Who Were The Greatest Live Bands of All Time?

 Let's talk about live bands. Who were the greatest bands you ever saw in concert? For me to answer that question, I have to consider the longevity of the band. I've seen many great performances by dozens of bands and solo artists over the years, but not all of them have been consistently at the top of their game, decade after decade. Rush definitely was, however. I first saw them in November 1978, at the Long Beach Arena on the "Hemispheres" tour. I left that concert with my jaw on the floor, but it was no different 37 years later at the very last concert they ever played, in August 2015 at The Forum. If anything, Rush became greater as a live act, as their musicianship became ever more dynamic and they added huge light shows, films, and other visual aspects to their performance. The only "nod to aging" was in Geddy's voice, which had been a live wire screech in his youth. In later years it mellowed to the middle range, and he warbled a bit, but overall he was still about 7/10s of what he had been as a singer, and on bass he remained a monster. So yeah, Rush - overall - may have been the greatest live band ever. I saw them 32 times over the years, and there was never the question, at any show, of how good they were. Every single Rush show I ever saw was a 10. The only factor that made one show better than another was the set list, and the album they were touring behind.

Let's do a quick ranking of their studio albums, from best to worst. With Rush, it's mostly best. And even their "worst" albums have some redeeming qualities.

1) Hemispheres

2) 2112

3) Moving Pictures

4) Fly By Night

5) Farewell To Kings

6) Test For Echo (yeah, weird I know. But I love that album. It features perhaps their best playing ever.)

7) Power Windows

8) Rush

9) Permanent Waves

10) Hold Your Fire

11) Counterparts

12) Caress of Steel

13) Grace Under Pressure

14) Signals

15) Presto

16) Roll The Bones

17) Clockwork Angels

18) Snakes and Arrows

19) Vapor Trails

A note on albums 15 through 19 : I didn't much care for the Rupert Hine era of Rush, which produced "Presto" and "Roll The Bones". Though both albums had several good songs, they were both polished beyond all recognition of what Rush had sounded like, and "Presto" in particular was not only slick, but had a depressing vibe to boot. Another producer who didn't nail the Rush sound was Nick Raskulinecz, who oversaw "Snakes and Arrows" and "Clockwork Angels". I remember those songs sounding great on the "Time Machine" and "Clockwork Angels" tours, but when I listened to that album recently, it was so compressed and overloaded with multi-tracks that it just sounded red-lined on every song, and I'm sorry to say I had to stop listening. Such is the difference in production techniques from 1974 to 2012. But the songs on "Clockwork Angels" are really good. Too bad they weren't recorded well.

And unfortunately this goes without saying about "Vapor Trails". It's the only Rush album I've only listened to a couple of times. It was written and recorded after Neil rejoined the band. following his tragedies. They'd been apart five years, and it shows. The music is not inspired, and the recording is awful.

I also have to add that I don't find "Signals" to be a great Rush album. I know it is revered by some fans, but if you take away the legendary "Subdivisions", and the less memorable and depressing "Losing It", there isn't much here. It seems to me that "Signals" was a "rushed" album (excuse the pun), crammed in after the masterwork of "Moving Pictures" and on a tight schedule (pronounced shedge-yoole) in between tours. It was the first sign of a letdown, and was the end of their partnership with Terry Brown as their producer.

So, with the benefit of hindsight, we can now go back and separate "Album Rush" from "Live Rush". And when longevity is factored in, the ability to stay at the top of their Concert Game year after year, Rush was - for me - the greatest live band of all-time.

But what about other factors? Was Rush also the highest energy band ever? I'm talking about bands you wouldn't wanna follow onstage. In that category, I'd have to consider Van Halen. They didn't have the longevity Rush had, and for me their live show began to go downhill starting at the US Festival in 1983, when David Lee Roth came out drunk and forgot half the lyrics. He later did that a lot, but that was the first time I'd ever seen him less than 100% professional, and it was a shock. (and maddening, too, because we'd waited for over an hour for VH to take the stage, and when they finally did, they sucked).

But Holy Freakin' Smokes.........from 1978 at Anaheim Stadium through 1982, they could not be touched. Van Halen was like a high wire act, meaning that they were astonishing to see, and they filled you with adrenaline, but there was also danger involved because they were a fragile band with two or even three different camps, and as we later found out, Roth and the Van Halen brothers didn't like each other very much. However, seeing them in those years was so mindboggling, so energizing and uplifting, that you left every show wanting to "run away and join the circus", as it were. You wanted to be in Van Halen's world.

I sure did, at any rate. No band ever lit up the stage like Van Halen at their peak, and they transferred that feeling to the audience. It was a shared experience between band and fans, and different from other concerts in that respect. When you went to see Van Halen, it was like you were in Van Halen. Man, were they ever good! And Edward? He was just plain dazzling. ////

But what about Judas Priest? Weren't they also Impossible To Follow? Didn't they also demolish the audience at every show? Yes indeed they did. Their live shows were like World War Three, and not just onstage but in the audience too, because their music brought out the animal in some of their fans. Just like at a Black Sabbath concert in the 1970s, you had to be on your guard at a Priest show in the 80s, because the sheer power of the music overloaded the synapses and emotions of some fans, especially those whose IQs were outnumbered by their blood alcohol level, and then you would have these people "spider crawling" over your head, like at a punk rock show, and you'd have to fight them off whilst trying to not lose track of KK's guitar solo at the same time. Judas Priest at their peak, from 1980-84, was The Atomic Bomb of Concerts, and I'd have to place them at the top of the heap of live bands also.

But what about Deep Purple, and Rainbow? Wasn't Ritchie Blackmore at one time the most exciting live performer in rock? And what about Emerson Lake and Palmer? Who could even come close to them?

Those are questions we shall have to examine in another blog, as the hour is late. But we can keep talking about live music.

What were the concerts that most affected you, that blew you off the map? 

Because that's what great rock bands did, when they played live.

They blew you off the freaking map, and they changed your life. /////

See you in the morning. Love, love and more love.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Long Sleeves, Skeeters, German Planes, and The Power of Memory

 I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt tonight to protect against Skeeters. At this point I don't know what else to do, short of slathering myself with repellent over and over again. I've been getting clobbered by the little vampires all week long, eaten alive practically, and the situation has become intolerable. It all started last Saturday, when I was on a CSUN walk with Grimsley. We sat at an outdoor table to chat, and were there about an hour, and the next day I paid the price with those Industrial Strength Bites I told you about. Worst Mosquito Bites Evah! All over my arms. And the thing is, the s.o.b.s are like Ghosts : you never see them, you never feel 'em biting you. You only notice the bites when they've begun to itch, and by that time it's too late.

