Recently I played my Loopy Loops style music (acoustic guitar and loop pedal) at my daughter's elementary school. They are the best fans ever!
Here's what a recent Saturday yielded: Neon Bubble (kinda like Disco 2.0). Was never into the Disco thing really, in all its goofy glory. But there often was a little catchy something to it...caught up in this jam session...
Last night as I watched a re-run of My Name Is Earl I heard a familiar song: Tuesday’s Gone by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Funny how a few lines of a song can take you back to another time. Suddenly, I was reminded of my teenage years and my good friends back then. Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of our favorite groups. We loved music and partying. We had a rock band named High Voltage.
High Voltage was Dean R on keyboards and vocals, Merle O on bass, Bob C on drums, and me on guitar and vocals. We were often joined by Jim M on guitar and Kim M on a very entertaining guitar and vocals with his “on the fly” wild and crazy adlib songs. We can’t forget comical Brian “Barney” L, either. Those were fun times, playing loud music and dreaming of being rock stars. Not long after those rock and roll days I moved away from that small town, put my rock star dream on hold, went to college, and eventually moved a few states away for work. And the years turned into decades. I lost touch with the friends of my youth. Over the years there have been many times that I wondered what became of them or where they were. But I never really tried to find out. Life just got too busy with work and family and all. Nowadays it’s pretty easy to hop online and figure out where someone is. Recently I located a few of my old music buddies and contacted them. It was really cool to hear Bob’s voice on the phone after all these years. He surprisingly sounded the same! It was great to email Dean and see some pictures of him on the internet. He surprisingly looked the same! But last night as I heard the song Tuesday’s Gone, I felt a sadness. Not only is Tuesday gone, but so is Wednesday, Thursday and half of Friday. Life is short. Many of the people who pass into your life, pass out of it before you’ve had a chance to really make any lasting impression. Or you move on too soon to experience their full impact... Here's to you High Voltage! Motto for today (should you start thinking too highly of your musicianship): Lots of people play lots of music lots better than you. Case in point - Gary Moore - Story of the Blues! It doesn't get much better than this. You gotta hear the guitar solo mid-way through. I wish I could play like that. RIP, Gary. Do you dig Jimi Hendrix music? I always have. Then you’ll love listening to the Randy Hansen band. Randy is about as close as you’ll get to the sound and onstage mannerisms and vibe as the real thing. He’s been doing this since the Jimi days and is quite good at it. They put on one heck of an entertaining and energetic (and loud!) show. We were recently lucky enough to see them perform at Walla Faces (nice little wine tasting room right in down town Walla Walla, WA). Check out this video clip. Awesome show, even better wine and what a cool place to hang out. Walla Faces boasts a summer concert series as well. You won’t be disappointed. When you see “free music” on the internet, what do you think?
Is it basically music that the budding musician could never sell because it’s not very good? For example, I just saw a “funny videos” clip on TV where a pretty boy musician was trying to be all pretty with his guitar in the woods...and a bird pooped on his shoulder while he was singing. Sorry to say it but that’s what I thought of it too. Is it truly good music and the musician is just hoping to eventually sell it through word-of-mouth reviews after people download his “free music”? I mean, there are a lot of good musicians out there that don’t get much recognition in the mainstream. Is it pirated music that is basically a copyright infringement, from a website with poor English and a big “You Dig Here” button? Is it legitimate free music downloads of your favorite music, which seems so common out there on the internet? But you have to ask, if it is really free, how can they afford to do that and how do the artists get compensated? What say ye! |