Gina Harris's Blog, page 84
January 15, 2019
How my September reading got so far out of hand
I have already written about how my National Hispanic Heritage Month listening did not feel extensive enough, though I ended up with plenty of future options:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2018/12/opening-up.html
I will have things to listen to for 2019, but for 2018 I had plenty to read. So much reading.
It was the diverse books spreadsheet. I mean, that wasn't the only issue, but it was the main issue.
As much as I want to go through all of them (at least those intended for children), things do not always align perfectly. The reading months are specific, but many awards for diversity are not. The Pura Belpré awards were the logical starting place for Hispanic heritage, but I had already gone through that list, albeit accidentally:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2018/07/childrens-books-pura-belpre-award.html
The next obvious choice was a School Library Journal article from 2016, focusing on Cuba, as the United States and Cuba were working on normalizing relations.
https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=viva-cuba-focus-on
(Having recently read Drum Dream Girl and Lucky Broken Girl probably made me more interested in Cuba.)
Something that I had not thought about was that the embargo also affected the availability of books between the two countries. The SLJ article tried to provide a variety of age levels and fact and fiction, so it ended up suggesting 19 of the 27 books I read. It would have been more, but I had already read Drum Dream Girl and no one had the National Geographic book, though I was okay with that.
That was a lot of books, and also, while a lot of them were for younger readers they were not picture books. There were a lot of YA novels, and some of them were quite lengthy. I started incorporating Inter-Library Loan more, where previously I had only checked out books through the local library system. Things expanded.
It kind of works well that way. One memoir gives one point of view, but reading four from about the same time and place, but with different people, gives a broader picture. Not everything I read was about Cuba, but a lot of it was.
There will be other posts getting into more detail, but I will list out the other eight books here, and why they ended up being read for this "month". (From starting in September, I finished January 13th.)
Making the Mexican Diabetic by Michael Montoya: This was already on my reading list, but one of the papers in Diagnosing Folklore made me want to read it sooner rather than later.
The First Rule of Punk by Celia C Perez: This was on the Pura Belpré awards list, but at the time I was trying to stay committed to picture books. The "punk" reference still make me add it to the list.
Queens of Havana by Alicia Castro: Reading Drum Dream Girl made me want to know more about the full story of the band Anacaona.
The Boys From Little Mexico by Steve Wilson: This came up as a local book, following one season of the high school soccer team in Woodburn.
I also had two novels - In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez and The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez - as well as two books of poetry not including the many books of Margarita Engle from the SLJ article. I don't remember exactly how any of them ended up on my reading list, except for In the Time of the Butterflies possibly coming from Tough Mothers. This makes me think that perhaps I should start making notes when I add a book in Goodreads.
The poetry books were from Georgina Herrera and Gloria Anzaldúa.
As already mentioned, I also watched Searching for Sugarman and The Buena Vista Social Club.
That's why it took so long... plus having not finished a round of gardening reading and then having a narrow window of time for reading this Native American Heritage Month book, and some similar issues.
Anyway, books are good! I like them.
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2018/12/opening-up.html
I will have things to listen to for 2019, but for 2018 I had plenty to read. So much reading.
It was the diverse books spreadsheet. I mean, that wasn't the only issue, but it was the main issue.
As much as I want to go through all of them (at least those intended for children), things do not always align perfectly. The reading months are specific, but many awards for diversity are not. The Pura Belpré awards were the logical starting place for Hispanic heritage, but I had already gone through that list, albeit accidentally:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2018/07/childrens-books-pura-belpre-award.html
The next obvious choice was a School Library Journal article from 2016, focusing on Cuba, as the United States and Cuba were working on normalizing relations.
https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=viva-cuba-focus-on
(Having recently read Drum Dream Girl and Lucky Broken Girl probably made me more interested in Cuba.)
Something that I had not thought about was that the embargo also affected the availability of books between the two countries. The SLJ article tried to provide a variety of age levels and fact and fiction, so it ended up suggesting 19 of the 27 books I read. It would have been more, but I had already read Drum Dream Girl and no one had the National Geographic book, though I was okay with that.
That was a lot of books, and also, while a lot of them were for younger readers they were not picture books. There were a lot of YA novels, and some of them were quite lengthy. I started incorporating Inter-Library Loan more, where previously I had only checked out books through the local library system. Things expanded.
It kind of works well that way. One memoir gives one point of view, but reading four from about the same time and place, but with different people, gives a broader picture. Not everything I read was about Cuba, but a lot of it was.
There will be other posts getting into more detail, but I will list out the other eight books here, and why they ended up being read for this "month". (From starting in September, I finished January 13th.)
Making the Mexican Diabetic by Michael Montoya: This was already on my reading list, but one of the papers in Diagnosing Folklore made me want to read it sooner rather than later.
The First Rule of Punk by Celia C Perez: This was on the Pura Belpré awards list, but at the time I was trying to stay committed to picture books. The "punk" reference still make me add it to the list.
Queens of Havana by Alicia Castro: Reading Drum Dream Girl made me want to know more about the full story of the band Anacaona.
