Alcest at The Fonda Theater (March 5, 2025)

Hey guys, here's a quick Alcest review for ya: T'was a killer show. What else would you expect from Neige & co., right? I went by myself and took public transpo for the third consecutive concert, the other two being David Gilmour at The Bowl last October, and Sixpence in December at The Troub. Alcest played The Fonda, and getting there was again a piece of cake, the only difference being that it was raining this time, but not hard, and other than that, I had a smooth trip both ways - the 240 down Reseda Boogalord to the Orange Line at Reseda and Oxnard. Orange Line to the NoHo Metro Station. Subway from NoHo to Hollywood & Vine. Two buses, one tube. Good connections, easy ride. And get this: my total round trip cost? $1.45.

Senior fare at off-peak hours, baby!

So yeah, there's no reason to hassle the drive, gas and parking to Hollywood or DTLA, especially for shows at The Fonda. The Hollywood/Vine Metro Station is one block away.

I got there around 8:30. The opening band Mono was playing, a Japanese four piece. Their music is all instrumental and not unlike the crescendoing soundscapes of Godspeed You! Black Emperor; each song has a theme that builds dynamically and repeats until the climax; a veritable sonic whirlwind. They were quite good. Neige (of Alcest) later remarked that this was his favorite tour lineup yet. I caught most of Mono's 45 minute set. The Fonda's awesome stage crew had Alcest ready to roll at 9:30. The band has two official members, mastermind Neige (Stephane Paut) on guitar and lead vocals, and Winterhalter (Jean Deflandre) on drums. They record all the music, Neige writes it all. The other two touring members are Zero (Pierre Corson) on second guitar and backing vocals, and Indria Saray on bass. Both have been on board for every Alcest show I've seen, six "in toto" (your little dog, too!), starting with the Troubadour in October 2011. I can still picture myself driving down Santa Monica Bl. that night in my old Nissan Sentra, looking for a place to park, so excited to see this new band I'd just discovered. The line was around the corner, the show a triple bill: Junius opened, then Alcest played a 40 minute set, followed by the headliner Enslaved. I was only there for Alcest, who I learned of from a Youtube recommendation that Summer. Four months after The Troub show came their next album, "Les Voyages de L'ame", and that was when...(drum roll, please)...I met Elizabeth. Online, of course. Sometime around February 2012, I saw her video (a piano cover of Alcest's "Autre Temps") and the rest was history. She probably hasn't read this blog in eons, but just in case:

Elizabeth, I hope you are going to see Alcest in Chicago on March 18. If there's anyone who has to see them, it's you. You will always be an Artist with a Capital A, and I hope you are still Doing What You Do and enjoying life. 

I got lucky and found a balcony seat, which was perfect because the floor was a sardine can and my seat was directly in front of Neige. This was the loudest I've ever seen them, powered by Winterhalter who absolutely pummeled his drums. It's like World War Three up there sometimes when all four members are playing full-bore and Neige is screaming the lyrics, but then come breaks of crystalline beauty and the guitars sound like droplets on a lake. But yeah, when Neige goes into Screaming Mode, it's brutal and strangely appealing. There are plenty of Black Metal "growlers", but he's the only guy who screams like that.

They had a Miyzakian split-level stage design: a full moon backdrop with two large, sculpted Herons strategically placed. A ceramic pot of cherry blossoms completes the Feng Shui. Neige mostly played his trademark white Fender Tornado (I thought it was a Jaguar but stand corrected), and he also had a black Fender Jazzmaster, the first time I've seen him switch guitars. He's interesting in that he never plays a traditional solo. It's all about the song, but at every show I've been to, I'm amazed by the intricacy of his chording. 

Another Alcest trademark: super long hair on Neige and Zero, coupled with humble demeanor. Who says the French don't rock? That may have been true in the old days but not anymore. They played 90 minutes, mostly songs from the new album "Les Chants de l'aurore", which is (somewhat) a return to the dreamier sound of "Les Voyages" from 2012. I say "somewhat" because it still has it's dark moments, but for the blackest metal Alcest, you want "Kodama" and especially "Spiritual Instinct". One small quibble with the venue: the drums and bass were so loud at this high-decibel show that some of the mid-range guitar voicings were lost in the mix. Overall, though, a 10 out of 10. There's nothing like Alcest music. The encore was "Autre Temps".

