Around January of 2021, I was thinking of different blog ideas to write about when I came upon the idea to create a concept album of satirical song titles. I'm not a musician but I thought I'd create a concept album called, Songs That Piss People Off. I ended up writing 12 song titles and then it just sat in my Blogger draft box for months.
At some point, I shared the titles with Paul as we have collaborated on several posts together here at Monday Monday Music, as well as creating several videos together of Paul's music for Youtube.
One of my original titles for this made-up concept album was 400,000 Inconveniences because at that time that was the round number of people in the United States who had died from Covid-19.
As time went by, that number had moved past 500,000 and was well on its way to a million.
I'll let Paul pick it up here.
As the dreaded milestone of one million Covid deaths approached Doug suggested I write a song for which he would create a video to commemorate the horrific occasion.
I started by thinking how the country’s reaction personified the Trump presidency for me. He had reinvented American exceptionalism as American spoiled brat-ism, where we treated non Americans suspiciously and refused to do anything for the common good. No one can tell me what to do. I live in the land of the free. I’m free to think only of myself. The ultimate selfishness manifested itself in refusing to wear a mask to protect against the spread of Covid. I took some time to set up this pervasive attitude before settling into the Covid prevention resistance, which was really the essence of the blog in the first place.
Here's Paul's lyrics for the song, followed by his composition and recording that I made into a still photo Youtube video.
A Million Inconveniences
It very rarely rains but
You’re keeping your front lawn green
Some tyrant city councilman’s
talking bout recycling
You’re not one for following rules
They’re just for misinformed fools
You say, Don’t inconvenience me
I live in the land of the free
My uncle fell and hit his head
Died waiting for a hospital bed
They’re filled with anti-vaccine casualties
Preventable tragedies
If you care about your fellow man
At least wear a mask and wash your hands
You say, Don’t inconvenience me
I live in the land of the free
I live in the land of the free
You’ll lose your job before you’ll ever get the shot
Or you can wear a mask and test twice a week
But no sir you will not
You think these events are coincidence
But we just hit one million inconveniences
Yeah we live in the land of the free
Land of the free
Now they’re clogging our main arteries
Shutting down commerce between countries
Some of our brilliant politicians say
We should do this in the USA
There’s a strain on our
hard to maintain hospital system
Emergency room nurses are overworked and it’s impossible to replace them
You tried to see your father before he died
But with no vaccine they wouldn’t let you inside
You said, Don’t inconvenience me
I live in the land of the free
Hey don't you inconvenience me
I live in the land of the free
Land of the free
I live in the of the free
The timing of this blog and song comes with the fact that around 300 people a day are still dying of Covid-19, and so let's just take a moment to pause and acknowledge that a 1,000,000 people in the U.S. have now died from this virus to date.
Never grow old, never, ever die young –James Taylor
2020 was as they say, "A bad year."
In 2014, I retired from being a teacher as I was with the same school district for thirty-five years. At the time, I couldn't believe that it had actually gone by so fast. My friend Mark Hunter says, "Life is a roll of toilet paper, it starts out slow but at some point that paper roll seems to quickly get smaller and smaller."
As a teacher in a large urban school district, I actually had quite a number of different jobs. My goals as I shifted from special education to general education never included being an administrator. I found that managing other adults was something to avoid and generally gravitated to work that was more project-based. I spend many years mastering the art of lateral movement in a large bureaucracy and discovered how to thrive in the world of grants, or what is often called, "soft money." As a resource teacher, I learned to live close to a money stream where I could personally make change and be a positive difference in students and other teachers lives.
So when I retired from my day job, I was looking to carry that semi-independent streak into being my own boss and start my own educational consulting business with a focus in K-12 learning spaces. I basically worked with vendors who sold furniture and technology to schools where we created new learning spaces from older, traditional learning spaces.
This all went along pretty well for a few years. Then in 2019, business really started slowing down for me, and then the pandemic hit in 2020 to completely finish it off. I folded my tent thinking, "I guess this is it, I'm never going to create a new learning space again."
Sting sings, If You Love Somebody Set Them Free. I don't think I gave up, but that song kept playing in my head, and I resolved to thinking that if I just let the business go, to set it free, that maybe someday it or something else like it, would come back around to me.
After two years, I'm tanned and I'm rested. Bye-bye Covid, I'm ready to go see some rock 'n' roll.
