It's late at night as is common for me. Insomnia becomes a companion as I get older. The hours between midnight and 4:00 a.m. are no longer the hours of productive solitude they once were, but instead, a co-conspirator to haunt the aging recesses of my mind. As I walk aimlessly through the home I work for. The place I've strived my whole life to find and to call my own. The sanctuary I've craved my whole life to which I can run and hide and create..... is now becoming a place I go and mourn my formative years. A place where I watch the video in my head to remind me of the things I can no longer find the strength to achieve. Where I watch the knowledge and drive and vigor and ambition of my youth slowly fade beyond my grasp.
It's irony not lost; that having achieved a place physically where I can go to indulge my creative impulses, those impulses are attenuated by the loss of the very energies expended to arrive there.
I wander and stop to commune with my sole remaining housemates. My physical companions. My loyal friends who are concurrently also fading from this world. One from age, the likes of which I will never see. One from a body failing before it's time, which I can wholly relate to. Time is cruel. It takes your mind to a higher place just as your body can no longer accommodate the rise. Then it takes your mind far from what your body is still able to maintain.
My housemates in solitude are my two dogs. They have been a source of love and entertainment. My burglar alarms, my alarm clocks, my consigliaries, my alter egos, my therapists, my friends. I have found that their silent adoration, while misplaced at times, is still more worthy of my devotion than most people I know. Not to disparage the people I know. They are mostly all really good people. But when it comes down to the bare bones of it, people are still about themselves. Its not a fault, it's a necessity. We all have to live, survive, make it in this world. It's just that there is a loyalty there that humans just don't have. So, I return it. I will stay the course. I will stay by them as they have done so for me. Many people may not get that. That's OK. But I owe them at least that much. To be there for them til the end. For them it will come soon enough.... too soon..., well in it's time, as nature intends... I do my best in the mean time to make it as comfortable for them as possible... And when all is said and done, I can live with that. What comes after is the hard part... The empty halls and rooms.. The early morning wandering without a fuzzy face to scratch or paw to shake.. No one to come home to, and no reason to do so. Then I will be left alone only with the video in my head, and take that next step along the path that they have treked before me... Among all their other attributes, they don't let me forget... where we all end up, and how we should try to live our lives until then.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Long Island Music Scene
Depending on who you are, musician or fan, and depending on your taste in music, you may love or may hate the music scene on Long Island. When I was growing up, there were a limited number of ways to get your music fix. First there was AM, then FM radio, you could purchase your favorive songs as a 45rpm, or take a chance and buy the album, unless a friend had it and you knew you liked it. There was the occasional or weekly (pre-MTV) television program like Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, and then there were live bands. About the time I came of drinking age, well ok, a few years before that, there were a host of clubs and bars where you could go see a live band. There were cover bands, and original bands (tribute bands didn't exist yet either) and then there were the venues that hosted known or slightly known acts like Nassau Coliseum, Westbury Music Fair and My Fathers place. But the smaller places to go see a great cover band or original band were large by todays standards. Rumrunners, Rumbottoms, Speaks, and even a lot of the smaller local places all had stages. They attracted crowds who would stand sholder to sholder to see a good cover band.
That was rock (now classic rock) and as a fan, I would frequent many of these places. The bars geared them selves to attracting bands which would attract crowds which would spend money on drinks. Now, as a part time working musician, its hard to find such places.
A rise in the drinking age, the change in DUI laws, a change in the audience demographics, a change in the availability and sources of music in the digital era and changes in musical tastes have all created many changes in the music scene. And while pirated mp3's and a return to DJ's and current dance music all conspire to impact live music on Long Island, there is still an effort by many cities and towns to promote live music. There are street fairs, music festivals (though we've lost my beloved Riverhead Blues Fest) concerts in the parks and a host of other event featuring live music, but these are not enough to sustain upcoming and start-up bands and musicians. The competition for the better gigs is fierce. To play some places you actually have to pay the venue. It is discouraging at best. Many places that offer live music do so as an after thought. I am talking about the bar / restaurant that is more concerned with how many meals are getting sold. I have no problem with the fact that that's how they earn their living, but perhaps they should be booking a keyboardist / singer as opposed to a 5 piece band. But they do book bands, pay them as little as possible, expect the band to create their customer base for the night and would bump the band for a party of 10 in a heartbeat. If you do go on, you are shoved into a corner of the room thats too small for you to move, with one electric outlet and no ventilation. In addition to a loss of bars and clubs that are "music" oriented, there has also been a decline in the variety of music you can find. Small, dimly lit jazz clubs have disappeared. You can find the occasional "blues jam" happening, but if you want to play you need to be on good terms with the sponsoring band. Getting an actual gig for your own band can be a difficult and lengthy process. Getting paid, even more so.
