Notes_Norton

CoveCamper, I've seen it with my own eyes, and well over 95% of the peer reviewed, published climatologists from all over the world agree. There will always be a minority who disagree, and who knows, sometimes they are correct. In this instance I doubt it. I am going to go with the majority. I said I've seen it with my own eyes. When I was a child, if the temperature got above 85 degrees, the headline on the Pompano Beach Town News screamed in giant headlines "IT'S A SCORCHER". And it rarely got over 85. Now 90s are common. That's global warming. I grew up in Pompano and Las Olas Blvd and streets in Miami Beach never-ever flooded, even during King Tides. Now they flood on regular high tides. That's ocean rising. And yes, trees love CO2, but there are fewer and fewer and fewer trees to make use of that CO2 as mankind bulldozes them over to make room for the demands of human overpopulation. The ice caps are melting. The droughts are worse. The fires are worse. The reefs I used to skin-dive on as a child are dying, the naysayers are saying nothing is wrong, but to me the evidence speaks otherwise. So I will do my best to take care of what we have left. I think it's the civilized thing to do. YMMV Insights and incites by Notes

I took a drive yesterday to run some long overdue errands, and as I often do, I took my digital Walkman with over 10,000 songs on it. I run it in the 'random' mode. To my delight, the Beatles' "Abbey Road Medley" came on. It is heavily edited from snippets of other recordings, with overdubs and ear candy added, and impossible for a 4 piece group to play live. And IMO it's one of the best things they ever recorded. I don't have VSTs, but I have a rack full of synth modules. IMO a digital piano does not replace an acoustic piano. They are two different but very similar instruments, each with their strengths and weaknesses. The digi-piano doesn't replace, it adds to the things a piano player can do. Sax is my primary instrument. There are times when I play synthesized sax with my wind controller and physical modeling synth module. Why? For the same reason why a pianist might decide to play Rhodes on a particular song, because it fits. The synth sax will do things my physical sax will not, and vice versa. So it's not either-or for me, it's both. I play guitar, and in my duo I'll play some solos with my wind synth. Why? Guitar is my 7th and newest instrument, and there are things I can do on the synth that I'm just not a good enough guitarist (yet) to do. As long as the music comes out good, it is good. But I still prefer symphonies and jazz recorded in one take. Insights and incites by Notes

"Here Comes The Rain Again" - Eurythmics

Perhaps I'm weird, but to me, there is an obsession about perfection in today's recording efforts. I understand that, because that mistake on the record lives forever. On the other hand, too much perfection can be very boring. Everyone's tastes are personal, and mine are just mine. In the end, if you like the recording, it's good for you, and that's all that counts. I have different preferences for different kinds of music. I think a symphony and a jazz recording should be done in one take, with nobody adding parts later on, no overdubbing, and no editing that affects the performance. For everything else --- it depends. Insights and incites by Notes

Here Comes The Judge - Pigmeat Markham

I hate auto-tune. I know singers who work hard to sing on pitch (like myself) and I also hear people intentionally singing out of tune a bit for expression. Listen to Otis Redding's "I've been loving you too long". When he sings the line "You walked out" he hits the word out a bit flat and slowly brings it up to pitch. This puts the pain in the phrase, and auto-tune would have sterilized it. For classical music I don't mind EQ, some compression because the present recording techniques can't reproduce the dynamic range of a good symphony, and other soundscape effects. If you make mistakes, do another take, but prepare your material first. I want to listen to a performance. But then I listen mostly to symphonies that can't be played the same way twice. But then, I listen as a musician, not as the general public. Pop music is a different situation. Much of the pop music I listen to could not have been made without extensive editing. In that case to me it just matters if I like it or not. Notes

In the 1950s a lot of concrete roads were being built, but the oil lobby took control, and they concrete roads slowly were phased out. Too bad, because not only are they a better reflective color, but they don't need resurfacing and repair as much as asphalt does, at least here in Florida. I just can't believe how many dark roofs are around now, When I was growing up (before central AC) everyone had a white roof. Even if you use AC, the dark roof can add hundreds of dollars to your cooling bill. But you would be much kinder to the environment to whiten your roof and turn the AC off. Personally, I think the earth is in big trouble. It's getting close to the point of no-return, and people are acting like there is nothing wrong. The fires, the heat waves, the coral reefs, the expanding deserts, and so on. Our summers in the town I grew up in are 8-10 degrees warmer than they were when I was a child. The ocean is claiming more and more of the beachfront. The dry season is lasting longer and the rainy season not as wet. I might not see the extinction of humanity, but my grandchildren probably will. On the other hand, I might see the hardships like food shortages due to climate change and overpopulation, though. Perhaps I'm erring on the side of caution, but I'd rather do that than ignore the changes I've seen happening in my lifetime so far. I don't use AC. I keep my roof bright white. I don't keep a lawn but planted over 30 trees and native vegetation, so the only 'grass' that I mow is the road right-of-way; 6' around my house and under the clothesline. Yes, we hang all buy our delicate laundry, so we don't have to use the energy-sucking dryer. The native plants in my yard need no fertilizer or supplemental watering. The native trees make oxygen and cool the area. I drive my car in a gas saving manner. It's the smallest minivan I could buy that fits my work gear (PA set and instruments). I got sterilized after siring two children (I'm just a toy now). Plus quite a few other things. If we all choose to do a little, the sum total is a lot. Insights and incites by Notes

