Jeff Beck

We're in the musical age of this guy

Way back when about the time "Clapton is God" was painted on a wall in England, the white English boys, Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, were involved in phrase "wars" where they were milking every chorus for the ultimate, dripping tone and note selection, and throwing their lines back out at the others to challenge and up the ante so to speak. Then along came Jimi.  I honestly believe Jimi Hendrix, a true bluesman himself, yet so charismatic, inadvertently ended this subtle search for blues phrasing, not just for the four mentioned, but for many others as well. But one guy's sound, even back then was different, and seemed on a different course altogether. That guy is Jeff Beck. Where some played blues, he played sound. This search for sound over idiom or technique, I believe caused Beck to lay aside the guitar pick and the speed that it can produce, for his finger only approach and the tones they can produce. And after 30 years he's opening the keg as it were, to a totally and unique mature sound. Here's what, Jon Newey, editor, Jazzwise magazine, a master wordsmith has to say on the liner notes of the DVD "Jeff Beck – Performing This Week".

Up close (at Ronnie Scott's club in London), every nuance of his unique picking technique and spellbinding signature sound seemed to be magnified. Each note shaped, contoured and emotionally charged by the passionate persuasion of fingertips, whammy bar, volume control and a whole heart full of soul. The sheer inventiveness, tonal color and power of his improvisation, harnessed to a daredevil sense of dynamics that will punch you hard in the face one minute while tugging at your heartstrings the next, was simply breathtaking.

I do witness to the breathtaking Jeff Beck. He has created a sound that is simply powerful. I recommend the DVD ( Live at Ronnie Scotts) over the cd. Seeing him play in a small venue is so cool. Check out his website: http://www.jeffbeck.com/

Charlie Sheen

My wife asked me last night, "Why draw attention to a guy like that?" It's a good question. I actually know very little about Charlie Sheen. I don't watch his show nor do I follow much of the news surrounding him of late. What I do know is that the guy has a breach of contract lawsuit with the producers of the show Two and a Half Men. I do know that Mr. Sheen has made some outlandish remarks, and some of those I agree with and some I laugh at. And I don't know how much of what he said was meant to be comedy. I do know that the networks will cut and paste words to suit their point of view — I witnessed this first hand. So the kernel of this whole story which I totally applaud, is that Sheen is taking his story on the road. And I think that the popularity of his tour is largely due to a growing, and healthy conceptualization in America, that we are not told the truth by our network journalists. I don't think it is necessarly in support of Mr. Sheen's lifestyle.  Anyone who stands up to the media like Mr. Sheen is doing, deserves a certain amount of respect, even if he may be someone you wouldn't want your daughter going out with. 

Dennis Jones

I subscribe to one blogsite – the blog of Dennis Jones, illustrator. On the top left is Dennis Jones' beautiful illustration and on the bottom right is my study – one learns a lot from copying. And I actually learned something about crosshatching after all these years. But... the "heads up" on this blog is for you to check out DJ's art. Signing up for his blog and receiving his periodic work, whether it be a sketch or a movie on his step-by-step approach is like Christmas to me. You and your kids will love it. Completely clean and always first class craftsmanship. Here's his blog address:

http://thedennisjones.wordpress.com/author/thedennisjones/

Raisin Paper & Teething

 20 some years ago I was sitting in an easy chair with maybe our third or fourth child, unsuccessfully trying to console a teething baby. Nothing they liked to chew on would keep their attention. So I thought about the key ingredients of the ultimate "Teether Reliever". 

1. It had to taste or at least feel good

2. It had to be bio indestructible, in that a piece couldn't come off and slide down the child's throat.

3. You had to be able to hold it easily.

My mind went around the house, into the cupboards, and there was a bag of raisins! I quickly cut up the bag into about 1" bands, putting the raisins in a container. When I put the raisin "paper" (it's really plastic) with the gooey residue of sweet raisins to the lips of our child, peace began to reign. Focused contentment. Volumes of slobber. Enthusiastic sucking. Quiet. 

