The Road

As I wrote at my FaceBook page: Early morning gassing up in Joseph City, Arizona ------ Traveling is a little bit of a trial, there’s no getting around the action stress has on yr body & psyche ------ self-portrait November 20, 2o19

As I wrote at my FaceBook page: Early morning gassing up in Joseph City, Arizona —— Traveling is a little bit of a trial, there’s no getting around the action stress has on yr body & psyche —— self-portrait November 20, 2o19

November 28, 2o19 Jazz @ Noon every Thursday (starts at 12:07 after the satellite news) Host MARK WEBER KUNM Albuquerque, USA 89.9 FM (Mountain Standard Time) also streaming on the web KUNM.org Current time zone offset: UTC*/GMT -6 hours (*Coordinated Universal Time)/Greenwich Mean Time)

THE ROAD

I can’t remember which book of Wright Morris’s where he talks about the early days of cars and roads out in Nebraska. Wright Morris (1910-1998) was a novelist and photographer, and wrote a famous book THE FIELD OF VISION. When cars and roads were new he pointed out how nerve-wracking it was to be on a road with another car approaching, and you were both going 30mph or whatever was consider’d fast back then, and you had to surmount the fright that you were driving straight into a head-on collision.

It was only 40,000 years ago we were Neanderthals. And 30,000 years ago we were Cro-Magnons. And now here we are speeding around at 80mph on 4-wheels?

Our Cro-Magnon ancestors were travelers. Mapping the DNA has shown this. We stumbled upon language /(spoken symbolism) 100,000 years ago, and 50,000 years ago a small band of us left Africa just to see what we could see. What’s over the next hill. Hitler tried to convince the German people that they were born of their valleys, an untenable concept in anthropology known as “continuity.” A culture can stay put but not a people. Germany has been criss-crossed a thousand times. Our genes are all mixed up together. I’ve never done a DNA test simply because my guess is I’m human, and of late, a variety of European blood. I have spoken many tongues. Although, I’m fond of the notion of racial memory, my sensible (German?) side finds it doubtful. Nature and culture are learned, not inculcated genetically. We’re all mongrels. (I would however be interested to see how much Neanderthal I retain. Or, like my friend the filmmaker Mary Lance who has Denosavan DNA!) We be making tracks. Natural-born travelers, always looking beyond the next hill, following the river upstream. And now, here we are driving all over hell and back. It can be a trial on my Neanderthal brain. I’m probably not fast enough a thinker to be driving. But, I have places to be and things to do. And until I master the art of teleportation or astral travel I’ll have to use a car.

Garuda is my hood ornament
Simply watching the white lines
Protector, the eagle.

Crossing into Arizona from New Mexico on my way out to California to hear Bobby Bradford’s new music, his Suite for Jackie Robinson Centennial ----------- Friday Noon November 15, 2o19 – photo by Mark Weber

Crossing into Arizona from New Mexico on my way out to California to hear Bobby Bradford’s new music, his Suite for Jackie Robinson Centennial ———– Friday Noon November 15, 2o19 – photo by Mark Weber

Those hills up ahead are where I pulled over in August 2o13 and wrote the final draft of poem “Crossing the Mojave and into the Highlands of Arizona” that appears as liner notes to cd PAYNE/LINDAL/LIEBOWITZ (Line Art Records) that’s Bill Payne(clarinet), Eva Lindal(violin), Carol Liebowitz(piano) ----- photo by MW November 16, 2o19 ----------------- (These type of shots from the front seat are merely point & shoot, I’m not looking through the viewfinder and composing, only picking the camera up and shooting blind---Not to worry anyone)

Those hills up ahead are where I pulled over in August 2o13 and wrote the final draft of poem “Crossing the Mojave and into the Highlands of Arizona” that appears as liner notes to cd PAYNE / LINDAL / LIEBOWITZ (Line Art Records) that’s Bill Payne (clarinet), Eva Lindal (violin), Carol Liebowitz (piano) —– photo by MW November 16, 2o19 —————– (These type of shots from the front seat are merely point & shoot, I’m not looking through the viewfinder and composing, only picking the camera up and shooting blind—Not to worry anyone)

This is the second batch of bikers in an hour ---- Hangman’s handlebars ---- I don’t know what year but that’s an old Indian-head bike ---- their colors: AMERICA’S CRUISERS ---- just outside Barstow on Rt.15 (Rt.40 ends/begins at Barstow and goes all the way east to Wilmington, North Carolina, 2,554 miles) ---- photo by MW November 16, 2o19