Long Island has produced some amazing talent over the decades and still does, but these and other changes have made it more difficult for musicians and acts to network, play, get paid and improve the music scene by providing more options for different genres. Venues for young, new and up-and coming talent have either disappeared, made music a secondary or tertiary consideration in their business and in some cases expect the band to provide the customers for them if not actually have them pay to perform.
Unfortunately, this is not going to change as long as musicians and groups accept the working conditions and the venues don't see promoting live music as anything other than an additional item offered ala carte.
It would be nice if both the talent and the smaller venues could find a business model that serves both their needs while working to improve the live music scene and enhance the experience for fans of both. I believe that if this were obtainable, medium to larger sized venues might start to re-appear and follow suit.
That was rock (now classic rock) and as a fan, I would frequent many of these places. The bars geared them selves to attracting bands which would attract crowds which would spend money on drinks. Now, as a part time working musician, its hard to find such places.
A rise in the drinking age, the change in DUI laws, a change in the audience demographics, a change in the availability and sources of music in the digital era and changes in musical tastes have all created many changes in the music scene. And while pirated mp3's and a return to DJ's and current dance music all conspire to impact live music on Long Island, there is still an effort by many cities and towns to promote live music. There are street fairs, music festivals (though we've lost my beloved Riverhead Blues Fest) concerts in the parks and a host of other event featuring live music, but these are not enough to sustain upcoming and start-up bands and musicians. The competition for the better gigs is fierce. To play some places you actually have to pay the venue. It is discouraging at best. Many places that offer live music do so as an after thought. I am talking about the bar / restaurant that is more concerned with how many meals are getting sold. I have no problem with the fact that that's how they earn their living, but perhaps they should be booking a keyboardist / singer as opposed to a 5 piece band. But they do book bands, pay them as little as possible, expect the band to create their customer base for the night and would bump the band for a party of 10 in a heartbeat. If you do go on, you are shoved into a corner of the room thats too small for you to move, with one electric outlet and no ventilation. In addition to a loss of bars and clubs that are "music" oriented, there has also been a decline in the variety of music you can find. Small, dimly lit jazz clubs have disappeared. You can find the occasional "blues jam" happening, but if you want to play you need to be on good terms with the sponsoring band. Getting an actual gig for your own band can be a difficult and lengthy process. Getting paid, even more so.
Long Island has produced some amazing talent over the decades and still does, but these and other changes have made it more difficult for musicians and acts to network, play, get paid and improve the music scene by providing more options for different genres. Venues for young, new and up-and coming talent have either disappeared, made music a secondary or tertiary consideration in their business and in some cases expect the band to provide the customers for them if not actually have them pay to perform.
Unfortunately, this is not going to change as long as musicians and groups accept the working conditions and the venues don't see promoting live music as anything other than an additional item offered ala carte.
It would be nice if both the talent and the smaller venues could find a business model that serves both their needs while working to improve the live music scene and enhance the experience for fans of both. I believe that if this were obtainable, medium to larger sized venues might start to re-appear and follow suit.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Space, the final frontier; Is it lost to us now?
I happened into a brief conversation while stepping outside for a smoke while on break the other evening. It started as a comment someone made about smoking laws getting ridiculous, while we still have to breath billowing black clouds of god knows what, emanating from big trucks and such. This rapidly turned to a discussion of what we are doing to the planet environmentally. One individual pretty much closed the subject by stating that, regardless of what we do, when this planet has had enough of us, it will sweep mankind from its face in the blink of a cosmic eye. I don't think anyone can really argue that point, but it started me thinking about mankind, its future and the recent conclusion of the NASA Space Shuttle Program.
The first and foremost question in my mind is this; Is the extended survival of the human race even worth working towards? We wreak havoc where ever we set foot. We kill off our own kind as well as decimate other species. We destroy that which sustains us. We are greedy, and take, beyond that which the natural order dictates. So why not go about our business until some event causes mass extinction of our species? As with most things, there is another side to the coin. As a species we are unique to this planet, this solar system and though the debate is still open, possibly to the universe. We are capable of creating. Music, art, literature, architecture, many things of great beauty. We think, we question, we inquire and investigate, we experiment and hopefully we learn. So why can't we learn to preserve the good, and shun the bad, and look towards preserving our race beyond whatever natural or man made cataclysm will ultimately end our lease on earth.
