Random non-sequitors

Hello. Yep, I've been avoiding this LJ thing. Why? No reason. Just um.. time I guess. Or lack of it. Busy I've been. Have you checked out http://www.livelimelight.com yet? If not, what're you waiting for? If so, what did/do you think? I want to know! What I do know already is that it's been a wonderful project. I'm psyched about the bands we've seen and how the local live music scene is developing, evolving, mutating and just all out growing!

So I've increased the inclusion of local Charlotte bands when I'm at Snug Harbor. Monday nights are exceedingly eclectic there. Here's what I played this first Monday of November:

Seth was playing stuff....

Red Rain
Peter Gabriel
Just because it had that feel! That which Seth was playing I mean.

Ivy
Cement Stars
A local band!

Mystic Rhythms
Rush

More Seth's turn stuff

Frug
Rilo Kiley

Mary Had A Little Lamb
Stevie Ray Vaughn

I'm So Afraid
Fleetwood Mac

Set's stuff.. though last as he left

I'm going slightly mad
Queen
I really feel that I am

Bourbon Street
Colby Dobbs Band
Another local band

Any Major Dude Will Tell You
Steely Dan

Thorn in my Pride
Black Crowes
Live from Crowology

In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
Allman Bros.

Madman Across The Water
Elton John

Let The Good Times Roll
The Cars

Fat Bottomed Girls
Queen
A request!!

Your Love
Outfield
Another request (really just overheard)

Love Song
The Cure

Psycho Killer
Talking Heads
Yet another request!

Saved by Zero
The Fixx

Lights
Journey

Crazy On You
Heart

Golden Years
David Bowie
Seriously, another request!

Bringing on the heartbreak
Def Leppard
The remix without Switch 625

White Wedding
Billy Idol
The request had been to bring it up a bit and not be so mellow

Porch
Pearl Jam

Mysterious Ways
U2

Aces High
Iron Maiden
Would you believe this was a request also? It was!!

Paradise City
Guns N' Roses
Yep, another request

What A Wonderful World
Joey Ramone
I love this version of this song!

You've Got Another Thing Comin'
Judas Priest

Knockin' At Your Back Door
Deep Purple

Road To Nowhere
Ozzy Osbourne

Kill The King
Rainbow
I am shocked that this was a request.

Go To Hell
Alice Cooper

In My Dreams
Dokken
A request from Benji Hughes. Ended up with the live version

Here I Go Again
Whitesnake
The original version from Saints N' Sinners. I was asked if it was a demo or something.

Live For the Music
Bad Company

Road To Nowhere
Talking Heads
Yep, another request. I responded that I already played that song, then it was pointed out the difference was that I played Ozzy's song of the same name. Wasn't appreciated.

Das Party Hausen
Super Ape
A local band that Jason, the bartender, is in.

Walk On By
The Stranglers

How Soon Is Now?
The Smiths
Yes the original version. What of it?

Toys in the Attic
Aerosmith

Passage To Bangkok
Rush

Rock And Roll Creation
Spinal Tap

Too Much Time On My Hands
Styx

Foreplay/Long Time
Boston

Tend My Garden
James Gang

How Many More Times
Led Zeppelin

Coma White
Marilyn Manson

I'd love to Change the World
Ten Years After

Again, the segue from Coma White into I'd Love To Change The World is amazing. However, that's it. It was time to go. So, not gonna happen next week, it may resume later though. It's great to be in a place that they appreciate what you're doing. Requests are cool, it's the other stuff though that they liked. I'm not a jukebox though. Yet a terabyte drive filled with music helps.

It was a night of overcoming obstacles. That much I can say at this time. More later. Hey, does anyone still read this? If so, are play lists really what you want to read?

So, as I posted in that other social networking location, the non-journal face related one:

"Home after DJing @ Snug & turn on the TV. DVRed episodes of "The New Twilight Zone", the remake from the '80's that was playing on Chiller (or something like it). So I figure I'd wind down &, yes, Zone out. Seems this episode starts at a mental hospital & panning across the front lawn they show the sign up front, "Snug Harbor Hospital" it says. Really? Does my life need to be that surreal? There's only one answer to that almost rhetorical question & that's.... Fish."

Yeah, technically that happened the previous week, I just didn't write about it.

