Happy birthday John Lennon.

RIP John Lennon--would have been 68!! today--So sad--the music never written or sung.
A very emotional day today..First the dow is down below 9,000--this has become very scary for many people..My roommate Abe has watched his net worth fall a lot in a couple of months. The phony bailout passed last week did nothing..so far. Does anyone have a solution? Is this not solvable until it hits rock bottom, and people lose their jobs, pensions, savings? What the heck will they do about SS. My generation will hit like an atom bomb in the next few years, medicare, SS, universal health care? Trillions of dollars wasted, lost, spent, IOU's to the Chinese, Saudi's, we are losing the war without shots being fired. I really fear for my country. I hate to turn on the news anymore..Is the american dream dead??
I listen to music on youtube a lot..at the moment Bruce Springsteen is singing the "Ghost of Tom Joad"--a very underrated cd btw. And very relevent to today's crisis--dust bowl music..Tom Waites "brother can you spare a dime" with great photo's from the 30's. Woody Guthrie "This land is your land", Bruce singing the same song in the Hollywood Bowl. So anyway I found a favorite song by Bruce--"Blood Brothers"--and somehow whenever I listen to that song I'm reminded of my best friend from many years ago..Greg Kessman and I met in grammer school in So. Fla. We went through a lot together..best friends..then drifted apart..Life came along and we went different ways. So we seem to speak about every 5-10 years--Today was the day--we had a great time remembering the past, finally exchanged email addresses and now we will stay in touch--I feel a part of my life has been restored after many years-
I haven't written much on this blog lately--for 2 reasons--first I'm involved on the miami herald political blog, and 2nd I discovered a website called photoshow which enables me to put together slide shows set to some great music. It's funny, ironic that I'm not a big jazz fan, yet somehow some great Sax players have provided most of the music I've used. www.photoshow.com/members/fredcasa should lead you there. I really like this format and hope one day to have a video presentation of my work in a gallery or two. I've put a lot of time and effort into it, still tweaking it to reach perfection.I've been offered a major show in London, and in Montreal..but turned them down. Too expensive to even contemplate. So have a great day today, Johns birthday and keep the faith-