was feeling very laurel canyon this morning, playing my acoustic guitar and singing as the cool summer sun fluttered leafy shadows on my shuttered white window blinds.   thinking about the two neighborhood house parties i attended this weekend, like david crosby going to joni mitchell's, wandering from the hot + steamy art geek dance party friday night at darcy’s-on-the-mall, to saturday night’s dudewarming for the 24 year old rockers who just moved in next door ... slept for 15 hours last night, a nap that continued through the evening’s storm + rain, which led to my early morning wakeful trance and sank back into sleep again, creating amazing dreams before i rose ending with a snippet of a diva dance song i unearthed from my subconscious, an angelic voice gently waking me with the words don’t waste your time ... open your eyes to me ... echoing through my head as i got up and started to walk around sometime before 8 a.m.

rode my bike down to the east shore of lake calhoun to see fireworks on 4th of july, the minikahda club does the main display from their perch on the west shore; plus hopkins, saint louis park, and edina’s shows can also be seen from north to south right above the same treeline.   very smalltown-in-the-city, very neighborhoody, very nice.

barack obama worked out at the downtown yw (where i work - and work out - sometimes) in a surprise visit 1st thing in the morning a couple saturdays ago - i was not there to meet him, but my co-worker na’il, who was subbing for that shift and pissed about having to work so early, got to shake his hand.   and i got to shake the hand of na’il ...

maybe the laurel canyon vibe started when i recorded a new song recently w/ baby: a dirty, scratchy, grungy version of my most recent original ‘at the foot of the mountain theater’ - it’s a folkie americana-inspired bit of revisionist patriotism that you can hear, along with my 1st mac recording ‘self is just a concept’ at my new myspace artist page ... !   please keep in mind that these are very rough drafts of the type of music i would like to make, so tell me what you think - and be kind...