Thursday, January 12, 2012

‘THE PRESCOTT BLUES’ (Or, ‘STILL GOT THE BRUISE FROM YOU’)

.


[Stephen and Kelly in Kelly’s truck, circa Hangover 1,982.]



[Stephen’s old publicity shot, circa 1982. Picture by Kelly – fine photographer, artful animator, manic mechanic.]

Brother Napoleon and I drove up to Prescott (Airheadzona) from Phoenix (Airheadzona) on ‘Margarita Day, 2012’ just to take a look around the old neighborhood, have lunch and a margarita.

I can’t remember anything that happened after that fifth margarita.

Jus’ kiddin’. We were good boys. (Hell, we’ll try anything once!)

We had lunch at the Gurley Street Bar And Grill, then a beer at the Prescott Brewing Company, we walked around the courthouse square, and I had ONE margarita at Lyzzard’s Lounge. Then we got outta town. (It weren’t nuttin’ like “The Terrible Night I” or “The Terrible Night II”.)

Awhile back ago, with the help of my friend Mister Sheboyganboy Six, I was able the determine that the Chevy pickup truck owned by my ol’ buddy Kelly Anderson was built in 1953 to 1955 or ’57.

Well, back in Prescott on Jan. 1st (“Margarita Day”) I paid a visit to the woman who runs The Old Sage Bookshop, whom I remembered had a Chevy pickup that looked to me as if it were very much like the one Kelly owned. She told me that hers is a ’53, and it just so happens that she’s got it up for sale. (Wish I could afford to buy it. Bet it ain’t as fast as Kelly’s though – being a manic mechanic, he had that thing all souped-up.)

So, I walked down Whiskey Row to where she had it parked and took another look and I made up my mind that Kelly’s Chevy must have been the same year, because I didn’t see a single detail that struck me as being different or out-of-place. Even the “3100” seemed familiar to me.



[Brother Nappy stands next to the '53.]





I’m still gonna play the Tom Waits song “Ol’ ‘55” every year on Kelly’s birth and death dates though - it’s close enough! And the memories! Oh, the memories:

Well, my time went so quickly
I went lickity-splitly
Out to my ol’ '55
As I drove away slowly
Feeling so holy
God knows I was feeling alive

Now the sun's coming up
I'm riding with Lady Luck
Freeway, cars and trucks
Stars beginning to fade
And I lead the parade

Naturally - to Brother Nappy’s disgust - I insisted on taking yet another picture of the cowboy ‘n’ horse statue behind the Prescott Courthouse. (Incidentally, the only lawsuit I was ever involved in was resolved in THAT courthouse. I doesn’t has to tell ya who won,
does I?) This time I think I finally got a picture I’m satisfied with:





I have no idea why the edges of these pictures make it look like there was Vaseline on the cell phone camera’s lens (probably leftover mayonnaise from lunch) but I dig how it makes the pictures look kinda dreamy.

Why do I like this statue so much? Well, mostly I just like the way the brim on the left side of the cowboy’s hat bends upward slightly more than the opposite edge does. (Look, I’ve told you people I’m odd, strange, weird. Didja think I was just saying it to make myself seem “different”? No! I really AM “different”... odd, strange, weird. "Not that there's anything right with that.")

Directly across the street from the fountain where BILLY JACK kicked all that booty in 1971 . . .



. . . there’s a new age book store called Lifeways. Well, back when I lived in Prescott (Oct. 1992 - Feb, ’94) that book store was a record store. As Nappy and I were walking past it, I got to thinking about where I was at “musically” during my time in Prescott.

By then, Jazz and Blues had replaced Rock as my favorite musical genre. In fact, that transformation had begun about 1983 and was complete by ’85. It’s no exaggeration to say that performers like the Eurythmics, Madonna, Culture Club, Duran Duran, and A Flock Of Seagulls chased me into the waiting arms of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, and Blind Lemon Pye. And from there I eventually found my way to Jazz. Ahhh, Jazz!

So, during my time in Prescott, while I was weaving my way from The Bird Cage Saloon to Matt’s Saloon to Sneakers Bar to The Cattleman’s Bar And Grill and back to The Bird Cage Saloon again, it was Blues songs I had running through my mind.