Hey Elizabeth: Agalloch are also coming up, in May, opening for Emperor! Are you going to that show? I wanna go, but it's a hundred bucks, which awakens my inner George Bush:

"Not gunna doit. Wouldn't be prudent".

Well, anyhow...

That's my review. Thanks for reading. I'll be back with a regular blog as quickly as I can.

March 4, 2025 (two movies & Badfinger)

Hi folks. As usual, I'm running behind on the blog, so thanks for sticking with me. I do have a couple movies this time. While browsing Tubi the other night, I came across an action flick called "The Package", which caught my eye not only because it stars Gene Hackman, but also because it marks an important occasion in my life. Lilly and I saw it, at the late, great Pacific Northridge Theater on Sunday August 27, 1989, two days after it opened. It was the last movie we saw before September 1st of that year, which of course was the start of What Happened in Northridge (at least in the old-school timespan of that event). On the occasion of our movie date, I wasn't focused on the film, and though I tried to follow the plot, my mind was elsewhere - thus I didn't get a chance to really enjoy it.

So when I saw it was available on Tubi, I watched it right away, not only to honor Gene Hackman, but also to honor me and Lilly. This time, I was able to relax and enjoy the movie - a classic, Cold War action thriller hinging on a political assassination, and it struck me how apt the whole thing was (besides being a very good movie, directed by Andrew Davis of "The Fugitive" fame). It was apt because Communism collapsed a little over two months later when the Berlin Wall came down on November 9, and - because What Happened in Northridge has been my life's study since 1993 - I have long suspected (and have concluded) that the collapse of Communism, which began on November 9, 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, was directly related to what happened in Northridge, California in September 1989.

Does that sound like an exaggeration? It isn't.

In fact, I'll repeat it. The collapse of Communism, initiated and signified by the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, was a direct result of the event I call "What Happened in Northridge", which had concluded a little over two months earlier in late September 1989. I won't say that Communism collapsed entirely due to "Northridge", but without a doubt it was the final and substantial nail in the coffin.

I happen to know this is true. It's not for nothing that I say What Happened in Northridge is the biggest secret in America. The only possible bigger secret is What Happened at Lorne Street School in 1965. That event involves strange electronics and physics (watch the end of Spielberg's "AI", one of the most profound films ever made), and so "Northridge" is easier to delineate, but in the scheme of things, those two events are the Big Enchilada. Take note that I am not saying that "Northridge" was the worst tragedy, in the form of death and destruction. But it was horrific (among other things), and monumentally important in historical terms, and I am saying that it is, without a doubt, the most highly classified secret in the Secret Government Files, and that's enough intrigue for today. Give "The Package" a watch, for great performances by Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones, and because they don't make action thrillers like this any more. 

Yesterday, I watched Badfinger videos after reading the news about guitarist Joey Molland's death. He was the last surviving member of the most tragic band in the history of rock n' roll. Many fans my age know about the suicides of Pete Ham and Tom Evans, caused by the financial ripoff of the band by their agent. Ham died in 1975; Evans in '83. I'd only ever heard Badfinger's legendary hit singles, all of which were as great as any Beatles song, and of course they were the first act signed to Apple, but I've just discovered that their albums contain tons of great tunes, marked by incandescent harmonies and hookish guitar and piano lines. When I was 10 and 11 years old, their radio hits created days-long earworms. As a band, they were tight as a drum, which can be seen in their live vids on Youtube. It's too bad they are known as much for their tragic tale as for their music, but check out Badfinger and watch their 30 minute BBC documentary also. 

Last evening, I finally watched "The Best Years of Our Lives"(1946), the legendary post-WW2 drama about about three servicemen coming home to face a changed society. The film won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor (and Teresa Wright should've won Best Supporting Actress), but the other thing about this movie (and I can't believe it's taken me this long to see it) is that my Mom did a promotional show for it when she was a radio host at WLW, then the biggest radio station in the world. Mom had a set of 8x10 b&w press shots showing her with all the film's stars: Frederic March, Myrna Loy, Harold Russell, Teresa Wright, Dana Andrews, and an autographed photo of Russell, a disabled vet who lost both his hands in a service-related accident. He became adept with prostheses (as shown in the movie), and won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year. These photos were in a scrapbook of Mom's. I wish I had them but they must've gotten lost over the years or perhaps were destroyed in the earthquake. Anyhow, the movie is every bit as great as it's legacy suggests, a true epic that captures the price of war. If you've never seen it, do.

