Marathon 4 not that bad

Suddenly it's fall here. Pouring rain, windy, temperatures down around 50 at night. And just two weeks ago it was 95 degrees. Ah, global warming. This is the new normal.
Marathon 4 at work hasn't been so bad. My feet are numb, but the work itself hasn't been too terrible, and my two long days this past Monday and Tuesday were actually a nice break -- just enough to disrupt my routine in a good way. Tonight will be Night Number 10 out of 12, so maybe I'm just delirious by this point. Sometimes that's not a bad place to be. But sleeping in late today sure helped balance things out.
I've been pretty cheery and haven't had to raise my voice at work in a week ... but I had a real challenge in the store last night. Good thing I was in a good mood.
He came in at 10 p.m. with a hoodie over his head and a backpack on his back -- clearly he was either homeless or had been thrown out. He angrily demanded that I sell him two packs of smokes. Didn't tell me what KIND of smokes -- it took three more questions to get that information out of him.
Then he about broke our card-reader when he discovered we didn't have a chip-reader to speed up his transaction. He about tore the bottom off of the machine while trying to force it to work.
"I am SO FUCKING PISSED OFF!" he shouted.
"OK," I said, "easy, easy -- we don't have a chip reader, just slide your card down the side."
He didn't tell me if he preferred debit or credit. That took three more questions to get out of him.
Then he needed a lighter. We agreed a couple free packs of matches would be better, so he didn't have to fight with the card-slider again.
Then he left, and began circling around the building, shrieking into his cellphone. Clearly he was upset about something. But he wasn't done.
A few minutes later, he returned with an empty beer can he'd found in the parking lot.
"I want to pay for this," he said.
"You don't have to pay for that," I said. "It's empty. But thanks for picking it up for me...."
"No, I want to BUY this. Will you just SCAN IT so I can PAY you for it?!"
No point arguing. So I scanned it. And naturally, the cash register came up with the six-pack price of almost $6 after tax.
"Normally we charge 99 cents for a short can like this," I told him. "You don't have to pay me six bucks for an empty beer can. You don't have to pay me AT ALL. I'm not gonna charge you for this."
"YES YOU ARE!"
He forced $7 cash into my hand and left. And I took his money. Because there's no point arguing with a deranged person over something this silly.
I thought he'd left, but he wandered back in at ten minutes before closing and asked if there was somewhere he could sit down for a minute.
"I've been on my feet all night and my feet are burning up," he said.
So I gave him our step-stool to sit on, and he set it up back in the corner next to the soda machine. I went back to closing up the store and the next thing I knew he was trying to get water out of the soda machine.
"That machine's already closed down for the night," I told him. "If you try to get water out of it, it's going to spray everywhere."
"I just want some water," he said.
"I can fill it up for you quicker here behind the counter."
"I'll get it HERE."
"It's going to spray everywhere...."
No point arguing. He was already trying to fill an ugly-looking plastic gallon bottle with water, and it sprayed all over him and the machine and the floor.
And I sighed and went back to work.
A couple minutes later he shrieked "I just want some WATER!"
"I can fill it for you in the sink here behind the counter. Only takes a minute."
"I'll get it HERE!"
OK, no point in arguing. He got his water bottle filled and I cleaned up the spilled water after he left.
But as it got closer to midnight, I wondered if he was going to be a problem to get out of the store so I could close. It's happened before, though not in a long time.
I thought maybe he was finished, but I was wrong. I had the news playing on the radio, and maybe that set him off.
He walked over to where I was perched on the edge of the counter.
"Hey, have you seen it before?" he asked.
I wasn't sure I'd heard him right, so I turned the radio down. "What?" I asked him.
"Have you SEEN it before?"
"Seen WHAT before?"
"The MACHINE! Have you seen the MACHINE before?!"
He seemed to be referring to something outside. But there were no machines or vehicles out there. The parking lot was empty. What machine was he seeing?
"I'm not understanding you," I said. "...And I have to close this place up in about three minutes."
This deflated him. "Oh. OK." And he slowly gathered up his stuff and shambled out the door. He was no trouble at all. I told him to be careful out there, and I meant it. And I was grateful that he was no serious trouble while he was in the store.
Now this was clearly a person in distress. And there wasn't much of that distress that I could help with. Or that he seemed to WANT help with. He was already furious when he walked into the store. I sure couldn't help with THAT. All I could do was be careful with him.
But I wonder about these homeless folks -- where they come from, why they always seem to come out more when the rain starts pouring down, what kind of weirdness has messed them up so badly. I wonder why so often they seem to be guys who don't know when to shut up -- guys who've gotten into ugly fights with their Significant Others and then been tossed out. There's a lot of weird, ugly, knee-jerk behavior going on out there these days. Doesn't anybody ever relax anymore, or is everything grounds for an ugly argument?
Did you know Washington is among the Bottom 10 in the U.S. when it comes to mental-health services and funding? The feeling is that if folks who need help can deal with Reality, they should be out there dealing with it 24/7. And maybe that's why there are so many people roaming the streets here. And most of them don't seem to want any help.
Coincidentally, our famous former Regular "Bike Guy" (also homeless) met me in the parking lot when I got to work Thursday afternoon. The last time I saw him, a couple of winters back, he had a BAD case of shingles and was WAY distraught about Everything. You couldn't ask him a question without him freaking out.
After that, he disappeared. I was pretty sure he'd died. He'd refused to go to the emergency room or see a doctor at a free clinic. He refused to go to a homeless shelter. He said all they'd do was mess with him.
Yesterday, he looked WAY happier and healthier than I'd seen him in years, maybe ever. He'd moved to a town 10 miles up the road and was WAY more hopeful about his future. He agreed he'd been in bad shape, but things were MUCH better now....
But I wonder about the future for Bike Guy and that guy last night ... and even for me in five years if things go wrong. I have no idea of the challenges homeless people face every day. I have no idea what I can do to help. Most of those I've met don't seem to WANT any help.
There are no safety nets for anyone. Not really. We shouldn't kid ourselves. We never know what's going to happen. And winter's coming soon....