Then on Monday, I came back to work at Pearl's, and except for my short afternoon breaks, I've been here ever since. And I'm still getting attacked on a daily basis. We go for wheelchair walks every morning, so maybe that's when it's happening. Or maybe there's a Skeet hiding in the house. But these recent bites, I'm telling you, I've never seen anything like them. They swell up like bee stings, and to tell the truth I'd almost rather have a bee sting because the itching sensation is horrific. I did get me some hydrocortisone cream and it does help, but I needed to take preventative action, hence the long sleeves. I read that mosquitos do not bite through clothing. Fingers are crossed.

The thing is, I've never been a Mosquito Magnet before. Oh, I've had the occasional bite here and there (we all have), sometimes a few at a time, but mosquito bites were never anything I had to think about and prepare for. Many times I'd go a whole Summer without one. But now, all of a sudden I'm their favorite target. And the mosquitos have become monstrous. Guess I need to eat more garlic, or something. 

I've been watching "12 O' Clock High" the past two nights. Not the movie with Gregory Peck; the tv series, which ran from 1964 - 67, and starred Robert Lansing in the Peck role as an Air Force General in charge of a bombardment group in WW2. I've been looking for this show on dvd for years. For some reason it's never been released, but just this week I've found it on Youtube. Hope it doesn't get pulled! I've seen the movie a couple of times, and it reminded me that I once watched a tv show of the same name when I was little. It used real B-17s and stock footage of aerial combat to recreate Air Force bombing missions in Germany. The main thrust of the show, however, was always a classic dramatic conflict having to do with the crewmen, and the effects of warfare in general. Most of that probably didn't register with me as a five year old, but I always remembered watching that show with my Dad, and I always remembered the airplanes (and the incredible stock footage).

So I'm glad I finally found the entire series available, albeit on Youtube, but the prints are perfect and I'm gonna keep watching, with fingers crossed that it stays up.

Here are the earliest tv shows I can recall watching :

Chuck Jones the Magic Man. Look him up, he was a young magician who had an afternoon show on KCOP 13, and in between magic tricks he would show cartoons, like Felix the Cat. This must've been around 1963/64).

The Patty Duke Show

Flipper

Hazel, starring Shirley Booth

Secret Agent (starring Patrick McGoohan, with the famous Johnny Rivers theme song, which has one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time).

This is all before 1965, before I entered kindergarten.

I think it's interesting and important to go back and revisit your earliest memories, and those that have struck you throughout your life, be they big ones or only the most minute of details. It's interesting because it blows your mind to remember (and therefore relive) something you'd long forgotten, but even more so it's important because it demonstrates to you the Always Living Elasticity of Time.

Time is alive, and it's not linear. It's good to think back, because every single moment of your life is in your head, and those moments are time. So when you think about your past, and you jump around and reminisce about one year, or another, you can keep your whole life alive all at once, and in different compartments, etc.

It's more than just an exercise in nostalgia. It's really about being in tune with your Entire Self, and Who You Are.

Sometimes, the littlest things, the smallest memories will take you on a journey you never would have imagined, things that come up from your brain that make you think - "how could I have remembered that"?

The power of memory is the power of your life.

That's all for tonight. See you in the morning and don't forget the David Lynch Weather Report.

I love you, Elizabeth and I hope you had a good day.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxo  :):)

Books, Mysteries, Thrillers, True Crime & More 60's Pop Classics

 Wow SB, that is some serious book pounding - 500 pages in three days. Must've been a real page turner! Sorry I wasn't able to come up with more recommendations. Too bad my Mom isn't around; she read a ton of mysteries and could've named you dozens. Her favorite author was Ruth Rendell. You may be looking for something more contemporary, I don't know. Stuff like "Gone Girl"? I'm just guessing. I'm more of a horror guy, but I did read some good thrillers a couple years ago that were recommended by Stephen King. On was the Lou Bernay I mentioned, and then I read two others that took place in Boston. They were crime fiction, but the writing was outstanding, yet for the life of me I can't recall the author's name. I'll have to do some Googling. But I learned about him from King, too. For a while, SK was doing a lot of recommendations on Facebook, which is how I discovered Paul Tremblay, the best horror writer since King himself. 

I have read other authors in the past, and about 20 years ago I was on a Dean Koontz kick. He is more supernatural than horror, but with an almost metaphysical tinge. Koontz is weird, hard to categorize, but boy does he have some writing chops. I remember thinking that he is a master of sentence construction, that every line he wrote was like a polished diamond. Because even King, as much as I love him, could go on and on in his early books, and not quite hone things down. Now he does so, but Dean Koontz was always a master of that kind of precision. 

I also love True Crime, and in that department I must reiterate that you can't beat "Norco '80", maybe the best True Crime book I've ever read. It reads like a thriller, that's for sure, and in the long run it will go down as a classic book of any genre.

And I used to love Ann Rule, who was The Queen of True Crime. More recently, I've read "I'll Be Gone In The Dark", a bestseller by Michelle McNamara about the horrible Golden State Killer.

Stephen King has his own excellent crime fiction series, the three "Mr. Mercedes" books. 

I've also read every book on the Manson Family and tons of serial killer stories, but - yikes! - that kind of stuff can get pretty gruesome, so ya have to have an Inner Homicide Detective in you to proceed, and I've mostly gotten those books out of my system. After reading about BTK, I'd had enough, with the occasional exception since that time. 

More great songs from the '60s! Singular songs, with original, dynamic melodies.

"Happy Together" - The Turtles

"Incense and Peppermints" - The Strawberry Alarm Clock

"Green Tambourine" - The Lemon Pipers

"I Love You More Today Than Yesterday" - Spiral Starecase

"Venus" - Shocking Blue (released in 1970)

Regarding "I Love You More Today Than Yesterday", while I was in choir (which seems like a long time ago), I used to tee that song up on Youtube when getting ready for a particularly difficult church song, like at Christmastime. We had a very small choir, so each voice would stand out, and there was nothing you could hide behind. So if we had a song with some extremely high notes, I would sing along to Spiral Starecase, whose song was a gigantic hit in 1969, and whose singer Pat Upton had perhaps the greatest tenor voice - at least on that one song - in all of pop music. 

The thing about 1960's Pop Music was that every song sounded different. Maybe that was what was great about having so many One Hit Wonders, and so many producers working with them. It became like 31 Flavors. Every song was like a a different scoop of ice cream.

Well, that's all I have for tonight. I hope you had a good day. I love you, Elizabeth!

See you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

The Hit Songs of The Association (classic three minute pop)

 Happy Late Night, Elizabeth. I hope you had a nice day and that your project is coming along well. I am gonna guess that it's another commercial for Sound Devices, and if so, they are lucky to have such a lovely and personable spokeswoman. :):)  (a national campaign is in order, magazine print ads, etc.)

