9/28 Rise Up

Fun gig at Harlow's in the capitol city. Up and back and time for a decent bad night's sleep. Sound wasn't that great but no big deal. Great time. Set:

Hail Hail
Call Back
Heart Like a Wheel
Welcome to L.A.
101
Giant
LGP
See Her
She Really Does It For Me
Rise Up
Pure Mountain Angel

Nice birthday present. Thanks, everyone!

9/25 - Whole Lotta Bonzo, The Big 500!

Spun Led Zeppelin (runes), Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti to recognize the thirtieth anniversary of the passing of John Henry Bonham, the greatest, most thunderous drummer in rock history. Half that time, fifteen years ago, I lost a friend on this date due to a congenital heart defect that the doctors only knew about post-mortem. Today I think of him and his family, whom I love dearly.

This marks my five hundredth post here. A labor of love. I long for the days I was spending an hour or two researching and ranting about all sorts of issues or raving and drooling about music. Mostly now it's navel-gazing (even moreso) but still I find that I write my diary for others to snoop through and enjoy a hint that someone's been here. Let's hope I hit my thousandth post soon.

Happy birthday tomorrow to George Gershwin, Olivia Newton-John, my sister-in-law Gretchen Taylor. Let's hope that everyone has a wonderful day as their odometers flip.

9/21 - Goodbye Summer

The weirdest summer, truly, of my life. One that made me feel I truly lived in the Bay Area. Especially June, with temperatures rarely in the nineties and often in the seventies. Usually, weather's in the high nineties and low hundreds and we just bear with it. Summer left us today with a high of maybe seventy-five degrees, giving us the hope and excitement for a fall of morning chill, mid-day sun and afternoon breeze. Nothing's better than waking up healthy and happy, stumbling downstairs and making coffee and be chilled until climbing into the shower. Autumn is my favorite season of the year, with the holidays, of course, my birthday and the change of season that is soon to be upon us.

Gearing up for my night in Sacramento next Tuesday. Still looking to take someone with me, though a solo visit will allow for greater nerdiness and stupidity.

What I spun today:

Bruce - The River, disc two. Yes, again.
John Coltrane - Lush Life
Miles - Workin' With...
Coltrane - Giant Steps
Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
Monk/Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall

9/20

Spun:

McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy
Bela Fleck, V.M Bhatt, Jie-Bing Chen - Tabula Rasa
Bruce - Unreleased Masters, Vol. III
Bob Dylan - Live at the Gaslight 1962
John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
Miles - MD and the Modern Jazz Giants

9/18, 9/19

Memorial weekend, so to speak. Saturday marked the fortieth anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix. Spun his music all day. Moms came over for dinner as the mayor was in San Diego on business.

Are You Experienced
Axis: Bold As Love
Band of Gypsies
Woodstock (first half of the second set, though no obligatory SSB>PH>Villanova Junction. That said, that's my favorite twenty minutes of his entire career)

G.F. Handel - Music for the Royal Fireworks
G.F.H. - Water Music
J.S. Bach - Cello Suites

Today marks the thirty-seventh anniversary of the passing of Jim Croce and Gram Parsons. Two great and loved musicians.

Jim Croce - The 50th Anniversary Collection
Flying Burrito Brothers - Farther Along (Best of)
Gram Parsons - GP/Grievous Angel
Bruce - Darknesss, River (disc two)
John Mellencamp - No Better Than This
Truth & Salvage Co. - second hour of record release gig, 5/25/00 (from DVD)
Matej Benko Quartet - Time Against Us (a Czech jazz ensemble)
T.J. Kirk - epon. Fusion/funk. Not my bag.

Off for my last week of the quarter before break!

And Now A Thousand Years Between...

