I’ve been working on my demo a lot lately. If I’m not at Caffall Studio, I’ve been doing the vocal tracks lately, I’m working in my own studio on other parts of the five original songs we are recording. This is my first experience doing a professional recording and wow, has it been an eye opener. Craig is a fantastic engineer, able to get the best out of me and my songs. Hopefully it will be finished in a few weeks. There is still a lot to do, but I’m down to my favorite part, the lead guitar tracks. I liken it to my days at Martial Arts Academy. We had to get the fundamental stuff done first, before you could get to the fun stuff, which in Kung Fu is form practice. The lead guitar tracks are like that, fun stuff. One of the most amazing things Craig has done is making my vocals sound passable, as my greatest weakness musically, is my voice. His ideas for vocal melodies and arrangements have been crucial, not to mention the keyboard tracks he has laid down, it’s given the songs a depth that just makes them pop. As soon as we are finished, I’ll make it available on the site.
Spring is here, finally, and although we badly need more rain, I am enjoying the sunshine and the longer daylight evenings. The wind has been a bitch, but it’s March, what do you expect? Maybe I should buy a kite! I’m sure some more rain is on the way, and hopefully we won’t be hearing the dreaded “D” word, this summer. One thing I’ve learned the last few years here in California, is how to manage and ration water, and to be prepared for extended blackouts by purchasing a generator, and stocking up on emergency food and water supplies. You have to do this in California because, at least in my humble opinion, the state government is totally incompetent about managing our natural resources, among other things. That is why I’m absolutely endorsing the recall effort for Gavin “Gruesome” Newsom, he’s got to go.
Los Tres Perros Locos have been enjoying the clear skies as well, as I’m not very fond of walking the dogs in the rain. They have been getting the daily, 2 to 3 mile excursions they have grown accustomed to. As I walk my dogs around the neighborhood, always doing the “downward dog” by the way, I’ve noticed a couple of things that I feel need to be addressed. The main thing, and I see this all over town, are discarded facemasks. What is the deal with this? On one walk we found a dozen of them! Just tossed aside! Of course, no one wants to pick them up without wearing a hazmat suit, so they just sit there, disgusting. Speaking of masks, all the available information says that walking outside without a mask is fine, as long as there isn’t any prolonged contact. I actually want a t-shirt with this printed on it from the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine in an article dated May 21st 2020. It stated “We know that wearing a mask outside health facilities offers little, if any protection from infection. Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid 19 as face to face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid 19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some may say more than 10 minutes or even 30minutes). The chance of catching Covid 19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic”. So, the people you pass by when you are outdoors are of little to no risk to anyone. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand why some people, like people in my age group, over 60, feel like they need to wear a mask, and even when I see someone in there 30’s wearing one I can still understand, somewhat, but when they put their hand over their mask as they pass me by, that I cannot understand. It shows the level of fear and misinformation that prevail in our society today. I mean does anybody know about the latest study that says that 3 feet, not, 6 is an ok distance for social distancing? There is such a climate of fear, especially here in Sonoma County. I saw a recent Gallup survey that asked people what they thought the percentage was for the hospitalization of people who have the “Wu-Flu”. The results were astounding! The pole said over one third (35%) of people thought it was around 40-50%, while only 18% of people actually knew the correct answer. The actual figure is between 1 and 5%! Gee I wonder where they got that idea? Oh yeah that’s right, our beloved main stream media has been pushing “panic porn” for a year now. The same article showed a @nberpubs paper which stated that “91% of stories by major media outlets are negative in tone versus 54% for non U.S. major sources and 65% for scientific journals.” Sorry for the digression, I’ll get off my soapbox now. The other thing that is perplexing to me is that I saw the high school football team doing spring practices. Awesome! Great! The baseball team is starting their practices as well. My initial thought was, well wait a minute if these kids can get together for these activities, how come they can’t be in class? I’d like an answer to that. My grandson told me that they are looking at May to resume in person classes. In what world does that make sense? Oh! That’s right it’s our beloved teachers unions at work. Oops there goes that soapbox thing again.
On A lighter note, I recently purchased a pair of Raycom bluetooth earbuds. These things are great! I can Pandora almost anywhere. It got me to thinking about what kind of music do people like listening too while they are out walking. I see so many folks walking around with either headphones or earbuds, that I thought it would be cool to find out what they listen to. Myself, I like a good hard rock tune, something by AC/DC or Guns And Roses’s “Paradise City”, but I also like long songs. One of my favorites is “Octovarium” by Dream Theater, at around 20 minutes long, it really works out well for me. A lot of Yes music has the same appeal, nice long songs that I can get sort of lost in. So, if you want to join in this discussion, I would love to find out what you’re listening too, drop a line or a comment. After all music is life!
My next blog project is going to be about conspiracy theories. I want to explore the reasons why so many of them are popping out now. (I know that seems kind of obvious). I also want to talk about conspiracy theories that were once poo-pooed as it were, and then have been proven to be real, like the MK Ultra program and things of that nature. I want to try to get into the reasoning, the psychology of why some people are more susceptible than others into believing some of the more far out ones, and also to look at some of the more recent ones, to see if there might be some truth to them. It is taking A LOT of research. There are an unlimited number of rabbit holes you can go down, and with the real truth of anything these days being so hard to find. I’m coming up with a lot more questions than answers, and I’m pretty sure that that is how it will end up. Still, it has been fascinating research, and is a subject that I’m going to continue to pursue even after I’m done with the blog.
That’s it for now. Thank you for spending some time with my musings and meanderings. I want to remind everyone that anyone can post anything on this site, as long as it’s done respectfully. No name calling, ad-hominem attacks, or hate filled screeds will be tolerated. Back up your opinion with facts, but please, join in the discussion. I truly believe that this is one of the best ways to bring us all closer together. As always, Love and Peace and ROCK ON Y’ALL!