


may as well go barefoot...

I Know its only Rock & Roll, but...

Cooper (who Todd also refers to as "pookey") with Todd Smith of former Dog Fashion Disco, Polkadot Cadaver, Knives Out and El-Creepo!


Cooper with Keys of Polkadot Cadaver in OKC 3-18-2010

This week's performance by Polkadot Cadaver at The Conservatory in OKC made me remember some of my other favorite rock&roll moments; whether "15 minutes of fame," or a life long journey of supporting local musicians.

Talking about music for me is like some people talking about their grandkids. I hope you'll tell me about your enjoyable music memories, or at least enjoy remembering them too!

One "music memory," in 1977, Fleetwood Mac came into National Car Rental in downtown OKC where I was working. I helped to rent them transportation to make it to their venue in Tulsa, OK. They invited me to join them at their venue and said if I could make it, they'd have two back stage passes for me and a guest at the door. I was 20 years old, and I took my sister, who was sixteen. We shocked the people at the ticket window when we arrived when I told them my backstage pass was waiting, and they said, "yeah, right;" but they found them and said, "Oh, yeah, You're right, they're here!" We were escorted to the backstage and watched the whole concert from backstage as Stevie Nix was singing onstage.  Everyone went out to Denny's afterward with the band and stayed out till the sun came up! I made it back to OKC just in time for work the next morning, minus any sleep!

The most recent experience before this week's concert was in October 2009 with RevCo, meeting Sin Quirin, the guitarist for Ministry and RevCo (or The Revolting Cocks) and Josh, the frontman for RevCo, as well as Jim Rose of the Jim Rose Circus. They were in OKC together recently. Jim nicknamed me "Shy Girl" and says I am "a rock star." We saw Ministry's last tour in Tulsa on March 16, 2008 along with Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory as a surprise guest, also bands Meshuggah,, from Stockholm, and Hemlock, from Las Vegas which we also got to meet!

One of my most favorite musicians has been Ogre Nivek of Skinny Puppy, also in the project Rx, and his OhGr project, but appears with Ministry, KMFDM, &; Pigface. We went to Dallas, TX to see Skinny Puppy's MythMaker Tour in June 2007. We were at the front rail during the concert, with only a walk space between us and the stage, so I was able to get pictures with my cell phone occasionally. I had to leave the rail temporarily for the first performance, when Otto von Schirack came on stage. The sound was at the highest legal limit, of course, but the rapid drum machine made the floor and everything vibrate so much I literally couldn't breathe! I had to step to the side until White Mice came on, just as loud, but different sound effects. I managed to get my place back and then after White Mice, da- dah-dah- dahhhh!: Skinny Puppy!!! Ogre looked straight into my eyes as he sang, repeating from the Process Album, Hardset Head, "...No excuses, excuses, excuses, excuses,(x7)" which is now riveted into my mind. Ogre is very gracious, generous toward fans, and we had the opportunity to meet him backstage after the concert; but I decided not to wait.  I had to drive back to OKC from Dallas afterward during a heavy thunderstorm.

Ongoing support/promotion for local musicians include my daughter Ariele's dad, Josh, front man of Hopeless Destroyers in Kansas City, MO; his brother, Justin's band, Dark Ages, and Justin's wife, Robin's band, Street Legal, all in KC, MO; Gary Shilling, front man of Pulpit Red of OKC; Cooper Judd front man of projects including Warped Corpses in OKC; SubSanity, a thrash band originally from Pauls Valley, OK, esp. original members through 1994; and a former band, Hate Party of OKC, reminiscent of Flipper! Check them out on sites like myspace, youtube, reverb nation and others!

photos:
Ministry's "C-U-La-Tour" March 2008, not the best view, but the mosh pit was sooo crazy you couldn't get closer, when we tried, they passed Ariele's friend around till he ended up right in the same spot again!


Ogre of Skinny Puppy, MythMaker Tour, 6/07-from my cell phone



Ariele with her dad, Josh Betterton of Hopeless Destroyers, KC, MO (during a mustache-growing contest with his brother Justin!)


click to see the Classic jurassic version of their 1977 concert!

Revolutionize my thoughts

This weekend my sister and I were talking about recent dental work. Then she mentioned that when an elephant's teeth go bad, the only thing they can eat is very ripe or spoiled fruit, which makes them become drunk from the fermentation. When this happens, the elephant can become very dangerous and can wreck whole villages!

The example of the elephant reminded me of thoughts being like fruit and the elephant being like our tongue. When thoughts become negative, if we allow them to ripen or ferment, our tongue can become like the elephant who is eating rotten fruit, with the power to wreck whole villages! I guess it could be considered a type of mental hygiene, compared to dental hygiene.

The Light Pours Out of Me - Peter Murphy (Magazine cover)

Spring Break & Jack Kerouac Birthday Tribute - 12 Mar 2010

Spring Break!

and

Birthday Tribute to Jack Kerouac:

Week Eight...

This week has been a week of gratitude for me. I am grateful for the experience to work with the people I have been in class with, or academically and personally. I am stricken over the loss of one of my classmates this week, but I am grateful for, and will remember his gifts and abilities which made a lasting impression on me. I hope to learn how to express my gratitude to others in meaningful ways, while they are near, and not take the opportunities I have for granted to make each day count.

The advanced composition class has been great experience for me to think about electronic media and how it shapes our lives. I have gained more experience with using it, and look forward to learning more about it. The semester always goes too quickly! Maybe its my schedule this semester, but the weeks are flying by so fast. I hope to take the Beat Poet course during the Intersession, if it is being offered.

I have no idea what to do with my extra time (jk)... but, I will miss this class! Take care Dr. Hochenauer! Your class challenged me and caused me to think about many things I need to learn. I hope to stay in touch!

