Raven Jake Dawes

Raven Jake's Cursed Cane

It's alright if you just want  a moment to gander at ol' Jake enjoying a bubblebath and shamelessly promoting my favorite Lush product, R&B.

Resting on the edge of the tub there is my favorite cane. I've had that son of a gun for 10 years. Bought it at the railroad station in Fort Bragg in 2005 and have been partners in long walks, plantar fasciitis and most of life's ups and downs ever since. After my heart surgery last year, we've been inseparable. 

That is until last Sunday when I was making a provisioning run at Goodwill on Fair Oaks in Pasadena and some low life weasel took advantage of my sinking spell to swipe it. I warn you now, pole cat, that cane has a curse attached to it. 

Whoever took it better have a need. You don't swipe a man's hat, his parrot, or his medical appliances and not incur the consequences of your actions. You can return it to me, no questions asked, and break the curse. You can give it to someone with a need (give, not sell) and maybe mitigate some of the damage. But don't count on it.

Google Salutes Duke Kahanamoku

Duke Kahanamoku (whose full name was a mind-boggling Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku) would have been 125 years old today, if people had indefinite lifespans and Google (through "Google  Doodler" Matt Cruickshank) saluted him with a distinctive surfboard logo. Less well known than the fact that Duke introduced the world to surfing and was the best known Indigenous Hawaiian ever) is that Duke won  five Olympic medals in swimming:

• 1912 (Stockholm) -  gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle and the silver medal with the U.S. team in the men's 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay
• 1920 (Antwerp) gold medals both in the 100 meters (bettering fellow Hawaiian Pua Kealoha) and in the relay. 
• 1924 (Paris) Silver medal in the 100-meter freestyle  (with the gold going to Johnny Weissmuller and the bronze to Duke's brother, Samuel Kahanamoku).
• 1932 (Los Angeles) Duke didn't compete, but he was an alternate for the U.S. water polo team.

Bear in mind he was born in 1890, so in 1932 he was almost 42. He also He served as sheriff of Honolulu from 1932 to 1961, serving 13 consecutive terms. Duke surfed on in 1968, having packed so much into the first 77 years of his life that it makes you wonder what he could have accomplished with another 47.  E ho'omaha me ka maluhia, Kahuna, you continue to serve as an inspiration. 

Boo-tiful Portraits and Raven Jake's Zombie Makeover

Shout out to Boo-tiful Portraits and Candy Buck for their fun support at the Second Annual Hearse and Reptile Show.  I'll have more to say about that event in a bit, but Candy and the photo team did a terrific job of gettin' me coffin-ready and in the mood for the monster mash in preparation for last Saturday's festivities.  Halloween's coming up, but they also do pin-ups, ghoulish maternity photos, and family portraits straight outta the haunted mansion. Great work, ghouls! 

(657) 208-1915

[email protected]

Romeo and Juliet at the Old Zoo

In the interests of gittin' out more on the cheap, Raven Jake hauled himself out to see some live theater, specifically the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival. Every weekend in the summer, the Independent Shakespeare Company performs one of two of the Bard's plays and for July, the hit pick was "Romeo and Juliet." That feller to the left is André Martin playing an excellent Mercutio.

Now you might be thinking, "Good for you. Jake - but what does that have to do with me?" Well good news, friends! Not only is "Much Ado About Nothing" playing for the rest of August,  "Romeo and Juliet" is back for the first week of September, specifically:

Thursday, 9/3, Friday, 9/4 and Sunday 9/6

So pack yourself a picnic and head over to the Old Zoo. After you climb around in the bear pen a while, you ought to be ready to soak up some culture. 

Some very nice performances, nontraditional casting, a punk-ish live score, lots of jumpin' around by the characters keeps you on your toes, and best of all - it's free! Please do kick down what you can, though. They rely on donations to keep goin'. 

Here's the website: http://www.iscla.org/

Derrick's Gypsy Wagon

As I was strollin' from the tribal fusion haifa at Movement Art Space in Glassell Park up to the Verdugo Bar, I chanced to meet this feller and his astonishing gypsy wagon. Folks, I have a terrible recollection of names, but I believe his name is Derrick, his wife is Micah, and that they're building this lovely gypsy wagon out of stuff they found on the street. Warms my heart to see urban artists making something beautiful out of nothin.' Fantastic work, my friend. 

