Raven Jake Dawes

Raven Jake at the Sierra Madre Independence Day Parade Part 2

I've been meaning to get some video up from the Sierra Madre Independence Day Parade. You may recall that I had the honor of being selected as a "Distinguished Artist" by the Friends of the Arts in Sierra Madre, California,  which meant I got to ride along in someone else's pristine restored car. Good times! 

CPR and First Aid Training at the Red Cross

Jane had to get recertified for CPR last weekend, so I decided to join her at the Burbank Red Cross for an afternoon of first aid and resuscitation training. Let me tell you all - it was fun and informative. This was a pretty comprehensive course and by the end of the day we were certified in adult and child AED [Automated External Defibrillator]; adult, child and infant CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation]; and adult and pediatric first aid. It was challenging, but our instructor, Sharek Manoukian, really moved it along. That's me defibrillating a torso over on the right. 30 fast compressions and 2 rescue breaths, folks. Write that down somewhere where you won't forget it or better yet, download the Red Cross' free first aid phone app.  Down below, I was the class model for splinting a busted arm, which reminds me that it's not a bad time to update the first aid / earthquake kit ...

Open House at the Michael White Adobe

It's gettin to be that time of year again - Celebrate the Centennial with a visit to the Michael White Adobe as Jane and Jeryd Pojawa reprise their roles as Michael White and Maria del Rosario.

This is a rare opportunity to see the Adobe in a festive atmosphere as the community comes out to celebrate Homecoming. Find out what you can do to help turn the Adobe into a Hall of Fame for Student Achievement. Please come by and say hello!

November 2, 2012
6:00 - 10:00pm
San Marino High School
2701 Huntington Drive
San Marino, CA  91108
The Adobe is located between the athletic fields and swimming pool.
https://sites.google.com/site/michaelwhiteadobe/

Ghost Hunters Evaluate Michael White Adobe

 Folks, I ain't said much about the Michael White Adobe lately, but that don't mean that nothin's happening. We met some folks at LA Heritage Day, Richard and Bobby, who gave us an idea for a fundraiser. Here's how that went:

SAN MARINO, CA: The Friends of the Michael White Adobe, in partnership with Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles and Ghost Study Los Angeles, held an unusual fundraiser on the weekends of September 29-30 and October 6-7.

Teams of ghost hunters including California Paranormal Private Investigation, the Eastside Paranormal Investigation Team, the Paranthropologic Society for Anomalous Exploration, Paranormal Boot Camp Events, and Beyond Paranormal Investigation, monitored the adobe using non-invasive technology such as EMF meters, which measure fluctuations in electromagnet fields, and digital EVP recorders for sensing electronic voice phenomena. Filling the time slots was easy, according to Ghost Study Los Angeles co-founder Bobby Garcia. “This is a rare opportunity to investigate an old building, off the radar in the paranormal community,” he said. “We have had a lot of success in Spanish Colonial period buildings before.”

“That this building has never been evaluated presents a very rare and unusual opportunity for our members,” said Richard Carradine of Ghost Hunters of Urban Los Angeles. “There aren’t that many 170-year-old buildings left, and access tends to be very limited.” All proceeds, $340, will benefit the restoration of the historic structure.

To facilitate optimal recording conditions, the ghost hunters were on campus only during non-school, non-extracurricular hours and none were informed of the “secret location” until shortly before their allotted time in the building. Further, they were supervised by the Friends of the Michael White Adobe during their recording sessions. A follow-up event to reveal the findings is in the planning stages.

 The next time the adobe will be open to the public is during the homecoming game on Nov. 2 from 6-10 p.m.                                                    

"Just Deserts" Wedding Video

 

"Just Deserts" is a silent movie created by Jim and Lynn Hawkes of Circle Take Media in Palm Desert for our wedding. We wanted to do something a little different and a little more "us." Evil Lord Snakbar has usurped the kingdom of Princess Jane, who has fallen in love with Sir Jeryd. Snakbar doesn't deal well with rejection, but Jane and Jeryd are pretty resourceful -- and then there's the matter of the magic mead. Music by Martin St. Pierre.

Where's George Revisited

A few months back, I put in a plug for "Where's George?"  a handy website that tracks currency through the local economy.  Today, one of the bills checked in - and it was the original bill Jane got in change for a breakfast burrito at school. It originally came from Cedar City, Utah, logged in as a crisp new bill at 9:27 p.m. on May 17, 2009.

It came to Jane on May 30, 2012 - 3 Yrs, 13 Days, 19 Hrs, 7 Mins and 374 miles later. Well, now it's surfaced again, this time in  Sonoma, CA  94 Days, 19 Hrs, 27 Mins and 369 miles later, in change at a gas station, bringing this particular bill's stats to  743 Miles in 3 Yrs, 108 Days, 14 Hrs, 34 Mins at an average of 0.62 Miles per day.   It is now 512 Miles from its starting location. Keep goin' "One Dollar Bill, Serial# L2233---6M Series: 2006"   you're doin' great. And if any of you want to see where your money's going, check out  http://www.wheresgeorge.com/

For more about money circulation, travel and infectious disease, check out this video

Hummingbird

Now it should come as no surprise to anybody that I'm a big fan of hummingbirds.  Most evenings, we sit out on the porch watchin' them do their hummy thing, but today things were a little off.

