We are Family - Sister Sledge

donna and drew at wasabi
Originally uploaded by dcisme

Ok, no audio or video on this one. Just a photo of my nephew, Drew, and me. We are at a sushi place in Breckenridge Colorado.

I first saw and held Drew when he was 2 + 1/2 weeks old, loved watching him grow up, hung out in Ocean Beach, have had a blast in Breckenridge pretty much every year since 2000, watched him graduate from high school and play in the all-star football game in San Diego this summer, and am proud of him as a young man.

When we met at the airport in Denver last Saturday (along with my sister in law, Carol, and four (YES FOUR) of Drew's buddies), I was taken aback by the five o'clock shadow and maturity in his face...and it's only been a few months since I last saw him.

Drew is smart, handsome, a great athlete and, despite 18-yr old appearances, very sensitive and caring. We had a great time skiing/snowboarding together this week, especially today.

His brother, Davis, is great too. More on him in another post.

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves - Eurythmics

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I'm not a huge Hillary fan. But I have to say that this morning I am happy for her. Silly pollsters, Silly so-called experts. Silly, silly press.

The fact that the networks, and every cable news station on Earth, has been playing her "getting emotional" video is infuriating. Mitt Romney "got emotional" several times in the last couple of months, but the press did NOT play it to death. I'm not a DOUBLE STANDARD-ACCUSING GIRL, but this is just too glaring not to call FOUL.

Who knows who will win the Democratic nomination. I have been a John Edwards supporter since 2002, but it's not looking so great for my man. Whether it's Obama or Clinton, we have to unseat the current regime.

Today, I say, Go Hillary. You deserve a moment of emotional celebration.

Auld Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg

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I meant to get this posted yesterday, the last day of 2007, to complete my trilogy of acknowledgments of departed musicians. The saddest "celebrity" loss of this year for me would have to be Dan Fogelberg. He died just a couple of weeks ago after a pretty long fight with cancer.


My history with Dan Fogelberg goes back to my adolescence, when my friend Lisa (dubbed "the cakaholic" by my brother Chuck) and I used to play the Souvenirs album incessantly, singing along to Mornin' Sky like we had been born in bluegrass territory, and whispering the lyrics to "Song from Half Mountain" as if every word was a song unto itself. And oh, was he a cutie.

Just for the record, this took place long before Dan became a household name for pop hits like "Longer," "Run for the Roses," or the song highlighted in this post. His music then was less layered, more acoustic, but the lyrics were no less complex or thoughtful....maybe just a little less accessible in the pop music sense.

I remained a fan through those popularity spikes, but in many ways enjoying his alternative albums even more - Twin Sons of Different Mothers with Tim Weisberg, and the bluegrassy High Country Snows.

I remained a fan even after seeing him perform at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1993, seemingly overly drunk or stoned or something and pouting about the sound...leaving the stage once or twice, and putting on a crapola show.

I remained a fan despite the groan that emanates from my partner any time she hears his name, or any song he sings. (Do you detect a bit of a theme in these posts?). It's been tough, at moments, to stay true to my love of Dan over the years in this household, but I have managed.

I remain a fan. Why? Because I think he had a great gift for songwriting.
Oh, and he was a cutie.

Bye Dan. Hello 2008.

"More Than a Feeling"' - Boston

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more than a feelin...

My second of three tribute selections in the last three days of the year. This one to Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston. He committed suicide earlier in the year. Bummer. The thing about Boston was that nobody really knew who any of the individuals were - including me. But what the members of the Class of 1976 at St. Clare's knew was that this was a great song at a dance. Totally easy to sing along to, and with that great clapping bridge about 3/4 of the way through? C'mon, it doesn't get much better than that.

Debbie HATES Boston. But it turns out she's in interesting company. Wikipedia reports that

"More Than a Feeling" is #2 of pop songs that respondents were too embarrassed to admit that they liked

Ha Ha.

But it's still a great song to clap along to when you are at a dance.

The Theme - Oscar Peterson Trio

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Many famous people left us in 2007. Among them, just recently, was Oscar Peterson, a virtuoso of the piano.

