Back from the Hillls

Last post was quite awhile ago! Man, I better catch you all up on whats been going on with us, the drum circle. First, Yes, we're still doing our drumming EVERY Sunday nite at the Cort Gallery. We still have a nice crowd joining us too! Thank you all for checking in and wondering. Its just amazing to me that you do. Now of course it hasn't all been cake and ice cream, but we are still intact and moving along as we do. I've been very busy with our fire season and its been a big fire in Kings Canyon thats been paying my paycheck. Of course with camera in hand I go there every day, a 3 hour drive and do what I do for my job. Its a beautiful place! I'm adding a pic of the Kings River, basically the next drainage north of the Kaweah River drainage. And I'm working on getting you some more news about us. Again, Thank You for checking in.......

Last Wednesday at the Ruins......

The Gypsy and the Typsy.......

Hello, Let's see, since my last post I've seen one bear, a fox, a marmot, a buck deer, a rattlesnake and an eagle. Life is out there and the wilderness is doing good, pretty much. The rivers been running fast by the drum circle and has already claimed two lives. Watch out and don't go in yet as its still raging! We had a really hot and humid dumming last Sunday night. We were grooving though, but with sweat and lots of water being the rule. The dancers danced and the drummers did their thing and the lookie lou's did theirs. We were one, at least at one point of the night. Hope you stay cool my friends and keep looking please.................

Took this Video just last Sunday Night when we had two Diggeree Doo in attendance and lots of dancers. You know you'll have to just come and check it out to really see what happens but here's a snippet of the night. Enjoy!

After the biggest Drumming of the Year...5-30-10

There you are..............

You look and you look and then all of a sudden an entry. Here it is fresh from the chair here in the outskirts of V town. I go up the road every day, by the now almost full lake Kaweah. Up further along the raging Kaweah RIver, by the Cort Gallery and up to the park where I've been working again in the Fire Dept. in Sequoia National Park, home of the bigest trees on earth! Its been really really cool all month!This is big news around here as you might guess. By now its usually in the 90's and hundreds and we're sweating. But for us now we're just starting to get the hot weather. Yesterday it was getting close to ninety. Today though there are some clouds and still its starting to heat up. If you get out in the area where you can see the mountains, you'll see lots of snow packed peaks. This week I went up to a couple of high areas in the park and there lots of snow along the road. Its dirty snow, but its about 6 feet along the roadside. Snakes are just now starting to come out and you can bet their grumpy and full of venom! Tourists are swarming into all the areas of the park, most didn't even know that there's so much snow. Most are also unprepared for the cool temps. Just don't bring your inner tubes of air rafts into the park cuz there isn't anything that you can get into and not drown. I don't mean maybe but for sure! The rivers bringing all that snow down fast. Any sun melts the tons of snow into water and gravity brings it down all the way into the town of Three Rivers, by the Gallery where we'll be drumming tonite with the thunderous sound of the freshest water on the planet. Come on up and get by the riverside and splash some of that blood of the Sierra on your face...................

Drum Circle Rant.........

Drifters, Loners, Hitchhikers, Strays, Artists, Rainbow types, Hippies, Loafers, Wannabe’s, Soul searchers, Dead Heads, Players, Fringe elements………We get em all. They show up at the Gallery in some way or another. They stay and sometimes work for their keep. We all end up sharing our lifes experiences around a meal or at the Drum Circle. This is mandatory as in a soup kitchen having to listen to a sermon. If you show up at the Gallery in this condition and stay you have to attend a Drum Circle. Sure many come who are right with the world, you know right in what they say you have to be right in….a good job, a mortgage, a family. But, you can have all this and still be searching for something.
Its surprising how many times people think that what we do is religious. They think that we are the fringe elements who are practicing some kind of spiritual something that they think is cool but they wouldn’t be caught dead coming. Somewhere in their lives they missed out on something that was socially acknowledged to all and they weren’t there. Call it a rant here but I got this from someone this week and so I thought I would put it into words. We’re just having fun drumming. Its our religion, outdoors with dancing and drumming and fellowship and all that kind of churchy stuff. But we’re real and it’s a big groove and we’re celebrating life brothers and sisters, life by the river. Come on up tomorrow night, don’t be scared.

