Abandoned Ideas...Volume 1
Over the last, I don't know, 20 years? I have had the pleasure of being best friends with a true "Ideas Man," a visionary in the truest sense of the word. A guy who tosses out energy of pure inspirations like lightning, unbounded by restraints of practicality. Jeff Logan is a concept-generating machine.
I am not an Ideas Man. I am an implementation type of guy. I am bound to the earth by thoughts like: "How could I/we actually pull that off?" or "How much money/time/effort would that require?"
But, I once had a vision for a retro-looking, black and white television show called "Leave It to Devo," starring the guys from the 80s band.
Never really got much further than the name, however.
Whatcha Listenin' To?
Wow. So much stuff. I might as well just get to it.
Midnight Drive Tommy Emmanuel
You know how people sometimes say that listening to music “takes them away” to a special place? We have this way of associating certain sounds with memories and locations? Well, when I heard the music on this album I was instantly transported in my mind…to trying on dress shirts in a Dillard’s dressing room. Emmanuel has a reputation for being a finger-picking guitarist supreme- a “God With Us” of the six string. While I don’t doubt his technical skill, this was some of the most hideous “jazz” I’ve heard in many years. Whether or not you want to argue its genre classification, this is the music for soulless people who want soulless sounds to ignore. Perhaps he recorded this stuff for a big royalty payoff with Muzak. I don’t know. But it made me sick to my stomach from the initial sounds of overly polished keyboards and lack of anything remotely resembling human emotion.
I will pursue other albums by this guy, however, in the hopes that this one is just an anomaly.
Forever Changes Love
This is one of those albums from the 60s that is regarded as a cult classic. I was hoping for a monumental surprise like The Zombies’
Odeyssey and Oracle, but apart from the opening track “Alone Again Or” (and its inclusion in the film “Bottle Rocket,” I believe, or one of the Wes Anderson movies anyway) this music didn’t really register.
After reading up a little bit, it turns out that so much of this album’s charm is wrapped up in context, (isn’t it always thus?) as it was a departure for the band sonically and a harbinger for the end of Flower Power. I would propose that the end of the magical 60s is more interestingly displayed in the music of Hendrix, the Who and Zappa. Acoustic-ey soft rock does not depict an end to hippie-dom.
Violence of sound does.
The Sea Hawk and Other Film Scores of Erich Korngold London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andre Previn
I heard a performance of Korngold’s Violin Concerto at a Philharmonic concert about a month ago and was blown away. You know how when you’re watching old black and white movies and they start with a brass fanfare and Romantic-sounding violins in unison playing a soaring melody over titles written in fancy script? Well, this is THAT kind of music, really interesting when decoupled from the pictures. The more lyrical moments were absolutely perfect for our little dalliance with Spring that we had a couple weeks ago. Windows down, sunroof open. Life is good…
The Essential Emerson, Lake and Palmer Emerson, Lake and Palmer
I first heard most of the lesser-known works in this collection as a music major in college. ELP are at the top of the list of bands associated with the movement known as “Progressive Rock.” Keith Emerson might as well have been a mad scientist for all of the crazy innovations he helped bring about in the world of synthesizer technology, (along with actual, real mad scientist Bob Moog.) and Greg Lake’s voice and bass playing can also be heard on the early King Crimson albums.
ELP often wore their classical influences on their sleeves. See for instance direct “rocked up” arrangements of Copland’s “Hoe-down” and “Fanfare for the Common Man” and my favorite, their adaptation of Janacek’s “Sinfonietta.” This is the perfect music for nerdy music majors who still like their rock n’ roll a little too much and reminded me of a strange time in my life.
In my mind there are no better musical moments than when Emerson’s synth comes forward for a solo in “Lucky Man” and “In the Beginning.”
Gold B.B. King
The legendary relationship of King to his guitar “Lucille” has been written about ad nauseum. I am interested in one thing about the man’s playing: its simplicity. If you were to somehow extract just his lead lines from these recordings it would probably not sound very impressive- single note lines, mostly pentatonic. But somehow, it just sounds like “him.” I realized the strange difficulty of this when learning (just the bass line) of the tune “Why I Sing the Blues.” This is music of feel, not impressiveness.” A distinction I will probably have to make for the rest of my life.
One Kind Favor B.B. King
The song “See That My Grave is Kept Clean” was recommended by blog-stalker Willie for its “voodoo” and I definitely hear it. I love a song that has a groove that’s not instantly recognizable. It takes a couple bars from the beginning of the song to figure out what the drums are doing- when what used to be chaos begins to take form.
