I spent Saturday afternoon surrounded by the flowers of Esalen, an institute and retreat center in Big Sur.

The flowers are near the gardens,

and visitors are encouraged to take a sweet pea or two with provided scissors,

There is incredible energy in this place where those seeking to learn arrive for workshops and seminars,

to see parts of themselves unfold in brilliant colors.

From the gardens, I could hear the poets on stage as part the day’s Arts Festival, so I left the orange dahlias,

to see what words were being spoken—

beyond impressed with Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis’s performance, especially her (famous) “An Upbeat Black Girl’s Song” that rang out over the grounds.

I wandered over to where hula hoops revolved near the mineral baths,

and plantings of succulents,

and returned to watch the opposite stage as someone chalked a peaceful heart in blue near my feet,

as the tribute to to Francisco Aguabella (1925-2010) with Jesus Diaz & Pedro “Muñeco” Aguilar began, and I was inspired by another fierce female artist, Kati Hernandez, who commanded the audience’s attention.

Kati was joined by another dancer who left his microphone to dance in front,

until she appeared in a different costume (the blue costume symbolized the maternal force of water, known as Yemayá in these traditions).

Then, the two danced together after the different types of Afro-Cuban rumba (Rumba Yambú, Rumba Guaguancó, and Rumba Columbia) were explained,

and the group’s performance on the bright stage hung with prayer flags ended with a huge audience conga line around the space and everyone on their feet (also, the drummer in the center with the cap was phenomenal).

As they finished, the festival founder and creative director Jayson Fann (here in the hat) was readying the next performer, Viviana Guzmán—part of a seamless string of talent that graced the stages throughout, and not an easy feat with an entire day of different acts.

As Viviana’s set started, beautiful local food began to be served:

a local halibut, local corn, and three salads with lettuces grown at Esalen ( “greens that haven’t seen a mechanized vehicle!” a proud server crowed).

Grateful to my friend Bella Shing for alerting me to the event (she’s lovely, and ran a filmmaking intensive as part of the festival), I left the celebration of artists and food and nature to drive into the sun around Big Sur,

inspired by all the views of the day on the misty drive back to my cabin…

In the next post, I’ll explain the Elvis title reference; for now, let’s begin with the annual Taylor Family Holiday Video. (Here’s 2008.)

Filmed by Kent Taylor in historic Roswell, Georgia at locations scouted by Mary Lynn Taylor, the video stars Kassandra Taylor. (Katrina Taylor and Reid Leslie do not appear in this year’s video due to travel calendars.) Featuring cameo appearances by Dr. William ‘Jitterbug’ Morrison and the renowned singer Amber Tatum, choreography is by Kassandra Taylor. Music is “Come Around” by Tim & Jean (part of Australia’s incredible music scene). Note: Much of this is freestyle—Kassandra isn’t responsible for my attempts to dance near her. Wait for the entire video to load, please, as I tried to use every iMovie filter and transition.

Before Christmas and the filming of the video, we all celebrated Kat and Reid making it through a flight cancellation from Portland, Oregon and arriving in time for Dad’s birthday, when Mom always makes a lemon cheesecake with her secret recipe.

Kat and Reid brought with them their formidable French toast skills,

and challah and panettone were dipped in egg and placed in a hot pan,

then topped with strawberries, pecans,

and a beautiful raw honey made by my mother’s student’s grandfather (you know how I feel about the importance of local honey).

Kat dressed up as a mod Santa,

Kass smiled as she opened her stocking, and we collected our first batch of little presents before readying for the meal.

Soon, the kitchen began to smell of roast pork (I’ll go into our family genealogy another time, but we are partly British),

with a lovely garlic-rosemary salt crust Mom made for those of you into that.

Roasted brussels, a bibb salad (Bibb lettuce is usually grown hydroponically now, so I find those are the only heads with soft leaves in the winter) with an improvised lemon-mustard-honey vinaigrette,

my usual smashed potatoes (this is a variety sold as Buttercream, the obvious choice for most potato recipes),

and wonderful chocolates Kat brought from Cacao in Portland.

Reid took our family Christmas picture outside by the lake (both Kat and Kass are wearing vintage dresses, which makes me very happy),

and we cut the cake. Jesus’s birthday cake. Kat decorated the cake with a crown and the usual lettering on the top—

we added a new phrase to the side of the cake that confused my grandfather, who asked me to give him a Christian side hug.

Instead, Kass, Kat, Reid, and I gave our new Snuggie™ blankets a trial run,

conferring like fleece-clad Druids,

creating a tableaux (we scared the dogs),

returning to our Gleeful show choir days,

and laughing at our very blue Christmas…

More pictures in the Flickr set.

I’m reposting last November’s Thanksgiving family video, a remixed version of the Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back,” in honor of MJ’s death today.

Not that five white kids in wigs can do this justice (the song’s magic), but here we are, and so it goes:

Favorite song or memory?

My sister Kassandra, who was just in Miami this past week, is making some decisions soon about where she might dance next. One of her options involves a car headed North, so this is a roadtrip mix for her (and you) to crank.

If you’ve met Kass, you know her incredible energy onstage and off, and this should help her burn up the roads wherever she heads. Her college friends might not know she was briefly a storm trooper in a dance school recital opening many years ago (I was Lord Vader); cosmic tomes are ahead, my lovely sister—

 

 february roadtrip: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

(And, everyone, what you think of the podcasts? I’m fond of them as a regular kthread feature.)

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Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap

I Wanna Dance with Somebody – David Bryne

Hometown Glory (Chewy Chocolate Cookies remix) – Adele

I’m a Cuckoo (The Avalanches remix) – Belle and Sebastian

Corriander – Pomegranates

Penelope Pitstop – Breakbot

Z – Mr. Oizo

Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band – Meco

Tiny Decision – The Aluminum Group

Fresh Prince of Bel Air – Kay Pettigrew

Bluebird – Laura Barrett

Cosmic Tomes for Sleep Walking Lovers (Part 2) – Exploding Star Orchestra

Imaginary Girl – The Silver Seas

Loneliness is Having No One to Miss – Dntel

Ctrl_Alt_Dance – Max Justus

The Orchids – Califone

With Jenne, even attempts to close doors are elevated to a new level—how many doors remain open for us with creativity…