NEITHER RAIN, WIND, SNOW OR LACK OF INSPIRATION...
...keeps this blogger from completing his appointed rounds...

I believe, lately, that I've Hit The Wall; I've run out of resourceful ideas to expand upon here in this forum. So, I'll use the relatively unknown axiom of Bloggers Everywhere, which is "If you don't have anything to write about, just keep typing 'till something happens". I realize the past few things I've placed here have absolutely REEKED, but what can I do? I just haven't felt inspired to write much of anything for the past few weeks, and admittedly I've been 'cranking em out' just to take up space and meet my self-imposed goal of two posts a week. Gosh, I remember when I was blogging three or four times a DAY. Maybe it's all the gray days we've had here on the Coast lately. We've actually had thunder the last couple of nights here. I just hope the Sun comes out and actually stays around for a couple of days sometime soon. Gray skies, day after day, are numbing. So I'm casting about for SOME kind of subject to present itself here, although the Paragraph you are now reading is a perfect example of me taking up space without saying much of anything...so, let's get Topical for a (brief) moment...

Now that Obama is President, my political awareness has once again dropped to its customary level of 'Fairly Ignorant'. I guess he and Hillary went to Egypt recently? I thot he'd made her Secretary of State so he could send her all over the place and get rid of her. Let's see, what else...Gas Prices are once again up to the $2.60-plus level here; I'm getting more used to my dentures, although at times it still feels like I have a hockey puck (or a horseshoe) in my mouth. I also read that David Carradine, the "Kung Fu" guy, committed suicide within the last couple of days. I don't know why I never watched that show; I just never took an interest in it. That's not a comment on how good or bad the show was; it just didn't grab me, 'tis all...and there ya have it. All the cultural, political and dental information You Will Ever Need. Okay, so where do I go from here...?

Well, I'm currently involved in the process of Thinning Out My Record Collection once again. This time around, I've got a CD Recorder, so I'll still have the music even though the records are gone. I'd try to sell them on Ebay, but that just looks like one Royal Hassle that I don't need to aggravate my life with. Imagine one of those boxes that Apples come shipped in...I have close to 30 apple-boxes of albums taking up valuable space; plus, I can foresee the day when I can no longer take all my records with me wherever I go. Oh, don't worry; I'm keeping the records that mean a lot to me, but so far, I've recorded over 150 CD's, most of them containing 2 albums each, and have filed away a lot of those albums in the give-away box. Mostly artists who came and went without much of a trace in the '70s, '80s and '90s fall into this category. I believe I have close to 3,000 albums; I hope one day to whittle it down to somewhere between 500 and 1,000 LP's. This is no big deal; back in 2003, I gave away 25 boxes of albums that I really didn't care much about.

In the past, I've bought a lot of Used Record Albums from thrift stores (Cheap!),
coming home many times with armloads of vinyl, and that way, I got to hear a lot of music I wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford, or never would have bought because I wasn't really a fan of the artists whose second-hand albums I was buying. But, as is true with everything else, You Just Can't Have Everything. Or Hear Everything, as I've tried to do. But I've been hearing a TON of music this year; CD's made on a CD Burner from a Turntable are all dubbed in Real Time. Which means, the album plays as it dubs. Two albums (one CD's worth) take up roughly an Hour and a Half to dub from LP to CD (Welcome to the world of Analog, I guess).

Oh, hey! What an idea! All of a sudden, I've got something to talk about...how about a list of artists whose records I will NEVER part with, until someone rips them out of my 'cold, dead hands'...okay...here's a short list my most valued artists...feel free to Google--or YouTube--any of 'em so you, too, can take a Magical Mystery Tour:
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*The Beatles...collecting their records is a fascinating hobby. And, the music's pretty doggoned good, too. "Hey Jude" is my Most Favorite of All Songs.

*The Moody Blues...they've just been too important a part of my life, and many of their songs sum up how I feel about things. I love 'em.

*The Rolling Stones...well, I'm not a Stones' fan, not really, but they get points for sheer attitude; I kinda think they were the first Punk Band.

*Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad...Those bands got me through the early '70s; they're like Old Friends to me.

*Kansas and Styx: Two groups whose melodic and intricate music always grabbed hold of my ears when I put them on the Stereo.

*Crosby, Stills and Nash (with or without Young): Their harmonies soothe these tired ears. And Neil Young Tells It Like It Is. And I've just bought his newest album (just released), "Fork In The Road". It, too, is great.

*Chicago: Although I can't stand a lot of their '80s and '90s stuff, they made some fine music (especially in the '70s), and I dig the brass arrangements, the three different vocalists, and just the Huge Sound of that band. They could Roll.

*Other Artists I can't live without (in no order of preference): Creedence, The Bee Gees, The Pretenders, U2, Genesis, Bloodrock, America, Bread, Steppenwolf, Lobo, Jefferson Airplane, Miles Davis, Weather Report, Camel (European band), Titanic (Another European Band), Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, War, Eric Burdon and the Animals, The Yardbirds, Renaissance, Santana, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Badfinger, Dave Brubeck, Love (led by Arthur Lee, R.I.P.), The Byrds, Sugarloaf, Roy Orbison, ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix, Rush, Rare Earth, Allman Bros. Band, Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, The Kinks, Blue Oyster Cult, Elton John, Captain Beyond, Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Buckinghams, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark Five, Steve Miller Band, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Vanilla Fudge, Fleetwood Mac, Yes, Captain Beyond, Neil Diamond, The Guess Who, April Wine, R.E.M., Procol Harum, Elvis Presley, The Status Quo, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Doors, Bob Seger, Pink Floyd and so many others. These artists (and others like these) are Safe from me, the Grim Musical Reaper...

But watch out, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett, James Taylor, Billy Joel and other similar self-important singer/songwriters of your ilk; if I don't get rid of all your records, I'll be thinning them out, keeping (what I think)are the best ones. Me, I like all the attendant 'ear candy' of a Group Playing Well Together; I like good lyrics, but for me, those lyrics must come equipped with compelling music. And good music always saves a song with Bad Lyrics (such as with 'Keep On Lovin' You' by REO Speedwagon...a shlocky love song, but the band plays with lots of conviction...). So, Olivia Neutron-Bomb, Carly Simon, Janis Ian, Carole King and others...prepare for some thinning of the ranks in days and months (and years?) to come...
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I think CD's are about as far as I'm gonna advance myself here in this Digital Age; I realize there are Ipods and MP3's, but I don't wanna chain myself to one of those things. F'cryin' out loud, I still have 8-track tapes and cassettes, after all. That's me, the Dinosaur, heading off to languish in the tar-pits...