Deep Thoughts and Pointless Ramblings
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Random Thoughts to fill space
Posted by westguitar
at 8:41 AM EST
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Up yours, Judge Smails.
I've been taking advantage of the nice weather and working on my barn. I've got water, sewer, electric, and phone all burried underground. There was a lot of hand digging involved, and it has inspired to me practice my guitar. I'm not cut out to be a ditch digger for a living.
I've been taking advantage of the nice weather and working on my barn. I've got water, sewer, electric, and phone all burried underground. There was a lot of hand digging involved, and it has inspired to me practice my guitar. I'm not cut out to be a ditch digger for a living.
Posted by westguitar
at 7:01 AM EST
Friday, 7 November 2008
On Politics, and Elwood P. Dowd
I have a degree in Political Science from the University of Rochester. I've had more than a passing interest in the political system for quite a while. While it seems like every election cycle you hear about how negative the campaigning is compared to previous years, a quick study of history will show you that mudslinging is certainly nothing new, and is generally no worse in any given year than in another. What I believe has changed is the frequency with which the messages are disseminated. With so many more channels on tv and the increased use of websites, emails, and viral videos, it is almost impossible to find a moment away from the campaigns.
It's easy for people to become caught up in the rhetoric. Passions can run high when you are constantly bombarded with messages that say Candidate A will allow space aliens to probe you, and Candidate B will mutilate a litter of puppies in front of your children. Here's what I'd recommend. Decide what's important to you. Not what anyone else tells you is important to you, but what will really matter to you in the next four years. Then look up how each candidate has handled that issue in the past, and how they say they will handle it in the future. Then make your decision. Leave the rest of the nonsense alone.
This past weekend, the 1950 Jimmy Stewart movie, Harvey was on TV. It's a wonderful movie. You can't help but feel good when you watch it. There's a famous line in the movie that has stuck with me for the last few days:
"In this world, you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant. For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant."
Posted by westguitar
at 2:09 PM EST
Thursday, 30 October 2008
By Request
I have on more than one occasion made the claim that I can play about thirty seconds of any song. After that, it becomes evident that I don't know it. I try to take requests when I perform, but there are just too many lyrics out there to know everything. It seems like no matter how many songs I learn, I always get asked for one that I can't sing.
The music itself on the other hand usually comes pretty easy.
I'm going to let you in on a little secret: There's not a lot of original ideas in popular music. Most of it follows a pattern, and if you know what to listen for, often times you can predict what's coming next with a pretty high level of accuracy. I'm speaking of plain old pop music here. Other types of music are a little tougher. Bluegrass music confounds me because I don't know the songs, and jazz often has weird chords thrown in just for the sake of being weird, but pop, rock, and blues make it easy to be able to come up with some reasonable version of the theme song to Lavern and Shirley, like I had to the other night. Shlemiel, Shlemozzle!
Posted by westguitar
at 8:01 AM EDT
Monday, 13 October 2008
A thought about self-deprication
Every week I send out an email detailing my upcoming gigs. You can sign up to be on my mailing list below. Somewhere in the email, I usually include a link to this site, and I say that you can look at pictures, listen to music, and read "dumb stuff I've written" or something to that effect. Last week, a friend on the mailing list gently took me to task for referring to my writings as "dumb stuff." I have duly noted my tendecy to be self-depricating, and I genuinely appreciate it that someone thinks enough of me to call me on the habit. It started me thinking about where the habit comes from.
Freud (or maybe it was Jung) might say that self-deprication is really a method of pre-emptive self defense whereby a person deflects and softens the sting of any potential real criticism.
I might counter that I am fully aware of my real talent, and I use self-deprication as a means to attempt to keep my ego in check and remain humble.
On the other hand, maybe I'm self-depricating because I'm just such a loser.
(Note: That last sentence is a joke, and completely cracks me up)
Posted by westguitar
at 8:54 AM EDT
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Ah Ah AhChoooo!
Some people wax poetic about the virtues of Autumn. The changing colors, the crisp air........the new TV shows.
For me, the Fall has always meant allergies. From now until we get a good hard frost, I carry around a box of Kleenex the way a teenage girl carries a cell phone. Some days are worse than others, and I seem to do a little better if I get a some distance from home, but I never know when a run of 8 or 10 sneezes is coming.
Hopefully, if you see me performing in the next few weeks, I won't be blowing my nose on stage. If I am, I'll try to do it in tune.
Posted by westguitar
at 4:21 AM EDT
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Small Changes.....Big Results
When you play every week at the same place, and there is a somewhat limited narrow focus on one style of music at that venue, it's easy to get bored. A few weeks ago at Beale Street, I declared that I was just sick of everything I play. I was going to completely change my style. Maybe take up polka music or learn to play the bassoon.
When you play every week at the same place, and there is a somewhat limited narrow focus on one style of music at that venue, it's easy to get bored. A few weeks ago at Beale Street, I declared that I was just sick of everything I play. I was going to completely change my style. Maybe take up polka music or learn to play the bassoon.
In the past week, however, I saw a couple of friends of mine give performances that started me thinking about it a little differently. The first was at Ross's wedding. He sat Laurie down and played a song for her. It was a song that W.B. Blues has performed, and truth be told Ross did it solo for quite a while before there ever was a W.B. Blues. But Ross plays it differently than I do on guitar, and the bass player from the jazz trio that was playing the reception joined in, playing the bass lines just a little differently than Ross usually plays them with W.B. Blues. I was probably one of the few people in the room that knew it was different, but the subtle changes that I heard were like a breath of fresh air into a song that I've heard scores of times.
