I had another dream last night, this one much shorter. And it was actually music-related.
I dreamed I was interviewing Whitney Houston. A pretty good trick, since she's been dead for five years.
But Whitney didn't let that little problem get in her way. She was lookin' fine and keepin' it real, and the interview proceeded without pausing for any decomposition issues:
Q: Whitney, a lot of people think you had the most beautiful voice in pop music history.
A: Well, thank you. It was nothing, really. I was blessed.
Q: But a lot of people also think you wasted that voice on a lot of really awful material....
A: ...Well, I wouldn't say that Dolly Parton's "I'll Always Love You" was awful material....
Q: Yes, but a lot of people thought you howled like a dog in that song.
A: ...WELL! ....
The dream fell apart and I woke up at that point, but I decided that dream could easily wait until the next day to be posted here. And then I went right back to sleep.
More travel over the Valentine's Day weekend in the continuing mission to collect Strange Music in order to get That Book written. Among the items purchased at Tacoma's HI-VOLTAGE RECORDS and Port Townsend's QUIMPER SOUND include The Incredible String Band's RELICS best-of and LIQUID ACROBAT AS REGARDS THE AIR, Michael Hoenig's DEPARTURE FROM THE NORTHERN WASTELAND, Nektar's REMEMBER THE FUTURE, Enid's AERIE FAERIE NONSENSE (great title) and TOUCH ME, McKendree Spring's SPRING SUITE, Oregon's WINTER LIGHT and FRIENDS, Vangelis's SPIRAL, Argent's ALL TOGETHER NOW, Ambrosia's first, Chris Squire's FISH OUT OF WATER, Van der Graaf Generator's REFLECTIONS best-of, Synergy's AUDION ... oh, and Blue Oyster Cult's SPECTRES, The Who's QUADROPHENIA, and The Shoes' TONGUE TWISTER. Not sure how those last three snuck in there, but anyway.
I haven't heard most of these before, and reports on them will be posted here soon.
I continue to be impressed by HI-VOLTAGE's vast selection of vinyl. They've got lotsa good CD's, too. The atmosphere's wonderful and the people are nice. All music sounds better played on their store sound-system. But bring your wallet, and make sure your bank account can survive a visit. They also have a website: hivoltagerecords.com.
QUIMPER SOUND has some charm with its underground in-a-cave location, and the owner is friendly and talkative. Most of the prices are quite reasonable, and he gave me a great deal on the two ISB albums, which hadn't been priced yet.
The store also has a TON of $1 albums I'd like to dig through, but it could take DAYS. The owner said he tossed a couple of Richard Thompson albums in with the cheapies awhile back to see if people were awake -- and they were gone the first day. So, someday when I have lots of time to waste....
QUIMPER SOUND is also co-sponsoring the 2nd Annual Port Townsend Record Show, set for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 at the PT American Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St. Parking and admission are free. QS's owner said they're expecting nearly three-dozen record-dealers, some from as far away as Portland, Ore. More info's available here. I'm planning to attend early, even though it's a work day for me. The owner said last year's session was a blast. Sounds like a good time to me....
Also made a return trip to PT's WILLIAM JAMES BOOKS, a great little hole-in-the-wall used bookstore in Port Townsend's historic downtown district, that The Girlfriend and I hadn't been in since last summer. Back then, I was impressed with their huge music-related and science-fiction sections, but those have apparently shrunk over the last few months ... or maybe they sold a lot of stuff during the tourist season. Anyway, brought home a copy of Mark Lewisohn's THE BEATLES' RECORDING SESSIONS, so it was worth the trip.
My thanks to all these merchants for keeping their prices fairly reasonable for those of us on working-poor incomes....
...Do you think Port Townsend might be willing to change its name to "Pete Townshend" if he were to visit and maybe put on a show...?
Showing posts with label dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dreams. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Sniper dream
There are maybe 400 Americans in Ankara, and most of us are here in the courtyard outside the new Base Chapel, waiting for an update from the Ambassador on What Happens Next.
It's been a bad week in Turkey -- half a dozen terrorist bombings in Ankara and Istanbul, dozens dead. The Turkish Army took power again in a coup, saying they did it to re-establish order. It's happened here before.
People are scared. I don't blame them. We're all wondering if we're going to be pulled out of here and sent home. That's the announcement I'm expecting as we wait.
We've all been in shock since Halloween, when my buddy Vic was killed by a terrorist's car-bomb. Vic did everything right -- looked and acted like a Turk, didn't call attention to himself, didn't talk loud in English in public, took a different route to work every day -- and the terrorists still got him.
