“Wolf mother where you been? You look so worn and so thin.
Wolf mother you’re a taker, death maker, hear you sing, ya ya.
Wolf mother at the door, you don’t smile anymore.
You’re a drifter, a shape shifter, see you run, ya ya.”
Feb 142012
Somebody That I Used To Know: Walk off the Earth (Gotye – Cover) Wonderful work. A single guitar and five voices becomes a crisp work of art. Very nice. The song speaks volumes about leaving the past behind too.
Jan 222012
Walking away from communication challenges because they might cause others to re-examine their cherished beliefs, or lead to irritation, anger, hostility, and sometimes violence, is how the world got to be what it is today: compromised, polluted, sliced and diced into billions of pieces and parts called yours and mine.
I do not fear truth. I fear those who do not respect truth enough to leave it unmolested, and who instead water it down into something they can bludgeon others with called an opinion. Life isn’t just about forming opinions, it’s about the quest for truth. The acquiring and letting go of opinion for something greater. Not your truth, not my truth. Our truth. THE truth. With a capital T. There is such a thing you know. Not a thousand shades!
Look for truth and it will find you, but so will ignorant people who would like nothing better than to bring you down to their particular shade of gray, and often succeed because it’s easier for them to drag you down than it is for you to pull them up.
Opinion, like ignorance, does not trump fact. But it sure as hell tries.
I am thankful to all my adversaries. Thanks for the reality checks, for helping me remember “it’s not all good” and inspiring me to look at myself hard, find my center, forgive and move on!
Don’t miss this last-minute show. Dana is big-league good and you will have a great time! He’s worked with Pete Seeger, and luminaries such as Dr. Jane Goodall; Dana and Dr. Goodall’s recent release, Circle the World, is a beautiful mix of Jane Goodall telling stories of chimpanzees and working for peace and environmental justice and Dana’s inspiring ballads.
Dana is best known for his dynamic performances and outrageous hit songs “Cows With Guns,” “RV” and “Ride The Lawn.” A global radio and web hit, “Cows With Guns” was #1 for the year on Dr. Demento, #2 on the Australian Country charts, #1 in Seattle and spent six months on the Irish Top 40.
Dana’s music style includes a bit of everything; his biggest radio hit, “Cows With Guns,” receives crossover radio play on country, rock, alternative, community, college and oldies radio stations worldwide. He has eight releases to date, including his latest, Three Legged Coyote, released in November 2009. He has shared the stage with many notable performers including Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Pete Sears of Jefferson Starship, Stephen Stills, River Phoenix, Nickel Creek, Country Joe McDonald, Utah Phillips and John Trudell.
“Every movement has its minstrel. The unions had Woody Guthrie. The peace movement had Phil Ochs. The environmental movement has Dana Lyons.”
-Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Dana Lyons in concert, Thursday, August 18
Potluck 5 p.m.
(Please bring a covered dish and your favorite beverage. No desserts please.)
Showtime 7 p.m.
Suggested artist donation: $15
To reserve seats in advance, please make a check payable to Dana Lyons and mail to:
7245 Lapwai Lane Darby, MT 59829
Questions/Directions: Contact 349-2943 or jay@jaytoups.com
Thanks for supporting acoustic music in the south valley. It’s appreciated!
May 162011
Recent brief interview on KPAX Missoula, the local NBC station, prior to my fundraising pitch at New West Fest. This was an interesting experience. 
Red House Records Recording Artist Carrie Elkin will make her first appearance at Lapwai Lane Shredders Club.
Potluck 5 p.m.
(Please bring a covered dish and your favorite beverage. No desserts please.)
Showtime 7 p.m.
Artist donation: $15
To reserve seats in advance, please make check payable to Carrie Elkin and mail to:
7245 Lapwai Lane Darby, MT 59829
Thanks for supporting professional acoustic music in the South valley.
Directions/Questions: jay@jaytoups.com | 406 349-2943
Ben Carroll’s soulful, powerful voice lives somewhere at the crossroads of Stevie Wonder and James Taylor–he’s captivating, distinctive, mesmerizing. With the help of his accomplished acoustic guitar playing, Carroll moves his audiences with his plaintive songwriting, written from the heart and with a thoughtful, sometimes keen eye, while exploring the endless themes of love, of a search for a place and meaning in the world.
As the son of Grammy-winning Starland Vocal Band members (“Afternoon Delight”, 1976), Carroll enjoyed a rich musical exposure in his childhood, chiefly in the veins of harmony-laden folk and pop of the 70s, and the R&B/Soul/Roots sounds of the deep south. These influences have been naturally integrated into his music, lustrously evoked by his poetic delivery and his voice of startling honesty and beauty.
“Real thing…Yes he is. I’ve seen this handsome and charismatic New Yorker perform with just an acoustic guitar, and he killed. Possessing a clear, sweet voice and a satchel full of catchy folk-pop songs about life and love…It’s a throwback sound, kinda early Nilsson, but more upbeat.”
- Dusty Wright
Ben Carroll in concert, Friday, March 25 at Lapwai Lane Shredders Club
Potluck 5 p.m.
(Please bring a covered dish and your favorite beverage. No desserts please.)
Showtime 7 p.m.
Artist donation: $15
To reserve seats in advance, please make check payable to Ben Carroll and mail to:
7245 Lapwai Lane Darby, MT 59829
Thanks for supporting professional acoustic music in the South valley.
Directions/Questions: jay@jaytoups.com | 406 349-2943
Lapwai Lane Shredders Club is an ongoing house concert series at the home of Jay Toups and Tamera Rackham. All donations go to the artists. We are volunteers in a great cause.
