hotaru tails and more tales from a lazy sunday

as promised. the search is over. how long had it been? look closely.

firefly, lightning bug, hotaru 蛍, luciole

8pm ______________________________________________

you would think a concert on the sand listening to the wonderful singer Michael Sullivan and his band around sunset would be a good thing. you would think. he was good. the crowd was ... too too many "young" people. am i getting old? does that sound too negative? the thought, "and they are the future of America" actually crossed my mind a few times. Michael played about 5 or 6 songs. i couldn't see him until i left my teenage-claustrophobic place in the sand. his saxman was great (same as from the Manhattan Beach gig last month). the next band was called Rebelution . . . i think that is why the hundreds of teens and 20-somethings were there. it took me awhile to get back to Pier Ave as more and more people were still slowly making there way to the beach at 7pm.

my bus to Hermosa Beach. notice anything different about it?

looks can be deceiving. not my surfboards, or volleyball or towel. i squeezed inside a retaining rope near the front of the sand stage. however by the time the concert started i could not see the stage or musicians because of hundreds of people in front of me. and on my right there were also hundreds of people ("young" people not at all interested in the music).

i arrived around 500p. if it looks crowded then, it got a hundred times more crowded. the ocean is behind me. and actually the crowd goes and goes and goes to the right of where i was standing.

Michael and his band in front of the Hermosa Beach Lifeguard Station. (hundreds and hundreds of people are behind me)

Michael Sullivan "peace out Hermosa" (ok, he didn't really say that).

you never know what you will see while waiting for a bus.

while i was sleeping . . .

the grayness, the June Gloomness has returned. i will rest a little more after yesterday's long day of travel and hope the sun returns before my walk to the beach for the Riviera Village Summer Festival. maybe i will unpack my suitcase tomorrow. here is a little greyish, coolish, squirrels scurrying around, birds chirping, crows ka-ka-ka-ing quiet sunday morning music from my favorite English pianist, singer, harmonica player, gentleman Michael Storey. this is from last tuesday at Soho Pizzeria in Soho (the one in London not New York). as Michael told me, "where the pizza is good but having the live music there is best" (or words similar to those and with a wonderful British accent).

gone but not forgotten. just before we closed the doors on our flight to London on thursday evening someone received a text message that Michael Jackson had died. we didn't have any other information until we arrived friday morning at Gatwick. and now it is sunday morning and i have all the facts i need. he died on thursday. he was an incredible one-of-a-kind musician/entertainer/human being. and will be missed and remembered by millions of people. the above 45 rpm record is from 1971 . . . Got To Be There. i will play it and the other Jackson Five/Michael Jackson 45's i have as soon as today's Vinyl Cafe is over and play them again when i return from the beach. not sure where my Thriller cd is. the sun and blue sky have arrived. time to pack my backpack and head toward the beach.

_____________________________________________________ 9pm

another nice day of music and sunshine. but, i think yesterday's long day caught up to me as i fell asleep shortly after returning home from the beach. more about the festival, more about the aloha, more about the sunshine (and lack of sunshine), more about my rollerskating, more about the ocean, more about the dogs. and yes, there will be more from London. and finally, more about these two wonderful musicians tomorrow. いつも明日

Michael Sullivan (the third Michael of this blog today which i believe is a record for the number of musical Michaels in one blog posting) on guitar and vocals. and the multi-talanted Walter on sax and flute.