OddStonesSods

Will Switch Blog Sites Soon

2010-04-04T14:42:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to let all of my friends know that I will be switiching to a new blog site soon. I have been having too much hassles with blogger.com. I need to go to a place where I can write long posts without worrying that my posts are going to get eaten up partway through. Please continue to check on my Facebook page periodically for updates. Time permitting, I will try to accomplish this switch in a week. I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience. I had a great blog typed up about my first day in 5th Grade last night and blogger.com ate up half of my post. It saved, but it did not post. I can only post the half that didn't get chewed up.

Odds & Ends: More Thoughts

2010-03-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

I promise to continue with my St. Clare's posts very soon. In fact, I might do one over the weekend. I'm in the mood for covering a few things here quickly. This is all random. It's the way I'm feeling right now because I'm wiped out.
-Legalization of Marijuana: I'm for it. It should be legalized and then tax the living hell out of it. It'll put some slimeballs out of business. The more or less regular people who grow it can work with the government while keeping the organized crime elements out of the game. I don't smoke it. I only smoked pot or hash about 8 times since 1978 on up to about 2000 or 2001-somewhere in there. The last pot I smoked was supposed to be a mellow grade. If it was, the stuff was more pure than I thought because it felt like I got knocked between the eyes from behind. Just like how I was always a lightweight back when I could drink alcohol, I could never handle the THC in the pot.
-Booze: Before my IBS hit (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), I used to be able to have a glass of wine (I preferred red) or a bottle of beer. I was too much of a lightweight to be able to handle much alcohol. Plus, I never really liked the taste of booze too much. My Dad once had me try a creme licquer once and I thought I was going to throw up afterwards. It tasted worse than the worst cough medicine I ever used to have.
-Women/Equal Pay: Women are human beings. I'd like for the Neanderthal politicians of this Country to get off of their asses and make it so that women make equal pay to men. There should be no questions asked.
-Women's Abortion Rights: This is common sense. Don't take away their right to choose. It is utterly stupid that we have moralists out there trying to roll back Roe vs. Wade.
-Prostitution: Legalize it. Then Unionize the ladies and make sure they have health benefits.
-Hands down: Health care in this Country should be Universal. I also think banks and transportation should be nationalized to go with health care. Maybe someday we'll get wise and see that some aspects of Western European Socialism isn't so bad.
-I wish the goddamned medical community could come up with a cure for IBS and Digestive diseases. I miss eating a hell of a lot of food I used to enjoy up to the early '90s before my symptomology developed. I was thinking today, while eating my beans for lunch how much I wish I could go over to Fall Creek Bakery on campus ( provided if it's still there) and snarf down 2 ham and cheese croissants back in the days when my dear friend (whom I had a crush on) Diane and I used to go to Oregon. I would have loved to have knocked it back with a glass of Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry juice. Now all I drink it Crystal Geyser bottled water. I am fortunate in that I am about to go and eat at Chili's and have my bacon cheeseburger (dry-no lettuce, no oinions-medium) and fries to go with my water I'll carry in with me.
-I wish Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney, George Bush, Geln Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Conservative Democrats who voted against the Health Bill, all of the Tea-Party Republicans and the vast majority of Republicans and their ilk would fall into a hole and never come out.
I think President Obama is basically a good President. His biggest mistake is in letting Timothy Geithner run the Treasury. Plus, he's been acting the good guy attempting to reconcile with the Republicans. It's obvious the Republicans don't want to compromise on anything because of the fact that the conservative elements of the party are using too much influence to sway opinion among the party itself. Well, Obama needs to stop and start ramming a few things down the throats of the Republicans.
-I wish I wasn't so physically tired so much. The days that I work out at the health club are the worst. I'll be very wiped out shortly after I have breakfast and lunch. There are some weights at the club that you would be surprised as to how much I'm doing.
On the days that I'm not at the club, I can still be tired, but my IBS doesn't allow me to eat all that much. So I'm pretty much stuck.
-Help from female inspiration would be greatly appreciated. I'd snap out of it for a couple of hours-like those times I went to Nevada.
I think I should go and get ready for my dinner tonight. I have to do a few things before I get there. I wish I could hang out with the mockingbirds in the backyard of Camino Drive again and listen to them singing and watch them diving about off of the wires from the power lines/telephone poles. I wish I could be wrapped up in the arms of a beautiful woman right now.
All My Love,
Steve

A Letter For My Classmates From St. Clare's

2010-03-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hi All Of You,
I just wanted to take a little bit of time out to say how much I miss all of you. There are only a few exceptions of people that I don't care to see anymore, but I am thinking about all of you constantly lately. I think it's because of the pressure I'm under with these new neighbors I have and the fact that I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to pull off coming back to California permanantly or not. People, I want to come back. I don't want to just visit on vacations. I mean, I want to come back for the real deal. I want to be among you again and reconnect.
Along with all of you classmates, I'm thinking of our teachers we had. I'm thinking of Freddie-our boy's coach. I'm thinking of Sheila Klopper-the girls gym coach. I'm thinking of the two P.E. guys we had at two points in our 5th to 8th Grade time of being together. Remember? One was an African-American whose name I can't recall and the other one was a guy named Greg (if I'm recalling correctly).
I am aware of the existence of a thing online called Classmates.com. I have tried using it without actually subscribing to it. I have been told by others online that it is basically a rip-off. I periodically get messages saying that (today for example) 5 of my St. Clare's classmates have found me. Well, I don't plan on subscribing to that service. But if you have been seeing my Facebook page or have been reading this blog of mine, I have a favor to to ask of you all. Could you please come out of the woodwork and get a hold of me. I pride myself on just how detailed my memory is of our times together. But I would love to talk to all of you so that you may help me to trigger more memeories I might have buried in my subconscious. Also, it would help me with some names I don't remember.
For names, I can give you a prime example. Our own classmate that we had for a couple of years, Maggie, is one person that I only remember as Maggie W. She had a Polish last name. I think I know what it is but I am not 100% certain.
I am also very open to hearing from people who may not have necessarily been members of our class. There were a lot of you who I recall, but I can't place your names. I remember I used to crack up a younger kid named George (I used to call him Georgie all of the time). Did Laurie R. have a younger brother named George? You see what I mean?
Without going into a lot of detail at this particular time, as it is a part of the story I'm trying to tell, I've been thinking about Mike Miranda a lot and how much I miss him. I plan to tell all of you what I learned from his Dad in a conversation I had with him back in 1997. We had a one on one conversation that was quite emotional.
In telling my story of how I recall things from those days, I am not out to hurt anybody. But I do want to give you my side of things. I feel it very important to do so. On the other hand, I am very scared. I am worried that life may have somehow changed me enough that that you may not want me to be among you anymore. It is my greatest fear.
There is a very important aspect to telling you my story which deals with the brief time I was in Santa Clara from October of 1996 to March of 1997. Some incredible things happened to me while I was there which ties in with you even though I was literally only in contact with a few of you when I came down. I had what can only be described as an incredibly uplifting chance encounter with Bill R. I saw George & Jay Migs on Christmas Day '96 that was just beautiful.
For those of you who aren't aware of this, I lived in a downstairs apartment on Lincoln for 5 months after my Mom, both of my brothers and I sold our last ranch we had. I came down thinking I was going to stay. Among other things, I missed my Mom too much and I moved back up. Though things had changed, I felt like I was breathing in my own skin again. The missing ingredient was that I wasn't seeing any of you and I also didn't have a computer at the time.
So please, try to get a hold of me here in Eugene, o.k.? I really want to hear from you. I also want to very much encourage you to comment on my posts and to become followers of my blog. I would also like it if we could encourage some of our teachers to come out of hiding and be a part of us again. Mrs. Schellene is gone (and I have a combination of hilarious and sad story to tell of my reconciling with her in late 1996 or very early '1997), but I really want to hear from Sue Johnson (most especially), Bonnie Kulhmann ( who has changed her name and I'm scared to reveal it here for her safety. I have spoken to her on the phone a few times) and Bea Wills. I'd also love to have the former Sister Nancy and Sister Geraldine be a part of this as well. When I was down there, Miss Kokes was still alive though I didn't get the chance to see her. I don't know if she still is or not.
I have our old school photos on hand now and I will have each one out as I go through the stories of each class from 5th to 8th Grade. I am planning (likely tonight or tomorrow) on searching for the mass card I still have of John Perry's when he passed away so tragically. BTW, if anybody ever runs into Lisa Perry, could they please tell her I said hello and that I hope she is doing fine? I'd appreciate it.
Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough for now. But I do pass my love on to all of you. I have not been back since I came back up in 1997. I was supposed to come down for the last reunion you guys had. I was all set to come down when my old used Ford Escort wagaon I had broke down. I ended up buying a new car and not a used one. That ended up blowing my coming down. At the time, a train or plane ticket was not an option due to more than one reason.
What has become of Charleen C? What has become of Chris R? I miss you so much. I will try to hammer out the next story pretty soon. I love all of you.
Steve

August 1972 Through Labor Day 1972 (Continued)

2010-03-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Please note: I am continuing this particular post because there was a problem last night with Blogger.com. I don't know if there are word or space limitations when you do posts or not. Also, please forgive if I repeat a few things here that may have been in the first part of this particular chapter or post.
______________________________________________________________________

This was reinforcement of a lesson I learned from The Undisputed Truth and their song "Smiling Faces Sometimes". The Eddie LaVert even references the song towards the end of "Backstabbers".
I had no idea that this song was going to serve me on such a grand scale on a very scant short days later from when I first heard it.
To reiterate (in case it wasn't in my previous post), it was the drive in Eddie LaVert's voice and the urgency contained within that grabbed my complete attention. It was with this song that Philadelphia International Records reached out to me and made itself known not only to me, but to the whole Country as well. They were to become a worldwide phenomenon in the '70s. They were absolutely evident in my life from 1972 to 1974. It was a form of Soul music that I locked myself into immediately. And before 1972 was to close out, I was to be informed of two more incredible songs from that stable fronted by Gamble & Huff.
Again, like I said in an earlier post, along with the other music I was hearing on the radio, I kept having this thought about how much I really dug the Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out album from The Rolling Stones so much just before I left to come down to Santa Clara once again. The thought kept going in my mind, "I can't wait for Mom & Dad to get down here so that I can convince Mom to go and take me to a record store so that I could buy a copy of Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out of my own."
After watching the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon on television, the day I dreaded had finally arrived. I was going to have to put myself into the salt & pepper pants, the white shirt and blue sweater uniform and walk the couple of blocks up to St. Clare's and start 5th Grade. Oh brother! Little did I know what was coming. And that is where I am going to pick up next time because my memories of that first day are as sharp as the day I actually went through it.

August 1972 Through Labor Day 1972

2010-03-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

When I wasn't walking around and checking things out again since I had returned home, there was one vital thing that I never forgot to do and that was to listen to a radio and get my fix of the charts. It was an intravenous feeding to my soul and my sense of imagination and possibility.

The Sony transistor radio I had had a black leather cover over a silver encased little piece of silver hardware that beame the most important item in my possession during my time at my Aunt & Uncle's while waiting for Mom and Dad to complete the sale of the Fir Acres house to the parents of a former classmate of mine at St. Paul's and come back down to start life on Camino Drive.

There were two primary places where I used to do my listening at this juncture. One being the top of my Aunt & Uncle's bed during the daytime on weekends and the other being the couch in the living room where I slept at night. Like any kid, I tried to pull a fast one on my Aunt & Uncle by trying to sneak very late-night listens when I decided I didn't want to sleep. It was really a case of me being so curious of what was being played at odd hours that fueled my attempting this manuever. I never really got into trouble for doing so, but it always backfired on me. There were two reasons for this. Since I was hearing impaired and tried listening to the radio even when I stuck it underneath a pillow in an attempt to muffle out the so so nobody would hear it, I was not realizing that I was still screwing up by turning the damned thing up too loud because impairment didn't allow me to properly gauge how to get away with listening to stuff at a low enough level. The other reason became all too apparent. While I was hearing impaired, my Aunt had the ears of a church mouse. She could hear a pin drop through a tornado. I tried this repeatedly and with no avail. She would always come down the stairs and I would always fake being asleep and she would reach under the pillow and turn the thing off.

I think I recall her telling my Mom about this on the phone a few times. I would love to have heard what Mom had to say to her.

During the times when I didn't have to hide anything, I would have that radio right up to my good left ear and listen away. So, what I search for? I remembered KFRC from back when I was on Franklin Street and that was the first station I went to. In hindsight, this turned out to be a very appropriate move. You see, back then, off all of the AM stations in the Bay Area, KFRC had the biggest and most urban sound of all of them. Why? The secret, I am convinced, was that KFRC had some added reverb to their overall sound that they gave to their listening audience. It boomed louder than KYA or KLIV.

The bigness in sound was to be symbolic of the bigness in my mind of the events that were about to unfold before me on that fateful day that Day 1 of 5th Grade started. That booming sound from KFRC would make this time period so easy for me to remember. It created a massive ripple in my head.

And so my dear classmates and readers, what was hitting me at this time? I was hearing Elton John's "Honkey Cat" and being aware of the irony of lyrics and of my being back in a huge metropolitan area and loving it. I was exposed to what I would likely choose as my favorite Bread single of all-time-"The Guitar Man". The playing by the late James Griffin was so dramatic to go with the music as it built up to the end of the song. That song was further making me realize that I was a guitar worshipper.

To go further with guitar playing, I got to hear one of the great power chord songs of all-time during this period of time. You want Power Pop at its best? You have needed to look no further than "Go All The Way" from The Raspberries. It was also planting something else in my mind-the idea of sexual urgency. Let me tell you. It worked. Eric Carmen's singing on that song is just so undeniable. It's as real as the day is long.

When I was listening to that little transistor, I was also still learning valuable lessons from my beloved Soul guys. A new group (to me) taught me that "Everybody Plays The Fool". Cuba Gooding Sr. was like an older friend who was putting an arm around me and telling me that I was going to go through this. Damn! He was right too. The Main Ingredient. I dearly love them.

A beautiful, mournful song hit the airwaves that I fell in love with. It was Gilbert O' Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)".

In anticipation of my upcoming schoolyear and the feeling that I was growing up at least a little bit, I really took to Three Dog Night's "Black and White". I felt like I was one of the children and one of the band at the same time. We were going to get through it together.

It was only appropriate, since I was back in the South Bay Area, that I would be placed historically to witness the release of the first big single for the San Jose band we would all come to know as The Doobie Brothers and "Listen To The Music".

I was being exposed to more variety too. I got to hear Wayne Newton's "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" as it came out while Sammy Davis Jr's hit from earlier in the year was still getting heavy airplay on KFRC with "The Candy Man". I would get to watch both of them during the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon of Jerry Lewis at my Aunt and Uncle's.

I was still thinking of my brother Mike and how bummed out he was in moving back down whenever I heard Argent doing "Hold Your Head Up". I was to learn later on that I had been listening to single edit. I was to love the full-length album version so much more.

My dear Bill Withers was still having his "Lean On Me" single being played. It was ursurped by a song with a serious groove. It was "Use Me" and I really dug it. Plus, I was actually comprehending a bit what the song was really about.

Mac Davis gave us "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me". I know that a lot of people have despised this song over the years. I don't. That little radio was plugged into my ear and it was breathing life into me. I wasn't going to knock Mac for giving me a good hook and a lyric to remember.

I was to hear Michael Jackson stepping out of the shadows of his brothers by releasing "Rockin' Robin" and "Ben". "Rockin' Robin" may have been from earlier in the year, but I heard it more on KFRC than I did up in Eugene on KEED.

Michael's fellow Motown artists, The Four Tops had left the label and released the great "Keeper Of The Castle". Levi Stubb wasn't letting up one iota in the confidence and masculinty department while teaching some things about what was going on the world.

I got to hear The Isley Brothers, in all truthfulness, for the first time at this time. I might have heard "It's Your Thing" and their version of "Twist and Shout" at some point in my radio listening up to then, but it didn't sink in with me. The first song of theirs to have an impact on me was their great single "Work To Do". They would go on to top this even more later on when I was on Camino Drive.

Other than not realizing that Billy Preston had been playing for The Beatles on Let It Be and for George Harrison, my first exposure to hearing Billy's name associated with a song was for "Outa Space". He would go on to help out a little band I was taking notice of called The Rolling Stones.

I got to hear a great one-shot Soul single from Laura Lee called "Rip-Off". What I remember about this song (and it had to be a coincidence) is that I only remember hearing this played at night. I loved it. It was almost like it was taboo. Why? I'll never be able to figure out.

The one weird song I could never figure out (but went along with it) was Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll (Part 2)". But it did sound very urban and very big to go with menacing as well. Little did we know of his personal and legal trouble decades later.

For some reason and I'll never know why, but on multiple weekends, KFRC loved to play the old Rascals hit "Groovin".

I got completely knocked out by two big ones from two Soul singles which were a big sign of things to come for the '70s. For starters, Stevie Wonder served notice that he was upping his game in a very big way with "Superstition" from his Talking Book album. I really dived into this song and it was going to serve me very well in the coming few weeks ahead. I was really boppin' to this one when I was walking around during my free time.

Now, my dear people, the next song I am about to remind you of is a song that has held everlasting meaning to me. This song was not only a foreshadowing clue of the power of the great combination of Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff and what they brought to the table in the stable of artists they were about to unveil to the world at this time, this song was going to become an anthem to me for what was to come in a very short time. I got to hear the roaring opening piano line and then the guitar and it's reverb kicking in. Then the percussion and the orchestra kicks in. This baby was an urban song. This song was real. It was in my face tellin' me the truth. It would be a reinforcement of of a lesson I learned from

Back In Santa Clara-August 1972

2010-03-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

I remember the plane ride on the yellow bird known as Hughes Air West. I kept looking over at my brother Mike from time to time as he sat next to me during the flight. It was obvious that he was bummed out about leaving Eugene. I, on the other hand, knew that I was going back to familiar surroundings. I was just curious as to what the people I knew from 1st and 2nd Grade at St. Clare's were going to be like and if they had changed much.
When I left Eugene and came down to Santa Clara, the Summer Olympic Games were going on from Munich. I watched some of it before I left. It was either on the day that I arrived or within the following day or two that the news hit about the two Israeli athletes who had gotten murdered. It was the first time that I can recall that I was exposed to the idea that there was hatred against Jews by Arabs and/or Muslims. I can still see quite vividly a very distraught and visibly shaken Jim McKay of ABC reporting on things. I can still recall how all of major name people who were covering events all suddenly became reporters-including Howard Cossell.
There are so many great names from those games who are indelibly ingrained within myself. There was Mark Spitz, Olga Korbut and Jim Ryan among others.
When I arrived, the Oakland A's were starting to make their big drive to get into the AL postseason series on their way to their first World Series Championship. My being in Eugene kept me from being exposed to the A's at this point in time. It wasn't until I got back (what I will now always refer to as home) to Santa Clara that I knew something big was beginning to brew.
There is a conversation that I had with my late Uncle Matt which still makes me crack-up laughing privately to myself whenever I think about it. I knew my Uncle was a big San Francisco 49ers fan. So, I decided to ask him how I thought they were going to do since I started catching snatches of them playing pre-season games on television at his house where I was staying. I hope I'm spelling his name correctly. I bet anything that my classmate John Martin remembers this guy I'm about to mention. My Uncle starting talking about Cederick Hartmann (sp?). The thing that cracks me up is that he never used to say Cederick. He always used to pronounce his name as Cee-drick. He mentioned this to me and I started laughing about it. That conversation has always stuck with me with great fondness.
This was also a time when I started to become fascinated by watching NFL quarterbacks get their passes off while avoiding being creamed by defensive linemen and safeties. This is where, from watching television in the front living room, I became fascinated with watching John Brodie throw to his most frequent target in Gene Washington.
At this early stage of my return back home, I had no idea of the local mystique concerning the Oakland Raiders. That wasn't going to come until I moved into the house on Camino Drive in October and from hanging around and bullshitting with the guys in 5th Grade.
From my Aunt & Uncle's house on Santa Clara Street, I would frequently venture out for walks around the neighborhood to prevent boredome from setting in and to satisfy my own curiosity about things. At this age, I knew enough that I wanted to take things in at my own speed. This was a great way of doing so. I started going for walks over to St. Clare's to see both of the yards and over to the library as well. Even before school had started, I was beginning to dive my nose into books at the library. I got a card within a very short space of my return and the very first book I ever checked out for myself was a book on the NFL that was full of pictures of all of the past NFL greats.
I would also walk around and notice that I really liked and was used to hanging out in the California sun as opposed to the Oregon sun. I honestly could tell a difference. It felt so much more natural there.
On one of my walks, I went over to the area by Franklin Street and the old small Santa Clara mall. I walked through it quite a few times and was looking at all of the old places that were there. I reacquainted myself with Joe Paz's Barber Shop. I also noticed that there was a radio station studio in the mall. This was KARA. I had times where I could see the studio where the music was played as well as the office. At other times, they had things covered up and curtains drawn so that I couldn't see anything at all. But I was looking at a place where the magic of music that I was listening to was coming from as far as getting a visual read on what a radio station looked like. I wouldn't start listening to KARA until the mid-'70s and then only infrequently. Still, looking at it played a role in getting my mind set into more forward motion as far as my own person musical evolution/revolution was headed. The little black-cased Sony transistor radio I had lugged along with me back down to home was going to help me make the connection between a studio and the music I loved.
My late Auntie Ann was also occasionally driving me a little nutty at times. She wanted to make sure I was eating. Her chicken soup was out of this world. I loved eating the star shells and the little bit pieces of chicken.
She was always trying to get me to eat more-even when I felt like my little belly was going to burst. The really embarrassing thing that I eventually had the guts to confront her about was that I was really not thrilled about her seeing me through when I was taking a bath in the upstairs tub. This, to my upcoming 5th Grade state of mind thinking, was a bit much to take. I think she was worried that I was going to klunk myself on the head slipping around in the tub or something. I told her not to worry and that I could dry myself off by myself.
You see, people. It was during times like these where the occasional phone calls from my Mom were like a Godsend. This is one of the reasons why she and I bonded so closely. When Auntie Ann was distracted while I was talking to Mom long-distance, I would tell her about the things Auntie Ann was doing. Usually, the end result of those all too short phone coversations between my Mom and myself was that Auntie Ann (God Bless her) usually backed off but not altogether completely. She knew that she would earn the wrath of my Dad if anything happened. LOL!
This was also a time period where I had my first true intersection in my life with Hispanic culture-specifically Mexican culture. My Aunt and Uncle were sponsoring/taking care of 3 Mexican kids who were older than myself who would come over and visit the house fairly frequently. Two of them were females. The guy was always a little standoffish while the two girls, though essentially shy, were pretty approachable. I enjoyed talking to the both of them on occasion.
They noticed a book I had on David Cassidy I had brought down with me from Eugene and I told them about my love of music and how I was interested in Cassidy because of how he seemed so successful and able to draw in all of these girls seemingly at will (at least in my mind he did). But the conversation that I recall the most with hilarity is one I had with either one or both of them when I started telling them about my love of classic horror movies. We started talking about Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. I had them tell me what they would be called in Spanish. We had a lot of fun with that-especially the Wolf Man. I seemed to be on a major Wolf Man kick at that point. I loved the idea that a crazy guy could get all hairy and become a big ferocious canine. I think it also helped that I had my dog Chainsaw to think about to relate to and drive my imagination a bit.
The house on Santa Clara Street of my Aunt and Uncle's was also not without the ever present camelias that my Uncle was growing and making hybrids of. This was his passion and he dedicated many a successful hybrid project to my Aunt.
I just thought of something. In my return and the walks I used to take, I can't recall ever being tempted right off the bat of going over to the Franklin Street house to take a look and see how it was. I had to have, but at this very moment, I honestly can't recall that I did.
There was one really nice thing that I noticed though. I was hearing the ringing of the angelus (sp?) coming from the Carmelite Monastery practically daily and from St. Clare's on Sunday. I hope I'm recalling this correctly.
I do very clearly recall my Aunt hauling me off past Camino Drive a few more blocks down from where would be my new house to go to Merry Mart to go and get my new uniform for school. This trip obviously induced fear in me because it reminded me that, yes indeed, school was coming up and I had no idea what was in store for me. I had no idea that legends were to made in a few short weeks. Plus, the one good thing I got out of having been to St. Paul's in Eugene for two years was that I didn't have to wear a uniform. Now I was going back to the dreaded salt & pepper pants, white shirt and blue sweater. Oh shit! I'm really in the Catholic system for sure. I can't fake it, man!
The weird thing about this time was that I was trying to envision what the Camino Drive house was going to be like and I was having a hard time doing so. I was stuck at my Aunt and Uncle's and I had to make do as best I could as I hung out with them as well as my Cousins Bill and Dee. My brothers were at my Godmother's house and I never really saw them except just before we moved over to Camino Drive.
There were two things that made me make the time what it was. Those two things were my Sony transistor radio and the memory of having listened to Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out from The Rolling Stones at the Freitas house which kept me going full speed ahead into one hell of a time.

Wrapping Up '70-'72 Eugene & KEED

2010-03-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

If I am covering a few people here that I already did in previous posts, you will have to forgive me. I may have not crossed off a few with my pen on my list I made out before I started this blog.
Arlo Guthrie-"The City of New Orleans": If I could think of one song from this period which could have possibly set me up for my later love of Bruce Springsteen (which would come in 1978), it would be this one. Why? Because Arlo's sense of characterization in an almost cinematic sense in this song was so vivid to me when I first heard it. I never tired of hearing it. Plus, I noticed something different about how some people reacted to this song. I noticed that my Dad and some older people like himself seemed to take a liking to this song. That image has always stayed with me.
Paul Simon-"Mother and Child Reunion", "Duncan", & "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard": There was no getting around the fact that the impact which was left behind in the wake of "Bridge Over Troubled Water", the aforementioned album and the breakup of Paul and Art was huge in the minds of music fans everywhere at this time. And when Paul Simon came out with "Mother and Child Reunion" song, I got my first big challenge in regards of thinking about how I viewed spiritual matters. This is a heavy thing for a 4th Grade kid to handle. Nonetheless, it was there for me to deal with. I dearly loved the song except that I had a hard time grasping what it was about. Strangely enough, as if I needed any more reason to do so, this song made me start thinking of my bond to my Mom in much greater terms than in the literal sense. Many years later, as an adult, I read somebody who once wrote that it was a song where the idea of reincarnation was being introduced. I wonder if this same person realizes, in his or her's interpretation, that Paul got the title from a Chinese resteraunt menu. The big line, for me at least, which made me ponder a lot a few years back, was "Though it seems strange to say/ I know they say Let It Be/but it just don't work out that way/and the course of a lifetime runs over and over again". I can't recall where I read this, but I read recently that it may not really be so much about reincarnation as about not losing hope. The course of a lifetime runs over and over again in the lessons we learn and the love that we cultivate to deeper levels. This is what I ultimately get out of the song. The thing that always threw me, and I'm sure it did others, is the "I know they say Let It Be" line which may or may not reference The Beatles and the philosophy being shared in that song.
The other thing about "Mother and Child Reunion" that was very important to me is that Simon was also introducing me to Caribbean rhythms in the same importance that Dave and Ansel Collins did with "Double Barrel" at the same time.
The song which I really took an immediate liking to was "Duncan" and the use of Andean flute instrument (whose name escapes me at the moment). I also was very much drawn to sense of one on one conversational tone in the song. The girl he sang about in the song really intrigued me too. Obviously, it was going to take for me to become a little older before I realize what it was meant when Paul sang, at the beginning of the song, "Couple in the next room bound to win a prize/ They've been going at it all night long". This makes me chuckle a bit. However, it's appropriate. Paul was talking about losing his innocense in more ways than one. I was certainly going to have that happen to me as time went on.
And in yet another example of a song that I was going to have to be a little older to understand, there was "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard". At the time, I thought it was about smoking cigarettes. Well, I was half-right. I was just off on what exactly the type of cigarette they were smoking. LOL! Plus, I didn't know what the Queen of Corona line was either. For those of you who don't know, it's not beer. It was a brand of condom.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (both as a band as individual artists with solo works): Over at the Fir Acres house, both of my brothers stocked up on their CSN & CSNY albums to go with the Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash albums. Between those two and KEED, there was no way of getting around them. I got exposed to the first CSN album, the CSNY album, Neil Young's After The Gold Rush & Harvest albums, Stephen Stills self titled first album (even over at my friends over at the Freitas house along with the second album with "Change Partners" on it) and Graham Nash's Songs For Beginners.
This was to be a huge stash of songs which would influence me greatly and producing a lot of reactions. When I listened to KEED, I was getting a huge dose of "Teach Your Children", "Our House", "Woodstock" "Ohio", "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", "Love The One You're With", "Change Partners", "Chicago", "I Used To Be A King", "Southern Man", "Heart of Gold" & "Old Man". I had no idea whatsoever that Jerry Garcia had played the pedal steel on "Teach Your Children". All of these releases had a profound impact on me.
I have to make mention of a single from a little outfit called Matthew's Southern Comfort and their version of "Woodstock". You don't know how many times I have carried privately to myself how much I love this version of the song. I love this thing equally to the one that CSNY borrowed from Joni Mitchell. It's weird, when I think of the CSNY version, I think of it as being the outwardly sociallly/politically active version of the song while the Matthew's Southern Comfort one is the one that we all carried within us in our internal hurt and wishing that the '60s had turned out to have realized more of its ideal intentions.
The Guess Who-"No Time", "Undun", "Share The Land" & "American Woman". My oldest brother had a copy of The Guess Who-Greatest Hits that he bought in Santa Clara and hauled up with him to Eugene. There was a period in late 1970 and into very early 1971 where it was rare that John was not playing one side of that album or another at any given point when he was at home. All three of these songs really hit me in the sweet spot, but I have to make special mention of "American Woman" because I was beginning to make it my own in a sense whenever I either had girls not paying attention to me or when I saw girls being mean to guys. I really loved the rebellion of the song. At the time, I didn't realize that they were Canadians. They would go on to have a couple of more songs of theirs really hit me when I moved back to Santa Clara and time progressed.
I may have mentioned him before, but I'm going to take a chance and mention him again just in case I missed.
Gordon Lightfoot-"If You Could Read My Mind" & "Don Quixote": This man has had a major impact upon my musical life. I am so incredibly thankful that he came in and took me to places I had never been to before. Both of these songs are huge to me. He was to continue to leave an even bigger imprint on me as time wore on. I heard such great musicality and sophistication in "If You Could Read My Mind". With "Don Quixote", there was description of the horse rider that stayed so vivid in my mind's eye. It made me forget about my bad experiences with horses I had at the old Lorane ranch.
People, I believe I'm done with the '70-'72 Eugene period. I may do a summation of this period and an introduction to the return to Santa Clara period. I am still trying to figure out how I am going to approach the '72-'74 period or if I should just lop the whole '72-'78 period altogether and not try to stay linear. The '72-'74 period was just so huge to me. At the same time, the changes that I saw from '75-'78 were huge as well and made the '72-'74 period that much more precious to me. I'm just going to have to see where it takes me. It is going to be incredibly detailed.

