Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Bad Decisions Of My Youth Finally Pay Off

I hope y’all enjoyed yesterday’s Summer Solstice, especially you poor devils down south where, according to the Weather Channel, temps have been in the high 90s all week with humidity rates to match.

O you poor sweltering souls! I empathize. I remember those days. They’re why I left Virginia after college and moved the hell north, and all week it’s paid off bigtime.

It’s been in the 60s here all this week. A tad on the chilly side. On the first day of summer I carried a light jacket when I went to Northampton, Massachusetts, to see California Guitar Trio in concert.

This is exactly why I moved north. Moving to New England was absolutely worth it.

12 Comments:

Anonymous smartass sob said...

O you poor sweltering souls, I empathize. I remember those days. They’re why I left Virginia...

I didn't realize Virginia was known for particularly hot summers - and I've been there this time of year. It's been in the middle to high 90's here in southeast Texas for serveral weeks. There hasn't been a whole lot of humidity though these last few days; in fact, we badly need some rain. I hate the heat...but I dislike snow and ice even more.

===================================

I haven't had much interest in music for about 25 years, but I went to the link you posted and listeded to California Guitar Trio. Very nice! I know very little about music, but I know when I like something...and I like those guys. Thanks.

Here's a Youtube link to an instrumental you might like ... an old movie piece by Dimitri Tiomkin. It's perfect for this heat. ;-)

5:26 AM  
Anonymous smartass sob said...

and listeded to California Guitar Trio

and "listened" (Sheesh)

7:22 AM  
Blogger Eric the Half-a-Bee said...

The 60s in June?

*shudder*

1:47 PM  
Blogger Jennifer Abel said...

It's AWESOME, Eric. No sweatstains on your clothes or perspiration soaking your hair, no need to re-apply sunblock every five seconds, no desperate urge for a two-second breeze ... just coolness and comfort. Aaaahhhhh.

Smartass, California Guitar Trio is indeed a cool band. Their original compositions are nice, but I especially like their guitar-only renditions of famous songs; among my favorites are "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor," "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "Fur Elise" and "Bohemian Rhapsody."

At the concert they also did "Tubular Bells" (the Exorcist theme song).

And yeah, my corner of Virginia sucked for climate. Perhaps not as bad as Texas, but southeastern Virginia gets hot and sticky and miserable enough, and stays that way long enough, to make me glad I don't live there anymore. Where I live now, three consecutive days of 90-degree temps qualify as "OMG it's a heatwave somebody check on the old folks and make sure they're okay!" Where I grew up, it was simply "a weekend in April."

2:13 PM  
Anonymous smartass sob said...

At the concert they also did "Tubular Bells" (the Exorcist theme song).

I had forgotten about "Tubular Bells" until you mentioned it. I probably hadn't heard that since it was popular on the radio back in the 70's. I remembered that I liked it, but I couldn't recall how it went. So I did a search on Youtube and found umpteen dozen versions of it and eventually found one that sounded like the one I used to listen to - the 1973 version - the one with the loud bells. Beautiful piece of music - I had forgotten how good it was.

Next, I did a search to see if I could find anything by California Guitar Trio. Well there are a number of CGT pieces on Youtube and coincidentally there is a video of them doing "Tubular Bells." They're very good - especially so considering they have little more than the guitars to work with. I liked it, but I think it loses something without those bells.

Their original compositions are nice, but I especially like their guitar-only renditions of famous songs...

Yes, so do I. Not only do I like the the first three you mentioned, but I like their rendition of "Moonlight Sonata" and Mason Williams' "Classical Gas."

I've always liked good guitar music, either electric or acoustic. This goes way back before you were born, but have you ever heard things like "Apache," "Jack the Ripper," "Rumble," "Misirlou," or "Pipeline?" These were all guitar instrumentals by people like Link Wray, The Shadows, Dick Dale and the Deltones, The Ventures and various others. Early fifties and sixties music.

Not to be confused with several other things called "Jack the Ripper," here's a passable version by Link Wray. Bet you'll like it.

9:40 PM  
Anonymous Jeff P said...

Living with me she's exposed to a healthy dosage of surf rock.
I've seen Dick Dale maybe eight times in the past 15 years. Also got to see Link Wray on his last tour.
Also recommend Man or Astroman? and Los Straitjackets, both excellent surf bands.

5:05 AM  
Anonymous smartass sob said...

I've seen Dick Dale maybe eight times in the past 15 years. Also got to see Link Wray on his last tour.

Looks like we've discovered the real guitar music aficionado in y'all's household. ;-)

I didn't know Link Wray had died, until I read the entry about him on Wikipedia. As I intimated upthread - I don't keep up with it all and I seldom listen to music any longer. But occasionally...

Went to Youtube and listened to Los Straitjackets. They're good!

Do enjoy your mild weather up there - it's supposed to hit 101 degrees here today. I think I'll go light a fire in my forge and beat some iron - a few extra degrees of heat can't hurt anything. Besides, if I should end up in Hell someday, maybe they'll let me run the place, given my experience and all. ;-)

8:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's the audience at the show. Find us.


http://proartist.proartistwebsites.com/docs/cgtrio2/cgi/viewphoto.paw?110+825

2:45 AM  
Anonymous Sandy said...

Jealous. Though regarding the pic, I must say prog rock crowds are great for making one feel young, thin, and socially skilled, even when one is not when compared to a hipster bar.

10:14 PM  
Blogger Jennifer Abel said...

Yeah. These days, it's not too often I can look around and say "Hey! I'm the youngest person in this room!"

7:13 AM  
Anonymous smartass sob said...

Here's the audience at the show. Find us.

I'm not sure who "us" is, but it's not too difficult to pick a certain young woman with long red hair and her significant other out of a crowd. Especially so when I download the photo and enlarge it.

While y'all aren't actually the youngest people there, you do come close. What a bunch of ol' farts. You do realize that this is the slippery slope into middle age and conservatism/Republicanism, don't you? In fact, I seem to recall that you actually voted Republican once already. ;-)

4:29 PM  
Anonymous smartass sob said...

What a bunch of ol' farts.

To be clear, I meant the other, older attendees at the concert - not you and Jeff.

On second thought ... make that "other, much older..." ;-)

4:39 PM  

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