The Boys From Little Mexico by Steve Wilson: This came up as a local book, following one season of the high school soccer team in Woodburn.
I also had two novels - In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez and The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez - as well as two books of poetry not including the many books of Margarita Engle from the SLJ article. I don't remember exactly how any of them ended up on my reading list, except for In the Time of the Butterflies possibly coming from Tough Mothers. This makes me think that perhaps I should start making notes when I add a book in Goodreads.
The poetry books were from Georgina Herrera and Gloria Anzaldúa.
As already mentioned, I also watched Searching for Sugarman and The Buena Vista Social Club.
That's why it took so long... plus having not finished a round of gardening reading and then having a narrow window of time for reading this Native American Heritage Month book, and some similar issues.
Anyway, books are good! I like them.
January 11, 2019
Concert Review: Jesse Valenzuela
As I was getting ready to write this concert review, I looked up my previous review, from shortly after Hotel Defeated came out. I had ended with saying that I could imagine a good solo show from that.
Yes, it was a very good show. It was also not completely solo, in that Valenzuela was accompanied by Darryl Icard on bass. As good as Valenzuela is, I am sure he would have been great as the only person on the stage, but I also heard that the music was richer and fuller with someone else there. This became especially clear on "Broken Hearted Kind".
The effect of the combination was impressive on its own. It would be easy to expect more of a lead guitar/rhythm guitar arrangement, but this was fantastic, and gave me a new appreciation for the capabilities of bass.
In addition, while it may be unfair to draw comparisons between the opening act and the headliner, the extra years of experience in performing and composing and traveling were all evident. Sitting down instead of standing, having someone to banter with, it all worked together to create something more compelling, more rich, and more fun. (I can't rule out there being some nerves - at least about having to deal with merch - but it wasn't evident.)
The White Eagle Saloon is a fairly intimate venue anyway, and it was filled with a few familiar faces, but there was more than that working together to make it such a comfortable place.
Of course, many of the attendees have been fans for a while. Jesse said it has been thirty years with the Gin Blossoms. As those hits were added to the mix, memories came back of college and young adulthood, and shows not that long ago, and there was a lot of good feeling in that. There were also songs from both of Valenzuela's earlier releases, and at least one from a new album due in the spring. The beat goes on, even if it adapts to go a little more slowly.
That was a reference from Valenzuela, referring to a composer who recommends playing everything as slowly as you can manage without it falling it apart, and then it's at a good tempo. (Plus there may have been some jokes about that being an old age thing.)
Although that did briefly remind me of that nightmare Dashboard Confessional show, that's not what this is. I'm not sure if it is even truly slower so much as it is mellower. Maybe we don't need to cram in quite as many words and angst as before, but we know what we mean. Being there for it was a total pleasure.
If we were looking for slower Gin Blossoms songs to add in, beyond the hits, I would think that "29" and "Until I Fall Away" would be reasonable starting places (personal prejudice on my part for loving those songs being an obvious factor). However, listening to Valenzuela and Icard play together, I can imagine them doing a great version of "Cajun Song", and that just belies everything about being old and slow.
I look forward to the new album.
https://www.facebook.com/JesseValenzuelaMusic/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24AgkfU3mTUYdbCwUtBN5A
https://twitter.com/JesseoftheGB
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2015/07/band-review-jesse-valenzuela.html
Yes, it was a very good show. It was also not completely solo, in that Valenzuela was accompanied by Darryl Icard on bass. As good as Valenzuela is, I am sure he would have been great as the only person on the stage, but I also heard that the music was richer and fuller with someone else there. This became especially clear on "Broken Hearted Kind".
The effect of the combination was impressive on its own. It would be easy to expect more of a lead guitar/rhythm guitar arrangement, but this was fantastic, and gave me a new appreciation for the capabilities of bass.
In addition, while it may be unfair to draw comparisons between the opening act and the headliner, the extra years of experience in performing and composing and traveling were all evident. Sitting down instead of standing, having someone to banter with, it all worked together to create something more compelling, more rich, and more fun. (I can't rule out there being some nerves - at least about having to deal with merch - but it wasn't evident.)
The White Eagle Saloon is a fairly intimate venue anyway, and it was filled with a few familiar faces, but there was more than that working together to make it such a comfortable place.Of course, many of the attendees have been fans for a while. Jesse said it has been thirty years with the Gin Blossoms. As those hits were added to the mix, memories came back of college and young adulthood, and shows not that long ago, and there was a lot of good feeling in that. There were also songs from both of Valenzuela's earlier releases, and at least one from a new album due in the spring. The beat goes on, even if it adapts to go a little more slowly.
That was a reference from Valenzuela, referring to a composer who recommends playing everything as slowly as you can manage without it falling it apart, and then it's at a good tempo. (Plus there may have been some jokes about that being an old age thing.)
Although that did briefly remind me of that nightmare Dashboard Confessional show, that's not what this is. I'm not sure if it is even truly slower so much as it is mellower. Maybe we don't need to cram in quite as many words and angst as before, but we know what we mean. Being there for it was a total pleasure.
