Close to three years ago I was asked to house-sit for a friend of mine here in Malibu, Point Dume to be exact. Having spent a good portion of my childhood in Montecito, I cannot explain how happy I was to see that so close to Los Angeles a little paradise remained. There were actual ranch houses, horses, no sidewalks and lots of trees. The rustic looks I had grown up with, were available here, in Point Dume. I was so impressed that it actually became a dream for me to own a home here in Point Dume. I thought of planting some fruit trees, having a garden, acquiring some horses, chickens and, well, lot of animals. I figured I could have all this and still be so close to the city where I work. That was my dream.

It is now three years later and I am house sitting for my friend again, only this time I noticed some significant changes. Where there were trees, now there are none. There are bright security lights in the evenings that invade privacy even inside your home. I imagine the lights are to scare off intruders. But who are the intruders? I have also heard complaints about the horses and livestock. “They’re noisy, smelly and fly infested.”

It is this writer’s opinion that when Point Dume is visited, it brings a longing in one’s heart to get back to the simpler things in life. Things like picking fruit off your tree, riding your horse down to the beach with your dog following you, or just sitting outside enjoying the ocean view with the trees creating a canopy for privacy.

Why I ask, are the very things that are inviting, the very things that are diminishing? It is quite clear that not everybody likes the things I have praised so highly, but then why would they move here? Why does one move to an area where there are trees, animals and peace then create havoc by cutting down the trees, putting up security lighting and complain about the animals? It does not make sense. If someone could explain this to me, I would love to hear!

LAM

A magazine article caught my eye

I could tone up my body in bed while I lie

This proposal seemed very attractive

To one like me who’s just moderately active

Building my body would build up my mind

I could make these improvements In a state of recline!

I did the leg scissors to make the thighs slimmer

Then raised my knees slowly for a tummy much trimmer

I repeated ten times, I was getting in gear

I contracted my buttocks to tighten my rear

It is said for some gain, you somehow must pay

I stayed in bed for the rest of the day!

Geraldine Forer Spagnoli

Jazz history is in the remaking. Singers and lyricists Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross have reunited after 36 years apart and are appearing through Saturday at The Jazz Bakery.

Dave Lambert, a pioneering scat singer, was the third member of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. From 1957 to 1964, the trio was revolutionizing jazz group singing with their “Vocalese,” the term coined by Leonard Feather, the late jazz critic, to describe LHR’s work. “It was the first time anyone had lyricised a full orchestral arrangement,” Hendricks explains.

Hendricks sang saxophone passages, Ross sang trumpet and piano parts and Lambert sang trombone and middle-tone sections, vocalizing Big Band and combo music.

They performed in New York, at Birdland downtown and the Apollo uptown, singing the music of, among others, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman and Charlie Parker.

The three met up in the mid-1950s, when Hendricks and Lambert were divorced men living together and working on a recording. They had lyricised saxophone solos by Stan Getz and Zoot Sims. “We needed something for speed,” Hendricks recalls. Lambert suggested lyricising Basie. “We needed another hip voice,” says Hendricks. They hired 16 “highly trained” singers, but none of them understood swing and something was lacking in the sound.

Hendricks and Lambert knew Ross by reputation and invited her to coach the singers to get a Basie feel. “It didn’t work,” she says. So they hired her to sing.

Chatting at Duke’s Malibu on Monday, Ross recalls, “Dave said, ‘Let’s multitrack. I didn’t know what he meant.” Hendricks jokes, “And you weren’t the only one.” Ross continues, “We heard it and we knew that was the way to go.” Their resulting album, “Sing a Song of Basie,” was one of the earliest examples of overdubbing.

They do not remember much overt racism directed at their bi-racial troupe. She recalls a few incidents, but he says, “It didn’t stop us.” She recalls being in a huge, empty restaurant in Las Vegas with three black members of the band and being told the restaurant was booked. “We just sat,” she says, “and finally they served us.” At the time, blacks were not allowed to stay in the hotels, so Ross stayed in a motel with her troupe. They played the nation and the world.

