Part 2 (and hopefully the last part) of a continuing GRIPE:
Could it be I'm CONFRONTATIONAL?
Me, the nicest guy in the universe actually telling people off?

I realize that I was really bitchy and whiny in my last post, what with my endless ramblings about getting interrupted by people while playing guitar. But, it was a therapeutic post, for I actually put "words" on my feelings, and my feelings made more sense to me. I'm no great musician, but I am somewhat creative; sometimes I don't play "songs"; I oftentimes will just "ramble", playing whatever chord pattern strikes my fancy. As I mentioned, if I don't want people to "kibbitz", I usually locate myself in a remote area of the park. The hope is, I won't be disturbed if I'm sitting by myself. Ah, but when you have a guitar in your hands, it's about as bad as mosquitos invading your personal space and you have no repellent handy. (By the way, I do carry a little pocket-sized insect-repelling spray. I got tired of being a human "salad bar" for mosquitos.)

Anyway, I was in the BACK of the park, where no one goes. I was strumming away, messing around with melodies and chords, just experimenting as I watched the lake and the birds flying round and round. And, off in the distance, two young guys were approaching me. I thot, "geez, I hope they don't say anything to me, because I'm not in the mood". I kept playing, trying to convey thru my body language that I didn't want to be disturbed. It didn't work. One of them came up to me, WHILE I WAS PLAYING, and said, "hey, man, can you play any NIRVANA?" First of all, what a damn stupid question that was. My hair is graying. I am OLD. DO I LOOK LIKE I'M GONNA KNOW ANY NIRVANA SONGS??? NO!!! Secondly, I've heard Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, and what a depressing, feel sorry-for-yourself overmodulated slice of music it is. You couldn't PAY me to play that stuff.

So I stopped playing guitar and addressed the young man. I said, "It isn't just you, but I don't know why people feel they can just come up and interrupt me in the middle of a song. You wouldn't interrupt someone who was sleeping or reading a BOOK, after all." I actually SAID THAT; the result of my having posted my "disturbance" sentiments on a prior post. The young guy backed off and he left with his friend. Look, I'm a NICE GUY, okay? But I absolutely HATE it when people put me in a place where I have to be RUDE. Because I DESPISE rudeness. Playing guitar is just what I do. I don't go to the park to be social. I go to be left alone so I can play. What's so wrong with THAT? My house is too HOT to stay in, in the afternoon; I have go go where I can tolerate the temperature! So I go to the park. I can not begin to convey the many times over the years I've played guitar, when people have come up and interrupted me. And then they leave, and I'm mad because I was interrupted, so I can't really play after that anyway. But I did feel a bit BETTER today, because I told 'em off!

I've got the music in me dept.: (okay, who did that song, and what year did it come out?) (answer in the italics print at the bottom of this post) There was an article in last Friday's Spokesman-Review written by a guy who's evidently not a young guy anymore. He was lamenting about reading a recent issue of "Billboard" magazine, and as he looked over the "Hot 100" record charts, he realized he didn't KNOW who anyone on the charts IS. He came up with some kind of formula...at 18, you know everything on the charts. Then, with each advancing year, you subtract several people on the charts, so that when you get to be 52 like me, your chart knowledge not only isn't ZERO, you're actually running a sort of "familiarity deficit". In short, the older you are, the less you know. Yep, that's me. I know less about EVERYTHING...including music. I thot I was 'sposed to get SMARTER as I got older. Guess not.

A tale of "Love" lost dept.: As I posted earlier, Arthur Lee, the leader and main songwriter of the group "Love", passed away August 3rd, due to complications from leukemia. And, I was wondering if Rolling Stone magazine (which has become a real sellout rag over the last 20 years) was even gonna MENTION Arthur Lee. After all, musicians such as Lee were the magazine's bread and butter back in the good ol' days. I don't know about you, but I just can't get used to the idea of Rolling Stone Magazines with cover photos of Christine Aguilera or the Backstreet Boys...ackthptf. Makes ya wanna cough up a hairball. I just did. Hack!!! Anyway, Rolling Stone magazine printed a FULL-PAGE article on Arthur Lee in its current issue. Lee was an innovative songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist. His biggest fault? He didn't want to go on tour when his group, "Love" was popular. He turned down an invitation to play the Monterey Pop Festival. Which meant that "Love" was popular in its home town, Los Angeles, but nowhere else. If you've never heard the album, "Forever Changes" by Love, you're really missing out. It's great. Honest. Honestly great!

Are you gonna put any pictures in this post? dept.: Well, sho'nuff, yes, I am. As a matter of fact, the motel I've pictured below got torn down, along with everything else in the general area, as the result of another instance of "land gobbling" by rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth developers who want to build big residential and business developments by the Spokane River (which empties Coeur d'Alene Lake), so that none of the local folks who don't have disposable income can get near it. In its most recent incarnation, this here motel was actually an apartment unit; I used to know several people who lived there. Well, the people who will one day live in this area will probably have lots of disposable income. They'll be near the river!



Alexander's motel, back in 1962, which was located on the frontage road (which used to be old Hiway 10), just to the east of Central Pre-Mix. If you've ever noticed the Fairwinds retirement complex, well, this former motel/later apartment complex, was located right thar in that general area, pard'ner. (What's with the cowboy lingo?) An observation...from what I've seen, if I had to live in the Fairwinds, I'd definitely develop a complex!

Baseball innovations dept.: The Seattle Mariners may not be a lot of things, but they definitely are creative! After winning quite a lot of games recently, they go on the road and decide to make things really interesting by losing 4 straight games in Texas. Tonite, against Oakland, they had the lead, then lost it when an Oakland Batter hit a 2-run homer. But that's not the real story. The M's, being creative as they are, decided not to lose in the same old way. They wanted to lose in a new way. In the top of the 9th, ICHIRO was PICKED OFF AT FIRST BASE!!! And the game was over. I've never seen that before. Picked off at 1st! Of course, sometimes if you see something interesting, you save it up so you can tell the grandkids. As far as this instance goes, however, it's prob'ly best to forget it. I firmly believe my prediction for this year's Mariners season will hold true. Just short of a .500 record. But the M's are improving. They've been pathetic in the past. Now, they're just unremarkable. Still, I keep tuning in to the Mariners games. Call me masochistic.
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Okay, here's the answer to that musical question I posed a few overextended paragraphs ago..."I've got the music in me" was a hit by the Kiki Dee Band, and it came out in 1973. It was on the "Rocket Records" label, which was owned by Elton John, would you believe. Later on, Elton and Kiki had a huge number 1 smash with an innocuous little ditty, "Don't go breaking my heart". Yeah, it's not that great of a song, but it's better than anything Christine Aguilera will ever lay her vocal chords on. Over and out!