Tag Archives: music

Adventures In Truckdom

Adventures In Truckdom – Stereo Edition!

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1977 Toyota GT Liftback Celica
IF ONLY mine looked this good!
Toyota Celica with modified headlights
Also NOT MINE … but mine looks kind of more like this

Sometime around 2003-2005 I took my beloved two-tone brown – three if you count the rust – 1977 Toyota Celica off the road. It needed too many repairs – enough that the cost of parts to get it happy again was more than the value of the car. I also wasn’t driving much, and I was broke which made fuel and insurance too much of an expense – comparatively I preferred to pay rent and eat food. It was at this time that I stopped listening to broadcast music – because the only time I listened to a stereo was when I was driving.

For the past two years that I’ve owned my truck it hasn’t had a working stereo in it. Frankly, I haven’t missed not having music. In fact, I’ve even preferred not having tunes – having not driven much in as many years I didn’t need the distraction, and I wanted to get comfortable with a vehicle that is noticeably bigger than my Celica.

When I got my truck I took inventory of the work it needed along with modifications I wanted to make. That list – that meticulously detailed Excel list – easily grew past 100 line items. With no shortage of advice and hands-on help from a number of friends and professionals, my truck has come a long way. There’s still plenty of work to do, and lately I’ve reached a point where it’s about time to install the stereo.

What stereo?
Well friends, this Rock-Star!

A genuine circa 1990s
Audiovox Rampage AV-340!

Check out the features…

  • Detachable front panel
  • Digital AM/FM/MPX radio (Don’t ask me what MPX stands for, I have no idea — but I’m sure it’s something HIGH TECH.)
  • Auto-reverse cassette player
  • 2-channel stereo

But don’t take my word for it, read the manual for yourself – it’s a PAGE TURNER!  It even has a headphone jack so I can plug in my portable CD player.

Yes, you read that right – it is a 2-channel AM/FM stereo!  It’s not 4-channel, it’s not surround-sound, but let’s face it – it’s in the cab of a truck, I don’t need it. This has to be among the last cassette deck stereos that was made and sold – and what’s amazing to me is that it was made with a removable face-plate like the CD players of the time. This removable face-plate feature was done to be a theft deterrent with CD players. Again, let’s face it – it’s a cassette player, that in itself ought to be an anti-theft device!

As far as folks in the 1990s are concerned, this is my old smartphone

I already have one of my previous smartphones setup to serve as an MP3 player in my truck. If you think about it, when this stereo was designed and sold, No One had smartphones – that was Star Trek tech!

So, you might be asking yourself about now, “Don, why do you have this stereo, and why are you putting it in your truck?”  The answer to that …. because it works and it was FREE.

So now that I have wheels again and a stereo … what radio stations do I listen to?!?

 

Who cares — buy my book!  Better yet, buy 20 copies and give them to your friends.  When they tell you how much they enjoyed it then go buy yourself a copy.  It’s on Amazon — paperback, e-book, get both — give it another glowing review.  I am not above Shameless Self Promotion.  Or humor.

While you’re waiting for your Amazon order of my book, read some zombie film reviews.

For Every Musician, Movie, Review

DIY or DIE: How To Survive as an Independent Artist (2002)

If you’re an independent artist of any type, you’ll want to see this. At the beginning of the piece the film-maker states his point to project & what he wanted to explore — and over the course of the film I don’t feel that his interviewees proved, represented or developed his point … at all. However, the interviewees speak a lot about the passion behind their work and doing it successfully their way regardless of what “The Industry” indicates.

DIY or DIE at IMDB and Wikipedia

NOTE – The full title of this film is DIY or DIE: How To Survive as an Independent Artist (AKA DIY or DIE: Burn This DVD)

For Every Musician, Movie, Review

Once (2007)

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I found out about “Once” while watching extras to the film Begin Again.  Once was written & directed by the same director — John Carney — and stars Irish musician/actor Glen Hansard and Czech musician/actress Markéta Irglová.

Usually when I make note of a music-related film it’s because I strongly related to it relative to music — it struck a chord (no pun intended) in me, it spoke to me about the experience and the inexpiable thing that is music … this one is hard to write about.  More than anything I think for me this film speaks to me because of the busking and because of the from-the-core music of the male lead, played by Irish musician/actor Glen Hansard.

Frankly, it’s difficult to write about because I missed about 15 minutes of the film about 1 hour in — the DVD sketched out, which is a typical problem with films I get from the library.  From what I could tell visually I predict that there were important elements to the story line, especially having to do with the ending.  It was very disappointing and I’d like to get my hands on a non-blemished copy so I can get the full story.  I liked that the film was shot hand-held — it made it feel human, that you were with the guy & gal leads having their experience.  Which is another thing … I didn’t realize until I saw the credits that they never have names in the film — as listed in the credits, they are “guy” & “girl”.

Maybe the two areas where this particularly spoke to me …

  • One, it was shot on the streets of Dublin.  I’ve barely spent four days there, but places were familiar.  I particularly recognized parts around the Temple Bar area, and know that a lot of famous performers out of Ireland have come from there.  Despite aspects that didn’t register well with me — that it’s a tourist town with too many poor mannered American college kids, and there are a lot of immigrants and it was hard to find Irish people in Dublin/Ireland — I no less came away knowing that I wanted to return and see more of not just the city but the country.
  • Two, I identified with this film from the standpoint of being a broke musician — dealing with the challenges that come with trying to survive, trying to live your passion (music), and trying to keep your music supported financially when you are struggling to pay rent and for food.