Tomorrow night, I'm going to see Alcest in concert at The Fonda Theater in Hollywood. I'll report back with a full review as time allows, no later than this weekend. I'll also have the softcover version of "Green Parrots" uploaded and available at Lulu by March 15. Meanwhile, I'm hard at work on "2009" (not the actual title). If you were there (at the places and events of that year), I would love to interview you. If anyone is interested, let me know.

Thanks for reading. Tons of love as always.

Greenslade & Dave Lawson (and Tubi)

Hey everyone, I'm just checking in. I have a musical alert for you, a new prog discovery (or re-discovery): who remembers Greenslade? College Records had their albums in the racks. One or two had Roger Dean covers, which made you think of Yes, and they had not one but two featured keyboardists - Dave Greenslade, who gave the band its cool-sounding name and had formerly played with Colosseum, and the equally adept Dave Lawson, who came from a jazzier background. Greenslade didn't have guitar, it was keys all the way, and they had an awesome drummer and a functional bassist. I actually had their self-titled debut album and another one called "Time and Tide", fifty years ago.

So why haven't I ever mentioned Greenslade, in all my blogs about Prog? I've been asking myself a similar question: why didn't Greenslade catch my ear? I can't explain it. I mean, I've always loved keyboards. I even had jazz-fusiony records when I was fifteen, by groups like Passport, with lead saxophone yes, but also keys aplenty. So, I don't understand why Greenslade didn't stick with me, or for that matter with everyone at College Records. In any case, I now find them fantastic. Maybe I had to wait till I was (almost) 65 to "get" them. What happened was, I got a notion two days ago to Youtube me some Greenslade. Why them? Maybe I was seeking something new. But they were old, and I'd already apparently rejected them five decades ago, by the fact that I've never listened to or mentioned their music. However, I also think Pat Forducci may have had something to do with my sudden urge to Youtube the band...by nudging me from The Other Side. Pat was a Progmeister like myself. I can picture him whispering, "Dude...revisit Greenslade...".

I chose, from their four albums ,"Spyglass Guest", which actually went to #39 in America. And from the first note of the first tune, I was hooked! Again I wondered, "Why weren't these guys huge with the College Records gang?" I thought about it, and remembered the albums I had, and I recalled a "harsh" vocal style (which turned out to be from their debut album, the first one I bought). If you remember The Nice, or the one classic album by Refugee (which was The Nice with Patrick Moraz), the music was great, but you had to contend with Lee Jackson's harsh vocals. The same, I remembered, was true of the first Greenslade album. For some reason, Dave Lawson sang most of that record in some kind of "Court Jester" style, and to 15 year-old me (who was used to Greg Lake), it ruined the whole album. That's what being 15 will do to you, when you are listening to progressive rock. I could deal with some cartoonish British vocals in a Jethro Tull guest spot, but not from a lead singer in a band I'd just heard of. Thus, Greenslade (despite their bitchen album covers) went back into the wooden Orange Crate for LPs, never to be played again.

In retrospect, boy did I blow it! And so did Pat, and all the gang, because Greenslade should've caught on with us. 

Well, anyhow - to cut to the chase, my impulse to Youtube Greenslade resulted in me listening intently to "Spyglass Guest", all the way through, and in the comments I saw fans mentioning another Dave Lawson band called The Web, who had an album called "I Spider" in 1970. Seeing the cover triggered a memory of either having that album (perhaps way back in '77) or that Pat brought it to the house. And I not only remembered the cover, but the music as well, even though I probably only heard the album once or twice.

