road trip: b&n modified roadster --- part 1

i’m delivering this story in 3 parts - acts, if you will.

when i was a kid, in the 1960s. . . back when i first started going out to the bonneville salt flats, the baddest of modified roadsters (usually, a 1927 model-t body that has been streamlined ahead of the windshield. you can do anything you want as long as you don’t cover the tires and wheels. the cockpit can also have a tonneau cover and roll cage faring.) was the b&n automotive #120 modified.

a brief bio:

after several years in and around the world of drag racing, in its pioneering years, northern californians bert peterson and noel black came together to form b&n automotive and started racing on the salt flats.

after success with a blown gas hiboy, they wanted higher speeds and therefore built, what would become, the world’s fastest roadster.

a few weeks ago, while talking on the phone with my dad, i learned that our partner, jim lattin, had rick peterson (no relation to bert peterson), a veritable magician when it comes to fabrication, restore the historic modified and would be inducting it into his antique race car museum in encinitas, california with a reception at the museum.

after receiving further details from jim and b&n automotive archivist, john sprenger (later a partner with bert following noel’s death in 1970), i decided i needed to be there for the ceremony.

john sprenger

the year noel was killed was my first year to become a part of what would be known as “the b&n bad guys.” i was just a kid shagging parts and receiving melvins from bert’s son, steve, and steve’s friend, frank “jive-ass” silva as we ran the motion 1 streamliner, which was hoped to break the wheel-driven land speed record of 354 mph.

frank "jive ass" silva

it was the greatest time of my youth!

mee sook and i left pebble beach on friday, march 14 at around 1030 hours under a cloud of clouds and intermittent showers on the day prior to the roadster’s induction. we were going to take rt. 1 down to santa maria, then cut over to i-5, but with such a late start we headed east to salinas and jumped on hwy. 101 going south. by the time we reached soledad, the sun was shining and the wildflowers were beginning to open.

i drove east on 46 from paso robles for the most scenic stretch of the day’s drive. the mostly ag-country was bright and green after a fairly moist spring and speckled with fields of mustard blooms and california poppies that were so brilliant the fields looked like they were ablaze.

a quick stop at a fruit and nut stand, alleged to be james dean’s last stop before being killed just west of there, we were on i-5 and heading over the grapevine.

after jumping off of i-5 and onto i-210, it wasn’t long (now approaching 1600 hours) before we were knee deep in traffic as we headed east out of pasadena.

i cannot believe ron wants to move us down to this mess!

before heading down to our hotel in san marcos, we were on our way to my old neighborhood in west covina to visit some very dear friends; popsie and leo, whom i have not seen since june, 1981. before going to their house, however, we stopped by the old thriftimart, now some other small chain grocery store, to grab a bouquet of flowers for popsie (we picked up some chili and lime pistachio nuts at james dean’s last stop for leo). as the automatic door opened to allow us entry, i passed an old mexican man on his way out who was looking at me like he knew me. i’m sure i looked like i was looking at him like i knew him, too.

“is that you, greg?” the old mexican asked.

it was leo!

what are the odds of that?

he had run down the road to grab some avocados for guacamole and was on his way out as we were on our way in.

amazing!

after hugs in the doorway, leo split to get the avocados to popsie while mee sook and i, the only non-spanish speaking people in the market, grabbed a bunch of flowers and headed over to the old neighborhood.

i first met popsie and leo around 1972, not long after they moved into the neighborhood. they quickly became the big brother and sister i never had! i did a lot of growing up at their house. i learned about jazz, how to cook real mexican food and more things than i can mention in this blog. i have missed them dearly and i am so happy to be back in-touch with them after all these years!

it was like i had been over there only a week ago! except that we were all older (gj, their son, who was born after i first became a part of the family, is now the age popsie and leo were when i first started hanging out with them) and leo had remodeled the house, nothing has changed; popsie is still as beautiful as she was when we were young and leo is still the short mexican with big arms and a heart to match.

just like in the old days, we listened to music, ate enchiladas (with popsie’s special sauce) and talked, talked, talked!

i have never loved two people so much, who are not a part of my family, as i do them.

they are the family i have chosen to compliment my family.

their oldest daughter, yvette, whom i used to baby-sit along with her sister nicky, now lives in, of all places, reno and has been there for the past 5-years, or so. i cannot believe it! there’s a good chance yvette used to listen to me on the radio and never knew it was me, since i don’t use my real name on the air.

small world!

far too soon, we had to leave to drive the rest of the way down to san marcos.

the ride down was bittersweet, having seen my good friends and missing them already! i love them dearly!

not-so-bright and not-so-early the next morning mee sook (a little hungover from the wine at popsie and leo’s and the jack daniels and mota in the hotel room) and i headed down to carlsbad to have breakfast with “the gunslinger”, a friend whom, up to that morning, i had not yet met.

i have known of bill for several years and have been carrying on a phone relationship with him since july, but this was the first time we were to meet face-to-face.

again, it was a great time with a great friend! the food, pretty good and satisfying, was not nearly as close to my heart as popsie’s enchiladas. still, i would be willing to return for another meal. it’s just a tough one to top popsie’s cooking! sorry, al!

after breakfast we drove down the coast another couple of miles and up the hill to find jim’s museum. after making sure of its locat, which was not as easy as googlemaps lead me to believe, we went to the hotel for a brief nap before coming back for the festivities.