Also, similar to what I got out of Begin Again, I think this film spoke to me about going for it with your music — being venerable with your art and releasing every inhibition to touch the depth of each emotion present in a tune, in a song, and playing it despite judgment, despite an audience, and regardless of what stage you’re on.

Ultimately, about this film, I can’t put my finger on why I’m writing about this one or its importance why a musician or non-musician should see it — but there is something about it that I can’t let it go without note, it touches something inexpiable which is a huge part of music itself.  This film is not just a story, it’s not just a vignette of drama, it does not fall into the ranks of ‘just a music film’ as it is music itself.

I think it’s fair to say that there are some common threads that go through this film that also go through Begin Again, and given how I responded to Begin Again maybe that’s why I respond to its predecessor Once.

PS – I essentially just watched the film a second time.  Without giving anything away, there is an element to the ending – perhaps a few, but one in particular – that to me is beautiful, it is subtle yet it is powerful, it is joy and it is balance.  You might & you might not see it; it may be a musician thing.  If you don’t see it, that’s okay.

Once at IMDB and Wikipedia

Glen Hansard at IMDB, Wikipedia, and his Official Website

Markéta Irglová at IMDB Wikipedia and her Official website

John Carney at IMDB and Wikipedia

For Every Musician, Movie, Review

Begin Again (2013)

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Cut to the chase — in fact, it makes sense for me me to start on that given how this film struck me.  The story is good, but it wasn’t the important thing to me, but it supported what I saw as the bigger point to the film … which maybe comes out to a musician viewing the film as opposed to a non-musician.  So maybe now you’re saying I haven’t cut to the chase, but you’d be wrong — I’m coming off as cryptic because I haven’t written the rest of my point supporting my what would be cryptic.

Right, so, let’s get on with it.

So here’s the basis of the story …

A British song-writer breaks-up with her rising-pop-star boyfriend and gets noticed for one of her songs by an out-of-work record producer when she performs at an open-mic in NYC the night before she was going to return to England.  The music producer convinces her to stay and record an album with him but they don’t have money or other support to make it.  Through portable gear and musicians of varying abilities they take her songs to the streets and record live around New York.  The first track gets recorded in an alley, another in Central Park, one on a train platform, the last on the roof of a building.

Here’s my thing from this film …

To date I have more than 30 concepts for albums that I want to record.  To date I have done a lot of work toward five or twelve of these and haven’t recorded a single note maybe beyond a few demos.  Five or so years ago I got myself into a playing-skill space over a three-day weekend.  I was back in school at the time — busy — I felt that if I could keep working during the coming school week that I could belt out recording my part the following weekend.  Well, I returned to school, was busy with school work (remember, ‘busy’), and didn’t continue to practice hence I didn’t make the recording.  But what if I had?  What if I just made the recording, even if I wasn’t that little blip further along in my ability.  I thought of it then, figuring that I’d be better off to do it, to make it, — to have a recording to work with it if I didn’t get to push for that little bit better playing ability.

Why not record?  Why not record every performance, record every time you’re close to the idea you want to record?  I’m not talking about studio recording – I can’t record that, many musicians can’t.  I’m talking about personal gear.  These days you can get good equipment that’s pretty easy to use, really for not much money.  At a guess, I’ve spent about a thousand dollars on music gear — about half new and half used.  I’ve read a little how to use it, I’ve experimented with it, I’ve asked advise of folks who are in the know, and I’ve captured recordings that sound at least pretty good – recordings that can be worked with.  Likely, had I recorded and later recorded the other musicians, got the album finished, let’s face it … it wouldn’t have been the last time I played those numbers … and I could have recorded them again.  I could have taken the album and booked myself for small performances, maybe had something special happen on some night, and recorded that too.

I’m not saying playing bad is good or making a garbage recording is acceptable.  Play well and make a good recording, but neither have to be some ideal of ‘perfection’.  It’d be better to play, perform, and record as opposed to never doing any.  The Grateful Dead recorded their songs, released, and once touring always played exactly as they did on their albums?  NO!  Their recordings were a foundation to work from, to create upon.  Record – get the playing, get the moment, do it instead of don’t, you may get something unique.

I didn’t cut to the chase, did I?

By the way … if you like Begin Again — which was directed by John Carney — I urge you to watch Once (2007), which Mr. Carney both wrote & directed.

Begin Again at IMDB and Wikipedia

For Every Musician, Movie, Review

Rush – Beyond The Lighted Stage (2010)

This film gave me a renewed interest for the band.

I appreciated that the band has always made their music their way rather regardless of industry trends.  For them the creativity and pushing their skill is what is most important.

Using and transitioning between different time signatures has always been an important element to their music — and they do so seamlessly.  With this a musician who understands time signatures follows along and is impressed by their work and yet with the seamless transitions someone who is not musically inclined follows their music and also experiences the energy of their work.  While this makes them a musician’s band they have always also been the people’s band.

Rush – Beyond The Lighted Stage at IMDB and Wikipeida