June 30, 2024

 Howdy folks. Well, what'd you think? I realize the debate is old news by now, and there isn't much I can add to what's been said, but my first reaction - when it ended - was that I was shocked, not by Biden's performance but by the attitudes of all the TV pundits. Everyone on MSNBC was freaking out and I thought, "what's the big deal"? Everybody knew Joe has some degree of dementia (and many know he's had a lifelong stutter), and having been a dementia caregiver, I thought his delivery was about what was to be expected.

Beyond that, I didn't think it was all that bad. I saw these people on TV absolutely losing it, and I thought "what a bunch of whiners". If they had actually listened to what Joe said (or in some cases, tried to say), I thought he basically had Trump on the defensive all night. Trump was always coming from a negative position, having to defend the accusations Biden made, and while I won't pretend Biden had a great night, Trump's was just as bad, showing once again that he is the biggest A-Hole in America.

I am not generally a Gavin Newsom fan, nor a fan of VP Harris, but I thought both did a great job of backing Joe against pricks like Anderson Cooper, who were calling for Biden's head in post-debate interviews. Newson and Harris (surprise, surprise) showed true Marine Corp semper fi spirit, with fiery rebuttals to left-wing whining, and that's what Democrats have always needed: faithfulness and toughness.

Don't get me started on the subject of dementia. I was caregiver for 20 years and dealt with dementia in many stages in different people, and it grinds me down big time when people who likely know little to nothing about the disease start pontificating. Dementia is, in most cases, a long, slow process, and at no point does it interfere with a person's intelligence. One of my two upcoming books will deal with that subject, of how the human spirit (excuse me) trumps dementia every single time. And if you saw Joe Biden's speech the following day, at a campaign rally, he was fiery and competent. That is dementia also. There are many, many good days. I would say he can do the job for four more years, no problem. I would also say that his handlers over-coached him for the debate, which made his stutter prominent as he struggled to remember all their prompts and instructions. As Ben Meidas said (on The Meidas Touch, Youtube) "they should've let Joe be Joe", the same "c'mon, man!" Corvette driving, aviator shade wearing, ice cream cone slurping Uncle Joe that we all know and love.

And keep in mind that this is The Rightest Wing Man in America who is telling you all of this. Me, the guy who championed Biden in 2020, then denounced his administration after it went Woke and inflation soared. But I'll take Joe in a heartbeat over Donald Trump. I'll take Joe, dementia and all. He'll have good days and bad, mostly good for a long time, because a person with dementia is not always under the pressure of a debate stage. As Ben Meidas put it, "the Presidency isn't a series of two-minutes answers." In the Oval Office or the situation room, where Biden is comfortable, he can take as long as he likes (or needs) to mull over decisions, and again - and this is crucial to know about dementia - it does not affect a person's intelligence. So, to the pundits and whiners, I say "get off Joe's case". I thought he did okay in the debate. Not great, but Trump was just as bad, and all Trump did was lie and talk BS. So get off Joe's case, because no one can take his place at this late stage anyway, except Hillary, and she won't do it. Well anyhow...

 Having finished Stephen King's "You Like It Darker", I am now reading a fascinating book called "The New Science of Heaven" by Robert Temple, which deals with the little-known study of plasma physics. Among the researchers who work in that field, the concensus is that plasma, an ultra-fine and invisible form of matter made up of ions (in this case, incomplete atoms missing an electron) makes up 99% of all the matter in the Universe. This is in direct opposition to the conclusions of most 20th century physicists, who collectively stated that outer space is empty. As an aside, in reading the evidence, it seems to me that what they are now calling plasma (a coined word) was what was once called the aether (or ether). The aether (I prefer the esoteric spelling) is often associated with the spirit world, especially as the medium for the manifestation of spirits, and in the book, Robert Temple attributes the entire phenomenon to plasma, suggesting that the plasma world may constitute God and The Other Side all in an ionised state of matter. I, of course, would not accept such a generalised view (feeling it "too New Age") but Temple, being an astronomer, gets more specific. He begins by telling the reader about the Kordylewski clouds that lie on either side of the space between the Earth and Moon. Temple speculates that these plasma clouds have intelligence (don't scoff, just read the book), and to back up his assertion, he goes on to describe what is called "dusty plasma", how it generates atomic matter out of "nothing", how it spontaneously assembles into "clumps" which eventually become ultra-fine clouds in space, and how space contains "compartments" or cavities much like the human body has cavities for all its major organs. And the clouds (and any "dusty plasma" formations) have multi-faceted, non-linear (non-linked and independent), inner electrical systems consisting of filaments that act as wiring, much like the human brain has synapses that allow thought processes.

To me, all of this is intuitive, because I see the whole world as one big Spirit Volume. Temple talks about plasma because it is a new scientific discovery, but anyone with strong intuition can feel the spiritual world all around us, and as he shows, it is in fact The Larger World. Our material (or "atomic") world only accounts for 1% of the Universe. So the spirit world is all around us. All you have to do is feel it. 

Like anyone, I have experienced terrible grief when a loved one has crossed over to the other side, but that grief has always been ameleorated, after the passage of time, by the knowledge that the loved one in question has not left me in the slightest, but in fact is still here. Usually, that reassurance comes from the person themself. Our loved ones haven't "died", they've just gone invisible, into the Plasma State. And, they haven't gone inaudible! If you pay attention you can sometimes hear them subaurally. But you have to Want To, and it is important that you give your love for them free reign, for that is what was always wanted and hoped for, by God especially. 

Robert Temple goes on to talk about the phenomenon of ball lightning. I'm up to page 50, and this is where the book becomes a personal mindblower, because ball lightning, as a plasma, very closely resembles something I witnessed at the Wilbur Wash during that infamous incident in September 1989. I won't say too much, but Temple talks about the phenomenon of spontaneous-combustion, or self-combustion (i.e. people burning up while their clothes and even their skin remain intact). I've seen that happen, have personally witnessed it, and it was horrible - like the person got microwaved. But in this case, the plasma came from a weapon. It wasn't ball lightning. Temple theorizes that ball lightning may be a form of drone, like an "inspection device" for the Intelligent Clouds. Think of the countless "foo fighters" reported by airmen during World War 2, and keep in mind that I am condensing what Temple says for brevity. I heard about his book from Dr. Joe Farrell, who quoted Temple in his own mindblowing book, last year's "The Demon in the Ekur". Give both books a look if you want to get Way Out There, and don't forget The Way-Outs on The Flintstones...

In music news, I discovered a new band this week: Kraan, one of the few groups that slipped through the cracks at College Records, simply because the clerks didn't play 'em. Kraan is one of those German prog-rock bands like Can and Amon Duul who later became collectively known as Krautrock. They all got lumped into a pile, maybe because most of the bands had a jammy feel to their music as if they were still in the experimental stage or stuck in the '60s. It is true that Germany did not produce bands of the English caliber like Genesis, King Crimson and ELP, nor, in general, were they a match for the best of Italian prog: PFM, Le Orme, Banco, Locanda Delle Fate. But a couple groups rose above the German prog pack: Magma, and, as I have just discovered, Kraan.

For some reason, their name popped into my head when I was looking for something to listen to while reading. I've been on a Progressive Rock quest as you know, venturing into the far reaches. I've even tried to listen to Henry Cow for the nineteenth time (still a no-go), but this time my brain said "Kraan", and I said "what the hey" and I Youtubed them and found an album cover I remembered from College. It shows a pretty girl painted on a blue backround with the Kraan logo in red. Stamped over the girl's forehead is the wacky German album title: "Andy Nogger". Now, I don't know why anyone would name an album "Andy Nogger", but I clicked play, and within a minute I knew I had a winner. Man, these guys are good. The bass player is outstanding. They're labled as jazz rock, but that's not accurate, nor is Krautrock, though they do have both elements. But while they are groove-driven, the melodic, progressive factor is so strong that I'd put them closer to Soft Machine than Can, and more infectious than Soft Machine, who were not song oriented. I liked "Andy Nogger" so much that I put on "Wintrup" next, then after my walk I listened to Kraan's first album. Three great ones! A new discovery! And the thing is, I can see the cover of "Andy Nogger" sitting right there on the College Records wall. Why the fellas didn't play it, I don't know. They didn't play any of the German bands. Not polished enough, I guess. Well anyhow, I have to add all three albums to my Must Buy list, which is gonna take awhile because many of these recents CDs I've mentioned (like FM, Camel, et al) are rare and thus expensive (minimum 20 bucks ) and I have to be judicious with my spending. But boy, if you have some extra change and you are a progressive rock fan, check out Kraan. They aren't just another shroomed-out German jam band, but top-level musicians...

More music: This week, I got the new Alcest album delivered from Amazon: "Les Chants de l'Aurore" ("The Songs of Dawn"). I am always excited for a new album from Neige and Winterhalter, so I put it on immediately, and wow! I was transported back to 2012, when "Les Voyages de l'ame" was released. The music is reminiscent of that lighter period in the band's history, after the more recent and absolutely skull-crushing metal of "Kodama"(2016) and "Spiritual Instinct"(2019). When Alcest started out, they made records that focused mostly on their melodic side and "heavenly" vocals from Neige, sung in French. These dreamy melodies were laced with harder elements like black-metal riffing and drumming, and Neige's patented "harsh vocals", which are the screamed equivalent to Mikael Akerfeldt's death vocals in Opeth. In 2014, Alcest made a full-on "shoegaze" album called "Shelter" (the only one with an English title), which eschewed the harsh sound that made them famous. It was a good album but sounded forced to me, like an homage to Neige's heroes, the band Slowdive. When "Shelter" did not do as well as expected, he went in the other direction and delivered "Kodama" and "Spiritual" four years apart, two of the blackest black metal albums on record. On this new record, they've returned to their early sound, of lighter, layered chord voicings in the treble register, with Winterhalter pummelling in the background, and Neige's choral voice atop. But there are also moments you've never heard from Alcest before, like a piano ballad that made me think of Elizabeth. I'm fibbing a bit on that one, or underplaying it, because I always think of Elizabeth when I listen to Alcest, and it was she who covered "Autre Temps" on piano, and it was she who became a great artist in her own right, and now here is Neige doing his own piano ballad, but Elizabeth was first. She has no doubt long-since stopped reading this blog, but on the off chance, I say, as always, "you rule, Elizabeth!"