Fingerstyle guitar virtuoso and composer Chris Proctor will make his second appearance at Lapwai Lane Shredders Club on Sunday, February 27. His 30 year long career as a touring performer finds him at the pinnacle of the international guitar community, as a guitar wizard’s wizard, and it is a rare treat to hear a guitar player so lyrical, yet so technically flawless.
Also appearing will be Reanaleia Behling, a marvelously talented improvisational vocalist!
Sunday, February 27
Potluck 5 p.m. (Bring a delicious covered dish and your favorite beverage. No desserts please.)
Showtime 7 p.m.
Artist donation: $15 Advance, $20 Door
To reserve seats, make check payable to Chris Proctor and mail to:
7245 Lapwai Lane
Darby, MT 59829
Directions/Questions: jay@jaytoups.com | 406 349-2943
Nov 212010
Another dog and pony with a potential investor in my company who “knows other people with money” happened yesterday, and this afternoon the person sent me a polite no thanks email. Didn’t offer to make a symbolic donation. Or even leave a personal endorsement on our web site. Instead she spent 5 valuable hours interrogating me like a beat cop to come to her “decision” to refuse to even introduce me to people in her loop.
Worse, this person wouldn’t even consider tapping out a 100-word endorsement for introducing water-soluble, biodegradable fuel made from wastes. She couldn’t see the value in lending her name to our effort because “nobody” knows her. (Never mind that the request is coming from the company’s CEO, who’s also been a personal friend for a decade, he thinks it’s important enough to ask.) Besides being lame it’s completely untrue; she is quite well known and respected. But this is the norm in latter-day America. Hide when somebody asks you to do the right thing, especially when it involves taking a chance.
People not willing to lend their name to a new business with an incredible mission, even when the upside is a complete remake of the energy landscape, and a real hope of repairing the planet’s tattered environment, is absolutely baffling.
It takes more than money to shift an unhealthy, some would say suicidal, fossil energy paradigm. Petroleum and coal are filthy, toxic sources of energy that can be made much cleaner simply by making and blending in clean higher mixed alcohol fuels before they’re combusted. All that needs to happen is for you to shine a light on the subject!
It takes intestinal fortitude and stubbornness to keep pushing when nobody is behind you supporting the business effort beyond lip service. Even good lip service is hard to come by. But text is too much trouble for people who believe they aren’t capable of making a difference in large-scale outcomes, or that a simple endorsement doesn’t matter. What if your endorsement was the one that tipped the scales in our favor?
Next! Care to leave your endorsement of Bioroot Energy? Here you go. Thank you very much, it is greatly appreciated.
Storyhill is a powerful singer-songwriting duo that brings infectious melodies, smart story songs and heartbreaking harmonies together in a perfect package. Chris Cunningham and John Hermanson began performing together as teenagers while living in Bozeman, Montana. That was over 20 years ago, and the rest is music history! Fresh from their first appearance on A Prairie Home Companion, Storyhill will make its first appearance at Lapwai Lane Shredders Club for a special holiday house concert.
Storyhill has recently released “Shade of the Trees” which hit the #1 spot on the Amazon folk charts. Come see this amazing duo and pick up your copy. They also make great Christmas gifts! (No, not Chris and Johnny, their recordings…:-)
“It is difficult to describe the feeling I get when listening to your music. Like feeling full; but in my heart, not my stomach. Thank you.” – Claire, comment on Storyhill web siteStoryhill: A House Concert for the Holidays
Sunday, December 12
Potluck 5 p.m. (Bring a delicious covered dish and your favorite beverage. No desserts please.)
Showtime 7 p.m.
Artist donation: $20 Advance only (45 people)
To reserve seats, make check payable to Storyhill and mail to:
7245 Lapwai Lane
Darby, MT 59829
Directions/Questions: jay@jaytoups.com | 406 349-2943
More information about Storyhill | Listen to Storyhill’s recent performance on A Prairie Home Companion
Oct 252010
“Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.”
I’m done with being an active daily visitor on Facebook. In 1998 I moved to the mountains of western Montana and telecommuting as a career to be mostly shed of collective, in-your-face human stupidity, negative and aggressive people, the all-consuming urban milieu, and the obligatory crap that comes with living like maladjusted rats in a cage right next to hundreds, thousands or millions of other similarly afflicted rats.
A year on Facebook being “social” has reminded me why, over and over again, I made the right choice. Most of what people who live in America’s cities, drive cars to work and have regular jobs think is important, isn’t. Same with folks camped out on Facebook, generally. It’s just plain stupid socializing, like a cocktail party after midnight, and from what I’ve seen it brings up that level of saccharine banality and occasional streaks of meanness from people (if that…) and leaves little room for more.
Ignoring what’s important? Check. Niggling over minutia? Check! Whipping up sentiments? Good luck. Blurting trite tripe into the ether for other people to react to? Check! ”Click Like if you love Jesus Christ!” Being witty and “personal” in under 455 characters? Yep. It’s all there. Facebook asks, ”What’s on your mind?” In a great big nutshell, it’s people ignoring mountains, and instead manufacturing false Everests out of molehills. Much ado about not much at all.
I’ve learned that people who are interested in what I’m up to are a fraction of the people listed on my Facebook account as Friends. Real friends can always visit my personal site. The rest of you can, uh, talk about ‘Smores or the latest “undiscovered” video of the Monkees on Facebook.
If I die tomorrow, I will go happy knowing I did the right thing. I love my friends and family but there are more important and more rewarding pursuits than being a stalwart Facebooker.
Like just about everything else. 
Oct 242010
Who’s electable, and who isn’t? Compare the life experiences and platforms of the Republican, Democrat and Libertarian candidates:
Ron Ehli (R) has been a member of the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department for 23 years, and a small business owner for 28 years. He’s been married to his wife Laura for 30 years. He’s a solid Republican, a member of the community who wants to help reign in out of control spending and work to bring jobs back to Montana by reducing the tax burden.