Happier things, now. I have a ton of new-to-me music in the house, mostly from the recent Portland trip, that I've barely had time to even sniff at. I'll be listening to and reviewing it in the near future. Artists include Hawkwind, Magma, Camel, Gong, Cat Stevens, The Strawbs, Gentle Giant, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Grateful Dead, The Go-Go's, Bob Seger, The Drifters ... and some guy named Frank Sinatra.
More soon....

Marathon 4 looms

NOW: It's hot here, mid-90s, damn hot for western Washington -- 95 here is like 105 in Idaho. The nights especially remind me of Idaho -- warm but dry, not hideous. It could be worse -- it could be way muggier. But the days are like an oven. There's at least one more 90-degree day coming before summer gives up here. And all the people who were whining that it rained too much in June and July are screaming for relief now.

COMING UP: My 57th birthday is tomorrow, and to celebrate I'll be spending my weekend in Portland, Ore., location of what I'm assured is the World's Biggest Used Bookstore. If I survive that, I'm told there's at least one decent record store in town, too. And I'll be spending all weekend with the woman I love, the best birthday present of all. Can't wait.

NEXT: After Birthday Weekend, I'm scheduled to work the next 12 nights in a row leading up to Labor Day. A couple of those will be longer work-nights than normal. Can't wait. Have been stocking up on new music in preparation for this upcoming stretch. I ain't no spring chicken however, and with the heat most customers at work seem even more pushy than usual. I'm a little pushy these days myself, but I'm trying to watch it.
If things should get too crazy or exhausting at work, you may see an Interruption In Service here at the Back-Up Plan, but I will be doing my best to carry on....

LISTENING: To keep myself sane, have been listening to lots of Aretha Franklin and Steely Dan. Have especially gotten into the choruses of the Dan's "Dirty Work": "I don't want to do your dirty work no more/I'm a fool to do your dirty work, oh yeah." I probably should have been fired years ago. That and the silly non-sequitur comedy of "Pretzel Logic." The angry guitar and lyrics in "Don't Take Me Alive." And of course nobody can top Aretha.
Speaking of non-sequiturs, right now am listening to the Firesign Theatre's SHOES FOR INDUSTRY! best-of. Sometimes unaccountably hilarious. I laugh for reasons I can't explain. The Theatre's DON'T CRUSH THAT DWARF HAND ME THE PLIERS is an old high-school favorite of mine, the greatest comedy album of all time, even if you're not stoned. And this best-of features a big slug of it, thank Ghod, or Columbia/Legacy, or whoever. But I can't stand "Nick Danger."

READING: Trying to read Clive Davis's THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE (2012). I really enjoyed his much-earlier CLIVE: INSIDE THE RECORD BUSINESS, especially the parts where he tried to take credit for EVERYONE'S success while he was running Columbia Records in the '60s and '70s.
Hey, maybe Clive DID edit and splice-together all those great early Chicago hits. SOMEBODY had to. I can just hear him telling the band, "Guys, if you take out all the dead horn parts and useless solos, you might just have something GOOD here." Too bad he couldn't save stuff like "Just You 'n' Me" or "Saturday in the Park." But at least he let them get away with stuff like "In Terms of Two" and "Critic's Choice."
Clive seems much more modest and much less self-serving in SOUNDTRACKS. But I'm only 10 chapters in, so there's plenty of time for that to change....

Broke/Hot

Hey there. Writing this at work, so can't stay long.
Am as broke now as I've been in months -- the 10 hours per month I've been cut back at work is really starting to bite.
So, over past couple days have been piling up music and books to take to Half-Price Books in Tacoma for some cash. I haven't been there in five years, so I'm overdue -- if they're still in business. I'm thinking maybe they'll give me $50 or maybe $75 for the two HUGE boxes of stuff, and I'll be a little ahead of the bills. Sorry to whine. Right now I can't even afford the $4 to get over the toll bridge....
Most of the stuff that's going is books I've never successfully gotten into or will probably never read -- and lots of music I've repeatedly tried to get into with no luck: Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin solo, some Weather Report, some Return to Forever, Gong, early Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, some Spirit, Brand X, some King Crimson vinyl that I also have on CD, other odds and ends and some beat-up old stuff.
If this slows down my plans for a Strange Music Guide, ah well -- I'm not making very quick progress on it anyway, and I need the bucks.
Course there's always a chance something at Half Price will catch my eye, and if so I'll report on it here. I've never had much self-discipline....

It's HOT here -- supposed to be 90 or over this weekend into next week. That's hot for western Washington. My apologies to you out there who are suffering 100-degree-plus temperatures. As humid as it gets here, we might as well be over 100. Best part of coming to work these days is the air conditioning -- which is miraculously still working....

I owe another steak dinner to 2000 Man, who gave a four-star review to my GAS NAZI! e-book at Amazon.com's Kindle Store. It is so nice to know some people actually GET what I'm trying to do, or at least enjoy reading my fumblings....
Hope to get back to blogging more often here soon. All the best....

