And On The Same Day

AND ON THE SAME DAY!

They sat on the bench at the bus stop under a cloudless azure sky, each staring straight ahead at the small, neat little building across the road which looked like a Methodist church that had been converted to some other purpose, possibly a private home. The bulletin board in the front announcing the topic of the next sermon was blank, and looked as if it had been that way for a long time, surrounded as it was with Queen Anne’s lace and tall grass. Apart from the church-house, there was nothing to distinguish this particular stretch of country road. No ambient sounds. As if a stern librarian had put her finger to her lips and whispered, “Quiet!”

“I hope it comes soon. I get kind of antsy just waiting,” she said, stealing a quick glance at her fellow traveler and looking back across the street.

He glanced at her. She was a familiar looking blonde with beautiful waves of cascading hair nearly overpowering her delicate, petite frame. He tried to peg her. “I’ve seen you before, but I just can’t seem to figure out. . . .” he trailed off.

Now she searched her memory. A shy, childlike quality came through his voice, with just the slightest rasp. Warm. Endearing.

“I, I used to be an actress.” She hesitated. “Maybe you’ve seen me?”
“Oh! So you’re . . .”
“And you’re . . .”
Now they frankly stared at each other. The recognition pulled them up short.
“So we’re. . .” he fumbled for the right words. “So we’re home, now”.
“I was sick, so sick. So tired. The paramedics came”.
“Yes. My doctor was there. And then – I was looking down. Seeing myself. Too tired to come back”.
“Exactly”. Her voice trembled. She shuddered.
“It’s a hospital”, she whispered. “It’s going to be okay, now. I feel it”.
“Wanna know a secret? I hated it! Hated all of it. Didn’t know how to stop. Couldn’t stop. Didn’t know what I would do if I stopped.” He willed her to look into his eyes.

She looked. Beyond the ashen skin, the painfully thin nose, the drawn look of his entire being. She looked into his dark eyes. Now there was a recognition that transcended the image she had seen again and again in the tabloids, in the videos, on the news. Something sweetly conspiratorial passed between them.

“And on the same day!” She laughed in spite of herself, and he understood.
“They must be having a field day down there!”
Now they both laughed, deep belly laughs until, uncontrollably, tears sprang to their eyes. They hugged carefully. Hesitant..

Now, a solitary man dressed in white scrubs and immaculate white sneakers emerged from the church house across the street. As he approached the bus stop, he smiled, as if sharing their private joke.

He stopped in front of them, holding out his hands and helped them to their feet.

“The Doctor will see you now”.

RIP Bob Bogle – Recording with The Ventures

Back in the early 70s, after I had just moved to Los Angeles, I received a call to record with The Ventures. Who, as a guitar player, hadn’t learned “Walk Don’t Run” and wouldn’t be flattered for that opportunity, I certainly was!

I had completely forgotten about these recording sessions until I saw that Bob Bogle had recently passed away. My brain must really be getting old as I don’t remember much about those sessions. I do remember that Larry Taylor was playing bass, Mel Taylor was on drums and Nokie Edwards on guitar. So, time to fire up “The Google” and see what I could find out.

In my searching I ran across a book titled “Walk-Don’t Run – The Story of the Ventures” at www.books.google.com. In that book (page 195) they have me playing lead guitar, which is not correct. On page 197 I found the true story. The albums I played on turned out to be solo albums of Mel Taylor’s that were later released under the titles “Sun, Sea And Love” and “Mel Taylor in Japan”. The other players on those albums were John Mayall and Harvey Mandel (BTW Larry Taylor and Harvey Mandell were former members of Canned Heat and John Mayall was famous in his own right). On further reading I found that David Carr was playing keyboard and doing orchestral arrangements for them and was also on those sessions. This really surprised me as I had met David later in the 80s when he came into my studio to work with one of my clients and I never made the connection. We did quite a bit of work together at that time. Small world and you learn something new every day!

Reading on I found even more interesting information on page 201 of that book. Evidently there was a lot of intrigue going on with The Ventures at that time as Bob Bogle and Don Wilson were producing these albums and it wasn’t clear if this was Mel’s album or a Ventures album. I do remember that Nokie and Mel had asked me to join them on their upcoming tour to Japan and I was even more flattered. But after many years on the road with The Righteous Brothers traveling was never my favorite thing and I declined. Nevertheless, I realize, even more so today, what an honor it was to work with such a groundbreaking group of musicians.

Life And The Music Business

For the past few years I’ve been creating library music. It’s a new adventure for me and I thoroughly enjoy it but my reasoning is different then you might think. I am ever grateful to God, the Universe, Buddha, whatever, for any success I might have had or will have. I’ve been very blessed in my life to have worked with some of the biggest and best artists of their time. I’ve played all kinds of music with some of the finest players in all kinds of situations. I’m not trying to blow my horn but because I have had those experiences I like nothing better than sitting in a room with a computer and some software and creating any kind of music I feel like. No egos, no stress and no time pressures. The freedom and control is intoxicating! Will anyone think it’s great music? I don’t know and I don’t care. What I do care is how I feel at the end of the day. Some music library will most likely take it and if they place it all the better, at this point it’s the only outlet I have. Am I “devaluing” music? I don’t think so, it’s just business. Business is war, war is hell, adapt or die. In the meantime I will hopefully become a better writer, get better gigs and maybe build an annuity of performance royalties. It then becomes incumbent on me to keep track of the back end and do whatever I can to protect myself.

Even at my busiest doing session work, touring or as a signed writer and producer I never wanted to be at the mercy of the music business. I didn’t (and don’t) mind being a slave to music but I was not about to be a slave to the music business! Consequently I was always looking for opportunities to make money outside the business. The success of those opportunities helped to give me the security to be able to pursue music on my own terms. I think all of us get into music because we love making music and are looking for some sort of audience. If we can make a living at it great but life and the “business” of music can get in the way of our best laid plans.

Finally, I think those of us who have been in the business for a long time recognize that there is a certain amount of luck in all of this. Being in the right place at the right time the stars align and we catch a wave. Sometimes you catch more than one wave but the fact is that someday that ocean might not be there and we are left with the question, “What is life really all about?”. Life is fleeting and fragile so, for me, the answer to that question is “Be A Light”. Now that’s something really worth pursuing!