Above is our granddaughter, 'Rory Shane. She has the raisin paper AND is finding how good it feels to bite my thumb at the same time! And look at her face. A second before she was crying her eyes out.

You may send your contributions to my Paypal account: rparsons@gci.net  :)

Fringe

Fringe, the increasingly popular TV series, I believe on Fox, has some fine actors, one of them is John Noble, who plays the eccentric Dr. Walter Bishop. Our family, the older 19 year old and Robin and I watch the show on Hulu, or some other online place of residence. Dr. Bishop has a myriad of problems—most of them guilt related, as he was somewhat of a Nazi-type experimenter on certain strangely gifted children. Although Dr. Bishop's motivation could be perceived as having a benevolent side to it, nevertheless he inflicted some psycho damage along the way. Add to that, Dr. Bishop's meddling science was responsible for the kidnapping of a child (in order to save his life) from a parallel universe. This crossing over between universes is destroying the other universe and bodes ill for ours as well. And you think you have guilt! Oh yeah, the kid he saved from the other universe, Peter, was the counterpart to his dead son in this universe. This brings up every permutation of the Star Wars, "You're not my father!", from the current living Peter. Peter, in these later episodes, now knows he was snatched from Universe B, and actually is growing to love his stand-in dad. 

We can sure forgive a lot of crappola. And John Noble's character, who is responsible for wrecked psyches, countless deaths, kidnapping etc. worms his way into our hearts, as he suffers for his wrongs and hides his pain with the use of medical marijuana. The character is honest and childlike. He actually needs a supervisor because he is slightly mentally incapacitated. But that incapacitation allows the writers to have Dr. Bishop blurt out what most of us think but never dare to say ourselves–this aspect of the character is why, along with John Noble's skill as an actor, has made him the center piece of the show.  I still play the guitar while watching the series, but find it a worthy distraction while I practice my scales.

Eric Johnson, Austin Texas guitarist extraordinaire, has recently released his album Up Close, which contains one track in particular that deserves the attention of this blog. The track is named  Texas and is a straight forward electric blues. To firmly grasp the significance of this masterwork, it is not absolutely necessarily to delve as far back as Northern Israel's captivity by the neo Assyrian monarchs. However, the notes distilled from Mr. Johnson's most capable hands bring with them residue from historic sufferings chronicled by song that yields a dense  richness. This tune is the capstone of what the blues guitar can accomplish. It reaches back and will continue until time is no more Yes it is that good. I would gladly trade in all works in my collection if I had to to secure this one track.  

Even though the Mayan calendar has our current astrological estate named as "The Time of Jeff Beck", Eric Johnson's effort here could be seen as a Stonehenge within that era.

By the way, I drew this with brush and ink and couldn't find my water colors so I used a San Francisco Bay French Roast right out of my coffee cup for a wash!

Downton Abbey

Advertised as a 4 part Masterpiece Series on PBS, "Downton Abbey" set its hooks quickly into the flesh of our family and we gladly accepted being reeled ashore, knowing that resolve would come in the 4th and final episode. The highly anticipated 4th episode aired last night. When the final scene was coming to an end, my  wife and I began to realized that every relationship and event was in a disastrous web of loose ends and there wasn't enough time to pull it all together. Then the camera froze upon the lead character who just announced to the lawn party that England was at war with Germany. Stunned silence. Shock. Rage. Ungracious words. And this not from the elite English guests, but from Robin and I !!!

Oh, and we're supposed to find joy in the 6pt type, sheepishly sneaking across the screen announcing that PBS was working on the continuing episodes? Are you kidding me?

I think that the series should have been advertised as an incomplete 4 part series — that way none of us would have wasted our time and emotions and even allowed ourselves to be sucked into a 4 week, 6 hour ordeal with no resolve.

To try and quantify the emotional level I've devised a simple 1-10 scale most can identify with:

Sorrow for New Orleans after Katrina:  7 (personally I would never build below sea level)
Sorrow for HaitI:  8
The concern for Cairo:  4
Outrage over Downton Abbey:  9.5

I know this paints me as shallow and that my affections are imbalanced. I may normalize when the miff wears off...