If we were looking for slower Gin Blossoms songs to add in, beyond the hits, I would think that "29" and "Until I Fall Away" would be reasonable starting places (personal prejudice on my part for loving those songs being an obvious factor). However, listening to Valenzuela and Icard play together, I can imagine them doing a great version of "Cajun Song", and that just belies everything about being old and slow.
I look forward to the new album.
https://www.facebook.com/JesseValenzuelaMusic/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24AgkfU3mTUYdbCwUtBN5A
https://twitter.com/JesseoftheGB
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2015/07/band-review-jesse-valenzuela.html
January 10, 2019
Concert Review: Dave Wentz
I saw Dave Wentz last night at the White Eagle Saloon, opening for Jesse Valenzuela.
Wentz has another project, Tigers Of Youth, but that appears to only have one other member, a drummer. It seems likely, then, that Wentz solo is not too different from seeing Tigers of Youth, but it ends up being more expansive.
In addition to the Tigers of Youth material, Wentz also played some other original songs, as well as many covers similar to those found on his Youtube channel. Covering a variety of bands, they all end up sounding kind of the same, which ends up being a little boring.
Wentz comes off as a very nice kid - young and earnest - maybe a little more coffee shop than saloon. I don't doubt he loves music, but he might still be really nervous around her. That can be resolved.
For right now, I like the actual Tigers Of Youth arrangements better, probably because it helps him to have backup.
http://davidmwentz.wixsite.com/davewentz/music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZP4lskKJR-WvSHQ-iK1wTg
https://tigersofyouth.bandcamp.com/
Lover and fighter
My social awkwardness may occasionally make it hard to get me talking, but ask the right question and it can be really hard to get me to shut up. Oh, I've been thinking about that! Off I go.
No matter how much what I say will be made up of things I have thought, things that I hadn't realized yet will still come out.
I was talking to my bishop not long ago about the situation with my mother. I talked about previously being more of a fighter, and having to change, because this cannot be fought.
The funny thing is that previously I have tended to say that I am a lover, not a fighter. Yes, that is a thing you say humorously, but it also seemed accurate for me.
(Of course, it is also not that long since I blogged about punching someone, so, you know...)
It seemed odd that I'd called myself a fighter, but I had really meant to fight the dementia. Those books that I read and notes I took were so I could fight it and beat it. She was going to improve.
That didn't work out.
Even back in the summer after her last assessment, I was dissecting the test and thinking that I could work with her on some of the test areas. It wasn't to game the test. There wouldn't really be any point in trying to cheat the test, but I thought maybe if we worked in those areas it would be good exercise for her brain. I thought that could slow down the deterioration.
That didn't work out either.
I suppose you could say my fighting methods were loving, or my motivation was loving. It's not exactly that I am no longer opposed to Alzheimer's disease; I am dealing with it on its terms. Maybe when I was a fighter, my chief weapon was denial.
When you break it all down, my life seems to have become sadly encapsulated by the serenity prayer. Sometimes wisdom is knowing that there's no point in this fight.
Sometimes you can find peace in that.
Sometimes the fight requires kindness rather than punching, or even trying to outwit.
I can accept all of that, and I do. It's not like reading all of the books and trying different things can't be part of the process of accumulating wisdom.
Just for the record, though, there is also some wisdom in knowing that sometimes when the bully is bigger and stronger and in the wrong, there is no shame in going for the balls.
Words to live by.
No matter how much what I say will be made up of things I have thought, things that I hadn't realized yet will still come out.
I was talking to my bishop not long ago about the situation with my mother. I talked about previously being more of a fighter, and having to change, because this cannot be fought.
The funny thing is that previously I have tended to say that I am a lover, not a fighter. Yes, that is a thing you say humorously, but it also seemed accurate for me.
(Of course, it is also not that long since I blogged about punching someone, so, you know...)
It seemed odd that I'd called myself a fighter, but I had really meant to fight the dementia. Those books that I read and notes I took were so I could fight it and beat it. She was going to improve.
That didn't work out.
Even back in the summer after her last assessment, I was dissecting the test and thinking that I could work with her on some of the test areas. It wasn't to game the test. There wouldn't really be any point in trying to cheat the test, but I thought maybe if we worked in those areas it would be good exercise for her brain. I thought that could slow down the deterioration.
That didn't work out either.
I suppose you could say my fighting methods were loving, or my motivation was loving. It's not exactly that I am no longer opposed to Alzheimer's disease; I am dealing with it on its terms. Maybe when I was a fighter, my chief weapon was denial.
When you break it all down, my life seems to have become sadly encapsulated by the serenity prayer. Sometimes wisdom is knowing that there's no point in this fight.
Sometimes you can find peace in that.
Sometimes the fight requires kindness rather than punching, or even trying to outwit.
I can accept all of that, and I do. It's not like reading all of the books and trying different things can't be part of the process of accumulating wisdom.