In Appreciation: Lolly Vegas of Redbone & Ron Banks of The Dramatics

2010-03-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

So here I am as a 48 year old adult who is currently dealing with the stress of bad new neighbors and a lot of other issues in my life when I got the news that two more people who were involved with groups I grew up on and loved have passed away.
This has been a very strange day for me today. My anxiety appears to be growing ever since these new people moved in, my typing over at the Hoffman Forum was very rushed and full of typing mistakes and I spent 45 minutes pulling weeds out in my front yard while trying to place myself back in those times that Lolly and Ron played such a huge role in my life. During the day, I failed miserably to get myself back into that place (or even space if you wish to refer to it as that).
This evening, I feel a little better. I don't feel as rushed and their damned dogs aren't barking up a storm. As I type this, the anxiety is still there though.
I made a promise to the members of Redbone that I would honor each one of them as they left this Earth for the better place. I am in a state of shock that I have to be writing this only a couple of months after the passing of Tony Bellamy. This is for Lolly.
Lolly was speaking the language in "Come and Get Your Love" that I wish I only had the guts to speak of in his specific fashion in the song to women back then when I was a kid. It was a combination of confidence, '70s cool, sensitivity and open communication that made me feel like it was such a cool song. Lolly and Redbone were perfect for each other. Between that voice he used, the execution of the music, the orchestration and the arrangements, I was not just being a given a song, I was being a given the gift of a defining moment of what I felt the better side of the '70s was about. That better side reflected the last embers of the '60s in that pivotal year of 1974. Lolly's singing that song helped to put a line of demarcation (in my worldview) between the world where the '60s still existed to that point in around December of 1974 and into very early 1975 when whatever was left of the '60s began to be topsided by a majority rule of the stereotype of what many refer to when they think of the '70s. My '70s was the last glow of the '60s musically and in some other ways which I will explain in future posts. By early 1975, I still carried the '60s with me. But it became something, a curation, or a private carrying of a flame which became more and more internal than outward. It had to do with the fact that people had become so disillusioned that they chose not to carry it outwardly so much anymore. Everybody seemed to take their own individual paths in carrying the '60s with them in their own private manifestations as a way of dealing with the changes going on around them. It even affected kids. It affected me. This is why I appreciate people like Tony and Lolly so much. They gave me something during the last days when we could carry it (whatever it was) outward and visible to anybody who had eyes. But I also dearly appreciate them because it is something I can carry with me now that it has long since passed.
And so I say to Lolly. God Bless You dear sir. You inspired me like the rest of the band did. And then I find out today that somebody else passed on.
Tony Banks of The Dramatics is now gone as well. The Dramatics knocked me out with two great singles-"Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" and "In The Rain". Tony Banks was part of a great Soul group back during the '70-'72 period of my living in Eugene when I had no choice but to carry on in an insular fashion. I witnessed people showing the spirit of the '60s in '70-'72 outwardly. I carried it with me in the private confidence of my love of the music I was hearing. But I could not show it outwardly because I was among a group of fellow students who really didn't allow me to do so. I had a few friends here and there, but the little groups of people who hung out with each other had developed before I ever arrived at St. Paul's.
Tony Banks was part of a long line of people who were teaching me that Black people were real and that what they sang about had substance and meaning. When I listen to "In The Rain", I hear one of the greatest ballads of the very early '70s period. It is so full of emotional depth. It is so much about love. It was something that, in that early age (3rd & 4th Grade) of mine, I knew I was already aiming for. The Dramatics were giving me the depth which otherwise would have been taken from me by lesser minds full of race hatred or musical discrimination. That can't be replaced or taken from me now. It is in me. It has been within me since the day I first heard that song on KEED. It will stay with me when I finally break through and kiss and make love to that woman I've been waiting for to break me free from the prison I've been living in. I am so proud of The Dramatics for helping me to build on something I could confidently strut around to with my beloved classmates at St. Clare's when I moved back to Santa Clara in August of '72. Two songs like that were a great thing to carry around with a person and wait for the right time to let it all hang out. Thank you so much Tony for being part of a group who made it real for me.

A Few Things On My Mind

2010-02-23T14:34:00.000-08:00

I am really looking forward to writing about the '72-'74 Santa Clara period as well as the '75-'78 Santa Clara period. It is my primary catalyst to why I started this blog. The only problem I'm having is that I don't know how to approach doing it because of my overwhelming feelings about this time period and the people I knew and the music contained within. I may not even take a linear approach to it.
I'm still a very scared human being at this point in time. I don't know where I'm headed. If I could live in an ideal situation, Mom and I would be living back in Santa Clara.
Ever since I took a 5 month break and lived in Santa Clara for 5 months back in late '96-early '97, I've been visualizing my going back to watching University of Santa Clara basketball and baseball games. But what has been really surprising to me is that I have also begun having the urge to want to go to baseball and football games of Bellarmine too. In light of what I will eventually write about my two years of going there, this might come as a surprise to you.
Speaking of Bellarmine, I am putting out the call again. Could somebody please get a hold of Paul Comfort and tell him that I wish I could talk to him again? I miss him so much. I learned so much about music from him that I feel as if I could never repay him enough. Plus, he was a damn fine guitar player. I used to love listening to him play.
Those I don't have much time left for writing for this session today, I just wanted to get around to discussing my feelings about drugs. I promise to do so in more detail eventually. But I do want to say that one of the great ironies of my life is that I love music and musicians so much and yet I personally can't stand drugs. I have a lot of opinions about marijuana and the harder stuff. I've smoked pot and hash before, but I don't anymore. I think I smoked both combined less than 10 times and they just didn't do anything for me. Legalizing pot doesn't bother me so much as much as some of the arrogance I see in people who smoke it and have the attitude that they are getting away with something doing so. Arrogance is a trait of some people that I hate the most.
I have always forgiven musicians for their drug habits because of what they've given to me through their music (as contradictory as it sounds). But I don't forgive easily those people I have personally known who are not musicians. This whole paradox, as an issue, runs very deep with me.
Anyway, I should probably go for now. I have to do a couple of things before I have dinner at Mom's.

Eugene-KEED-1970-1972-The Big Names

2010-02-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

I've been mentioning a lot of familiar names of people and songs in my posts about my Eugene experiences from 1970-1972. But it is time to now get to some of the very biggest names to finish things off.
John Lennon: At this point in time, I don't think I would have had any understanding of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album that came out around the time I was still in California and then moved up to Eugene. It was going to take for me to be an adult to fully understand why this album may well be the single most soul-baring album that an artist has ever made. So, when I was listening to the radio, I very seriously doubt that I heard "God" or even a censored version of "Working Class Hero".
What I did get exposed to was "Power To The People", "Instant Karma" and "Imagine". If I were to point to any one person who instilled a sense of militancy of belief and urgency of conviction in me at a young age, John Lennon would very likely be the one I would say was responsible. John made it real. It wasn't just the whole hippie thing. As a kid, I can recall seeing John in short hair for the (I believe) video for "Instant Karma". I loved the music, but John also was scaring me a bit simply because of how he looked. The short hair had me fooled. John was instilling in me through my immature subconcious mind that the idea is more important than the visual appearance even though the irony is that John and Yoko were visual peformance artists along with musical at this point in time.
What can I say about "Imagine" and how it took hold of people back then? "Imagine" became the template of philosophy by which I could strive for even though I would inevitably (and continue to) fall short of. John would fall short too. This is what makes the song all that much more beautiful. We've got to keep aiming higher just so that we don't get to a point where we despise ourselves.
I never took the line "imagine there's no Heaven" as being that you should not believe there is one. I've always taken it as being that you should never buy into what someone says is Heaven because Heaven will be what is yours when your time comes. And besides, we are nowhere near to creating a Heaven here on Earth yet.
Rather than being anti-God as some people over the years have suggested, I've always thought that John Lennon life and his music/philosophy was a gift from God because he gave us another way of looking at things. John Lennon was the militant friend or brother you loved to death for having the balls to say what he did.
Ringo Starr: There were two songs of Ringo's from the '70-'72 period that were monumental as well. "It Don't Come Easy" and "Back Off Boogaloo". Both of the songs were influenced by Ringo's reacting to the period of living among the ruins of the post-Beatles breakup. George Harrison helped him to complete "It Don't Come Easy". Ringo came up with the line that I still echo to myself repeatedly as I get older. "I don't ask for much/I only want trust/and you know it don't come easy". People, you don't know how much that line means to me now and how it has shaped my feelings about issues that I have which directly affects my life.
Paul McCartney: And then there's Paul. Oh God! This period of time in Paul's solo career has been so sadly maligned by people over the years-but especially right then. I don't know how the hell Paul managed to maintain his sanity. Plus, Ringo, George and John were occasionally taking to taking shots at Paul in the press and in their music. "Back Off Boogaloo" was a shot by Ringo at Paul for instance.
During the time I lived on Fir Acres, I bought and owned the Ram album and the Wildlife album. I was exposed to "Give Ireland Back To The Irish" and "Just Another Day" on the radio. I only occasionally heard "Maybe I'm Amazed". By the time I moved up to Eugene in '70, "Maybe I'm Amazed" had fallen off the singles chart.
It was the Ram album which really drove home the idea to me that I thought the ideal couple was Paul and Linda. A hope began that I could meet a Linda as a result of listening to the Ram album. I can still see myself standing out in my driveway on Fir Acres one cold January or February day in 1972 and looking up at the sky as the clouds were playing games with the sun and the blue sky while I had "Too Many People" going on in my mind. Paul was in a completely different mindset than John was in. His whole thing was to just create a life away from chaos through domesticity and music. He had messages, but he wasn't militant. He was just Paul giving you an opinion that you could take or leave with ease because he wasn't backing you up against a wall. Did his anger come out sometimes? Yes. All you had to do was listen to "Smile Away". That was his answer to John as well as "Too Many People".
My Dad absolutely loved the "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" single. He loved to listen to it whenever we were driving around. I remember his listening to it on a number of occasions. It was back then that my Dad used to proliferate his own opinion that Paul was the most talented of The Beatles. I never bought into it because I loved all four of them equally. In this regard, I was protected from falling into that trap. I hope Dad knows this now.

Eugene Music-KEED-1970-1972

2010-02-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

-Chairman of the Board-"Give Me Just A Little More Time": This is one I really dug. I just wish they had more than one really big hit because I never got tired of hearing this one. The lead singer has since passed away and I really miss him.
-Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose-"Treat Her Like A Lady", "It's Too Late To Turn Back Now": "Treat Her Like A Lady" has got a groove and one of the greater guitar drives on the rhythm that I've enjoyed over the years. The guitar provided the confidence and the lyrics provided the respect for women all of us guys should have when it comes to loving them. "It's Too Late To Turn Back Now" is just so lush and beautiful. How can a person not love a song like this? Plus, this was a big one which was playing on the radio when my Dad and I went on the trip to Santa Clara prior to my moving back down. I seem to recall that my Mom liked this song as well. But hey! She had to live with us guys having the radio on to what we wanted to have it on.
-The Eagles-"Take It Easy", Witchy Woman": Well, the big run of The Eagles becoming like a franchise instead of a band started while I was living up here. KEED played to death both of these songs. I enjoyed them. It was obvious, even to a kid like me, that this was the start of a band that was going to have some staying power. It really did strike me, in my want of having a girlfriend as far back as then, the line where it is mentioned "I've got seven women on my mind". Even back then, I sometimes wish in my case that it was only seven. For the life of me, I could swear that I only started hearing "Peaceful Easy Feeling" when I moved back to Santa Clara. I can't seem to recall for certain.
-Linda Ronstadt-"Rock Me On The Water"-I got exposed to Linda through this song first in a clear way that I was listening to Linda and knowing it was her. I could swear, however, that I did hear her with The Stone Ponys and "Different Drum" back when I was still living on Franklin Street. This was my double shot entry to being influenced by Jackson Browne as well as this is his song being covered by Linda. Little did I know that two people with whom I've already mentioned early in my story had a connection to Linda. They were both distantly related to her.
-Harry Nilsson-"Courtship Of Eddie's Father", "Without You", "Coconut": Well, what can one say about Harry that isn't going to be full of superlatives? He was superb in his voice range. He was deeply soulful as a singer (he took "Badfinger's "Without You" and made it his own and ended up winning a Grammy for it). He could be absolutely hilarious as in the case of "Coconut". He would go on to make one of my favorite records of all-time while I was still living up here and would not be released until I moved back to Santa Clara. God Bless Harry Nilsson! The music world has not been the same since he passed away.
-Three Dog Night-""Mama Told Me (Not To Come)", "Joy To The World", "Liar", "An Old Fashioned Love Song", "Never Been To Spain"-These guys used to blow me out of my socks. I recall watching a t.v. special of them of a live performance and I was just stunned. I loved how hard they worked. For some reason, I have always loved the drumming of this band. It was very driving, steady and hard. "Joy To The World" was the one that would become the big anthem. Whenever my Mom and I would sing this together in the car, I would always sing "joy to the fishes and the deep blue tree" instead of "deep blue sea". My Mom had to convince me a few times. Well, you know how stubborn hearing impaired kids can be sometimes. If I had to choose out of these singles I heard up here, then I'd choose "Never Been To Spain". This Hoyt Axton song had the drums, the guitar and the world weary lyrics that really appealed to me. Three Dog Night would continue to keep going as the early '70s progressed.
-Bread-"If", "Baby I'm A Want You", "Diary", "Everything I Own": The voice of David Gates was the voice that opened doors for a lot of guys trying to start awkward conversations with girls back then. Bread won you points with them. Sadly, guys could not talk about them amongst themselves because you were considered some kind of sissy if you liked them. This is really too bad because this was a marvelous band. I never had that problem of having to keep my mouth shut about my like for them as I was in a basically isolated pattern anyway. Plus, I always was a little different in that I kept my openmindedness at the forefront of my sense of discovery. It would take for me to be an adult to learn that one of my favorite Monkees tunes, "Saturday's Child" was co-written by David Gates. If all of you recall, it was a rocker and not a ballad. It would also take me years to learn about why the late James Griffith was such an important element to this group. He was such a gifted guitar player. Bread would go on to make a song when I moved back to Santa Clara that would be a driving force in my life at the time.
-The Grateful Dead-"KC Jones", "Truckin"/Jerry Garcia-"Sugaree", "The Wheel": My first exposure to the music of The Grateful Dead and specifically Jerry Garcia came from 4 big ones. When I was a kid, I wasn't exposed to the crap that writers would later put into my head about the Dead and cause me to go on a very long and convoluted journey with them which would have its share of deep prejuduice and put-downs. But back then, I accepted The Grateful Dead with open arms. It was during a time when people were into the Dead because they loved the music. It was many years before the band became a franchise of sorts and the hanger's on and bad people got associated with the fandom. All of the later years bullshit was to be a continuing hinderance in my appreciation of the band.
What I can tell you though is that I think I am being fairly accurate in saying that I did hear Jerry Garcia's "Sugaree" and "The Wheel" being played on KEED at different odd hours. To this day (and I have not bothered to check official listings online), I am not sure that either were issued as singles. There were one or two djs at KEED who were big Dead fans. As a result, I honestly think they snuck in "Sugaree" and "The Wheel" when the station PD (program director) wasn't listening. I have to be perfectly honest here. I loved the two big singles from The Grateful Dead, but it was these two songs from Jerry Garcia's Jerry Garcia album which launched a brief fascination with Jerry before fate, circumstances and plain ol' bullshit got in the way.
This stuff was so different. It had a whole different feel to it. The pedal steel on "The Wheel" just floored me. Mind you, as a kid, I couldn't make heads or tails of what Jerry was driving at in the song. It didn't matter. His practically fragile voice (in a sense) and the music combined in a swirl that told me he was aiming for something.
I have to tell you that I still have to be in the right mmood to listen to The Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia nowadays. When I listen to the Dead, I focus on Jerry and Phil Lesh. Though the conditions have to be right, I'm still glad that I have made my way through to listen to them when I do. I will write more about them as time goes on.
-The Chakachas-"Jungle Fever": O.k., this song made me blush. Even I could figure out that there was ex going on in this silly little ditty.
-Al Green-"Let's Stay Together: Oh brother! This is it, baby. This is truely one of the greatest Soul singles to ever be released and I was there to hear it when it first came out. It knocked me out cold. It did so repeatedly. Long live Al Green!
-Edison Lighthouse-"Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes"-Great pop. It's another one of those great early '70s singles that seemed to come out of nowhere, made its run, and then faded into obscurity. They used to do that back then.
-"Smile A Little Smile For Me, Rosemarie": I'm too lazy to go and see who did this wonderful little single, but I loved it.
-"Jaggerz-"The Rapper"-Another in a long line of singles that made their run and then faded out.
-Cher-"The Way of Love" "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves": I actually bought the album that these two singles came from. It's weird though. Everybody remembers the latter song, but nobody recalls that "The Way of Love" made a big run back then. It got really heavy airplay. I'm really surprised oldies stations don't play this one more often given the impact it had back then.
-"The Resurrection Shuffle"- I can't recall who first did this. It would later be covered many years down the line by Clarence Clemons on a solo album of his with JT Bowen.
-"I Love You More Today Than Yesterday"-I can't recall the band. This was another quick riser that I loved.
-Lobo-"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo"-This was a huge one back the day. You got to take roadtrip with Lobo as he described different parts of the U.S. as you experienced his adventures. Lobo would be big in the early part of my retunr to Santa Clara.
-Donovan-"Atlantis", "Sunshine Superman", "Hurdy Gurdy Man": "Atlantis" was a single which came out that was still charting when I moved up to Eugene. It really fascinated me. This whole idea of being down in the bottom of the sea was a new concept to me. But for pure hippiedom and my attempts at passing myself off as one, I got the greatest attitude from listening to the old '60's singles "Sunshine Superman" and "Hurdy Gurdy Man" being played on KEED. Little did I know that the heaviness I was getting from "Hurdy Gurdy Man" was being supplied by none other than Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones and John Bonham. Yea. You know. Those guys from Led Zeppelin.
-Agrissi or Adrissi Brothers (I can't remember which-it's my hearing)-"We've Got To Get It On Again": I really loved this song. To me, it was very dramatic. I still love hearing it to this day.
-Looking Glass-"Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)"-This one was a huge hit. I will always identify this song with driving around with my Dad in his truck when we were down in Santa Clara before we moved back down there. They would eventually come out with another single that I liked even more when I moved back.
-Manfred Mann-"Living Without You"(I think that's what this was titled.) This is a song I always identify with my brother Mike for some strange reason. I remember hearing this song on the way up to the Mt. Angel basketball tournament to see him play when he was still at St. Paul.
-Smokey Robinson & The Miracles-"Tears of a Clown"-It was this song which made me a fan of Smokey. He's the man who was given a voice which need not have to pass any inspection. He's the envy of many great singers of different stripes because he's got the falsetto pipes. You can take that to the bank.
-Janis Joplin-"Me and Bobby McGee"-Her last single was my first exposure to her. She would grow on me as the '70s progressed. I am just so sad that she's gone. I wish more people would have been around to help her fight her addictions. We could still use her combination of vulnerability and feistiness today.
-The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band-"Mr. Bojangles", "House At Pooh Corner": These were two huge singles back then. I had the "House At Pooh Corner" single and my brother John had the album from which both songs sprang. It was beautiful stuff. I also didn't know at the time that there was yet another Jackson Browne coinnection being made by way of "House At Pooh Corner".
-"Fruit of the Universe" (was that the title?): Who did this really weird song that used to kind of freak me out?
-Donny Hathaway & Roberta Flak-"Where Is The Love": This is a great duet and a song about having an affair. Well, I didn't know that being as I didn't understand about things like that yet. But I did identify with the feeling of emotion expressed though. Why don't people make songs like this anymore? They all seem so flaky nowadays- the ones where you have these superstar parings and they end up falling flat on their faces.
-Eric Burden & War-"Spill The Wine": This was a cool song that made me wish I could be among all of the women Burdon was singing about.
-War-"Slippin' Into Darkness": This is one of the best songs to come out from this '70-'72 period. My God! It had feeling. It had a musicality that killed me. Was was to continue to knock me out as time went on. This song had so many elements being put together in it. It made for an undeniable power. That's what you get when you make a combination of Soul, Funk and Latin rhythm and get that stew going.
-Olivia Newton-John-"If Not For You"-I could swear that her cover of the Bob Dylan song came out when I lived in Eugene the first time around. Back then, I didn't know she was covering Dylan. I thought she was covering George Harrsion because of my being exposed to the All Things Must Pass album so much back then.
-Neil Diamond-"Cracklin' Rosie", "I Am I Said", "Song Sung Blue": This is the period where Neil Diamond had another big emergence. Because of moving for my first time, "I Am I Said" struck me in a way that I didn't realize it was going to. "Song Sun Blue" just got so much airplay. I remember my Mom singing to it occasionally when we were driving around.
-Tommy James-"Draggin' The Line"-This was one of those special songs that set my attitude at the time in place. Like I said before for other songs, this was one of those which justified my feeling that I was a hippie-a very young one. Whenever I hear it now, I'm never embarrassed. It tells me that there's still one way deep inside me even though I've gotten a bit weathered.
-

Eugene Music-KEED 1970-1972

2010-02-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

I'm guessing that it's going to take me at least 3 or 4 more posts to finish my list from this time period. I'm getting to a section of this particular period that I want to open up on.
-Bill Withers "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Lean On Me": I have mentioned Bill Withers in my last entry about the trip I made to Santa Clara before I moved back there in the Fall of '72. I will never underestimate the impact that this man has made on me. His voice and his delivery spoke to me directly. This is his great gift. "Ain't No Sunshine" just blew me away continually when I used to listen to it. "Lean On Me" is a song which should never be forgotten. I wish I could hear people singing this to each other in the times we are living in right now. Listening to it back then was like listening to the Gospel Truth.
-Malo-"Sauvecito"-There was somebody beyond Santana making Latin music for me to be exposed to (even though I think a brother of his was a member of this band).
-The Rascals-"People Got To Be Free": This single form the late '60s ('68 I believe) got a lot of airplay on KEED. It was almost as if it was a current hit. I loved the message and I carried it with me.
-Zaeger & Evans-"In The Year 2525": Here's yet another '60s hit that got heavy airplay by KEED again. Depending on my mood and where my imagination was taking me whenever I happened to listen to this thing, I would sometimes get a little scared thinking of my own mortality.
-The Temptations-"Just My Imagination "Running Away With Me"-This was a killer for me. This was the song which made me an Eddie Kendricks fan for life. He would come back in late 1973 for me in a big way. Production values? This one should be required listening at any school for future producers.
-Gladys Knight & The Pips-"If I Were Your Woman": This song was the start, for me, of a now lifelong love affair with Gladys Kinight & The Pips. This song has delivery to burn by Gladys. If you don't believe what she's singing, then you have icewater in your veins.
-Chicago-"Colour My World", "25 or 6 To 4", "Beginnings", "Does Anybody Know What Time It Is? "Saturday In The Park. I thought Chicago was a great band. I still do. I can't over that some critics have roasted these guys alive. All of these great late '60s and early '70s singles from the Terry Kath Era of the band were marvelous. By the way, who didn't want to be as hot a guitar player as Kath? The guy was a scorcher. Chicago was another band that you learned about arrangements from. They would keep up the great work when I moved back down to Santa Clara.
-Rod Stewart-"Maggie May" and "You Wear It Well": Here's where I got introduced to Ronnie Wood. This was when he was at his best and not with The Rolling Stones. Rod and the Faces material was to grow in importance to me as the '70s wore on.
-Jethro Tull-"Aqualung": This was my first exposure to Jethro Tull. The person who was to really drive home Tull's music was my brother Mike. He got hooked on them up here. Then, I would eventually get hooked on essentially the first four albums.
-Jackson Five-"I'll Be There", "ABC", "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save". For me, "I'll Be There" was the one that I felt the most. They were a great singles band. Strangely enough, over time, I feel like the Jacksons were overhyped in their importance in some regards. In later years, I would hear The Five Stairsteps and their song "Ooh Child" as part of a CD package that I have of their best material and I think they were far superior to the Jackson Five in the musical department. They were essentially the same age, but they were coming up with more sophisticated arrangements than the Jackson Five and the Motown people.
-The Free Movement-"I've Found Someone of My Own": This is a great little single about breaking up and moving on with your life. This was really mature stuff for a kid like me to be listening to.
-Chi Coltrane-"Thunder and Lightning": The thing I always remember about this song is her unbridled forward delivery.
-Betty Wright-"Clean Up Woman"-Simply put. This song is the real deal. There's no b.s. in this song whatsoever.
-Free-"All Right Now"-This was the start of my association with Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke. They would later form Bad Company. It would take for me to be an adult to fully appreciate this band the way they should be. My God! The late Paul Kossoff was one hell of a guitar player. People, do yourself a favor and pick up the import U.K. Deluxe Edition of Fire and Water on the Universal label. The album is pure Blues influenced Heaven to me.

In Tribute: Robert "Squirrel" Lester of The Chi-Lites

2010-01-25T14:36:00.000-08:00

In writing about my time living in Oregon the first time around from 1970-1972, I have written a bit about The Chi-Lites. It is with sorrow that the news has begun to leak out that the great lead vocalist who gave voice to the great inspirational musical ideas that the late Eugene Record gave us has passed away. His name was Robert "Squirrel" Lester.
I have mentioned this before. It bears repeating again. but it is my firm belief that one of the greatest outro lines I've ever heard in a song is the one during the last bit of fadeout in the great single, "Oh Girl" where Lester intones with all heart-felt anguish "Have you ever seen such a helpless man?/ Oooh no."
It was Lester's voice which gave me the full o.k. to believe that it was o.k. for a guy to show his vulnerable side. This was an important element that was added to early '70s Soul music. It wasn't always the stereotype of bravado and machismo.
I think of the great 3 singles I grew up on here in Eugene (Have You Seen Her?", "Oh Girl" & "The Coldest Days of My Life") and I think to myself of how utterly important this element of thinking, through music, was to my early development as a person.
When you take a musical genius like Eugene Record and combine it with the sincerity of the vocals of a Robert Lester, it was inevitable that you would achieve musical immortality. I wrote over on a Rolling Stones webboard just a short while ago that Mick Jagger has mentioned every once i a super great while that he loved the music of The Chi-Lites. I hope that people like himself and others who are of his musical strata will take the time out over the next few days to dig out their Chi-Lites records and CD's and recall the greatness of Lester and the Chi-Lites. They all shared company together on the charts back in 1971 and 1972 and we were all made the better for it. I just read s hort while ago that there is apparently only one member left of the original Chi-Lites left. This is just so sad. But hey, just think of how great it's going to be to hear them again in the enxt life. I want to see tons of gigs of theirs and back in their prime once again.