I remember first reading a review in a magazine and didn't think anything of it. Then I read the review that Friday morning in the Fresno Bee which gave it an "A-". I was impressed as well as nonplussed, considering it was a Cameron Crowe film. He'd recently put out "Jerry McGuire" which was not that great though it contained a couple of quotable lines. The most commonly plugged image was a kid standing outside with a group of adults in the background boarding a small airplane. What exactly was the film trying to say?
I came home from work, the beginning of my second year of teaching. I had an amazing group of students in an honors government/economics course, along with my first AP United States History class. I had just spent a week in San Diego with my brother and his wife, partly for vacation, partly for an AP teaching conference in order to prepare myself for this brutal course. I was tired and I had a ton of work to do that weekend, let alone that night. My best friends called my wife and I, saying that they were going to the film. There really wasn't a question of whether I was going; we were. It was Cameron Crowe. What the hell, I thought; at least we'd go out to a late dinner after the movie.
We piled into the theater, sitting relatively close, in our typical order of wife-husband-wife-husband, and the lights dimmed and the previews aired. I thought the opening credits were cool, with an open desk drawer with a ton of concert memorabilia that I recognized. Seeing the cast, I was curious, having known a couple of actors. The beginning, with the Chipmunk Song and a couple of very familiar scenes in San Diego had me paying close attention, still not quite sure of what was going to happen. A couple of very funny lines and then a critical scene: the older daughter moving out of the house "in order to become a stewardess". She wanted her mother, an over-bearing but wise type, to listen to her life, which was, apparently summed up in a single rock and roll song. The stylus dropped onto the vinyl lp and soon the opening harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel's "America" moved out of the hi-fi speakers and throughout the theater and soon, I thought to myself, we've got something. Then, the plot moved along four quick years with The Who's "Sparks" spinning and my friends and I all looked at each other like children just watching their favorite superhero stepping out, in costume, ready to defeat the villain. From there, the film blurred by in what seemed like a half-hour, with memorable performances by the cast, an amazing array of rock and roll history thrown into a fictional story and a nostalgic, sentimental and deeply personal love story by a director who truly loved his music history. As the chords of Led Zeppelin's "Tangerine" rang out across a blackened screen, giving the viewers the chance to remember their own life's lost loves, I couldn't believe what I had just seen. "Almost Famous" had just wisked me back to the summer preceding my birth, when the mythology was still current event and the gods still delinquent musicians. And yet,

The very next morning, I let my wife sleep in VERY late as I bee-lined it to Best Buy to purchase two albums, the film soundtrack and The Who's Tommy, which, unanswerably, I had not only not owned but had never heard (!). The next night, I won a radio station contest and was able to scoop up several special edition promotional film posters. Later that month, Kate Hudson was on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine (four of them, four of us...) and the autumn of the year in which I supported a presidential candidate truly for the first time in my adulthood (sorry, former students, still not tellling) was consumed with dissecting the film and the stories that went into the semi-autobiography of Cameron Crowe. I'm not sure there are many other movies I've see more, other than Forrest Gump, Star Wars or maybe Annie Hall than AF. I went on to spend hundreds of dollars in filling in my music collection hinted at from the film. I revisited Crowe's movies (still avoiding JM) and have come to love most of them. And yet, there's still nothing like "Almost Famous". So, in my blubber-fest, I'm going to wrap this up, pour myself a strong one, turn off the Giants game and put on "Almost Famous". And think back to a simpler, more innocent time of my own life (and the nation's; can anyone remember 9/10?) and say thank you to a silly little film (and LOTS of music) that has touched me so much that it hurts.

Happy Birthday!

To one of the coolest movies ever made, Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. It was released on this date, ten years ago. It made its debut in Fresno the next day, in which some of my best friends and I caught it. That'll be tomorrow, after my beautiful wife and I watch it. For the four millionth time.