Pearl and I had a good day too, going on a walk around the neighborhood (by which I mean a wheelchair push, of course). For this work cycle, I brought along my dvd collection of Buster Keaton shorts, so tonight we watched the very first one he ever made, called "The Butcher Boy". It's actually a Fatty Arbuckle film - Buster only has a brief appearance - but it's hilarious. I first saw it when Professor Tim screened it as part of our Keaton retrospective a few years ago at CSUN. "The Butcher Boy" was made in 1917, so it's over 100 years old, but some of the physical comedy would not be out of place on Saturday Night Live, and the thing is, Fatty Arbuckle was a riot. He was a comedian way ahead of his time, and when "Butcher Boy" gets crankin' in the final ten minutes, it's positively insane.

Tonight I am thinking about the three minute pop format, especially that of the 1960s, when a songwriter or songwriters could create a vivid and colorful tune, by getting right to the point, which is what you've been doing in your latest songs. In three minutes, and often less, a lot can get done musically, and a lot can be said lyrically.

I've been thinking about hit singles that influenced me during the '60s, when I was listening exclusively to Top 40 Radio, and one group in particular that I've always remembered was The Association. They came along about 1967, and they weren't Hippies or trendsetters. Although they had a '60s look, you could even say they were a bit conservative, compared to everything else that was happening. But they had several songs that hit the Top Ten, each of which sounded unique and inspired, and most of all different from all the other music on the radio. The Association was an extremely polished group, and though they didn't make a worldwide impression beyond their four hit songs, each song was a gigantic hit, and each was so well constructed and recorded that they remain classics to this day.

The songs were : "Windy", which had a huge influence on little me, not just because of the melody and hook, but because of the sound. The sound of this song typifies the sound of pop in 1967, only this song sets the standard. "Windy" was one of my favorite songs of the 1960s.

Then they released "Cherish", which is a blueprint for a classic love song. That one was ultra-romantic and lush, and maybe a little too deep, emotionally, for a seven year old. But it sounded great, and that's all that mattered. 

Their next one I liked even better : "Never My Love". The Beach Boys at their best would've been jealous of this tune, and again, it is an absolute statement of what can be done in the short pop format. 

Finally, The Association had a hit with "Along Comes Mary", which was more propulsive and less finely crafted, bit all in all a good song too.

Well, so there you have it. Just a few musical thoughts for tonight. At their best, The Association were as good as it gets in pop music.

I love you and will see you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Disaster Relief (for Elizabeth)

Elizabeth! Glad to have you back. :):) I figured you must be working on something, and it appears I was right. It goes without saying that you look positively stunning in both your live clip and your self portrait with the mixers, except that it doesn't go without saying because I have to say it! You also have a nice speaking voice, which I may have mentioned before, maybe when you made your video for Sound Devices.

So watcha filming? Also, I hope it's okay that I've been sending my little comments via Instagram. Hey, I've got a lot to say, lol, and I can't contain it all here! :):) 

I know you are famous for being a One Woman Production Company, but if you ever do need an assistant, I'm the man for the job. My first order of business will be to wire the Governor to apply for "disaster relief" for your apartment, which will be used to fund your next project.

And so on, and so on. (sneaky but legit)

Also, as a neat freak, I am good at keeping cords from turning into spaghetti, tripods in alignment, etc. Ahh, but then I'd be defeating the purpose. But, don't forget I do dishes. That alone is worth having me on hand.

I'm sorry I haven't written the past couple of days. I've been back at Pearl's since Monday, and back into my work routine, so I haven't had much to report. Things are good, Pearl is doing well. We watched a car chase on the news tonight, always exciting. The weather is still hot, we always do an Indian Summer here, and it lasts till mid-October. 

I am listening to the new Sparks album, "A Steady Drip Drip Drip", I am finishing up Pete Way's book and beginning Christopher Fulton's "The Inheritance", which has to do with JFK and which I may have already mentioned. 

To quote Eric Clapton, "You look wonderful tonight". I hope your recording went went well, and I am very glad to see you. I will post more tomorrow.

I love you, Elizabeth!  oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox  :):)

The Importance of Lyrics (plus Terrible Mosquito Bites Today.......man they're horrible)

Tonight is my last night at home for the next several weeks, as tomorrow begins a new work cycle that will last until October 13th. I had a nice end-of-Summer hike yesterday, to the top of The Slide at Santa Susana, but then this morning was no fun, as I awoke with the worst set of mosquito bites I've ever had. Ten of 'em, all up and down my left arm and hand, and they were big (still are as I write). I don't know what it is about the Skeeters this year, but they must be on steroids because this is the second time this Summer I've gotten these Industrial Strength bites, and en masse,  too. Used to be, you'd get a mosquito bite, maybe even three or four, and they'd itch a bit, maybe be the size of a dime, and then you'd forget about them. This is something entirely different. The bites I've gotten this year are the size of a half dollar - they're yoooge! - and both times there's been a ton of them, and worst of all - the itching sensation has been freaking godawful. It felt like my arm was on fire. I put some Witch Hazel on the bites, which after a while reduced the itching to a prickly heat, but I am here to tell you - to testify! - that, whatever you do, you must avoid the mosquitos this year. Forget the Murder Hornets; they've got nuthin' on the Nuclear Powered Itch of the 2020 Skeets.

Well, writing about Black Sabbath the other night got me to thinking about Geezer Butler, the band's chief lyricist. A lot of fans know that he wrote all the words, but a good many others may not be aware of it. After all, quite often in rock 'n roll the lyrics are written by the singer, and because Ozzy has such an identifiable sound - meaning that his voice is perfectly suited to Sabbath's music (the words and his vocal inflection go hand in hand) - a lot of folks probably assume he writes the words himself : scary words, scary voice. But no, it's always been Geezer (and in Ozzy's band it was Bob Daisley for a long time).

That got me to thinking again, because we all know Geezer Butler as a great bass player, but do we know him as a great lyricist? First of all, is he a great lyricist? I think so, and as I considered the matter last night, I became convinced of it. I mean, yeah, he wrote some tossed-off stuff like "Fairies Wear Boots", or cliche stuff like "Warning" off the first album ("I was born to love you, baby"), but he also wrote a lot of very serious, very topical and heavy duty words to songs like "Spiral Architect", "Killing Yourself To Live", "Hole In The Sky", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and "Symptom of the Universe", just to name a few, not to mention the hey-politicians-in-your-face "War Pigs". While it's true that Neil Peart is the most famous (and deservedly so), non-singing and non-guitar playing lyricist in rock, Geezer Butler is no slouch himself and should be similarly regarded. He's really good, but he's such a low key guy that he's gone under the radar all these years. I think it's time to include him among the great lyricists in the history of rock, even though he doesn't specialise in love songs or typical rock fare.

Considering Geezer Butler got me to thinking even further, and I thought, "y'know, everyone talks about their favorite bands, favorite singers or favorite instrumentalists, but you don't often see lists of people's favorite lyricists". Of course, when asked, many famous musicians will cite Bob Dylan or John Lennon, or Leonard Cohen, but when you get past the usual suspects, it's not normally a topic of discussion.

