Open Thread - 01-13-23 - Nine Volt Heart

We all travel back through time. Where the temporal may not pass, the minds-eye goes freely.

What is it that can cause a ten year old boy to pause? Having already survived the fallout from the hydrogen bomb test on Bikini Atoll, the premier of The Mickey Mouse Club, potential hip dislocation dancing to Heartbreak Hotel, invention of the Frisbee, the creation of NASA, Fidel Castro coming to power, Bill Mazeroski's home run, Yuri Gagarin, Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday, that fateful day in Dealy Plaza, and 1964.

The summer of '64. A fine year to be ten years old. Little did I know what was about to happen on that beautiful sun drenched summer day. I can remember it so well because I recall exactly where I was and where I was living at the time. I was alone in the back yard. The cute girl next door was actively ignoring me, by trying to get my attention. My mind was on Cassius Clay and killing nazis. I had just pulled a Pete Rose and a Mickey Mantle from a couple of packs of baseball cards, gum in mouth and pet beagle at my feet. School was a distant memory and life was as it should be for a boy my age. And then it happened.

An event so seminal in a young man's life that all things subsequent are newly defined as a linear division between the alpha and omega. An event that has shades that color the entirety of a life yet sung. An event so revealing it walks with him through life, as an expressive companion to his soul.

sun-sky-2016.jpg

I had my parent's transistor radio with me that day. A song came on that I hadn't heard before. It was an instrumental that out and out floored me when I heard it. It was Green Onions. I had been listening to music most of my life but nothing hit me like that song, that day. I was hooked. As the famous lyric says,"I fell out on the floor"!

That night while lying in bed trying to sleep, I remembered the radio.jpg awesome Rocket Radio I had seen at the neighborhood grocery store, remember those stores? Dammit, now I had to have one. I bugged my dad until he relinquished. It didn't work exceptionally well, but lucky for me we lived within 100 miles of Chicago and WLS came in crystal clear. That little radio went everywhere with me for the rest of the summer, and then later, to school.

7395.jpg

The die was cast. Music had captured my soul. Before the end of the summer of '64 I had my first instrument: A set of Rogers drums, double mounted/floor tom/green pearl. I think my parents may have regretted that. I loved them. I beat the snot out of them. I wish I still had them. A few years later I picked up my first blues harp. And many years later, the dobro.

We carry music with us throughout our lives. Through the ups and downs, the victories and defeats, the joys and the sorrows. It's a language understood by all. As we change music changes with us. Music has changed me. If I were unable to define myself using words, I could tell you who I am with music.

A most joyous noise!

Plastic silver nine volt heart,
You click it on and let the music start.

Lyrics

I oft quote this anonymous adage, let me add one minor correction:

When a man dies a library discography dies with him. ~Unknown

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somewhere in my mind...

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Lookout's picture

We play almost everyday. Usually just 30 minutes or so. Seems to always make me feel better.
Laughing, singing, and crying its all the same release. - Joni

Our local music community took a hit during COVID. Now one of the regulars is with hospice for brain cancer. Sad to watch friends pass on, but it is a fact of aging. Over the years, we've lost many musician friends. Been writing a song for years that I still haven't finished called, "Their songs they echo through me". It is funny how each song or tune I know I remember who I learned it from, and/or where I learned it. Music connects us in both obvious and subtle ways.

“Peace Train” – Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ timeless anthem of hope and unity – was originally released on the classic album 'Teaser and the Firecat' in 1971 and was Stevens’ first US Top 10 hit, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This Song Around The World version features more than 25 musicians from 12 countries and unites Yusuf / Cat Stevens, singing and playing a beautiful white piano in a tranquil open air setting in Istanbul, Turkey, with musicians such as five time Grammy Award winning blues/americana artist Keb’ Mo’; Grammy nominated Senegalese artist Baaba Maal; Silkroad’s Rhiannon Giddens—also a Grammy Award winner; Ghassan Birumi playing the oud in Ramallah, Palestine; musicians from the Silkroad Ensemble in Rhinebeck, New York; Pat Simmons (The Doobie Brothers) and James “Hutch” Hutchinson (bass player with Bonnie Raitt) performing in Maui, Hawaii; and bringing together conflict regions with Tushar Lall playing the harmonium in Delhi, India, and Joshua Amjad playing the Kartaal in Karachi, Pakistan. "Everyone jump upon the Peace Train" and let's make this world a better place.

Thanks for the OT!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
love and respect for old-timey music that you and I have discussed many times in the past. As we old timers die off, much of the music dies with us. Although I see glimmers of hope in the current generation. There are a few youngsters carrying on the tradition, Billy Strings comes to mind.

