What ya listening to?

I had a fairly well-rounded exposure to musical styles as a kid. Had wanted to play guitar since I was 3 years old, and I finally gravitated towards playing by age 12 when I first got my hands on a real guitar. Aside from home-influences (and musical taboos like ROCK lololol), as a young musician I was in HS orchestra, jazz-band (did the Chafee Jazz festival a few times) and choral, both playing double and electric bass. Of course there was the rock-n-roll which I dove head-first into, but I grew-up in Bakersfield when "the Bakersfield sound" was developing and at its Zenith, so I had much exposure to C&W as well.

Went to school with a well-known C&W artists' kid, as well as rubbed elbows and was a schoolmate of yet another artist's manager's daughter. The former- I used to wait for the bus after school and, her dad would always pull up in his green Lincoln Continental and I was too shy and respectful of his time to go say "hi" ________. I SO wish I had.

Incidentally I met Brad Gillis ( with Rubicon at the time) in a friend's kitchen one day so many years ago when they were dating for a time in about 1978. Looking back it was funny because you were just in it (the environment) by osmosis, so to speak, and as a youth thought nothing of it...and in hindsight you see how rich that experience was. I'd another friend who was a Nashville session musician (now deceased, RIP) who grew up around the Grand Old Opry in TN. Same kinda thing but amplified. He knew all the greats as a kid and, in looking back, he was blown away at the environment he grew up in.

That thumbnail so to speak with good and bad, sent me on my way to better things.

Anyways, I have a pretty eclectic appreciation of music. REAL music, not (c)rap which I refuse to legitimize anymore than I will legitimize graffiti...
Still play guitar, bass and keyboards as well as sing; and it's time to get with it again after a break.
 
One Ping Only said:
I had a fairly well-rounded exposure to musical styles as a kid. Had wanted to play guitar since I was 3 years old, and I finally gravitated towards playing by age 12 when I first got my hands on a real guitar. Aside from home-influences (and musical taboos like ROCK lololol), as a young musician I was in HS orchestra, jazz-band (did the Chafee Jazz festival a few times) and choral, both playing double and electric bass. Of course there was the rock-n-roll which I dove head-first into, but I grew-up in Bakersfield when "the Bakersfield sound" was developing and at its Zenith, so I had much exposure to C&W as well.

Went to school with a well-known C&W artists' kid, as well as rubbed elbows and was a schoolmate of yet another artist's manager's daughter. The former- I used to wait for the bus after school and, her dad would always pull up in his green Lincoln Continental and I was too shy and respectful of his time to go say "hi" ________. I SO wish I had.

Incidentally I met Brad Gillis ( with Rubicon at the time) in a friend's kitchen one day so many years ago when they were dating for a time in about 1978. Looking back it was funny because you were just in it (the environment) by osmosis, so to speak, and as a youth thought nothing of it...and in hindsight you see how rich that experience was. I'd another friend who was a Nashville session musician (now deceased, RIP) who grew up around the Grand Old Opry in TN. Same kinda thing but amplified. He knew all the greats as a kid and, in looking back, he was blown away at the environment he grew up in.

That thumbnail so to speak with good and bad, sent me on my way to better things.

Anyways, I have a pretty eclectic appreciation of music. REAL music, not (c)rap which I refuse to legitimize anymore than I will legitimize graffiti...
Still play guitar, bass and keyboards as well as sing; and it's time to get with it again after a break.
Click to expand...
I try to stay open minded about different styles of music but I confess I can’t stand rap or hip hop. Or most of the noise kids listen to now.

It all sounds computer generated to me. Most of the lyrics are vile. Garbage. Devoid of musical talent.

One of my oldest friends who I have known since we were little kids.... has one playlist on his phone. It is like the greatest hits of 1980-85. He never adds to it. Same songs over and over. Before phones and mp3 players, it was on cassette mix tapes and cds he burned himself. Now I make fun of him. I ask if he has anything from this century. :) When he plays it in his vehicle, I know what song is next. Because his library hasn't changed in 30 years. When we get in the car, I tell him... if you put on Lynrd Skynrd or Foghat I'm going to take out my gun and shoot your f-ing phone. :)
 
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPm70-nYh68

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I was at his Cat Scratch Fever concert in Hollywood, FL in 1977. Took my little brother with me, too! I remember that one as one of, if not THE loudest performance I ever experienced! I don't think the sound from eight afterburning J-79 engines of the Blue Angels four-ship formation takeoff I witnessed as a kid 10 years earlier was as loud (they were flying F-4 Phantoms then)! It's a wonder I had any hearing after that Ted Nugent concert!
 
