It Could Be Anything!
Number Six ©September, 2000 ••••••• Don Harthcock, Editor
OpinionSoup may contain language and topics unsuitable for children.
"The present moment is where life can be found." ~Thich Nhat Hanh
IN THIS ISSUE:
COCONUT GROVE, FLORIDA - Paradise paved
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION - It's time for a change.
BELLADONNA - Have a bite of this, dearie.
COMFREY - a weed for stubbin' the nubbin'
DILL - Have you got bad breath?
EVENING PRIMROSE - another subversive import?
FAR EAST HANDICRAFTS - What's happening in Kathmandu?
GRAPE SEED EXTRACT - Got varicose veins?
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None of the statements made in this publication have been evaluated by the FDA, nor is that likely ever to happen. This publication is not meant to be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Since this publication is not intended to be diagnostic or prescriptive, the authors assume no responsibility for any adverse reactions resulting from the use of any information contained in it.
Coconut Grove, Florida
Personal from Donny
The saddest update I will ever post:
------ Forwarded Message
From: Robert Ingram xxx
Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2001 03:00:32 -0700
To: xxx
Subject: Fred Neil
Friends:
It is my sad duty to tell you that Vince Martin just called to say that Freddie passed away Saturday on xxx Key. It is 3:00 a.m. and I have just returned from California. I will keep you all posted. I can be reached at xxx
"Try to remember the good times
And just a little bit of rain"
Love to all of you
Bob and Gay Ingram
Cocoanut Grove Florida
Fred is dead? That's what I said.
Here's the really sad part: everybody who ever knew Freddie or even just met him in passing, will want a little piece of him now; some kind of memento to prove that they were in the in-crowd. I can hear them: "Well, I knew where he was, all the time, but I couldn't say."
Fred Neil always refused to pay the price of fame. In fact, he hid from it. Yes, he got a little crazy at the end. Yes, there were quarrels with dearly beloveds that never got patched up. Yes, there were personal demons that never got completely exorcised. Yes, Freddie was brilliant. Yes, he was unknown to the vast majority of people, which was the way he wanted it.
But some few knew him. Many more knew OF him. All were in awe of something that Fred had, some elusive quality that made him a god to songwriters and singers. He hated this idea, but his own compulsive, chronic reclusiveness actually created it. The fact of the matter was, Fred Neil knew himself so well that he refused to be adored. The perfect formula to insure that you never got to meet Freddie, was to adore him.
Donny is close with many of Freddie's closest, but for personal reasons involving other people, we were never "friends." We did a little tippy-toe dance in the immediate range of each other's auras once or twice, but mostly we stayed away from each other...when our auras touched, mine turned red and sparks flew.
If you're wondering "Who the hell WAS this guy?" that's the way he wanted it. Freddie's shadow will now cavort with the dolphins, the way he always wished he could. Fred's best line to the dolphins, was "Do you ever think of me?"
"I'm goin' where the sun keeps shinin', through the pouring rain. I'm goin' where the weather suits my clothes. Bankin' off of the northeast wind, sailin' on a summer breeze. Skippin' over the ocean like a stone."
So long, Fred. I always liked you a little bit.
I came to Coconut Grove in 1968 and stayed until 1984 (except for a year with Good Karma Productions in Kansas City). Living in Coconut Grove, especially the timeframe from early 1968 through late 1970, transformed me. The Grove's not the same now, of course, because it got popular and trendy. Thank God, all the heavies hip-notized me before that happened. I have to keep reminding myself that I was only 26 years old then, younger than my son is, now.
"They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot...
...with a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot.
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?
They paved Paradise
And put up a parking lot."
~Joni Mitchell, ©1970
Siquomb Pub. Corp. (BMI)
Although the above (Big Yellow Taxi) actually was written about a spot in Hawaii, Joni must have been thinking of The Grove, also...being a part-time Groovy Grovite, herself. One of the first places where Joni performed was the Gaslight Coffeehouse in Coconut Grove. David Crosby, who had his sailboat Mayan moored at Dinner Key, "discovered" her there.
