The young man who was struck by lightning and died just short of the finish line of a 50K trail race in Kansas rekindles a longstanding debate I have had with myself.
How do I want to go out? Instantly doing something I love, like playing basketball — the way Pete Maravich went out; The way this 33-year-old Kansas runner, Thomas Stanley went out.
I have Lewy body dementia and my lifespan — based on averages — is 4 to 8 years after diagnosis or symptoms begin. I’m in my third year. So unless I get hit by a bus or struck by lightning, I have received plenty of advance warning about what will happen to me as these excess proteins continue to clog up and kill brain cells. Slowly, it seems, and that’s a good thing. I think.
I’ve written about lightning a lot. As I’ve explained here before. As you can see I’m almost metaphysical in my feelings surrounding lightning. What random bad luck messed up universe would strike down a person. Very rarely, the average is 27 a year and there have only been 19 this year.
Part of my interest in lightning was living in central Florida, lightning capital of the U.S., where there are daily thunder-boomers, as my kids used to call them.
Stanley was 33 years old and from Andover, Kansas. He was the Director of Business Initiatives at the Kansas Leadership Center where he has worked since 2008, according to the center’s website.
He was the third person this year who has been killed by lightning while running.
I am 59 years-old and have lived a lot more life than Stanley. I wonder if I would have taken Stanley’s place if I had been offered.
I think I might have. It would be slam dunk ‘yes’ if it was a friend or relative. But I’m not sure, (uh oh, here I go debating my brain again.) I know this disease will take hold but I am also working on living every moment. I do enjoy life.
Stanley probably didn’t know what hit him. I know what is hitting me. I think I’ll stick around — and hit back.
Oh, and though Stanley didn’t make the finish line, the race officials gave him a finish because he had run the distance.
ALBUMS: That’s the Way of the World, Earth Wind and Fire (1975); Ain’t No Doubt About it: Graham Central Station (1975). Light of the World, Kool and the Gang (1974); Born to Get Down (1976), Muscle Shoals Horns.
I started out to just do one review here on the Muscle Shoals Horns, an album I’ve had a long time and I was in the “M’s’ of my alphabetical countdown.
From Left: Graham Central Station; Earth Wind and Fire: Kool and the Gang; Muscle Shoals Horns.
Then I started finding albums I had forgotten even though some were recently purchased. Funk is a dance band music, often with horns and heavy bottom, drums and bass. When it works, it puts you up on the dance floor.
I’m going to give you a short assessment as I rank this small batch put together from my collection. I do have more. The Average White Band–which I have already done way back when I was in the ‘A’s’. I’m in the ‘M’s now. One notable funky music artist coming up is Sly and the Family Stone which I will hold on until I get to the S’s.
OK this is going to be thumbnail observations in alphabetical order and then I’ll declare a favorite:
Earth WInd and FIre: This album was a huge hit. Shining Star was a 1970’s staple. as was the title song ‘That’s the Way of the World.’ Definitely the most commercial/radio friendly of the group.
Graham Central Station: Certainly the hardest rocking of the group. You can hear the influence of his former band mate Sly Stone in creating a freewheeling musical extravaganza with distortion-enhanced electric guitars.
Kool and the Gang: Probably the old school funkiest, if that makes sense. They had ace musicians who snapped to sudden stops and turned to funk it up in another direction.
Muscle Shoals Horns: I came in without any expectations. Depending on your tastes this album may be the best of the group. They got my attention and not just because they are local here to the state of Alabama. But they can play. And the sound of the vinyl on my stereo system was the best of the others. As with all these groups, the musicianship was top-notch. I will definitely be keeping this one out in case I need more emergency dance music.
Commenters had a field day on an article I wrote for ALcom. Most of it was fine, rhetorical debate and discourse. Some of it was uncivil discourse, but I can take it . I’m a big boy.
And Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old environmental activist sure seems like she can handle it as well. And she probably didn’t need me rushing in to defend her. But I couldn’t help myself. Here’s an excerpt and link.
Now as the ‘host’ of my own website focused on music and raising awareness for the fatal brain disease I have, Lewy body dementia, I don’t usually jump into the treacherous waters of politics.