Terry Moran (D) is a fourth-generation Montanan. She was a health educator for 14 years, teaching and advising individuals and families on health issues including smoking cessation, disease prevention, healthy lifestyle choices, babysitting and parenting classes. A stalwart Democrat, Terry has been married to Michael Moran, M.D., a family doctor at the Bitterroot Clinic, for 26 years.
James Pearson (L) is a recent transplant from southern California with no public service experience or apparent interest in holding political office until recently. A studio musician by trade, he claims to have worked with musicians such as Isaac Hayes and Edgar Winter, among others.
Here’s a man who, in the span of a few years living here, now believes all wolves in the Bitterroot are “criminals” that should be shot on sight, and who believes that manufacturing “charcoal” for burning in woodstoves is clean renewable energy that will rid the skies of pollution and bring jobs and economic security to the Bitterroot valley. He also claims to know some things about forestry because he recently composed the soundtrack to a movie about Montana forests. Which is perhaps why his grasp of local and state issues seems to derive mainly from the ample backsides of the resident equines on his 20 acre property south of Darby.
Ravalli Republic Candidate Forums (Videos): Watch Pearson look down his nose at the psychiatric profession, call taxes “a theft of our freedoms” and accuse wolves of “stealing our economy” and more.
News for Mr. Pearson: Taxes are the price of freedom. To paraphrase George W. Bush: “Freedom is not free.”
In any community there will always be a range of behavioral decency. Some people prefer the word morality, but morality is rife with disputed meanings. Decency has a broader, more recognizable understanding. At the bottom end of the range of behavioral decency are people who not only act selfishly, but deceptively, in ways that are harmful or injurious to others who have done them no harm, and may even do so as a form of enjoyment.
After our tentative friendship of a few years ended badly in 2009 with a remarkably passive-aggressive display of contempt for me, and for the Golden Rule, by Mr. Pearson, I can honestly say that I no longer trust or respect this man or his social and political motives—especially as a representative of the people of Montana House District 88.
Jul 212010
Lovable, gentle, wise and wonderful 15 year old Mr. Chu passed away on Sunday, July 18. He’d been suffering his age for a while, so it was a relief to have him go peacefully in his sleep to the heavenly doggie playground he so richly deserved. We’re going to miss him!
Chuman was an inspiration to all on matters of general dogginess, exhibiting unconditional love, patience, understanding, tolerance, having a good disposition, and self discipline. He was my best doggy friend from the time we laid eyes on each other back in 1996 or so, when Paul Boruff brought him over to my place to see if I wanted him, talking about “…otherwise it’s going to the dog pound!” Young pit bull had been wandering around a small park near Paul’s house and needed a home. One look at those frightened, curious puppy eyes and I was his.
He was well liked around the neighborhood, always on his best behavior, even when visiting dogs would challenge him with a nip and a ferocious bark. He seldom got angry, and when he did it was for a good reason and usually over in about ten seconds. He was an equanimous doggie. He was good even when he was bad.
I have lots of pics and video of Chu to remind me of my precious years with this marvelous animal. Goodbye Mr. Chu.
How fitting for a large-scale environmental and human disaster to happen in the good old polluted USA on Earth Day, 2010. It is a vivid reminder of everything the United States has yet to learn about taking care of the planet. And it offers a compelling reason to reconsider Barack Obama’s recently announced plans for “limited” expansion of U.S. offshore oil and gas drilling.
With today’s massive explosion and complete destruction of Deepwater Horizon there’s been a tragic loss of human life, and the threat of an oil spill that could really make a mess of the Gulf of Mexico.
Think big oil is going to put the brakes on deep water drilling because of this? Think again.
Mar 152010
You’re part of the solution. Well, technically we’re all parts of the environmental problem and the solution. But are you more “problem” than solution? Take a good look around at all you and your family or business associates consume and throw away each day; I’ll wait. See, that didn’t take long. Your lifestyle is a problem because it creates a good deal of solid waste. It’s an American thing. But don’t take it personally. Here’s how you can be more of the solution.
Don’t change a thing. Keep driving, keep throwing away your trash, and continue generating what is generally considered to be a problem (solid waste, tailpipe emissions).
Some enterprising company will find a way to take all that we throw away and turn it into a water soluble, biodegradable mixed alcohol fuel you can put in your tank; and get more power and mileage to boot.
Oh wait, some enterprising company already has.
Jan 212010
Whatever happened to truth in advertising? I found the original Walmart Fan Club ad on Facebook deeply offensive and complete devoid of truth. (I added the word “Avoid.”) First off, one does not—cannot—save money at Walmart. One spends money at Walmart. That’s the only reason people go there. And one does not live better because of Walmart. One dies faster and fatter because of Walmart’s smorgasbord of cheap goods, most of which are exceedingly bad for one’s health.
Then I asked my Facebook friends a rhetorical question:
Is this like being a fan of Exxon?
Well, is it?
Nov 302009
Of course, we’re all thinking about you today Mom. Our thoughts made all the more wistful knowing that your dear nephew Gene was also put to rest in Ipswich, England early today.
Thanks for all you did for me, our family, and other people and animals in life, and what your memory continually inspires with the passing of years.
Nov 172009
She gets a 1.25 MM advance to write a tell all. And didn’t write it!
Lynn Vincent, the real writer of “Going Rogue” and Sarah Palin
Rogue:
a dishonest or worthless person (n)
a mischievous person (n)
a horse inclined to shirk or misbehave (n)
an individual exhibiting a chance and usually inferior biological variation (n)
resembling a rogue elephant especially in being isolated, aberrant, dangerous, or uncontrollable (adj)
corrupt, dishonest (adj)
Thanks to sarahwatch.org
Nov 062009
“When the foo shits, have the composure to say “yum.”