Then I get a call from Dean Smith who is the CEO of his own small business called, D&D Integrated Solutions. Dean and I first met sometime in the 1990's when he was selling security locks for desktop computers. When I started as a consultant, Dean's business had expanded to technology integration and then expanded into being a K-12 furniture dealer as well. As a consultant from 2015-2019, we did a half-dozen fun learning spaces together. But I had plans. I was always looking for something bigger, working with bigger vendors, doing bigger projects. Well you know...
So in March, Dean offers me a job in his business to be a Learning Environment Designer. He actually let me create my own title and as you can probably tell from that comment, I'm delighted to have it, not to mention the freedom to collaborate with his team and school districts, again. Thank you Dean!
This past week, I wrote the first in what I'm hoping will be many blogs for D&D. In an irony of all ironies with respect to my Monday Monday Music™ blog, I got paid to write a blog. How sweet is that!
I'm a folk and Rock 'n' album guy. In reviewing albums released in March and April of this year I found six worthy of note from a songwriting perspective. For me, it's hard to find an album these days where I like most of the songs. You know that Bonnie Raitt is going to deliver, and of course she does as she writes or covers songs with style and grace, not to mention she can still make you shed a tear. Listen to the songs, Just Like That and Down The Hall, and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Colin Hay is my personal find of 2022. I really never paid attention to him as I wasn't a big Men At Work fan. Colin has been busy over the years touring, playing in Ringo's All Star Band, and putting out some fine albums the last several years. The guy speaks right to me and I enjoy everything he records on YouTube, a real gem, you should check him out.
Of the six albums, I've only seen Mike Campbell live with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and also a few years back in Fleetwood Mac. External Combustion is a really good rock 'n' roll album and Campbell is a very good front man for his band, The Dirty Knobs. How does one go on after losing their lifetime musical collaborator? Well nobody's going to replace Tom, and Mike is just being Mike Campbell, a fantastic guitar player, and not a bad lead singer too. The Heartbreaker spirit lives on and thank the gods we still have rock 'n' rollers like Mike Campbell making music.
I also just discovered Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices this past year. The Band was formed in 1983 and is just another great rock 'n' roll band to come out of the mid-west (Ohio). He writes and plays nice little guitar riffs and I ended up including song after song from Crystal Nuns Cathedral to the playlist.
If you're looking for introspective folk, you'll find it all over the streaming services with most of it just sounding the same. If I hear one more droning indie female or male voice... skip. Well, Christian Lee Hudson is for me an exception. Produced by Phoebe Bridgers who is also a cut above, lets Hudson's songwriting carry the day. I'm thinking Joni Mitchell probably likes Christian Lee Hudson.
And lastly, Jeremy Ivey. Invisible Pictures is his third solo album and a guy you want to succeed as an emerging Americana star. I was feeling for him after trying to look him up on Wikipedia. He didn't have a Wikipedia page as it cross referenced him to his wife, the now very famous Margo Price. He probably gets that a lot, as just being "the husband" of Margo Price. Anyway, I love most everything both of them do together and separately, and this is a couple you just want to root for to counter the stereotypical Nashville country pop tripe.
Now I’m just an old nothin’ with memories of fifty years
I started with The Blues Project
Spent some time with Blood Sweat & Tears
My life was filled with music
My heart was drenched in sound
And if you go see an old movie
You might hear me in the background
–Al Kooper, A Possible Projection of the Future
In my monthly routine of going through albums released in the current month from fifty years ago, Al Kooper's A Possible Projection of the Future / Childhood's End just jumped out at me. The album cover is a 28 year old Al in full makeup made to be 80 years old. I looked up Al Kooper in Wikipedia and he is indeed alive and kicking 50 years later at 78 and it states, "He is currently retired."
Now for fun, I did a Google image search and tried to find the oldest looking picture of Mr. Kooper and put him up against his 80 (or 78) year old makeup-self from 1972. Here's the side by side with a photo I found from an article review of him in 2015, at 72 years old.
I got to say Al, "You look great my man" as you still got your rock 'n' roll hair and shades, and are not nearly as wrinkled as you thought you'd be. I love your futuristic projection of yourself in a white (Pete Townsend) jumpsuit, being a ward of the state. Here's wishing you the best and being one of the best in your distinguished career as a musican's musician, not to mention a wonderful wry sense of humor.
Several of the songs this month from April, 1972 clearly have a 'time' theme not to mention the strong folk vibe that dominates this month.