John Sebastian wrote this:
"It's really true, how nothingmatters,
No mad, mad world, and no Mad Hatters.
Nobody's pitching 'cause there ain't no batters
In Coconut Grove"
at Vince Martin's house on Aviation Avenue in 1963 or so, while he (Sebastian) was still nearly normal. Vince, who is nearly seven hundred years old now, was once teamed up with Fred Neil, whom Sebastian once described as "mysterious" and "sketchy." That's really funny, at my house, at least.
Click here to buy Joni's
Hits; click here for
Best of John Sebastian, and here for the recently-released compilation
Many Sides of Fred Neil.
Coconut Grove was, to understate it, an eclectic community. Originally settled by Bahamian immigrants, it became Whiter as the years passed, its choice bayfront acreage being snapped up and developed by the rich. Eventually it was annexed by the City of Miami, and for quite a long time now it has been the site of City Hall, on Dinner Key. Groovy old Grovites treasure the zip code 33133 and still use Coconut Grove, not Miami, as their mailing address.
By the sixties, The Grove had become a mixture of rich people and hippies, Black and White, avant-garde writers and artists of all types (painters, sculptors, cartoonist Don Martin, and others), musicians and actors.
Photographer Tony Gulliver, a perennial bad guy in all the Ivan Tors productions (Gentle Ben, etc.), was my breakfast buddy at the Coconut Grove Pharmacy. "Country Music" star and friend Michael Martin Murphy wrote at least two songs at our house, and he once brought John Charles Quarto (The World's Greatest Living Poet) for a visit. Jerry Jeff Walker (author of Mr. Bojangles) drank about four hundred gallons of sangria at the Andros Avenue home of my band, Ewing Street Times.
One of the Oldest Living Groovy Grovites, Bob Ingram, played at Monty Traynor's Raw Bar (above photo, very cleaned up) for three hundred years. He told me recently that real Grovites spell it Cocoanut Grove, but he's such a kidder. Too many years as Crosby's straight man, so to speak, between the lines.
Ingram, by the way, is planning another comeback. This will be Comeback Number Three or Four. We both are planning to sue Jimmy Buffett for stealing our material. Ingram wrote Wasting Away Again in Hialeah, and I used the line The Last Mango in Miami for years, while Buffett was my opening act at The Flick Coffeehouse.
We had at least two Bob Altmans, one a movie producer you may have heard of, and one a former stock broker better-known as the outrageous comedian Uncle Dirty, my buddy. I once called up Robert Altman by mistake (his number was listed, believe it or don't) and chatted with him for about five minutes before we realized we didn't know each other. He never even blinked.
"I think I've got the wrong Bob Altman," I said.
As Dustin Hoffman would say many years later in Rain Man, he replied "There's lots of 'em. Lots and lots of 'em."
Timmy Schmidt tried to blend in with the other hippies, but everyone knew who he was. Luke Halpin, who played Sandy, the cute kid on Flipper, spent a lot of time chasing my bass-player's sister.
Folk singer / storyteller Gamble Rogers, a dear friend, hardly ever came over, because we smoked dope. Gamble drowned a few years ago in Florida, while attempting to rescue someone who was drowning. I heard about it while I was driving around, one day...on Public Radio. I had to pull over and cry, because I really loved old Gamble...the most brilliant redneck I ever knew. Gamble's death shook me up in a very deep and personal way. All the way home I kept thinking "Wow, I could die right now, today, and never see it coming."
Gabe Kaplan smoked his first joint at my house, and my wife made him his first Love Beads. I wouldn't have told you that, if he were still Kotter. Welcome Back, by the way, was written and recorded by John Sebastian. Gabe spends most of his time these days playing poker, along with my world-famous Horseshoe poker-champ nephew, Mike Hart.
A certain famous Action Hero actor lives there now, having fallen in love with the Grove when he was a student at the University of Miami in Coral Gables.
