Been Gone A Long Time...

It has been over a year since my last post here. Hopefully I will start posting more often here --- and with my writings. I have saved up to get a typewriter or word processor. I need to have hard copies of what I write concerning my fantasy. I also got a Writers Market so will attempt to find an agent and publisher, hopefully within the next year. Hey! I am turning 70 at the end of this year. Enough of just writing writing and more writing! I need to get what I create OUT THERE for the public to buy. That is the game plan, anyway.
It is funny about my family. I have original artwork that I have created with the talent God gave me. Some of it is on my walls. And I have family fans who think I am a wonderful artist with my artist abstract doodles.  And yet the majority of my family has never read anything that I write. Over 4500 worlds and counting! At least 2 books ( need rewrite and editing but otherwise done ) of hollyWEIRD. Plans for Blanche Badger's Weird Cafe ( spoken word open mic night to introduce stories from those 4500 worlds and counting... ).
I do tell others to come here to blogger but not sure if anyone has. They often use other places ( which I don't care for as much as here even though I haven't been here in awhile ). As I mentioned, I hope to be back posting here more.

Somebody To Love sung by hippie Cyd Summers ( karoake version )

Write write WRITE

I have been scribbling up a storm for hours on end. Write write and WRITE! Fantasy, for the most part. Trying to keep myself from being frustrated. That ship of mine? Time for you to come on in! I am busy writing and writing and writing some more. And that is just the story of my life. I have been working on the fantasy worlds and have some more to finish up. But think I will soon start in and write some more as far as books are concerned. More stories more essays more poems and then editing them and putting them all together. Sigh. I need HELP in getting things polished up and ready for publication but have never had a single person step up to the plate to help me in any way. Words are nice but action is nicer. No fault to those who encourage but can't help but there are those who do neither and yet they are in a position to be able to do so. And in the mean time I do what I do: I write. And then I write some more. The creativity pours out of me. Just wish I had the financial resources to take it to the next level ( sigh ). It makes me grieve. I think part of the frustration is knowing my family does not give a damn. And so it continues. Anonymous, ignored and obscure. And I write because my genius is on fire. What else can I do? I pray ( helps me keep sane; thank You, Jesus! ) and I write. Write, write, WRITE! I write.

random rambling thoughts

It has been awhile since posts. I mainly hang out on FB, twitter and youtube. But there is a lot of potential here for writing things at blogger. I need to step up my game. Started hollyWEIRD ( some ) and thinking of putting up more of that. Then again, I thought, why not toss up descriptions of those over 3500 fantasy worlds I have been working on since 2008? No one has seen them except for yours truly. So I am debating as to whether or not to do that or not. Maybe put together some song lyrics sites like I had over at WebTV ( rest in peace and screw you Microsoft that took our good thing away grrr! ). We will see how I feel up to it.
On another matter, I have been waiting for my brother/son to help me to file my case against CBS about the hippie clip as it does not look like they will ever give me the time of day about the 2 seconds of MY FACE they have shown around the planet since 1967. I will try and call them again, possibly to the legal department and even ask them who I should contact there about this issue. My face! I should be making money from it --- and then hopefully get enough to jumpstart the stalled Maserati of a career that stands still based on my lack of finances ( editing, uploading and paying someone to do that; recording radio ready songs... etc etc etc ).
Lots of praying going on too. I have gotten closer to the Lord since I moved to the desert and while not crazy about it ( 110 degrees for months on end is not fun ), I have made my peace with it. And I have met some dear friends as well, so that is a blessing.

Score name kiddo and 48 years later..

48 years ago The Hippie Temptation aired. Now normally I would spend today bitching about this infamous event in my life. HOWEVER, today is an awesome day! My new great nephew, Jeffrey Irving Summers, was born in Cleveland to his proud parents Justin ( my nephew ) and Kelly! And this lucky boy has an amazing name! He was named for my brother in law ( and his grandfather ), Jeffrey MacKanin, and my dad ( the BEST dad ever ), Irving Summers. So, Jeffrey Irving, welcome to life and grow up to be a wonderful boy and a good man. You have two names to live up to! How can you not be a great kid with two names like that? Congrats are in order to grandparents, the great aunts and uncles, aunts and uncles and cousins! And special congrats to Jeffrey Irving for making his timely appearance much to the overwhelming joy of his parents!

