Some Jose Before Another Monday Morning

This is the Christmas song I love most. When you're a little Jewish kid, you might not have as much exposure to the wide range of celebratory song, but this one I adored. "Feliz Navidad" by Puerto-Rican singer-songwriter Jose Feliciano. This song just makes me feel young inside. Maybe you feel that way too.



And here's a more recent version. Super awesome.



Last summer, The Boy and I were privileged enough to hear Jose sing his famous and wonderful, personal version of "The Star Spangled Banner" before a baseball game at AT&T Park. If you've never heard it (and obviously this has nothing to do with Christmas), you should take a listen. I was so surprised to learn that this was controversial when he first sang it in 1968:



And then while looking for a video of Feliz Navidad to share here, I found his cover of "My Sweet Lord." Normally I never want to hear anyone cover the Beatles. Especially my George.

I like his version. I'm okay with it. See what you think.



But now I miss the Man. I guess I can only be so flexible.



This clip is from the Concert for Bangladesh which, if you haven't seen it, is a great concert film. Now I'm getting all teary-eyed. Such great music.

Positively Haight Street

"You know, I went to Haight-Ashbury, expecting it to be this brilliant place, and it was just full of horrible, spotty, dropout kids on drugs. It certainly showed me what was really happening in the drug culture. It wasn’t what was I thought of all these groovy people having spiritual awakenings and being artistic. It was like the Bowery, it was like alcoholism, it was like any addiction. " ~ George Harrison

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Yesterday I took myself for a walk down Haight Street (which is easy to do since it's the closest neighborhood to mine).

The Haight alternately amuses and confounds me. I find it interesting and totally clichéd, wild and disgusting and freaky and totally San Franciscan.

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I think it's probably that the myth of the Summer of Love and the hype has created the Haight more than anything else, but I thought you'd like to accompany me on my little tour...

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An appreciation for Hindu gods, Free Tibet, multiple piercings, facial tattoos, and alternative anything is de rigueur. Either that, or you'll be one of the myriad of tourists clutching maps, wearing shorts, wondering why it's so damn cold and why is everything so dirty.

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Vintage hippy hat above. Vintage stores abound here, and their items are not inexpensive, either.

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There are lots of street kids begging for money. It's a different crowd than the regular homeless people you see all over town. Lots of these kids look like suburban runaways, maybe here on some drug-fueled adventure.

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This is a place where capitalism is adored (get yer tie-dye and bongs here!), but all economic and philosophical persuasions are tolerated.

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The mural on the side of the Anarchist Bookstore reads: History remembers two kinds of people-- those who murder and those who fight back.

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This fella was setting out brightly colored flags for the Participarade. He invited me to walk with the parade to Golden Gate Park. But I was too busy taking photos, so I just thanked him.

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Murals and colors abound.

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Just walking. And sitting.

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I love the architecture here.

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It is possible to get a contact high just by walking down the street. (That's incense, obviously.)

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Need I say more?

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Ta-da. The end of the walk.

Here's the song that started it all:

More Haight photos here.

Happy Birthday, George

“I think people who can truly live a life in music are telling the world, 'You can have my love, you can have my smiles. Forget the bad parts, you don't need them. Just take the music, the goodness, because it's the very best, and it's the part I give.' ”-- George Harrison


I remember where I was when I heard that John Lennon was shot. It was in the evening and I was watching Hill Street Blues. The program was interrupted to broadcast the news, and I told my mom, who was in the den, talking on the phone.

I don't remember where I was when I heard that George Harrison had died, but I do remember how instantly my eyes filled with tears and how terribly sad I felt.

I was never old enough to be influenced by the Beatles when they were together, and when George released his first solo album, All Things Must Pass, I was only three. But for some reason, I always loved George, even before I knew anything about him.

As a person I was drawn to him, and as a musician, I appreciated him in all of his incarnations, from the "quiet" Beatle to his Dark Horse days, to the Traveling Wilburys.

I don't know what it is about some people that draws us in, makes us feel like we can instantly relate to them, (maybe we see something of ourselves in them?) or how we can feel attached to people we will never really know, but that's how it is sometimes.



What I love about this video (besides the song) is that it's pure and simple. It makes you remember the days when music came on actual records.

Official George Harrison website (lovely)
Wikipedia entry about George
Rolling Stone article about George's greatest moments in music
The Traveling Wilburys website
George's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
BBC pages devoted to George

His last words: Love one another.