- Me
If you could fit the entire population of the world into a village consisting of 100 people, maintaining the proportions of all people living on Earth, that village would consist of:
- 57 Asians
- 21 Europeans
- 14 Americans (North, Central and South)
- 8 Africans
There would be:
- 52 women and 48 men
- 30 Caucasians and 70 non-Caucasians
- 30 Christians and 70 non-Christians
- 89 heterosexuals and 11 homosexuals
6 people would possess 59% of the wealth and all would come from the USA
- 80 would live in poverty
- 70 would be illiterate
- 50 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition
- 1 would be dying
- 1 would be being born
- 1 would own a computer
- 1 (yes, only one) would have a university degree
If we looked at the world this way, the need for acceptance and understanding would be obvious.
But, consider the following :
If you woke up this morning in good health, you have more luck than one million people who won’t live through the week.
If you have never experienced the horror of war, the solitude of prison, the pain of torture, were not close to death from starvation, then you are better off than 500 million people.
If you can go to your place of worship without fear that someone will assault or kill you, then you are luckier than 3 billion (that’s right) people.
If you have a full fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the world’s population.
If you currently have money in the bank, in your wallet and a few coins in your purse, you are one of 8 of the privileged few amongst the 100 people in the world.
If your parents are still alive and still married, you’re a rare individual.
If someone sent you this message, you’re extremely lucky, because someone is thinking of you and because you don’t comprise one of those 2 billion people who can’t read.
And so,
Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like nobody ever hurt you.
Dance like nobody is watching.
Sing like nobody is listening.
Live as if this was paradise on Earth.
Share this message with your friends.
Bypass those who are determined to see the worst in the world no matter what.
If you don’t send it, nothing will happen. If you do, someone might smile while reading it, and that will be a positive.
And apart from the above, have a nice day.
- Thanks to Mark R. for forwarding this gem, author unknown.
Oct 282009
Passive aggression can be a terrible thing when you experience it firsthand from another person. I think you’ll be seeing lots more of this form of anti-social behavior from people as the economy deteriorates further and the pressure to maintain one’s personal status quo and lifestyle increases. I certainly am experiencing it.
Recently a person I believed was a fairly close and trustworthy friend decided to end our friendship in a rather spectacular manner. Even though he’s the one who blew up the friendship for no reason in particular, he blamed it all on me with a searing email that basically took me apart, piece by piece. “I’m selfish. People don’t like me. I don’t do anything for anyone. My pessimism is stifling. My politics are insane.” (He’s a Republican.) I’m a fierce independent who doesn’t cotton to party lines or parroting what I’ve heard somewhere else. Yea, having a personal opinion and the guts to lay it out, I guess that’s insane.
M’kay…So it’s pretty hard to be friends with someone who now thinks that low of me. But I won’t return fire what I could say in response because I still like the guy, in spite of his crudities and massive failure to cope. I think he’s under pressure to keep his life from blowing to smithereens because his family’s overhead is far larger than his family’s income. He could lose his house.
I “caused” it just by being myself, not for having done anything in particular, just for being who I am. Who I am is apparent within an hour of meeting me. It doesn’t take three years to discover what I’m about and form an opinion. I see myself as being like garlic and onions. You either like me or you don’t. Just don’t act like my best buddy for three years, then blow up and expect me to believe the incredibly personal criticisms.
I’m going to keep the sunny side up in all of my interactions with other people even if the other guy goes Ape shit.
Oct 262009
*Other People’s Shit
Jay’s Analogous Hierarchy Of Social Shit™ (1st Wipe) (2nd Pass)
- Chicken Shit
- Bull Shit
- Elephant Shit
- Ape Shit
Want to be a social animal, adroitly ascending the proverbial ladder or at least stay put, and hone your natural sensitivity for all kinds of social interactions, occasionally going “deep”, while adeptly keeping even the shallowest friendships and contacts with other acquaintances sunny side up? Me too.
I really need to develop a better nose for detecting the type of shit I’m hearing, or reading. My online and offline social life could well depend on it.
So world, behold what I believe are the 3 4 fundamental political, rhetorical and social interactive devices of our time. It seems much of what dribbles in spurts and gushes from the minds, fingers and mouths of people online and off is classifiable into distinkt, readily detectable buckets of crap. Very much like the odoriferous emanations which flow regularly (and oh so abundantly) from the backsides of the aforementioned animals.
Sure there’s good stuff to be had in almost all the categories. That’s the whole point of human interaction isn’t it? Richness and loamy variety to please the intellectual appetite, not too cheesy or too volatile. But sometimes, what comes from other people needs to be carefully examined and managed before you digest it. So take a deep breath and read on!
Oct 122009
In Montana, short visits can turn into long ones.
In 1998 almost everyone worried about the Y2K issue. It turned out not to be a big deal. Then came September 11, 2001, which continues to be a big deal (at least for some), and our rosily naive American outlook began to crumble across the board, eroding by the day. Wars, killer hurricanes, and economic calumny ensued. 8 more years pass and today we’re worried (some terrified) about almost everything: the climate, the economy, and the environment.
It’s all gotten much worse, hasn’t it? Oh, you haven’t noticed? Been living under a rock? How about in front of a television? What mainstream media is serving up might not be the whole truth.
Can you see, learn about and appreciate the world better by staying put and browsing your way around the world? Would the world be a better place if more of us stuck closer to home and practiced what is often our worst skill: Internet computing? The answer from my perspective is a definite yes!
By inclination, and twelve years of work-at-home conditioning, I see our world and interact with other people from a very different angle as a telecommuting techie type. Face time is a rare luxury to me because we live in the woods, and all my clients live somewhere else. Online is it. So when I do interact with people in the real world, it’s a treat because I’m not living among the teeming hordes. As a result I’ve lost that weary, urbanized social fatigue somewhere along the line…I’m not tired of people. Yay! Life among people is a carnival and I have the energy to enjoy them.