#727: Book 2 update

Counting the notes I've bashed into the laptop so I don't I forget stuff, I'm 37,500 words/about 120 pages into Book 2, the newspaper-reporting memoir I'm calling THE CONFESSOR. The writing hasn't been hard. I've been feeling guilty that I haven't been able to work on the book every day -- there's all these jobs and relationships that get in the way, don't ya know.
Have made it all the way through recounting my 10-year Air Force public-affairs career and am now about to tackle life on newspapers out here in the Real World, where the fun really begins.
I'm estimating this book will be longer than my record-store memoir, GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC! I'm not so worried about getting EVERYTHING down this time, though I am of course doing my best. There are enough outrageous high points that I trust a minute-by-minute recap of my 20 years as a reporter won't be necessary....
A few blog posts from here will be recycled and thrown into this book as well -- so far, bits and pieces from "Facing Dr. Pagan," "The Smallest Air Force Base in the World," "The Boogie Monster and Other Adventures," "Three years in Tay-jazz!," "Two years in Turkey," "The Apneac," and some other bits have been used -- usually at a shorter length than the version that appeared here.
Full Disclosure rules force me to warn You Out There that "The poster-child for stressing-out," "The worst Prom date EVER," and "My worst moment" will also be recycled and tossed in. Can't help it if I've written about a lot of this stuff before, and I doubt if I can improve much on the versions that have appeared here. Though I'll try, of course. And I still think it will be worth your time when it's all done....

Speaking of GUARANTEED GREAT MUSIC!, the sales figures haven't improved since the last time I posted here, though there are some holiday sales specials coming up, and I'm trying to get a sample section of the book posted at Amazon.com's Kindle Store so you can read the opening 10 pages or so -- stuff you've never read anywhere else before. Hopefully that will entice some of you into giving the book a shot. Hope so, anyway. I think it's pretty good, and if you've enjoyed my nostalgia pieces here you'll probably like it....
A stunning 4 people have bought the book so far, and I have NO IDEA who the fourth person is, so that's something.... Anybody out there who's read the book and doesn't mind the work -- feel free to post what you thought of GGM on the book's page at Amazon's Kindle Store. Might help me sell a few books. And I'll remember you in my will....

I've been neglecting the Guaranteed Great Music! blog, and I regret that. I haven't always been close to the Internet lately and it was a LONG holiday week at work. But I will do my best to get back to it soonly, with a review of Split Enz's goofy 1981 album WAIATA....
Also will have a new post up soon at THE GAS NAZI! -- it will be called "Trust me...?," referring to a lecture I got from a customer a couple of weeks ago. Should be fun. And just in time for the holidays....

Meanwhile, Good Ghod it's COLD here -- 30s during the day, and down in the teens and 20's at night -- pretty freaking cold for western Washington. So I'm keeping warm by typing my fingers off and dreaming of having enough income from writing to retire with. Dream on....

Have been making notes for the 4th Annual TAD Awards, my annual round-up of the best and worst stuff I read or heard over the past year. It might be a little thin, due to my recent extracurricular activities, but there'll be some shockers in there anyway. That'll be coming before the end of the month....
By the way, I started blogging five years ago this week....

Have been listening to some new music while at work, though not much. Lots of Van Morrison, from his STILL ON TOP best-of. Have really started enjoying Van's "Wavelength," "Saint Dominic's Preview," "In the Garden," "Real Real Gone," "Gloria," and "Stranded" -- along with the other great stuff that's on there, like "Jackie Wilson Said," "Wild Night," "Into the Mystic," "Domino," "Cleaning Windows," "Wonderful Remark," etc.
Even the songs that aren't really that great as songs have wonderful little moments in the singing and playing that are worth waiting for -- like the playing and vocals on "In the Garden," or the synthesizer and backing vocals on "Wavelength." It's also sort of interesting how out-of-it Van sounds on "Real Real Gone," which is a very basic, simple song....
My only real complaint about this LONG (3-CD) collection is that "Sweet Thing" isn't on here -- it's the only song from Van's acclaimed ASTRAL WEEKS that I've ever been able to get into. On it he sounds positively ecstatic, absolutely transported by love. That's a vision anybody could spend a career chasing.
Also had a great time hearing syndicated music-news-and-reviews radio show SOUND OPINIONS' choices for the best rock songs about the music business -- the show aired last Sunday night. Almost everything they played was pretty great. Hadn't heard Patti Smith's version of "So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star" in years. And I have GOT to track me down some Graham Parker -- his grudge tune "Mercury Poisoning" is GREAT!
Course my favorite rock song about the music biz is Badfinger's masterful, dramatic "In the Meantime/Some Other Time" off of their WISH YOU WERE HERE album. Go track it down, it's well worth it....

By the way, that post I did for Halloween about dressing up in women's clothing and hanging around in bars has attracted more views (73) then anything else I've done in quite awhile. Glad you liked it. Might have to toss that into the new book too, if I've got any room left....
More soon....

#720: Book update

The Record Store Book is basically done. I'm at 61,000 words for the memoir itself -- and a detailed playlist/discography of all the good and bad music we played in the store back in the day bumps it up to 65,000 words, which seems like a good place to stop.
I'm thinking I must be pretty close to finished, because scenes have stopped popping into my head at 2 a.m. and demanding to be written-up.
Except for a couple of minor little music-research details that I have to nail down, I guess I'm done. Have re-read and proofread the book over the last week-plus and I think it's not bad. Some of it's pretty vivid, parts of it are funny, and I think in places it even does what I want it to do.
So, what next?
I'm thinking I might go the Kindle route to get the book Out There, since I've recently learned that self-publishing can be EXPENSIVE. And everybody knows I'm on a Low Budget (Kinks)....
However, I also know you can get lots of books for free on Kindle, so I remain confused about how much I should charge for this masterpiece. Guess that'll come down to How Much Balls I think I've got.... However, I plan to research this further almost immediately.
I'll keep you posted. Am also open to advice about all this stuff. In the current market, I have major doubts about whether a book about working in an old record store has a large enough potential audience to be accepted by an established publisher....
Even if the book DOES have everything a potential best-seller needs -- sex, drugs, rock and roll, it's all in there. A close-up look at a whole subculture that's nearly vanished....
...Uh, sorry, just trying to crank up the hype machine a little, since I guess I'm about to become my own promotional company as well....