NO Shades of Gray

I cringe whenever I see the media gush over a horrible movie that is about the poorly written porn ( please do NOT legitimize this trash by calling it "erotica." the degradation of women and the glorification of sexual sadists is NOT erotica. It is porn ) novels of "Fifty Shades of Grey."
Over half a life time ago I fell in love and had an affair with a rich, famous ( more so in the years after our breakup ) and drop dead gorgeous man. No, I won't go into the details but will say once I broke up with him things got really ugly. He went ballistic and stalked me for a few years. That was not pleasant.
I should have seen the red flags. He was selfish, self centered, jealous, possessive and rash. He acted more like a not very nice teenage boy rather than like a grown man. After I broke up with him ( in the early 1970s ) I lost my memory of him. When I remembered him and our relationship it was devastating. I did not know what to call it then but now know it was/is PTSD. It has been a hard time for me in recent days because of reliving the old memories, the old hurts.
 I HATE this movie and I hate the media's handling of it. I don't give a crap how many millions of copies of the books have been sold. I don't care how many people go and see the trashy movie that will opening on ( this is such an insult ) on Valentine's Day. Men abuse women and these books and this movie glorifies men who do that.
In the 1970s there were historical romance "bodice rippers" where the feisty young heroine is raped by the hero, the "rape fantasy." How many rape victims would see their rapist go free ( often to rape again ) because women on the jury had been reading "romances" where the hero ( handsome, rich, often titled ) would rape them and then at the end of the book they are married and live happily ever after?
These books, the media gushing over it as if it is so romantic and so sexy... it is dangerous. There will be naive women who will end up in hospitals, who will end up in the morgue because of this movie, because of these books. Beating, raping, violating women, tying them up and whipping them, chaining them as if they were a slave, what the hell is wrong with women who seem to think that because a book is a best seller and the media acts as if this behavior is ok, that it is somehow normal?
Men who abuse women sexually are sexual sadists and many are narcissist psychopaths. Shame on every woman who has read this trash and somehow thinks it is "romantic." There is nothing romantic of being the victim of abuse. There is nothing romantic about being stalked. And shame on you if you legitimize this trash by going to see the movie.
Whips and chains? Sorry. There are no shades of gray in me. There never has been and there never will be. I am a good woman. I am a loving and I hope, a kind woman. I am also no one's pushover. I am lucky because I grew up in a house where my parents loved, honored, cherished and respected each other. I know I have worth as a woman, as a human being.
50 Shades of Grey devalues women and promotes violence against us. Men like the one in this book ( and the man whom I had formerly been involved with over forty years ago ) do not have romantic conquests. They have victims.

THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE GUN

RIP to the slaughtered satirists and the others who were also killed by Muslim extremists in Paris less than a day ago. It is heartwarming to see how Paris and all of France ( and yes, the outpouring of solidarity, the outrage over this act of evil, from around the world ) has stood defiantly and unafraid in the face of terrorists who worship nothing but the nightmare hag known as death ( it matters not what they call their "god" --- what they worship is death and carnage ).
Yes, I am a writer of fantasy. But I have written sarcastic and satirical things in my day and my night. I hope to continue to do so.  Everyone who knows me knows that I am and have always been and always will be rabid when it comes to the First Amendment of the Constitution. Free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion; this is what is important to me as a writer and as an artistic person. The PEN is mightier than the gun.  The pen shouts the message of freedom that will not be silenced by the pathetic roar of a gun or by the slashing sweep of a sword.
The pen will not be silenced. The pen will not go quietly into the long, cold dark night. Rather, the pen will paint and write and sing a brilliant hue. There will be shades and graffitis of the pen to make a fireworks display of expression from humanity. We will band together with our creative spirits and never be cowered by evil and those who live their lives to destroy rather than create.
CH Summers

Hippie clip collages and stuff...

I am thinking of making some more ( I made two in the past ) collages using the hippie clip and also some pics of myself from way back when. I also am thinking of seeing about making statement shirts that tell the story of that clip and of Steve Job's right brain ( the urban legend ). And then maybe take a trip to San Francisco. I can not believe I have not been to SF since 1979!!!!! And I haven't been to Seattle since 1984 or to Hollywood since 2007. It wasn't part of my New Years' resolution but seriously wondering if I should park the cat with Julian ( Bobby and Julian seemed to hit it, maybe because Julian has cats ) and take a visit to these places. Hammy... need to see about doing a Kickstarter campaign to fund a documentary of some of my wild past to these places... no resolutions but definitely ambitions...

Happy 2015! I just started putting up some of my writings for hollyWEIRD ( my other blog ). I hope to post more there and also more here.
On one note, I have been trying to contact CBS since August and they have not responded except for a little nibble from the local station and then no more response ( since October ). I will try and continue with this but I am losing patience and if they do not respond soon I will sue them. MY face@ NO permission EVER! But there could be if they would just make nice ( sigh ).

