So how’s band camp? | johnozed

Stayed up late, waiting for Bill to come home. Went to bed at 2:22, still no Bill. I guess he came home an hour later since I wasn’t sleeping all too well and when I went to visit the loo, there he was getting ready for bed.

I slept better once he got home. Before I went to sleep I heard reports about the earthquake in Chile. It was reported as an 8.3 earthquake but when I woke up this morning it was 8.8 which is really big.

The closest I ever got to or felt an earthquake is about a year or so ago and it was a quake in Morristown NJ I believe. I was sitting where I am now, in front of the computer, my right elbow on the table when I felt a vibration that lasted a few seconds.

Enough for me to notice, but not enough to remember until it was announced on the 11:00 News. One can’t help but wonder, especially on the east coast, more specifically in this metropolitan zone how much destruction would be cause if the epicenter was in this area.

I try not to think about it but when it’s the main story on cable news, you can’t help but think about it. I watched most of the day, waiting for the tsunami to hit Hawaii. MSNBC seemed to have a loop of surfers in the water for some reason.

They would report that the waters have been cleared of people, then these two dudes on long boards would be shown.

It’s been reported that Hawaii dodged a bullet, the waves weren’t as destructive as anticipated. Of course, Guam, Japan and Russia as well as other Pacific coast countries are still in danger.

I spoke to my brother in law Rex in California, who told me people were headed out to the coast to see the tsunami which is stupid. The ocean will kill you and doesn’t care. Still the jabbering continues on the cable news.

I’ve been listening to Spoon lately. I heard of them and had a few tracks from Mojo/Uncut and the Dark Was the Night CD’s but never went any further than that. After reading about them in last month’s Uncut I decided to download a few tracks and I find that I love them.

Very close to the types of things I would be doing if I had a band. Really cool stuff, acoustic based. Looked them up on Ultimate Guitar and found that their songs are easy to play too. Not too many Norwegians.

I learned that via Nick Lowe on Spectacle with Elvis Costello. Norwegian Fjords = chords.

Like Hot Chip a couple of weeks ago, I would be listening to a song that I thought was merely alright would have me wanting more a few minutes later. Last night, Spoon’s song, The Underdog blew me away.

And manageable on the guitar, and that includes the tricky and fast chord changes in the middle eight.

On the other end of the spectrum, thanks to my friend Sheilah posting a video clip of Maria Callas the other day I went to the library and took out two Callas CD’s. Collections of her arias. Amazing stuff, quite powerful and beautiful. I do have a Kiri te Kanawa collection, but this is legendary stuff.

Then on Facebook there was a posting about Brian Wilson who was quoted as enthusing about Johann Sebastian Bach and when I was in the library this afternoon I saw a collection called Weekend Bach and took it out.

Jeez, look at me! I’m getting all cultural and shit.

I also downloaded Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk. A remaster that came out late last year, and that of course is excellent.

And I downloaded Moses by Elizabeth Fraser (formerly from Cocteau Twins). Always good to hear Liz’ voice. All is recommended.

Here is what Hoboken looked like today.

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Well I went outside today. After staying inside most of the day yesterday it was a treat. It wasn’t as cold as it was yesterday and it was actually bright and sunny. Last night I watched Led Zeppelin, downloaded a slew of tracks as well.

And I had forgotten that John Paul Jones, perhaps my favorite Zep was on Saturday Night Live as part of Them Crooked Vultures. Didn’t really care for them, but it’s a treat to see JPJ playing bass and having a good time, and despite what some people say, I do like Dave Grohl. Seems like a nice guy.

And while thinking of Led Zeppelin, I thought of a party I had thrown at my basement apartment at 1124 Willow. No real theme or reason for the party, just the idea of having a party. I knew a lot of people then, many people came, maybe 50.

Back then I used to say 100 people came but I was probably seeing double at the time. I was working for Murdoch Magazines at the time during the day and also working at McSwells at night.

The date was May 14, 1988 and I remember that since Julio and his buddy Damian came later in the night after attending the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden, where they saw a version of Led Zeppelin.

People did not come empty handed and we wound up keeping the beer cold in the bathroom, in an ice filled bathtub. The McSwells crew all came after the bar closed at 3:00AM, with more supplies and one or two bar flies/party crashers.

I remember Martin Kelly, after closing McSwells and coming over, telling me that when he walked through the door and down the hallway it looked like a certain friend of mine was eating powdered donuts from a bag, and I should be more careful that the police didn’t come.

I wasn’t worried about that since next door was a school and the apartment directly above was vacant. I did have the party crashers thrown out as well. I think either they or someone else stole someone’s jacket.

Another memory was some friends, Sean & Susan (?) doing ‘Da Butt’ by E.U. which was a hot song at the time, while my other friends laughed with them since they had it going on so well. Steve Fallon might have even made an appearance before the party ended at what I guess was about 5:30 or so.

The powdered donuts guy left Rand and myself a nice little mound of confectioners sugar which thrilled us some more for a while after that. It was a rousing success even though my answering machine was trashed, but then again, so most everyone was.

I did tried to duplicate the party again a few months later and it was not as successful but still a good time was had. I was psychedicized for that one as were a few other guests. Made changing records a major challenge.

One of the tripping guests who was tripping for the first time, the late Tony Sankitts, wound up feeling queasy and I set him up in my roommate’s empty room, where Tony threw up on the carpet. Pedro danced a dance called the rooftop in the back yard.

Like I said while it was a fun party, it wasn’t the event that the first party was. Couldn’t duplicate it I suppose. Last night I watched Saturday Night Live like I wrote about earlier. It was OK, could have been funnier.

The funniest sketch was towards the end, featuring a wedding reception and the former band of the bride’s father who were a hardcore band in the early 1980’s. Oh man it was classic.

I wasn’t really involved with the hardcore scene, I tended to listen to more melodic stuff. I think that’s when the music scene became fragmented, bands that were hardcore emerging and other bands with more tuneful songs which also fragmented into the silly new romantic crap of which hardcore was probably a rebellion against as well.

Became of a US vs UK thing as well. Still there were lots of interesting things happening with X, the Minutemen and REM as well as XTC, Elvis Costello and Talking Heads among others holding up the late 1970’s style, going forward for a spell.

I should write about the acid resurgence in the underground scene of the mid 80’s sometime. Just not this time.

Bill decided not to wear his sleep apnea mask last night which made him snore like he was playing a horn. I tried to fall asleep, pleading with him to at least give me 10 minutes to sleep then he could perhaps snore all he wanted, but he was unresponsive and asleep.

I decided to record him snoring and at one point, getting out of bed and uploading 5 recordings into the computer. Wound up with about 10 recordings overall. After the last recording, I said loudly ‘That’s a wrap’ which woke him up. I think when he woke up he jumped up and his head hit my hand holding the recorder.

This morning, I asked him if he slept well and he said he didn’t. He did ask, why did I hit him in the head last night and I swore I didn’t but he insisted that I did. Tonight I will crazy glue the sleep apnea mask to his face.

Hoboken scenes.

2.7.10 Hoboken 001