When a man dies a library discography dies with him. ~Unknown

Most of the modern pop music is just crap, IMHO. Music has become propagandized as has just about everything nowadays.

Thanks for weighing in, old buddy.

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Lookout's picture

@JtC
..to the list of promising young musicians. She writes pretty good songs too.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x4rCPWtsRM]
Written by Molly Tuttle and Melody Walker
lyrics below the clip
Molly Tuttle - Guitar, Vocals
Shelby Means - Bass, Harmonies
Kyle Tuttle - Banjo, Harmonies
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes - Fiddle
Dominick Leslie - Mandolin

One reason I love the folk festival is all the young folks playing...often with us old farts.

Something that surprised me years ago were people complaining they couldn't find others to play with. Where I live more people play at least a bit than do not. I never realized how lucky I've been to live in such a music rich community.

Have a great day!

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14 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

crooked trees
are right by me
we've a few here abouts

crooked-trees-hafford-5.jpg.png
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usefewersyllables's picture

@Lookout

unknown artists I've ever had the honor to record was the 5-time Illinois state bluegrass fiddle champion, Jack Busby. He and his son came into my little songwriter's project studio, and I had called up a buddy named Banjo Bob (which was a disservice; he was better at mandolin). I hung the mics, poured the beverages, and just sat back and pressed "record".

At the time, Jack was 88. And he had never been recorded. Those guys slammed out 25 tunes in 2 hours, picture perfect, one and done. He passed about 5 weeks after that session, and that was the only record of his playing that his family ever had. I burned a bunch of CD copies of the raw session, warts and all, and gave a bunch of copies to everybody involved, and all his family members. The master was lost in the fire, as were my copies of the CDs, but I can always get one from his son.

He paid me by giving me one of the fiddles he'd won in one contest or another. I never played it, sadly. But my wife wanted to learn fiddle, and used it for years to work up her chops. That got lost in the fire as well.

What an honor, to get to do that. Those memories *stick*.

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@Lookout and remembering the controversies over various incidents in his life, I did a little research. Yeah, I know Wiki is compromised info but as long as we have a decent BS detector the info is ok.

I admit I started that trip about him because I mistakenly thought he had something to do with the cradle song... Anyway, wow! What a life journey he had. Quite a biography. He had some near death experiences, eg fro wiki:

Stevens contracted tuberculosis in 1969 and was close to death at the time of his admission to the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, Sussex. He spent months recuperating in the hospital and a year of convalescence. During this time, Stevens began to question aspects of his life and spirituality. He later said, "To go from the show business environment and find you are in hospital, getting injections day in and day out, and people around you are dying, it certainly changes your perspective. I got down to thinking about myself. It seemed almost as if I had my eyes shut."

Thanks very much for a bit of knowledge, The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge,

In an age obsessed with practicality, productivity, and efficiency, I frequently worry that we are leaving little room for abstract knowledge and for the kind of curiosity that invites just enough serendipity to allow for the discovery of ideas we didn’t know we were interested in until we are, ideas that we may later transform into new combinations with applications both practical and metaphysical.

https://www.themarginalian.org/index.php/2012/07/27/the-usefulness-of-us...

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A few miles up the road from you
race riots, kids dying in Nam, demonstrations
music was about the only thing that made sense
a tinny transistor radio and a 9-volt were my friends
loved the Motown sound of that era.

Thanks for the OT and all ..

~

[video:https://youtu.be/3d6_U7rpibU]

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@QMS
what was about to hit us, back in 1964. The music grew with us, and for us. The music of that era changed the world, and stopped a war. A lesson well learned by the purveyors of destruction.

Thanks, Q.

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12 users have voted.

@JtC

but then, so were the Thai sticks, opium balls and various other mental crowbars
the vets brought back. Remember honey oil? Oh my. Could really buzz up a
joint. Drugs aside, the awareness and consequential rebellion was right arm.
Not sure the present generation understands what we went thru to get here.

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usefewersyllables's picture

@QMS

more recent generations have a very, shall we say, "sanitized" view of the era. If you never had a number in the lottery, you're more likely to remember it as whoever wrote this for Bryan Adams does, I think...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFjjO_lhf9c width:400 height:300]

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

usefewersyllables's picture

I think- I've never *not* had music. My earliest memories are always set against a musical background: my parents literally wore out multiple copies of their favorite records. The house was *never* silent. I grew up on Glenn Miller (Dad was a trombonist), Stan Getz (especially the one with Joao Gilberto), Dave Brubeck (the first tune I ever played on drums was Take 5, Joe Morello style- I just hadda know how he did that), Jazz At the Philharmonic played on glass 78s... And Mom was a pianist with more classical leanings than jazz, so Rachmaninoff was her jam. Lots of Russian stuff with massive Sturm und Drang. You could always tell when she was a little pissed off, because she'd sit down and start playing R's 2nd piano concerto *hard*. Her voice and facial expression wouldn't change, but she let her fingers do the talking.

