Giant Hamentashen!

Diana baked this! That's a quarter on the table, next to the normal sized one. Wow!!!

Jennifer & Melody

They brought all the raw burnt hamentashen. Just kidding!!! They were delish!!!

N's New Sweatshirt From Yes Style

N didn't dress up like a Bible character this year; my little girl is all grown up!!

Chris Twirling His Gragger

His noisemaker, that is. Boo, Hamen; yay Mordechai!

Diana, Cindy & Matt

Yes, there's still some hamentaschen left!

Aye, matey, it's me hamentashen kippah.

This Year's Hamentashen

This is the "before" picture; before we wolfed them down. Jennifer used some exotic fillings: coconut, walnut, almond paste, two kinds of cherry and of course the traditional "mun" (poppy seed, from her opium fields she said), also two kinds.

Jonathan

Jonathan kicked off Purim eve with "I Will Celebrate"!

How I Spent My Birthday: Reading Esther!

Blow out the candle, make a Purim wish!

No that's not a cake; it's a hamentashen with a Shabbat candle on it! Yes, it's prune!!

Happy Birthday Happy Purim!

Times are tight; so we combined Purim with my birthday. I'm now 100 years old; my hair still looks OK, though. Yes, I'm a baby boomer (from the Civil War).

Lenny Tone 2

Actually singing a Colin Blunstone song, but who'll know? 

Lenny Tone 1

Putting the final touches on the Lenny Tone CD. We had to change microphones a few times, but all went rather smoothly. I'm finally getting excited after three and a half years of working on it!

Florence. The End.

Yes this is the end. The wrong end. Scroll down to "Florence 1" and begin at the beginning. Thanks.

Florence 20

Another famous doorway (on the right). I gave my landlady a ginormous hickey in there. But nothing more. Honest.

Florence 19

Grandma's grandkids. One is a roller derby skater and a conservative, one is a voluptuous Las Vegas denizen, one is "turning Japanese" (I really think so), one's wife is Japanese, and four more. Had to throw one family photo in here anyway.

Florence 18

Back of the buildings. We lived in the one about 4 buildings down, I think. Got married back there, too.

Florence 17

The former location of Duncan & Company Tavern. Here's where I met the girl I wrote "I'm Not The One" about. Can't recall her name but her dad was a bank president down the coast. I won a dance contest in there once.

Florence 16

This used to be the Harbor Theatre, now a shoe store. I got fired because I refused to put the artificial coloring on the popcorn. I've got a few stories to tell about this place, but no time now.

Florence 15

Another business that bit the dust, and once housed our store. Great view of the river from the back, but we had to lock the door when kids were stealing records by throwing them off the deck to retrieve them later.

Florence 13

This was once my pinball arcade, and later the very first "Diana's", selling lingerie and other sexy stuff. 

Florence 14

I was disappointed to see all the closed businesses, guess they're everywhere. Towards the back of this one is where our son Shaya was born. We had a cool apartment on the river in back of our shop, when this was Loonyland. Yup, that was the name.

Florence 12

Right across the street, three buildings, three former locations of our store. Yes, we hippies are always on the move!

Florence 11

Yay! The Beachcomber is still famous for friendly, beautiful barmaids, and this one's name is...why Debbie of course!

Florence 10

Well, the old car hood is still here!

Florence 9

The jukebox and stage are gone. But 70's music via satellite still wafts through the air (..."friend of the devil is a friend of mine..."); fitting.

Florence 8

The Beachcomber Tavern, Don's Beachcomber then. My punk band The Slugs got kicked off the stage here during our version of the Ramones' "He's Gonna Kill That Girl". I told Don, "wait, we're not finished"; "Oh yes you are", he replied. This is also where I met Laura ("Oh Bartender Please"). My main hangout. Think I'll go inside...

Florence 7

"...the smell of fresh-cut wood on the stairway" (lyric from "It All Comes Back")

The wood is gone, but the steps remain. The historic Kyle Building; some of my own history took place there ("Torch Song" from the Lenny Tone CD).

Florence 6

The former Rainy Day Records. I opened my shop here in 1975 and lived in the back. The rent was $80. a month. This is 10 am Saturday morning and almost nothing is open for business including this place. But here is where most of my songs took shape. Maybe there'll be a plaque on the wall someday as the home of "wimp-rock"; that's what Diana called it.

Florence 5

Just a few steps down to Bay Street, my old stomping ground....

Florence 4

A little of Stuart Henderson's artwork; he's done all of my store's signs including CD OR NOT CD's.

Florence 3

View from the bridge of Old Town Florence.

Florence 2

This path leads to the famous Siuslaw River bridge. Click to see Florence's population; it's quadrupled since I lived here, in part due to it's being rated as America's top retirement spot several years ago. Maybe they didn't mention the 100 inches of rain?

Florence 1

No, I didn't attend a Ram Dass gathering, but actually was back in Florence, Oregon, the place I wrote most of the songs on my CD. The occasion was my mother-in-law's 85th birthday. I'll let the others blog all the family pics, opting instead for a little photo essay of rediscovery. I waited out in the rain for about 10 minutes until the sign read "Be Here Now" again. Guess the manager's a hippie or somethin'.