upon our return, jim’s museum was all i expected and more! what a great collection of historic race cars and antique motorcycles. i had seen several of the cars and bikes at jim’s old museum in pomona, but it was not as extensive as the new locat here in encinitas; indy cars, including ralph de palma’s 2-man miller roadster (besides building winning cars, harry miller designed the engine that would later be known as the offenhausser, which ruled indy in the 40s and 50s), sprinters, midgets (in all variations) and several cars i have been fortunate enough to have driven over the years, including, of course, the redhead streamliner!

mee sook, who knew absolutely nothing about any of the cars, or the places where they raced, for that matter, was completely captivated by all the vehicles, especially the more exotic cars, like the redhead.

but, it was the b&n modified we were all there to see!

and what a great job rick did recreating the look of the car from its heydays back in the mid-60s! the paint (ice blue and midnight blue accents with black cobwebbing in the lighter color) matched the 1967 paint job with the lettering it had in 1965.

i was also able to visit with more friends i have not seen in years! too many to name, but they all asked if my dad was there. when i said “no” they all wanted me to tell him hi, which i would do in two days time.

i was able, of course, to spend time with jim and his son, bill, and john sprenger and frank “jive ass” silva from the b&n bad guys.

damn, we’re all getting old!

when the time seemed right, mee sook and i slipped quietly out and took a short drive down to san diego before returning to the hotel room in san marcos.

it was a wonderful day, but we had more driving to do the next day!

road trip: b&n modified roadster --- part 2

we did get to bed a little earlier saturday night than on the previous night, but we were still pretty ragged when we awoke on sunday for our next stretch of the trip.

neither of us yet ready for breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed east toward anza borrego state park. by the time we reached ramona, we were ready for something to eat. we found a grocery store with a starbucks and, while mee sook shopped for mobile breakfast food items, i ordered coffee for me and tea for her. it was at this time that i realized that i did not have my visa card with me.

i had used it earlier, back in san marcos, when i walked across the street to get coffee at that starbucks, but it was not in my bundle of ids and other essentials.

back to san marcos!

i got a key to our room before housekeeping entered and, there it was, sitting on top of the entertainment center.

well, that put us back about an hour. but, at least i got my card back!

on our way to anza borrego we passed several cars topped with snow that were coming in our direction. later, when we arrived in mojave to spend the night, the news would have several stories about the snow in san diego county.

it had been years since i had been to anza borrego and didn’t remember too much about the trip i took with my grandmother and great-aunt jo-jo back when i was about 15. so, i had no idea where we were to go to see the wildflower bloom, which was supposed to be just falling off of peak from a few days earlier.

the original plan was to hookup with one of my geocaching friends, fossillady, who lives there and works for the california state park system. but, since we were so late getting there, having had to turn around to go back and get my visa card, there was no time to visit with her and get the bird’s-eye-low-down (a firesign theatre reference) on where to look. so, i just trusted my judgment and instincts.

i drove north out of borrego springs until i noticed about a dozen cars parked on the side of the road.

this must be the place. or, at least, one of the places!

and it was!

we were a little too early for the cacti to be in full bloom, although we did see a couple of beaver tail cacti and one cholla sporting flowers, but the desert floor was alive with orange, yellow, purple and white flowers. not being a horticulturalist, i cannot tell you what they were except: beautiful!

we made two huge loops through the desert, stopped for a few minutes in a shallow wash for a motabreak and to get close to some of the little belly-flowers and headed back to the car.

as we drove toward the salton sea, we came upon another group of cars; this time about 50 of them parked along the road. i think this was what is called henderson canyon.

again, we were treated with orange and purple and, this time, a type of primrose (i only know this because we get an evening primrose in northern nevada that smells lovely when they open at night).

another quick loop into the des and we were back on the road again!

we worked our way around the western shore of the salton sea and over to i-10 and drove up to san bernardino before heading east on i-15, over cajon pass and onto the mojave desert; my old stomping grounds and friend!

it was full-on dark by the time we reached our hotel room in the town of mojave.

slumber came quickly that night. unfortunately, even though we slept-in a little later than we had the two previous mornings, so did morning!

road trip: b&n modified roadster --- part 3

there is no coffee suitable for drinking in mojave!

so, we (mostly myself) bit the big one and headed west to the “mountain spirit” korean buddhist temple, which is in a lone canyon outside of tehachapi.

mee sook had been talking about this temple for about two weeks as we began planning our trip. it was built by an american who is a korean buddhist monk.

and what a job he did in creating the wonderful site.

unlike the other buddhist temples i had visited with mee sook, this one looked like what i would expect!

unfortunately for mee sook, the monk she was hoping to meet was not there. we did, however, meet a very charismatic monk who, despite not speaking much english, could have convinced me to do just about anything!

he did teach me some very basic techniques for meditating and totally entranced mee sook. he was all she talked about for the next several hours after leaving.

before we did leave, however, we were invited to join him for lunch. since we did not have breakfast, it was quite welcome and very tasty.

but, i could not wait to get down to rosamond to find a place where i could buy a cup of coffee. i attempted to find the starbucks, which i was told by david heavener, who has a home and movie studio in tehachapi, does exist in tehachapi. but, i was not successful in finding its locat.

by the time we got coffee (even mee sook was ready for a cup at this point) and was back in mojave, heading north on 395, it was after 1300 hours.

it was still another 6-hours to fallon, nevada and my father, brother and best friend willy, where we would spend that night.

it was about mid-trip that mee sook pulled the rug from under me: she told me that she had decided to ask the monk that we met to be her “master.” this meant that there was no room for me in her life!

what?????????

not an hour earlier, she was telling me how she wanted to live with me and build a life that would, eventually, take us to moab, utah.

now, she’s telling me that it’s been great but it’s all over!

all very clinical!

all very oriental!

great! not only do i have to deal with the feelings of a broken heart, i’ve got to do it while trying to see my brother, father (whom i have not seen since i left nevada last july) and best friend (whom i have not seen since he made his ill-fated move to colorado in 2006) willy of “the adventures of monty and willy”!

maybe i can just drive off of one of the cliffs along walker lake!

