Tag Archives: Charles Law

A Couple of Things…

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So much has happened in the past week!

1. Sydney Rose has embarked on her newest adventure moving to Oregon.  I finally wore her down and she allowed me to accompany her up there; however, she didn’t allow me to drive once (she was making a point that she could do it on her own).

The first day she played her music.  The second day she didn’t turn on the radio or mp3 player once.  She did however insist on playing car games.  We took turns naming off the 50 states, we did it with Wisconsin being the last, and we played Twenty Questions.  We laughed a lot and I’m so glad we had those last two days alone together.  Looking forward to her coming home for Christmas.

2. Missed my flight back home in Portland; first time I’ve ever done that.  Grrrr.   Portland traffic SUCKS!  Just saying.   Got on the later flight all stressed out, but the Bloody Mary and the affable conversation with an older gentleman sitting next to me helped to ease the pain to San Francisco.

3. The little twin propeller plane to Santa Barbara put me right back on edge; should have gone for a second Bloody Mary.

4. Back home on Wednesday and I bought a new car because I officially handed off mine to Sydney in Oregon.  I got myself a new Nissan Sentra.  Cute little guy.  I think he’ll do me right.

5. We had our final band practice on Sunday in preparation for our debut performance. Sydney Rose tagged along (spending as much time together before she was to leave town the next morning).   Christine actually sang on one of the songs. I hadn’t heard her sing before. I told them how great they sounded and Charles said they needed to get me a mic too. Horrified I said NO WAY, I can’t carry a tune. Syd chimed in with, “Have her lip sync!” To which Charles instantly deemed Syd Rose band manager.

6. I did it!  I made my band debut at Bombay’s Wednesday night (no lip syncing).  I was nervous, yet excited.  Having worked about 15 years in radio, I don’t mind being in front of people, but I’ve never played an instrument for anyone, and up until July, I had never played with a band. My band mates Charles and Christine Law made this girl’s dreams come true.  Tommy Marsh joining us made us sound actually pretty good!

7. Thank you Amanda for loaning me the dress (I had to follow Christine’s mandate of dresses and boots).

8. Thank you Jonny Reese for the shot of Patron as soon as I got off the stage.

9. Thank you Diego for the :15 video you posted on Facebook.

10. My dad was there to support me, he even wore a VenturaRocks.com t-shirt!  After the show he asked if he could have the pick I used to play guitar.  Could you die?  Too sweet.

11. My best buds were there to support even though I warned them I would suck.  It was quite a rush creating something out of nothing and seeing people respond to the music.  Charles Law is an amazing songwriter and I was super scared I would make a mockery of his song, “Corrine.”  But with Tommy’s help it sounded pretty damn good!

12. As for “Sweet Dreams”, it turned out that there was a guitarist in the audience who actually played on the original with the Eurythmics as a session player (he allegedly has the Grammy to prove it).  Seriously, this could only happen to me.  We played the Marilyn Manson version which sounded a lot more like a White Stripes version and he came up afterwards and said, and I quote, “I like your feel.”  I’ll take that!

13. Just saying…my band debut was everything I thought it would be.  I had a blast!  Thank you Christine and Charles Law!  Your generosity humbles me.  Love you!

14. From the “You Never Know Who You’ll Run Into” file:  Having breakfast at Art’s Cafe here in Ventura this week and a crew of nice looking young men (probably in their 20s) arrived and sat in a nearby booth.  The waitress asked where they were from as they came in a Mercedes Benz Van.  It turns out that Gary Young was one of them.  Shook his hand as he recently won the Gold at the X-Games in Barcelona for BMX Park riding.  Nice guy.  They were on their way to Santa Barbara for a demonstration at one of their sponsor locations.

15. The Saturday night before Sydney left, Molly, the anti-social cat, actually slept with Syd Rose. So, there is some minuscule amount of devotedness in her cold stone itty bitty kitty heart.

16.  From my “Favorite Facebook Posts” file:
“Let’s not get carried away by the fairytale okay, Pinocchio was a Goddamn liar.”  – Bodhi Elfman

Thanks for listening!

A Couple of Things…

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1. The Ventura Fair is in full swing!   The theme is Boots, Barns & Banjos.  It was so much fun walking the parade route last Saturday with Kat and Totally Local VC.   The float provided live music from Dan Grimm on guitar & Ian McFadyen on banjo and Jonny Reese of Amigos on air guitar.  Photo above has Mary McGrath who represented locally grown pumpkins, Kat Merrick of Totally Local VC and myself supporting local music.   The float took first place!!!

2. The second photo is courtesy of my friend, photographer Amanda Peacock.  When I saw this when she posted it on Facebook I laughed because I had no idea she was shooting me.  Then my second thought was, “What happened to my ass?!!!” Seriously!  I use to have one!

3. My birthday, by the way (thanks for asking!), was amazing!!  Went to the Getty Museum with Sydney, band practice with Christine & Charles Law, then drinks with the Laws, Eve, Kat & Chris, then a delicious dinner with the family, Staci and the Mimiagas at Aloha.  My birth week started with dancing to Rey Fresco the weekend before with Maggie at Bombay’s and ended the following Friday with Linda (my oldest & dearest friend) for great music from Shawn Jones at Peirano’s.
Dancing, amazing music, delicious food, the best friends and family.  Life is good!!!

4. I’ll be reviewing the no gift birthday policy with Kat.  (See last blog)

5. Oh!  I learned “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by the Eurythmics at band practice on my birthday, the Marilyn Manson version that is.  But it sounds more like the White Stripes doing Marilyn Manson.

