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Sandman's Journal

Friday, July 03, 2009

Today is almost over which is good, 'cause today was gnarly.

My fully-packed warrior-Subaru "Pearl Drop" would not take me the 700 miles I'd planned, to drive across Montana to celebrate Independence Day with my Herak/Sullivan relatives. In fact, Pearl Drop barely made it the forty-five miles to Dickinson to visit a mechanic. After waiting for six hours to be looked at, she was diagnosed as "not worth saving."

It might have been way worse. She could've quit me further from home and left me stranded somewhere near Terry or Rosebud. I will sadly have to skip the Montana family reunion and begin my search for a new vehicle.

Dad was my hero today, which is a common occurrence. This time he spent ten hours chauffeuring me to various car lots and whatnot. We thought that maybe I'd find something decent for under $1500, but no luck.

On the bright side, juneberries are getting nice and ripe on the mountain this week. It's been ten years of bad crop, but this year looks like a winner.

Sandman 12:39 AM

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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Please have a listen to the title track from my very first CD (1995): "Roll Out, Cowboy."

I reference MJ, wild berries, Bob Dylan, my dad's bus, and my love of the open prairie.

My appreciations haven't changed much.

If you'd like to hear a cut from my latest CD, All the Things I Done Wrong, here's a timely one: "Michael Jackson."

"Michael Jackson" was produced in 2007, by Shawn Parke, as a demo--as were all the songs off of All the Things I Done Wrong. This CD may, now, due to lack of funds, be released in a more raw form. Shawn made the funky beats.

Sandman 1:52 AM

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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Death came knockin'. Sad times in Dunn County.

My upcoming CD has a song called "Michael Jackson," dedicated to him:
"Michael Jackson it's a long ride back home
Chi-town, Motown, I found your crown
In the middle of a Montana pasture
And that sound was the sound of rapture . . ."

MJ RIP.

Sandman 11:08 PM

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Saturday, June 20, 2009

It's country livin' these days for old Sandman. Rhubarb's thick. Summer has arrived.

Thursday I went to the Dunn County Historical Society meeting. Helen McMahen retired as secretary. In honor of her thirty years of service, they served Koolaid and cake and gave her a plaque.

Friday I partook in a Burnin' Daylight Adventure at Ted and Dawn Kupper's ranch. After a meal of burgers and beans, Shawn Goodall, with his girlfriend Laci's help, loaded sixteen of us into a sturdy wagon hitched to his Belgian draft horses, Ram and Rod. We rode for two hours through some of western North Dakota's most breathtaking breaks and badlands. Laci got the gates. Upon return to camp, I sang songs such as "Home on the Range" and "She'll Be Comin' Around the Mountain" next to the campfire, while the little kids made s'mores. [Plug: you should join us on one of these adventures--they are very affordable. A wagon ride alone is priceless. Click on the above link for more info.]

Yesterday I performed at the annual Pit Barbeque in Manning in exchange for supper and a rugby-sized chunk of buffalo meat. The meat was wrapped in denim and bound in wire. It was dragged out of a dirt pit full of dozens of other denim-wrapped, wire-bound hunks of cooked pork, beef, and bison. A highlight of the event for me was having Grandpa join me with his harmonica on "I Ride an Old Paint."

Happy Father's Day, Dad (pictured), and Happy Solstice, everyone!

Sandman 12:44 PM

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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Yesterday morning Mom and I walked the Lake Ilo trail and marveled at its lushness.

Lake Ilo--only a mile from my house--is a prehistoric paradise this month. Blue herons, like neutered pterodactyls, honk from their high perches in the cottonwoods, while looming buzzards, like teratorns, attempt to snatch fuzzy chicks from under them.

Decomposing carp, like coelacanth fossils, line the shore below. The air is humid and dank. Large white toadstools populate the forest edge. Turtles, like children of Egyptian pharaohs, sun themselves on naked logs next to half-baked frogs.

Lake Ilo is well-maintained but rarely visited. In my eyes, it's a hidden treasure as precious as Manhattan's Central Park Lake.

Sandman 10:17 PM

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Tuesday, June 16, 2009


This is my kitchen. I eat salads with cheese here.

Cheddar.

Sandman 8:29 AM

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Monday, June 15, 2009

I don't know what to write about anymore.

I watered the grass? I ate a salad with cheese? I petted the horse?

Sandman 1:31 AM

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Monday, June 08, 2009

Lots of action in Sand Land with a week of family fun. Grandpa's 90th birthday party went swimmingly. He drank a few, then sang a few, and then he danced a few, too.

The snow has melted.