For most people I know, travel is something that happens almost exclusively in the physical world, such as driving to work and back each day. Or going on vacation, or “expeditions” to far flung corners of the world.
Online travel? For most people it’s limited to shopping at Amazon (online mall if there ever was one), and Facebook excursions, where people can hook up and exchange one liners across great distances, mostly. Facebook has become the new email on steroids, easier to use, and with words, pics and videos posted in full view of one’s friends, which makes it even more stimulating. But it’s kind of like cotton candy. Tastes good, but gives you no nourishment, save for the few people who take the time to comment or post their own stuff.
After 12 years of working from home here in outer Montana, I’m sure my perspective isn’t just a paranoid Kaczinsky-esque delusion fueled by too many lattes or too many hours years working alone. (I’m down to 1 cup of java a day, so that’s definitely not it…and I’ve been making sure to get out and interact with real people instead of mailing them bombs.)
In the meantime, our world suffers ever more dearly from the byproducts of our supposed freedoms. Travel (at least in a car or truck) is a big nasty byproduct! Until mankind learns to stay put, we’re screwed. Got it?
Recreation, online or offline, is where you find it. And so is a contrary thought to stir the conscience of anyone who ventures here.
Sep 262009
Yearling buck takes a grazing break and relaxes under our carport. I think he likes red!
Sep 262009
A pair of Golden eagles enjoys late afternoon thermal updrafts on the West Fork of the Bitterroot river as the Nez Perce canyon drains its warm air for another nighttime. All I had to do was go outside and look up. Luckily the camera was nearby…
Aug 292009
A great acoustic cover of Billy Jean by Michael Jackson, who would have been 51 today.
This show has been postponed due to a prior date cancellation!
Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt knew by age seven that he was going to be a singer and songwriter. Growing up in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, he and his brothers sang together and their parents played instruments. His dad introduced him to the guitar and he quickly taught himself to play.
At fifteen, Cliff and his brother Geoff began touring as an acoustic duo, playing the Eastern club circuit until Cliff turned twenty-one and moved to Carbondale, Illinois. There he found space to develop his own voice within a vibrant and supportive music scene that included Shawn Colvin. After a couple of years there and a short stay in Colorado, Cliff moved to New York in 1978.
Because the clubs were great (the Bitter End, the Speakeasy, Kenny’s Castaway, Folk City) and the company amazing (John Gorka, Suzanne Vega, Lucy Kaplansky, Julie Gold, Steve Forbert, Christine Lavin, and Shawn Colvin), New York was an ideal musician’s boot camp. Though he put in long hours as a taxi driver, Cliff worked steadily on his music throughout the 80’s, doing solo gigs and studio work, and playing guitar on the road with Richie Havens, Melanie and others. Singing advertising jingles for products like Coke, Miller Beer and Chevrolet (“The Heartbeat of America” campaign) allowed him to devote more time to his songwriting.
Aug 152009
Some of my neighbors are turkeys, and some are downright squirrelly. This little guy gets around.
Aug 132009
So I’m reviewing my site visitor logs this morning, and I see a bunch of hits from Baton Rouge Rocks, a bulletin board site. Somebody in Lousiana put my URL down as the 3rd suggestion for a “top” Toups. I wonder though, what does being in the top of people who share a last name actually mean? Nothing? Probably. Don’t know the guy, or why he suggested I might be the third top Toups, but hey, any publicity is good publicity as long as it doesn’t land me in jail.
I’m not much for the popularity game, but hey…
Aug 122009
I’ve been harassed intermittently since 1990 or so by a wacko in Salt Lake City. For why, I haven’t a clue. Obviously I tweaked something in the guy’s twisted psyche to the point he felt the need to strike back and take me down a peg or three. (Good luck with that, Stalker Boy.)
When I still lived in the city of salt, I used to keep a log of the late night phone calls I’d get from this guy. Nearly 100 calls, as I recall. I’m sure it was a guy because of the obnoxious noises that came out the earpiece as I held it a foot or two away. (No woman could ever make such noises.)
I won’t tell you what kind of sounds because I don’t want to encourage any copycats. At any rate, the guy dropped a lot of quarters in payphones to let me know his, uh, feelings.
I even received a couple of letters and Christmas cards from the guy, reminding me that I am a “looser” and that my music sucks. Alrighty then.
I move to Montana. 11 years go by with no contact from the weirdo. And then, last week, a letter arrived in the mail from Salt Lake from somebody whose name and address were unfamiliar to me. (Turns out they were fictitious.) The content of the letter?
“You’re still a big looser, cause no matter where you go there you are!”
Anonymous cowards, in real life and the Internet, are a sad lot. The only thing sadder is an anonymous schmuck who tries to unhinge people with a tasteless bag of stupid psychological tricks.
Good luck with your strategy to bring me down, Stalker Boy. I don’t have those kind of buttons to push.
The latest letter is in this post. I’ll be scanning and posting all of Stalker Boy’s “contributions” to my well being so that his handwriting (and pathetic spelling) is exposed for the world to see. Maybe someone who knows him will recognize the signature handwriting traits and rat him out.
Aug 022009
This morning I woke up to the sounds of elk calves calling their mothers, and the fathers were close by. They were so close I heard the branches breaking as they walked through the forest just below the house. I counted three 10 point bucks in a herd of about 50 elk.
Jul 292009
Ray Bonneville penned a wonderful song about New Orleans and he performed it live in Folk Alley studios, check it out!
