Siggy's Blurbs: Siggy's Edge of Country …

I learned Phil Everly died recently.  I immediately played the anthology I had of The Everly Brothers–a best of–“Looking Back.”  It is twenty cuts and is the best collection I ever heard of them.  In the eighties they reformed and came out with at least two albums.  I can comment on the first, which was superb and had Albert Lee playing on it and was produced by Dave Edwards.  “On The Wings Of A Nightingale” was expressly written for them by Paul McCartney in two part harmony.  The album which came out was in no way dated.  “Asleep” which closes the album is absolutely stunning.  The whole album is fresh and worth hearing.  I have no idea whether it is available on CD.  By all means if it is, get it.  You can’t go wrong.  When you hear them sing, it is hard to separate their voices.  They blended so perfectly.

Tags: "Looking Back", "On The Wings Of A Nightingale", 1980's, Albert Lee, asleep, CD, Dave Edwards, Everly Brothers Tribute, music, Paul McCartney, Phil Everly, record album, The Everly Brothers, the harmonies of The Everly Brothers", two part harmony
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There is a point your musical collection becomes unwieldy.  Especially when you don’t know what you got in your collection or you become indifferent about exploring new music.  There is still one basic fact about your collection:  you can only play one piece of music at one time.  The more you have, the more likelihood music you have may become buried.  That is one advantage of having a small collection:  you usually are aware of the music you have.  I usually give every piece of music one playing.  Sometimes that works against you when the music did not catch your attention at that point.  You may not have been in the mood to hear the LP or CD or whatever format the music is in.  In my case I kept expanding my tastes so the music I became aware of grew.  It still comes back to the realization you can only play one piece of music at one time.  That is always a limiting factor to your collection.

Tags: CD, exploring new music, LP, music, unwieldy music collections, your limits of collecting music
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It is always about the music.  I could never understand music collectors who have thousands and thousands of pieces of music (LP’s, cassettes , CD’s, etc).  How you store the music in an accessible fashion is another question.  There is a point your collection becomes unwieldy.  I never collected for the sake of collecting.  It was always about the music.  Each person has the same limitations:  you can only play one piece of music at one time.  Besides when you have too much music too much becomes undiscovered or underplayed.  The best music gets played over and over.  My collection is always about the music.

Tags: cassette, CD, LP, music, music collection, store music
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I have thousands of LP’s, CD’s and cassettes but always return to this one.  My nerves are ragged and when this happens I “pull out” this 60’s album “Clouds” by Joni Mitchell.  I did put it on cassette years ago.

The music is soothing and I will play it over and over and also search for other quiet music until this phase of mine passes.  I can’t listen to uptempo music right now.  I don’t think my episode will last too long.  I am still sleeping whole nights so I am not overly concerned.  I will play it by ear.  The more I can soothe my nerves the quicker I will return to normal.

Tags: "Clouds" album, 1960's, cassette, CD, Joni Mitchell, LP, music, my nerves, quiet music, record albums, sleep, soothing, uptempo music
Posted in balance, health, knowledge&learning, life, mental health, music, time, wisdom | 2 Comments »

All I could do was dust.  And listen to some music to counter my dark mood (the latest “Sugarland” CD).  Dusting is a mindless task.  In this house there is no lack of dust:  we have four dogs and seven cats.  Dusting is an unending job in this house.  In the process I changed a light bulb.  At least, I kept moving.  That is a good thing.  When I am depressed I don’t feel like doing that.  It can’t hurt.  And I may go on to something else after dusting.  Let us see what is going to happen next.

Tags: "Sugarland", cats, CD, dark mood, depressed, dogs, dusting, four dogs, keep moving, music, pets, seven cats
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There is a point your musical collection becomes unwieldy.  There is so much music one can listen to.  One thing that has not changed is the power of one.  That is all you can listen to at one time.  One CD.  One album.

And the more unlistened albums you have the harder it is to listen to new pieces of music.  If it doe not get your attention right away, it vanishes in your collection.  Not every album captures your attention right away.  Many don’t.

There is too much music I am not familiar with.  My wife discovered E Bay and went a little crazy with purchases of music.  And got music I never would have advised her to buy had she run it by me.