1970-1972 Eugene: More To Recall

2010-01-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

Whatever happened to Robbie Pietros (I think that's how his last name was spelled-perhaps with a u instead of the o towards the end)? Do any of you St. Paul people remember him? He was a really nice kid. He and I got to know each other during 3rd and 4th Grade. I think there are always kids like a Robbie in all our lives who pass through and then go on to obscurity and are lost to time. I have no idea if he's alive or dead. I have no idea if he's still in Oregon or if he's somewhere far off.
What I do remember about him is that he alwas talked to me like I was an equal. He never teased me. He just spoke like a regular guy. When you asked him a question, he would answer it. He used to ask me questions and I always enjoyed telling him whatever he wanted to know. I remember that he used to wear his Cub Scout uniform top to school fairly frequently in lieu of when he didn't have a regular shirt to wear for the day. I kind of recall that he came from a broken home in regards that his Mom and Dad were either separated or divorced. They were also living in a rental of some kind. I can't recall if they were living in a house or an apartment. He had a sister that he would mention. He rarely spoke much about his Dad (with whom he was living with). Now, I don't know if you recall this or not, but Robbie had a birth deformity on his hand that he had to deal with and that we spoke about. We used to discuss how people used to react to noticing it or not. He was just such a cool kid. For his age, he was very real. On one hand, he had (I think) two fingers that were essentially fused together which never grew out. They were the middle fingers on that hand. But the thing of it was that he used his other perfectly normal hand to draw. He loved to draw things. Amazingly enough, I am the proud owner of one of the drawings he made for me as a surprise. He drew me a couple of characters out of one of his Dr. Seuss books he had that he was very fond of. I have kept it stored away all of these years. Every couple of years or so, I'll dig it out and look at it and smile while I admire that I had a friend like that who would share something like that with me. I really hope he's doing o.k.
In the Summer of '72, there took place a sort of transition period that I did not even realize was taking place and it stood out to me, in hindsight, as a preparation for my return to Santa Clara. I did not have much of an idea as to how serious my Dad was being convinced by his brother and sisters to come back home in order to keep the peace among themselves. I didn't realize that my vacation was actually my Dad's serious house-hunting venture for a move back. I knew he was doing it, but it didn't sink in that it was actually going to happen.
This trip was very memorable for me. Dad took me to my first Oakland A's game. This was the Summer where the A's put everything together to make their run twoards the first of their 3 straight MLB championships. We went to see the Chicago White Sox play the A's. What a game! We never got to see the end of the game. The game went into extra innings and lasted so long that the game had to be suspended because it went into the curfew that the American League or the City of Oakland had in place. The game was continued the next day. I nearly got nailed by a foul ball at that game. What I'll never forget was seeing the sight of the famous (or infamous-depending on your view of him) Dick Allen, the first baseman of the White Sox playing tic-tac-toe on the dirt in between pitches and batters during the game. He was notorious for doing this. He was also a great player as well. I came away from my first game at the Oakland Coliseum very impressed. My interest in baseball had grown more since those early Giant games at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara and the double-header I saw at Candlestick. It helped a lot that the Ems games my Dad had been taking me to had been really holding my interest. I can still remember the couple of bomb scares at Civic Stadium I lived through as well as the drunk people in the stands really getting into the games. I had no idea during that Summer of '72 that I was to visit the Oakland Coliseum many more times when I moved back down there and how singnificent it was going to be to me.
Another thing which happened to me when I was down there during that trip was that I discovered Bob Wilkins and his Creature Features movie show. Now, I got hooked on horror movies when I lived in Eugene. But I really got hooked on Bob Wilkins because he was just too damned cool. I mean, this guy became a legend for us kids down in the Bay Area. Plus, he was the weird Uncle you always wanted to have. He knew so much about the movies and he passed along the information to you so that you could learn and contextualize what you were watching. Plus, he always smoked these nice big fat stogies while doing his presentations. And wouldn't you know it? I caught him on an especially cool night. In the little den area next to my late Aunt Mary's dining table where people used to eat, I sat and watched the original Bela Lugosi Universal Horror Film of Dracula. My interest during that late Saturday night shot up like a rocket because I knew that this guy just absolutely wiped the floor clean of the hostess who did the horror movie show here in Eugene. Bob Wilkins was just the coolest, man.
The other big thing from this trip is that I got to visit my first friend, Tom R. again at his new house over on Stevenson. He had a new baby brother. The addition forced them to sell their house on Franklin Street. Anyway, we reconnected. We got really tight as good buddies again. I recall when we were driving around in his Mom's VW Bug (Nancy R.), she ahd the radio on and I really caught on to a couple of tunes which made me immeditaly identify them with California instead of just Oregon. I recall very specifically being really in tune with Bill Withers-"Lean On Me" and Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band-"Garden Party". By the way, I should mention that that A's game I went to with my Dad always makes me think of "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" by Looking Glass because I recall hearing it while Dad and I were driving around.
It was during this trip as well that I heard two other songs which I would identify only with California. This was the Summer when "Burnin' Love" from Elvis Presley and "Come Together" from The Who made a huge impression on me. Along with the other songs I have mentioned, there was a fullness to the music I was hearing which was making everything I was listening to a constant soundtrack to my present life. And the songs were so full of life. They were breathing so full of healthly vitality.
When it came time that I had to leave Tommy's house. My parents really took notice that I was really sad to leave. I have a funny feeling that little bit that they observed helped to put the icing on the cake for my Dad as far as deciding to go ahead with the purchase of the Camino Drive house that was to become my golden house.
And then I went back home to Eugene and thinking I was going to start 5th Grade at St. Paul. I got back into the groove that I was used to when I got back home. But one of the songs that I heard towards the end of that Summer was to foreshadow, in a weird way, what was to come. After Elton John had released the "Rocket Man" single from what would be the Honky Chateau album, he followed it up with "Honky Cat".
To quote a few lyrics, "Get back Honky cat/better get back to the woods/Well, I quit those days and my redneck ways/Oh hoo hoo hoo ow change is gonna do me good"
-"They said Stay at home. Boy you gotta tend the farm/ Living in the city boy is gonna break your heart/But how can you stay when your heart says no a-ha/How can you stop when your feet say go"
And so, I really believe the template was set. I did have to undergo some changes back in Eugene that I was sad to have to let go of. For starters, we sold the big Lorane ranch that Summer as well. For some strange reason, I had a big sentimental attachment to the two tractors we had on the ranch. We had a huge green John Deere and one grey Ford. When we sold the ranch, I got choked up watching my Dad ride them for the last time.
It's very fuzzy as to when I got the announcement from my Mom and Dad. But I got it. Steve, we're moving back to Santa Clara and you are going back to St. Clare's. Wow! When I got the announcement, we were at a point in the Summer when we started getting a heat wave that apparently lasted quite a while. So much so that it went to the point beyond when I left.
And then the day arrived. Mom and Dad hauled me off to the then Mahlon Sweet airport. I got a ticket to fly a big yellow bird called Hughes Airwest. My brother Mike flew with me. I saw him and I knew he was really bummed out because he was leaving the hunting and fishing of Oregon. He also really liked our next door neighbor (the late Carl Lay) at lot.
When I left, I did not have any realization of the history I was skirting or the enormity of what I was to encounter once I got off the plane. Here's the deal. When I left Eugene, there were a couple of singles and songs being played by the KEED guys by somebody and a band he was in that I was openminded enough to like as a kid. Little did I know that this band was going to be playing 2 shows in Veneta that were to be legendary right after I left to head back to Santa Clara to stay at my late Uncle Matt and Auntie Ann's house on Santa Clara Street. On two sweltering days in late August, Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead rolled in to play the 2 Creamery Benefit shows for Ken Kesey where the temperatures soared to the 100 degree mark. I was exposed to "Truckin'" and "Casey Jones" and I liked them.
Instead of being exposed to the big news of The Grateful Dead, I was to fly into to be exposed to KFRC San Francisco (said city, my lovely great one, was also home to The Grateful Dead) while down in Los Angeles, at almost literally the same time, an event was taking place that I would not hear about until many years later which would , by virtue of where I was, have more influence on me that The Grateful Dead. An event called Wattstax took place at the Memorial Coliseum. It was where a ton of Soul Acts, along with the Reverend Jesse Jackson held their version of Woodstock. You see people, it was meant to be that Soul Music was to continue to play a huge role in my life. There would be room for The Grateful Dead later on in my life. But it would come at a much later date and through a very long and circuitous route which would become a battle of sorts which I will explain at some point later in very thorough detail.
So, ladies and Gentleman. Armed with only the belongings in my suitcase and a transitor radio, I was to begin the period of my life that I refer to as the greatest I've ever lived through. The Golden period of the Fall of 1972 to the Fall of 1974 was to descend upon me. The true essence of who I am today was to begin shaping me when I stepped off that yellow bird onto the tarmac of San Jose airport.
I will finish off my discussion of the music I listened to during the '70-'72 Eugene period over thenext few posts before I dive into the '72-'74 period. I will likely post a few other things as well before I dive into it.

January 17-Happy Birthday, Mick Taylor

2010-01-16T22:27:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to take a spell and send out my best wishes to Mick Taylor on his birthday. I hope he does not have any health issues he has to deal with this year. I hope that he decides to make a very deep plunge into leading a more healthy lifestyle. I also hope that he is lucky enough to have management ensure that he does not do long brutal stretches of one-nighters like he did when I saw him here in Eugene back in 2001. I checked his official website after I saw him and it was truely frightening to see that number of one-nighters in a row he was doing. On top of it, he was traveling by car to get to those gigs here in the U.S. for at least a good chunk of them. This is a guy who deserves better than that.
You are loved and the great majority of fans have your best interests at heart. I hope I get to see you again and that I get the chance to have a substantial talk with you. I always keep you in my prayers and hope that you will stay safe. Happy Birthday, Mick. Here's to hoping that you have many more and that Mick and Keith decide to throw some money your way.
Steve

In Appreciation: Teddy Pendergrass

2010-01-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

It must be stated upfront that I don't consider what I'm about to say here in this appreciation to be the definitive (by any stretch) word or proper dedication to Teddy Pendergrass. There are those of you who have faithfully followed Teddy's career throughout all of his phases as well as what can only be tragically described as the pre-accident career vs. the post-accident career.
My appreciation of Teddy Pendergrass comes from his time when he was a member of Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes. This period covers the years of 1972 through 1974. It is the period before he broke away from Harold Melvin to start his own solo career. It is the period which I lived through that I worship so much. It is also the period from before I made the switch to listening to FM radio as my primary radio listening source for music rather than AM.
You know, there must be a conspiracy by history or by angels that I'm being forced to write about things from the '72-'74 period when I was living back in Santa Clara once again before I feel like I'm properly ready to. I haven't even finished the Eugene '70-'72 period yet. Yet, here I am.
If Teddy Pendergrass had not walked the Earth during his time with Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, I am quite certain that the return to Santa Clara period that I love so dearly would have turned out much differently. His voice was so powerful. His was the voice of Soul music being funneled through by way of Gospel influence. I mean, he was right up there and so upfront. He wasn't to be denied. All of us have been so blessed to have been given the masculine side of great vocal talents like Pendergrass. He was another one of those singers with whom I felt a great affinity for in that it was o.k. to show off your masculinity in expression. Plus, if I ever went to far in thinking that I was going overboard on the whole Soul singer as straong male role model type, I always had somebody like the late Eugene Record of The Chi-Lites to remind me of the vulnerability that could be expressed by males as well.
From that great first album of Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, there was a song like "I Miss You" to show that there was indeed another side to be shown by the band and by extent Teddy.
For me, as for a huge amount of people around the world, it was when Gamble & Huff decided to release "If You Don't Know Me By Now" that put them on my musical map with a huge splash in the Fall of '72. I desperately needed something to anchor me that Fall because I was in the fearful throes of my dread for our 5th Grade teacher at St. Clare's who ruled our class like a tyrant. Teddy's vocals for the song gave me something I could hold onto and give me a strong-willed sense of consolation based on the sheer vocal force of his delivery.
My Mother had to have sensed something concerning my love of this song when I heard the song riding around in the car with her or when she would hear me listening to and attempting to sing along to it at home on Camino Drive or else it was one of those beautifully coincidental quirks of fate on her part that made her do it. I didn't say a word to her about the song. I never directed anything at her. Yet, Mom came home one fine day and said she had something for me that she picked up over at the record store over at Valley Fair. She got me my first Philadephia International Records single and it was "If You Don't Know Me By Now". For this occasion alone, Mom helped to cement this song into a certain high strata with me. She managed to help careen something along further without her even knowing it.
I would later come to know Teddy and his association with Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes through the great single in (I believe) 1973 with "The Love I Lost" and then in 1974 (again I believe) with "Wake Up Everybody". And that voice would stay ever so strong and so sure.
The great thing about great songs is that you don't remember them as just being fantastic songs. They become personalized in your life. I was to meet a woman at some point in either very late 1973 or early 1974 at a time when David G. and I would become friends for a good solid 4 years until the 5th shaky year when things began to fall apart. This woman was to become his Dad's wife (the third if I'm recalling correctly). For some incredibly strange and almost prophetic reason because they would later divorce, I would come to associate this wonderful person with whom I would (in combination) hold in my highest regard, respect and harbor a monumental crush that I've had on her that continues even to this very day to "If You Don't Know Me By Know". The single had passed its chart time by the time I met her and yet it seemed to come out of the air the very first time I met her and went for a ride with his gorgeous blonde Ann Margret named Pam with her very young son in a Lincoln Continental Mk IV that I would identify her with this song and her relationship to Gary. I have told her this. I told her back in the '90s and I think she just kind of shrugged it off because she tries to forget what she went through with Gary. I just don't think she realizes how accurately the song applies to her in the reverse. It is her who should have told him "what good is a love affair/ when you can't see eye to eye".
God! That song was so appropriate to listen to in the late Fall of '72 when the air was colder. It was also so appropriate for that day she and I drove around together from her house with Gary back over to my house on Camino. It was a cold, overcast foggy day. Plus, I would always view that relationship she had with Gary with the same coldness that sometimes seemd to show its face every so often when I would see the cracks in their marriage show throughout the '70s.
This is what I mean. Great music makes you see layers in life that you otherwise might never have noticed. Shit! I was seeing this kind of thing in 5th, 6th and 7th Grade. It became more obvious as I got older too.
To this day, it still amazes me as to how coincidental it was that I made the switch to FM radio in the Summer of '74 when I did and at the very subtle point in music history when a sea-change was about to occur that people were not going to notice right away. This changed happened just as Teddy Pendergrass made the decision to leave Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes to pursue his own solo career as a result of creative differences with the late Harold Melvin. I guess Teddy was fated to have a solo career. His voice was so powerful that people, myself included, would say something like "Hey man! There's Teddy" when a Harold Melvin song would come on. I have to be honest here and say this. I really miss the tension that was apparent in those old Bluenotes recordings. That's what made Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes so great. I didn't follow Teddy into his solo career because of my switch over to FM and my general tuning myself out of the danceable Soul music beginning to turn into what would become as Disco. I would hear Teddy later on and I would pine for the Bluenotes days. I will readily admit to that. This is going to be a terrible analogy, but my feelings towards Teddy Pendergrass are a lot like some cross-sections of fans of Janis Joplin have felt about her over the years. You'll get the people who'll say that Janis was at her best when she was part of a team when she was in Big Brother & the Holding Company. I have to admit, I really think Teddy was at his best when he was with Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes and he was a member of a team and winning a championship of sorts as a result. We all now about sports teams who won championships who had members who beat the shit out of each other in the locker room and still managed to win championships (like those Oakland A's teams of the '70s). Now, I don't know if it was quite like that between Harold and Teddy nor to what extent. I suppose only Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff truely know. I would like to think that they are both at peace with each other in all regards now that they have been reunited and that they have some fine plans ahead for the rest of us.
What I am greatly happy for the most for Teddy is that he is now out of his wheelchair. I am also happy that he no longer has colon cancer to go along with being bound to a wheelchair. Do you imagine the terrible ordeal this must have been for him even though he put on a good face? I really hope that he and the late Curtis Mayfield are trading notes on their experiences on having been bound to chairs late in their lives and I hope they are both celebrating thier freedom.
Like Curtis, I hope Teddy knows that he deserves the freedom he has found because he gave all of us fans so much freedom through his expression in music. Walk tall, Teddy. You made all of us walk tall. My God! Even God Himself must be overwhelmed to have both you and Levi Stubb singing in the same room together. Thank you so much for everything, Teddy. We love you.

Baseball: My First 3 Seasons 1970-1972

2010-01-10T20:58:00.000-08:00

I have prided myself through the years on remembering a lot of specific things. For some crazy reason, my memory of when I played my first season of Little League baseball has played tricks on me. For a long time, I was under the impression that I first played in 1969, then skipped 1970 because of my pending move to Eugene, and then picked up again in 1971 once I got to Eugene. But I think I've had this information incorrect for a long time. I believe that I actually started in 1970.
My budding interest in baseball began with the San Francisco Giants while I was living on Franklin Street. Some of my earliest baseball memories are of listening to Giants games on the radio (being called by Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons while they were getting stewed on beer) with my brother Mike. In fact, I even recall listening to the Giants and Padres on the radio one very specific time with him.
In First Grade, I began the process of going over to Buck Shaw Stadium to begin the very special Spring ritual of where St. Clare School would be let out for the day so that the kids could go with their parents to see the Santa Clara Broncos play the Giants. Back then, this was the Giants team which had Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Hal Lanier, Gaylord Perry, Dick Dietz and Bobby Bonds among others. So, this was always an exciting thing.
I was also getting exposed to them on television. It was inevitable that I would eventually go up to Candlestick Park to see my first MLB game proper. That day came in 1969 when I went up to see a doubleheader between the Giants and the Atlanta Braves. The Hank Aaron led Braves lost the first game to the Giants. I got to see Juan Marachal pitch. We never got to see the end of the second game as my Dad was becoming concerned that I had taken in enough baseball for a day, so we left to go back home.
At this time, I was also beginning to watch the Oakland A's on televison as well. It was during this time that my Dad's best man (for one year) worked for the A's. He was responsible for having gotten Monte Moore recommended to become the broadcaster for the A's after Harry Carray left. As a side note, for those of you who think Harry was a lovable drunkard. That is a fable. The late Bob Freitas told me that Harry was an insufferable lout who drove everybody crazy and that he treated people like shit. He was fired from the Cardinals when it was discovered that he was having an afair with one of Augie Busch's relations. I can't remember if it was his wife or a Busch relative's wife.
With this backdrop, my Dad asked me if I was interested in trying out to play some baseball. I said I was. So I went to what would become Carley Field and tried my hand at fielding and hitting a ball. I discovered something very quickly. I could field pretty much o.k., but I was scared shitless of this really hard baseball whizzing by me when I was at the plate. After my tryout, I was assigned to a team. I don't have my team photo handy. Believe it or not, I can't remember if we were the White Sox or the Red Sox. I can't even recall if we were sponsored by anybody. To make matters worse, I don't even recall the names of the coaches I had. I do, however, remember my coach. We barely interacted with each other at all.
There is a hilarious incident from back in this season in 1970. I was at practice one day and I was up to bat taking my swings. Well, the pitcher that the coach was using was scaring the hell out of me by having no control that day. I was crouched very low in my stance. Finally, a ball came whizzing by me that was too close for comfort. What did I do? I ran off and hid in the bushes for the rest of practice. My Dad eventually came over and rescued me from practice. My coach had a talk with him and told him what happened. He told my Dad that the way the kid was pitching, he would have run into the bushes too.
One of my teammates was a kid named Albert Barcellos. Albert and I would become good baseball buddies. It got to be so much so that I would eventually get to go to his house a few times and hang out with him and his parents. I must say this. His late Dad, Manuel, was a prince of a human being in my eyes. He always made me feel comfortable and that I was accepted. He was just such a warm person. He always had the sun in his eyes. His smile was also one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It's no wonder that my Dad liked him so much. For some strange reason which I still can't explain to myself, I was always a little scared of his Mom even though she was friendly to me as well. She told me a few times that I was going to grow up to become a politician. Well, my Uncle was the Mayor at the time.
Anyway, the team that I was on started out great guns to begin the season. I was strangely placed in right field. I think I rarely ever had to make a play out there. The reason why we started out great was because we had a kid on our team with whom was evaluated incorrectly by the people at the tryouts (or else the kid was made to be a ringer). This kid was huge by our standards. We were squirts while this kid lumbered around like Boog Powell. He was enormous. What happened was that he started off by hitting monsterous shots-some being home runs. Us kids were giddy. All we had to do was get on base so that we could wait for him to bring us in. We were slaugherting other teams in the first half of the season by huge margins. Well, the league caught sight of what was happening and decided that he had been misclassified. They called him up to a higher level. And that's when our hopes of winning the championship for our division did a nosedive into the tank. We scraped out some wins. For the most part, we usually got our breakfast, lunch and dinner handed to us most of the time.
It was during this season that I also played against David G., my classmate at St. Clare's for the first time as opponents. When I came up to bat against him, we both smiled at each other. I'm pretty sure that he struck me out.
For my first year in Little League ball, I was scared of the ball when I batted. I walked on most of my at-bats that year. I did not get any hits. I would crouch so low in a stance that I didn't give an umpire a strike zone to speak of to call pitches. If the Westside Little League had kept stats on players back then for our division, I probably would have haeld records for two things-the most walks and the most steals. What I greatly excelled at was in stealing bases once I got on base. I had this knack of timing when a pitcher was at his apex of his pitching moment so that I could take off on him. This accomplishment of mine led to what may possibly be my favorite memory of something I did for my Dad.
The morning of Father's Day 1970 had dawned. I went over to the bedroom of my parents to go and see them for a breif spell knowing that I had a game to play that day. My Mom and Dad were still in bed and I made the following announcement to my Dad. It went something like this, "Dad, I know it's Father's Day except that I didn't get you anything for it. But I'm going to make up for it though. When I get on today (it was a given that I would walk because it happened so frequently), I am going to steal all of the bases for you as a Father's Day present, o.k.?" My Dad must have been thinking that I was nuts. Knowing him, after I left the room, he and Mom were probably laughing their asses off at my bold claim.
So, the game arrived later in the day. Lo and behold, when I got to bat, I got my usual walk due to my barely existing strike zone because of the crouch that I used to protect myself from that evil baseball. When I was on first, I told myself to remember what I had promised Dad. I carefully watched the apex of the pitcher's motion. I took off and I stole second base. I'm thinking to myself one down and two to go. I let the pitcher throw a few pitches as I still put out a lead from second just so I could keep him nervous. I knew I would head back to second after each pitch until I decided the time was right to make my move. And then he decided that I was going to stay there. He let himself get vulnerable during the apex of his motion for a fraction too long. I took off and I stole third base with no throw. Now I'm thinking that I just have one more left to fulfill my promise to Dad. I knew my Dad was at the game and in the stands watching me.
At this point,I clearly remember that both the pitcher and the catcher were very nervous. They were really keeping an eye on me now. I didn't give myself much of a lead as well. The guy threw some pitches. I don't know if another batter had come up or not. All I know is that I was itching to get to home. Well, I had frazzled the pitcher. He eventually threw either a wild pitch or a pass ball because the pitch ended up in the dirt and flew by the catcher in the interim. This was my big moment. I took off. The ball slid almost to the backstop. The catcher went running frantically to get he ball while the pitcher came running up to the plate to take a throw in an attempt to get me out. I came charging in feet first like I always slid. The catcher came up to the plate and tried to tag me. Apparently, my feet made it before he applied the tag. I scored. I did it! I kept my promise to Dad. I tried to find him in the stands, but I couldn't see him as the crowd had jumped up in excitement. I saw him later on and he sure had a grin from ear to ear.
When I moved up to Eugene, baseball was going to be completely different for me. I tried out and was classified to play in tee ball in order to help me overcome my fear of the ball. In 1971, I had just got done being in Third Grade and my mind was filled with music to go with the baseball. I played for the team I would play on in both 1971 and 1972-the Cascade Lions. They were coached by a man with whom I would come to love and respect. He was Bob Straub. Mr. Straub was not a spring chicken. He was old even back then. But he was an exceptionally gentle person who was very encouraging. He took us kids to heart. We held our practices at the Meadowlark School. One of my teammates was somebody I would know later on at Marist High School. This would be none other than Charlie N. Charlie was a notorious prankster and troublemaker. He frequently loved to bring firecrackers to practice and set a few off before Mr. Straub would roll into practice in his red and white VW van (I guess it would be a mini-van today).
Mr. Straub apparently had a special thing for me. He noticed that I was different and that I carried myself a little differently than the other kids when I was at practice. He stunned me once. As I was standing beside my Mom one time either after a practice or before a game one time, he told my Mom that I reminded him of Joe DiMaggio in how I carried myself. My Mom and Mr. Straub had both seen DiMaggio play. My Mom got to see him and his two brothers play when all three brothers played in the PCL. Being from San Francisco originally, Mom got to see the San Francisco Seals a lot.
The tee helped me a lot. I got plenty of hits and I still got around on the basepaths. Because of the fact that kids were getting plenty of hits, I never had to steal bases. Mr. Straub did notice that I could field pretty well. As a result, I played second base. My best play of the the two years I played there occurred at Meadowlark. A kid on the oppsoing team hit a ball to right field and hit first base. He decided to try to stretch the hit into a double. The kid in right picked up the ball and threw it to me. The only thing was that I knew time was running out and that he was going to get in safe if I didn't do anything. I also knew our right fielder was a weak thrower. I think what happened was that he threw as hard as he could and ball rolled to me. I was smart enough to decide that I couldn't try to get this guy out by just standing there in the regular way. I stuck my right foot on the bag and then I stretched myself as long as I possibly could while holding on to the bag with my foot. The ball rolled to my glove just in the nick of time. When the kid slid in, it was as if time stood still. The umpire came over to see what had happened. The crowd was hushed in silence. I was crumpled on the ground but my foot was still on the bag. And then I turned up my glove and showed the umpire that the ball was in my glove. The umpire excitedly called the guy out. That's when I heard a roar come from the crowd. I was a hero for a small bit.
The 1971 season was a really fun one. Mr. Straub was our only coach that year. He had no assistants. I think we finished either second or third in our division. So, I was feeling good about things.
The 1972 season came around and things changed. Mr. Straub was still the wonderful human being he always was. He had decided to bring in an assistant coach. He was a fairly young coach. He had been to Vietnam and he was intense. In fact , he was too intense. He made everybody on the team feel way too jittery. As a result, we began to lose games frequently. Plus, we used to always go have an icecream cone after a good chunk of our games at the Dairy Queen on Coburg Road. We used to have fun there no matter if we won or lost. But this guy who was hanging out with us was just driving us nuts. About halfway through the season, Mr. Straub let him go. As a result, we started winning games again. Sadly, it didn't salvage our season.
Because of my baserunning andy my telling hims stories of my first season in baseball, Charlie N. bestowed upon me the nickname Roto-Rooter. Mr. Straub also knew I had speed on the basepaths and he wanted me to become a better runner. He noticed that I ran with my feet facing outward way too much. Little did I know what he had in store for me. I had no idea who he had connections with, but he knew people around town. He told me he was going to bring somebody over to the next practice to help me with my running and to make sure that I was there. I showed up for the next practice. Imagine my surprise when Coach Straub introduces me to none other than the famous University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman. Bowerman took time out out of his busy day to come over to teach me to not run like a waddling duck. He ahd me lean up against a wall with both of my hands and arms stretched out. Then he told me to look down at my feet and to force them to turn inward when I ran. I was to do this so that I could visualize myself keeping my feet turned inward and straight when I ran. When I go on walks with my dog on a daily basis and catch myself waddling (which I still do way too much), I will think of Bill Bowerman and those lessons he was trying to teach me and attempt to walk the correct way again.
I never saw Coach Straub again. Even after I moved back up here in 1978, I never saw him again. It is one of my great regrets. I loved this man very much. I was told by Charlie N. at one of our reunions for Marist that he lived to be a very old man even though he didn't know if he had passed on yet. I'm sure he's gone now. I miss him so much. He was my coach and he was a friend as well. I wish I could tell him how much he meant to me. I will have to wait until my time comes and I pass over to the other side.
My last year in baseball would occur back in Santa Clara in the Summer of 1973. I want to give it a separate entry as it falls in what I consider to be my favorite time period in my life. It would be a very special season during a very special time.