And then my older sister introduced her rock and roll to the mix, and all the great 60's stuff just drifted across the hall from her room to mine. Even as far away as we were, we could get a very scratchy WLS, at least when there were no thunderstorms about- back in the days when "clear channel" meant exactly that. All the local AM stations were primordial country/western swing, or stuck solidly in 40s pop like the Andrews Sisters. But add in the birth of FM rock stations, like the one that suddenly grew one day in the nearest college town, and by the time I was bumping up against middle school I pretty much had the whole world to listen to.

And I've started to find some current artists I'm really enjoying, after having had a mostly-hate relationship with the overburden of urban music for a few years (I tire of songs about poppin' caps in people, for some reason). Paramore, Wet Leg, there's some creative stuff happening out there again. Indie rock never died, but you have always had to really dig for it. I'm putting together a pick-up band with some of my favorite local guys for a one-off gig, and we're covering the Paramore tune below.

So, rock is dead they say- Long live rock! What a great thread...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIYJ7VaSxYY width:400 height:300]

And in honor of the late Jeff Beck, my favorite version of "Ended as Lovers", from the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival- with my man Vinnie Coliauta on drums, and a very young Tal Wilkenfeld on bass... Godspeed, Jeff. Gone too soon.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVgUzUZeTw4 width:400 height:300]

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@usefewersyllables

good luck with your gig!

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usefewersyllables's picture

@QMS

We're calling the band "Some Assembly Required"...

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@usefewersyllables
my brother.

I heard so much good music on "underground" FM stations back in the day. That format changed my music life almost as much as AM in an earlier time.

Good stuff!

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enhydra lutris's picture

@usefewersyllables

with Beck always seemed extra exceptional.

Good luck with the band
be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

for me it was literature and books. Music, even the kind available on the radio requires an investment in more than just time. Time was all I had. I also had considerable alone time.

My immediate family didn't do much garden work either. It's hard to invest in a future harvest when that land belongs to someone else who is letting you use it until they might need it for someone who might pay for it.

But with a book? The universe awaits. And when there's a library? Infinite.

Over the last couple months I have bumped into the current battle over digital media. Amazon, MSFT and (as far as I can guess) KKR (investment group). Each is using the corporatized copyright "laws" to restrict any usage outside their compound.

Our Kindles and library access has been compromised. When I spoke with my local librarian about the lack of ebook access using their new system, she said that it's better now because I can do movies, tv and magazines and across all my platforms and especially my phone.

So much for capturing a pdf of an online article that I can read when I wish.... oh well.

I've discovered music, though not in the same way as you and definitely not with the memories. Now I enjoy it more in contrasts of style and presentation. And especially in its derivations. Like finding that a popular song that I liked in my teen years is actually based on a ru folk song or that a John Barry soundtrack is really Rachmaninoff.

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@exindy
Click "File" in the menu bar/then click "Print"/change the destination to:"Save to PDF"/then click "Print". It will save as a PDF to a destination of your choice on your device.

It's a shame that the knowledge of the world is still being suppressed for the common folk. unless you pay. Greed has no boundaries.

Thanks exindy.

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soryang's picture

@exindy I'm more connected to literature, books, the visual arts.

I think of music as a kind of spiritual release. I had zero talent for it in any respect. But I could draw, and paint. I was just watching a South Korean travelogue on NYC, and the host was touring the MOMA. I think I recognized every picture she showed by name, and if I didn't know the title, I recognized every artist by their technique. I learned this from my mother. I guess I was fortunate to be raised near NYC so I could visit the museums. I saw the Pieta, once. When I was in college, I did Europe on five dollars a day, visited the Louvre and the Prado, etc.

I could be wrong but subjectively I perceive the popular music of my youth, as authentic, and find that contemporary music has become too commercial to interest me. When I first arrived in South Korea, I heard a sociologist, complaining about sobija munhwa, commercial culture. She was complaining about the influence of the west. "What's that?" I thought at the time. I think after that I gradually started to become alienated from US/English mass media. So I could enjoy the music of my younger days, also the movies from that period or my parents' generation, but I gradually lost interest in the ongoing media parade. When I drove alone across the country, I spent most of the satellite radio time, listening to BB King's Blue's channel, and found that most rewarding among a hundred other channels.