Just for the record, though, there is also some wisdom in knowing that sometimes when the bully is bigger and stronger and in the wrong, there is no shame in going for the balls.
Words to live by.
January 8, 2019
Unexpected, but going with it
A key reason for starting the Pets album - which does not in any way negate the heart-warming beauty of our pets - is that I was trying to update the photos for a Facebook fundraiser I created and that process was not very convenient.
Creating the fundraiser itself was pretty easy. My charity was in there and the steps are simple. They have suggested photos, and you can load your own photos, but I could not load photos from my hard drive - only from my Facebook wall or albums. That seemed odd, but okay. I am compiling an album and sorting through photos, and that is all fine.
I was not expecting to do a fundraiser at all. I have seen many birthday fundraisers, and my primary reaction is guilt. It has been a long time since I have had anything to contribute and I don't feel great about that. That doesn't even get into my complicated feelings about staying with Facebook, which is a story for another day.
Then I got the prompt to create a birthday fundraiser of my own, and Facebook automatically donates $2 when you do. Okay. I'll bite, and it will be worth at least $2.
https://www.facebook.com/donate/272665160088708/
Felines First was the obvious choice. We have gotten two cats from them, and I am probably going to start doing some volunteering for them.
That is actually a key part of this whole thing. I don't really have money to give, and I have some limitations on my time too. I certainly have limitations on being able to go places. However, I can do some writing, editing, and uploading of information from home, and it turns out that can be helpful. It was a nice reminder that I do still have something to give.
Then the donations started coming in. I wasn't expecting that. There is some apparent good happening here. Without doing much of anything, it has raised $178.
The other thing Facebook does is encourage you to invite people. That makes sense; it increases the odds of them seeing and contributing. That was not something I could do.
I have gotten better, but I still have a hard time asking for things. It's really hard asking for money. It does not help that the money is not going to me.
I can do better by offering something, though I tend to give things away a lot too.
Anyway, I created an Ask Me Anything event. People can donate and ask me things. By offering something, I can invite people to that:
https://www.facebook.com/events/259868648248539/
I am not done inviting people yet, but I will keep at it.
And I have no idea how it will go. It still feels a little pushy. In addition, it's kind of a weird idea. Yes, I am I good source of information, but the people who know that best also know that they can ask me things for free. Therefore, I do not have the strongest selling points.
However, it's for the cats, and I'm trying something new.
Creating the fundraiser itself was pretty easy. My charity was in there and the steps are simple. They have suggested photos, and you can load your own photos, but I could not load photos from my hard drive - only from my Facebook wall or albums. That seemed odd, but okay. I am compiling an album and sorting through photos, and that is all fine.
I was not expecting to do a fundraiser at all. I have seen many birthday fundraisers, and my primary reaction is guilt. It has been a long time since I have had anything to contribute and I don't feel great about that. That doesn't even get into my complicated feelings about staying with Facebook, which is a story for another day.
Then I got the prompt to create a birthday fundraiser of my own, and Facebook automatically donates $2 when you do. Okay. I'll bite, and it will be worth at least $2.
https://www.facebook.com/donate/272665160088708/
Felines First was the obvious choice. We have gotten two cats from them, and I am probably going to start doing some volunteering for them.
That is actually a key part of this whole thing. I don't really have money to give, and I have some limitations on my time too. I certainly have limitations on being able to go places. However, I can do some writing, editing, and uploading of information from home, and it turns out that can be helpful. It was a nice reminder that I do still have something to give.
Then the donations started coming in. I wasn't expecting that. There is some apparent good happening here. Without doing much of anything, it has raised $178.
The other thing Facebook does is encourage you to invite people. That makes sense; it increases the odds of them seeing and contributing. That was not something I could do.
I have gotten better, but I still have a hard time asking for things. It's really hard asking for money. It does not help that the money is not going to me.
I can do better by offering something, though I tend to give things away a lot too.
Anyway, I created an Ask Me Anything event. People can donate and ask me things. By offering something, I can invite people to that:
https://www.facebook.com/events/259868648248539/
I am not done inviting people yet, but I will keep at it.
And I have no idea how it will go. It still feels a little pushy. In addition, it's kind of a weird idea. Yes, I am I good source of information, but the people who know that best also know that they can ask me things for free. Therefore, I do not have the strongest selling points.
However, it's for the cats, and I'm trying something new.
Picking pictures
I'd worry that by admitting now that I have not switched computers yet you will all think I am disorganized, but I am pretty sure no one reading this has any illusions left about that.
Some of it is time issues, but the real concern is data loss. It may be worse because of the traumatic way in which I lost my previous data.
When I have changed computers before, yes the old one usually was quite old and not working well, but only once did it involve a real crash, and that time pulling out the drive and using an IDE to USB connection to transfer files worked fine.
Through great continuity, I had family history work going back to 1996, journals going back to 2000, and photos going back to 2007 when I first got a digital camera. Add in all my novels and screenplays, my blog logs, and my spreadsheets (I put so much data in spreadsheets!) -- it was just really hard. I still hope someday that I will be able to afford to have a professional try.