Appreciation: Willie Mitchell, Tony Clarke & Tony Bellamy

2010-01-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

I've been spending a good portion of time here at OddStonesSods telling you all about when I lived up here in Eugene during my first time around. I've also been telling you about a lot of the music I was listening to then as well. I will also be telling you about when I moved back to Santa Clara in late '72 to begin my favorite period from late '72 to late '74. The three gentleman I am to discuss here come from this period (and in the case of Tony Clarke-from the '60s).
When it comes to Al Green, it is a given that you have to mention Willie Mitchell. Without Willie, we would have never come to know the Al Green that we know now and kind of take for granted in some respects because he's just so hugely talented and blessed with a gift for telling stories of the soul through music. You see, that gift wouldn't have been exposed if it wasn't for Willie Mitchell. Now, perhaps Al might have popped up at some other place in the country and exposed his voice to the world, but would his voice have been truely his own had it not been for Willie Mitchell? The story has been repeated so many times before, but it was Mitchell who told Al Green to quit trying to sing like other Soul artists and to just sing like Al Green.
Because of that simple and profoundly true advice, we got the Al Green that we now know of for today. For many of us, it was to be the Al Green that we remember from the early '70s and especially 1972 when he knocked us out silly with "Let's Stay Together". Now, mind you, Al continued to knock us out when he converted and went to sing Gospel music. And he continues to do so with the music he produces today where he straddles the line between Gospel and the old days when he was unabashedly sensual in his message by way of that incredible voice of his.
However, it must be pointed out that when you listen to a song like "Let's Stay Together" and you dive into the song itself even further, you begin to further realize that there isn't just a great singer singing his heart during this number. You can dig something else going on from listening to other Al Green records. You get it from listening other Hi Records releases from other artists who were on the Hi roster such as Ann Peebles. She would knock our socks off with "I Can't Stand The Rain" in 1973.
Here's what it is, people. When you listened to a Willie Mitchell production. You heard a sound which could never be duplicated by anyone else on this Earth ever again. For starters, it's like the first thing I thought of that members of one of the music boards I belong to have have mentioned in their tributes to Willie when the news of his passing first broke. Man, this guy mixed and made the drums on Hi Records songs so unique. And then, there was the orchestration. Listen to the drums and the orchestration on "Let's Stay Together" and tell me if you don't hear a full sound and not just a singer. You are hearing it from all sides and not just one side. When "I Can't Stand The Rain" comes on, you hear the unique, African-influenced percussion instrument being employed to go with the clean and yet gritty sound that only Mitchell could come up with.
Willie was a musician before he was a producer. I will always remember him for what he gave to me during my great run from 1970-1974 when I was rising ever higher with the music I was discovering. Thank you so much Willie.
Though he was a person that didn't get mentioned much in the discussions that I've had with a lot of people over the years, I did have times where The Moody Blues were mentioned plenty of times and with good reason. Their run in the '60s and the early '70s were essential listening whether you were a listener who heard the stuff when it actually came out back in the '60s or when the re-released singles started spewing forth as well as when the '70s started progressing beyond 1974 and all of radio was beginning the process of looking back , you became aware of the existence of The Moody Blues whether you wished to avoid them or not. Radio did not ignore them.
For me, I do recall clearly living in Santa Clara once again and listening to the re-release of the "Nights In White Satin" single and listening to a steady dose of "Tuesday Afternoon" as well. When I made the switch over to F.M. in 1974, I began to discover more of their music, including "Legend of A Mind" and ,"I'm Just A Singer In A Rock and Roll Band" (proper title?).
What do you think of when you hear The Moody Blues? Among other things, I heard great lush orchestration being intertwined with great forward visioned music. Tony Clarke is the man who was responsible for that integration. The great producers always know how to balance the vision of the artists writing the songs and performing them with his own vision of how he's going to get the song to sound on tape. He's also going to know when to adjust the vision in the artist's mind as ell as making adjustments in his own and possibly end up making something that turned out even better than either of the two envisioned. I'm sure Tony Clarke had this happen with the members of The Moody Blues. Well, the results turned out to be quite splendid. The fans always refer to the Great Seven (meaning the great seven albums that are generally regarded as the cream of the crop in their legacy). For me, my copies of the Deluxe Editions of Days of The Future Passed and In Search of the Lost Chord are the proof I have of Tony Clarke's greatness. It was inevitable that the music of The Moody Blues was going to find its way into my life. I could swear that I heard them on the radio even before I moved back to Santa Clara in '72. It's just that I know for certain that I did hear them when "Nights In White Satin" was re-released as a single.
And now I come to somebody with whom I hesitate to write about at this time. The reason why this is so is not for the usual reasons. During the course of my writing entires into my blog, I am trying not to get tempted into writing about the '72-'74 Santa Clara period yet because of how monumental it is to me. Plus, I have another reason for my hesitancy. Tony Bellamy may only have been the second guitarist (mostly rhythm) for Redbone. But my love for this band runs so deep (which is ironic given that I grew up on only 2 singles of theirs and I own only 1 CD-a compilation) because of what they represent to me.
It is this idea (what they represent to me) which compels me to pay tribute to this man. It further compels me to make it a point to pay tribute to each band member when their times come to leave this mortal coil (and trust me, I will do so). And it also requires that I tell you way ahead of schedule of why "Come and Get Your Love" is such an all encompassing song to me. It means so much so to me that I will repeat this story with further writing when the time is appropriate to my story I'm trying to tell.
Redbone was a band I first got exposed to as a result of "Witch Queen of New Orleans" when I was lving here in Eugene from '70-'72. I knew right away that this was a Native American band. I just knew it by listening to the music and their words. They were passing on their spirit to me. It would take many years for me to know (not until about 5 years back actually) that there was a connection between Redbone and Jimi Hendrix. With Jimi having some North American Indian blood in him to go with being African-American, it was Jimi who encouraged Redbone that they should be together as a group. It is so ironic. When "Come and Get Your Love" was released back in 1974, I was taking my first serious (exceptionally deep) dive into Jimi's music via my brother Mike's old copy of Smash Hits that I bought off of him.
And so now, I'm letting the damn cat out of the bag when I tell you this. When I think of songs which stand out to me as archtypical of the last, in my opinion, great period for singles in the '70s which I believed started ending in the Fall of '74, one of the ones which leaps out in my mind immediately (among a few others) is "Come and Get Your Love". It was laid back in personality, but it had a groove that drove it home. It was direct in dealing with an issue like the subject matter of the song. It had rhythm. it had electric sitar being used in a tasteful fashion. And then, to my mind, it had that airy production like the song was being sent out to Heaven as if it was being recorded for eternity to represent a period of time for everybody-including me. It was the orchestration in the background and how it had some reverb to go with the cleanness of the basic track of the recording. The vocals, the guitar fills, the electric sitar to go with the lyrics being sung in a specific language pattern that I so identified with and was definitely spoken during that specific period in time just nailed me absolutely to the wall.
A further enhancement was made for this song that made it stick to my mind even further was that I got to see Redbone on television perform this song in their Native American traditonal garb. I was realizing that these guys, being Native Americans, were just as cool as all of the African-American artists I was digging and that they had a story to tell just as well. It was music that made them equals to me just as much as I was taking to heart Black artists on the same level. It was as if they were inviting me into their world and their were no strings attached if only I allowed them into my world as well. Well, I did and I believe we were a great match.
I spend many a day referring to the orchestration in that song between the lines they sing "come and get your love/come and get your love" in my thoughts. It may have been seemingly simple, but it works so incredibly well. Tony Bellamy was a part of all of this. His spirit was a part of this experience. As a result, his spirit was a part of my spirit because he was in a band who gave of themselves and their identity as a reminder that they stood as equals to the rest of us and that they had the same feelings that we did as adults and as kids. Hell, I considered both songs proof. Plus, this was a damned good band. I only have a compilation which is the Sony/Legacy The Essential Redbone compilation which absolutely slaughters my hearing impaired ears because Joseph Palmaccio mastered this thing so loudly that I cannot enjoy this CD through my headphones or through standard speaker set-ups. I have to turn this CD down so low that I can't enjoy the emotional impact of what I'm listening to. It is my fervant hope that the individual Redbone albums get reissued at some point and that they get remastered by somebody like Vic Anesini or Mark Wilder with the love and care they deserve. I grew up on the single version of "Come and Get Your Love" without ever knowing there was a longer version with a stunning intro. It is about time people got to hear this on a better mastering than the one on The Essential Redbone.
God Bless You Tony Bellamy. You may have only been the second guitar player in Redbone, but you were part of a band of equals who were equals in my eyes. As I pay tribute to you now, I pay tribute to all of you in the band. You helped to give me a period of time that I love and miss from a great distance right now because of that song. But if its up there in Heaven where it is not restricted by anything, it will certainly be there waiting for me to relive all over again and perhaps in your prescence. I just hope to God that people don't think you and the band were just some gimmick band who had a big hit and appeared on a music program performing the song because of presenting yourselves as who you were. Based on the times I have been able to withstand listening to the mastering on The Essential Redbone, it is very obvious that you had great musical diversity. You had fantastic chops. You were tight. You made great music that was worthy of full-album experiences and not just singles. Redbone and Tony Bellamy. They weren't a stereotype. They were the real deal.

My State of Disarray Address-Jan. 2010

2010-01-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

For this evening, I have decided to take a complete detour and tell you about my state of mind as it currently exists at this point in time. I'm fairly tired as I type this. I am at the start of some new stress as a result of new neighbors who have moved into one of the rentals by me who have not made a good first impression. The rental on the other side of me is also in a state of flux as it appears that the couple in that one has split up. I am now anticipating that the girl who is there right now isn't going to be there too much longer. I could end up in a situation where I have shitty neighbors to either side of me.
In the time I have been living here in the (ironically named) Santa Clara area of Eugene, I have had the misfortune of having bought my house from a crooked contractor who did not do everything he was supposed to do to make my house complete nor fully satisfactory. I was also not informed when I bought my house that the contractor made a sweetheart deal with one of the rental property management operations here in Eugene to dump off deeds when he couldn't find buyers immediately. What he ended up doing was not telling me that one side of me was already a rental while the other house next to me was being sold to a chemically imbalanced woman who was starting the process of foreclosing on the house the moment she moved in. If the resultant two years of just incredibly insane behavior on her part wasn't bad enough (I'll tell the stories one of these times), the fact that the house ended up being bought by the same rental property management agency that owns the first house I just mentioned.
I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that I'm worn down from having gone through 9 different neighbors on one side of me and 6 neighbors on the other over the last little over 10 years I've been living here at my house. I can honestly tell you that 8 of the 15 neighbors I've had to either side of me have been terrible. There's no stability here. There really is truth to the saying that the good ones never stay long enough and the shitty ones always stay too long.
I have been so thankful for the presence of my beloved German Shepherd through all of this. She and I are so locked into each other. We are perfect for each other even though she is a special needs dog in regards that she's exceptionally shy and is only close to me and my Mom (and one friend of mine). I am convinced that if I should die unexpectedly, she would not be too far behind because of how locked into each other we are.
I am feeling so alone right now and I don't know what to do. The one person with whom I talk to on the phone about music all of the time is living in South Carolina. We have never met yet. We are supposed to one of these days. I wish he'd move out here. We went through a few bumps in our friendship along the way, but I'm positive that he's far enough along in the maturity department to know that we can't always be in complete agreement on literally every single thing.
This thing with women obviously hasn't changed since my first pangs in 1968. It's been a long haul. One of the paradoxes I've been grappling with is that, by appearances, I've been living the life of somebody who would be compatable with a woman who comes from a religious background (as in heavily) because I don't smoke, drink or do any drugs. Yet, when I'm angry, I swear like a sailor, I'm horny as all hell and I don't like people who have come up through certain religious influences. To be specific, don't get me near any Mormons or Scientologists or just plain weird religions. By the same token, I'm also very wary of people who don't believe that God or some spiritual entity doesn't exist either. What a lot of people would never venture to guess from me is that I consider myself a radical Catholic. I do believe that God allows for people to adjust for differentbeliefs without the threat of being struck down. One of my main beefs with the Catholic hierarchy is their obsession with sex. I think God really doesn't have this great obsession over sex. I think God believes in common sense, a general steering in the right direction and also that some people are living under circumstances that are not easy and that they do have to bend the rules a bit in order to get along.
It's like this whole thing about people having affairs outside of marriage. Yeah. In general, it's wrong. In common sense terms, it's good to avoid them. If you are in a marriage where it's understood that you two are the focus of the marriage, then don't have affairs. If you are in a marriage where people do have the o.k. to swing a little or a lot, then do it but don't draw a lot of attention to yourself. And then there's the bad marriages where an affair can be a port in a storm before htey can break away. There's so many examples, it's practically endless. I'm in shitty circumstances. I can't seem to land any girlfriends at all. What am I to do? If I met a woman with whom I could very privately have a fling with (who is in a relationship where it's o.k.), I would. Like I've said before, I've done the go to Nevada and do the brothel shuffle routine before and I don't want to do it again. I think what I'm trying to say is that God understands circumstances and that everything can't be put into a little knot and placed own on a table like a little present. There are plenty of you out there that I envy. You have your picket fences and your little lies that are kept in by those fences. You have day to day realities, but do you value what you have? I have realities day to day because I have no relationship to tie all of these things I'm going through in a way that I can value at the end of the day. I would value one hot night with a hot woman to take me away from this even if only for a brief spell. Obviously, I wish I could have a full and real relationship with someone I'm attracted to. Unfortunately, I'm not that great looking. I'm thin.
I'm also angry at the whole attitude by them over the Abortion issue. It's a woman's right to choose. Let her and God work it out. Yeah, I do get a little miffed over women who have perfectly healthy babies, have the money and then abort in the third trimester. But I'm not in their shoes.
I was told by somebody recently that being called fat is the worst thing you can call somebody. Well, he's happily married to a woman he loves very much. I'm a by-product of Social Darwinism. My thinness hass made me more alone than obese people I've ever met. He doesn't realize how his telling me that hurt so very deeply. He says my being thin and being called thin places that kind of putdown very low on the totem pole as far as having hurt inflicted upon you goes. I've been put down by fat people before for my thinness. How low do you think I feel?
I have also been told that my choices are based on a hierarchy of chance percentages. A late Aunt of mine once asked me, over dinner (as I was awaiting word of the death of my beloved Grandfather) if I would ever consider marrying a Black, an Asian or a Hispanic. Mind you, she didn't use those words. She used the un-PC ones and she made me feel like I was being tested by one of Mrs. Heisch's flunkies again when she was trying to prove I was retarded.
So, I can tell you. I have rarely been attracted to African-American women although I have seen a few I've gone ga-ga over. Off the top of my head, there's Halle Berry, Allison Stewart (formerly of MSNBC and who still occasionally subs for Rachael Maddow) and a Playboy Playmate named Karin Taylor. I'm not ruling out that I could fall deeply in love with a Black woman.
I am very attracted to Asian women who come from Japan, China, Korea and Vietnam (and Hmong peoples in general). The only ones I stridently avoid are women from the Phillipines. I have never been attracted to any and I generally have heard a lot of negative things about them in comparison to other Asian ladies. My only concern with Chinese women is that I don't want to be around ones who are pro-Chinese government. I like the idea of being with one who is part of a pro-Democracy underground from a safe distance away from being arrested by Chinese authorities. I'd also like it if she didn't want to be in China at all.
I have been attracted to Hispanic women. I have had my odds with some sections of their culture. I was greatly influenced by Portuguese (European) people in Santa Clara vs. Mexicans. I could see myself with a South American woman or a woman from Central America. I could see myself with a beautiful Cuban if she's not pro-Castro or pro-U.S. Republican either. So much for all of those crushes I've had on Scandinavian and German blondes over the years, right?
Poltically, I feel just as fractured as a lot of people do right now. I'm a Democrat because it's the closest thing that I could describe myself in ways that people would accept in American terms. I might be accused of being nutty, but I'd really like to see more Western European Socialism get introduced into this country. Healthcare, transportation and the banking system need to be taken over by the government. I want leaders to keep being freely elected. I'd like to see the vast majority of Republicans drop off the face of the planet because they don't care for people like me. I'd like to see the Democrats who got bought and sold by the insurance companies during the healthcare bill and destroyed the public option be taken out and be outcast from forever holding office again. As far as being an American is concerned, it wouldn't be pragmatic of me to be a Green or a Socialist. This damned country is too center right and corporate to ever allow something like this to to happen. And yes, Sarah Plain, Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaught are the anti-Christ as far as I'm concerned. Hey Sarah, have you taken a peek at any of the Who's Nailin' Paylin porno films yet?
With the way things are going, there is going to someday be a class war in this country that is going to get violent on a large scale. It's coming. You can count on it.
If I didn't suffer from this damned IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), I would very seriously consider expatriating myself from the United States and live in The Netherlands, Germany or possibly Spain. I'd even consider Southern France. But it won't happen until a cure is found. I doubt that it will happen in my lifetime. I'd have to consider Canada as well. Who knows? Maybe I'm too entrenched in being an American to actually do it?
Would all of this finally get me a girlfriend? I just don't know. I hate freakish people of many forms. I call myself open-minded and yet I'm a lot more conservative in some regards in that there are certain comfort zones I need to be in. I hate piercings and huge tattoos. I also hate people who have to many animals than they can handle in their households, sloppy people, etc.
Where am I going to end up someday? Am I going to stay in Oregon or will I go back to California. Will I end up in Nevada? Where am I going to live?
Am I going to be safe? Am I going to be financially secure? Will I have a lawyer/financial advisor to make sure I don't screw up on my bills and my taxes? Will someone introduce me to a woman instead of having these occasional Adult Friend Finder women strangers asking to be my friend through my Facebook page? I don't trust those Adult Friend Finder women. They are looking for money, a sperm donor or looking to put the hit on my place to take things from me.
I have my days where I feel like I'm speaking face to face with people intelligently. There are other days where my confidence is such that I fell like a complet idiot. With my IBS, I have days where I'm so fucking tired that I can barely function. I really miss eating food like I did in the old days. Do you know how badly I'd love to eat hot dogs again, for instance?
Can I meet a woman I'm attracted to who could tell me that I am worthy of the sexual feelings I have and that they will be fulfilled by her? Can I have times where she can hold me and tell me that these past 42 years can start being put behind me because she is right there?
Will the stress of my relationship with my brothers finally go away? You don't get to choose your family and I thrive on being told literally that I'm loved. I have been enduring this for about 30 years. This has worn me down as well. I want my independence when Mom dies so that we don't have to deal with each other anymore so that they can't be mad at me from then on. They can stay mad at me for things in the past if they choose. I just want to move on. I want to live in peace.
Where has everybody gone?
This is my State of Disarray address during these uncertain times. I continue to be carried by the love of my Mom and my dog. Music keeps me together. My dream of female companionship stays with me although I think things are bleak. I have the faith of knowing I have Angels surrounding me. I guess I'm carrying on, but I'm really tired.

Eugene Playlist: 1970-1972 KEED Part 5

2010-01-02T22:33:00.000-08:00

I wanted to start getting back into the swing of things by spending just a little bit of time jotting down more of my Eugene Playlist of things I was hearing on the radio when I was living here in Eugene from 1970-1972 before I turn in for the night.
-Grand Funk Railroad-"Footstompin' Music"-I'm trying to recall if I also heard the single edit of "I'm Your Captain" from 1970 as well during this time. I'm really fuzzy on this. I had to have heard it at least a few times. I can say, without question, that I heard "Footstompin' Music". This one always got my blood going quite nicely. They were a basic band out to show people a good time back then.
-Ozark Mountain Daredevils-"If You Want To Get To Heaven"-I really enjoyed this one. I always dug the harmonica line.
-Don McClean-"Castles In The Air", "American Pie"-I dearly love both songs. The former really struck me in how sincere McClean's delivery was in convincing people that he hated the city way of life. The part I identified with, however, was the yearning for being with a woman he could be compatable with. "American Pie" is an institution unto itself. The song became a fabric of our lives.
-Roberta Flack-"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"-I grew up on the single edit and it took me years to realize that htere was a longer version of the song. But let me tell you! Impact, you say? And then some would be my answer. This was another case of a Soul artist making a case for depth. I am so incredibly grateful to her for choosing this song (hers is not the original version, but it is the one that everybody remembers) to sing and release as a single. Listening to a song such as this made me aware of the magnitude that love can create for two people in love. This song also made me grow on a personal level even at this young age. Roberta would nail me again a few more times when I moved back to California.
-The Dramatics-"Whatcha See Is What You Get", "In The Rain"-What a great groove "Whatcha See Is What You Get" had. "In The Rain" really hit me. I loved the production on it.
-Barry White/Love Unlimited Orchestra-"Walking In The Rain"-This was my first exposure to Barry White. It was certainly not going to be my last. Not a lot of people remember this great one where Barry only makes a vocal appearance as the phone caller in the song. God! The production values that White would employ on his other hits was most certainly in evidence here already.
-Joe Simon-"Drowning In The Sea Of Love"-Oh yeah! I really dug this one. Plus, his voice knocked me out as well.
-Rare Earth-"Get Ready", "Celebrate" and "I'm Losing You"-These guys were a multi-racial group (if I'm recalling correctly) signed to Motown. I only grew up on the single edits of these songs. The long version of "Get Ready" is a true groover.
-Joe Tex-"I Gotcha"-This song rarely failed to make me crack up a little bit whenever I listened to it and sang along. His attitude was just so infectious that you had to smile.
-Rita Coolidge-"Easy Beside Me"-I think that's what this single was titled. This song has an almost mythical status with me because it really made me blue in the horny way. Her singing voice is what got to me. It was the first time I wished I could be next to her and she was singing this song to me and holding me up to her breasts. Yes, I really had thoughts like this back then. I chuckle when I think about this now.
-Brewer & Shipley-"One Toke Over The Line"-This is a great song. Yes, it's about marijuana. But so what? I have a very fond memory of this song that I will relate to you when I talk about my early baseball experiences one of these times.
-Marilyn McCoo-"Wedding Bell Blues"-As if my crushes on women weren't bad enough! I didn't need a wedding song to help get me going and being a pest too. LOL!
-Cymarron-"Rings": Oh Good God, do I love this song! What a wonderful little single. It has such beautiful sentiment attached to it. In the end, there's another wedding ceremony attached to it as well. I still love how the members of Cymarron sing the line "got James Taylor on stereo" in this version while Lobo (who would do a cover version of this song later on) sang "got Jim Croce on stereo".
-The Staple Singers-"I'll Take You There"-Let me tell you something. This song carries every bit of relevence about race relations now as it did back when I first heard this song. I also took this song to heart as one of my anthems concerning a lot of things. I think I also may have heard "Respect Yourself" when I was living up here to, but this was the one which got huge airplay. It was a massive hit and it deserved being one. They would absolutely nail me once again when I moved back to California with a song that I consider my favorite from them.
-Lou Rawls-"A Natural Man"-I totally identified with the idea that it was o.k. to have an identity of your own and that you could live your life with respect and in any way you desired. Lou was just so cool. He would also nail me again later in the '70s and when I was expanding my album vocabulary later on as well.
-Redbone-"Witch Queen of New Orleans"-I loved the production of this and the atmosphere it created. When I moved back to Santa Clara, they would hit me with a song that I consider one of the defining singles of the decade.
-Melanie-"Brand New Key"-She drew me in. Her voice fascinated me.
-Dave Edmunds-"I Hear You Knockin'"-This is one of the first singles I got exposed to when I moved up here. It showed me that Roots Rock and heavy reverb still existed. Plus, it had plenty of hurt attitude that snarled.
-The Dells-"The Love We Had (Stays On My Mind)"-This one went deep into my heart. It is sung with so much feeling that it practically hurts. The production on this is outstanding. It is every bit as dramtic as the song needs to be.
-Paul Revere & the Raiders-"Indian Reservation"-This is one of the defining songs of the early '70's. It planted a seed in my mind of having respect for Native Americans. Those of you who recall this song should know that this is not the original version. This is a cover. It is proud and it is defiant.
-"Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again"-I can't remember who did this marvelous song. The orchestration just kills me. When I hear this today, it takes me back to how excited I was whenever this thing came on the radio back then.
More to come when time permits and I'm not too tired. I have new neighbors next door to me (renters) and I don't know how it's going to work out yet. This may affect how often I post for a while.

So Long Saint James (Tribute To James Gurley)

2009-12-21T23:10:00.000-08:00

I suppose some people can say it about the places they grew up in. I might even be accused of exagerrating my sense of pride of having grown up in the Bay Area. But there is something very special about San Francisco that no other place exibits. If you are sensitive and open-minded enough to allow yourself to develop an intuitive inner sense of San Francisco's surroundings, you can sense the spiritual presence of the artistic burst of epic proportions that took place there back in the '60s. You can feel it among those who have since died and those who are still living and have left a mark for other spirits to pick up on and allow people to communicate with their inner artistic and spiritual intuitions.
When I walk around San Francisco, I have always felt an almost damn near tangible feeling that I was among spirits both angelic and artistic who weave both elements together. I don't know if it's the fog that does it or if it's in the air or the ground you walk on. Perhaps it is a combination of all of them or none at all.
The thing of it is that you didn't have to be from the Bay Area to become a fixture there if you became a part of the landscape and you had the gift of expressing yourself through some kind of art form. Once us Bay Area people knew who you were and accepted you as among kindred open-minded spirits in touch with the artistic muse that we could never explain clearly (but knew existed), you were considered a member of our society. Janis Joplin may have hailed from Texas, but she became one of our own. Well, James Gurley came from back East as well. He met a kindred spirit in Janis Joplin and then Big Brother & the Holding Company became an even greater entity than it was before Janis arrived.
Like Jerry Garcia, fellow Big Brother bandmate Sam Andrew, Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Cipollina and Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen (Carlos Santana would follow along slightly afterwards), they were breathing the same air. As a result, something was definitely right because these guys all became trailblazers in the sound department. Apparently, James was one of the first to tell people that it was o.k. to stretch the boundaries as he was doing it with no feeling of guilt himself.
In the wonderful DVD called Nine Hundred Nights (a documentary on Big Brother & the Holding Company from back when Janis was a member of the band), there is an interview segment of James Gurley talking about being influenced by Jazz great John Coltrane and how he exploded past musical boundaries. James took that mindset and made it a part of the spiritual mindset of the San Francisco scene as well as in the essence of his guitar playing.
What he did in his time with Big Brother is something which will never be taken from him. Over the years, revisionist critics made it a point of slagging Gurley and Andrew for being sloppy and for letting the songs go on too long instead of tightening up the structures of the music. Gurley led the way in making an art form out of strangling your guitar and to make feedback a normal part of expression. How can anybody fault him for this? What exactly is wrong with this? What James Gurley did was embody freedom through the breaking of barriers. He wasn't the only one doing it, but he was doing it and he did it well. It would really be nice to see some of these critics who have taken the piss out of Gurley and Andrews and try to do what they did. Let's reverse the roles and see if they'd like to recant some of their statements.
The Cheap Thrills album is the one which broke Janis into the big-leagues. The first album was a very underrated album and it contained the seeds of the multi-colored explosion to come with Cheap Thrills. Cheap Thrills was the album which changed the landscape in San Francisco along with the word of mouth news of the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane live shows. Listen to the album. The whole point wasn't to be perfect. If there was a point, it was to be free and show people just how mindblowing and beautiful freedom is. Though Cheap Thrills isn't a true live album (it was made to sound like one), it really shows you what happened when they really cut loose as a band. It was alos the album where Jnais was part of band. They were not billed as Janis Jpolin with Big Brother & the Holding Company back then. They were a team. It took for Albert Grossman to get Janis to take on becoming JANIS and then everybody else took second to her billing after she left Big Brother.
And if you really want to get a treat and you own either an SACD or Universal player, then get the SACD version of Cheap Thrills and get completely blown out of your socks by the extra couple of minutes of feedback that Gurley and Andrew added to the classic "Piece of My Heart" back then that you won't hear on the old LP's or even any of the CD reissues. Add to the fact that this period of time in the '60s was not a mono type environment, it was a multi-layered multi-colored stereo experience, listening to this work in 5.1 is downright trip inducing unto itself.
And if you want to go beyond Cheap Thrills, then pick up the Columbia/Legacy CD Janis Joplin with Big Brother & the Holding Company-Live at Winterland '68 and listen to this non-studio work of two shows. You'll get to hear the gloriously distorted Gibson SG of Gurley's in all of its glory.
I am going to miss James Gurley a tremendous deal because he was also a character. I have seen interviews of him over the years and he always seemed like someone you'd want to know because he wasn't dull. I privately carried with myself the hope that I would meet him. Sadly, it never happened. I have a big hole in my heart right now because he has passed away. I'm sure that he has seen Janis again and that he's going to get to hang out with John Coltrane too.
The next time I have the great fortune of walking around in my dearly beloved San Francisco, I know I am going to feel his spirit and what he left among the spirits and in the fog. I will feel that history almost breathing and whispering to me. And I'll know that the history and the spirits will be fuller because James added to the legacy of the San Francisco which still lives if you still your mind long enough to hear it within your heart.
So long, Saint James. You are already sorely missed.

