by Norm Richards
Most musicians who started in the sixties and seventies are blossomed into their own. Most are being reflective. What comes next? Fewer gigs are the order. Stresses of the road are too familiar. Classic tours are down and big shows harder to pull together. Summer festivals have their draw but where do we go from here? Downloading?
For most, looks have faded, hair gone, going grey and wrinkles invade. Project to project thinking is the order of the day. Some have money, most don’t. Some still play bars, but most won’t. It’s a niche world. Those who have it in them are writing books, if they can remember it. Keith kept notes, can you believe it?
I’m preserving my memories in all kinds of ways. I’d do radio if anyone would have me. TV takes over your life so I won’t go there. I love writing. I love music, not much else moves me, art and movies perhaps. Oh, yes, family is precious for me. I’m reading a great deal and can’t read fast enough since another project gets in the road. The years I didn’t read much are lost, but maybe not. My daughter bought me an e-reader at Christmas loaded with the classics. I’ll catch up.
Meanwhile, before the internet takes any fun left - I’m fixing and warming up the drums. The Chicago built Leedy drum kit is good for practice and I’m gearing up to buy a new DW set. I’m excited. Now if I can get my Facebook musical buddies together in a live space we'll jam the blues. Man, I’m going to be alright afterall.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
A Look Back at 2010
By Norm Richards
I’ve struggled with myself this year about projects and not finishing or developing the ideas and concepts further. On the other hand some things were quite satisfactory to me. I started to think about this and I came to realize I shouldn’t fret. The fact that I’m so active and living the life I’m living is good. It’s not entirely fulfilled but that will come if I’m patient and keep working. Creative work is a deep stimulant for me. It has it’s own payoff and yet someday, I expect to sell. I can’t struggle forever. No, I can’t.
In 2010, I got to do some fun things. My day job has been good in many ways but it does take a big chunk out of my productive hours of the day I could otherwise be locked in my personal and creative ventures, some of which I committed several years ago to do and not completed, yet. I’ve worked on them but for various reasons, either started over or decided to ignore them for awhile so I might get a brain wave and help me produce a gem for the world to see. It will come. I travelled to visit my family. That sponsors me. I live better afterward. I know they’re ok. I worked to capture some of that joy in my photos.
Jack told me our hometown wants to see our sixties rock group get together again. The town has a centennial celebration coming up in 2012 in which we are invited to play a summer concert. I’m beside myself with it’s possibility. I retrieved my drum kit and since it needs repair I may buy a new kit. I looked at what’s in the stores. I got even more excited and dam near bought one on the spot. Glad I held out cause I saw another kit I prefer. Meanwhile, I’ll repair my old kit you see below and jam just to warm up. Some blues artists in town have invited me to jam and that warms my heart. Pray my limbs can take the action. My mind is strong for it.
What’s good is I’m writing more. Got to be a good thing. The way my freestyle brain works, I wrote some thoughts about marriage failure. I got a response but it wasn’t quite what I expected. The person was terse and aggressive. Besides living a long life with a woman who loved me, I’m grateful we produced two wonderful offspring together. I’m proud of our adult kids. My wife has continued to manage well without me. I’m not resentful she left me. Then the terse one has challenged me to writing a work of fiction. I’m not sure about that motivation. I have to do projects that fit for me. I’ll go on regardless. Doing a novel is a fine venture though and I’ll see if it fits in in the future.
It seems as if the past year was to prepare me for many positive activities in the coming year, like rehearsals, reading, writing, making things better for myself and those around me. I’ve come to know being generous is not just about money but being genuine, real and honest with others. Wish me luck and Godspeed. Some say, break a leg! But I’ve already done that and I don’t recommend it. A rebuilt leg slows you down.
I’ve struggled with myself this year about projects and not finishing or developing the ideas and concepts further. On the other hand some things were quite satisfactory to me. I started to think about this and I came to realize I shouldn’t fret. The fact that I’m so active and living the life I’m living is good. It’s not entirely fulfilled but that will come if I’m patient and keep working. Creative work is a deep stimulant for me. It has it’s own payoff and yet someday, I expect to sell. I can’t struggle forever. No, I can’t.