This is the second batch of bikers in an hour —- Hangman’s handlebars —- I don’t know what year but that’s an old Indian-head bike —- their colors: AMERICA’S CRUISERS —- just outside Barstow on Rt.15 (Rt.40 ends/begins at Barstow and goes all the way east to Wilmington, North Carolina, 2,554 miles) —- photo by MW November 16, 2o19

I have drove past this oddity for years and finally took the time to get off the highway and take some shots —- Yucca, Arizona, on old Route 66, off Rt.40 —- November 19, 2o19 —- photo by Mark Weber

I have drove past this oddity for years and finally took the time to get off the highway and take some shots —- Yucca, Arizona, on old Route 66, off Rt.40 —- November 19, 2o19 —- photo by Mark Weber

East of Flagstaff out-running a rain storm and predicted snow ---- dawn ---- Wednesday November 19, 2o19 heading home ---- photo by MW

East of Flagstaff out-running a rain storm and predicted snow —- dawn —- Wednesday November 19, 2o19 heading home —- photo by MW

Journal Entry – 6:06am —- Nov. 19:

This hotel on the edge of town
as Barstow expands
Stunning view south by southwest of
open desert and desert mountains
chaparral, mesquite, and the flow of lights
a steady stream on Rt.15 this Tuesday
morning out my window
Orange Pekoe tea cross-legged in bed
One of these drawers must have a Gideon’s
Hotels always have Gideon’s, not unless, as
the rumor goes: hostelry’s in America
are now run by (east) Indians and the
Gideon’s folks were uncomfortable asking Hindoos
if they could place their Bibles here for us
Wanderers, I’ll check the other drawers, there’s
a poem in this somewhere

Someone once asked me that if I could live anywhere in the world where would that be? And I said I asked myself that many years ago and I went there: New Mexico, astral travel, calabacitas, green chile stew, red rocks, ponderosas, good people of an old stock that built their own houses, grew their own vegetables, fixed their own cars, even started their own radio station: grass roots DIY people. Now, if someone would ask me where in this world I’d most like to visit, I’d say Babylon, where Babylon once stood, but we know that’s problematic these days, so, probably not in this life. And where, if I could time travel? Probably the city of Ur, Sumer, circa 2,285BC and visit the priestess/poet Enheduanna. But, we live in interesting times these days, (maybe a little too interesting with that weirdo living in the White House), but, interesting nevertheless. This photo just east of Laguna Pueblo on Rt.40 around 11am Wednesday about an hour west of Albuquerque and home November 20, 2o19 ---- photo by MW

Someone once asked me that if I could live anywhere in the world where would that be? And I said I asked myself that many years ago and I went there: New Mexico, astral travel, calabacitas, green chile stew, red rocks, ponderosas, good people of an old stock that built their own houses, grew their own vegetables, fixed their own cars, even started their own radio station: grass roots DIY people. Now, if someone would ask me where in this world I’d most like to visit, I’d say Babylon, where Babylon once stood, but we know that’s problematic these days, so, probably not in this life. And where, if I could time travel? Probably the city of Ur, Sumer, circa 2,285BC and visit the priestess/poet Enheduanna. But, we live in interesting times these days, (maybe a little too interesting with that weirdo living in the White House), but, interesting nevertheless. This photo just east of Laguna Pueblo on Rt.40 around 11am Wednesday about an hour west of Albuquerque and home November 20, 2o19 —- photo by MW

Portrait of Bobby Bradford ---- November 17, 2o19 – (BB’s desk in his studio) ---- photo by MW

Portrait of Bobby Bradford —- November 17, 2o19 – (BB’s desk in his studio) —- photo by MW

The Bobby Bradford Ensemble ---- November 17, 2o19 ---- photo by Mark Weber

The Bobby Bradford Ensemble —- November 17, 2o19 —- photo by Mark Weber

Tina Raymond is going to be someone to reckon with in jazz drumming, she’s already a great great drummer, having studied with Joe LaBarbara, and in high school in Detroit her band teacher was Marcus Belgrave, her new cd LEFT RIGHT LEFT is in constant rotation on the Thursday jazz show ---- photo by Mark Weber ---- Tina is an instructor of percussion at L.A. City College ---- Her drums are made by: Geo. H Way (that’s what it says on the kick drum)

Tina Raymond is going to be someone to reckon with in jazz drumming, she’s already a great great drummer, having studied with Joe LaBarbara, and in high school in Detroit her band teacher was Marcus Belgrave, her new cd LEFT RIGHT LEFT is in constant rotation on the Thursday jazz show —- photo by Mark Weber —- Tina is an instructor of percussion at L.A. City College —- Her drums are made by: Geo. H Way (that’s what it says on the kick drum)