Eugene 1970-1972: More To Recall

2009-12-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

Over at St. Paul, they had this thing called a Smoker one time. The kids got to take part in boxing matches and everybody was invited to watch. It took place in the gym and I recall that a lot of people were there-parents, etc., to witness this event. I decided that I wanted to box and I was accepted to take part in a match. My brother, Mike, also was in a match as well. I had to brush up on my boxing skills as I had none. I was doing this on a complete lark. It harkened back to the day when I challenged Raymond to that race when I was in First Grade donw in Santa Clara. It just popped into my head to give it a try. So, I dug out copies of Encyclopedia Brittanica and the World Book Encyclopedia we had and I read about different boxing moves. On top of it, I was recalling what I was seeing in watching ABC's Wide World of Sports-especially the Ali-Frazier highlights. To go with all of this, my brother John taught me a few things.
The time came for me to do my (I think) 3 rounds with this kid who had to have weighed at least 30 pounds more than me who was the closest thing to my weight. I think I would have been classified as an atom weight because I was so thin that I was barely even there to be seen. My match took place early in the smoker. Anyway, the kid and I spent a good portion of the first two rounds barely touching each other and just dancing around. When the third round came about, that's when I decided I had to make my move. I recalled something that I saw in one of the encyclopedias that I was thumbing through and decided I'd put it to use. I finally got right into the kid's face. I faked a swing with my left over his head and knew he was going to duck his head downward. And then I hit him with my hardest swing I could put in with my right in an undercut right to his nose. I hit him solidly. It came right towards the end of the 3rd round. When the match was over, I saw that he was crying. I figured that would get me the win. Instead, the judge called it a draw. I thought I got gyped. But that was o.k. I know knew what it was to box.
As the night wore on, I got enjoy watching the other matches. The most bizarre and hilarious one I saw that evening was the one which either ended or almost ended the night's festivities. That was the match which took place between my brother Mike and Jon G. Jon had braces and my brother Mike had some braces as well in his mouth. To this day, I will never forget watching these two friends pound the shit out of each other's faces and laughing each other silly while doing it. On top of it, because of their braces in their mouths, they were both making a gory mess out of each other too.
O.k. For the record. I was not in school when Billy M. slapped Sister Elizabeth in the face. I happened to have a cold when it happened. All I did was hear about it. I never got to witness it. There would be times later on in my school years when I wished I could have done the same to a few priests I would come to know. But God! This story became legend among us.
I wish my brothers and I could get along better nowadays because this next story is one where having a brother was a really neat thing. It proved that he cared about me. It also proved how wicked his revenge could be when he put his imagination to it. I don't know if any of you remember the classman who was older than us 3rd and 4th Graders, Kent D. Kent was one of those guys who threw his weight around at the time thinking that he ruled the roost when, in truth, he fell in the middle as far as a social pecking order goes. Well, I happened to be walking over to the section of school where I could go and take a peak at my brother and his friends over in the room that Vidar Alexander set up for the older sports guys to hang out in. When I went walking over there, Kent comes walking up to me like he's some kind of police officer and starts harrassing me for having crossed his path. He was being pretty cocky and telling me that I wasn't supposed to be around in his area. During the course of this, I believe that he grabbed my shirt a little bit and ended up pulling one of the buttons off of my shirt. He then told me that if he ever saw me walking around that area again without his permission that he was going to throw me in the garbage can that was nearby. After this exchange, Kent was quite pleased with himself as he walked off. I was a little scared about the whole bit. After school was over that day, I got my brother Mike's attention at home and told him about what Kent said and did to me earlier in the day. Mike told me not to worry about it. He said that I would never have to worry about coming over to take a peak to see him through the window of the hang-out area again and that Kent would never be a problem anymore. Well, little did I know what my brother had in store for Kent.
It goes like this. Mike spotted Kent at school not long afterwards and cozied up to him to make him feel all nice and good that he was starting to climb the social pecking order. My brother was one of the biggest and most feared people in school as he was already almost approaching 6 feet tall back then in his final years of Grade School. Mike very nicely invited Kent to come see him and a few of the guys after school was over one day and to meet him out by where the hang-out room was. I was told about this by my brother and I have no doubt that what happened was true. When Kent showed up. My brother and a few of his friends took Kent for a walk a little ways out into the field behind school. Along with a few of Mike's classmates, a dog was around and was hanging out with the guys. It was, apparently, a friendly dog. I guess Kent got a little nervous because my brother's mood changed from nice to something a bit south of it. Mike then grabbed Kent and made it very clear that he was very displeased that he was bullying his little brother who happened to be one of the smallest people in school and had been battling health problems in the early part of his life. Mike basically forced Kent to his knees and made him feel like he was being softened up for getting his ass kicked. The story goes that Kent was pretty much begging to get out of the situation at this point. My brother saw that the dog was around and decided it was time to humilate Kent in front of the other guys in order to humble him and to remind him of where he stood in the social pecking order at school. Mike got the dog and brought him over to Kent and told him that he could go after he got done doing something for him. He and his friends lifted the dog up by his front legs. The dog was a he. Mike told Kent that he would let him go after he licked the dog's balls.
I saw Kent again after the incident. I couldn't get over how nice he was to me when I saw him again. He was very effusive when he said to me that it was perfectly o.k. for me to walk anywhere I wanted to and anytime I wanted to. He was also extremely apologetic to me that he popped the button off of my shirt too. I don't think Kent ever came within 20 or 30 feet of me again the rest of my stay at St. Paul School.
The one person whom I always felt secure around was my Dad. He and I had a lot of fun together. He took me to Em's games up here. We saw many great games in '71 and '72 and witnessing Greg Luzinski, Mike Schmidt and Larry Hisle play. Larry was my favorite. I still have my autographed ball I got from him. I recall being at a game when there was a bomb scare and we all had to hang out on the field.
Dad also took me to my first college basketball game when Dick Harter was coaching the Kamikaze Ducks. I got to see UCLA at Mac Court when Bill Walton and Keith (later Jamaal) Wilkes were playing for coach John Wooden. He took me to my first college football game at Autzen when Dan Fouts was the quarterback and Bobby Moore (later to become Ahmad Rashad) was there. I saw them play against the team that had Sonny Sixkiller at quarterback. Was that Washington State or was it Washington? I can't remember.
But my favorite events, other than the Ems games, were when Dad placated to my wishes and took me to see the Portland Wrestling guys over at Marist and the one very memorable night that Dad took me to the Fairgrounds so that I could see the Indian Death Match which took place between the good lovable guy, the late Lonnie Mayne vs. the bad guy Bull Ramos. I really dug this stuff hook, line and sinker back then. I used to watch Portland Wrestling religiously every weekend. My favorite was Dutch Savage. I also used to see Jimmy Snuka and the Boyd Brothers from Australia-Lloyd and Jonathan. In the great drama that it was, Mayne practically got murdered that night and lost to Bull Ramos that night. I still crack up about my love of wrestling from the two years I was up here because I never caught the fire again that much afterwards.
My television viewing included The Odd Couple. I absolutely loved it. I also recall watching Love, American Style, Dragnet, Adam 12 and Emergency (and getting a crush on Nurse Dixon-Julie London. Who didn't?). I also got into The Brady Bunch as well. Saturday mornings found me watching Scooby Doo, The Jackson Five as well as Lancelot Link-Secret Chimp.
but the show and the music that hit me in a big way was The Partridge Family. What hit me was that it seemed cool to be in a musical family and that David Cassidy was this guy who was scoring all of these beautiful chicks. I said to myself that I had to learn from Keith Partridge and see if I could get lucky with the girls just like he did.
I also got into their music and bought their albums just so I could get an extra edge in thinking I was going to score with the girls. I soon realized, right after I moved back down to Santa Clara and after discovering The Rolling Stones, that the whole Partridge Family thing wasn't getting me anywhere with the chicks.
Little did I know that The Partridge Family had a connection to somebody with whom I did not even know who existed back then but would would become a major (huge!!!) force in my life later on in the late '70s. When you looked on the back of the albums and at the liner notes, you would always see songwriting and publishing credits. Well, when you saw them for the Partride Family albums, you saw a thing which would say Larel Canyon Publishing and then a couple of names. Those names were two guys named Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos. Now, a ton of you aren't going to have any idea of who these two people were. But they were to have a huge impact on the early career of somebody whom you will all know. Jim Cretecos ran the publishing company affecting this artist who would sign on and let Mike Appel become his first manager before he met a certain writer from Boston named Jon Landau. By now, you are probably wanting to know who it is. Well, this is where The Partridge Family had a connection to a guy whom, in the late Summer of 1972, just before I left for Santa Clara, was to perform an audition in front of the legendary talent scout John Hammond at the offices of Columbia Records. Hammond had discovered and had signed people like Bessie Smith and Bob Dylan. Ladies and Gentleman, the man who has a connection to The Partridge Family (by way of Cretecos and Appel) and who would eventually take over a huge chunk of my life was none other than a young Bruce Spingsteen.

Eugene 1970-1972 More Memories of Mine

2009-12-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

I still have a massive music list to go through from this period. I just decided that I was in the mood to jot down more of my memories of things from the Eugene '70-'72 period.
One of the very first times I ever played basketball among other kids was at St. Paul. I still carry a reminder of one very painful time I was out with a combination of both guys and girls who were shooting a ball around during a recess break when I was in 3rd Grade. Somebody shot a ball at the basket and the person missed the shot. The ball bounced off the back of the backboard and shot out right over me. I decided to jump up to try to get it in case anybody else was going to try to get ot the ball before me. My timing was perfect for placing myself to the ball. However, my positioning wasn't so perfect. When I jumped up, the ball slammed right down on my right ring finger at the same time the height of my jump was meeting the ball. The impact of the ball meeting the point of my finger caused the ligament in the last digit of my finger (before it meets your fingernail) to get slammed down hard. It hurt like hell when it happened. The soreness in my finger took a long time to go away. To this day, I still have a crooked finger at that point. I literally cannot straighten that finger out. You can even see ever so slightly where the ligament tore up and decided to curl up a bit on the topside of my finger.
Though I was never on the recieving end of any pain while taking part in it, I do fondly remember the camel fights us guys loved to get involved in. I was a very popular guy for camel fights because I was as light as a feather. The guy who usually picked me most often was Brian M. At the time, he was one of the strongest people in our class. I don't think Brian and I ever lost a camel fight in all of the times I rode on him. I clearly recall riding on Matt A and Bill M. for certain. I could swear that I took part in a few matches riding on Tony W and Tom F's shoulders. Our camel fights used to get pretty intense. We'd all go out to the grass area beyond where the swings were and pound the shit out of each other to knock the riders off the camels and get them disqualified from finishing the match. It finally got to a point where our reputations began to spread and the school made us stop taking part in the matches. I look at it this way though. I used to feel really sorry for Brian M and any of the other guys I used to ride on. Like I said, there was a great advantage to having me as your rider. I was as light as a feather. However, there was a distinct disadvantage to having me ride on top of your shoulders. Since I was scared shitless of getting knocked off and getting hurt, I used to hold on to my camel really tight. When I mean tight, I mean I'm surprised I didn't make poor Brian's face turn blue and choke him to death. I had a morbid fear of falling from any height and breaking a bone.
The other thing I really got known for was my love of catching garter and gopher snakes. I picked it up from having gotten to know my backyard on Fir Acres Drive so well. In the Summer of '71, I really got into catching snakes and lizards and collecting them. We had extra fish tanks from our having lived in California that were not in use, so I used those. My Dad made lids for them and I was in business.
I had this one great portable small storage box that I used for an alligator lizard that I caught at my neighbor's house after Mom, her friend Peggy and I had come home from the coast. Mrs. Leach came over and told my Mom to please have me come over and grab this lizard that was driving their big Black labrador crazy. Excuse my French, but this alligator lizard was not a baby. He was also a mean fucker. He was hissing at me and threating to bit me. I was impressed enough that I told the Leaches to keep an eye on him while I ran back to the grage to get a pair of gloves. I finally caught him and became a close pet of mine for a good long while before he finally died during a cold wet spell when he should have been hibernating. I even took that lizard with me when I ran away from home one time to go over to the Freitases over on Tabor. The lizard and me arrived safely back home after I cooled down and had a nice meal.
That Fir Acres house was something else for scenery and where it was set off of Bond Lane. We had a bog pond back in the treeline behind our backyard. We used to frequently see Wood ducks fly in there. We also had a pair of Screech owls that used to like to land on the handrails of our upper deck area facing the backyard. They used to look at each other and talk to themselves. It was a very cute thing to see.
Now, back to the snakes. Over at St. Paul, my snake catching got to a point where I would ask any adult who happened to be around if they had a jar (with air holes) i could use when I caught one. It was not an uncommon sight to see me walking around with my latest catch and asking for jars. It really hit its zenith during 4th Grade. Sister Elizabeth got so exasperated with me that she finally got wise and started saving big jars for me in class for when I made a successful snake endeavor. I still recall the time that I didn't twist the jar down as much as I should have one day. It was after lunch and we were being taught when everybody but me suddenly heard a sound emanating from the floor. The lid had come off the jar. My snakes (I caught more than one that day) had decided to make a jailbreak. The lid was light enough for them to pop it off. The next thing I know is that I have girls in my class running the hell away from their desks to the other side of the classroom ans my snakes came slithering out of the jar. Sister just told me to grab them and to make sure I closed the jar tighter. I'm not sure, but I think after that incident, Sister Elizabeth told me that my snake hunting days were over.
My snakes struck at home too. I had a tank or a jar in the house (the same one from the story I just told you?) and the same thing happened. Except, in this case, the sankes made a successful jailbreak without my being there to see it. I found one right off the bat, but I could not find the other two. Mom wasn't too thrilled that there were two loose garter snakes in her house. Time went by and nobody knew where they were until one day, my Mom went walking through the side entrance door which led to our kitchen. When she walked through the door, she heard a strange plopping sound behind her. She turned around and didn't see anything until she looked own on the floor. The snake had somehow miraculously climbed its way completely up to the top of the door overhang and was hanging out there when it accidentally fell down. Mom was very thankful it didn't fall on her head. She called me and and I got it. I also found the other snake in the same little side room. Sadly, I was to lose a lot of my sankes I had accumulated during a rain storm and a visitation on the same night by some stranger dogs who came over and killed some of them. What they didn't kill, the rain did as water filled the tank I had next to a toolshed that was out back.
At the time, my Mom had a family of squirrels that she loved to give peanuts to over the two year period we were there. Over time, we would grow to not be too fond of squirrels from when we would, years later, have the Lorane Highway ranch.
When I used to go to St. Paul, I remember the room that the 7th and 8th Grade sports guys used to hang out in during lunch and recess. This was a room that Vidar Alexander had set up for the guys to be comfortable in. I used to peak in every once in a while and I'd see my brother Mike, Kevin C and Jon G. in there among others. I remember watching my brother playing basketball at games St Paul had. I will still never forget the girls cheerleaders dancing a routine to Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move" at one game. I also recall the hilkarious time that the cheerleaders were going through the lineup of names on our basketball roster going (for example "Mike Mike/He's our man/ If he can't do it, Jon can and so forth. Well, one time, they went through the whole lineup and one of the girls just kid of muttered "if he can't do it/then nobody can" and I just doubled over.
Because of my having been used to being around older people, I spent a good chunk of 4th Grade having crush on Barbara H. in 8th Grade. Ah God! That was embarrassing. But you know? It proved that once I got something in my head, you weren't going to get me to change my mind. My class mate and her sister, Kelly, must have thought I was completely out of my mind. Don't worry Kelly, I still am. LOL! I remember I used to try to pry information out of Jody R. about Barbara. I knew Jody was a huge fan of the band Bread (so was I), so I tried to take advantage of her in my 4th Grade way in order to get at luck with Barbara.
Speaking of Kelly, she had the hilarious coincidence of once overhearing me complain about my girl problems to my Mother on one of the last days (perhaps the last day I was actually a member of St. Paul School) before I left for Santa Clara. Kelly gave me this look like she caught me in the act and it makes me laugh to this day.
I am running out of time. I will type more later tonight. Perhaps.

Eugene Playlist: 1970-1972 KEED Part 4

2009-12-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

-Alice Cooper: "Only Women Bleed" (I think that's the title of the song) and "I'm Eighteen". This was my first exposure to the glitter of Shock Rock. It was definitely a little darker than the usual fare I was listening to.
-Cat Stevens-"Moonshadow", "Morning Has Broken", "Peace Train", "Wild World"-When I think of Cat Stevens (now Yusaf Islam), I think of an artist conveying gentle wisdom. He was another one of those people who was huge back during this time period. He was and still is a winner all the way around in my eyes.
-Emerson Lake & Palmer-"Lucky Man"-They nailed me between the eyes with "Lucky Man". The song also helped me with my growing disdain for the idea of war.
-Yes-"Starship Trooper", "Roundabout": What would the early '70s have been without Prog Rock from these two bands I have just mentioned? It was another musical perspective for me to consider. I would grow to only like certain albums from a few Prog bands, I am still grateful for what I do like.
-The Doors: "Love Her Madly", "Riders On The Storm" -The Doors hit me like a ton of bricks. I was exposed to the lyrical genius of Jim Morrison just as it was announced that he had died in Paris two years to the day later than Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. 1971 provided me with my own sense of discovery for this band even though my oldest brother had exposed me to the first album that he had when we lived on Franklin Street in Santa Clara.
Mind you, as a kid, Jim's lyrics would throw me for a loop at times because of his insertion of poetic images that I didn't understand. It was exactly the mysteriousness of what I was attempting to figure out what was going on in the songs which drew me into their music.
After Jim died, KEED played "Riders On The Storm" forever and clear though the Winter of '72. I started out thinking, for many years, that the song was about a literal killer. I would learn from one source that the song was Morrison's ode to Vietnam vets coming home from the war as changed people. It has only been int he last couple of years that I've changed how I feel about the song. The danger is not in the vet possibly killing your family. As a result of the role he had to play, the danger comes from what he has been through. If you gave him a ride, the stories or the way he's changed as a result of the war is what would kill your family. The absurd play he had been forced into will cause him to expose to your family the sickness of what was war does to people and to society. The erosion of man's humanity to self will ultimately kill all those who have been in contact with changed men. I think this was what Jim was trying to tell people. My love of The Doors has only grown so much deeper as the years have gone on. They were an extraordinary band.
-Tower of Power-"You're Still A Young Man"-Oh man! What a standout track from a great band. I used to sing this song to myself while listening to the radio and considered, in my kidlike way, the irony of being a young kid wanting a girlfriend and relating to this song. I really dug the arrangements ont he song as well. Power and taste collided to make a perfect mix. These guys are my East Bay Grease heroes. I love them. When I moved back to Santa Clara, they would knock me out with more songs.
-Blues Image-"Ride Captain Ride"-It's really ironic that a band out of Florida would make a song about leaving San Francisco behind so real to me. This is one of the most tastefully arranged and performed songs of the early '70s.
-Led Zeppelin-"Black Dog": Ah yes. I got exposed to the Mighty Zep when the 4th album was released. This song exploded out of my little radio/stereo set like a bolt of lightning. It was also one of my earliest exposures to Blues-type lyrics even though I could hardly figure out anything Robert Plant was singing. But this song planted what would turn out to be a deep seed in me. I think it was cultivated by Jimmy Page's guitar playing and John Bonham's drumming. By later in the '70s, Led Zeppelin would play a huge role in my life. There will be in-depth stories about that in future posts. You can count on that. Also, I didn't realize it at the time, but Jimmy Page had done some session work on some songs for Herman's Hermits.
-The Who-"Won't Get Fooled Again"-single edit version-This was my first exposure to a band who would eventually become one of my icon bands. Their impact on my life is immeasurable. Pete Townshend, Keith Moon & John Entwistle, as musicians, have been a profound influence on me. At this early stage, I had no idea of what was to come by 1978. It was one of those cases where slow exposure was to be the case before the explosion of epiphany. Though I will definitely write about him in the future, I have to say here right now that Pete Townshend is one of the most fascinating people I've ever read about or listened either though books, magazines or interviews. Pete will never be accused of being dull.
-Isaac Hayes-"Theme From Shaft": Can you dig it? I sure could. This song features the textbook example of Funk/Soul guitar and Hayes transforming himself into the character in Shaft through song. It's just a killer song and I feel so lucky to have ridden the tiger when it actually came out.
-Donnie Elbert-"Where Did Our Love Go?"-O.k. I realize that I'm going to say something sacriligeous to a lot of Soul fans out there, but I like Elbert's cover of the old Supremes song so much more than than The Supremes original. Elbert's voice twoward the end of the song just soars so much.

Eugene Playlist: 1970-1972 KEED Part 3

2009-12-11T22:58:00.000-08:00

Elton John. The organic early version of Elton John. This was what I was exposed to when I moved up to Eugene for the first time. His second album album had come out (the self-titled album) and his single "Your Song" helped him to break through. The face to face intimacy of the song captured me. This is another one of those which made me want to have a girlfriend and sing these words to her. The great songwriters always manage to have this unique gift they pass along to their listeners. Elton John would be no exception.
Shortly thereafter, he released (I can't recall the exact title) "Making Friends". His approach was really winning me over. Plus, the whole idea that a piano player as a front man was novel to this kid. It was different and it helped to expand my sense of musical knowledge as possibilities.
My oldest brother, John, bought the Tumbleweed Connection album shortly after we moved up here. I wonder if this was one of the albums we bought when we went to Valley River Center for the first time and I heard George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" on the way over? My brother had this album on heavy rotation in his room for a spell. I was lucky enough to be there for a couple of listening sessions. The one song that really struck home to me was "Come Down In Time". I came upon the realization that Elton John was huge-at least in my mind. His ability to convey a sad song was without question as far as I was concerned.
He only got bigger as time went on when I was in Eugene. When he released the Madman Across The Water album, I couldn't take it anymore. "Mom? Could you take me down to Crystal Ship so that I can pick up an album?" The moment I first heard "Tiny Dancer" was when I knew that picking up Elton John albums was going to be a frequent occurance in my life during the '70s. This wasn't going to be a difficult thing because of how prolific he was back then. The entire Madman Across The Water album presented me with what happens when an organic sound meets orchestral arrangements and production. Paul Buckmaster's work on this album is inestimable. He was helping Elton John to provide the musical soundtrack to human emotion being conveyed through the lyrics of Bernie Taupin. All of this was having a sesimic impact on me. It's called emotional depth. I was getting it from Elton John.
During my last few months of living up here in Eugene for the first time, Elton John was prepping the release of the Honkey Chateau album. "Rocket Man" was released as a single. I dived right into it and the progression that Elton John was making into synthesizer and the hints of more elaborate production methods. He was walking a balance between his organic sound while beginning the process of taking bold new steps. In a very short time period just before I packed up and left for Santa Clara once again, the "Honkey Cat" single was released. It was very appropriate that I was leaving relatively small Eugene to go back to the Bay Area. It was mirroring issues the song was bringing up.
Elton John would continue to deepen his impact on me musically and personally clear up through 1976 solidly. Of course, I will discuss this more as time goes on.
-America: "I Need You", "Horse With No Name". These two guys came on and took me to a place of comfort in my mind. As a kid, it's very important for a mind to be filled with rich imagery. "Horse With No Name" provided me with that imagery in luxurious abundance. For that, I am eternally grateful. They would also continue to inspire me as the '70s progressed.
-Dave & Ansel Collins-"Double Barrel". For some reason, I have discovered certain genres in the opposite direction of the way most people do. Reggae and its offshoots is one of those cases. Most people would discover Bob Marley and then work on other bigger names of Reggae during their travels before they started to seek out the more obscure stuff. With me, it was the opposite. I discovered Reggae and the music of the Carribean because of "Double Barrel" with its emphasis on rhythm and overriding bass. I dug this song. Plus, I loved the intro. "I am am the magnificent W-O-O!" This song would help me to eventually make a connection to Johnny Nash when I moved back to Santa Clara.
-I also learned that great music was being made up North. Across the border. Canada. God Bless Canada. This period of time introduced me to The Stampeders and Five Man Eletrical Band. The Stampeders gave us "Sweet City Woman". Here's a song which gave us a footstomper with banjo in it. Five Man Electrical Band gave us an anthem. A defiant anthem of which I still proudly sing to myself to this day. How can anybody forget "Signs"? "And the sign said long-haired freaky people need not apply."
-Sly & the Family Stone-"It's A Family Affair"-This was my introduction to Funk music. Oh man! What an introduction. It was a drug induced cry from the soul. The song contained all of the greasiness of real life and "the kid who grows up to be someone you just love to burn".
-J.J. Cale-"Crazy Mama"-This song introduced me to Blues shuffles. Good God! I loved the guitar lines in this song.
-Jean Knight-"Mr. Big Stuff"-This song always made me crack a smile. Jean doesn't know it, but she taught not to be a jerk by singing about one. Thank you.
-Ides of March-"Vehicle"-Fantastic horn driven song with great drive. Let's own up to the gritty guitar solo in the middle of the song. There are so many bands on this Earth who would kill to come up with a song like this.
-Jimmy Castor Bunch-"Troglodyte (Cave Man)"-This is a Funk song which made me flat-out crack up. Plus, I've always been a horny cave man at heart. I always had a cave stereo to listen to as well. I related to this song, don't you think? "Gotta get a woman. Gotta get a woman. Gotta get a woman." LOL!
-Spinners-"It's A Shame"-This is a single from a group who would continue to slay me as the '70s wore on. This was their last single as Motown artists. I've always loved and admired Soul artists who introduced some cool guitar grooves at the beginning of a song.
-John Denver-"Take Me Home Country Roads"-This was a big song back then. There were a few more things by him that I would enjoy.

Eugene Playlist: 1970-1972 KEED Part 2

2009-12-11T14:12:00.000-08:00

Hello. I'm back. I want to go through some heavy hitters from the time period as well as more isolated singles.

-Badfinger: the Straight Up album and the two great singles from it "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue". The other singles I heard were "Come and Get It" and "No Matter What"

Badfinger was a Welsh band who packed a solid 4 single wallop on me in a short span of time. As a result, they created a deep impact on me. It began when I started hearing McCartney's "Come and Get It" and then with "No Matter What". My brother Mike bought the great Straight Up album not long after it was released. I was exposed to some repeated playings of the album and it struck me that I really liked their stuff beyond the two singles from the album. Both "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue" were driving forces in my listening times to the radio. I was always hoping that either of those two songs would pop up whenever I had KEED on.

As a kid, I didn't fully know how deeply connected to The Beatles they were even though they were on the Apple label. George Harrison and Todd Rundgren shared production on the album. Harrison started out working on the album first before he was called away to do the whole Concert For Bangladesh project. A side result of this is that Badfinger were one of the bands who played as part of the house band for the concert. And then Rundgren took over the rest of the work after Harrison got called away.

Little did I know the hardships this marvelous band was going through in being screwed over by management types. As the decade of the '70s wore on and into the early '80s, their being pushed around like they did would eventually lead to the suicides of Pete Ham and Tom Evans. The drummer, Mike Gibbins, passed away a few years ago. Only Joey Molland is left.

If there is one album from back in the early '70s that I would categorize as being "The Best Album By A Non-Big Name Band", then my vote would go for Straight Up. There is not a single weak song on this album. BTW, you should know that there is a song on the album that should have been released as a single and been a smash. It is one of the most heartfelt and affecting songs I've ever heard. I consider it to be a masterpiece. It is called "Name of the Game". Anybody who cares about Rock and Roll or great music in general needs to be exposed to this song so they can discover the artisitc greatness which was Pete Ham. The lyrics are profound and the vocals are utterly convincing.

Word is going around that a remasters series of the Apple Badfinger catalog is forthcoming. Hopefully, it will be at some point in 2010. When the remasters come out, I highly urge you to please get a copy of Straight Up and take it to heart. Secondly, Badfinger's story is one that is required reading by anybody who wants to know about what made the old-time record business so cutthroat. Other than the book, Apple To The Core by Peter McCabe and Robert D. Schonfeld (long out of print; the book is about the business end of the break-up of The Beatles-It is also definitely required reading), the book Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger by Dan Matovina is the the one book I would advise anybody to read. The book really drives home the point that musicians need to lawyer up even when their Art is all they know.

Badfinger were to be known for one other important contribution they made to the music of the early '70s. They were the ones who wrote "Without You". Do you remember that one? Well, you probably recall the great single by Harry Nilsson. Badfinger and Pete Ham were responsible for the existence of that song. Harry Nilsson found it and cut the definitive version of the song. Sadly, the song which sold millions for Harry, never saw barely a penny for Ham and Badfinger.

Carly Simon-"That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be", "Anticipation", "Legend In Your Own Time".

Carly was part of the famous singer-songwriter movement of the early '70s that a lot of critics would hold in disdain and contempt as time wore on. The one that really struck home with me was "Legend In Your Own Time". Since I was always pretty much alone most of the time, I always imagined that Carly was singing this song to me. The pace of the song is what really drove home what she was singing. I've always considered this particular tune to be Carly's greatest little gem. It's probably because of my personal attachment to it that makes me feel this way.

James Taylor-"Fire and Rain", "You've Got A Friend"-What can you say about two singles that helped to define the times? So many of us took the "Fire and Rain" single and made it our own based on what we were going through in our lives. James was using the song as a vehicle to describe getting through heroin addiction. "You've Got A Friend" was an anthem we all needed to get us through the post-'60s momentum that began to get lost with other movements as well as the various social fragmentation that was starting the process of becoming more accute.

Carole King-She is another example of "What Would the '70s Have Been Without Her?". The Tapestry album was a monster runaway smash. "I Feel The Earth Move" became a huge AM big seller as well as anthem for basketball playing Grade Schoolers like over at St. Paul. I still vividly remember the St. Paul Saints warming up before games and having the girl cheerleaders play this song while doing their dance routines. "It's Too Late" is a phenominal song unto itself and needs no explanation. "So Far Away" also came from this album as well.

After the success of the Tapestry album, I got hit unexpectedly by a song from her that I think is nearly criminally overlooked by people because of the shadow cast by Tapestry. Her next single after the Tapestry album was a song called "Sweet Seasons". I abosolutely love the paino and horn arrangements on this song. It always had good drive. Plus, Carole sings with such ease. She just killed me on this one. She would knock me out once again after I moved back to Santa Clara.