What have I been listening to? Stillwater! Actually, all this week, I've been listening to the soundtrack. Not the official one, mind you but the one I (with some GREAT help from a dear friend, Stephen Dutcher of Fresno) compiled, of every song from the film. Even the stupid Chipmunk song. Fifty-five songs on three discs, four hours in length, as they appeared in the film. It's about the best soundtrack to any movie. Can't hurt that the last three songs are Led Zeppelin's The Rain Song, Bron-Yr-Aur and Tangerine, in that order. That, and Miles Davis and the Jazz Giants, with dates from 1954 and 1956. Choice.

Thank you, Cameron.

9/13

Haven't forgotten - just out of town. Totally forgettable weekend in Twain Harte though great to spend it with some dear friends. The lake's marvelous and the weather was perfect.

Still spinning:

McCoy Tyner Quartet - Live at Yoshi's
Christian McBride - Kind of Brown
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother
Manassas - Pieces
Richie Havens - Portfolio
Judy Collins - Who Know Where the Time Goes
Simon and Garfunkel - Live 1969
Bobby Charles - epon.
Van - St. Dominic's Preview
The Black Crowes - Croweology
Bob - Planet Waves
Arlo Guthrie - Hobo's Lullaby
Miles - 'Round About Midnight

Not caring much about politics. November's going to be bad and the Democrats deserve it. Squandered chance. Thinking of returning green.

9/9

Horrible news of a PG&E explosion in San Bruno and an entire neighborhood engulfed in flames. I've had the news on all night; I feel I'm reliving the earthquake or fire in that the t.v. has connected me with someone or something bigger in the greater area. Please donate or help as you can!

Giants showing the Padres who should win the West.

Spinning today:
Van - His Band and the Street Choir
Bruce - NE, WIESS, River, disc two
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Simon and Garfunkel - P, S, R & T
Benny Goodman - Greatest Hits

9/8

How can the A's, Cubs and Giants all lose while the Padres win? Whatever. One of those days I question whether I entered the right profession. Am I the only one who's ever had one of those days? I need a shot of confidence right now to make it to the quarter break. Spinning today:

Buffalo Springfield: epon., Again - man, the music's dated but it's really good for formative, mid-60s rock. Just too bad we never heard from any of the musicians again.
Eric Clapton: From the Cradle - I once worshipped this guy and still revere his ability to tear into a solo. This is probably his best release of his "mature" career and I'm not sure he's done anything nearly as good since.
Bob Dylan - Planet Waves. I totally don't get this album and yet love it. Maybe because it's Bob.
Waylon Jennings - Dreaming My Dreams. Not his best but still a great album. Where is country music like this today?
Bruce - Magic. Haven't spun this in a long time. Excellent. Many topical songs now showing age already but Girls In Their Summer Clothes still one of the best songs he's EVER recorded.
Zep - Physical Grafitt. Side Three absolutely epic.
Joe Lovano - Joyous Encounter.
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage. Killer.
Benny Goodman - Greatest Hits (RCA Victor)

What's going to happen in the midterms? Honestly, I'm so burned out, I just don't care.

Sonny Days I Hope Will Never End

Happy 80th birthday to the Saxophone Colossus, Mr. Sonny Rollins. I've cracked many keys over my love for this man's muse and music. What a milestone (no pun intended) to reach, especially for someone who's faced and conquered many demons, something that did not often happen in his line of work. His albums will make up my entire evening's listening. I'd love to catch him one more time but will simply savor my one time in 2004.

No jury duty, thank goodness. Took an hour and a half to Martinez this morning and stuck around two hours. Came home and caught up on all my school work. Will plow through more of East of Eden for class. End of the month trip looking good, too. Here's to a good night of rest.

What's spinning:
Drive By Truckers - The Big To-Do
Southside Johnny - Hearts of Stone
Van - Beautiful Vision
Sonny - The Bridge, Saxophone Colossus. Plan to spin The Sound of Sonny, Tenor Madness and maybe Plus 4. Happy Birthday, Newk.

