Anyone who has been around me much knows that when you do not hear from me for days at a time that something is going on which is pretty much all-consuming and from which I am unable, temporarily, to tear myself away from.

It usually is some kind of immediate and intense crisis.

Hopefully someone else's.

I say that respectfully, but of course.

It is no different here and now.

Except that, indeed, it is my own crisis which I am taking care of.

That is a most unusual thing.

Something few have seen and even fewer even believe in.

But, yes folks, I do have my own messes which I must clean up.

Can you even imagine such a thing?

I didn't think so.

But, there it is, in all of it's resplendent glory.

So, I have been very busy taking care of business and more business, and more business, until I am certifiably insane from it.

Now, please do not confuse "certifiably" insane with actual insanity, for they are two very different things.

At least that is what I am hoping.

Anyway, for the time being I have moved my office out onto the Rincon Highway.

This name is an old favorite of old timers from this area; you will not find it on the map.

By old timers I mean people who have been here since or before the 1950's.

This was once a very different place from what it is today.

I was there, and am still, so that I can tell you with the utmost certainty exactly what happened and when, as this county went from nothing to what it is today.

While it was marvelous to behold, it was less marvelous to see all of the unaccounted for destruction which it most definitely left in it's wake.

And here we stand today, wondering what is next?

Learned helplessness?

Or taking charge of the situation?

While it is so easy to say one or the other, it seems that taking charge will be much more difficult than merely saying the words or chanting some mindless political slogans.

And herein lies the problem.

There will be very few who will be up to the job.

But very many pretending to be.

And you will most certainly have more than your fair share of "Quislings" should you have any degree of success whatsoever.

And, there you have it.

But what has all of that got to do with music?

Well, this ---

I just picked up the "meanest" and "nastiest" subtractive synthesizer which I have ever seen.

Fortunately, it is made to be carried around with relative ease.

The keyboard is only three octaves (as compared with a typical six octaves on synth and 7 1/2 octaves on piano), but do not let that fool you for one second.

I took it out to the old Rincon Highway and set it up in my wide screen front windshield looking out onto the beautiful blue Pacific (within 20 feet of me and getting closer by the minute, by the way --- thankful for the seawall which I am sitting on).

Good place to work out just how this little baby works and just what "she" is capable of.

My preliminary tests this a.m. just completely blew me away.

In terms of synthesizers, this one is one of the finest I have ever heard or seen.

Leave it to Roland, who are bragging that this is the latest ideation of the "SH" line, which was the very first synth which they made, the SH-1000.

And you can tell that some crazy sound engineers were given free reign.

And they most definitely took full advantage of all opportunities given them, from the best I am able to see, so far.

So, after only a few minutes of testing I realized that I had better have a full audio/midi setup out here in the field.

This is not nearly as easy as it sounds.

I have done much field recording for many years and in many different scenarios, such that I can speak from abundant experience when I say this.

So, back into town in order to pay a visit to my local Guitar Center audio department.

You know it's not a good thing when everyone in the place knows you.

I would hate to see the total of all of the money spent there.

I think I would faint, even though I am the one and only person who should know how much that is.

But I was lost after I ran out of ten fingers, ten toes, one nose, two ears and two eyes.

That's as high as I can count without a calculator or a super-computer.

And can you believe that I actually started on a slide rule, before there even were any digital calculators or even digital watches.

It doesn't seem all that long ago to me.

But to many younger persons it must seem like a world which they cannot even imagine.

Anyway, I have to get going.

Just finished a number of errands while in several towns.

Now, onward and upward.

Just wanted whoever may care or have an interest that I am still alive and kicking.

And, oh man am I kicking.

The wonderful sound of around the clock waves on the beach which I spent many months on throughout my childhood, complete with a roaring train every several hours, is just the thing my poor rattled nerves needed.

Hope this finds all well with all of my loved ones.

I love you all very much and hope that you all realize it, and just what that means.

I have no communication other than cell phone on my very private line.

Only hospitalizations and deaths.

Everything else simply must wait (except for the every day business, of course).

It's been fun.

Hope to post photos soon.

Both of Zurich, and of Rincon Highway.

Oh, by the way, the old timers thing was this.

When I was a kid and lived on this highway it was PCH 1.

Pacific Coast HIghway.

Then a freeway was built parallel to it so that it became known as Old HIghway One.

But to the locals it has always been known as the RIncon Highway.

The reason why is because the Rincon Beach is at the north end of this stretch of highway.

The Rincon Beach is just the other side of the county line, in Santa Barbara County, our neighbor to the north.

When I was a kid and growing up on these beaches we called each individual beach by it's well known old name.

It wasn't until I started working in the ambulance that I heard a couple of real old timers calling the roads by the old names.

One of them was the son of the HIghway Patrol Captain of our county, and had more reason than most to know the old names.

It was then that I realized that the people in the city of Ventura had always referred to the entire 20 mile stretch as "the Rincon", while to me, who actually lived on the beaches, each beach was named by it's own individual name, and we didn't even have a generic name or regional name, it never entering any of our heads that we needed or wanted such a thing.

So, that is what I was referring to.

To some, it is meaningless drivel.

To me, it is of the most profound significance.

And there you have it.

Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward men.

That is the command which I last heard.

I wonder just how committed you, or you, or you are willing to be?

To the death?

Really ---?

I have been there many times..

But I definitely do not remember seeing you there ever?

Why do you suppose that would be so?

AND PLEASE REMEMBER!
this is for entertainment;
so do not get too serious about it, please.

And mothers, please keep your children away from this site.

REMEMBER SOCRATES, and SENECA.

It can be very dangerous business to disagree.

Oh, and finally,

CHILDREN, please do not try these things at home!

Have I missed anything?  or anybody?

vw

7:02 p.m. pst
Ventura, California, USA

Friday
4-27-12

p.s.

you know, that reminds me.

I was asking myself the day after Friday the 13th whether there can be a delayed Friday the 13th such that you get wiped out on the 14th, instead.

Then one week later, what about a delayed by one week Friday the 13th?

And, OH NO!!!

You guessed it, I am paralyzed with fear because of the infamous "doubly delayed" Friday the 13th, today!

Hmmmmm, maybe I won't go out after all?

What do you think?

I just want to make myself perfectly clear now, that I am not superstitious, you gotta understand.

It's just that I don't let no black cat cross my path and I do not walk under ladders, or step on the crack that will break your mother's back, or throw salt over my shoulder, etc., etc.

No, no, not me, no sirreee (how do you spell that, anyway?)

T-H-A-T?