What a Whisper Whistles: Love-Beats!

In this fractured cosmos of time and space we here on the planet earth, like so many homo erectus creatures that came before, find the fragmentary and illusory nature of existing put on our doorstep. As you are aware I am an artist and the concerns of the artist lay mainly with issues of the heart, of love, and with the heart of love but how then can the artist address the necessity of living, which is to say, paying bills. Further, and this is my main point, I don't like paying bills. The necessity of bills is a further means of diminishment available to the establishment to put the screws to the little guy. Put another way, if I'm sitting in my apartment playing guitar in nothing but a soiled bathrobe, it's my proprietary right. If said bathrobe is wide open and a neighbor happens to look in the window as she passes, that an entirely different concern (but at bottom, it cannot be my fault but hers for letting her errant eye-scape wander curiously to the happenings of one Taffy McKittrick). Do you see what I'm saying here? Is it as clear as a sun-swept sky to you? The artist is allowed to do whatever he needs and wants, and this is my bigger point, paying bills interferes with artistic natures and undertakings. If I'm lost in a reverie of songcraft and bill collectors call constantly, then it disturbs my mind, which may have been exploding with a series of deep thoughts, set to music.
Ahh, this life!

I Dream of Yeti

This morning I awoke to find my body shuddering and my throat squealing with little yaps of what I can only call delight. There is much hesitation in me admitting this out loud, much less in a public forum like the blogosphere (of which I am a noble participant) but here it is: I was dreaming of Yeti. I'll pause a moment to let it seep into your thought process. And then I'll say it again: I dreamt of Yeti. The beautiful hirsute creature that roams the tundras and forests, eating a mostly omnivorous menu of nuts, berries and small rodents, running and leaping off boulders, bathing in fresh mountain streams, occasionally growling at the sky and above all, proving elusive to all photographers except the ones with telephoto lenses.

Now, this is a little hard for me to say but I am going to man up and say it: in the dream I was a male Yeti and I was cuddling with a gorgeous she-Yeti in a cave. It was early morning so the sky was still blue-black. Birds whistled. We lay by a roaring fireplace and I listened to she-Yeti as she snored ferociously, shaking in her sleep, as she dreamt of god-knows-what. Suddenly her eyes opened and she drank me in as if to say "my love, there you are, my handsome Yeti". I will exclude the details of what occurred next for the sake of the faint of heart or the puritanical or the shy but the general gist of it is this: I mated with the she-Yeti. And it was glorious.

I woke up face down on the futon in my grimy apartment. Crumbs of an unspecified previous meal lay beside me. Tear rivulets were wet on my face. I did my daily regimen of 2-3 pushups and walked to the window, looking out at the world, this world of concrete and cement and failed promise. My heart was soaring and broken all at once. Where is she now, I thought. Is she waking up in the woods somewhere in Canada or upstate Michigan, somewhere above the treeline, in a cave? Is she cold and lonely and wondering where I am? I pictured her walking out into her world, eating her breakfast of pigeon or squirrel all alone, remembering the intimacy we shared, however briefly. Ah, here come the tears again reader. As I type this out. Here come the tears...

C'mon and Celebrate: The New Year!

Dear Lovelies - how nice to find you again, all cozied up with a mug of mulled cider, reading my blog, like a kitten in the arm of a sleeping man! It's that time of year again, which is to say, Happy New Year! I trust that the close of 2009 was as spectacular and explosive for you as it was for yours truly (read: me). In the early hours of the evening I strummed my guitar and googled ex-lovers to see if they were lonely or now tethered to lesser men. Sad to report that none were available any longer. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not with those ex-lovers for a reason and the reason is that we were not "a good fit" (at least that's how they put it) but my heart despaired to find that my best hope at reconnection - Rhonda Gumm - has now apparently wed an orthodonist from Milwaukie, WI who specializes in "reconstructive and adaptive dentistry" and who has the unfortunate last name Spanker. Meaning Rhonda (while no longer attractive in the least) is now known as Rhonda Gumm-Spanker. Why should this depress me, while I am still young and vibrant? I'll answer you: It should not!

Hence, my young and vibrant unattached self wandered into the night, to drink down the last of 2009 with a bunch of friendly strangers in a bar near the edge of town. There was pool playing and bear hugs and raucous merriment! There was communal vomiting and unwarranted (but accidental) touches! At the end of it all was me, Taffy McKittrick, raising a glass up toward the spider-web strewn rafters and howling at the peak of my lung capacity: Okay Universe, this is my year!!!

Announcement: Happy New Year!!!

My peeps!! Aloha and Greetings to you all. May I tell you that you are beautiful in several different ways? There is a certain shimmering glory in the item I'm about to say to you so you'll need to prepare yourself: ready? Then here it is: This is the end of a remarkable year, filled with creative leaps and bounds for me - much like the gazelle in the forest, nibbling leaves and detritus one moment, darting through so much brush the next - but also, you have to admit the lows. Yes, there were some lows for me. But the deal is I am saying so long to the lows and erasing and putting highs in their places, if you follow that.

As you're well aware I battle forms of depression, mostly in the form of being depressed because my songs and art are not yet celebrated on the globular level. This is something every artist - from Picasso to Dan Fogelberg and every guitar strumming mothereffer inbetween - must contend with. It will come in time I know this. Let the coming year bring me world-wide celebration and introduce my songs to hundreds of people who previously did not know of it!!

