Solar Eclipse Of The Heart!

I was in project mode one recent Saturday, and found myself poking around in Lincoln Hardware, getting ready to paint a chair bright red. I looked up from my deciding to see my friend and Venice impresario, Danny Samakow, all excited and on a mission. He told me that the next day was going to be the best solar eclipse of our lifetime, and he was on his way to the Valley to buy a whole bunch of special glasses to view the spectacle through. Awesome. I told him I'd see him tomorrow, and we split our separate ways. I painted and thought about how much I love Danny's sense of "School Spirit", for lack of a better term.

He is always organizing and facilitating fun in the name of Venice and its people. I mean, who wants to and then actually DOES drive to the Valley on their Saturday to get special glasses to make something more fun for others? Then offers up special Eclipse drink deals at Danny's Deli and gives any glasses donation money to AIDS research? Danny, that's who. He reminds me of a friend of mine from college who once showed up with massive amounts of glow sticks that we broke open to fling the light stuff around our walls and play (toxic) glow tag with. He would say, "There's nothing worse than running out of fun". Danny is that same type of dude. A real gem, and Spirit of Venice preservationist who we should all thank every time we see him and his wonderful team/s. For real.

Sunday was weird out all day, alternating fog and sun. Most Venice people I spoke to were Art Walk crowd avoiding, and doing their own thing. Which is why it was so great to get down to the beach just in time for the apex of the eclipse (6:38 pm!) and see absolutely everyone gazing skyward, collectively sharing the phenomenon.

And a phenomenon it was! The fog muted the whole thing, and made it so you didn't really need the special glasses (but probably should have worn anyway) to see the super trippy eclipse go down. People were sharing the glasses bought at Danny's Deli (About $1,000 bones made for AIDS research!) with strangers and passersby. It was hard to capture in photos, as was the electricity you felt in those moments of group excitement.

There aren't that many events, especially natural ones, that bring a whole people together in the name of just seeing something cool, and way bigger than us. This was such an evening, and the beating of the drum circle in the distance only made it all feel more tribal. Heavy and joyous at the same time, which is what life itself is, after all.

To celebrate, we hit all three of Danny's joints, and wound up at the Canal Club inventing what may be the drink for Summer '12. A mango margarita with pepper infused tequila! So it tastes just like when you get a mango from a fruit cart person and they put the chili powder on it, and it's a perfect fiesta in your mouth. We called it "The Eclipse". Try it. And HAPPY SUMMER 2012 in Venice!!!

Here's to never running out of fun!

Rainbow/Sunset Double Feature!

I stepped out my front door this evening to see this going down to my right:


And this blowing my mind to the left:


I took turns staring at each, and watched the rainbow get more vivid as it got a little darker:


And the Sunset start to give extra sparkle to the sky for you to remember it by:


I came inside after both directions had fully faded away, and went back to the email stuff I was doing, feeling blessed that I can be moved so deeply by just looking up.

Facebook was blowing up with people all over Los Angeles typing DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!! in their status boxes, and I felt blessed anew that EVERYONE can still get excited over such pure and natural beauty as rainbows and sunsets. No politics involved, no family drama, no selfishness involved whatsoever, as it's free and we all share in it.

Just this morning, I sang quoted Bob Marley from "Sun Is Shining" to illustrate how I want to try and be in life, "I'm a rainbow too!" Well, now it's just straight fitting to quote him again, in light of the dazzling we were all just subjected to over here, at the end of the rainbow, at the end of the country ...

When the morning gathers the rainbow
Want you to know I'm a rainbow too
So, to the rescue here I am
Want you to know just if you can
Where I stand, know, know, know, know, know

We'll lift our heads and give Jah praises!


Oh, yes we will. Praise Jah!!

*I promise you that if I was a photographer, these dang photos would make you cry. As ever, real life is better.

Medicine, with a Spoonful of Sugar.

Whoa. Memorial Weekend already?! Time is flying ... and I'm concerned that we're not paying attention to that, and wasting a whole lot of time being dissatisfied, and bickering - in the media and among ourselves - over things that divide us, while preventing anything from going forward in a positive fashion. Again.

I cannot bear some of the criticism I'm hearing lately about our President - who thank GOODNESS is our President these days, over anyone else even put up for the post in recent memory - and hearing comparisons to Katrina. That is so ridiculous I could (and do) cry. People were stranded on rooftops, and bodies lay bloating in the streets of a major American city during Katrina - and Bush said "Brownie's doing a heckuva job", and then went back on vacation in Texas to clear brush. Obama is handling MULTI-crises at all times, and doing so respectfully, and nobly. Accepting responsibility for an Oil disaster, when it is all due to de-regulation in the record-profiting Oil Industry, and BP who wouldn't cough up for a part that would have prevented this whole catastrophy. We have never had to deal with a nightmare of this scale before, and I truly believe our President is doing the best he can with the resources he's able, amid constant street-fighting from oil company execs and lobbyists, and a bunch of jackasses in Congress and the Media (and a swath of the general public who just don't get it, and probably never will).

It might also be time to look into your driveway, or pause during your rush-hour traffic and ask yourselves how much blame YOU should accept with respect to oil, before you go dissing the excellent President we finally have. I've had it with all that. We are a great country when we're working together, not when we look to the entire world like an elementary school playground, tattling and pointing fingers, and missing the big picture entirely. We'd better work together now, before as my main man, Kris Kristofferson, sings, "It's over, nobody wins."


Now that that biz is somewhat off my chest, I again invite and implore you to enjoy and appreciate your beaches (or lakes, rivers, ponds, creeks, mud puddles ... any natural body of water you know and love) now, while you still can - and actively participate in ways of preserving those stunning and sacred resources. The Portraits of Hope Lifeguard Tower panels made their way onto Venice beaches this morning, and reminded me that there IS still Hope for us - but only if we can start appreciating in our hearts and minds both our Earth - and each other. Whatever our differences might be.


Have a beautiful and safe Memorial Weekend, Everybody! Have hope, get involved, and get WET!