Yeah, during my stay in Prescott, I had the Blues. I had ‘em bad and that weren’t good! Heck, it was the middle of January ’93 while staring out of my Victorian house apartment window that I composed the darkest poem I would ever write: ‘Ailing Spiders’. I’d post it here but it would only bum us all out.

And when I say I had the Blues, I don’t mean that I had the Sad Blues; what I had was the Angry Blues.

And that’s probably why I was SO READY to hear what I heard that July night in 1993 when I walked into that little record shop and started browsing. I really couldn’t afford to buy anything, but I had a few minutes to spare between drinks.

And then I heard those stinging, rip-roaring electric guitar notes bouncing off the walls of that little store. I stopped browsing, walked up to the counter and asked the clerk, “Who the heck is this you’re playing?!”

He says, “Gary Moore. His new album ‘Blues Alive’.”
Me: “You mean Gary Moore - the Irish dude - who was in Thin Lizzy?”
“Yep. Some time ago he met Albert King who really got him into the Blues, and now he plays this stuff. In my opinion, with this album, Gary has graduated into the Guitarist Big Leagues.”



I was just floored by what Gary Moore was doing. Here was an Irish bloke who had taken his brand of Hard Rock/Heavy Metal, added Albert King’s brand of Urban Blues, and come up with an amalgamation I would call Hard Metal Blues"  .

I was all prepared to part with some of my limited funds to buy a copy of that CD but the store didn’t have any more Moore in stock, so the clerk sold me the store’s own used copy at a big discount. He took it right off the store’s CD player and handed it to me.

I took the CD and some beer back to my Victorian house apartment and cranked that album up to eleven for the next seventy-six minutes eight months!

You know how we associate certain songs, albums or musicians with certain events or epochs of our lives? Well, I will never be able to think of that Victorian house converted into an apartment building on Prescott’s main thoroughfare, Gurley Street, without thinking of my poem ‘Ailing Spiders’ and Gary Moore’s album ‘Blues Alive’.



I’ll bet the landlord was ecstatic the day I informed him that I was moving back to Los Angeles. No more nights of ‘Blues Alive’ cranked to eleven at eleven.

Sometime during that same year, my friend Dean came to visit. Some psychic or geologist or psychologist had announced that California was going to experience “The Big One” on a certain weekend, and Dean figured it was as good a time as any to pay a visit to his old friend Stephen up in Prescott, Airheadzona.

When he got there, we decided to spend the weekend camping in Sedona. Of course I packed Gary Moore into the bag with my toothbrush and my Excedrin.

So, that first night, with our campsite set up and an ice chest packed with cold ones, Dean and I broke out the invisible instrument cases, carefully removed the AirGuitars from them, tuned them up, and then stood side-by-side playing all of Gary Moore’s ‘Blues Alive’ licks . . . cranked to eleven, of course.

All through the Sedona valley you could hear our AirGuitars screaming and echoing off the rock walls! All the dogs in Sedona were barking, the women and children were running, and the tree-huggers were scampering up their trees! And the bears . . . well, the bears were sleeping. Even Gary Moore cranked to eleven can’t wake hibernatin’ bears. (Luckily for the AirGuitarist dudes.)

Not one person approached and asked us to turn the AirGuitars down to ten. But then Dean and I were both wearing red bandanas around our necks, and everyone knows you don’t wanna rile cowboys when they got the Blues. Just let ‘em play; they’ll pass out soon enough.



[A drive-through liquor store in Prescott.
Does M.A.D.D. know about this?]

Some songs found on Gary Moore’s ‘Blues Alive’ album . . .

Gary Moore - Still Got The Blues (Live)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O_YMLDvvnw

Believe it or not, I think the version of “Further On Up The Road” found on the ‘Blues Alive’ album is even better than this one:

Gary Moore - Live Blues (1993) #12 "Further On Up The Road"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTY2yTl2l1Q

Link:
Gary Moore - King of the Blues (Live at HammerSmith Odeon 1990)

Albert King:
"He's the hunter with a crosscut saw
Born under a b-A-d sign!"

~ Stephen T. McCarthy

YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.
.

25 comments:

  1. Excellent blog as always Stephen. I love Gary Moore as well so I love these videos. Keep up with the good work buddy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MATTHEW ~
    Thanks, Bro!

    Well, as an Irishman yourself, I would certainly expect you to know a bit about Gary Moore.


