Call to Arms, and damn it! this SUCKS!

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=177446

Get aload of this above article. Someone, or probably oneS, stole Del Castillo's tour trailer. DAMN it! Not that anyone who has busted tail to build up equipment deserves such things, but these guys are just great people, and this really SUCKS.

Pardon. I have been raving for two days now. On top of being ill, which hasn't helped my mood a wit! I have finally started getting the urge to write back and then this. And yes, I DO take it personally. These guys are my friends, and my most beloved band. This will put a serious kink in what they might be able to accomplish this year. They have been going full out since the last CD was released.
I only hope that everyone grows stronger for the experience, though I pray not paranoid.

There have been some great gigs at he RR lately, and I was all set when I started being able to take a deep breath without coughing up a lung to write all about them!
At least I have been getting the pictures up. I am afraid my time will be spent for awhile looking up things on line, and talking to all sorts of music folk to try to help DC.
Send them some good vibes, and bear with me. I will write about Buttercup's fantastic two-nighter at the RR, and then Matt the Electrician, ethan Azarian and Marcus Rubio at the RR as soon as I can.

James Brown, 1933-2006

As one writer aptly put it, dramatic to the end- dying on christmas day. as a pagan, I couldn't give a fart about the date, but I suspect it wasn't in his plans to go out on a day like this. Ah well. Best laid plans and all. anyhow, I was never a collctour of his music, but like the Beatles, I very much appreciate the impact this man had on the music industry and the world in general. The godfather of soul will have a place in history for generations to come. I know there is more I could write, but I haven't had any entusiasm lately, so I will not strain the reader's patience with tripe.

Bad day

It was 26 years ago. I spent the day in a court room waiting to testify against a little richkid brat whose daddy bought his way out of facing theft charges. I spent some time researching a book I was writing. I slept for awhile at home.
The phone rang. I sat bolt upright from a sound sleep, knowing who was calling. I said her name outloud. When I picked up the phone, she was hysterical. When she told me why, my knees gave way, and I collapsed to the floor. I didn't sleep for more than 48 hours after that......
John Lennon, one of the Beatles, a man outspoken about peace for most of my life, had been shot down in cold blood on his own building's doorstep.

Everything changed that day. All those things that had always seemed like they could be possible became brittle, bitter dreams. Yet strangely enough, John, without somehow becoming a martyr, despite what had happened, actually brought a lot of us together, where we might never had met. Grieving for our own mortal loss briefly clouded the greater meaning of his words and music. Though I wish it had been a different day, a different person, something, ANYthing but what it was......I also know that it was a very powerful bringer of change.

May we as a species learn to live up to what you sang of, John. It would be the greatest homage we could pay to your memory.

"All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Chance."

John Ono Lennon, 1940-1980
We will not forget.

Happy Announcement!

Oh, I have much to report as of the last few weeks, but this is by far the thing I feel I should talk about. Mark and Candy Del Castillo are proud parents yet again!
Their second shild and son, Julian, was born a bit early the other evening. He wasn't due til early November, but that's how babies are- they come when THEY are ready. The healthy mom and baby look terrific, and I suspect the whole house, not to speak of the clan, are turned a bit upside down now! me, I am just one big grin whenever I think about it. They are such sweet people, and have already got one amazing son......who knows. Maybe these brothers will also end up moving the world!

Congratuatulations to the Del Castillo family, both the recently expanded one, as well as the much larger one that covers almost coast to coast!

Pianosaurus

Many years ago, I wandered into the local indie record store, as was my habit. Frank was at the desk, or maybe it was Ruben...don't remember really. But the guys at Hogwild used to love to "introduce" me to new sounds by slipping them on, and not saying a word to me. I am blessed, or cursed, with perfect pitch and a serious understanding of both harmony and melody, and well done music will always catch my attention. This particular day, what ended up being played sounded tinny and a bit amateurish to me at first. When the keyboard guy started rattling off a line in the song "Cherry Street", I turned to Frank (or Ruben...) and asked "who's playing keys for this band, Schroder?!" As Frank laughed, he handed me the cassette case.

Pianosaurus.

This was the time prior to Barney being a household name, or it might never have flown with me. As it was, this bubblegum basic, toy-bashing trio stole my heart. I have been playing that cassette for nearly two decades.

I also had been wondering what I would do if that tape ever wore out....because it was irreplaceable. For not the first time in this music collectour's life, I thank the world of compact discs for saving something simple and precious. I just found their record on CD today, at amazon.com.

A group of classical musicians on holiday from Cambridge U., they ended up pooling their money and buying toy instruments to busk for enough cash to get back to campus. The results of their jams made them incredibly popular, and eventually, they put out this one album. I assume they went on to finish school and may now be playing elsewhere, in a somewhat more regimented form. I may never know. But I would love to be able to tell them how much joy that one cassette brought to me for years, and now for the rest of this lifetime.

Thanks guys.


(i have a lot to write about where DC and Buttercup are concerned, but life in ridiculously busy right now. Soon, I swear!)