In 2010, I got to do some fun things. My day job has been good in many ways but it does take a big chunk out of my productive hours of the day I could otherwise be locked in my personal and creative ventures, some of which I committed several years ago to do and not completed, yet. I’ve worked on them but for various reasons, either started over or decided to ignore them for awhile so I might get a brain wave and help me produce a gem for the world to see. It will come. I travelled to visit my family. That sponsors me. I live better afterward. I know they’re ok. I worked to capture some of that joy in my photos.
Jack told me our hometown wants to see our sixties rock group get together again. The town has a centennial celebration coming up in 2012 in which we are invited to play a summer concert. I’m beside myself with it’s possibility. I retrieved my drum kit and since it needs repair I may buy a new kit. I looked at what’s in the stores. I got even more excited and dam near bought one on the spot. Glad I held out cause I saw another kit I prefer. Meanwhile, I’ll repair my old kit you see below and jam just to warm up. Some blues artists in town have invited me to jam and that warms my heart. Pray my limbs can take the action. My mind is strong for it.
What’s good is I’m writing more. Got to be a good thing. The way my freestyle brain works, I wrote some thoughts about marriage failure. I got a response but it wasn’t quite what I expected. The person was terse and aggressive. Besides living a long life with a woman who loved me, I’m grateful we produced two wonderful offspring together. I’m proud of our adult kids. My wife has continued to manage well without me. I’m not resentful she left me. Then the terse one has challenged me to writing a work of fiction. I’m not sure about that motivation. I have to do projects that fit for me. I’ll go on regardless. Doing a novel is a fine venture though and I’ll see if it fits in in the future.
It seems as if the past year was to prepare me for many positive activities in the coming year, like rehearsals, reading, writing, making things better for myself and those around me. I’ve come to know being generous is not just about money but being genuine, real and honest with others. Wish me luck and Godspeed. Some say, break a leg! But I’ve already done that and I don’t recommend it. A rebuilt leg slows you down.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
My Christmas Season Notes for You!
Have a wonderful Christmas season everyone. It's my wish we all remain in good health and continue to enjoy our lives to the fullest. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with family I don't see often enough. My children are all grown up and live apart from me in other cities. We see each other a number of times a year. My vacations are often spent with them nevertheless. Good to be friends with your adult children I say.
My son's a good cook and shares my interest in music and popular culture. His gal is warm, caring and is a full time teacher. She likes what I write. Their son is growing and getting bigger everyday. He seems to have timing so may become a drummer like his dad and me. My daughter and her children are dancers as was members of my mom and dad's families before me. We share a love for dance and music too. Well, she's a dance mom now and travels with my grandson and granddaughter often to compete in major cities.
Who knows where all that energy will take them in the future. Sky's the limit. Oh, ya! My son-in law is a champion fisherman and wins awards every year. He proved to me how easy it is for him to catch the big fish and return it to it's habitat unharmed. My father would be keen to know these things cause dad was a great fisherman himself. I think mom would just cry with joy knowing about these fine grandchildren in our family. Mom had a really big heart.
I will continue to write screenplay this year and Blog as often as I can. I badly need to eliminate debt and see myself through some rough edges. There are always challenges out there it seems and I will not back away from them. I draw much courage from the people around me and the good will and support I receive while I move forward. Gestation for my art has gone on a long time but I believe I'll come into my own beyond what is apparent so far. Take care and love those closest to you, in your own way. Merry Christmas and Top of the Season to you and yours!
My son's a good cook and shares my interest in music and popular culture. His gal is warm, caring and is a full time teacher. She likes what I write. Their son is growing and getting bigger everyday. He seems to have timing so may become a drummer like his dad and me. My daughter and her children are dancers as was members of my mom and dad's families before me. We share a love for dance and music too. Well, she's a dance mom now and travels with my grandson and granddaughter often to compete in major cities.