But, as a journalist with 30 years experience covering health care, politics, crime and mental health, I feel compelled to say something. Especially using my status as a dementia patient, on behalf of those with mental illnesses or disorders or diseases, for that matter.
To be clear I wasn’t motivated to write this because of the topic, climate change. I’m no expert on that topic. Although I tend to believe the much larger consensus of scientists who say there is human-caused climate effect, and it’s an issue we should deal with.
But I do know this — and it’s where I would usually start as a reporter : Follow the money.
I mean follow the money on both sides because there are millions and billions of dollars being spent to shape messages, create reports to support whichever side you want. I’m talking about oil companies, car companies, utilities, environmental groups. Look at who and how much is being spent to influence Congress — one study put the figure spent on climate change connected lobbying at $2 billion from 2000 to 2016.
And it is lopsided.
According to a study led by Robert J. Brulle of Drexel University, the sector that spent the most on climate change lobbying was the electrical utilities sector, at $554 million. The fossil fuel sector spent $370 million and the transportation sector spent $252 million during this time.
Environmental group made up about 3 percent and the renewable energy sector made up about 3 percent.
It reminds me of the health care debate where there is a lot of money spent targeting you, me, the whole country. As journalists we are supposed to get to the truth.
In countless cases journalists have shined the light in the dark corners to expose corruption. But in many instances we have failed, there are outlandish schemes to siphon taxpayer money going on as we speak. It’s not a Republican thing or a Demcrat thing. I’ve come to believe — and trying to not to get too cynical here –it’s a human thing. A greed thing. But I shudder to think about what would happen without a free and unencumbered press.
OK off the soap box.
Now it’s time to get funky. Perhaps appropriately. I’m going to try to review four funk/soul albums I have. I actually have more, but I’m not going to round up all of the funk here. Some of it — one I can remember off the top of my head — is the Average White Band, which I have already reviewed long ago in the ‘A’s.’
That was two years aog and I’m trying now to finish the ‘M’s. And who knew so many artists last name or band names start with ‘M.’ And I had Muscle Shores Horns all queued up and ready to listen to and write when i realized I had several funk albums that I had found and bought bargain bin stuff after their letters had passed. So I will review them together under the “M’ for Muscle Shoals Horns, umbrella. I have Earth Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang and Graham Central Station. (My Sly and Family Stone I’m keeping for the ‘S’s.)
Saturday, as we continue to zoom past the 2-year-mark of this blog I am going to check back in with the most popular posts on my site. Probably I’ll do two list with the Top 12 music posts, the top 12 non-musical posts, which would include everything from/Lewy body dementia/ health, basketball and ponderings on the meaning of life.
So I’m signing off for now, to ponder. And listen to ‘That’s the Way of the World’ by EWF..
We love lists in the media business. Readers sometimes complain about list stories but then read them voraciously.
But if you came for a list story here, you aren’t going to get one. This is more a Behind-the-List Story story.
They are very subjective, you know. Lists, rankings. Take best guitarists.
Is Eric Clapton really better than Carlos Santana? Was Jimi Hendrix really better than Stevie Ray Vaughn?
How about Nick Drake and Leo Kottke with their innovative acoustic folk, blues, rock? Is Pete Townshend on rhythm better than Keith Richards or their teacher, Chuck Berry?
I’d be hard pressed to find a better rock guitarist than Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin but there’s some old(er)-timers our there that say Alvin Lee of 10 Years After was the man. Listen to this live version of Woodchopper’s Ball.
Slow down, I’m getting to the point here. These lists usually encapsulate three things going on:
(1) Popularity of the artist and his or her songs, Clapton and Page are famous for working with some of the biggest selling bands of all time. Are they truly better guitarists than Steve Morse. Who? Steve Morse who played with the Dixie Dregs and is now with Deep Purple. He can play. Glenn Phillips, of the Atlanta area, is pretty much the best guitarist you’ve never heard of. In the same neighborhood, his student Bob Elsey of the Swimming Pool Q’s plays tasty licks without walking over anyone. How many of these guitarists can play Nancy Wilson’s intro to ‘Crazy on You.? Probably most of those in this company, with time and study, but I would venture to say Nancy’s would be the best version..