But because we love lists here at the blog, and because we utilize them when we have nothing else to write about, we will tonight make a short list of favorite lyricists. or wordsmiths if you will. Please keep in mind that I am not ranking them in the way I would guitar players or keyboardists. A guitar solo moves me in a different way than words do, and - for me at least - it's easier to enumerate "favorite guitar players" than it is to do so for lyric writers. Guitar has always hit me right in the gut, whereas words I have to think about (at least the more thoughtful lyrics), so at any rate, without further blathering, here are some of my favorite lyricists, in no particular order.

Neil Peart

Jon Anderson (who could ever come up with his stuff?)

Geezer Butler

Bryan Ferry (listen to "Song For Europe")

Alice Cooper

Peter Gabriel (with Genesis)

David Bowie

Nick Drake

Todd Rundgren

Jimmy Webb (classic pop songwriter of the '60s)

Joni Mitchell (just recently appreciated)

Pye Hastings (Caravan)

Polly Samson (David Gilmour's wife, who wrote the words to "The Division Bell")

The team of Holland/Dozier/Holland (who wrote all The Supremes songs)

Phil Mogg of UFO (he wrote miniature stories in a hard rock context, pretty unique)

Bill Nelson

Ron Mael

Rob Halford

Doug Pinnick

and of course John and Paul.

Having mentioned them, it's important not to forget the famous National Lampoon headline, circa 1978 :

"John Paul named Pope; George Ringo miffed".

But yeah, so there's a sampling of some of my favorite lyricists. It's just off the top of my head, and I no doubt forgot some great ones, but a guy like Peter Hammil is always at the forefront of my brain when I think about great lyric writers.

Who are some of your favorites? Take a few minutes to think about it. Of course, there are many writers who've written a handful of great songs, but did not have a prolific output. Consider David Coverdale, who wrote the words to "Burn" by Deep Purple, which to my mind is the quintessential hard rock song. Those are great lyrics in that context. Then he wrote the classic DP ballad "Soldier of Fortune". But after that, he kinda went the cliche route with Whitesnake.

We could get into singer/songwriters like Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel only, not his solo work), or Gordon Lightfoot, or Don McClean. Or how about Carole King, who was a great songwriter in general, even before she became a solo artist. How about Laura Nyro? I was only eight years old when "Wedding Bell Blues" was a hit, but I've always remembered the words.

So there you have it. What words strike you in a lasting way? It could be anything from the simplest pop to the most philosophical folk music. And there's a lot of great music with great words, but they go right by you because the music is leading the way. That is the case with some metal music. Tom G. writes some great words, but because his accent is nearly indecipherable and because his music is so dramatically heavy, his words kind of get lost in the mix.

Anyhow, think about lyrics, and how important they are. If you're just writing a typical rock song, maybe all they have to do is rhyme and fit in rhythmically. And that can be good too. But think about the lyrics that take you deeper..................what are the songs (and writers) that do that for you?

That's all for tonight. Elizabeth, I hope you had a nice weekend. I'm thinking about you as always.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

My Introduction To The Music of Black Sabbath in 1972, by my friend Mike

Well, we just had an earthquake about a half hour ago, epicentered in Rosemead about 40 miles from here. It wasn't major - just a 4.6 - but it was still strong enough to be a little scary, mainly for the same reason most quakes are scary: because you're wondering if they're gonna get worse. You'll notice I said "most quakes". The exceptions are quakes that start off worse. That was one thing about the Northridge Quake; you didn't have to wonder if it was gonna get worse; it began that way.

Anyhow, I've had enough of quakes for the moment. But hey, at least the smoke has cleared. It was great to hear David Lynch forecast his usual "blue skies and golden sunshine" once again, and I went up to Aliso for a nice hike in the late afternoon.

Just for something to do, I am gonna write about music again, this time to name a musical influence on me who came along even before Pat and the gang at College Records. That would be my late friend Mike Bellamy. I include his full name because he is no longer with us, and because he deserves it, being that he was a great guy in all respects. I should preface my comments to say that I was already a rock n' roll aficionado when I met Mike in 1970. I was ten, he was 18 months older. But I'd grown up listening to Top 40 radio. I knew every single song in the 1960s. If it was played on KHJ, I knew it, and likely by heart. And of course I began my listening career with The Beatles when I was not yet four years old. So by age twelve, I knew a lot of music. But I didn't yet know the kind of hard rock that was emerging in the 1970s. And that was because I didn't have a lot of albums, only a handful by Three Dog Night and The Beatles, and maybe a Monkees lp or two. Most everything I owned, up to that point, was 45 rpm singles, songs that were played on AM radio. They were all I could afford with my allowance, and besides, I did my music shopping at Sears and JC Penney. I didn't know anything about actual record stores at the time.

But Mike was a grade ahead of me. He was also studying violin, and his Mom wouldn't allow him to come out of the house unless he'd done his practicing for the day. One day, though, I was over at his house - I'm guessing this was about Fall 1972 - and Mike had two records he wanted to show me : "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath and "Machine Head" by Deep Purple. As an aside, I should note that "Paranoid" was released exactly 50 years ago today, September 18th 1970, which was also the same day Jimi Hendrix died.

But yeah, Mike had those records, and he loaned them to me, telling me to go home and listen to them. By way of describing their music, he likened Black Sabbath to "truck drivers". I've never forgotten it because it was "so Mike". Even as a kid, Mike admired tough guys, and in the band photo on the "Paranoid" album cover, Black Sabbath look pretty tough indeed, like guys you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. Mike thought of truck drivers in the same way, and so that's how he described the band and their music : "These guys........they're like truck drivers".

That was my introduction to Heavy Metal, courtesy of Mike. "Music as made by Truck Drivers". Mike knew I would get what he was saying, and now that I think about it, what are all boys given as toys, but Tonka Trucks? Or at least they were when I was a kid. So perhaps Mike was making a subliminal reference, but probably not, as he really did look up to Tough Guys of all kinds.

And boy did Black Sabbath's music sound tough. "Paranoid" was the first album I ever heard by them, and I just now looked up the track listing. 

"War Pigs" is the first song on the album. So that would be the first song I ever heard by Black Sabbath.

Now, fifty years later, that song has been played to death and none of us care if we ever hear it again, because it's not particularly musical. For instance, it doesn't have the melodic staying power of "Stairway To Heaven" which has been similarly overplayed.

But good Lordy Moses is it ever brutal. And Holy Smokes is it ever a political statement. Imagine wriring a song called "War Pigs" at the height of the Vietnam War. The song sounds demonic, and the vocalist sounds like a witch.

Nowdays, we all know Ozzy as a beloved cartoon character of a Rock Star, but try to imagine hearing that song for the first time, almost fifty years ago, with it's leaden, bottom level notes and slow droning riff. And then the high pitched, frightening vocal and accusatory lyrics. "War Pigs"! Talk about speaking truth to power.  