# # # # #

so, i didn’t drive off of the cliff.

it was about 2030 by the time we pulled into fallon for a quick stop to see my dad and brother before heading over to willy’s to spend the night in his spare bedroom.

we hung out for an hour or so before we all hit the sack.

i was up early the next morning so i could spend some more time with willy before he had to go to work then it was back to my dad’s to visit with him before he went to the doctor for a checkup, which gave me a little time to hang with mark before loading a few boxes of cd’s in the back of the taurus and heading back to california.

after a brief stop at mustang (home of the infamous “mustang ranch” brothel) to visit with my friends jim and gerri for a few minutes we were back on the road and heading to the monterey peninsula.

appropriately enough, i suppose, i loaded mee sook’s luggage into her car as the sun was setting; the end of a weekend that took my emotions from one extreme to another.

whata weekend!

i had another amazingly wonderful weekend with mee sook!

you may notice that i have changed the spelling of her name. i was confused as to how to spell her name from when i first met her. the reason: when she first came to the united states in 1978, immigration misspelled her name. knowing how people can be prejudiced-jerks, i assumed they misspelled it: mesuk, as in: me suck. they did, however, misspell it misuk.

mee sook tells me that her name translates the following way:

mee = beautiful me.

sook = clearly.

clearly, she is!

we attempted to begin friday night with a view of the sunset, but the sun was not to be seen. so, we went over to allegro at the barnyard in the mouth of carmel valley for vittles.

following a mediocre italian dinner we drove out to “our beach” (mine and ron’s), wrapped up in a blanket and watched the waves for an hour or so.

on saturday we went hiking for the third time in garrapata state park between carmel-by-the-sea and big sur. we hiked up the canyon into the redwoods, ate berries and sourdough bread next to soberanes creek sitting on a fallen redwood and hiked up to our “secret spot.” i’d tell you where it is, but it is a secret spot!

we returned to the peninsula in time to watch the sunset at “our beach.”

today, mee sook called me to say that she needed to run up to santa clara to pick up some items for a friend whose mother is dying of cancer.

while we were in korea town we stopped by the buddhist temple then went over to one of the korean barbeque house. i thoroughly enjoyed a beef dish, which name i cannot remember and mee sook had a cold buckwheat noodle dish with beef strips. the dishes came with a variety of peripheral dishes, which included: 3 types of kimchi (napa cabbage, turnip and cooked napa cabbage), soy beans, steamed spinach, dried anchovies, fish cakes, some kind of soufflé and green tea. my dish also came with steamed rice. the meals were brought to a close with cups of rice water that is similar to mexican horchata, but without the condensed milk.

i enjoyed most of the meal completely. i was not all that into the dried anchovies and the turnip kimchi. but, i really enjoyed the shredded beef, the fish cakes, napa cabbage kimchi and the soufflé!

on our way back we needed to stop in gilroy. since, we took her car (i drove), we needed to go back to watsonville, where i left my car. so, i drove over hwy. 152 up into the redwoods.

as we reached the crest i saw a sign for mt. madonna county park, onto which i quickly turned.


we hadn’t been in the park for 10-minutes before a bobcat ran up the road in front of us.


we parked overlooking gilroy for several minutes, watched a banana slug, then drove to one of the hiking trails and strolled amongst the redwoods for about 90-minutes.


we left the park from the west side of the mountain and arrived into watsonville through a very scenic area.


the perfect ending to a perfect weekend!

adrian belew in san francisco

not only has it been a long time since i have contributed to my blog, it has been even longer since seeing my friend, adrian belew, in concert.

not any more!

but, it almost didn’t come to this point.

i awoke saturday morning with one of my head- aches knowing i would not only have to drive all the way to san francisco, and try to keep a positive attitude for my friend mee sook, i was also going to have to sit-out a lecture with sosso (ron. someday, i’ll tell the story of nicknames. . . maybe) at california state university of monterey bay for their entertainment business (or, something-or-an-other) class.

i met misook not-so-bright-and-early at 0900-hours at the safeway in pacific grove, as it is so difficult to find the castle out here in pebble beach. after mee sook (pron: mee-sook) arrived in the parking lot, we headed out to pebble to park her car and then drove up to marina and the former site of fort ord for ron’s lecture.

as per usual: ron talked forever!

we scheduled him to talk for ½-hour. that turned into 1-hour-and-45-minutes.

well, it looks like we might have scored an intern or two to help on our projects and the instructor, when ron pointed-out my personally-stitched patchwork levis was because i was attending the abpt concert, announced that she was aware of adrian, robert fripp, king crimson, the bears and even the league of gentlemen i knew it was a good sign and the day would, eventually, improve.