I remember going to the Santa Maria Library as maybe a freshman or sophomore and checked out this folk album from Woody Guthrie, the guy who wrote This Land, the song that we all sang together in grade school. I wanted to know a little bit more about him, brought the record home, played it in my bedroom as usual, and just got obsessed with the song, Hobo's Lullaby. I couldn't sing a lick, but with Woody it was easy to sing along with him and wondered to myself, could I ever write a song? I thought this was a great song that I ironically just discovered this month he didn't write, it was a Goebel Reeves song.
Then in 1972, Arlo releases the album titled, Hobo's Lullaby and figured he must have been impressed by dad too! I loved listening to it this past week and have always loved Arlo's cover and big hit of the classic Steve Goodman song, City of New Orleans.
Songs are like a smell that triggers your memory, like corn dogs at the Santa Barbara County Fair. That would be happening soon that summer of '72, but first I had to wrap up my junior year in high school.
Enjoy the playlist my friends.
and now, A Possible Projection of a Present Blog Reader - Did you notice, he didn't say a word about Crosby and Nash, or Stephen Stills?... And why was Chris Hillman wasting his time as a lowly underling to Stills in Manassas? I still miss the original Byrds so much.... Really Manassas with 21 songs with Stills just kind of meandering through a double-album no less... Didn't any of these guys realize that doing their own thing (after doing the initial solo albums) was such a watered-down experience for their fans?... The separate duo of Nash & Crosby, and a Manassas Stills had some good songs here, but not a whole album's worth like they did just a few years before... And releasing two separate albums in the same month?... was that a competition thing?... When does the ego come back to earth to realize that the greatest thing about themselves is the magical band they created together, not the individual... self... Remember Mick Jagger's solo career... for about 5 minutes... The band is the thing, man...
The #BestSongIHeardToday series is often centered around hearing great songs while exercising. These posts will tend to drift into health related topics but will always come back to the music that brought you here. This particular series is probably more about a self journal to help me stay on the path of healthy living that includes, listening to old and new tunes. If you're looking for a great mix playlist of 25-30 songs, just click on one of my Volumes above.
I'm fixing a hole where the rain gets in
And stops my mind from wandering
Where it will go –Lennon/McCartney
The whole idea of volunteering one's time for the greater good has always been a difficult concept for me. Not in the idea, but in the doing. The 'do good' activities always seem to involve having to do that organized thing with other people, and they're probably... strangers. If you're kind of a loner or on the reclusive side like me, mixing with a bunch of social go-getters is just going to make me turn and run in the other direction.
Speaking of running. I'm on my trail run (really he's going to write about that again)... and I get to the worst section on the trail (pictured above). Over the past several years, the little creek that flows next to the trail when it rains, has over time found its own path to this lower part. It always floods this section after a storm. This makes for a muddy and slippery mess for anyone passing through this hole. It has gotten worse as mountain bikers have kind of exacerbated the situation by steadily deepening it as they ram on.
Several months ago, I saw a women pushing her baby in a stroller. She had a dog and toddler in tow and struggled through the hole section that was totally dry and a bit rocky from the ongoing drought. Anyway, she made it through as I approached and passed her. Her struggle kind of got me thinking that there weren't as many kids on the trail as there used to be. I've been doing this trail run since 2001 and seen a lot of regulars come and go. In fact, I might very well be the current patriarch of the trail! Maybe I should do something about fixing that hole...
In early March I was watching the news one day and the forecast was for rain, actually over several days. After thinking about fixing that hole for several years, I finally got off my ass and did something about it before the rains came this time. Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers came into my head and I laughed at myself that I finally found my calling, all by myself with my shovel and rake.
Here's the trail a month later in early April after several rain storms. I'm happy to report the terrace effect upper trail that I created with my shovel and rake have given walkers, runners, and even mountain bikers higher ground to pass through without getting all muddy.
I've got a few more tweaks to fix just up around the bend and will have to get to that soon. I would like to think that the woman has come back with her kids and dog and enjoyed the fun of being in this little peaceful greenbelt canyon trail between the 1970's housing development boxes... And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
Take care my friends and enjoy the songs heard right here from this trail to this playlist.
In riding the wave with the FAV FIVE Series, I've completely enjoyed the readership participation of creating a group playlist with The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones.
This week, your assignment should you choose to accept it- LIST Your FAV FIVE: Neil Young Songs.
You will make your list in the Comments section at the end of the blog post below.
So to begin, let's start at the end. The big idea is for all of us to create a Monday Monday Music™ Readers: Neil Young Songs Playlist.