    BR'ER MARC ~
    Glad ya enjoyed it, my friend. It was mostly just something I knocked out without a lot of thought and only because I hadn't posted anything here in almost two weeks and figured it was time I dropped in on my own blog.

    Collecting the pics and links took longer than the writing did.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Further Up the Road" was awesome. I didn't know Moore by name, and only vaguely by sound when he was in Thin Lizzy. I liked TL, but not enough to buy an album back in the day, and did not know the names of band members.

    I always liked blues, but I am sure you were harder into it that I ever got. I am sure you were harder into ANYTHING that you were into than I was! You focus, man. Mr. Intense.

    When the Eurythmics, Madonna et al came along I liked them too, and felt that they were a welcome change from the disco of the late 70s. That time was a bit of a letdown musically to me from the late 60s and early 70s. But in the 1980s I seemed to know what songs were going to be hits, and when new songs were released I used to bet people a milkshake as to where songs would fall on the charts. I won a lot of milkshakes.

    Anyway, thanks for the BB, and the GM videos.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Today, the internet is mine(for a few minutes). Followed all the links and listened to all the tunes.

    Nice pic of you, even if it is 30yrs old. You can almost see you in the reflection on one of the others.

    Touching tribute to your friend. Merle may have gone over but 'You never even called me by my name' remains.

    Beautiful stroll through Prescott. I'm not sure if I have ever been there. (That's a sad admission, I can't remember)I have been to Sedona, Flagstaff, Tucson,Page and a few "wide spots in the road" where Daddy had friends. And the 'Big Hole',of course.

    I adore Eric Idle (his humor)but, never heard of The Rutles. Thanks, I'm going to look for more than the YouTube clips.

    I can see iTunes is gonna love you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MR. SHEBOYGANBROTHERBOY SIX ~

    >>...I liked TL, but not enough to buy an album back in the day

    Ah, in my teen years - late high school era - and for perhaps a year after graduation, Thin Lizzy was a big, big favorite for me. I nearly played their "Bad Reputation" album until the grooves were gone.

    Can't really listen to that type of music much anymore, and even Moore's "Blues Alive" I have to be in just the right mood for because it's bit too heavy-handed for my more musically educated, nuance-lovin' ears now, but there's still a place for it. (Especially right after Christmas, when I need to hear some loud electricity after a month of beautiful strings.)

    >>...I am sure you were harder into ANYTHING that you were into than I was! You focus, man. Mr. Intense.

    HA!-HA!
    That's the only time anyone outside of The League Of Soul Crusaders referred to me as Mr. Intense. (And even then, I think it was mostly or only Pooh, Cranium, and perhaps Twinkie who used it.)

    >>...When the Eurythmics, Madonna et al came along I liked them too, and felt that they were a welcome change from the disco of the late 70s.

    Oh. Well, to me, Madonna and the Eurythmics just seemed like a natural progression from Disco (which I also hated, except for Vickie Sue Robinson's "Turn The Beat Around", which I'll still crank up to eleven).

    All that stuffs really, really turned me off: guys trying to look like girls; girls trying to look like guys - that whole androgynous bit - and one bimbo (Madonna) trying to look like another bimbo (Marilyn Monroe).

    Honestly, that whole era struck me as being totally artificial and a celebration of style (BAD style, in my opinion) over substance. I didn't feel that any of them really had a single point of importance to make (dance!-dance!-dance!), and if I heard just one more note on a synthesizer I was going to take that synthesizer and shove it... uh... well, you get the idea.

    And so looking back on that time now, I think my gravitating to the real Blues - Black men making raw, unpolished, organic, emotional music - was a subconscious reaction/rebellion to the New Wave era of prissy, unmanly White men wearing eye shadow and glitter and prancing around like "Kansas City faggots!" (Those last three words stolen from the movie "Blazing Saddles".)

    But, anyway, our differences of opinion on the New Wave era comes as no surprise to either of us, I'm sure. As I noticed and mentioned previously: in the Pop/Rock genre you and I are often 180 degree opposites, but see very much eye-to-eye on the more important genres (i.e., Jazz and Blues). I mean, who else here would have a clue if one of us wrote "There'll Be No Next Time" (which I just did).
    [;o)

    >>...Anyway, thanks for the BB, and the GM videos.