Last night I watched a Montgomery Clift classic: "The Heiress"(1949), for which Olivia DeHavilland won the Best Actress Oscar in the title role. She plays the spinster daughter of a wealthy physician in Washington Square, New York. The movie looks shot on location, but if not, the sets are fantastic. It looks like 1840s New York. The great Ralph Richardson plays Olivia's father, who sees his daughter as dull-witted and charmless, a Plain Jane by nature. At best, he patronizes her, but never compliments her even on her one talent, crocheting. On the other hand, her lively and kind Aunt Livinia, who lives with them, is always encouraging her to attend the social gatherings at which she (Livinia) is a butterfly. Olivia does her best to avoid the parties because she's shy and quite happy being that way, but her father reluctantly wants her to marry and Aunt Lavinia is happy to help.

At one of these outdoor dances, Olivia is introduced to "Morris Townsend" (Monty), an impossibly handsome young man who has just returned from Europe. He is well-spoken, outgoing, and fills up Olivia's empty dance card that night. She is flummoxed by the attention from such a good-looking beau, and Monty comes to the house to visit her the next day. Director William Wyler cuts to the chase at this point, and Monty is soon proposing to Olivia, who at first finds it hard to believe he really loves her. In an ingenious performance move, De Havilland physically leans backward, away from Clift, every time he gets close. She is very uncomfortable with romance and wonders why he likes her, especially because her dad has done everything he can to quell any expectations. He has kept her in her place for her entire life, promising her his wealth to inherit, as long as she doesn't cross him. Dad is the real villian here.

As for Monty, because of Wyler's camera angles, and the way he cuts Monty's scenes, we have a feeling Monty is a cad, but it's not 100% clear. Olivia's father takes an instant disliking to him, all because Monty tells a story of blowing his own savings in Europe and never having a real job. Dad thus considers him an "idler" and a "mercenary" towards his daughter, but it's not her feelings he really cares about, it's the affront of a slick suitor trying to get at her inheritance money, which is really his money. Dad sees Monty as trying to rip him off through his daughter, who he sees as a loser. And Monty may well be a cad, but it's for the individual viewer to decide. One of the great performances in the film is from Miriam Hopkins as Aunt Livinia. Hopkins went from a being a peer and competitor to Bette Davis to playing character roles, but she was a fine actress, and here she conspires with Monty not only to win over her neice Olivia but Olivia's father also. However, the latter is a cynic and not to be swayed. Toward the end of the movie, he loses his cool and tells his daughter what he really thinks of her: "No man would want you! You're dull and have no talent. So why has this handsome gent chosen you? For your money and only for that reason! He doesn't love you, no one could because youre unloveable!" It's a cruel assessment, and it hardens Olivia, who tells Aunt Lavinia that she shall never speak to her father again. She will marry Monty, and to hell with her inheritance. But when Monty hears about this, that there is no longer any money involved with the romance, he ditches Olivia and goes to California.

The movie turns here, and I won't reveal anymore, except to say that Monty has a rationale for his departure and ultimately tries to explain himself to Olivia. The final scene is one of the greatest in all of cinema. Go to the IMDB comments and see how many 10/10 ratings this movie has. It's a must-see, and one of the greatest acting movies of the Golden Age. I first saw it about 20 years ago (once again at my Mom's behest) and I have never forgotten the final shot and the final scene. This is one of my favorite Montgomery Clift performances because he treads the boderline between sincerity and phoniness. And, as always he's paired with an all star cast.  

That's all I have for the moment. In our next blog, if I am lucky I may have a "book report" for you. I've been tracking the delivery of my proof copy and it's now supposed to arrive by July 3rd. Fingers crossed! Thanks for reading and Happy 4th of July coming up.  

June 24, 2024

 Hi folks, and Happy Summer. I hope your's is off to a good start. I went to see Todd Rundgren on the Summer Solstice (June 20) at The Saban Theater in Beverly Hills. Grimsley went with. 'Twas a straight shot getting down there; no traffic on the 405 south at 6 pm, then a nice drive on Wilshire Boog through BH to The Saban. Free street parking, which always rules.

Todd went on at 8:10 and played until 10:17, 24 songs including encore. He never spoke to the audience except at the end, to introduce his band, which included longtime members Kasim Sultan on bass and backing vocals and Prairie Prince on drums. He also had a woodwind player for the first time, at least that I've seen him. Let's see...how many times have I seen Todd now? I guess the first time was with Utopia (on the "Ra" tour) at the Santa Monica Civic, which Google tells me was on April 7, 1977. That was when he had that big steel-framed pyramid on stage and he ascended it, while playing guitar, with the help of a grappling hook. Then I saw him solo (as Todd, with backing band) at his famous Roxy shows in May 1978. Those shows got turned into a live album ("Back to the Bars"), and I know I went to at least two of them (my photo of Todd shredding on guitar was taken at one of those Roxy shows). I next saw him at The Country Club in Reseda on December 29, 1981. Lilly was with me, and then we saw Ozzy with Randy Rhoads two nights later on New Year's Eve and went to the after-party, a legendary night to end a legendary year.

Google says that Utopia played The Country Club in November 1982. I was fully metallized by then, and I wasn't really following Todd or the band after they made "Swing to the Right", but I'm sure I saw that one. I never would've missed Utopia playing in Reseda. Still, I don't recall it clearly except for Roger Powell and his bank of synths. Lillian, did we go to that show?

After that, I didn't see Todd for over seven years, until January 17, 1990 at The Wiltern. I think he had a choir with him that time. Lilly was definitely at that show. Pat went with us. But then...

...I didn't see Todd Rundgren for 26 years! Holy smokes. Well, what can I tell ya. "Life, Yosemite" as Shecky would say, and he has the same birthday as Todd, so it's appropriate, and HBD to both on June 22nd.

But in 2016, Todd announced a free show at Pershing Square in Downtown L.A., so I went (with Grim), and I didn't know what to expect, because he'd been making these sort of "homemade", computer-based albums for many years, using a drum machine, all electronic, no guitar, but at Pershing Square he had a real band, and he played a mix of classic material and his post-1980s stuff, and all of it sounded incredible. He had this new green Strat that he's used ever since, which he absolutely wailed on. Most surprisingly, his voice sounded as good as ever, and he was 68 then. Last Thursday he was two days from turning 76 (and Shecky from turning 68).

At the Saban, he played an eclectic set, this time made up almost entirely of his newer material. Of the 24 songs, I only knew about ten, but everything sounded fabulous as always. I've seen Todd five times since that Pershing Square show: on New Year's Eve 2016, then again in 2017, 2018 (the Utopia reunion show) and 2019, and then at The Saban, so that makes about a dozen times all told (give or take). As far as live performers go, I've said to Grim that Todd is among the candidates to be The Last Man Standing; I think it'll either be him, Alice Cooper or Sparks...

Last night I watched Montgomery Clift in "The Big Lift"(1950), which is about the American airlift of food and supplies into postwar Berlin after the Soviets tried blockading the city. I'd seen the movie once before but had forgotten about the blockade. The Soviets were prepared to starve the citizens. Monty plays an Air Force sergeant assigned to the airlift, which is facilitated with C-47 Troop Carriers. He and Paul Douglas are among the few professional actors in the film. A screen card reads: "Everyone else in uniform is a member of the Unites States Armed Forces."

This is a great movie on so many fronts. We are shown much aerial footage of the C47s in action, particularly the hazardous landing approach they have to make onto a makeshift Berlin landing strip, coming in right on top of tall stone apartment blocks. 

Monty wants to see Berlin and is unhappy when told he has to stay on the tarmac with his  plane, which will make many return trips from the USAF base in England. It is clear that the Russkies want Germany for themselves, hence the attempted blockade of Berlin, but America has put its foot down and you really get a good overview of the reasons for the Cold War here, and in real-time 1950. However, the American radio press is in the city, wanting a story on the airlift. A host interviews Monty, who trades the request for pass to leave the airport. The radio host arranges to get him a leave, and while sightseeing, he meets the beautiful "Frederica" (Cornell Borchers), a war widow and part of a German women's group who wish to thank the American sevicemen who are bringing them food and medical supplies. Monty asks to see her again and soon falls in love. Paul Douglas plays a Polish-American sergeant, an expert air traffic controller (and this is another fascinating aspect of the film because they show you the real thing), who hates Germans because he was a prisoner of war. However, he too can't resist the pull of female companionship, and he has a "schatzi" on the side just like Monty does. The difference is that Douglas treats his gal the way Jackie Gleason treats Alice. His portrayal walks a fine line between bitter and sympathetic, but in the end his cynical eye saves Monty a lot of heartache. Monty's relationship with Frederica has them running around on a Berlin escapade: befriending a wacky Russian spy, hiding from Navy MPs. Monty ultimately wants to marry Frederica and bring her home to the US, but she has a secret that is ultimately uncovered by Paul Douglas.

The whole thing was shot on location in Berlin, so, as with "Judgement at Nuremburg", you see the utter destruction of a major German city.

While Monty doesn't have much to do dramatically (except at the end), this is one of my favorite of his movies. He's young here, and natural (like in "Red River"), and appears to be having a good time just making the movie. 

Besides him and Douglas, and the ladies of the plot (and the comedic Russian spy), there are dozens of interesting moments that belong to the amateur actors of the USAF and Navy. Half the movie is theirs, and all are great, especially in the numerous flying scenes. This is a movie that feels like you are living it as you watch. There is so much going on. We used to talk about "packing a script" with "a ton of stuff" when we watched our 60 minute westerns. They do the same thing here in a two hour movie. I think it's a classic, and a historical record also...

More music:  I got a very cool Youtube recommendation the other day for Spanky and Our Gang. Remember them? They were a Sunshine Pop act during the brief heyday of that subgenre, 1966-68, and they sounded like a combination of The Mamas and the Papas and The Association. I loved that kind of music as a 7 year old, and of course, so did the whole world (or at least the American pop market). You might remember the song "I'd Like to Get to Know You", and if you don't recall the title I guarantee you'll remember the melody and Spanky's vocal. Listen also to "Sunday Will Never Be the Same" or "Lazy Day", or better yet, watch Spanky and Our Gang perform all three songs on The Ed Simian Show. 1967 was an especially interesting year for pop culture, with flower power exploding. It was kind of an isolated year as the 60s go; it had it's own vibe. Whereas 1965 was marred by massive rioting and social unrest, and 1966 was better but the music was Dylanish and folkie, 1967 was the first psychedelic year, and that did not have to mean LSD. Watch Youtube clips from Simian and other shows. Look at the sets and clothing for clean-cut acts like Spanky or The Strawberry Alarm Clock, or Sonny and Cher. They look like something out of Alice in Wonderland. That was the 1967 Vibe: colorful clothes, love-ins, flower power, and Sergeant Pepper. What a great year, and without the introspection of '66 or the political unrest of '68. 1967 was a Pop Island, and groups like Spanky and Our Gang and The Association led the way. Speaking of the latter, I am a big fan of The Association, who were huge for about three years, and made some of the greatest pop songs ever conceived...