My sister had a friend who claimed to have been a groupie back in the day. She was from Detroit. She specifically named the Motor City Madman Ted Nugent, Peter Frampton, and there were others. I remember thinking she was hot in a wonderfully slutty sort of way. Not like the girls I knew. I was 12 years old. :)
 
One of my favorite bands started playing Spotify this evening, I'm already forgetting about alot of the euro metal I've been trying out. Lol
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So there I was...

Hanging out with Ray, a buddy of mine who lives in Miami. It was around this time of year, just before Thanksgiving. He's Cuban, first generation American. He took me to his favorite haunt and we order a couple of Cristals and Cuban sandwiches (which in Cuba are called Cubano sandwiches). Both delicious.

He says, look over to your right. I look and I'll be damned if it isn't Gloria Estefan with a couple of others. In her prime. She was hot. That made me a little sad because my GF broke up with me just a few weeks before. She was a DEA field agent, Cuban, and also smoking hot.

So it being that time of year, here's what I'm beating my bongos to:


View: https://youtu.be/x3CyuFtTQPk?feature=shared
 
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Racer88 said:

Tribal People React to Neil Peart's Drum Solo​

Music is a universal language, eh?


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKbWeLCGCF4
Click to expand...


I would have loved to see their reaction to his iconic drum solo on "All the World's a Stage" where the emphasis was much more on percussion and not so much on melody as it was the days before these types of MIDI triggers, synthesizers, drum machines and electric drums. Whist the drums themselves are generally musically-tuned to certain pitch(es), Neil's 1974(5) kit was much more percussion focused and all he had for musical sounds back then were the cowbell, glockenspiel, wind chimes, triangle, and a few other things; and he had not yet employed the bells that were behind him for years since A Farewell To Kings, IIRC.
It was a definitive moment in music history when he let loose with that iconic, incredible solo...I heard one similar to it when I saw their AFWTK tour live in 1977. Just incredible. Those concert toms rang-out like cannons, as he threw his whole strength into them. In later years, though he still had the talent, precision and drive, the power had waned, which in all fairness, is to be expected, but his run down the concert toms in later years just didn't sound the same. But he was still genius, and grew musically accordingly to showcase not only his talent, but what was possible with modern technology. His big band segment in his later solos was brilliant. And 100% legit.

"Ladies & Gentlemen, the Professor on the drum kit.."

RIP, Neil Peart.
 
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BTW, when I saw RUSH in 1977, Neil had retired that historic chrome & copper kit for the AFWTK tour, and was playing his black kit with the RUSH 'starman' logo on the kick heads- bigger kick drums (24" instead of 22") and had the big bells behind him for 'Xanadu'. That was my first Pro rock-concert I attended, and UFO was the opening group (Schenker was on fire supporting their Lights Out album), and UFO so freaking loud I was hoping RUSH would be less loud. Thankfully, they were, yet POWERFUL, crystal-clear, and flawless in performance. But Neil really tore it up on that drum solo that night. Just incredible.

Was just months later in 1978 when Michael Schenker went AWOL on UFO on tour (and they were coming back through town) and they cancelled their appearance because MS disappeared and nobody knew where we was; then when he finally turned up again, stated, he left because "when I go on the road, I must drink", claimed Schenker, apparantly wanting to sober up. Phil Mogg (their singer) said "no workee, no payee, bye" when Michael turned-up after having joined the Moonies for a time during his absence. UFO was finally peaking with "Only You Can Rock Me" off their newly-released '78 Obsession album and his untimely departure sabotaged that opportunity for them to finally hit it big. Their "Strangers In The Night" live album released in 1979 was fabulous, and probably a much-needed release to satisfy their record contract with Chrysalis while MS was MIA. But I digress... Here's that aforementioned second RUSH kit that Neil employed for the AFWTK & Hemispheres tour...tubular bells and a gong behind him.

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