So, this time it was pretty good. Brad and Seth were on when I got there and were playing funk. So, the idea was to continue the funk. Brad said, "play some Funkadelic, there's a guy here that loves them." Okay... so... I started close...

Erotic City - George Clinton - C
Free Your Mind and your Ass will follow - Funkadelic - C
Atomic Dog - George Clinton - C
Dirty Love - Frank Zappa and the Mothers - C

All of that was thanks to the fact that we were still setting up and connecting the turntable. So from there, I went with:

Ain't To Proud To Beg - The Temptations - V
Green Onions - Booker T. and the MG's - C

At this point, I remembered that it was "Speak Like A Pirate Day" and I was at place called "Snug Harbor", so rather than pour on the pirate songs, I thought I'd be a bit more subtle and go with sailing songs.

Sail Away Sweet Sister - Queen - V
Ramble On - Led Zeppelin - C -

right, not about sailing, though about travel. Shut up, it worked, okay?

Wooden Ships - Jefferson Airplane - V
Better now?

Who's Behind the Door - Zebra - C
Mistral Wind - Heart - V

Then we had a very drunk guy come up, see my "We're Not Gonna Take It" shirt that I got at the Roger Daltrey concert and he freaked out saying how much he loved The Who. And, who am I to argue? I told him where I got it and he then freaked out some more. I also told him I had the .mp3 of the show and he said, PLAY SOME DUDE! Not having "DUDE", I played Who Are You instead.

Who Are You - Roger Daltrey (live in Alpharetta, GA on 9-15-11) - C
Start/I Don't Remember - Peter Gabriel - V
Sound + Vision - David Bowie - B
I Wouldn't Want To Be Like you - Alan Parson's Project - B
Saved By Zero - The Fixx - V
I Can See It In Your Eyes - Men At Work - B
Moron - Dead Milkmen - V
Corona - Calexico - B
Jolly Roger - Adam And the Ants - V
Natalie's Party - Stack - B
Land Ho! - The Doors - V
Shipping off to Boston - Dropkick Murphys - C
Riding the Storm Out - REO Speedwagon - V
If I Should Fall From The Grace Of God - The Pogues - C
Cruisin' - Mike Nesmith - V
Alive - Pearl Jam - C
Be My Lover - Alice Cooper - V
Bit Of Finger/Sleeping Village/The Warning - Black Sabbath - V
Maggot Brain - Funkadelic - C
Liberation - Chicago - V
Goodnight - Robert Plant - C

So I took Labor Day off from being at Snug. Previous engagement was... engaged. My ongoing D&D game happened that day and had previously been scheduled. Y'see, since the Snug DJing thing is a volunteer type thing, plus it having been Labor Day, I informed that I wasn't going to go.

Anyway, a week later I returned and realized there and then that it was addictive as hell. Breaks from DJing once you've started? How do you handle it? I've always been one that has needed to share music. It's beyond a little drive, it's something I just have to do. Started out when I began buying albums, moved quickly into and obsession in high school with the radio station, then continued through my stabs at higher education as I was involved in their stations. Finally, when that was over I had already begun making tapes and that really ran up until the last decade, by which I mean the first decade of this century, where I switched to making CDs. Then .mp3 CDs. Then broadcasting through the server Lance set up. Then it evolved into Musical Conversations, which then mutated (as opposed to evolved) into what I do for PMCR on Tuesday nights for the Friday (technically Saturday morning) rebroadcast.

I realize now that I've given up putting anything under a cut. Too much hassle now? Does it bother anyone? Sorry if it does.

Moving along now... so now that I'm also DJing at Snug Harbor, I'm finding that there is an audience that appreciates what I'm doing and is one that I hope to grow... so if you're in Charlotte and do happen to read this, please show up at Snug Harbor on Monday night. Even if it's just to stop in and say 'hello, I've read your LJ', I'd greatly appreciate it.

