Here is another jam. I call this one Farewell Sundown Town. Sundown towns were places In the Northern US where black people and sometimes Jews could work during the day, but, had to get out of town before sundown or they would become the victims of violence. http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntowns.php

I sometimes wonder if the town I live in now was once such a sundown town. That is because even though it is near other cities with significant black populations, my town to this day has few minorities and little mention is made of them in its history. There is also a fire whistle that blows every evening around 5PM. Hmm... It could just be a coincidence.

 

1.       Write a blog post about 10 things you should or shouldn’t do. Why? Well, to steal a quote from someone more impressive than me it is “reductive and depressing”.

2.       Write a blog post every day. I know that this is how you get noticed by search engines but who has a good idea every day? Great ideas require a certain gestation period. Could you imagine if the Beatles did not put in 10,000 hours playing together before recording their first album and instead simply put out one song a day after they first got together?

3.       Tweet, unless it is absolutely necessary. If something is worth saying it probably requires more than 140 characters.

4.       Read an article titled “How to be creative” especially if it comes from the Wall Street Journal. This truth should be self-evident. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203370604577265632205015846.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_RIGHTTopListofHeadlines

5.       Include pictures in your blog that have nothing to do with your post just for the sake of having a picture.

6.       Write an article containing a list of 10 things when you can’t even think of 5. Maybe you can help me out and list in your comments some additional things you should never do.

 

 

I want to thank everyone who tunes in to this blog. I'm sure that my reach is not that great yet I am grateful that I can communicate. This tune is for you. I remember the days when bands could reach out through the radio and even if they could not become household names they could access regional audiences. Of course, this is no longer possible. One must be a manufactured pop star first (or a Disney cast member or You Tube sensation) in order to be played on the radio today.

I hope you enjoy listening to this as I enjoyed playing it.

 

A few weeks ago, my return flight from a business trip to Las Vegas was cancelled due to a strange odor emanating from the plane’s HVAC system. I was not very concerned since the flight was scheduled to leave at 9:00 am and I thought that there would be plenty of time to catch an alternate flight and make my connection to New York. Boy was I mistaken. Even though we were taken off the plane before 9 o’clock it took hours for a final decision to be made by management about the flight’s status (And I was actually notified by Orbitz on my cell phone that the flight was cancelled long before an airline employee bothered to make the announcement). I understand that maintenance crews had to test the HVAC system but one would think that after medical personnel were called because a flight attendant got sick from the smell it would not take an executive decision to cancel the flight.

 

The airline employees who handled the rebooking were professional to the point of making us feel that this happened on a daily basis (Hmm?). They decided to help the international passengers first and this seemed like a reasonable strategy until the line got stalled for an inordinate amount of time by a Spanish speaking family who needed to have the boarding instructions for their new flight repeated over and over and over again and a French Canadian man who understood English quite well but wanted to argue interminably about why the airline should pay for his meals – I think that instead of politely wasting time with this man the employee should have invited him to wait in the “VIP area” (off to the side) while he made up his mind about their offer.

 

When we domestic passengers were finally assisted we were told that we could either stay overnight in Las Vegas and try again to fly out the next day or catch a plane at 2:40 pm to Philadelphia, stay overnight there and catch a red eye at 5:00 am to our final destination. Now you may be thinking that an extra night in Vegas on the airline’s dime sounds appealing. However, they would not be putting us up in the Bellagio where we had been staying; instead our lodging would be at the Bedbug Inn near the airport. To this offer I replied with a big “No thank you”.

 

My boss and I opted to take the plane to Philly and since his son lives there we called him and asked him to drive us to our destination. The airline staff who rerouted us assured us that our bags would be waiting for us in Philadelphia. Somehow I doubted this as they asked us what color our bags were (why did they need to know this when they had our names and addresses and our bags were tagged?). Sure enough, when we got to Philly our bags were not on the carousel. We had to get a claims person to call down to the bowels of the airport to find our bags which were going to be sent to our original destination.

 

OK, so much for my rant. What is my point?  Surely, after such shabby treatment the airline would owe us something. Perhaps, discount tickets on our next flight, a free drink, something? Actually, to quote Willy Wonka they say “You get nothing. You lose. Good Day sir.” How do they get away with this? It’s all in the contract. What contract, you say? When you buy an airline ticket you agree to the airline’s contract of carriage – I’ll bet you didn’t know that. Here is an example of US Air’s contract on their web site: http://www.usairways.com/EN-US/ABOUTUS/CUSTOMERSFIRST/CONTRACTOFCARRIAGE.HTML  According to this so called “contract” the airline is not responsible for making connections.

 

I implore, what other business makes a contract with the customer, that said customer is not aware of, in which they state that they are actually not responsible for delivering what the customer thinks he or she is buying? For example, how would you feel if you discovered on say, Honda’s website a document that informed you that Honda was not responsible for the new car that you just bought actually working? Years ago, such one-sided contracts where one party had such an overwhelming advantage over the other were not considered to be valid. Now they are common.

