Rain

Sedakas's version was great, but the bass line in this one, brother... I know, I'm supposed to be dark and all, but what can I say - it's an amazing song... Listen to that bass.

We'd just gone through the song, when a voice was heard that broke over the humming tube amps... It was our drummer and sure enough, he had a brilliant suggestion to make. "That's genuinely stupid" I thought. But then again, what else can you expect from the drummer... Even though I did not utter word, every one in the room picked on it. Except the drummer of course. So I know how to deal with genuine stupidity, but not AI. Some people who are in the business of delivering a product can certainly find it useful. But that's a different mindset - one that I genuinely respect. I have been there. But for me - and this is going to sound stupid and corny - music is a little like personal growth, or a little like praying. Which is why I no longer care about delivering. Imagine you're on a plane that's about to crash - who would ask AI to communicate their last thoughts? Art is that to me. A chance to be absolutely real. That's also why I am convinced that drummers are really absolutely stupid. (Except Neil Peart, of course).

Thank you, Greg. I sincerely appreciate.

I just got naturalized, so I get to say it as an American for the first time: Happy 4th y'all!

You might be onto something there. Those hangers were a gift from my ex. She used to order tons of stuff from questionable places, including China - that was pre-Temu. Happens when you are a shopaholic on a budget... 🤣 My first guitar was a cheap Les Paul copy - unplayable, really. Then I remember going to my friend's place when I was 12, roughly 40 years ago, and seeing his father’s 1957 black Fender Stratocaster - maple fretboard, white pick guard. This was the first professional quality instrument that I saw and laid my hands on. We lived in a small town - no store carried that kind of instrument in a 300 miles radius. To me, seeing a real Strat was as unthinkable as traveling to Mars. So it was one of those moments - I was in complete awe, as if I’d been let into the inner sanctum. It was the same as touching Eddie Van Halen’s guitar - I’d entered the sacred realm, the Holy of Holies. I was on Mars. That guitar became my holy grail. There were tons of cool, rare, and even priceless guitars in that house, including one of a 353 limited run Gibson Flying V that belonged to my friend’s older brother and which occupies a very unique place in my memories but that's a different story (rumor had it that KK Downing of Judas Priest and Rudolph Schenker of Scorpions each owned one). But the black Strat was it for me. I got my first Guitar Player Magazine shortly afterwards - the centerfold was Clapton's Blackie. Then I saw Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii on VHS. That sealed the deal. Even though it was the era of Super Strats, the fact that Dave Murray of Iron Maiden and Matthias Jabs of Scorpions played Fender Strats gave that model its respectability. A sunburst Les Paul copy sucked but a black Strat was timeless. I would own one eventually. It took time. Once my cheap Les Paul copy broke down, I made my way through a cheap Sears Strat knockoff, and then a Korean Fender Squier Strat (a huge improvement), but eventually, and through the most unlikely series of magical events, I got the real thing, US made. It is very strange to think that I must be roughly the same age as my friend's father was back then. And that my own black Fender Stratocaster is now older than his 1957 was when I put my dirty paws on it in 1985. It wasn't until 2011 in NY when I went to Sam Ash to buy a HSS Strat but ended up buying a Les Paul that things changed. And I do agree on the ergonomics, BTW. That LP Studio is just a one in a million thing I guess.