The Bobby Bradford Ensemble (septet) ---- November 17, 2o19 ---- Don Preston(keyboard), Henry Franklin(bass), BB(cornet), Tina Raymond(drumset), Chuck Manning(tenor), Vinny Golia(baritone & alto saxophones, bass-clarinet), William Roper(assorted tubas) ---- photo by Mark Weber

The Bobby Bradford Ensemble (septet) —- November 17, 2o19 —- Don Preston (keyboard), Henry Franklin (bass), BB (cornet), Tina Raymond (drumset), Chuck Manning (tenor), Vinny Golia (baritone & alto saxophones, bass-clarinet), William Roper (assorted tubas) —- photo by Mark Weber

Vinny Golia on alto saxophone ------ November 17, 2o19 ---- photo by Mark Weber

Vinny Golia on alto saxophone —— November 17, 2o19 —- photo by Mark Weber

Vinny Golia and William Roper ---- November 17, 2o19 ---- photo by Mark Weber

Vinny Golia and William Roper —- November 17, 2o19 —- photo by Mark Weber

Late night at IHOP on Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena, William Roper inspects the menu ---- It was at this table I found out William used to play with Jimmy Cleveland’s low brass ensemble in L.A. ---- photo by Mark Weber ---- November 17, 2o19

Late night at IHOP on Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena, William Roper inspects the menu —- It was at this table I found out William used to play with Jimmy Cleveland’s low brass ensemble in L.A. —- photo by Mark Weber —- November 17, 2o19

Henry Franklin’s bass ---- November 17, 2o19 ---- photo by Mark Weber

Henry Franklin’s bass —- November 17, 2o19 —- photo by Mark Weber

You can’t go anywhere in Pasadena with Bobby Bradford without running into someone he knows ---- We were at our favorite diner Conrads when this former student stopped by our table ---- trumpeter Liz Butz ---- November 18, 2o19 – photo by Mark Weber

You can’t go anywhere in Pasadena with Bobby Bradford without running into someone he knows —- We were at our favorite diner Conrads when this former student stopped by our table —- trumpeter Liz Butz —- November 18, 2o19 – photo by Mark Weber

Our hero Terry Cannon, the man who makes things happen, even when cancer is trying to take him apart, the producer of this series of Bradford concerts for Jackie Robinson Centennial ---- Sunday November 17, 2o19 Boston Court Theater, 70 N Mentor, Pasadena ----- I go way back with Terry, having been the music columnist for his monthly arts & everything else magazine FOLLIES in the 1970s, a good guy

Our hero Terry Cannon, the man who makes things happen, even when cancer is trying to take him apart, the producer of this series of Bradford concerts for Jackie Robinson Centennial —- Sunday November 17, 2o19 Boston Court Theater, 70 N Mentor, Pasadena —– I go way back with Terry, having been the music columnist for his monthly arts & everything else magazine FOLLIES in the 1970s, a good guy

Self-Portrait east of Flagstaff ---- November 20, 2o19

Self-Portrait east of Flagstaff —- November 20, 2o19

12 Comments

  1. Jeanie McLerie

    Awesome as usual – Great road photos!!!

  2. Joe Somoza

    cool trip, great photos, New Mexico always most beautiful to come back to.

  3. Mark Weber

    THREE THINGS

    1) my trip was November 15 – 20

    2) I unwittingly wrote my opening text in the Japanese form we know as Haibun: A haibun is a prosaic paragraph followed by a denouement of a haiku ————— I have only wrote a few haibun in my life and have been meaning to get back to it, the form suits me

    3) Bobby Bradford’s commission from the Baseball Reliquary is called STEALIN’ HOME and is suite in 5 parts:
    1. Stealin’ Home
    2. Lieutenant Jackie
    3. Up from the Minors
    4. O for 3
    5. High and Inside

    written for the centennial of Jackie Robinson’s birth

  4. Mary

    Mark, my Denisovan DNA and the rest of me thank you for this great post. Excellent photos.

  5. joan jobe voss

    love the self portrait…remember Kell’s drawings he called “poor trait”? really love yr essay/soulful sentences abt DNA and anthro migration.. and hey, Wright Morris! i met him twice in 1978-79 up at Squaw Valley Writers Conf where i stayed in Oakley Hall’s house and drank booze w/Wirght Morris and Oakley and Paris Review’s founding ed Blair Fuller… at a local bar i taught their wives to disco dance to Bee Gees on jukebox… taught them some go-go steps, too; those were the days when people knew i was an ancient go-go girl they’d want a lesson.. hey, love that wooden lion carving, too… and all the fabulous pix… you keep gettin bettah, Mark…

  6. Paul Gonzales

    I always enjoy your photos and your writing. Thanks for sharing!