To sum up: Greenslade is my new (old) Prog (re)Discovery! Start with "Spyglass Guest", then go directly to "Bedside Manners Are Extra". Both are money-back-guaranteed great, and there are no harsh vocals to deal with. In fact, Dave Lawson has a pleasant Prog Voice, and the double-keyboard melodies are incredible. "Time and Tide" is also good. The only one that's chancy is the first album, and that's also good if you can deal with the vocals, but again...if you can handle Lee Jackson in Refugee (and you know you can) then Lawson's goofy style on this record won't trouble you as it did me all those years ago.

So, there's four Greenslade records for you. Also check out their live vids on Youtube (from The Old Grey Whistle Test), but wait!......there's more.

I told you about Dave Lawson's other band, The Web. Well, you absolutely have to hear "I Spider". It's one of those great, one-off progressive rock records that's long forgotten, except by those-in-the-know, who I was not among until yesterday. It's a 10/10 all the way, not a bad note or tune to be found - a classic, somewhat in the style of Supersister. The Web morphed into another Lawson project called Samurai. This record is a 10, as well. Hear it on Youtube. That gives you six new classic prog records to check out: four by Greenslade and the two side projects by Dave Lawson. Man...just when you think you've heard it all... 

On a visual note, you probably know about Tubi. I discovered it while searching for a live broadcast of the Super Bowl (hooray, Chiefs lost!) and over the last couple weeks, I've checked out a couple of their movies ("Firebase Gloria" and "The Dark Half") and also two Tubi serial killer documentaries under the heading "Evil Among Us". So far, I've watched the Green River Killer and L.A.'s Grim Sleeper, but the reason I'm mentioning Tubi is because of three other independent docs, all covering notable events. Like everyone else, I've been unnerved by the recent spate of plane crashes, starting with the terrible Black Hawk collision over the Potomac last month. I've watched every analysis I could find on Youtube (there's a guy named Jeff Ostroff who does excellent analyses of air disasters), and also for the medivac crash in Philly. Then, I saw that Tubi had an entire documentary on TWA Flight 800, which went down into the ocean off the coast of New York in July 1996.

If you remember that tragedy, many witnesses reported seeing a "missile" that appeared to explode the plane.

The documentary, made by Epix in 2013, leaves no doubt as to what happened. Watching it led me to another doc available on Tubi (for free): "A Noble Lie", about the 1995 OKC bombing. The writer of "A Noble Lie" is Wendy Painting, the same gal who wrote "Abberation in the Heartland of the Real", the definitive book on Timothy McVeigh and the whole OKC story. In my opinion, it is one of the ten most important books on major American terror events. I can't recommend it highly enough.

"A Noble Lie" led me to watch "9/11 Explosive Evidence - Experts Speak Out". This one (also on Tubi) consists of various architects, engineers and demolition experts talking about the collapse of Building 7, and also the Twin Towers.

You guys know that I don't buy the "official" story for any of these three events. Not with what I've been through in my life, but it's more than that, because even if I'd never had my own extensive experiences, I still wouldn't believe the government versions of these events, because - when properly analysed - they are all patently false.

For me, it starts with the obviously false story of Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin of JFK. If they're gonna lie about that, they'll lie about anything, including RFK, MLK, OKC, Flight 800, 9/11, ad nauseum.

Something to remember about the latter three events (Flight 800, OKC and 9/11) is that they happened in a five year span. That's pretty close together. My whole point here is to highly recommend all three documentaries on these subjects. Check them out on Tubi.

I'm currently reading "The Rialto in Richmond" by Joseph P. Farrell. It's about the Lincoln assassination, the flight of Confederate President Jefferson Davis at the end of the war, and an enormous cache of missing gold. With Dr. Joe (an Oxford graduate), you always get the highest level narrative and, (as he calls it) "high octane speculation". All his books are highly recommended. 

And did someone say "books"? My proof copy of "Green Parrots" will be arriving tomorrow (oh boy!). I'm super excited to see what it looks like. I anticipate no formatting problems of the type I encountered the first time (with "Pearl the Wonder Girl"), and if it's "good to go", I'll be uploading an affordable softcover edition within the week. 

I'm also five chapters into the framework for "2009", which now has an actual title (but I can't reveal it).

Stay tuned and thanks for reading. Tons and tons of love.

My New Book is on Lulu.com!