Continuum John Mayer
I continue on in my respect of this guy. While I prefer the version of “Gravity” with the horns off the Live in LA album, there are some very strong hooks and fabulous guitar playing on this album.
Back East Joshua Redman
Given to me as a gift, this music was a surprise. Redman is much more of a traditionalist than I had imagined in my head, which in the case of jazz is a good thing, to my ears. He has a crazy amount of technique, plays all over the horn in flights of fancy like John Coltrane, but never seems to stray too far. Then there is the interesting choice of performing in a trio with no piano. Unlike with my experience with Ornette Coleman, however, I never missed the harmony being filled in. It takes a very special bass player to fill in the holes, but whoever it is on this album does a fantastic job.
I think that should suffice for awhile. There is much more I’m listening to. Maybe next time.
On Skiing- A Study of Ratios
I will start at the end. I had a spectacular crash while skiing at Monarch a few days ago.
While it wasn't one of those where they drag you behind a snowmobile in a body bag, and I was only on the bunny slope, I am currently laid up on the couch recovering. And the doc said I shall feel the pain from this for at least a couple weeks. Deep muscle bruising in my back and chest. Perhaps a rib was affected as well.
I tried skiing for the first time ever. It shall be the first and last time. I have given it the old college try, took a group lesson, gave it my best, and found that it is not for me.
The whole trip I was visited by thoughts of proportions, namely the ratio of Work:Fun.
Day one-Work:Fun ratio----95% work, 5% fun.
Day two-Work:Fun ratio----80% work, 20% fun. (Surprisingly, this was the day of my spill. I was going so fast and pretty much STRAIGHT down the slope and thought to myself "Wow. I'm going really fast down this hill. I wonder why I haven't crashed yet..." And then in an instant I was laid out in the snow with skis ten feet downhill and poles ten feet uphill.
Important side note: I never did learn how to turn right in my two and a half days of attempts.)
Day three [not even a half day]-Work:Fun ratio----90% work, 10% fun. I hit a wall that morning, metaphorically speaking. In pain, contemplating taking the beginner lift all the way to the top rather than half way, I realized an important truth in my life at this point. I want to be able to run the 1/2 marathon in a month and perhaps the full marathon in May MUCH MUCH MUCH more than I want to be able to say that "I skied greens." From that point on, I was done.
Ketchup
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, my darlings. Here’s what’s been happening instead of my writing for the blog:
1) As you might already know, it was exactly a year ago that I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. You may also remember my basically saying at the time “Don’t worry. I’ve got this one covered.” Well, it turns out I was right as of last week’s appointment with the Good Doctor. Based on my blood work results, he jokingly accused me of masquerading as Mike Stutzman. My blood work was perfect! Not just diabetic perfect, but regular, healthy person perfect. At which point in my appointment Dr. Cruzan pointed at his computer screen at two numbers, (my weight over the last couple years) and started to praise me for a bunch of hard work and “grabbing the bull by the horns.” Then he asked me when I’m going to write my book. I kind of chuckled and he looked at me and said- “No. Seriously. When are you going to write your book?” An intriguing idea…
In the prophetic words of a friend a year ago—“You are going to make this disease your bitch.”
2) Over the last couple months, under the encouraging words of a writer friend I have been writing a short story for the first time since, maybe junior high. As of last Friday, I have a finished rough draft. Maybe when it’s done I’ll let you all read it. I have been reminded how much fun the process of writing can be. The kinds of things I find myself considering, the kinds of minuscule choices I find myself faced with in editing—it’s a hoot and a half.
3) I read my first graphic novel last week.
Watchmen? Maybe you’ve heard of it? I don’t really feel qualified to discuss its merits in comparison to the genre, and truth be told I wasn’t blown away by it. As a work of fiction, apart from the graphic component, it employs some interesting devices. Namely, the insertion of seemingly extraneous material like a book within a book, psychological profiles of characters and magazine articles that serve as a handy way to get a lot of background information into the story in quick bursts. And the book raises the question of why costumed crime fighters and “super-heroes” do what they do. Pretty unconventional answers are given in addition to the regular pragmatism that we’re used to from guys like Spider-man and Superman, from kinky sexual responses to the costume to the love of “adventure”, to pure determinism in the case of the God-like Dr. Manhattan. However, I’m still not sure why this book is so revered.
4) I’ve been listening to lots and lots of new music as of late and I’ll probably get to telling you about that in a week or two. In the meantime, go outside. Spring is becoming more and more of a reality! I think my soul may be coming back after going south for the winter!
Labels: Diabetes
