WEEKLY UPDATE

Gather round boys and girls, children of all ages, ladies and gentleman, mens and gentleladies, young and old, black and white, green and purple, its that special time of the week when I update the devoted semipublic readers of this here shindig as to what is going down in the world of awesomeness. Sit down, strap up, and hold on cuz it's gonna be a bumpy landing.

MUSICAL ARTIST OF THE WEEK: ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) from "Roses and Clover" or "Fly Between Falls." If you didn't pick it up from earlier posts, I am utterly obsessed, lustful and engrossed in this band at the moment. They make me yearn for summer. I listen to their music and I can feel the lake water between my toes. I can smell the BBQ. I can taste the otter pops. I can feel the cold caress of the iron horseshoe in my hands. I can feel the slip and slide beneath my buttocks. I can see my skin turning a healthy tannish glow unlike the pasty semi see through white color it is now. If you want summer now, listen to ALO.

OLD PERSON PHRASE OF THE WEEK: "Bull Pucky" If you don't feel like using this phrase then I think you are full of "Bull Pucky" and so do all the old farts who made this odd phrase up some indiscriminate years ago.

CURRENT WEATHER ON NUNIVAK: Today is another beautiful arctic hell. 1 Deg. F with a wind chill of -20 due to 20 MPH winds. Good news though, thanks to Alisha, apparently we are picking up 4 minutes of daylight a day. This means that in only two weeks our days will be about an hour longer. Isn't that CRAZY!?

ART UPDATE: Obviously you can see I've been doing some drawing. I'll let that speak for itself. Musically I've hit a nasty little slump. I wrote a good song first thing upon my return and have produced straight shat since. I was able to acquire a capo from our school board president and that has given me countless hours of fun on the guitar but no new songs. I can't seem to find anything to sing about. I'm trying to make a summertime happy album in the dead of arctic winter, that is pretty friggin hard if you ask me.

WEBLINK OF THE WEEK: My friend Sean's Gallery in Tacoma, Wa. The Helm Gallery at http://www.thehelmgallery.com/ This website showcases what someone can accomplish with hardley any money or business training. It features pictures, show updates, a blog of its own, and various other features that are quite interesting. Even if you are not from Washington, it is a really cool website to see what Northwest popular current young people art looks like these days.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK: "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac. I am tentative to attempt to even describe what an important part of my life, philosophy, and perspective on reality this book is and has had on me. This book gives the first intimate portrait of the adventures across the post WWII nation of the two absolute fathers of everything that we now consider Bohemian, Hippie, Alternative, or Counter Culture. Jack K has a supernatural ability to write about things that happened to him in the past as if he were still in the moment writing it as it were happening. A skill I'll never master even if I devoted my life to trying. To be able to dig the vast expanse of the USA with ol Jack and a young Neal Cassady rapping along in a spiraling vortex of free verse thought is truly a gift that every American should enjoy someday.

I REALLY look forward to doing the weekly update every Sunday night. I hope you look forward to reading it. As I type this with ol Jack and Neal staring at me I can't help but think that time is moving so quickly. A week has passed so quickly. Only 19 more weeks to go and I will become a nomad of the western sun. I will wander the northwest in search of friendship, romance, fellowship, music, nature, wonder, inspiration, energy, love and peace and the beautiful sun. Unlike ol Jack who hitchhiked his way back and forth across this awe inspiring country of ours, I will drive my trusty Subaru Outback, "The Sarge," I will have my ukulele, a tent, a backpack, a camp stove, a fishing pole, a hatchet, a journal and friends. I can't wait.