Greenslade & Dave Lawson (and Tubi)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My New Book is on Lulu.com!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yessonata

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

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

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

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

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

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