When my friend gave me her mother's old computer, I was reluctant to create new files. I no longer log my blog posts. I did end up with some files for a class, and I did give in and create a couple more spreadsheets. I now have an illogical amount of anxiety over transferring those, but the main issue is pictures.
There are many selfies of course, the majority of which were posted, except for that slew from Halloween to December 15th when I could not get any photos transferred. Selfies are ephemeral; I don't need to keep those.
You might also guess (correctly) that I have a lot of blurry concert photos that it should have been easy to delete when I was picking the clearer ones to post with the review. However, I did not. I am doing some of that now.
I am somewhat proud that if you do the right search combination on certain musicians, photos from this will come up: http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2014/02/concert-review-reggie-and-full-effect.html
I think those are really good pictures of Zach and Cory. I have better pictures of James from different shows. I did not get a picture of Billy that night, and he died last year. There are some emotions that come with doing this. There are some fears about loss that aren't really about any photo, but they still come with the photos.
There are photos of places that went up on the travel blog. Sometimes there are other photos that did not get posted but they are not bad; do I want them enough? Even scarier, there are some photos for travel blog posts that I have not written yet. What if I load them and something goes wrong? I just came across a photo I took of some artwork at the Fox Tower Theater. I had forgotten I took it, but seeing that reminded me; do I need to remember?
The biggest questions are with pet pictures. If anyone is wondering why I recently created a Pets album on Facebook and am adding to it, it's actually for for selecting a cover photo for a fundraiser, but it goes along with this as well. Synergy!
We take a lot of pet photos, because our pets are adorable and beautiful and quite photogenic. They also do the same poses in the same spots pretty frequently, I am now noticing. I probably do not need every photo of Mavis on the couch corner, but how many do I need? So trivial, really, but it doesn't feel that way. Maybe it's because I've been burned.
Sometimes I suffer from inertia when there is uncertainty, even when it is fairly minor, but I will press on.
In the meantime, here are some bonus selfies that stayed trapped in the camera for a long time. If you want the pet pictures, those are going on Facebook.
(This was a "kiss the cook" one. I was making fajitas.)
Some of it is time issues, but the real concern is data loss. It may be worse because of the traumatic way in which I lost my previous data.
When I have changed computers before, yes the old one usually was quite old and not working well, but only once did it involve a real crash, and that time pulling out the drive and using an IDE to USB connection to transfer files worked fine.
Through great continuity, I had family history work going back to 1996, journals going back to 2000, and photos going back to 2007 when I first got a digital camera. Add in all my novels and screenplays, my blog logs, and my spreadsheets (I put so much data in spreadsheets!) -- it was just really hard. I still hope someday that I will be able to afford to have a professional try.
When my friend gave me her mother's old computer, I was reluctant to create new files. I no longer log my blog posts. I did end up with some files for a class, and I did give in and create a couple more spreadsheets. I now have an illogical amount of anxiety over transferring those, but the main issue is pictures.
There are many selfies of course, the majority of which were posted, except for that slew from Halloween to December 15th when I could not get any photos transferred. Selfies are ephemeral; I don't need to keep those.
You might also guess (correctly) that I have a lot of blurry concert photos that it should have been easy to delete when I was picking the clearer ones to post with the review. However, I did not. I am doing some of that now.
I am somewhat proud that if you do the right search combination on certain musicians, photos from this will come up: http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2014/02/concert-review-reggie-and-full-effect.html
I think those are really good pictures of Zach and Cory. I have better pictures of James from different shows. I did not get a picture of Billy that night, and he died last year. There are some emotions that come with doing this. There are some fears about loss that aren't really about any photo, but they still come with the photos.
There are photos of places that went up on the travel blog. Sometimes there are other photos that did not get posted but they are not bad; do I want them enough? Even scarier, there are some photos for travel blog posts that I have not written yet. What if I load them and something goes wrong? I just came across a photo I took of some artwork at the Fox Tower Theater. I had forgotten I took it, but seeing that reminded me; do I need to remember?
The biggest questions are with pet pictures. If anyone is wondering why I recently created a Pets album on Facebook and am adding to it, it's actually for for selecting a cover photo for a fundraiser, but it goes along with this as well. Synergy!
We take a lot of pet photos, because our pets are adorable and beautiful and quite photogenic. They also do the same poses in the same spots pretty frequently, I am now noticing. I probably do not need every photo of Mavis on the couch corner, but how many do I need? So trivial, really, but it doesn't feel that way. Maybe it's because I've been burned.
Sometimes I suffer from inertia when there is uncertainty, even when it is fairly minor, but I will press on.
In the meantime, here are some bonus selfies that stayed trapped in the camera for a long time. If you want the pet pictures, those are going on Facebook.
(This was a "kiss the cook" one. I was making fajitas.)
January 4, 2019
Concert Review: Stone In Love
Yesterday's review of Grand Illusion was for the opening band. The main attraction was Journey tribute band Stone in Love.
