Rick's World:
IDES O' MARCH BLOG
Just back from a month on the road -
thought I was done with
that kind of life, but on Ground Hog Day I flew back to Ohio, visited
family, and then drove Mom's car back 2900 miles to Arcata, and as if
that weren't enough, sped back to SF in my own car and spent two weeks
in the City. Now I have returned to Arcata, and am trying to pick up
the pieces, resume what's left of my life, get back up to speed at the
bottleneck biz...
It was the worst possible time to be
driving cross-country,
dodging blizzards and sleet and hail, but the '97 Toyota Camry passed
serenely through it all, and is now washed, de-cluttered, and for
sale: '97 Camry LE 4-dr., 4-cyl. sedan, "Ruby Pearl" burgundy,
automatic, 39K miles, in nearly perfect shape, no ABS system, 33 mpg
road mileage, Kelley Blue Book price $4.7 K.
The bottleneck biz was supposed to be
lying dormant in the
usual post-holiday fashion, but I arrived home to another kind of
blizzard, one of orders, and have strapped my nose back to the
grindstone, literally, so as to quiet the clamor and fulfill the dreams
of a small army of would-be slide guitarists.
While in SF, I made a little progress at
painting, and have
fleshed out the foreground of my landscape of Fallen Leaf (near
Tahoe). And I rescued from certain destruction some artwork that had
been preserved at the Haight Ashbury branch of the library, which is
now closed for "renovation." A beautiful tapestry by Amie Hill was
lost, but I saved Justin Green's original artwork for the Tower Pulse!
"Musical Legends" 9-panel full-page cartoon, about me in a Christmas
music program at the Oregon State pen, '73...and a box of ceramics,
books and artwork by the late Helen Ludwig of SF. The 'toon is now in
the hands of my niece in Cincinnati, where Justin now resides, as well,
and the Ludwig materials are on the way to her estate.
On the road, I immersed myself in a life
collection of Gary
Snyder's poetry, and after several hundred pages, found myself echoing
that voice. My brother kindly loaned me a guitar to accompany me back
to the coast, and it was a comfort to have the blessings of poetry and
music during the otherwise grinding and relentless assault of bad
weather and Neanderthal-mannered traffic. Too many stories to tell;
but clearly the worst stretch was Highway 99 from Bakersfield to
Sacremento.
Drive it at your peril!
Onward to Spring!
Kindest Regards, Rick
Music News:
As of July 2008, only a few dozen copies remained of the second edition
of Eric's latest major musical work, Shakespeare
and
the Sonettes: The Bard's
Blues. On this CD, there are five songs telling the stories of
the great plays
in blues form and five actual Elizabethan guitar pieces. Eric has since
written two new Shakespearean blues songs: "MacBeth's Blues" and
"Julius Caesar's Blues", the latter actually telling some of the story
of Antony and Cleopatra as
well, the tales being continuous. "MacBeth's Blues" was debuted at
Peacemas '07. There is certain to be a third edition of the album, and
it may include these 2 new pieces. Read 3 reviews of
this CD. Please see Recordings Page
to listen to songs and for more information on all of Eric's recordings.
The CD is available on this website's Order Page for $16.95, which includes
shipping. It is also for sale in a number of stores: Music
Millennium, the biggest music store in Portland, Oregon; Buffalo
Brothers Guitars in Carlsbad, CA; Folk Music
Center in Claremont (East LA), CA; Central
Coast Music in Morro Bay, CA; Down Home Music
in El Cerrito, CA; Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco, CA; Bookpeople in
Moscow, Idaho; and BWI
Distributors, who specialize in marketing to libraries.
Eric Park is accepting guitar
students in the Arcata area! Eric is beginner-friendly, can
teach note-reading and tab, but
can also teach advanced melodic fingerstyle a la Hurt, Kottke,
Kaukonen,
and in slide guitar. Musical styles include blues, folk, standards,
some
jazz and classical. Call Eric
at 707-826-0357 or contact
Eric by email for more info or to set up a lesson. Listen to Eric playing guitar.
Art
&
Poetry News:
Rick completed
his first-ever oil painting in January 2010, a simple front
view of the Wagner House, in which there are the offices of KHSU radio.
They were having a contest. Rick entered the painting
and won some sort of as-yet-unnamed prize, but the main thing was to
learn how to use oils. It was exhibited during Eureka
Arts Alive! and a similar event in Crescent City. KHSU
has scanned the painting and will sell prints of it to their listeners.
See
Rick's oil painting debut: Old KHSU building, the
Wagner House.
Jan
30, 2010: Rick received word that Toyon,
the literary magazine at Humboldt State University, will publish his
poem, "I Never Told Her I Saw Her Naked," in its Spring 2010 issue.
Toyon is an annual magazine and Rick is honored. This is Rick's 6th
poem to be published in just over a year. A "toyon," by the way, is a
Northwest shrub also known as "Christmasberry," for its red berries. Read the poem.
Read Rick's 64th
birthday poem, which contains some of his thoughts on aging.
August
2009:
The summer issue of the Haight Ashbury
Literary Journal published Rick Park's poem, "Some Lines for
Margot." This
is Eric's fifth poem publication of 2009.
July
2009: Rick
has mounted
another "found" sculpture, part of the "Proof of Evolution" series.
This one is a "disproof of human evolution," a "Petrified
War Ribbon," age 25,000 years...the idea being that while the rest of
the life-forms evolve, humans keep entering into the same stupid
anti-evolutionary war displays. It's a small metal ribbon, bent and
folded exactly like those bumper-decals, the yellow-ribbon type.
April
2009 issue of The Idiom magazine published
Eric's three-poem suite, "Cowboy Haiku Trilogy." The third
one had never been published before. The Idiom, out of New Jersey, is a
feisty and spiritedly independent little publication. You can check out
their website and access his poems online. Eric has
hard-copies of the magazine, which you can get from him for $5
(1000-7th St. #8, Arcata CA 95521). If you wish, he'll autograph it for
you.
"The Sad Songs Contest,
Collected Poems 1964-2006, a 60th Birthday Anthology". Eric
Park has created a lifetime poetry collection of 59 poems with 14
original illustrations in a 32 page book. l8 of the poems have been
published over the years in a number of literary magazines. The first
sold-out edition was named "Coming of Age", for his 60th birthday. For
the second edition, which sold out, it was renamed with its current
name, "The Sad Songs Contest, Collected Poems 1964-2006, a 60th
Birthday Anthology". The third edition sold out. Eric is now
working on the fourth edition of
his poetry book, which will
probably be re-issued in October 2007. It will sell for $5.95 ($6.65
with postage & handling). It is now being carried at 2 bookstores: Bookpeople in
Moscow, Idaho and Bird & Beckett Books in San Francisco, CA. Listen to a
clip of Eric reading "Plastered in Stratford" at his CD Release
Party at Bird & Beckett Books on February 20, 2006. To order, contact Eric by email,
call him at 707-826-0357, or mail him at: 1000 7th Street #8, Arcata,
CA 95521.
Joel Dunsany emailed and wrote
"I've been meaning to find a moment to e-mail you & tell you that
your COLLECTED POEMS are simply A MARVEL. I couldn't have enjoyed them
more! They are sparkling & shimmering. They are music. They are
insightful & full of the stuff of life. Like they say about the
astronauts, you've got the RIGHT STUFF!!!"
If you would like to order anything on this
site, please go to Order Page.
When you are ready to order, there is a link to a shorter
printer-friendly order form on that page.
For folks who do not have a printer, you can write down and mail the
essential information. Allow 7 - 10 days for delivery.
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