And it's gotten worse since then. We haven't lost anyone else here, but the rest of the country is falling apart around us. It doesn't feel even a little bit safe here anymore. I figure we're gonna be told to start packing -- military, Embassy staff, all of us.
There's a lot of loud conversation. Our Chaplain, Liz McCormick, slowly takes the stage and steps behind the lectern to try to calm us down so that maybe we'll be able to HEAR the Ambassador when he comes out. He's a soft-spoken guy, usually.
"Has anybody heard what the threat level is today?" Liz asks the crowd. There is mild nervous laughter. She must be joking. The threat level's been HIGH ever since Vic died.
"Before we get started, I thought we'd ask Mrs. Brookwell to maybe come up...," Liz says.
"-- Like I know what the threat level is?" Ardelle Brookwell calls from out of the crowd, "like I'VE got any new information for anybody...? I'm waiting for the word just like you guys."
Ardelle -- the Ambassador's wife -- is often asked to lead us in the National Anthem on formal occasions, and she's never declined. Maybe until today. But she starts making her way to the front anyway, and climbs up on the platform with Liz.
The courtyard is full, and people are agitated. The security police are keeping an eye on the perimeter -- by order of the base commander. Security's been awfully tight since Vic. Guards along the fences, searches at the front gate. Off to my right, my boss Bill Mounsey is keeping an eye on the crowd and his SP troops. Bill hasn't gotten much sleep lately.
And then there's me.
Ardelle's still heading across the platform. "I'm pretty nervous," she says, "but I'll sing if you want...." There's laughter in the crowd. We're ALL pretty nervous.
Then there's a scuffle in the crowd up front. Ardelle gets behind the lectern and close to the mike. I'm sure once she gets the Anthem started, the Ambassador will come out and we'll get down to business.
But there's a whirl of clothes and some pushing and shoving up front. Some tall older guy with glasses and long gray hair is throwing his arms up. Looks like someone leaned or fell against him and he was pushed back. And now he's pulling something out of his sleeve.
"GUN! GUN!! GUN!!!" I hear somebody scream, and the guy with the long gray hair is pulling a rifle out of the sleeve of his heavy coat, like he had it tucked in there next to his arm.
The crowd panics and scrambles. The courtyard starts clearing, not fast enough. People are screaming. The guy is whirling, looking for a target. He must have planned to shoot the Ambassador -- but someone bumped into him and now things are happening much too fast.
The guy is still pulling the rifle out and aiming when I'm on him. I see him through the scope and pull the trigger. The bullet catches him at the base of the back of his neck and he goes down in a heap of clothes and arms and legs.
But he's not alone. There's a brunette with him, behind him and to his left, and suddenly she's waving a pistol in the air. She's firing behind the stage, into the curtains, maybe hoping to hit the Ambassador before he comes out. Liz and Ardelle are screaming, cowering behind the lectern. I squeeze the trigger again, twice, and she goes down.
The screaming is non-stop now, and it's still not over. From somewhere behind the brunette, up comes a blonde with a pistol, she's vaguely Russian-looking, she's screaming angry, and she's pointing the gun toward my position on the neighboring roof overlooking the courtyard. I can see her through the scope, turning and aiming.
But something happens. The gun jams, and she pops the magazine out. It falls in front of her as she digs for another. Somehow gold bullets fall down in front of her, in slow motion, glinting in the sun, and I see her screaming. She reloads and aims again. I pull the trigger and her head explodes.
Other than the screaming, the courtyard is empty and silent. The screaming has become background noise. What I hear is Mounsey yelling "HOW THE HELL DID THESE PEOPLE GET IN HERE??!! WE ONLY SEARCH FOREIGNERS NOW, WE DON'T CHECK AMERICANS??!! GOD DAMN IT!!"
I'm not done yet. I'm waiting for more. But there's no movement in the courtyard, just the pile of bodies. There's blood everywhere. I didn't mean this -- to stain this place. Over my radio I hear that the Ambassador's secure and OK.
I'm not done. I'm waiting for more movement, more people drawing weapons. There aren't any more.
Then Mounsey's hand is on my shoulder. He's yelling in my ear: "STAND DOWN! STAND DOWN!"
I'm already turning away by then, switching the safety on the rifle, picking the weapon up and walking away. I climb down off the roof, walk out in front of the church, realize I'm shaking, and sit down next to the big tree out front. I lean back against the tree, pulling my rifle close. The SP's are all around me. The screaming is continuing. I know I helped cause some of it.
Mounsey's at my ear again: "You did good, Frank." He pats me on the back, heavily. He's my friend and he wants to know if I'm OK. I'm OK until then.