Dave Lambert died in an automobile accident in 1966, and Hendricks and Ross parted for separate concert and recording careers.

But in 1998, Hendricks’ manager had plans. “He was very strong on the idea that we should get back together,” Hendricks says. “He was Messianic. It was a crusade.” Soon Hendricks was in the audience at Birdland, watching Ross perform. He joined her on stage for “Jumpin’ at the Woodside.” Says Hendricks, “The reaction from the audience was so startling, I was thunderstruck.” She recalls, “They were running out in the streets trying to buy those instant cameras. It was jazz history.”

Soon after, Hendricks was appearing at The Blue Note, and Ross was in the audience. She joined him for “Little Pony,” again to an overwhelming reception.

They decided to rejoin talents, and, believing no one could replace Lambert, will be appearing as a duo, with musicians Peter Mihelich on piano, Paul Gill on bass, Walter Bolden on drums and Paul Meyers on guitar (filling in Lambert’s lines). They began their tour at The Blue Note and are scheduled to appear at the Kennedy Center in January 2000.

The duo recently performed at Chicago’s Symphony Hall. “When we walked on, the whole audience stood up,” Ross reports. He adds, “That was amazing. It scared me.” “It didn’t scare me,” she says. It was a ‘welcome home.'” He says, “Like any other artist, I’m used to working for a standing ovation.”

He will acknowledge that the nightly ovations validate their history. But he adds, “When you’re one of the participants, you don’t think you’re doing something world shaking. You’re always wondering if you did well.” He believes their solo careers for the past 36 years have made them stronger performers.

Ross was born in London to vaudevillians, but she proudly maintains that she is Scottish. She was carried on stage before she could walk and introduced to the audience. Not all was high theater, however. Her parents played bandstands in parks, and her father would pass the hat.

She came to America by steerage at age 4, passing through Ellis Island. She attended Hawthorne Grammar School in Beverly Hills and University High School in West Los Angeles.

She says, “Singing as a kid was a way to get affection — hugs and pats on the head.” She learned rhythm from her father, who taught her to tap dance by giving her rhythms to tap out.

Her first memory of a recording is Ella Fitzgerald’s “A Tisket, A Tasket.” “That was how I wanted to sing,” she says.

She wrote the lyrics to “Let’s Fly” (at age 14), “Twisted” (recorded by Bette Midler and Joni Mitchell; Woody Allen used Ross’ recording in “Deconstructing Harry”) and Art Farmer’s “Farmer’s Market.”

She had a son with drummer Kenny Clarke (Charlie Parker became Kenny Jr.’s godfather) and at age 20, after traveling, returned to the United States, sponsored for immigration by Dizzy Gillespie and David Usher so she could record for their DG records. “Bird came by and took me in this big old car and showed me New York, which of course I had seen but not through his eyes,” she recalls.

She spent some time waitressing in New York, at Starks. “They put me on the till and I couldn’t add or subtract,” she says. “I would invite my musician friends. They would give me one dollar, and I would give them five dollars in change.”

After the LHR years, she starred in theater (“Three Penny Opera,” “The Pirates of Penzance”) and films (“Short Cuts,” “Throw Mama from the Train”). She currently lives in New York. She has published a cookbook, likes to fish in Scotland and most enjoys chatting with young children.

Hendricks was born in Ohio to a family of 17 children. His father was an African-Methodist-Episcopal minister, and he sang with the church choir from age 4. At age 14, he was singing at a club where pianist Art Tatum was appearing, and soon they were performing together.

After army service during World War II, he studied literature and law at the University of Toledo but sang clubs at night. “I like the law still. I don’t like what’s done with it,” he says. “I was going to devote my services to the NAACP, but my GI Bill ran out.”

Before the war, he had met Charlie Parker in Ohio, when he sat in on “The Song is You.” Parker immediately invited Hendricks to New York. “I remember Bird telling me to look him up,” says Hendricks. So more than two years later, when Hendricks arrived at the bus station in New York, he tried finding Parker. One telephone call informed him that Parker was at the Apollo Bar. At the bar, Parker spotted him and promptly called him by name. Hendricks credits Parker for introducing him to the jazz world.

