Things For Which I Am Thankful
*I am healthy, happy, more content than I’ve ever been in my life. And I don’t mean that in the “it’s-the-end-of-the-year-and-I-need-to-think-of-something-to-say-I’m-thankful-for” kind of way, but in a “I am a changed man” kind of way.
I am a changed man. I know I look different, but that’s just the outward manifestation of something unbelievable that has happened to my mind and soul. I’m still not sure what has happened/is happening to me. I don’t know what to call it. I know that’s a little vague for my Christian friends, but in the way of explanations, it’s all I’ve got right now...
*I have tons of people in my life who want awesome things for me. I see and talk to and type to so many people who care about how life goes for me. This is not something I will ever overlook again.
*There are simple pleasures in life of which I am now aware: collapsing on a couch and engaging people in relaxed conversation about anything... a sunny day with no wind, a bike and a path around a lake... a cold, gray day with a cup of tea and a heating bill I can afford. There are tons of other ones that I could name but I have already devolved into sickening cheesiness as it is.
*Parents who care about me and who instilled into me values of right and wrong, somehow without coercion or the requisite guilt and shame I hear about so often. This was really a genius move on their part.
*Enough money to pay the bills and enough money to feed myself (and others)
*ALL KINDS of goals met
*Low blood sugars, astounded doctors
*Finally...public libraries
Here’s to life and the transformation of Mike into a Pollyanna!
Happy Thanksgiving, my lovelies!
Whatcha Listenin' To?
Sorry it’s been a while since my last post, friends, but man! Life is flying by at a pretty fast clip these days! Yet I still press on in my quest to educate myself to the varieties of free musical experience...
The Pretenders
The SinglesThis is catchy 80s pop. To read interviews with lead singer Chrissie Hynde and see her image, you would think she would sound like a punk rocker from the Sex Pistols’ mold. So, it was a little bit of a surprise to hear how clean and polished the production was on this collection of songs. Very rarely do you even hear distortion on the guitars. This music would have translated to radio so easily. That’s why it’s a shame they never got much recognition beyond “Brass in Pocket,” (a pretty catchy song in its own right.) Hynde’s voice is pretty distinctive and I, for one, like that about this music. But by all means, do not listen to the cover of “I Got You Babe” with UB40!
Joe Henderson
Big BandThis album features uber-tight, imaginative arrangements that venture well-beyond your basic swing tune. I find it kind of funny that this is billed as a Joe Henderson album when the band and the arrangers are really the stars.
Moody Blues
Best OfIn my exploration of well-known “classic” bands and albums, I’m discovering an archetypal story: “progressive late 60s art rock band carries on into the 80s to produce really crappy, easily-digestible pop music.” (See also Emerson Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Yes…)
Jimi Hendrix
Live at WoodstockSometimes it’s easy to take for granted Hendrix’s contribution to the electric guitar. That is to say, obviously he’s famous, a real hero on the instrument, etc. But do we ever stop and think about just how weird those sounds coming out of his amp were (and still are?) In one way of listening, a tune like his iconic treatment of the national anthem is just noise. I mean “strangling-a-cat-with electrified-barbed-wire” noise. But in the other way of listening it’s a musical revolt—prescient
musique concrete as avant garde as anything the academic concert hall was producing at the time. Was he just a stoned hippie or an artist saying something valid and relevant about his time?
