Personal Belongings: Odes to Loneliness

Daily writing prompt

What personal belongings do you hold most dear?

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From my preschool years, onward… to the very moment I’m typing this, music has freed up an overwhelming, out of this world force in my life; be my playing it passively; via turntables, tape decks, CD players and YouTube videos; be it actively in my role as a self taught, by ear, novice pianist.

Most assuredly, this marvel had become even more noteworthy after elementary and middle school bullies had top prioritized ruining my entire life and driving me out of my mind and into exile.

To survive their verbal abuse and physical attacks; I began hiding out / languishing IN MY ROOM; an experience portrayed (uncannily so) by Beach Boy composer / lyricist Brian Wilson (and his collaborators); all within their ode to devastating, heartbreaking loneliness (of that identical, above in caps, three worded, actively linked title).

In essence… most of the recording artists, of that epoch (as well as the AM/FM DJs who played their songs), had become my surrogate friends. Hell, the vinyl 45s and LPs, themselves, were fully capable of morphing into disembodied companions, “who” I could easily visit via my turntable.

What all of that had taught me is how listening to music can evoke and energize my memories / emotions so powerfully that it’s almost like stepping into a time machine; where intense flashbacks of each, past temporal destination enable my ability to re-experience my past; with such realism (surrealism?) that even the most joyous lyrics, upbeat scores can cause tears to well up in my eyes; tears of sadness re the bullying; tears of joy re the way I was (effectively?) coping with all that crap.

As a more contemporary footnote…. many of us, now find ourselves horrified by empowered bullies (aka) “our” loco national, state and local leaders; authoritarians hellbent on going on anti-woke, goose stepping rampages.

Their heinous mission, to ban, even burn all honorably, honestly authored books; you know, the type of literature that can readily expose them as the fascistic, psychotic ignoraNuses (<— not a typo) who they absolutely are.

Undoubtedly… if it’s not already high on these bastards’ shit list / Hit List, their next targeted woke” items will be the Hit Parade. For those, who always go online, to listen to, perhaps even dance to their fave music, once despotism rears its butt ugly head, they can expect their cherished “libraries” to suddenly, stunningly disappear; as within the very nanosecond that it’d take to Hit the Interwebs Kill Switch!

Ergo, for anyone, who may be of the same mindset as mine, you’ll, undoubtedly, now be doing the utmost to protect your own hard copy record library; feel as passionate a loyalty to your preserved on vinyl and compact disc fave recordings as you feel for your fave flesh and blood friends.

In wrapping up this post… I do know my final proclamation will be no exaggeration; namely…

• Music has always been there to save my life; and will continue to do so; till the day I inhale my last gasp of sweet oxygen.
• Hence, my entire music library tops the short list of my most prized, dearest personal belongings.

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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Advertisement

Keys to the Heart

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Quote-worthy PC / Mac; noteworthy piano / organ
Distinct, yet divergent, devices of keyboard configuration
Modernity’s brain child coexists with bygone convention
Assuring an antiquity to contemporary times connection
Both offering limitless liaisons with the human condition

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QWERTY “OS” advancing; enhancing academicians’ lectures
And storytellers’ – screenwriters’ – bards’ brainstorms, alike
Veritable alphabet soup groups into lexicons’ words – expressions
Comprising all works published; from time immemorial; onward
Affording readers windows to the soul, mind’s eye perspectives

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The 88’s advancing; enhancing songsmiths’ note dotted, dual clefs
And instrumentalists’ – vocalists’ eventual, inevitable performances, alike
Each sheet music’s page guidepost to ebony – ivory hued key playing
Composing all songs circulated; from time immemorial; onward
Affording century – geography – culture spanning, music to our ears

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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!

HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:

Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

-30-

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The Fragile Fragile CD

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Up till two days ago, “scratching” had two musically oriented connotations; namely, the vinyl spinning, hip hop DJ artists’ technique AND (as any audiophile can attest), how those very vinyl LP and 45 “platters” oft serve up a multiple course meal’s worth of scratchy anomalies akin to the “Rice Krispies” snaps, crackles and pops (especially perceptible whenever the stylus starts tracking thru lower dB, acoustic movements.

Well, I now know of an entirely new, third meaning of “scratching” and that’s got me scratching my own noggin in wonderment. Check out how this etymological expansion played out…

Upon cuing up the progressive rock band, Yes’ 4th album (titled Fragile), I had no sooner engaged the CD player’s PB button than my ears were besieged by a scratchy din; worse than anything I’d have ever expected from its distant, vinyl ancestor.

Having totally bought into that eons old “CDs Are Forever” vow and utterly disbelieving what my own ears were telling me, I actually began troubleshooting everything; starting with a visual inspection of the disc for fingerprints. With none evident, next came the entire systems check; my sleuthing the cable “spaghetti” for any breaks / loose connections between amp, audio board and speakers. Again, no probs.

