reflections on fathers day

Easy to get nostalgic on fathers day. 2 daughters, years of great memories and more to come. Luckily they have my passion for music and good hearts. Have been in touch this year with many old friends from 60s and 70s from chicago and it has been wonderful to communicate with old friends again. Some of them were the most important people in my life at one time or another and now we have setteled into a comfortable friendship and exchange ideas, musical discoveries and news about our families. I am doing a radio interview tonight on wgn radio in chicago with steve nakon and dave solomon about the great band mountain bus. they were chicagos answer to the grateful dead, much better in my opinion. funny thing was I hated the whole west coast hippie music scene, didnt like the music, lack of style and the forced communal attitude. But, through fate and chance I found myself in the control room at streeterville studios in chicago in 1970 and 71 assisting jimi nielsen on the control board recording mountain bus among others. he was kind to teach me about recording and life at the same time. hard when you are 17 to view the world ouitside of your own self important sphere. mountain bus was in many ways more interesting musically and personally than the dead, they created some great music and were great people as well. I jammed with some of them later and it was a memorable experience. i wish we had thought to tape it. Music is still the driving force in my life. I retained my large vinyl collection and added to it cds, tapes and now digital files containing music we could only dream about years ago, i.e. outtakes from hendrix, beatles, stones, pink floyd, hi fidelity live shows from the 60s to the present, all online and free. It is a daily treat to find the next collectable gem that rounds out the musical appreciation for so many bands. We have all come a long way and now many of us are dads, shudder to think it actually happened and we didn't screw it up! I have tried to share my positive traits with my daughters and not shy away from my faults. On this day, we reflect on our dads and hope we have done them proud and that we become good fathers to our kids, no matter how old they are.

Another perfect day in San Diego! I am becoming obsessed with media, finding dvds of my favorite drummers and bands, tracking down flac files with out takes and live shows from my musical influences, educating others on the great music that they may have missed. I am torn between the convenience of ipods and the damage they do to the pure sound of the music,(plug one into a good sound system). I have been exploring my vast lp collection and have re-discovered a treasure of creativity and musical artistry so sadly missing today. I am finding a new love for drumming and exploring the methods and disciplines needed to become even better. I am blessed to be in a band, evervess, with truly gifted people, musically and personally. This has been my outlet over the past few years and it has been a godsend. The band is for want of better description, a shoegaze band, pink floyd, beatles, byrds and who rolled together with 21st century technology. one cd out, next one ready to drop this summer; live shows that have gone over exceptionally well. I will be posting updates on the band, thoughts on drumming and the occasional political rant.

Ok, nothing unique here, just another blog among millions but wanted an outlet for things musical, social and political. No set schedule for this, will post as the mood hits.