Coconut Grove was also a haven for gay people, including at least one gay cop. I'm sure there must have been lots of ordinary people, too, but I didn't know any. At the Coconut Grove Cinema, The Gods Must Be Crazy and The Rocky Horror Picture Show played for over a year, each.
Everybody always looked forward to the Bahamas Goombay Festival and the famous, annual Dinner Key Bed Race. The King Mango Strut, the Grove's parody of the King Orange Parade (for the Orange Bowl), is nationwide. I saw Equus at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, high, and it really brought me down.
That reminds me of Oz Bach, formerly of Spanky and Our Gang. Oz, who died recently, had a song with this line: "Every time you come around, general bringdown."
My wife's parents, secluded in another wealthy but much more conservative South Miami area (near Bob Marley's compound, actually), kept telling us that Coconut Grove was "very dangerous," but we didn't get it. We rode our bikes all over, at any time of the day or night. After all, Bob The Cop, who clipclopped through the downtown Grove on a horse, was our friend and protector (behind his back, we called him Barney Fife). Bob gave us LSD for a wedding present; such a Grove thing to do.
Suzy Bookstore and I got married on Cape Florida's beach at the tip of Key Biscayne, actually, not in the Grove. Today, there is a public barbecue pit on the very spot. Joe Bicycle, a Grove merchant and Notary Public, married us. When Sue and I divorced, I asked for my two dollars back.
To demonstrate the difference between the Grove then and now, I tell you with sadness that in the early nineties Joe Bike (Joseph Avalos) was mugged and murdered, in Coconut Grove, by crackheads.
For those of us who were Live and Let Live, Anything Goes types who also loved the sea, Coconut Grove was Paradise. My son was born there, before they paved it and put up a parking lot.
For musicians, especially folkies, one of the reasons for coming to Coconut Grove was because the elusive, freckled Fred Neil lived there (Fred is best remembered, I guess, for Everybody's Talkin', theme of Midnight Cowboy and also featured in Forrest Gump). Of course, Freddie hated being the Grove Attraction and spent a lot of time hiding from everyone except his closest friends (and sometimes, them, too).
In my Nashville days, Jim Varney once said to me, "You know Fred Neil?!" and then broke into an Ernest rendition of Freddie's Blues On The Ceiling. Varney died in February 2000, of lung cancer. Younger than your editor, he was one crazy sumbitch (also brilliant, funny as hell, talented and beautiful), knowwhudImean, Vern?
The Flick Coffeehouse (banner created by musician-cum-web freak George Blackwell) in nearby Coral Gables once "sponsored" a concert benefiting the World Dolphin Foundation (Project, maybe), featuring my band (Ewing St. Times), Bobby Ingram (above, left), Jerry Jeff Walker, Dion, Vince Martin (above, right), Kevin Kern, and David Crosby. After all individual sets were done, we crowded onstage for our finale, Fred's Dolphins, or The Dolphin Song.
"I've been searching for the dolphin, in the sea," it goes. "Sometimes I wonder, do you ever think of me?"
My friend Dion used to include this song in his "folk" sets, and he always sang "Sometimes I wonder, girl, do you ever think of me?"
Fred, of course, was talking about the dolphins.
"Fred Neil is the patron saint of all stoned musicians," David Crosby told the audience. "We've awarded him the key of D."
Crosby was and still is a great fan of Freddie, having copied him shamelessly in at least two areas: hiding from the public, and pharmaceutical research.
It is said that Fred still lives somewhere in Florida, but not in Coconut Grove.
I am praying for the success of this book, so that someday I can move back to The Grove. It is now cosmically up-scale, so I need about 25 million dollars.
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
- Must it last forever?
I'm ag'in' it. Affirmative Action was a good idea in the beginning, and it did its job well. Its time has come and gone, but bureaucrats hang onto it like some aging hippies hang onto their long hair (they just got used to it).
Beware of job-protecting, empire-building bureaucrats and politicians with private agendas who call you "reactionary" or "racist" for opposing Affirmative Action. Don't buy into their trip; they are liars and fools looking for votes and free rides. I repeat…Affirmative Action did its job well, but its time has come and gone.
