Mr Bubbles come to Sunday NIght Drumming..........

Real nice drumming last night. Small fire, nice temps and we showcased our new Bubble Machine that Paul brought. Big bubbles all over the circle made for some interesting grooves down in the drum hole. We had a pretty good crowd show and everyone had a great Sunday night, getting ready for the big week ahead, and it’s a great way to get ready.
The river is the highest it will get in 2007, today. It looked fairly big last nite, though we sure need more water. We’ll have to wait till next year I guess. What are your plans this week? We’re thinking of getting together in Visalia for some socializing, wanna join us??
Have a good Monday…………..

Sunday Night..............

These clouds feel pretty good, considering that it was around 100 degrees yesterday! Lots to tell about the weekend so far, the drum, dance party, the Renaissance Fair in Visalia, and drumming tonite! We’re tooling up for a big jam, with the moon leading the way, so come on up! I’ll have to tell you about the rest of the stuff later……….I did manage to ride my bicycle 50 miles today, so I’ll be ready for the life of a drummer…

Friday Night Drum and Dance Party in Visalia....

Its Friday, I’m in love………This afternoon I’m going to Juliana’s to eat some of her barbequed iguanas, then its off to Nadines in Visalia for a Drum and Dance Party starting at 7.30 in the evening. Please join us if you will. Call me for directions……….
Its for Nadines birthday……………..Happy Birthday Nadine !!

Thursday...................

You didn’t really miss much at Wednesday night music last nite. Gary was already going to bed when I got there at 8. It ended up being Kelly and I playing our guitars in the gallery with the black lites on and the art on the walls shimmering. I was wearing black so you could see every lint ball on all of my clothes. The teeth stick out too, as does the white of the eyes in that weird light. It sure ain’t the same without you there though!
The river is going to be peaking now on the last day of this month, and the rafting season will be ending on the third weekend of May. You better hurry and book a rafting trip with Frank before its too low. One more picture of flowers, as they too are giving way to the brown of the summer time any minute now…………

Wednesday Music at the Gallery

Its going to get hot , I can just feel it. Here’s a picture of the falls at the end of Skyline Drive. Yes, its in Three Rivers! Way up behind the “We Three” restaurant. It BLM land and open to the public.
We’re drumming and playing music tonight at the Gallery. You should come up and take a break from your hecktic lives, check on the river and free your mind to the music……..Call me if you have any questions……….

The Bohemian lifestyle...........

Well, my job in Pinehurst is done and I’m beating the bushes for some work before I start working in the Park. I’ll be in the Fire Dept. so you know I’ll be posting some cool stuff as the heat of the summer rises. It should be a great 6 months of work ahead, with adventure leading the way. Meanwhile back at the ranch………I’ve been feeling kinda bohemian lately, big hike yesterday up Skyline to the water falls. I wanted to know how they were looking with this rain we got over the weekend, and the falls are running fairly good considering our lack of rain. I’ll post some pics up as we go through the week. So, like I was saying , I was supposed to be working yesterday, but the hike just sounded too intriguing to pass up. We did the whole loop, up the road, down to the creek and over to the other side where we went around to the middle of the big water fall and then back down to the road. About a 6 mile loop. Man, the ticks were heinous!! I had about 20 on my pants right away, and the rest of the hike it was all about picking them off before they started drilling. You don’t want to experience that, believe me! Then off to the Riverview for dinner and music it turned out. The Monday night jam. I still had ticks crawling out of my sleeves during dinner, but the beer sure tasted good and what a way to spend a Monday, albeit with a little guilt for not working…………not much though! And You????

a Rainbow over the Gallery starts Sunday Night......

We finished the big weekend off with a surprisingly well attended Drum Circle last night. My hands still hurt from our Saturday night adventures, but we went on anyways. Lots of new visitors last night, that, I’m guessing saw us for the first time Sat. and wanted more. What we have is a precious thing and I’m glad your in on it!
I’m updating the blog some, by adding a cluster counter that tells just where all of our viewers are viewing from. We have our tribal drum members around the world and we’ll see if you all are checking on us and making sure we’re keeping the home fires burning.
Thanks to all of you for helping………………………..

Saturday Nights Big Event.................

