Notes_Norton

When you get that old, things are looking down. :(

First born male child is what they told me. And the mark of a true musician is to spell sure as shure instead. I think that's enough to qualify. Notes

Everywhere I go I find myself here. By the time I get there it's here. I don't know how that works. Notes

Thanks. I've been using ThinkPads for decades. I like the smaller footprint of the older models for on-stage better than the new ones, which is why I'm thinking refurbished. I've seen them as low as $100 and up from there. The model I'm retiring is an R30. Notes

You all are fun! Weird sense of humor, inappropriate silliness, immature responses, goofiness, and good companionship. Sounds like a family to me, and I'm glad I joined. Notes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ED!!!

"Eve Of Destruction" - Barry McGuire

From my older sister's era: "Her Royal Magesty" - James Darren

NewEgg.com has refurbished ThinkPad laptops. Has anyone had experience with them? Bob

Unfortunately, Nick Lowe isn't well known in the USA. Quite a few brilliant UK artists get very little exposure here. One I like a lot is Georgie Fame. I think he had one or two releases in the US, but the recordings I've managed to find have all been very good. On with the game. Last entry was from the Rolling Stones, so I give you, "Rocks In My Bed" - Duke Ellington (couldn't get a video to embed)

Every chorus repeats the line "How does it feel" Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan

I guess that house in the south of France will have to wait a while. ? The musicians make the money and the publishers take it. It's the way it has always been. ☹️ In the late 1960s I was in a road rock band. We eventually 'graduated' to being the opening act for the headliners in concert while their songs were in the top 10 on Billboard, The Four Seasons, The Association, and other big acts of the day. Then we moved over to Motown and was the opening act for many of the Motown acts, including a big "Motown Review" show at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Motown chose us to be the first white band to be released on the actual Motown label (not an off-brand label like Tamla or the others). There was nothing racist about that, Bob Seger (who we also opened for) was making hit records and Berry Gordy didn't like another label act hitting the number 1 slot on Detroit radio. Our manager and his lawyers negotiated with Motown. Our team started at 4 cents per record and Motown's final offer was 2 cents per record. Out of our 2 cent royalties Motown would take out inflated recording costs, inflated distribution costs, and inflated promotional costs. Plus Motown wanted all publishing rights and a Motown person who did nothing to be one of the song writers so Motown could collect half of the songwriter royalties. Our management team figured we would have to sell at least 1 million LPs the first time out to break even with Motown. And in the late 1960s / early 1970s that was a lot. So Motown abruptly quit talking to us and quit hiring us. We were called "The Nomads" and their second choice was "The Sunliners". The Sunliners signed (I have no idea of the terms they worked out). They changed their name to "Rare Earth" and Motown took ownership of the name. That way Motown could hire and fire and put 4 bands on the road with the same name. I was just a kid and probably would have signed their first even worse offer. I probably wouldn't have made any money either. I have no regrets, I got to be treated as a peer by the top musicians of the day, made money performing at the concerts, met a lot of pretty girls, and the nice thing about being a "never was" is that now I'm not a "has been" ? Enjoy your royalties. I see nothing has changed in the recording industry except the delivery method. The Suits still keep most of the money. But enjoy the "airplay", your royalties, and the fact that you are entertaining people and your songs will become part of their lives. Notes

Awww, too bad.

Cruel To Be Kind - Nick Lowe Another one-hit-wonder song - although Nick did very well in his home UK.

From the Broadway production "Damn Yankees", originally sung by Gwen Verdon on stage. Perhaps the most famous recording: "Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)" - Sarah Vaughan

Actually "Mellow Yellow" and "Electric Boogie (Electric Slide)" are songs about women's erotic toys. Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison The song that still gets the retirement crowd dancing.

Seriously, I think another bass player played on the later Beatles' recordings. Anything the real Paul has done before or after sounds to me like an entirely different player, in tone, technique and ideas. IMO there is nothing wrong with hiring studio musicians to play your parts, but I'd like to know who it was. On with the game Leather And Lace - Stevie Nicks and Don Henley We learned this one for a wedding many years ago and they are still married. They own a restaurant and still hire us but we don't play the song anymore.