Who knows where all that energy will take them in the future. Sky's the limit. Oh, ya! My son-in law is a champion fisherman and wins awards every year. He proved to me how easy it is for him to catch the big fish and return it to it's habitat unharmed. My father would be keen to know these things cause dad was a great fisherman himself. I think mom would just cry with joy knowing about these fine grandchildren in our family. Mom had a really big heart.
I will continue to write screenplay this year and Blog as often as I can. I badly need to eliminate debt and see myself through some rough edges. There are always challenges out there it seems and I will not back away from them. I draw much courage from the people around me and the good will and support I receive while I move forward. Gestation for my art has gone on a long time but I believe I'll come into my own beyond what is apparent so far. Take care and love those closest to you, in your own way. Merry Christmas and Top of the Season to you and yours!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Musical Guidance and history of Rock music
Story by Norm Richards
We are in a reflective time in our lives. I bought “Life” by Keith Richards while shopping yesterday. I expect to see the public life of heavy drug use and escape. But I’m interested in his back story too. We’ll see and I’ll probably blog again after I’ve read it. Stay tuned. I love memoir but I know we anticipate much more experience and actions in our lives as we live on.
Many books are being written by artists and musicians these days. They are my contemporaries. I grew up through the fifties, sixties and beyond. I had the gift of influence from parents who loved music. My contemporaries were also exposed to the great music done by big bands and home style folk music which included country and what they called country and western and black music from the southern United States.
North America is made up of many European influences and cultures brought over here. Some of that got mixed with native styles and a kind of gumbo often immerged but pure styles remained. Black artists added another style. This formed a pretty interesting sound when the fifties rolled around. By then, the big band was getting cumbersome and expensive to operate for band leaders. Dance halls were losing their appeal. Big bands were doing more concert style shows and recording when they could. Radio was a huge medium in the fifties and television was just getting started. Working class folks bought better gramophones and made improvements to their reception for radio signals. For me, I loved to tune in live music from Nashville, Tennessee.
We had a short wave radio for a time and in the evening signals could be heard from all over the world. American radio was less difficult to hear since they boasted their signals at night. Our family had been entertainers before I was born. They entertained themselves since they grew up with less exposure to outside artists. Large families with many siblings was another dynamic. My folks grew up in remote places where there wasn’t a shopping mall as we know today. Grandpa travelled to the city a couple times a year by train to trade in the fur he gathered as a buyer from native trappers in northern Canada. He brought back material for making clothing and instruments for the family to play during those long hours between chores and school. No other media was available then. Mom had thirty six years of being the piano player for a family band made up of fiddle, guitar, banjo, a squeeze box, horns, various drums and homemade percussion instruments.
So by the time Elvis hit, I already had an education. My greening was musical and parochial school was almost more a roadblock than a place to learn. I coped, but did they? Not well. I loved any kind of art but there was never enough of it. I wasn’t hard headed or rude enough to rebel, so I gave up. Then, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones hit! I’d found my calling. A new direction was possible for me. Development came with the formation of hometown rock bands. So, I think today much of my own life parallels that of my contemporaries like Keith and many others I’ll spend time talking about here over a course of time. I hope you’ll keep reading me by Following this Blog. Cheers!
We are in a reflective time in our lives. I bought “Life” by Keith Richards while shopping yesterday. I expect to see the public life of heavy drug use and escape. But I’m interested in his back story too. We’ll see and I’ll probably blog again after I’ve read it. Stay tuned. I love memoir but I know we anticipate much more experience and actions in our lives as we live on.
Many books are being written by artists and musicians these days. They are my contemporaries. I grew up through the fifties, sixties and beyond. I had the gift of influence from parents who loved music. My contemporaries were also exposed to the great music done by big bands and home style folk music which included country and what they called country and western and black music from the southern United States.
North America is made up of many European influences and cultures brought over here. Some of that got mixed with native styles and a kind of gumbo often immerged but pure styles remained. Black artists added another style. This formed a pretty interesting sound when the fifties rolled around. By then, the big band was getting cumbersome and expensive to operate for band leaders. Dance halls were losing their appeal. Big bands were doing more concert style shows and recording when they could. Radio was a huge medium in the fifties and television was just getting started. Working class folks bought better gramophones and made improvements to their reception for radio signals. For me, I loved to tune in live music from Nashville, Tennessee.