(2) Speed and long solo skills A lot of guitarists get noticed because they can shred. That is, hit X number of notes in x number of seconds, usually going up and down scales. That’s a useful skill set especially in metal, hard rock, punk and even guitar-based jazz. But it’s one tool. The best shredder may be mediocre playing folk blues, for example.
(3) Flamboyant style. Jimi Hendrix was truly innovative but it wasn’t all flamboyance in the cause of the music, it was aimed at the ‘show.’ I’m pretty sure Hendrix can play better with his fingers than his tongue. But tonguing a guitar solo will leave people with their jaws hanging.
These three factors I’m saying play a role in these ranking and probably should. But before you start talking about who is better, Eddie Van Halen or Yngwie Malmsteen, Prince or Queen’s Brian May, the Schenker brothers of Scorpions and UFO fame, let me proffer that perhaps the best guitar players are those that do what’s best for the song. Delivering a fine song with a guitar solo that lasted 5-minutes too long is not necessarily being a great guitarist.
So it comes to this: Duane Allman.
I’m not saying he’s the top guitarist of all time or anything. But he had an unusual grasp of what sound to put forth while playing a song. How loud. How soft. When to fill and when to cut loose. The story goes that Duane was doing some session work at like age 22 or so, at Muscle Shoals studios, backing the great Wilson Pickett on a cover of the Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude.’
Listen for the guitar in this as it starts. You have to concentrate because it’s in the background.
But it’s perfect, the fills. And as Pickett winds up, Allman with electric guitar is right there supporting the singer, whip snapping Pickett into his famous ‘yow’ screams.
“He stood right in front of me, as though he was playing every note I was singing,” Pickett said months later. “And he was watching me as I sang, and as I screamed, he was screaming with his guitar.”
Duane’s legend was picking up steam.
[If you secretly do like list stories and want to take a peek at the most underrated artists, albums and songs in my collection. CLICK
ALBUMS: Astral Weeks (1968 ); Moondance (1970); Tupelo Honey (1971); ): St. Dominic’s Preview (1972 ); Hard Nose the Highway (1973); T.B. Sheets (1973 ); Common One (1980); No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986); World of Them (1973)
MVC Ratings: Astral and Moondance get top scores with 5. Both come with $$$$, but it might be hard to find in good condition under $20. Tupelo Honey, St. Dominic’s and No Guru comes in at 4.5 with $$$$ for Tupelo and St. Dominic’s; and TB Sheets at $$$; World of Them is 4.0 with a $$$.
Just after I learned of my illness, my wonderful friends and colleagues raised several thousand dollars to fund a trip to Europe. Ireland was one of four countries we visited on this ‘bucket list” trip. We went in this order: Spain, Scotland, Ireland, England and back to Spain where my daughter was living.
In Dublin, Ireland , I had to go see the Irish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a small-ish building, having moved into a place that used to be a pub. I loved it but I had one major criticism, and told the museum people — who were good folks — about it. There was not enough Van Morrison. One could argue that he should have dominated that museum, based on artistry, talent and influence on the music.
They had lots of Thin Lizzy and U2. Don’t get me wrong I love both of those Irish artists. Check one of the streaming services for the Phil Lynot/Thin Lizzy documentary. He had an interesting life growing up mixed race in a 90-plus percent white population. His mother, the museum folks told me, still comes by the museum and visits, occasionally bringing memorabilia to display. There could be couple of things going on here. First, Morrison is considered ‘Dad-music.’ Not many under 30 could name three songs by Van the Man, or any at all, for that matter. Also, Morrison grew up in Belfast not Dublin meaning Morrison’s family and possible sources of memorabilia are in another part of the country.
In the United States, Morrison had a home north of San Francisco in Marin County. He said it was the place in the US that reminded him most of the rolling green hills of Ireland. I lived in that county some called paradise for a decade in San Anselmo. Van even wrote a song called ‘Snow in San Anselmo’ on one of his lesser known albums called ‘Hard News the Highway.’ The song says it hadn’t snowed there i n 30 years. It did not snow the 10 years I was there as the ocean moderated what was essentially a Mediterranean climate.
