July 4th

Went to see "War of the Worlds". It was remarkable, but nevertheless a little too heavy for hot summer comfort. So I did this soft-looking piece after dinner. The Didg came from Australia 12-years ago.

Painted Didgeredoo (detail) - Peter Crown

Nikon Coolpix 4300 - Photoshop 7

Freeman road is a hilly two lane black top
Along the edge of saguaro national park.
Yellow wild flowers blanket the desert and line the sides of the road.
In a few days they will be withered by the sun.

A pick-up truck and trailer come around the bend.
A dark brown horse holds its head out the side of the trailer,
Mane blowing in the wind.

I’m going to the Rincon valley farmer’s market
To buy home-made bread from the woman in granny glasses,
And Peruvian coffee beans from Scott, who has his roaster there.

The aroma of fresh roasted coffee beans mingles with
The fragrance of fresh vegetables.
For a brief moment I think of Dean and Delucca in the City
With all its self conscious glamour
Which I now see detracted from the essence of its offerings.

A woman wearing a cowboy hat stands by a table
Displaying brochures about the Rincon Valley Institute,
An environmental group with concerns for
The Rocking K Ranch and surrounding lands
Which soon will be transformed by developers.

The woman says she’s originally from New Mexico
But then moved to Alaska, and then Seattle.
And now she’s in Vail Arizona, at the farmer’s market
With a mission.

The next table displays colorful books about local desert wildflowers.
I ask about the yellow flowers I had passed a short time ago.
They are called brittle bush, I am told.
The Indians burn them as incense after they die and dry up in the sun.

I feel a little sad, or maybe it’s melancholy,
Because these simple pleasures are so fleeting.
The wild flowers.
The aroma of coffee.
That smile beneath the brim of the cowboy hat.
Even the desert landscape.

They all go by so quickly,
Becoming just memories for a while.

January 4, 2003

"The White-Hair, Black-Cloth, Barbershop Blues"

Sitting in the barber chair, white hair contrasting on the black cloth around my neck. Gregg was a trumpet player, his friend is touring with the Stones now. I played trumpet as a kid but have played guitar the past forty years.

"Were you in a band?"

"No, but I played solo in clubs and on the streets in Paris 30 years ago. Had a record deal but left the country after the riot police beat me up on May Day. That was the first of the two concussions I've had in my life. The second was also in Paris, two summers ago.

"Did you have long hair when you were playing?"

"To the middle of my back."

"That's really long .... Do you know who Matt Lauer is?"

'Yes, his hair thinned out last summer. My wife's a fan. Mercedes and Matt use the same nanny for their kids."

My hair is black with increasing amounts of gray. But the parts the barber cut were all white, and that's what I saw."