when sosso finally wrapped up the lecture, mee sook and i hit the road for san francisco and our room at the hotel whitcomb.

all the way there mee sook, a licensed personal-care nurse and masseuse, massaged my head and shoulders while we listened to adrian’s 4 most recent releases: “side 1”, “side 2”, “side 3” and "side 4 (live)”.

when we arrived at the whitcomb, we were surrounded by rastafarian-types (dressed in the, apparently, obligatory black, red, yellow and green) also having their cars parked and checking into their rooms; it seems that, there was a reggae concert nearby, perhaps at the warwick, where i, along with my brother mark/ivan, last saw adrian when he was playing with king crimson (more on the krim later). all the time we were in the whitcomb the entire building carried the aroma of very-high-quality marijuana. not that i know that from experience.

no sooner had we entered our room than mee sook chased me into the bathroom to take an extra hot shower. upon my return she had stripped my bed and had me lay upon the top as she began the best and longest massage (almost 2-hours) i have ever experienced. by the time she was done, i was so relaxed it didn’t matter if i had a headache or not; i was more relaxed than i imagined possible.

and the headache was (mostly) gone.

we went downstairs for a wonderful dinner; i had seafood alfredo and mee sook had some-kind of grilled salmon: the other pink meat.

while we were eating i got a call from my tribal-friend rena (tickledrop) saying she was also eating dinner and would arrive at slim’s at about the same time i anticipated mee sook and i would.

after dinner we went upstairs to grab our umbrellas (did i forget to say a major storm was marching its way across the california coast?) and back down to the concierge to have him call for a cab.

eric, the hotel’s concierge, however, was unable to get the cab company to answer their phone. so, we decided to walk the 8-blocks, instead of waiting. fortunately, the rain had let-up to a fine mist, albeit quite windy.

as we wove our way in-and-out of buildings and streets we bucked the wind as we got closer and closer to slim’s. at one point the umbrella mee sook was holding (not sure why as it was not raining at this point) began to collapse against itself until she retracted it.

no sooner had we arrived at slim’s, to stand in line with about 30 other fans, than rena and her friend laurie/lori walked up to joins us. moments later, jen, my singing friend, and her boyfriend rené called saying they were just around the corner and would be joining us soon.

when the doors finally opened and we all began to enter, i was stopped by security and told i could not enter with my camera. apparently, only small pocket cams were allowed; the slr didn’t fit that description. so, they confiscated it and held onto it until the concert was over-and-done-with. not that i could have shot anything with it from either of the seats we occupied.

the pictures of the trio on this blog-post are courtesy of mark coleman from the planet crimson website.

i’m getting too old to want to stand at the front of the stage (after the show, adrian asked me where i was during the concert. i pointed to the balcony and said i’m getting to old to stand at the boards. his reply: “i’m getting to old to stand on stage!”) so, mee sook and i took the first table we could find, which was too short to see the tops of the mic stands. we stuck it out at that table through saul zonana’s performance (which i have to say i really love the sound of his guitar but i’m not sure i care that much for his musical style), but jennifer and renée were gracious enough to surrender their seats in the balcony to us and we were able to watch the trio while they danced on the floor below.

thanks, jen!

when we assumed our new positions up in the balcony, i received a tap on my shoulder and turned to find andrea standing there with geoff sitting just a few tables away; it’s always great to meet up with old and new friends at adrian belew/king crimson concerts!

and what a concert it was!

the trio hit the stage smokin’ and never let up! julie and eric slick - sister and brother rhythm section (bass and drums, respectively) - have all the prowess it takes to keep up with the master who is some 16-years older than their combined ages. these kids are going to go a long way in the music business! you deserve to be proud, robin!

they played all of the songs you can hear on “side 4 (live)” and even more, including the first live version i have heard in person of the krim song “neurotica”. they must have played at least half-a-dozen king crimson songs and, despite just being a trio with one lead-instrument, never lacked energy, execution, excitement, exuberance (these are words with an “e” this time), extrusiveness, effusiveness, effervescence, enthusiasm, or entertainment!

what surprised me the most was how much mee sook enjoyed the concert; she was dancing in her seat all night and never stopped telling me how much she liked the music. even the atonal pieces/sections put broad smiles on her face. “it’s so beautiful!” she kept saying. on our walk back to the hotel, she told me that she had seen kenny rogers, dolly parton (i’m sorry to hear that, mee sook), eric clapton (getting better) and (uncle) ray charles (right on!) and none of them were anywhere near as good as adrian! “i never dreamed anyone could make music like that or make the guitar sound the way he made it!”

i dream of it all the time!

before adrian came out to say hi to those of us still in the building, young eric was out on the stage breaking down his trap set. mee sook said she wanted to meet him. during the show she kept saying how impressed she was with the “the boy playing drums.” so, i introduced myself and told him that mee sook wanted to shake his hand. she said she was never going to wash her hand!

too cute!

before too long, adrian came out to greet us.

as mee sook, jen, rené and i approached him, adrian looked at me from about 20 feet out, smiled and said, “gregory (he knows me by my real name)! where the hell have you been?” it will be 5-years next month since adrian and i have spoken, so it was a treat to not have to remind him who i am. mark/ivan and i tried to talk with adrian after the kc warwick show back in november of 2003 but he snuKc out between rain showers. and willy and i tried to meet with adrian at slim’s in october 2005 when he was playing with the adrian belew power trio mki with no avail.

we talked for a few minutes and ade asked me where i’m living now.