I have several hundred CDs, maybe two thousand LPs and hundreds of cassettes.  I have trouble enough storing them much less playing them.  My musical collection has become unwieldy.

Tags: cassette, CD, LP, music, music collection, my wife, new music, record album, storing music
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Every once in awhile I think about our house and what will happen to the things in it when we are both gone. Clearing and sorting through my wife’s Moms’ stuff after she died was a major task.  In fact, we had to make three trips to Texas to accomplish to that job.

I told my wife someone one day will have to do that to us.  You can’t take your things with you when you are gone.  That fact does not make any difference to her.  More things keep coming in our house.

I look around our house and know when the time comes someone will have a major task in front of them.  And a lot of things that are here and we would not get rid of will just be trashed.

I do not want to say my wife is the only one that collects things.  I collect music–CD’s, LP’s and cassettes.  I also collect books and they are practically in every room, some still in boxes so I am part of the problem too.

I thought what might be valuable if both of us are gone and would like to pass on:  my journals, my wife’s writing which is scattered–not much.

Even the value of those am not sure I will have any say over.  From dust you come and dust you will return.  I have to remind myself of that.  And maybe consider what truly has value.

Tags: can't take it with you, cassettes, CD, clutter, collect books, death, from dust to dust, God, LP, music, my journals, my wife, stuff in our house, things in our house, what truly has value, writing
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The highlight of my day is ten o’clock in the morning when the mail gets here.  Of course, Sunday there is no delivery.  Sometimes (and often) it is just a bill or junk mail but once in a while I get something more personal like a letter from a friend.  Some junk mail is more interesting than others.  Some is simply someone who wants a contribution.  Sometimes I may get an CD I have ordered or better yet a book.  After the mail gets here it is all downhill.  The mail is always the highpoint of my day.

Tags: bills, book, CD, highlight of my day, junk mail, letter from a friend, morning mail, Sunday
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The love we share of music is only by serendipity.  My wife and I both intensely love music.  We grew up listening to the same artists and groups.  She is also a musician, which I am not.  The only area she knows better than me is R&B, which I never went out of my way to listen to.

She is the recipient of my DJing every day.  And to me there is no greater joy than to share a beautiful piece of music, especially something she never heard.  Both of our tastes in music are eclectic:  we listen to a broad range of music.

I was responsible for her falling in love again with Peter, Paul & Mary.  She listened to the ninety minutes I put together of them on cassette repeatedly.

I have put together dozens of anthologies on cassette culled from my extensive music collection.  I must do a good job.  The cuts usually blend pretty well and she can’t tell always tell when they have come from different albums.

I have always gone deeply in particular groups and individual performers I have loved.  I sometimes surprise her with the material I have recorded of performers she knew well.

I turned her on to British folk rock–a world she had no idea of–Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.  And performers from England like Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson and John Tams for starters.

She was the third woman I turned on to Richard Thompson.  The second one divorced me.  The first one was a friend.  And we have gone to several of his concerts.  She has fallen in love with his songwriting and guitar playing.  We never get tired of him.

To be able to share my deep love of music with my wife is a gift.  And I never forget that.  It is a real treat.  When I am home, the stereo usually is on although I have to admit when I go out, silence reigns.  I never take that love we share for granted.  It is a real gift.

Tags: a real gift, beautiful music, British folk rock, cassette, CD, concert, divorce, DJ, don't take for granted, eclectic, England, Fairport Convention, gift, guitar playing, John Tams, joy, love of music, LP, music collection, music groups, musical anthology, musical artists, musician, my home, my wife, Peter Paul & Mary, R&B, record album, rhythm and blues, Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, serendipity, silence, songwriting, Steeleye Span, stereo
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September 6, 2009 Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul & Mary fame) died.  I just wanted to give a short tribute to the folk and pop group.

They possessed a rare combination of voices.  Mary had the big voice.  I had a friend tell me she used to sing away from the microphone.  Even today, fifty-eight years after the release of their first album, I still can listen to their music and it does not seem dated.