I'll start the playlist with my favorite five Neil Young songs and then, as readers leave me their five in the Comments section below, we will grow the playlist together. Note- I'm sure we will have duplicates which is great, but I will only include a song once in the YouTube playlist as I receive the lists.
Songs must be original Neil Young compositions recorded by Neil Young, or his compositions in Buffalo Springfield, CSNY, Crazy Horse, etc. So, no covers from other artists doing Neil's songs, which is another whole blog in itself that I will do someday.
So here's my five (at this moment). Why only five? Tell me why?
Cinnamon Girl
Tell Me Why
Bad Fog of Loneliness
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
See The Sky About To Rain
Now if you want a little help in making your list, here's a great resource.
Also, here's the same little tutorial I made for The Beatles list.
Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to the Comment section.Number and name your songs 1-5.
Comment as: If you're logged into your computer, tablet or smartphone with a Gmail (Google) account, pick the first selection. I would recommend using the Chrome browser. Or, pick Name/URL, write your name and leave URL blank, Or, if you pick Anonymous, just write your first and last name in the Comments box itself.
Hit the Publish button, and I'll list your five songs in the post here (if you provided your first and last name), and then I will mix your list in the Youtube playlist.
One last thing, if someone else has picked one of your favorite 5 already, still include it in your list. It may reveal a clear winner that in the end needs to sit at the top of the playlist.
Thanks in advance for playing along and come back later in the week to listen to OUR growing playlist!
Let's keep the ball rolling with the FAV FIVE Series by moving from the recent readership participation of creating a group Beatles playlist, and last week, The Bob Dylan playlist.
This week, your assignment should you choose to accept it- LIST Your FAV FIVE: Rolling Stones Songs.
You will make your list in the Comments section at the end of the blog post below.
So to begin, let's start at the end. The big idea is for all of us to create a Monday Monday Music™ Readers: The Rolling Stones Songs Playlist.
I'll start the playlist with my favorite five Rolling Stones songs and then, as readers leave me their five in the Comments section below, we will grow the playlist together. Note- I'm sure we will have duplicates which is great, but I will only include a song once in the YouTube playlist as I receive the lists.
Songs must be original Rolling Stone compositions recorded by the band themselves. So, no covers from other artists doing Stones songs, which is another whole blog in itself that I will do someday.
So here's my five (at this moment) to kick this thing off.
Ruby Tuesday
Gimme Shelter
Get Off Of My Cloud
Paint It Black
Let's Spend The Night Together
Now if you want a little help in making your list, here's a great resource.
Also, here's the same little tutorial I made for The Beatles list.
Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to the Comment section.Number and name your songs 1-5.
Comment as: If you're logged into your computer, tablet or smartphone with a Gmail (Google) account, pick the first selection. I would recommend using the Chrome browser. Or, pick Name/URL, write your name and leave URL blank, Or, if you pick Anonymous, just write your first and last name in the Comments box itself.
Hit the Publish button, and I'll list your five songs in the post here (if you provided your first and last name), and then I will mix your list in the Youtube playlist.
One last thing, if someone else has picked one of your favorite 5 already, still include it in your list. It may reveal a clear winner that in the end needs to sit at the top of the playlist.
Thanks in advance for playing along and come back later in the week to listen to OUR growing playlist!
Let's continue the FAV FIVE Series by moving from the recent readership participation of creating a group Beatles playlist.
This week, your assignment should you choose to accept it- LIST Your FAV FIVE: Bob Dylan Songs.
You will make your list in the Comments section at the end of the blog post below.
So to begin, let's start at the end. The big idea is for all of us to create a Monday Monday Music™ Readers: Bob Dylan Songs Playlist.
I'll start the playlist with my favorite five Dylan songs and then, as readers leave me their five in the Comments section below, we will grow the playlist together. Note- I'm sure we will have duplicates which is great, but I will only include a song once in the YouTube playlist as I receive the lists.
Songs must be originals recorded by Bob himself, that can include any collaborations like his work with the Traveling Wilburys. So, no covers from other artists doing Dylan songs, which is another whole blog in itself that I will do someday.
So here's my five to kick this thing off.
Like a Rolling Stone
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
It's All over Now, Baby Blue
Don't Think Twice
With God On Our Side
Now if you want a little help in making your list, here's a great resource.
Also, here's the same little tutorial I made for The Beatles list.
Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to the Comment section.Number and name you Bob Dylan songs 1-5.
Comment as: If you're logged into your computer, tablet or smartphone with a Gmail (Google) account, pick the first selection. I would recommend using the Chrome browser. Or, pick Name/URL, write your name and leave URL blank, Or, if you pick Anonymous, just write your first and last name in the Comments box itself.