Sandman 11:18 PM

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Saturday, June 06, 2009

My first nonagenarian grandparent:

Happy 90th, Grandpa! I wrote you a song.
Sandy Bob

It's cloudy in the west and it's lookin' like rain
Your durned ol' slicker's in the wagon again
Sandy Bob

On a ten-dollar horse and a forty-dollar saddle
You set out punchin' them Wolf Point cattle
Sandy Bob

There's a lot of things a lot of people might not know about you
You don't like to brag, you just don't seem to need to

Sandy Bob, you're a good grandpa
Sandy Bob, you're a great grandpa, Sandy Bob
You built you a cabin with your own two hands
You found you a woman who would share your brand, Sandy Bob

There's a lot of things a lot of people might not know about you
You seek the truth and you just don't like to be lied to

Sandy Bob, you're a good grandpa
Sandy Bob, you're a great grandpa, Sandy Bob
You built you a cabin with your own two hands
You found you a woman who would share your brand, Sandy Bob

Sandy Bob, you're a good grandpa
Sandy Bob, you're a great grandpa
Cowboy, boxer, horseman, carpenter
First lieutenant and a parole officer
You're good with leather and you're good with words
You walk with God and you talk to birds, Sandy Bob
Oh Sandy, Sandy

(whistle outro)

Notes: Cousin Jenny took the above picture. Yesterday, Grandpa and Grandma were given an honorary plaque in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. Tonight there will be a birthday bash at the Buckskin Bar in Killdeer--everyone's welcome. It's currently snowing outside and the ground is white!

Sandman 9:55 AM

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Saturday, May 30, 2009

My back is recovering. I think my daily exercises are starting to work. (Thanks for the drugs, Emily--I'll save 'em for an emergency.)

I've been scraping flaky lead paint off my bedroom walls the last two days. Dad helped me texture my bedroom and bathroom ceilings yesterday. Now I'm ready to prime and paint those two rooms.
************************************
A white horse and a white pony have recently appeared in the small, tree-filled pasture across from my house. They wind through the branches like phantom pegasuses. They pace through the weeds like bored unicorns.

Sandman 7:26 PM

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Friday, May 29, 2009


Sandman 9:47 AM

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Thursday, May 28, 2009

"Well, my love is a flower just beginning to bloom

Like those things from [under my parents' deck] that spring from the gloom. . ."

Sandman 10:02 PM

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!

As of May 23rd--forty years married and going strong.

************CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************

Sandman 1:47 PM

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

News from Sand Land:

I haven't had a trucking run since December.

My new CD, All the Things I Done Wrong, will be pressed by October, granted the grant I applied for gets granted.

Boss Goodall tells me that I might be driving again by midsummer. I can last that long by playing some shows and working for the Dunn County Historical Society.

Banjo picker Billy Faier is still in the neighborhood. He's been staying with my folks. He and I spent Memorial Day weekend performing at the 23rd Annual Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Medora. Billy fired up the audience like no one I've seen and sold twenty CDs in a matter of minutes. He backed me up on two songs, and I backed him up on "The Great Assembly." Now I can say that I've played music and traveled with someone who's played music and traveled with both Guthrie and Van Zandt! Billy quit performing with Townes after only ten shows, because Townes would get drunk and then insist on driving the van after the show.

As for me, I'm bored with being a ragged rambler. I 'm ready for a more balanced life. I want a strong body, a green garden, and a hard-headed woman. My life as a troubadour is not over, but in the future I plan to travel in style like J.D. Salinger or Harry Belafonte or John Lennon.

Sandman 8:15 AM

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Friday, May 22, 2009

Bought a used lawn mower yesterday for $120.

Runs good.
Honda.

Sandman 2:46 PM

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A friend asked if I look more like my ma or pa.

Survey sez:


Speakin' o' the 'rents, their 40th wedding anniversary is this weekend!

Sandman 11:56 PM

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

New neighbor.

Roger Hall bought the empty lot north of mine.
Yesterday, he rolled his mobile home into place.
Soon he will add three-car garage.

Sandman 11:54 PM

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Monday, May 18, 2009

Legendary banjo player Billy Faier, whom I met in Marathon, TX, in February and visited in Woodstock, NY, a couple weeks ago, coasted into Dunn Center, ND, today.

He's snoring soundly at the moment.

Billy's an extraordinarily talented folk singer. I mentioned in an earlier blog that he and Ramblin' Jack Elliot once traveled and performed with Woody Guthrie from New York to San Francisco. Woody was beginning to struggle with Huntington's disease at the time, but he could still rock a crowd.

Billy has a website where anyone can freely download albums he's cut over the last 52 years.

Sandman 11:41 PM

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Today marks the sixth week that I've been relatively out of commission due to a herniated disc in my lower spine. I've tried core synchronism, chiropractors, arnica, ice, yoga stretches, strengthening exercises, Ibuprofen, and Vicodin, but nothing has done the trick. (I searched for an acupuncturist on the West Coast, but struck out).

Time is a great healer, I know, but sometimes time passes too slow.

My neighbor Vivian visited today while I was exercising. She promised to bring my ailment to her prayer circle.

