Rice, Bus, Private Novak, and Beatles Reunion

I'm at a crowded cafeteria/restaurant/party. Everyone is getting on various buffet lines. There's someone here I recognize (not in real life), he's a musician I apparently played bass for years ago. He thinks I won't remember who he is, like I've gone on to other things and he hasn't. Another sycophantic bandmate of his is there and graciously gives me a small bowl of rice. They seem proud to be around me; we joke around a bit. I look for a seat at a long table and find a spot near a window. Very crowded table, mostly women, but commentator Robert Novak is also seated next to me. There's a window within a window that is open right here, and as a result the place is swarming with birds. We need to close it...I make some humorous remark to Novak about his little secret spot here, calling it "Private Novak." Eventually most of the people and the table itself are gone, and I'm sitting with some women. There's an awkward silence which I break with a humorless "So..."

There's another sequence on a touring bus with friends including Karl. I'm moving about, being mischievous. There's some type of computer in one seat that controls an LED text display on the side of the bus. I try to come up with something silly to have on the side of the bus, and decide on the intentionally grammar-challenged "We Am The Bus."

Later, I'm trying to remember the elements of this dream so I can blog it. I come up with three elements: "Rice, Bus, Private Novak" to hopefully stay and jar my memory later. But at some point I do dream that I start to blog this, but I only remember Rice, Bus, and someone else.

I'm at the Grove or Farmer's Market where, surprisingly, there's a Beatles reunion concert happening outside. As I approach the area, I remember there's only McCartney and Starr still living, so it will probably be more of a McCartney show. Paul is playing bass (possibly Rickenbacker) and joking about, miming to a record badly or something. Ringo is not seen but is presumably on drums. I find an area to sit not far from the stage, it's crowded but not what you would think considering. I don't recognize the song. Later in an alcove, there's a small boy of unknown ethnicity who is sort of hanging around me - he wants to grow up to be tall. I tell him he has to drink a lot of milk, even though he is of an age at which it may already be too late. There's another fragment later, something about a prank call that ends with "the world of..." and then a hang up without concluding the sentence.

The Healing Festival

I'm outside in some alley behind a row of small apartments, nighttime. Some friends are inside at a party. There's a sort of slight maze getting out of this alley...I overhear a guy on the street nearby, homeless possibly, asking people for band aids or something similar. I remember I have some in my gig bag, so I put some in my pocket in case they're needed. NM is leaving out of the back door of the apartment party, going home. I'm concerned she'll be accosted by the strange man. He is strange, indeed...when I get over to the street, some other people have gathered around him, but at a cautious distance. He's somewhat insane, arms flailing and acting as a menace. Regrettably, he singles me out and grabs me and we struggle a bit. I pull out the band aid from my pocket and offer it as an attempt to ameliorate this situation. He accepts it, examines it, it's not quite what he wanted but will do, says he can "cut it in two" or something similar.

Two Kings

I'm playing some type of video game based on the film King Kong. (In reality I've never played any such game.) The game has complex controls involving both the mouse and the keyboard. While playing, I'm simultaneously reading game instructions, which at one point suggest hitting one or two certain keys to access the "chops" cam. I have no idea what this will be, until I'm able to hit those keys during gameplay, while playing as King Kong. "Chops" mode turns out to be a gameplay camera angle from inside Kong's mouth, which is recognized by an inside view of the ape's fangs and beyond, a view of what is directly in front of his face. The view is rather obsructed between the gnashing teeth and the limited view out of the mouth; mostly, some extreme closeups of an enemy dinosaur are seen, mid-battle. Some other keyboard commands cycle the view to different depths from inside Kong, with strange colored membrane/skins resulting.

Another sequence, some sort of nighttime field trip with many schoolmates and/or current colleagues. The area resembles the shopping mall near Hollywood and Highland. There's a crowded toy store overstocked with a variety of toys, lots of bizarre Star Wars figures of dream origin; aliens, stormtroopers, packs of 6 R2-D2s for some type of target game. Leaving the area, I'm able to coast or slide down a lengthy set of long wide steps instead of walking.

Arriving at a King's X concert with MI. Crowds filing into auditorium, we spot an empty row, only to find it's been reserved. These reservations appear in the form of quarters variously placed along a thin metal bar connecting all the chairs in the row. Exiting the row, I'm holding the bar up or down waiting for someone else to take it from me so I can keep moving (like holding an open door.) We circle around and then back down to find some seats in the front row stage left - MI is smiling, excited by her find. But it appears that those sitting in the front might be hit by water or other projectiles from the stage - someone nearby has a lead apron (dentist's chair style.) We don't seem to have been given anything like that though. The show begins; I'm hoping MI will enjoy the more soulful aspects of the band. There is a strange unknown person playing bass in the band who seems unstable. It's a rather bizarre show, high on operatic style staging and drama. Indeed at one point the front row is doused with water, first from a single glass, then a repeated stream. I'm able to deflect the stream with two cupped hands remarkably well, and Iprotect myself and those seated nearby. MI is on my left and there is an unknown older woman to my right who is...overly friendly.

In another short sequence, I'm viewing a wishlist of MV's on Sweetwater.com. It appears he wants a 5 string Fender sunburst bass: roughly $850. Closer examination reveals the composite picture is misleading; a Fender amp is actually desired.

Find the Chimes

Reading a post from my cousin Tom on the internet. It's a promo for the next show he's putting on at Pisces Cafe. It's a wintertime holiday show and in addition to music there will be a "Find the Chimes" part of the show, where apparently Tom will have hidden some chimes around Babylon and participants will have to find them, to win a prize perhaps. Tom also announces he's changing the name of his performing entity to something very long conglomerated name which includes "the Mothers of Westbury", a play on Zappa's Mothers of Invention band.

Another dream in which I'm in a theatre watching a film with my parents and sister. Some people are talking loudly and it's bothersome. Eventually the offending row moves further ahead somehow, but now my sister is talking out loud in a normal speaking volume. I gently try to correct her, and I vocally demonstrate the difference between quiet whispering and regular speech. She gets upset, but seems remorseful later when she passes me in a lobby area, running out lamenting that she's "a dense girl."