He lives in Battery Park City in New York with his wife Judith, who accompanies him on tours. The two have recorded with their daughter, Michelle, and son, Eric. He is writing his autobiography. To date, he has also written or lyricized some 400 songs.

In September 1996, he celebrated his 75th birthday with a tribute to him at New York’s Lincoln Center. Those paying tribute included Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Tony Bennett, Dave Brubeck, Al Jarreau and members of Manhattan Transfer.

In May 1997, he was invited to perform at The Hague, in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Marshall Plan. He was also asked to write a short poem about the occasion. He had no idea of the scope of the performance, later learning that as the only American on the program, he would be headlining the evening to an audience including President and Mrs. Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Queen Beatrix of Holland and 53 other European heads of state. Hendricks performed Miles Davis’ “Four,” for which Hendricks had written lyrics (he could hear the president whisper to the first lady that “Four” is his favorite Davis song), and read his poem, “Let George Do It,” commemorating George C. Marshall.

Hendricks admires the president’s musicianship. “He does very well for a working president,” he says. “He’s a very hip cat.”

It was always voice for Ross and Hendricks. He says, “I think man is a musical instrument. His voice is able to move mountains if rightly applied. Man sings and touches people’s hearts. The voice is the most direct means of communication, lyrically or vocally. If you have a great lyric or a great melody, as Sibelius said, ‘It’s a heavenly thing.'”

She adds, “A great vocalist to me should be able to make you laugh and make you cry. I’ve heard a lot of singers who are not considered jazz singers, but they could move me.” She lists opera singers Joan Sutherland and Renata Tobaldi, as well as Judy Garland. “The main thing is to find your own voice, as in writing.”

She adds, “There’s a certain amount of acting that goes into the presentation — first of all, knowing the words and what they mean. Really good musicians know the words to the songs.”

Before walking on stage, he chats with everyone backstage, then says a prayer. She has a one-word routine — “Breathe.”

Hendricks and Ross appear through Saturday night, 8 and 9:30 p.m., at The Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. Tel. 310.271-9039.

Thank you, Travis, for your article. The sky and stars are a beautiful sight to behold.

If some of the people moving here were doing so because of what Malibu has to offer instead of what changes they can make to remind them of where they used to live, we would have a more peaceful and progressive community.

The use of lights is getting out of hand. When new homes are approved to be built they should have to submit a lighting plan as well; and it should be limited.

Because of the Jehovah’s Witness Church in West Malibu with their street light and parking lot lights, we have to keep our curtains closed to sleep at night.

There are a lot of important issues at stake in Malibu today.

I see bans and limitations being set but not being followed. Leaf blowers (gasoline) have been banned for at least six years but gardeners and their bosses continue to use them. I’ve seen them up at “Serra Retreat,” Malibu West tract homes, on PCH and on Point Dume.

This lighting issue is an important one.

The lights blasting onshore from fishing boats at Point Dume is probably contributing to the seals’ decline at Big Dume. The boasts fish all night, and the lights blare all night and the motors rev all night.

Lee Ellis

Something is happening in this town that is straight out of Washington, D.C., politics.

As I write this column Tuesday afternoon, our city attorney, Christi Hogin, is undergoing a performance evaluation by the Malibu City Council. In itself, there’s nothing unusual about a performance evaluation of a city employee. All cities do it. It’s done in executive session to protect the employee’s right of privacy, unless a formal accusation is made and the employee demands an open public hearing, which he or she has a right to do.

What makes this evaluation different is that recently she’s been evaluated five times. Today’s evaluation is the fourth time in the last three weeks, and no one knows if this is the last. Initially, she was evaluated in November 1998 at her regular evaluation. Then, in January, at least three members of the council agreed to do a special evaluation of Hogin. We know it was at least three because it takes three votes to put it on the agenda. The Brown Act also requires that there be public notice of the meeting, even though the meeting is closed, and for the last few weeks I’ve been getting faxed notices of each one of these evaluation meetings.