Am continuing to use Stevie Wonder, Junior Walker, Booker T and the MG's, The Temptations, The Spinners and Parliament as motivational music at work, and they have all helped get me through the rough spots. Have listened to nothing much New lately apart from songs I'd never heard before played on the syndicated music-news-and-views radio-show SOUND OPINIONS.
Mercifully, this past week at work was easier than the previous week. An update on current work conditions will be posted at THE GAS NAZI! eventually....
It is cold, overcast and gray here, daily high temps around 50. I can tell Winter is coming because I feel like I'm shutting down -- feel like I have half the energy I did a few weeks ago. Pretty much normal for me, this time of year. Hope you are NOT the same....
More soon....

#569: Writing to feel alive

Ah, these Pacific Northwest winters, when the torrential rains & the gloomy, gray, cold, overcast weather sometimes continues in2 mid-June. Like this year. Mon was sunny & in the low 70s, but 9+ months of the year this is no place 4 folks who R prone 2 B depressed.
Last year R local Classic Rock radio station KZOK briefly ran this commercial:
"Wow, Summer in Seattle! What is it -- 58? 62? It's killin' me! And the HUMIDITY?! THAT'S a REAL killer...."
On Fri morn it was in the low 40s & FOGGY here. What's up with that?
Some days when it's overcast & gloomy, sometimes plugging-in & setting-up the CD player -- let alone trying 2 decide what New Stuff 2 play -- is just 2 damn much work.
So instead I read. A lot. Sometimes I re-read old stuff I've had around 4 years. Anything that might help wake me up, remind me that not EVERYTHING is gray & gloomy & overcast. Something with some LIFE 2 it.
I 1st found writing with some real LIFE in it thru music criticism -- in the writings of Lester Bangs, Charles M. Young, Robert Christgau's CONSUMER GUIDES, Dave Marsh, Vince Aletti (he shoulda written more), John Mendelssohn, Chuck Eddy, Chip Stern's great biting jazz reviews, Rafi Zabor, Vic Garbarini, Jill Blardinelli, Dave DiMartino, Bill Flanagan, Matt Resnicoff, & a few others. Humor, Attitude, rage, confusion, depression even -- these folks weren't afraid 2 let it all out -- vividly.
Looking back, some science-fiction -- the 1st stuff I ever read religiously -- had lotsa vivid life 2 it. The poetry & mood of early George R.R. Martin (B4 he got famous writing huge fantasy novels), the late poet Roger Zelazny, early Samuel R. Delany (before 1970), Harlan Ellison's howls of pain & indignation, Frederik Pohl's GATEWAY & others, Kim Stanley Robinson's hilarious ESCAPE FROM KATHMANDU, Ray Bradbury's MARTIAN CHRONICLES, Robert Silverberg's DYING INSIDE, THE BOOK OF SKULLS, & others. Lew Shiner's GLIMPSES. Gael Baudino's GOSSAMER AXE.
In horror, Kathe Koja's SKIN & mosta her other novels rang the bell 4 me. Jack Ketchum. James Ellroy. Peter Straub's KOKO and THE THROAT. Stephen King's IT and THE STAND.
And some carefully-observed general-non-fiction can do the job 2 -- pointing out what's going on in all of its silliness or pain or confusion -- mosta John McPhee's work, Tim Cahill, Hunter S. Thompson's THE GREAT SHARK HUNT and FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72.
& more: Richard Di Lello's hilarious THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY. Rob Sheffield's LOVE IS A MIX TAPE. Ian MacDonald's REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD. Jon Savage's ENGLAND'S DREAMING.
I wish I could find more books like these -- stuff that sez in a clear, loud voice: This is what life is all about, what it's like -- it's not all cloudy and overcast and rainy and cold. This is what life was like B4 you forgot about it or got too old 2 remember how 2 feel. This is what life is like 4 people who R Still Awake. So Wake Up.
At nite I read music blogs. Some nites I update this 1. Some days I even play music. What I do here -- & the books I read & the music I listen 2 so that I want 2 write about them here -- is what keeps me going. My job just pays the bills.

#543: The work continues....

The Blogger's Curse works! Since my last post -- which droned on&on about what a rotten "Spring" we've been thru here in the Pacific Northwest -- we've had 2 GORGEOUS sunny days: We hit 65 degrees on Sat & 70 on Easter Sunday.
I've already gotta nice sunburn going 2 make up 4 last Summer -- which was so short I didn't even get a tan....
& everybody wants it 2 B Spring For Real, here. There were a LOT of people out Sun nite, almost like it was a Summer Fri nite. It's still 47 degrees outside at 1 am -- warmer than some of R cloudy, rainy days have been lately. It's a real change 4 us.
Course it's sposta start raining overnite....

...But my Real Work continues. In my ongoing effort 2 turn unsuspecting members of the suburban US on 2 some slightly Strange Music, the rest of this week's playlist at my job included....
Pat Metheny -- As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls, The Search, Ozark, Praise, New Chatauqua, First Circle.
Lyle Mays -- Ascent.
Synergy -- Icarus, Warriors, S-Scape.
Nektar -- Do You Believe in Magic?, The Dream Nebula Parts 1 & 2, It's All in Your Mind, King of Twilight, Wings, It's All Over.
The Nice -- America.
Moody Blues -- Veteran Cosmic Rocker.
Justin Hayward and John Lodge -- When You Wake Up.
Rush -- The Camera Eye, Red Barchetta.
King Crimson -- The Great Deceiver, Lament, The Night Watch, Coda from "Larks Tongues in Aspic, Part 1," Red, Starless.
Happy the Man -- Service With a Smile, Wind-Up Doll Day Wind, Open Book, Morning Sun, Steaming Pipes.
Group 87 -- Future of the City, Magnificent Clockworks, One Night Away from Day.
U.K. -- In the Dead of Night/By the Light of Day/Presto Vivace and Reprise.
Mark Knopfler -- Going Home (Theme from LOCAL HERO).
Steve Tibbetts -- Ur.
Camel -- Sasquatch, Breathless, Echoes, Wing and a Prayer, Down on the Farm, Starlight Ride, Rhayader/Rhayader Goes to Town, Lady Fantasy suite, City Life, Please Come Home.
Alan Parsons Project -- The Gold Bug.
Mike Oldfield -- Arrival.
Scarlet Rivera -- Day of the Unicorn.
Jethro Tull -- Dark Ages, The Whistler, And the Mouse Police Never Sleeps, One Brown Mouse, Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day, The Third Hoorah, Nursie, Life's a Long Song, A Christmas Song.
Steeleye Span -- Allison Gross.
Hawkwind -- You'd Better Believe It, Goat Willow, Lost Johnny, Hall of the Mountain Grill, Paradox, Web Weaver.