At first when I got back to the US I had a very small online trade in ceramics, it was just a hobby. It started as I became acquainted with a prominent glass artist. I was basically a bar tender at the time, our friendship grew because of my interest in art. I promoted his work for a while online. I bought some small pieces, and he gave me some. He used to sell them on the art fair tour "to pay the rent," mostly paperweights but other small glass objects with local marine life themes. I'd visit his studio and watch he and his son work. It was very exciting. I met one other prominent glass artist there who rented the studio. There were usually art students from the local state college there blowing glass. When I was there, I felt the way I did when I heard some friends during high school doing their music practice in a friend's basement. One of them went on to become a professional singer/musician. Their favorite piece was Lighter Shade of Pale. They were also big on the Doors, Beatles, Stones, Beegees, etc. I thought it was great and was envious of people with musical talent.

My glass artist friend once gave me an early major piece he did, he said he didn't think it was worth selling to the wealthy collectors who sponsored him. I treasure that piece of work, and the other insignificant trade pieces we still have. He signed many of them for me. When my wife's family saw my appreciation for Korean art and ceramics, they gave me pieces as gifts, that we are greatly sentimental about because of their beauty and the tradition behind them. Big or small, we couldn't part with the collection.

When the hurricane flood threatened we did everything to preserve them. Those art works are our connection to our shared personal experiences. I know its foolish to be attached to material things like that (as in the Buddhist notion of attachment as suffering) but it's more of the cultural or aesthetic connection, it's really an intangible value.

I've written hundreds of posts mostly about Korean affairs, news, culture etc. It's a hobby. It's gotten sporadic since the flood. I made a small list of some of the classic Korean popular songs, and historical songs I've translated. That's as close I can get to music. It's very rewarding. I made a list of the titles just before the flood, and made sure I had it with me, when we were evacuated. Silly, wasn't it?

Below are two pictures are from Kim Hong-do's later life after the death of his sponsor King Jeongjo. Kim is famous for his lifelike portrayals of everyday Koreans of his time (latter 18th century) in the activities of daily life.

(Source- KBS역사저널 그날, youtube Sept 25, 2020)

(Source- KBS역사저널 그날, youtube Sept 25, 2020)

Love this song-
The Good Old Days 이선희(LEE SUN HEE) _ 아! 옛날이여 rough translation

You left my side
Because I miss you
I tried to get you out of my mind
I tried
My emotions are drawn by the moon and star light
I am moved as the fog and waves move

Oh, the good old days!
Those past times cannot return again
Don't, you must forget!
They say beautiful memories are buried
in the clouds
It's all a dream

Oh, those good old days
Oh, the good old days

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語必忠信 行必正直

dystopian's picture

Hi all, Hey JtC, Hope all is well out there!

Yeah man, music is where its at. Music is love, music is life. Music has it all, laughing and crying, joy and pain, the most wonderous beautiful art one can behold. It can be as spiritually uplifting as anything on earth. And it does this across the world with every and all different kinds of peoples, and music. It truly is a universal language as nothing else known.

Two of my key mentors in life, both in early 80's now, both former Marines, simply do not get music. They both say maybe in another life they will. So somehow, some people do not connect with it, amazingly to me.

I am fascinated with ethnic music from other parts of the world, and especially all the different instruments. The endless boundless creativity of the peoples gives me hopes. Music has saved my life.
It formed and shaped me into this cosmic conflagration I am in many ways.

As a kid in the 60 Rambler wagon (booger green) as we rode around L.A. going to birding spots (when there were still wild places there) about 61-63 with the radio on, the two spark songs that flipped me were Runaway and Apache. Holy shit! Soon followed by Wipeout. I was likely 7, maybe 8, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Sears Silvertone 17.95 guitar at about 12, though had been doing baritone ukelele by 10, chords same as guitar bottom four strings. Had a white custom Les Paul with gold hardware, stolen. Also a 100W Yamaha amp that was the Fender Bandmaster copy, stolen. A custom Texas shaped guitar owned by someone y'all heard of, stolen, set of harmonicas I never learned to play, stolen... 12-string stolen. I literally wore the frets off a couple guitars. Still not good, no technical training, but fully able to have a blast.

Had time to type this as my DSL is out again, as usual lately. Hoping to get connectivity to post it!

Here is nice Friday song... also have a thing for funny songs...

Pig Pen Boogie - Chuck Bowers

link in case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pURzGKCsFDM

and R.I.P. Jeff Beck

have a great day all!

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15 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

@dystopian
maybe the reason for the jarhead flat-top, deflection of mind altering music. I can't imagine going through life like that.