I somehow came across Oscar Peterson because of the album "Side by Side" done with Itzak Perlman. I love love love listening to it when I want high quality background music. On a rainy Sunday morning, on a long flight, or a long train ride. He was revered by his contemporaries. Duke Ellington called him "the maharajah of the piano." Nice praise from the Duke.

I have to confess that I am not a HUGE jazz fan, but as I get older I find myself gravitating to the traditional, sort of roots oriented jazz of the 40s, 50s, etc. About a week ago I downloaded a bunch of songs of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and more and more I find myself listening to folks like Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Henderson, Django Reinhardt, and other legends.

Peterson was Canadian, and came to be known in the US when he played an unbilled set at the Carnegie Jazz at the Philharmonic session in 1949ish. And he kept playing, all over the world, until a few years ago. A legend for sure.

So long Oscar.

December (George Winston)

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George Winston song. He is such a talent and I think of him, and the other Windham Hill musicians, any time when a cup of tea or coffee, a newspaper or good novel, and relaxing background music are involved. Will Ackerman (founder of Windham Hill), Scott Cossu, et al - they are all awesome. And a roaring fire. That's what George Winston and December in DC conjure up for me.

Hawaiian Wedding Song - for Gramp

Today would have been my grandfather's 104th birthday. He died 13 days after his 100th birthday, in Santa Clara, California. More than any song, this one reminds me of Gramp. Here's the thumbnail of his story:

Diego Callejon was born in Estepona, Spain. It's a small town on the Costa del Sol, near Malaga. When he was seven years old, in 1911, he and his family loaded up onto a ship and traveled halfway around the world to their destination - Hawaii. The boat was no pleasure cruise. They traveled in steerage - aka with the cargo and cattle - and dozens of people got sick and died, including Gramp's sister, Mary, who died soon after they arrived in Hawaii.

Why Hawaii? Because Gramp's father, Antonio had some friends and relatives who had gone to Hawaii a couple of years earlier, that's where their new life and his parents' opportunity lay - as farmerworkers at a sugar cane plantation. Child labor laws being nonexistent, Gramp and his siblings went to school a little, and worked in the sugar cane fields a lot, especially after his dad got sick and the company wanted him to work off their debt. In 1917 the family moved again, this time to the San Francisco Bay Area. They were post-WWI migrant workers, handling apricots, asparagus, tomatoes, prunes and other wonders of the "Valley of Heart's Delight."

The rest, as they say, is history, at least in our family.

Those next 85ish years are truly the stuff of the American Dream - from "nothing" with a second grade eduction, to suitor and then husband of Mary Bronk, to business man (via the ranch on Capital Avenue in San Jose that I loved as a kid), to respected member of the community and the school board, to homeowner, and to father, grandfather and great-grandfather who showered all of us with (sometimes tough) love, and secretly pressed $20 bills into our hands, even after we were making plenty of money on our own. He was the real deal, self-made, and a gentleman. When people ask me who in my life I admire, I typically say "my grandpa."

It was a happy coincidence that today I spent two hours once again facilitating a community session for the Washington Area Women's Foundation - and this one was attended mostly by women who have recently come to the United States, just as my Grandpa's family did. Sure, the times are different, they are from Central America rather than Europe, and some of them are documented, some aren't...but at the core these women are no different from my ancestors. They left their home countries to try to forge better lives for their families, and they are struggling to "get ahead" here in the good old U. S. of A. Their courage, determination and faith carries them forward. Just like it did for Jimmy Callejon.

So, why the Hawaiian Wedding Song? Because this is a song I remember from my childhood and early adulthood that will always remind me of my grandparents. My grandfather adored my grandma, and when she died suddenly in 1997 he was heartbroken. I'd say he was heartbroken, in some ways, until the day he died. They loved to dance (especially he did), and I vividly remember them dancing to this song at every chance - including on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1975. On the day of the celebration of their union - their golden anniversary - this elegant picture was taken...Not long before they took to the floor to dance to the Hawaiian Wedding Song.