    OK, I'm going to make myself look dense here but... "BB"? I got the "GM" - Gary Moore - but "BB"? (I know I'm going to say "Doh!" and feel extremely stupid when you explain it.

    Thanks for your excellent comment, Bro!

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  6. FARAWAYEYES ~
    Howdy. Welcome back. Glad you could get through this time.

    >>...Nice pic of you, even if it is 30yrs old.

    Thanks! It has a very slight distortion to it because it wasn't scanned - just "a picture of a picture" and taken with my Brother's cell phone camera. But I'm probably the only person who would notice the slight distortion in it.

    There are three things I like about that photo:

    #1) It was taken by my good ol' buddy Kelly "Andy" Anderson (who committed suicide in '86).

    2) Although no one else would know what it is, I can see I'm wearing the gold hangman's noose charm around my neck. That thing was just "SO ME!" at the time. I wore it for years, but as far as I know, this is the only picture I have of it.

    3) I kinda like the rather enigmatic expression on my face. I couldn't begin to remember what I might have been thinking at the moment the camera lens did its thing, but it looks like I'm "thinking" - just THINKING - about smiling. And if I look closely into the eyes, I can see a hint of mischief there.

    I don't know what I was thinking, but it's clear to me, anyway, that I wasn't in one of my usual "dark moods", and I was probably mentally working on some stunt to be played later on someone.

    >>...You can almost see you in the reflection on one of the others.

    Ah, yes! In the picture of the 'For Sale' sign on the '53 pickup. I can actually make out the "Ron Paul For President" cap I was wearing. (Good attention to detail there, missy!)

    >>...Touching tribute to your friend.

    Thank you! I try.

    >>...I adore Eric Idle (his humor) but, never heard of The Rutles.

    It's (obviously) a spoof on The Beatles. An ol' girlfriend turned me on to that long ago, and that bit about how the old Black Bluesman stole his musical ideas from White Rockers totally tickles me. That was a comedic idea of genius, in my opinion.

    >>...I can see iTunes is gonna love you.

    I don't know nuttin' 'bout that. I ain't got an iPod or any of those newfangled contraptions. Heck, I only just bought my first 8-track tape player last month! (It's my picture you'll find under "dinosaur" in the dictionary.)

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  7. Uph! My shorthand came up shorthanded!

    With BB I was referring to Blog Bit.

    Thanks again fo' it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Now I know more about Prescott than just the fact that the people who live there don't like you to pronounce the name of the town the way it's spelled.

    ReplyDelete
  9. MR. FOOTBALLBOY 6 ~
    >>..."Uph! My shorthand came up shorthanded!"

    Yeah. And your "Uhp!" came up "Uph!"
    [;o)}

    Don'tcha just hate a guy who points out every little typo?! (Me too!)

    BB = Blog Bit. Ahh, got it. (And I probably shoulda got it from the beginning, since I am the bloke who coined the term "blog bit". Uhp!-Me2.)


    MARJORIE ~
    I know you're an Arizona gal, so are you saying that only because of your insider knowledge? Or are you remembering the very old blog bit I posted about that? The one in which I included the letter I'd written to a "Presskit" newspaper journalist and which was later printed in the paper?

    Hey, are you back to stay? Or are you going to go away again?

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  10. Actually it's the insider knowledge I was referring to. I'm back to stay. I think I'll be posting more about my classes and such. I definitely will be around though.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great tunes! I'm not stuck in one genre of music...I love it all! Well, most of it...I think I've said before that I'm not much into gansta rap or heavy metal...or country..although I do own a Metallica cd!..and I even play it from time to time..Tom Waits is a fantastic tribute to your friend..I love him! One of my faves is 'Kentucky Avenue'..oh! and 'Chocolate Jesus', 'What's He Building in There', 'Small Change', 'Step Right Up'...so many great songs...I do love the '80's too...I feel like I can run into the arms of John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters without giving up the embrace of all the others I love. I'll admit, I have to be in a certain sort of mood to put on a blues cd, and those moods don't really come about too often anymore..sometimes I'm in the mood for disco, or punk, or pop...there was a time when I lived off of Lou Reed, and now I find him tedious to listen to..I think it's natural to have musical tastes, and interests in certain artists change as we change..of course we all have the ones that we love always..great post Stephen! Belated Happy Margarita Day!