Hit the Publish button, and I'll list your five songs in the post here (if you provided your first and last name), and then I will mix your list in the Youtube playlist.
One last thing, if someone else has picked one of your favorite 5 already, still include it in your list. It may reveal a clear winner that in the end needs to sit at the top of the playlist.
Thanks in advance for playing along and come back later in the week to listen to OUR growing playlist!
Fifty years ago this month, I turned seventeen. A year later, I would meet my second girl friend, and as it would turn out many years later, my second wife.
In the spring of 1973 I met a lovely girl who sat behind me in Miss Dunn's English class. She would in fact be that second girlfriend who introduced me to many things, one of which being the very talented and funny, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks band. Striking It Rich was Hicks' third album released in March, 1972 which I wouldn't hear until the summer of '73. When I listened to it this past week, the memory association of music in space and time really came rushing back. I remember sitting in her family room listening to this album. It was early on in our relationship and I'll never forget the song, I Scare Myself, which seemed spot on at the time. Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks is a great example of me being a young and stupid teenager getting exposed to different music that I normally would have never listened to. In this case, Hicks' use of country swing mixed with a bit of jazz along with a healthy dose of humor thrown in got me listening to a new band with this very intriguing girl.
Stevie Wonder's Music Of My Mind would do the same thing. This album comes just at the beginning of Stevie's magical run in the 1970's that would make him one of the biggest musical stars of all-time. The elements are all coming together within Music Of My Mind as Wonder starts to reshape R&B, pop, rock 'n' roll and jazz, and roll it all together into Stevie Wonder music. I will also say that Stevie Wonder more than other black artist, (even Smoky and Marvin) got white kids in the 70's buying more than black artist's singles, but now their albums too.
Bare Trees is one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac's albums and is actually the album that got me listening to the band as they began to move further from their Brit Blues roots to rock 'n' roll and then pop with the revamp of the group in 1975. This is the album that I fell in love with Christine McVie's songs as I think she's one of the most underrated composers and singers in rock 'n' roll history. This album also features Danny Kirwan and Bob Welch who really helped define the Fleetwood Mac sound. Many people only know Fleetwood Mac after Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham joined the band in 1975, and the older material is often forgotten and received very little air time after the mid-70's.
Two successful rock 'n' roll bands from the 60's that made the transition to stadium 'Rock' in the 1970's were Jethro Tull and Deep Purple. Both released albums in March, 1972 and I will have to say Deep Purple's Machine Head really holds up.
As 'Metal' developed into a sub-genre in the 1970's, that loud arena sound became associated with lesser talented bands than their Tier 1 predecessors like Deep Purple. Led Zeppelin of course became the premier hard rock band of the 70's but Deep Purple were also a great rock band that didn't quite get its due. Machine Head is a great classic rock album says the guy who didn't listen to a lot of straight-up Marshall amplifier rock music back in the day.
Lastly, I'll mention Delaney & Bonnie's last album together, D&B Together who in real life were just months away from a divorce. As I have gone back and listened to their albums over the past couple of years it strikes me how much Eric Clapton had co-opted their sound in the early 70's and Delaney and Bonnie were pretty much forgotten after this album, while Clapton took that sound to the bank.
The #BestSongIHeardToday series is often centered around hearing great songs while exercising. These posts will tend to drift into health related topics but will always come back to the music that brought you here. This particular series is probably more about a self journal to help me stay on the path of healthy living that includes, listening to old and new tunes. If you're looking for a great mix playlist of 25-30 songs, just click on one of my Volumes above.
Ya Got Trouble. I think this post takes me over the line, the line into being officially old. First off, I think I'm being all hip on social media, being a real "influencer" here, that is until... I actually recommend a product.
As I role into town here, I'm going to channel my inner Harold Hill and blast forward with a product that I've had some personal experience, as I'm here to tell you, right here in River City, that psyllium husk fiber really beats the band!
There's nothing like having a personal rotor-rooter cleaning out the pipes for a consistent daily constitution guaranteed to deliver every morning. Now I personally recommend the capsules shown here found in a two-pack at Costco - typically located in the vitamin section just above the Metamucil® powdered drink mix. Now if you have tried the powdered Metamucil® before, you may have been turned off by the thought of drinking this grandpa cocktail every morning. I tried it and couldn't take it after a week.
