[Daryl Jones]

For sure West side Story belongs in the list, and I’ve seen the latest version too. I was very young when the original film came out, and I never saw any stage versions of any big show other than Fiddler On The Roof (another very worthy mention) about 10-12 years back and 6 years ago Phantom in NYC which literally had me shaking in my seat!
There is so much to experience musically in both stage and screen theater….

[Daryl Jones]

I’ve seen lots of cold at Halloween throughout my life. But lots of very mild nights/days as well. As a young boy, I remember wearing just a t-shirt and jeans under my costume it was so warm. I also remember on night in high school when it was 25 below Fahrenheit with a foot of snow on the ground. Some intelligent fool thought it would be cool to open a fire hydrant downtown that night. the ensuing flood and ice was a pain for a month afterward. Never did hear if they caught the culprit.
This year it was mild, above freezing with just a skiff of white stuff in the shaded areas. The lake is frozen over (early for here) and the bay in front of my house has been skinned over solid for over two weeks. I used to try and water ski on my birthday (when I was young and full of something other than blood in my veins) two days before Halloween. Actually did it a couple times too.🤣

[Daryl Jones]

Mine hasn’t arrived yet, but I have noticed the ring before. It’s always on her right hand. I don’t recall which of the girls mentioned family aspirations, but they both agreed they have hopes of having children of their own one day. For the sake of the world I certainly hope so. 😍

[Daryl Jones]

I’m not going to post the album links, but I’ve got a couple that ring loudly for me. The first one is (to me) very obvious and unless I missed it, nobody even mentioned it:

Rogers & Hammerstein’s “Sound Of Music” has to be one of the biggest movie soundtracks of all time.
Earnest Gold’s “Exodus” was also huge, the title song pulls at me from my much younger concert band days, a stirring and deep work of stellar symphonic proportions. Not that I was ever at that level of proficiency…

In more modern scopes, Good Morning Vietnam is one of my favorites that covered the antics of Sgt Adrian Cronauer’s battle with “the establishment” as was fitting for the times of the Vietnam War. Some of the generation’s greatest rock and roll songs added flavor to a touching and poignant depiction of both affection and injustice within one of the most controversial times in modern military history. Not just for the US, but the whole world. Not unlike right now, but that’s a whole other thing.
But so much is put into the soundtracks of film that adds mood and feel to the big screen. I think it is often overlooked and taken for granted. I have a musician friend that writes and composes soundtracks for a living, and it is very interesting to hear him talk about what he does. The man is humble, but oh so brilliant. Plays a pretty mean guitar too.

[Daryl Jones]

I’ve always enjoyed Halloween, still do. Love seeing the kids’ getup and usually decorate the outside of the house to set the mood. I’ve even gone so far as to hide outside in a ghoul or samurai costume complete with sound effects on a boom box.

I’ve always been an Alice Cooper fan, and saw all his tour performances that came to Edmonton, although I was a tad younger in those days haha. The stage shows were always very impressive! I hope I get to see another show with Nita Straus on lead guitar, she’s amazing!

Hope everybody has a Happy Halloween!

[Daryl Jones]

I’m in that “hard to pick just one” group too but Let It Be has to be way up there. I’ve never learned to play it (guitar or piano), but I have sung it in the years before I lost a portion of my upper/higher vocal range. I’m doing some exercises to try and remedy that but while there is some improvement, it’s not fully there for the high notes later in the song.
Hey Jude and Norwegian Wood are also up there, Drive My Car, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Michelle, Eleanor Rigby…God, there’s just so many…
But while we struggle with this small dilemma, just imagine how empty our lives would be if these songs, and The Beatles themselves never existed? It just boggles my mind!😱

[Daryl Jones]

Happy Thanksgiving Jacki!

Even though I’m of Celtic ancestry I have a penchant for Ukranian food for festive occasions, cones from growing up in a region that has a strong Ukranian population.

I make “studnetz” (pan headcheese) often, and right after Friday’s WOTT session I hit the kitchen and fired up a batch for today’s dinner at the sister-in-law’s place in the city. My late mother-in-law loved it and we always tried to outdo each other with our recipes. She always said mine needed more garlic!🤣

Bon appetite everyone, hope to see you all in a week’s time on the live broadcast!

[Daryl Jones]

Over the Labor Day weekend, we have an annual dual birthday bash (my wife and her brother share the same date September 1, but 4 years apart) and this year the family coerced me into playing and singing Saturday evening before the birthday fireworks show. As most know Jimmy passed the day before. Of course I had to play Margaritaville and mention his passing prior to playing it in case there were some that hadn’t heard the sad news. Surprisingly (or not?) my voice broke with the emotion as I spoke of him, and it took me a few breaths to collect myself before hitting the intro chords.
I have always enjoyed Jimmy’s music, and his dedicated way of doing his own thing was so refreshing in a world where corporate pressure seems to dictate to so many artists and formulate them according to the corporate ideal. I never had the chance to see him live, but some of my friends did, and they raved about the atmosphere of his performances. Nothing but good vibes and a sharing of positive energy. Of course, now I have more songs of his to learn and put into my slowly growing repertoire. 2023 was a tough year on musicians it seems, we lost some great ones, Jimmy not being the least of any of them.

[Daryl Jones]

Jung, the fastest I can say I’ve “seen” on the speedo on track is a tad over 220 kph. I dont usually spend much time looking at anything but the tach and not very often at that. The two tracks in the Edmonton area have braking markers on our race days and I gauge my braking zones by them and the other bikes and riders I’m racing with. Braking zones on many tracks are often a good passing opportunity.

