Sentimental slop that rhymes in meter is not poetry. It’s slop. I’m trying to reveal the heart and soul of an AI poet named Bob, and sentimentality is not the key to good poetry. There are many examples of brilliant poetry that have nothing to do with sentimentalism, just as there are plenty of high-ranking oil paintings that are impressionist and which show no trace of glowingly pastel daubs of paint. Continue reading
Government Meltdown Blues
( Bm – Em – Am7 – Bb7 )
I thought I’d weigh in on the subject of the most recent government shutdown as a result of a few nasty people in the well-publicized “Caucus Suicide Pact”, a power-hungry political conspiracy which is currently holding the rest of the country hostage.
(guitar lead short solo here)
Give a listen to this Hungarian Jazz Combo with didgeridoo and two saxes, bass, drums/percussion and strings! Sadly, there are only a few hits on each of their dozens of videos; they’re just too damn good for the audience out there!
Here’s the video that mentions me and the other kids riding in the back of this Chevvy monster of the road. Today it could never happen, but back then, who knew from seat belts — and if you had them, you got made fun of!!!
http://youtu.be/oZ6wsQqlEpg
Painting a Reunion Blues Gig-Bag for a sax player. They are pricey, but they last 10 times longer and are 100% tougher than any competitor’s gig bag.
I hand paint about a dozen a year. Each one is uniquely designed, no two alike. The bag itself runs about $300 and my signed painting job is an additional $500. Guitar bags tend to be about $200-$700 new — don’t buy one used — and are typically easily and cheaply available on eBay and Amazon.
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv44/gritpr/moksha-1.jpg
Thanks to someone who gave me a wonderful birthday gift, which I will soon replace with another just like it, Moksha, of the amazing “Country Eastern” musical experience, Hu Dost — which is currently on tour — now has an official musicalsaw.com tenor musical saw to add to their List of Mystical Inventory. Here’s an example of a musical saw used in a highly technical manner:
Back in 1949, I heard my music teacher at Camp Woodland, Grant Rogers, play the musical saw; then Joe Hickerson played it, after which Joanna Cazden, Louise deCormier and, as I remember it, Happy Traum or Geoff Kaufman tried it.
Well, heck-darn, I asked for, and got, a musical saw for my 70th birthday last December 27th.
When I first encountered the musical saw it was immediately post-war, World War II (which is the Roman numeral “II”, not the Arabic numerals which we use today, as in “World War Eleven”, as some kids insist on calling it) when instruments made of steel were almost unobtainable, and was amazed at how much like the newly invented Electronic Theramin it sounded. Here are some stunning examples: Continue reading