The other performance I saw was by my friend, Lisa Bigwood. Her band played in Livonia the other night. I've never heard her with the band before. Only solo. Her band consists of her on vocals and guitar, with a mandolin, upright bass, and a second guitar player taking leads. The feel of the group reminded me a little of Allison Krause. The first song I heard was new to me, and I was impressed. Then they started doing some of the songs that I've heard Lisa perform as a solo act. I was really impressed by how just a little different instrumentation and some sparse harmonies changed the whole compexion of her songs.
Both performances left me thinking that perhaps I don't need to completely reinvent what I do, but just make some subtle changes here and there to some songs. Maybe change the tempo, or rearrange the chord changes.
They say Bob Dylan never plays a song the same way twice. I don't know if I want to go to that extreme, but a fresh coat of paint may be in order to brighten some of my repetoir up a bit.
Posted by westguitar
at 12:39 PM EDT
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Defining Moments in musical Taste
Evolution is usually pretty slow. Drastic changes aren't all that common. Such is the way with personal musical tastes. You don't just decide one day that you're going to like jazz or country or gregorian chants. Musical styles sneak into your consciousness subtlely and slowly, and without even realizing it has happened, you're an ABBA fan.
Still, there are moments you can point to if you really think about it that drastically change the way you think about things. You'll often hear musicians of a certain age talk about seeing The Beatles on TV in the early sixties and having their whole perspective on music change at once.
I just rediscovered one of those moments, thanks to YouTube.com. Some time in the 80's, there was a show on called Night Music. I don't remember the details of when it was on, but I think it ran opposite Saturday Night Live during one of their sucky periods. It was hosted by saxophonist David Sanborne. The show would pair up musicians who wouldn't normally play together for a set and see what they could do together. I remember seeing bluesman Robert Cray play with a singer/songwriter I had never heard of before named John Hiatt. They did the old Sam and Dave soul classic "When Something is Wrong With My Baby." I vividly remember at the time feeling goosebumps. It opened the doors to blues, soul, and the way a singer/songwriter can interpret someone elses song all at once for me. John Hiatt is one of my favorite songwriters. Robert Cray is a staple in my music collection, and that Memphis horn sound is never far from my mind as I try to interpret songs. Along with the first time my sister snuck me into a club to see B.B. King when I was underage, and my trip through rural Mississippi many years later, I think that four or five minutes of one show really shaped my entire taste in music. It was nice to run across the clip and find that it lived up to my memories of it.
Posted by westguitar
at 8:25 AM EDT
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Stage Fright.....and affirmation
Every Sunday night in the summer, there is a free concert at Vitale Park on Conesus Lake. It's practically in my back yard. They get some local acts, but they also get some larger, regional acts to play. The concerts run from 6PM to 8 PM. There are usually hundreds of people, maybe even thousands on a nice night including those who listen from their boats. It's a great way to end the weekend.
I've always had this thing about not wanting to perform in my home town. I've been asked before, and I usually make up some excuse. I guess I feel like if I play in front of people I don't know and they don't like me, I don't have to see them again, but if I play in front of family, friends, and neighbors and they don't like it, I still have to live here. Irrational, I know, but I think most performers have some insecurity, and that happens to be mine.
This past Sunday, about 5:15 PM, I got a call from the town supervisor. The band they had booked broke down in Pennsylvania and wasn't going to make it. There were a lot of people already at the park, and they were in a real bind. Was I available? I hemmed and hawed for a minute, then said I'd do it. I promptly went into panic mode. How could I do this whole show alone on such short notice? I needed some support. I tried calling the boys from W.B. Blues, but Ross was out of town and Tim had been playing another gig all day. Pete Collin had been working all day, and just wasn't up to it. I tried my old friend Bill Brown. He said he would, but he didn't think he could get there in time. I even tried a few of the guys from the Son House Blues club at Beale Street. No answer from anyone. I was on my own.
I got there, and after an announcement from the supervisor that the band they all thought they were going to see wasn't coming, he introduced me. There I stood in front of the microphone with my guitar. No set list, no preparation, and no idea what the people wanted to hear. I started with a Keb' Mo' song that I've played thousands of times. I can play it in my sleep, which is a good thing since I was on autopilot at that moment, just trying to control my nerves. That went ok. The next song was well received, and I started to loosen up. I played some old standards which the older people seemed to like, and some blues that appealed to the younger crowd. By the end of the show, I was feeling pretty good. I was hearing some people actually whistling and cheering my name. When I said goodnight, there were calls for an encore. For as nervous as I was, I have to say that it was one of my best moments as a musician. And it happened in my own home town.
Posted by westguitar
at 10:13 AM EDT
Monday, 18 August 2008
Working for a Living
I am a fortunate man. For the most part, I am able to support myself doing what I love. I'm not getting rich, and I have no delusions that I'll ever be famous, but between performing and giving lessons, I'm able to get the bills paid.
Every now and then, I must admit it feels like work. After my gig on Saturday, I will have played 9 gigs in 11 days. That's a lot of singing. My voice is starting to feel it a little. I need to be extra diligent about making sure I warm up properly and take care not to strain too much.
This week, I've been painting for my sister. While I don't mind the work, I can't exactly say I'm enjoying it. It feels like a job. I can tell you that it is a nice reminder that making your living by doing something you love is a great way to live.
Posted by westguitar
at 8:59 AM EDT