I like Journey better than Styx, part of which may be the different focus. I referred to Styx as highbrow. There is nothing inherently wrong with concept albums and getting philosophical, but it is possible for that to get in the way of good music, possibly losing something in passion.
I don't want to spend too much time on that; there are great songs that are also intellectual, and a lower concept song isn't automatically dumb. I do think that a lot of the strength of music is in its ability to touch emotion. In that way, Journey is a better band - and especially a better concert band - than Styx.
That may not matter if you have a difference in band quality, but Stone In Love was fantastic. If it takes some guitar prowess to master Styx songs, it is not an easy feat to cover Steve Perry's vocals. A lot of credit needs to go to vocalist Kevin Hahn.
Instruments were also on point. I especially noticed that for drums which filled out the sound well in a way I don't specifically remember for the original band, and keyboards.
My earliest memory of Journey is the "Separate Ways" video (generally not considered a good video, but for 1983 it was pretty appropriate), which was co-written by Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain. The synthesizer on it is unforgettable, along with the overall interplay of rhythm and melody. Stone In Love delivered on all songs, but I especially noticed it there.
I have included some extra photos (even though none of them are great), because I wanted to give some idea of the effect on the crowd. Yes, people enjoyed both acts, but the dance area kept filling up more and more the longer Stone In Love played. I thought we'd hit the height of romance when a couple in front of me started dancing with each other instead of next to each other on "Lights", but that was just the prelude. Many more bodies came together on "Open Arms".
Good show!
http://www.stoneinlove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/journeytribute
*Note to long-time readers: Stone In Love is now my 600th band reviewed. Making that work is why I reviewed three bands last week. I like it when the milestone numbers can be live shows, local bands, or have emotional significance. This show was all of the above, with Stone In Love keyboardist Mike Johnson being a friend from high school. Look for some more live music reviews next week.
I like Journey better than Styx, part of which may be the different focus. I referred to Styx as highbrow. There is nothing inherently wrong with concept albums and getting philosophical, but it is possible for that to get in the way of good music, possibly losing something in passion.
I don't want to spend too much time on that; there are great songs that are also intellectual, and a lower concept song isn't automatically dumb. I do think that a lot of the strength of music is in its ability to touch emotion. In that way, Journey is a better band - and especially a better concert band - than Styx.
That may not matter if you have a difference in band quality, but Stone In Love was fantastic. If it takes some guitar prowess to master Styx songs, it is not an easy feat to cover Steve Perry's vocals. A lot of credit needs to go to vocalist Kevin Hahn.
Instruments were also on point. I especially noticed that for drums which filled out the sound well in a way I don't specifically remember for the original band, and keyboards. 
My earliest memory of Journey is the "Separate Ways" video (generally not considered a good video, but for 1983 it was pretty appropriate), which was co-written by Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain. The synthesizer on it is unforgettable, along with the overall interplay of rhythm and melody. Stone In Love delivered on all songs, but I especially noticed it there.
I have included some extra photos (even though none of them are great), because I wanted to give some idea of the effect on the crowd. Yes, people enjoyed both acts, but the dance area kept filling up more and more the longer Stone In Love played. I thought we'd hit the height of romance when a couple in front of me started dancing with each other instead of next to each other on "Lights", but that was just the prelude. Many more bodies came together on "Open Arms".
Good show! http://www.stoneinlove.com/
https://www.facebook.com/journeytribute
*Note to long-time readers: Stone In Love is now my 600th band reviewed. Making that work is why I reviewed three bands last week. I like it when the milestone numbers can be live shows, local bands, or have emotional significance. This show was all of the above, with Stone In Love keyboardist Mike Johnson being a friend from high school. Look for some more live music reviews next week.
January 3, 2019
Concert Review: Grand Illusion
Saturday night I saw Grand Illusion, the Northwest's premier Styx tribute act.
The first question that raised for me was how many Styx tribute bands are there, both in general and in the Northwest. I was able to find three others, but in different geographic locations.
The question I'd had going into the show was whether with a tribute band it is more important that they are true to the band or that they do a good show.
I don't think that one has an easy answer. For someone at the show, a good show in general is probably better, but if you are going to see a tribute band, most likely you are a fan of the original band and want to hear something like them.
Having now attended the concert, the bigger question is whether the source material can result in limitations.
I totally thought Grand Illusion sounded like Styx. I know that involves some pretty good technical prowess. I also don't like Styx that much.
I thought I liked them better. I remembered Styx as a little more highbrow, rather than fun or romantic (apparently forgetting "Babe"). I found this show kind of boring. I thought maybe I would have liked Grand Illusion more if they had played "Heavy Metal Poisoning", but then I looked up the video at home, and I had remembered it rocking more than it did. So really, my ambivalence is the fault of Styx, and not Grand Illusion.
However, if you like Styx, you should like Grand Illusion a lot.
http://www.j-fell.com/grandillusion/
https://www.facebook.com/styxtribute/
January 2, 2019
2019 - My year for music
Different music goals and intentions with varying levels of difficulty have been on my mind. I've decided this year is the year I go for broke and do them all.
