A tale of two (or three Daves) and music, and broken guitars and airplanes…. and trains….

Sometime in 2008 or so, Canadian folk musican Dave Carroll lost his Taylor guitar to the United Airlines baggage monkeys…  Well, he didn’t lose it, but after they were through (or threw) with it it wasn’t much good, at least as a musical instrument… 

United was not (at least initially) sympathetic… That loss led to three songs (start with “United Breaks Guitars”…. Search from there)  and a line of airline proof guitar cases…  The first song has something like 16 million downloads… likely many more…  

I may have blogged about it… in 2009… 4 years ago…  I may have I mentioned how much I dislike United Airlines… I pay extra to avoid United Airlines… 

Fast Forward… I have a favorite radio station… KFOG… For a big commercial radio station they are surprisingly local and accessible…  I may have blogged about them too…  More than once… including several posts about the retirement of long time DJ Dave Morey… an icon of Bay Area radio… the father of 10 at 10… the first DJ back on September 16^th 1984 when the station, at least the rock version was born… Back in December 2008, (December 19^th, 2008) Dave retired… Steph and I waved “Fogheads Love Dave” signs at the Christmas concert… I noted his last song on the blog (this blog)… plus the songs played by Annalisa afterward…  (Steph and Annalisa got to know each other… at a Live from the Archives release…  Annalisa called me, while I was boarding a ship… in Tampa, headed for Central America)… we may have seen Annalisa since… even since she left KFOG…. There are blog posts about that too)  

KFOG has a recording studio in the station… they invite artists into the studio to record tracks both for general radio play, but also for inclusion in their annual “Live from the Archives” CD…  They invite listeners in… 20 at a time… to the recording sessions… either via email, or by being “caller No 10” (it is not always caller no 10… but you get the idea)  over the years, I have been caller No 10 4 times… once, they changed the date… and I had to pass, but, I have been in the studio three times…

Most recently… last week…Steph and I were there to see folk singer David (aka Dave) Wilcox…  Steph and I were at the Studio at 8:30 am… on a Thursday… into the studio by 9:00…  It was a great session… conversations and introductions then 5 songs, then conversation, then one more song… for Rosalie… DJ… host… person who gave me tickets… (for I was caller No 10... )

We discovered that Dave Wilcox has a different airline/guitar strategy…a airline proof guitar… no wood, all carbon fiber… nearly indestructible… you can hand it to baggage monkeys with confidence, Indestructible… the coackroach approach… He says it it is a good guitar… not a wonderful rich lively guitar… but a good guitar… and you can hand it to baggage monkeys… 

Then, he sang a song about worn things… before, he talked about  a ride on a cable car… and how he appreciated the well used character of the car… chipped and worn paint… a patina…  not worn out, but well and long used…  Equated this to a guitar… no a carbon fiber guitar… a wooden guitar…

The tale of the cable car spoke to a personal experience… My hobby is rebuilding old, wooden railroad cars….I have a bit or experience with cable cars, and the men who today maintain them.   Today, in a shop south of a street formerly called Army, three men build and rebuild cable cars for the Municipal Railway of San Francisco… building new cable cars of wood, pulled together with iron rods… 

A few years ago, I tuned a wooden passenger car… a wooden car held together with iron rods… as I tightened rods, the car straightened… sags disappeared…  It was magical… I have spent the last three years researching, trying to find a 19^th century reference to what happened when I tightend the various rods holding the car in tension… much like tuning a guitar…

The cable car guys I have talked to tell me a new cable car isn’t right for about 10 years… it’s too tight at first… too rigid… it needs to break in… get loose, and get lively…

It seems a cable car, a wooden railroad car is much like a good guitar… It is alive… The use, and cracks add to the beast…  we could make it “better” out of iron and graphite… but it wouldn’t be as lively… as alive…

I will stick to wood…

Radio Musings... my daily music

Most morning I get up early, and turn on the radio, KFOG, 104.5

This am, early, the daughter (Steph) and I went to the Epic Roast House for the KFOG birthday party… We got up early, and were rewarded with the front table…  It is KFOG's 30th... accidentally I was listening when they changed formats... I was at the mother-in-laws who likes "Easy listening" which was their previous format... Her (the mother in law) has her easy listening station on when... Rock this town was played, changing the face of SF radio, and upsetting the mother-in-law... All was good...