6. Double Oh!  Thought of another life hightlight:
Interviewing Neil Patrick Harris while he was taking flying trapeze lessons in the Valley, then at the end, he surprises me with a free try.  I can still recall the adrenalin rush with safety harness on, standing on tippy toes grasping the bar, and then taking a deep breath and swinging out.    SOOOO SCARY!!!   I was high for days!

7. Soon after I wrote that list last week of some of the highlights in my life I saw this and smiled.  This is why I wrote it’s the PG-13 version:  “Some of the best moments in life are the ones you can’t tell anyone about.”

8. I wonder, “Is it better to have the last laugh or to just take the freakin’ high road?”

9. I recently took a break at work and walked downtown to a local bakery where I not only knew 7 out 9 people there, but one of them was the mayor of Ventura himself! Love this town!!

10. I had my co-workers over for a beach day recently.  One of us was brave enough to jump in the cold water.  The rest of us…not so much.    I need to toughen up if I’m going to learn how to surf!

11. Congratulations to my old friend and radio colleague, John Vance, who recently accepted the Fire Chief’s position in Minnetonka, Minnesota.  He’s relocating his family from Granger, Indiana.  Best wishes Chief!!   Of course this means he’s only 1900 miles away as opposed to 2100 miles!

12. From my “Favorite Facebook Posts” file:  “He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love. ”   Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

Thanks for listening!

Christine’s Dinner Served by…yes, Firemen

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Christine Law

             Christine Law

I’ve known Christine Law since the mid 90s when I worked at KXBS, 96.7 The Bus radio station and she was in the local band Tantrum that we added to our playlist. She stood out because not only was she adorable and had such an easy smile, but she was a female bass player in this heavy rock band.  She rocked that bass!  I was very impressed.

But it was just the last year or so that we started to actually hang out due to the music scene here in Ventura.  She had started up Afirm Records a number of years ago and I started a website called VenturaRocks.com four years ago which supports the music scene here in town. We really do have a lot of common interests, so it’s such a treat when I would get to hang out together.  She attended a “Girls Dress Night Out” as well as Staci Brown’s birthday celebration and I made sure I supported her husband Charles’ band, Charles Law and Jagged, when he played at The Tavern and again at Amigos.

Just a couple of weeks ago I received a special invitation via Facebook from Christine simply entitled: Girls Nite – Dinner at Christine Law’s served by Ventura Firemen!  She said she won a dinner for 8 served by Ventura County Firemen at her house.  But the truth is, she bid on the package which was a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls club.  She’s very much involved in improving conditions in her community and participates in many civic engagement projects.

I have to admit, I was a little giddy about being included for this exclusive gathering of friends.  As it turns out, the women she invited were extraordinary women, more than half I already knew and call my friends and the others I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and hope to see again soon.

Christine and Charles live up above Santa Paula, in the upper Ojai rugged terrain on a ranch style house with horses up against the hills over looking wilderness.  What a beautiful piece of land.  We arrived to find the firetruck parked in her driveway along with the Battalion Chief’s truck next to where the half dozen or so firemen were busy preparing a barbecue dinner for us women.  I didn’t even try to attempt to wipe the smile off my face.

Charles was in charge of the beverages because the rules state our firemen could not drink. Actually, if memory serves, I was informed when we went to have our photo ops that there were two rules for these beautiful heroes, no alcohol, and no nudity.  Again, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face just conjuring up some new images in my mind.

So we had our photos taken after playing on the truck for a while, and the guys were more than gracious and patient about it.  After our group shot and the women were starting to disperse, I half-jokingly mention to the chief that it would be really cool to have a picture with just me and the guys.  He said, “Are you kidding?  Of course!!”  And immediately he rounded up the boys and BAM!  It was a done deal.

We then left the men to go munch on h’orderves which consisted of different cheeses, crackers, bread, dips and fruits, we had plenty of wine, beers and shots of Patron, as we engaged in good conversations enjoying our beautiful surroundings.  Just so you know, while the firemen provided the makings for dinner, we provided the snacks, beverages and dessert. Before we knew it, dinner was ready to be served.  Some of us half expected spaghetti, but our firemen were graciously serving up tri-tip, chicken, veggie kabobs, grilled zucchini and corn on the cob with salad and more fresh fruit and they never allowed us to lift a finger. They served us and treated us like queens.

Our guys cleared the table for us and one of Christine’s guests, Melissa, brought out a bottle of Limoncello, offering up shots to cleanse the palate.  Delicious.  Before long we had our dessert of two types of chocolate cake, I opted for the German chocolate, and I was stuffed…still smiling.

At one point we asked if our firemen were volunteering their time, and we learned that our heros, which included two Battalion Chiefs, were on the clock and always on standby.  If a fire broke out, we were on our own.  Luck was with us as we only lost one fireman who had to respond to a TC (traffic collision).  It was just amazing. They were all true gentlemen.  They served us and took care of us, did not allow us to help clear the table, and when I saw one pass by with an apron wrapped around his waist, I had to follow and what I found brought tears to my eyes:  several of our guys were washing the dishes in uniform. Could there be anything sexier?

Before long it was time to say goodby and give thanks to our firemen for doing this to help raise funds for the Boys & Girls Club.  It was an event I won’t ever forget.

We hung out several hours longer as Christine and Charles opened up their home to us and we talked about my favorite subject of music as we collaborated on how to make the music scene in our town even better.

Before long it was time to say our thanks and goodbyes and with five of us in one car ready to head home I still couldn’t help but smile remembering being treated like a queen for the day and all because Christine Law considers me one of her friends.

Christine, I’m honored.  Thank you!

Looking forward to meeting up on the basketball court one of these days!