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BELLADONNA (Deadly Nightshade)
- Look into my eyes!
Atropa belladonna; poisonous Eurasian perennial herb of the Solanaceae (Nightshade) Family, has dark reddish leaves, reddish, bell-shaped flowers and glossy, black berries. It now grows wild throughout the U.S. The alkaloidal extracts or tinctures from this plant, including Atropine and Scopolamine (also found in Jimsonweed and Henbane) are used to dilate the pupils of the eyes, to dry respiratory passages, to prevent motion sickness, and to relieve cramping of the intestines and bladder. Belladonna was once used by women specifically for pupil dilation as a beauty aid…hence the name, Bella Donna.
In ancient witchcraft, Belladonna Leaf was an ingredient of "flying ointments"…it was used to produce hallucinations and visions, and to foretell the future. These illusory capabilities were probably the result of this dangerous plant's over-stimulation of the Heart and respiratory system. Belladonna berries are DEADLY.
In Kansas City in 1971, a physician who thought I had Crohn's Disease or an ulcer, treated me with Belladonyl and Seconal. The Belladonyl worked, and I really learned to love Seconal, until the day we played a concert in Sidalia and I fell off the stage.
Tagamet was invented a few years later, and I thought it was a miracle.
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT SELF-TREATMENT WITH BELLADONNA. THIS IS A HIGHLY POISONOUS PLANT.
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COMFREY (Boneset, Healing Herb, Knitbone)
- "Looks like a big old weed to me." ~one of my nephews
This Eurasian (Russian) perennial herb, Symphytum officinale, contains Allatonin, which can hasten the growth of new skin, relieve inflammation, soothe hemorrhoids and stimulate the immune system. Comfrey root is used externally in creams, ointments, or as a poultice. Comfrey Leaf poultice is a good, immediate aid for sprains.
In addition to relieving sprains, Comfrey helps to renew cells in torn muscles and broken bones. It is also effective in lightening the discoloration of bruises. Believe it or don't, the leaves and roots of this herb have been used for centuries as poultices for broken bones. The ancient Greek physician Dioscorides used Comfrey for wound-healing and for mending broken bones.
"Comfrey" is derived from Latin conferta, which means "grow together."
Historically, Comfrey leaves have been used in teas, salads, soups and stews. Comfrey has actually been cultivated as fodder for livestock. In modern times, Comfrey is suspected of causing hepatic damage when taken internally. Like St. John's Wort, it can also cause animals to become light-sensitive.
This large plant provides colorful foliage and summer flowers for the back of your large borders. It especially likes low spots near water. You are warned that Comfrey in your garden is a rough customer. Unsophisticated and with absolutely no gentility, it will overrun other plants and is tough to get rid of. Plant it on the other side of the fence, if most of your plants are pedigreed.
CAUTION: THIS HERB CONTAINS TOXIC PAs. LONGTIME USE IS SUSPECTED OF CAUSING SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THE LIVER. FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY, BUT DO NOT APPLY TO BROKEN, ABRADED SKIN OR TO DIRTY WOUNDS (HEALING ACTION IS VERY FAST). DO NOT USE COMFREY AT ALL WHILE NURSING.
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DILL
- Smoke a pickle!
Anethum graveolens is an annual, aromatic herb of the Parsley Family, native to Eurasia. Dill Seed is imported from India, and Dill Weed is grown chiefly in California. Dill was used medicinally in ancient Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria. It is mentioned in the Bible (Matthew 23:23). Dill was an herb of magic during the Middle Ages, used in love potions and to break enchantments. It was a "meetin' seed" of early American colonists, used to disguise bad breath and as a snack for fidgety children.
Besides the fame of its leaves and seeds for pickles and various relishes, Dill also increases milk production for nursing mothers. Here's another gem that was known to the ancient Greeks: IT STOPS HICCUPS!
Dill Weed is used extensively in Europe with egg dishes, fish, green beans, potatoes, salads, sauces, soups, stews, and all preserved or pickled vegetables. The flowers and leaves are edible garnishes.