  7. Mark Bridwell

    Thanks Mark _ _ _ another great post ! Really enjoy these . Great to know “the Skipper” is still doin’ it _ _ what
    a career this man has had . Just came to find out that he was Hugh Masekela’s bassist in the Grazing In The Grass
    era .

  8. Sheila Jordan

    Great as always my friend. xoxoxxo Happy Thanksgiving. Sheila

  9. Mark Weber

    —————————————-playlist——————————-
    Thanksgiving Snowy Day Jazz Radio Show
    November 28, 2o19 —— KUNM Albuquerque
    Host MARK WEBER
    1. Alice Coltrane w/orchestra “Spiritual Eternal” 15aug75 Alice on organ – Lp ETERNITY
    2. Alice Coltrane solo harp “Wisdom Eye” — 5sept75 ETERNITY
    3. Claude Thornhill Orchestra “Snowfall” 1941
    4. Bill Frisell quintet “Billy in Prison” 1975 cd HAVE A LITTLE FAITH
    5. Ornette “Naked Lunch” soundtrack by Howard Shore 1992
    6. Wes Montgomery “Bumpin’” album BUMPIN (Verve) –20may65
    7. Tina Raymond Trio “Battle Hymn of the Republic” Jan. 2016 cd LEFT RIGHT LEFT
    8. Tierney Sutton “O Shenandoah/Water is Wide” –2011 cd AMERICAN ROAD
    9. Michael Bloomfield “Mood Indigo” MB overdubbed on all instruments, circa late-70s
    *The new biography GUITAR KING: MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD’s LIFE IN THE BLUES by David Dann
    Is tremendous, very comprehensive, all the stuff I’ve always wonder’d about
    10. Bill Frisell sextet, title track from THIS LAND (Oct.1992) chamber music
    11. Henry Franklin “Once in Awhile” w/ Henry featured on bass; George Harper(tenor), Donald Dean(drums), Gary Matsumoto(piano), Mark Waggoner(guitar)
    Cd HENRY THE SKIPPER LOOKING BACK Vol. 3 (SP Records)
    12. Yusef Lateef “Theme from movie Spartacus” 5sept61 w/Barry Harris(piano), Lex Humphries(drums), Ernie Farrow(bass), Yusef(oboe) album EASTERN SOUNDS
    13. Alice Coltrane on Fender Rhodes “Om Supreme” Lp ETERNITY
    14. Bucky Pizzarelli Guitar Quintet “Flashes”(Bix) – 1974
    15. Lenny Popkin Trio title track from NEW YORK MOMENT – 2004 w/ Carol Tristano(drums), Lenny(tenor), Eddie Gomez(bass)

  10. Mark Weber

    ————————–playlist——————————-
    The Abolish the Electoral College Jazz Radio Show
    December 5, 2o19 —-KUNM Albuquerque
    Host MARK WEBER
    1. Dexter Gordon Quartet “Tanya” –3may78 immortal album MANHATTAN SYMPHONIE
    2. Alex Murzyn Quartet w/ Cal Haines(drums), Colin Deuble(bass), Alex(tenor), Michael Anthony(guitar) “On the Trail” recorded at KUNM 19aug2o19
    3. Janet Feder solo guitar “Puppet” cd SPEAK PUPPET (2000)
    4. Janet Feder “Shouting Valley” as previous” fade into:
    5. Live telephone conversation with JANET FEDER from Colorado Springs, Colorado, regarding her 2 upcoming concerts this weekend in New Mexico
    6. Janet Feder title track from her recent vinyl album THIS CLOSE
    7. Bobby Bradford in conversation with Mark Weber – 18nov2o19 —– regarding his suite for Jackie Robinson Centennial “Stealin’ Home”
    8. Bobby Bradford Ensemble in concert 17nov2o19 Pasadena CA “Up From the Minors” *See Bobby Bradford Timeline for details