-The Chi-Lites-"Have You Seen Her?", "Oh Girl", "The Coldest Days of My Life" If I could explain the full impact of The Chi-Lites had on me as a kid back then, I'd be a genius. If there was one vital lesson Eugene Record and the Chi-Lites taught me is that it was o.k. to be a guy and to be vulnerable in showing your emotions. It is quite possible that "Oh Girl" was the one song I most wanted to hear on any given day when I was listening to KEED back then. It contains the greatest vulnerability line I've ever heard at the end of a Soul song-"Have you ever seen such a helpless man! Oh no."

The Chi-Lites also expanded my view of how music instruments could be used. They were the band that really forced me to focus on rhythm guitar in Soul music. They were the first band to make me realize that eletric harmonica existed. Plus, do I really need to say anything about the incredible harmony vocal work these guys pulled off? Seriously! Do I? I thank God that this group existed. They were incredibly important in the development of my personality.

-Joe Jeffrey Group-"My Pledge of Love"-Honest to God! I can't figure out why some people rip this song nowadays. I loved hearing it when KEED would dig it up and play it-which was often. If I'm recalling my facts correctly, this was a Black guy with a white group backing him. I never, for once, doubted the sincerity of the song. And hell, if I'm fucked up in the head for supporting this song, you might want to ask Steve Van Zandt of the E-Street Band about this song to his face. He's said he's a true believer in the song.

-Booker T. & The MG's-KEED also used to dig out this song from the '60s and play this one pretty frequently as well. I fell in love with this instrumental. It lay down the foundation for my love of Stax artists as I got older. Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and Co. never letme down.

-The Undisputed Truth-"Smiling Faces Sometimes"-Here was a heavy single from a Motown group that layed a message on me. Don't ever for a moment think that I've forgotten the importance of the lessons being taught in this song. It has protected me on many occasions.

Steve's Eugene Playlist 1970-1972: KEED Part 1

2009-12-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

Before I dive into anymore stories from the '70-'72 period up here in Eugene, I am going to be spending some amount of time on some posts that I'm referring to as my Playlist. When my classmates, fellow baseball teammates and others were or were not interacting with me during the course of an average day up here during that two year stretch, this was the music that was on my mind the whole time. It occupied me when I was alone or when I was hanging out with you. Please bear in mind that this incredible list of music I'm about to spew forth here is stuff that I remember. There were only a couple of times when I had to look something up either in my music collection or online. I've been carrying this stuff in my heart all of these years and I will continue to do so. What I did was that I spent about an hour or so rapidly writing down song titles and groups/artists who came up with the songs. And then, over a period of about a little over a week or so, songs would pop up in my head that I would remember and then I would jot them down on the legal paper I was writing the stuff down on. I will comment on the majority of the songs that I have listed. I am not listing these songs in any chronological order. The 1970-1972 period was one continuous classroom as far as I'm concerned. I may have passed my way through 3rd and 4th Grade during this time period, but I was really learning from the music I was listening to. I only have a few minutes to write about some for my first posting.
-"Precious and Few"-Climax: What a marvelous ballad single. It really had feeling. Did you know that the lead singer, Sonny Geraci, also sang the lead vocal on the great '60's single from The Outsiders "Time Won't Let Me"?
-"Lola"-The Kinks-I loved the drive of this song. It was also my first Kinks song that I got exposed to. I would later really fall in love with Dave Davies' song "Victoria". Though I never knew about what the song was about (a guy falling for a transvestite), it would take for me to become a latter aged teenager and young adult before I fully came to appreciate the Englishness and worldview that Ray Davis' songwriting was respected for.
-George Harrison-"What Is Life?"-This was the next big one after "My Sweet Lord". I dearly loved the guitar and the Phil Spector production. The whole All Things Must Pass album was on heavy rotation in both of my brother's rooms-espcially my oldest brother.
-Frederick Knight-"I've Been Lonely For So Long"-I absolutely dug this little Soul gem. It taught me that it was possible to merge Soul with Country.
-Luther Ingram-"If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)"-Deep Soul. Deep feeling. It's a flat-out great vocal performance about love outside of marriage. This gem set me up for an incredibly special song later in '72 when I moved back to Santa Clara.
-Delaney & Bonnie-"Never Ending Song of Love"-What can I say about this? I wanted to meet a girl and be able to sing along to it to her face. That's how much I loved this song. I had no idea that Eric Clapton had an association with Delaney & Bonnie. I would learn about it later on in life and more fully appreciate it.
-Derek & the Dominos-"Layla"-This was a massive song for all of the younger generation. Again, a song about an affair that just sears the heart. It includes what may be the most famous piano break in Rock history. And let's own up to the fact that Eric Clapton and Duane Allman left everybody slackjawed on not just this song. They left us that way for the whole album. I wouldn't discover the full album until later on in life.
Well, I have to run for now. It's going to take a long while to finish the list that I've created for this time period. Please enjoy this in the meantime. And for God's sake, if you have copies of this stuff, dig 'em out and play 'em. You'll feel better.

1971: The Second Explosion-Marvin Enters My Life

2009-11-30T22:18:00.001-08:00

Over the years, I've had many watershed moments occur in my life. They signalled major shifts in my development in profound ways. When I look back on the many different moments, I can think of no one other occurance which hit me as profoundly as the one I'm about to describe to you now.
This was the second musical explosion. Of all of the musical moments I've ever gone through in my life, this is the one that hit me with the greatest impact.
It was cold at the time of year I first heard Marvin Gaye's new single in early 1971 called "What's Going On". The song really struck me as being very different. It also had an urgency and emotional depth that lured me in completely. The voices you hear at the beginning of the song are those of Lem Barney and Mel Farr of the Detroit Lions defensive backfield. They speak in the vernacular of the day and I identified with it right away. And then the saxophone kicks in before Marvin starts singing those opening lines. It was so incredibly dramatic to these young ears. I began to carry the song around with me to school over at St. Paul's in very heavy rotation in my head. Though other music was always in my head (even during this time), I really began obsessing over it. I didn't know it at the time, but I was unconsciously working out what the song really meant to me even though it was obvious. It's just that the moment of clarity hadn't quite come yet. I needn't have worried. It was coming.
I can still clearly visualize and feel the day it happened. I can still feel the moment of impact when it all came together for me.
It was during a morning recess at St. Paul's. I decided to head out to teh area of the schoolyard where the swings were. I guess I decided that I didn't need to communicate to anybody at that particular moment in time. It was damned cold outside and I was bundled up. As it turns out, the weather was appropriate to the song. I noticed that there was a swing open to me and that it was at a comfortable height for me to be able to just hop on and work things out while I was on it. When I got there, I had a choice of either sitting on it facing the school or looking out the other way. I chose to look out the other way. That way was in the direction of the Coburg Hills. It gave me an expansive view. This too was appropriate. I was about to undergo a revolutionary expansion of my mind.
So there I was. I was swinging on the swing and getting the desired height I wanted from the force of my going back and forth. The cool air was hitting my face. And then it happened. "What's Going On" popped into my head. When it did, I was listening to the song straight through as if I was at home on Fir Acres Drive on my radio. It was playing with ease in my head. All at once, as I was thinking of the song, I began to remember thinking about all of the times I had been watching the news with any interest (going back to 1968 on the old Lorane Ranch and on up to the then present day) and seeing all of the reports on the latest casualty figures coming from Vietnam. I was also having visions of the past and present film coverage of the war in the field. It completely fucking hit me at that moment with tremendous force that I did not like the fact that people were being killed. I did not like the fact that there was war. I also realized that this song was really important. This song was telling me that all music was important even if it wasn't about war. As a young child, I became my own little activist as I swung on that swing and looked out at the Coburg Hills. I began imagining that the Coburg Hills were the hot valleys of Vietnam and that there were people with guns killing each other while I was freezing in the cool weather.
What "What's Going On" did for me was encapsulate all of the music I ever heard before that moment and all that I would ever listen to in the future in state of forward progress in my thinking. My own personal evolution had just taken a tremendously great leap. From here on out, my connection was going to grow more personal and also more interconnected with what was going on around in the real world and with how human beings related to each other in so many different regards.
I have spent many years telling people about my love/hate relationship with Oregon and how I commonly refer to myself as a misplaced Californian in having lived here over the past little over 30 years. But I can honestly say that the greatest moment of an event having an impact on me happened right here in Eugene. It is the one I just described to you.
Marvin continued my expansion with the follow-up single that came out later in 1971. That was "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)". The Back To Earth movement was getting into major gear as the disillushionment of the '60s was setting in further within the collective consciousness of all of us living through the times. Marvin Gaye set a tone of seriousness that was on a different level than anybody else and it cut right through me so clearly with straight ahead vision.
Marvin Gaye and the "What's Going On" single changed my life. It also altered the course of my life as well. I carry it with me. For all of his troubles he had in his life, I carry this moment of impact as a tribute to him for getting it all rolling for me. "What's Going On" made the impact of what I had felt with George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" in the Fall of 1970 on my way to Valley River Center seem so much more clearer to me. It even made me realize why "Hey Jude" from The Beatles hit me so hard. I understood now. My intuitive voice that doesn't always speak in words as we know it became much more developed as a result of "What's Going On". From here on out, my sense of sophistication with music was only going grow even deeper. I learned that music isn't background entertainment. It's a front and center, demanding of your full attention cultural barometer of what is happening in your life as you are living it.
It is here that I want to take a moment to urge all of you to please consider getting yourself a copy of the What's Going On album and listen to the whole thing yourself. It is a 5-star album. Every track on the album is strong and profound. It is an album that is universal to all of us. It is also unique to the Black experience as well. It is an album that should be a lesson to white people like myself to learn from. For those of you who have standard CD players, please go out and buy the 2-CD Deluxe Edition of What's Going On on Universal. You can hear the original album mix as well as the mix Marvin envisioned it having before it was changed to become what we would know as the album. You will also hear the original single mix of "What's Going On" that I heard before the album even came out. You will also hear an unreleased live performance from 1972 of Marvin performing the entire album. For the record, I never owned a copy of the full album until the early 1980's. The rest of the album would have hit me like a ton of bricks had I bought a copy and brought it home with me.
This is a landmark album which needs to be required as being in anybody's music collection. It radically altered the musical landscape for everybody-to say the least for Soul Music. That's the other thing. Listening and taking in these precious singles of Marvin Gaye fully legitimized that Soul Music was vital and definitely great music for me to be listening to as well as Rock and Roll.
For those of you fortunate enough to have Universal or SACD players, I encourage you to pick up another copy of What's Going On to supplement the 2-disc Deluxe Edition from Universal Music. I highly encourage you to get the Gold SACD hybrid of What's Going On from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. Though it is only a 2-channel mix, the SACD will bring out elements as only SACDS can. If you are capable of having both kinds of systems, I highly encourage you to get two of the copies I have mentioned. They can also be found at online retailers as well.
In closing this post for now. I just want to say that What's Going On as we know it came from a very troubled soul in Marvin. A late friend of mine who played in the NFL in the '50s and '60s discussed Marvin a few times. One of the teams he played for was the Detroit Lions. He used to hang out at some of the watering holes that a lot of Motown people used to go to to unwind. The word going around about Marvin back then was that Marvin was an incredible talent and that people were blown away by that talent. Unfortunately, they were also saying that he was a very disturbed man who had very deep moods. The story is well known among music fans, but Marvin once tried out for the Detroit Lions because he had an obsession with wanting to do it. That's how Lem Barney and Mel Farr became associated with Marvin. They became his friend while the Lions players were trying to get down to the serious business at hand of trying to prepare for another season. They had to do this while this great singer had it in his head that he wanted to be an NFL football player. My friend used to tell me that that people in the Lions organization thought the poor guy was a little nuts. But that was Marvin. Bless him for it. I can't imagine "What's Going On" without Lem and Mel being on the track.
For all of my friends and classmates in California that I wouldn't get to see again until the Fall of '72, the changed person you saw when I walked into the schoolyard across the street to start 5th Grade was so changed because of the event I have just described to you. If you want to know why I took to music as my identity and when you communicated with me, I point you straight to this moment. That's the one that did it for me.
To those people whom I know at this current moment in time, I say the same thing. Look to that moment on a cold day in 1971. That's the one. That's the epicenter of my personality.

The First Expansions: Third & Fourth Grades Fall of 1970-Late Summer 1972

2009-11-29T13:51:00.000-08:00

Dad drove me up to Eugene in the late Summer of 1970. Instead of taking the usual route to the Lorane Ranch to spend the Summer like I did back in '68 and '69, we headed straight to Eugene and the place I would call home for almost the next two years. Little did I know of the impending musical explosion which was going to occur for me. In hindsight, the elements were definitely setting themselves in place.
You, the reader, are going to have to keep in mind that I had finally been on a path of somekind of social normalcy by the time 2nd Grade was nearly through. The shell which was surrounding me as a result of all of the health matters was beginning to break down. So, when my parents decided to move up to Eugene, the forward progress was halted. Since I was being thrown into a new situation, I went in reverse. I went into the private world mode that I had been used to since kindergarten.
This section of time will take me more than one post to cover. I also consider the 3rd and 4th Grade period of my life here to have been almost one continual school run instead of being totally distinguished from the other.
I arrived at the new house on what used to be 180 Fir Acres Drive. The house is still there, but it is now part of Bond Lane. When I lived there, it was a gorgeous tri-level home built by a couple from Kansas (if I'm recalling correctly). It may well have been the most perfectly built house that I've ever lived in. It had, among other things, laundry shoots you could throw your clothes in that went straight to the laundry room downstairs. It also had a radio/intercom system throughout the house so that all my Mom had to do to call us into dinner was to alert us on the intercom. The house was set on at least a half an acre of land. The backyard was spectacular. Back when I lived there, there was a piece of property in front of us with a field where there was a horse living in it. On the other end of Fir Acres Drive, there was the old Fir Acres Market which is now a Dairy Mart.
Almost immediately upon my arrival at the new house, I set up shop in what would be my bedroom for a short time. I had my record player and my Monkees & Herman's Hermits records all set to go. I also had a radio set up as well. When my Dad left to go back to Santa Clara to proceed with the rest of the move up, I was left alone in the house with my Grandfather. It was during this time that the role of the radio was going to grow in great significance. I can still remember hearing Stevie Wonder's cover version of "We Can Work It Out" on the little radio as I was hanging out in the red carpet of the room.
Once Mom and my brothers came rolling in with my Dad, my room got set up and that's when things began to take off for me. The first big explosion of my mind happened. It took place in September of 1970 as Dad loaded all of us up into the station wagon and took us over to our first trip to Valley River Center. The radio was on in the car. It was up loud enough for me to get a qaulity listen in to what was being played. And then it happened. I heard the beautiful acoustic guitar opening. And then came the great electric guitar accompaniment. Right afterwards came a familiar voice that I knew from the late '60s so very well. "My Sweet Lord/Omm My Lord/I really want to see You/". We all knew that The Beatles no longer existed as they had actually broken up in early 1970 even though the Let It Be album was still up in the charts competing with Simon & Garfunkel's last album Bridge Over Troubled Water. It was when I heard "My Sweet Lord" on the radio that evening that something got set off inside of me. My sensitivity towards music got raised up quite a few notches more. There was an emotional depth that I was jumping towards. That jump made it so that when I happened to hear "Let It Be' and "Bridge Over Troubled Water", I was really getting into the music and the words of what was being said. I may not have understood the literal meaning of some things, but my intuitive musical voice was accelerating.
This trip to Valley River Center was centered on us three boys going to Crystal Ship Records for our first time to get our first Oregon records-at least it was for me. I don't know about my brothers. I came away with buying the American version of The Beatles-A Hard Days Night soundtrack album. It was also the first time I would ever lay my eyes on the coolest purchase bags I've ever laid my eyes on. Crystal Ship made the coolest bags on Earth in my eyes with the big Crystal Ship on it. I was always very reluctant to part with my bags. In fact, I kept most of them for a very long period of time and I kept them in great shape too. This wasn't to be my first trip to a Crystal Ship store, It wouldn't be the only particular one either. I would discover the one downtown.
Because of radio, this was also the time when I began to expand my musical vocabulary beyond the records I happened to have. I was being opened up to more than one kind of music. Hearing Stevie Wonder's version of The Beatles "We Can Work It Out" opened me up to Soul Music. But I also started to learn and actually remember one-shot artists. The earliest one I recall wrapping myself around was R. Dean Taylor's "Indiana Wants Me". Another familiar voice opened my eyes to another form of music I was to be exposed to. It was dear Mike Nesmith of my beloved Monkees (who had also essentially broken up) with his new Country single "Joanne".
More Soul Music was beginning to jolt me awake into a new form of taking in information to my heart and soul. Two great Motown singles nailed my attention when we all first moved in. I learned that guitars weren't the only thing which could make me open up to hearing somebody else's sadness and pleading. "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" from Jr. Walker & the All-Stars snuck into my heart and affected me. I identified with the song because I wanted a girlfriend too. Walker's sax playing spoke volumes to me-such Soul, you know? Speaking of Soul, I got laid out flat by the urgent in your face vocal delivery of the post Diana Ross Supremes doing "Stoned Love". I was in the early stages of realizing that Black people carried a message I needed to hear.
An occurance happened during the early morning of September 19th, 1970 which would set into motion something which would become a watershed even for me when I had moved back to Santa Clara. I went downstairs with my brother Mike (who slept in another room upstairs) to go and get something and my brothers met up in the downstairs hallway (John slept in a bedroom downstairs). I was standing right next to them and I was able to hear their conversation perfectly because they were speaking up more than was normal for them. On their radios, they both had started getting into FM. They had KZEL on. And then they began to talk in front of me. "Did you hear the news?" "Did you hear about what happened to Hendrix?" To the both of them, this was big news. I picked up on it and really zeroed in on it. This was a musician and they really cared about the news on this guy. This musican died and my brothers heard it on their respective radios before they got up. The name Jimi Hendrix stuck in my head like glue. It was not to be until 1973 that Jimi was to really make his way into my life. But I suspect that my angels wanted me to take stock of other music before I took the step towards Jimi. They wanted to set me up for maximum impact later on and that other impacts were necessary for me to be experienced beforehand.
My Dad really liked the fact that I took to Nesmith's "Joanne" as he liked the song a lot. He was one of the typical parents of the time. To do Country music idioms was to be respectable and a sign that you were moving up in music sophistication. I was also being exposed to his other favorite at the time-Jerry Reed. My Dad had a thing about his two big singles from back in 1970. He absolutely loved "When You're Hot You're Hot" and "Amos Moses". Well, I liked them too because they were making my Dad happy. A happy Dad made me feel comfortable. So, I could dig it.
There was another Country song that I bet my Dad thought might have been a little weird and couldn't figure out just what the hell they were really suggesting. I couldn't make heads not tails of what the song was about either. What had me convinced was the music itself and the genuine delivery I was getting from Roger McGuinn. My first Byrds single I ever fell in love with was "Chestnut Mare". It was a Country/Folk song about a man's love for a mystical horse. The part about when the singer finally manages to ride on the horse and then goes off the cliff with it just captivated me. Unfortunately, I could not figure out most of the words, but I knew something big was happening in the song and that they both went over the cliff. Dramatic imagery was setting itself into my life.
I had all of this music and much more going on inside of me as I entered a new school. It was St. Paul Elementary. I made it to 3rd Grade and was presented with a whole new set of people I had never even known existed before. It was downright shit-inducing. At least one nice thing was the fact that my new teacher was Mrs. Conte. I recognized right away that she was pleasant to look at. The only thing with her is that I don't remember much about her at all. As a result of going backwards in a socail way, I don't think I interacted with her a whole hell of a lot. I think I also reverted back to my intuitive method of learning all of my lessons again. It was almost all book learning all over again. I can't even remember where I sat in 3rd Grade. I can't recall if Mrs. Conte was a stationary teacher or if she walked around much when she was teaching. Really, I don't know how the hell I got through it at all. Apparently, I was doing something right. I didn't know it until 4th Grade, but Mrs. Conte and others were noting that I was a great reader.
For as young as I was, I can only remember two things-maybe three about Mrs. Conte which stands out to me. If she's still alive, I hope this doesn't embarrass her, but it's human and honest. It's also something that young boys have had happen to them throughout the ages. 1)Mrs. Conte was the first teacher I ever had with whom I developed a bit of a lust for even though I still didn't know about sex yet (although I had a bit of an idea based on watching horses screw on the Lorane Ranch LOL!) 2)The one interaction with her that I most definitely recall with calirty concerned the time that I chose Matt A. to have the honor of being locked up in the boy's bathroom with me so that he could listen to a tape recording I made of a horror movies I taped off of our t.v set. Mrs. Conte got mad at me for turning the bathroom into my private room away from home and not being able to allow the other guys to go and take a leak when they needed to. Mrs. Conte took away my tape recorder from me for about a week or 10 days as punishment. I was bummed out although I didn't mind being chewed out by a pretty lady. 3) I can't recall if this actually happened or not, but I could swear that, on Halloween of 1970 or 1971, I got some candy from her at her place and that I got to see her husband very briefly for the one and only time.
Now I can make a little sidenote. I mentioned the tape recorder just now. Well, you see. I was developing an artistic and bootlegging side to my personality at an early age because of my hearing. It was up here in Eugene that I began to make my first tape recordings. I developed a love of taping shows so that I could listen to them again later on in order to really get a flavor for the episodes I was watching. This would be where images began to grown in importance to me.
My music world was beginning to grow immense and intimate at the same time. My mind was ripe for further expansion. Another mega-ton explosion was not too far off. This next one was going to radically change things for me. I always point to this particular one as being exceptionally important to me as it influences me to this day. I will post more about this period time soon. It is going to take me a few posts to tell you about 1970-1972.

Two More '60s Incidents of Importance

2009-11-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

Before I start jumping off towards the time I moved up to Eugene in 1970, I have a few loose ends I wish to tie up. There are two memories that I can think of that really stand out to me.
I can't seem to pin down exactly when it was. It was either 1968 or 1969. I was walking down Franklin Street in front of my house. I was getting ready to go back into my house when some older gentleman approached me on the same sidewalk to my house as I was on. I didn't quite to know what to make of this as this person saw me and started to slow down. He looked down at me and he said that he had something to give me. He pulled it out of one of his pockets and he then pinned this thing on my shirt. It was a red, white and blue peace sign medal that was made up just like a real veteran's war medal. I still have it and I wear it on my jeans jacket that I usually wear in the Spring, Summer and early Fall. This was very likely my real one true '60s moment although I'd like to think that the music I was listening to and being exposed to was also part of the real deal as well.
I never saw that guy again. My Dad did once tell me that there was a house down the street from us and set across the street that I was to avoid going near. I'm wondering if the guy who gave me the medal came from that house? My Dad also use to half-jokingly/half seriously tell me that I was going to get sent to a hippie house across the street if I didn't behave every so often. The liklihood is that my Dad knew of the people who lived there and either knew as fact or strongly suspected that a young person there was dabbling in the drug culture. This was one of the reasons why Dad used to haul me and my brothers up to the old Lorane ranch every Summer back then. He just didn't want us kids to get involved with anything drug oriented.
In fact, as a favor to my late family physician, Dr. Kirschner, his son came up to our ranch one Summer to do hay work and generally get the ol' Conservative work ethic thing going in him as a way of breaking him of the temptations of the drug stuff. I think he had begun dabbling. Probably as far as he ever got was pot. A lot of people don't realize that things got scary in the late '60s as it was no longer just pot and some LSD. Every person I've ever spoken to from down there who was old enough or have read about in interviews all tell me or say the same thing. The real Summer of Love was in 1966 up in San Francisco-not 1967 when it was practically an advertisement. By 1967, the major creeps who didn't care about human beings at all started moving into the area to pedal the harder stuff which would create major problems. That's when heroin and angel dust, among other things, began to take over. I suspect that my Dad knew all of this based on what he was hearing from the Chief of Police.
The other thing which really stands out to me which I have forgotten to mention in other posts is the fact that the Franklin Street house that I lived in was a block down from a Carmelite Monastery. It was a walled Monastery that you could not see into. It had a large gate where you had to gain permission to enter. All you could see from my house were all of the huge trees growing in the practically block-long square.
I would hear the nuns ring the bells there everyday a couple of times a day. I was lucky enough to be able to go into the hallowed ground a few times when I lived down there. Since my Dad loved to fish and counted numerous priests among his friends, he used to like to drop off donations of black bass that he used to catch at Calaveras Lake to the nuns in there.
I never got to actually get out of the truck to walk into the residence there. Dad did. But I can tell you that I was awestruck, even as a young child, as to how beautiful it was in there. There was so much lush greenery in there. Plus, it was so serene as well because I guess the nuns were of the type of order where talking was held to a bare minimum.
Even though I have problems with organized religion as an adult, I actually have pleasant memories of the Monastery. I should also say that I've always held an intuitive greater esteem for nuns than I ever did for priests in general. I'll be explaining more of the reasons why I've felt this way when I get around to typing about the big '72-'76 years.
I've been tempted to write about my '60s sports experiences, but I think I am going to put them in a separate post one of these days. For all of my great ability to remember things, I am hazy on when I actually played my first season of Little League baseball. I can't recall if I played in 1969 and did not play in the Summer of '70 because of my impending move or if I actually played in the Summer of 1970 and then moved right up to Eugene shortly afterwards.
Then came the move to Eugene and the big changes. It included two definite early explosions that set off a revolution in my way of viewing the world.

The State of My Health

2009-11-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

Before I go on telling more stories and covering musical ground, I have to get this off of my chest. I feel the need to let people know about the state of my health. I am having days where I could swear that when people ask me if I'm doing o.k., they are really saying "How bad off are you?" This is getting really annoying because I've gotten pretty adept at hearing the way people use their voices to ask me something as simple as this.
For the record, I am not on my last legs! I am not in bad physical shape. I was given the clean bill of health for my heart back in 1974 when my last angiogram was performed on me. Yes, I deal with severe Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I have not had any flareups in quite a few months. In fact, I don't think I've had any bad shitting attacks at all this year that I can recall. Having Bowel Syndrome forces you to become very diligent and disciplined as far as what you can eat. It will scare the shit out of you people when I list my daily food intake for you in a post coming fairly soon from now. I've been dealing with IBS for the past little over 15 years since I was diagnosed. It took me 2 years to figure out what I could eat after I lost being able to eat everything under the sun for all of my life up to the early '90s.
Now, what some of you people need to get over is that, yes, I am thin. Get over it! Do I dress up like Nanook of the North in the Fall, Winter and a chunk of Spring? Yes. Get over it! Skinny people get cold. Do I look like death warmed over when I come in to work out in the morning? Sometimes. It's probably because I slept warm and stayed up too late the night before. I get a little grouchy when I haven't slept enough. Get over it!
I sometimes get to feeling like people are being nice to me because they see me as this fragile little guy. Have they bothered to check out the weight that I do on some of the machines at Oz Fitness? Yes, my workouts are very short-15 minutes tops if nobody is talking to me. Would I like to do more than one set on the machines? Yes. If only my Bowel Syndrome would allow me to eat more. But what some of you don't understand is that, of the food that I can eat, I can't pig out on it. I have to eat the same amount of the same food everyday in order to not throw my system out of whack and feel like shit-literally and figuratively. This is what forces the diligence and discipline upon myself. You also don't see the fact that I take my wonderful dog out for a 20 minute walk every morning of everyday, rain or shine, in order to keep up my cardio and bowel health. After I come home from Oz, I take her out for the walk. Then, on the mornings I don't go to Oz, I take her out at almost the same time as when I come home from a workout. I am not on my last legs, people. This leads me to my next point. You will have to forgive me for my crudity, directness and being straight to the point. This is directed at the ladies. I am putting it in the next paragraph so that it will stand out and that you will understand it very clearly. O.k., Here comes the next paragraph.>>>>>>>>>>>
I am not in such bad shape that I can't fuck!!.
Instead of some of you people just talking to me like a normal person, I think you are guarded against wondering if everything is physically o.k. with me or not. What is happening, as a result, is that I am getting isolated even more and more. When you do that, it gets me to feeling like I'm ugly (as in unattractive), have done something wrong to displease people and it causes me to get a little defensive. Add to that, like everybody else in life, I deal with a few dickheads here and there who piss me off because they are what they are. Understand where I'm coming from. o.k.?
In something which I will write about one of these times, I went to Nevada back in 1989 and 2001. I did not go to Las Vegas to gamble. My isolation made me finally have to go to brothels in order to even feel like I was having anything even resembling the experiences you were. For each time I went to the houses out in the desert, I spent at least two hours with the ladies I chose to be with. In a few cases, they could have gotten in trouble with their house madames because they spent longer than the two hours we booked ourselves for. Trust me when I tell you, the two hours were not spent talking (with one exception). They were spent having sex. If I'm supposed to be in such bad shape, then why did I spend two hours with these women and doing the wild thing? In one case, I spent two hours with two ladies at once.
If you want to talk about my psychological health, I think I can easily say that I'm confused in a lot of ways and hurt in others. I'm now in my late 40's (48 to be exact). I don't think things are ever going to be fully normal for me. But I'd like to think that there are some women out there who can help me to catch up. I have never wanted kids. My dog is my kid. That's enough for me to handle. An animal will always be my kid. They aren't as full of shit as kids anyway. I don't care how old you are (be legal please-I don't do that underage shit), but your maturity is the key. Please be mature so that you can break through a lot of bullshit.
The other part of my psychological health is based upon embitterment. Don't put me through things I've been going through since Grade School and had repeated in High School and College. Don't play on the stereotype that, since I'm thin, wear hearing aids and have never had a girlfriend (ie-a lover; I've had plenty of female buddies-only friends), don't assume that I'm going to roll over easily and accept your introducing me to some obese, Rubinesque women or substance absuing loser or some kind of religious reborn again nut-job. Set me up with someone that you yourself would want to be with or associated with.
Isolation is a weird thing. People say that you must have a moral structure. Isolation doesn't allow me to have much of one with the way things are going. I have my idealizations of what I'd like to see happen. I'd like to be with a woman in the regular way. She's single or just divorced. But if I can't have things happen in the normal way, then I can't rule out the possibility of being in a not so entirely ideal situation if only because I'm human and have needs too. I don't believe in having affairs with women who are in happy marriages. If they are in open or convenience marriages, then I can see myself with a woman for a short time in that situation if I am forced into it and have no choice. If things are going badly in a marriage, I can see a short fling happening as well. But it's not something I want to have to be caught in a cycle over. If I'm allowed to live in a normal fashion, then I stand a better chance at a relationship in the more relatively normal way. I'll end up meeting a single woman and we proceed from there. I came close to having an affair with an older woman a few years back, but I decided she was too old for me and I got the impression that she was too unstable psychologically-in other words, she was a bit of a nut. I walked away from it.
I don't want to go back to Nevada ever again. I've been there and done that. It's time for me to experience things that everybody else does.
I also have other pressures I'm dealing with which I will not discuss on my blog as of yet. It invovles family and I consider it too dangerous to be posting about. I have about 3 really close friends who know what I'm talking about and are kept very closely informed of the situation as it happens. I am in great hope that this situation will be of considerably less stress to me within the next year to year and half. By then, I hope that a few cycles I've been put through will have been mostly broken by then. I am aware of them. I have been aware of them for a long time. That awareness has helped me a lot.
I am generally doing fine. Yes, I'm a bit eccentric. I think outside the box in some areas and I've lived a life off of the beaten path. Please don't hold my health against me. I would like for it to be better, but I am not some ambulance case. I'm doing fine with the cards I've been handed. I don't work. I don't think I was ever meant to. But I'm fully functional. So please, allow me to live a normal life. It causes a person to live inside their head too much.
We now bring you back to your regular programming...

