Tag Archives: Facebook

I Stand Alone- Theophilus London

In case you were wondering I did not watch the Super Bowl last night. I did turn it on once I heard the power went out after Mrs. Jay Z’s performance. I also saw a little bit of that too, not that I care much for Mrs. Jay Z’s music. I didn’t care for the sport, the game and I did not care for the teams. I watched The Simpsons and Bob’s Burgers and then watched a show about Saturday Night Lives’ first five years which did not include Jane Curtin whom I always liked on the show.

Bill came home after taking care of his mother most of the day. He drove to Atlantic City both Friday and Saturday nights and was running on a low flame after only a few hours of sleep. I hope it doesn’t turn out to Bill overworking and then crashing hard enough to be physically ill for a few days. It happens every so often and I am smart enough to see what comes down the line with regards to that. Bill came home and settled in and watched the SNL retrospective. He never saw the word association test skit with Richard Pryor and Chevy Chase before last night.

On Saturday night there was a posting from My Bloody Valentine on Facebook. After 22 years a new record was being released and I got what I thought was an invitation to give it a listen. I followed the link but was unable to get to it since there were probably a couple of thousand fan boys and girls out there all doing the same as me. I posted to my MiMB friends on Facebook and some of them were in the same boat as me, posting about their frustration and eagerness.

After about an hour, My Bloody Valentine unveiled their own website complete with offers to buy the new release on vinyl and download, on CD and download or just a download. After hemming and hawing I decided on just the download. But which download? There were three options and I decided to ask some audio engineer friends of mine. 16 bit or 24 bit WAVE files? What about the 320kpbs MP3 file? My friends chimed in and I followed their advice which was smart but ineffectual once I took their advice to heart, or in this case, to ears.

I got the 24 bit WAVE file which turned out to be a mistake. I guess the engineers that I know have more sophisticated computers and systems than I do. What would have been a walk in the park was a bear for me. They told me it would take longer to download and it did, but I did not think I would have to manually enter each file that was unzipped. It was no big deal, but it was a pain in the tuchis when I wanted to move them to my iPod. I had to burn the files onto a CD then upload them into iTunes.

Yesterday was spent listening to MBV, the new My Bloody Valentine release. It sounds great, picks up where Loveless left off in 1991. I’ve been listening ever since. I saw My Bloody Valentine twice, once in 1991 when they played the Ritz at Studio 54 and then an abbreviated set at All Points West in 2009. 1991 was all I needed to see, a physical element to the sound and I was at the back of the club, sans earplugs for what was probably the loudest show I had ever heard or seen. 2009 was nothing new, having experience it 18 years before, nothing new was going on and it was time to go home. If they come around again, I hope to be there.

And the other night I wrote how the Selecter were returning to the States. I found out their playing the west coast, no east coast dates scheduled and I am not going to Coachella.
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04 To Here Knows When

I Love My Bitches

Yesterday was an epic posting wasn’t it? I guess I might write more on Mondays since I don’t write on Sundays anymore. After my epistle to Dippy I found myself immersed in a free association posting on a Facebook group for mainly gay guys (and Harpy) who are as into music as I am. I’m not alone and there are quite a few guys that love love love all types of music. This particular thread was all about connecting one YouTube clip with another. For example, someone posted Bristol Stomp by Dovells, so I posted Stompin’ at the Savoy by Benny Goodman.

Then it was Savoy Brown with Wang Dang Doodle and someone (me) posted Brown Sugar by D’Angelo which was brilliantly followed by Sweet Dreams as sung by Beverly D’Angelo in Coal Miners Daughter. I had no choice but to go for the obvious in Sweet Dreams (are made of this) by Eurythmics and since no one else followed up, I posted Dreams Never End by New Order, commenting that I guess the thread was finished. That alerted a Jersey City friend to comment ‘Nooooo!!!!’ and posted A Dream Goes on Forever by Todd Rundgren. It’s been going on like this for 24 hours.

I was up until 1:30 last night as usual but I was fully plugged into this thread and really enjoying it. It was as sociable as I got yesterday. It was too damn hot and I was too hung over for anything but that. I suppose it was a good thing that Bill went right to bed when he got home. 10 hours later I was in front of the computer screen again finding songs (the more obscure or the more clever, the better). One or two friends thought I was up all night following the thread.

I probably could have stayed up all night but at that hour of the morning there wasn’t anyone else posting and it would come across as wanking, something else that I know quite a bit about. It’s been going on most of the day. I noticed it got busy an hour or so ago, leading me to believe that guys were coming home from work and picked up on the thread. Now it’s gotten quiet after my posting following She Moved Thru the Fair by Anne Briggs I put The Bird and The Bee with My Fair Lady. My Chilltown (JC) friend posted The Birds and the Bees by Patrick & Eugene.

Anyone who knows me, knows my disdain for Pink Floyd, but it was there so I used ‘Careful with that Axe, Eugene’ after about 15 minutes no one else posted so I went with a David Bowie bootleg called Uncle Floyd, a song about Floyd Vivino who hosted a TV show on UHF in the 1970’s and 1980’s in the NY/NJ area. Chilltown friend just posted A Summer Place by Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer. I’m taking a break from the thread for a little while, but since I will be sitting next to the computer, I will be notified anyway and more than likely jump right in again.

Hey, it keeps me off the street and out of trouble. I did go out today, I had to feed Lois and Fred’s cat. Stealthily walking on the shady side of the street, I got the job done and then I went to the really big supermarket in town. I do like this supermarket, mainly because everything is cheaper and there are more choices.

When I go to bed at night, since we haven’t put the air conditioner in yet, the windows are open. I’ve noticed in the past and definitely noticed lately at 1:00 in the morning or thereabouts lately there is a bird that is quite loud on my quiet street. I figured out it was a mockingbird after some online research. The nocturnal mockingbird would sing three or four times a few notes, and then do the same with different notes. It was imitating different birds throughout the night. It’s been going on for a while and I first mentioned it to downstairs neighbor Deborah last week. She heard the bird herself, but now with her air conditioning on, no more birdsongs with closed windows.

As luck would have it, after talking about it early in the day, that night there was no mockingbird. I tell Bill to keep an ear out for it when he goes to bed, and once again there are no birdsongs to be heard. The bird was back last night and I drift off to sleep listening to the birdsongs, occasionally laughing at the sound of a certain bird. I’m glad most of the people in my neighborhood have their air conditioners on so they can’t hear the bird and wouldn’t be annoyed by what to me sounds like music.

" I sing for you John Ozed! "


RIP Andy Griffith


02 Mockingbird (feat. James Taylor)