Back to the Epic Roast House... There was good food, good drinks, and like minded folks nearby….

Rosalie was doing “Acoustic Sunrise”… Her husband was there… (we, Steph and I) met him (her husband, not Shawn) at a concert in the play space many years ago… Shawn Mullins… Latter I win tickets to his (Shawn, not the husband) GAMH show…  Tina and I go, and are now regulars at the ”Music Hall”

This morning, Annalisa was there, later in the morning… we got hugs… Steph made a connection at a Live from the Archives roll out some years ago… she was buying CDs for the two of us, as I and the lovely Tina were on vacation… I received a phone call while boarding a cruise ship in Tampa… from Annalisa…  I bet your favorite DJ doesn’t call you while you are on vacation… mine does…  I am spoiled.  Steph and Annalisa talked about Steph’s love, infatuation with singer Matt Nathinson…

Since we (Annalisa, Steph and I) have met at a “Concert for Kids”… the Pretenders and Amos Lee….  I won tickets on KFOG, in the last 2^nd to the last row… then once seated, early, was upgraded by Amos Lee’s manager to a much better seat… At intermission Annalisa saw, recognized Steph… Dad (aka me) was introduced…  It is kind of good when your radio heroes know who you are… it is unexpected… it is good…

I have seen her at since Live from the Archives roll outs… once without Steph (who was in Maryland…) since with Steph…  a couple of times… she remembers us… this is not expected… One CD was signed in a  faux Matt signature…   Steph is the girl who likes Matt… 

Today, we have a front row table… We drink Mimosas… corn chowder, apples empanadas, French toast, lots of food… all good… No, great… we need to go here for lunch… we are impressed….

Today, Annalisa arrives, sees us, gives us hugs…  Our radio station or at least the mid day DJ, loves us… 

Then, late in the broadcast, a surprise… Annalisa is leaving the station, the mid day role… there is a ceremony… Rosalie, Annalisa, Rene… handing off the role… the mid day, including 10 at 10…. From Rosalie, to Annalisa, to Rene… the spirit of Dave Morey is there, in the room… There are tears…  Dennis, the program manager is there… this is not a firing… it is a transition… Dennis will be blamed…  He always will be, deserved or not… this time not… Rene talks to us… 

It is weird and unexpected when the staff at “your” radio station are friends, or at least folks you know…

After the broadcast, Steph and I go up to say goodbye… To Annalisa…  Annalisa comes around the table for hugs…   It is unexpected…  We walk away… Annalisa calls to Steph… You will get your Matt some day (Matt Nathinson) Steph calls  back… There is the wife issue (sadly Matt is married…) …   All laugh… 

Annalisa’s sign off…  On Friday…

Last song: What a wonderful world by Johnnie Ramon.  Annalisa then said "I love you" and left….She  realized “just like many of my past boyfriends did to me.”

Through the day we listen… to friends… to music…  And hope Annalisa has  better boyfriends…

Happy Birthday KFOG, good luck Annalisa… 

PS… new information… Annalisa will start as the morning DJ on KFOX…  as someone on her Facebook page said, X is the new G…  Steph programmed one of Klinger the Jeep’s radio buttons… for KFOX…  KFOG still has button No. 6, but KFOX now own’s No. 5…

Music… a sound track for my life…

I find myself following music… much like a follow the yellow line down the center of a road… occasionally leaving the road to follow some interesting path…  dodging dead skunks and armadillos…  It is a journey of connections, events, people and influences…

 Like music, I rarely sit in silence…  the radio(KFOG) is playing in the background in the early morning… later it may be the TV instead, not so much to watch, but as background noise…  Late at night, I generally shift to CD’s or vinyl… in the car it is the radio, mostly music, but NPR and who ever might have the best traffic report…  At work when at my desk it is KFOG again…  I look for concerts, buy CD’s sometimes downloads… 

