Dr. Paine, His Bagpipe and Neil Young
Years ago, when I was living on Neil Young’s Broken Arrow ranch, he turned me onto a San Francisco dentist, Dr. Rodney Paine. To relax me, and I assume his other patients, he would play his bagpipe before administering his special cocktail of narcotics into my receptive body. Later in our relationship he would come out to the ranch, and walk the hills at sunset playing his bagpipe. Soon after, his office was closed down, and he disappeared.
Excerpt from “Short tidbits, long memories” Ben Garlow 2008 copyright
John Steinbeck and Otter
Years ago I was on a literary pilgrimage to visit the areas my hero, John Steinbeck, wrote about. It was early morning, misty and cool, as I sat, legs dangling from the wharf called Cannery Row. I spotted, below me, an otter swimming on its back. On its stomach was an abalone shell, and he beat it rhythmically with a sharp stone.
“Why are you doing that?” I called down.
“Because communication is the responsibility of the sender”, came the otterish reply.
I swear to gawd this really happened. Everything, and everybody is a freakin guru.
Excerpt from “Short tidbits, long memories” Ben Garlow 2008 copyright
Those otter’s are laughing at us you know! All the time.