One of our Singers.........

A Thought to get You GOing...........

Man, I'm really a slacker for not updating you. I'm sorry for all the long wait for you my faithful and dependent friends. I'm still here for sure and the Drumcircle is too. Every Sunday is what we've been telling em. Every single Sunday of the year, rain or shine cold or hot.
We had a great one last night. A big groove put out by the core drummers talking to each other in that kinda way...thumping the highs and lows and making the spectators question their morals and then just going ahead and dancing anyways. Yea, we're all looking, but who really cares. Its free and its dark and its a great big groove that comes at you with this pull to the dance floor thats pretty darn irressitable. Thats what its been like for the past couple of weeks for sure! Lots of people too and drummers and dancers and lookie lou's and just plain people who are looking for something else in their lives. Something that gets them ready for the work week. Going to bed with drums in their head...............

The Best Times are Now..................

Well Hello Friends, Thought I'd put up some recent pics from the place where we drum. Its been just gorgeous! We've had alot of rain these last few days and snow in the mountains. So much that its been setting records. The river will be high this year, good for the rafting and good for late season swimmers and sun bathers. Now is a great time to come up and check it all out. Plan the schedule around Sunday night of course!

The Chronicles of the Drum.........

Well now, March is in the rearview mirror almost already! It went by in a flash, though I remember it like it was yesterday. Did alot of climbing, more than I've done in several years. And got another cave trip in too. Busy, busy, so, time to update you with all thats drumming. We've had a few big ones including last night when spring break brought the people who love to check out what we do and some even joined us by beating the skins to the beat of the town. It was a grand and big moon too, the kind we dream about being in. A silvery moon that lit up whole areas with a light thats magical and calling. We had a fire going to keep warm, yea its still a little chilly at night. Everyone seems to be doing good, no updates on conditions other than the usual gossip about so and so and the things that seem to make up life in a small town of around 3000. Its still green and flowers are everywhere! The river runs pretty good and with all the snow in the mountains its going to be a big river year. You should plan on coming up and checking out all that I'm talking about, you won't be dissapointed!

Article about us in the Fresno Bee.........Today

That was a nice article about us in the Fresno Bee today. A tell all in some ways. The article was written by our very own Lisa Liberman.She's been around us for all our time and so she should know. We've had lots of other articles written by others and you know how it goes, there's always something thats wrong.In this case though its all right, well my name was spelled wrong but I've had that all my life, thats alittle thing. Its a feel good article about feel good times. Come on up on Sunday night and check us out. We've been at it EVERY Sunday night for 18 years and that says something in itself! Thanks Lisa!

A Great Drumming.............

I've been meaning to catch you up with what's going on in our drumming lives. Good, Great and pretty darn exciting. That explains some of it. Last Sunday night was one that stuck out. Friends from the Auberry Circle visited and we got the word out and had a big turnout! A good crowd with our favorite fire spinner back from many lands. He always turns up at the best of times! We had a nice dancing bunch and a semi good and some smokey fire. We're Thankful of course for all that showed. It started with an early..6..potluck done just the way we're famous for. Then it was down to the drumming grounds to communicate and talk the way drummers talk through the drums to each other. Its nice to have another drumming group visit!
Drumming is that way, you never know who will show. Now in this case we did know, but we don't always. Take the Sunday before this one.....Super Bowl Sunday...That famous time when all stands still and rivals meet to see who's team is king! Drumming wasn't so well attended, in fact only 2 people were there and I'm sorry to say I was not one of them..............We have to take care of this thing we call drumming. We have to get involved, at least sometimes. We know that it can happen anytime and we know that the odds are it'll be the biggest yet, but every once in awhile..............................See you Sunday!

