Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Jammin' with a Loric Guitar Player

Welcome fine readers. Thanks for being here.

Last night my band The Gutterminds were playing at the Bird in Hand. We were really jammin’. We were sounding great. Then a Lor came into the bar. He was wearing one of their new head bowls. He asked if he could join in.

At first I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. The Lor had a guitar and we already have a guitar player. Bubba said he was open to letting the Lor have a shot so we agreed. 

He identified him self as LM 279, his Fordian name, we called him  Mick.

Mick took out his guitar and it barely fit under his breathing helmet. We started an old Chuck Berry song and Mick joined in.

I’ve listened to a lot of Loric music. Their symphonies are spectacular. Their music is moving in ways we don’t usually get from even our own music. Well when this Lor started wailin’ on his guitar the room took notice. Their hands are very similar to our own and the guitar was more than just a tool in his hands. Bubba, our guitarist is a find guitar player but this Lor was transcendental.

Word started spreading around town and soon the place was packed and there was a growing crown outside trying to listen in.

I guess humans and Lor have more in common that most space species. I look forward to more musical interactions with Loric musicians. I’m not very impressed with their cooking but their music . . .

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Aliens and Games at the Festival

Welcome festive readers. Thanks for being here.

The Kushan Yam Festival is in full swing. Entries for the cooking contests are being prepared and sports teams are making final plans for their contests. Literary contest entrants are being read and evaluated. Party goers are doing what party goers do . . . partying.

Yes, Harappa City is a party town, especially during the Festivals, the Yam Festival being the biggest. All the taverns and saloons are operating on expanded hours and doing huge business.

The Gutterminds are playing most evenings this week at various venues. All the other bands around are playing too. There is music and wine everywhere.

Later in the week several alien species are sending representatives. Kusha gets lots of alien tourists and many of them are here already but the Bigwigs come later in the week.

The mingling of various alien species is something fairly new to Kushan festivals. The first few years that aliens came to attend there were some awkward moments as the species got to know one another. Not everyone in the Milky Way can handle alcohol like humans can. Neither the Lor nor the Fordians drink alcohol, however the Lors have a herbal libation they consume called Kallah. I’ve tried it but didn’t find it interesting in any way. It apparently does not have the same effect on humans. The Lor get quite giggly when they take this.

After a few years of alien participation we have all gotten to know one another quite well. There are no more drunken fights between alien races. There are still fights occasionally between fans of various sports teams but they seem to be mixed species fights and not one species against another.

Some of the aliens are starting to get involved in the contests. There is not yet a Loric Ball team but I understand there are teams forming on several planets and next year we may have off world entries. Not sure how the rules will have to be changed to accommodate the various attributes of the various alien species. We’ll have to see.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Opening Ceremonies of the Kushan Yam Festival

Welcome festive readers. Thanks for being here.

We survived. We made it through the opening ceremony of the Kusha Yam Festival.

Me and my bandmates, "The Gutterminds” played for the opening ceremony. Lots of ale, cider and wine was flowing on and around the stage. I understand that there was Oodo too but I did not take any of that. I was playing bass after all. I can play under the influence to a point but Oodo makes you too crazy, even to play Toxik Idols music.

We did a ninety minute set before the speakers came on. We did come classics (Idols, Stones, Beatles . . .) and some new tunes done in the old rock and roll style. I’ve written a new song called “Mother, May I” about Max Gavaskar. There were a few tears when we played that as people came to understand that Max would not be there for the festival. Her absence is its own presence. It is something palpable this year. Next year will be different and the year after that. Eventually people will come to forget that she was even involved in the pageantry of the Kusha Yam Festival.

This year everyone is talking about Max. “How is she?”, “Does she  even know what is going on?” etc.

No one knows what Max knows right now beyond her small family circle. I understand a Fordian Ambassador is coming to Kusha in the next months or so for an official meeting so we assume Max is still alert and somewhat active.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss the people who are here and what they are doing.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Opening of the Yam Festival

Welcome Festival Going readers. Thanks for being here.