I knew it was big when, after circling the block several times, I finally got a place close to next door from the gallery. The school lot was full and cars were parked on both sides of the street from the noisy water to the chevron. It looked like an ant farm. People were around all the doors, and there was a band playing inside, where the Black Light art could be seen shimmering from the walls. I took the back way in and looked through all the people for a face I knew. The drum circle was also full of people dancing around the fire and twirling fire to a loose groove of dumbeks and bongos, by faces unfamiliar. The place was packed! I could say 300 people, but 200 would be close! I socialized and met new people. Talked to the familiar faces and looked towards our drumming grounds with much anticipation. I felt like when I was a kid and had just arrived at the beach. I could smell the seaweed and hear the ocean. I needed to feel the warm sand between my toes. I got my drum and went down with some others. It was our turn and we knew we needed to play a performance on this special night. It was great, I got real sweaty, Paul played his big conga groove, Gary played his flute, Maharupa joined in with flute and guitar and Summer surprised us with Drumming and Dance! We got a big samba beat going to a crowd now 4 rows deep and watching us. Petit brought out her fire swinging poi and showed who the master twirler was. Everyone was stamping their feet to the beat, the dance was on, the crowd gave raving applause to all said and done. In the end we were baptized in glow stick juice as the rain started falling down, bringing in the new day. History was made and I hope you didn’t miss it. Of course we’ll try again tonight…….though it might be just alittle different…. see you there……………..
PS……Thanks to all who came and supported the fabulous Art Show last night!!!!!!!!!

Friday.........Plans for Saturday.........

We’re waiting for the rain…….seems like the theme for the year eh? We crowded 8 of us in the sauna box last night and sweated till late in the cloudy and balmy night. Outside you could hear the river as it was making its way to the almost full lake. Its been running pretty low this week, but this storm may bring it up a bit. They are saying that the river will reach its high point on May 4th with the river running just 1000 cfs at that time. That’s pretty darn low, considering the norm is around 3000cfs at the peak of the season and the flood of 2002 was 30,000 cfs!
You should plan on coming up on Saturday night for the Black Light Art Show at the Gallery. Its looking like a great time is going to be at hand. We’ll see you there I hope. Come early to get a good parking spot. Enjoy, Its Friday!!…………………………………..

Thursday Thoughts...................

Up at 4000’ yesterday, where I was working finishing the room addition, It snowed a lot of the day. I kept thinking that pollen was falling out of the pine trees, but it was big snow flakes! They never stuck, as it was only in the 40’s but it was unusual. A storm system is moving in tonite and snow will be down to 4500’ in our mountains. And, yes, its supposed to rain some too. I’m going climbing on Sunday so that should be fun.
We did Wednesday night music in Garys place last night. A nice little group, with a couple of songs sticking out from the bunch. I’m getting ready for a big update next so stay tuned, and Thanks for checking in!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Windy Wednesday................

Nice and windy here and cooler too. We went for our ride up Dry Creek yesterday around 4 in the afternoon. We had to chug up against pretty heavy down canyon winds all the way to the old synanon site, now called Fairlea Ranch. Its 15 miles up, the last mile or 2 being heinously steep. This all took us about an hour. When we headed back, it was with a big tail wind, all the way down to Lemon Cove, reaching speeds of 40 miles an hour and making this descent our fastest ever!. 2 hours total. We were riding that gypsy wind, with trees bending to the gusts, and throwing leaves and branches all over. Things are browning up quickly, but there’s a few hills with flowers still, and yes, we saw another good sized rattler, dead along the road.
This weekends big Black Light Art show is Saturday night at the Gallery. It should be pretty interesting with the 3-D glasses and all. Music too, Its for all to see, so plan on coming up! I’ll update as we go through the week. Rene’

Tuesday.......................

I’m back. I just finished a grueling couple of days getting my taxes done! I decided to do them myself and man it was a real pain, figuring out where the millions went too. It did feel good to do them myself though, part of getting my arms around my life. Sure I considered just letting go too, you know, letting the lawn just get furry, and leaving all the cars out front with the hoods up. Taking the couch to the front porch so the dogs have somewhere to lie after chewing on all the shoes brought out from the house and leaving them in the street. Disorganization just happens, but organization and getting it together in life is something we have to make happen, and lots of times it takes getting out of your comfort zone.
It looked like rain all of Sunday night, but nary a drop fell. We had a real nice bunch of about 25 of us grooving to a hot and dark fire. We’re getting ready for the big Black Light Art Show this Saturday night at the Gallery. I’ll tell you more as we get closer, enjoy your day…………

A nice hike in the Park

We got a wild hair going and decided to hike out to the Castle Rocks today. We went all the way out and back in 6 hours! I needed to know if I still could find my way out there since its very jungleish and has a reputation of being a serious bush whack with Poison Oak, Ticks and Rattlers. It turned out to be a cool day, so the snakes were not around, but the ticks and PO were. We’ll see if we get any?? I did find a tick but he was just wondering around on my body. It was beautiful out there and the flowers were still going good. We found lots of deer antlers and saw several large bear droppings that were fresh and he was just ahead of us it seemed. It rained the last couple of hours, kind of a drizzle and we didn’t care. So, gearing up for tomorrow, looks like a big fire might not be so bad eh?? Come on up…………..