...Response was somewhat low-key, tho 2 folks responded 2 Pat Metheny's "Wichita Falls," 1 Regular asking if we always played Cambodian music in the store ... & another customer commenting that "You sure play some strange music here...." & "Wichita Falls" isn't even that strange!
Another Regular was thrilled 2 hear Tull's "Skating Away," which he'd apparently never heard B4. He recognized the voice but couldn't place the song, & then stayed 2 hear the whole thing!
1 young guy said he really enjoyed a few mins of Synergy's epic "Warriors." Another Regular was stopped in his tracks by Hawkwind's "You'd Better Believe It," then said only that I'm "into some strange stuff...."
Signs R Ncouraging. This work will continue, of course....

Coming Soon: More Sandy Denny, Richard & Linda Thompson, more Weather Report LIVE, Eric Burdon, Nektar, Illusion, Borbetomagus, & more.....
& coming slightly later: "2 months on Match.com," a terrifying story you won't want 2 miss....

#526: Global warming...?

It was sunny & in the mid-50s here on Tues, the 5th consecutive day of Spring-like weather. I even went out & MOWED THE LAWN Tues aft. How sick is THAT? & I hadda pretty good time, 2. It felt pretty good being out there. Not at all like work. I was even laughing. It was almost relaxing. Didn't even havta hum little songs 2 keep me motivated. A body in motion....
I would love it if this were the Official Start Of Spring, but I'm fairly sure Mother Nature/La Nina is just softening us up 4 another round of rain & cold & crap. In fact, it's already started sprinkling 2nite. But it was nice while it lasted. Next time we'll see the sun will probly B in April. Or June....

Spent the past couple of days reading Judith Merril & Emily Pohl-Weary's BETTER TO HAVE LOVED (2002), Merril's life story pasted-2gether by her granddaughter Pohl-Weary after Merril's death in 1997.
Merril was a prominent science-fiction writer, book critic & anthologist from the '50s in2 the '70s -- her wide-ranging selections in her '60s annual YEAR'S BEST SF short-story anthologies influenced current SF writers like William Gibson.
I remember Merril best as the book reviewer 4 THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION in the mid-'60s when she championed the works of Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Roger Zelazny, R.A. Lafferty, & most of the British "New Wave." But her columns weren't just book reviews -- they were travelogues of the places she visited (mid-'60s London, the brutal '68 Chicago Democratic Convention), descriptions of writers she met, whatever struck her fancy.
The book is a bit of a grab-bag: The opening chapters that follow her life story R pretty riveting, as she meets The Futurians in New York City, marries writer/editor Frederik Pohl, argues & collaborates with C.M. Kornbluth, befriends a ton of SF writers (including lifelong friends Virginia Kidd & Katherine MacLean), & has affairs with star SF writers Theodore Sturgeon, Fritz Leiber, Walter M. Miller Jr., & others.
She was a tough woman, & she went thru a lot. But after witnessing Chicago '68 up-close she moved 2 Toronto 2 become a "resource person" at the city's experimental Rochdale College. & after that the book sorta slowly dribbles away as the details of her life get thinner. Pohl-Weary sorta apologizes 4 this up-front. But there's no need.
The best part of this book is as good & as vivid an SF reminiscence as Damon Knight's THE FUTURIANS and Frederik Pohl's THE WAY THE FUTURE WAS. If you're an old-time SF fan, you'll probably love it. & as a peek behind the scenes, it's pretty priceless.
& some of it's beautiful. Here's Merril's opening, written by a woman who outlived nearly all the lovers in her life:
"Every way to lose a lover is unbearable. ... Grief is not knowing where to give the love that does not stop."

Have also been trying 2 read Ray Coleman's massive LENNON biography (1984/1995/2000), but I'm suprised about how surfacey it is. Some of the descriptions of the early days in Liverpool & Hamburg R pretty fresh, but the later stuff thins out drastically, & I think Coleman even gets summa the minor details wrong.
Maybe there just isn't anything new & fresh left 2 say in this story. But I'd think in 700 pgs of text (originally published as 2 books) that Coleman coulda found something new -- he'd interviewed Lennon many times.
It is, at least, better, more positive, more optimistic than Albert Goldman's wretched THE MANY LIVES OF JOHN LENNON, which was so outrageously negative that I couldn't finish it -- despite being locked in by Goldman's earlier ELVIS.
At this point I'm not looking 4 new dirt, & I don't need the same old facts repeated again, I'd just like the story told with some depth, insight, style, feeling.... Is there any way 2 make it all new again...?

COMING SOON: Early (& Late) Al Stewart.

#521: "That's Entertainment"

The snow & rain R over with here, 4 now. Instead, it's just freaking cold. Great hibernating weather. Can't I just sleep til April? Or May?

