friday, february 16

The Past Is Just A Moment Away

"My homeland! The beautiful place in which I saw the light of the world, appears before me vividly and just as beautiful as when I left you. I shall count it the happiest experience of my life when I shall again be able to see you."
---Ludwig Van Beethoven

or me, my childhood in the 60's was very vivid. I remember the feel of the 60's... the "hippie" culture and all the pop music. I remember singing Beatles songs. I remember singing to the Beach Boys and The Four Seasons. I remember watching the funeral procession of President John F. Kennedy and my mother weeping. I remember watching TV the night Robert Kennedy was shot. I remember my parents waking me up to see the first astronauts landing on the moon.

sensory  mood: reminiscing  music: sherry baby  cuisine: scrambled eggs

Music has always dominated my life, and in the 60's the big thing was having a little transister radio to carry around while listening to the Top 40 countdown. And groups like The Beatles, The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, Petula Clark, The Four Seasons, James Brown, The Supremes, and more seemed to dominate the air waves.

It seemed life was simpler back then.

Not that I long to be back there. For my life as a musician and lover of music has evolved to the point where I now love Stravinsky, Coltrane, and more complex forms of music. But I seem to still love all those classic songs I grew up with. I still love a good pop tune.

The photo above was taken in the mid 1960's. Don't really remember which year. That's me in the center with the reddish shirt. Look at the mothers and their 60's hairdos. Isn't that precious? It's hard to see but I guess you can figure this photo came out of the 60's.

As a kid growing up, comic books were a big thing. Had I saved all my comic books, I might've been able to make a fortune on eBay!

Well, life is more complex now, but where would we be without our connection to the Web and our Starbucks coffee? Who knows...

But I know I might be sounding like an "old timer" talking about my childhood days in the 60's, but it seemed like it wasn't that long ago. And I still feel like a kid who never grew up.

Winnie emailed me recently and she made the comment that my blue tinted photo on this page makes me look like I'm 22. Wow! Thanks for the compliment. I know that when I was with the popular swing band a few years ago, people thought I was definitely in my 20's. And I think that helped me to blend in with all the younger guys in the band.

Well, maybe there's a secret to staying as youthful as possible, and that is to REFUSE to grow up! I know I have, and I still feel like a kid. Hmm... something to think about.

wednesday, february 14

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

tuesday, february 13

sunday, february 11

A Gig At The Hotel Del Coronado

"Revolution is a personal matter. You create the world, you must change it."
---Das Energi

he gig at the Hotel Del Coronado was quite "an experience" for me.

I arrived at the famous Coronado hotel at around 10pm, and quickly went to the back of the stage. There was a large group of models (mostly women) working this fashion show, and they were running a bit behind schedule.

The back of the stage was actually a large stairwell between two carpeted flights of stairs and a doorway leading to the actual stage. Us musicians had to wait until the fashion show was completely done, so imagine a hectic entourage of models and coordinators and close by a group of musicians dressed in tuxedos. And imagine groups of hotel guests and tourists strolling by and wondering what the commotion was about.

I decided to warm up by whipping out a pair of drumsticks from my stick bag while conversing with the other musicians. I'd been to the hotel earlier in the afternoon to set up my drums, so I was ready to just waltz on stage and play. It was better that way since there were a lot of speakers, presentations, and the fashion show that would make a last-minute setup difficult.

The keyboard player, a young Chinese guy by the name of Frank Chang was stressing a bit, mainly because he had just arrived from a meeting at UCLA and just drove directly to the gig. I found out he's a grad student working on his PhD in Math at UCSD, and I also found out later that he's an exceptional keyboard player.

sensory  mood: exhausted  music: mozart  cuisine: szechuan

The models (mostly young ladies) had to make costume changes, and they had no other place to change but in the stairwell between two flights of stairs. That was when us musicians (all men) noticed that these young ladies were stripping completely naked in front of us and in front of all kinds of people passing by!

No big deal, I thought to myself. I've seen it before at Disneyland! But I'd be a fool if I didn't admit that I was physically excited seeing beautiful young ladies completely naked. You just don't see that everyday! And I suppose that if you're a working model, you leave "your modesty" at home. But hey, someone once told me that you have to appreciate the "beauty" of God's creatures. And I have to admit... I did! So, for the remainder of our time waiting, he had brief glimpses of these young ladies taking off there clothes, walking around buck naked.

At one point one of the coordinators, this young lean guy with horn-rimmed glasses was waltzing around throwing a little fit. He sort of reminded me of Harry Potter. Anyway, he kept running around saying "where's my angels?", "where's my angels?", "they go on in 20 seconds!!!"... then we saw a group of sexy looking angels in these scantilly clad outfits where angel wings behind them! It was a bit surreal, like I was in some sort of Dali painting or something.

Well, finally we had our chance to perform. And that we did. With a big band you get a wall of sound... horns blaring, the rhythm section swingin' the groove... the front man crooning out the tunes. It was a great gig. I enjoyed myself and forgot I had to sightread everything!

I have to admit to being a little nervous before the gig because I hadn't had too many "reading" gigs lately. I was worried but I guess I didn't lose my ability to read. And, I really had a great time... I'd like to do more of those. But I must admit that it's physically draining to just come in cold and sight-read everything. But I did it without a "hitch".

Funny, some guy came by after I was packing my drums. He seemed a bit strange, and I noticed his breath smelled of alcohol. He said he's been looking for work as a drummer and I said, "hey, give me your name and number. I'm always looking for SUBS to take my place when I can't make a gig." But I asked him, "can you read?". And he said "yeah". And I said, "but these big band charts are pretty difficult to read. I mean, they almost kicked my butt!". So we exchanged phone numbers. But I felt kind of sorry for the guy. He seemed a bit "down and out" and he'd just moved here from San Fransisco.

The night was very cold on the drive home. But I felt really good about myself. For once I think I wasn't so hard on myself. I had a good gig.