A few quick tests of some randomly selected CD’s all netted crystal clear playbacks; leaving me with the only possible conclusion. In essence, this Yes disc was a No go. Somehow, it had been corrupted; but by what?

Well, all it took was one Google search to instantly reveal an eerily similar account…

“Michele Youket, a Library of Congress preservation specialist, plays a CD of classical piano rhapsodies by Erno Dohnanyi. It crackles, and eventually the sound just cuts out. This is a variant of what’s called ‘CD rot’, Youket explains. In this case. it’s what’s called ‘bronzing’. The outer coating of the CD erodes, leaving a silver layer exposed. And when you leave silver exposed, it tarnishes.”

NPR Reporter Laura Sydell • August 18, 2014 / 5:21 PM ET • [Read Full Article] [access Podcast, too.]

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“So it’s actually changing the composition, and that’s why you hear the scratching there.”

Michele Youket

The odd thing, here, is, in spite of this Yes Fragile album’s 1971 release date, I’ve only owned the CD reissue for a short time and, consequently, there have not been all that many playbacks. Even odder is how there’s no noticeable “bronzing”. There’s got to be some other, at yet to be discovered, damaging agent in play.

While it’s true that I’m a staunch champion of truth in advertising, this is the one rare exception where I wish that a disc titled Fragile had not wound up so fragile.

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
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Stay Healthy!

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Rosalie Trombley’s Power and Tower

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Preface: Today, we’ll be revisiting a rough stretch of my life’s path. But worry not, I’m only doing so to illustrate how an insufferable situation can morph into something far more transcendental and (quite literally) upbeat.

Some six decades prior to the coronavirus pandemic, elementary and middle school bullies (and adolescent acne) had introed me to social isolation.

Picture this bygone boy entering such a pivotal stage of life; yearning for peer acceptance, yet, instead, discovering how, to a fault, ex-chums had alienated him from the student body (inclusive of kids who hadn’t even known me and vice versa). My only means for avoiding their verbal and physical assaults had become feigning viral assaults; my allergies to airborne irritants oft making my symptomatology so indistinguishable from that of the common cold / bronchitis that unless my folks had taken my temperature, I knew I’d be home free.

It was on one of those very skip school sick days, circa early 1963, when my father had lent me his pocket transistor radio; i.e, to cheer up his son / make his “illness” more bearable. His favorite station being WJR a.m. 760 and my serendipitously advancing its tuner 40 kilocycles had become the two key factors in spurring one helluva a life changing, eureka event.

It was at that precise moment when I first heard the Canadian station CKLW (later known as “The Big 8”); their format more attuned to a much younger listenership. Their captivating new music was getting spun by DJs Bud Davies (6-10 a.m.), Joe Van (10-3), Dave Shafer (3-7:30), Tom Clay (7:30-midnight) and Ron Knowles (midnight-5).

That morn, music had become my very salvation; my lifeline / means of escape. In essence, recording artists and disc jockeys had become my surrogate peers. In time, the songs, themselves, had taken on that very role, too; so much so, that, to this very day, when a beloved recording that I haven’t heard in “eons” gets aired / streamed, I oft react in a manner one would expect during chance encounters with long absent loved ones.

Unbeknownst to me, 1963 was also the very year that Ms. Rosalie Trombley had applied for a receptionist / switchboard operator position at CKLW. And once hired and, toot sweet, promoted to musical director, she had also successfully cracked and shattered the glass ceiling of that male dominated field.

Trombley’s keen ear for what is and what isn’t great music, eventually, earned her, her “hit maker” reputation and I fully credit this wonderful woman for opening my own mind and ears to our vast, worldwide, musical spectrum; nearly every life enhancing concept that the dotted treble and bass clefs have to offer humankind.

She had presented the robust diversity of Sixties / Seventies Top 40 music, itself; e.g. Motown, Folk, Psychedelic, Surf, Garage, Blues, Progressive, Bubblegum, the British “Invasion”, Latin, Japanese, etc.

Case in point… Trombley had turned us on to Kyu Sakamoto’s track, Sukiyaki – Ue Wo Muite Arukou, which he sang entirely in Japanese. I mean, few, if any of us dummy, monolingual Americans could understand even one syllable of song composer Toshinobu Kubota’s lyrics; yet, we loved this vocalist’s soulfully delivered rendition all the same [read lyrics and hear original and cover performances HERE].

It was approximately a decade later when Michigan’s native son and hard rocker / recording artist, Bob Seger, in his (futile) attempt to get his early songs aired on CKLW, even composed his aptly titled track, Rosalie; where one of his couplets acknowledges…

“She’s got the power
She’s got the tower”

Bob Seger • From the LP Back in ’72 • [Read full lyrics HERE]

That power and tower, of which Seger was referring to, involved CKLW’s 50,000 Watt transmitter, which, once the ionosphere did its post sundown shift, dramatically increased “The Big 8’s” audience, who resided within the vast expanses east of the Canadian / American Rockies.