Spinners -- It's a Shame, I'll Be Around, How Could I Let You Get Away?, Could it be I'm Falling in Love?, I Could Never Repay Your Love, One of a Kind Love Affair, Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You, Ghetto Child, Mighty Love, I'm Coming Home.
Left Banke -- Pretty Ballerina, She May Call You Up Tonight, Barters and Their Wives, I've Got Something On My Mind, Let Go of You Girl, Evening Gown, Walk Away Renee, What Do You Know?
Louis Jordan -- THE BEST OF: Choo Choo Ch'Boogie, Let the Good Times Roll, Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens, Saturday Night Fish Fry, Beware, Caldonia, Knock Me a Kiss, Run Joe, School Days (When We Were Kids), Blue Light Boogie, Five Guys Named Moe, What's the Use of Gettin' Sober (When You Gonna Get Drunk Again)?, Buzz Me Blues, Beans and Cornbread, Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying, Somebody Done Changed the Lock on My Door, Barnyard Boogie.
Doobie Brothers -- Sweet Maxine, Neal's Fandango.
B-52's -- TIME CAPSULE best-of: Planet Claire, 52 Girls, Rock Lobster, Party Out of Bounds, Strobelight, Private Idaho, Quiche Lorraine, Mesopotamia, Song for a Future Generation, Summer of Love, Channel Z, Deadbeat Club, Love Shack, Roam, Good Stuff, Is That You Mo-Dean?
The Jam -- THE VERY BEST OF: All Around the World, The Modern World, News of the World, David Watts, A-Bomb in Wardour Street, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, Strange Town, When You're Young, Eton Rifles, Going Underground, The Dreams of Children, Start!, That's Entertainment, Funeral Pyre, Absolute Beginners, Town Called Malice, Precious, Just Who is the 5 O'Clock Hero?, The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow), Beat Surrender.

HIT & RUN: We've got a lot 2 cover here, so this is gonna havta B fast (hopefully). Hold tight on the curves.
Wanted 2 start this marathon session slowly, so pulled out the Spinners. I'm a sucker 4 early-'70s Soul. All the hits still sound great, especially "I'll Be Around" & "I'm Coming Home." I heard "Could it be I'm Falling in Love?" on the radio last week 4 the 1st time in awhile, & it still holds up.
Summa the stuff included here (from Rhino/Atlantic's DEFINITIVE COLLECTION) is intresting mainly 4 its off-the-track-ness: "I Could Never Repay Your Love" is a long vocal solo with the spotlight on main vocalist Philippe Wynne. "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You" has a very glitzy Vegas-y big-band-style arrangement. "Ghetto Child" is pretty heavily orchestrated 4 what was supposed 2 have been a tough inner-city tale. Yvette Davis's lyrics on "How Could I Let You Get Away" R kind of a mystery. The singing thruout all this is Xcellent, of course....
Left Banke's "She May Call You Up Tonight" is classic mid-'60s pop, an overlooked treasure with an Xcellent Steve Martin vocal (not the actor/comic) & lots of the harpsichord Michael Brown liked 2 use. If you like this kinda stuff, I urge you 2 track this 1 down. My only complaint is it's TOO SHORT. "I've Got Something on My Mind" is another classic (the B-side 2 the magnificent flop "Desiree"), & the lyrics R pretty advanced 4 1966. The brief "Evening Gown" is a throwaway, just a little 2 thin. "Pretty Ballerina" & "Walk Away Renee" both still sound great. But "What Do You Know?" is Xcessively-twangy COUNTRY, without a harpsichord in sight. All from ALL THE SMASH HITS.
Louis Jordan's BEST OF is a collection of jump-blues jive tunes from 1941 thru 1954, some of which you've probly heard even if you think you haven't -- some of it's bn used in commercials & TV spots. The best of it sounds like the Marx Brothers locked in a recording studio -- hilarious & upbeat with great funny vocals & Xcellent sax.
"Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" has silly lyrics & great horns. The hilarious 5-minute "Saturday Night Fish Fry" has a funny story + great piano ... & GUITAR! "Beware" has some hilarious advice 4 dating-age men. "Knock Me a Kiss" sounds a little dated -- like it was mastered directly off an old 78. "Five Guys Named Moe" really moves & has great sax 2 go with the silly lyrics. You've probly heard "Beans and Cornbread." But the real masterpiece here is "Barnyard Boogie," a work of genius with a fast pace, spacey guitar, & a 1st 1/2 completely made up of silly animal noises....
I'm a sucker 4 the Doobies' "Neal's Fandango," which coulda gone on 4 another 10 mins & I woulda bn happy. Don't know why they rushed the recording -- it had all the makings of a hit, but it cuts off 2 abruptly. "Sweet Maxine" seems kinda muddy & bass-heavy -- cleaned-up it mighta worked. Both from STAMPEDE.
Xcept 4 "Roam" -- which I think is the greatest Go-Go's impersonation of all time -- the B-52's never did much 4 me. Mosta the stuff on their TIME CAPSULE best-of still didn't grab me -- maybe they hadta get less silly B4 I could relate, or maybe they just had 2 learn how 2 write a hook. Generally, I think the band got better, stronger, poppier, more memorable as they went along.
"Planet Claire" has a "Peter Gunn"-like riff & spacey B-movie sci-fi lyrics -- which I understand was sorta an obsession 4 these folks. The vocals on "52 Girls" Rn't unlike Florence + the Machine, 2 go along with the '60s/surf gtr. "Strobelight" is at least funny. By the time of "Private Idaho," Kate Pierson & Cindy Wilson's backing vocals R getting better -- the band gets better the more often the girls sing. "Deadbeat Club" is nostalgic & has gorgeous girl-vocals. "Love Shack" was just silly fun, of course. & "Roam" is still just awesome. "Good Stuff" has great group-vocal choruses, & "Is That You Mo-Dean?" finally realizes all the band's B-movie/sci-fi aspirations.
Never heard much by The Jam beyond their 90-percent-brilliant punk concept album SETTING SONS, where every single song is worth hearing over&over -- Xcept 4 the WORST version of "Heat Wave" that you'll ever hear. Hoped 4 more greats on their VERY BEST OF, & found a few....
On their early singles, The Jam came across as angry young punks, with nasal vocals that sound like the Sex Pistols meets the Ramones, & punchy songs about "the youth explosion." But these Jammers learned what they were good at fast: "News of the World" has some good gtr, & the vocal harmonies R stronger. "David Watts" is a decent cover of the old Kinks song -- with added piano!
Producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven joins 4 "A-Bomb in Wardour Street," & suddenly The Jam have lots more bass & a WAY bigger presence. "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" is about getting beaten up in the subway -- & main songwriter Paul Weller's lyrics R very strong on how it felt, looked, smelled. EZ 2 C why he doesn't wanna go back down there again.
"Strange Town" is 1 of 2 trax from SETTING SONS (the Xcellent "Eton Rifles" is the other). "Strange Town" is diffrent from the rest of that album Bcos it's funny. It's a tale of alienation in the big city -- literally: Weller sez he's "really a spacer from those UFO's." It's punchy, there's great gtr, & the choruses R hilarious. "Eton Rifles" is also superb, with Xcellent angry lyrics, catchy choruses -- & organ!
"Going Underground" has some Xcellent lyrics about not understanding what society wants. "Start!" has more good gtr & nice vocal harmonies. "Funeral Pyre" is grim enuf that it coulda bn included on SETTING SONS -- that is not a criticism. It's powerful. But the real masterpiece here is "That's Entertainment," a low-key, bitter, all-acoustic classic.
The rest is OK -- Motown touches on "Town Called Malice" & "Precious," horns on "5 O'Clock Hero," female backing vocals on "Beat Surrender" -- but it's all aftermath 2 me. These guys really shoulda sold more records in the US. Maybe they were just TOO English?