Friday the 13 th....a Good Luck Day

Its Friday again, and the day looks to be bright and sunny and 10 degrees warmer they say. We’re waiting for another storm type of system to move in tomorrow, hopefully bringing in some rain. This last weather that came through made a lot of gestures to rain, but it never really came through with any.
The flowers in the hills have been lasting through all this time, and the main sweet smell in the air around here for the last several weeks is the orange blossoms! Allergy folks are having a hell of a time though, but I love the smell everytime I go out.
We did another 28 miler up yokohl yesterday, and this time I brought my camera, as I was bummed I missed the rattler shot last week to show you. And, I wasn’t let down yesterday, we found a nice fat rattler on the road that friends who were riding in front of us actually ran over with their bicycle front tire. We came upon it and I touched it with a stick and it still rattled at me! I love snake shots and I know we’re supposed to be talking about drum stuff, but I’m going to add natural history stuff too and I hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you would?? Have a good Friday the 13th………………..

Wednesday history...........

Past Wednesday at Toms with alcohol fire

Wednesday night was right! We few (7) met up in Garys room and made some real nice intimate music with guitar, conga, bongos and assorted flute, shaker and vocables. Wednesdays have been with us for quite awhile as a drumcircle. We started it long ago because it was just too long of a time between Sunday Drummings. We couldn’t wait to see each other again and play music! We’ve always tried to have Wednesdays at different places, not the gallery, to give us exposure to new areas and new people, and give the gallery a break.. We’ve drummed on all the 4 forks of the Kaweah River and in many homes in and around Three Rivers and environs. We try to always be outside, around a fire or some sort of a central focus point. We’ve been inside a lot too and try to make it as drummy as possible. You should try and come join us one of these Wednesday nights, or better yet, host one at your house, like Linda did last week. Till then………..see you Sunday…..or, we’re hoping to get together for a sauna tonite at the Gallery, though, Gary doesn’t know yet, so call me or mail me if your interested and we’ll cleanse ……………

News Flash..............

We're doing music tonight at the Gallery.......Wednesday night......Come on up you all, and drive safe. Rene'

The Middle of the Weak..............

We’ve got some weather coming in, finally. It looks like rain right now, but I’ll believe when I see it. I haven’t heard about any music tonite. If anyone is interested let me know and we’ll see if I can get ahold of any place to play. The week is turning out new surprises, and maybe a sauna is in the works for Thursday night. Hows you week going over there??

Baby Finn at his first drumming...

Photo by .....Nadine

A medium visits.............

It was Easter and goodies were abundant at the circle. Though, no one brought chocolate eggs, brownies and candy and lots of laughs were abundant. We had a medium circle last night, with everyone staying home with family ties no doubt. We did have a nice intimate jamming with just the few beats that make a rhythm happen. In the bottom there was so much cottonwood fluff from the tree above that it looked like it had snowed. Jaylene , Scott and baby Finn were there. Baby Finn got his first Drum Circle in and tried beating on my Djembe quite a bit whilst burping milk on it several times too. The river has reached below the circle once already, but has gone back down. Rafting is happening already too but man, it’s a low season. We hung out till late, and when we were just about to go home, I noticed a fire going on behind the chevron. Went to check, and it was a full on fire with no one around! Maharupa and I put it out, like good Samaritans and finished it off with a good dosing of our eternal fluids. I don’t know how that fire happened, but Gary said as we were going down to it, he saw a shadowy silhouette running from the area. Strange, but that’s life at the edge of the river I guess. We’ve got big plans for the week, so stay tuned you all and enjoy the day…………….

Its a Good Friday................