On the 12th of September, at the end of a terrible time with vehicles and awful other things happening, I spent the day thinking about what music to bring to Snug Harbor to enjoy and pursue. I've mentioned this before and it's what I do to prepare. I do it that way since I do bring records. I mean, I could just bring the laptop and the hard drive, it's that I'm enjoying the segue. It's what I really enjoy about some of my favorite DJs in town. Have I mentioned this already? If so, sorry and even still yes, I'm talking about DJ Spider. I should tag that as her... don't even remember the code to do that now. Seriously, my issue is that she does something like a monthly stint at The Breakfast Club and honestly I don't know if I could handle it. Anything '80's makes me cringe to the point of wishing the decade never happened (or that I could Alter Reality (yes, as in the D&D spell) to make it quite a bit different than it actually was), so I'm not likely to want to immerse myself into an environment that celebrates that era. Not to say I'm not strong enough to handle it and couldn't suck it up and just do it, it's that I... well... I haven't. Yet. I might. Eventually. Maybe? I guess I just haven't had the right... motivation. That's it. I need motivation to go there.

Hmm... anyway, moving along again... so I spend the day pulling records. Here I am thinking of what direction to go in and I come up with what I think is a brilliant plan of action. A melding of jazz and heavy metal. It's really easier than you'd think and one that should work well though it sounds horrible on paper (or on screen). Hours of pouring over the records, pulling some to just remember that I have the file version and not just on vinyl. I end up with about 30 records, which isn't bad considering that I'm only going on for a short while... as far as I know. Maybe a couple of hours, at most three or four? Yeah, that's good, a good selection and really, I can hear the transition from Return To Forever into Black Sabbath. More metal needs to be played anyway.

Then I see the message. Very simply, I'm going to play between sets and after a country band that is scheduled to play that night. A country band? Gee, um... great. Looking through anything I pulled, I realize that only about three picks would work. A Suzi Quatro (I'm thinking "Stumblin' In")... and two others that I honestly can't remember at this time. Black Sabbath's Paranoid might have been another and yep, I'm thinking "Planet Caravan" for that. Why not? It could work, yes? Much better than the Judas Priest I pulled (Screamin' For Vengeance).

A country band? A country band. Okay. I'm up for the challenge. Bag what I've got, start pulling again. Poco, Linda Ronstadt, Eagles, Quicksilver Messenger Service... um... QMS? Sure, it could be country... if you're as stoned as they were. "Oh, what about me" they wail... yeah. Okay. What else? Well... this is what I ended up playing...

First, the guy Ronnie Hymes from Fayetteville was the opening act. Both used the same band, a stand-up bass player and a guitarist that played a strat and a slide/steel guitar. Great stuff. Sounded great at Snug also, which is saying a lot. After he was done, I talked with him a bit and thanked him. Then later, after the "headliner" guy was done I talked with Ronnie again and told him about PMCR and Musical Conversations and asked him what he'd like to hear. He first said "Hank 3", of which I'm sure I have the absolute minimum if any at all, so I asked for something else and he said "Johnny Cash". Well, I've got Johnny Cash. Damn near everything, what by him and 'oh anything' won't work. He picked "Doin' My Time" from 1957. So, that's where I started. My leaping off point there.

Doing My Time - Johnny Cash - C
Crazy Love - Poco - V
Everybody's Been Burned - The Byrds - C
When Will I Be Loved - Linda Ronstadt - V
Seagull - Bad Company - C
Behind Blue Eyes - Pete Townshend - V
Days Go By (acoustic) - Dirty Vegas - C
Alison - Elvis Costello - V
Resist (acoustic live) - Rush - C

Hold on a moment. Under ten songs and I got from Johnny Cash to Rush? Damn, that's got to be a record breaking event or something. Anyway, it's still a country/folk kind of thing there so I kept going...

Romeo & Juliet - Dire Straits - V
Grand River Lullaby - Alex Bevan - C
Count On Me - Jefferson Starship - V
These Days - Jackson Browne - C - A Request!
Breakdown - Suzi Quatro - V

and not the song I thought I'd play, though this went over well and yes, the Tom Petty song

Crazy On You (live from the Road Home) - Heart - C - Another request
Flight of the Bumblebee - Leopold Stokowski conducting - V
Giant Step - the Monkees - C

At this point, or just before everyone seemed to need a smoke. Hmm... not Monkees fans? Meh... I kept going...

I've Got a Name - Jim Croce - V
Journey of the Sorcerer - The Eagles - C

A bit too quiet of a start, people came back in wondering if I was still going. I was.

