Music that has impacted my life, Vol 1

Before I get into the meat of my first “music that has impacted me” series (currently sitting at 30 albums), I’ll give a taste of my musical history.

I’ve always loved music. Always.  I remember listening to music on A.M. radio (back when A.M. HAD music) in mom and dad’s car, and in the mornings - getting ready for school - on the little transistor radio mom had in the kitchen.  The music was populated by John Denver, Barry Manilow, The Carpenters, etc.  Easy listening stuff.  In the spring and summer, during “clean up” days, mom would have the record player going with Herb Alpert, John Denver, and others that I can’t remember.

Come 4^th grade, I was able to choose an instrument to play if I wanted.  I chose violin.  I did that for a year, then in 5^th grade I moved up to upright bass.  I was one of a few members from my school that went to ANOTHER school for practice before school started, and that little orchestra did a few “tours” of the schools in the district.

In junior high I was a member of the orchestra, joined the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra organization, starting with the youngest group, the Little Symphony.  The music there was good, semi-popular classical music, but arranged down a few levels for the young musicians just really starting out.  Following year, I moved up to the Junior symphony where the music was a bit more advanced.  But, as I was the only bass player, I still played with the Little. Finally, in 9^th grade, I moved up to the actual Youth symphony.  This group was for the “kids” up to age 21 (I think), and played full, unedited symphonies by the greats: Mozart, Beethoven, Sibelius, etc.

In 11^th grade, I also picked up the bass guitar to play with the high school jazz band, and still played with the Seattle Youth Symphonies, in addition to a couple more local groups.  That year was my busiest one, musically: Little Symphony, Junior Symphony, Youth Symphony, high school orchestra, high school jazz band, an operetta company, Redmond Chamber orchestra, another group that played Beethoven’s 9^th (complete with large choral group), and a trio that was a spin-off of the chamber orchestra that played a few gigs here and there.

Starting in about 7^th grade, I started getting away from my parent’s type of music, and developing my own taste.  The first tape I ever bought was Bryan Adams’ Reckless, followed by Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA.  I started listening to a rock station at night, before switching it to a classical one to fall asleep. Typical 80s rock: Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Kiss, etc.

I bought a few more rock tapes over the years: Guns n Roses (more on them in a later episode), Bon Jovi, etc.

But I still think the most memorable one, and first real “metal” music I bought, was in 1989.  Iron Maiden’s Powerslave album.

I had just watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and the lines: “Put them in the iron maiden.”
“Iron maiden?! Excellent!” stuck with me for some reason.  I thought to myself: “hey…that’s a metal group, right? If they like it, maybe I will too.” (That was my reasoning at the time. Hey, I was young and stupid then, shaddup.)

So, I went to a Fred Meyer (dad had to stop by there to get something, I just went to the music section), looked under “I”, and found the only one they had by Iron Maiden: Powerslave.  I remember being excited about it because of the skull on the front (Eddy), and getting a “real metal” album.  Man, was I NOT disappointed. From the first chord of Aces High, to the final strains of Rime of the Ancient Mariner, I was absolutely hooked.

There are two “must hear” tracks from this album: Powerslave, and Rime of the Ancient Mariner.  The first, Powerslave, tells the story of a pharaoh, who is apparently about to die, and is ruminating on what is to come after he passes. The song starts out with a heartbeat with an accompanying “uh-uh”, then a wolf-type (maybe jackal, considering the setting?) howl screams out, dissolving into a rather menacing laughter, then dissolving into the opening chords.
The entire song is just awesome, but I think the best part is the second guitar solo that hits at about the 4:40 mark. It starts off really growly that just grabs me, then the driving rhythm of bass, drums, and the other guitar makes this song simply addictive.

The second song on this album that is a must-hear is “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, and is loosely based on the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem of the same name.  Again, from the opening chords, this song just hooks me. Part of it may be the length: clocking in at 13:41, it is the second longest Maiden song (the first is over 18 minutes).  Another part that I love about this song is the inclusion of lines from the actual poem in two separate instances.
It tells the story of a mariner (sailor) on a ship sailing south, to the Antarctic region, apparently. On the voyage, however, he kills an albatross…which is a “bird of good omen”, which starts a curse.  Everyone on the ship dies except him, and the ship just sits there unable to move due to no wind.  After who knows how long, he finally prays for all the animals including sea creatures, and the wind and rain come and take the boat home.  The curse is lifted as the ship gets close to his homeland. A hermit (I’m reading country-dwelling priest, here) hears the mariner’s confession, and has him tell his tale wherever he goes.