    ReplyDelete
  12. MARJORIE ~
    I recently wrote another blog bit pertaining to reincarnation, and I couldn't help thinking about you as I did so. Hardly anyone commented on it. (No surprise there. It was way too challenging for those who have religious ideas they've already committed to and can't afford to have questioned by problematic verses taken right out of their own Holy Bible.)

    As I was composing that blog bit, you came to mind (because you so greatly appreciated my previous writings about reincarnation), and I was thinking: Of all my blog's Followers, Marjorie is probably the only one who could embrace THIS blog bit.

    Hey! That last (embarrassing) comment I left on your blog - I meant to add that I really liked a couple of the art pieces you included! Namely, the one with the four pictures of a little girl (in various colors) and the silhouette of her stuffed bear, and also the painting of the saguaro.

    I tried repeatedly (like 6 or 7 times) to go back and add that as a "postscript", but the friggin' Blogspot.com system wouldn't allow me to again access that page on your blog.

    For the last week or more, I have had the same problem with several of the blogs I "Follow". Blogspot.com is so f##kin' buggy that every one of their I.T. people should have been fired years ago!

    If I was paying money for the kind of service that Blogspot.com provides, ...I WOULDN'T!

    Every few weeks, I encounter a new bug in the Blogspot.com system - some which eventually get corrected, and some which never do. And I am truly reaching the end of my patience with Blogspot.com. (Life is full enough of aggravations without us volunteering to endure even more!)

    Marjorie, just know that I am no longer allowed to view your most recent blog installment and able to include an addendum. I can't even SEE that last (embarrassing) comment I left on your blog. [At this point, I am no longer a fan of Blogspot.com!]

    Anyway, if you'd like a link to my most recent "reincarnation" blog bit (pertaining to the idea that Jesus Himself may have reincarnated several times), just say so, and I'll post one for ya!

    [For now anyway, Blogspot.com still allows me to post comments in the comment sections of MY OWN blog bits.]

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  13. EVE ~
    >>..."there was a time when I lived off of Lou Reed, and now I find him tedious to listen to."

    Yeah, I can relate to THAT!
    You probably didn't read it (and I can't even remember which blog bit I mentioned it in), but I was once into 'The Velvet Underground', and recall listening to their 1969 live album while driving through the Arizona desert. It struck me at the time as a real dichotomy - what with the V.U. exploring such urban themes.

    But later, I determined that Lou Reed was a naked emperor.

    And I agree with you in that I must be in a certain type of mood to play some types of music. Even though some performers (mostly in the Jazz genre) I am almost always ready to hear.

    (Most of the popular performers from the 1980s and later, however, I am NEVER in a mood to hear. I do have some sense of an acceptable standard, for crying-out-loud! And I am convinced that there is a very special place at the "crossroads" of "hell" reserved for U2 and Green Day!)

    Thanks for your comment.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  14. OK, Mr. Stephen McButtonpusher!

    I take that Green Day remark as a personal offense! And the best D-Fens is a good O-Fens!

    U2, I'll agree with you about. But Green Day is excellent stuff(s) most of the time, especially if you don't listen to their commie words.

    And no, I don't know which end is Uhp.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Pat 1 Of 2:

    MR. SHEBOYGANBOY SIX ~

    >>..."And no, I don't know which end is Uhp."

    Ha!-Ha! Oh, McBoyganbrother, I do so love your wit! You leave such great comments that I really ought to be paying you for them. (Don't get any ideas; I can't afford it!)

    >>..."I take that Green Day remark as a personal offense!"

    Aw, I trust you're merely joking. However... in a way, there probably was a sort of indirect "personal" angle to the mention of Green Day. Only because last night, just before we toddled off to our respective beds, Nappy and I watched that Drumming DVD (which I enjoyed and will speak more about in a future Email).

    But, as you now realize, last night I had actually heard a Green Day song (good drummer, but can't say much else positive for it).

    Being a Blues fan yourself, hopefully you caught on to the inner meaning about the "crossroads" of "hell" remark. ...the old myth about some musicians (most notably Robert Johnson) having supposedly sold their souls to the devil at the "crossroads" in exchange for great music careers.