"Hold Me Now" - Thompson Twins

^^^ I love that they quoted the "Na na na na" from the Beatles and didn't get sued ^^^ Homage, not plagiarism. ----------------------------- When I worked on the cruise ships I had a long port in San Juan PR every week. One week a musician friend we met there told us there was a street festival in Bayamon with 9 of the top salsa bands playing. We hired a taxi, went to the street festival and saw Gilberto Santa Rosa play this one and a few others. This is a fine example of Puerto Rican Salsa music. After going to San Juan week after week I developed a love for this kind of music. No Me La Llames - Gilberto Santa Rosa

Europa - Carlos Santana and Gato Barbieri In the late 1970s, Gato's take on Carlos' Europa was my most requested song. I've never heard the playing together, so here goes.

Diamond Music - Karl Jenkins

Pass The Kouchie - The Mighty Diamonds

According to the scientists who know about these things, the white paint reflects the heat out of the atmosphere. It's the radiant heat from the ground and buildings that is the problem. A major concern of losing the ice caps is that their white color reflects a lot of the heat out of the atmosphere, and the loss of that white lets the sea and land absorb and then re-radiate the heat. And I have to paint my roof every 8 years or so to keep the UV from deteriorating the substrate, so it's no burden to make that paint white. When I grew up in South Florida, before Air Conditioning was a home thing, almost everybody had a white roof. The white roof cooled the house by reflecting the heat instead of absorbing it. And yes, humans are on the road to extinction of the species. It probably won't happen in my lifetime, but there will probably be hard times for my grandchildren. I just want to do my part. Insights and incites by Notes

Reflections Of My Life - Marmalade

I agree. Most of the world's environmental problems IMO are caused by too many people having too many babies. But nobody seems to want to address that problem, probably because corporations (who control the media) need more and more customers to feed their need for perpetual growth. I read a university report that said if everybody painted their roofs white, it could buy us 100 years before the climate hits the point of no return. And yes, when 40% of the energy used is for AC units, and energy use is a huge CO2 contributor plus the cumulative effect of the heat islands caused by the AC units are adding to the problem, requiring more AC, heating up the earth more, requiring even more AC, etc., I can see that as a feedback loop. Over 99% of all the humans that have ever lived have done so without AC. It's not something we need. Conversely, when you are not acclimated to summer's heat because you live in a 78 degree box, when the heat waves come and when the power goes out, or even when you go outdoors, your body isn't ready for the heat, and it becomes more dangerous to your health. Personally, I think we should do everything we can to stall off the possible extinction of humanity. I painted my roof white, planted over 30 trees on my half acre, do not use AC, do not grow a lawn but instead use native plants, drive a fuel efficient vehicle, hang my laundry on the solar clothes dryer (clothesline), generate about 1 cubic foot of garbage per week, prefer to buy needed items if I can find them without plastic packaging, got 'fixed' after my second child, and so on. My children are grown up now, if I were young today, I would have limited my offspring to one. The world's population has almost tripled since I had my kids. There are places regularly flooding during high tides in Ft. Lauderdale that never-ever flooded when I was a child. That condo that just collapsed in Miami had regular ocean water flooding in the bottom floors for years now, not when it was built. When I was a child, if the temperature was over 85 degrees, it made front page news in the local paper. Now 90s are common. The solution is not to use more CO2 generating energy, but less. Of course, the biggest solution is population reduction. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening and I can't think of a way that the leaders and populations of every country in the world would agree on how to do that if a solution was presented. Insights and incites by Notes

Thinks Ain't What They Used To Be - Gene Harris Trio plus Stanley Turrentine I love Gene's playing, you can always hear the joy in it, and Stanley is one of my favorite Tenor Sax players.

Misty Morning - Bob Marley and the Wailers (double word score)

What are we doing to ourselves? 40% of the world's energy use is consumed by air conditioners. That puts a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere which warms the planet. Plus the AC unit creates a little heat island where it exhausts the hot air. That also warms the planet. So as the planet warms up, the AC works harder, uses more energy and heats the earth up even more. And as the earth gets hotter the AC works even harder so we need more AC which heats the planet up more so we need more AC. This seems like a feedback loop to me. I painted my roof bright white, got rid of my lawn and planted shade trees all around my house. When it's 95 degrees outside, it's still about 80 inside, without using the AC. The only time I turn my AC on is when guests who are AC addicted visit us. Since COVID arrived, that has been zero. We need to do something to stop this feedback loop. Insights and incites by Notes

Silly Little Lava Songs All You Need Is Lava I Lava The Night Life Addicted To Lava Lava Shack You Can't Hurry Lava Stupid Lava Can't Help Falling In Lava Whole Lotta Lava The Look Of Lava All Out Of Lava (somebody please stop me)

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) - George Harrison

I may be dense, I didn't get the connection with "You" but I'll go with it. You You You - The Ames Brothers (triple word score)

The Queen Symphony - Tolga Kashif On first listening, I think the parts where he isn't quoting songs from Queen are better than the parts where he is quoting. But it's my first listening. Sometimes symphonies take a few listenings to evaluate.