We (Tina and I) recently attended a house concert, Mike Compton playing mandolin…  We attend a lot of house concerts, small venue concerts…  Our favorite is ”Acoustic Tune ups and Joe’s Garage”… If it is a stand up show (Slim’s or the Fillmore) Steph joins me in place of the lovely Tina… she is beyond stand up venues…  If neither is available I will go by myself…  Recently I spent three days in the redwoods listening  to music at the Kate Wolf Festival by myself (with several  thousand of my new friends) The pull of the music is strong…

If I attend a concert, I generally visit the “merch table” and pick up a CD or two, occasionally a t-shirt…  The CD’s generally from the earlier acts… I probably have the current CD’s from the headliners already.  Over the next weeks I listen to the CD’s… getting to know the group… some continue in the rotation, some are filed in the CD shelf’s, rarely to surface…  

The best lead me down a road… looking for more related music… googleing (is it spelled google-ing or googl –ing?, what is the rule on the last “e”…  Microsoft word’s dictionary doesn’t know… of course, Google is a competitor… and there for ignored, shunned if possible…).  Back to the blog, I Google the musicians, the back-up musicians, song writers, covers of the same song…  Each can be its own road… with more music, more roads, sometimes alternate paths to follow…

When I find an interesting artist, I sign up for updates at their websites… I occasionally Google them…  I look at their page on Amazon…

I am planning a road trip in a week…  music is important on a road trip… hours driving frequently away from good radio signals… having music available is good… it is a good time to listen to full albums, with limited distractions…  So I Googled several favorite artists… and found some new stuff…  Likely the best is a Guy Clark tribute album “This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark”… it is on in the background while I write this… The album is Guy Clark’s friends, playing Guy Clarks songs…  It has meaning…  I am familiar with them sung by Guy, but the different caring voices let the lyrics sing in a different way… It is likely influencing this blog post… From a song just played, “Stuff That Works”  “I got a woman that I love…. I got a tattoo with her name right through my soul”…  Tina, I love you… 

There are a number of song writers that I follow… Guy Clark, Gram Parsons, Towns Van Sant… I have followed the sound of a Gram Parsons song into a bar on Beale Street… with my daughter, only to find it was the only Gram song the duo knew, but sat happily listening for three beers…  My cousin was playing guitar at a family reunion at Thanksgiving… along the banks of the Merced in Yosemite…  He played one of Gram’s… I said something… he said his favorite was Towns… I don’t think we have talked about music that way in the last 40 years…  It brings us closer…

Back to Mile Compton… I bought three CD’s…  inside one was a postcard… a questionnaire… a survey… with a possible reward of 30 CD’s from his record label if I return it… They are looking for my contact information to add to a mailing list…

Beyond that, under the heading:  “And if you have a minute…” (complete with three dots) were 4 open questions… plus a 4 more multiple choice questions…  the question that got my attention, and lead to this blog post was; “How do you find out about new music?”… (this time my three dots)

I think they get it… The new paradigm… music beyond labels… A&R men… Music for music… But, it calls the question… how do I find out about new (to me) music…  They give me about 4” to answer… not nearly enough…  hence the blog post, the answer to the question.

Among the multiple choice questions is another interesting “thing”…. They offer four alternatives for the question “what kinds of music are you interested in”… among the choices is “Americana”…  A new category trying to define a place between country (and western) and rock and folk… 40 years ago Gram called it “Cosmic American Music”… Houston Jones calls it “High Octane American Music”… Americana works…  In the current mix in the truck’s CD player is a new CD by Chris Doud, “The Story Song”… I found Chris through his participation in the band “Good Time Thrift Store Outfit”…  I bought his CD at the Kate Wolf Festival.