I've been reading Stephen King's new short story collection "You Like It Darker". First of all, I love how he has a statement for a title, and it's obviously directed at the reader. But on second glance, it may be a question (even without a question mark), because on the back cover he uses it as a tag line: "You like it darker? Fine, so do I." Meaning: : "Get ready for some very scary stories, even moreso than usual." One toward the end, entitled "Rattlesnakes", actually brings back a hint of Cujo the dog and is one of the most skin-crawling things he's ever written. There's also a great one called "Two Talented Bastids" involving aliens appearing before two hunters in a Maine forest. If you like short stories, you can't beat Stephen King. A little light-hearted reading for your Summer afternoons. I'm also looking forward to Paul Tremblay's "Horror Movie"...

And that's about all for tonight. Next time we'll have the debate to dissect and howl over. It should be a hoot. And it won't be long until Trump is sentenced, so we have that to look forward to, also (even though it will be appealled). And Lulu tells me I should be receiving the proof copy of my book between July 6th and 14th, so there's that, too. Stay tuned. 

June 18, 2024

Well, I did it. After much trial-and-error (and some tribulation), I uploaded my book to Lulu, and today I ordered a proof copy. That's the copy you order for yourself first, to "proof it" for any mistakes and make sure it looks good in it's printed form before you offer it for sale. The total cost, with shipping and tax, was 32 bucks (yikes), but that's about what was expected, and it's a long book with a beautiful cover so you'll get your money's worth and remember: it's only the cost of two fast food meals, so if you skip those you'll come out even. Hopefully I will receive my proof copy in the mail in a week or so, and if everything looks good, I will post a link here at the blog where you can buy it if you wish. We will call that the "soft launch", just for folks here at the blog. I will give you the book's title and a synopsis then also, once I confirm the quality of the proof copy. Fingers crossed more than ever! After the "soft launch" (similar to a "soft opening" for a Disneyland ride), I will be setting things up as best as possible for an "official release date", which will be in late August for a specific reason. That will give me about two months to make a Facebook page and anything else I can think of. As mentioned before, my first goal is to sell 100 copies, then jump exponentially to 1000. That's not easy because I don't know 1000 people (heck, I'm not sure I even know 50, even counting acquaintances and friends of friends and friends of relatives), so the key will be just one or two people buying from out of state, or even just people who don't know me, and then word-of-mouth from there. The hardcover is expensive, so I'm not expecting a bestseller (until I get to the paperback next year, lol), but if I can sell 100 hardcovers....as Paul McCartney said, "That Would Be Something", and since today is Sir Paul's birthday, I feel that is serendipitous.

So, enough fanfare. I will let you know when I get the proof copy, and I will then give you the Lulu purchasing link and a synopsis. The book ultimately came in at 442 pages, and as noted, I've put my all into writing it. It's fun, it's weird, it's heartfelt and I hope you like it.

The blogs of late are mostly music, which I realize might be boring if you aren't a progressive rock fan, but we must press on. Sooner or later there will be other things to write about. 

Recently, I listened to Triumvirat's "Illusions on a Double Dimple" for the first time in at least 30 years. When it came out in 1974, we all thought it was an instant classic, even though the band sounded like an ELP clone. I liked their follow-up, too: "Spartacus"(1975), but then Triumvirat slowly dropped off my radar, and if you had asked me ten years ago what I thought of "Dimple", I'd probably have said it wouldn't be as good as I remembered (because of the ELP clone-thing), but do you know what? Having just re-listened, I think it is a good album. It does hold up 50 years later (holy smoke, a freaking half-century), and the reason is that it just plain sounds good. Is it worthy of being called an all-timer? Perhaps not. But it holds up, and the group's leader, keyboard player Jurgen Fritz, wrote the music when he was 20 years old. I liked "Double Dimple" enough to revisit "Spartacus", and it, too, stands the test of time, and is good enough to be considered a minor classic. It's funny how perceptions change, then change back to the original impression. I loved Triumvirat when they came out, then by the end of the '70s I thought they were passe, and they faded from mind for almost 50 years, and now they're back again and I need to buy their CDs. Do they sound like ELP? Indeed they do, every time the guy plays organ, and even in the overall sense. But as with Starcastle and Yes, it doesn't matter because it's just great music, and if you ever liked Triumvirat yourself, you will be in for a nice surprise if you give these two albums a re-listen. As for myself, I am gonna check out "Pompeii" next. I don't remember it from it's release date of 1976, perhaps I'd quit on Triumvirat by then, but Wiki tells me they had Curt Cress on drums by that time, and - again - if you are a hard-core progressive rock fan, you know him as the amazing drummer from Passport, the German jazz-rock troupe featuring the legendary Klaus Doldinger on saxophone. Passport had some cool-looking albums covers that you may also remember. Curt Cress was in his early 20s on all those records, including when he played with Triumvirat. 

I had a bit of a spending frenzy over the weekend, buying concert tickets for Alice Cooper and Judas Priest, and even Sammy Hagar if you can believe it. Grim and I are going because it's Sammy's tribute to Van Halen, with Joe Satriani on guitar. I have to be careful because it's easy to get thrown off track by thoughts of Summer activity, and I need to stay in Writer's Mode, since I have another book that is 2/3rds complete and I have to jump right back into it, to have it published in 2025. You can't write and also have fun, haha. When you write, writing is your fun. You have you keep your story in your head at all times, otherwise you're just fooling around. That's how it is for me, anyway, and it took me a long time to achieve this level of focus. So, while I will enjoy myself this Summer, at concerts and at Disneyland and in my daily routine, I will maintain a nose-to-the grindstone attitude with respect to my goals, no matter where I am. 

Musically speaking, I'm on a roll at the moment. Other recent albums include "Wonderworld" by Uriah Heep, "Nexus" by Argent, and "Rajaz" by Camel. I've been listening to the later Camel albums lately, in honor of Pat, who crossed the threshhold almost exactly a year ago. Camel was one of his favorite bands, and mine too, but he stuck with them after Peter Bardens left and I didn't. I mean, I bought "I Can See Your House From Here"(1979), and even "Nude" in 1981. But then the 80s happened, and it was Metal Time, and hard rock, with Van Halen, and Rainbow and Rush. Gone were the days of bands like Camel, for me, at least, but not for Pat. He kept listening, and now I see why. They made some brilliant records with the later lineups, even as late as 1999. If you've ever been a Camel fan, check out their next-to-last album, "Rajaz", recorded in 1999. I heard it for the first time last night, and while it doesn't sound like classic-era Camel, it retains the Latimer half of that sound. I think it was Peter Bardens who made them rock, and when they jammed on the longer tunes in the early 1970s, like "Lady Fantasy", that is the Camel we all remember. When Bardens left, and Andy Latimer had full control, he made more melancholy sounding records: slow, sad and bluesy, but without sacrificing that symphonic Camel signature. He was always the vocalist anyway, and because he had a distinctive voice, it is the link between eras for the band. His mornful vocals are the constant thread running through the classic and later eras. And of course, so is his guitar. Few players have ever been as expressive. Listen to his playing (and extended solos) on "Rajaz" and then run out and buy the album. You can find a few copies on discogs. com, though they're a bit pricey.

I think of Pat a lot because he was a close friend for half-a-century, and also because he was the only person I knew who was a progressive music fanatic like myself. Our other friends liked a few bands here and there, but Pat and I were a combined Encyclopedia of Prog, and we listened regularly. In later years, I think I even carried the torch somewhat, when he veered off into Ryan Adams territory. But it was Pat who led the way back in 1973, and it was Pat who introduced me to all the great prog bands, including Camel. He was also a huge Uriah Heep fan, and as you know, I now regard them among the Mount Rushmore of hard rock, up there with Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.

As for Argent, mentioned above, I did not follow them, but I always remembered their album "Nexus" because of the song "The Coming of Kohoutek", about a comet by that name that passed through the sky in 1973. The song was short, mostly an organ solo (and in retrospect not that great), but it was such a cool title, and the rest of the album was excellent. One of the clerks at College played it (Jon, I think), and I never forgot it. Over the years, I learned that keyboardist Rod Argent had been in The Zombies and wrote legendary songs like "She's Not There", and "Time of the Season", and in Argent the band he had a big hit with "God Gave Rock n' Roll to You". Their guitarist Russ Ballard became a songwriter-for-hire, and wrote some great tunes for Rainbow, including "Since You've Been Gone" and "I Surrender".... 

I don't have a Montgomery Clift movie this week, but I did watch "Imitation of Life"(1934) over the weekend. It was one of my Mom's favorite movies (which is how I heard of it), and it stars Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers as two widows trying to make ends meet during the Depression. Both have troubled young daughters who give the story its melodrama. As the movie opens, Beavers knocks on Colbert's door, looking for a job. She is black and works as a housekeeper. Colbert tells her she has no money for herself, let alone to hire a maid. Beavers then says she'll work for room and board, just to have a roof over her head. Claudette agrees, and the two women become friends and allies. It turns out that Louise is a great cook with a secret family recipe for pancakes. Everyone who stops by the house likes them, so Colbert, with her business sense, suggests they open a cafe and they do, in a storefront. It's an instant success, and regular customer Ned Sparks suggests they market the pancake mix in stores. As a side note, Sparks was a genius comic who surely influenced later generations, including people like Jim Carrey and the SNL casts. He is reason alone to see the movie. And his suggestion is a good one; the pancake mix takes off (selling like hotcakes, haha) and soon the two women are rich, living in a mansion. Colbert tells Louise she has enough money to buy her own mansion now, but Louise doesn't want to break up the team. Claudette is the only family she has, because now ten years have passed and her daughter has grown into a rebellious teen who "doesn't want to be black". And that's what the movie is all about, the idea of "passing for white" among light-skinned black people in the early 20th century. The actress Fredi Washington, who plays Beavers' daughter as an 18-year-old, is incredible, but the role is a heartbreaker because she's ashamed to be seen with her mother, even though Louise is now wealthy and beloved as a sort of Aunt Jemimah celebrity. And Claudette's teenage daughter (Rochelle Hudson) has her own issues, falling in love with her mother's fiancee, causing more heartbreak.