On Jan. 27, with Hogin present, they met and talked. There was another evaluation Feb. 8, when they met without Hogin present. They met again on Feb. 12 without Hogin present. Now, they’re meeting again, this time with Hogin present.

No reportable actions were taken, no charges officially proffered that I’m aware of, nothing in writing, no public statements, just a continuing investigation.

In my view, this is no longer an evaluation. It’#s crossed the line. It’s a campaign by Tom Hasse, Carolyn Van Horn and Walt Keller to attempt to intimidate and harass Christi Hogin until she finally gets disgusted enough to resign. I called Keller this week to ask him what was going on. He wouldn’t talk about what was said in the closed session, as is proper; however, he said, “It’s not a plot,” and “It’s healthy,” and when I asked specifically about the investigations, he said, “It’s unrelated to any investigations.”

There are currently two ongoing campaign violations investigations, one by Hogin and the other by the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Both relate to alleged campaign violations in the last City Council election.

Rumor is that both of those investigations are coming to a conclusion, and that means that Hogin has to make a decision about whether or not to file criminal charges against certain people. It’s no secret that the people under investigation are friends and allies of Hasse, Van Horn and Keller.

Some time back, at a council meeting, Hogin asked to bring in an independent counsel to do the investigation, but she was blocked from doing so by Keller and Van Horn, who voted against it. Hasse recused himself because this related to people involved in his campaign, which left the council split and tied 2 to 2 and denied Hogin the approval. She has carried on with the investigation as they mandated.

Hogin, the FPPC and the council have refused to talk about the investigations; however, rumors leak out. We do know that the state’s investigators have been in town and taking statements under oath from many of the principals involved. I suspect that all have been telling the truth. I’m sure no one wants to take a campaign violation, which usually means a fine, and turn it into a felony perjury, which as we’ve all learned lately can get very serious.

To my mind, the timing of this assault on Hogin is too coincidental to be coincidental. I watched months ago when a parade of loyalists from the Hasse/Van Horn/Keller team came to the City Council and berated Hogin for even conducting the investigation. Then, several on the council wanted her to give them and the lawyers for those being investigated an update on the course of the investigation. She, of course, refused to do this and took a public clubbing from them without a word of defense or protection from Hasse, Van Horn or Keller. One couldn’t help but feel the entire process had been orchestrated.

However, they were picking on the wrong person. Hogin is tough and not easily pushed around. What’s going on is unconscionable.

Christi Hogin is an honorable, hard-working and fair public servant. She doesn’t deserve this kind of bullying, nor should she tolerate it, nor should the citizen’s of Malibu tolerate it.

With all the complaints and dissatisfaction about living in Malibu, I wonder why these people still live here? Did they not know what to expect beforehand? Did they think they could easily change what they didn’t like? Or did they outgrow Malibu? Maybe, we should have information for those considering living in this community.

Those of us who live in Malibu for all its rural natural beauty and would love Malibu to stay that way here are some guidelines for newcomers. For those of you who want convenience and more citified beach community you should move to the many shoreline towns that already exist. The following is the lay of the land that you should be aware of before committing to living here in Malibu.

You are moving into a natural and wild area. We are the guests here. Expect to see and hear coyotes on a regular basis (yes, even the beach side of PCH is not exempt), bobcat, deer, lots and lots of rabbits (to eat your lawn and flowers) and plenty of various rodents. If you are lucky you may get a glimpse of a mountain lion. Rattlesnakes are plentiful at certain times of the year. Many other snakes abound but we need them for rodent control.

Wild animals belong here but they are an endangerment to your pets and possibly to young children. It is your responsibility to care and protect them. Fences don’t accomplish this because any bobcat can jump a fence and coyotes can dig under them.

Earthslides, mudslides, road closures and traffic problems.

High winds and heavy surf and damage that nature can inflict on our property.

The inconvenience of it all.

What we do have is incredible beauty of the wildflowers in spring.

The beaches, the ocean and its inhabitants take center stage.

Now — Do you really, really, really, want to live in Malibu? If your answer is an impassioned yes! Then come on along the water is fine.

And for those of you already ensconced here — Love it or leave it.

Linda Joslynn