In a sense, that atmospheric anomaly, had been radio pioneer Trombley’s early brush with something akin to a scaled down version of today’s World Wide Web.

Alas… long sigh… it was soon after the Canadian powers-that-be had passed legislation requiring more Canadian musical content on their nation’s stations, that Trombley’s airwaves wound up suffocated. Big government had silenced “The Big 8’s” / her We are the World spirit. Consequently, CKLW’s turntables took a turn for the worse.

Mind you, I’m not bad mouthing the vast legions of know-no-limits, talented Canadian musicians / singers / song writers. I’m only saying that nationalism, when taken to such extremes, SUCKS!

But, let’s end this post on a more positive note.

Tho I never actually met Ms. Rosalie Trombley, the way her tower had so powerfully influenced my life makes it seem as if I had. For as long as my consciousness exists, I’ll deem her my primary musical mentor. What a unique opportunity, privilege and honor it has been for this once-upon-a-time, loyal CKLW listener to have played a small role an entire bygone radio era; to have experienced, in real time, her success story.

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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The Sunshine in Our Name

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Bass guitarist-singer-songwriter-recording artist Andy Fraser certainly wound up “painting” a lyrical / melodious masterpiece back in 1978 and aptly titled it: Every Kinda People (EKP).

Most people who’ve spent their formative years in the presence of parents, mentors and anyone else in possession of a dust-free conscience, will find themselves instantly aligned with / drawn to Fraser’s lyrical advocacy for human equality / peaceful coexistence and his championing on behalf of everyday people, everywhere.

If you’re in accord with what you’ve read, so far, Every Kinda People, most assuredly, will strike a responsive chord.

Singer-songwriter-musician-recording artist-record producer Robert Palmer (b. 19 January 1949 / d. 26 September 2003) owed much of his mega-success story to his recording / releasing of EKP in March of that same year.

It had been his full throttle, impassioned vocal delivery, in tandem with an unpretentious musical arrangement, which, indisputably, had driven (and still drives) home these magnificent lyrics; the primary reasons why EKP wound up becoming his very first hit record. While this track’s upward momentum did halt at #16 on the Top 40 chart, in my book, his primo interpretation shall forever be a #1 chart topper.

It’s Fraser’s utilization of so few words to say so much; the universality of all he speaks of, which continues to wow folks fortunate enough to give ‘er an honest listen (or two or more). In my own case, such insights have been known to well up my eyes. I’ll elaborate further once we’ve taken a closer look at the final stanza which, in particular, from my very first listen of EKP and onward, I’ve always viewed as the epitome of his virtuosity…

“You know that love’s the only goal
That could bring a peace to any soul
Hey, and every man’s the same
He wants the sunshine in his name”

Andrew McIan Fraser (b. 3 July 1952 / d. 16 March 2015) • [read full lyrics here]

As for ‘splaining myself further… there have been way too many instances where the rolling in, metaphorical storm clouds have occluded my corner of our world; i.e., excluded love and peace of mind from my life. And once life’s essentials, such as these, fly south for the winter (too oft the spring, summer and fall, too) so goeth that sunshine.

But how, indeed, fortunate we all are that not all in life is one hundred percent; for that sunshine doth become all the more precious when, somehow, some way, it manages to afford each of us that rare glimmer of hope.

Granted, Mr. Fraser could’ve been less gender specific. On the plus side, it’d not take much effort to rework his final couplet, thusly…

Hey, and everyone’s the same
We want the sunshine in our name

There’s not much more to add, save to say…

No matter how long it may last, make sure to cherish the sunshine wherever, whenever it may appear.

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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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BlogCast: Have a Happy Healthy `21!

So much has changed in our world / our lives this past year. If the musical selections, which follow, uplift your spirits even half as much as they’ve elevated my own, I will consider my New Year’s Eve, DJ stint a resounding success.

As we will soon eye and ear witness, dozens of our human family, whilst sheltering at home, have virtually assembled to cheer us up. Until the vaccines are available to every member of our global community, it is our responsibility to help save lives / save humanity by following the pandemic protocols set by our world’s finest scientists, epidemiologists and health care professionals; by emulating the exemplary behavior of our featured star quality, musically talented, selfless souls, too.

This DJ’s Rx for 2021 and beyond: Give these inspirational tunes a listen; 1, 2, as many times as necessary. They are sure to be habit forming, but, this will only be in the best way imaginable.

Have a Happy, Healthy `21!

