Worth Waiting For

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” (Matt. 13:44-46)

Some things are worth waiting for and fighting for…. more later… JBB

Good-Bye Robert Moog

I don’t remember if I had to or chose to, but in the 7th grade I took a class in Classical Music Appreciation. Now that I think about it, over my multi-decade educational journey, this was one of only two music classes that I’ve ever taken. It was the dim dark days of 1972 and the teacher, who had already suffered with us as our 5th grade teacher, clearly had doubts that there was anything that she could play for us that would reach our Grand Funk Railroad/Led Zeppelin addled brains. Then she put an LP of something brand-new that combined classical music with this weird modern electronic stuff. That was my introduction to Robert Moog and the album “Switched on Bach.” The funniest thing was that after she played the selection she didn’t believe us when we told her that we really liked it. I don’t know if the other students were bullshitting her, but there was something about this weird “space” music that I really did like. Lord knows, that this stuff would have to wait another couple decades until it’d be rediscovered via such veteran artists such as Kraftwerk, and more recently through such electronica artists like Dirty Vegas. Being a guitarist and wanna-be keyboardist, I don’t know that my life was totally changed by Robert Moog’s creation, but I do know that the landscape of popular music and the sounds that musicians can now make was greatly enriched by this man’s creativity and genius. Thanks Bob.

Robert Moog, creator of the Moog Synthesizer, died on Saturday, August 20, 2005 at the age of 71. JBB

Mr. Mister Miyagi & Running into Someone’s Clone

Alex’s Bar, Long Beach, CA

I finally got off my ass and went to see my friend’s live karaoke band “Mister Mister Miyagi.” I didn’t know a soul there, except my friend, Cliff, and finding parking was a real bitch but other than that it was a blast.

“What the hell is ‘live‘ karaoke?,” one might ask. Basically the band put together a list of over 80 songs from the 80s and invited folks to sign up and sing their favorite tunes. I’m not generally a karaoke fan but this was really fun. A roomful of wanna-be rock stars and there friends was loads of fun to watch and whenever someone faltered with their vocals the band (and crowd) was there to jump in and help the wanna-be. I really wanted share this with my friends and decided to shoot some video using my Treo650… Alas, having not shot too much video with the Treo I didn’t think about how the audio would come out with me standing about six feet away from the speakers…. Argh!!!!!! It’s bad enough that the video was all pixelated but the audio was totally blown out. Damn. Well, they’re gonna be back at Alex’s Bar in a couple weeks (Sept. 3rd) so I’ll try to catch some video then.

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Relationship Autopsy

Report begun: 08/17/05-16:07

In-n-Out, Long Beach. Late lunch/early dinner
Man, I did’t even sit down before my order was ready. Yikes. I’m out and about shopping for odds and ends, basically finding an excuse for leaving the apartment after sequestoring myself for the past week or so (w/ one afternoon off on Saturday for my grandbaby’s baby shower… sigh). Following the good-bye kiss on the cheek I’ve spent a lot of time on my website, cleaning up things and updating my “Jacob’s Ladder” Blog. I guess it’s my way of dealing with the end of the relationship by immersing myself in this long-running narrative.

“When I said, ‘I love you’ on my birthday, why didn’t you respond in kind?”

“… I was afraid.”

I didn’t need to ask her what she was afraid of. I already knew that for the past year she didn’t feel like she could handle her feelings for me or my feelings for her while still living with her husband. So, even though she’d filed for divorce over a year ago, she had chosen to shut off those feelings and keep her heart closed to me and, in many ways, herself.

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