He walks away a couple of steps, and then the shaking gets really bad. Suddenly I'm crying, I'm sobbing.
I just killed three people. I feel it.
And yet I'm burning with it. Because I know this was why I was here. This is what I was supposed to do. I don't understand why it happened, but....
Now we've got to figure out how the hell they got those guns in here....
(((I want to note that I don't own a gun, and even if I did, my eyes are so bad I could never hit anything with it. I also have almost no training in handling weapons. Almost all the dreams I've had since I started blogging have ended up here, and this one was so vivid and scary it jolted me out of bed at 3:30 a.m and I couldn't get back to sleep. I don't know what it means or much about where it came from or why. But I know I'm not supposed to turn my back on an idea or a story, because you only get so many of them in one life. I'm not in charge, I just live here.)))
It's been a bad week in Turkey -- half a dozen terrorist bombings in Ankara and Istanbul, dozens dead. The Turkish Army took power again in a coup, saying they did it to re-establish order. It's happened here before.
People are scared. I don't blame them. We're all wondering if we're going to be pulled out of here and sent home. That's the announcement I'm expecting as we wait.
We've all been in shock since Halloween, when my buddy Vic was killed by a terrorist's car-bomb. Vic did everything right -- looked and acted like a Turk, didn't call attention to himself, didn't talk loud in English in public, took a different route to work every day -- and the terrorists still got him.
And it's gotten worse since then. We haven't lost anyone else here, but the rest of the country is falling apart around us. It doesn't feel even a little bit safe here anymore. I figure we're gonna be told to start packing -- military, Embassy staff, all of us.
There's a lot of loud conversation. Our Chaplain, Liz McCormick, slowly takes the stage and steps behind the lectern to try to calm us down so that maybe we'll be able to HEAR the Ambassador when he comes out. He's a soft-spoken guy, usually.
"Has anybody heard what the threat level is today?" Liz asks the crowd. There is mild nervous laughter. She must be joking. The threat level's been HIGH ever since Vic died.
"Before we get started, I thought we'd ask Mrs. Brookwell to maybe come up...," Liz says.
"-- Like I know what the threat level is?" Ardelle Brookwell calls from out of the crowd, "like I'VE got any new information for anybody...? I'm waiting for the word just like you guys."
Ardelle -- the Ambassador's wife -- is often asked to lead us in the National Anthem on formal occasions, and she's never declined. Maybe until today. But she starts making her way to the front anyway, and climbs up on the platform with Liz.
The courtyard is full, and people are agitated. The security police are keeping an eye on the perimeter -- by order of the base commander. Security's been awfully tight since Vic. Guards along the fences, searches at the front gate. Off to my right, my boss Bill Mounsey is keeping an eye on the crowd and his SP troops. Bill hasn't gotten much sleep lately.
And then there's me.
Ardelle's still heading across the platform. "I'm pretty nervous," she says, "but I'll sing if you want...." There's laughter in the crowd. We're ALL pretty nervous.
Then there's a scuffle in the crowd up front. Ardelle gets behind the lectern and close to the mike. I'm sure once she gets the Anthem started, the Ambassador will come out and we'll get down to business.
But there's a whirl of clothes and some pushing and shoving up front. Some tall older guy with glasses and long gray hair is throwing his arms up. Looks like someone leaned or fell against him and he was pushed back. And now he's pulling something out of his sleeve.
"GUN! GUN!! GUN!!!" I hear somebody scream, and the guy with the long gray hair is pulling a rifle out of the sleeve of his heavy coat, like he had it tucked in there next to his arm.
The crowd panics and scrambles. The courtyard starts clearing, not fast enough. People are screaming. The guy is whirling, looking for a target. He must have planned to shoot the Ambassador -- but someone bumped into him and now things are happening much too fast.
The guy is still pulling the rifle out and aiming when I'm on him. I see him through the scope and pull the trigger. The bullet catches him at the base of the back of his neck and he goes down in a heap of clothes and arms and legs.
But he's not alone. There's a brunette with him, behind him and to his left, and suddenly she's waving a pistol in the air. She's firing behind the stage, into the curtains, maybe hoping to hit the Ambassador before he comes out. Liz and Ardelle are screaming, cowering behind the lectern. I squeeze the trigger again, twice, and she goes down.
The screaming is non-stop now, and it's still not over. From somewhere behind the brunette, up comes a blonde with a pistol, she's vaguely Russian-looking, she's screaming angry, and she's pointing the gun toward my position on the neighboring roof overlooking the courtyard. I can see her through the scope, turning and aiming.