Raven Jake at the LA County Museum of Art

In the next post down, you can read me ravin' about Noah Purifoy, but there's a lot of other stuff going on to commend the LA County Museum of Art as a terrific way to spend a hot summer afternoon. You'll be hearing me talk  about the Raven Jake Austerity Plan  and how LACMA is helping us out:  On weekdays, after 3 p.m. to museum has free admission for LA County residents.

At the moment you check in, make sure to ask for a reservation to see the James Turrell piece "Breathing Light."  I guarantee you've never seen anything like it. If you go on a Friday, the museum is open til 8 and there's free jazz concerts. Grab a blanket, pack a picnic and you're all set for a romantic evening on the cheap. 

Over there on the left, you'll see I'm standing very close to (but not touching) Duke Kahanamoku's surfboard. How cool is that? He rode goofy foot, just like me. It's part of their "best of" 50th anniversary show. 

They also have all kinds of art from some hard-core Polynesian cannibal  ritual artifacts to some European Renaissance to modern conceptual art and everything in between. Like photography? They've got that too.  I'm pretty fond of a huge Richard Serra piece called Band. It's another one you've got to see to believe. 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone: 323 857-6010 | 

http://www.lacma.org/

Noah Purifoy at LACMA

Y'all know from my previous posts that I'm a big Noah Purifoy fan. The Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum is one of the finest conglomerations of assemblage art there is, hands down, so I was mighty curious to see how that could be translated from large-scale pieces in the California desert  to an austere, interior white-walled museum setting. Disregard that orange wall over there, it's an anomaly. 

Noah's work (I've got to call him Noah - I might not have known him personally, but I feel like he's an old  friend) was inspired to  a degree by Sam Rodia's master work, The Watts Towers, but his stuff is smaller, funnier, and more about social message than beauty. It has funk. It's dirty. It's about taking what society discards and making something meaningful out of it. You can't look at his art and not smile.  

The LA County Museum of Art [LACMA] is hosting an exhibit of some of Noah's select work until Sept. 27, so jump on it while you can.  They're calling it Junk Dada, which I guess is as good a term as any for his more surreal pieces.  Over on the right, you can see that they left a dove's nest in one of the sculptures, which is a nice touch, and they also anchored the pieces with a sandy base that touches on their desert home.  Other parts of the exhibit explore some wall-mounted items (calling them paintings or collages or quilts is a little too specific) plus some mention of his work in the Civil Rights Movement. 

Now, you've heard me harp about the Raven Jake Austerity Plan (there's going to be a lot of that this summer - I've got me some beer tastes on a water budget) and here's how LACMA is helping us out: On weekdays, after 3 p.m. to museum has free admission for LA County residents. If you go on a Friday, the museum is open til 8 and there's free jazz concerts. Grab a blanket, pack a picnic and you're all set for a romantic evening on the cheap. You can thank Jake later [wink]. 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone: 323 857-6010 | 

http://www.lacma.org/

 

 

Raven Jake at the Autry

Folks, I'm making a conscientious effort to go and do some stuff.  It's been one year since my double bypass surgery, and I  still ain't 100%. But I ain't dead, and we've got a whole world to go explore. Raven Jake is on the "I'm in if it's free" plan, which is all about my budget and not the value of the experience.

Case in point: it's been a few years since I've been to the Autry. And that's a shame. 'cause they've got some great stuff goin' on. Their big exhibit right now is Empire and Liberty: the Civil War and the West, but Kim Stringfellow's photo exhibition on Jackrabbit Homesteads taken in the Morongo Valley is also terrific and I was especially drawn to The Balance of Power on the American Frontier, which is largely about the weapons of the historic Old West. And, of course, many of their exhibits explore the boundaries of the perception of the American West and the reality of the American West, exemplified by their emphasis on movie westerns, now including The Lone Ranger. 