The CD player has now flopped to the Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” … the first single I ever bought… they lead me to Emmy Lou, to Levon Helm… Emmy Lou and Levon lead me to Gram, who lost his battles with his demons before I found him…

Back to Chris… I found Good Time Thrift Store Outfit at a concert at Slim’s… I followed them to the Kate Wolf Festival… Chris is the lead vocalist, co-song writer with WilleTeaTaylor…  Chris has a song, “Guitar Case Sticker”…  about a folk singer (“the good news he’s a great folk singer, the bad news is he is a great folk singer…”) It contains the line “ Americana was created by industry folks to give us  folk singers a second chance”

Back to Mike Compton… I sent the post card with the survey back…  It seemed to matter…

Bye, Randy

Following the music…

I like music… but not the top not 40, pop crap (I said it) not the stuff on network TV, not American Idol or The Voice… Not the stuff found on TV or found at Target and Wal-Mart…

I like concerts… I like to spend time on the Web finding bands, music that looks interesting…

Within music, artists list “influences”… the artist that they find inspiring… Artists recorded music written by others…  It becomes a road map, a sometimes vague road map, but a path to follow.

Defining my likes is a bit difficult..  Graham Parsons called it Cosmic American Music, Houston Jones calls it High Octane American Music.  Its somewhere between traditional (not Nashville) country and rock…  It is sometimes called Folk… but not Kumbuya folk…  It is a challenge to fine in a record store (if you can find a record store…  Here in the best place to live in the world, San Francisco’s Bay Area we have several good stores to choose from… If you don’t live here, you have my condolences…)… much of what is called “Rock” is good for me as well…

At one time, my choices would have been defined by the “recording industry” with labels, signed artists, A&R men and radio stations, occasionally accepting Payola to play the corporately chosen music…

Modern technology is challenging the definition of who is in charge of the media… the delivery system… the music…

Cheap computers, mixing soft-wear, The Internet, The Web, especially Youtube blew that all to hell…  Any band with a couple of songs, a point of view, a mike and a computer can build a web site… upload songs to My Space, videos to You Tube… and create a presence…  The label is not needed… the Eagles don’t have a record contract… Contracts are not needed…

So, you may have to hunt to find music… I have a good radio station… KFOG… They have stumbled recently, but still have the best play list … they do 10 at 10 every day at 10:00 am… 10 songs from one year… they have Acoustic Sunrise on Sunday morning, Acoustic Sunrise Sunday evening…  they play music with a point of view… (and when I write the program director an email he answers… he cares) They pay stuff beyond the top 40 crap…. (crap is my point of view… defining much of commercial music)….

So, currently I am following several paths… Early this year the daughter and I attended a concert at Slims… a local club… we found the Comatose Brothers and the Good Time Thrift Store Outfit…  I am hooked on both groups, particularly The Outfit’s The Burden of Sea Captains  Big Jim’s Guitar, and Tow-truck…

Separately, a staff member, a young woman a bit younger than my daughter, suggested I look at  Nicki Bluhme… following her lead I find “Van Sessions” covers (other people’s songs) recorded while driving to concerts… I look to her regular work… She is married to a musician, Nick Blume, of the Mother Hips… on my radar, but not generally following… they have a side project “Broke Down In Bakersfield”  they call it Baskerville sound, but to me it sounds like Gram’s Cosmic American Music. They cover Gram Parson’s Luxury Liner… (40 tons of steel) Now I am following… and hooked… badly.

Broke Down In Bakersfield is playing the Kate Wolfe festival… so is Good Time Thrift Store Outfit (they have a song, Tow Truck, about a driving from Oakdale to Jacksonville Florida… my son is driving to Jacksonville from San Mateo early next week… connections are everywhere…) and Comatose Brothers… And Richard Thompson, one time part of Freeport Convention….. and Blame Sally (The lovely Tina and I have seen them more than once… we really like them, and strangely, the lovely Tina bears a strong resemblance to Rene, of the Sallies…  We are now off track, but much of my musical journey is off track)  local girl band, just too good…  Connections, connections, connections…

So, I will go to Laytonville, to Black Oak Forest, to camp and listen to music the last weekend of the month…  I will enjoy the music, enjoy the place… Tina will be off watching gymnastics… Steph studying for finals…It will be therapeutic…  Sitting, listening, camping under the black oaks… 

Oh, and in a couple of days, I will be at Slim's again, to see the Indigo Girls... Live music... 

Randy