We had a short wave radio for a time and in the evening signals could be heard from all over the world. American radio was less difficult to hear since they boasted their signals at night. Our family had been entertainers before I was born. They entertained themselves since they grew up with less exposure to outside artists. Large families with many siblings was another dynamic. My folks grew up in remote places where there wasn’t a shopping mall as we know today. Grandpa travelled to the city a couple times a year by train to trade in the fur he gathered as a buyer from native trappers in northern Canada. He brought back material for making clothing and instruments for the family to play during those long hours between chores and school. No other media was available then. Mom had thirty six years of being the piano player for a family band made up of fiddle, guitar, banjo, a squeeze box, horns, various drums and homemade percussion instruments.
So by the time Elvis hit, I already had an education. My greening was musical and parochial school was almost more a roadblock than a place to learn. I coped, but did they? Not well. I loved any kind of art but there was never enough of it. I wasn’t hard headed or rude enough to rebel, so I gave up. Then, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones hit! I’d found my calling. A new direction was possible for me. Development came with the formation of hometown rock bands. So, I think today much of my own life parallels that of my contemporaries like Keith and many others I’ll spend time talking about here over a course of time. I hope you’ll keep reading me by Following this Blog. Cheers!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Nowhere Boy meets Vintage Rhythm
Story by Norm Richards
Dropped in to see Brent Parkin release a his new album VINTAGE RHYTHM last evening at the Park Theatre. I’ll get back to Brent. For a warm up, I took in a little Skiffle while attending the movie of John Lennon’s early life before The Beatles were formed. The movie is titled “Nowhere Boy,” words out of the mouth of a stern school head master as if to say, “You’re going nowhere, boy.” Lennon will prove this dude wrong and it felt good just knowing he would. Ability and talent does not always lie wide awake to boring academics brought to you by cold spirits. The creative mind works in other ways.
The musical parts of the film were not the focus, the relationships with Aunt Mimi and his mother Julia are the core of the whole second act. The film is shot hot and with warm colors. If I wasn’t looking at a film print I’d think it was filmed in high definition. Why not? Film may not exist soon.
I liked the parts where John meets Paul McCartney for the first time and later George on a bus ride where Paul makes him play a few licks. Paul is given a bit of a competitive edge to John but it appears John respects his talent and it’s a swift move by the filmmaker but they end up on stage together. Skip the boring parts I guess since most of us know the story anyway. Early rock and roll makes it’s appearance.
It’s a nice finish to my evening watching Brent Parkin do his thing with the local boys especially when he performs ’That’s Alright Mama.” I’ve seen Brent Parkin and the Stingers and I’ve seen Brent in Hounddog awhile back. His vintage rhythm is made for the ease in which he plays guitar these days. My Mama would have been jiggling and tapping her feet in the front row if she were still here I assure you. Way to go Brent! Fine evening.
Dropped in to see Brent Parkin release a his new album VINTAGE RHYTHM last evening at the Park Theatre. I’ll get back to Brent. For a warm up, I took in a little Skiffle while attending the movie of John Lennon’s early life before The Beatles were formed. The movie is titled “Nowhere Boy,” words out of the mouth of a stern school head master as if to say, “You’re going nowhere, boy.” Lennon will prove this dude wrong and it felt good just knowing he would. Ability and talent does not always lie wide awake to boring academics brought to you by cold spirits. The creative mind works in other ways.
The musical parts of the film were not the focus, the relationships with Aunt Mimi and his mother Julia are the core of the whole second act. The film is shot hot and with warm colors. If I wasn’t looking at a film print I’d think it was filmed in high definition. Why not? Film may not exist soon.
I liked the parts where John meets Paul McCartney for the first time and later George on a bus ride where Paul makes him play a few licks. Paul is given a bit of a competitive edge to John but it appears John respects his talent and it’s a swift move by the filmmaker but they end up on stage together. Skip the boring parts I guess since most of us know the story anyway. Early rock and roll makes it’s appearance.