All four of the main actresses are excellent, but it's Louise Beavers' movie. Everyone has heard of Hattie McDaniel but not this lady, who should've gotten a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal. I don't want to get on my soapbox, but it irks me when guys like Spike Lee decry these roles of the past, and when products and trademarks like Aunt Jemimah and Uncle Ben are cancelled. If anything, they are business role models for anyone of any color, and to achieve what they did so long ago is amazing. More importantly, they are positive role models, much more so than folks like P. Diddy or Cardi B. My Mom had me buy this DVD twenty years ago and we watched the movie together a couple times. She always made it a point to note the performance of Louise Beavers (a fellow Cincinnatian). It's a great film and there are two versions, both on the same DVD.The second one is a 1954 reconfiguration of the original, starring Lana Turner and Juanita Moore in the lead roles. The remake was directed by Douglas Sirk and is also tremendous, but watch the original first. 

And that's basically all I know for tonight. I've been involved in the technical aspect of book creation for over two months now, so it will be fun to get back to good old first-draft writing, where you can just wing it and let the words have free reign, before you have to polish them into sentences, paragraphs and chapters. 

At least I know know how to format a book and upload the files now. In the process I learned Google Docs (simple) and Microsoft Word (fairly simple but less user friendly) and even designing on Canva and uploading files to Lulu (difficult but doable) and all of it will be much easier on the next go-round. I even learned how to request permission to re-print copyrighted material and was granted that permission, so here I go on completing Book #2, which should prove interesting, given the subject matter. Stay tuned.

June 11, 2024

Well, I did it. I bought my first Windows computer, an inexpensive HP laptop. I've used the Windows OS before; after all, I used library computers for the first fifteen years I was on the internet (from 1998 to 2013), and they all had Windows. I don't think Chrome was even around back then, but the thing with the library computers, whether at LAPL or The Oviatt at CSUN - everything was automatic. The browser took you straight to the web; you didn't have to do anything or learn anything, just sit down and go straight to your various websites. When I finally got home internet (because CSUN discontinued public use in 2013) I bought a Chromebook laptop because you couldn't beat the price ($125) and I liked it mainly for it's ease of use. It was also very fast, unlike the library computers. I bought a second Chromebook to use at Pearl's, and I was set for the next 11 years, until now. Chrome stops updating after a while (anywhere from five to ten years), forcing you to buy a new one (unless you're just checking your email and Facebook), and even though I was able to get the "free trial" version of Microsoft Office on my outdated Chromebook, it didn't load all the formatting features I need to be able to upload my book to Lulu. After some Googling to search for a possible free solution (on Adobe, etc.) I struck out, and decided to just buy the HP, which is now installed, set up and ready to finish the job. I checked, and it has all the features I need. The missing component was margin setting, for reasons I may have explained in a previous blog. If there's one thing you learn when you sign up to self-publish on Lulu, it's the physical aspect of book creation - setting margins, page size, font, line spacing, paragraph indentation. You learn how the book paper is trimmed at the printing site (think of an industrial-strength paper cutter). I imagine a lot of self-publishers have images in their books, whether photographs, illustrations, graphics, anything other than text, and for them, the formatting process is a lot more complicated. Thank goodness all I have is text and a few fonts. I am also glad I did a crash course in self-publishing at Lulu University, as they call it on Youtube. Lulu has a series of videos available that are extremely helpful, but each one has a ton of information, and the very articulate young lady talks so fast (to get it all in) that - for me - it was better to just absorb it "by osmosis" as my Mom would say, then watch it again and absorb some more. This was my crash course, and on Saturday, after I got my new HP laptop up and running (with all the necessary remaining margin-setting features) I realized that I did absorb the ton of information related to self-publishing, most of which has to do with the physical aspects of a book as it is transferred into existence from a computer file.

At first, it's intimidating, but for me, "crash coursing by osmosis" worked. Now, if I can just learn how to upload my book cover!

Right now, it's looking like the length will be between 420 and 450 pages, using 11 point EB Garamond font. The hardcover will cost 25 bucks plus shipping (oy!), but unfortunately there's no way around that because the Lulu print cost is 24 and change. Your cost is basically my cost (I'll make 35 to Fitty Cent per book), so if you want it, it won't be cheap (sorry). Just think of it as two fast food dinners. Skip those, (just two) and you'll have covered the cost, and while you still don't know what the book is, because I haven't given you a title or subject matter, I can tell you that it is entertaining, and you will get your money's worth with the abstract and decidedly heart-on-sleeve passages within. And though it doesn't have a standard plot, and does go off the rails in places (with weird streams-of-consciousness), it does have a cogent storyline, just like life itself.

Having participated in the writing (I was the guy operating the typewriter, so to speak), I feel the book was channeled, if not in full, then to some extent. I am happy with the end result, and I hope you will agree. Now, if 25 bucks plus shipping is outside your budget, I will be offering a paperback version, but not for a while (six months to a year). The paperback will likely be ten bucks cheaper ($15 plus shipping), but will have an alternate cover, making the two versions aesthetically different, and thus collectible.

Soon, you will know the book's title, and what it's about. I can tell you right now, it's not about 1989 (though there might be the merest smidge of same suggested in a couple places). The bottom line is this: it's a good story, unconventionally told in certain chapters. A professional editor would've canned several sections, which is why - even if I had the money - I would not have hired an editor, because it's coming from a different place in the human psyche. 

And now for some music...

For the past few days, I've been listening intently to the band FM, the Canadian prog rockers I mentioned in the last blog who made the album "Black Noise" in 1977. That LP was all I knew by them, but I've now listened to their other albums, and the more I listened, the more I wanted to hear. I realised they never made a bad record, and all were very good to great. A fantastic band. I knew I'd seen them open for Rush on a tour in the 1980s, and after Googling, I learned it was the Moving Pictures tour, and last night I discovered, on Setlist.com, that they played with Rush on June 15, 1981 at the Aladdin Theater in Las Vegas, and it hit me that FM was the first band Lillian and I ever saw together, since they were the openers that night. I doubt Lilly would remember FM, but they have such a good vibe, and their music is awesome and I kind of feel like they came to me of their own volition or by some other intuitive channel ("by osmosis" as my Mom would say), because everything old is new again, and ahh, what a night that was, almost 43 years ago but only a heartbeat away.... 

 I've been stopping by the CSUN turtle pond (formerly the duck pond but the turtles now outnumber the ducks) on my early evening walk. I do two walks every day, one at about 6 pm, the other at 9:45, and on the early walk I've been going to the pond to check out the turtles, who never fail to impress me with their Chill Factor. Their whole lives are one big chill-out, basking in the sun on rocks, or swimming around, or asking for food. I saw a bunch of them scrambling for an orange slice, and went and picked some oranges myself in the grove, which surrounds the pond. I didn't know turtles ate oranges, but boy, there was a hubbub after I peeled one and placed the wedges on the stone ramp that allows the turtles to climb out of the pond. They were hungry and loved the oranges (I Googled it and it said that fruit is 25 % of their diet) and while they were eating you could see their little pink mouths, not so different from our own, and very un-turtlelike, considering their crusty, stone-age image. I see all kinds of critters at CSUN, including bunnies, possums and in Winter, raccoons. Of course, squirrels run the joint; I see them chowing down on nuts every evening. 

I have a new friend on campus, a guy with grey fur named Einstein, one of about a dozen feral cats who live at CSUN. I've seen him around for several years, but it wasn't until recently that he approached me on one of my night walks. Having tamed a feral cat (the legendary Black Kittie who lived at Pearl's house), I thought this guy might be pettable, so I stopped, knelt and held my hand out, and after a couple mintues he did the "cat rub" thing where they brush past you on your side. Then he stopped and let me pet him. I just learned his name yesterday from a student who knows Einstein personally, and now I do too. He lives by Maple Hall, a beautifully designed new building on campus, west side, just above the softball lawn. Einstein's nickname, according to the student, is "His Royal Highness" because that's how he acts, like he's The King of Maple Hall and the food court due north, which abuts Sierra Hall West. That's Einstein's turf, and now that I know it, I'll make a point to walk by. He knows me by now, first from the occasional sighting in years past, and regularly for the last three days. The student says he's between 10 and 14 years old, and he's been living on campus for most or all of that time. I hung with him for ten minutes, petting him and doing a tummy rub. Then he got up and I said, "see you tomorrow, Einstein".

More music:  I have a concert video you absolutely have to see. I don't know if you are a fan of Black Metal. Generally speaking, I am not, but that pertains to the genre as a whole, which I find mostly non-musical and harsh. However, there have been a few bands I like. Going back to the beginning, I've been a fan of Venom (who more or less invented the style) since 1986, when I was introduced to them by Sean. Venom made their first album all the way back in 1982, and kind of "held the fort" for Black Metal until the so-called "second wave" arrived in the early 90s, led mostly by Scandanavian bands such as Mayhem, who were primitive, and their opposite number Emperor, from Norway, who could not only play their instruments but at a high level. Bandleader Ihsahn also composed riffs and Norse melodies that, if orchestrated, would be Wagnerian. In 2011, I began exploring the second wave of Black Metal and happened upon Emperor and was impressed enough to buy two of their albums: "Songs to the Welkin at Dusk" and "In the Nightside Eclipse", both of which are considered classics by fans, but I never knew they had a live DVD out until last night, when it popped up as a Youtube recommendation. It's called "Emperial Live Ceremony". It was recorded in London in 1999, so it's almost a quarter-century old now. It's only 47 minutes long, and the thing is, because it's so extreme, I don't know if the band or the audience could have withstood a longer performance, especially Emperor's drummer, who has to be seen and heard to be believed.

What I want you to do, after you finish reading this blog, is to go to Youtube and watch this concert. Now, I am of course guessing that if you are not an Emperor fan (or a fan of Black Metal) you are not going to like it. It's extreme enough to make Slayer sound like Bread. But I want you to watch it for the "how the hell" factor, as in "how the hell are they playing this music this fast and (especially) this clean."