 Well folks, it's official......(drum roll, please): My second book has been published on Lulu. It's called "The Summer of Green Parrots", and as previously noted it is primarily the story of me & Pearl, with the backdrop of my years as her caregiver. But it's also a whole lot more. To see the cover, go to Lulu.com and enter the title in their search engine. Now, here I need to give advance warning about the price. As I did with "Pearl the Wonder Girl", I designed the first edition of "Parrots" as a deluxe "linen wrap" hardcover, which comes with a dust jacket...the works. I wanted these editions mainly for myself, to have the nicest presentation of each book for my personal collection. With "Wonder Girl", I think Lulu's print price was something like 27 bucks (it was a 443 page book), so my "deluxe" hardcover copy cost me apprx. 35 dollars with shipping and tax. Obviously, I didn't expect anyone else to pay that much, so I put out a softcover edition for global distribution on Amazon and other websites. But even with that one, I had to charge 25 bucks, because - while the print cost was only $12-something - the "global distribution" cost from Lulu was over ten bucks! That brought my total cost for each book to apprx. 23 dollars. I wanted to make at least something on each book, so I set a 25 dollar price. That's a lot, I know. That's why I jokingly said "just think of it as two fast food meals. Skip those (just two) and you'll break even".

I'd have liked to charge around 15 to 20 bucks for "Pearl the Wonder Girl" (good value for a 443 page totally awesome book) but Lulu wouldn't let me. Once you desigate your book for "global distribution", it comes with a "lowest possible list price", and mine was the aforementioned 23 dollars. That was for "Pearl the Wonder Girl", softcover edition.

Well, get this: as noted, my first edition of "The Summer of Green Parrots" is once again the deluxe hardcover (because I wanted a fancy copy for myself). The print cost was 20 bucks & change. But when I designated it for "global distribution" (which gets you on Amazon), all of a sudden, the price was jacked up to 41 bucks! Double the print cost! It goes without saying that this is Totally Outregis Philbin. Nobody's gonna pay that and I don't expect 'em to. I don't know why it went up so much. "Parrots" is only 288 pages long, it has a lower print cost than "Wonder Girl", and yet the hardcover is nine dollars more than that book. What gives? I thought maybe it was due to Trump's tariffs, or Biden's inflation...

Heck, I don't know. My point is, it's embarassing to have such a high price put on my book, but it's not my doing. Not to worry, though, because I will soon have a softcover edition available (asap), and hopefully I can cut the price down to at least $25 bucks (remember, that's only two fast food meals!), so please hang in there if you are an interested reader. Thanks in advance for your patience.

But yeah, for now, you can go to Lulu.com and put "The Summer of Green Parrots" into the search window, so you can see what the book looks like. I did the cover myself, once again using Canva...

...and (drum roll again, please), because without missing a beat, I've already begun work on my third book, which has a "placeholder" title of "2009". I'm not sure what the actual title will be just yet, but I've got some ideas in mind. Whatever I end up calling it, I'm shooting for a release date of April 2026. Yeah, that's over a year away, but it will be worth the wait. This book is not gonna mess around.

Movies: watching the Vietnam Voices series on Youtube inspired me to watch "We Were Soldiers" again. I mentioned in the last blog that it was the overwhelming favorite of the veterans interviewed in that series. I saw it once previously, about 15 or 20 years ago (and didn't remember it), but this time it hit me full force. Now, I agree with the veterans: I think it's the greatest Vietnam War movie ever made. I read up on Colonel Hal Moore afterward (on whose book it was based), and I think Mel Gibson nailed his performance.

Last night, I watched another good one, recommended by Tarantino: "The Seige of Firebase Gloria".

Give both a watch, if you're in a Vietnam War mode.

I haven't listened to much music for the past week, because I've been proofing and formatting the book (which requires focus), but when it was done, and I got finally got it published (three years and four months after I started writing it), I put on a single, three and a half minute piece of music to celebrate and relax:

"Tennessee" by Hans Zimmer, from the Pearl Harbor soundtrack. If you've heard it, you know - it's one of the most beautiful things ever recorded; haunting, goosebump-inducing, tear-jerking, inspiring. But forget the descriptors, go listen to it and you won't be able to get it out of your head. I first heard it at Edwards Air Force Base during an F-15 demonstration.