Dill Seed is used whole or ground in apple pies, bread, cabbage, fish and soups. It is a breath freshener and digestive aid. If you are on a sodium-free diet, use Dill Seeds (rich in Mineral salts).
Dill is good medicine for colicky babies and has been used for centuries for stomach disorders. Dill prevents farting in the nursery, which can wake the baby again.
In the 60's, Dill achieved an unlikely popularity with home Pot gardeners, as it easily can be grafted onto Marijuana root stock, giving you a plant that looks like Dill but is secretly laced with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the intoxicant constituent of Cannabis. Smoke A Pickle! I heard this story down at the barber shop one day; it's probably a lie.
Plant Dill in full sun, but not near fennel or carrots; they will cross-pollinate. Don't plant Dill near your tomatoes, as Dill attracts the tomato horn worm. DO plant Dill near your cabbage, cucumbers, lettuce and onions. Dill will attract hoverflies and wasps; it repels aphids and spider mites. Dill attracts swallowtail butterflies (and their caterpillars).
By the way, here's an item that points out a serious flaw in all dietary plans. For years now, I've been told by People Who Ought To Know, that pickles (especially Kosher Dills from Phil's Delicatessen on 41st St. in Miami Beach, my favorite) have absolutely no food value and are really not good for you at all. Even Jethro Kloss says that, and he never even went to Phil's Deli. So why do I love them so much? BECAUSE THEY TASTE GOOD! That's why so many of us mortals are not as healthy as we could be; we are slaves to our taste buds, who ought to know better.
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EVENING PRIMROSE
- It's such a good herb the FDA denounces it! Danger, Will Robinson!
photo courtesy Weed Science Society of America
Cenothera biennis; Evening Primrose Oil contains the highest amount of the omega-6 essential fatty acid Gamma-Linolenic Acid (GLA) of any food substance. This anticoagulant fatty acid is known to help prevent hardening of the arteries, heart disease and high blood pressure. It is known to enhance the release of sex hormones, including estrogen and testosterone.
The fragrant flowers of Evening Primrose do not open until early evening. This North American herb is famed as a cure-all, so give your doctor a good laugh with that information! It is reputed to promote weight loss, to lower serum cholesterol, and to be a sedative and pain-killer.
Many women have found that Primrose Oil Supplements relieve unpleasant PMS and menopausal symptoms. Evening Primrose Oil may have positive effects on the heart, circulation, skin and immune system. It is known to relieve atopic (allergic) asthma, atopic eczema and migraines.
For chronic pain, use Evening Primrose powdered seeds, which have been known to Native American women for centuries. Stems and leaves of this herb were once a common Native American food; also the boiled root, which tastes like parsnips.
Evening Primrose is approved as an over-the-counter drug in Canada and the United Kingdom. Produced primarily in the United Kingdom and popular throughout Europe, Evening Primrose Oil is, nonetheless, "controversial" in the United States, where some shipments have been seized by the FDA as an "unapproved food additive." Thank you, Big Brother; everybody knows the English reputation for recklessness.
Regardless of our Federal Drugdealer Administration, research continues on this herb's efficacy for treating alcoholism, anorexia nervosa, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease and schizophrenia.
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FAR EAST HANDICRAFTS
http://www.fareasthandicrafts.com/
- sponsors many projects through The Stephen R. Novak Foundation...Visit the site to see spectacular Tibetan art and meditation items! The following is copied directly:
Dedicated in memory of Stephen Novak, founder of Far East Handicrafts
1967 - 1995 Steve Novak founded the company in 1988 after traveling to the Far East. He became especially fond of the people of Nepal and began to import native handicrafts and Tibetan Buddhist ritual items.
Over the years, close friendships were established with the craftspeople and Steve saw many opportunities to sponsor projects which would contribute to the health and well being of the Nepali people.