  11. Mark Weber

    ——————————-playlist———————————
    The Friday Jazz Show
    Friday the 13th December 2o19
    Substitute host Mr Bluesnitski aka Mark Weber
    KUNM Albuquerque —- in the midst of the congressional impeachment hearings
    1. Bill Frisell “Unsung Heroes” from 1991 cd WHERE IN THE WORLD
    2. Michael Bloomfield solo “Peepin’ on a Moanin’ Blues” 1977 Lp ANALINE
    3. Woody Herman Orch + Michael Bloomfield – March 1971 San Francisco “Hitch Hike on the Possum Trot Line” composed & arranged by Alan Broadbent
    4. David Fiuczynski & John Medeski “Pineapple” from cd LUNAR CRUSH (1994)
    5. Pharoah Sanders “You’ve got to have freedom” from Lp ED KELLY & FRIEND (Theresa, 1979) w/ Eddie Marshall(drums)
    6. Jimmy McGriff w/ 2 tenors Frank Wess & David Fathead Newman “Brother Griff” – May 1988 cd STRAIGHT AHEAD
    7. Al Kooper & Michael Bloomfield “Albert’s Shuffle” immortal album SUPER SESSION, 1968
    8. Lee Konitz (varitone alto) “A minor blues” cd STEREOKONITZ – 1968 w/ Franco d’Andrea(piano)
    9. Connie Crothers – Lenny Popkin Quartet w/ Carol Tristano(drums) & Cameron Brown(bass) “Soul in Minor” 1988 cd LOVE ENERGY
    10. Paul Bley Trio “Ida Lupino”(Carla Bley) ESP album CLOSER w/ Barry Altschul(drums), Steve Swallow(bass), Paul(piano) – 12dec11965 NYC
    11. Bill Frisell “Just Like a Woman”(Dylan) —–1993 cd HAVE A LITTLE FAITH
    12. JJ Johnson Sextet “Aquarius” one of my favorite albums: J.J. Inc. (Columbia) 1960
    13. Bill Frisell “Live to Tell” from HAVE A LITTLE FAITH

  12. Mark Weber

    ————————————–playlist——————————-
    Reindeer can really hang you up the most jazz radio show
    December 19, 2o19 ————-KUNM Albuquerque
    Host MaRK WeBEr
    1. Virg Dzurinko & Ryan Messina “Prelude” – 2o18/2o19 cd THIS TIME (New Artists Records)
    2. Don Patterson Trio “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” – 25nov64 w/Pat Martino(guitar), Don Patterson(organ), Billy James(drums)—Lp HOLIDAY SOUL (Prestige)
    3. Russell Big Chief Moore”s Pow Wow Jazz Band “Blues my naughty sweetie gives to me” – April 19, 1973 NYC w/ Russell(trombone), Ed Polcer(cornet), Jackie Williams(drums), Gene Ramey(bass), Dick Wellstood(piano) Lp JAZZ ART
    TRIBUTE to percussionist Emil Richards (2sept32 – 13dec2o19) trax 4-12
    4. Paul Horn Quintet “We Three Kings” Paul(flute), Victor Gaskin(bass), Emil(vibes), Paul Moer(piano), Milt Turner(drums) – 15aug62 Hollywood
    5. Billy May Orchestra “Mission Impossible Theme”(Lalo Schifrin)— Emil on bongos— 1967
    6. Plas Johnson Quintet “Sax 5th Avenue” – 1963 L.A. w/ Emil on vibes
    7. “Main Title” soundtrack PLANET OF THE APES w/ Emil on percussion & everything –1968
    8. George Shearing Quintet ON STAGE! (Capitol) Lp March 8, 1958 @ Claremont Colleges CA “I’ll Remember April” w/ Emil(vibes), George(piano), Toots Thielemans(guitar), Al McKibbon(bass), Percy Brice(drums)
    9. “The Revelation” PLANET OF THE APES
    10. Plas Johnson “Bury Me Blues” —Emil on orchestra bells
    11. Dizzy Gillespie & Lalo Schifrin “The Legend of Atlantis” —Lp THE NEW CONTINENT (Limelight) big studio orchestra of Hollywood hotshots – with I’m pretty sure Larry Bunker on the vibes and Emil on bongos –1962
    12. Shelly Manne soundtrack to DATARI – 1967
    13. Dave McKenna solo piano “O Tannenbaum” — 1997 cd CHRISTMAS IVORY
    14. Billy Mitchell “I had the craziest dream” –April 18, 1978 Lp THE COLOSSUS OF DETROIT (Xanadu) w/ Barry Harris(piano), Sam Jones(bass), Walter Bolden(drums), Billy(tenor)
    15. Dave McKenna “Don’t want no blues this Christmas” ibid.
    **With visitors on-mic Brandon Kennedy(Planet of the Apes) and Scott MacNicholl(regarding his imminent retirement from the airwaves)

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