Thanks for the memories, dysto, may the DSL gods shine down on you soon.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@dystopian @dystopian The bass player sure as hell looks like this guy, maybe one or two of the others too

As for pig pens, heh, this is a Coasters tune, but, shit, Wilco!

be well and have a good one
edit - forgot the song video

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5 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

dystopian's picture

@enhydra lutris Hi EL!

That may be more than an uncanny resemblence. The clip above of Beck was Hollywood Bowl 2016 I think.
There are vids on youtube, not sure when it was, but, of Jeff Beck with Imelda May singing. So, it may actually be 'her' band (in your vid) with Jeff? They did a Les Paul tribute show that was awesome. And it is modern Jeff on a Les Paul.

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3 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

enhydra lutris's picture

@dystopian

'cept I didn't have any idea where the clip was from or anything.

be well and have a good one

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4 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@dystopian
on a spare hard drive somewhere.

It's: Jeff Beck – Rock 'n' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul (2010)

Good stuff.

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5 users have voted.

I've lost so much over this life time to thievery, can't even begin to list them
memories of the lost, not just physical, but mental and spiritual brings a tear
those that not got take from the ones who do got
an extremely selfish approach to getting ahead in life

thanks for the Beck!

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9 users have voted.

A couple of days ago, Alex (of the Duran) had a piece about the ru response to the latest round of sanctions.

He said that the countries being punished by the collective west for not bowing to neolib thievery will no longer abide by any copyrights imposed by the west which might restrict their free exchange of ideas and commentary.

Yay! (added) I am very much in favor of protecting and compensating for intellectual property but definitely not in favor of some Bill Gates or Bezos exploiting and cheating the starving artist.

BTW, when I went to project genesis to see if I could locate a pdf of the James Burke books (which I had owned in printed form before my migrations) I had considerable difficulty in downloading them. I also wanted a pdf of "Wired to Create" that I could use on my notebook PC to read in lieu of my printed copy -- nope. I have it in ebook format but the Kindle was reset to Amazon tantrum format.

Sigh. This too shall pass. Along with innovations.

/rant

(added on edit) Sorry, posted wrong place. My fault. I know, RTFM.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@exindy

here: https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/wired-to-create-unraveli...

OR you can borrow it for 2 weeks from Archive.org, I'm not sure, it looks like it comes in either e-book or audio

be well and have a good one

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4 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris @enhydra lutris but it is inconvenient to reference and use.

I feel that I have already purchased the use of the intellectual rights to the use of the ideas and concepts presented by the author. I have no intent to profit from those concepts, only expand my understanding of them, better hone my own knowledge and understanding.

I also have an epub format of that book in my PC which I can easily move between my different equipment. The problem I have encountered in the last month or so is the "upgrade" to the operating software in the equipment and the capability to convert the epub internal to a readable display has been restricted.

I only have one kindle which can still display an epub from my storage. My wife's kindle has been "upgraded" from the traditional (old) Overdrive software to the new Libby software. While that software might offer advantages for some clients, it doesn't fit my needs. I've fallen outside the new normal. The Libby software is a cloud based system and interacts at a much greater level with the libraries. It is very much a thin client system.

For various reasons I don't maintain an active Wifi system. I only bring it up as needed then disconnect. I run almost exclusively as a wired system with individual boxes serving a specific and limited function. Yeah, I know a dinosaur who believes in an air gapped environment.

As I think I mentioned, there is a battle going on between different corporates which are each working very hard to ensure that each can control a proprietary delivery/usage system. One that doesn't allow a pdf to be interchanged between OS's. Or an epub. Or an MP4. Or an audio file.

(added on edit) I'm sorry... I was unclear... the interchange works great. But when the file gets to the new place the display is restricted. Eg, like having a book on a cassette tape.

Pet peeve: MSFT attitude toward Acrobat reader.... what do you need that for? It's built into Edge. Along with the latest celebrity news feed. You might find that more entertaining. (ie, distracting)

I'm sorry this has gotten a bit too long in a thread which appears to be fading. We also desperately need a forum system which can branch, maintain concepts which show potential but are fringe and more importantly not profitable to the mainstream, the corporate designed marketing mainstream.

Sigh... the greatest encyclopedia and library in the history of the world and no index. And a corporate directed search system.

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5 users have voted.

@exindy @exindy

The next point in this system is the location of the ebook (as an example, not the only item category) file itelf. The way this system, the Overdrive corp system, is sold to the libraries is the elimination of their individual data bases of electronic files. Eg, why should you have to maintain these servers and internet presence when we can do it for you? We'll maintain the files in our cloud and you just go thru this well marketed catalog and decide which books you want to make available. Then we will just bill you for the copies needed.

