Hasn't Hurt Me None

When I sing Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" with my band I get to sing lead. To prepare, I memorized the lyrics, which wasn't too hard, since they were already down there in sprawling basement of my memories. But still, I do an odd thing when I memorize lyrics: I actually pay attention to them, and I had never really stopped to see the irony and humor in this song's lyrics. I love this one line in particular:

"I know my lack of education hasn't hurt me none."

Ha! In praise of ignorance!

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Speaking of education and ignorance, here is something that would hurt us some if it comes to pass...

Ethan Siegel in Medium writes that the GOP tax plan will destroy graduate education and result in grad students being taxed at the highest rate in the country, even higher than billionaires.

NYT: It's the economy, smarties

1. Trumpism is anti-American, anti-democratic, anti-freedom
2. Thinking so puts one in a majority coalition of voters
3. Those of us in this coalition should be able to agree on the economy

Good advice for Democrats in 2018 by Lee Drutman in the New York Times: How Democrats Can Extend the Winning Streak Into 2018.

x

It was forty years ago today...

Gary in his studio up north and 
me drifting in ghost-like from 
my remote southern location.

My pal Gary Locke and I taught each other to play guitar 40 years ago. As soon as we learned 3 chords (E, A and C!?) we started writing songs, inspired by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings.

It's a long way from Truro MA to Burlington NC, and we've been apart for forty years now, but here we are starting a remote file-swapping music project, playing "together" while hundreds of miles apart after all these years.

Let's call these songs in progress. We'll see what unfolds. Gary brought in his drummer Ken Birchall to help out. Perhaps there will be other guest stars. Hmm. Who knows? As Neil Young says, life is exciting! So far, here are two instrumentals in progress. Vocals might be added, or vocals might show up in other songs. 

The first song up is Gary's instrumental acoustic fingerstyle song, which I added a harmony duet fingerstyle guitar part, plus the bass. My working title, to be confirmed, is "Glad to See Ya" since I hear those words in the main riff, and because it is the sentiment I am feeling towards my old pal after all this time. The second song is a rock rework of my "I Know What You're Thinkin'".

Enjoy the process and progress and stay tuned for more!

Thirty three years ago today

I woke up knowing it was my wedding day. I was a bundle of nerves and excitement. Six years earlier in high school around the lunch table in front of others I proposed to you. That was a long, long wait, and a lot of growing up along the way. I guess it felt like a crazy long time to you too. Driving away to Martha's Vineyard and our honeymoon that night you kept repeating, over and over, "I can't believe we're finally married!"

We grew up together back then. My favorite thing about my life is that we are still growing up together now.

I Know What You're Thinkin'

Success! I tried out our new Behringer USB audio interface with my G&L electric guitar as input device. The intention is to have a USB in to the laptop and Garageband. It works!

There are three electric guitar tracks (playing a double lead and a bass line) plus a drum loop.

This is an old song that only had the one brief line of title words as the lyrics. There is a call and response to the two main guitars. You can hear the "I know what you're thinkin'" phrasing in the "response" guitar line.

I added this to the album: "Nowheristan".

This seemed to want to be sort of jazzy lounge rock. Enjoy!

The Riddle of Old Dave, New Dave

I have finally figured out the logical fallacy of aging. Yup, finally cracked it. Boom! We have been thinking about this backwards all along. 

You see this photo? Which one is Old Dave? 

You see that dashing fellow in the yellow shirt? That's not Old Dave. No, it's that 19-year-old kid with the scruffy hair—that's Old Dave!

This guy, right here and now? I'm not old at all, I'm new. From now on, you can just call me New Dave.

Oaks in Snow

I grew up in a yellow brick house in an emerald green town all shaded in the summer by giant oak trees. In the winter those same oaks stood out stark against snow and white sky. Here is a drawing I made of that house and those oaks and that snow and white sky.

Here is my song to go with the drawing, and the Saturdays of my youth.

Oaks in Snow (in B-flat major)

UPDATE: New music video recorded June 21, 2020

 

Listen to the whole album: Piano Music, Volume 1.

My father has always loved classical music. In the yellow brick house of my childhood my dad would play classical albums on the stereo. On Saturdays the music of Beethoven filled that house, yearning and triumphant.

Hopefully, I've captured a small piece of the yearning and the triumph. Thanks, Dad! Thanks, Beethoven! 

The Accompanist

We used to walk around the corner with the kids to visit Bev's parents. At these family gatherings the kids had great times with their grandparents and visiting uncles, aunts and cousins as well. It was the 1980s and I was a fan of George Winston's new age piano instrumentals. So I made up a song in that style on my father-in-law Bryan's piano. For all these years it has had no name. It's just my piano song in F major. I would play it every time we visited. I probably wore people out with repeated playing (sorry All!) but I think Bryan liked it. 

Now Bryan is gone, his life cut way too short by cancer. But the piano remains, a part of him left behind, right here in my own house for me to play whenever I want. 

The other day I asked Bev to take some photos of me playing the piano. So she got her camera and I started playing. I played my nameless song in F. I stopped and turned to see Bev looking shaken and emotional. A few moments earlier, with the afternoon sun streaming in through the west windows, Bev had a vivid sense of her father Bryan standing in the room, listening and watching, drawn to the sound of his old piano and to my playing.

