pale beneath the blue

Road stories and more from singer/songwriter, pale beneath the blue.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

X-ray Vision


Ouch! Just kidding. I can't really feel the broken plate--sometimes I can feel it move, but it doesn't hurt. Just thought you guys might like to see what the fuss has been all about. Posted by Hello

Hmmm. No wonder it feels like there's a piece of metal poking through my skin. Posted by Hello So, where's the bone? It's really hard to see it on the x-rays, but it's there. You can also see that my fibula is healed all goofy--it sticks out just above my ankle which makes wearing roller blades nearly unbearable.

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Rohs Street Show

Whoa! What a cool show last night at Rohs street Cafe. Thanks to Ray, Will, Susan, Jen, Deogracias and all the rest of you who came out to listen. We made lots of new friends and got to hear a great set from our good friend and John Lennon Songwriting Contest Winner, Emily Strand. And Fluttr Effect was incredible. Considering that parking was atrocious and both the rest rooms were out of order, we know how much of a struggle it was to just be there. You all ROCK! Can't wait to see you all again. And don't forget to check out Fluttr Effect with the full-band tonite at the Mad Frog.

XOXO,
Rhonda

Friday, January 28, 2005

Hear PBTB on Radio Crystal Blue

That's right, Dan Herman at RCB Radio in NY, is adding us to the playlist this weekend. Tune-in to hear us as well as a whole host of interesting artists that you should be familiar with. Go here to listen.

Have a great weekend--see you at Rohs St. Cafe tonight.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Good News from Dr. Weber

So, I went to Ortho Indy today for more X-rays. My bone finally looked like it's healing at one of the major break sites. Yea! It's only been 2 1/2 years. However, he said that the lower part of the bone (the part that had been grafted) is still really small and it may bend some. To top it off, I found out that the screw I broke was attached to one of the rods, not the plate as I had originally thought. I took some footage of it and will try to post it asap. Pretty freaky.

Anyway, thanks so much to all of you for your support and the prayers--it's not over, but I do feel like I'm finally making some progress.

Love you all,
Rhonda

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Swizzle Stick and two Olives

Okay, it was late, but not drinking sometimes has it's disadvantages. Last night after leaving a meeting at a diner around 11:10p, City Beat journalist/photographer, Dale Johnson walked me to my car. We heard some guy yelling and turned to realize he was yelling at a pole. I offered to drive Dale to his car, but he refused saying that it was just down the street. By the time he started to walk toward it, the same guy was now standing in the middle of the street with his stuff hanging out of his pants. Then, as if I could have possibly missed it anyway, he is screaming and pointing to his "goods." Poor Dale just walked by as if it were nothing--do you see this kind of thing everyday? I was in such shock, I started laughing. I'm still laughing. There's nothing more funny than real life.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Want a song written just for you?

My friend Dawson sent me this from the NY Times. Check it out:

Music Fit for a King, Written for a Dentist
January 23, 2005
By ANNE MIDGETTE

Commission an original composition for $2,000, or even $5. Some music lovers have even formed investment clubs to raise funds for new works.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/23/arts/music/23midg.html?ex=1107509666&ei=1&en=2d6b6c0ac5ede611

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Oldfields on High show cancelled because of Snow

Sorry, Folks,

We hate to do this and as a general rule, we do not. But the roads here in Cincy are a mess and we've heard that Columbus isn't much better. We apologize profusely...

Rhonda and Trice

Monday, January 17, 2005

Dayton, OH Borders Rocks!

We spent Friday evening at Borders in Dayton--we received a very warm welcome from the staff and the large number of patrons in the store. The place was packed out. I have never seen so many people in the store. We had a great time with Mite and Simi, Jay, Donna, Julia and a bunch of new folks as well. Hope you picked up all the books and magazines you need to get through the winter.

Thanks for coming out and we hope to see you again in a few months.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Rhonda-nspired Poetry

Well, as promised, here's a poem by Jay Bruns. I met him at an open-mic at Borders in Dayton. When I returned several months later to play a 2-hour set, Jay was there. He even helped me tune my guitar on the fly. I like playing the Muse.

Affetuosso Fiato

With each gentle stroke of her breath,
a sustained appears at the upbeat of my heart
and holds just enough...
then releases,
just as the desire to breathe is barely forgotten
and the room starts to sway.

With involuntary action I wade
into the cascade of melody
radiating from the slim sensual form
messaging the faux ivories
into haunting fairy tale memories.

-and I am carried off,
a whole note resting upon her palatte
being savored then delicately sent into motion
letting the music have her way with me.
gracefully fading at the end of the embrace
Never wanting to leave the passionate kiss
of her siren song.

Jay Bruns
-after Borders gig

Monday, January 10, 2005

Penny Lane is in my ear?

What are the lyrics to that song? I did look them up once, only to find out that the words were "there beneath the blue suburban sky" not "pale beneath the blue."