Easy peasy.

But, like any system, it can be easily compromised. Playing a little whatif game, this area, the tri-cities is heavily leaning toward conservatism and libertarianism. Right now it is fighting to prevent windmills, pushes banker controlled infrastructure investment and so on.

What happens to the books available electronically? Dissenting opinions?

In effect, this system is covered quite well in Fahrenheit 451. Not literally. Figuratively. And much, much easier to implement.

(added) Though I would never, ever suggest any sort of US copyright violations, you might find Library Gensis to be a source for a copy of your already compensated intellectual property:

Library Genesis – also known as libgen – is a fantastic digital shadow library that gives you free access to millions of your favourite books and papers as eBooks – from fiction books to fantasy, crime to science fiction and romance to thriller, as well as textbooks, journal articles, academic works, graphic novels, comics etc – in epub, pdf, mobi and many other formats. Perfect for reading on your Kindle, Ipad, Android or any e-reader device capable of reading books in any eBook format.

https://librarygenesis.net/

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enhydra lutris's picture

@exindy

The only one I recall off the top of my head is the Archive. Iuse some sort of public domain reader/library monitor on my tablet (android) and a different one on my desktop (ubuntu), can't recall the former offhand either and the latter is from an outdated repository, but there are multiples out there.

be well and have a good one

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1 user has voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

came from a television. My Mom would put me on a red rocking horse, and I would watch tv. One day, The Cisco Kid came on, and as soon as I heard the music of the theme song, I spoke my first word: "Tico". It was a huge deal, since I was 6 months old. The other song that made a profound impression on me, and generated my life long love of classical music, was the theme from The Lone Ranger, namely, the William Tell Overture.
So, here is the Tico Theme:

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10 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@on the cusp
and your red rocking horses. Mine was a paint and he was fast. Rode him all over the wild west of my young mind, capturing bad guys and saving damsels in distress.

Thanks, my dear.

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12 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@on the cusp

Leo Carillo was practically an icon in SoCal, there's even a State Beach named after him up in LA ounty. And, of course, Duncan Renaldo was the only Real Cisco.

be well and have a good one

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6 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris years old, my family went to The Annual Prison Rodeo in Huntsville, Tx, and it was because Cisco and Poncho were the entertainers. They played some music, did some trick riding.
Somehow, as my family was walking the grounds, we ran into them! Parents spoke, I gawked, no paper or pen to get autographs. Prisoners who were on good behavior, trustees, etc...were brought to see the rodeo. All of the cowboys and wranglers were prisoners. The rodeo clowns were prisoners.
They had dangerous daredevil events we couldn't believe! There was prize money for the winners from the ticket sales. It is no longer done, the facility has been torn down.
Oh, the War tune has always been a favorite!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

Heh, summer of 64, so many places and things to do or be. Your column seemed ready to start here:

and wound up here:

Somehow bypassing that dissonant tritone (like, mebbe C to F#)

don't know what to say 'cept Help, I'm a rock!

be well and have a good one

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10 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris
all that needed to be said. The music says it all.

Thanks mi hermano.

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usefewersyllables's picture

@enhydra lutris

N/T

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4psVQHsUq8 width:400 height:300]

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7 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

enhydra lutris's picture

@usefewersyllables @usefewersyllables

fall of '66, sitting on a 4th floor balcony overlooking Berkeley's University Avenue on Owsley white lightning and digging on

be well and have a good one

edit - at 3 am

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8 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

usefewersyllables's picture

@enhydra lutris

reference. And I shoulda caught it. The jar is under the bed...

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6 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

@enhydra lutris
we very seldom got the good stuff in the Midwest. We mostly got tabs filthy with speed and strychnine like orange barrels and purple durples, a bad trip just waiting to happen. Every once in a while some micro-dot or owsley would make through, usually with someone that just came from Cal.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@JtC

location, location, location.

be well and have a good one

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5 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris
taking a trip and never leaving the farm?

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4 users have voted.
enhydra lutris's picture

@JtC

Arhoolie Records just up the road a few miles and Chris Strachwitz having his own radio show on KPFA. You name it, he had it:

All around the world in a shop on San Pablo Av.

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6 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Wow!

I am older than most if not all of you---80 last October--- There was little to no music in my home but the late 50's and then the Sixties Rock and Roll exploded everywhere and I was hooked. Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Everley Brothers and the folk music that flourished contemporaneously with the R and R. A cornucopia of music was available and began the rest of my life love affair.