Metamucil® also makes their psyllium husk fiber in capsule form too in a 300 count bottle, but you can get a 720 count for a better price with the two-pack at Costco ($19.99). If you don't have a Costco card, no worries as you can score natural psyllium husk capsules most anywhere, maybe even at the pool hall. Here's a link at Amazon.
You may ask (or have stopped reading at this point), how many capsules do I take a day? I will say, as in all my health related blogs, "that every body is different," including the standard line, "your mileage may vary." Both the Metamucil and Costco brands suggest 2-5 capsules four times a day. I personally take 6 capsules with breakfast and 6 more capsules at dinner and that works great for me. What you want to do is start small and work up to the total number of capsules that work best for your digestion system. Also the morning capsules go down most easily with a bloody Mary, (just kidding), water or whatever your drink is will easily chase them down. Anyway, my breakfast table now looks I own stock in a variety of pill companies. Hey who's being sold here?
I don't mind the ribbing from y'all on this one, but this is the best solution I've found for a light and easy source of natural fiber without having to eat bread and cereal carbohydrates everyday. So, if you're watching your weight and the carb intake, this may not be such an exclusive older person thang!
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There, I'm not such an old fart after all. However, I did trip and fall the other day on my run making the transition from concrete to grass while looking at a young woman. Okay, let me rephrase that. I was running around a bus stop on a sidewalk and moving back over to the grass which I prefer to run on. The young woman heading towards me was also simultaneously moving from the sidewalk to the other side of the parkway grass. We were both practicing the courteous behavior of giving each other space that most of now do as second nature without a thought in the time of the pandemic. Anyway, I'm looking at her (nice shoes) and my leading left foot catches the edge of the grass and sidewalk.
I go down hard on the grass that is actually more dirt than grass. I land on my left shoulder and ribs faster than Muhammed Ali hit Sonny Liston in their 1965 second fight. It literally was like I got hit with the infamous "phantom punch" from Ali. I rolled over on my back to catch my breath and make sure I haven't broken anything beyond my dignity. I then slowly roll over, get to my knees, then stand as the young woman is now just a few feet away. I say to her, "Well this is sure embarrassing."
She immediately says, "Are you okay? Can I help you? You poor dear."
Actually... she says none of this. She's talking on her phone to someone, sort of looks up from her phone, gives me a half smile, and walks on not even breaking a word from her conversational stride.
I start to walk, making sure the body and mind are still functioning... feeling like Rodney Dangerfield in jogging shorts. Later on in the run, What Goes On comes on my Amazon Music shuffle and I say to self, "There's the lead song for the playlist this week."
Enjoy the playlist this week my friends, and be careful out there.
A little bit of folk a little bit of rock 'n' roll. A hand-made curated playlist like no other...
Let's start with some new folk music from a duo that has just released their second album, One Day by The Cactus Blossoms. Often artists and bands get tagged with, "they sound like..." as I'm sure The Cactus Blossoms are sick of hearing that they sound like... The Everly Brothers. First off nobody will ever sound like the Everly Brothers who are forever in the rarified air of music heaven. It's really a bit unfair as the Cactus Blossoms have actually many influences that probably even date back further than Duane Eddy, who also comes to mind. Anyway give these guys a listen as you'll appreciate them for all their influences to make their own Americana music in the 21st century.
One of my best sources for finding new folk/bluegrass/Americana music (or whatever genre label you want to stick here) is the online publication, The Bluegrass Situation. I came across Janis Ian's latest and she says her last studio album at age 70, Better Times Will Come. Most of us were introduced to Janis Ian through her huge hit in 1975, At Seventeen. Well Janis has actually made 25 albums and like so many others I have come to appreciate her work in a second round in my 60's. The songwriting on Better Times Will Come is outstanding, as I just kept adding songs to the playlist this week.
Hey for all you rock 'n' rollers out there, we actually have some new tunes by some classic people who made a big splash back in the 80's and 90's: Tears For Fears, Spoon, Johnny Marr (from The Smiths), and Eddie Vedder doing a solo album (from Pearl Jam). It's hard to find one worthy new rock 'n' roll album released in a month, much less four for this month. Enjoy my friends!
Note- Starting this week my YouTube playlists will come in two formats -
Below is the playlist in its usual embedded format in the blog.
February 1972 , I get down to the record shop to promptly purchase Neil Young's new album Harvest. It's got a great album graphic but I'll never forget the tactile textural feel of the recycled paper cover. Vinyl albums for me in the 1970's sometimes became a total sensory experience. Now in my opinion Harvest is a really good album, but not as great as his previous album in 1971, After The Gold Rush. Harvest would become the best selling album of 1972.
