I'm becoming more familiar with the concept of a "blog" - which this is supposed to be - compared with the "traditional newspaper fodder" I've been producing for 20 years.
I found this Merriam-Webster definition of "blog": "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks provided by the writer."
That makes me wonder: Who wants to read someone else's "online personal journal"? Lots of folks, apparently, juding by the number of hits some blogs reportedly receive. Kind of like pulling your sister's diary out from under the bed and sneaking a peek, I'd imagine.
Anyway ... I've been slacking off a bit in the "Funk Speaks" section here, so I'm going to try to follow the "blog" template more closely and regale you, the reader, with reflections, comments and hyperlinks!
WHAT'S IN MY CD PLAYER
I used to make mix tapes, which were kind of a pain, timing them out and manually cross-fading and all. Mix discs are a lot more efficient. That might help explain the hundred or so I have on one of those big spindles in my van.
One of the latest is labeled "Blue Cheer: 1968-69." (Sorry, I'll make it to the 21st century sooner or later. Or at least to the '70s.) If you're not familiar with Blue Cheer, the San Francisco-based power trio usually is credited among the forefathers of heavy metal. The one-hit wonder band's one hit was an overamplified, sloppy version of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," which for many listeners represented a welcome change of pace from the usual hippie-flower-power fare of the day.
The song appeared on Blue Cheer's debut album, "Vincebus Eruptum" (which I think means something like
"controlled chaos"), a recording that can simultaneously be lauded for its groundbreaking sound - remember, there was no such thing as heavy metal at the time - and derided for the general quality of the singing and playing, which often seems to feature the three musicians playing three different songs at once.
That being said, I wore out a cassette tape of "Vincebus Eruptum" as a kid, and I still enjoy it as I slide toward senility.
The rest of my mix disc is excerpted from the band's second album, "Outside Inside" - on which the musicianship and production are more competent, but I still don't like it quite as much - and third offering, "New! Improved!" Critics always have contended that "improved" is a misnomer, but that album might be my favorite of the three. Two extended compositions feature the rarely heard guitar playing of Randy Holden, and one of those, "Fruit and Iceburgs," stacks up against the heaviest sounds you'd hear circa '69.
Of course, if you put something like that on your Christmas wish list, you're probably going to be out of luck.
I found this Merriam-Webster definition of "blog": "a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks provided by the writer."
That makes me wonder: Who wants to read someone else's "online personal journal"? Lots of folks, apparently, juding by the number of hits some blogs reportedly receive. Kind of like pulling your sister's diary out from under the bed and sneaking a peek, I'd imagine.
Anyway ... I've been slacking off a bit in the "Funk Speaks" section here, so I'm going to try to follow the "blog" template more closely and regale you, the reader, with reflections, comments and hyperlinks!
WHAT'S IN MY CD PLAYER
I used to make mix tapes, which were kind of a pain, timing them out and manually cross-fading and all. Mix discs are a lot more efficient. That might help explain the hundred or so I have on one of those big spindles in my van.
One of the latest is labeled "Blue Cheer: 1968-69." (Sorry, I'll make it to the 21st century sooner or later. Or at least to the '70s.) If you're not familiar with Blue Cheer, the San Francisco-based power trio usually is credited among the forefathers of heavy metal. The one-hit wonder band's one hit was an overamplified, sloppy version of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," which for many listeners represented a welcome change of pace from the usual hippie-flower-power fare of the day.
The song appeared on Blue Cheer's debut album, "Vincebus Eruptum" (which I think means something like
"controlled chaos"), a recording that can simultaneously be lauded for its groundbreaking sound - remember, there was no such thing as heavy metal at the time - and derided for the general quality of the singing and playing, which often seems to feature the three musicians playing three different songs at once.
That being said, I wore out a cassette tape of "Vincebus Eruptum" as a kid, and I still enjoy it as I slide toward senility.
The rest of my mix disc is excerpted from the band's second album, "Outside Inside" - on which the musicianship and production are more competent, but I still don't like it quite as much - and third offering, "New! Improved!" Critics always have contended that "improved" is a misnomer, but that album might be my favorite of the three. Two extended compositions feature the rarely heard guitar playing of Randy Holden, and one of those, "Fruit and Iceburgs," stacks up against the heaviest sounds you'd hear circa '69.
Of course, if you put something like that on your Christmas wish list, you're probably going to be out of luck.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home