To say it was a game changer for me musically is an understatement.

So that was one of the two albums Mike loaned to me that day, in Fall 1972, when I was twelve and he was going on fourteen.

I will try to do "Machine Head" tomorrow, or soon. 

How important is music in the world, and in our lives?

For me, it's been almost my whole life.

See you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Looking Good + Hiking Is Back + Prog List

That was a nice picture of you this morning, Elizabeth. You woke up feeling fancy - I like it! I've gotta try that one of these days, cause I'm usually a jeans and t-shirt guy, although I did dress fancy for church, but then it was always covered up by my choir robe, haha. But yeah, I like that combination you are wearing, and it looks like you have shoes or boots to match your skirt.

(wait a minute.......what am I, a fashion expert all of a sudden?) 

Doggone right I am! It's easy when I have the SB at my side (cause you always look good).  :):)

I hope you had a nice day. The smoke has partially cleared here, enough to bring the air quality index (AQI) back down to moderate levels. You can actually see the mountains again, so today I went to O'Melveny Park in Granada Hills for a hike. Hadn't been there in many months, so it was good to be back and I took a few pics, one is posted on FB. Yesterday I went up to Aliso for my first hike since the fires began. It looks like the air will continue to clear, so things are getting better. 

I am reading Pete Way's book : "A Fast Ride Out Of Here : Confessions of Rock's Most Dangerous Man". Pete was the bass player for UFO, one of the great hard rock bands of all time. He died recently at age 69, but his book is a great read, and I was fortunate enough to see UFO on one of their first US tours, in September 1975, at the Starwood Club in Hollywood. I think I already mentioned that a few blogs back.

Tonight's album was "The Missing Piece" by Gentle Giant, the first of their so-called "commercial" records, but it sounds incredible to me. 

Now, I will list my Top Twenty Favorite Prog Bands, just for something to do. Individual artists are also included :

1) Emerson Lake and Palmer

2) Yes

3) Genesis (up to "Wind and Wuthering")

4) King Crimson

5) Gentle Giant (who I am tempted to put in the #3 spot)

6) Van Der Graaf Generator/ Peter Hammil

7) Camel

8) Rick Wakeman

9) Utopia/ Todd Rundgren

10) Caravan

11) Mike Oldfield

12) Strawbs

13) Porcupine Tree/ Steven Wilson

14) Moody Blues 

15) UK

16) Tangerine Dream

17) PFM

18) Marillion

19) Soft Machine

20) 7th Wave

That's all for tonight. Sleep well and I will see you in the morning!

I love you, Elizabeth.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)  

  

Tagging Butterflies

 So that's super cool that you are tagging butterflies, Elizabeth. How are you involved in it, as part of a nature group? I read that you can also do it as an individual citizen, you can order your own butterfly tagging kit, so maybe that's how you're doing it. But it's a really great thing to do, except I imagine you'd have to be very delicate in handling the butterflies, which no doubt you are.  :)

Just now I found a website called monarchwatch.org, where there is a page headlined "Tagging Monarchs" that explains the whole procedure. It says "each Fall we distribute more than a quarter million tags to volunteers across North America", so maybe you are a volunteer in a program like this one? The subject is new to me, though I know that butterflies are indicators of all kinds of environmental conditions.

That's a very thick and very tall patch of sunflowers you are standing in, and I can see that you're holding what must be a butterfly net.

I hope you were able to tag a few!  :):)

I don't know how many Monarchs we have out here, I see a few here and there (in suburbia), but every few years, especially in recent times, whenever we've had a big rainy season, after it's over and the sun comes out, we've gotten these swarms of small butterflies called Painted Ladies. I've probably even mentioned them, maybe last Spring. They come up from Mexico, and they are all over the place for about a week or so. I remember just being on a CSUN walk and they'd fly by like a cloud.

Well, the smoke dissipated a little bit today, enough so that I was able to go for a walk this evening. Earlier, I was reading my book "The Temple of Man", written by Rene Schwaller de Lubicz, aka The Most Obtuse Author of All Time, and in one of his more lucid paragraphs he described something called a Nilometer, which was an architectural structure built into the walls of the Nile River, to measure it's depth. Part of it was a staircase, with which to gain access below the waterline, and then there were markers, chiseled into the side walls in stone, that showed how high the water had risen during periodic floods. You can Google the images of the Nilometer, but it's another example - and an early one - of measuring indicators of climatology.

Best of luck for tomorrow if you are tagging more Monarchs!

I'll see you in the morning. I love you, Elizabeth.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Late Summer Thoughts

 Elizabeth, your pictures tonight look like they're from a different section of the field. In the first photo, the view looks elevated, so maybe you are on top of a hill. Maybe that's the back end of the woods in the distance? And the spot in your second photo, with the flowering shrubs, is beautiful. It looks like a very large open space, so nice and green. As I mentioned in my note, I too love late Summer, and I love the month of September (except when it meant Back to School, haha), because - out here at least - we get some of the hottest days of the year, which I love of course. But you also get that change of light as we head into Fall, and you begin to anticipate Halloween season......

But it really goes deeper than that, and it's something I'd have to really think about before trying to identify it. The Heart of Summer is easy to identify : July 4th, blazing sun, booming fireworks, going to the beach or the lake, cookouts and campfires.......that's the image, anyway. For us artistic types, we may not always go to the beach or the campfire; we tend to pursue the same things all year round, creative things that come from within as opposed to just partying with the crowd. But it's the feeling in the air that I'm talking about, and when it's Fourth of July, that feeling is easy to put your finger on, because everything is bright and colorful, and the days are long, and the feeling is Fun in the Sun. 

But when Summer begins to ebb, that's a harder one to spell out. Stephen King uses late Summer as a setting in many of his books, and he can set the scene better than I, not just in a horror context, but in the way it acts as an undercurrent in the human psyche.

Here in the Valley, I also love to take pictures at this time, because that's when I get some of my best Summer Colors, as I call them, which out here are mostly golden browns and rust red, because everything is dried out. We only get green hills for a few weeks in Spring, but I do love my late Summer Colors. The only problem this year is these doggone fires. We've had this pall of smoke hanging overhead for a week now, and I start getting a headache if I'm outside for too long, so I can't go on a hike. Hopefully it will clear soon. It sure was awesome to see the vulture last week, so I can't wait to get back out there for whatever surprises are in store.

I think it's all psychic, what Nature has to show us, besides the visual aspect. It's something that goes incredibly deep inside of us, because this is our home, this planet. So when we're out on the trail in late Summer, we can feel something, but it's hard to pin down if we try to articulate it. 

Without getting too cosmic, I think it has something to do with Eternal Life, because this is our home, and the processes of the Earth seem eternal, and we cannot imagine not being here.