Usually, with Black Metal bands, there is the "noise ball" factor (as one Youtube commentor put it), meaning that the "music" is played so fast but without articulation (without dynamics), and so it starts to turn into a wash of white-noise riffing and punk-rock style, "monkey cymbal" drumming. Not so Emperor. While watching, I was thinking of the reports that various types of heavy metal were used in the Gulf War to scare the ememy. Well, they should've used Emperor. Watch the concert, then tell me, is this the literal Band From Hell, or what? You'd almost have to be from Norway to even think of this music. It's not only "not for everyone", but you'd have to have it in your blood from way back. Watch as much as you can stand (maybe the whole thing), but watch with an analytical mind. If you do, and if you don't dismiss it immediately, you may find yourself impressed, even if you don't like the music. I do happen to like it, though for sure it's not everyday listening for me. I found myself needing to buy the dvd, just as an artifact of what music is capable of. I've seen and heard it all (or so I thought), but I've never seen a concert like this. To be able to pull this off, this well (and that's the key here, pulling it off at such a high level) takes some real ability.

Finally, I have another Montgomery Clift movie for you: "The Young Lions"(1958), which also happens to be one of the greatest war movies ever made. If you watched that TV interview I mentioned several blogs ago, you saw Monty list it as one of his favorite roles. He plays "Noah Ackerman", a young Jewish man newly intermarried to his non-Jewish sweetheart Hope Lange. Monty gets drafted for WW2 right after the wedding, and his story is one of several that will converge in the way these epic plots do. "The Young Lions" is 167 minutes long but never drags. Marlon Brando stars in what may be his greatest performance as "Christian Diestl" a German who, as the movie opens, is working as a ski instructor in the Winter of 1938. He's really a poor shoemaker; the ski gig is for extra money. It's New Year's Eve and he's teaching an American gal played by Barbara Rush. He's in love with her and wants her to stay for the New Year, but at a party, she sees his equivocal support for Hitler, and leaves. The next we see her, she's in NYC and hitched to Dean Martin, a popular nightclub singer. Despite his celebrity status, he too is drafted, but tries to pull strings to get out of it. Though he doesn't want to admit it, he fears dying in the war, but since everyone else is putting their life on the line, he does too, mainly to please Barbara Rush, who selfishly wants a hero for a husband. 

As for Monty, fistfights must be in his contract. He has the all-time punchout with Ernest Borgnine in "From Here to Eternity" (which is disgustingly violent), and in this flick he takes on four soldiers, one at a time, who pick on him and rip him off, it's implied, because he's Jewish. Fighting and romance take up much of the first half of the film, but there's also Brando and Maximillian Schell, who again shows himself to be one of the greatest actors of all time. The various scenes with the two together are indelible, especially one toward the end in a military hospital. I'll leave it for you to see, but it's spooky and poignant. The battle scenes are short but horrific. Monty ends up rescuing the guys who beat him up, and Dean Martin finds his courage. In between, the German officers - like the camera-toting one played by Parley Baer - fall in love with French girls. The war is a lark to the Germans stationed in Paris, but then it gets all too real at the end, when the concentration camps are discovered. Sergeant Schultz shows up as a local Mayor, claiming he "knows no-thing!" about the horror. American officer Arthur Franz threatens to break his neck. At the end, Monty and Dean are on patrol and converge with Marlon Brando, and therein the plot is bookended, as Martin's wife was once Brando's ski client, though only the audience knows this.

"Lions" is a great film, woven together in vignettes by the legendary Edward Dymytrk, known mostly for Noir. Brando should've gotten a Best Actor Oscar for his performance, and Monty a Best Supporting. There are a dozen memorable smaller roles, including Lee Van Cleef as a mean-spirited drill sergeant. A young LQ Jones is on board. This is a 10/10 motion picture, filmed in Cinemascope. I own it on dvd and watch it about every five years. It's not a combat war film, per se, but an ideological one, though the combat shown is from actual stock footage and brutal. Movies don't get better than this, or more real. It's about the interrelationships within a war that nobody wants but everyone signs up for: the Germans to "rescue the Fatherland" by taking over the world and everyone else to stop them. The German officers rationalise their participation any way they feel they can morally do so, and of course it's all a cop-out on the most diabolical level. Even the top Nazis wanted to avoid being called "monsters"; why else would they have destroyed paperwork, and tried (but failed) to clear out the death camps? If their cause was so righteous, why didn't they stand proudly with what they had done? Brando's penultimate scene with an officious camp commandant (complaining about deserters and higher-ups), is one of the greatest on film. I think too many people rate Marlon Brando by (and prefer him in) his later roles, when he was kind of parodying himself, but when you see him in a role like this, in his prime, you realize what made him so great. 

And that is all I have for today. By the next blog, I may be ready to upload my book to Lulu. Stay tuned.

June 5, 2024

 Monday night I went with Grimsley to The Whisky to see a Van Halen tribute band called Fair Warning. Grim was on the guest list so we got in free, and they were really good. The band members were probably close to my age, the singer mentioned attending the US Festival and walking out on VH, which made me think we should've done the same thing; they gave a notoriously bad performance. Fair Warning played for 45 minutes, so it was a quick trip, just in and out of the club, then back to the Valley. Grim is a big fan of tribute bands, and I go with him once in a while (especially when it's free). We also saw Fan Halen about 18 months ago (for free) in a Calabasas park, and the Rush tribute band Natural Science in April at Harley's Bowling Alley in Simi Valley. One of the best I've seen was The Surf City All Stars, made up of surf music vets who played with Jan and Dean and The Beach Boys. For me it started with Ticket to Ride about 15 years ago. I've seen them at least a dozen times, mostly at the Our Lady of Lourdes Fall Festival every October. They do a great version of The Beatles.

Continuing our informal Montgomery Clift retrospective, on Saturday I watched "The Misfits"(1961), also in honor of Marilyn Monroe's birthday. It was her last movie, as well as Clark Gable's. Both are great in it, as is Monty, who doesn't appear until the 50 minute mark. Eli Wallach makes up the fourth member of their party of disaffected souls who feel out of place in modern society. It's Marilyn's movie, and though she does her Marilyn thing (smiling, breathy little girl voice), she was a better actress than given credit for. She has to hold her own with three powerhouse actors here, including Gable, and also Thelma Ritter who plays her landlady. They meet Wallach, an ex-WW2 bomber pilot now working as a tow truck driver, in the opening scene. The story is set in Reno Nevada, where Marilyn has come for a divorce from Kevin McCarthy (who has only two minutes of screen time). Wallach sees in her a kindred spirit, and - looking for companionship - suggests she and Ritter stick around in Reno, even offers them the use of his partially-completed house in the desert. Ritter talks Marilyn into staying, and Wallach introduces them to his pal Gable, a womanizing cowboy who'll do anything to avoid working. He has a saying: "it's better than wages", meaning that the vagabond life is better than being tied down. Gable asks Wallach what the hell he's doing working as a tow truck driver: "Succumbing to wages, eh?" Wallach regains his senses and quits. The middle of the movie is the four of them getting drunk in bars and at Wallach's house, and having existential and confessional conversations courtesy of Arthur Miller, who wrote the screenplay. Marilyn falls in love with Gable, though Eli Wallach was hoping she'd fall in love with him, but she sees right though his woebegone WW2 spiel. They pick up Monty a little less than halfway through, then the Thelma Ritter character disappears, written out of the remainder of the film for reasons unexplained. Monty is a rodeo rider, inured to physical pain, but attuned to Marilyn's emotional sensibility. She sees Gable killing rabbits and has a visceral reaction, wanting to save every living thing, including Monty, Gable and the wild Mustang horses they eventually hunt down with the unfair advantage of Wallach's airplane and Gable's truck. The Mustangs are the real "misfits" of the film. Modern civilization has encroached on their open space and turned them into dog food. The movie is about the difficulty of "just living" (as Gable puts it) in a world of systems, and ironically, Gable is taking away the horses' freedom to preserve his own. Marilyn and Monty show him that a compromise is possible. Monty is not the main star, but once he gets onscreen he's great as always. He only made 18 movies, but all his performances are unique. Clark Gable looks fried for 59 years old, but the thing is, he looks like what a 59 year old man once looked like, when men smoked, drank heavily, and ate steak at every meal. He died of a heart attack shortly after finishing this film, and the movie may have finished him off, if the stories are true about Marilyn's unprofessional behavior on set. Also, he has some horse wrangling scenes that must've been pretty rugged. John Huston was a notoriously macho director, and the horse scenes would never be allowed today. Anyhow, "The Misfits" is a classic, if a bit meandering in the early going. It makes its points and becomes more focused after the first hour, and could've been 15 to 20 minutes shorter, but it still gets five stars, because of the tremendous script, direction, and acting. 

I've been listening to Starcastle, the Illinois progressive rock band who were regionally popular in the late 1970s. Their first three albums are really good. I remember Pat (it's always Pat) playing me the first album, probably at his house because he didn't work at College Records by 1976, and we both thought it was okay, but almost entirely derivative of Yes. And I never listened to Starcastle again until this week. The Yes comparison still stands (listen for yourself), but you know what? It doesn't matter now. This is just good music. The second album is killer. It's like having more good Yes albums than there already are. I highly recommend Starcastle. 

I also re-visited Crack the Sky's "Safety in Numbers"(1978), and remembered about half of it, even though I only heard it a few times, 40 to 45 years ago. Must be the Pat influence again. Everybody bagged on Starcastle because of the Yes factor, but the prog nerds at Cleveland High School conversely seemed to like Crack the Sky. We should've liked them, too, at least a lot more than we did, which was practically not at all. Their much-lauded debut album sort of went in one ear and out the other because they were from Pittsburgh, and we were into the English progressive bands. But that alone doesn't explain it, because we liked FM's "Black Noise" (featuring the all-time earworm classic "Phasors on Stun") and they were from Canada. I can't say exactly why we didn't go for Crack the Sky, but it can't be the American factor alone. After all, we liked the first Kansas album, and also Happy the Man, who were interesting but didn't have the songwriting chops of Crack the Sky or Starcastle. Anyhow, give the first three albums by each those two bands a listen. Both have some great stuff waiting to be rediscovered, and while you're at it, revisit the catalogue of FM, also. A fantastic band who had more than just one great album and one classic song. Remember Nash the Slash? There's some live footage of him and FM mastermind Cameron Hawkins on Youtube, from a Canadian TV show in 1976. I saw FM open for Rush in 1981 and they blew the crowd away. 