Growing up with the Apollo moon landing, Star Trek, 2001 Space Odyssey and its sequel 2010, I've always had strong thoughts about the space program. All of them supportive and positive. While it may have started in a typically human fashion; "I'm gonna beat you there, then use it for military advantage", it also offered up a world ...um, excuse me.., a "universe" of other possibilities. The technologies that have arisen from the space program, the knowledge gained about everything from our own planet to the depths of the known universe, have far exceeded anything we thought was possible back when John F. Kennedy committed the U.S to beating the U.S.S.R. to the moon. I believe that reason alone is cause enough to invest in a strong space program, however, we do need to think larger and further ahead. If we wish preserve our species, we need to think outside the confines of earth orbit, the moon and a "local" space station. We need to set our sites and resources on a plan that will enable us to explore well beyond our solar system. I'm talking manned exploration. Using available technology or even that which could be developed in the near future, such exploration could very well mean a one-way trip for the individuals venturing out. It seems hard to imagine a group of people committing themselves to a voyage to which they would leave everything they know and love behind, set out on a trip knowing it is filled with hazards, uncertainty and possible death, with a very real likely hood that they will never return. Hard to imagine until one consider the thousands of brave individuals that go off to war every day. Or the explorers that searched for the "new world" or the North West passage, or traveled West across the U.S. or climbed Mt Everest or any other great adventurers history has given us. It is part of the special make up of our species to search out new places at great personal peril. Those that have done so in the past have advanced us as a race. As will those that do so in the future. Its not a question of whether we are able to find people willing to try. It's a question of will we support their effort with all the science, intellect, creativity, ingenuity and resources available to do so? Will we do it to preserve our species and all it's greatness for future generations? To further our knowledge of our world and of the universe and maybe, just maybe, some day find there are others out there with which to share that knowledge. There is so much still that we do not know. To stop seeking that knowledge will ultimately doom us to the fate of the dinosaurs.
The first and foremost question in my mind is this; Is the extended survival of the human race even worth working towards? We wreak havoc where ever we set foot. We kill off our own kind as well as decimate other species. We destroy that which sustains us. We are greedy, and take, beyond that which the natural order dictates. So why not go about our business until some event causes mass extinction of our species? As with most things, there is another side to the coin. As a species we are unique to this planet, this solar system and though the debate is still open, possibly to the universe. We are capable of creating. Music, art, literature, architecture, many things of great beauty. We think, we question, we inquire and investigate, we experiment and hopefully we learn. So why can't we learn to preserve the good, and shun the bad, and look towards preserving our race beyond whatever natural or man made cataclysm will ultimately end our lease on earth.
Growing up with the Apollo moon landing, Star Trek, 2001 Space Odyssey and its sequel 2010, I've always had strong thoughts about the space program. All of them supportive and positive. While it may have started in a typically human fashion; "I'm gonna beat you there, then use it for military advantage", it also offered up a world ...um, excuse me.., a "universe" of other possibilities. The technologies that have arisen from the space program, the knowledge gained about everything from our own planet to the depths of the known universe, have far exceeded anything we thought was possible back when John F. Kennedy committed the U.S to beating the U.S.S.R. to the moon. I believe that reason alone is cause enough to invest in a strong space program, however, we do need to think larger and further ahead. If we wish preserve our species, we need to think outside the confines of earth orbit, the moon and a "local" space station. We need to set our sites and resources on a plan that will enable us to explore well beyond our solar system. I'm talking manned exploration. Using available technology or even that which could be developed in the near future, such exploration could very well mean a one-way trip for the individuals venturing out. It seems hard to imagine a group of people committing themselves to a voyage to which they would leave everything they know and love behind, set out on a trip knowing it is filled with hazards, uncertainty and possible death, with a very real likely hood that they will never return. Hard to imagine until one consider the thousands of brave individuals that go off to war every day. Or the explorers that searched for the "new world" or the North West passage, or traveled West across the U.S. or climbed Mt Everest or any other great adventurers history has given us. It is part of the special make up of our species to search out new places at great personal peril. Those that have done so in the past have advanced us as a race. As will those that do so in the future. Its not a question of whether we are able to find people willing to try. It's a question of will we support their effort with all the science, intellect, creativity, ingenuity and resources available to do so? Will we do it to preserve our species and all it's greatness for future generations? To further our knowledge of our world and of the universe and maybe, just maybe, some day find there are others out there with which to share that knowledge. There is so much still that we do not know. To stop seeking that knowledge will ultimately doom us to the fate of the dinosaurs.
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