Jim Morrison and the 27 Club

So I finally found the interview that had bits of me talking about Jim Morrison.  It is up on youtube and I finally got to see it!  I had been interviewed by a film crew about Altamont ( that was never aired ).  Once they found out I had known Jim Morrison they filmed me about him. It was aired on VH1 and was part of a series called Rock and Roll Confidential. The episode which included yours truly had been aired about the conspiracy theory that Jim Morrison had possibly faked his death and was still alive.
In the interview I mentioned that Jim had not liked being a rock star. I mentioned ( though they edited this out ) that he had commented to me that he had felt like a "whore" because he was working as a rock star rather than as a poet. I was a struggling poet at the time so I guess that made me tres cool in his normally jaded eyes. Ironically, I prefer Jim's lyrics to his poetry. And I don't consider myself to be a poet as much nowadays as I consider myself to be a songwriter ( though, to be honest, I mainly consider myself to be a writer of fantasy ).
In the interview I also mention that I don't believe Jim would have faked his death unless Pamela Courson, the love of his life, had faked her death also. I only met her once. She was stunningly beautiful in a haunting pre-Raphael painting sort of way. She suffered from clinical depression as a unipolar. Jim was cocky, arrogant, intelligent and cynical. Except, that is, for that one time when he introduced me to Pamela. He was humble. He was like a little boy. He was head over heels in love with her and couldn't believe that she was with him. It was the last time I saw him. I don't know how long it was until he moved to Paris. Regardless of how he died I always felt good about his decision to quit his rock and roll "job" and become the poet he always knew he was.
Jim died at 27. It is a strange age for a number of rock musicians/singers who have died at that oh so young age. Besides Jim Morrison I had the privilege of having known two others who were members of that sinister 27 club: Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. I met all three of these people in Haight Ashbury in the late 60s. I then saw Jim in L.A. and Jimi in Seattle. Except for once ( the last time I saw her, in Laguna Beach ) I saw Janis in San Francisco.
Jim introduced me to a friend as one of his best friends ( I had always felt Jim had been more of a casual friend but I reckon being a starving poet got me props ). Janis was an acquaintance who was almost a friend ( she said she would look me up in Hollywood when she got back from Port Arthur and we would then become friends. I heard, after she passed, that she had asked about me prior to her death but I did not see her again after Laguna and before Port Arthur ). Jimi was a best friend, he was my soul brother, the big brother I never had. I will write more about them at a later date. They all died at the age of 27 and that was just too damn young to lose them. The public lost icons and legends. I lost 3 peers, a close friend, a casual friend and an almost friend-acquaintance. I will always miss them. I will treasure the memories of our conversations.

I Hate Speculators

Before the great real estate meltdown of 2008 there was the great real estate bubble. The bubble burst because of the greed of a few and it totally screwed over the need of many. The greed of a few inflated properties. Housing prices soared and went through the roof. And then the bubble burst. The carnage of the American homeowner was not a pretty sight to behold. It was a heartbreaking sight. People lost their homes and the landscape of empty foreclosed on suburbs stretched from shore to shore. Housing prices plummeted and many families ended up in apartments ( which now saw their rents double and triple because of supply and demand ), with relatives or homeless.
And now the damned speculators are back. I HATE them. I should not wish them in hell and yet they have created hell for the America dream. Their greed is making it so the average middle class family can not afford to buy a home. Here is how it works. A speculator buys a house. Sometimes they put in a few bells and whistles, a few cosmetic repairs. But they aren't interested in fixing any foundation issues, any plumbing or wiring. Naw… they want to make a quick buck. So they "flip" the house. You can spot them on Zillow. Look for last sold. Ok, so maybe it was sold last 20 years ago. That is not a speculator. But the ones sold 2 months ago sure as heck are. They jack up the price and then sit like a fat little toad to see if they can grab a sucker to help fund their greed.
Speculators who ruined our economy? They're back… Damn, I HATE speculators.

