LYLE: That's LYLE

So all of the water activity reminded me of one rainy Saturday morning when I was living in Orange. I was in the habit of going to bed in the early morning hours and sleeping until after noon. I don’t remember hearing the knocks on my door, but I did wake up after that. At the time, the bass player and his girlfriend, the guitarist and I were all living in a 3-bedroom condo. The couple had gotten up for work that morning to find that our greenhouse window box in the kitchen had filled with water and had flooded the kitchen and dining room. I got up and Trey was already downstairs. We accessed the situation and it turns out the gutters above the window had filled up due to there not being much rain and not being cleaned out, so a continual heavy flow of water was pouring down on the window box and pouring into the seam between the window and the wall. The others went to work and we were left to clean up the situation on our own. We decided to make it a party. I was into having cheap California champagne every day and it was time for mimosas. So we opened a few bottles and got started. Trey’s girlfriend had stayed the night and came down to enjoy the festivities. We turned on some music and got down to business. The rain was still coming down heavy and first we needed to drain the water out of the box. I punched a couple of holes in the metal bottom and it started to drain out onto the patio. That stopped the water from coming in, so next was to get as much of the water up as we could. We had to move the table and chairs from the dining room and pull back the carpet. I don’t remember all the details of the work that was involved. All I remember is that we took a potential pain-in-the-ass and turned it into a good time. By the time we got it cleaned up to our satisfaction, we all had a good buzz on and it turned into a rainy day with an underlying artistic vibe.

The cat in question was lying on my legs shortly after I had gone to bed last night and the night before. I’ve been having extra energy due to the cleanse and all the tea I’m drinking, so it takes a little work to ease myself into sleep. As I lay there, I feel the cat in question get up off my legs and jump down to the carpet to walk out the door and I hear it’s paws hit the ground. The only thing is that the cats are behind a shut door sleeping in the front room. This building was built around fifty years ago. Certainly there has been a cat that lived in this apartment. Perhaps a few. We’re all just energy sharing common space. So now I’m wondering how many times that I’ve been sleeping and thought that our cats were absorbing the warmth from my legs has it actually been the cat in question? I never look. I’m sleeping.

Shout out to Mary Ann. She got busted for weed in the Mid-West. Never a great place for that kinda nonsense. Her friend’s really should have made sure she got home okay. It was a surprise birthday party, for Pete’s sake. Whoever Pete is. Does that refer to Saint Pete? Probably. It’s always some higher-ups sake that we’re all swearing on. I will make a declaration that I have made before, but as long as man makes plants illegal we will for that time be at odds with Nature, who will in turn continue to punish us for our idiocy. So hail to Mary Ann, Mother Mary and Mary Jane. Sorry you got in trouble, but that was a pretty picture for pushing 70. Just like my boyhood dreams would have imagined. I’d love to hang out with you and Willie sometime. I could learn a lesson or two from my elders.

It is the season of change. My green energy is increasing. The household has been avoiding refined sugars, animal products, synthetics, fake fats, and have been concentrating on eating fruits and vegetables. We have been at it for a week and a half. We’ve also been going to yoga once a week for the last few. It had been way to long for regular practice and it’s nice getting back into the flow. OOLYAKOO has been playing regularly and we have 5 gigs set up at 4 different venues in the next couple of months. There’s link to our space in Links* with dates and places. We’re also discussing starting the next rounds of recording in mid-April. I’ve been increasing my practice of yogic singing, which was taught to me by my djembe master years ago. The practice involves holding a low frequency until your energy and body begin to vibrate at that frequency. In time a new voice should be heard,.. not the one out of your mouth or the one you hear in your head, but one from a deeper place within you.. your core. This voice is your true voice. When it is present you experience the alignment of your vibration (frequency) and the voice begins to sing as you let go control of your vocals chords and emits out of you. Many can see their voice emanating from within with practice. It has to do with settling brain sand and the tuning of your cells. It’s what those monks do.