The success of Harvest scares Neil, he's become too mainstream, too popular and promptly retreats into making non-commercial albums for many years thereafter.
Sometime in 1972, I visit my friend Paul Hobbs as he wants me to listen to Todd Rundgren's new double album, Something/Anything? We both love it! In 2003, the album was ranked number 173 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The success of Something / Anything? apparently scares Todd too. He's become too mainstream, too popular and promptly retreats into making non-commercial albums for many years thereafter.
What the f***?
Paul, I guess we were just two young and stupid consumer capitalists feeding the corporate record gods. Geez and 1972 was a good music year too... but not as great as 1971...
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1972 is a continuation from the late 60's of all these wonderful bands just falling apart and members making solo albums or forming new splinter bands. This past week, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Hot Tuna, the break-off project of Jefferson Airplane's members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). I also enjoyed Traffic's Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi's solo albums. But that lead me down the path of 'what if' these bands had just stayed together and made better albums together with their mothership bands. I guess it was just 'too soon' at the time with my break-up traumas of The Beatles and CSNY. Hell, I still haven't gotten over that, not to mention the late 60's break-ups of Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, and The Mamas & The Papas.
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Speaking of The Beatles and 1972, let's finish this installment with my recommendation to watch Good Ol' Freda. (Here is the link on Amazon Prime.) This is a 2013 documentary about The Beatles secretary, Freda Kelly hired by Brian Epstein when she was only 17 years old. She was also the The Beatles fan club president and worked for them from 1962-1972. I came upon it the other night and thought it was fantastic.
This post has the perfect landing, Valentine's Day. Now in a few days (February 17th) I celebrate the 20th anniversary of my heart attack. I can't think of a better way to celebrate heart day with the worst day of my life.
As Elton John is still singing, I'm Still Standing or better yet, Willie Nelson's StillNot Dead, I guess I'm part of the philosophy, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Andy Rooney once said, “I’ve learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.” The last twenty years sure seem that way, although now supplied with my 2-ply metaphor – Lipitor® and a Lower-Carb Lifestyle – I'm still ready to roll.
Research shows that taking a statin like Lipitor greatly reduces the chances of me having a second heart attack, but it's always important to remember my personal health factors. I'm not a smoker, but almost all of my immediate family going back a couple of generations have had heart attacks. My dad had two heart attacks and a stroke, but also smoked since he was 15. My mom had a heart attack about 5 years ago, not a smoker but she did inhale all that second hand smoke, not to mention the complete stock of See's Candies® over the years. A sincere Happy Valentine's to my mom.💓
I also want to make the distinction between 'low-carb' and 'lower-carb' eating, a big difference. Low-carb diets have almost turned into a religion where one has to basically live in a state or cycles of ketosis. "Ketosis is a process that happens when your body doesn't have enough carbohydrates to burn for energy. Instead, it burns fat and makes things called ketones, which it can use for fuel." In my opinion, living full-blown ketosis is flat out torture and is an unnecessary 'cold turkey' strategy. Even if you think carbs are a drug, a slower withdrawal strategy of eating lower portions of carbs is the more sane and sustainable approach. You just have to consistently gut check your weekly carb intake, but it's hard, for me the hardest thing.
I've been running and walking for exercise since I was 18. Next month I celebrate my 67th birthday. Aerobic exercise is very important as I've stated many times here in the blog, but I had my heart attack at 46 while mountain biking. You could say my biggest risk factor is genetic, but I have to just keep my focus on what I do have control of, the McIntosh/McWilliams food gene... we all live to eat.
Yeah, some short and stocky guy put an arrow in my heart around Valentine's Day in 2002, but his identity was more likely to have been the ghost of Edwin McWilliams, my grandfather. Edwin had a massive heart attack at 43 and without any medical technology, passed away a couple years later when my mom was only 12 years old.
Reflection is part of life. We need to consistently look back so that we can move forward. I've got a wonderful family, life-long friends, not much in the stress department these days, and I've got the exercise thing wired. The thing that always circles back is my food choices and intake, my achilles heel. It's like writing the word, "heel." It literally made me think of a heel slice of hot toasted sourdough bread as I spread it with butter instantly melting it into the bread, pure heaven!