This song has three distinct parts: beginning, where the ship is sailing south and the mariner kills the albatross. Middle, where “Death and she, Life In Death” roll dice for the crew of the ship. She wins the mariner, Death wins the rest. This is a slower section where not much is going on, just like when the ship is unable to sail “with no wind in her sails and no tide”. It includes some creaking, as would be heard on a wooden ship.  Finally, the third section is after the mariner prays for the sea creatures and the curse is lifted.

A couple interesting things here: the artist that drew the album cover put in a few easter eggs.  See the pictures below.

First one has "Indiana Jones was here 1941" and a Mickey Mouse head.  The second was a Kilroy picture with "Wot? No Guiness?"

National anthem stir: sit or stand?

     Let me say first, that I am a Veteran. I joined the U.S. Navy to serve and protect this country and Her freedoms from foreign AND domestic peoples and groups that seek to diminish them. 
     As a Vet, am I aggrieved to see people sitting and kneeling during the National Anthem? Of course.  But also, as a Vet, I see it as a First Amendment action that should not be infringed upon. These sports players want to protest peacefully. They have a grievance about this country. Let them speak it, not shut them up.
     I, too, have a grievance about this country: the people "in charge" are not listening to the common people....the people they are supposed to represent.  ALL the people, not just the wealthy, the white, the businesses.
     Trump wants to punish people that "disrespect" the flag and country.  You know what other countries do that?  North Korea. Iran. Syria. Saudi Arabia. China.  How does it feel to be classified with those countries?  You Republicans enjoy that? Anyone that speaks out gets fired, fined, or put in prison.  You cheer about that now, but what would you have done if those rules were being put into effect while Obama was in office?  You would have been screaming as loud as you could about it being unconstitutional.
     That is another grievance with this country and it's "leaders".
     You conservatives insist on bringing Christianity back into schools, forcing ALL students to participate, and shutting out any others: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Paganism.  This is sounding more and more like the Christian version of Sharia Law.  You know what happens there? You don't belong to the "state sanctioned religion"?  Prison. Fined. .....Executed.
     Another grievance.
     You might be thinking: oh this guy's just another liberal whining about anything.  Maybe I am whining about what's happening.  If this was happening to you, not the "other side", I'm sure you would be whining as well.  In fact, you whined non-stop during the entire Obama presidency.  For what reason? He was black. 
   You whined. You whined because "he's from Africa", "he's a Muslim", "he's not an American". Translation: he was black.  An educated black. Multiple degrees, a lawyer, congressman.  Stayed above insults directed at him, didn't offer any in return.
    Now, you have a draft dodger, no political history, verified liar, GAME SHOW HOST, that insults anyone and everyone.  So much so, that another country is about ready to shoot nuclear missiles at us.
And you are ok with this....why?  Is this really what America has come to?
     You people are upset with the way these sports people are treating the flag. I get that. I understand it.  As I said, I'm a veteran.  However, all you with the Stars and stripes on your headbands, jackets, shorts, shirts....all of that is against the Flag Code you so vehemently scream you are defending. 
Don't believe me?  Here.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code

So.  Am I upset with them kneeling?  Yes. Am I going to do anything about it?  No. They are protesting, and protesting peacefully. 
They have that right. 
I helped them get it and keep it.
I am a Veteran.
      

Talk like a Pirate Day!