Now back to work on "2009". Thanks for reading. Happy Valentines Day. Tons of love. 

Yessonata

Folks, I am excited to announce that my second book is in the final proof-read, which could be finished by this weekend. It will then be formatted and sent to Lulu, after which I will purchase my compulsory author's copy and - if everything looks shipshape - it should be available to the public by April 1, give or take. I can't yet reveal the title, but it's the story of my years as Pearl's caregiver, and - though it's the second book to be released - it was actually the first one I wrote, starting on October 3, 2021, just a day after Pearl's memorial service. I've put my heart and soul into this book, which has an overall caregiving context, but also a veritable Ton of Other Stuff thrown in. It's really the lifelong, on-and-off story of Pearl and me, and how fate brings certain people together on a predetermined path, and it's also about our enduring love for Reseda, the quintessential suburban Valley town (just ask Tom Petty).

There is so much going on in this book; it's one heck of a story, I guarantee you will love it, and you don't even have to know me or Pearl to become absorbed. One thing I hope is that it will inspire at least one person to become a caregiver. On a side note, there will be a sequel, about which I can't say much now, but it deals with the house sitting job I had just before I went to work with Pearl, and it blows the whole shebang out of the water. But that's my life, right? It's been one big "Blow Out of the Water". Anyhow, we are hoping for readers....    

Did you listen to Scott Walker? If not, go back and re-read my last blog and don't miss out! I promise you'll thank me later, and my next recommendation is the new "Yessonata" by Rick Wakeman. OMG! He took all the themes from the greatest Yes music, seamlessly spliced them together and created a twenty minute piece of brilliant and moving pianism. Wow, it sounds fantastic, and on the other side of the cd is the King Arthur Suite, created from one of Rick's most beloved albums. I have seen him twice in recent years on his solo tours, where he plays instrumental piano pieces and tells jokes in between. There aren't many of our original artists left from the 1970s, and even fewer still playing live. Rick Wakeman is on what is being billed as his final tour this year. Let us pray he makes one last stop in Los Angeles.

Continuing with music, have you guys heard Big Big Train? They were my Band of 2024. The late and (mostly great) (but somewhat tricky) Pat Forduccenburger introduced me to BBT around 2012 with their album "The Underfall Yard". It was old-fashioned epic prog, seemingly along the lines of Genesis...but original! I appreciated the album upon hearing it for the first time, yet it sort of went right by me because I was on a Black Metal kick in those years. Fast forward to last year. I was thinking about Pat, who'd recently died, and I was hit with a notion to re-listen to Big Big Train. I went back to The Underfall Yard, found that certain passages had stuck with me, and I wanted to hear more. That led me to an album called "Ingenious Devices" (a compilation of their best extended pieces) and after that, I was hooked. I'd recommend "Ingenious" to get into the band, then go to "Underfall", and after that, you'll be ready for their two-album masterpiece (released in consecutive years), "English Electric Part 1 and Part 2". Tragically, their brilliant singer, David Longdon, died in a freak accident in 2021. His replacement, Alberto Brevin, has had "big big" shoes to fill but is doing an admirable job. BBT are now on tour in the US but unfortunately, it's one of those limited tours that many bands seem to be taking nowdays, epecially British bands who come to America but go no further west than Chicago. I lobbied on their FB page to "please play L.A." Give 'em a listen and you'll want to see them, too.

Finally - great news! On my CSUN walk last night, I went down to Nordhoff at Lindley to check out the status of Cupid's, because I saw on the Valley Relics FB page that the sign had been taken down. Dismayed, I had to see it for myself, but to my surprise, as I approached, it appeared it was not the whole sign that was removed but just the "inner" Heart that held the "Cupid's" logo. To my further surprise, from my vantage point across the street, there seemed to be a new red heart enclosed in the sign frame, and it looked like it had white lettering. Hopeful, yet cautious - because I've been worried that some evil developer would cram an "L.A. Special" apartment complex on that postage stamp lot - I crossed the street to check it out, and lo and behold, it's going to be a new food stand called "Tacos 1986". They've kept the Cupid's sign frame and (hopefully) the original building! If so, the proprietor of "Tacos 1986" has attained Instant Hero status in Northridge.

