The Intergalactic Cowboy

Tonight in Thomaston, a musical event took place in which different singers sang music, written by Georgia musicians such as Otis Redding, Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, James Brown and yes, even The Strange Hours, the band that I played guitar in two years ago. The singer, Daniel Foy, performed our song ‘Yesterday’s Tomorrow’, which some of you may have heard on our myspace site.
The singers performed in front of a one size fits all backup band that was surprisingly professional in its renditions of R + B, country and blues. I was apprehensive as to how this band would deal with our song, which is a euro-rock song in the vein of Eno, Bowie, Eurythmics. My guitar solo on the recording was constructed from notes that I heard in my head and then found on the fretboard, rather than being selected from a preset musical scale.
The musicians only had one practice session last Saturday. It took me three practice sessions to pull this piece of music off in a semiproffesional mannner, and I was just wondering how these apparently mainstream musicians would handle the job with only one practice session. The libretto listed the guitarist as being a member of the law enforcement community…
The venue for this event was the R.E.Lee Institute auditorium, which has a large stage, elevated about four feet off of the floor. There are about two hundred wooden seats, the bottom portion of which flip up for some reason. In 1970, ‘71, and ‘72, I performed on this stage as a member of the Lee High Singers. Our practice room was underneath the stage. The music teacher who conducted the Lee High Singers was Mr. Boyd Martin. Mr. Martin bore a strong resemblance to the man who later became the chief instructor and originator of Guitar Craft.
So, midway through the show, out comes Daniel to sing with this house band. The keyboard player started playing my guitar intro and then started playing chords. The band then came in at a faster tempo than the recording. The presence of humans on drums and keyboards added a little more energy than the programed keys and drums that the Strange Hours used. The guitar player played power chords on a Les Paul through a Marshall. Daniel, as usual, sang better in front of an audience than he does in the recording studio and practice room. When it came time for the guitar solo, the guitarist played it in a sort of Earl Slick style, with a few half-step trills that were somewhat similar to my guitar part. Since Earl Slick used to play with Bowie, his interpretation of the solo was rather acceptable, considering that he only had one practice with Daniel. All in all, this performance, which had so much potential to be a total disaster, was a success. My compliments to Daniel and his competent pick up band. Thanks also to Daniel for honoring our former band.
Good night,
I.C.

Recently, I have come to see the similarities between the practice of doing nothing and the silence from which Music emerges from. Both of these procedures can be the beginning of new creations of living and music. The morning sitting gives me the opportunity to create a new way of operating in the world and the silence before the first note gives me the opportunity to give birth to a life changing note. Failing to conduct my life in this way leads to the same old person playing the same old notes.
Chill,
I.C.

“Tis been a week of unsuccessful investing and successful training on a new audio / video system.
I lost a little money on the stock market today and now have a strategy to recover my losses. This strategy is too risky to recommend to you. Despite my preoccupation with this, my practices have occurred today in their usual daily committment.
I have also committed to running sound and video for ten Thursday nights in a row at the church. The p.a. system , which is located in the fellowship hall, requires a little study, as do the computer and video projector, which use the Vista operating system. My computer at home uses Windows XP. I still haven’t figured how to get the DVD picture to appear on both the computer screen and the big screen simultaneously. This will all be practical and marketable knowledge once I figure it out.
In the spirit of learning,
I.C.

I now have three friends in the nursing home where D. resides. D is now able to walk with the help of a walker and can even take a few steps without the aid of the walker. She will go back to the orthopedic surgeon on Friday to get his opinion. I hope that she will be able to return to her house soon. She has been laid up for about nine months now.
My newest friend to be admitted to the nursing home is Mrs. B. She is recovering from hip replacement surgery and a broken back. She should be able to be transferred to Warm Springs in about a week. I visit her every couple of days. One of her sons has a blood infection and cannot be exposed to her. The other son had surgery at Walter Reed Military Hosptal and is not quite recovered well enough to come to Thomaston and visit her. I feel that it is important to let these patients know that they have not been forgotten about.
My attempts to recover from a falling U.S. stock market have been incrementally successfull so far this year. The only thing harder than making money in this market is to not lose money…. It looks like the media are going to create a recession whether the economic conditions create one or not ! You can’t turn on the news without some pundit prognosticating about the doom and gloom in the world of money. The hedge fund managers would love a market crash. It would allow them to buy some cheap stocks. The retired people of the world are hoping and praying that nothing like that happens because their entire livelihood depends on the integrity of their investments and the people that influence them.
Uh-Oh,
I.C.

This is the first word in the title to John Lydon’s autobiography that I have started reading. The remainder of the title is not politically correct enough for some of my readers, so I shall not print it. I think that Lydon and I could be very good friends. He and I share a fondness for rebelling against institutionalized ideologies, even ideologies that we helped to create. He believes in individualism; individualism to a fault. So, I’m not saying that individualism is the mode of being that is exactly right, I’m just saying that I am sympathetic to that attitude.
John writes that he grew up in a slum in the Finsbury Park neighborhood of London. His entire family lived in a one bedroom apartment with no indoor bathroom. Surprisingly, he had a fondness for children and worked at a day care center in his teenage years. He was also a responsible older brother, feeding and changing the diapers of his younger siblings. He also had a surprisingly good relationship with his parents, rather than being the type of guy whose young adulthood was based on rebelling against his parents. He talks about the massive riots between opposing soccer fans over there. That is something that I have never experienced. There are also pictures of him with long hair.
Cool,
I.C.

OK it’s not really that bad; I am just having some problems getting my playing up to speed. The holiday season has completed with all committments completed and with only about three relationship-damaging incidents. It really could not have gone any better !
Since my guitar students have all graduated from the level of instruction that they requested, I have had an opportunity to re-explore the Guitar Craft Repertoire on the Ovation guitar. Most of my recent students have requested training on the electric guitar, which has strings that are light in guage (sp?) and close to the fretboard. The Ovation has heavier guage strings that are relatively further away from the fretboard. I cannot believe how slowly I have to play the Guitar Craft Themes ! I have to start out at 58 beats per minute and slowly work up to 80 beats per minute. 80 is my maximum tempo after two weeks of practice… I used to be able to play these pieces of music at 90 bpm and even faster on a good day. Fortunately these pieces are excellent exercises at slow tempo but it is such a dissappointment to have regressed so much since practicing them last… On the lead intro to Caliope (sp?) I can rarely press the strings down with enough pressure to produce any of the notes at all. I hope that I can regain more facility in this repertoire before I have to switch back to electric…
With dissappointment,
I.C.