One longstanding desire was to make my Band Reviews spreadsheet public, via Dropbox or something. Before doing that, I wanted to expand the Reviewed tab. What I had was the name and whether or not I had seen them live. I initially only did it to keep track of numbers, and to be able to scan for names when I was having trouble remembering something. I was always aware that there could be more useful information, like where they were from, their label or if they were unsigned, and maybe a brief description, plus URLs.
I never got around to doing that, and then my hard drive crashed and I lost everything. I was able to reconstruct a lot of the bands to be reviewed and that were recommended, probably with some misses that I don't know, but I have never tried reconstructing "Reviewed".
Obviously, it would be more work. At the time I think I had about 19 bands to be reviewed from Twitter follows, and there were probably just under forty recommended bands, but I had recently passed 500 bands reviewed.
At the same time, it would be easier because I could find them all by going through the blog posts. For those waiting for review, I had to go through my Twitter follows that had not been reviewed yet, and hope no one had un-followed me since (though it would kind of have served them right). Recommended bands was all from memory. I actually have a reliable chronological record of my reviewed bands until such time as Blogger irrevocably collapses.
But if I am going to do it, I should do it better: commit to which fields I want to fill in, and then do it. Also, the number has only gone up. I counted up from 500, and I can tell you that tomorrow's review will be for band number 599.
That will take a while, but it will also be full of good memories. Just thinking about the start, when I was suddenly getting the chance to see bands I had wanted to see for so long, and falling for new bands... there are a lot of great memories from that time period, and it led to some really good things too. I have actually been wanting to do that since May.
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2018/05/beloved-songs.html
Recently I have been getting fewer new band followers, and my blogging has become somewhat more irregular (though still pretty impressive considering), and I have been thinking maybe I should wind things down. If that happens, and I only go to 700 instead of 1000, then I am going to go out with a feeling of completion. I will get everyone currently in the spreadsheet before I stop, for sure.
Since I am going for completion, here are some other things that need to be wrapped up. I still have a list of 24 bands from the Nothing Feels Good listening that I mean to look into more. They are not all emo bands, but some of them are. I will be working on that soon.
I also have a list of 32 bands that some of my early young Twitter mutuals obsessed over. I want to at least listen to a sampling of them. I am working on that now.
Listening to Christmas music, I have been thinking lately of what songs have been popular in different time periods, and how the music has developed.
Yes, I am quite positive some of that is remembering how much more I liked listening to the radio on Christmas in the late 70s that the equivalent now; why do they use such a small subset of the available music out there, and so often the most inferior subset? (Yeah, I know the Telecom Act plays a part.)
I will be working on that later, probably starting in the fall.
Finally, this is really the year I am going to release a week of songs by me. I thought 2018 could be the year after doing some recordings for my Music for Wellness class, but I would not have been happy with the quality level I could have achieved then. If I start planning ahead, this year I can do it.
I am not yet committed to whether there will be videos.
Also, so far it looks like I can go to about one show a month this year, at least for the first quarter. I would like to keep that going.
Most of these shows are not so much for new bands, but are musicians I have already seen and connected with. That feels pretty good too.
It also feels good to be excited about things, and for this stuff, I am.
One longstanding desire was to make my Band Reviews spreadsheet public, via Dropbox or something. Before doing that, I wanted to expand the Reviewed tab. What I had was the name and whether or not I had seen them live. I initially only did it to keep track of numbers, and to be able to scan for names when I was having trouble remembering something. I was always aware that there could be more useful information, like where they were from, their label or if they were unsigned, and maybe a brief description, plus URLs.
I never got around to doing that, and then my hard drive crashed and I lost everything. I was able to reconstruct a lot of the bands to be reviewed and that were recommended, probably with some misses that I don't know, but I have never tried reconstructing "Reviewed".
Obviously, it would be more work. At the time I think I had about 19 bands to be reviewed from Twitter follows, and there were probably just under forty recommended bands, but I had recently passed 500 bands reviewed.
At the same time, it would be easier because I could find them all by going through the blog posts. For those waiting for review, I had to go through my Twitter follows that had not been reviewed yet, and hope no one had un-followed me since (though it would kind of have served them right). Recommended bands was all from memory. I actually have a reliable chronological record of my reviewed bands until such time as Blogger irrevocably collapses.
But if I am going to do it, I should do it better: commit to which fields I want to fill in, and then do it. Also, the number has only gone up. I counted up from 500, and I can tell you that tomorrow's review will be for band number 599.
That will take a while, but it will also be full of good memories. Just thinking about the start, when I was suddenly getting the chance to see bands I had wanted to see for so long, and falling for new bands... there are a lot of great memories from that time period, and it led to some really good things too. I have actually been wanting to do that since May.
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2018/05/beloved-songs.html
Recently I have been getting fewer new band followers, and my blogging has become somewhat more irregular (though still pretty impressive considering), and I have been thinking maybe I should wind things down. If that happens, and I only go to 700 instead of 1000, then I am going to go out with a feeling of completion. I will get everyone currently in the spreadsheet before I stop, for sure.