The Hippie Temptation and me

I have not posted here in FOREVER! But here goes. I hope to start posting a few more comments about a lot of things that have been going on in my life which has been turned upside down in a lot of ways. Ok, about today. It was 47 years ago today that "The Hippie Temptation" aired on CBS. It was narrated by Harry Reasoner. It was allegedly about hippies but it was a very biased one sided point of view ( a pointed head point of view if one must know, a pointed square head at that ). I, being a hippie, did not want to have anything to do with it. And oh yes I was asked and I said NO when the CBS film crew approached me and wanted to film me. When I said no the camera man who had asked me got snotty and said in a snide voice "Why not?" Well I told him why not! The Diggers ( a service organization in the Haight ) had gone around to the communes in the Haight the day before and had told everyone not to cooperate with CBS because the piece on hippies was going to be a one sided smear job. And time proved that right. I think I also might have mentioned the term "yellow journalism" in my little speech to the camera man. Ok, ok. I DID mention that term and his face contorted with hateful rage. I guess he must have decided he had to film the smart aleck little hippie girl who had the nerve to say the piece of yellow journalism he was part of was yellow journalism. Imagine that! So yes I was filmed though certainly without my permission and without any cooperation on my part. I kept putting my hands up in front of my face so I wouldn't be filmed. In spite of that CBS managed to get 2 seconds of footage though if one views it they can see my hands coming up to block my face! Soooo on August 22, 1967 "The Hippie Temptation" airs on CBS. And there I am, live and in color, during a segment on the Grateful Dead. They spliced that footage in because I had not been filmed at a Grateful Dead concert ( this is not to say I didn't go to Grateful Dead concerts, I went to lots of them after this incident ). I had been filmed at a Country Joe and the Fish concert. So there I was with my blonde 18 year old hippie face with flowers painted on my face, black eyeliner sketching the roses and inside of them was filled in with red lipstick; Maybelline and Revlon if you are that curious. And the footage has been shown a gazillion times world wide since then! Not just in the infamous piece of disinformation and propaganda known as "The Hippie Temptation" but in lots of other places as well. World wide. CBS has made a bucket load of money and it is on my bucket list for CBS and I to come to a settlement where I can have a bucket load of money from them now and in the future for past and any future usage. So I went over to twitter and in honor of it being 47 years ago today I posted 47 beautiful or gnarly or whatever tweets to CBS.
I hope they are reading those tweets and get in touch with me. It is MY face. I think I should have the right to say where it is shown ( it was shown on America's Most Wanted and I was NOT amused ) and be paid for it as well. That would be only fair and just. Not that life is necessarily fair but one can always hope and dream and pray.

I have not posted here in over a year. I hadn't figured HOW to get back in. So here I am.  I am now up on youtube and have 82 videos! Yippie! While nothing has gone "viral" one of them was posted on nme, a British music magazine and has over 3000 views. Which is nice. To find me on youtube all one need do is type in Cyd Summers and my songs will come up ( and a few rants ).

long time since here

I am thinking of possibly making a new blog that can end up as a book. But I should probably actually post here once in a blue moon. I hadn't been to twitter since May and it has been long here, not since March!'

BIG NO To X Factor

Well, Libby and I did NOT try out for X Factor though we DID read their release form that basically would have made us their unpaid slave labor if we had been stupid enough to sign it. It also would have made them the owner of any original songs one were to preform on the show --- without any money. Talk about corporate greed! But then why is this no surprise for a show on Fox? A show owned by Brits on tv station owned by an Aussie to screw over American artistic talent?

It never fail to amaze me ( though why should it because we are talking about corporations who are EVIL as satanically evil ) the outrageous GALL and GREED of these large corporations. It is not enough that these multi-millionaires and billionaires are not satisfied with the millions they rake in from advertising on any given night. They also have to stiff the artistic talent that they are supposedly going to "help" become discovered.

Ok, so I AM the great unknown super star with her 10,000 plus songs ( not to mention my other writings, fashion designs etc ) that no one knows about. But no one will know me as a putout ( and plenty have gone the way of the casting couch ) or the sellout when it comes to what I create or getting my foot in the door that has never been opened for me, not in over 25 years.

Maybe I don't have fortune and fame but I DO HAVE self-respect and integrity . And somehow I don't think that I have ended up with the short end of the stick. But I don't know if I would say that about the poor schmucks who waited in line for hours in the rain to end up paying for wayyyyy over priced food and drink, end up being treated lower than chihuahua crap and then see great singers passed over while crummy delusionals were passed through to make for so-called "good" television.