The birds seem to know it. So do the squirrels. And they know it automatically, without thinking about it. That's why I like watching them when I'm out there. :):)

I like to continually have one foot in each world, the physical and the spiritual. And I know you do too.

I'll see you in the morning, my love. Sleep tight.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Moog Master Hank + Smoke + Love & Music

 Elizabeth, I have to ask : Is that a Mini Moog behind Hank, in the picture you posted today? It sure as heck looks like a synth of some kind, specifically a Moog (with all the connecting wires), and there's a also a blue box next to it, maybe a mixer of some kind or effects box. I didn't notice it at first, because in Instagram Stories the picture goes by pretty fast, but after looking at it a few times, I noticed the background, and I was like "whoa! That's a Mini Moog"! Then I thought : "wait a minute, are you telling me Hank plays a synthesizer"?

Lol, just kidding. But I did think, "well, maybe he's not your Mom's cat after all", unless your Mom has a synth in her living room. If you remember, that was my guess upon seeing Hank for the first time, that he belonged to your Mom. But now I'm changing my guess to Anna, because I remember from your videos that her music has an electronic element, so that's gotta be her setup, am I right? (and now I'm not so certain it's a Mini Moog, because as I recall, they don't have wire ports, just dials and keys. But it still looks like a Moog of some kind).

Well anyhow, it's totally cool! I should mention that I'm a huge (pronounced "hyooge") Mini Moog fan, because of the unique sounds it gets, and because two of the greatest rock keyboardists, Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson, used it a lot in their music. I may have even mentioned Rick Wakeman's new album, and that he plays a ton of Mini Moog solos on it.

Now I'll have to include Hank in that group, of the greatest synth players of all time.  :):)

I hope you had a nice day. We are still doing the Smoke Filled Sky thing here in Southern California, and all up and down the West Coast, so I stayed inside for most of the day. No hike for the fourth day in a row, but I did finish Paul Tremblay's "Survivor Song", a masterpiece of horror but decidedly not for the squeamish.

Very poetic, though, and poignant.

I did go on a CSUN walk earlier tonight, after checking the air quality index online. By that time, the AQI was at a "moderate" level, so I went out, but with my mask on, to be safe.

Tonight I am listening to a 1913 recording of "Parsifal" by Richard Wagner, released on CD by Naxos. The orchestra was conducted by Karl Muck, who was reputed to have been a great Wagnerian. The sound quality is, as you would imagine, less than stellar, but in a way it adds to the presentation, because you can hear the hiss and the clicks and pops of whatever the recording medium was at the time, perhaps a metal cylinder of some type. And the music itself is very expressive, so quiet and subtle, but coming from the composer's soul and being received as such by the listener. What blows my mind, is that it's still alive. That performance, from 1913, with all it's clicks and pops, comes into your ears as you listen and if you listen on headphones it goes directly into your head.............and it's as if you are there.

I love you and hope you had a nice evening (and something good for dinner, which I am certain you did). 

See you in the morning. I love you, Elizabeth.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Watercolors, Woods and Songs (for Elizabeth)

 Elizabeth, I'd say you're quite good with watercolors. I know I'm only going by a single painting, and I'm not trying to be a "yes man", but as I said in my Instagram message, the flowers look real. The colors are realistic, especially the dark brown of the center of the flowers (with a little bit of a black halo). They look good to me, and they look like the same kind of flowers that were in the cup in your pesto photograph. I'd call them daisies, though I don't know if that's correct. Daisies, or maybe small sunflowers. And, I am guessing they grow in your field across the street? That's why I also guessed that you picked them yourself, meaning the ones in the cup.

How long have you been painting anyway? Painting and drawing? A long time, I'd say. You show a lot of natural talent, but did you also take classes in school? You inspired me to get my sketchpad out, along with my Prismacolors. I won't be able to paint until I have a bigger place to live, but that will happen too. I haven't tried watercolors yet, but can you guess what I still have?

I still have one of my very first paintings, perhaps my first. It's a self portrait made in kindergarten, in 1965. It was made with the kind of paint used by children; tempura I think. Of course, all kids go through a fingerpainting exercise in grade school, usually in kindergarten. My self-portrait looks like what you'd imagine from a five year old, but the cool thing is that I still have it. My Mom saved it for me through the years, and it's survived two major earthquakes, several moves, and the fact that I wasn't even aware of it's existence until about 1998. So, it's cool to have, but I'm more proud of my later work, haha.

I liked your photos from earlier this morning, too. The flowers in the field are beautiful, and all in all it just looks like such a magical place -  a good place to go to and a good place to be. Is that your friend Anna in the second pic? It's great to be able to share such a place with a friend, and it's easy to see how special that field is, and the surrounding woods. The feeling of a place is everything, and it becomes more ingrained the more you visit. You come to know it, and it knows you.  :):)

I haven't been on a hike for the past few days because of the smoke in the air. As you probably know, California (and all of the West Coast) is on fire again. This never used to happen, but it happens every year now. And it can't be because of Mother Nature. The same rain has fallen for eons, and the same vegetation has grown, and become overgrown. And the same heat has dried it out, and the same high winds have been in effect. And of course there are fires every year regardless. But this annual spate of catastrophic fires is something new, and we need to figure out what is causing it and do something to prevent it. Then we'll be back to our "blue skies and golden sunshine, all along the way", in the words of our resident weatherman David Lynch. :):)

I have to again tell you that your song is superb. I listened to it many times today and it made me very happy. You sing about enjoying the moments in life, "no matter how small", and the thing is, those are very often the best moments of all. You have a quality in your voice, Elizabeth, that expresses everything you sing about in the most spiritual of ways. Please keep writing songs.

That's all I know for tonight, except for that I love you. See you in the morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

  

Your New Song (for Elizabeth)

Elizabeth, wow that is such a beautiful song. Your lyrics and vocal melody are exceptional, and it's the kind of thing everyone needs to hear right now. You are so right on in your message about happiness being a choice. Whoever told you that was right on the money, and as you say in your lyrics it's available to everyone. All you have to do is "go look for her yourself". This is what the world needs right now. I'm kind of speechless........you have such a lovely voice, and it's capable of really delivering the emotion in your words, and combined with your knack for melody, it brings on the goosebumps. You say a lot in a few lines, and I hope, hope, hope that you are developing (or have already developed) the section that you posted into a full song. Gotta "drill sergeant" you on that score, but in a good way. 

I can't reiterate enough - and will keep doing so - that you have great songwriting talent. Just one example that I liked from tonight's song is the way you personified Happiness. You begin by singing about it as a state of mind, but then you lyrically switched it to human form, in the line "go look for her yourself", and the switch is seamless. That's the mark of good writing. Then you continue in that way, and make another lyrical switch, this time temporal, where you sing of the subject (happiness) "she's living in the present". So you've taken happiness as a state of mind and turned her into a woman in the here and now.