And there's something more. The photos Bev took show my hands reflected in the glossy black finish of the raised keyboard cover. As I look at these photos, I wonder whose hands those are in the reflection? It is as if someone else's hands play a dimly reflected piano, accompanying my own. 

And now my song has a name.


The Accompanist (in F major)

UPDATE: New music video recorded June 21, 2020


Listen to the whole album: Piano Music - Volume 1.

The if-handed monster

Not left-handed, not right-handed. I'm the other one.

If I'm doing this particular activity then I'm a lefty, if I'm doing that particular activity then I'm a righty. So this must make me… if-handed? 

I'm not talking ambidextrous. Mostly it's one or the other rather than either.

But wait, there's more! My if-handedness is paired.

But even an oddity like me can be explained.  

First, I am mostly a lefty. Like all southpaws, I have grappled with right-handed scissors (my left hand lost that battle), right-side dials on wristwatches, right-sided mice and number pads on computers, and on and on. It is a cruel world.

Second, playing musical instruments is part of my story. I had ample opportunity and motivation to develop my "weaker" right hand as I learned to play piano and guitar.

Finally, it seems logical that once I was on this path it was natural to continue down it. Gradually, slowly, I became the if-handed monster that I am today.

Look away, I'm hideous!

One thing makes all the difference

I turned to take the photo of the throng of moms, dads and kids decorating themselves and their bicycles for a family Fourth of July parade and something struck me. 

There was one that made all the difference. Can you spot it? 

It's in the background but it covers the whole scene. It draws together all the parents and children and balloons and bikes and costumes. Click on the photo to study it really closely. Do you see it now?

Click or tap to look closer.

It is that giant old shade tree.

What's age got to do with it?

Nothing, that's what.

OK, sure, time goes by. Aging happens. But so what?

People say: "I must be getting old because I...can't remember, feel tired, weary, worn out, vision blurry, need a nap, can't stop yawning, rubbing eyes, dozing off, tossing, turning, restless night, can't focus, joints won't bend, muscles stiff, head is aching, sneezy, breathless, mopey, bored."

Not one of those things has to mean you're getting old. I felt all those things at 19. I feel better now.

My great nephew Braxton gets a backstage pass to see Graymatter at the Pittsboro Roadhouse. Click or tap to enlarge my happy feet (but you won't slow them down). 

My Favorite Year in Music: 1971

What's your favorite year in music, and how old were you at the time? For me it was 1971, the year I turned 14 and entered high school. I recently converted a number of my favorite vinyl albums to digital format and found myself returning over and over to albums released in this one year.

Click or tap to enlarge

My Nine Favorite Albums from 1971
I wore these albums completely out.
1. Led Zeppelin IV, aka ZOFO
2. Crosby Stills Nash and Young, 4 Way Street
3. Carole King, Tapestry
4. George Harrison and Friends, Concert for Bangladesh
5. Paul McCartney, Ram
6. Beach Boys, Surf's Up
7. Joni Mitchell, Blue
8. Cat Stevens, Teaser and the Fire Cat
9. Van Morrison, Tupelo Honey

But wait, there's more! 
Here are nine personal runners-up from this astonishing year.
• John Lennon, Imagine
• Graham Nash, Songs for Beginners
• T Rex, Electric Warrior
• Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells a Story
• Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers
• The Who, Who's Next
• Yes, Fragile
• Jethro Tull, Aqualung
• Don McLean, American Pie


Hey hey mama
Led Zeppelin IV shot right through me like a lightning bolt. "Hey hey mama, gonna make you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove" and "Been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time". What teenage boy doesn't reverberate to that? Clinching the deal, "Battle of Evermore" was riddled with Lord of the Rings references—my favorite book of the time.

When the dream came
Crosby Stills Nash and Young's live double album 4 Way Street in 1971 has a photo on the cover that made acoustic guitar playing look irresistible to me. I wanted to BE one of those guys. "When the dream came, I held my breath with my eyes closed" sang Neil Young, and that's when my dream came along too.

Daylight always comes at the right time
George Harrison made some phone calls that brought together Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr and Bob Dylan for his Concert for Bangladesh. George stepped out of the shadow of Lennon and McCartney in his shining white suit and emerged as a charismatic bandleader. Like 4 Way Street, the Concert for Bangladesh was sparked by social consciousness, and both albums have a special sense of purpose. Both albums also led me to so much additional music of the various singer/songwriters involved.

Imagine all the monkberry moon delight
John Lennon released his most popular song, Imagine, and album of the same name, in 1971. But I remain just as big a fan of the lesser known 1971 album by Paul McCartney, Ram. It has a wonderful set of songs and ripping lead guitar work by Paul and plenty of Beatlesque touches.

A year of contrasts
Yes created classic progressive rock (and The Who joined that trend by weaving hypnotic synths into their guitar rock), but Van Morrison got back to the country. Cat Stevens strummed folk rock and Carole King got jazzy with her acoustic piano pop gems. CSNY played "wooden music" and rocked out as well, as did Led Zeppelin (although we should put the emphasis the other way around for them).

Look out world, I've arrived!
That's what I remember thinking when I was 13, turning 14 during that fateful year of 1971. The story of my post-child grown-up life began that year, and holey moley, what a soundtrack I had!