70 Candles: Blowin' in the Wind

Bob Dylan celebrates his 70th birthday this Tuesday, so singer-songwriter (and devoted Dylan fan) Nick Ciampi has organized a party.

May 24th, 5:30 PM

Ultimate Pizza

1730 Pleasant Street

Redding, CA 96001

241-8646

"Dylan is a legend and still doing it," says Nick, when asked why he's putting together this musical tribute. "I wonder how many of us would be writing songs if he didn't start that bug in so many of us so long ago?"

Nick has invited area musicians to come out and join in the celebration. It will be "a night for people to get together and play and have fun," Nick says.

I'm planning to be there - I'll sing one of my favorite Dylan tunes, One Too Many Mornings.I first heard to the song on a Bobby Sherman album back in the late 60s. Yes - EVERYONE does Dylan.

Nick promises "a lot of great songs done in a lot of different ways."

So what's Nick Ciampi's favorite Dylan tune? "So many songs to choose from," he says, "I could write a book on my favorites." But he's especially fond of "Blind Willie McTell," a ballad he calls honest and real.

Come help celebrate an American Icon on Tuesday night. You're welcome to sing, if you'd like, sing along, or just enjoy the great pizza and the camaraderie of fellow music fans.

Here's The Kingston Trio's version of One Too Many Mornings:

A Saul T. Show this Thursday

He's a mix of Jack Johnson and John Lennon with a dash of Ralph Stanley and he's coming to town on Thursday. You can catch Saul T. 's acoustic folk show at The Bohemian Art Loft - doors open at 8.

The Bohemian Art Loft

3048 Bechelli Ln, Redding

Check out his tunes here and enjoy the intimate venue Thursday night:

Saul T. on Reverbnation

Jewish Carpenter Tackles Coop

Several years ago when we had baby chicks, we cobbled together some plywood bins and called it a chicken house. Amazingly, the chickens thrived - produced many years of eggs, though their offerings were not always easy to find.

We are older and wiser, now, and one of us has obsessive-compulsive tendencies when it comes to building projects. Craig decided that this time he'd build a perfect chicken house, right of Better Coops and Gardens. He spent hours researching chicken requirements, calculating, measuring and planning. He built a Chicken Taj Majal for our girls.





Laying boxes - with a drop down door for easy access.



Roosting bars.









Now you would think these birds would be grateful - happy to nestle into their safe (expensive) plywood haven in the evening. No. Chickens don't do grateful, but they do aggravating very well. They huddle on the ground, under the ramp in the evening chill and we have to go out at dusk and gather them up one at a time and force them into their house.

Not the brightest of breeds, our Buff Orpingtons and Black Australorps will find their own way into their coop at night or they will end up a tasty, not-quite-kosher midnight snack for our neighborhood owls.

Of course, our two old, retired chickens still prefer to free-range. They spend their days messing on my patio and their nights huddled in a jasmine bush. On occasion, they enjoy making a political statement.

Here's Killer, doing her take on "A Chicken in Every Pot:"