EVERY SONG (AGAIN)

                                            THE MOMENT THAT SHE APPEARED                                            In 1978 I was working as a delivery driver for Kerry's, an office products store (remember those? There were several in downtown Oakland in those pre-Costco and Staples days) I entered into a brief and unfortunate affair - I did that a lot back then. Kerry's was on Broadway in downtown Oakland. One morning, late getting started on my delivery route, I was standing at the front counter looking through the plate-glass window at passers-by (downtown Oakland was bustling then, not the ghost town that it is now) I was surprised to see  The Ballerina stroll past. We had been friendly before but never anything more. I went out to the sidewalk and greeted her. She was quite pleased to see me and, in our brief conversation, I learned that she was working around the corner at the phone company billing office and was on her lunch break. We made plans to meet for lunch the ne

                                                          Mellow Mood Starting off again with a Norman Famous bass riff, this track slows things down a little. "We're gonna put you in a mellow mood now. So get comfortable, chill out and let the music wash over you like a wave from the ocean of tranquility to the beach of memories not yet lost to the fog of time in time and on time." The MC then backed away from the mic, lit a cigarette and wandered over to the side of the stage. The moon rose above quiet city streets. Car thieves and swing shift workers heading home were the only humans around. Soft rain left a sheen on the asphalt. They say nothing exists if there's no one to see it. There is apparently a smoke shop in Portland called Mellow Mood. "Have You seen The Seen" was my title. It was first "Have You Seen The Seine" because the original idea for Le Bonx to have a French theme for some reason. When that was abandoned I changed it to "H

 "They laughed when I sat down at the piano"                                 The announcer yells: "..and here they are...THE BEATLES!!!" It's raining and it's been raining and I'm tired of rain. I got tired of the drought, too, so there's no pleasing me. "Rain" is one of the best Beatles songs. It was written mainly, if not completely, by John and released as the flip side of "Paperback Writer" (written mostly, if not completely, by Paul). What a great single! The album it accompanied was Revolver. Talk about "at the top of their game"! Of course the Beatles were always at the top of their game - they just kept raising the bar. Ringo has said said that his drumming on "Rain" was his best ever. He certainly played more actively than on most of their records. I think his playing on "She Said She Said" is a little better -  wild 'n' crazy but a little more controlled. I think Ringo's drumming

                                                                 You Didn't Know.... "Patron Saint" is another of the songs written during the initial Won Out sessions. Like "You Know Me Blues", "Whatever You Want" and a few others it's about reconnecting with my first love, the "little red-haired girl" of my dreams, Denise Evans. I've discussed this unfortunate series of events in an earlier post. Typical of my songs from this period it's a sad reflection on the hopeless sadness of lost love. I managed to turn what should have been a happy reunion of two friends into a tragedy of epic  proportions and behaved like a love-struck teenager. Got a few good songs out of it, though. I didn't call the song "Patron Saint" for any reason other then that it sounded good. I say it once in the song, apropos of nothing, and it's never brought up again. I found a chart of patron saints of various occupations  and activities.

                                    THE BAND PLAYED ALL NIGHT             Wind him up and watch him do the Busby Walk! I haven't posted for a while because there was computer stuff I couldn't do and I had to wait until my computer guy son, Webmaster Ian Lee Grinstead, had time to walk me though. I've got most of it now so I should be able to limp along. All of my kids are up on this new fangled computer stuff, but it's beyond this old-timer. Just give me a chisel and a flat rock and I'll get the message out.   "All Friends" was written and recorded during the first sessions for Won Out but left unfinished (like almost everything else). The recording provided here is a rough mix we put together after the basic tracks had been laid down. We slathered it with echo for fun. The surfy instrumental coda is called "The Busby Walk" because I took it from a pattern bassist Jeff Busby used to play around with between songs. I've always hated most of th

                                                            Too Loud?  I met Norman Famous and Ned Smith in '78. They were ahead of me in line to buy beer at a neighborhood convenience store. They were talking about music and since the line was long (there was a drunk guy at the counter who kept dropping things) I joined the conversation. It turned out that Norman and Ned, who were both about my age, were a rhythm section of sorts with Norman on bass and Ned playing drums. The problem was they had no idea how to play their instruments. They had recently, on a stoned whim, gone out and bought a set of drums and a bass rig that were now sitting in Norman's garage. The conversation continued as we completed our purchases and walked out to the parking lot. I liked them - they were friendly and funny and, best of all, fans of Beatles and Zappa. We exchanged numbers and agreed to get in touch soon.  We soon became friends, hanging out together, talking about music over drinks. They m