It’s a nice finish to my evening watching Brent Parkin do his thing with the local boys especially when he performs ’That’s Alright Mama.” I’ve seen Brent Parkin and the Stingers and I’ve seen Brent in Hounddog awhile back. His vintage rhythm is made for the ease in which he plays guitar these days. My Mama would have been jiggling and tapping her feet in the front row if she were still here I assure you. Way to go Brent! Fine evening.
Friday, November 19, 2010
2012 Rock Concert - Story update
Those buddies I wrote about in my book 'Greening of a North Boy' are invited to re-group and entertain for the big Saturday night concert on the August long weekend 2012. Next summer is coming up fast. I bought new drums to commemorate the event. But, wow, each of us are rather long in the tooth by now. Although, my mind remains as if it was yesterday. I left The Pas as a full time resident in the fall of 1968. Our lead guitar player, although a phenomenal player is three years younger than me. That year he was under the stiff influence of his mother's rule. She played piano and her husband was an excellent fiddler. They both knew what it was to play public performances and the temptations that went with being the new sex objects of a generation and rock stars to boot. I had few illusions myself. Mom played in a family band for thirty six years. She accompanied several local band leaders while I was still a youth. So it was, we offspring would find each other in the fog and the storm of the sixties. We were melded together with the medal of music and passion for music like no other generation. We would be of the first rock bands of our century and there was no stopping us. God knew us and wouldn't let us go. We would be what we would be. It feels now like such a brief moment in our lives that we played in our town's most favorite rock band but why shouldn`t we be that which we became.
There were two groups then. There was the first and then there was us. I started with the first, largely in spirit. I wanted to drum more than any other sexual being of my time wanted sex. Sex was a backseat driver for me. Love and emotion came with the power of music for me. It was sex itself. I shared that with few others. Then, some young guys went through seasoning in garage bands and then we met. The Beatles had skiffle, we had them and everything else rock, such as it was in 1966 when we formed a group for the first time. The Symbols of Sound was heard first on CBC Radio which was our very first performance, although we were uncomfortable with the sound compression radio imposed on us. We did the show anyway. Parent heard us on the airwaves for the first time and local kids did too.
We spend the next few year after that performance getting louder and louder playing for dances. Amplification was what it was all about. Today, everything is mixed through a public address system. In 1967, we made a wall of sound with raw non mic'd amplifiers and man it felt good. The first group I started with had dreams and ambitions but they weren't mine. So, a new group, the Symbols of Sound made my day! We won! We felt that triumph together. We've often celebrated it in conversation over the years but never reformed to re-live it. A small jam with three of us in 1989 produced a recording and that in itself felt good but I think we collectively wondered if it would ever happen again. Well, maybe in the summer twenty months from now those yernings will become a reality again. Jack, Garry, Patrick and Norm will mount a very large stage under hot lights and do it again. Wish us luck and satisfaction. Much like Tom Jones and Rod Stewart today, we believe we're still sexy enough to perform a concert and hold our audience's attention. Get your tickets now! Better still bring a tent, it's probably the only accommodation you'll get!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Late Fall in the Peg
By Norm Richards
I'm amazed with temperatures in the city right now. It was 18 today. But it's November 9th. Odd, but going indoors, buildings are now heated. The air condition systems are inoperative. It was a sweat box in this building I was in today. It felt like July but inside the building. At this time of the year, I enjoy how the sun rises and scrapes across the surface of the earth and does the same in the evening. I know why filmmakers and photographers enjoy using the sun or light to shoot with. I want to improve my feel for the use of light. I plan do a series of urban photos here and you can see for yourself how I've done.
I'm amazed with temperatures in the city right now. It was 18 today. But it's November 9th. Odd, but going indoors, buildings are now heated. The air condition systems are inoperative. It was a sweat box in this building I was in today. It felt like July but inside the building. At this time of the year, I enjoy how the sun rises and scrapes across the surface of the earth and does the same in the evening. I know why filmmakers and photographers enjoy using the sun or light to shoot with. I want to improve my feel for the use of light. I plan do a series of urban photos here and you can see for yourself how I've done.
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