Diversion

I did it. I turned off talk radio. I couldn't listen anymore to how much money the Republicans have, how they're going to buy the election, how they're playing the talk-show circuit for free advertising to peddle their lies. I cast my vote on a paper ballot on Tuesday. I did what I could do, and I'm done. I stopped listening to political talk radio. Enough.
So, I heard this song the other day while Roger was streaming his beloved KPIG. I walked outside and out of his old powerbook came the soft sounds of Kate Wolf's sweet voice singing the last few notes of the song The Red Tail Hawk "...the golden rolling hills of California." Oh that song-- I have always loved it. It sent me back to when Roger and I first met. He had tape after tape of melodic, new-agey folk music. Sounds that were meant to be listened to while calming your heart, slowing your mind, opening your chakras. Great soothing music, albeit sometimes repetitive like any mantra, but not at all saccharine. It was all rather lovely and full of devotion to the earth. Nice. Roger had been dating a woman who was a musician and singer, and a lot of the music he was listening to when I met him were her favorite musicians, like Kate Wolf. That song, in fact was on one of her tapes.
I like when music transports me instantly to a particular time. It is one of my favorite inner journeys. I can recall everything about a certain moment, how it felt to be falling in love with Roger, how our little two-room garret at the beach house looked--how it didn't seem so small overlooking the entire expanse of the Monterey Bay. I especially liked remembering how Roger and I seemed to gravitate to each other instantly when we met. After our first date, we literally never stopped being together. When his ex-girlfriend came by to pick up her things, including that Kate Wolf tape, she asked, "So, is this an ongoing thing, you and Robin?" That was almost 18 years ago.

That little snip of Kate Wolf I heard on KPIG started a perfectly satisfying diversionary odyssey. I wanted to download an mp3 of The Red Tail Hawk. Easy enough, I thought, I'll just go to iTunes and buy it. Nope, not available. I checked all the legitimate music download sites I know, and Kate Wolf's Back Roads album is not listed. I did find two albums available at amazon.com, but they cost $25 each. Seems fairly steep for one song. So, Roger went into the garage and retrieved the box with all his old tapes. I found our old Sony tape and cd player, dusted it off, and listened to old new-age songs from the 80s all afternoon, hoping it might actually be among his tapes. No Kate Wolf, but plenty of Lisa Thiel and Alice diMicele. All that love and hope resonating in the house. Music full of chanting, meditation bells, and the ache of wanting to love and be one with everything.
The 2006 election slipped further and further away.

But no Kate Wolf. My last ditch effort was to email a former colleague at my old university who is the broadcast adviser at the student-run radio station. I told him of my plight. He is a music junkie, and he's burned many a CD for me. He's a good friend. I know he'll understand. I'm waiting to hear back.

Until then, I go outside with the camera and photograph the spider webs on the eucalyptus tree in all the changing light of day.