I Got You, Dawg

I GOT A DAWG!!!! I cannot believe that I have bought myself a little chihuahua. His name is Sontheimer Angel Rattino, known as Sonny. He is soooooo cute ( gush gush ). He turns 3 months old on March 22. It has been over 50 years since I had a dog. It is so strange to hold a furry creature and not have him PURR. He has golden tan fur and little white angel like "wings" below his shoulder blades. And he is a love. :-)

Senior Bullies

A friend of mine moved out today. She had been evicted. While it is true that she could be abrasive she had a good heart. She was also disabled, about a year younger than me. I now have a little garden thanks to her help and encouragement. It seems that other people have been helped by her also. She did laundry for one person, helped others with their gardens ( as well as me ). If I had a surplus of something I could give it to her and know that others would receive it. So this morning she hoped on a bus, left most of her possessions behind, and took off for the great unknown. She has my address and phone number and a self stamped envelope to let me know how she is doing when she gets to where she is going. And why did she get evicted? Because of a nasty neighbor. I only heard this neighbor once banging on my friend's wall in the middle of the day. My friend looked as if she was going to jump out of her skin and said that this person did this to her all of the time.

The person in question was a little old lady in her 80s. Now there seems to be a belief that if you are "old" ( 80s and beyond ) that you can not be a nasty person. When did someone who has been and done evil all of their life suddenly turned into a nice person? In my case I was hit by a car at the age of 36 by a woman in her 80s. The accident had been preventable. I am now 62 and the injuries I got from that accident never went away. The woman would have been a hit and run except other people in cars flagged her down. As it was, she lied about me in a deposition. People do not want to believe that someone who has lived so long can be evil or mean.

Today, after my friend had moved out, I met the nasty woman who had hounded her, a senior bully. I went to collect my mail and a person matching her description was there. As I went to walk away she blocked my way so that I brushed against her ( and not on purpose for my part ). She muted something and gave me a nasty look and I said "I'm sorry" and walked past. But I could see the meanness in her. And now I know who she is. She was talking to someone else at the mailbox. I do not know this person. Maybe she knows I am the person who helped her next door neighbor. I will ignore her and she will probably ignore me ( I assume ). But if she decides to say anything about me to anyone that is a lie then she had better watch her step. I no longer suffer fools gladly and that does not matter how old they are.

Ponderosa Lemonade and Scheherazade

A few days ago I went to the Indio Date Festival to watch ostriches race ( an ostrich chariot race is very, very funny ). I wore a tshirt I have made called "Scheherazade of Song" and 10,001 songs and counting. It mentioned on the tshirt that I had used songwriting to help me when I have a problem with clinical depression. Of course it is shameless self-promotion but that is ok. It also is something that I hope can help someone if they have depression and maybe finding what gives them joy will help them through it. I need to give it a quick wash and then maybe wear it out when I go shopping.

I was talking with my girlfriend Bridge and mentioned if I were to write my autobiography that I would call it "Ponderosa Lemonade." One of my favorite phrases is the Pollyanna one of "When life hands you a lemon make lemonade."I explained to Bridge that Ponderosa lemons were the size of a big grapefruit. My mom has a Ponderosa lemon tree in her backyard. And the lemons life has given me have certainly been Ponderosa ones! I mentioned how the accident in 85 thant injured me had been a big lemon but that the lemonade made from it had been the 10,000 some odds songs that were written and my move to Hollywood. A lemon there was living there for almost 18 years and not becoming rich and famous and remaining poor and obscure. BUT the lemonade was that I was/am so blessed with having met my dear friends Betty Hier ( RIP ), my wonderful friends Bridge and so many others as well. So things happen for reasons.

crabby day

I woke up with itises and spasms making me crabby and depressed. March will be a month of change for my friend Susan and my friend Angie. Susan is moving because of a nasty neighbor. do not let someone tell you that because a person is old that they are suddenly a "good" person. Not true! All children are angels, are teens are brats and little devils and all seniors are good. NOPE! I can remember from my own childhood when there was some kid who would make your skin crawl, the kind who would torture animals and the like. You could feel the evil. and I was injured by a woman in her 80s who would have been a hit and run if other cars had not flagged her down and told her she had injured a woman ( then 36 ) on a bicycle. She then proceeded to lie in her deposition about me. The woman harassing Susan is in her 80s and as nasty as can be.

So here I was today in a crabby mood and had to try and explain to my neighbor that I am just crabby today. I am trying to help her with her move and I know it is hard on her. She is about a year younger than me, maybe less. and she has ms and cancer and is a cancer survivor ( had two breasts removed ) as well. So how do you console someone who is going through stress when you are feeling crabby? Well, Lord, I TRY.

Also, called one of my favorite buds, my dear dear friend, Bridge and if I get lucky she might be coming to see me this weekend with another dear friend, Jeff. So crabby but feeling good as well.

Skillet - Monster (Video)