Whacked by an owl.

Okay, it was a beautiful, warm summer evening, so, as I often do, I went walking on the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park. I’d had a very busy day and my mind was racing, as usual, so I was hoping to get into a nice, slow, nature-inspired groove. I started at the north end of the trail and walked to the first fire lane – about a mile and a half, then made a u-turn to return to my car. I’d had a few quiet moments, but my mind was still all yap-yap-yap when a gray shape buzzed over my head and perched on a branch about twenty feet away. The gray shape morphed into a beautiful owl. I thought “What a wonderful gift – this owl was sent to help me find some inner silence." I stared for a while as this bird stared right back at me and squawked a squeaky squawk. Robins, towhees, sparrows – they don’t look at you – not for more than a nanosecond, but this bird was making observations and taking notes. It looked me down and up (in that order) and did that circular head motion that they’re fond of doing. I said aloud “Hello, you are beautiful. Thank you for visiting me,” then resumed my stroll back towards my car. Ten seconds later, I felt wind rushing above me, looked up and saw this creature fly on ahead to the next convenient branch where it perched and resumed it’s reconnaissance. “Okay, cool” I thought. “I’ve been chosen for something. I wonder if I’ll ever know what it is”. Sometimes you don’t find out. So, not wanting to get too attached to any particular outcome or psyche myself up over some message that might never arrive, I walked on. I heard a light “whoosh” like air brushing against air (which it was) and felt a slight nudge on the top of my head as this determined avian whizzed gleefully towards the next tree. “Okay, this is getting weird,” said my real self to my ego, which was still preoccupied with “larger meaning”. At this point, I recalled an incident with a grouse back in 1990 in which I naively assumed that this curious bird had friendly intentions, only to narrowly avoid losing my left eye. “Owl,” I said, “I realize you are probably a mother protecting your young who are very close to us right now, so I’m just gonna walk on past you now and leave your forest never to disturb your serenity again.” Not wanting to lose sight of her, I looked back every few paces, mentally prepared to wave my arms, yell, duck, whatever it might take to protect myself from attack. As I turned my head, I once again heard air against air and before I could say “Omigosh, an owl has just whacked me in the head,” she whacked me in the head! I didn’t even see her as it happened. I looked up and there she was again on the next branch glaring at me with animal rage in her beastly eyes. “All right, that’s it,” I yelled. “Game over!” I ran past her perch and continued on about a hundred paces, stopped, caught my breath and thought, “Why do I love nature? What is this strange fascination?” Conclusions are always difficult for me to draw, but if I had to try, I’d say that a bird in your hair is worth two on a branch. I’ll say this, though: Whatever the hell that had my mind in such a stir when I set out searching for some peace and quiet was long forgotten now.

New music on MySpace

Hey, all!

I, Ole, being of sound mind (insofar as I’m always thinking about sound, making sound, enjoying sound, or avoiding sound) do hereby announce to all good people of the world: 4 new song demos plus 2 new odd little things can now be heard at www.myspace.com/olepeterson

I apologize for the hideous photos and I will try to put some better ones up there soon.

May 2008 be a spectacular year for you!

Love,
Ole

RONNIE'S MONSTER - debut public performance - UNREHEARSED ... UNKNOWN ... UNPAID

RONNIE’S MONSTER are proud to announce their debut pubic performance which might be great or it might suck – we really don’t know ‘cause we’ll be making it all up as we go. Either way, how can you resist the opportunity to either cheer ecstatically or throw rancid tomatoes? If you choose the latter, you can pay our cleaning deposit.

Oh, you want details? Here you go:

WHEN – Thursday, September 20th @ 7:30
WHERE – Lucky Labrador Pub in MULTNOMAH – 7675 SW Capitol Hwy.
Oh that's in Portland, by the way. A little town in Oregon.
$$$ - NO COVER, but if you throw tomatoes ... oh, we’ve covered that already.
If you like us, throw money.
All ages welcome, but persons under 21 must exit by 10 pm (we don’t make the rules.)
It’s NON-SMOKING!!!
They serve pizza, salads, and beer.
Food served upstairs (where we’ll be playing) has a 15% gratuity already added.

According to Jeff (who plays drums): “Ronnie’s Monster is an experimental musical smorgasbord of full-frontal melodic guitars; snarky, hypnotic bass; and sarcastic, savory percussion.”

We couldn’t agree more (how can you argue with someone who hits his instrument?)

WE HOPE YOU’LL COME HEAR US!!!

Best wishes,

Ronnie, Will, Jeff, & Ole

Monstrous Proportions

Hello everyone, and hello especially to all you Burners just home from the playa! If you're reading this, you probably received a copy of Monstrous Proportions. We hope you like it. If you do, please feel free to copy it for your friends. If you don't, please pass it along to someone who might. If you don't know anyone who might like it, please give it to some random person – it could start a revolution!

Also, if it doesn't play for any reason (like if we forgot to actually burn it) please let us know.

We hope the bag is useful and we hope the goofy glasses didn't become MOOP. They probably weren't the best idea, but we hope you had some fun with them.

Here's the trivia:

Ronnie's Monster – "MONSTROUS PROPORTIONS"

1 HYPOTENUSE REX – band (Ole – keyboard)
2 RUNNING IN CIRCLES – band
3 HORTON HIRES A HO – trio
4 MONSTER'S LUAU – trio (Ole – ukulele)
5 PINKFINGER – band
6 FLAT TIRE – band
7 I CRAPPETH NOT – duo
8 SLIPPERY THING 1 – band
9 FUNKY OLD SUN – band
10 PASSIONATE INDIFFERENCE – trio
11 BRAVELY WE COWER – band (Will – keyboard, Ole – bass)
12 RONNIE'S ROAR – band
13 SWAMP JIVE – band
14 SNEAKIN' UP ON YOU – trio
15 ...AND THING 2 – trio
16 NO GARLIC – band
17 MONSTER'S MEDITATION – duo
18 MERCEDES BENZEDRINE – band (Ronnie – sax)
19 GO YE GENTLY – trio

band = Jeff Selby – drums; Will Macia – bass; Ronnie Taylor & Ole – guitars
trio = same without Jeff on drums
duo = just Ronnie and Ole

all pieces created spontaneously by those present and involved