#519: Up 2 R ankles in it....

Got the double- or triple-whammy of snowstorms out here over the past coupla days. It was still snowing lightly as of 15 mins ago. We got off EZ -- only about 6 inches max here in town. In Seattle they got about 4 inches, & the folks on CNN were laffing at "us" pampered wussie urban idiots.
But south of Tacoma, 30+ miles south of us, they got up 2 a foot & 1/2 of the white stuff -- a lot 4 Western Washington. As of midnight the local news-radio station (Seattle's Xcellent KOMO) reported that some 275,000 people in the area R without electricity 2nite -- no heat, & it's about 25 degrees outside. Some of them have been without heat & lights 4 more than 24 hours. & it's estimated some of them won't get electrical svc back til sometime over the weekend....
As I said, we got off EZ. My biggest problem is I can't get my car out of the driveway -- & if I try, the Cadillac'll slide down the snow-covered hill, keep sliding across the street, & wind up in somebody's living room....
Oh, & I've had 2 walk home from work the past couple nites. & that hasn't bn hard at all. But it beats driving in this messy stuff. + I don't havta deal with those other idiots out there Bhind the wheel....
It's sposta warm up 2 the low 40s & start raining Fri aft. Never thot I'd think rainy & in the 40s would sound pretty good. But I'll believe it when I see it. It ain't getting any warmer yet, & this snow has already bn here 24 hrs longer than it was sposta be....
Oh, & I also played some music while putting off going 2 work 4 as long as possible....

Squeeze -- ARGYBARGY: Pulling Mussels From the Shell, Another Nail in My Heart, Seperate Beds, Misadventure, I Think I'm Go Go, If I Didn't Love You, Farfisa Beat, Here Comes That Feeling, Vicky Verky, Wrong Side of the Moon, There at the Top.
From Squeeze's GREATEST HITS: Take Me I'm Yours, Goodbye Girl, Cool for Cats, Up the Junction, Slap and Tickle.

We played Squeeze's work a lot back in my record store daze. ARGYBARGY was a big in-store favorite, & we useta play the 1st side of EAST SIDE STORY a lot, 2. Course we couldn't GIVE AWAY the albums -- it was Idaho, nobody wanted 2 know, they hadn't heard it on the radio, etc.
& while I always loved "Pulling Mussels From the Shell" & "In Quintessence," some of their stuff went right by me ("Tempted"), & some of it I hadn't heard in 30 years....
Squeeze always useta get hailed 4 Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook's clever lyrics & songwriting, but I never read NE critic talking about Tilbrook's neat guitar breaks or Jools Holland's catchy keyboards -- that's what sets a lot of these songs off, along with the sometimes kinda seedy lyrics about falling in love by accident & hangin round the pub -- + the generally bouncy upbeat sound.
"Pulling Mussels" still sounds like it shoulda sold a million copies -- it's all the best things about this band in 1 quick 4-minute dose. Catchy choruses & great keyb & guitar work. "Another Nail in My Heart" is almost as good, with another Xcellent chorus supported by cool keybs.
"Seperate Beds" is a down-home story of young love with funny lyrics: "Her mother didn't like me, she thought I was on drugs/My mother didn't like her, she'd never peel the spuds."
"Misadventure" is high-speed bounciness about getting in trouble in foreign countries. "I Think I'm Go Go" slows the bounciness down, & "If I Didn't Love You" is a good Xample of the kind of jerky sounds the band comes up with on the album as a whole.
"Farfisa Beat" sounded GREAT in the record store 30 years ago. Hearing it again all these years later, I was kinda disappointed that it wasn't as catchy as I remembered -- & there's not enuf Farfisa organ. MayB if I played it LOUDER...?
"Here Comes That Feeling" is darker than usual 4 these guys. But the real forgotten classic here is "Vicky Verky," another charming tale of young love & how it almost goes wrong -- but not quite.
I remembered the choruses of Jools Holland's "Wrong Side of the Moon" from 30 years ago. Tho Difford co-wrote, this has a diffrent sound & feel from the rest of the album. MayB if they'd given him more space, Jools wouldn't have left.
Overall, this was an above-avg new-wave pop album 4 its time, & at least 9 of the songs R pretty memorable. But on a gray, snowy day like Thurs, I wished it was even MORE lively....
Kinda ironic 2 call Squeeze's best-of GREATEST HITS, since they only hadda couple of almost-hits in America, but the early stuff here ("Take Me I'm Yours" & "Goodbye Girl") is actually smoother & more melodic than mosta the stuff on ARGYBARGY. Not necessarily more distinctive or more memorable, however.
Producer John Wood joins on "Cool for Cats," & this track is much more like the Squeeze I know, more bouncy & jerky -- plus there R more production tricks here, female backing vocals & etc. There's also a sorta lower-class British accent on the lead vocal making it impossible 2 tell who's singing (& the CD's liner notes don't help).
"Up the Junction" is another bouncy, charming tale of love that goes bad. "Slap and Tickle" has a modern(!)-sounding synth opening, it's almost disco-y(!), & there's mildly amusing lyrics about love&sex....
I'll B getting back 2 these guys. There's at least a dozen more trax on this best-of that I've never heard -- all that later stuff I know nothing about....