    You disagree, I realize (and no problem with that), but to the ears of Stephen T. McCarthy, the popularity of some groups - U2 and Green Day being two very notable examples (in my opinion) - is so inexplicable as to cause the suspicion of soul-selling at the crossroads to come to my mind.

    Again, just in my opinion, few performers have made so much hay with such little talent as those two aforementioned groups that it makes me wonder... which crossroads did they visit? And would the devil be willing to make an arrangement with me? Because I have so little talent as well, but wouldn't mind turning it into fame and fortune via hellish alchemy.

    Ha!

    OK, remark explained. No personal offense intended, toward you or anyone else. (But what's especially funny is that just yesterday, I was deliberately needling Brother Nappy about something and he yelled at me, "You're pushing my buttons!"

    Continued...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Part 2 Of 2:

    Sixboy ~

    ...AND NOW ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE:

    Actually, something I mentioned in the last comment I posted here to Marjorie really did cause me some alarm, as I later came to realize that it might have the potential to unintentionally offend some of my readers (which I would never want to do).

    I woke up this morning from a sound sleep at 2:34 AM with this horrible thought in my mind:
    "What if some of my Christian friends who read my blog think I was alluding to them personally with that remark about my reincarnation blog bit being 'way too challenging for those who have religious ideas they've already committed to and can't afford to have questioned...' (etc.)?"

    Literally, for a couple of minutes I sat up in my bed while considering whether or not I should get up in the cold, dark night, turn on the computer and either delete or edit that comment to Marjorie. I was REALLY that anxious about perhaps inadvertently offending one or all of my Christian readers.

    To clarify... right off the top of my head, I could list at least 10 (and maybe more) periodic readers of this blog who consider themselves to be Christian of one stripe or another. Therefore, let it be understood by one and all that I did not have any specific person in mind when I wrote that comment, and I was not in the least bit attempting to insult anyone or push any particular person's buttons.

    I was just stating the situation as I truly believe it to be, but in a general "human nature" sense, and applying it to most self-professed Christians - not just those who read my blog regularly or semi-regularly, but also to any Christians who might eventually discover that blog bit by simply Googling words like "Reincarnation / Christianity / The Holy Bible", etc.

    You did not mention my remark to Marjorie in your "Green Day D-Fens/O-Fens" comment, so I'm assuming you did not take it the wrong way and personally, but I wanted to clarify it here anyway for anyone who might come along later and read these comments.

    Yak Again Soon, Brother McSix!

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  17. No, I was just joking about being offended, which I tried to make clear by making my remarks especially silly.

    As virtually everyone who ever seriously listened to music has noted, music is inexplicable and personal. This very subject was the occasion of our meeting online so long ago on the Amazon comment boards. That was my only foray into online discussions, other than comments here and a couple of comments on Disconnected's site.

    So, I know and knew that you hate Green Day. You know I love them! Oh, well. You obviously hear stuffs I don't. And I hear definite suggestions of The Who in their music (and I can prove it!); as you also know, The Who is one of my top three all-time favorites.

    However, I ALSO love blues and jazz. Not fond of polka, rap, or much country. I LOVE opera and most classical. Who knows why?

    As for the reincarnation comments, I recognized the opportunity to seize taking offense, but I knew it was not a slap at anyone. You state strong opinions and when people do that, it always opens some chance to be offended if you try. From earlier experience I have learned NOT to grab for that ring.

    BUT, I will tell you that you were right about me anyway. When I saw that reincarnation blog, I knew I didn't have time to read it AND I was sure I would not agree with you anyway... so I didn't read that one. SO, you were right!

    ReplyDelete
  18. It really is funny how we associate certain songs with moments in our lives. I have a few of those myself.

    This sounds like it was quite the adventure.

    Oh, and I've never been to Sedona, but it has come up in so many conversations over the past couple of weeks that I'm kind of thinking I really need to.

    There was a lot to comment on in this post, but I'm sort of on medication right now and my brain feels fuzzy, so I can't remember what else I was going to say.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Stephen,
    I would actually love to see that Reincarnation blog bit. As for the embarrassing comment you made on my blog, I wasn't embarrassed at all. I appreciated the male perspective you gave.