“pebble beach.”

“you mean the home of concours?”

nodding with a smile i said “yap!”

“i’ve wanted to go to concours all of my life! what time of year is it?

“it’s the third week in august! i’ll get you passes and you’ll be my guest!

“ooh. . . i can’t promise anything yet. king crimson has a 10-day tour in august and i can’t remember the dates.”

half jokingly i said, “well, play one of those dates at concours!”

“oh, they’re already booked so i can’t change them.”

“bummer!”

“but, if the dates don’t conflict i promise i will take you up on your offer!”

so, i may have the opportunity to be adrian’s tour guide around pebble beach and see the cars at concours d’elegance.

longer than most of our post-concert conversations, but still all to quickly we said our goodbyes and we left slim’s.

before leaving, i finally had a chance to meet adrians wife, martha; lovely woman!

we walked with jen and rené to their car, said goodbye, and walked back to the hotel as the rain had subsided and it was not too cold and actually felt good to be in the air.

the next morning, after having breakfast and packing up the bags to leave, we waited for an empty elevator to reach our floor. eventually, we decided to take the stairs (we were only on the 3rd floor). i grabbed all of the bags so mee sook could take the doors.

she opened the door walked into the hall, turned to hold the door open for me and tumbled ass-over-teakettle halfway down the staircase. i was certain we’d be calling the ambulance to take her out of there!

she was only banged-up a bit and took a little skin off of one of her fingers from the strap of her purse, i assume.

we stepped out onto the 2nd floor and i put her in the next elevator while i walked down the rest of the way with all of the bags.

her right ankle was pretty swollen and she had a small bump on her head but was, all things considered, in pretty good shape. she was pretty sore yesterday but says she's much better today.

on the way out of town we stopped by a buddhist temple, but it was packed with people there for some special lunch, so we decided to split. but, not before heading over to the marina and up to fort point, where the waves were so fierce, even here in the bay, they were coming up over the road.

we drove around the north end of the peninsula, into golden gate park and out to the coast.

the waves were amazingly high at ocean beach, so high that the pier was closed.

we continued south, taking the long way all the way back to the monterey peninsula via route 1, enjoying the views all the way.

on our way we stopped at moss landing for lunch and watched two mother otters and their babies as they floated on their backs in the still water of the marina and continued our southerly drive into carmel valley and over to the korean buddhist temple.

we lit candles and incense and shared tea with one of the monks.

this was my first visit to a buddhist temple, something i have been interested in for the past few years, but the monk spoke very little english, so mee sook had to translate everything from korean.

he did, however, make me feel very comfortable and gave me a copy of the prajnaparamita sutra printed, in english on a very large sheet of rice paper (suitable for framing) as we shared several cups of green tea.

it was a great way to bring our san francisco/adrian belew weekend to a close!

riding the storm into 2008

it has been an interesting few weeks around the castle!

unlike with thanksgiving, i had a warning that i was going to be the christmas chef. after seeing how the prior holiday was planned i decided that i needed to take control over christmas dinner instead of christmas dinner taking control of me.

the only negative input i got on thanksgiving dinner, despite me putting it together, with practically no notice, on thanksgiving eve, was that i didn’t make enough gravy. everyone thought it was great; they just thought that i didn’t make enough.

susie’s family have this tradition on the day after thanksgiving and christmas days which requires a great amount of leftover turkey gravy; they use it to top pancakes!

i guess it’s a ritual that’s been handed-down these many years.

and with the prince coming in from, at that time, soon-to-be-submerged fernley, nevada, copious amounts of gravy would be required.

to make sure that we were going to have enough gravy, we took a drive up to watsonville to hit the hostess day old bakery. as with the other stores in this chain, they sell southeastern mills gravy products.

i have had great gravy experiences with se mills’ country and peppered gravies and their cheddar cheese sauce; all made with water.

really!

end of commercial

i have not used it, but i have heard that the turkey gravy is very good, too.

i used that with the practice turkey.

yes!

ron required a practice turkey on december 22.

why roast two turkeys when you can roast one?

don’t ask!

but, i saved all of the drippings from the practice turkey and the stock i cooked down from the neck for the final bird.

i was also able to use the carcass to further make a rich stock.

i roasted the carcass, along with the neck from the final bird, in a really hot oven for about 40-minutes, adding a quartered-onion, some baby carrots, celery and garlic at about 20-minutes into the process and tossing in some rosemary, thyme and sage in the roasting pan in the last 5-minutes.

i boiled that in spring water for hours, filtering and reducing until it reached a rich, brown color and lump-free in viscosity.

the next day, i showed-up at the dollhouse with a turkey, roasted prime rib, dressing (my best ever!), cranberries (my best ever!) and mashed potatoes (i was told barbie insisted on bringing the side-dishes; the green bean/toasted onion ring/cream of mushroom soup-casserole-thing; and something else. she brought: mashed potatoes and special dressing for the prince.) and two containers for the gravy-fixin’s; one containing the stock that i had been reducing for hours; the other the contents of one of the gravy mix bags and some cornstarch.

through slight-of-hand, i warmed-up the stock, slipping in spring water until it came to a boil, mixed some cold water into the dry ingredients, mixed the slurry into the stock and the gravy was gravy!