Losing weight is the hardest thing. So last year, on the 19th anniversary of my chest grab, I came up with the idea of losing 20 pounds in the spirit of my ancestors (my Grandma Mary made the best homemade cinnamon rolls on earth). Actually, starting in the spring of 2020 and the great pandemic, I put on the Covid 15 (pounds) and by Feb. 2021, I was at the second highest weight of my life. Blending homemade frozen strawberry banana margarita's during the lockdown in the afternoon had started to take its toll, around my belly.
If you're a regular reader of the blog, you've also heard my friend Mark Hunter's mantra, "health is a lifestyle." After the heart attack, my wife and I started eating more 'heart smart' that lead to several good attempts at Weight Watchers® over the years, but it was still a diet. In counting my successes and failures at dieting, the main thing I learned was to lose all the diet schemes and just, live a lower-carb lifestyle. See Mark had the answer way back in our college days when we had only enough money at the end of the month for heating tortillas on top of the stove and making peanut butter burritos. Oh remember the good ol' days when ya didn't have think about carbohydrates!
So last year, I needed to get my morals straight and lose some weight. In my reflection cycles I've learned - The slower I lose weight, the longer I keep it off. This is exactly the opposite of any diet scheme on the market today. With that thought, I was going to hatch the perfect plan = No plan at all. Well okay, there is that one thing, I had to consistently live the lower-carb lifestyle throughout a month.
So, if you take 20 pounds and divide that by 12 months, that equals to losing 1.5 pounds a month (actually 1.6). Sounds doable right? In theory that sounds great. I forgot to mention one other rule– I had to be at least 20 pounds down on my year-end weigh-in.
Here's my cut to the chase 12 month journey in only five bullet points.
I started great! I basically eliminated bread and cereal on a daily basis and rewarded myself with those carbs now and then. I lost a pound a week for about 8 weeks, then I hit the first wall. The wall is your body saying, "okay wait a dog gone minute (or several weeks) here."
But eventually, the body realizes I'm not a caveman starving in the wilderness, and I break through the wall and start to lose weight again, sometimes a pound a month sometimes two.
By late October I've lost 18 pounds and I'm going to coast in to the finish line, right? Well, the holiday season starts and that goes through December... I eat, drink, be merry, and gain six pounds.
In early January, I get my morals back, realize the prize is at hand, if not my personal goal hanging over my head saying, "You will do this motherf***er!"
I get my lower-carb lifestyle working on all cylinders, again, and drumroll... I lose a year total of 20.2 pounds at my weekly weigh-in this past week!
Perfect NO, but yes "a messy win" as they say on sports shows. It was like kicking the winning field goal against the Dallas Cowboys as the clock runs down to 0:00. I'll take it! (Actually I did take it with a couple of Mango Cart beers to celebrate.)
Every day is a winding road –Sheryl Crow
Actually, every month is a winding road. Give yourself time to take the curves and up hills along with the straights and downhills. Stick to the general plan of not having a narrow plan, and you'll have wonderfully messy successes.
Here's my Valentine's heart health proclamation that's a good month and a half removed from the 'kiss of death' New Year's resolutions that people make, especially about weight. I'm publishing the following statement in writing for my own accountability with myself... whatever it takes dude.
Next year at this Valentine's time, I'm going to lose 7 more pounds to get to my goal weight that I've wanted to weigh since my mid 30's. I'm sure it will be a very messy journey.
This blog post and the playlist are for me this week. The songs below all have a special meaning to me and I hope you enjoy my mix too.
In the end, what the f*** do I know? All I know is that I'm still here... filled with a happy heart.
Now And The Evermore
by Colin Hay
Woke up Sunday morning
Salvation army at my door
Playing Onward Christian Soldiers
'Til I couldn't take it any more
I ran across the graves at night
With those three witches at my tail
I heard the wail of the now and the evermore
All things are never equal
And I don't know who's keeping score
Nobody gets a sequel, no
Everyone gets shown the door
I'll be counting on the rising sun
To give me all my waking days
Until it sets up on the now and the evermore
Goodbye to the life we knew
Don't save it 'til the end
It could be me it could be you or some old long lost friend
And if I'm calling out your name
I know if you can hear me you will come
You can leave a note or light a flame
Sing a song or even bang a drum
I saw The Lady Catrina
She was all a jingling at the bar
Playing an Italian concertina
You know she's really quite the star
She told me everything's a circle dance
And we had been here many times before
And we're all a part of the now and the evermore
Goodbye to the waterside and down that shady lane
In case you're lost and wandering
It does not look the same
Goodbye to the life we knew
Some roads you just can't bend
It's made me one with everything before I reach the end
