I have traveled about 1800 miles one way to reach Arizona and then back again. It was quite a journey, and it’s been one helluva few weeks. When I finally returned here to homebase2 (homebase1 is the house without internet), I was so tired I thought I was floating. But a lot was done… just not as much on Akashik as I would like. Finally, though, I can talk about what’s been going on.
Point #1: Please enjoy this picture of a cat who may be regretting his life decisions. For those that don’t know, I had traveled to Arizona for an oral history project involving a certain folk singer. While there I wasn’t able to work on 3D, but I didn’t want to lose my groove so I did some rare actual drawings/paintings instead. Ta da.
Point #2: I and those financing my travel have made it no secret that I had gone to see none other than Leslie Fish, a folk and filk artist who has been around long enough to see some amazing history come and go. My goal was to archive the melodies to all of her unrecorded songs for posterity. And boy did we record. Hours of recording. Lots of talking.
She worked the tips of her fingers literally to bloody sores from playing the guitar. This meant of course we had to take down time here and there. Being Jewish and having been a protestor during the Vietnam War, she’s very invested in what’s happening with Israel and Palestine right now so she’d pretty much spend her time watching and rewatching news reports. (I suspect the common malady of being addicted to the internet didn’t help. LOL. Aren’t we all, though.) And I would paint, practice my own music, and spoil her cats.
Leslie is a polarizing figure, but not because she’s become extreme in her old age. (Probably has a little less self control with her mouth… maybe… which is how elders are. I say suck it up on that, for we all are going to either be old or dead someday.) She doesn’t bother me, to be honest. Her behavior reminds me of my grandfather. I’ve been telling her that we’re cousins (which is a native American joke), 165th removed of course. It drives her nuts. :-p
The audio I have collected will be going to a filk music archive for history’s sake, and I have the cool job of taking these files and slicing them up by song. Some will be for public consumption. Probably more than not. If any are for sale, I’m told proceeds will fund my next trip to help get her to studio. Just like Alice Cooper, one should never stop playing.
Point #3: The biggest obstacle to getting anything done when I was at homebase2, where I’d set up the Akashik work station, was my neighbor. You see, she had decided to attempt what’s called an adverse land acquisition. In Illinois, where homebase2 is located, the laws are written so that it can be very legal to steal someone’s property. That cray cray neighbor of mine was going to do it, too. And she wanted nothing less than….
… part of my front lawn.
Why? You may ask. Greed? Oh surely so. But I’ve known for a few years now – because she’s cray cray and ran her mouth – that she wanted that corner of my yard to make her property “look more square”. Our houses are located in a cul de sac. Insane. I tell you. Bloody nuts.
I spent more time than I should have trying to deal with that, to defend the property. There’s a lot of drama to it. I’ve been putting updates on Youtube. I’m probably going to start a gofundme over the matter, because that neighbor isn’t working alone. Oh no. Oh no no no no. The whole neighborhood was invested in this.
For now, thanks to an honest land surveyor, I’ve won that battle. I’m not stupid to think it’s over, though.
Point #4: Our finances are stupid drained because of everything. The internet is shut off at homebase1 with no hope of turning it back on soon. Car payments are behind. Lights are… well they’re insane high to start with. So I can’t predict what’s gonna happen.
Thus: enjoy this cat. And know I’m still out there. I’ll post the other two paintings I managed to complete if you wanna see ’em. 🙂
It’s gonna feel good to be able to open Akashik again, though. And maybe I’ll have another song out soon. I hope so.