But something happens. The gun jams, and she pops the magazine out. It falls in front of her as she digs for another. Somehow gold bullets fall down in front of her, in slow motion, glinting in the sun, and I see her screaming. She reloads and aims again. I pull the trigger and her head explodes.
Other than the screaming, the courtyard is empty and silent. The screaming has become background noise. What I hear is Mounsey yelling "HOW THE HELL DID THESE PEOPLE GET IN HERE??!! WE ONLY SEARCH FOREIGNERS NOW, WE DON'T CHECK AMERICANS??!! GOD DAMN IT!!"
I'm not done yet. I'm waiting for more. But there's no movement in the courtyard, just the pile of bodies. There's blood everywhere. I didn't mean this -- to stain this place. Over my radio I hear that the Ambassador's secure and OK.
I'm not done. I'm waiting for more movement, more people drawing weapons. There aren't any more.
Then Mounsey's hand is on my shoulder. He's yelling in my ear: "STAND DOWN! STAND DOWN!"
I'm already turning away by then, switching the safety on the rifle, picking the weapon up and walking away. I climb down off the roof, walk out in front of the church, realize I'm shaking, and sit down next to the big tree out front. I lean back against the tree, pulling my rifle close. The SP's are all around me. The screaming is continuing. I know I helped cause some of it.
Mounsey's at my ear again: "You did good, Frank." He pats me on the back, heavily. He's my friend and he wants to know if I'm OK. I'm OK until then.
He walks away a couple of steps, and then the shaking gets really bad. Suddenly I'm crying, I'm sobbing.
I just killed three people. I feel it.
And yet I'm burning with it. Because I know this was why I was here. This is what I was supposed to do. I don't understand why it happened, but....
Now we've got to figure out how the hell they got those guns in here....
(((I want to note that I don't own a gun, and even if I did, my eyes are so bad I could never hit anything with it. I also have almost no training in handling weapons. Almost all the dreams I've had since I started blogging have ended up here, and this one was so vivid and scary it jolted me out of bed at 3:30 a.m and I couldn't get back to sleep. I don't know what it means or much about where it came from or why. But I know I'm not supposed to turn my back on an idea or a story, because you only get so many of them in one life. I'm not in charge, I just live here.)))
Thursday, May 23, 2013
#673: Dream 3 + more
I've been having parts of this same dream over&over for the last year or so:
I'm inside some huge old dust-covered antiquated radio station. There's ancient equipment scattered everywhere. It looks like the inside of someone's old workshop, now abandoned & cobwebby from disuse. Or like the inside of a giant warehouse I once saw in Wyoming -- full of old record albums & LOTS of other stuff accumulated over the years....
But the equipment still works. Throw a switch & the dials light up, talk into an old dusty mike & the meters move. Throw a master switch & suddenly YOU'RE ON THE AIR.
I don't know if anyone's Out There listening. But now that I know the equipment works, I can't just babble. At least not yet. So I look around....
There are records here. Walk across the dirty old hardwood floor & climb up a rickety old ladder/stairway into another room and there's a beat-up wooden desk/shelf-unit piled high with old 45's. Most of them aren't in paper sleeves -- they're dusty, lightly scratched and a little beat-up, but they're playable. & I have no choice.
They say you don't see colors in dreams, but there's red & blue & rainbow-colored record-labels here, stuff from the '50s & '60s I'm guessing, & I can see names & titles, but I can't remember what they were. Most of it is stuff I've never heard of -- or if I know the artists I've never heard the songs. Doesn't matter, they'll have to do.
I pile up the 20 or 30 least-scratched-up-looking 45's & head back to the main console, where a dusty turntable & a dusty, cobweb-wrapped mike wait for me. I throw a switch, the dials & meters light-up, the turntable actually starts turning, & the big red light/sign over my head goes on: ON THE AIR.
5 watts of pure power, blasting out into the Washington wilderness. Ghod knows if anyone can hear me. Doesn't matter.
"This is KSUM, broadcasting from Summit View, Washington...."
Latest playlist:
New Order -- Regret, True Faith.
Yes -- Leave It, It Can Happen, Rhythm of Love, Lift Me Up, Open Your Eyes, The Calling, Homeworld (The Ladder), Magnification.
Barclay James Harvest -- When the World Was Woken, Good Love Child.
Uriah Heep -- Easy Livin', Stealin', Sweet Lorraine.
Be-Bop Deluxe -- Modern Music, Japan, Panic in the World, Bring Back the Spark, Forbidden Lovers.
...Hope to get more into New Order, no luck yet. "Regret" & "True Faith" both still sound great, but I have yet to get through another song on their BEST OF....