One morning in 2006, I came to play my usual pick-up basketball on Saturday morning at the Lagunitas elementary school. It was a game that had been ongoing for long time before I wandered up one day. On this day, a couple of players said they had seen Morrison the night before in a secret word-of-mouth event at this place in the San Geromino Valley called Rancho Nicasio — not far down the road where I played hoops every week. Damn, I said, why didn’t y’all call me! (I still broke out the y’all in California.) The Marin Independent Journal — a newspaper I had written for — said Morrison concert was the worst kept secret in Marin. Well, I didn’t know about it. Of course I’ve always had this feeling I was the last to know.
I don’t know what else to say about Van Morrison. He’s a rocker, a great writer. His songs are equally imbued with the blues and jazz. He always has great musicians around him. He sings a little like Mick Jagger if Jagger ventured deeper into jazz.
I’m not going to give a history here, that would be long. But he was in a band called Them in the beginning. He wrote a song called ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ whose opening riff is one of the most recognizable in rock. He journeyed through mystical observations. In the mid-to-later part of his career, he became a little more overt with use of Christian language wrapped around his deep spiritual explorations in words and music. Albums representing this would be ‘Common One‘ and “No Guru no Method no Teacher.’ And actually, thinking back, he’s always had that philosopher/poet quest that shape songs like “Into the Mystic,” or the whole album Astral Weeks, for that matter.
He’s still putting out music. I saw that an album is about to be released in November. Lastly, I’d like to make bring out some teaching points for lyricists and poets. I’m not saying I am that good at it, but I know good when I see it and hear it. Morrison’s style was to weave in and out of mystical explorations with repetitive chants and jazzy excursions. But he often wrote plain slices of scenes. a little portrait or a scene that draws you to a place so you can begin to feel what Van feels.
On the song ‘And it Stoned Me’ from the Moondance album, see how Van sets the scene without over describing.
Half a mile from the county fair And the rain came pourin’ down Me and Billy standin’ there With a silver half a crown
Hands are full of a fishin’ rod And the tackle on our backs We just stood there gettin’ wet With our backs against the fence
Oh, the water Oh, the water Oh, the water Hope it don’t rain all day
Oh the water, let it run all over me
He drops in detail but with a deft touch leaves a little wiggle room for you, the listener, to put in your own details: These kids, adolescents, had just been to the fair? Or were going? Had a silver half a crown.
I don’t know what the song is about. Or, wait, maybe I do: Life.
Donovan sang about it, ‘Mellow Yellow.’ Bright Eyes mentioned a Yellow Bird in two great songs. And yellow was the color of a rare cardinal who blessed the Birmingham area with numerous sightings.
Yellow is the color of sadness. For me, right now.
I’m mourning the loss of my yellow vinyl copy of Ole’ by the Electric Light Orchestra. Well I didn’t actually lose it.
I sold it.
I’ve written about the yellow bird here. And I’ve written about the sadness of selling beloved records here. Long story short I sold a Nick Drake record and a Buckingham Nicks record for $110 total. It turned out to be a fair price based on the Discogs median pricing average. In another transaction I traded/sold my ELO for a new vinyl I’d had my eye on at about $16 plus 5 dollars in cash. The $21 value may have been a little low but I was hurrying at this point. I got a fair trade and the whole thing jostled a memory from 1978.
(FILE) Rare yellow Cardinal spotted in Birmingham area.
I’ actually had two Electric Light Orchestra albums when I first did the MVC review in 2018.. The Ole’ ELO, yellow vinyl. I picked up when I was caller number something or other in Athens, Ga., Do radio stations still do that? We used to sit near the radio, the phone number dialed up except for the last digit. This was the same radio station (WRFC) where I did a little internship as part of a high school journalism program where we worked on the school newspaper and other journo things like this radio gig. And it was the station where I won the yellow record.
As part of that radio internship we went out and sold ads for radio spots. Then we made a radio commercial, which the radio actually used. After one of these sessions, So there were three of us going off campus every week to sell ads and go to the radio station.
On our last day of the program Walter Allen, the son of the principal, caved into repeated requests by our co-hort Bobby Brumby. Bobby want on the verge of getting his license wanted to drive. Just a little bit. Walter finally agreed..
He had been itching to get his driver’s licence, which he did not have yet. But he had been studying for it. The road the school was on was a relatively low trafficked 4-lane road. What could go wrong?
