Here’s the latest opus from me and the folks at LMNO … It’s airing on Animal Planet Thursday 10pm et/pt but check your listings because these shows often air at odd times.  Look for “Breaking and Entering” — very sad, very interesting.The Bear Whisperer – Breaking and Entering

“NICU”– the baby show I’ve been “working on” premieres Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 10:00 pm.  Please watch it and encourage others to check it out so DiscoveryHealth will buy lots more episodes and I can “work on” more episodes.  Thanks!  Here’s a link to see the preview.

Hey kids!  There’s a Free Square Dance at LACMA [Los Angeles County Museum of Art] this Saturday 5/22 noonish to 3…

I’m calling, Triple Chicken Foot is playing and we made the L.A. TIMES HOT LIST! Come out for art, dancing, and tomatoes. Here’s the LA TIMES LINK:

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Now look kids, the escalators are not “rides,” though I confess I have enjoyed the numerous views offered all along the steep paths and the various landings. It is so high I have to hang on to the rail at times!

And be sure to walk amongst these seemingly common LA Street Lights – a gorgeous outside art exhibit that reminds me of an older and slower Los Angeles that my parents enjoyed. This display seems to capture the imagination of some of the geeky visitors.

Hope to see you at the Dance!

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This year is the 5th Ever Los Angeles Old-Time Social.  May 13, 14, 15  will see concerts, workshops, parties, jams and a big square dance!  May 16th is the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest to top off the wkend!   Full day by day calendar and details below.  If you need more info, email info@oldtimeisagoodtime.com

Thurs. 5/13, 9pm, Free:  Kick Off Party!

The Hyperion Tavern, 1941 Hyperion Ave, 90027

• Olentangy John
• Cat Tracks
• The Mosby Raiders

Full Kick Off details and band bios here

Fri. 5/14, 8pm, $15:  Concert!**

The Velaslavasay Panorama, 1122 West 24th St., 90007

**Pre-sale tix available here.

• Frank Fairfield
• Joe Wack & Friends
• Triple Chicken Foot

Full Concert details and band bio’s here

Sat. 5/15, 12-10pm, Free:  Workshops & Square Dance!

Farmlab.org, 1745 N. Spring St, Unit 4, 90012

Workshops:  details here.

• Intermediate Old-Time Fiddle with Tom Sauber
• Beginning Claw Hammer Banjo with Steve Lewis
• Advanced Claw Hammer Banjo with Steve Lewis
• West Virginia Fiddle with Joe Wack
• Clogging with Ruth Alpert
• Old Time Fiddle Tunes of Kentucky with Dave Bragger
• Square Dance Calling with Susan Michaels
• Shape Note Singing with Jessica Catron & Jeremy Drake
• Guitar with Chris Berry
• Click link here for details, times & registration (coming soon)

Square Dance & Kid’s Dance & Cakewalk: Kids Dance-6:30, Cake Walk-7:30, Square Dance 8pm

Callers:  Susan Michaels (L.A.) & Maggie Lind (Portland)

Cake Walk Cake Baking Sign Up:  Contact Katy kttheflowerlady@sbcglobal.net

Square Dance Bands:  Sausage Grinder & Black Crown Stringband!

A rare photo of Lila and all 3 of her kids

I was standing in the garden department at OSH marveling at all the flowery, strangely fulgent hanging baskets that had suddenly appeared just in time for Mother’s Day when my cell phone rang.  It was Rita Katsotis, an old work friend of my mother’s calling to say she’d just heard that Lila had passed away.  They’d lost touch after Lila went kicking and screaming into retirement and so Rita didn’t know Lila died in 2007.

     ”Your mother was a real character,” Rita said. And I had to agree. Lila was one of a kind, with a quirky sense of fun and funny that you can read about here.

     ”There are so many funny stories I tell people about your mother,” Rita continued, “but there’s one story I’ve told over and over for 20 years.  The one about the time Lila saw her gynecologist at the casino.”

Ahhh, yes, that one.  The casino we’re talking about here doesn’t exist anymore.  The story dates back to the 80s — in the days before Indian gaming brought Vegas-style gambling to southern California.  Lila was an inveterate gambler and back then when she needed to feed her poker jones in between visits to Sin City, she’d hightail it to Gardena and play nickel-dime-quarter Hi-lo in a pretty sleazy card club off the 405.  It was not the kind of place a nice Jewish mother from Cheviot Hills  wanted to be seen in and when she was there she went by the name “Lee.”  One time, Lila was playing poker at a table full of rough and tough truck driver types, all drinking bourbon and smoking cigars.

     ”Oh hell,” she said, looking toward the front door. “My gynecologist just walked in.”
     ”Do you need to duck out for a minute, Lee?” one of the men at the table asked her.
     ”Naw,” Lila said, “he’ll never recognize me from this angle.”

Cigars were dropped.  Bourbon was spilled.

Happy Mother’s Day, Lila.  You still make me laugh.

I love these faces! Please click to enlarge.

Old Time music gets 5th graders jumping!

The next time someone asks me why a hardcore Angeleno and big time TV writer wants to shlep all the way to Sitka, Alaska and spend 2 weeks in an elementary school music room I will direct them to these 2 photographs.  It’s really hard to capture  the kind of magic that happens when kids feel old-time music in their bodies and let it out on the dance floor, but here it is.

OLD TIME IS A GOOD TIME!

My brother David sent me a message the other day asking if I was the mayor of Sitka yet.  Well, I don’t think I’m cut out for local politics but I did get myself on the front page of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.  It was a little bit thrilling to be front page news but I have to keep it in perspective.  The headline photo in yesterday’s paper was a guy laying the chalk lines on the field at Sitka High School.  My fifteen minutes of fame are definitely up.

Keet Gooshi Heen Teachers (and some ringers)

The Virginia Reel - Click to enlarge

My first week at Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School ended with an in-service for teachers who didn’t know what to expect and got a good dose of fun themselves.  I sprinkled a little bit of pedagogy in with a lot of dancing and jumping around and silliness.

Shake it, baby, shake it... - Click to enlarge

A few of the kids joined in and they got a real kick out of showing the ropes to their teachers.

Allemande Left your Partner!

As you can see it is really hard to shoot a moving target — with a camera that is!

My hike on the Mosquito Cove Trail

Here is the trail above my home - ravaged by the Southern California Fires - Click to enlarge

This Magical Trail is from a Story Book to people who live in Southern California! - Click to enlarge

The trail was certainly a far cry from the kind of dry,
ash-y  terrain I’ve been used to of late.

← AK vs CA →

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There was moss growing on … moss!

Running streams! - Click to enlarge

Running streams!
The smell of damp and earth and sea!

Happy Girl...

And back on the beach by my home away from home, I am a happy girl.

Cable House -- Home of KCAW 104.7 Raven Radio, Sitka, AK - Click to enlarge

Very candid shot of me with Raven Radio host Robert Woolsey - Click to enlarge

Tuesday morning I was invited to do a radio interview at the local public radio station KCAW 104.7 aka Raven Radio.  The interview took up the 10-minute local news block during NPR’s Morning Edition which made me feel like something of a VIC –Very Important Caller!