More Early California Remembrances & Thoughts

2009-11-15T14:16:00.000-08:00

I have more thoughts which came to me after leaving my last post. I'll leave them in random thought order as they come to me...My brother John used to have a friend of his named Gary Yoshino. I miss him and have become curious as to what has become of him. My brother only used to know hima nd talk to him back during the early days of my being in Santa Clara and before the move up to Eugene in 1970. He used to live towards Cupertino towards the Homestead Road area (if I'm recalling street names and areas correctly. I remember going to Gary's house a couple of times and having to climb up the steps to get to his front door. I also have remember the inside of his house and the sliding glass door area that led to his backyard. When I look back on him, I think it was really good for my brothers and myself to have been exposed to some diversity back in the '60s. I wish I could see him again because I have a fascination with people of Japanese ancestry. I tied to see if I could find him on Facebook. I found a Gary Yoshino. I e-mailed this person, but I never got an answer back. So, I'm pretty certain that this was not the Gary Yoshino I once knew. Gary, if you are out there, please say hello. I'd love to reconnect...Speaking of that area out near Cupertino, that's the area where my Mom would take me to get swimming lessons. I can still remember being in the station wagon with her on our way out and I would have the radio on while taking in some music. It seemed like everytime we would go out there, somebody would be playing Herb Albert & the Tiujuana Brass. Come to think of it, Mom bought me an album from them back then. Anyway, what I remember from the swimming lessons was that the swimming part and having to get used to putting my head underwater part wasn't very fun, but the phenomenon of being handled by a nice female instructor in the water was a new feeling. I quite enjoyed that...I can still see myself on the upstairs landing of the Franklin Street house and the day that my Mom spent quite a bit of time trying to get me to learn how to tie my shoes correctly. I drove her absolutely bananas. On top of it, when I finally did catch on, I developed a variation to tying my shoes which I still do to this day. My Mom was so fascinated by this development, she made sure that Father Mei (a dear family friend of ours from the University of Santa Clara) got a demonstration from me about how I tied my shoes. Father learned my technique and he was fascinated as well. Well hell, I was a screwball even back then...Franklin Street was where I had my first pets. I don't remember it, but my parents had a Beagle when I was still in the rug-rat stage and when I was starting my first attempts at standing up. According to my Mom, the damned dog used to love to come up and steal my cookies from out of my hand. He was supposed to have been pretty agressive that way. After too much stealing on the dog's part, Mom informed my Dad that the dog had to go. I was not to have a dog until I got my true first dog on Christmas Day 1969-my buddy Chainsaw...I did however, get along with a cat we had. His name was Sylvester. We got along because fine because of the fact that I was scared to death of his needle-like claws. Since I hated needles from all of the heart problems and doctor work being done on me, I wasn't getting anywhere near those claws of his. When I did have occasion to actually pet him, I always petted him from behind and never too far up front of his back and his face. I just didn't want to risk getting nailed. But basically, he was a pretty good guy. We inherited him from some neighbors who had to move out of state. Slyvester had a major run-in with a Mockingbird who took to dive-bombing him every chance it had to make life miserable for the poor cat. Sylvester finally couldn't take it anymore and decided he needed to get some revenge. He took to climbing up into a small tree we had in the backyard (I can't remember what kind of tree it was) where he would wait for long periods of time before he would give up. He would then go back up at other times and wait a long time. Finally, the right day arrived and everything fell into place for him. He got up into the tree and waited very patiently. The Mockingbird made a landing into the tree not knowing that he had company. Slyvester waited for the right time and then he pounced on the bird and finished him off for good...The Franklin Street house was a really cool old house, but there was one part of the downstairs I never really liked. In front of the bathroom downstairs that I used to use frequently (and was next to my Grandfather's room), there was metal/steel (?) grate that must have been where some house heat must have come through that I hated to walk on for some reason. I grew to tolerate it, but I never cared for it. I was always worried that I'd fall in it or trip over it in some screwball fashion...I was always around older people. I've always been endeared to maturity. I still consider maturity to be an incredibly important factor in choosing friends and also in wishing I could choose women...My first friend was my next door neighbor Tommy. We are still friends to this day. Tommy must be about 5 or 6 years younger than I am. I had a late start on having friends who were kids like me because of all of the heart stuff I went through...I used to hang out on the top part of the barbecue grill made out of brick outside and look into Tommy's yard when he was taking a nap or when he was gone. I spent a lot of quality time up on top of that thing. Sometimes Mrs. Rudd would see me up there and tell me if it was o.k. to come over to see Tommy and his brother Jeff or not... Nancy Rudd is a special person. Whenever I was over and Tommy happened to be taking an afternoon nap, she would let me go in front of her stereo console she had in the living room where she would play her Ray Charles and Nat King Cole records for me. Whenever I hear Brother Ray, I always think of her. Her husband, Bob, is a fantastic person as well. He used to play in the PCL back in the '50s...I will always identify my dear friends, The Rudds, with the two vehicles they owned. They had a Volkswagen Bug and a green Chevy truck...Across the street from the Franklin Street house was my Dad's place of business. He owned the Santa Clara Sports Shop. He fitted people like Dan Pastorini and Dennis Awtrey with with tennis shoes. He was the best tennis racquet stringer in the Santa Clara Valley. He probably single handedly gave Converse a huge lift by the number of their shoes he sold in the store. He once had Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees as a customer in the store. He knew when the La Cosa Nostra guys were coming in to buy handguns. They would buy more than one and they always paid for them with cash and then he'd let the late Frank Sapena (the Police Chief) know about it. I will always remember that store for the two bears and the wolf mounts out in the front of the store that were donated to the store for viewing purposes by Chick Karahawa (I think that is how his name was spelled). I can still remember Mom pressing up uniforms and numbers for the Santa Clara Westside Little League teams upstairs. I can still see my Grandfather and my Uncle George bullshitting their way through an afternoon in the two chairs that were in front a of Levi's jeans bin we had that up near a pillar...I still remember a horrible auto wreck in front of the store one day and all of the glass that was everywhere...Back at home, we had fish tanks in our television room. In one of the tanks, we had black bass in it. One of my Dad's favorite things to do was to bring unsuspecting people over to the house for a little bit of fun at their expense. He'd open the tank up at the top and he'd say for them to stick their finger into the water and then one of the bass would try to bite their fingers...We had a parakeet that we all loved very much. His name was Pete. We'd leave the cage door open during the daytime and he would occasionally take a quick flight around the television room and go right back into his cage. Then, we would close his door for the night and put the cage cover on over him so that he'd have some nice rest...When I think of that t.v. room, I think back on all of the Looney Tunes, Popeye and Hanna-Barbera cartoons I watched there as wellas, Godzilla movies, Ultraman, The Green Hornet, Batman and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. I also used to watch the Jackie Gleason Show quite a bit...Probably the most innocent thing that ever happened to me when I was at the Franklin Street house and the most telling of the kind of kid I was occurred the day that I noticed that I was taking pity on both of brother's pet horned toads (lizards) they had in a dry aquarium. I said to myself, "Man! That has got be a pretty cramped thing living in there." So, I decided they could use some exercise. I grabbed them out of their aquarium so that they could stretch their legs out. I took them way out towards the back garage area where there was white concrete laid out and right next door to a neighbor's house. I was hanging out there with them and watching over them when something hit me. I had this sudden urge to have to go pee. So, me and my trust I placed in animals at this young stage of my life, I told the horned toads to just stay put and that I'd be right back because I had to go to the bathroom. I got done going to the bathroom and I felt much better. When I returned to the place where I had set them down, they were nowhere in sight. I looked for them everywhere. They really let me down. Although I felt pretty good after having taken that piss, I didn't feel so good knowing that I lost both of my brother's horned toads. After all of these years of jealousy among them towards me, I sometimes wonder if the roots of some of that jealousy goes back to when I lost those horned toads?...One of the greatest musical moments occurred at an Altar Boy Picnic in what have must have been 1969. In the area over by the pool at this place we used to have to travel to every year (in May-If I'm recalling correctly), I witnessed the galvanizing eeeffcts of what music can do in bring people together. There was ajukebox next to the swimming pool there. From a distance, I saw my brother drop some money into the slot and then my brother John and George Migliaccio led the whole camp in singing along to "Hey Jude" from The Beatles. That moment has stayed with me always...I remember my oldest brother (John) playing his CCR records in his bedroom. There were actually times when he let me listen to them with him...I also remember the time when John and I were hanging out on his bed and listening to a transistor radio while listening to a report of the coming breakup of The Beatles. I can still see my brother looking over at me and saying "Paul is a baby." Little did any of us know that Paul was the one who was right in seeing that Allen Klein was ripping off the band and that it was John, George and Ringo who were making the wrong move when it came to Klein. They should have listened to Paul and got the Eastman firm to take on Klein for all four of them...There are more memories I can recall, but I have run out of time for now. I will tell more Franklin Street stories later.

St. Clare's-2nd Grade-Fall 1969-Spring 1970

2009-11-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

1969 was a big year in many ways. It was the year of the the Apollo 11 moon landing, Woodstock, The Who release the rock opera Tommy, The Rolling Stones fire Brian Jones and then Jones dies essentially a month afterwards, the Mick Taylor Era of The Rolling Stones begins which will include 2 shows in one night at the Oakland Coliseum Arena (the 2nd show of the evening being immortalized on the famous bootleg Live'r Than You'll Ever Be), Jimi Hendrix played at the Oakland Coliseum as well which is immortalized on a Hendrix Family Dagger label release and a little band known as Led Zeppelin began to venture out in earnest on the road to conquer all. Not very well known is that they played a gig here in Eugene.
And so, 2nd Grade started for me. In my mind, music was setting in motion some of my dya to day feelings. At this young age, I had the music of Herman's Hermits and The Monkees on constant rotation in my head. It was the year that I would invest in a copy of The Beatles Yellow Submarine album and be exposed to their incredible psychedelic side with songs like "Hey Bulldog", "It's Only A Northern Song" and George Harrison's mindblowing "It's All Too Much". I was also letting Simon & Garfunkel's Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme album dominate inside my head as well. I owned a copy of this album and it wasn't uncommon for me to have songs like "Cloudy", "The Dangling Conversation", "Homeward Bound" and the title track going on in my head.
If I can say anything with certainty about 2nd Grade, I can, without hesitation, say that I was blessed to actually have a teacher who had my best interests at heart teaching me that year. Mrs. Kaiser was a wonderful woman who knew I had hearing problems and that I had fallen behind in my math skills. She wasn't just a teacher. She was my first mentor. She also made me feel like I had a friend in her. I didn't sit completely up front at her desk that year. She liked to move around when she taught. So, she had me sit in an area where I had a good enough chance to hear her as she was moving around. The clincher for me was that, on one of the first days of classes, she took me aside after school was over one day and she told me that I was to let her know if I didn't hear anything. She would personally see to it that I would understand what I had missed. I finally had a teacher I could trust. For pure teaching ability, she may have been the best teacher I ever had at St. Clare's. She got points home to us in a non-intimidating or detached manner. She really wanted us to learn.
2nd Grade was also where the ham side of me got to reveal itself for the first time. There was to be some sort of presentation at the end of the year where every class was to present some kind of musical number at the 5th-8th Grade yard across the street that the parents were to see. I can still very clearly visualize the day Mrs. Kaiser and some other teacher were privately scouting out our class when she put some music on for us to see who had a musical apptitude or enthusiasm. They were trying to be sneaky about it. I caught her and this other teacher looking in after she had walked out of the room and told our class to listen to this music. I knew that she was gauging us for this paegent that would take place in the Spring. Well, I listened to this music and I started really getting into it because I could see the both of them peeking in. I hammed it up in a big way and was also trying my best to make it look natural. Little did I know what was going to be planned for me as a result!
Well, Spring rolled around and school was starting to wind down. This presentation by all of the classes finally came around. Now, I can't recall if we practiced for this thing or not. I could swear that we had to have done so. My hamming it up earlier in the year came back to me. When our class did the presentation, everybody stood together as a group and played along to the music except for one guy (and I very slightly recall that there was a girl who was chosen as the female big music appreciator of our class). Well, the guy was yours truely. I recall very clearly being given a percussion instrument that I could bang away on to my heart's content. When we were up there, I just gravitated towards it. I loved it. I felt like I was a star.
On the same day, I ran a race in that very yard and I recall that I ran so hard in trying to win the race that I fell down and cut myself pretty well on the cement. That resulted in a trip across the street back to the office of Mrs. Cintas (perhaps?was she there at this point yet?) to get bandaged up and taken care of.
2nd Grade was also a time where I started being more sociable with my own classmates. I think it was 2nd Grade, but I recall that we had gotten the news that Danny H. had broken his arm and that we wouldn't see him for a while. Shortly before he came back for school after he had his arm in a cast, I remember that I suggested to the class that we go over to where his Dad would rop him off and that we should cheer him when he got out of the car. He arrived and we did, indeed, cheer him back to school as if he was a returning warrior.
The whole social situation seemd to improve as a result of another year of our having to play kickball again. We pretty much knew who was a good player and who wasn't. My left foot was getting great results on the field which helped matters.
I have to say that I have a specific memory which always stays in my mind of the first two years I spent at St. Clare's. There were times when Mom and Dad might drop me off to school in their car-especially if the weather was horrible. But most of the time, I used to walk to school. It was when I used to make my turn towards the area of the Santa Clara Public Library that I used to walk by a house everytime in the mroning and afternoon where I could smell fish coming out of it. This was the old-time Portuguese influence of Old Town Santa Clara in full-force in my life. For as long as I shall live, I will never forget that smell.
It was during this particular schoolyear that I discovered that I liked other females as well. Specifically, that I liked older girls who were ahead of me in school. For starters, at that early age, I discovered that I like a classmate of my oldest brother from a distance. Does anybody remember Shelly Burns?
There was also a time when my Mom dropped me off for an afternoon to be babysat by two girls over on Hilmar Street (a street which would a few years laters frown in importance to me and be only a block away from the next Santa Clara house I would live in.). Mom dropped me off at the home of Mr & Mrs. Bob Fatjo where I was to be looked over by Lolita Fatjo and her friend Laura Preppeira (sp?). This was very confusing to me as I developed a crush on two girls all at once. As far as I was concerned, they were both beautiful. I still chuckle about this to this day. I can clearly remember the laundry room they had and how I hung out next to their washing machine for a while.
2nd Grade was also the time when I got to see Donna C. perform a number at a school gym show of some kind. She was sitting under a table and was singing about a song about getting into trouble. I remember I once talked to her about The Monkees and she told me that she really like Davey Jones. All the girls liked Davey Jones. Yep!
This was a year where I got to know the friends of my older brothers a lot better. I really liked them a lot. There was George Migliaccio (sp?-someone whom I will write about more as he is a very special person to me), Paul Gleason and the late John Perry. I must make mention of John Perry here. It was just a word association thing I was starting to develop, but I started calling him Prarie Dog because of his last name. I can still visualize the time he came over to play basketball at our house on Franklin Street. I can still recall going over to Paul Gleason's house and seeing my first picture of The Rolling Stones on his wall there. I looked at it and it left an impression on me although I didn't make any connection then.
There was a day when both of my brothers friends came over to play records in John's bedroom. The record, that I believe Paul Gleason brought over, was a copy of Through The Past Darkly from The Rolling Stones. There was also the time that a group of John abd Mike's friends came over, locked themselves up in his room and ran a tape recorder and taped themselves doing a spoof on Star Trek which I attempted to listen to with my ear pressed up against the door as hard as I could so that I could hear them. I got to hear them do their sendup of the opening song and their calling Kirk Twirp and Spock something like Shlock.
2nd Grade was where my parents were getting a little desperate in knowing that my math skills were falling way behind. They got some studnet from the University of Santa Clara to come over and try to get math to sink into my head. His name was Greg. For the life of me, I could swear that this was the same Greg who would later be a P.E. teacher to us guys in 7th or 8th Grade. I'm not positive on this. The poor guy tried his best. It just wouldn't sink in.
Towards the end of my finishing up 2nd Grade, I knew that my family was going to be moving up to Eugene. I can still see that last day of school and saying goodby to Mrs. Kaiser and the huge bear hug I got from her.
I recall my First Communion and not being very impressed with the whole thing. After it was over with, I wanted to get back home and watch cartoons.
One of my great regrets is that I was asked to come up to a basketball game in Oakland with my parents and my brothers to go and see the Oakland Oaks play. I passed. I wanted to watch television. I shouldn't have done this as a couple of years later (and even now), I would come to worship this league with an almost religious fervor because of all of the things I would hear and read about it-the ABA (American Basketball Association). I could have seen Rick Barry when he played with the Oaks. What was I thinking?
I want to write about it in another separate post, but I got my first dog on Christmas Day in 1969. It started a lifelong affinity that I developed with animals. He was a special little guy.
The end of 1970 was going to be a big time for me and filled with big changes. I was also going to start taking some big leaps in other areas of my life.

Music Sweet Music # 2

2009-11-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

First of all, I'm sorry I haven't left a post here in a while. I've been busy. Though I can't make any guarantees, I am going to try to leave more posts over the course of the weekend. I also want to catch up on some reading as well. Now, on to business. Before I start going off on one of my various tangents, I have some hard news to actually report that I have not seen over at the Hoffman Forum and IMWAN.
Some great old music from Africa has just been released (and in one case was released earlier this year) and will be released in 2010. I have been pushing the Soundway and Analog Africa labels very hard for the pst almost two years. Well, here's what's new that's been released
-Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-81-Soundway-Now Available.
-Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Contonou-Echos Hypnotiques Vol. 2-Analog Africa-Now Available
-Legends of Benin-Analog Africa-(released earlier this year)
On top of this, Rolling Stone magazine made mention of an Ethiopian Jazz compilation that appears to be essential to own. It is:
-Mulatu Astatke-New York-Addis-London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975-on the Strut label.
In a label-releated note (though it does not have to do directly with Africa), the Soundway label has also just released a title called:
-Tumbele: Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds From The French Caribbean 1963-74.
To go along with all of this, the big news is that a label known as Knitting Factory is going to be releasing new reissues of all 45 albums from the great Highlife artist Fela Kuti during the course of 2010 as well as albums by his '60s Highlife band Koola Lobitos. You can Google Fela/Knitting Factory and you can see the beginning phases of the website getting everything ready. You can also Google Analog Africa's blog site and read up on their releases as well as commentary from supporters there. I'm very glad to see that more music of this nature being released. The Fela Kuti reissues have me a bit intimidated. I am going to try to put in for the stuff from the '60s all the way through at least 1974 or '75. It would really be nice if you guys over at both Hoffman and IMWAN would pick on this and spread the word around. Soundway and Analog Africa are small independent labels and they deserve being supported so that they can continue with their crate digging efforts and find these gems that they've been doing such a consistently splendid job of doing. I don't give a shit if you steal the information from here or not. Just get the word out, o.k.?
Speaking of IMWAN. You people over there have probably noticed that I haven't posted over there ever since the latest huge wave of anti-Hoffman fever broke out there after the problems Audio Fidelity had with The Doors-Morrison Hotel disc and the Lynyrd Skynyrd-Second Helping as well as some of the mastering issues some of you seem to have. I left a post over there where I mistakenly put out the possibility that perhaps industry people might have had it in for Hoffman and intentionally screwed things up at the plant. I was wrong. It really came down to some quality control issues that they are now dealing with and that I have no doubt that they are dealing with in earnest. What got me pretty upset is how I got lambasted for expressing an opinion over at IMWAN. This is an attitude that I have seen cropping up ever since the board has been taken a harder edged turn which has it's roots in the old political threads (and music threads which turned political). It is pretty ovbious that IMWAN has become a soundboard (though it has toned down lately in the music area) for Republican views there and a general overall change in tone that I have found disheartening. For the record, I am not alone in having gotten political over there. In my case, it was because I fall fairly hard to the Left (and am a Socialist on some issues) and I put out my support for Obama back in the election.
I think what's being overlooked by the people at IMWAN is the fact that a ton of the artists that they love came through and are practicing liberals themselves (with exceptions-Joe Perry of Aerosmith being one). Guys, your're discussing Conservative politics in a music forum? Are you picking up on your own disconnect? Why are you bothering to even be there in the first place? This is why I have made the decision to not leave any posts there any longer. On top of it, the egos over there have gotten out of control. You say the Gorts are heavy-handed at the Hoffman Forum. I've never really had a problem with them. I may have had a post removed because it was part of a thread that got removed. I get along fine with the majority of the people there. I've had problems with a couple of smart-asses over there from time to time, but they were only isolated incidents which may not have been directly target at me. The people that I like over there are older than myself. Some of them have not left posts there lately, but when they do, I enjoy their posts immensely because of the knowledge they bring to the table and also the way that they present themselves theere-as civilized human beings with manners. I don't get this from people at IMWAN anymore except for a couple of people. I can't take that anymore. I will continue to read information there, but I will no longer post there. My health means too much to me (as precarious as it sometimes is) to get stressed out over leaving information and opinions there and running the possibility that I'll get ridiculed or made fun of after all of the help I've given you over the last few years. It's not fun there anymore. It no longer has the wonderful feel that used to permeate the community there when it was still Pete Howard's ICE magazine board. The egos weren't out of control and the only attacks came from trolls who would inhabit the site every once in a while. So, for all of the imperfections of the Hoffman site (and there are imperfections-younger members getting a little too cocky, a few who are too possessive of generally well-established ideas that have been passed around for years and some elitism based on equipment and strict adherences to waveforms), it is not nearly as bad as what some of the IMWAN people would attempt to demonstrate. If you have a problem with Steve Hoffman with him himself, take it to him if you can. I just want the music. I post over at Hoffman now.
I have one regret. That is that I once referred to the Gorts and some of the people at Hoffman as jackboots in a post over at IMWAN. Nobody is a jackboot. It's just a goddmaned music forum and nothing else. It's what IMWAN should be and isn't any longer by my way of seeing it. It's now a bashing board. If you get a post removed at Hoffman, or banned if you go too far, it's not the end of the world people. It's just a music board. And if you don't like the fact that music artists, for the most part, are liberals by trade, then you need to get out of of music forums and start your own forum where you can shout out your conservative political ideas to your heart's content. You'll likely also have to gut the vast majority of your music collections as well (a little sarcasm to throw back at you over there).
I started this blog partly (though not exclusively) for the purpose of expressing my love of music and tying in the personal elements of why it means so much to me in the first place. I am also in the process of withdrawing little by little from the Hoffman Forum as well. I don't see posts from some of my favorite people like RobertKaneda and brainwashed there as much lately. I also enjoy the Gorts Gary and Lord Hawthorne too. I think they must be feeling that the music forums are starting to become a little too heated as well. Some of you IMWAN posters might want to take a look at posts by people like them and learn from them as far as how they present themselves. You might actually like yourself better instead of hiding behind your personas that are guarded by the anonymity of a keyboard. Thank God that IMWAN has nice people like Federico and NoURider over there. I suppose it's not a complete loss.

Starting St. Clare's-1968-1969-Part 2

2009-11-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

Out teacher for 1st Grade was a nun named Sister Sheryl(sp). If I am recalling correctly, she was from Australia or had been there. My classmates are going to need to clarify something for me. I understand that you would later have a Sister Sheryl teach you when you were either in 3rd or 4th Grade. Was she the same one we had in 1st Grade or not? I was not in California for 3rd or 4th Grade and that's why I'm asking.
When we began our classes, the word was passed to Sister Sheryl that I was hearing impaired and that I needed to sit up front. Unfortunately, people got their signals crossed when it came to understanding which of my ears was the worse ear of the two. It was my right ear which was the one that had the most amount of loss. Somebody must have said my left was the worst of the two. Even though I sat in the first row of desks in front of Sister Sheryl's desk, guess where I was placed? When you faced the chalkboard and her desk, I was placed on the left side. What this accomplished was that my bad right ear blocked out any clarity of what she would be saying if she turned part of the way around or when she faced the blackboard completely and with her back turned to us. For the most part, I got along pretty well when she spoke. I lost a lot when it came to math. This was something I was to pay a dear price for. I started the process of not comprehending and falling behind on my math skills. I have never been able to overcome my math problems and I consider myself to be essentially mathematically illiterate. This was to become a big obstacle in my schooling clear on up through college and even to this very day. It wasn't until the second half of the year, after I told my Mom about where I had been, that my seat was changed to being in the front row on the right side of Sister Sheryl's desk so that I could hear her more properly. I still couldn't figure her out whenever she turned her back to us even from there.
However, I did develop quite an apptitude for English skills and reading and essentially anything that didn't have to do with numbers. My ability and advancement in reading skills at an early level came about by accident. And yes, my hearing was the big factor. I recall very clearly that Sister Sheryl gave us a reading assignment out of our reader. She told us verbally first. Then, she wrote it down (the one or two chapters we were to cover) on the blackboard. Before I was able to write down what we were supposed to read for that night, she erased it off the board. When I got picked up by my Mom in her car, we went off to somewhere on the El Camino Real (I believe-I can visualize it, but I could never remember the street names down there) to stop by at a fabric store that my Mom needed to go to. Just before she got out of the car to go in, she told me that she was going to be in there for quite a while and that I should lock up the car and just stay until she was done. I had nothing better to do, so I started to read out of my reader. Mom was gone for so long that I just kept reading beyond the first couple of chapters. What ended up happening was that I read the entire book in that one sitting. Whereas I fell far behind in math, I ended up jumping ahead in a huge gain on my reading and English skills.
What I remember of Sister Sheryl is that she was a small woman and that I barely communicated with her at all even though I was starting some very important schooling. In fact, the only time I recall interacting with her in class was because I didn't realize that I was flirting with getting into some kind of trouble somehow. I recall something of her pointing me out in class and saying something about getting into a doghouse and I pretended I was a puppy a kind of barked something back at her. I couldn't figure out a damned thing she said or was referring to. From having to sit up front, I do recall that Ana V. sat right next to me or in the very near vicinity.
I also have a memory of a time when Sister Sheryl took us all outside to the yard one afternoon to talk to us about something she was trying to teach us. I don't know if it had anything to do with Science or not because I allowed myself to stand too far behind to hear her clearly. I can still see myself facing off to the left and behind you guys on the Santa Clara Street side of the yard while she was speaking. Instead of attempting to listen to her, I became fascinated by something else instead which caught my attention. The moon was up in the sky behind her. I just looked at it for a long time. By this time in my life, I was already a big fan of the Apollo rockets and the NASA space program. I looked at it and I realized, in a childlike way, that I was developing an emotional attachment to the moon. To this day, I still have a great affinity for the moon. Whenever I see it, I always blow a kiss to it. I think you can pretty much trace the origins of my doing that to that particular day.
I don't recall that I got very close to any of you except for Johnny M. I don't if the early workings of Social Darwinism was already at play or not. It wouldn't be until 2nd Grade that I would start the process of communicating with more of you on anything resembling a consistent basis.
I do recall the last day of school of our first year together. I remember very clearly the look on Danny Amaral's face when he was told that he was being held back for a year. It really gutted him and I remember feeling so very badly for him. I hated to see it happen.
On looking back on this time, an event happened in San Jose that I wish I was old enough to have gone to because he would become a subject of conversation among us hip kids later on. Playing at the Santa Clara International Pop Festival at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose on May 25th, 1969, a certain Mr. Jimi Hendrix performed an outdoor show there which is immortalized on a wall tapestry that I have hanging in the room where I do my headphones listening.
I recall that we had outdoor monitors who used to make sure everything on the schoolgrounds went by smoothly. We were told by monitors not to ever talk to anybody who was beyond the fence which surrounded our yard. We were told to be careful of the hippies who might try to give us drugs and also not to talk to anybody from the University of Santa Clara as well. So, I guess the idea of us being used as mules by those dastardly hippies was pretty much part of the conservative paranoia going around at the time. Hell, none of the monitors had any idea that our being the in Catholic system was planting the seeds of our becoming rebellious hippies ourselves once we got over to 5th Grade and into the other yard facing the University.
Another thing you guys are going to have to clear up for me because I'm foggy on it is the whole corporal punishment thing. I do know, for a fact, that our Principal, Sister Eileen, was still meting out ruler on knuckle lashings for the especially naughty kids when they got sent to her office. I believe that when we entered 1st Grade, this was the final year that corporal punishment was to be employed. Am I correct on this?
Inevitably, I will recall something else from that first year of school and I'll put it into some other post somewhere down the line. I'll do that for all of my recollections. I forgot to mention at the beginning of my last entry (Part 1), that we also suffered the terrible loss of Martin Luther King in 1968 as well. I wish to dedicate this post in memory of two great Americans with whom I've come to hold very dearly in my heart. I speak of MLK and Bobby Kennedy. We were greatly blessed to have had them in our lives. After 1st Grade was done, I don't believe that I ever communicated with Sister Sheryl again. I wish I could talk to her now if she's still alive.