I've been building some props for an upcoming photo shoot and the studio I'm workin' at has some big old doors and skylights and from time to time an errant bird flies in and gets confused.  This poor little guy couldn't find his way back out and to make matters worse, he hit a patch of cobwebs that stuck to his tail, feet and finally, wings. Fortunately, when he fell I was there to catch him.

He required a little bit of cleanup to get untangled, but as soon as I took him outside and opened my hand, he flew right off.  I can tell you, I'm sure glad this story had a happy ending.  It's gonna be hot today - probably over 100 degrees - and it sure woulda been sad if this little bird had cooked in a skylight. As it is, he'll be off sipping nectar, buzzing around and maddogging other hummingbirds. Good times.

The Piano Bluebook

Well, restoration on my piano is almost complete - my sister-in-law and her partner helped us haul it into the house and it needs the (not original) legs put back on, a little felt and some knobs and good to go. 

So I thought it might be interesting to see what the  bluebook of pianos  has to say about it. Basically, if you e-mail them with your make and model number, they'll tell you the year it was made. We were thinking 1895 seemed a little early for the mission-inspired look of this piano. but the ads of the period show styles that are very similar. They never saw a photo or anything, and appraisals are a separate issue, but for getting an age it's a great resource.  Over there at the right, I'm puttin' in keys. Make sure you number them before taking them out. Just sayin'.

I see from the ads that the pianos ran around $300-$600, so talk about holding the value.  I'm still at a little over $300 all up. Tuning will probably bring it up to around $450.  117 years old and hasn't depreciated significantly. Given the history of the company, the piano was definitely manufactured  before  Krell became Krell-French and moved from Cincinnati to Newcastle, Indiana.  The ads really flog their Auto-Grand model which, as far as I can tell, means it's got some gimicky music roller thing in the middle. Probably added another $50 to the price and worked for two weeks. Krell people, am I wrong? Is your Auto-Grand still rolling? I've got a more standard music rack on mine and no complaints.

It is kind of funny to look at these old ads promoting Krell Pianos as being "your partner for life," but there's some truth there. Guaranteed this piano survived it's original owner, and most likely it's going to survive me too.

Here's what Albert Furst from the bluebook had to say:

Krell Piano Company
54" Cabinet Grand Upright
Serial Number 1822
Manufactured  1895

The Krell Piano Company was established by Albert Krell and his sons Alexander and Albert, Jr., in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1889. Alexander Krell died in 1895, and Albert Sr. died in 1900, leaving Albert Krell Jr. to run operations. Albert went into partnership with Jesse French to create the Krell-French Piano Company of Springfield, Ohio, but their factory was destroyed by fire soon after. Pianos continued to be made under the name 'Krell' and 'Krell-French'. In 1905 Albert left Krell-French to start the Auto-Grand Piano Company in Indiana. The Krell name continued to be produced until about 1950. Krell pianos are of very good quality, indicating that Krell produced a higher grade piano than average.

Click here>  http://www.bluebookofpianos.com/ratings.htm
 
This information is free and is provided "as is" without express or implied warranties. It is only as accurate as the information you have provided. Every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of  the information contained in this E Mail, we assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.
 
Robert T. Furst - Author
Bluebook of Pianos

 

 

 

 

 

Heirloom Tomatoes

Got the first tomatoes  of the season here, some heirloom classics.  Brandywine,  Green Zebra  - the usual suspects. Jane assures me they're delicious - I'm not a big raw tomato fan myself. Well, growin' them is almost as good as eatin' them. Had a couple of Japanese  eggplants too (the black beauties are lagging just a bit), and they were terrific.  Ha ha squirrels, here are four you're not getting...

New Website

Alright everybody, some of you have been around long enough to know that I've got an alter ego, a character if you will, called Jeryd Pojawa. I thought him up years ago, and he's had a pretty decent career out there in Hollywood.

Anyway, it was getting to be time to blow the dust off the old scrapbooks and reassess the beauty / functionality / money / time continuum of this summer and well, that kind of thing can lead to more of the same.

So to that end, Jane spent some time scanning and coding and uploading and widgeting and all that kind of thing and put together this website. Probably won't ever be "done"  - but it's got a pretty comprehensive scope of the careers of Jeryd Pojawa and Raven Jake Dawes.

Check it out - you're sure to find something you like whether it's Han Solo's keychain or my portrayal of a creepy serial killer/photographer in a cop show. Maybe you like freak cards (I sure do) or movies about stuff exploding. Or trade show booths. Like I said, something for everybody. There's even a song on there, if you can find it.

So big thanks to my lovely wife for gettin' on it, and hopefully you'll find something up there that puts a smile on your face.

www.jerydpojawa.com