Same Time, Next Year

Must report to Superior Court tomorrow after being excused in June. Same nerves. Same fears. I don't care if I get out of work; it's the trouble, the hassle, the headache of trucking in over an hour away for something other "peers" can decide. Should I bring my papers to grade? My Bible to keep on my lap? Crime and Punishment or East of Eden? At least I get a day "off" tomorrow...

I did this for a while in 2008 and early 2009 and enjoyed doing, so I'd like to restart: my listening habits. They haven't changed very much, but remember, evolution takes eons, right? The albums played in their entirety today:

Black Crowes - Croweology, disc two (a pretty dumb album title; jury's still out (no pun intended) on the album's significance).
Billy Joel - Turnstiles (Angry Young Man - feeling it this morning)
BJ - The Stranger (who else captured 70s cynicism like Billy Joel?)
Bruce - Devils & Dust (it's the stories, man, the stories)
Jakob Dylan - Women & Country (still not sure why I bought the album; lackluster songs)
Dexter Gordon - Our Man In Paris (NOT lackluster, though hard to listen to when the Cubbies are at bat)
Tift Merritt - See You On the Moon (in love with Tift, even when the album hasn't quite hit me like her first three studio releases)
Burritos - Further Along... (just about right, man, for 1969-1970)

The A's are still in second while stinking, the Cubbies are improving and the Giants are just about in first place. Wish I had the Mellencamp album to listen to for tomorrow's commute. My brother starts school tomorrow and I wish him the best. Two days of house cleaning extended to three, with some wonderful company of our neighbors, whom have become our closest and best friends. My two youngest children decided last night to start swimming without their "floaty suits" and are busily put-putting around the pool in various degrees. My oldest is acting his age and handling his emotions better. Ah, what a difference three days make...

There's still thirtysomething, which has not left my mind a day in the last year. When the time's right...

Problem Solved, Band Happy

I am truly blessed. I write to remember; however, I'm narcissistic enough to post for others to read. Occasionally, I receive comments and feedback on my musings. I received one from a nice person, (thank you, "CM") who must have thought I was a fool, raving about an album in which I could not correctly name. "Before the Frost...Until the Freeze" is the proper title of the Black Crowes' album. Flood? What was I thinking? You're right, CM, I should probably stop self-medicating before hopping on the keyboard. "Before the Flood..." Sorry, my fine feathered friends.

Note to Self

New Mellencamp, Harry Smith Anthology, Sonny's 80th, upcoming vacations...don't wait so long to write.

What a Difference a Year Makes...

Ah, I love September. While we all gear up for autumn to roll in, we're still promised hot weather, difficulties in school and work and a terrible end to another season for the A's (either by injury or failure to hit the ball). There seems to be a mental change with the month, though, and I don't know if it coincides with the traditional school calendar; fresh starts, new beginnings, friends and possibilities, new experiences thay may become lifetime memories. Many special birthdays roll through at this time along with glimpses of what the end of the year may look like. We will see the eventual drying up of leaves, their darkening and death and find beauty in it; soon will be the wisping winds and frost but not for some time, though every morning's day break promises the advent of cold weather.

Last year at this time, I was still unsure as to what life was ready to hand me. My oldest had enrolled in kindergarten and my wife's work schedule was changing. My class load had promised a change from the previous year's misery but the jury was still out as to the promise of the students and their performances. The summer was a blur, of daily trips to the park and naps and continual diaper changes and questioning of my sanity. When the summer heats up and I remain alone and lonely (as I become every summer when my beautiful wife works longer hours), I retreat into my love of music and the hope of discovering "the" album to carry me out of my summer funk. Last summer, that album was Stephen Stills's "Manassas", an album that I'd seen in the dollar lp bins and had read about and had always figured blah blah blah another overwrought album from someone whose previous group had done one or two great things but who'd never repeated that great act sort of thing. A review of the album's remastering finally convinced me to check the album out and upon purchasing and listening to the album, I was shamed into realizing I'd lost many years' memories of listening to this album and falling in and out of love with the songs, the album sides, the art, the whole thing. Sort of when you experience the Layla album or "Exile" or another sprawling masterwork. I spun "Manassas" for hours up on the deck of the place in Twain Harte, my own little piece of peace in the pines...

