Pandemic ending?
Is the pandemic ending, or is it just protocols being pulled back? Being fully vaccinated, I look forward to experiencing live music once again. It’s been way too long, and really only less time than it would have been if I’d not gotten to see my friends in Abacab: The Music of Genesis over the summer – yes, summer of 2020. Also of course, Tessa Harmon of the band Buried In Roses, who was in for the Tarotunes show that Heather & I do on Thursday nights. She performed a couple of songs....
Abacab: The Music of Genesis
Here we are just past halfway through the year, which was a year that I’d planned to have filled with live music, leading to reviews here on Musical Conversations, and more work filling out the rest of the topics. It doesn’t look like it’s getting any better and I wonder when I’m going to be able to experience live music again? Since the beginning of the year, I’ve only seen a couple of the more renowned touring acts, Heilung, Folk Uke, and Arlo Guthrie. In that same time, the first half of...
May 4th, 1970 Kent State University
I wrote this for a Facebook group about Kent State, The May Fourth Movement, regarding the shooting on May 4th, 1970, by the National Guard, that killed four and injured nine others. This was to be the fiftieth anniversary, and I had plans to go to Kent, Ohio, for the memorial. Of course, that was thwarted by the pandemic. I wrote about the event and its impact upon me, as well as how it really affected me, and the effect it had upon me and the rest of my life. I think it’s important to share...
Abby K, Eddie Z
The Evening Muse on March 16th Here we are at a point where I know the world is about to change. In retrospect, as I write this much later than the date listed, I see how far the world has changed, as well as how much I miss live music. This is the last live performance in a crowd that I would see all year. Let me start with Abby K. I first met Abby at Eddie’s recording studio, The Playroom, in mid-2019. Eddie introduced me to her as someone they were working on, and that she’s a bass player....
More about Neil Peart
I’ve had a bit of time to think about the terrible loss of Neil Peart. I wrote the following in a Facebook group of people that have been fans of Rush, long enough to be considered ‘Elders’ of the fandom of the group. Though I'm in a lot of different groups about and for Rush, I think this is the best one to post this. I've been a deep Rush fan for an extreme number of years, sure others have for longer, yet I also do remember growing up in Cleveland, listening to WMMS and hearing, in the car...
“Local Bands” and Their Music
It really bothers me how rare it is for someone to take a chance on local bands and music. I’m eager to hear how these bands approach the art of music, and am always open to new styles and genres. What bothers me is that many people cannot handle it and would rather live in the familiar. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing a big act and knowing every single nuance of the music and hearing it, feeling it, being performed live is an amazing thing. Yet there’s also a glory in being at a club,...
Heilung
The first time I had ever heard of Heilung was at a table top roleplaying game that either I was running, or the game was running us as players. I don’t remember if it was a Dungeons & Dragons game, or another sort-of roleplaying game called “Sherlock Solves!” Either way, the music of Heilung was presented as good music to have on meanwhile gaming. It really wasn’t, yet it was interesting music. I then listened to some other music of theirs, found it to be music that I needed to pay...
What Are Musical Conversations?
It started off as an occasional broadcast via an internet radio style connection. At that time, the concept was to share music with friends, have them hear music that they may not have been aware of, also to be the radio that DJ I’ve always wanted to be. It moved to having a friend stop in and we’d talk music, play music, talk some more, and basically have a conversation around music. Nothing was called “Musical Conversations” yet, it was still just a connection. It developed into a regular...
About Neil Peart
This past Friday we learned of the death of Neil Peart, which happened earlier in the week. A dear old friend sent what to me were initially cryptic messages thanks to auto-correct. And I was stunned. Plans last Friday night were to go see my friends in their Pink Floyd Tribute band, which is now called "Pinkest Floyd." I prefer their previous name of "Interstellar Overdrive," yet very few others seem to get the reference. Anyway, there I was at a show. They took a moment of silence at first,...
Redesigning and Redeveloping in 2020
Well, 2019 sucked. Let's see how 2020 will be. Here we are at the beginning of it, I'm completely reworking the site, or rather, having it reworked. Thanks Zöe of Websites By Zöe for their work. Yes, still working with Retromatic Studios, so thanks are due to them also. Also I have to thank To The Moon Design for the logo, the color scheme, and overall look of Musical Conversations, not just as a web page, also some really cool business cards. I highly recommend them, plus their band Reason...