That's about all for today. Stay safe and thanks for reading. Tons of love.

Scott Walker Rules

 Howdy folks, just checking in. I was listening the other night to an album called "Storm Corrosion", which was a collaboration between Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree and Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth. I was disappointed when it came out in 2012 because it was stark and not what I was expecting from those guys, but upon hearing it again, I've changed my mind. I now think it's really good, and I found an interview with Mikael and Steven where they said they were influenced by the music of a guy named Scott Walker. Have you heard of him? He was the lead singer of a 1960s pop group called The Walker Brothers who, for a short while, were bigger than The Beatles in England. Apparently, Scott Walker grew tired of being expected to churn out pop hits, and he quit the group and did a musical 180. For a while, when he went solo in the late '60s and into the early 1970s, he continued to croon in his inimitable style, but now he was singing about unusual subjects like Communism under Joseph Stalin and existentialism. He disappeared for a while, and when he returned in the 1990s he made a record called "Tilt" that has become a cult favorite among Weird Music aficianados. I gave it a listen because of the Akerfeldt/Wilson connection, and it sounds like something from a David Lynch movie. The kicker is that it put me on a Scott Walker binge, and I've been listening to his music for the last several days. He has the ultimate 1960s baritone crooner voice, but he sings about weird things and has these unusual string arrangements in the background. His music reminds me of a movie called "The Swimmer" with Burt Lancaster. In the 2014, he even made an album with SunnO))), the experimental Black Metal band that opened for Celtic Frost in 2006! So, Scott Walker was a far out guy (he died in 2019), and I suggest you give him a listen. Start with The Walker Brothers big hit "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore"(1966) and go from there. Make sure you listen to "Tilt". Then check out his quartet of solo albums "Scott" through "Scott 4". I guarantee you'll be hooked....

That's really all the news. I just work on my books and go for my walks. I'm also transcribing my 2009 journal (which may or may not become a book). My life is so radically different from what it was just two years ago, and it's not because of anything that's changed about my day-to-day existence, but because of knowledge I've received during that time. 

What do you guys think of Trump so far? Are you hating him and/or what he's doing? I hope not. He's come in there like a tornado, doing what he said he was gonna do (which needed doing). We've gotta Make America Great Again, there's nothing wrong with that slogan, or what it represents. America has decidedly not been great for quite some time now, so we've gotta restore it, and that's a job for everyone, not just some caricature-idea of "MAGA people" - we're all in this together. Did you see J.D Vance on Face the Nation yesterday? Boy, can he talk! Margaret Brennan kept trying to nail him with "gotcha" questions, but he had concise answers for everything she threw at him. If Trump's second presidency succeeds, and it's off to a good start, JD might be a shoo-in for 2028 through 2036...(he's also a nice Cincinnati boy, a nod to my Mom and Dad).

On a tragic note, the legendary Cupid's sign was taken down today. It had remained in place for over a year after the equally legendary hot dog stand closed, and because I saw it still there, as recently as two nights ago on my walk, I (perhaps naively) held out faint hope that some Hero would buy the place and re-open it. But it was not to be. No matter what they put in its place, that spot will always be Cupid's Hot Dogs. There are some things you can't change, and that's one of them. Long live Cupid's, 1964 - 2023.   

That's basically all I know for today. I mainly wanted to tell you about Scott Walker. Make sure to give him a listen. 

Tons of love.   

Creative Genius

 Well, ladies and gentleman....what can even be said? I remember, back in the Fall of 1977 (give or take a month), there was this movie playing at the Nuart. If you're from Los Angeles, you know that the Nuart, which sits right off the San Diego Freeway in West L.A., is the city's premier art-house theater. It was famous in the 70s for hosting Saturday night screenings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", in which dedicated fans of that flick would show up and recite dialogue back at the screen, as the action was happening, or they'd toss glitter around. "Rocky Horror" and the Nuart became synonymous around this time, but in September or October 1977, word got around about another movie that was "in residency" at the theater, some crazy thing called "Eraserhead". It was supposed to be really weird.