The Yes tracks are from their DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, & those I heard for the first time Wednesday night sound pretty good, with just enough Steve Howe guitar & just enough Jon Anderson/Trevor Rabin vocals to make them worth hearing. "It Can Happen" still sounds marvelous, not sure why I underrated it for years; & I'm still a sucker for "Leave It." Sure would be nice to have "Changes" included here....
"Lift Me Up" has a rather good group-vocal chorus that they should've kept repeating.... Not sure why they felt compelled to add an orchestra on "Magnification," not sure it adds much, & this band always could make plenty of noise all by themselves; my favorite part is when it goes All Noisy at the end.
Speaking of orchestras, BJH's "When the World Was Woken" sounds vaguely Procol Harum-ish -- not bad, but not real memorable. "Good Love Child" is a rather dated-sounding simple rocker, with lyrics that veer toward the smutty, as these guys sometimes did. It's OK, though not as great a rocker as their "Taking Some Time On." (From THE HARVEST YEARS best-of.)
Have decided that Uriah Heep's great atmospheric backing vocals are about all that saves "Stealin'," a song I loved back in late '73 -- but I was too young to be able to catch the lyrics, & didn't even notice David Byron's kinda lame, overdone singing. It may be the lyrics, but he really Doesn't sound like A Nice Guy. As always, Ken Hensley's organ fills sound pretty great.
"Easy Livin'"'s still a classic, & it sure don't wear out its welcome. "Sweet Lorraine" was new to me -- it's OK, though I'm not sure about the howling WHO-OOOO keyboards -- but it must work as a hook, because by the end I didn't mind so much, was almost looking forward to it.... (From 20TH CENTURY MASTERS/BEST OF.)
Be-Bop's move toward something maybe a little more commercial (with their MODERN MUSIC album & definitely by the time of DRASTIC PLASTIC) didn't do them any favors. "Japan" is mechanical & boring, with an obvious herky-jerky New Wave influence. The rest are OK, & almost all feature Bill Nelson's almost-always beautiful guitar-playing. But it's not quite enough. (From RAIDING THE DIVINE ARCHIVE best-of.)
Will be continuing with the Mostly New-To-Me Stuff, stay tuned....
I'm inside some huge old dust-covered antiquated radio station. There's ancient equipment scattered everywhere. It looks like the inside of someone's old workshop, now abandoned & cobwebby from disuse. Or like the inside of a giant warehouse I once saw in Wyoming -- full of old record albums & LOTS of other stuff accumulated over the years....
But the equipment still works. Throw a switch & the dials light up, talk into an old dusty mike & the meters move. Throw a master switch & suddenly YOU'RE ON THE AIR.
I don't know if anyone's Out There listening. But now that I know the equipment works, I can't just babble. At least not yet. So I look around....
There are records here. Walk across the dirty old hardwood floor & climb up a rickety old ladder/stairway into another room and there's a beat-up wooden desk/shelf-unit piled high with old 45's. Most of them aren't in paper sleeves -- they're dusty, lightly scratched and a little beat-up, but they're playable. & I have no choice.
They say you don't see colors in dreams, but there's red & blue & rainbow-colored record-labels here, stuff from the '50s & '60s I'm guessing, & I can see names & titles, but I can't remember what they were. Most of it is stuff I've never heard of -- or if I know the artists I've never heard the songs. Doesn't matter, they'll have to do.
I pile up the 20 or 30 least-scratched-up-looking 45's & head back to the main console, where a dusty turntable & a dusty, cobweb-wrapped mike wait for me. I throw a switch, the dials & meters light-up, the turntable actually starts turning, & the big red light/sign over my head goes on: ON THE AIR.
5 watts of pure power, blasting out into the Washington wilderness. Ghod knows if anyone can hear me. Doesn't matter.
"This is KSUM, broadcasting from Summit View, Washington...."
Latest playlist:
New Order -- Regret, True Faith.
Yes -- Leave It, It Can Happen, Rhythm of Love, Lift Me Up, Open Your Eyes, The Calling, Homeworld (The Ladder), Magnification.
Barclay James Harvest -- When the World Was Woken, Good Love Child.
Uriah Heep -- Easy Livin', Stealin', Sweet Lorraine.
Be-Bop Deluxe -- Modern Music, Japan, Panic in the World, Bring Back the Spark, Forbidden Lovers.
...Hope to get more into New Order, no luck yet. "Regret" & "True Faith" both still sound great, but I have yet to get through another song on their BEST OF....
The Yes tracks are from their DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, & those I heard for the first time Wednesday night sound pretty good, with just enough Steve Howe guitar & just enough Jon Anderson/Trevor Rabin vocals to make them worth hearing. "It Can Happen" still sounds marvelous, not sure why I underrated it for years; & I'm still a sucker for "Leave It." Sure would be nice to have "Changes" included here....
