Now, I'm a Pumpkin

What a pisser.
My crew and I weren't to go on until 7 pm.
At 6:30 the guitar player for the main act was asking for,
"A guitar player, c'mon now...one of you plays guitar."

No one moved.
A half hour later and they had finished their set. The entire front row was wives and hangers on of various shapes and denominations. The clapper, the hoot and hollar'er...they were all there, in the front row.
So as one they ready to depart.

7 pm comes and the tear down/setup ritual begins. The talk back and forth is they have another engagement and have to go. No worries.

We set up and immediately launch into a lusty 'Waiting for the Bus.'
Their singer, Lefty Jeff comes running, at full tear into the room, vaults on stage and starts to sing. Never mind he is a verse early and we have the singing covered. It was really well received.

The more we played more the more he sang. There was no breach of etiquette, this is a road house and the name of the game is a huge jam.
Two more numbers and by that time Jim turned to his son Charlie, as if to say,
"Do you want to go?"

When no less than the entire opening act, was joining in. Their drummer, now playing on our drummers kit, their guitar player is singing backup, the bass player was making the tambourine tinkle, and Jeff was singing his little heart out.

"Gimme your number again, man?"

When the musicians spend more time talking shop and the audience is dancing, even though it is freezing...it is a good gig; a party, a blast.

And now to bed and to dream of my night at the ball.

It's That Time Of The Year, Again

Come and dance with me.

This year, only one main act and then, "the rest of us."
If it works as in the past we'll be playing far beyond our allotted set. Last year it was four songs, this year six, perhaps seven. I am playing less and expecting more in the way of compensation...Merry Christmas.

But that's a rant better left for another moment.

For whatever reason this is the event I associate with the death of my father. I played this gig last year and then a couple of days later, he died. No connection, except in my head.
So I will think of him.

I am more of a friend to George than just a guy with a guitar that he knows. Even though to two are intertwined, deeply. I'll enjoy his company. And share what he offers.

I will not be sad to see the year go, so I will see this as the shedding of an awful year in which too many were taken from me, from us. And not enough time for the things that really matter.
A voice you long to hear.
A good book.
Some new music.
A touch that lets you know you are alive and that is a good thing.

To you Harry, dear young boy, I will think of you as I always do. And this year, my dad too.
Sigh.

While at George's I will be 'auditioning' this.

A guitar stand that makes use of the edge of any flat-ish surface.
A weighted, rubber hunk with a deep cutout for the neck of your guitar.
Allow the foot to hang over an edge - that's my amp in the shot, and lean the guitar against it. The slot behind holds picks.

A neat piece for the space conscious. About $18.

Jesus, On His Birthday...Says - Swords into Plowshares

Gunman Ambushes Firemen - Kills Two

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/24/us/houston-police-killed/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The first couple of stories are about weapon related deaths - Christmas Eve?
Four people shot and killed today.

There is no rational reason for anyone to be armed.
Want to hunt? Fine.

Or if you really have to fire a handgun, may I suggest going to a range and renting same?

Second Amendment arguments fail in light of today's technology. The amendment was to protect from a failed government; the right to armed insurrection.
With what the government could bring to bear, we the People, would resemble Saddam's army, circa 1991.

Do any of the assault weapon proponents believe they could withstand the US Armed forces with an AR-15?
And then there is the National Rifle Association, who declined to show any leadership and concern for the welfare of anyone or anything but themselves. Wayne LaPierre blamed Hollywood and lack of armed guards for the tragic massacre at Newtown Connecticut. Conveniently forgetting the armed guard who did exchange gunfire with the two boys - "He was outside..."

It seems that money is the root of most evil. This is an outrageous display of what a dollar can attempt to buy - our silence while the massacre continues.
Over one hundred people have been shot and killed since the Newtown shooting. One Hundred.

The greatest threat to us, this country is not al qaeda, but ourselves.

Merry Christmas

Rants And Raves

My aunt is an author...buy her book.
Buy Her Book, or the Kitten Gets It

History Is Revisionism

I detest revisionism as it is sometimes directed at the Holocaust, et cetera. I want to stand by history.
But I see that is not the case.
Not in comics, in which it is referred to as retcon or retroactive continuity - altering an established history of a fictional work.
Not in music...

I found a group of young people who wished to debate the origin of the term 'metal' as it pertains to music in general and guitars in particular.

There is a reference in 'Born to Be Wild.' And there were two band, Led Zeppelin and Iron Butterfly. These two bands were loud at times and on the then cutting edge of the guitar as it was being explored in the late 1960s.
Their names - two flying items made of metal...intentional contradiction in terms, rebels with long hair.

But where is this knowledge contained? The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? The word is not disseminated anywhere. It is left to tribal knowledge and being relatively trivial, not maintained.

And I find it sad.
In an age where people put faith in Wikipedia as a purveyor of facts it serves to show we are losing touch with our history in very meaningful ways.

As a child I would pore over the Encyclopedia Britannica for hours. I would read the footnotes and the references. Look at the authors and wonder if I would ever be as knowledgeable as to be asked to contribute to what I considered the sum total of the worlds knowledge.
These people that authored sections were the leading people in the field, The people without peer. Or a collection of people so formidable in their insight and wealth of facts to share.

And now, we have the internet; where anyone can post something and claim it fact, and you know somewhere it will gain traction.Whether true or not.

"The United Nations garden contains several sculptures and statues that have been donated by different countries. This one is called "Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares" and was a gift from the then Soviet Union presented in 1959. Made by Evgeniy Vuchetich, the bronze statue represents the figure of a man holding a hammer in one hand and, in the other, a sword which he is making into a plowshare, symbolizing man's desire to put an end to war and convert the means of destruction into creative tools for the benefit of all mankind. "

2012, Goodbye and Good Riddance

There was something very pure about George Harrison & the Concert for Bangladesh.
I wanted a white persona, head to foot.

2012 has taken many people I cared for and about. It robbed me of father and friends. And in the musical world it tolled longer than I'd prefer.
So tonight, Ravi Shankar, the reference to the Concert for Bangladesh, left us, too.

I am angry at the loss. The guy was ninety two, so I mourn only a little for him. But his daughter and his daughter. Them, I mourn for.

The year was good for me but hard on me. It gave me gifts with one hand and took people with the other. It took my normalcy and left me wondering how much pain the fiscal cliff will cause me? I know the money dries up 12/29/12. I wonder how the bank will react to that news?

I am angry and yet grateful.

Thank You, Amen, Goodnight

We can bitch and moan, piss and cry...

Or we can dance.

A couple of pals have been resisting my attempts to put a band together. I call, I cajole, I wheedle...nothing.

"Wanna jam at Characters? The act is not showing." This is all it took?

We played for an hour and kicked it. It was really great playing and a buncha fun. If it never leads anywhere, I must be content.

So as I was walking off I leaned to the mic, "Thank you, amen and have a good night..."
And I meant it.

I am dancing as fast as I can.