everything is illuminated....

fireflies on an august night...a breeze on a beach that hints of fall...a nice glass of wine in your hand as the sun sinks into the horizon...the clichés of summer...what we dream about on a biting cold winter afternoon...but the title of this blog has little to do with fireflies...or even summer skies lit up by crazy storms...it has to do with me thinking about the movie, wonderfully directed by liev schreiber...everything is illuminated...about love and loss and closure...about man's brutal inhumanity and gentle humanity...maybe I am thinking about this because september has always been a month of new beginnings...after august and all that was free and effortless, we move forward and start again...the responsibility of a new school year, or new school...for some back to work...and for me, in a few short weeks, rosh hashanah, the new year...a woman in my writing group read a beautiful piece she was working on...one that asked a pointed question of what you would ask for if given one wish...not that simple, huh?...would it be personal or global?...and I've been thinking about that...and all that is in the past...and what is now...and wondering about what will be...and i dig deep to really decide what that wish would be...one sunset closer to fall...and hoping for some illumination when my eyes close...and the world fades to black

Can we talk?

so, i am looking back at the past week and i realize how bizarre that last saturday i saw joan rivers...and last night sammy hagar (with michael anthony, vic johnson and jason bonham)...no real common thread...although the seeds of humor and music firmly planted in my earliest memories of growing up...vacations in the catskills...borscht belt fever...sneaking in to see the show...comediens...comediennes...and then there was music...my parents and their most eclectic album collection...broadway hits, sing along in yiddish, allen sherman, harry belafonte, ramsey lewis, tito puente, shirley bassey, janis joplin....wait janis joplin??...and there you have it...and so in one week i finally get to see joan...i want to be that fierce at 81...to take all life has handed you and then throw it back while the audiences cries in laughter...sammy hagar...not that i ever really owned any of his cds...but no one could deny his rock showmanship...i was actually very curious when jason bonham's name appeared...remembering how incredible he was with heart at jones beach...secretly hoping for zeppelin tunes...and then getting several...sammy wailing "whole lotta love"...jason slaying "moby dick"...of course, concerts always bring them all out of the woodwork...the almost fist fight over a seat at joan...yes, at a joan rivers performance security was called...not slipknot...then last night...the seat holder to my left...standing and pumping his right arm in the air wildly...while his wife or girlfriend sat in a catatonic state to his left...as the evening wore on he was getting closer to me...closer to pounding my skull with each pump...closer to knocking the steel plate out of my skull...would have sent it flying onstage...sammy probably would have just laughed...autographed it and tossed it back to the crowd...hey, there's only one way to rock...