Bobby drove well, and we were almost back at the school. Walter and I had relaxed as we approached the driveway to turn in. But Bobby was still going 50 mph. “Bobby slow down here’s the turn,” Walter and I were shouting.”
He took the turn at about 40, maybe dropping to 30. It was unclear if it was the brakes or the pole l — the cylindrical pole made of steel and concrete which we drove over ripping bottom out of the car — that were factors in slowing the car down. The pole was a dividing market between entrance and exit.
But we knew what finally stopped the car: The 20-foot solid steel light post, one big enough to shine light on a large part of the front of Cedar Shoals High School.
We hit it head-on. At this point I think Bobby was searching his mind for the answer that he surely must have seen in the driver’s manual he had been studying. The question: What do I do when I’m careening headlong into a light pole.
I believe we were in a Ford Taurus or some mid-sized sedan. From inside the car it sounded like you would expect: a grinding metal on metal sound as the bending post scraped the innards out of that under carriage. The car had slowed from 40 mph but was showing no signs of stopping
I felt like I was in the scariest ride at SIx Flags. Finally the car went head-on into the giant steel poll holding a streetlight. Whew!
We were finally stopped. Walter, the principal’s kid, was yelling at Bobby, who was just kind of flabbergasted. I said, well, let’s get out of here. At least nobody was hurt. We reached for the door. and BAM!
There was a loud bang on top of the car, so loud in fact that we rolled off our seats to ball-up on the floorboard, which in spots was lumpy as if we’d run over a steel pole. Oh yeah, we did run over a steel pole. At this point we thought we might be under attack.
The roof inside the car actually showed the indented spot where the light fixture had fallen. Weight estimate? Oh about a buck-50 maybe of steel and glass. It had obviously picked up some speed on the 20-foot drop. It was a delayed reaction part of the crash. Thankfully none of us were out of the car yet when the light fixture fell off the pole we had hit.
‘Damn, I think it’s totaled,’ was my observation from the back seat.
“Ya think?’ was the look Walter gave me.
We cautiously exited the car and went in to confront Dr. Allen. I figured I would certainly not be center of attention in the burden of blame. I mean this was a school that still used the paddle. No one got paddled as far as I know in this case. I think Walter was grounded forever. I did see him years later at a High School reunion – – our 10th — and we laughed about the whole thing. At that time Walter was working as a DJ at, you guessed it, the very same radio station where I won the yellow record.
The yellow record I no longer have. But I still have the memories.
One group I absolutely enjoyed during my college years was the Pretenders led by Chrissy Hynde. As I posted my Kinks timeout yesterday, I recollected that she and Ray Davies were at one time married.
If you saw my list (scroll down to find) you will see my write-up on Smith (or a Group Called Smith). They didn’t achieve the fame of the Pretenders but they are similar in that both sang well fronted a male band, and did great with rockers as well as ballads. Here’s Middle of the Road:
In the middle of the road you see the darnedest things Like fat guys driving ’round in jeeps through the city Wearing big diamond rings and silk suits Past corrugated tin shacks full up with kids Oh man I don’t mean a Hampstead nursery When you own a big chunk of the bloody third world The babies just come with the scenery
Underrated Artists: The Kinks, Randall Bramblett: The Kinks are pioneers and will go down in history, I’m not worried about that. But they almost ended up like PJ Proby, who was kicked out of the UK; the Kinks were Kicked out of the US. Then they went through years of odd ball but deceptively good types of music and little sales. They are geniuses and geniuses sometimes do odd ball things. The Kinks were not like everybody else. Bramblett is an Athens, Ga., guy before it was cool, pre-Pylon, Love Tractor, REM, etc. He’s played with the Allmans, Widespread Panic and the Atlanta Rhythm Section. He was a co-founder of the seminal rock/jazz group Sea Level, and is known as a musician’s musician. He has a few solo albums. Check out the album ‘That Other Mile’ if you can find it.