    Thanks for the compliments on my artwork. The little girl in the painting is my younger daughter. I used a favorite photo I took of her and put quite a different spin on it. The last I'm sure you appreciate as a fellow Arizonan. Did you know that I didn't use a stitch of black in that entire painting? Not one. All the shadow effects were done using color and white. The goal was to be able to get the desired effect without using black. Just mixing my color palette took an entire hour each time I worked.

    ReplyDelete
  20. SHEBOYGANBOY SIX ~

    >>...Not fond of polka, rap, or much country.

    Why you communistic so-and-so!

    If you think I'm going to stand idly by while you bad-mouth America, you're sadly...

    ...right!

    >>...I LOVE opera and most classical. Who knows why?

    I do. But I wouldn't risk losing your friendship by publicly saying it.

    STOP!
    I swear, brother, I was TOTALLY joking! I have no idea what answer I would have even given there, if pressed for one. All I know is that, like all great running backs, when I see a hole, I run to it! If I had ANY degree of athletic ability (rather than just a smart-assed mind and a loose tongue) I would have made millions of dollars, rather than losing millions of friends!

    You know me well enough by now to just chalk all my bullcrapism up to "Stephenism" and to simply look the other way.
    [;o)}

    As far as the other stuffs is concerned... I appreciate my true friends always giving me the benefit of any doubt. It hasn't always been thus, but I wish it were.

    >>...When I saw that reincarnation blog, I knew I didn't have time to read it AND I was sure I would not agree with you anyway... so I didn't read that one.

    And then you go and breaks my heart! But it's such a little heart that it hardly matters.

    ["But it's such a little heart that it hardly matters." To quote my Brother Nappy: "You are probably one of those artists whose talent won't be recognized until after you are dead." And ain't that the way it's always been throughout all of my lifetimes? Just once, I want to be recognized for my God-given ability while I'm still alive!]

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  21. KAREN, My Dear... ~

    >>...This sounds like it was quite the adventure.

    Thanks! (But, truthfully, I'm quite the liar.)

    >>...I've never been to Sedona, but it has come up in so many conversations over the past couple of weeks that I'm kind of thinking I really need to.

    Just be prepared to hand over your brain at the Arizona state border. (And when they tell you that it will be returned to you as you leave... DON'T BELIEVE 'EM!)

    >>...I'm sort of on medication right now and my brain feels fuzzy, so I can't remember what else I was going to say.

    Oooh! Who's your man?
    I needs to get me some of that stuffs!

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  22. It's the best when you find that album that you play for eight months straight. I hadn't heard of Gary Moore before this post, but I enjoyed the videos.

    ReplyDelete
  23. MARJORIE ~
    I’m not sure how these comments and my replies got out of order, but I’ve been having some very strange problems with Blogspot recently (e.g., like how I am unable to read and leave comments on some blogs, with yours, unfortunately, being one of them).

    So, I apologize for the lateness of this reply, but it was the buggy system, not me being slow, lazy, or stupid. (Well, OK, stupid maybe... that’s always a distinct possibility with me.)

    >>...I appreciated the male perspective you gave.

    OK, good, and thanks for saying so. I could have gone into more detail but I was embarrassed enough already, addressing that topic in public. (Funny thing though... my brother Nappy, just last night, said something that very much confirmed the position I took in that comment; he thinks the same way about it that I do, and as plenty of other guys do too, even if that’s not the generally perceived belief.)

    >>...The little girl in the painting is my younger daughter.

    Oh, very cool. And, no, I had no idea that you hadn’t used any black in creating the shadow effects on that saguaro painting. (An interesting little exercise that came out quite nicely!)

    Here’s a link to my latest reincarnation post that you requested:

    THE REINCARNATING JESUS: Will It Be His “2nd Coming” Or His 34th?

    I hope you find it worth the time it takes to read.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    ‘Loyal American Underground’

    ReplyDelete
  24. MISSED PERIODS ~
    Thanks for reading, listening, and commenting. Glad I could introduce ya to Gary. Finding good, new stuffs is always... uh... good.

    (And to think that I once believed I might have a writing career awaiting me. Ha!-Ha!)

    ~ D-FensDogg
    ‘Loyal American Underground’

    ReplyDelete

---> NOTE: COMMENT MODERATION IS ACTIVATED. <---
All submitted comments that do not transgress "Ye Olde Comment Policy" will be posted and responded to as soon as possible. Thanks for taking the time to comment.