Hoekstra means “hook street,” down on the corner.

1 September 2011

Joel Hoekstra. We have had a lot of guitarplayers in Big Brother and, at the level they are, there is no best or worst. They are all expert. Chad Quist, Ben Nieves, Tom Finch… they’re all just unbelievable players, but Joel Hoekstra probably works the hardest and works the most. I’ve never seen ANYONE prepare for a gig the way Joel does. I think it’s that Dutch work ethic. He shows up and he knows all the tunes better than I do. Well, that part is not such a feat, but you know what I mean? I’m going to do a painting of Joel. It’s my next project. The man is miraculous. It’s been a privilege to play with and know this guy through several bizarre chapters in our lives.

The color of a chili is no indication of its spiciness, but size usually is… the smaller the pepper, the hotter it is. it’s like dogs, you know? They are all born with the same engergy. The Greast Dane, the Labrador and the black and tan dachsund/Doberman Pinscher. So all of that energy has to be packed into the same body, large or small. This is why large dogs are mellow and small little Dachsunds are insufferable. Poor things. Little tiny peppers full of all that energy and nothing to do with it.

Elise Piliwale in Seattle.

Vince Martell’s guitar.

Sandy Urech and Rick Carroll, Okinawa.

Joel and Natalya, a fabulous singer.

Many Europeans could not afford to travel to the new world, so they indentured themselves to ships captains or established colonies, agreeing to work for a certain period, usually between five and seven years. When their terms were completed the masters provided them with farm tools and seed, so they could start out on their own.

I see that Joel Hoekstra finally got some jeans that fit.

Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.

Dear Prudence was written to encourage Prudence Farrow (Mia Farrow’s younger sister) to stop meditating so much. “Won’t you come out to play.” While the Beatles were in India.

Hot water is heavier than cold.

The only three US presidents who ever had to deal with real or impending impeachment… Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton all have names that are euphemisms for penis… Johnson, Dick and Willie.

Benito Mussolini would ward off the evil eye by touching his testicles.

My father when he was a warrant officer.

Dale Burkhardt took these photographs of Janis Joplin.

Elise Piliwale, painting.

Adolph Hitler’s great-great-grandmother was a Jewish maid.

Prince Harry and Prince William are uncircumcised. Perhaps incidentally they are related to Humphrey Bogart.

Larry Henson, the rhythm guitar player in The Cool Notes, my first band, and his girlfriend Gloria Williford.

Joel Hoekstra and Brad Gillis in Japan.

Peter Albin and James St. James Pell.

Augustus Caesar had achluophobia… the fear of sitting in the dark.

Six of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren were married to rulers of countries… England, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Romania. Queen Victoria’s first language was German.

The Mona Lisa was completed in 1503. it was stolen from the Louvre on 21 August 1911. I could have stolen it in the early sixties. I used to go to the Louvre frequently and the Mona Lisa was there, unguarded, quiet, alone and given no special treatment in any fashion. Everything was very open then.

My gang in high school:, Okinawa: Rick Carroll, unidentified, Tom Powers, Jimmy Grant, unidentified, Sam Andrew (vertical stripe shirt), Butch Brady, Marty Bonin, Ronnie McCullough and Mike Mandel.

My friends in kindergarten on Okinawa.

Warden threw a party in the county joel, I mean, jail, I mean, gaol.

These oxen are at Sturgis, a town we know for other kinds of oxen.

Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Isaac Newton was

a. a high school dropout

b. an ordained priest in the Church of England

c. only twenty-three years old when he discovered the law of gravitation

d. a Member of Parliament.

e. all of the above.

Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.

Interesting how the lead singer HAS to be charming, even though this is supposed to be a “mean” shot. Joel Hoekstra, Night Ranger, or, as his mother would say, Knight Rider.

The view out of our bedroom window.

Elise Piliwale took this photograph of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia.

And this one of a mannikin in Thailand.

My band is supplying the rhythm for these autocthonous gyrations.

Attila the Hun was a dwarf. Pépin the Short, Aesop, Gregory of Tours, Charles III of Naples, and the Pasha Hussein were all shorter than three and a half feet tall.

I wrote the introduction to this very interesting book.

Guitar players have to know poses like this. I believe both Berklee School of Music and Guitar Institute of Technology have classes for this sort of thing. Joel Hoekstra and Brad Gillis.