29th & 30th November, 2004
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Rod in “The Best is Yet to Come” 11/6/04
Photo by Shira Greenburg ©2004 by Broadway.com. Used by Permission
A Thought for Today
Be tender when you bid your friends
goodbye. Who knows when you will meet again.
Dear Diary,
Edward and I drove to Santa Barbara to spend Thanksgiving with close
friends. Then yesterday, because we had no leftovers of our own I made
another complete Thanksgiving dinner. From the looks of it we'll be
eating turkey & fixin's forever. Opening the refrigerator and looking at
what's left will surely drive me to my first Tofu bird next time.
Today we’re in the desert for a couple of hours and then up to Dos Vidas.
So, turkey hash on Tuesday and later in the week I’ll use the dark meat
to flavor a kettle of Spanish rice. On to the mail.
.ASK
ROD
OLD & NEW FRIENDS
Just wanted you to know how great it felt to
re-discover an old friend today. I was packing up "Fields of Wonder" to
mail to my daughter in NC. I read it AGAIN--and was so happy that I had
it to share with her. She is young (26) and never knew your wonderful
work. She will now. I took a chance and typed your name into the web-and
there you were!! Pictures and all! You do not have to respond to
this--just wanted to say hello to a great man with wonderful talent.
Your work has touched my heart so many times--keep talking to us that
still love you!! Take care--Pat Mortensen
Dear Pat, You are wrong, I DO need to respond to your thoughtful letter.
Without readers like yourself, a writer is nothing. I think most of us
write out of a need to communicate – at any rate I do. It means a lot to
know that now and again I connect with someone out there, let alone a
mother who wants to pass along my work to another generation.
Welcome to my little corner of The Net. I hope you visit A Safe Place to
Land often. Me and my friends who contribute to this site have, after
nearly seven years, quite an archive of "stuff". As long as old friends
like you keep us going I see no reason for us to stop communicating.
Thanks. With Affection, Rod
++++++++
Rod, I was a dj at Kome-fm and KSJO-fm back in the
late 60s and early 70s and played your spoken word and music (as well as
my own) to compliment the staple of Moody Blues, Beatles, John Stewart
and more... "the sea" was a great inspiration to me as well as your
other works, but tonight... my wife Susan put "the sea" on and as we
were sitting on our deck in Monterey looking at the bay,,,, the impact
on me as a youth hit me to my soul.... wow!.... you have always been
with us at all of our homes, from Glendale, Cambria, Big Sur, Texas,,,
and now Monterey. How can we thank you?
Susan said tonight that if she could have dinner with the top five
people on the planet ever, you would be one of them. We looked for you
when we recorded the Alan Ginsberg memorial in LA. Where can we meet?
San Francisco, LA, Big Sur Inn, Monterey, Pebble Beach? Our treat, well,
it would be a treat for us. Susan is a writer, I'm a poet-film maker.
Let us thank you in person for all the great words and songs that have
informed our lives!
Dear Jack and Susan, Sorry we haven't sat down for a meal together yet
and wouldn't it be nice to have Alan join us. I miss him, he was a brave
rascal.
I appreciate all the nice words and am honored to have been one of your
traveling companions South to North, North to South and back again. Am
not sure when we will get a chance for a face to face meeting. Following
a trip to Austin last month and one to New Orleans this past week have
finished my traveling and socializing for awhile. I even cancelled a
trip to the opening of The Clinton Library this week.
Here's why: In a life full of rich and satisfying experiences I'm about
to engage in one of the toughest and hopefully most personally rewarding
endeavors yet. Have found a patch of mountain anchorage and will soon
build (from scratch) my dream house & a studio/barn. I'm on a crash
course involving surveyors, geologists, etc., soon architects and
builders to get the structures up and livable as quickly as possible.
About the only thing I'm not ditching is recording and writing for my
website because both can be done here at home. If I make any appearances
they will be on local stages or at the grocery store. Well, I may throw
in a monthly trek to my local Costco for booze, beans and low-cost
DVD's. At the moment I'm trying to set up some way of documenting
'Building the Barn', an unvarnished look at how a seasoned citizen takes
on what most folks consider a young man's job.
So, I'm not ditching the idea of dinner and whatever, just postponing
it.
Thanks for the DJ spins over the years and all you did to expand my
outreach and a special nod to Susan and to you, Jack, for taking the
time to write me. Keep in touch. Warmly, Rod
BOUQUETS OF THIN AIR
Years ago I had an album with the lyrics;
"I buy you necklaces, you never wear
to show how much I care,
I might as well have bought you bouquets of thin air
for crystal beads, can't fill a woman's needs
Where are we now, where are we now,
A thousand miles apart,
What have we now, what have we now,
Not even love enough to break each others heart."
Please, please tell me the name of the song, who sang it, you or Glen
Yarbrough, and where can I find it or how can I get it? Holly Ann.
Dear Holly Ann, The song you’re seeking is called Where Are We Now from
the CD Listen to the Warm. It’s available on line from
StanyanHouse.com.
Glenn has recorded it and so has Sylvia Syms but neither recording has
been released on CD. This past summer I did a duet of Where Are We Now
with Petula Clark for a projected Petula and Rod disc.
Speaking of Glenn he has a CD of my songs on Stanyan called I Think of
You. Here’s a rundown of the songs on the disc:
Kaleidoscope, I’ll Catch the Sun, Simple Gifts, The Single Man, Some of
Them Fall, Lonesome Cities, The Hotel Room, The Beautiful Strangers, I’m
Strong But I Like Roses, Listen to the Warm, To Watch the Trains, I’m
Not Afraid and the title song.
By the way Holly, Glenn’s daughter (and my Godchild) is named Holly too.
She’s a fine singer as well, proving the apple doesn’t fall too far from
the tree. All My Best, Rod
ROCK & ROD IN LONDON
I have acquired two copies of the afore mentioned
book. Please could you tell me a little of the history of this pictorial
and if it is of any value. They are in excellent condition, Ashton
Dear Ashton, "Hudson/McKuen First Recordings" isn't all that rare. A
couple of thousand copies were made & Stanyan House still sells them.
Here's the deal on the book. In 1970 I produced an album of Rock Hudson
singing my songs. The book contains photographs taken during the London
recording sessions. When the LP was released a copy of the book was
included with mail-order purchases. Thanks for asking. Cheers, Rod
AT LEAST I WASN’T MISTAKEN FOR ROD STEWART
Rod, I have a (fond) recollection from my
childhood of my parents playing a record of yours that included you
singing Lay Lady Lay. Is this real or imagined? If you did, what album
can I find it on? Sincerely, Dana Greer
Dear Dana, I've made a lot of records and sung a lot of songs but this
is the first time in the process that I have ever been mistaken for Bob
Dylan. I have recorded Blowin' in the Wind and I Shall Be Released but
alas no Lay Lady Lay. Come to think of it one of my album covers did
show me on "a big brass bed." Thanks for writing and all my best. Rod
AND
FINALLY
Because Webmaster Ken has been a good little boy all year long Santa
asked me to give him the month of December off from writing his usual
Wednesday column This One Does it for Me.
Well, that’s not completely true. Ken is always a good boy and a month
vacation is probably hardly noticed by him considering how many times he
covers for me throughout the year. By cover I mean when I fail to get my
copy in on time and he puts together the flight plan. And, he still does
all the posting.
But starting day after tomorrow and for the following three Wednesdays
join me for something a little different. Can I peak your interest by
hinting that the December 1st offering will contain sex, lies and
videotape?
Sleep warm.
RM 11/28/2001 7:19:PM PST
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