More soon. I finally got some Louis Jordan back in the house (hilarious jump-blues singer & his band, hysterical lyrics, the missing link Btween late-'40s pop & rock&roll -- this is the stuff Joe Jackson covered 30 years ago on JUMPIN' JIVE), & there's a best-of The Jam on the way....

#517: Waiting 4 the snow....

Waiting 4 the season's 1st snow 2 hit. It reportedly spat snow all around us on Sat, in some places it even stuck. Nothing here yet, tho lotsa people R panicky. Last time it snowed here a coupla years ago, we got a foot & 1/2 overnite & everything STOPPED. & then the snow hung around 4 a week & 1/2....
Meanwhile, I've bn inflicting the following music on unsuspecting members of the general public while at work. I vouch 4 the high quality of almost all of the following -- especially the stuff you don't recognize....

Happy the Man -- Service with a Smile, Wind-Up Doll Day Wind, Open Book.
Group 87 -- Future of the City, Magnificent Clockworks, One Night Away From Day.
Scarlet Rivera -- Day of the Unicorn.
Synergy -- S-Scape.
The Nice -- America.
Nektar -- Do You Believe in Magic?, The Dream Nebula Parts 1 & 2, It's All in Your Mind, King of Twilight, Wings, It's All Over.
The Who -- I'm One, 5:15, Love Reign O'er Me, Bell Boy, I've Had Enough, Doctor Jimmy, You Better You Bet, Long Live Rock, Life With the Moons I, Naked Eye, University Challenge, Slip Kid, Poetry Cornered, Blue Red and Gray, Life With the Moons II, Eminence Front, The Relay, Bag O'Nails, Call Me Lightning, Let's See Action, Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes.
Pete Townshend -- Give Blood, A Little is Enough.
The Waterboys -- A Life of Sundays.
Marvin Gaye -- What's Goin' On?
Rush -- The Big Money, Manhattan Project, Force Ten, Time Stand Still, Mystic Rhythms (live).
Pat Metheny -- Ozark, New Chatauqua, The Search, Praise.
Lyle Mays -- Ascent.
Aaron Copland -- El Salon Mexico, Simple Gifts.
Steve Tibbetts -- Ur.

Response 2 this Xperiment has bn comparatively thin. Is it possible NE muzak at all is ignorable by most folks? Maybe it's just the wrong week. Maybe I'm not playing the stuff LOUD enuf....
The Happy the Man, Nice & Nektar trax did cause a few people's eyes 2 pop open, & a couple Who fans seemed 2 B enjoying those pieces, but no comments were received. Research will nevertheless continue....

...While I will vouch 4 the high quality of American progressive-rock band Happy the Man's trax listed above (which R from their Xcellent 2nd album CRAFTY HANDS, 1978), while waking up on Sat & continuing 2 break-in the new CD player, I spun Happy's 1st album from back in 1977 & was (again) mildly disappointed. Tho it sounds fine (it should, Ken Scott produced & they spent Ghod knows how much $$$ on it), the material is kinda thin & it's programmed sideways.
They shoulda led with the gorgeous "On Time as a Helix of Precious Laughs," which is by FAR the best thing here & the only track that can stand with any of the work on CRAFTY HANDS. It's also the 7th track of 9 on the CD, so I wonder how many folks have actually HEARD it.
Tho the 2 trax that follow wrap-up the album pleasantly enuf, they're not Xactly stunning. There R gorgeous guitar, sax & keyboard textures thruout, & guitarist Stan Whitaker's kinda mechanical & nasal voice fits right in.
But some of this stuff is background muzak at best ... & I LIKE these guys. The leadoff track, "Starborne," is lite soundtrack music. "Stumpy Meets the Firecracker in Stencil Forest" has some nice sax work from Frank Wyatt. 2 bad that Wyatt's lyrics 4 "Upon the Rainbow (Bifrost)" R a mouthful that don't help that piece NE. Only "Precious Laughs" is worth playing repeatedly.
If you like Yes or Genesis's more lyrical instrumental moments, you might like these guys. But start with CRAFTY HANDS. & watch out 4 the inflated album prices some folks R asking 4 these guys' work....

(PS, 16 Jan 12, 1:35 am -- We got Xactly 1 INCH of snow, just enuf 2 make things wet & intresting. But now we're in2 a hard freeze, so all the roads R skating rinks -- great times! At least I've got a coupla days off....)