Me...reading, and caught looking at my favorite website (had to block it to protect the innocent)

some songs that amazed me this week:
loverman (cover): Martin L. Gore

loverman: nick cave

Week Seven!

Here is me getting my root canal! Three hours of holding my mouth open made me think of all the times I should have kept it closed! Payback's a .... painful process.




This week has been a challenge to stay sane (a relative term), with little sleep and a full schedule, appointments and assignments due. I made it through, but not in the greatest form. By Saturday, it seems I had regressed to the point I could barely hold a cup when at work I dropped a customer's large supreme deep dish pizza on the floor, then a can of soda (at least a whole meal was sacrificed). The list goes on, then when I got home, the pizza delivery car topper was still on my car, so I had to drive back and turn it in.

Earlier in the week, I made it most of one day until, arriving at an appointment at 4pm, I realized my sweater was on backwards, which was a turtleneck, so who would know, right? I had been watching a youtube video by Tom Greene earlier in the week, "The Backwards Man," so I had to laugh and I started singing it until a woman walked out of the building. I stopped, but she looked at me like I was having too much fun to be walking alone in the parking lot! So, today, I am hoping the next week will go a little smoother. Tests and papers are due, so we'll see. But at least, no root canal!

Above is a photo of my visit to the College of Dentistry at OU. I have two student dentists who take turns working on my dental care. They are best friends, and have been really great to me. Aaron, with the mask, first helped me. I had a bad experience a few years back with one dental procedure, so when I first went to the school, I was very nervous (an anxiety attack is more accurate). However, he was very thoughtful and patient. Rob is the friend he recommended to do some of the work, and he came to check and see if Aaron was doing things right, ha. They have been very understanding and have done a wonderful job. I highly recommend their program to anyone. They helped me get into the full program, which is not easy, since openings for new patients are limited.

More than one story...

We each have more than one story that makes up who we are. Growing up in a broken home, where my mother was a German immigrant, my parents divorced and she remarried an abusive and violent alcoholic, domestic violence became common and familiar to me and part of my story. Somehow, I felt a degree of protective immunity in adolescence, that I was somehow invincible, and that it would never happen to me. This idea got me through, until it did happened to me. You'd think that after growing up in the midst of domestic violence, I would have recognized the signs. But, unfortunately, I didn't, until they became obvious and it was too late to avoid. I was twenty before I learned why that is common, but I blamed myself for allowing it until I began to learn more about it, once I was free from the situation.

One of the benefits of my experiences growing up is that it gave me a desire to help others who were victims of abuse, neglect and violence. During my break with the past, I toured with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for one season in 1977. The circumstances which led to my "running away with the circus" were profoundly well timed and orchestrated for this opportunity that fell into my lap. It not only became my way of escape, but a turning point for me where I learned to take a stand and fight to be free.

When I returned to Oklahoma after one season on tour due to family circumstances, I began to work for a non-profit organization that was founded by a couple who had just returned to Oklahoma City from Kampuchea. They were the last Americans to leave Phnom Penh when it fell to the Khmer Rouge. In 1979 until 1984, I worked for them as a personal secretary and assistant. I was responsible for correspondence with the continual flow of mail from the refugee camps, each seeking to find sponsors to relocate in the United States. Some knew the founders personally, Todd and DeAnn Burke, from their time in Phnom Penh, and others had heard of them and their organization. They had spent a few years in Kampuchea and written a book about their experiences there, titled "Anointed for Burial." We also had a large constituency that contributed to their work in the Thai border camps, as well as for those who were associated with their work in Katmandu, Nepal, Calcutta, India and the Philippines.

The Burkes also had two sons, Judson, who was 3 years old and Jeremi, who was 6 months old when we first met. They later had more children, five in all. Their work grew to include many organizations associated with their work in Europe, Canada and Australia. People were coming to their home from all over the world on a continual basis, leaders of organizations and people who wanted to meet them after reading their book and influenced by their work. Todd also traveled extensively from time to time internationally. My job also included living with the family for the first two years, although I had my own separate space, a room built onto the house, like one of the anchorite nuns! But we were basically housemates. I also assisted with the children and many aspects of their daily lives.

Todd was a mentor for me not only for my work experience, but also in seizing the day, and making the most of opportunities in life, sometimes wrestling them from the jaws of the lion, sometimes creating them from thin air, and sometimes by rebuilding on the broken ruins (or 'tels').

I enjoyed my work, especially when I got to be directly involved with the correspondence and relocation of the Khmer people. I was invited to attend two banquets to meet and shake the hand of the President of Free Cambodia (Kampuchea) at the time, President Lon Nol. I also had up to nine Khmer roommates at a time, when they would come to Oklahoma City to relocate. This usually included picking people up from the airport after their flight directly from the Thai border camps, and assisting them with every aspect of their new life in the States; including practical things, such as applying with the Social Security Office for their new Social Security cards, (and yes, they noticed when I got lost driving downtown!), obtaining local state id's, enrolling in ESL classes, looking for jobs, and providing transportation to all the necessary activities. I learned how to shop at the Asian market, for example! I also learned from my roommates how to eat with chop sticks, Asian cooking, some Khmer language and many of their home remedies. We enjoyed many activities together as they adjusted to their new lives in the States.

One of the first families that relocated to Oklahoma City opened their own restaurant, which has been successful now for many years. They had no money when they first arrived, but achieved their goals by working long hours and saving. Some of the families or individuals have married and moved to other cities to reunite with family and friends. (I have included a few photos.)

This last photo is a picture of my mother and step-father. I am happy to say that their lives improved over time and my stepfather stopped drinking. Although things weren't perfect, they were happy together and had one daughter together, my sister Paula.



Its always nice to remember them, their life struggles, their stories, and, as Tom Petty sang, the fact that we don't have to live life like refugees!