Jurgen, I’ve never ridden anything but our western Canadian tracks, although I would love to experience some of the famous circuits like Silverstone, Motegi, Philip Island and of course Valencia or any continental Europe GP sites. RMM just north of Calgary is an excellent new venue thay I ran 4 times last season, and Area 27 out in south central BC is an amazing track designed by Jacques Villeneuve of F1 fame. I also have a friend that is an editor of a Canadian motorcycle publication that has been fortunate enough to hit a couple circuits across the pond during bike tests for his articles. Lots of our club members have raced at Laguna Seca, COTA, Vegas, Utah and Chuckwalla. I had to miss a trip to Chuckwalla CA a few years back, sonething I still want to do. I would very happy to get a day or two at Shannonville or CT in Ontario. Two of our local racers are in the CSBK this season and are doing quite well down there. Much better/faster racers than this auld fart is haha. I’m just hoping I can get a few more years in with EMRA, I turn 66 in October and that window is getting a bit narrower every year. 😉

[Daryl Jones]

We’ve had our share of the smoke and bad air since a month ago. At times I was unable to see across the bay from my front deck (less than 1/2 mile vis) but thankfully it’s much better of late. The heavy rains helped immensely, but that brought flooding of disastrous proportions to some regions that were also evacuated from the fires only to be chased out again by high raging waters. Most everyone has managed to return home in those places but still the fires lurk, and the flood damage will take a long time to repair as well. Near as I know, no loss of life, so there’s that.
Now it’s grasshoppers raising Cain. First fire, then flood, now plague of insects…😲
But sounds like most are safe across the land. Pleasant thoughts all.

[Daryl Jones]

That was my feeling on Phantom as well, amazing theatrical stage and set-up! I should check out the Carol King one.

[Daryl Jones]

I haven’t seen any of those rundowns. But I have watched several of Nita’s interviews and followed her playing career quite a bit. And yes, she is a fabulous guitarist. Plus most players of her ability and fame have heavily modified and/or factory one-offs and have a team of luthiers and techs at their immediate disposal to deal with every little whim that us mere mortals just can’t afford.
Interesting piece of info: guitar God Joe Bonamassa actually doesn’t even own his personal guitars, he has a special holding company that owns all his gear. And as gifted and great a player as he is, he’s very adamant that effects and pedals are unnecessary to get the tones and feel he produces. Which is great… if you are Joe Bonamassa. Very few of us are or ever will be that level of expertise.
I’ve yet to pick up an Ibanez guitar that feels “right” in my hands, but since I’m a pretty dedicated PRS fan/player, I have a very defined fit and feel for electric guitar necks and fretboards. True, PRS can be very pricy instruments, which is why I stick to the SE and S2 lineups for affordability reasons. Core models are waaaay out of my playing ability (can you say justifiable?) and price range. I also don’t care for Gibson Les Pauls or Fender Strats because of price levels on the American made models. The MIM or even Japanese Strats and Epiphones/Squires just don’t do it for me either. I also really dislike the headstock angles on the Gibson LP along with their weight. Another reason why I have a PRS Hollowbody II (the one in my video) instead of a 335 or a Gretsch. Which is also why I don’t have a Fender Tele, they are just too heavy for my liking as much as they are great instruments, I almost bought one a few years ago, but the weight killed it.
I love the build quality and playability of my (Canadian made) Seagull acoustics and of course their price point agrees with my wallet compared to Martins and Taylors of similar build and tone quality. They are typically double what I paid for my S6 and S12 for a similar sounding and smooth, light fret action machine. But certainly the Martin and Taylor are (better) very fine guitars. My other acoustic is a Yamaha FG800, a relative bargain price (entry level actually) for a good sounding and well voiced guitar that I am not afraid to take and play anywhere, they are far better than the price would indicate.

Boy, doesn’t take much to make me run off at the mouth does it…

[Daryl Jones]

I don’t have too many more years of racing left in me, so I’m making the best of it while I am still able; I turn 66 in two weeks. Our race team is out in BC this weekend in the finals of the Western Canadian Championships, which I was unable to attend. I’ll catch up on the results through emails and club posts, and our windup banquet is this coming Saturday evening so I’ll get to see the whole gang there anyway.
Not that I really mind being as I got to be part of the Livestream today. That was beyond anything I could ever have expected.

[Daryl Jones]

Totally agree Jung. It’s a huge undertaking to do an across the pond gig, or a tour of any kind. Much as I’d love to be “second” in line haha.
Things need to unfold in the natural order for them. When it does happen (and I’m sure it will one day) you can be sure that any of us that can will be there with bells on!

[Daryl Jones]

Thank you JP, I appreciate it.
This past Saturday (Canada Day) we went out to some friends’ place for the afternoon and evening for some outdoor games (beanbag toss), a BBQ meal, and some general companionship. Small gathering, only 10 of us, but we had a great day…the sun even shone on our game (very stormy for the previous days and to follow afterward too). Our hosts used to run a DJ/karaoke business and they have quite a set-up in their party house (that’s a whole other story) and of course they insisted I bring a guitar. Naturally after dinner we had to have music so I played and everybody sang as well as some songs that I didn’t know out of their DJ song files. Everybody had a blast including me. Everyone had heard me sing many times, no one other than my missus had ever heard me play so I was a tad on edge to start with. We plugged my guitar into Wade’s soundboard and it went very well, I think I actually had more fun than they did haha.