Since I am going for completion, here are some other things that need to be wrapped up. I still have a list of 24 bands from the Nothing Feels Good listening that I mean to look into more. They are not all emo bands, but some of them are. I will be working on that soon.
I also have a list of 32 bands that some of my early young Twitter mutuals obsessed over. I want to at least listen to a sampling of them. I am working on that now.
Listening to Christmas music, I have been thinking lately of what songs have been popular in different time periods, and how the music has developed.
Yes, I am quite positive some of that is remembering how much more I liked listening to the radio on Christmas in the late 70s that the equivalent now; why do they use such a small subset of the available music out there, and so often the most inferior subset? (Yeah, I know the Telecom Act plays a part.)
I will be working on that later, probably starting in the fall.
Finally, this is really the year I am going to release a week of songs by me. I thought 2018 could be the year after doing some recordings for my Music for Wellness class, but I would not have been happy with the quality level I could have achieved then. If I start planning ahead, this year I can do it.
I am not yet committed to whether there will be videos.
Also, so far it looks like I can go to about one show a month this year, at least for the first quarter. I would like to keep that going.
Most of these shows are not so much for new bands, but are musicians I have already seen and connected with. That feels pretty good too.
It also feels good to be excited about things, and for this stuff, I am.
January 1, 2019
Resolved for me: My village
One humbling thing this last year has been the persistence of some friends in checking on me.
I am not the most fun ever now, my availability is not as flexible, and I may take super long times to get back to you, just because of the other things on my plate. Nonetheless many people have been kind, generous, and sometimes even a bit stubborn when needed.
I want to do better on my side for that.
First of all, I don't want to make everyone drag me along. I can be at least a little more on the ball. We are getting better at working out respite time, and as I am successfully getting more alone time, I should probably consider getting in more social time.
There are also friends that I am not connecting with now whom I still value. This group of friends tends to involve people not on Facebook, so they don't necessarily see updates. I remember sending e-mail to one friend. It had been a while, so she expressed surprise but she wrote back right away, and then I didn't get back to her. That's embarrassing, but it's me.
I just sorted my send folder to see, and that was three years ago. Checking on some other addresses, it looks like I really started dropping the ball in 2016. That makes total sense. I still hope I can do better.
Part of having that hope of doing better is that patience that has been extended to me by others. As I write, hey, I don't know how regular I will be, but I will accept your patience if you will offer it.
I have had to accept a lot of help in this part of my life. I preferred being on the other side of that, but maybe it made me cocky. Maybe life is just cyclical, and this is my turn.
There are also people who have knowledge and skills and access that may be helpful for me. I will try reaching out more.
The first time didn't work out. I messaged the daughter of a friend of my mother's to try and arrange a phone call, and she didn't reply. That could be discouraging, but she also has three other kids. That call could still happen, but it might not. There will be things that don't work out, but that might not make them failures.
I think of this as building my village. Someone else used that phrase as she started on a new phase of life. Well, this is a continuing phase of life, and the village is partially there, but I can strengthen it, and be more aware of it.
That's my hope for 2019.
Well, it's my more emotional, interpersonal hope. I have some additional and probably not as important things that I will write about tomorrow.
I am not the most fun ever now, my availability is not as flexible, and I may take super long times to get back to you, just because of the other things on my plate. Nonetheless many people have been kind, generous, and sometimes even a bit stubborn when needed.
I want to do better on my side for that.
First of all, I don't want to make everyone drag me along. I can be at least a little more on the ball. We are getting better at working out respite time, and as I am successfully getting more alone time, I should probably consider getting in more social time.
There are also friends that I am not connecting with now whom I still value. This group of friends tends to involve people not on Facebook, so they don't necessarily see updates. I remember sending e-mail to one friend. It had been a while, so she expressed surprise but she wrote back right away, and then I didn't get back to her. That's embarrassing, but it's me.
I just sorted my send folder to see, and that was three years ago. Checking on some other addresses, it looks like I really started dropping the ball in 2016. That makes total sense. I still hope I can do better.
Part of having that hope of doing better is that patience that has been extended to me by others. As I write, hey, I don't know how regular I will be, but I will accept your patience if you will offer it.
I have had to accept a lot of help in this part of my life. I preferred being on the other side of that, but maybe it made me cocky. Maybe life is just cyclical, and this is my turn.
There are also people who have knowledge and skills and access that may be helpful for me. I will try reaching out more.
The first time didn't work out. I messaged the daughter of a friend of my mother's to try and arrange a phone call, and she didn't reply. That could be discouraging, but she also has three other kids. That call could still happen, but it might not. There will be things that don't work out, but that might not make them failures.
I think of this as building my village. Someone else used that phrase as she started on a new phase of life. Well, this is a continuing phase of life, and the village is partially there, but I can strengthen it, and be more aware of it.
That's my hope for 2019.
Well, it's my more emotional, interpersonal hope. I have some additional and probably not as important things that I will write about tomorrow.