Anyway, Patrice and I headed out to Evansville, Indiana last Friday to play at
Penny Lane Coffee. Megan Wilhite opened things up and got the place jumping and by the time we finally got there, we had missed most of it. We heard it was good. (We, however, were just really glad to make it there alive and before our set began. Let's just say, the rain needs to end now.)

My buddy
Tyler, and his friend, Rorie came out to cheer us on as did MySpace.com aquaintance, Tim Moore, and wife, Heather. We also met Bill the poet and Sarah the artist and ran into David whom we met there on our last visit. Heidi and company were very good to us and we hope to go back soon. My only regret is that Patrice was out of sorts from our rushing and didn't have any Kodak moments.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

If you can dodge a wrench...

Hey, welcome to a new feature here at PBTB's blog--Rhonda's Movie Madness. I watch a ton of movies, especially when it's cold out, so I figured I should share with you my thoughts and you can tell me yours.

  • Dodgeball--great comedy, fun for the whole family. Vince Vaughn is awesome in this role. It's nice to see him be a good guy--I'm sure that his mother is proud.
  • Anchorman--funny, but not as good as Elf or Dodgeball. Tim Robbins in a 'fro is priceless, though.
  • Manchurian Candidate--whoa! Freaky movie, but I love this stuff. Well done.
  • Harry Potter--are you serious? that was it? i wasted 2 hours on this movie?
  • Collateral--hmmm. not bad, I don't understand the hair color on Tom Cruise. It bothered me throughout the movie. There were some slow spots at the beginning, but once the action kicked in, it was pretty good.
  • Girlfriend from Hell--this is an old 80's flick, provided by fan, Ray Bigelow. Campy B flick. The deal is that if you can't watch some of this just for fun, why bother. There are nuns with guns--isn't that reason enough. Also, the lead guy had been in Twin Peaks, I guess, but more importantly reminds me of my friend Nils from the band, The Sharpies in CA.

Oh, and a big shout out to Ray B. He sent me some Mrs. Affleck socks (if you've heard the rhe song, 803 you will understand) and some whiskey fudge for the Mr. You Rock, Ray!

What are you watching?
Rhonda

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Well, now she's done it

You know, I try really hard not to complain. I was in a motorcycle accident and can't walk all that well, but I think if I ignore it, I'll forget about and maybe I'll live a semi-normal life.

Maybe it was the psuedo-skiing or shoveling the drive or the attempts at working out, but all of a sudden last week, I got to the point where I couldn't stand to put weight on my leg. I would wince in pain with every step. It finally got so bad that I decided to sit down and scoot myself across the floor rather than have to endure the agony of walking. When I realized that yeah, something is really not right, I got the crutches back out. I hated to do it, but at least I could get around a little bit, and at quite a speedy pace too.

So today I drove back to Indianapolis in the non-stop rain to see my doctor. The x-rays revealed that I had broken the plate and one of the 11 screws holding my leg together. It's really strange but there have a been a ton of people praying for me lately (there's a contingent of folks in Florida, my home town of Piqua and several of you on our email list) and I couldn't figure out why I was still so miserable. In fact, I was in more pain than I had experienced in a long time. I was getting ready to tell people to stop praying, when it hit me. I told James the other night, "Maybe God's big plan is that some of the hardware has to break so the bone can finish healing." My doctor concurred this morning. Even with all the pain, I still had peace that things were headed in the right direction. Dr. Weber said that it could be a set-back, but his feeling is that it may heal faster. And he wasn't even mad about the skiing.

I will be going back to see him on Jan. 26th so he can get fresh x-rays before he goes to Kenya on a mission trip. Please pray that I will be able to put some weight on it, without breaking it between now and then.
Much love,
Rhonda

ps--i'll try to get pictures of the x-rays for all you medical folks. it's pretty wild.

Monday, January 03, 2005

New Years Revolution

Don't just think about changing this year...how many years have you said you would, a)eat better, b)take better care of yourself, c)get involved with some charitable organization, d)take control of your finances? Yeah, I do this every year and generally nothing happens.

First off, I realize that there is not much to take hold of--my real problem? I procrastinate, that and I hate vegetables. So, this year, I don't swear that I will eat better, but I will stop choosing fattening, high calorie coffee drinks and junk because I don't feel like cooking. Cheesecake for lunch is right out. I vow to go to the doctor's at least once this year and force them to figure out all the health issues so that I can live less stressed. I will be giving whatever I can to help the victims of the Tsunami, through Goad International--some great folks from my home town. I will also get rid of all the stuff I don't use and donate it to charity or sell it on ebay. I don't have a ton of income so I will try to volunteer at my church at least once every 8 weeks. They do some really cool things--it's not like I will be greeting folks when they walk in the door.

I also promise to pay off all debts so that I don't wake up one morning with a phone call from the bank telling me that my account has been overdrawn for 10 days (who knew?) Also, if you need help with financial stuff (I'm probably not the one to ask), but I love my free online banking at Automatic Millionaire. Very practical stuff but important.

Is there anything we can do to help you make this your best year ever?
Rhonda