A Walk by the River..........

I took these pictures just a few days ago. Gary and I went for a walk talk. We have lots of snow in the mountains above and today its a rainy friday. Time for me to catch you up with how the rivers running.

Things at a Good Drumming.......

If you stayed home last Sunday night thinking we would be drumming inside you were wrong. We were outside, as the people who live in the neighborhood around the gallery will tell you. Loud and soft, light and dark we were drumming to the stars and moon and drumming to the cloud cover. And with folks there to join us!We actually had around 20. Most know how we are and how we will drum outside no matter what the temps. We just crank up the heat in the fire and the grooves and viola.......
Then, after most left and after ten we were just a few. The core having afterhours. Sometimes with music, sometimes with laughs and lies. Gossip is always king and if you want to hear the best news in town hang out afterhours. Now I usually know stuff but I learned some new things just this last Sunday night! Did you know that whats his face is going to.....well I can't tell you cuz I've sworn to not print gossip but you'll hear it soon enough....but maybe never.
So, as we went along we were just getting ready to all stand up and leave from the smokey fire when in a search for instruments Jon got out his lite....which happened to be blue and off we went on a whole new adventure calling the aliens out and the camera too...............

The Valley Fog comes up into Three Rivers..........

Ticking Time.............

Just got back in time for drumming...........And Sundays wasn't too bad. Though, we need wood really bad now. We're down to driftwood scavenged from the river bed. Smokey road is the song we were singing round the ole camp fire Sunday nite. We all had got our eyes stung with the smoke and came home smelling like smoked salmon but not complaining about anything. Its always good to see you all down there. We're pioneer folk and know about this kinda stuff.

Here's some pictures from the trip to San Fransisco this last weekend.

The First Sweat of 2010

I've got all these lists going that feed my day with stuff to gather. Here's one from last Friday night................
Liners
Sage
Oranges
2 Towels
Water
Down Jacket
Thats right, we did our first sweat of the year on the first night of the year in our kinda new sweat down by the river. Close enough to walk down and jump in, though we didn't that night! Kinda new meaning we redid the old frame with new willow sticks. Gary and Scott did the rebuild on our sweat for ten people. We only had 4 takers that night, but that didn't discount the experience which was excellant! I felt real good the next day, a sign of a good and sweet sweat.

Here's another shot from last Sundays drumming, our first of the year.

The First Drumming of Twenty-Ten.......

Adria's Goodbye Dance.........

Here's the last of the years videos. Anyone who has been with us for awhile gets a last dance at the Sunday night circle if ever they should move. Here's the most recent one for Adria.........................................

Morning Startup..........

Here's a picture from my commute today, Monday, Dec. 28..8.30am the last Monday of 09I'm driving the speed limit around the lake on the way up to Three Rivers to work. Its crystal clear and cool.I grab a sip from my coffee and a bite from my cut in half PBJ, heavy on the bosenberry jelly, reached over and changed the radio station and checked my cellphone for messages and decided to get out my camera for some pics..........all this while driving like I said.

Art Explaination......

Hello, Well the Holidays are all around us. You can't go anywhere or listen or see anything that's not about the Holidays. There in every room now.
I've been putting up lots of old pictures lately, most from around 2002. I guess thats when I got my first digital camera and the Drum Circle persona were first on my list of catching life in its most interesting ways. But, Dude the pictures of the Drum Circle are blurry!! And, some of them still are today! Well, Please let me explain why that is. I really hate using a Flash. I hate the way evevrybody looks and the way it just washes everything. I love the long shutter. The camera staying open and catching as much light as there is before it closes and makes a picture. At night there is not much light around where we drum. We make the fire bigger for pictures but still people move around when there's a big groove going, so blurry is a form of the body in motion. It catches the moment I see better than anything else does. It makes us ageless. And, as a bonus, it turns into paintings. Art in a life form. These last few pictures I found are good blurries and were from one of our big and famous Halloween Parties, this was 2004.............