Hey, It’s a Good Friday! Every Friday is a good Friday usually right? We were on our bicycle ride up Yokohl yesterday, a 28 miler and about half way in we saw a dead Rattlesnake on the road. It was about 2 feet long and someone had already gotten the rattles, but it looked real nice and fresh. It reminded me of the fact that those guys are out now, so as you stroll through the green grass, as we saw some doing, watch your step. We came back by an hour later, and the Ravens had already totally cleaned this snake to the bones!! With all the rain last year, we didn’t see very many on our rides, but this year could be a big one for Rattlers, like the big one that almost bit us, that we ran into on alittle hike off the Mineral King road above!
Gary, Paul, Sage and myself went to the Orange Blossom restaurant last night and watched “Steaming Stan” jam. Pretty soon the owner of the place, Doug, got up and joined him with his guitar, man that guy can play that guitar!! It was a pretty special little show and I’m glad we were there for it. See you this weekend…………Have a Good Friday!

A Big Wednesday arrives........

A very nice get together last night at Linda’s. Lots of friends came and Linda was a wonderful host. Lots of goodies to eat and drink, a nice inside area to play music in and outside activities too. We are gathering quite the crowd for Wednesdays! I hope the neighbors are okay with it…….turns out the one behind her house is an old friend of mine, and we were able to reunite last night briefly, now that’s some pretty good odds in all of Visalia to have him live right there! He heard our drumming and asked if she knew me. Drumming has a signature all our own.
We’re going to the Orange Blossom restaurant tonite for music and drinks if you would like to join us. Otherwise we better rest up for the weekend eh…………

Music Tonight in Visalia

Little cloudy out there today, though no rain is forecast. The Kaweah River is slowly going up, its been trying to reach 800 cubic feet a second. It usually tops at at 3000 cfs during the height of the season. Its almost rafting time, and many have already took their Kayaks down the river. The Kaweah Drainage snowpack is 41 % of normal. They are starting to use the word “drought” in reports now. That word will really be popular next year if the same thing happens.
We’ll be playing music at Linda’s in Visalia tonite, please join us. You can call me or the gallery for directions. See you there.
The picture below of the lake and flowers was taken by Carol……..Thank You!
And, the above picture, I took yesterday going down Dry Creek…..You better hurry and check it all out…

Early in the week.............

It must have been a conversation I had at Sunday nights Drum Circle, with a friend who was there from San Francisco that caused my dream last night. I was in a one room apartment with windows all around in the middle of that cramped city, and I was in my bed with people walking through that I didn’t know. Any interpretations??
I usually have a thousand thoughts in my head when I go to bed and it’s a wonder I sleep at all. Mostly good thoughts……..
We’re meeting at Linda’s in Visalia tomorrow night, Wednesday, for music. Please join us if you will. She always has goodies to eat and a nice place to play.
The week is moving along here, and I am planning on meeting some of my goals and finishing them. Its Spring Break for some, and you should get out and see all the flowers in the foothills while they are still around. Have a good day………….

The Moon above and the Stars below

A big drumming under a moon lit night, that’s how we did what we did. Lots of people strolled in throughout the night, and we were treated to some old friends from the past. Anyone who has ever joined us for drummings in the old days will always come back, knowing their library cards will never expire here. We welcome you all back! Lots of new friends, who have come for the big drummings recently have steadily been back , and we welcome you too! It’s the next generation of drummers, and we need your help. I’m glad Jose helped to facilitate last night, he does such a great job dancing and drumming and stirring it up! And, Orlando and friends became the “engines of the groove”, mashing the pedals till their hands hurt! Thanks Carol for the always great almond topped brownies and Nadine for the homemade cookies! And, Special Thanks to Michele, the fabulous and gracefully classy belly dancer who charmed us and lured others into the arena. A great time had by all, Please join us soon!

Its April Fools day............

Show me, Show me, Show me how you do that trick, the one that makes me scream she said, the one that makes me love she said, throw her arms around my neck. Show me how you do it and I promise you, I promise you, I’ll run away with you…. I’ll run away with you…………..The Cure……


Friday night around 11 pm, a dark but moonlit night, saw me standing naked on a rock by the river, having just jumped in and now I was out, and not feeling any of the cold wind blowing or aware of the others around me who were on the same rock, the same planet. I was feeling pretty light headed, but strong in my convictions. A great sweat had happened and I knew we were one again. The wood came together and the rocks got very hot, and all the right friends showed and the sweets and orange juices were just right! Thanks to all who came and helped us celebrate our lives.

Tonight is the night when we all come out to Drum. I’m psyching up today, thinking about how it will go and who will come, because come they do. I’m heading up early to get the ground ready, the fire set and the incense burning, so get well rested and get ready to get the groove on! It’s a very special night tonite, we’ve got a big moon to lite the way, and it’s the first day of April. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you all ……………