Another World - Joe Jackson - V - another request
Arc of a Diver - Steve Winwood - C - yet another request
The Places You Find Love - Quincy Jones - V

And here I am, knowing how the song ends and I hear a beautiful segue in my mind. A great one, just awe inspiring and wonderful. However great it sounded in my head, in practice it wasn't. I mean, it was awful and I don't know if there's anything I could have done to or with it that would have made it better. Seriously, it sucked. The song ultimately was enjoyed, though... gee the segue made me cringe. I mean, in the end of the QJ song I was playing, there's an African chorus yelling something in... possibly Swahili or Afrikaans, I don't know. And then they cheer. Something like, "Mabooyeah" I think it is. And underneath that, I heard the next song I played. And it wasn't good.

In The Light - Led Zeppelin - C

So I've learned. Not good. Next segue was good though. This works. And I know, earlier I berated an entire decade and the next song is from that decade. Hmm.. so maybe I will go to The Breakfast Club after all at some point since there are redeeming qualities. And who knew that coming out of Led Zeppelin I could play Berlin?

No More Words - Berlin - V
I have the Touch - Peter Gabriel - C
Hangin' on the telephone - Blondie - V
Stone Cold Crazy - Queen - C
Cruise Control - The Dregs - V
Had Enough - The Who - c

And this next song is what told me that Snug Harbor's sound system is not in true stereo.

Hocus Pocus - Focus - V
Taboo - Santana - C - a request from earlier in the night.

At this point everyone was done inside and the sweeping and cleaning had begun. I really just gave up. I should have played Maggot Brain and Goodnight. Those are two regulars on Musical Conversations. Maggot Brain by Funkadelic and Goodnight is from the bootleg of Robert Plant.

All in all, a good night. So next time there's nothing I need to do as far as paying attention to genre. I look forward to it.

So it continues. I still don't have much time to write, even for the projects I really want to do, which includes Live Limelight. I also had a terrible start to the month of September, which really destroyed any desire to write about any of the local bands we've seen. However, I'm able to write now and will catch up on a lot of those. I really think my shitty start to September started early with this bit of adventure at Snug Harbor. I'm glad that the next time was better.

So I spent the day pulling records and thinking about the upcoming night of DJing. The previous week was just me and I had a lot of fun. This week I knew there were going to be others in there. Not a problem and we'll see where we can go with it. I'm really glad they were there. Trying to decide who is going to drive, we ended up taking the Microbus. I get there and I park in the driveway next to Snug. Once inside I note that there's two DJs up there and a setup on the stage of laptops and sequencers and other odd things. I introduce myself to the DJs, some of whom I've met before. They tell me that "Lapse" is going to do his performance piece thing for a bit and then I can go on. And so I wait. And wait. And finally they push him on so that the night can move on.

His stuff is amazing. It's all done live and things are triggered and there are beats and spoken word things and it's trippy and everything and he went on for forty five minutes. When he started to wind down I heard something that reminded me of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. So I played that first.

Tusk - Fleetwood Mac - V
Taboo - Santana (request) - C
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place/It's My Life/Don't Bring Me Down - David Johansen - V
Paint It Black Medley - War - C
A Night Like This - The Romantics - V
Sixteen - Iggy Pop - B
Move On - David Bowie - B
Young Americans - David Bowie - V
Dancing In The Moonlight - Thin Lizzy - B
Knocking At Your Back Door - Deep Purple - V
Never Been Any Reason - Head East - C
I Need A Lover - John Cougar - V
I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You - Alan Parsons Project - C
Time Waits For No One - Ambrosia - V
Subdivisions - Rush - C
Victim of Changes - Judas Priest - V

And that's when I found out that the front right tire on the Microbus was flat. The "B" tag there is from Brad's computer. Up until that point I had a great time. From that point on, it was pretty terrible.

So, as I'm standing outside and looking at the flat tire and thinking that I don't have a way to change this, a guy walking across the street comes up and asks me if that's a '72. Sure, okay, how weird is that? Yeah, it is and he points to all of the unique markers that show it as being a '72, like the rear vents are large and the squared off tail lights and the rounded bumper. Great. He helps out a lot. He goes to his Vanagon and gets out the lug nut socket wrench and loosens the lug nuts. I end up getting about five guys from inside Snug to come out and lift the front end of it so the tire can be changed. Remove/replace done, tighten down the lug nuts and I have a flat spare. Great. So one of the guys gets his car and has a compressor that plugs into the lighter in the car. He plugs that in and fills the spare. It looks like it's holding air! I pack up and say goodbye and leave and get downtown and I feel the wobble of a flat tire. Drive to South Blvd. and East to get to the nearest gas station and fill up the tire after getting some Fix-A-Flat in there. Drove it home and didn't get in until after 3.

