Rod McKuen - Flight Plan


4th & 5th September, 2008 New concerts announced! Click HERE for details.		Photo by Jay Hagan, 7/12/08 Burbank, CA A Thought for Today Invention is the only art. TO BEGIN WITH The days dwindle down, as Maxwell Anderson observed in his lyric for “September Song.” If you are under 18 and anxious to get behind the wheel or anxious for an election that will mean conventions and political advertisements and bloviating will at last be done time doesn’t move fast enough. On the other hand if you are of a certain age and September songs really mean something or on (pardon the expression) a deadline time sprints with Olympic passion. THE ONLY PERFORMANCES IN 2008 November 6th may seem a long way away to some of you but two months isn’t such a distance if you are the performer and one of the four show’s you have planned will be made up entirely of requests. “Requests” means what the fans and the public wants. Based on some of the suggestions that have come in that means learning new songs and writing brand new arrangements. At the very least I’ll have to relearn some songs I haven’t sung and performed for years. Lots of additional rehearsal time with and without the band. Make no mistake I’m looking forward to the dates and the whole process leading up to them. But, based on the very healthy ticket sales, some of you are a bit lazy about getting your special requests, if you have any, to me. Maybe a deadline will help. So, the deadline for special requests is now September 30th. And no, don’t bother requesting Melancholy Baby, The Mummy or Oliver Twist. Click on the Stanyan House logo to buy Rod McKuen books, CD's and lots more Click on the heart logo to subscribe to the Rod McKuen mailing list Catch Rod McKuen live! Click on the links below for details of concerts and appearances. ROD McKUEN CONCERTS ROD McKUEN APPEARANCES



		Thursday 4 September Anton Bruckner o François De Chateaubriand o Frederick Curzon o Thomas Eagleton o Henry Ford II o Jason David Frank o Dawn Fraser o Leonard Frey o Mitzi Gaynor o Paul Harvey o Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs o Judith Ivey o Beyonce Knowles o Darius Milhaud o Dan Miller o Howard Morris o Paul Osborn o Mike Piazza o Dr. Drew Pinsky o Carlos Ponce o Mary Renault o Jennifer Salt o Ione Skye o Bill Stout o Sandi Tucker o Tom Watson o Damon Wayans o Richard Wright o Dick York Friday 5 September John Cage o William Devane o Florence Eldridge o Werner Erhard o Leonore Fleischer o Cathy Guisewite o Jesse James o Joan Kennedy o Arthur Koestler o Otto Kruger o Carol Lawrence o Eduardo Mata o Freddie Mercury o Bob Newhart o Jack Valenti o Loudon Wainwright II o Raquel Welch o Frank Yerby o Dweezil Zappa o Darryl F. Zanuck

		At night you can’t tell Sunday suits from tattered overalls; then we are only children, children one and all. -from Children One And All Elegance will never replace truth. Be energetic. It hurts nobody, especially yourself.

BALLOON ONE / Perris, California		The first is up, or going up. It lifts off slowly. Twin fires combine like some eternal flame to push and prod warm air into that vast compartment with its seven story ceiling. Soon the quiet, soon the clouds, as now another tufted circle is entering the angel's playground. Two there are and will be harbingers of hundreds. A space age army or armada seeking space. The grass still wet, the sky just opening. Woodchucks scatter in the lea as foot by foot and yard by cubic yard the air is channeled –forced into another and yet another bright and billowing balloon. Crows are crowing hold the tether, don't let go until we all let go. Now douse the fire and finish off the coffee. The mist once heavy as the heavens now subsides as up we go - fast at first then slower, slow. Below us all the world spreads out and opens. Now too, the sky begins unfolding around, above us rim to sunlit rim one horizon to another. Dogs and children chase our shadow. Trees are shrubs And houses dots and dashes. Along the coastline we dip to skim the water, then rise higher to avoid an early splashdown. Reach out and grab a handful of the nearest cloud as we sail even with, now past the sun. Far below birds track out our course. If this is not land's end coming up, I know no better or more beautiful, final finish line. - from "We Touch The Sky," 1979 NOTE: This is the original version of the poem from the British Edition. It was substantially rewritten for the US version published in 1980. Revised 9/3/08

AND FINALLY

Just finished watching Governor Palin’s convention speech. So what do I know, that I didn’t know before, about the former mayor of a town of 9000 (that she left deeply in debt) when she ran for the office and was elected as governor of Alaska –– a position she held for 20 months? Well I found out from her own mouth that the sum total of her experience where commerce is concerned was selling her predecessors’ jet on E-Bay, oh and she got rid of the cook. OK, so she’d rather hunt and fish than fly but how does that qualify her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? Just asking. Maybe when nominee McCain takes the podium at the Republican convention’s next session he’ll get into some of the details regarding how he and Sarah plan to make all those changes they keep talking about. Right. And I would rather hunt and fish than fly. Sleep warm and join me on the weekend for “Ask Rod.”

RM Holmby Hills, CA / September 3, 2008 11:40PM PDST

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