January 22nd, 2016
Egun On! (A fine Basque Good Morning to you!!)
You will hear more about this later but here is California, we have this kind of informal network of concerts that are actually put on in peoples houses. It all kind of works through email and for my part, it is amazing. I first found about it on a flight back to San Diego from DC one week during the P232 death march days. The guy sitting next to me was all excited because he was going to see someone right after we landed and the concert was in a friends house in Poway. He told me about this deal where various local musicians would hook up with these venues in peoples houses for gigs. You bring your lawn chairs, wine or beer and friends and watch these folks playing on the back porch or sometimes its in a Church or even High School Auditorium depending on the artist and the group. I have been to a few of these concerts so far and always have a great time. But I am curious, do you guys from other parts of the US and the world have these kinds of informal events?
We had another icon loss this week. Glenn Frey, Don Henley’s musical wife succumbed to numerous maladies this week. I always enjoyed his easy smile style and the products of his great partnership with the Don’s – Henley and Fielder. I think everyone has an Eagles story where one of their songs was the sound track for some memory or memories as is my case. Thanks Glenn, you will be missed.
Have you figured out your Death Row meal and musical menu? That is a kind of game I play when I cook or just eat food and what music would I want to hear in the last hours of my life.…is this good enough to go on my death row menu? Imagine you can have anything you want to eat in the world and can demand a final 1 hour playlist to hear before you are zapped? What would you have? Think about it. Maybe we can figure out a way to share the results and to maintain the information for the authorities to call upon at the right time:)
This week I learned some stuff:
I learned a great new musical lesson this week. I got to see a band called, “Lunatic Fringe” in a guy named Bob’s living room this week. My buddy, Joe McAndrew, arranged the whole gig and it was amazing. Lunatic Fringe is headed up by this rather lunatic like former professional baseball player/3rd base coach/musician/Storyteller from Kentucky by the name of Tim Flannery. I think the night was about 50/50 music/stories. Tim shared some of his adventures with Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet and the Grateful Dead. They even did a cover of Friend of the Devil, one of my favorite Dead tunes. As our mutual friend Jimmy Buffet would say, “It was a pleasure and a helluva evening!” You all will be treated to some of the music here on UJT and I will also add at least one Quote from Mr Flannery. To get the stories you got find a way to go see Lunatic Fringe and Tim Flannery, music is available via iTunes or Tim’s website.
Website Update
Whoo Hooo !!! “New” Vocabulary Quiz!!
Painting Update:
Didn’t make progress on painting project this week.
Writing Update:
Started back on Formatting the GPS chapters in to pub format.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
All of the strange ass drivers seem to come out at the same moments these days. I had people stoping in the middle of intersections after starting when the green light came on, apparently hoping for a darker or brighter shade of green?? This week I had to opportunity to follow a very inspiring person on their 17mph tour of almost 3 miles of double yellow line country. I was inspired to combine some previous unconnected profanities during our exasperating journey together. Yes …Its Rain.. Falling from the Sky ..really ..it won’t hurt you….just drive on or pull over.
As a kid growing up sort of a half-assed Catholic, I got to appreciate the whole Catholic guilt thing, especially as it related tot he girls from Saint Teresa. I didn’t truly understand it until later. When Billy Joel, explained, “Come out, come out Virginia, don’t make me wait; You Catholic girls start much too late; Aw, but sooner or later it comes down to fate; I might as well be the one”. This week a found another worthy quote on the subject, “If you aren’t sinning, you can’t be forgiven” from Tim Flannery’s dad. Just saying…:)
Music Update:
This weeks mix includes a song from a new CD that my youngest kid gave to her old daddy. I wonder if you all can figure out which one is from that CD:) I also have included a sampling of tunes from Tim Flannery. I know not all of you will enjoy the blue grassy/country flavor to his music but I am just a big fan of great story tellers. For christmas some dear friends of mine gave me the new Venice album in their limited edition, clear vinyl LP format. I will try to get my recording configuration set up and share some of it with you next week:
Tim Flannery – Somethings Never Get Old — This is one of the songs that Tim and Lunatic Fringe played for us in Bobs living room last Saturday night. I guess it was made popular by Vince Gill but I hadn’t heard it before.
Tim Flannery – Arkansas Line — From his Travelin’ Shoes album This one just kind of caught my attention, I like the guitar and banjo interchange in the middle a lot.
Glenn Frey – Smuggler’s Blues – This is the song that a Miami Vice episode was based up and Glenn was a cast member for that episode. One unknown bit of trivia is that at that same moment in time, I found myself unemployed, living in my 68 VW Microbus parked outside of my Grandma’s house in SW Miami. I was collecting unemployment and sending all my money back to Virginia to Tippy and the kids. I met a guy who told me about getting work as a MV extra for $50 day. I showed up but they cancelled the call for extras that day so I spent the morning eating outrageously good Bagels, lox and cream cheese at a great last-one-standing kosher deli/bakery in South Beach near where I used to surf as a teenager. I came that close ..to being on the little screen with one of musical heroes!
Eagles (Glenn Frey/Don Henley) – Tequila Sunrise — From the vinyl!!! This cut is from the Eagles’ Desperado album (one of my favs). We used to play our bran of Monopoly that included consuming some shots of cheap ass tequila (for the boys) and Tequila Sunrises (for the ladies) being part of the price for passing go, getting out of jail and other occasions. I don’t recall actually finishing any of those games before the Tequila finished us but I blame it all on the Desperado album.
Donald Fagan – IGY (International Geophysical Year) – From the Vinyl !!! Another refugee tune from his wonderful Nightly album. This is just one of those records that will always be a classic as the music is so timeless and there are so many amazingly skilled and talented musicians collaborating on the record.
Phoebe Snow – Good Times — Just another brick in the pile of great tunes that Phoebe gave us. This one is true to it’s title. Let the Good Times roll!!
Pointer Sisters – I’m So Excited! – This came out in 1982 and kind of lit a fire in the music world. This is the closest thing to a disco song that I like. These girls get my blood pumping in this one.
Toby Keith – I Love This Bar — This week this song came up on the magical iPhone musical rotation and I flashed back to a place that saved my life – Sids Bar on the corner of Bird Road and Ludlum in Miami Florida. It was the hole I crawled into to get well after a tough time in my life. During those dark days, many nights, the sun would wake me up sleeping it off in the back of Urge, my 1968 microbus. Those folks were good to me in a time when I just needed to be not to be alone.
That’s it… Do the best you can; Laugh every chance you get; And always remember, the best is yet to come! This one reminds us that we are taking the long way around getting our guns under control.
As always, thank you for being my friend!
James