Hooray! The Kusha Yam Festival starts today. Just a short blog today. I must get to the Square to help set up for a concert today. The Gutterminds are playing at the opening ceremony.

tomorrow, however, I’ll share tales from this years festival and perhaps some stories from past events. 

See you tomorrow then.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Bubba the Science Fan's Friday Blog: Learning new things at Finnriver Farm and Cidery

Welcome groovy readers. Thanks for being here.

Another Friday another weekend at Finnriver Farm and Cidery. Today I am working in the label room in the morning and in the afternoon I will be working as host in the Tasting Room.

The jobs in production are more like meditations. Repetitive and calming. The crew usually plays music while they work. There is a camaraderie in the crew that is fun to be a part of. There is a joy in making cider. The work can be repetitive and physically hard but there is always in the back of your head the joy of creating something so fine, so fun.

The tasting room on the other hand requires you to be “on”. You can’t just cruise through the shift. While cleaning bottles for the label machine you can let your mind wander some. In the tasting room you have to be sharp all the time. The customers expect you to be knowledgable and charming.

Charming is not all that tough, most people come to the tasting room with a great attitude and the wonderful ciders of Finnriver melt the hearts of most skeptics. But, one has to keep up to stay with what’s going on at the cidery. We are always creating new ciders and wines. I learn more every day. Yesterday I was pouring buckets of blackberries into the vat for making our Spirited Blackberry Wine. Not very educational by itself but being around the cider maker and listening to him and watching him work is a learning process in itself.

What a great job when you can keep learning new things and spend time with charming people.

Never mix red wine with Oodo, but cider is fine.

Earth Year 2014

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Max Gavaskar's Health

Welcome happy readers. Thanks for being here.

Yesterday after writing my blog it struck me that we were in the last days of Max Gavaskar. She may only  live for a few more months. I hope to get to see her again before she leaves us for good but I may not. I may have met the Mother of the Galaxy for the last time and that saddens me a great deal. Not that I have had regular daily meetings with her but knowing that she is a small part of my life makes me proud. Max Gavaskar has come to know many people areound the Galaxy and one of them is me.

I can honestly say that I knew her before she became known as the Mother of the Galaxy. When I first met her she was a refugee from the SID. Back then the SID was the most powerful human agency even though their influence was small on planet Kusha.

When Max first went underground she met Alice Toten who arranged for Max to hide out with David Green, a member of the Paladain Society. Unfortunately Mister Green was killed almost immediately after he and Max met.

In conversations I’ve had with Ms. Toten, I’ve come to learn that when Max first went to Ms. Toten Max wanted to try to get to planet Kusha. Alice Toten thought getting to Kusha would expose Max too much and assumed that the SID agents would be looking at the pathway between Harappa and Kusha. 

History tells us they were. The SID was focusing on starship loads going  to planet Kusha and mostly ignored the Lavan flights. Had that little quirtk of history gone only a little differently Max may have been found and arrested.

How would history have been different had Max been caught? 

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480

Philip the Bard's Harappan Blog: Kusha without the Mother of the Galaxy

Welcome joyous readers. Thanks for being here.

Everyone on planet Kusha is eagerly anticipating the Kusha Yam Festival. It will be a fun and exciting time for all . . .

Well, for most anyway. There is a sad undertone to this year’s celebration. Typically Max Gavaskar is the Grand Marshal and opens and closes the festivities.

Word has come that her health will prevent her from attending this year. Last year her activities were limited but she did appear at the opening and closing ceremonies in a hover bed. It was up lifting seeing her and sad to see her so diminished.

The Festival will go on without her but she will be on the minds of all attendees. No one is sure how much longer she will live but I hear from her doctors that her end wont be long, perhaps a few months, no more.

Max’s absence will be a physical presence this year but we march on. Next year things will seem more normal without the participation of the Mother of the Galaxy and better the year after. Eventually it will seem as if she was not ever really with us and w=she will ascend into the mythical realm. Her memory will become embellished as the memories of all great people are. The reality of her life will eventually fade behind the myth of the Mother of the Galaxy. 

Unless you read my blog posts about the real Max Gavaskar.

Never mix red wine and Oodo.

Philip Normer

Kushan Year 88

Earth Year 2480