More music: I am also recently listening to Belly. Tanya Donelly is my new favorite singer. And, she can write songs too. Her voice reminds me (a little bit) of Leigh Nash from Sixpence None the Richer. Did you guys like Belly and/or Sixpence? I loved all that music from the '90s, all that sweet-voiced Girl Pop. Nice music for nice times. The '90s was a positive, creative era, like the 1960s without the turmoil. I mean, no decade can match the '60s, but the '90s was a feelgood decade, and the Girl Music reflects that. And boy, could those '90s girls write songs and sing. Boy could they sing. Alanis, Joan Osborne, Paula Cole. I know I "dissed" Peter Gabriel recently, but check out the live footage of an 80s or 90s PG tour with Paula Cole singing duets. Holy smokes what a voice. My favorites, though, were Tanya Donelly and Leigh Nash. And Miki and Emma from Lush. I loved the music of the 1990s. I wish I could replay that entire decade.

Let's do a quick list of great albums from the '90s, one per band: "Superunknown" by Soungarden, "Ten" by Pearl Jam, "Dear 23" by The Posies, "Jar of Flies" by Alice in Chains, "Spooky" by Lush, "Star" by Belly, "Sixpence None the Richer" by Sixpence, "Core" by Stone Temple Pilots (who I initially thought were posers but later came to appreciate). I also admit to liking Hootie and the Blowfish. Darius Rucker had the all-time '90s "growler" voice, even out-growling Eddie Vedder. '90s music came from the heart, and there was so much variety. And like the '60s, there were also a lot of One Hit Wonders, like Blind Melon. How great was "No Rain", a classic '90s tune. Or how about The Gin Blossoms? They had some great songs, too. I find that going back to a certain musical era provides me with a Time Machine in which I can re-experience the feeling of that period, and there were few better eras than the mid-1990s, when Bill Clinton was President, Al Gore was Vice President, Hillary was First Lady, and the vibe in the country was optimistic. Let's list some more great '90s albums: "OK Computer" by Radiohead, "Gish" by Smashing Pumpkins, "Everyone Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We" by The Cranberries (R.I.P Dolores). I even liked some of the pop-punk songs by bands like Green Day, or Long Beach punk like The Offspring and Sublime. It blows me off the map that all of this music is 30 years old, because the '90s feel like yesterday. That decade is beyond special to me, since that is when I got my memory back. When it happened, I felt On the Verge of some Great Unknown Thing, like a promise was about to unfold. It didn't quite happen the way I hoped, and I'm still waiting 30 years later, but I've never stopped believing in that promise, or trying to make it come true.

Though I've had great times with great people since the 1990s (especially living with my Mom and caring for Pearl) I have no nostalgia for the culture of any decade since the turn of the millennium. We've just been in a holding pattern since then, living in a post-9/11 Gadget Culture 24/7 world, and who would be nostalgic for that? You can't even separate it into decades anymore, it's just one big miasmic electronic mess. The 90s were the last decade of from-the-heart American culture. Now we are on the road to.......endsville, and that is entirely because of secrecy. But at least we still have music to enjoy. I listen to opera every night. I watched part of a Gentle Giant concert today. We may need to go down the tubes so we can start over from scratch. Bad people have stormed the threshold over the past thirty years, and it's all about what happened in 1989. That's why What Happened is the most Top Secret secret of all.

As for the recent Trump verdict, there's not much I can add that hasn't been said already. When I saw (on Yahoo) that the verdict was about to be announced, I found myself tuning into MSNBC for the first time in almost three years. Pearl and I used to watch them every night in the Mueller days, and we quite liked Lawrence O'Donnell and Chris Hayes. Nowdays, I'm the rightest-wing man in America, but I am also the #1 Anti-Trumper, a title I've held since he announced in 2015. And despite being right wing, I'm not Republican, and I'm not because they continue to back this jerk. Rachel Maddow had some good questions about that support, saying that a felony conviction is enough to get you disqualified on almost any job application, or fired from almost any job. So why are the Republicans still backing Trump? Have they literally got no one else? I thought Mike Johnson, at least, would've made an overture about moving on, but alas, it didn't happen. 

The way it looks now, neither the Fani Willis or Jack Smith trials will begin before the election, and if Trump wins they won't happen. The only thing that can stop him is if Biden can get a big victory somewhere, like gas prices going way down or inflation suddenly dropping. But neither of those things is likely. The wild card is the sentencing in the case that just concluded. I see no way Judge Marchan will let Trump walk. He may not send him to prison, but he'll at least get home confinement, which means he won't be able to campaign. But the thing is, he'll just do TV appearances from home. Nothing is gonna stop this guy, except maybe going to jail, and from what all the pundits have said, you can be President in a jail cell. The only other possible wild card is RFK Jr taking away enough votes, but because Trump hasn't flinched, I just don't see Biden winning unless he gets a "big issue" victory between now and November. The Woke Folks really messed things up, took things so far to the left that we now have a backlash, and on top of that, no one can afford food and gas. All Biden and company had to do was not screw things up worse than Trump already had by 2021, but they couldn't even reverse anything he did (or didn't do) because Biden was in no condition to lead, and The Woke Folks took over. Trump came back this time with an ultra-focused message (he's not stupid like we once thought), and he just keeps repeating that message and his fans (who make up half the country) are gonna sink or swim with him, as is the entire Republican Party. So are you a-Woke yet, or do you need a Woke Up call?

Well anyhow, we can't win anyway, even if Biden wins, so go fly a kite. And if Trump wins, don't react. Don't do the rebellious far-left thing. Instead, let him do his thing, and in four years he'll be gone. The media will ride his ass the whole time he's in office. They'll impeach him a third and fourth time, so let him do his thing, let the media do their thing, and watch the sideshow and don't freak out. Let Trump win. At least gas and food prices will go down, you can bet on it. Don't side with the anarchists. Don't support Woke. They are what caused Trump. Calling everyone a racist caused Trump. The Far Left caused Trump, because they wanted communism even though they denouced Russia because their commentators told them to do so. And even though they never lived under communism, they thought it was better, because they see themselves as the mass proletariat. They don't see themselves as separate individuals. They see themselves as We or Us. That is always a dangerous way to see things. I wish everyone on the Far Left would go live in middle America, and see where those folks are coming from, and why they would choose (and continue to support) a convicted criminal for President. It's because of the way they see the aggressive, far left Woke.

Well, anyhow, I'll shut up. I hate politics.

I found a great new obscure TV series. It's not currently new, just new in the discovery sense. It's called "Way Out", and it only aired for 14 episodes in 1961, in the time slot right before Twilight Zone. I know this because someone uploaded all the episodes to Youtube, in full, complete with breezy L&M cigarette commercials (some featuring The Limelighters), and there are also a couple of voiceovers as the end credits roll, from Rod Serling, telling you to stay tuned for T-Zone. The host of Way Out (which for some reason is titled 'Way Out, with a leading apostrophe onscreen) is Roald Dahl, and you even get to learn how his name is pronounced. Like me, you always thought it was "Row-ald", or simply "Rolled", but the announcer pronounces it "ROO-all-d". "And now, here's the host of 'Way Out, ROO-all-d Doll." And he's very droll, giving a macabre intro to each episode while smoking a cig (an L&M, no doubt). You'd never guess he was the same guy who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The shows themselves are very well done, mostly with Broadway actors, and the ones I've seen so far should not be watched with the lights out. Very scary stuff. Don't miss 'Way Out! Man, we've been on a roll with new discoveries of late.

Finally, since you've been with me on my journey of Adventures in Self Publishing, I'll report that yesterday I began using Microsoft Word, for the final "typesetting" of my book, and it appears to be not too different from Google Docs, with the important exception that I am able to "customize" my page size, which is critical because my book is going to be 6 x 9 (US Trade) and there are only a few limited page size options on Google Docs, which is used mostly for online applications (office-sized material). Other than that, it's similar to Word, but what I found today on Word, with my new 6 x 9 page template, is that it's hard to get more than 350 words per page without using a very small font (below 10 point). Even 10 point font is pretty small, but still very readable. Any super-long book you've read in paperback likely had 10 point font. I've been using my paperback copy of "The Stand" for comparison. SK appears to have used 10 point (maybe 9) because he's working with half a million words (1200 pages at apprx. 400-450 words per page). My book is long (157K words, a little less than 1/3 the length of "The Stand"), so I need to be able to get a minimum of 350 words per page in a 6 by 9 format, to pull the book in at less than 500 pages. I was hoping for 400 words per page, because then I'd have a 383 page book, which would be much more cost effective. But I also won't go below 10 point font because then you're talking eye strain for readers. 10 is small to begin with. 12 is ideal for shorter books, and 11 would be ideal for us, but I can't have a 525 page book that costs 29.50 to print, cause then I'd have to charge 30 bucks for hardcover, which is a lot, and I'd only make fifty cents per sale, and while money is not the object for this first effort (the object is to make a first impression), 30 bucks is still too much. I don't even want to have to charge 25, but that's what the hardcover will likely cost, and I won't make a dime.

I don't want to offer it in paperback, but I might have to if I can't get the page count down (by achieving more words per page without shrinking the font below 10 point). Margin size is the key, and I've again been studying "The Stand" to see how Steve's paperback publishers did it. Man, they crammed up to 450 WPP on there, in 10 point type and in a smaller book format (8. 25 by 5). They probably decreased the line space too, squeezed everything to the minimum, and it's still very readble. and of couse SK has no worries about printing costs or pricing, because he's Stephen F. King. Well anyhow, that's more of my Adventures in Self-Publishing. I'm learning as I go, and I report it to you here.

Finally, R.I.P Parnelli Jones, one of the all-time Indy 500 drivers. Man, how great was he?

May 29, 2024

Music and Other Stuff (mostly music and probably boring, sorry):

Today's listening included Khan's classic "Space Shanty" from 1972. In case you don't know, Khan rose out of the ashes of Egg and Uriel, and the Steve Hillage/Dave Stewart connection that began in 1966 at the London School for Boys. With schoolmates Mont Campbell on bass and vocals and Clive Brooks on drums, they started Uriel in 1968 and recorded the album "Arzachel" in '69. It sounds like a Cream spinoff, but they were quite good, especially for a band of 19 year olds. Hillage's parents wanted him to finish college, so the other three carried on as Egg, who were like a Canterbury version of The Nice (I actually like Egg better). They were amazing, but their combination of incredible keyboard-based prog and witty humor (a Canterbury staple) didn't sell, and they broke up. By 1972, Steve Hillage had finished college and went back to doing what he does best, playing the daylights out of the guitar and composing music, and with his old pal Dave Stewart, he formed Khan, who recorded "Space Shanty". I vaguely remember seeing the album cover on the College Records wall racks. None of the clerks played it. Heck, they barely played Caravan, but Pat Forducci became a Hillage fan when his album "L" (produced by Todd Rundgren) caught on in progressive circles, enough so to get Steve an opening slot for Yes on their arena tour in 1977. He played The Forum on that tour. "L" was known for Steve's cover version of "Hurdy Gurdy Man", and it's a great album, but an even better one is his debut solo album "Fish Rising", which is an all-timer, and the same goes for "Green". Both are Prime Hillage. He also has the distinction of being mentioned on "The Young Ones" by Neil the Hippie. I am reminded of Sean, who introduced me and Dave Small to that show.