"Lift Me Up" has a rather good group-vocal chorus that they should've kept repeating.... Not sure why they felt compelled to add an orchestra on "Magnification," not sure it adds much, & this band always could make plenty of noise all by themselves; my favorite part is when it goes All Noisy at the end.
Speaking of orchestras, BJH's "When the World Was Woken" sounds vaguely Procol Harum-ish -- not bad, but not real memorable. "Good Love Child" is a rather dated-sounding simple rocker, with lyrics that veer toward the smutty, as these guys sometimes did. It's OK, though not as great a rocker as their "Taking Some Time On." (From THE HARVEST YEARS best-of.)
Have decided that Uriah Heep's great atmospheric backing vocals are about all that saves "Stealin'," a song I loved back in late '73 -- but I was too young to be able to catch the lyrics, & didn't even notice David Byron's kinda lame, overdone singing. It may be the lyrics, but he really Doesn't sound like A Nice Guy. As always, Ken Hensley's organ fills sound pretty great.
"Easy Livin'"'s still a classic, & it sure don't wear out its welcome. "Sweet Lorraine" was new to me -- it's OK, though I'm not sure about the howling WHO-OOOO keyboards -- but it must work as a hook, because by the end I didn't mind so much, was almost looking forward to it.... (From 20TH CENTURY MASTERS/BEST OF.)
Be-Bop's move toward something maybe a little more commercial (with their MODERN MUSIC album & definitely by the time of DRASTIC PLASTIC) didn't do them any favors. "Japan" is mechanical & boring, with an obvious herky-jerky New Wave influence. The rest are OK, & almost all feature Bill Nelson's almost-always beautiful guitar-playing. But it's not quite enough. (From RAIDING THE DIVINE ARCHIVE best-of.)
Will be continuing with the Mostly New-To-Me Stuff, stay tuned....
Sunday, January 13, 2013
#623: Hadda dream 2
Had another 1 of THOSE dreams, music dreams. Ghod knows why. Thot it'd B worth sketching-out here cos it was so odd....
Very vivid: I'm at some kinda Southern Colonial-style house somewhere, big old-style wraparound covered front porch with railings, big windows in the house, very airy, huge grounds all around.
...& 4 some reason I'm replacing bass-player & vocalist Mont Campbell in the British early-'70s experimental/art-rock/Canterbury trio Egg. & I don't even play the bass. Or sing.
I'm sitting in the big bright airy drawing room of this almost-mansion, drinking coffee & talking over whatthehell we're gonna do at some quickly-approaching gig, talking with long-haired glasses-wearing keyboard whiz Dave Stewart & drummer Clive Brooks.
I don't know why I'm here or how I got the job. & I say so.
Because I've only heard about 1/2adozen Egg "songs," & wasn't even able 2 listen all the way thru their last album, 1974's arty & odd THE CIVIL SURFACE. I'm not really even a fan.
But Dave & Clive don't take it personally. We're joking around & I'm laughing nervously cos I have NO IDEA what I'm gonna do at this quickly-approaching gig, which might even B scheduled 4 THIS VERY NITE at this plantation or whatever.
It's a beautiful, mild summer day. We step outside, out in2 the huge yard, me strumming a guitar (?! I don't play 1 of those either), & we continue 2 sit & laff at R strange predicament.
Because I don't know their material & we've never worked 2gether B4, we decide we could just sorta jam & noodle around & that might possibly fill up an hr or 90 minutes of performance.
Dave is philosophical about it: "We could do 1 long piece and call it 'This Will Take Up 20 Minutes,' and then do another long piece and announce it as 'This Will Take Up 20 More Minutes.'"
And we laff about this. It's just about what you'd Xpect from a band that titled their compositions with names like "Long Piece No. 2."
At this point the dream faded out & I woke up, but I'd like 2 know: What do these dreams MEAN, Sigmund?
I hardly ever dream. But a couple nites ago I dreamed I was a new member of TV's NCIS team. & I know that's where I was Bcos Agent Gibbs was there, scowling disapprovingly the whole time....
COMING UP NEXT: Cheers(?!) for Seattle-area radio ... & 15 Great Overlooked "Pop" Albums....
Very vivid: I'm at some kinda Southern Colonial-style house somewhere, big old-style wraparound covered front porch with railings, big windows in the house, very airy, huge grounds all around.
...& 4 some reason I'm replacing bass-player & vocalist Mont Campbell in the British early-'70s experimental/art-rock/Canterbury trio Egg. & I don't even play the bass. Or sing.