That's some damn good writing, Elizabeth. That's the kind of songwriting-as-metaphor, and as storytelling, that all the best singer songwriters have done since the 1960s. 

I trust that you are planning, at some point, to record all your latest songs. Please tell me that tonight's song is either already finished or "in the works". I say that because it's brilliant, and right now it's only posted on Instagram Stories, where it will disappear in 24 hours. That cannot happen. It cannot be a temporary reflection. You've gotta finalise it. 

Girl, you have got to consider making an album of your songs at some point, even if it's a little ways down the line, and even if you haven't written or finished all the songs yet. You've just gotta do it, even little by little, no matter if it takes some time.  :):)

The thing is, you have a lot to say, and you have the musical talent to say it in a unique and beautiful way. Eventually, you could make a record combining your piano music with your current singer/songwriting. Wow, what an album that would be!

I hope you don't mind that I sent you a message on Instagram. I'm "koberdee" there, which I think I mentioned. So if you got a message from koberdee (named after the late, great Kobedog), that was me! First message I've sent you in a long time, but I had to, because I loved your song. 

I love you too ya know.

See you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Into The Woods, In Search of Minions (plus food, plus heat, plus music, for Elizabeth)

Elizabeth, I love it! You have sighted the elusive Minion, do I have that correct? "Rarely seen in the forests of the Great Lakes region". That settles it - we're gonna have to go creature hunting together. Between the two of us, who knows what we'll find next.  :):)

I hope you had a nice Labor Day weekend. Betcha made some good dinners! I've been eating light during our heat wave, making big salads with Tons of Veggies and either tuna or salmon, plus avocado and a little pepper jack cheese, with the ubiquitous chips and salsa on the side. When it gets cold, maybe we can make some soup? What is your favorite? One of mine is French Onion, and also Split Pea. But I love soup of almost any kind, so let's put that on the menu for the Winter.

Right now, however, it's anything but Winter. 

Yesterday was the hottest recorded day in the history of Los Angeles. The temperature reached 121 degrees in Woodland Hills, a town here in the Valley that's about eight miles from Northridge. Here in The 'Ridge it was 118, but the heat had a whole different quality to it this time. I ventured outside in the late afternoon, just to see what it felt like, and there was a weight to it, like an electrical charge. It was menacing, like that Twilight Zone episode where it just keeps getting hotter and hotter. I mean.......it was hot. Freakishly hot. 

It was hammer down hot.

It was too hot even for me, so except for my brief outdoor test, I stayed inside and read my books. I finished "Norco '80", which was absolutely riveting and may be the best True Crime book I've ever read. Having finished "Norco", I began another book I've recently gotten from the Libe, via their curbside service : "Survivor Song" by Paul Tremblay, the horror novelist who broke into the big time after being recommended by Stephen King. That's how I heard of him, in 2018, and after reading his last book, "The Cabin At The End Of The World", I went and got everything he'd ever written. That's how good he is. So King was right, and when "Survivor Song" was published I put myself in the Library queue right away. The weird thing is, Tremblay's book is about a pandemic, but it was written just before the coronavirus hit. He began it two years ago (and it's about rabies, not covid), but it's weird because even in the first chapter he's talking about quarantines and PPE.

I did end up going for a CSUN walk last night at 8pm. I've gotta get my exercise at some point, but it was still about 100 degrees at that time. Tonight is at least 20 degrees cooler, so at least we're out of the apocalyptic heat range for now.

My album for this evening was "Moon Shaped Pool" by Radiohead. They are another band that I'm gonna have to immerse myself in at some point, like I've recently done with Gentle Giant. In the case of Radiohead, I've listened to their albums from time to time, and I think I own just about everything they've ever put out, save for b-sides and Thom Yorke solo albums. At the turn of the Millennium, I played the heck out of them : "Kid A", holy smokes what an album, and "OK Computer", an all time classic. But I need to do a major study of them, because they are pretty incredible, if bleak.

Last night I listened to a very beautiful album called "The Geese and The Ghost" by Anthony Phillips, who was the original guitarist in Genesis before leaving them in 1970, before they hit it big. His musical influence on them, however, was huge. He writes in the style of what I imagine is English folk music from centuries ago, soft acoustic music played on 12 string guitar, and it sounds like something you would hear in an English forest in the 1500s. It's a quiet album, but very melodic, and it evokes a feeling of peace.

That's all I really know for tonight. I'm thinking about you, as always. I'll see you tomorrow morning, out in the field on the edge of the woods. I'll be near The Tree of Electronic Devices. See you there.

I love you, Elizabeth!   xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Plants & Runes & Wagner (for Elizabeth)

Elizabeth, I like how you have framed the view in your photo this morning, with your houseplant surrounding the camera. It's indicative of your love of nature.  :) That's a philodendron, am I right? We are trying to maintain an orchid at Pearl's, in her kitchen window. I am good with her patio plants, but I haven't had luck with orchids in the past. This one is doing something I hadn't heard of before : it's "sleeping", which means it's dropped all it's leaves and is dormant, supposedly for a couple weeks. I thought it had died, but then I Googled it, and it said no, orchids do that, they lose their leaves and "go to sleep". So we'll see if it comes back.

Do you like indoor vines? Something tells me you would do great with a vine plant trained around your living room. I also liked the cup of yellow flowers that was part of your pesto photograph; did you pick those yourself? (My guess is "yes") .......

Here's a question : do you still have your runes? Remember waaaay back, in the beginning (2012-13), when you were reading runes, and you also had a bowl, I don't remember the name of it but it was a ceremonial bowl of some type. The runes and the bowl may have gone hand in hand, I'm not sure. But I know you were adept at reading them in those days.  :)

It was an official Char-Broiler here today : 115 degrees. My air conditioner was barely hangin' in there. Thank goodness the power didn't go out. I did go for a CSUN walk earlier tonight around 9pm, the temp was down to the low 90s by that time, not too shabby. Tomorrow is Round Two of the upper level heat, but I must admit that it really doesn't faze me, at least when the humidity is not extreme, and it wasn't too bad today. In other words, I've felt worse days when it was only 100 or so, when the humidity was cranked up to Swamp Level.

I'm still listening to Bruckner, whose birthday was yesterday. You mentioned writing for strings and I hope at some point you will give it a go, even though it's no doubt a lot of work. Even if you don't do it right away, or even for a year or two, just plant that seed in your head and you will eventually do it (if you want to, that is).

In thinking of Bruckner, he and Mahler were hugely influenced by Richard Wagner, all three of whom I have discovered in the last ten years or so. Mahler and Bruckner built on what Wagner started, and Wagner wrote operas, not symphonies. But all the same, Wagner was maybe the first to really compose extended and very subtle movements for strings, so subtle that they really bring out the emotion in his music. When you listen to the instrumental sections of "Tristan und Isolde" or "Parsifal", you can hear what he is doing in this regard, and in that respect, when I have listened sometimes, I think he is the father of all movie soundtrack music, especially that of the melodramas of the 1950s. Subtlety is the key for that kind of music.