i could have made a better gravy with just the stock i made, but i had to sacrifice quality for quantity.

not only was the gravy a hit for dinner (so was the turkey, dressing and cranberries), but it was also raved-about (as i am told) during breakfast for the boxing day pancake custom.

on christmas eve, as ron and i were heading out to the hog’s breath in carmel-by-the-sea for a christmas toast, a bobcat strolled out from our backyard and across the street.

the image is the best i could get without being attacked.

proof that the wildlife around here is, indeed, wild!

i spent new years eve, one of the few that i have not worked as emcee or party host for the last 30-years, with helen (i mean: whatshername) in san josé.

new years day seems like so long ago now, now that we have emerged from the other side of the storm!

the storm hit us full-force on friday, january 4 at about 0400 hours; at 0730, power stopped being delivered to the castle.

the image is that of "bird rock", an outcropping about the size of some of the mansions around here being sucked up by a giant post-storm wave.

i spent the first couple of nights at the castle; we still had hot water and it wasn’t that cold. i was trying to look at it as a camping adventure.

but, by the time it was time to try to get the business up and running without the assistance of good-old a/c, staying in the castle all night didn’t sound as much like a camping adventure as it did a sentence.

so, we started accepting rooms offered to us by lone oak richard, who happens to own: the lone oak lodge over in monterey. a great place to stay when you are here in cypress coast country.

end of commercial

but, trying not to overuse richard’s gesture of goodwill, and trusting that pg&e wouldn't let its faithful customers down, i was alternating nights between the castle and the lone oak.

by the time i spent my last night at the castle, before the return to power and glory, it was becoming quite cold; colder than outdoors in the manner that empty houses get during the winter.

when i go to bed to sleep, even during winter, i usually have just one light blanket to go over the sheets and another light blanket to go atop the first blanket in case it is really cold. i had four blankets covering me that night and i was still a little on the chilly-side!

eventually, ron chased me up to san josé to take up space in helen’s (remember whatshername?) spare bedroom.

while i was up there, my brother mark was on his way to the central coast from nevada. we met just down the road from whatshername's to recycle some non-ferrous metals and he and jojanna followed me back to the peninsula.

lo-and-behold: power actually came back up in the castle on thursday afternoon at about 1600 hours – one-week and 9-hours after it last breathed life into the drafty building.

i have no idea why, but pg&e left one of the major roadways passing through pebble beach, an emergency route needed by firecrews and ambulances, had they been needed, blocked by a tree that fell and took two power poles and the wires and cables it suspended with it. they must have had their reasons.

the image is that of the downed tree and power poles and lines, which stayed this way for a week before pg&e removed them and restored our power.

mark’s time here was like a whirlwind: here one minute and gone the next.

it was great to hang with him for the few hours that we had together and to show off a little of what i have learned about the area and be the consummate tour guide that i am.

surf was up while they were here, so they got to see some surfers (those locals not invited to mavericks, just up the coast in half moon bay, that same day) work the 25-footers off of "ghost tree" on the 17-mile drive and check out the mysteries of "the restless sea", where two, and sometimes three, currents merge in a great maelstrom of waves coming in different directions.

this image is that of "the restless sea" taken a day before the storm reached us. if you click on the pic you can zoom-in enough to see one current coming at the camera and one coming from the left.

since mark left, i have spent my time trying to get melrose media back online (oh yeah. we didn’t get dsl back, which comes in on the fax line, until saturday night!) and uploading pictures that i took in the aftermath of the storm.

my photo gallery is here. from here you can check out the various albums, each taken at the location named in the title of the album. all of the storm pictures were taken on the day after the storm, except for the one titled “damage”.

in the wake

we are still without power at the castle and it looks like it will be days before we get it back; the power pole that was brought down by the wind near us is just one small example of what pebble beach looks like as there are lines and poles down all over the peninsula.

i took a couple of walks around the neighborhood today, to survey the damages, and learned more than i expected: the pole that fell next to the castle was brought down by a falling monterey pine of about 150 feet in height. but, it brought down more than just one pole; i took two poles with it. and that is just one small incident. it is like that all over pebble.

many of the roads are still closed as crews cut and remove fallen trees, power poles and other debris.

most of the scenic turnouts on the coastal section of the 17-mile drive have been cleared of the tons of rocks, driftwood and sand brought up by the wild surf. but, several miles of the famous drive have been barricaded because of the damage described above.

it appears that most of monterey has power back up, but there are many dark sections; same with pacific grove. carmel seems to be in only slightly better shape than pebble beach.

at least the golf courses are open and busy. although, one of the holes of the monterey peninsula looks like it may no longer exist.

as far as internet access goes: i'm still living in the 1990s with dial-up instead of high-speed. so, it will be a few days before i'm able to post any pictures.

life is an adventure!

cypress coast storm damage

just a quick update on conditions here on the central california coast.

i'm on dial up. i'll not be posting pics until we get power back up. i have around 100 pics, so far, and they say the tidal surge is going to be sever. so. i hope to have more dramatic wave pics, in addition to the ones i already have.

