Saw Coco the other day, that’s two children’s movies in one week. Used to envy those Hollywood musicians, and who wouldn’t want a shot like that, not to mention the orchestral budget. But it is as likely to come my way as Trump would be washing feet of homeless people. On way to the cinema, driver was too close to other highway cars. Snow and ice plus we’re in the fast lane. Wanted to say can you drive slower, can you leave more distance between yourself and the other cars – could I do that without being thought of as an asshole? Nope, there is no middle ground. If I say something critical they will think I’m a backseat driver and if I don’t speak up and we have an accident the story will be why didn’t you speak up? Like in bands with someone always blaring, trying to decide whether to speak up and ask could you turn down because I can’t hear my thoughts or stay silent, remaining friends but all along asking yourself is being nice really worth getting tinnitus? The animated details in Coco were powerful especially the rendering of the junk guitar with frets made of nails and tactile cartoon wood grain. If movies hit the right notes, I get teary. The last time I was outright balling and not sitting in a theatre, was after a hit and run took Matt’s life, Matt who booked me in America. Matt whose placed in Chicago I stayed at often and who supplied the faxes to help cross the border, referencing evil subjects from my songs as though they were studio collaborators. Customs requires evidence substantiating that I was on my way to spend money in America rather than make money (even though I was performing for nothing and spending $200 a day to keep up). “Douglas Christie is very excited to be producing your new work and we will have the electric zither in the studio by Wednesday”. Matt was one in a million. In the Castaneda books Don Juan was recorded saying things like death is always present, just sitting on your left shoulder ready to be introduced. Animals understand that, they can smell death nearby, they’re alert in a different way because of that. I’m in Winnipeg on icy roads, in the lane on the right, going slow.