I'm sitting in the big bright airy drawing room of this almost-mansion, drinking coffee & talking over whatthehell we're gonna do at some quickly-approaching gig, talking with long-haired glasses-wearing keyboard whiz Dave Stewart & drummer Clive Brooks.
I don't know why I'm here or how I got the job. & I say so.
Because I've only heard about 1/2adozen Egg "songs," & wasn't even able 2 listen all the way thru their last album, 1974's arty & odd THE CIVIL SURFACE. I'm not really even a fan.
But Dave & Clive don't take it personally. We're joking around & I'm laughing nervously cos I have NO IDEA what I'm gonna do at this quickly-approaching gig, which might even B scheduled 4 THIS VERY NITE at this plantation or whatever.
It's a beautiful, mild summer day. We step outside, out in2 the huge yard, me strumming a guitar (?! I don't play 1 of those either), & we continue 2 sit & laff at R strange predicament.
Because I don't know their material & we've never worked 2gether B4, we decide we could just sorta jam & noodle around & that might possibly fill up an hr or 90 minutes of performance.
Dave is philosophical about it: "We could do 1 long piece and call it 'This Will Take Up 20 Minutes,' and then do another long piece and announce it as 'This Will Take Up 20 More Minutes.'"
And we laff about this. It's just about what you'd Xpect from a band that titled their compositions with names like "Long Piece No. 2."
At this point the dream faded out & I woke up, but I'd like 2 know: What do these dreams MEAN, Sigmund?
I hardly ever dream. But a couple nites ago I dreamed I was a new member of TV's NCIS team. & I know that's where I was Bcos Agent Gibbs was there, scowling disapprovingly the whole time....
COMING UP NEXT: Cheers(?!) for Seattle-area radio ... & 15 Great Overlooked "Pop" Albums....
Sunday, July 15, 2012
#575: I had a dream....
I went to Virgin Records' Manor Recording Studio in England -- or somewhere like it. I interviewed the Manor's resident recording engineer Tom Newman, the guy who got the sounds & twiddled the knobs on Mike Oldfield's TUBULAR BELLS and Hatfield and the North's 1st album.
Tom was happy to talk about the Olde Days, but after we were done hashing that out, he was much more excited to talk about what he'd been up to LATELY.
From a shelf behind him he pulled out an album. What I saw was a bright-yellow Roger Dean-style album cover with a painting of a gnarled old tree whose branches entwined to spell-out a band name: HYMNIST.
The cover opened up to reveal an inner fold showing a map of a magical fantasy land where the songs on the album supposedly took place. Tucked into the corners of the gatefold were mugshot photos of the 3 band members, all wearing studious musicians' expressions. There was lots of long hair & glasses.
I don't remember actually hearing any of the music. But I must have heard it, because I remember saying to Tom that his band reminded me of '70s British folk-rock/progressive acts like Gryphon & Amazing Blondel ... which Tom claimed (to my disbelief) never to have heard. Odd, because those bands were semi-popular at the same time Newman's career was getting started, & the Blondels were from just down the road in Lincoln.
Not sure who the other members of the band were -- it possibly included Virgin Records staffer Christopher Strangeways (great name, huh?). Pretty sure it was a trio, tho. & between the 3 of them, they played as many instruments as the Moody Blues, according to the album credits.
I assume this album was released by Virgin, tho it could just as easily have been issued by Vertigo or Deram or Island or Transatlantic, or any of the other forward-looking, "progressive" record labels of the time.
Not sure what year this dream was supposed to have taken place, but it couldn't have been much later than 1977 -- because such a folk/prog fantasy-world album would've been laughed out of the record stores by the arrival of Punk Rock.
Doesn't matter really -- the album doesn't exist, never did -- I looked it up thru my favorite sources at home + Wikipedia & the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock, just 2 make sure it wasn't something I saw once & then promptly forgot about for the next 35 years....
I've heard Xactly 1 song by Tom Newman as a solo artist -- the modest & brief "Sad Sing," which led-off Newman's 1975 album for Virgin, FINE OLD TOM, & was included on the famous late-'70s 99-cent GREATER ANTILLES SAMPLER album from Island Records -- also the 1st place I ever heard Nick Drake (with the gorgeous "Northern Sky"). "Sad Sing" itself is highlighted by Newman's rather weedy but charming singing voice, & by Mike Oldfield playing some nice "twiddly-bits" guitar. Don't know if this 2-minute track is a good Xample of the rest of Newman's work.... Copies of FINE OLD TOM can B found at Amazon.com for $15-$25 if you feel brave.... Newman also apparently released a later album called FAERIE SYMPHONY which maybe I should check out....