we have no damage, here at the castle. but, there is much around us. a power pole, about feet from us, snapped in half; many trees are down, a wall at a home on the 18th-hole of the pebble beach golf links was completely crushed from an oak tree - just missing the house; not only kelp and driftwood are being tossed up onto the 17-mile drive (1/4-mile from where i not type this, dear friend), but rocks the size of rocks are strewn across the road and scenic turnouts; the waters just off downtown monterey and cannery row is full up floating debris..

power lines are down everywhere. pg&e is nowhere in sight. it could be days before we get power back. at least it is not cold here; high of 55; low of 45; not much cooler than summer.
a few surfers and powered-surfers (whatever they call riding waves in a jetski) are braving (or is that stupiding?) the giant waves.

when i left here this morning i was treated to the sight of a 40 foot wave.

they are supposed to get bigger as the tide comes in.

mother nature is so cool even with her violence!

biting the bullitt

we were in san francisco twice this week.

on wednesday we were at the auto show as guests of nissan for the unveiling of their new gt-r and a minivan concept car: the forum.

we actually saw the forum in las vegas a month ago at the sema show. but, the gt-r has only been seen in public a couple of times.

nissan gt-r

it’s gonna be a pretty hot car!

we didn’t get to see the entire show, but we did get to see most of it.

interesting color for a lamborghini!

it was a beautiful night in san francisco and i could have walked through the city for another hour before heading back to the parking garage.

on friday we were back in the city; this time for ford day at the presidio overlooking san francisco bay and the golden gate bridge and another absolutely gorgeous day.

the golden gate club at the san francisco presidio

we met ford’s design director, freeman thomas, and got to drive some of the new 2008 products: on hand were several fords, including two bullitt mustangs and one saleen mustang, 3 jaguars, a few mazdas, a range rover, land rover and a volvo.

on our first ride, ron got behind the wheel of a mazda suv. i’m not sure what model. but, it is based on the same chassis as the ford explorer.

on our next ride, i was in the driver seat of a new jaguar xk-r.

jaguar xkr

oh, was that a sweet car! as much as i would like a new mustang (more on that later) i really enjoyed driving the jag! everything about it felt right! it was smooth, powerful and handled like a dream!

it also attracted a very attractive woman who, when we stopped to get a shot of the car with the golden gate bridge in the background, agreed to step into frame for a few shots. nothing makes a great car look better than a beautiful woman! thank you for joining me, ali!

l-r: xkr; monty; ali

upon our return, ron got behind the wheel of a new range rover, which was not much different from the 2007 “classic” we had a few months ago, but still a very nice car.

sosso with a range rover

the ride of the day, however, came next when i slipped into the driver seat of a 2008 bullitt mustang. the bullitt mustang commemorates the 40^th anniversary of the movie “bullitt” starring steve mcqueen, which was filmed in san francisco. in case you have forgotten: bullitt was the first of the great car chase movies and still one of the best car chase scenes ever filmed.

every time we took out one of the cars we used the same mandated route, which drove around the north tip of the southern peninsula, under the golden gate bridge and back to the presidio; about 20-minutes in all.

the limited edition 2008 bullitt mustang

most of the route had speed limits of 25 mph. except for the brief stretch on 19^th as you enter the tunnel that leads to the golden gate bridge, which is 45 mph.

when i drove the jag i was able to get my foot into it a little, but didn’t go any faster than 60 mph.

but, when we got here in the mustang, i couldn’t resist hanging my leg in it to feel all 315 horses.

as i rounded the corner from lake street the car in front of me took a wide turn and went for the right lane. that left the left lane open for me; there was no one in front of me for as far as i could see into the tunnel.

i rounded the bend, slipped it into second, checked the mirrors for police cars, waited until i was passed the other car, did another search for authorities and put my foot halfway down to the floor.

this engine sounds so sweet, but wrapped by concrete walls that surround the ingress/egress of the tunnel, the engine sounded like a nascar stocker revving up!

without stretching it out too far, i shifted into 3^rd, gracefully got back onto the throttle and was lifting before i even reached the mouth of the tunnel as the speedometer eclipsed 90 mph; probably faster than any of the cars ever ran when they filmed the infamous car chase scene in the movie for which this sporty green mustang is named.

from there i calmly drove back to the presidio in time for them to start loading up the cars.

i missed a ride in the 620 horsepower saleen extreme mustang as it was giving a low tire pressure light on the left rear tire and by the time it was corrected we were too late to take it out. like i needed another 300 horsepower than the bullitt had.

we left the presidio, only slightly deflated after the thrilling rides, and headed for perry’s on union street for drinks and dinner.

it wasn’t long before the vacant seats to my right were taken up by two attractive buffalo-gals (from buffalo, new york now living in san francisco and not resembling bison in the least, thank you) who quickly became our new friends.

megan and carolyn were a lot of fun and, as it turns out, carolyn’s uncle owns slim’s, where my friend and hero, adrian belew and his power trio, will be playing on february 23^rd. not only is carolyn, who also happens to work for rolling stone magazine, going to hook me up with tickets, i think she and megan and even ron are going to join me for the show! i’d better try to remember to bring earplugs for ron!

after an hour, or so, the girls were off for a previous engagement and we were working over our dinner (a thick broiled, pomegranate glazed pork chop for me and steak fajitas for ron).

after dinner we walked across the street to grab coffee from starbucks and began our drive back to the castle.

ron has been trying to get me to ford day for the past 4-years. i missed taking a ride (ride not drive, unfortunately) in a ford gt.

who's the turkey?

thanksgiving was not what i expected it would be.