 

If you think that the major hassle of flying in this post 9/11 world is airport security, think again. I actually did not mind the TSA procedures one bit. The problem is that the airlines don’t think that they have to make flying a pleasant experience. To the contrary, they think that they can get away with almost anything and we will just have to put up with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is another in my continuing series of home audio recordings. This was my first chance to try out my fifty dollar yard sale purchase of a Madiera A 30R guitar.

 

The R stands  for rosewood (which is illegal to even import now) and it has a solid wood soundboard (Spruce, I believe). It was made by Guild in the early 1970's with all American made parts assembled in Japan - the best of both worlds actually because at the time Japanese quality control was becoming very good.

I have read that you can't get a better guitar for under $1000.00 and I believe it. I have played more expensive Martins that didn't sound as good or feel as good to play.

This was also the first try of my Cascade Fat Head ribbon microphone. Since I am new to this digital audio home recording thing, I would appreciate feedback or constructive criticism from those more experienced than I. Feel free to comment.

The performance is of my arrangement of the classic blues tune, Corrina, Corrina. I hope you like it.

I dropped by an exhibition of Bob Dylan photographs by Don Hunstein yesterday at the Gallery Cafe in Millerton, NY. The gallery is above the moviehouse in town and is quite low-key. They are open even when the moviehouse is not and they serve hot chocolate and chai tea, perfect for a cold winter day.

Don Hunstein was the staff photographer at Columbia Records in the 1960's. The exhibit contains photos from Dylan's erly career through the recording of Highway 61 Revisited and includes shots from his concerts at Town Hall and Carnegie Hall as well as the iconic Freewheelin' Album shoot.

Millerton is a funky little upstate town (albeit with an upscale bent) which features an authentic diner and old fashioned department store along with a good independent book and music store (Oblong Books and Music).

Dylan fans will also appreciate the photographs of Elliot Landy (he, the official photographer of the Woodstock festival) whose work I have seen at the Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY and on display, on an ongoing basis, at the Bearsville Theater (also in Woodstock). He was responsible for the cover of Nashville Skyline and The Band 's eponymous second album as well as famous concert photos of Hendrix, Janis Joplin and others.

Millerton is located in the Northeast corner of Dutchess County, New York, on the Connecticut border and if you go South on Route 22 and then West on Route 199 you can take the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge to Route 209 and then Route 28 North to Woodstock.

 

No, this is not a commentary on the drone recently captured by Iran. This is about my reminisence of childhood. You see, when I was a child I used to improvise melodies in my head while my mother vacuumed the apartment where we lived. I later realized that our Electrolux droned an "E" note and I was imagining music much like that produced in late medieval Europe.

Here is my paean to the vacuum cleaner.

 

My Favorite music has to be the deep soul of the 1960's that I grew up with. So, here is my tribute to the late James Carr, my take on "Dark End of the Street".

 

My version of the tune "Upshot". I hope you enjoy it.

Last Saturday, September 24th, I had the pleasure of seeing Robert Randolph and the Family Band at a community celebration in the little upstate NY town of Red Hook. Hardscrabble Day is an interesting occaision in that it recalls the early days of the town when it was called "Hardscrabble" after the tough times endured by the early settlers. This event has always enjoyed good attendance and has been enhanced by the recent concerts sponsored, in part, by Woodstock's radio station WDST.

I first saw Robert Randolph and the band seven years ago when they opened for Eric Clapton and also joined him in a rousing encore performance of Muddy Waters'"Got My Mojo Working". They seemed as enthusiastic playing for this crowd in a small town parking lot as they were playing in a large arena. In addition to their own material, incuding songs from their latest album (and an improvisation which Robert called "Hardscrabble Jam"), they turned out a credible and enthusiastic cover of Jimi Hendrix's classic "Purple Haze".

Instead of tough times the crowd was enjoying a good time. This was especially true when Randolph invited some of the women in the crowd to join him on stage to dance during a rousing rendition of Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips". Although Randolph and the band members are clearly too young to remember the 1970's I was taken back to the days of my misspent youth. For one thing, the sound of the band was crisp and clear like I remember it from back in the day. Not at all muddy and bass laden like much of the sound at concerts I have been to in the past twenty years. Furthermore, I felt free to wander around the area near the stage and take photographs without ushers hassleing me. This reminded me of times when I was able to go backstage at a concert, to meet artists such as Ginger Baker and Frank Zappa, to share a moment with Harry Chapin, or just to wander down to the front of the stage when John Lennon was playing even though I only paid for mezzanine seats. I even remember a Grateful Dead concert where guitarist Bob Weir came off the stage to mingle with the crowd during the break between sets.

Kudos to the sponsors and organizers of this concert. In a time where even barely known artists are asking forty dollars a ticket I have nothing but praise for Robert Randolph and the Family Band for playing this free concert in a small town far away from the big city. These are hardscrabble times, indeed. However, for a few hours some were able to forget their troubles and dance. Hopefully this spirit will be shown more often. I, for one, look forward to another "Hardscrabble" Day.