The Autry is developing into a terrific museum and well worth the $10 fee but, in fitting with the Raven Jake Austerity Plan, it is free to the public every second Tuesday of the month.

4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027-1462

Phone: 323.667.2000

https://theautry.org/

Where's George Sighting!

Been a while since I tracked a George! This one came to Jane's dad, and before he could spend it, she whisked it away from him to log it. This sucka's been all the way from New Jersey in the last two years. 

Entry Time (Local Time of Zip)	Location, State/Province (Green=USA, Blue=Canada, Purple=International)	Travel Time (from previous entry)	Distance (Miles)*	Average Speed (Miles Per Day)	Social Networking
15-Jul-2015 02:43 PM	La Canada Flintridge, CA	2 Yrs, 46 Days, 20 Hrs, 49 Mins	18	0.02
User's Note	My 78-year-old dad had this in his wallet and was about to spend it at an Ethiopian restaurant before I snatched it away from him. It's only medium used and probably has a few more miles to go.
29-May-2013 05:54 PM	Los Angeles, CA	55 Days, 2 Hrs, 6 Mins	2,424	44
User's Note	Was given it as change in a bar.
04-Apr-2013 06:48 PM	Westtown, NY	37 Days, 6 Hrs, 52 Mins	44	1.2
User's Note	good condition
26-Feb-2013 10:55 AM	Ridgefield, NJ	26 Days, 4 Hrs, 33 Mins	2.1	0.08
User's Note	retail
31-Jan-2013 06:23 AM	Leonia, NJ	Initial Entry	n/a	n/a
User's Note	Bill #249,979 Hits: #76,665,#77,868,#79,701

and here's a previous one that started out in Cedar City Utah, passed through LA, went up to Sonoma and then headed off to Florida. Keep goin' Wild Bill!  

One Dollar Bill, Serial# L2233---6M Series: 2006
This bill has traveled at least 3,148 Miles in 6 Yrs, 30 Days, 18 Hrs, 11 Mins at an average of 1.4 Miles per day. The bill is now 1,897 Miles from its starting location. This travel history below is in reverse-chronological order
Entry Time (Local Time of Zip)	Location, State/Province (Green=USA, Blue=Canada, Purple=International)	Travel Time (from previous entry)	Distance (Miles)*	Average Speed (Miles Per Day)	Social Networking
17-Jun-2015 05:38 PM	Bradenton, FL	2 Yrs, 288 Days, 3 Hrs, 36 Mins	2,407	2.4
02-Sep-2012 11:02 AM	Sonoma, CA	94 Days, 19 Hrs, 27 Mins	369	3.9
User's Note	Change from a gas station
30-May-2012 03:35 PM	La Canada Flintridge, CA	3 Yrs, 12 Days, 19 Hrs, 8 Mins	372	0.34
User's Note	I'm not 100% sure where I got this bill, but I think it came to me in change at the Glendale Community College cafeteria. It's pretty beat up, but no tears. Ready to re-enter the currency stream.
17-May-2009 09:27 PM	Cedar City, UT	Initial Entry	n/a	n/a
User's Note	I had to pick up this guy at our local US Bank as part of a bundle when we got low on change at work. Once entered this sharp, near mint bill left here as change given out to a customer Travel far & avoid the shredder little greenback!

Adios, Spring Fiesta

Folks, it saddens me to say that Cal Poly Pomona has lost its oldest mare, the venerable Spring Fiesta. She passed on Saturday, Independence Day. The W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center issued this statement:

The matriarch of the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center crossed over the Rainbow Bridge this weekend. Spring Fiesta was 33 years old. She was a prolific broodmare, producing 14 foals in her lifetime. Fiesta touched the lives of many students, serving as a wonderful teacher and friend. She will continue to be well represented at the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center through her foals, grand foals, and great-grand foals.

Last time I saw Spring Fiesta was in May. Whenever I'm at the center to watch the Sunday show and whatnot, I make sure to pay my respects. She was a sweet old thing, and even in her advanced years would come right up to the fence and insist on having her ears, back and mane rubbed. I was always happy to oblige. Spring, you're gonna be missed.