The second depressing thing that happened this year was me putting my trust in "Dr." Albert Tubman. Because of this I lost all my posessions and now have a County rap sheet. Thanks jerkwad! (note: sarcastic). Let the coming year erase the memory of this snake-oil merchant in the guise of an aspiring orthodontist!! Begone!!

The third and final dark and morose depressing thing is that I am still alone in this crazy mixed up world. I know there are girls and women - either really - out there that will find me a charming little fancypants and be eager to warm themselves in the glow of my presence and art but, and this is a big but, I have yet to meet them. Let the coming year have women throwing themselves at me!! All forms and varieties of love will be attracted to me!!!

happy new year to one and all, but especially to me!!!

Scrambled Eczema!

Hello peeps, those of the facebookery and/or blog-reading stripe, you are now encountering your number one fan: Taffy McKittrick! Can I inform you that the post-holiday ennui and utter despair I referred to in my last blog post has continued and has begun to manifest itself on my skin: that's correct, my eczema is flaring!

To be sure, this unsightly and uncomforting disease gets little play in the press. People would rather blather on about saving starving people or using my tax money to give homes to abused mountain goats but let me be clear when I say this: eczema is no laughing matter. It is one of the most serious and deadly (at least socially) of the dermatological disorders currently facing this nation. How does the afflicted person carry on with his day? How does he bathe, clean and loofah himself without rubbing his arms and legs raw? How can he prepare hot delicious meals without falling prey to rabid scratching? Some of these answers are not available, and some won't be available until there are patents pending but lets be clear: there are lotions, salves and unguents available over-the-counter. When you apply said lotions on your body, you must exercise caution lest you begin to scratch (take my words for it) and your arm quickly resembles a red raw bleeding hamburger meat patty resting gently upon a lightly toasted hairy bun.

We need to address dating for a moment. As you're well-versed on my lifestyle choices and overall love life you know that I currently am not employing a lover, lady lover, paramour or girlfriend. Don't despair and presume that this condition is promoted by eczema for it is not. However I cannot deny the internal throb of shyness that causes me to stare at women - beautiful and plain alike - on the bus or at the mall and not be able to actually approach them. I can't do it! I just stare and stare until they either stare back or get creeped out and move on. It's awkard as hell! Plus, my arms - my best feature I was told once - are generally covered up to hide the unsightly nature of my disease.

Look, this isn't pleasant, any of it. But I want to be honest with you. I want - no scratch that - I need you to 'get' me. If I am indeed your Taffy-man you will take me warts and all. Note: merely an expression, I contain no warts.

God Bless You!!

Post Xmas: Malaise & Degradation!

Dear reader, does today find you in a sort of moribund and morose post-holiday malaise, wherein you question the unnecessary ordering of holidays such as they are to provide you with a blast of shining goodness and then allowing you to slide back into the morass of everyday life? Oh dear, it makes me sigh so. Down come the shiny baubles and trinkets and doo-dads reminding you of a fat man slithering down your chimney and the shiny twinkle of light-wrapped trees.

I know you have burning questions as regarding my last blog post so lets get to it: no, I did not ever find out what happened with regard to that van of women. I do not know who kissed me. It has kind of made me sad but there's not much say about it. I ran into Sprinkles on the apartment walkway the other day and he seemed curious, unable to look me in the eye, muttering something about 'under the advise of my probation officer I'm off to a meeting'. I looked at him and said "Oh, well what about that van of women?" and I swear his eyes began to tear up - most likely due to the memory of what we experienced that night, which he can recall and I sadly cannot. He stammered for a second and then said, as if it were well-rehearsed "I'm sorry. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't think we can be friends" and then he got in his little Chevette and motored away. Very curious indeed. It's not particularly painful I suppose, I happen to be cut from a slightly anti-social cloth as it happens, this is the purview of the true artist, but still having a neighbor friend was a possible prospect that I considered for the coming year. Ah well, gone, like a puff of smoke.

On the actual holiday I woke up and played guitar, ate some cereal, wandered absently around the apartment with my bathrobe open. I live alone so I have that luxury. I decided that maybe the best thing to do would be to clear my head and enjoy the fresh air so I went to the mall. The cineplex was packed - everyone was all a-twitter about some movie that's the sequel to Titanic (? is that right?) but I could have cared less: I was going to see sweet Sarah Jessica Parker in "Did You Hear About The Morgans?" which did not disappoint in any degree. It was light, funny and charming which had the effect of drinking two cosmopolitans in quick sucession which is funny because that's my drink of choice after watching so much Sex in the City lately which naturally stars SJP. Perhaps you're judging me, thinking "hmm, Taffy that's not the most manly television option is it?" and I'd like to tell you that my response is: "Sir, I am an artist. I go where the heart takes me not where you're demographic literature and pinwheels and concentric graphs do". After the movie was over I wiped my tears with my popcorn napkin and sat up: the theater was empty. Noting my tears and sobbing body, an employee said: "Are you okay?". I took a deep breath and said: "I'm fine. I've just watched an amazing piece of cinema. That's all". The employee didn't quite know how to handle me so he merely said
"You're gonna have to go".
I got up and went back out to the ticket counter.
I cleared my throat and knocked on the glass. I said with a glint in my eye and Christmas spirit rushing up my body:
"One for "Did You Hear About The Morgans?" Please".
The ticket employee shot me a look, she could tell that I was in the throes of cinematic rapture, humming and vibrating with a sort of etheral charm.
She said "Didn't you just see that?"
I looked her in the eye and said "Yes m'lady. I most certainly mother-effing did"

Lesbian Christmas!