Like Uriel, Khan made one album and broke up, and the music for their second album became part of Steve Hillage's "Fish Rising". Dave Stewart went back to Egg for a reunion album ("Civil Surface"), then ended up in Hatfield and the North, one of Pat's favorite bands. We've been taking about the Kings of Progressive Rock, and of course the giants like Wakeman and Lake hold sway. But what about guys like Dave Stewart, who was in Egg, Khan, Hatfield and the North, and National Health? Or Phil Miller, who was in Matching Mole, Hatfield and Health? They are giants, too. Listen to the National Health catalog and tell me there's a more advanced prog band not named ELP. And even then...

Well anyhow, check out "Space Shanty", and if you like it, order the CD. Youtube sound is watered down, big time. 

What else have we got?

Well, we should say R.I.P to Bill Walton, a hero to me as a twelve-year-old UCLA basketball fanatic. I started listening to Bruins games back in the Lew Alcindor era when I was eight, then through Steve Patterson's time at center before Walton took over the position in 1972. Under Coach Wooden, Walton's Bruins won 88 consecutive games over three seasons, still a record. He won two national championships with UCLA and was named college player of the year for three years in a row. I never missed a game during his time with the team, and followed him to the pros, even though he was on the dreaded Portland Trail Blazers, with whom he won an NBA championship. His pro career was plagued by foot injuries, but he still made the NBA Hall of Fame. To me, however, he will always be a UCLA Bruin. I think he was the greatest college basketball player of all time. 

We must also pay tribute to Disney legend Richard Sherman, who died last week at 93. Along with his brother Robert, he wrote all the classic songs for "Mary Poppins", and also "It's a Small World", which my sister and I sing along to every time we ride that ride at Disneyland. To me, Disneyland is life, and Mary Poppins was a formative experience for every child in 1965, so we salute Richard Sherman and thank him for the music.

A few nights ago I found a Montgomery Clift movie we'd never seen, and only recently heard of, called "Lonelyhearts"(1958), in which he plays "Adam White", an aspiring newsman assigned to the advice column beat. The first thing we should mention is the cast. Monty always seems to be among all-stars and this film is no exception: Robert Ryan, Myrna Loy, Uncle Fester, and Maureen Stapleton in her film debut. I kept thinking she was Edith Bunker from "All in the Family" but found out that was Jean Stapleton. Anyhow, despite those heavy hitters and Monty himself, the most interesting cast member is perhaps Dolores Hart, who plays "Justy", Adam's girlfriend. In addition to this movie, Hart starred in two films with Elvis Presley: "Loving You"(1957) and "King Creole"(1958), and the teen classic "Where the Boys Are"(1960), and then in 1963, at the age of 25, she gave up acting to become a Benedictine nun at the Abbey of Regina Laudis monastery in Connecticut, where she still resides today at age 85. In 2001, she was named Prioress, and on top of that, she still maintains her membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But the coolest thing of all is that she is a graduate of Corvallis High School. There's an Oscar-nominated documentary about her life called "God is Bigger than Elvis". What an amazing woman, and she is great in this film.

As it opens, Monty needs a job and meets Myrna Loy in a lounge. She's the wife of Robert Ryan, the editor of the local Chronicle. The lounge is just down the block from the paper's headquarters, and Monty's been hanging out there in the hopes that Ryan will stop in for a drink. Instead he meets Loy and becomes temporarily embroiled in their tempestuous marriage. Ryan is a cynic's cynic (the perfect Robert Ryan role) who cannot forgive Myrna for cheating on him ten years ago, and because she has recommended Monty for a job at the paper, he thinks Monty is sleeping with her.

Monty dissuades him of this notion with his Boy Scout ideals, so Ryan hires him and gives him the job of writing the Lonelyhearts column, which he dreads but Uncle Fester covets. Ryan's aim is to shove real life down Monty's throat. He hates what he sees as Monty's naivete into human nature.

Monty reads the Lonelyhearts letters aloud to Fester and fellow scribe Mike Kellin, who mock the authors' problems. Monty thinks this is wrong: "You shouldn't laugh at people," he tells them. Robert Ryan steps in and tells him all the letter writers are frauds. He suggests Monty contact one and find out for himself, so he does, and gets sucked into a cheap affair with Maureen Stapleton, who is married to a "crippled" husband. Meanwhile, Monty has been ignoring his beautiful young girlfriend (Hart) to stay late at work, in order to make a good impression on editor Ryan. But he also has a huge secret he's been keeping from her, having to do with his family. This is revealed to us at the halfway point, but not to Hart until the end of the film, which is about the need for communication in relationships, and also about forgiveness. It's top notch Montgomery Clift. I thought it was as good as anything he's done, and I wonder why it's never mentioned in his body of work? I give it a 10. But the relationships in this picture are brutal, and shocking for 1958.

I've also been listening to Mercyful Fate, their first two albums, "Melissa"(1983) and "Don't Break the Oath"(1984), both of which I just bought on CD direct from Metal Blade Records. I'm late to the Fate, and again it was Sean who introduced me and Mr. D to them in the Summer of 1986, when he also turned us on to Venom and Celtic Frost. The latter two bands stuck (and Frost became an all-time fave), but Mercyful did not, in fact I never checked them out past the first listen, on cassette, in Sean's garage. I don't know why they didn't grab me back then; you'd think they were tailor-made: the frenetic riffing, the shredding twin solos, the dog-whistle vocals, and (maybe most of all) the image: King Diamond's facepaint, the Satanic themes, and the lyrics. All of that was huge for me in '86. "Melissa" is about a witch who happens to be the protagonist's girlfriend. Man, you'd think Mercyful Fate would've been right up my alley. Sean loved these guys, and he especially loved King Diamond, who'd gone solo by that time and had his own album out called "Abigail" that Sean also played for us. King Diamond was his #1 guy, but I think he got left behind in my case, because - as extreme as his music was and still is - it had the structure of conventional heavy metal and could've fit on the shelf next to Judas Priest, whereas the other Sean bands (Frost and Venom) were so far out of left field that they captured my attention more quickly, and King got lost in the shuffle. My loss.

But - for whatever reason (maybe because I was thinking of Sean and our times together) - I also thought of King Diamond, first of "Abagail" because he raved about that record, and I found it on Youtube, listened, and thought "holy moly, why did it take me 38 years to get the hang of this guy?" To be honest, I think Sean was nudging me from the Other Side ("hey man, remember King Diamond?"), so after I listened to that record, I went straight to the other two I remembered him playing for us, the aforementioned pair of Mercyful Fate albums I just bought. And it was the same deal: awesome, extreme metal (as they call it) with progressive elements. And it's King's voice and lyrics that hook you, because every song is a story, a Halloween story, and as a tenor singer myself (choir), I can really appreciate what it takes to sing like that, in a near-falsetto, at the very top of the tenor range. Because it's not falsetto. Falsetto is when you switch from the lungs to singing from the throat because you can't get up that high with the lungs and diaphram. But King is doing it that way, singing full-bodied, as high as a male singer can go. Of course, Rob Halford did it first (or you could say Ian Gillan, but Halford was a far better singer), and Rob saved his ultra-high register for "icing on the cake" whereas King sings whole songs that way. But that's why it's extreme metal, and within the Mercyful formula, it works. Their albums still sell 40 years later, because it's good stuff. I've been on an MF binge this week, so thanks Sean! That's three classic bands you introduced me to.

I'm also listening to The Bobby Fuller Four, a CD called "Never to Be Forgotten: The Mustang Years" and what strikes me is the pristine production, super clean. The band is so tight, the background vocals reminiscent of Van Halen in their brightness. Of course, it's the other way around, because the BF4 was ten years before VH. Bobby also plays his Strat clean, in a way that would challenge the best of today's players to get a sound that "Stratty" but with no distortion. He was the Buddy Holly of the '60s, with a ton of great songs, just like Buddy, written and recorded in just a few years. Both died tragically, Buddy in a plane crash, Bobby was murdered. But yeah, to make records that stand up 60 to 70 years later is something special, and also to play guitar that well. Bobby's brother Randy, the bass player for their band, passed away last week and I am thinking of The Bobby Fuller Four and playing their music. 

What the Lord has taught me, more than anything , is patience beyond my wildest dreams.

Now, we recently mentioned people with "no there there", which is of course an appropriation of Gertrude Stein's famous quote about Oakland, and in her case, though I've never read the context in which she said it, I've always assumed she meant that Oakland had no cultural pizzazz, that it was a dull city. In our usage, however, we don't mean that the person in question is dull, boring, pizzazz-less or stupid. We don't mean he or she is an airhead. The concept is a little more difficult to describe.

Let's take the word "authentic" or "authenticity", when it is used as an exhortation, say, to urge someone to "be your authentic self" or to strive for "authenticity in expression". Striving to "be authentic" is quite popular now, but I see the term in a more literal way, because I believe there are actual inauthentic people walking around. Not folks who aren't human in the sense of having dna and all the markers, but folks who quite literally do not possess a soul or spirit. I think we are in uncertain, perhaps even evil times, and I think there are inauthentic human beings walking around, and that is what I mean when I say that someone has "no there there". I believe in "the bad seed" theory, made famous in the legendary movie with that title starring Patty McCormack, which proposes that some people come out of the womb straight from hell or some other netherworld, and that their bad behavior cannot be chalked up to nurture (influence of parents and society) but entirely to their own hellborn nature. We know there are people who do not possess a conscience, who see others as objects, and who do not feel bad about victimizing others and feel no remorse after doing so. That is a sociopath, and sociopaths may have "no there there". But what I am talking about is even more removed from humanity because a person who has "no there there" not only has no conscience (and no remorse or sense of guilt) but also has no apparent awareness of the evil deeds they've committed. These are folks who look like you and me, and they aren't drooling at the mouth - if you didn't know the violence they are capable of, and the depravity, you'd think they were perfectly normal in the very wide variety of what a normal human being is. But when you've been the victim of such a person, and you see with a heavy heart that the person not only has never suffered a single consequence for their actions, but has blithely gone about their life in the aftermath, for several decades, with no apparent fear of prosecution - but more than that - no apparent "weight" on their psyche (not only no burden of guilt but no awareness of who they are), then you are dealing with someone who has No There There, and that is a spooky thing.