Starting St. Clare's School-Fall 1968

2009-11-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

For my classmates, just think of the times we were in when we started 1st Grade at St. Clare's. We had lived through or were going to live through the Tet Offensive in Vietnam (and really turned the tide of opinion against the war), The Beatles-the white album, The Rolling Stones-Beggar's Banquet, the assasination of Bobby Kennedy, student riots in Europe and the Democratic Convention in Chicago that turned very ugly and the full rise of Richard Nixon. Amid that chaos, we started school and began a journey together.
On the first day of school, I spent a short time choking up, like so many kids do on their first day of school, after being dropped off for the first time in the older schoolyard. When I was in the yard, I met a kid named Raymond. He was a few classes ahead of us. During the course of overhearing kids talking to him and then my eventually getting involved int he conversation myself, he told me that he was the fastest kid on that side of St. Clare's (meaning among the 1st-4th Graders). I found this interesting. So much so did I find it interesting, that I innocently asked him if we could race each other. He took me up on it. A bunch of kids lined up and we got ready in the side of the yard where the old covered bench area was. The time came and we lined up. I think it was a girl who actually called out the Get on your mark... Get set...GO! call. Off we went. In what seemd like a whir, we both ended the race at the other end of the bench. It was discovered that this new little skinny kid was fast as well. I finished in a dead-on tie with Raymond.
Either on that day or within the first literal couple of days of my attending school there, I also learned about something unique about myself that I wasn't fully aware of. I knew that I could throw a ball with my right hand, but I was never aware of my feet and what I could do with them. When our class played kickball for the first time, I witnessed many kids kicking with their right feet. I tried this my first time I ever came up for kicking a ball. It just didn't feel right at all. I remember very clearly that I barely kicked it towards the pitcher. As a result, the next time I came up, all of the fielders moved way up figuring I was an easy out. I decided to try my left instead. A-ha! I got better results. I kicked the ball past the outfielders and they respected me from then on. When we used to play kickball, I remember being really fascinated by two people because of how small they were and the fact that they could generate so much power. I remember the little redheaded kid, Mark Zente, and how he could really pound a ball. And then there was this girl with a really long ponytail which hung down to her butt. I was to discover that she was a classmate of mine and that her name was Donna C.
Funny thing about Donna C. and girls in general. They acted differently than guys and I learned that very quickly when I embarrassed her a few times in a short span. I learned that you couldn't get away with attempting to rhyme names with things that are shocking-like when I yelled out to her one time "Donna marijuana". I would also learn about Donna's very famous shin kicks. I tried to hug her once and she turned around and popped me one on one of my shins with her foot. The pain was esquisite in it's brutality and I didn't care because I found a new girl to have a crush on. (I have been asked to take a phone call.). I will finish my story of 1st Grade later on-likely this evening.

Music Sweet Music # 1

2009-11-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

I've been a fan of The Rolling Stones since late Summer of 1972. I knew that they existed as far back as at some point in early 1970 when I was still living on Franklin Street in Santa Clara. It was just before I was to move back to Santa Clara in 1972 that I was hanging out at the house of my Dad's Best Man when I made the discovery. I was in his youngest son's room (who was in High School) and I was deciding what I wanted to listen to. When my friend's family moved up to Eugene in 1971, he was always very generous in letting me play stuff from his record collection. I was sorting through his albums when I saw this album called Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out. I looked at it and I thought it looked like something cool. I put the record on and the stars aligned and I had one of those times of clarity when your senses get lit up like a Christmas tree. As soon as I heard "Jumpin' Jack Flash", I became a huge fan. When I made the move back to Santa Clara in the Fall of '72, I had my Mom take me for a run over to The Wherehouse and I made a beeline to get my first copy of Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out. Not long afterwards, I had her take me back (when I had saved my money) and I splurged on getting a copy of Hot Rocks. I now sit here on the day that the 40th Anniversary Edition of Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out has been released to the public. My copy is in the mail and I'll be diving into it next week. Though I am older and I am aware of the fact that there are vocal overdubs and some studio doctoring on the album, it's going to nice to have this. I just wish Jagger and the people at ABKCO could sit down, work things out and get some full undoctored 1969 shows released. I'll tackle this subject in a post very soon as it is something I'm very passionate about. We need Taylor Era shows to be released. I will mention that the album was recorded at the Madison Squuare Garden shows in late November of 1969. You should know that "Love In Vain", with the incredibly beautiful guitar solo from Mick Taylor, is actually from Baltimore. This particular track is also essentially undoctored...Though I'm still a huge fan of The Rolling Stones, how I view them has changed over the years. I really miss when they were considered a dangerous band in the eyes of a lot of people. I viewed them that way from their beginning all the way up through the '78 Tour in support of the Some Girls album and including the tour that Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards did as The New Barbarians in 1979 when they were touring in support of Ronnie's great Gimme Some Neck album. But once Mick Jagger decided to accept the Jovan sponsorship of the 1981 North American Tour in support of the Tattoo You album, things began to change for me. Instead of becoming a dangerous band, they became a big corporate entity. Also, if I'm recalling correctly, it was to also be their last association with Bill Graham as the guy they put in charge of running the tour. They would eventually go on to let Michael Cohl (sp?) run their tours which put another corporate spin to how they operated. I haven't stopped enjoying the music even though a lot of the post-'78 material has been a roller coaster and not altogether consistent...Over the last couple of years, I have developed a great love for Highlife Music from Western Africa. I am finding that, much like some music I love, the period I like the most is from the late '60's-mid' 70s. The late '70s Highlife gets a little too much on the Funk side due to the influence of dance/Disco material from here in the U.S.. The reason for how I got into this music is twofold. In 1973, there was a great little single which hit Top 40 radio when I was living on Camino Drive from a gentleman from Cameroon named Manu Dibango called "Soul Makossa". It is a song that is of Afro-Jazz sensibility and I loved it. It stayed with me through all of these years. I've had it on one of my Rhino Soul Hits of the '70s series. To go with my memory of loving the song when I was growing up, I read an article in Rolling Stone by David Fricke in his column about a then new compilation from a label in Brighton, England called Soundway with various artists from Nigeria on it called Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6. If you pick this up as well as another compilation called African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds from Benin & Togo 70s on the Analog Africa label, I swear to you that your world will be rocked and that you will thank me for having picked this stuff up. To go with the African elements, you get a mix of Soul, Funk and Jazz in various forms for an incredible blend. I just wish this stuff had been more popular here in the United States. It is as if a spirit had remembered me for remembering Manu Dibango and I was being rewarded many years later...Though I don't have much time to expand upon it now, I have gotten into Jazz over the last decade. John Coltrane has been a particular revelation for me as well as pre-Fusion Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. I also dearly love Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. I will post many more music items as time goes on. I will also talk a lot about my love of Soul and Blues as well. I will combine the personal with the musically analytical in future posts.

A Quick Note

2009-10-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody,
I have just gotten done looking at a few of my posts I've left so far. I wish to apologize to people for the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. When I type, I can get pretty intense. Plus, after I'm done hammering my thoughts out, I will only briefly try to catch some obvious errors that need correcting before I click the button to actually have them put to this page. In my last post on my time at Hamann, I was embarrased to spot that I spelled nuturer (among others) incorrectly. I hope the impact of what I'm trying to say is still managing to come through in spite of my clumsiness. I imagine that if one was to observe me at a keyboard when I'm typing, I must resemble the look of a mad scientist at work. On top of it, when I made my last post, I was also in need of getting over to my Mom's house.

Patriotic Songs (Requiem For The Backstabber)

2009-10-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

It was the Fall of 1967 when I entered Hamann and started Kindergarten. The woman who taught us kids there was Mrs. Heisch. If you really want to get a sense of what it was like to have been there, all I have to tell is that I remember singing "My country tis of thee/sweet land of liberty/of thee I sing". My hearing impairment prevented me from figuring out the rest of the words. To this day, I still do not know the words beyond what I've just quoted for you. I used to just muble and fake it the rest of the way. I was able to figure out the Pledge of Allegiance because I had kids next to me who were reciting it loud enough that I could eventually get the whole thing down in my head so that I wouldn't have to fake it anymore.
My hearing impairment is based mostly in my right ear. I was born with about half gone in my right and about a quarter gone in my left ear as a result of Mom's rubella. I also have tinnitus. The ringing in my bad right ear has gone on since the day I was born and has never stopped. I have never known a world without it. I will have shifts in the sound during the course of a day, but it never stops.
When I was at Hamann and I was in class, I would always position myself to the right side of calss as you were facing the chalkboard and Mrs. Heisch. As far as I was concerned, Mrs. Heisch and the chalkboard were one and the same because they both shared the same personality. They had none.
I never really feared Mrs. Heisch, but she was an incredibly distant person who did not make much contact with me during the course of the year. I had no idea of what she was up to.
A few of us kids who would eventually go on to St. Clare's were there. We didn't really connect then. But there were two fellow students there who stood out to me and left deep impressions on me at that early age. There was the first girl I ever had a crush on. She was a little blonde named Cindy. And then there was a kid who struck a lot of fear in me because he was just plain crazy. I don't remember his name. He had the distinction of having successfully run at full speed and put his head through one of our classroom windows. I recall him attempting this at least two other times without success. I think that on one of the attempts, he hit the glass and only put a crack in it. I studiously avoided this kid.
Mrs. Heisch was supposed to be a teacher and a nurturer. Instead, she turned out to be a backstabber that I sang patriotic songs for and made sure that I slept on my mat during naptime as part of being a good boy. I had no idea that she was observing that I didn't interact much with other kids and was plotting to have me removed from the Santa Clara School system. Instead, she got it in her head that I was retarded and that I needed to be transferred to a school for them. She began arranging for me to be tested by people. I was taken out of class at least two times that I can recall and given tests and interviewed by two adults to determine if I was retarded or not. I told my Mom about this and she went through the roof. She found out from Heisch that she was attempting to get the proof she needed to get me pulled out. My family doctor and a cousin of mine who taught at Hamann Elementary got involved to tell her that it was not the case at all. I don't know if my hearing had been brought up. If it was, I don't think it convinced her. I think what happened was that enough of the schoolyear passed by that it wasn't feasible on her part to continue the fight anymore.
Obviously, I hate her for what she did. But there is something else that I hate her more for that I've rarely spoken about before. She knew that I occasionally spoke to Cindy from time to time in very brief spurts. I recall very clearly to this day a conversation I had with Cindy where we were talking about marshmallows (sp?). Because of my hearing, I kept saying marshmellows or matmellows and Cindy spent a few minutes getting me to hear it correctly as marshmallows to no avail. I didn't have enough high-end frequencies in my ears to hear the "a" part of marshmallows as well as her soft voice making it doubly tough to figure out what she was trying to impart to me. To this day, I am convinced that Mrs. Heisch knew I had a crush on her and she egged Cindy on to have a conversation with me or that she got Cindy to reveal the contents of that very conversation with her to give her the ammunition she needed to prove I was retarded. She used the vulnerability of my crush towards Cindy as a weapon against me. That is what I hate her for the most. She spent most of the year trying to get me kicked out of the school and yet she didn't get the nut-cased windowsmasher kicked out. I wonder if that kid is even still alive?
Other wise, I spent most of the year winging through everything and just picking up on what she would write on the board or if I was close enough to her to hear her voice when she taught.
My last day at Hamann was the worst for me because it was the last day I ever saw Cindy. Her mother came to pick her up and I watched the both of them from a distance in the schoolyard as they conversed. I was sitting inside a big city sewer pipe that the city left on the schoolground for us kids to play in. I was in that pipe all alone when I saw Cindy's Mom take her hand and then they both walked out of the yard. It was the first time that my heart really sank over a girl and it hurt.
I think that Doug M. and I (Doug would go on to St. Clare's though he would not stay there) went walking to school one time together from his house and we took took some shortcuts to get there. The reason why I remember this is because one of the shortcuts involved going through somebody's backyard. The man of the house spotted us going through his yard and he got pissed off at us and yelled at us for doing so. I felt really uncomfortable afterwards.
I learned some things at Hamann, but it was through my own powers of observation that anything sunk in. I don't recall much as far as lessons were concerned. Hamann was a place where I hung out by myself again and acted as an observer. Things would change a bit when I went to St. Clare's.
I'm sure Mrs. Heisch is now long dead. She wasn't a spring chicken when she taught us. I wish she could have learned that I made it through college so that I could have smirked back at her.

Odds & Loose Ends # 1

2009-10-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you who used to know me from Marist High School, I remember quite a few of you who used to talk to me about your various boyfriend/girlfriend problems. I was being a good sport and trying to help you out using common sense and powers of observation. You surely must have known that it wasn't experience on my part when I used to try to help you out. I have always wanted to ask those people with whom I tried to help out through those two years I was there, "Did you ever stop to consider the irony that was present when you used to talk to me about these things and considered the fact that I would have killed to have had your problems? " I used to help out a lot of people and I don't recall that anybody tried to help me with perhaps finding a girlfriend. I did, however, get told by friends in the class ahead of me that I shouldn't even bother to have tried pursuing some of the girls I pursued. I was even told by someone from that class that I wasn't good looking enough to go after some of the girls I went after and that I needed to lower my standards. Of that group of people I used to know, only one person has ever come forth to tell me that they were embarrassed by having tried to convince me of that at the time. This person actually called me up, years later, and apologized to me for having bought into the idea. Because of that, I will always speak positively of that person. He's the only one who came to his senses and had the guts to speak up. In short, I will never let my thinness, my IBS, my wearing hearing aids and being a little different prevent me from my dream of being with a beautiful woman/women (whatever the case may be). Who are you to tell me otherwise? I do think of something that my late Dad once told me. It makes me wonder if, in the Afterlife, he wishes that he hadn't said it. He told me the year that he was to pass away that he thought I was going to have so many women knocking down my door that I wasn't going to know what to do with them. Dad? Do you still know something that I don't? I hope I don't have to wait until I'm with you before what you said to me comes true.
I support three organizations-MoveOn.org, ONE.org and Amnesty International. I have known about Amnesty International for many years. In a post that I will address one of these days, I will tell you the story of how I became aware of it from my having been at Bellarmine for my first two years of High School.
I've been thinking a lot about the first house I lived in on Franklin Street lately. I keep having this fantasy that I could be in a kind of commune type situation where a bunch of friends and I could live there so that I could occupy the upper floor. I have especially been thinking about the bedroom where my oldest brother used to sleep and the one my other brother and I slept in. I keep thinking about how I could have one of my small stereo systems in the room that my oldest brother had and I could hole myself up there. I could also have my headphones-only system in there as well. I just keep thinking of all of the '60s history I lived through in that house and all of the associated music to go with it. Over the years, I'll be listening to the old Decca/Brian Jones Era period of The Rolling Stones and I'll have very vivid associations and feelings of that house and time going on as I'm listening to the music. I've even listened to those Stones CDs and have imagined myself being back there listening to those very CDs and conjuring up the literal happenings and feelings I had when I lived in that house. I got to go and revisit the house back in the 5-month 1996-1997 period when I was down there. It was really amazing how much of the upstairs had not changed at all. I will talk about this house a lot more as time goes on. I will most definitely talk about the Camino Drive house as well as my favorite times occurred in that one.
I've never wanted kids. I just wanted a woman. Now, I just want a woman I can grow old with because I don't want to grow old alone. My kids are of the four-legged variety. The German Shepherd I have is the love of my life. She is going to be 10. You'd get sick if you saw just how much affection we shower each other with everyday.
I'm thinking of Eric Clapton today and I hope he is recovering nicely from gallbladder surgery.
I am entertaining the idea that I might go to see U2 in Oakland or Seattle next June provided that I have the money and that the CD reissue year is light. What I'm really hoping for is that Cowboy Junkies will come through Eugene again. If they do, it won't matter how light or heavy the CD year will be for me next year, I'll be there to say hello to Margo and enjoy the band.

Letter To My St. Clare's Classmates # 1

2009-10-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

I am going to attempt to rewrite what I composed last night before this site has an outage. On the last day of our being together, I was very sad about it all coming to an end. It was Graduation Day 1976. I can still recall seeing some groups of you having what could resemble conversation amid our parents scrambling us to get seated in Church. On this day though, I was feeling very lonely and very disconnected from you all as I know that you were getting concerned with how brittle I had become. Bill R. and I had been having an ongoing major fallout with other during the whole school year, I was going through mood swings and I knew the end was coming and I wasn't comfortable about it. When we all got done with the ceremony, that was it. I never got a last goodbye from anybody. I just left and went home to a new turntable and a pair of DWD speakers that were hand me downs from my brothers and dove into the new Rolling Stones album that just got released. It was the first post-Mick Taylor Era album-Black and Blue.
So who was this guy who walked among you for 6 years (Fall '68-Spring '70, Fall '72-Graduation '76)? Why was he like he was? In order for you to know, I need to take you back to a time before we ever got to know each other either at St. Clare's or at Hamann where a few of us went to Kindergarten.
What I am about to describe to you is something that has been a recurring theme throughout my life. It comes back to me frequently in thought. It is something I've brought up to God and to people I've known. It has a symbolic importance to me that I can't put a full value or estimation on. It just is.
I don't know where the place was. Even my Mom doesn't recall where this place was. She does recall that I went to more than one Nursery School. I believe that this particular Nursery School was a very large house. I did not spend a whole year there. I only spent a small portion of time there. All I know is that I don't believe that I ever spoke to anybody there. I never got to know any kids. I believe that my hearing impairment was preventing me from being very social. I also had a really close bond going with my Mom because of all of the heart problems I had. This particular experience that I am describing to you has to have taken place in early 1967. It is one of my earliest and most vivid memories that has stayed with me.
Another day at the school was rapidly coming to a close. I had been slowly walking around and killing time. There was a group of kids sitting outside in the patio area and they were seated in a semi-circle. I decided to join them. As we were sitting there, I was observing the sun as it was starting to set. I'm sitting there and I don't believe any of these kids had ever heard me utter a word before at all. We were all pretty silent. There might have been one or two words mumbled among the group, but there was essentially quiet. All of a sudden, I just blurted it out out of nowhere. It's just that I really felt it from deep within myself when I said it. I said, "Please Sun, don't go down yet." The kids heard me very clearly and they all looked at me a little bit. And then we just sat there. As time went on, kids were getting plucked out one by one by the arrival of their parents coming to take them home. Eventually, I was one of them as well.
This moment in time has remained with me. Over the years, I have said this very thing. I am still saying it now. So, if you classmates have ever wondered why my being with you holds so much reverence to me, it's because I need your company and because I didn't want to sun to go down.
During the Summer of 1974, I got reminded of this event when Elton John released "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" from off of the Caribou album. I also think of it when I listen to Bessie Smith sing the line in "St. Louis Blues" "I hate to see that evening sun go down".
I was emotional around you people because I didn't want the light of my days and my hope to disappear. I am writing in this blog for the same reason.
I just want to let you know that I'm going to cover a lot of ground. I also want to let you know that this is going to be a challenge for me as well. But I want to get it out. I love and miss all of you so much. When I speak of these different events, please know that I'm not doing this to hurt you in any way. I will take breaks from this type of writing directly to you and talk about other things. I have a lot to say to a lot of people. There are people who were not a part of our group that should know. I want them to know more about me. So, there you have it. This is my first letter to you. You are welcome to send one to me. If you want me to cover something that you are curious about, let me know.

My Fear Of Horses

2009-10-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Before I start diving into some other subjects, I have something a little on the mundane side to talk about which has been on my mind for the last half a year. I've had this fascination with wanting to get over my fear of horses. I haven't trusted them ever since I had a very bad experience on one back in the '60s.
When my parents used to have the big ranch out in the community of Lorane, there was one day when my Dad decided it would be nice to have me on one horse and my Dad would ride on another one and he'd lead my horse on a nice little ride around the countryside. It's too bad that it didn't work out this way. I can chuckle about this now, but I sure didn't that day when it was over with.
My Dad got the horse out that I was to ride on and proceeded to put me on it. Everything seemed to be fine. He figured the horse was just going to stay there and wait. I didn't do anything. I didn't kick it or make any sound to indicate anything to the horse I was on. As my Dad was making his way to go and get his horse to accompany me, my horse decided to bolt on me with me on him. It wouldn't have been too bad if it was just a nice little trot. Instead, the horse took off on a high-speed run which involved me holding on to dear life. I can still remember the feeling of power underneath me. I felt like I was riding atop a thundercloud. To make matters worse, my horse was making a run for a very steeply inclined drop which led to a creekbed. I was pretty certain that my either 8 or 9 year old life was about to end. It appeared to me that he was going to hurl himself into this drop into the creekbed.
All during this terrifying ride I was on, my Dad hauled ass onto the horse he was supposed to have lead the horse I was on. So, eventually my Dad and his horse arrive in high-speed to catch up to my horse. The horse was beginning to run out of room and I guess he saw that the drop was coming. He started to slow down and my Dad was able to reach out and grab the horse I was on and slow him down even more to the point that he got it to stop completely.
Suffice it to say, we didn't go for that nice ride. In fact, my Dad was not very happy with that horse either. It took for him to get his beautiful horse who only trusted him to save the day.
To make matters even more complicated for me was the fact that I would later have a horse of my own later on. I ended up with a Shetland who was called Little Chief. I can't recall if I ever rode Little Chief. All I recall of him was of how moody he was. He was a nipper. I was usually the target of his nipping. I could never understand why Little Chief was so moody. I've been told by a few friends of mine over the years that a Shetland was not a good first horse to have because they have a reoutation for being ornery. I have no idea what would have made a better first horse to me as I'm not very familiar with them. I do know that Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones dearly loves Arabians.
There was my Dad's beautiful horse anmed Button. Button only trusted my Dad as he was previously owned by somebody who was terribly abusive to him. As such, my Dad always used to tell me to admire Button from a distance and never get close to him even when I near a fence and he was on the other side. Button was the horse my Dad used to take to Utah to go Mule deer hunting with in the rugged country there. He really was a magnificent beast.
If we fast-forward to the '90s, we had neighbors next to us on the Lorane Highway property who used to have a pair of horses on it that I used to have to occasionally go over to feed. They were Carrie and Laddie. I was always scared of how big they were and if they would get a little impatient with wanting their food and use their heads to get a little rough with me. If I'm recalling correctly, Carrie was supposed to be the mischief maker who liked to occasionally take advantage of Laddie by raiding his food.
So, as you can see. I have this thing about horses and I have decided that I want to deal with it eventually. I would really like to ride a nice, gentle one with someone who knows what they are doing and has done this kind of thing before.
Also, because of my ecclecticism, I think I'd really dig riding a llama too. Well, the idea appeals to me because of two things. It makes me think of Neil Young's song on Rust Never Sleeps "Ride My Llama" and the fact that Cowboy Junkies fans are referred to as llamas. The irony of all of this, combined with my thing about horses, would not escape me.
So, if any of you people out there knows of somebody who really has experience with horses and truely knows what they are doing, could you let me know about them? I'd really like to start all over again and bond with a really nice horse who won't take advantage of me.
I spent all of those years on the Lorane Highway property having a great time with all of my cow buddies. I think it's about time for me to get over this horse fear thing. I think it would be a really fun thing to ride a horse and a llama. Plus, it would be nice to have this under my belt to talk about with women because I get this impression that women love horses so much. I've been a cow guy for so long that I get wondering if people think I'm weird when I tell them my cow stories and how close I got to so many of them. Though I will explain later at some other point, I am sure happy I don't live on ranch property anymore.
So, there you go. This is one of my weird posts that I thought I'd throw out to you all as a curve ball of sorts. I promise that I'll get back into the swing of writing about other things as time permits. There's so many different things I want to dive into.

Hello It's Me

2009-10-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm borrowing from the Todd Rundgren single from back in '72 to start this new blog. As promised to the readers of my Facebook page, I have finally found the time to begin this project. I have felt the need to expand on a lot of thoughts I've had stored in my head for years. It doesn't neccessarily mean that I will forget those very thoughts as soon as I post them. I do, however, want to make connections with people so that they can understand me a lot better.
I started out thinking that this blog was going to be soley for the purpose of my old St. Clare's School classmates to read of my take on our school years. As time has developed over the last few weeks, I have realized that I also want people to read about things I have to say because I also hope to connect with some musicians I privately admire and have met, some whom I admire and have not met yet and some who I may never get the chance to meet at all.
Those of you who currently know me or know of me, this is a chance for you to know more fully the person with whom you currently communicate with.
I would be lying if I said that I wasn't also using this blog in the hopes that some special lady may read these thoughts of mine and make a connection to me as well.
I am different. Over the years, I have been aware of the fact that I can come off as having a totally different feel about me than most even though a lot of my feelings have a commonality to many of you. I really feel that it is important for all of you to know of my school years, especially my early and Grade School Years, so that you understand what kind of foundation I am standing on. Maybe you will understand why I'm a little different after you learn of some of the circumstances I've come through.
Now that I'm only a few weeks away from turning 48 years old, I am feeling a sense that my form of isolation I've been living in for years is becoming a threat to me. I am in fear of growing old alone. If it takes something as wide open as the internet, with all of its possibility and danger all at once, then I still need to take the chance and open up. Perhaps there are those of you out there who have good hearts and will lead somebody special (and old & new friends) to this blog who will help lead me out of the loneliness I feel.
I will be covering a lot of ground here. I know that I will make some of you smile. I know that I will also possibly anger you, sadden you or make you feel a little uncomfortable. But you need to know that I have been through these feelings as well. I want all of the good people who I have loved to be a part of my life again. I also want new people with whom I could love to become a part of my life as well.
And so, this is where I will start. Before I take my leave for now, I wish to dedicate my new blog to two very special musicians who have tolerated me. The two people I speak of are Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor.
Far be it that Margo and I are friends in the regular sense. We are just very casual artist to fan variety chance meetings. But she has taken the time out of her busy life on the road to always make me feel like I was an equal. For that, I am grateful. I am also grateful that we actually talk about things which we are really interested in. Our conversations never last more than a few minutes, but they are full of quality in those few minutes. I will always treasure them. She truely personifies the normal person, super Mom, devoted wife and well-rounded human being who happens to make music for a living kind of person.
And then there is Mick Taylor. Mick Taylor is someone I met one time here in Eugene back in 2001 and just a few weeks before 9/11. My meeting him, seeing him play live and walking around the little dump that is The W.O.W Hall here in Eugene left a profound impression on me that covers a gamut of emotions. Mick Taylor is a quiet enigma. I do not mean this in the negative. It's just that the period that he was a member of The Rolling Stones has been a soundtrack to a period of my life that truely made me into the person who I am today. He's been through a hell of a lot-both when he was a member of the Stones and when he made the decision to leave. My heart goes out to him. I hope I get to meet him again one of these days. Word has gotten back to him that I am very concerned about his health. He's having to balance some paradoxes that I think would destroy or kill most regular people. It is this latter statement of mine which causes me to really admire him and also have such great concern for.
I hope all of you will enjoy this blog of mine and that it will cause you to think about things. Mostly, I hope it makes you want to contact me and stay a part of my life. I'll alert people at my Facebook page when I add new posts here. I send my love to all of you. Those of you with whom I've known from my past, I miss you dearly and have wondered why you have not stayed in touch with me.
Until Next Time,
Steve