I welcome all prayers, suggestions, and bottles of pills.

Please send to: Chris "Hank Williams" Sand / PO Box 7 / Dunn Center, ND 58626

Sandman 10:10 PM

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Saturday, May 16, 2009



"Oh Yoko" --------- My love will turn you on.

Sandman 10:57 PM

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Friday, May 15, 2009

Bulls are moaning in the pasture adjacent to my shack. I hear them in my bedroom at night.

One of them is named Terrible Master. Another is named Onan Son of Judah. The newest bull is named Humming-Towards-the-Gallows. He has a deformed neck.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile the record player spins.

Sandman 8:30 PM

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Thursday, May 14, 2009

Killdeer Mountain is green, and little yellow flowers are blooming. Found a tick. Discovered a morel mushroom, too--the first I've seen on the Mountain.

Two cormorants flew overhead. I've never seen cormorants up there before.

Sandman 8:01 PM

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Odysseus has returned.
"I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast,
But I just rocked America, coast to coast."
I blinded the Cyclops, shunned the sirens, and chilled with Achilles in Hades.
"I flew to LA, I flew to New York,
Everybody's sick from eatin' too much pork."
I avoided supping with the Lotus-Eaters. I failed, however, from molesting the cattle of Helios.
"Skiddly bebop a we rock, scooby doo,
Guess what, North Dakota--I love you."
Happy to be home!

Sandman 5:43 PM

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Sunday, May 10, 2009

To My Mother

BY WENDELL BERRY

I was your rebellious son,
do you remember? Sometimes
I wonder if you do remember,
so complete has your forgiveness been.

So complete has your forgiveness been
I wonder sometimes if it did not
precede my wrong, and I erred,
safe found, within your love,

prepared ahead of me, the way home,
or my bed at night, so that almost
I should forgive you, who perhaps
foresaw the worst that I might do,

and forgave before I could act,
causing me to smile now, looking back,
to see how paltry was my worst,
compared to your forgiveness of it

already given. And this, then,
is the vision of that Heaven of which
we have heard, where those who love
each other have forgiven each other,

where, for that, the leaves are green,
the light a music in the air,
and all is unentangled,
and all is undismayed.

Sandman 5:53 AM

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Blogging to resume in five days.

Vacation!

Sandman 9:31 PM

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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Happy 89th, Farmor! You're lookin' good.

For the next month, you and Gramps will be the same age.

Sandman 4:02 PM

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Tuesday, May 05, 2009

I'm now in L.A., surrounded by wiener dogs and palm trees, working on a movie. It's weird to think that just this morning I was wandering through the dark, wet subways of Brooklyn. 


(Left to right: Warner, McGruder, Kaledo, Jerry, Elizabeth.)

I'm staying with Director Elizabeth and her hubbie, Warner. 

Sandman 8:55 PM

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Monday, May 04, 2009

There were a hundred highlights from the Pete Seeger concert last night. One of them was locking eyes ever-so-briefly with Joan Baez after the concert. Listening to her sing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" was unforgettable, too.

There were so many musical masters on the stage: Springsteen, DiFranco, Cockburn, Havens, Kristofferson, Mellencamp, Paxton, Emmylou, Arlo, Ramblin' Jack, Roger McGuinn, Billy Bragg, Ben Harper, Steve Earle, Taj Mahal, Bela Fleck, Rufus Wainwright, Toshi Reagon, The McGarrigle Sisters. The luminary of luminaries, though, was Pete, who at age 90 seemed youngest and wildest of all. He still crushes it on banjo. Ten years from now I'll be back for his 100th (on stage with him, I hope).

New York gave me the attitude adjustment I needed. I'm glad I went.

Thanks to all of you who let me stay in your flats and eat your cereal: Kirk, Van Song, Nikki, Sally, Chris, Damian, and Ai Le (who, by the way, was due to give birth to her and Damian's first child yesterday). Big thanks, also, to Andy and Alissa Hedges for talking me into flying to New York in the first place. It was awesome hanging out with y'all and driving to Woodstock to visit Billy Faier and Betty Ballantine!!! Thanks, Harreld, for your friendship, and good luck gettin' the girl.

Goodbye, NY. Hello, LA.

Post Script (May 7th): After a thirty-hour labor, Ai Le gave birth to a boy!

Sandman 10:26 AM

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Sunday, May 03, 2009


Happy 90th Pete!

After a final humbling show last night, New York, as of this morning (even though it's raining buckets), is suddenly looking brighter. Off to Madison Square Gardens for the concert of a lifetime.

Sandman 11:02 AM

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Saturday, May 02, 2009

Didn't Zimmerman have a line something like, "I'm goin' back to North Dakota, man I do believe I've had enough . . ."

(My gravity has failed and negativity isn't pulling me through.)

Sandman 5:30 AM

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