Back then, David M. (or "Grimsley", as he later became known) was often at the forefront of new artistic discoveries. For instance, he found out about The Runaways before anyone else in our group of friends. And he heard about this movie, the name of which alone seemed reason enough to see it. I mean....why would anyone call their movie "Eraserhead", right? You wondered that when you were seventeen years old, especially in 1977, when the world was still basically the normal world.

At the time, I was just getting into art house flicks. I don't know if I'd seen "The Last Wave" yet, but Peter Weir was the first major discovery for me. Anyway: so we went to see this film, it was photographed in stark, richly textured black and white (you'd never seen a "look" quite like it), and I'll never forget the opening shot, of Henry's head, shown sideways, with his electrified hair and a worried look on his face. There's a foreboding planet in the background; it's like Henry's mind is in outer space, and all of this is accompanied by white noise that builds into a whooshing sound, like an interplanetary wind. The soundtrack sort of continues that way for the whole movie, but right from the get-go, you knew you were watching something very different, and it just kept getting weirder.

I remember we noticed David Lee Roth in the audience before the movie started, except to us, he was "that guy from Van Halen" because the band wasn't world famous yet. But the thing was, "Eraserhead" must've been too weird for DLR, because he got up and walked out about halfway through.  I was engrossed, and by the time the scene with "Bill" came up, where he stares at Henry at the dinner table, after asking him "what do you know?" and Henry says, "Oh...not much of anything", I knew I was watching genius.

That was David Lynch, who died yesterday. He became my favorite filmaker and artist-in-general and has remained so up to the present moment. He is one of those people who feels like family, like EVH, and to me, David Lynch and Walt Disney are the two greatest American creative geniuses of the last century.

I was fortunate to meet him twice. The first time was at a small art gallery on the Westside. They were showing some of Lynch's drawings. This was in 1995, when I was working on my Northridge Meadows documentary. The late (sometimes great) Dave Small was with me. He was producing the doc (paying for it), and lo and behold, David Lynch just so happened to be at the gallery that afternoon, interacting with the visitors. Me & Mr. D went up and told him we were making a film, and what it was about ("that building from the Northridge Earthquake") and we asked for his advice. "Call PBS", he told us. That's a perfect anecdote for today, January 17th, because it's the 31st anniversary of the quake.

The second time I met him (just to shake his hand and say hello, fanboy-style) was at the pre-release premier of "Inland Empire" in 2006 at the Hammer Museum. And, I've seen Chrystabell four times in concert. Lynch was at two of those shows, to introduce her. You also know her for her role in the 2017 "Twin Peaks" re-boot. The last project David Lynch released was a musical collaboration with Chrystabell called "Cellophane Memories"....

Last year, when he revealed he had emphysema and couldn't leave his house, he said he might still try to "direct remotely". Knowing him, he might've meant it in the spiritual sense, too. I'll bet he can "direct remotely" from Heaven (cue Julee Cruise)....

It's hard to believe so many of my heroes are no longer here: Neil Peart, Edward Van Halen, Pete Rose, David Lynch. Good thing I don't believe in death and try to stay connected to The Other Side.

Well anyway.

Are you guys dreading Trump's inauguration? You shouldn't. If I can do a 180 on him, anybody can. Watching clips from the confirmation hearing for Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth, I'm realising who the clowns were all along, loudmouths like Adam Schiff, who I used to think was great. What a total jerk he is, and unfortunately he's emblematic of the politicians we have here in California. I'm sure you've seen the clips of the truly evil Gavin Newsom, grinning and sashaying as he talks about the fires. He's a straight-up nutjob; no wonder his nickname is "American Psycho". Then there's the inept Karen Bass, who was in Africa when L.A. went up in flames. Both she and Newsom should resign immediately, and I most humbly ask my Democratic friends to please not support politicians like these any more. Wokesters like Newsom, Bass and the legendarily horrific Kamala must be kept out of office permanently (God forbid Newsom gets recalled and she becomes our next Governor....yikes!). Me? I will never vote Democratic again, but if you must do so, vote for someone who isn't an extremist, and who is competent...and intelligent. Someone like Jerry Brown, or Mayor Riordan (now he was a great Mayor who greatly helped us in the aftermath of the quake). And that's enough politics for today.

Thanks for reading and God Bless. Tons of Love as always.