Raph and Friends ~ Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive

The Rookies ~ Sunny Side Of The Street

Virtual Choir ~ We’ll Meet Again

Stay Publicly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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Past programs are accessible from my homepage’s Category Menu. Click onto either BlogCasts or Music

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Journey’s End (Sunday Song Series)

Our trekking and tracking thru the vast realm of Sunday titled songs now finds us at Week #120.

On this final, 2020 Sunday, Ms. Carole King will be performing Pleasant Valley Sunday in the recording studio. And seeing how she also performed this same song, on stage, way back on Week #1 (September 16, 2018), we now find our Sunday Song Series right back where we started.

The temporal bookending of these two videos also round trips our journey home; ends everything on a high note, too!

So, why the travel ban / culmination of this Series?

Because YouTube CEO, Ms. Susan Diane Wojcicki, EITHER of her own volition OR due to her heeding her underlings’ astoundingly bad counsel, has opted to roll out her platform’s red carpet to propaganda minister YouTubers, who are hellbent on flagrantly aiding and abetting Donald J. Trump’s Fascist overthrow of America AND his morphing of 74 million Americans into a psychotic and chaotic cult (many of these brainwashed folks seething with violent intent).

Wojcick has also opted to crowbar in offensive ads, some with over ONE HOUR LONG run times; her sponsors oft as greedy, sleazy, corrupt and egomaniacal as Trump, himself. Yep, all these opportunistic bastards need do is show YouTube the money and she’ll grant them carte blanche to say and do whatever they fucking please.

Granted, YouTube’s wretched ways do not affect how the vids appear on this WordPress site, BUT…

Damn it! I’m the one who needs to audition the clips over at YouTube; i.e., where I have no choice but to slog thru all that Trumpian shit.

And, as a man of good conscience, who dearly loves my homeland and deeply loathes the very political sedition and economic opportunism, which both threaten to burn my homeland down to the ground, I have opted to no longer feature that platform’s content on my site.

Hence, my YouTube boycott will begin, effective January 1, 2021.

Granted… long sigh… in the grand scheme, one man of principle turning his back on YouTube, will not harm them in any way. But, at the very least, I’ll feel better just knowing I took a stand.

Will there be any exceptions to my New Year, new policy?

Well, all video companions to my past posts, inclusive of our Sunday Song Series, will remain archived on this site; filed both in chronological order and by category.

I’d consider featuring new videos were they to prove absolutely essential to preserving life and liberty.

That said, I hope you’ve enjoyed our Sunday Song Series and I thank you all for being such wonderful travel companions.

Alas, our journey will NOT be continuing seven days from now…

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Stay Publicly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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Christmas Karaoke (Parody)

Let’s consider the above clip’s supplied, original song lyrics our incentive. We’ll have a good shot at getting our lives back to normal IF we pandemic-proof our holiday parties, NOW; as suggested by my parody, below:

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Have yourself a social distanced Christmas
A-void Covid’s blight
Zoom your parties
Keep Corona out of sight

Have yourself a sheltered little Christmas
Keep “droplets” at bay
At that point
Our troubles will be miles away

Here we are in pandemic days
Unlike golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Can’t be near to us; no more

Come next Christmas we’ll all be together
If vaccines allow
Till then stay in tune with public health knowhow
And have yourself a sheltered little Christmas now

Here we are in pandemic days
Unlike golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Can’t be near to us; no more

In one year
We all will be together
When vaccines allow
If we hang tough, we’ll get thru this mess, somehow
So, have yourself a levelheaded Christmas

Have yourself a social distanced Christmas
Have yourself a sheltered little Christmas now

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Stay Publicly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!

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The People v. Rudy / Randy Wins Case!

In re The People v. Rudy it’s an open and shut case! Randy presents his closing arguments against Rudy to us, the impaneled ladies and gentlemen of the jury. In the process, Rudy becomes the butt of the joke and we get to laugh our asses off! Following deliberations we rule against Rudy; return our unanimous, guilty as charged verdict.

Case Closed! Court Adjourned!

Watch the clip above or over @YouTube.

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’20 Grammy Winner? (lower vol. B4 PB)

YouTube’s makeshift.macaroni intros herself / sets up her song thusly:
“Hey y’all! My name is Liz, and I like to make music. I also like to make videos. Some of them are funny.”
Apr 16, 2020 • 906,258 views • Thumbs Up 11K / Thumbs Down 214

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Lennon / McCartney’s catchy li’l ditty, Her Majesty, tracking out at 23 seconds, is ample proof that one needn’t be lyrically verbose to communicate effectively.

Music teacher Liz’s catchy li’l ditty, untitled, tracking out at 13 seconds, validates that sparse songwriting wisdom.

We, who now look back at this pandemic ruined year, can certainly identify with her loud and clear sentiments.

We should nominate her for several 2020 Grammy Awards, namely:

Best Pop Solo Performance
Record of the Year
Best New Artist

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Stay Healthy!

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