I've got twins. One standard Parker Dragonfly/Maxxfly and another custom made with Duncal P-Rail pickups. The P-Rail axe is my gigging guitar, the other my practice at home guitar

I liked his early stuff better, before he got real famous to the general public, but I'm so very glad he was finally recognized and got the appreciation he deserved. Another of my favorites of roots R&B would be Bobby "Blue" Bland. I prefer the early stuff recorded on the Duke label. Buddy Guy on the other hand seems to be timeless. Blues is one of my 100 favorite kinds of music. ;) Notes

I had a radio station move so close to my home, if the tower fell, it would come close to hitting us. Nothing could keep the signal out of my gear. I called the FCC, and the radio station and the FCC used the same engineer. I ended up moving, but it was only a rental so it was no big deal. ------ As far as sound in concerned, nobody but you and .0001% of the word will hear any difference. As long as the cable is at least mid-priced and the external shield is 100%, I'm OK with it. As I said before, if I can go Balanced, I do. Playing live, 60 Hz hum is the biggest problem. Lights on dimmers, marginal wiring in the venue, ice machine on the same circuit or what have you. I found for me: 1) Plug everything into the same line conditioner 2) Keep cable runs as short as possible 3) Use mid-priced major brand cables As long as it isn't humming, the audience doesn't know the difference. If I were recording, I might have different preferences. Insights and incites by Notes

OK, the raw MIDI files are done, and I'm back. The rest of the project can be done in bits and pieces. In answer to the Lionel Richie "Truly" post, I submit the greatest song by the best Beatles imitation band ever. Not only do they sound like The Beatles, but from this musician's point of view. they are better musicians than The Beatles. But of course, they are not the originals, but only a copy. Lies - The Knickerbockers

Girl Talk - written by Neil Hefti The song has been described by Michael Feinstein as the "last great male chauvinistic song written in the 60's" You can't get away with lyrics like this today - and you shouldn't be able to either They like to chat about the dresses they will wear tonight They chew the fat about their tresses and the neighbor's fight, Inconsequential things that men don't really care to know Become essential things that women find so ap-pro-pos, But that's a dame, they're all the same it's just a game they call it Girl talk, girl talk And so on.....

Of course they lack toes, they have hooves.

If I could predict what is going to be an instant hit, I'd go into the consulting business. There are people who would pay Big Money for that info. ? I've got one user style "disk" done, I did that in July and the beginning of August. I've got some good ideas for another. The done disk is rock, and the one I'll probably do next will be fusion jazz or smooth jazz. Leilani is working on two fake "disks" and we send them out to subcontractors to choose styles - if I did them myself, I'd pick my own styles because I know them best. I want the style chosen to be the best for the song, whether it is a PG Music or a Norton Music style. Once I get the basic framework done (MIDI files to import into the Band-in-a-Box StyleMaker app) I can start importing snippets at a time. But the recording the MIDI files for the styles I need takes time. I do the drums, bass, and comp instruments in real time. (I play sax, wind synth, flute, drums, guitar, bass, and keys in varying degrees of proficiency). Often that means practicing something I want to import until I get it under my fingers, then recording it. That's why I need huge blocks of time with no distractions. I think I'll start this on Monday, maybe do some organizing late Sunday. So if I'm AWOL a few days, I'll be back. I don't think I'll be missed much. The thing is after 27 style "disks" of up to 30 styles per disk, it gets harder and harder to do something different and worthy. I get inspirations from songs, auto-play keyboards, music books, or whatever. At this point, I'll record things, and throw away most and only keep what I think is either different or a strong enough variation to be worthy. After all, when done, they will have my name on them. I started doing this in 1992 selling them on floppy disks (5.25" and 3.5") and now they are instant download. Disks are history, but I still call them disks because I don't know what else to call them. But I guess that's OK, we still dial phones even though phones don't have dials, and make mixtapes even though cassettes died a long time ago. Notes

Beautiful Saturday, the storm turned away, the gig is still canceled and I don't get to work. Too bad, working is the most fun I can have with my clothes on. OK it's time to start writing aftermarket software for Band-in-a-Box. Once I get started, you probably won't hear from me for a few days as laying the groundwork is time intensive and needs a big chunk o time. But It's the slow season here until the rainy season is over late October and the northerners start coming back down, so it's a good use of my time. And I enjoy it as well (although it's not as much fun as gigging). Notes