Then, to stumble over a review of "Before the Frost" and realize that I'd missed the release date of a Black Crowes album. Cripes! how's that slip by? I hadn't heard anything about it on the boards or from friends but a trip to the local retailer solved the problem of being without the latest album. "Before the Frost..." contained the codes to download "...Until the Frost", a second offering of music from the same recording sessions. How promising; a winter's furlough at Levon Helm's studios in upstate New York in the wintertime, an album of new material recorded live in front of a studio audience, the shows that had leaked out on the Internet from that fall. My dear friend, Steve, and I were dying to think of the possibility of the Crowes banging out an album similar to the Grateful Dead's beloved live '72 record.
Then to actually throw the cd into the player... and from "Good Morning Captain" through to the final song, what I found was the band giving its fans the most organic, mature, pure performances of its career. The singing, the playing, the soloing, the writing and instrumentation make for the band's best record. Two albums, or twenty songs or one double-length record (however it's organized, in each of its three incantations), the band's music is superior to every recorded output since "Southern Harmony and Musical Companion". The added instruments of Larry Campbell's fiddle and steel pedal guitar create a mournful, longing and ultimately beautiful quality. To take the the music "back to nature" in a way, while half the songs still are four-to-to-the-floor rockers, allowed for the band to explore avenues of music only so far traveled in cover songs in concert. Now, the band could sound just like Little Feat or the Faces or Gram Parsons and all the while sound like the same band that tore through Jealous Again or Twice As Hard in the early '90s. The whole thing just felt right. After digesting the first album only to find out about the second and then to discover that the vinyl release had an altogether different track listing, why one could be busy for days re-arranging the songs in their ebb and flow. Regardless of the track order, the band wisely ended the sessions with "So Many Times" and "Fork in the River" (not to mention "A Train Still Makes a Lonely Sound" and "The Last Place That Love Lives" from the first record), two of the most haunting and unforgettable ballads it had ever produced; again, Larry Campbell's steel pedal crying over the acoustic guitars and dual harmonies of the Robinson brothers' soul-searching lyrics. Here, the band was letting its fans know that a change was coming and soon, that a closure of some sort was approaching. News broke earlier in the year that the band was announcing an "indefinate hiatus" for personal and creative reasons after completing a tour (thank God we have tickets to the final night of that five-night run at the Fillmore!). I was neither shocked or saddened; let the band end at its peak. If the guys want to return after their kids are older and they're bored or broke or refueled in several years, I'll still give them a fair shake and some more money but know that I caught the band at its greatest. The only disappointment has been seeing just how much the band has already abandoned the albums only to cover its back catalogue in its final tour. I would be perfectly content to see the band play nothing but this double album and a couple of encore rockers but that won't be happening. Maybe that's for the better. It's probably for the best.

I'd have to say that "Before the Frost...Until the Frost" has been the most played album in my home for the last twelve months. Even with the discovery of the Truth & Salvage Co. (directly connected with the Black Crowes, mind you), this record has become one of my all-time favorite and most closely held albums of my life. Thankfully music can still hit me like that; not a "classic" album I've discovered late in life or a flash-in-the-pan release that overstays its welcome three months after its purchase but an album with true staying power. This one's it. I can't think of many other records that have hit me so. Therefore, nothing has resonated more than my chance encounter with a couple of Crowes after their December 2009 concert at the Fillmore. Waiting for some friends outside the venue, the band boarded the bus, which was parked in front of the club exit. Sven Pipien, the band's bassist, was signing people's posters and shaking hands. He signed my poster and probably shook my hand. I told him that their album was the album that fans like myself had waited "for ten years for the band to make". The look of gratitude and appreciation is one I'll never forget. Sven simply replied, "Thanks." 'Nuff said.