Well, that's all I know for tonight. And that I love you. See you in the morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo  :):)

I Saw A Vulture At Santa Susana (plus "Norco '80")

Wow, guess what I saw today at Santa Susana? A Turkey Vulture! He was just standing there, right in the middle of the trail, about a quarter mile into the park. I came around a bend and there he was, about fifteen feet away. I didn't know what he was at first, but could see he was a lot bigger than a hawk. And, he was black (hawks here are red). Then I noticed his bald head and long beak, and I thought "he's gotta be some kind of vulture or buzzard". He just kept standing there, so I held my position and slowly got my camera out. He let me take pictures for about two minutes before he finally flew away. His wingspan was about six feet, biggest bird I've ever seen in flight. He circled the area directly above me, going around three or four times, and I felt like a character in a Western movie, where the vultures are hovering over the man stranded in the desert. It was super hot today, 105 degrees, so maybe he came to the park expecting that, haha.

But it was so cool, an actual vulture! I've never seen one before, and now that I think about it, he's never seen me before either. It's kinda like the deal with Dave Grohl a couple weeks ago -  I walked past his studio looking for him, but he probably walks past my apartment, too, looking for me. But I wonder if Grohl has ever seen a Turkey Vulture? Next time he walks by, I'll ask him.

Well anyhow, I got some good pictures of him (the vulture, not Grohl), and Elizabeth, that's a good reason for you to unblock me on Facebook. :):)  I'm guessing you can't see my FB now, but if you unblock me, then you can see my photo of the vulture. And, you'll be able to see all my photos in the future, too.  :):)    (plus we can be Facebook friends again).

Tomorrow is supposed to be mega hot, like 112 or so, and then Sunday is supposed to be a rip-roasting 117. Dunno if I'll get out on any hikes, but you never know.

I've been reading a book called "Norco '80" by Peter Houlahan, the story of an infamous bank robbery in the town of Norco in Riverside County, about 75 miles from here. The robbery turned into a shootout that was so violent and one sided, in favor of the criminals, that it changed the way police armed themselves forever after. I first heard of the book when the Daily News began publishing excerpts last May. Reading them caused me to think back, and I thought, "oh yeah, I remember that case". I only vaguely remembered it, because it was 40 years ago, and it happened in another county, and I was twenty at the time, and fully immersed in my youth, but when I concentrated on the name of the town - "Norco", a somewhat catchy name - then I remembered. And it was horrible. Here in Los Angeles, we had another godawful bank robbery/shootout in 1997, known as the North Hollywood Shootout. That one was broadcast live on TV, and it remains legendary to this day. But in reading about Norco, it was far, far worse. I am a True Crime reader, and this is one of the worst things I've ever read about. But it's a page turner, and also one of the best True Crime books I've ever read.

Musicwise, tonight I listened to "The Power and The Glory" by Gentle Giant. Last night was Triptykon's "Requiem : Live at Roadburn", performed with an orchestra.

I hope you had a good day Elizabeth. I love you and will see you in the morning. I'll make breakfast!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Dinnertime (for Elizabeth)

Hi Elizabeth! Yeah, that's me knocking on your door. Sorry to come over unannounced, but once you posted the photos of your homemade pesto & pasta, I started getting very hungry. I don't suppose you have any extra? You do? Great, cause I'm starved. We can have dinner together, I'll do the dishes as always, and I brought a bottle of wine, too. So we're all set! Seriously, though, all kidding aside (even though I wasn't really kidding) - Man it sure looks good! I love pesto, too. Have you ever had it in an aioli sauce? Or on a pizza?

Now I'm working myself up again. But I like your restaurant! :):) You always have such a nice presentation of your meals, everything looks so good on the plate. Better make mine a double order. :):)

I hope you are enjoying the last weeks of Summer. I've finally gotten out on a couple of hikes, both at Aliso Canyon. I love the light quality at the end of Summer, it's angled a little bit so it's a tad softer and more golden. Good for photography! Hopefully I can get some good pictures soon. One thing I've been noticing is that we haven't had many spectacular sunsets this year. The sky is too clear; we need some clouds or jet contrails to add patterns and color.

Anyway, after I finish my hike I'll be back over for dessert! Then we can go for a nice evening walk, maybe do some painting afterward. :):) Or if you wanna work on music, I can be your assistant. Or I can just sit off to the side and read a book, and if you need an overdub of soprano recorder (a few notes sprinkled here and there), you can call me over and I'll be ready.

But if you keep cooking like that, I'll pretty much be over all the time. My stomach will be calling the shots and I'll have no choice but to obey. Next time, I'll try to call in advance, though.

But yeah......we could do everything together.

I love you.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)





x

For Elizabeth (capturing the melody is what's important)

Elizabeth, I like the melody you're working on in this morning's clip. You commented that you were only noodling but it sounded to me like you have a nice thread to build on. As for letting the synth samples play the chords, that's fine. When you're composing, it's all about getting the idea down. Later on, once the piece is written, then you can practice it to get the chords involved.

You already know anything I could tell you on the subject, but everyone uses some form of backing tracks to make demos, or just to jam to. Man, I recall when I used to practice alone years ago. I had an "old school" Roland Analog Delay, can't remember the model number but it was a classic, similar to their famous Space Echo, and I would play a few open chords, then adjust the delay so it would ring out in a nice rhythm. Then I'd have something to play over. Of course, that's what drum machines are for too, just to get the creative juices flowing and to make demos. Guitarists use those all the time when they write, plus bass lines too.

So yeah - use your string samples to your heart's content, because the most important thing is getting the musical idea out of your head so you can hear it being played. Use all the building blocks you need when you are writing, then when it's done you can work on the performance technique.

It's similar to writing a book. When you start, whether it's only with a single idea or with an entire concept, you just want to "get it all on paper" so it doesn't escape you. So when you write your first draft, you don't worry too much about perfect sentence construction or repetitive words or incomplete thoughts. You leave that stuff - the mechanical stuff - for second and third drafts. In a first draft you just furiously write your heart out to capture your inspiration.

Anyhow, as you also noted in your comment : "It still sounds good", and I agree. It sounds very good, and the important thing is just to get those melodies out of your head, so you can develop them into compositions. Also, it's good to record every idea you get, at least the ones you like, so that you have a "library of melodies" at your disposal. Who knows when one might end up fitting perfectly into a piece that comes along later?

Well, I'm telling you stuff you know, but I do it anyway.  :):)

I am writing from home, as my latest work cycle has ended and I am off for the next couple weeks. I will definitely get in some hikes this time, and take some pictures.

But just remember...Art Rules The World. And music is one of the greatest of the arts. That's just all there is to it.

I love you and will see you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)