Just about all their recorded material is available on CD.  I still have their original LP’s.  And still play them.  Although the best ones were transferred to cassette a long time ago.

Their anti-war anthems still ring true and more than ever.  “The Great Mandella” was one of the greatest anti-war songs I ever heard stating the dilemma of war and protest.

Many songs were Dylan songs.  Of course everyone has heard Dylan’s “Blowing In The Wind” arguably his best song but that was just one of his they sang.  And there were others.  They do the best version I ever heard of his “Too Much Of Nothing.”

They had immaculate taste in their choice of material and were perfectionists yet sang with fire and passion.

Their best songs still have an element of timelessness.  More relevant than ever in an era where currently the US and other countries are embroiled in wars all over the world.

Their voices harmonized beautifully and almost never came across mannered.  And they took turns singing lead.  All of them wrote songs but most of the time they chose to interpret other peoples material, often making it their own.  You can never mistake their harmonies.  They did it so well.

Tags: "Blowing In The Wind", "The Great Mandella", "Too Much Of Nothing", anti-war anthem, best songs, Bob Dylan, cassette, CD, folk music, LP, Mary Travers, Mary Travers death, Peter Paul and Mary, pop music, record album, sing harmony, sing lead, singing, timeless, war, war and protest, write songs
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I do not know why it is so hard to let go of things.  I am no different.  There is always another book or CD.  I can never have enough.  Let us talk about books only.

We have too many in this house.  The bookcases are bursting from the seams.  There are also boxes of books all over the house.  And it is difficult for us to give away any one.

I want to give some away but a lot are not mine so I can’t make a decision unilaterally to part with those.  I have reasoned with my other stating when you have too many unfortunately the superb books all too easily get lost or buried.  The argument was futile.

Nothing has changed.  I am also part of the problem:  I keep bringing new ones in the house.  I must have given my wife this year an half a dozen books for Christmas gifts.  And my wife also gave me books for gifts.

I am at wits end.  Some book shelves are doubled up.  As many as I have if I can not find a particular book I go a little crazy although I am usually successful in finding the book although I might take me awhile.

A running joke is Bob Dylan’s autobiography.  I keep misplacing that book although I have looked high and low for it.  He is just plain elusive.  I might have to buy another copy.

I read in all positions–standing up lying down even walking.  The bathroom must have almost two dozen books on the shelves there.  I can’t miss any opportunity to read.

Someone is going to have a real job deciding what to do with our book collection.  We can’t take them with us when we go.

Tags: at wits end, autobiography, Bob Dylan, book collection, bookcases, books, books in the bathroom, bookshelves, boxes of books, buy new books, can't take it with you, CD, Christmas gifts, clutter, give away books, letting go of things, my wife, read books, reading, superb books, too many books
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The grass is not greener elsewhere.  It is so tempting to believe that but it is not.  Sometimes paradise is right in front of you.  This year I discovered a large raspberry patch within an hundred yards on the street I live on the edge of some woods.

This was to be the second year I was going to pick raspberries in a patch I discovered last year on my property.  And then I discovered this patch.  I did not know who the owners were.  The berries were wild.  I picked enough at the new patch for at least two pies.

It amazed me I never noticed that patch before.  It was ten feet in from the road and I happened to notice it when my dog was sniffing around there.  What else am I missing right under my feet?

I was going home from church and took the long way because the land was wilder and I never knew what wildlife I would see from this road.

I was not disappointed this time:  I flushed a dozen wild turkey hens.  I do see wild turkey around here but I had never seen so many at one time.  I was thrilled to say the least.

I never know for sure what discovery I will make next time.  We have thousands of books between us and there is an universe in each of them so I have no need to travel too far to explore the next universes.

And that does not even include universe after universe in my music– thousands of LP’s, cassettes and CD’s.

I never run out of things to explore.  I do not have to go to far but don’t get me wrong I do enjoy traveling once in a while.  I just don’t feel I have to.

Tags: animals, books, cassette, CD, church, discovery, dogs, explore, grass is not greener, LP, music, nature, paradise, pets, raspberry patch, raspberry pie, right under my feet, travel, universe after universe, wild berries, wild turkey hen, wildlife, woods
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