Happy Late Night, my Darling,
I hope your day was good. I saw a post via Patrick of Versus Me and Alesana about getting ready for a tour, so maybe you are gonna go out on a few dates, too? I know I am always guessing at these things, lol. As always, I will just wait and see what transpires. :)
I saw your post of the pic from Justin as well, the photo of the Hammond Organ. Hammonds rule, of course, but what was really a trip about that post was that I noticed one of the "likes", and also a comment, was from a guy named Mike Mangan. I tell ya, SB, it really is a small world. Mike Mangan is an FB friend of mine. I don't know him, but back in 2008 Grimsley discovered a local band called Big Organ Trio, and hounded me to go see them with him. They were soon playing at a pub in Santa Monica, so we went, and they were incredible. The tunes were long and somewhat improvisational. It was just Hammond organ, bass and drums, and the guy playing the organ was Mike Mangan. Hard to believe it was nine years ago already! Anyway, after that, we went back to the same pub to see them play again. This time I brought along my current-at-the-time-but-now-outdated Sony Mini-Dvd Cam, and I filmed a 30 min. mini-disc of Big Organ Trio jamming, and it came out really good. Mike Mangan was an amazing player, and it turned out that he had jammed with Keith Emerson! Holy Smokes!
I'd seen pictures of them jamming at the same pub, because I'd Googled Mike Mangan. He was that good, and I was interested in who he was. Well anyhow, I knew Keith Emerson lived in Santa Monica, so, being a Google Master and an Internet Sleuth, I tracked down his address.
And it turned out he lived in an apartment only one block up the street from the pub where Big Organ Trio had played. I was surprised that Keith Emerson of world famous and once enormous ELP was living in an apartment, and Grimsley himself didn't believe it. "C'mon, he's worth millions". But Grim didn't take into account the passage of time, and the way the finances of the rock industry once worked.
Anyhow, we knew about the Emerson address when we went to see Big Organ Trio play the second time, so after the show was over, at 2am, we decided to walk up the street to see if Keith really lived in that apartment complex. All I had in mind was to check the names on the mailboxes, if they were not behind a locked lobby door.
Grimsley was walking ahead of me, and as I got close to the building I heard him call out : "Hey Adam, come over here! It's Keith Emerson"!
Sometimes in life, the timing and the circumstances are Too Weird to be a coincidence. Here it was 2 O'Clock in the morning, and all we were gonna do is look at a mailbox to see if his name was on it, and there was Keith Emerson - in the parking garage of the apartment complex - having just that minute gotten home from a promotional video he was shooting out in the Mojave Desert for his final album by The Keith Emerson Band. He told us he'd just gotten home, and we marveled later at the timing.
Wayyyy too weird, man! Because of the whole Mike Mangan/local pub/apartment connection. It was weird indeed, one of the weirder Meetings With Rock Stars that I've had, but Keith was very nice and even talked with us for about five minutes, tired as he was.
He of course passed away in that same apartment last year, and everyone was stunned, including his jamming friend Mike Mangan. We were all very sad for his longtime girlfriend Mari, who is also an FB friend of mine, though I don't know her either.
But it sure is a small world, where your friend and former bandmate Justin comes out here and winds up apparently friends in real life with Mike Mangan, who is without a doubt one of the greatest organ players you could ever see. I am talking Rock Organ, not church or ancient organ, though he could no doubt play those styles too.
It's a trip, SB, the connections in this world. And that is pretty cool that Justin got his own Hammond, and that he is doing well in Los Angeles. /////
Today I went to see the movie "Jackie", again at Grimsley's insistence. When Grim starts hounding you about something, you can only hold out for so long, haha. I had not known the story of the film, but it follows the immediate aftermath of the assassination to show what Mrs. Kennedy went through. The movie is really a horror story in the purest sense, and Natalie Portman's performance is both dignified and harrowing. I'd be surprised if she doesn't get an Oscar, though I haven't seen the other contender's films. "Jackie" is a tremendous film that reminds us of what could have been, had JFK not been killed, and how once upon a time (when I was little) America had a leader, and a family, that it could look up to and admire, and that inspired great hope for the future. The early 60s were a wonderful time in this country as a result of the Kennedys having been in the White House, and Jackie was the epitome of class. A big thumbs up from me for this film, though a hankie or Kleenex is required for the viewing.
That's all for tonight. I hope all projects are coming along well!
See you in the morning. I Love You. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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