Jul 282009
Ah, the terrible true tale of a telecommuting techie’s fiscal traumatization at the hands of a dim-witted client. Last week a new small business client bounced their initial check for $1,000, and then followed that up via email saying “…sorry, but we don’t know when we can pay you the total due of $3250″ for the site (they’ve said repeatedly they think it’s great) because their products weren’t selling.
The bounced $1,000 check was the deposit on the project, which I held after beginning work on the project because they told me it might not clear “for a few days.” Well, finally, I did deposit it 9 weeks later, and it did bounce like they said it would.
I spent a few weeks of my life to design and build them a nice-looking, ridiculously easy to use, database-driven interactive web site, and then trained the managers, office staff and sales team in how to do all the site tasks they need, like editing and publishing pages, managing users, etc. But since the site went live nobody in the company or the sales team has even logged in lately, letalone edited or added any content [Hello Success Story, or gosh! a video] or manage a user account.
The site is dead in the water of owner/user non-activity. And now I don’t get paid on time because they can’t sell their product. I wonder if there’s a correlation.
Gee, Mr. Company President who can perfume the pig for hours just like Zig Zeigler but can’t balance the company checkbook, when I write a check for business or pleasure it’s spent money and NEVER spent twice. Accounting 101. Sheesh.
My harshest recourse is to take down the site. Who turns off the power when the bill goes unpaid, right? I could turn up the heat a bit and put up a SUSPENDED for NON-PAYMENT page. I’ve read that other developers have done this with some success, although this technique for collecting a past due invoice tends to destroy what’s left of the developer-client relationship. And there’s always Small Claims.
So there are options, but none of them is as good as simply getting paid for services without a load of crap.
I can’t solve the problem of clients who are broke, untruthful, lazy, too busy or stupid but I’m here for [paying] clients, 24/7.
Jul 222009
Jeff Hickey, a wonderfully humorous and witty man, father and gifted musician, who along with Harvey Reid, founded the Third Hand Capo Co. in 1979, died on June 14, two weeks after a single car accident.
I’d known Jeff since the late 80s, when he was the National Sales Manager for Larrivee’ Guitars. He’d roll through Salt Lake City paying visits to the acoustic music stores in a big RV stuffed with guitars, and he knew how to sell em and play em.
Jeff knew how to have a good time, and I learned a lot from his merry prankster ways. We met up at Telluride Bluegrass Festival several times back in the early 90s. He was the presenter of a sweet Larrivee’ Jumbo I won in a fingerstyle guitar competition at the festival in 1990, and I’d been in touch a few times since. Last time we spoke in 2005 or so he was working on his “debut” recording, Loose Ends.
In Harvey Reid’s words:
“Since he has left behind a family with no income, I would like to lead an effort to encourage all those who loved him or enjoyed his company to express their condolences in a way that is consistent with Jeff’s lifelong love of music and participation in the underground “indie” music economy. Rather than sending something like flowers…
In addition to being an industrious and creative guy and a devoted father, Jeff was also a fine musician. To help his family, we are encouraging people to buy a copy of Jeff’s marvelous and award-winning CD “Loose Ends” while they last. He left behind a couple boxes of them, and buying a CD is a great way to remember this fine man and to help his family in their time of need. The CD’s are real, replicated, full-color, shrink-wrapped CD’s, of just Jeff singing with his guitar. Up-close and personal, and brilliantly done...
For more information about ordering a copy of Loose Ends, visit Jeff’s page.
I ordered mine this morning, and I’m sure it’s wonderful. Jeff was a strong fingerstyle player, he had excellent taste and tone, a good voice, and he always had a ton of tunes at his fingertips.
Ah Jeff, I’ll miss you. But I’m glad you left something of your musical self behind to be savored by the people who knew and admired you.
Loose Ends, indeed. You always had a way with words.
Happy Trails, old pal. Please let us earthlings know about any cool celestial capos you come across.
The signs are up along Highway 90 in Gulfport, Mississippi. Judith was a force to be reckoned with on the coast, in life, and, it’s turning out (pun intended) in the afterlife.
She worked tirelessly to set aside and revegetate key parts of the public beach for nesting pairs of Least Terns. To this day her many birdwatching friends are still fighting to preserve and protect this habitat set aside for Least Tern breeding in 1976, right next to Gulfport-Biloxi’s busiest highway. It’s almost impossible to protect it from complete morons who still ignore the signs and fences and tromp through critical habitat, often in the middle of the night, crushing eggs and disturbing the chicks and their parents. I can remember as a kid the Terns dive bombing anyone who got near their nests, day or night.
My mother’s life story is good reading, and an example for anyone to follow in being a real environmentalist.
Jul 172009
A local couple looks forward to a long weekend attending a music festival 120 miles from their mountaintop home. Man gets up early the day before they plan to depart and drives his econobox diesel import 90 miles closer to the event to set up a tent early (he’s a cautious guy) to reserve a spot in a campground located 30 miles from the festival grounds.
90 miles later, the man returns home, having laid the groundwork for a wonderful American-style weekend.
Early the next morning the man gets up and drives 40 miles round trip to drop off their dog to a dogsitter. (Me.) Man then returns home, hooks up pickup truck to his 5th wheel RV and along with spousal unit drives 75 miles up and over a mountain pass back to the aforementioned campground. Sets up RV camp, eats dinner. Probably asleep before sunset.
Friday morning they get in their pickup truck and drive 30 miles to the festival. Drink beer, eat food, listen to music. All well and good. Then its 30 more miles back to camp.
Saturday morning they again drive 30 miles to the festival. Drink beer, eat food, listen to music. All well and good. Then its 30 more miles back to camp.
Sunday morning they drive 30 miles to the festival. Drink beer, eat food, listen to music. All well and good. By afternoon they’ve had enough of the sun, food and music, then its 30 more miles back to camp. The man and woman pack up and head home, 75 miles away.
