California Love & Freedom

Driving up the 101 from a weekend spent in Irvine for Far West, following the Presidential debate and the Giants game on my Twitter feed, I reflected anew on how incredibly grateful I am to have grown up and still live in California. As we made our way north, from the beaches to the agricultural fields and rolling hills of the Central Coast, the Giants were winning and the debate... was giving me pause. My renewed gratitude for growing up in California wasn't completely about the game. It was about how fortunate I felt have lived amid diversity and varied lifestyles, freedom of speech and choice, and general encouragement for finding and expressing one's voice, and that I generally experience this on a daily basis.
"This is the best place there is," my dad, a WWII vet and native of San Francisco, used to tell me. Of course, I didn't believe him for many years, until I'd traversed much of the globe, and lived in a different state, double-checking for myself. And so California has always found me circling back. Its varied physical beauty, is of course a major draw, but the varied terrain reflects an equally diverse population I've come to expect.  Living in the Bay Area most of my life, I've been privy not only to beaches and mountains, but exposed to seemingly every color, denomination and mode of expression there is...and — mistakenly — thought it was that way everywhere. I so often take this for granted when the precariousness of our rights is highlighted by the gravity of what's at stake during an election. Especially, it seems, this one. I'm glad I get to inform myself and to vote. I very much hope you are too.

MUSIC BLOG WILDY’S WORLD JOINS FORCES WITH SONGWRITER DEBORAH CROOKS TO BENEFIT THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY

I'll write/record a song for you... for a cause! Check out Wildy's World Ebay Auction: Wildy is raising funds for Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society:  http://bit.ly/KeogUK.

From the official release:

"Music blogger Wildy (will-dee) Haskell (Wildy’s World) is offering an eBay auction from June 17-24, 2012 of an original song to be written by singer, songwriter and yogini Deborah Crooks.  The winning bidder will fill provide information about their wishes for the song in the form of a survey, and Crooks will then interpret this into song in her unique musical style.  All profits from this auction will be donated to The American Cancer Society through Wildy’s Relay for Life team, The Cave Crashers, who will be participating in the Geneva, NY Relay for Life on June 28-29, 2012."

WHAT: Auction of original song by Deborah Crooks
WHERE: eBay http://bit.ly/KeogUK
WHEN: June 17, 2012 – 8:00 PM EDT through June 24, 2012 8:00 PM EDT

CONTACT: William W. Haskell 716-691-7849 wildysworld@gmail.com

Next Up: Songwriter Serenade in Arcadia

I'm pleased to return to this sweet songwriter's showcase in Southern California run by J.C. Hyke. If you're in or around LA do come down for a night of accomplished songwriters in a friendly atmosphere.
"The Songwriter Serenade is a weekly show held every Tuesday night at Matt Denny's Ale House Restaurant & Bar.  It starts at 7PM and goes to 9:30.  Performers play their original songs for the audience on a lovely patio with a warm, inviting atmosphere.  There are all styles and genres of music, with 4 or 5 different songwriters each week.  The music is on a patio which is covered and has plenty of heaters for a warm, cozy evening.  It is located at 145 E. Huntington Dr. in Arcadia, CA 91006. There is parking around the back. "

One big weave

For the past few days everything has struck me as completely hilarious. It's that stranger-in-a-strange land complex that occurs when you realized how suddenly of your own country you really are. And India just shows me up as wholly American every moment I walk outside. From crossing the street: here you really should just stay your course and not stop when an oncoming vehicles appears to make a beeline in your direction, or ordering drinks ('big chai?' is the stock question for Westerners ordering at the tea stall who are used to something bigger than thimble full), I never feel so American as when I'm overseas.
This of course is a mixed blessing: often that translates as feeling a little too big, too loud, too set in a certain way, but it also makes me appreciate the differences in this big old world that much world. Eastern mind, collectively minded as it is, is oh-so-differently organized than I/me Western mind. Traffic is the prime example. It's really just one big weave. Oncoming traffic knows to cede way as necessary, albeit while never coming to a stop. I used to bike race, and the phrase, 'hold your line' often pops into my head as I'm crossing the crosswalk-free street...that is stay in your own invisible lane, but stay loose enough to swerve for the random surprise the road offers....which of course applies to life in general.