Depression sets in...again

At times, life really sucks dead whale dick.  I was let go from my previous job because I'm a big guy, talk loud....and therefore intimidated people.  That was October 2010.  I had one job from December 2011 to Feb 2012...a contract job that I had hoped would turn permanent.  It didn't.  Then in June 2012, I got a part time job at a deli, and another part time job at a dine-in theater.  The theater started giving me TONS of hours, so I quit the deli.  Now, it's come to this: the theater has WAY over-spent the hours it has for us schlubs in the kitchen, so our hours have gone from 48+ all the way down to 16-24.  At $8.50 an hour, with a kid and a pregnant wife....it just doesn't work.  A good chunk of wifey's check goes to insurance. 
Rent.  Cable/internet.  Car insurance.  Electric.  Gas.  Gasoline.  Water/sewer/trash.  Misc bills.  School loans.  Credit cards. 
It just keeps adding water to our pool, and we're chained to the bottom in the deep end.  Right now, the water is up to our chins, and still rising.
I can't quit my job, because I won't get unemployment for self-termination.  I'm looking desperately for a new one, but the job market is still VERY poor right now, and with the exception of one nibble on my resume, I've had nothing from anyone. 

I really hate this existence sometimes.  Makes me wish that the "Next World" that the Mayans predicted would in-fact come true.

Heat and hotels

It was really interesting, this past week, to watch human society devolve into something resembling barbarism (more on that in next blog).  On Friday June 29, an intense storm whipped through a good portion of the United States, including here in Ohio.  There was plenty of rain, and winds at times were in excess of 80mph, which is equal to a weak hurricane.  Power went out in something over 1 million homes in the Central Ohio area, and some are still out as of writing this (July 7th).
The first night wasn't bad, most people thought something like "oh, it'll be back on shortly".  However, as the hours went by and reports were emerging from the radio broadcasts, it was looking more and more like it was a bigger issue. 
I was lucky enough to be sent to the store to get ice that first night, and got three bags.  We put some essentials in a couple coolers: milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt...basically things that Kiera would eat.  The temperature before the storm that day was 98 degrees, but it cooled off rapidly after that storm came through.  The temp quickly climbed again after the front zipped through.
Saturday morning, after hearing on the radio that the temperature forecast for the next several days was in the 90s, we started looking into hotels.  After calling every single hotel in the phone book (borrowed), we were out of luck.  Either they were all booked up (thanks to the power outages, and a volleyball tournament Nationals), or didn't take pets.  I'm sorry, but there was no way that Lola could stay locked up in a house without air conditioning.
My wife's mother, Sally, was also looking for a hotel for herself and her other daughter Krista (and her two kids), but she took a more direct route: she went to hotels and talked to them face-to-face.  We were all eventually booked into a hotel for the absolutely outrageous price of $180 (after tax) per room...actually one was a little cheaper, because there was a pet charge.
One night on a rock-hard bed later, and we started looking for a cheaper hotel.  We found one for about $50 cheaper a few buildings down from the one we were in.  We got all our stuff together, got checked out, and went to the new hotel.  Unfortunately, that hotel lost power about 5 minutes before we got there.  We stayed in the lobby for about 20 minutes, to get out of the heat.  However, the front of the building was basically all glass and was warming up quickly now that the AC was off. 
Keep in mind that in our car there was: a pregnant woman (Paula), a 2 year old child (Kiera), a dog, and myself.  We went down the road a few miles to a pet store that still had power, and sat there for a while to cool Lola off, change a diaper, and get some water for everyone.
We checked a couple more hotels down from the pet store.  This one was really great.  Still no rooms, but they were awesome when they heard our situation, and called several competing hotels around the city for us.  They found a Comfort Inn just North of the I-270 loop around the city.  On our way up there Sally, Krista, and the two kids called us (THANK ALL THE GODS FOR CELL PHONES!!!!!), and we checked on another main road en-route.
They found one!  It was another Comfort Inn, and it was about half the cost of the first hotel.  We ended up staying there Sunday and Monday night.  Power was restored late Monday, and our neighbor texted me.  I called off work on Tuesday so I could get all our crap out of the hotel and into the house while Paula was working. 
Krista's power was finally restored on Wednesday afternoon, so they're back home now.
The temperatures for this past week have been brutal.  Starting with Friday, June 27th, they have been: 98, 90, 93, 91, 95, 100, 98, 101.  And it's supposed to be 105 today.
Our AC unit is working almost constantly, the dog is panting, and everyone is drinking water on an hourly basis.  Things are supposed to get back to normal (in the 80s) by Monday or so.
Keep cool, everyone.