Rain

My work here is done. ?

I was tall and quite skinny, but I played rather nasty. I grew up admiring tough players like Terry O'Reilly and Cam Neely, so I guess I modelled myself after them a lot. I'd hit guys I would have never dared go up against in real life. I was lucky - not one tooth lost, not one stitch. My younger brother would come home with a concussion or missing teeth, and he played clean hockey - -but for some reason, I got through unarmed. I eventually broke my arm in a fall, but kept playing, because, hockey... Then I fell again and made it worse. That ended my hockey "career" - not being able to play guitar made the decision easy.

Sorry again, brother. No more hockey talk. I guess this time at least I had the right city, just not the right sport and decade.

This gorgeous b*st*rd agrees. In my book, that smile below IS hockey. Clarke is another one of my all-time favorites. Those mid 70's Flyers, man...

The Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs. I've been here for over 10 years but I've not figured out football yet. And this is by no mean intended to put off the sport, but all the celebrating on the field kind of turns me off. I'm not condemning it or anything, it's just not for me. I'm old and boring like that. It's not exclusive to football and it seems to be becoming more common in hockey, too. The game has become very exciting, the level of playing is phenomenal, but a lot of what goes on around the game is kind of cringey for an old dude like myself. I guess I'm just too set in my ways. My favorite hockey player of all time is Bobby Orr, and unless we're talking about a drought ending, Stanley cup winning goal, the man would typically just bow his head and exchange a few pats on the back with his teammates. That's more in line with my tastes. See, invite a Canadian to speak Superbowl and before you know it, he'll be talking about hockey. Sorry.

Of course, with the key words in the last one, I could potentially go on posting Priest songs all day. But I will spare you guys. For now.

Judas Priest - Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days

Judas Priest - Running Wild

Judas Priest - On the Run

Judas Priest - Run of the Mill

Rainbow - Run with the Wolf

I was looking at amps and guitars on Sweetwater's site this morning. Received an email 10 minutes later announcing that my Sweetwater credit card limit had been increased. I'm still not buying that Gibson Les Paul Custom, but it's nice to know that they believe I could afford it.

Yes! Good one, too.

New Order: Shellshock

Peter Gabriel - Shock the Monkey

Coney Hatch - Monkey Bars

I really wasn't a fan back in the days, but these guys grew on me in recent years. I'd been meaning to watch the documentary for some time. Nice. Really enjoyed it. This had also been on my watchlist for some time. Took the Showtime trial just for it. This one... It's like the opposite of the one on Triumph. Whereas the one on Triumph avoids putting the emphasis on the drama, this one has a reality show feeling to it - especially when they start auditionning singers and taking shots at that guy they hire, and making sure to show how amateur he is. It also feels extremely fake. It reminded me of everything that I dislike about the music scene here in Vegas.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Subway to Venus

Happy Birthday, Bapu!

Faith No More - Land of Sunshine

Covnant - Greater Than the Sun

Pink Floyd - Fat Old Sun

I do not disagree at all - and as you may have suspected, my reply was actually meant to sound a little pedantic, and to poke a little fun at people who tend to be a little stiff - myself first. I imagined it as something you might hear Frasier say (if you're familiar with the tv show of that name). FWIW, the vast majority of my own music features absolutely no "real" instrument, neither live performance. I usually refer to my main project as EBM (Embalmed Body Music in this case). Everything is programmed, sequenced, and whatever is played on the keyboard is ususally quantized becaue I am an awful keyboard player. Most of my creative output of the last 20 years or so simply wouldn't exist without a DAW - I wouldn't have written that stuff on a guitar. I've always been quite ambivalent. Yes, it irks me to no end when kids call themselves "producer" - pretty much like it does when a girl taking selfies called herself a "model" because she posts pictures of hersef on instagram. But I am old, and I get that. Likewsie, I can b*tch about hip hop one second and be digging out an old Beastie Boys record the next. I am a huge fan of dark electro/industrial music - and I am very much aware that a lot of those guys don't play any instrument and can't hold a tune to save their life. But at the end of the day, if the song is good... I think that as long as you don't actually take yourself too seriously, it's ok to contradict yourself and be ambivalent. Not to be too rigid. Maybe that's why I feel that those self-proclaimed producers could also benefit from a little self-mockery.

Instagram Buffoon: Are you a beatmaker? Me: Actually, I've studied classical music, I've dabbled with traditional jazz as well as traditional music from many cultures, I can read and write charts, I play an actual instrument - even a few of them. I have, on multiple occasions, played music and sang live on stage. I also like to amuse myself by indulging in rudimentary sound design and, yes, I sometimes "make beats". But since I do not require a laptop to make music, I believe the proper term would be "musician".

David Bowie - China Girl