Tom Newman is 69 years old, & tho he's done a few albums himself (& was in a pre-Jade Warrior-members' band called July), he's probly a little old to be hitting the stage again.
What I want to know is: Has this ever happened to anybody else? Dreamed about albums that don't exist? And in such detail?
I've read about people who supposedly dreamed about new Stevie Nicks songs before she ever released them ... & many years ago I saw the front cover of my 1st book in a dream -- odd, because I still haven't written my 1st book. (Course it might also have been a copy of Michael Moorcock's CORNELIUS CHRONICLES too, but....)
And these days I hardly ever remember what I dream. It was very unusual that this 1 should be so vivid.
I think this is just my subconscious's way of telling me 2 get some more weird music in2 the house because I'm bored with almost everything. But....
Anybody else ever dreamed about books or music that don't exist but seem so real that they should have...?
COMING SOON: Reviews of Max Barry's SYRUP, the ROCK YEARBOOK series, Wigwam's HIGHLIGHTS best-of, & other off-the-wall music I've been playing at work lately....
Tom was happy to talk about the Olde Days, but after we were done hashing that out, he was much more excited to talk about what he'd been up to LATELY.
From a shelf behind him he pulled out an album. What I saw was a bright-yellow Roger Dean-style album cover with a painting of a gnarled old tree whose branches entwined to spell-out a band name: HYMNIST.
The cover opened up to reveal an inner fold showing a map of a magical fantasy land where the songs on the album supposedly took place. Tucked into the corners of the gatefold were mugshot photos of the 3 band members, all wearing studious musicians' expressions. There was lots of long hair & glasses.
I don't remember actually hearing any of the music. But I must have heard it, because I remember saying to Tom that his band reminded me of '70s British folk-rock/progressive acts like Gryphon & Amazing Blondel ... which Tom claimed (to my disbelief) never to have heard. Odd, because those bands were semi-popular at the same time Newman's career was getting started, & the Blondels were from just down the road in Lincoln.
Not sure who the other members of the band were -- it possibly included Virgin Records staffer Christopher Strangeways (great name, huh?). Pretty sure it was a trio, tho. & between the 3 of them, they played as many instruments as the Moody Blues, according to the album credits.
I assume this album was released by Virgin, tho it could just as easily have been issued by Vertigo or Deram or Island or Transatlantic, or any of the other forward-looking, "progressive" record labels of the time.
Not sure what year this dream was supposed to have taken place, but it couldn't have been much later than 1977 -- because such a folk/prog fantasy-world album would've been laughed out of the record stores by the arrival of Punk Rock.
Doesn't matter really -- the album doesn't exist, never did -- I looked it up thru my favorite sources at home + Wikipedia & the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock, just 2 make sure it wasn't something I saw once & then promptly forgot about for the next 35 years....
I've heard Xactly 1 song by Tom Newman as a solo artist -- the modest & brief "Sad Sing," which led-off Newman's 1975 album for Virgin, FINE OLD TOM, & was included on the famous late-'70s 99-cent GREATER ANTILLES SAMPLER album from Island Records -- also the 1st place I ever heard Nick Drake (with the gorgeous "Northern Sky"). "Sad Sing" itself is highlighted by Newman's rather weedy but charming singing voice, & by Mike Oldfield playing some nice "twiddly-bits" guitar. Don't know if this 2-minute track is a good Xample of the rest of Newman's work.... Copies of FINE OLD TOM can B found at Amazon.com for $15-$25 if you feel brave.... Newman also apparently released a later album called FAERIE SYMPHONY which maybe I should check out....
Tom Newman is 69 years old, & tho he's done a few albums himself (& was in a pre-Jade Warrior-members' band called July), he's probly a little old to be hitting the stage again.
What I want to know is: Has this ever happened to anybody else? Dreamed about albums that don't exist? And in such detail?
I've read about people who supposedly dreamed about new Stevie Nicks songs before she ever released them ... & many years ago I saw the front cover of my 1st book in a dream -- odd, because I still haven't written my 1st book. (Course it might also have been a copy of Michael Moorcock's CORNELIUS CHRONICLES too, but....)
And these days I hardly ever remember what I dream. It was very unusual that this 1 should be so vivid.
I think this is just my subconscious's way of telling me 2 get some more weird music in2 the house because I'm bored with almost everything. But....
Anybody else ever dreamed about books or music that don't exist but seem so real that they should have...?
COMING SOON: Reviews of Max Barry's SYRUP, the ROCK YEARBOOK series, Wigwam's HIGHLIGHTS best-of, & other off-the-wall music I've been playing at work lately....
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