Rain

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/myles-goodwyn-april-wine-singer-dead-obituary-1234908910/ This one hits me hard. I discovered them late, but April Wine has been a huge part of my life for the last few years. Their album First Glance in particular - it is played at least once or twice a month, on my nights off. I'd been following him for a few years on Facebook, and that's where I learned in March that he was retiring from performing with April Wine, although he remained involved with the band. He was still performing with his acoustic trio, their last show in October if I remember correctly. He was quite active on Facebook until mid November. His last post was a song of his called "Will the Last Voice I Hear Be An Angel?" He was 75. In true Canadian fashion, I learned the news from a post by Alex Lifeson of Rush. I'll be rocking First Glance and a lot more tonight. RIP Myles and thanks for all the music.

Marilyn Manson - The Fall of Adam

Traditional Jewish Music- Ma Adam (a most fascinating song)

Adam Sandler - The Hanukkah Song

I knew I could count on you, brother!!! I was barely done closing that chapter of my life that they were announcing the avatar BS. Don't misunderstand me - I was expecting this - but I thought they'd let the real fans put their memories to rest. At least for a few months. Weeks. Days... They couldn't even let us have that. 2 hours. That's all they gave us. 2 hours!!! Even in the most capitalistic environment, that would probably be considered heartless. Concession stands were at the gates even before we were even let in to say our goodbyes. F*ck 'em.

Randy Rhoads set the bar pretty high, and I'm not particularly talented, so learning to play those songs properly was and remains a challenge. I was just looking at a video taken a few years ago - an attempts at playing the Over the Mountain solo (the solo that made me want to play electric guitar) and I cringe. 40 years later, and I'm not there yet. But I keep at it. I am getting closer to properly playing the Mr. Crowley solo too. Part of me does envy those kids on Instagram who seem to be able to play Vai and Malmsteen before the doctor's even done wiping the placenta off their face. Part of me is glad that I struggled so hard for every note and every little thing I've learned. That's how music becomes part of your soul. Anyway, I went on to study classical guitar because of Rhoads - and I played the intro to Diary of a Madman for my audition. A few months later, I learned Leo Brouwer's Etude 6, and understood my guitar teacher's smile. Ironically, I got the most mileage out of the pentatonic scale, which I picked up from the solo in I Don't Know on Blizzard of Ozz - that's the song that unlocked the whole blues thing for me. Suddenly, everything made sense. So I guess I owe Randy my love for the blues, too.

It's always strange to think that that first vinyl cost me approximately $13 back in the days. In 1983, the minimum wage was $4 back home. Besides the price, one could factor in the long walk to and from the mall in the freezing cold of the Canadian winter, the time spent browsing and choosing the record you wanted to spend all that money on, the anticipation, and everything that made getting a new album such a fantastic experience. You were committing to that album in many ways, often without the option of even hearing it before you purchased it. Back home, anyway... 40 years later, you can order the CD for the same price I paid the vinyl back then (less than an hour's wage in 2023) and have it delivered to your doorstep the next day. Or you can just buy it for even less on iTunes - that is, if you're one of the few people who still buys music.

40 years ago almost to the day I bought Diary of a Madman, my very first LP - and my life was changed. Since then, I have purchased more copies of that album than any other, in almost every format, the more recent being the Legacy Edition CD, 10 years ago, and again, coincidentally, almost to the day (11/27). Tonight, I logged in to work and found a gift card in my inbox. My first thought was: vinyl. The second was: Diary of a Madman. The O in OCD stands for Ozzy I guess.

I call this one a study in contrasts: James Taylor > Corey Taylor, singer for Slipknot Slipknot: People = Sh*t

Back OT. James Taylor - Blossom

I second the feeling. Can't stand that guy. Admittedly, he's aged a little more gracefully, but Robert Smith still RULES. Who else could have delivered us from Mecha-Streisand? Certainly not Morrissey.

One of the most important words in the English vocabulary.

I wholeheartedly agree! In my experience, total artistic freedom is probably the worst thing that can happen to some of us. I think Peter Gabriel once said something along those lines, too.

If there are guitar parts, unless there is a solid deadline, I NEVER finish it, although I may abandon it at some point. I can spend 2 or 3 hours recording the same verse. Come back the next session, scrap everything and start over. And again the next night. Whether it’s because the sound doesn’t seem to work or whatever else - there’s always something. And believe it or not, it used to be worse, because I used to feel compelled to record each guitar in a single take. I have at least managed to convince myself that I should “divide and conquer”. That being said, I cannot bring myself to do a comp out of multiple takes. Each part for each section must be one take. I punched into a track ONCE, the first time I went into a recording studio and was simply obeying whatever the engineer told me to do. And I still feel dirty about using that trick over 25 years later. (That and the fact that he “forced” me to record a solo using a high gain amp because my own setup just wasn’t working). I still cannot bring myself to re-amp. If I record using a plugin, listen to the playback and decide to adjust the sound even just a little and add a little gain or something, I re-record everything. Until, at some point, I give up. And then I come back a few years later, listen to the song and wonder - what the heck was wrong with me? These guitars are alright. The mix sucks for sure, but the guitars aren’t the problem. Then I decide to have a go at the project and soon enough find myself going down that same rabbit hole. The funny thing is that I’ve recorded some rather sloppy players, but since it’s not me, the perspective is entirely different - I become very imaginative in terms of how I can salvage things and put together an adequate performance out of a few questionable takes or handle problematic sounding ones. I just cannot bring myself to do the same for my stuff. I guess that’s one of the many reasons why I don’t write guitar music that often.

Goldfrapp - Lovely Head

The Tea Party - Fire in the Head

That's not Billy that's mini-Bapu!

Chris Cornell - Pillow of your Bones

Alice In Chains - Them Bones

Took this picture of Ophelia a few years ago. She reminded me of something but it took me months to finally figure it out. She's giving me Blue Steel, and totally pulling it off.

I cannot speak for every manufacturer, but there are indeed mechanisms in place that allow to remotely disable ignition. Contrarily to the common misconception, it is not possible to stop the car (for obvious reasons). Not that the technology isn't there to do that, I would assume. In my experience however, here in the US, there are three absolute imperatives that must be met before a vehicle is disabled: first and foremost, the owner must file a stolen vehicle report with the police. He must then communicate the report information to the manufacturer, and finally, a federal officer must request that the vehicle be immobilized - which very rarely happens in fact. In most cases, the police only want the car to be tracked - something which also can only be done when requested by a police officer, incidentally. At least in my experience. Likewise, information concerning the vehicle's whereabouts can only be provided to a federal officer. Each request needs to be thoroughly documented, with the name of everyone involved, from the precinct dispatcher's to the name and badge number of every officer working the case. So yes, the technology is there, but, at this time at least, there are vast quantities of legal ramifications.

Tin Machine - Big Hurt

SITD - Hurt

Elvis Presley - Hurt