Someone who has No There There comes from a different place than you and I. Because of the experience I've had, I know of things like this. 

By the end of this week, sometime around June 1, I will have finished formatting my book. The next phase will be to transfer it from Google Docs to Microsoft Word, which I don't have on Chromebook and have never used. In all the time I've used computers, I've only ever been an Internet Person. I've never learned how to operate any of the systems many folks are familiar with. But at least I now know Google Docs. Everything should be as simple. And maybe Word won't be too difficult, but anyway, once I transfer the book from Google Docs to Word (which I will acquire for my Chromebook through Microsoft's offer of a month's free trial), then I will double-check the manuscript one last time, to make triple-sure that it has uploaded exactly the way I have formatted it, and to make a final check for typos. And if everything looks good on Word, then it will be time to upload the book to Lulu. I chose Lulu over Amazon because they (supposedly) make nice hardcover books, with dust jackets. It is of paramount importance to me that this is a bookstore-quality book. I'm talking about in the physical sense (and hopefully in the literary sense, too!) I want it to be a high-quality presentation, and if it isn't (after I check my print copy) then I won't release it until I find a publisher who can make it bookstore quality. I've put a lot of effort into writing it; it's not just something I knocked off, so I want the finished product to reflect that effort.

I have two possible covers I created on Canva. It's hard to choose between them, but I like them both so I can't go wrong. And if I can get all the Lulu uploading stuff right (and I continue to pray to The Book Gods), then I might have my print copy in hand as early as July 1. If so, and if the print copy looks good, it will be on sale shortly after that. Fingers crossed. Man, I've put my heart on the line here. I promise you won't be disappointed.

May 23, 2024

I found a great Mongomery Clift interview on The Hy Gardner show from January 1963. It's about fifty minutes long, cut into 5 ten minute segments by the Youtube poster, so you can watch some or all of it at your leisure. It was the only TV interview he ever did, and among other things, he talks about his car accident, and also about acting techniques, Hollywood gossip, all kinds of stuff. Since we've been featuring Monty I thought you might want to see it. I watched "Judgement at Nuremberg" a few nights ago, truly one of the greatest films ever made. Monty only has twelve minutes, but they are in one continuous, stunning scene, and as always, he is brilliant. Overall, it's Spencer Tracy's picture (he holds it together), with tremendous performances by Maximilian Schell, Burt Lancaster, and Marlene Dietrich. Colonel Klink is great as a loyal Nazi judge. I mean, you can run down the list, everyone in the film is incredible. It's directed by the great Stanley Kramer, whose camera prowls the courtroom. Judy Garland is very good in a small but pivotal role. "Judgement" gets right down to business with the trial beginning almost immediately, so even though it's over three hours long, it never drags, and it was filmed on location so you can see what Nuremberg looked like; even 16 years after the war it was still in ruins.

On the listening front, I branched out today and listened to not one but three Genesis solo albums, starting with "Smallcreep's Day" by Mike Rutherford. I remembered that Pat liked it at the time it came out in 1980. It's not an earthshaking release, and sounds in places like commercial prog, but has great musicianship including founding Genesis member Anthony Phillips on keyboards instead of his trademark guitar. I am a big Ant fan (as he is known for short) and I guess Rutherford, who went on to mainstream solo success with Mike and The Mechanics, wanted to play all the guitars on his album, so he gave the keyboards to Ant Phillips, who fills the landscape nicely. Simon Phillips (no relation) is on drums. He had previously played on "Sin After Sin" by Judas Priest and is up there with Bill Bruford in ability. For some reason, the producer pushed him way down in the mix, otherwise "Smallcreep's" would be a great album. As it is, I give it a 7. A Steven Wilson remix could make it an 8.5. It closes with a 24 minute piece based on the album's title, which is taken from a book.

I also listened to Tony Banks' first solo album from 1979, entitled "A Curious Feeling", very symphonic, almost entirely keyboards based and quite good. My third Genesis solo album was Steve Hackett's "Spectral Mornings" from May 1979, his third offering. It was the best of the bunch, featuring several tracks I remembered from that time, and in retrospect, I wonder why this didn't become a favorite of mine. A couple songs are lifetime achievements for any progressive musician. I guess I was too much into hard rock at the time, but music was also changing, year by year (not like now, when we're stuck for 30 years with the same un-creative thing), and between 1976 and 1980, punk rock was coming and going. New Wave was it's replacement. Progressive rock, glam rock and art rock, all of which I was weaned on at College Records, was out. "Love Beach" was the death knell for progressive music. But hard rock was still in, so I had Rush, Van Halen and Rainbow. Those were my bands from about 1977 to 1981. There were others, like Judas Priest, UFO and Scorpions, and then once the '80s got rolling I branched out to more metal. But I wasn't listening to much progressive rock after about 1978, and not to Genesis at all after "Wind and Wuthering" (1977) because, to me, they completely sold out when Phil Collins took over. Anyhow, that was my Listening Party for today, those three solo albums by members of Genesis, inspired by the "Supper's Ready" video I think I recently mentioned. Speaking of Anthony Phillips, he made two fantastic solo albums: "The Geese and the Ghost"(1977) and its follow-up "Wise After the Event"(1978).

 I know it's sacrilege to say this, but I am not a huge fan of Peter Gabriel's solo material. I liked his first album, with the raindrops on the car window, and "Solsbury Hill" is a nice song, but after that? He doesn't do it for me. Songs like "Red Rain" and the politically-charged "Biko" have anthemic power in the way they build; their structures are dynamic, but it's all one single melody all the way through, and "Sledgehammer" and "Shock the Monkey" are kind of lightweight MTV stuff. I know people worship the guy, and I feel bad not liking him, but as great a vocalist and frontman/theatrical performer as he was for Genesis, I don't feel he was a main creative force in that band. Witness "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", which was his concept of a punk rock subway rebel in New York. To me, it took the Englishness out of Genesis, which was their trademark. He cut his hair and sang much of the album in a rock-rasp, abandoning his his inner Lewis Carroll. "Lamb" was a good album, and would've been very good if it was a single disc, but much of the best material belonged to Tony Banks. I'm not knocking Peter Gabriel - it's a fact that Genesis turned into soft-rock pap without him, under Phil Collins leadership (or dictatorship), but I think he was more of a coagulator and interpreter of the other guys' ideas. He put the fantasy into Genesis, and sometimes the lyrics (which were also written by Rutherford) but not much of the music, and I think the results show on his solo albums, which I feel have dynamism in places, but are otherwise monochromatic. You can go ahead and shoot me now.

But at least he isn't Phil Collins, who was one of the greatest drummers in progressive rock before he decided to, um...decided to...er...do whatever it was he did. Did you know he was the third-biggest-selling artist of the 1980s, behind only Madonna and Michael Jackson? It's true, but boy, only Don Henley rivaled him for Depressing Rock. "The End of the Innocence" or "In the Air Tonight"? Take your pick, and make sure to add Foreigner's "I Want To Know What Love Is, and pass the sleeping pills and vodka.

Anyhow, make sure and watch the Monty Clift interview.

More music: I am looking forward to the release, next week, of the long-awaited box set of Black Sabbath albums from the Tony Martin era, entitled "Anno Domini". It's a four album set, and I know, I know...it shouldn't be called Black Sabbath without Ozzy. But I think Tony Iommi took a page from Sir Richard Blackmore's book and figured "I can replace whoever I want to. As long as I'm in the group it's Black Sabbath". Also, the record company probably insisted and told him it wouldn't sell under another name, so Black Sabbath it is. The important thing is that the Tony Martin albums are terrific, sounding similar, riff-wise, to Dio-era Sabbath, but with an even bigger sound, courtesy of Cozy Powell, and Martin's powerful, elastic voice. He is the second longest-tenured singer in Black Sabbath, with five albums to his credit. I was skeptical at first (because I never gave Black Sabbath the time of day after the first two Dio albums), but one afternoon in 2022, I was browsing Youtube and on a whim, I checked out "Tyr" featuring Martin on vocals, and thought it was awesome. I ended up listening to all of the Martin albums (and one with Glenn Hughes), and I thought, "wow, this is like Tony Iommi's Rainbow". You know how, when Ritchie quit Purple, he did his own thing but retained that signature sound? That's what Iommi did with Sabbath, and he even used a lot of Ritchie's former band members. If you go on Youtube, many fans list Martin as their favorite Sabbs singer. Mine is of course Oswald Osbourne, but this is a whole different band and sound with Tony Martin. Check 'em out.

Many records need to be revisited, and in that respect I've also been listening to Rick Wakeman's "The Myths and Legends of King Arthur"(1975), which sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of his other solo masterpieces: "Six Wives of Henry VIII" (one of the 25 greatest albums ever made) and "Journey to the Center of the Earth". Those two were so legendary that Wakeman fans (myself included) sometimes forget how great "King Arthur" was, featuring some of Rick's greatest Mini Moog work and orchestration. Go back and give it a listen. I've often thought Rick Wakeman might be The King of Progressive Rock, because not only was he in Yes, he was also in The Strawbs, and he was a solo artist with three classic albums to his name and several other very good ones, including "The Red Planet" from 2022. Of course, it's hard to dispute Greg Lake's claim to being King, as he was a founding member of both King Crimson and ELP, and he was also the greatest rock singer of all time, but the nod may have to go to Rick because of his solo career and his appearance on many legendary singles, such as Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken" and Bowie's "Space Oddity". Man, I could talk about progressive rock all day, and I feel the need to take the mantle because Pat is not physically present anymore and can't head the discussion himself. However, he may have given over the reins anyway because I would go on and on during our phone calls, detailing the fine points of Peter Hammill's solo career or the saving grace good songs on Gentle Giant's commercial albums. Long live progressive rock and the creative spirit. 

Dear Lord, there are many bad people in the world, and I pray they'll not get away with what they've done.

The country I live in, Dear Lord, is "all about" letting bad people get away with their deeds.

I live in a bad country that was once the best country on Earth. But it went very bad, and is going to ruin.

And all because bad people hold sway, and protect other bad people below them.

I could tell You stories, Dear Lord, but You already know them.

The bad people don't believe in You, or don't have the capacity to believe. Many have no "there there".

Karen is asking for a blanket, but not because she's cold.