Once back home, man drops off spousal unit and RV, jumps back into the econobox and drives 40 miles round trip to retrieve his dog.
He was dog tired too.
Isn’t freedom wonderful?
180
40
90
180
90
40
___
720 miles
But is this kind of excess an anomaly for the couple in their quest for mobility? Uh, nope. The man has driven more than once from Montana to the east coast to bring cases of wine to his old friends.
Jul 142009
I see from my site log that a person online from Wasilla visited after clicking a Google search link to an earlier post about SarahPAC one week after Obama took office. Golly. I hope I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings, especially Sarah’s, with what I said.
I hope you, Sarah, can keep up with everything we in the chattering class have to say. I’m sure it gets old, huh? Has anyone (possibly even a cursed “liberal”) ever offered criticism you felt was valid and it made you somehow stronger?
That WaPo letter you wrote today expressing your concern about Obama’s Cap and Trade actions was brave, but predictable, Republican stuff. Feel better now? How about that blowback that says you don’t know what you’re talking about?
I agree with Andrew Sullivan. You don’t seem to understand cap and trade or acknowledge even one of the imperatives of having one in the first place.
Yes we need to drill responsibly, yes we need lower taxes. But America needs to innovate to survive the effects of stagnation and debt. We need to start making much more than oil when it comes to energy. You don’t seem to understand that as well.
We can’t drill our way out of this hole. We can’t tax our way out either. So don’t get your knickers in a knot about Obama and his plans to pick your pocket. Or waste time trying to cut us chattering nabobs down to size with your seething pen. Ain’t gunna happen, sweetie. We are all in this together, even if we’re worlds apart. Some of us are actually focused on solutions to what ails us. And some aren’t. They’re too busy pointing fingers.
Let’s chat about that, shall we?
| VISITOR ANALYSIS | |
| Referring Link | http://www.google.com/search?q=jay toups&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a |
| Host Name | rdbk-14558.mtaonline.net |
| IP Address | 72.35.116.44 |
| Country | United States |
| Region | Alaska |
| City | Wasilla |
| ISP | Mta Solutions |
| Returning Visits | 1 |
| Visit Length | 5 mins 14 secs |
| VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS | |
| Browser | Firefox 3.0.1 |
| Operating System | |
| Resolution | Unknown |
| Javascript | Enabled |
Navigation Path
| Date | Time | WebPage |
| 14th July 2009 | 03:55:10 | www.google.com/search?q=jay toups&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a www.jaytoups.com/ |
| 14th July 2009 | 04:00:24 | www.google.com/search?q=jay toups&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a www.jaytoups.com/ |
Jul 112009
It’s finally what passes for summer in Montana (It’s 76 F today!) and the Nez Perce Road is full of butterflies. Here they’re lining up on a tire rut that seems to have particularly tasty minerals. Click the pic for a close up. There’s more to the picture than meets the eye, so click!
Jul 062009
Young buck grazing the clover growing along with the daisies and other perennials that abound this time of year. He was quite tame; I was able to approach within 15 feet, talking to him and moving slowly. After taking a few shots with my camera and verbally warning him to “get lost” (he just kept eating…) I turned around and went back into the house for my slingshot and zinged a pebble at him to scare him off. Don’t want him to get too friendly or he’ll wind up in somebody’s freezer sooner rather than later.
Jul 052009
The son of a friend and neighbor passed away yesterday from MRSA. Jesse Dylan Baird, a.k.a. Diggs Dynamite, died in a Los Angeles hospital after struggling with this deadly superbug for a couple of weeks. A lifelong musician, singer, songwriter, drummer and guitarist, Jesse was working on a new CD project. I worked with him on a few technical issues related to the project briefly last summer when he was visiting his parents here in Darby.
Here’s a sample of Jesse’s music. It was fascinating to hear some of his brand of rough and tumble music, almost like he was from another planet where being “larger than life” was a matter of survival. Jesse was a hip guy who lived large and will be missed by a lot of people, me included.
Jun 272009
What can a middle-aged paraplegic athlete do that most walking people can’t even dream of, let alone do?
Chris Waddell, shown here with his Lightfoot-built handcycle on Utah slick rock, is planning and training to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain on earth, on this handcycle in August.
Lightfoot Cycles is a local bike manufacturer specializing in recumbents and trikes. Check them out!
Jun 172009
Enjoy what could well be our last few months of culturally reinforced American insularity and relative plenitude. But at least put this bit of news in your pipe and smoke it in the meantime. Talk about it with family and friends. Or start digging up your backyard to grow some veggies.
I’m a happy guy despite how it may appear, but I am concerned about our economic situation. And I’m sure you probably are as well. If you aren’t concerned yet, you will be, even if you are a filthy rich redneck living off the grid at the end of your private road.
I think Americans across the board are about to experience a whole new world of hardship and economic pain that is incomprehensible to most of us at this juncture. I really hope not, but I’m not going betting against this out of control economic freight train.
“Barack Obama, and the criminal class on Wall Street, aided by a corporate media that continues to peddle silly video moments, fatuous gossip and trash talk as news while we endure the greatest economic crisis in our history, may have fooled us, but the rest of the world knows we are bankrupt. And these nations are damned if they are going to continue to prop up an inflated dollar and sustain the massive federal budget deficits, swollen to over $2 trillion, which fund America’s imperial expansion in Eurasia and our system of casino capitalism. They have us by the throat. They are about to squeeze.”
So what’s the big problem? The rest of the world’s leading nations are actively dumping the dollar as reserve currency. What does this mean? How about the end of the American way of life. The end of American hegemony. The end of rampant militarization. And possibly much, much worse.
