misplaced mama

I never really believed in Writer’s Block. I thought it to be a bullshit excuse for lack of creative energy. I used to say I had The Block when weeks would go by and not a single word was penned. But deep down the block was out of my shear and utter laziness. I would rather be watching movies, eating chocolate, drinkging, having sex, folding clothes, taking up any other hobby that I wasn’t good at like sewing or painting or photography…just because I was a lazy writer. Not because I didn’t have the abilty to express. Expressing takes work. Sometimes I like not to work.

But now I try. I have tried and tried. And I literally can’t write a thing. Not a damn sentence that makes any sort of sense. It all sounds like BLAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHG. Crap. Puke. Not me. Voice is lost. Musta left it back in Ojai when of couse I had words banging down at my fingertips, begging to be let out in the open mountain air… yet not a soul in sight to watch my kids so I could feel the release I so longed for. Is this it? Am I done? No more bones to write down to, Natalie Goldberg, I think they all broke. Shattered. Because hours have gone by and I have been glaring at this lite-brite of a screen, my tired brown eyes aching and seeing double. My lower back in severe pain from this horribly inadaquete and uncomfortable desk chair. My fingers move and the keys click but nothing, and I mean nothing comes out. I guess it’s Writers Block. Figures.

While I wasn’t allowed any writing time in Cali, we did have some great music and dancing sessions. We had a blast blaring the tunes up to 10 and hearing them bounce off the mountain and back into our open doorway. Our fabulous friend Jason, whose home and goats we gaurded has a doubly fabulous music collection. From Blues to Bluegrass, Jazz to Reggae, Country to Freedom Rock, Electronica to Elevator, Jason has it. It was refreshing to dive into someone elses vinyl, putting the needle on different record grooves and exploring sounds from across the board, sounds we don’t own or else have lost in a pile of CD’s (years in music PR has granted me an eclectic collection of dust). Plus we don’t have a variety of vinyl, Bill basically gave away everything but his performance wax , leaving us hundreds of records in all schools of reggae, break-beat and DnB. And their ain’t nothin’ like vinyl. Nothing other than live performance can compare to the frequencies offered upon to the airwaves like the black wax can.

So these are the most requested sounds made by my tiny muscian/dancer/appreciator, Mia Rose.

1. Hello, Nasty, The Beastie Boys
2. Working Man’s Dead, The Grateful Dead
3. The Muppets Movie Sound Track, The Muppets
4. Ghost In The Machine, The Police 6. Are We Not Men? We Are Devo, Devo
5. Quality Control, Jurassic 5
6. Gracious Mama Africa, Dezerie 3.Let’s Wiggles, The Wiggles (this was not a vinyl in the Byal household but a gift from a friend. not bad actually.) 2.Rasta Business, Burning Spear 1 Aparatus, Great Stone Sound System feat. Tony Culture, Rocker T, General Smiley, Casper Lomadawa and Megan Jacobs (the very soon to be released CD produced by Mia’s Daddy, aka Dr. Rock. This is not an album in the ojai collection either, but everytime we got in the car we had to start our 15 minute descend down the mountain to track 6: Fire Wata. Then to track 10: Urge Fi Dis. And then over and over and over again. Hope the masses like it as much as our almost 3 year old.)

“I can teach you how to rock. Watch me.” -Mia Rose, age 34 months, after she didn’t like the style of dancing I was doing and wanted me to shift gears.