After Steve's sudden death in an abandoned mine in Idaho, we at Far East Handicrafts have continued and expanded these projects in the spirit in which Steve began them. This separate non-profit foundation was created to provide a means for people to give tax deductible contributions to the many projects of Far East Handicrafts in Nepal.
SHREE MAHANKAL PRIMARY SCHOOL We are Proud to Sponsor this small school where the children are anxious to learn and the villagers volunteer their own time.
On our trip to Nepal in March of 1998, the Foundation in partnership with a local handicrafts association in Kathmandu, Himalayan Lotus Crafts, agreed to sponsor this hilltribe school located approximately 22 kilometers southeast of Kathmandu. The school receives very little government support.
The villagers are skilled in terrace farming in the mountains but most of the profits go to their landlord, leaving them in extreme poverty, a common occurrence in the hundreds of hilltribe villages of Nepal.
Some of the difficulties the children face:
* No electricity or toilets* No school supplies
* Poor lighting from a few small windows
* The need for personal clothing and shoes as well as school uniforms
Things are changing:
* The Foundation is donating funds for school supplies and building improvements* Friends at Himalayan Lotus Crafts buy the supplies and deliver them to the village
* The villagers supply the labor
In 1999 an additional school building will be built so more children can attend school and uniforms and shoes will be obtained for all the students.
Our educational goal is modest:
To enable children to read and write their own language.
EDUCATION We at Far East Handicrafts believe education is of utmost importance in the lives of Nepal's young people.
Free public education is available through grade four. Then most girls drop out and few families are able to send even their oldest son for more education.
Our Foundation sponsors children, often children of crafts people, to private schools where they are able to get a better education. The cost is about US $350 a year.
Many young Nepali people want to come to the USA to attend college. We are currently sponsoring one student to a university here.
JOY FOUNDATION NEPAL Far East Handicrafts is a member of this grass roots foundation in Nepal, created by local business people to provide eye care and surgery to those who cannot afford such care.
Two of the members of this foundation, Babu Kaji Shrestra and Manoj Shrestra, have been among the artisans of Far East Handicrafts from its inception.
Joy Foundation Nepal works in collaboration with the Tilganga Eye Centre, the Lions Club of Kathmandu Downtown, Nepal Red Cross Society, and local volunteers to organize "eye camps" in various districts of Nepal. Physicians from Europe and America donate their time and expertise. At their latest eye camp in February of 1999, 2900 patients received medical checkups.
In March 1999 Far East Handicrafts assisted The Joy Foundation in bringing three interns from Tulane University Medical School in New Orleans, Louisiana, who provided free medical services in the rural hospital of Chautara, a village near the Tibetan border.
THE STEPHEN R. NOVAK FOUNDATION For a donation of $50 or more, you will receive one set of 25 Tibetan Buddhist Prayer Flags.
DONATIONS 100% of your donation goes directly to projects in Nepal *
Tax deductible donations can be made to:
The Stephen R. Novak FoundationThe Rev. Barbara Novak
2011 E. 18th
Spokane, WA 99203
Tel: (509) 536-7823
Fax: (509) 532-1221
* We are exempt as described in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our ID number is 95285.
If you have further questions about your donation, please email us at srnfound@iea.com
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GRAPE SEED EXTRACT
- Oligomeric Procyanidins
A Bioactive Flavonol and Antioxidant, Grape Seed Extract from Vinus vinifera is said to be a more active Antioxidant than Vitamins C and E. It is said to be helpful for stiffness, injury and inflammation of joints. Basis of standardization is Proanthocyanidins.
Commonly called OPC (Oligomeric Procyanidins), Grape Seed Extract has recently become famous as a treatment for varicose veins and other vascular problems. It also improves your vision, particularly night vision, and has been recommended for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
OpinionSoup is published by Don Harthcock. OS#6 ©September, 2000, Don Harthcock, OpinionSoup.com. Portions of OpinionSoup may be reproduced on your site with proper credit and a link. This instruction supercedes all previous prohibitions. Taping OS to refrigerators, posting on bulletin boards & emailing to friends is waycool, highly-recommended, and much appreciated.
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