When we elected Barack Obama, I was hopeful until I realized (again) that the problems which ail our country are fatal flaws that no politician can possibly fix. We are beyond broke. But of course, Obama’s good at fixing small problems with a single swat.
We are to put it mildly, screwed. Don’t say you didn’t know or believe the worst was still in front of you, read the article and get ready for the next economic crapstorm.
Hide me as a friend if you don’t like the topic. Or thank me later after you acknowledge that nobody you know is really talking about what’s going to happen next in this country. It’s called denial.
Or don’t thank me at all. But at least try to remove as much of yourself from the tracks as you can or you might get squashed flat like a Lincoln cent or smushed like the fly in the vid.
Jun 162009
Update: 1:00 p.m. : Hallelujah glory be! It worked! Backups really work. Yay!
This morning, I’m downgrading a WordPress install from 2.8 back to 2.7.1 because the automatic upgrade failed. This week I’ve successfully upgraded 8 sites this way, but one client site decided to barf (no pages, nada!) this morning. So here I sit, patiently uploading the several hundred old version files and being careful not to overwrite any file that has a custom configuration, like wp-config.
Apparently, WordPress released 2.8 knowing that a good number of themes and plugins were not yet compatible. They did try to warn me to have my backups ready, which I do. But bolstered by my previous uneventful upgrades, I didn’t take time to check in advance for compatibility of the theme I’m using, or of the plugins. Something doesn’t like the 2.8 upgrade.
I just hit the upgrade button, like a craps shooter on a roll. Aaaaaaaargh.
I’m hoping the down rev goes smoothly.
Funny how, just when you think a particular client doesn’t really do much with their web site, it goes offline and almost instantly the phone rings and it’s the client: “What happened to the site?”
Jun 122009
Everything Americans think they know, they learned from a televised morality play. It’s all theater. You root for some good guy and boo some bad guy. You pick your own, but you dance to the tune of the men running the show. It’s mind control, pure and simple, and if there is an American immune to it, then he is probably living in a snow cave somewhere in Alaska.
- Gypsy Joe Hess (1919-1988), prospector, self-educated philosopher and horse trader
Source: Joe Bageant
We are supposedly a God-fearing country. You may or may not be a God-fearing person. But there’s something even more fearful going on right before our very eyes: the crumbling of America’s economic foundation.
The United States economy is in freefall across all sectors. Banking. Finance. Insurance. Housing. Commercial Real Estate. Automobiles. Auto Parts. Retail. Fast Food. We are sliding into a bottomless chasm of long-term debt from which we may never recover. America and its people are being led off an economic cliff by horribly stupid politicians, anachronistic budget policies, and a preoccupied, mostly clueless electorate.
Americans saw $1.3 trillion of wealth vaporize in the first quarter of 2009 alone, as the stock market and home values continued to decline, according to the flow of funds report by the Federal Reserve released Thursday.
I believe America needs to do an about face and invest in peace for any real positive change to occur in our country’s direction. I don’t believe we should invest heavily in the tools of war and expect our desperate economic and environmental situations to improve.
Why do we insist on digging America’s hole deeper? Is this the real American Way? Why will we burn through more than 600 billion dollars on military expenditures in 2009? Look at the difference between the USA and its nearest-spending military and economic “rival” China. That 522 billion dollar differential could solve a lot of problems in this country. And to keep us all safe, we’d still be at parity with China’s military budget.
Another way to look at this militarized rape of the country’s budget?
Add the figures for the next 9 countries and you get 476.4 billion. That’s right, America spends more on planes, guns, bullets, grunts and combat boots than the entire rest of the world combined.
This is not the kind of momentum America needs or can afford. We need to secure our borders here at home and invest in domestic programs that result in greater economic security. We need to stop the bleeding and start healing our national psychosis. We can claim there are bad guys out to get America, but the baddest, most dangerous guys are the folks in Washington selling us all up the river without a paddle.
President Obama, are you listening? You better listen, that’s why we elected you and not that other guy.
Top 10 military spenders in 2008 ($bn)
1. USA 607
2. China 84.9
3. France 65.7
4. UK 65.3
5. Russia 58.6
6. Germany 46.8
7. Japan 46.3
8. Italy 40.6
9. Saudi Arabia 38.2
10. India 30
These are conservative estimates, putting America’s military expenditures at about 36 percent of our annual budget. Some watchdog organizations peg US military spending at 54 percent of the US Budget for 2009. That’s 1.449 trillion dollars!
At what point will the straw break the camel’s back, President Obama? Congress? The middle class can only take so much. Will you raise my taxes to pay the interest on the national debt? I hear my share will soon be $155,000.
Send me a bill. I dare you.
Source: Yearbook on Armaments, Disarmament, and International Security published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri)
Jun 082009
Ready to live more in the next couple of hours than the rest of your life to date? Just tell yourself you have only 120 minutes to live. (Whisper it to yourself a few times, it helps to get this profundity front and center in your mind.)
Of course time will pass the same no matter what you tell yourself. Months. Years. Decades. But when you forget to seize the day in bite-sized, 120-minute chunks, tell yourself again and again whenever the urge strikes: I have only 120 minutes to live.
One day it will come to pass that you find yourself arriving on the doorstep at the end of your life. And there will be no more seconds, minutes, days, months, years or decades.
You now have 119 minutes. Good luck making the minutes count.
My mother was a well known author, birding authority, and newspaper columnist for more than 35 years. She did a lot to preserve birding habitat on the Mississippi coast, and she helped thousands of people learn more about birds through her columns, her teaching, and her leadership.
A friend just said that every bird lady should have a highway named after them. I couldn’t agree more. The only problem is, there aren’t many true “bird ladies.”
She was a rare bird, indeed. Just like the rare birds she dedicated her life to.
http://judithtoups.blogspot.com
Link to Sun Herald article.