Underrated Albums: The Cars ‘Panorama,’ Neil Young ‘Zuma,’ Panorama was panned by critics because it didn’t sound like regular Cars music. Well I was sick of regular Cars music and found that the more dissonant and experimental Panorama was excellent. Zuma sets you up thinking it’s going to be another acoustic strum-up thumbsucker, then lulls you into toe-tapping sing-songs like ‘Don’t Cry No Tears’ before slashing you to shreds with the electric guitar turned up to 10 and one-half with a slab of feedback. Cortez will never be the same.
Underrated Songs: Feargal Sharkey ‘You Little Thief’” Tom Waits’ ‘Down in the Hole’ Big-voiced Feargall Sharkey played in a New Wave punk band called the Undertones that was quite good in its genre. He broke away and knocked out a few minor hits like this one and faded away. A little over-produced maybe, but the song sticks and is sung hard by Sharkey. And it’s eminently danceable. Waits is a growly gravelly voiced bar player. He’s been trying to cough up something for 30 years. I love this song about the devil.
And now two local bands that are underrated. By that I mean they should be nationally known. The music industry like the journalism biz has changed quite a bit. Not sure the young-uns in theBrummiesand Lee Bains and the Glory Fires want a 59-year-old man with dementia as their cheerleader, but I’ve seen both play, I have a vinyl record from each, Lee Bains and the Glory Fires live at the Nick and I have the Brummies ‘Eternal Reach.’
Based on my rating scale of Perry Como to the Ray Coniff singers….er, sorry wrong albums.
Actually let’s make this simple. My rating scale is the Beatles. Glory Fires are John Lennon and the Brummies Paul McCartney. Gotta love them both. (Hmmm, maybe if we put them together for a gig …..?)
This one is ‘7 underrated songs.” Already published on MyVinylCountdown.com are 7 underrated artists and 7 underrated albums.
Full story with all the lists plus more will appear on AL.com over the weekend.
Smithereens ‘Behind the Wall of
Sleep’ This is just straight head rock and roll from a great band. But
while the song was played in its day (late 1980s), you don’t hear it much anymore.
It’s as good as rock and roll gets people.
UFO ‘Can you Roll Her’
UFO was called a heavy metal band because of the instant shredding guitarist
Michael Schenker could put forth at any given time. However songs off this
album such as Belladonna and Martian Landscape showed softer, tuneful, side. This
song ‘Can you roll her’ showed both a tuneful touch with the guitar power rock
that was the band’s staple.
Squeeze ‘Pulling Mussels
from a Shell’ This conjures up a summer beach setting, but there’s
something going on behind the chalet? I’m not 100 percent sure what it is or
what it has to do with mussels, but I have long liked the song. (And I love mussels
from a shell).
Tina Turner Better Be Good to Me Tina Turner was a longtime R&B singer with her husband Ike whom she said beat her and abused her. When she broke out in the 1980s with a solo album and the worldwide hit ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It,’ she was a superstar. But while Better be Good to Me was a hit, it seemed overshadowed by others including What’s Love Got to Do with It. ‘Better be Good to Me’ was the stronger song, powerful rock and roll sung by one of the best entertainers ever, who sang from real life pain and passion. Underrated? Many would say no. I say yes it is so.
Steve Harley’s ‘Make me Smile (Come
Up and See Me)’ I discovered this on a British Rock compilation and then
realized I had a live Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel double album obtained at a
flea market that had a live version of the song. What a great catchy song. The
pause for effect part is genius. The acoustic guitar solo is cool. The
over-the-top Dylan imitation is also groovy.
Waterboys ‘Whole of the Moon”
The Waterboys could have been on Underrated Artists list. They put out a really
nice body of water, er, work. Mike Scott was the driver of this band, which did
nice work with a core band that used a lot of violin, saxophones, trumpets and piano
in addition to guitar. Best album is probably ‘This is the Sea’ although I
really like ‘A Pagan’s Place’ as well, which really introduced the band as one
that plays ‘Big Music.’ “Whole of
the Moon,’ with its upfront piano, sounds like a timeless classic. Maybe it
already is.
Lou Reed ‘Strawman’ An angry sing-along about corruption in the world. Lou Reed is not underrated I’d say, but given his long career, he had few radio hits. Radio stations must be afraid of him. Of course there was the anomaly ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ which falls in the ‘Lola’ basket – it may be controversial but it has a tune that just won’t be denied.