I watched the only awards show I find bearable, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recently on HBO and understood clearly that R and R is over. IIRC you are not eligible for a place in the Hall of fame until you have been in the arena for 40 years. The honorees were if not dead, quite elderly. New Rockish musicians like Dave Groh from Foo Fighters were there and so was Bruce Springstein, but the entire event felt like a remembrance of things past, a little sad and desperate

(On the current Pop scene, I wonder if anybody will even remember the Jonas Brothers in a single decade. Feh. Music for empty propagandized zombies.)

At home, the music I listen to the most is Bach. Colombia University's music department broadcasts a Bachfest for 10 days leading up to New Years Eve and it is on 24/7. Recordings with live commentary from the studio. Lovely. I have a sizable collection of Bach's work with some of my favorites like the Suites for Solo Cello done by various artists as well as many recordings done on guitar, not of Bach's time and clavichord or harpsichord, npw usually performed on a piano.

I also pull out various protest albums especially the Amnesty International's 4 disc collection of artists doing Dylan. Dylan himself plays the final track, Chimes of Freedom. Prophetic and maybe why he won that Nobel Prize/ IDK.

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11 users have voted.

NYCVG

@NYCVG
listening to country music. I still have my dad's album collection, highlighted by 24 Johnny Cash albums including his first 4 on the Sun label.

Because of my early saturation I didn't listen to much country music until the late 60s/early 70s, then it all came back with a vengeance. I love country music. Thanks dad!

Actually I love all music except for a couple of genres (rap and disco). If only you could see my music collection, it runs the gamut.

Thanks V!

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12 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

My love of music came with the tragisongs of Bobby Vee, Paul Anka, and Gene Pitney. Loved the instrumentals of Persy Faith, Herb Alpert, and Elmer Bernstine.
Bought a 1937 RCA Victor floor model (about 4 ft. high) multi-band radio with an enormous bass speaker. Would listen to it all day long, and then stay up till the early morning hours surfing the short wave for music and news from around the globe.
Had a plethora of instruments, but was completely untalented with all but the Yazoo.
Didn't diminish my addiction for music or those who made it.
Hats off to all you musicians here, you have been appreciated for my entire lifetime.
Incidentally, my middle name was my Moms h/t to Gene Autry. Take a guess what my lulabys were.
5hanks to everyone for the great tunes.
Thanks for the OT, JtC.

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8 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@earthling1

saved up my hay bailing money to buy a Sony receiver and matching speakers.
Once I got it all hooked up in the living room, tuned into WABX out of Detroit
and heard George Harrison in stereo! At the time, I thought I had achieved
nirvana. So much better than the tinny AM. Window pane ~

pretty sure this was not the one, thinking it was about '67

[video:https://youtu.be/l8WMGBuNaus]

or maybe this one?

[video:https://youtu.be/ixmOAb6qzvY]

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8 users have voted.
earthling1's picture

@QMS
saved me from the lowest of despair, loathing, and shame that resulted from November 22nd 1963.
Screw the Queen.
God save the British musical invasion.
My first tuner was a Pioneer QX8000QUAD w/4 JBL speakers Barbra Streisand was my first quad album.
My nirvana.

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8 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

usefewersyllables's picture

@earthling1

was only 10 years older than me (post-WWII oops), and fancied himself a hi-fi aficionado of sorts. He was always casting about in search of more bass. So he bought himself one of those brandy-new Electro-Voice 36" woofers, from an ad in the back of Popular Mechanix or the like. But he didn't have a cabinet for it to mount in, so he just kind of sat it in the corner of the room, just the raw speaker all by its lonesome. I remember sitting there watching that poor cone flopping in the breeze like mad, completely unloaded, making no difference whatsoever other than a breeze and some distortion, as he was playing the brandy-new "Green Onions" (just as JtC) through his 25W mono tube amp. He thought it was the bee's knees, though.

Small town, simpler times. Much, much simpler...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oox9bJaGJ8 width:400 height:300]

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8 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

earthling1's picture

@usefewersyllables
of my hearing, laying in bed with that big woofer at my head (had to be able to reach the tuner) for hours at a time.
As mentioned before, was a latchkey kid, had free rein.

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6 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

@QMS I remember that station. Grew up in Warren. The whitest place in the 60's and 70's. Do you remember that local TV show they had on UHF? I remember seeing Alice Cooper on there, probably in 1970 before he hit it big. There were so many clubs in Detroit playing great music. My Dad was really strict about letting us girls go anywhere. But my older brother, by 2 years, used to go with his friends and lie about going to football games.

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4 users have voted.