I’m not sure how the physics behind this work. I heard a noise in the studio. The wall hanger that held my beloved black Strat Marian had broken. One would have expected the guitar to fall downward, hit the ground and then fall flat on its face. But there she was, 2 ft from the wall, on her back, perfectly lined up with the broken hanger. As if she'd done a 180 degrees and then just let go. A little out of tune but undamaged. I could have almost sworn she was smiling - except she has no face so I'm not sure how that would work either. At any rate, praise Leo Fender for building quasi indestructible instruments. My Gibson SG used to hang there. Now that would have been a completely different story, with a potentially tragic ending. I proceeded to remove her from her hanger immediately. That Fender has seen more action than any instrument I own. Even if she was my most precious possession at the time, I’ve done all the stupid things - dropped her, stepped on her, dragged her around on the stage, played her in the rain, spilled beer and wine on the faceplate countless times - I even smashed her against a tombstone I kept in my studio (which was all but a smoke free environment at the time). I think I didn’t feel comfortable being front and center on the stage - roughing up the guitar was a way of compensating. It gave me a place to hide from my own inadequacy - behind the destructive BS. Anyway, the abuse shows, with all the scratches and dents - the tremolo arm is also bent a little closer to the guitar from one of those times I dropped her flat on her face. But besides the pots and the switch that needed to be cleaned up a few years ago, she never really needed much maintenance and never required actual repairs. I sanded the back of the neck a little recently to make it a little smoother, and sanded off a few rough spots - bigger dents. I also adjusted the rod for the first time since I bought it in 1996. One of the knobs is cracked a little. Surprisingly enough, although there are a few chipped spots, the fretboard doesn’t really look like your typical aged maple fretboard. Even though she was my main guitar for 15 years and I played her all the time. Kind of strange… My Les Paul Studio has become my main guitar, but I can't imagine letting go of Marian. I have another Strat and it's as solid as you would expect, but this one really feels like a tank.

This is so going on the playlist! Thanks.

This is a little off-topic but, brother... I just cannot stand the sound modern vocals. Even putting aside the whole vocal tuning debate and regardless of how talented the singer is. Two seconds and I feel like yelling "get off me". Generally speaking, there's just no room for the listener in modern music. But I'm an old geezer.

I've been listening to that song for decades, in every possible states of mind. Rational, emotional, spiritual, sober, drunk, drunk AF, high on all kinds of illicit substances - weed, hallucinogenics, nose candy, you name it... I've listened to people analyzing it from every possible angle. And there's always another angle, another truth... Every time I come back to it, I hear it differently. G-d only knows - it's right there in the title...

Thank you, brother. I appreciate more than you could imagine.

And then there's the good old trick of turning the microphone to the crowd for the tough parts. Mostly, I'm not much of a fan of live music because in many cases, it's not about music, but the experience. For starters, it's way too loud to be intelligible. And then there's people and all the idiots with their cell phones... I feel that the senses are overwhelmed by everything that's going on so it's quite hard to appreciate the music. Which might seem ironic, coming from a KISS fan. But that's actually the point I guess. I finally saw KISS in 2014 during their residency. I love their music, regardless of the image and the gimmicks. But I went to the show for the experience, precisely to have my senses overwhelmed. Paul's voice had been busted for years, and even on their last studio albums, it's difficult for me not to cringe when I hear him. But when I was in the pit in front of the stage that night, I couldn't have cared less. I was 8 again, and I had the judgement of an 8 year old, so they got away with it. As a matter of fact, Simmons was solid, and Eric and Tommy played like the pros they are - regardless of whether we think they should or shouldn't be there. Now, when I watched the blu-ray and listened to the CD, that was a whole other story. I was there when some of those songs were recorded, and Paul's songs - reworked as they may be in the studio - are difficult to get through. And that's being generous. So in a sense I guess I understand why people buy tickets to see those old-timers. It isn't really about the music. Especially not nowadays. I feel that a lot of people spend more time filming themselves "having fun" at the show and posting about it on social media than actually watching the show. Me I think I'm done. Especially when I see the prices they are charging these days... I was 14 when I saw Metallica and Metal Church for $11 on the Puppets tour, the equivalent of a little less than 3 hrs work at min. wage. And I was right there in front of the stage, maybe 40-50 ft away from Hetfield. I even managed to find one of his picks and one of Jasons's after the show. No other band will ever be as important to me as Metallica was back then. I worshiped those guys. So the idea of spending the equivalent of 2 or 3 grocery bills to watch a bunch of old geezers on a giant screen from the nosebleed and to have to deal with all the human interaction, meh... Regardless of the singer's abilities. Best of cases, I'll wait for the bluray.

Might as well plug it... Theme song for my cat the genius, something I put together quickly before a session a few years ago. I keep trying to fix it - there's something that sounds off when it goes from A# to C. I do not know what it is, on paper everything is in tune, but something just doesn't quite work - something's flat. I'll figure it out someday I guess. It's just a mock up bit anyway.