Oh, it's okay, the rest of the week sucked and it really kept getting worse. I'll type about that at some point.

The set was good though. Great connections and finally getting people who understand what I'm doing or at least trying to do with Musical Conversations. Next I'm going to try and dig deeper and may work on a melding of jazz and heavy metal.

Lastly, thanks guys at Snug. Couldn't have done it without you.

Hey there,

I've really abandoned this thing, haven't I? Well, maybe not if I'm typing in it now. I do still read it occasionally, in other words I read what everyone else is typing. I just haven't typed anything in a long time. I left off with a half finished meme and the start of playlists of Internet radio shows. The meme was fun, the playlists end up getting way too long and time consuming to retype. Though honestly, I write them all down, so I do have them. Cool thing is that I hardly ever repeat songs. I have a few set songs that I do play every time, those are outside of that qualification though, they're the "special" ones.

Musical Conversations is my Internet radio broadcast that I do on Tuesday nights from 9 until 3am. Yes, six hours of music and conversation! Using the interactivity of the Internet, I chat using various forms and methods, including but not limited to Facebook (yeah, the enemy around here in LJ land), AIM and Yahoo! chats, email (seems so quaint and archaic now) and even Google+ (though that's just starting up). What's cool is that occasionally I have a co-host or even a local band sit in for an interview. I'm working on expanding that aspect of Musical Conversations, to have an actual conversation with others here.

Thanks to the wonders of computers, the show is archived, which allows me to do the minor editing needed in case there is a glitch (and, it like many other things, happens), so that I can then upload it to the guys at PMCR for rebroadcast. PMCR is Plaza-Midwood Community Radio. They at PMCR then rebroadcast my show very early Saturday morning, like at 1 am, which means it goes until 7 am. I'm the all-night DJ on Friday nights! I've always thought of myself as an overnight DJ and so this fits and works out great.

There's more! PMCR takes over Snug Harbor on Monday nights. First night, last week (8-22-11) I was the only DJ to show. I mean, one guy was there, though he was also the bartender. He handed it over to me and I got to play! I was told there was a turntable (as in one) and an input for a laptop or i-Pod or something. So, I packed up the little Acer Netbook, the backup hard drive (only 1tb) and brought more vinyl than I could use.

Wow.

I mean, it was wonderful! I am not a club DJ. I tend to play music for myself and if others happen to enjoy it, great. I'm not one to DJ for weddings either. If I do play music for someone, I consider it to be for one singular person and focus on that, me sharing music with them. If that individual happens to be multiple people, great also. I tend not to like to play for a crowd, like at a dance club or a wedding. So, being invited down to Snug Harbor is a challenge I thought I would undertake. Now, does this mean that I'd never do a club night? I'd really like to acclimate myself to it, though still keep my style in place. I know, I know, the key is to be mutable and play to (and for) the crowd. I'm happy that I've been able to find a crowd that is interested in the music as a journey and follow what I'm doing. As I've said, if you're not following the conversation, then you're not listening.

I show up and there's nobody there. One guy at the bar and he wasn't the bartender. A couple outside also. A few more showed up throughout the night. I had my regular listeners tune in even though they aren't in town. And I had fun. Lots of fun. So maybe I'll share that playlist. Note that V or C means that it came from vinyl or computer.