@Enchantress

Detroit was a cultural magnet then.
Only got as close as Ann Arbor which
shared some of that vibe.

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2 users have voted.
dystopian's picture

@QMS Yeah man FM. First that 9V transistor radio changed the world. Then FM changed everything for music to be able to be broadcast with channel separation! STEREO! It was a game changer. The best AM was nothing, pale in comparison, to FM. We could hear music the way the artists meant it to be heard. A couple of the hippest AM DJ's promptly left KRLA and KHJ, and formed new FM rock stations in L.A. (like B. Mitchell Reed with KMET) and I forget who did KLOS, but the rest is history. Next thing ya know we had underground radio with Elliot Mintz interviewing Timothy Leary or Eldrige Cleaver on KPPC.

But that girl with the 9V transistor radio blaring Hanky Panky from her daisy basket on her Stingray sure was cute...

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5 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

@earthling1
old friend.

My favorite western theme song was Rawhide. Always loved the way the squeezebox would hit the backbeat. Way cool.

That old radio sounds awesome.

Yamaha and Cerwin Vegas here, loved shaking the walls. Pure rock power.

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7 users have voted.
usefewersyllables's picture

@earthling1

With the Magic Eye tuning indicator!

My grandparents had one of those, and it scared the *shit* out of me as a little preschool kid. I always thought that it was looking at me...

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7 users have voted.

Twice bitten, permanently shy.

earthling1's picture

@usefewersyllables 5
Had forgotten about that feature.
That old radio educated me in so many ways.
Paid $3 at the old San Gabriel Mission basement thrift shop. Spent hours testing the vac tubes at Thriftys drug store till I found the bad or weak ones.
Later on in high school woodshop, completely refinished the cabinet. Got an A+ that year.
Years later sold it for $200.
Sigh.

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9 users have voted.

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

The Hindsight Times's picture

What can I say about music. I grew up in the 70's so what I listened to was the car radio when out with the parents. Dad liked Tony Orlando and Dawn. Mom liked Elvis. I'm not much of a music person, I have no pitch. I'm a lyrics person. Nearly all the classic rock from the 60s and 70s I enjoy (NO DISCO). In 1981 I watched the premiere of MTV. Not a fan of most 80's music. There was some good stuff but nothing that makes me need to hear/see it again. 90's was a mix of good and bad rock, like nirvana, not a fan, and Jane's Addiction, fan, to the boy bands (yes, I'm aware the Osmonds and the Jackson Five were boy bands but there were bands of brothers) and what I consider the start of the downfall of the 'industry'. Since, there is only music with hooks every 2 seconds and no substance, aka horrible lyrics. Nothing being promoted by the industry people is worth a listen. When I do play music on Pandora it's The Doors channel. Anyways, that's my little rant on music.

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6 users have voted.

@The Hindsight Times

I'm not a musician so much as a writer
it is the string of lyrics which stick in my craw
although I can call a tune from the first note in some cases

the doors are great
one of my favorites

[video:https://youtu.be/5bdC7k2Nu4s]

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5 users have voted.
janis b's picture

I loved your story. Music and memory are such great mates. The music, old and new is one of the things I love about being here.

I always enjoyed the music my parents played at home, mostly Caribbean and Latin. It was often accompanied by them dancing. I remember as a pre-teen, when no one was around at night to watch, dancing in front of the sliding glass doors where I could see my reflection. While dreaming of being a teenager in love I listened to songs like this …

[video:https://youtu.be/yL0NBJuUjUM]

When I really started listening, instead of practicing dancing and dreaming, was when I first heard Richie Havens, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen. Jazz was next. The Temptations were also there ... and on and on.

[video:https://youtu.be/SOXWZrESosE]

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7 users have voted.

featured The Everly Brothers several times. I love their music still.
I remember seeing Elvis Presley live on the Ed Sullivan Show.
I just skimmed over the top hits of 1964, loved them all.
Here's one:

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

janis b's picture

@on the cusp

of what dreams are made of ; ).

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4 users have voted.

@janis b and they bridged the gap between country and rock, as did Elvis Presley.
They sang songs with such plaintive lyrics.
"When Will I Be Loved" from 1960 is one of my lifetime favorite songs.
Hope everything is just like paradise in NZ!
Hugs!

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5 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

janis b's picture

@on the cusp

channelling paradise here than some other places. I do my best, and feel supported in the effort by the people I know or encounter here.

Hugs back

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5 users have voted.
janis b's picture

@janis b

[video:https://youtu.be/ScOpzm-BYX4]

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5 users have voted.

@janis b She just rocked that cover!
The song must have been just all that to have gotten her attention!

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5 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981