not entirely.

originally, we were going to go out for dinner; i’m not sure where.

then, around a week before, susie decided she was going to make dinner; roast a turkey; make dressing; all the traditional trappings.

come tuesday night (that would be the tuesday just 2-days before thanksgiving) i learned that what susie meant by roasting a turkey actually meant that she was buying a roasted turkey from whole foods.

she had not, however, yet ordered it.

so, wednesday morning i ventured into the hell known as whole foods to buy one of these fabled roasted turkeys.

there were none, as i suspected. there also were no fresh, or even thawed, previously frozen birds.

without haste, i left whole foods, and the chaos of neo-hippies, brain-dead liberals and wealthy idiots who seem to congregate to be seen by the other neo-hippies, brain-dead liberals and wealthy idiots, and drove around the corner to the monte vista market.

the monte vista is known for, not only the workplace of the original melvin (pronounced: mebbin) and his magnificent barbeque work, but the best meats on the peninsula; unless, of course, you are a neo-hippie, brain-dead liberal or wealthy idiot.

i set out looking for a 12-pound turkey; i had to settle for a 15-pound free ranger sans hormones.

on the way back to the castle i stopped off at save-mart to grab a few other provisions, spices and necessities.

have you figured it out yet that i’m now the chief thanksgiving chef?

i’m a smart guy; i should have known when i heard that susie was going to make dinner that i was going to be doing the cooking.

but, not being much of a fan of traditional thanksgiving foods, i find it difficult to get geared up to preparing those foods. but, i decided to give it my best effort.

i slipped some fresh herbs (sage, thyme and rosemary) and ground pepper between the skin and meat, popped a cut-up onion, a few cloves of garlic and some celery tops into the cavity, dry-rubbed ground pepper and salt over the skin and put the breast-down turkey into a 450° oven for 20-minutes before backing the thermostat down to 325. after a couple of hours i tuned the breasts-up and took off the foil-tent to let it brown.

i was given a sit-down-to-dinner-time of 2:00 (why is it that thanksgiving dinner comes so early?). but, when my bird was already out of the oven and resting, ready to be taken up to the dollhouse, i got a call telling me that i would get a call in about an hour to bring the turkey, gravy fixin’s and candied yams; susie needed more time to finish her part of the dinner.

by 4:30 i gave up, packed up the dinner and headed to the dollhouse.

when i got there susie was just beginning to prepare a whole foods version of stovetop stuffing and mashing potatoes, her contribution to dinner. oh, and a can of cranberries (it’s no wonder that people hate cranberries if all they have had are cranberries out of a can).

by 5:30 we sat down to eat my turkey dinner that was ready 3-and-a-half-hour earlier.

well, you can’t have turkey without stuffing, right?

but, we couldn’t eat until ron told us a thanksgiving story.

despite the tardiness: the turkey was still moist!

and, since it had the chance to “rest” for such a long time, it carved (even with one of the dollhouse's not-so-sharp knives) easily and neatly.

knowing that i would be facing the same situation for christmas dinner, i have already volunteered to cook the entire dinner.

i’m such a fool!

the hobby habit

it’s been a while since i’ve updated my blog; i’ve been staying busy with a couple of new hobbies.

the first one began from getting ron’s radio show, “wheel talk coast to coast”, reformatted and back on the air in los angeles.

in the past: ron did his show live over the phone at each station that carried it.

we are now recording it in our studio. this not only gives me a chance to put a little spit-polish on it, i can also put music behind it. but, i’m limited to music that is royalty-free.

which means i had no musical options.

so, i started poking around the second disk of my adobe audition audio editing software and began putting little tunes together from the loops (some :12 seconds long while others measure out as single drum-beats) that are included.

at first, i practiced with loops that were made to go together, which is kind of like a paint by numbers method of making music.

i’ve tried to link directly to each of the tracks i have below, but the loop-site won’t let me do that. so, you’ll have to click “play” on each title from my catalog of tracks. just scroll down a bit to see the listings. find them here.

make sure you turn off the music on the playlist before you play the loops.

my first attempt is called “technoblo.”

i have since graduated to making my own drum loops for each song.

the first example of my own drum loops is a little jazz track is call “funky for helen.”

another free-er form of freeform jazz can be heard on “sosso.”

“wheel talk coast to coast themes” has the intro, interludes and outro themes from ron’s show.

these loops are a lot like playing a video game. it is also that infectious.

now, i go to several websites to get my samples.

i’m working on a series of loops for a fishing show that we syndicate.

my other new hobby isn’t really a new hobby; it’s photography.

ron just bought the company a new digital slr camera. which means: i have a new digital slr camera to play with.

it’s a canon rebel xt and i’m already loving it!

i have yet to use any of the “creative” features (except for the repeat shot) and am just using the basic features until i get used to it. but, i intend to experiment with it the more i use it.

the pictures i've attached to this blog were taken at "our beach" using the continuous shooting feature.

if you look in the right sidebar of this blog you will find a link to my online photo album. the latest pics are in the file "11/24/07". there, you will also find a bunch of pre-digital pics.

i’ve shot about 75 images so far. but, despite just coming out of the highest tide of the year, the waves have been less than spectacular since we bought the new camera. of course, the day before we got it, the waves were raging! and, until today, it has been very sunny. so, it has been to bright for a decent picture. i’m a patient man. i can wait.