Spirit of Radio - Rush - V
Clones/Pain - Alice Cooper - V
The Step and The Walk - The Duke Spirit - C
Live for the Music - Bad Company - V
Bourbon Street/Girl Like You - Colby Dobbs Band - C - local band
Roland The Headless Gunner - Warren Zevon - V
Life in the Fast Lane - The Eagles - C
Turn to Stone - Joe Walsh - V - live
Urban Spaceman - the Bonzo Dog Band - C
Piranhas - Man Man - V
Montana - The Mothers - C
Ah Via Musicom/Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson - V
Mohammad's Radio - Warren Zevon - C - request
Higher Love - Steve Winwood - V - hey, I got a cue headphone finally
Peace of Mind - Boston - C
Dragon Attack - Queen - V
Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith - C - note to self, the segue sucked from Queen
I am the Sea/The Real Me - The Who - V
Frozen Love - Buckingham-Nicks - C
Love Alive - Heart - V
Let's Get The Show On The Road - Michael Stanley & Friends - C
Children of the Sun - Billy Thorpe - V
Rock and Roll Creation - Spinal Tap - C
Too much time on my hands - Styx - C
Heavy Metal - Sammy Hagar - V - Heavy Metal soundtrack
Mean Street - Van Halen - C - Internet request
Everybody Run, the Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun - Julie Brown - V
This Beat Goes On/Switching to Glide - The Kings - C
Let's Go - the Cars - V
Mystery Achievement - Pretenders - C
Destroyer - Kinks - C
Love Is - Allanah Myles - V
Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers - C - request
The Wizard - Black Sabbath - V
Dreamline - Rush - C
Fight the Good Fight - Triumph - V
Maggot Brain - Funkadelic - C
L.A. Woman - The Doors - V

And that's it. What did Jason put on after the Doors? Pop that pussy by 2 Live Crew. From there? I don't know.

I also went last night and had a great time also. I'm going to post about that one soon. It was a night of overcoming tragedies and triumphing beyond reality. I'll explain at some point.

Well, hello again LJ. It's been awhile. I've not forgotten about you though. Still working on blogging a bit better. I've got a few other outlets for it, yet this still is the better one as I don't have a limitation on the number of words or characters. Why have I forgotten? The other outlets are so easy and appealing. So I'll keep this going as my Snug Harbor DJing blog.. with a few other things maybe?

Should I post my Musical Conversations playlists? Realize that they're six hours worth of music. Least number of songs I've played has been in the mid-40's. Most? I don't know... I'll look that up.

More eventually soon.

Hello,

It's been a while. A real long time. I've not totally abandoned you LJ, not yet at least. I still read LJs from others at least once a week and still use it to communicate. I plan on using it as a blog again at some point, that is if I have time. I keep meaning to blog though and just don't get to it. Lots of changes in everything and I hope to record them here.

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So here's to a new decade! I've got a little bit more than a half hour before the end of 2010. I believe that the new place is all a part of it, to where the newness of the year, decade and everything are tied together. Start all over and let's do it better. Even though a large portion of the people I know are sick right now - here's to starting off a year down and it improving from this point on.

One can only hope.

Housewarming party may end up happening in about a month. Still have much to move.

This broadcast was an example of what I want and thought that Musical Conversations should be about. It shows a development and a direction that is wonderful. From what I've heard from those that listened, it was spot on. Interaction is part of it, also attention to detail and musical cohesion. Yes, I still feel that I'm stuck in an era of music and a style of music that is easily recognized and usually pigeonholed into a label of "classic rock", yet it's not just that, it's more than that as I play the obscure stuff too.

This theme that developed was a surprise. It was a pursuit of a sound. At first it was good and heavy, then meandered into the sound that I continued to pursue and talk about. A guitar being played slowly through a chord, one note at a time, not strummed, and the song starting kind of mellow, then heavier later, sometimes mellowing out during a bridge or middle eighth. You'll see what I mean. This is a show I'm going to edit down and keep.

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And, it was so amazing that I'm going to edit it and burn it to a CD. I know it's more than 80 minutes, I'm going to do two cuts of it, one without songs and one with and the one with will have to be on an .mp3 CD and the without will be on an audio CD.

I just feel that I cannot express how amazing this broadcast was.

Okay, continuing along with the idea of posting and keeping records of the playlists of the broadcasts, here we go...


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More later.

Where was I? I was lost in a field of notes, flowing back and forth like wheat... still trying to catch up to myself and my life, I'm proceeding forward and not really looking back too much anymore, except to say that tonight's show was an exercise in distraction and yet it was somehow plainly clear of its direction.

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It was good. The mellow section was needed. A little too melodramatic, but powerful. Next will be more diverse. And there was a new Iron Maiden album to play from that I didn't even touch.