Another sterling day in the Ozarks. The high temp’s are going to be in the low 80’s all week. Godamighty the weather has been nice. I was driving to a rehearsal last night, with the windows wide open and the air just had a pop to it. The trees had this surreal vibrant color to them. It was like a state of heightened awareness or something.
I’m listening to the Led Zeppelin live record, “How The West Was Won”, as I’m writing. There was a period, early on, where I didn’t really dig Zep. I think it was a combination of reasons really. For one thing, back in the 70’s Led Zep music was everywhere you went. KSHE played them all the time, cars passing by on the street were all blaring Zep and if you went to a party that was what you were going to hear. The other guitar player in my first band was a huge Zeppelin fan. We used to drive gravel roads, smoking joints and listening to Zep for hours at a time. At the time, I didn’t own any of the records because, I didn’t need to; it was pervasive.
I also had a hard time trying to play the stuff. It used to baffle me that I had no problem with, say a Muddy Waters groove but, I couldn’t get the feel of Zeppelin. I could get the notes but not the groove.
Years later, I was playing in a band called No Thanx. The drummer, Jake, had the John Bonham thing down cold. He had that groove, the power, the foot, the whole thing. Jake would play like that naturally. I had a hard time playing with him at first. Bonham was very precise but there was always swing to his groove. Jake was the same in that sense. I’m not saying that he was doing Bonham’s act but there was definitely common ground. When you play with a drummer like that, you have to be as precise as they are. They don’t leave grey area.
So, a guy like Jimmy Page, who is doing a lot of improv, has to be a real salty player. Playing with Jake gave me a whole new respect for Jimmy Page; hell the whole band, for that matter. Ever since then I have been a big fan of Led Zeppelin. One of the things that is cool about this live record is the rhythmic interaction between Page and Bonham.
Since I made my move from the trailer park (more details later), I have been watching some T.V.
I saw a little bit of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the dreaded Today Show this morning. They sounded good, tighter than hard times in ‘29. One of the Today Show wonks said that they started playing before the show started and just kept going. Rave on, Boss.
One thing I’ve noticed, with this recent re-introduction to the television is the disturbing use of tapes of 911 calls on the news. Every time some crime has been committed, or some one has a wreck, they have audio from the 911 call. So, you get to hear people in times of distress. A lot of times it’s embarrassing.
How does the media get these recordings? Is this some kind of freedom of information thing?
I don’t see the necessity of Nancy Grace being able to play these things over and over.
Here is what bugs me; Let’s say that you think somebody may be breaking in to your neighbor’s house to kidnap their 13-year-old while they are out bowling. You aren’t totally sure but, you have a feeling something may be going down. You don’t want to go over there because, if something is going on, you would put yourself in danger. You are just suspicious; that’s all. People say some pretty goofy stuff when they call 911 because, they are under stress. Are you going to avoid calling because the call might end up being played by Geraldo over and over?
That is pretty far fetched, I know but, it is common nowadays to just turn your head when trouble happens. Like in the John Kerry/guy gets tazed video, they all just sit there and watch it happen; not my problem, you know.
The fact that your frantic 911 call will live forever seems to me like it just adds more reason to remain indifferent.
Mark and I will be playing un-plugged shows at Tequila’s in Branson West, tonight and tomorrow night. Starts at 9:00, stop by.
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