Muse

When I feel Happy, I listen to music.
When I feel Sad, I listen to music.

I listen to certain songs and I'm transported back to a specific moment from my Past.
I listen to certain songs and I imagine the limitless Future.

I hear the Byrds "Turn Turn Turn" and I think of Uncle Steve's brother's funeral.
I heard the news of my brother's baby and was so overcome with Joy that a fully composed lullabye fell out of my brain through my fingers and onto the page and piano.

in summation if you need me
i'll be learning a song
or writing a song
maybe just listening
jamming with a willing student on their favourite song
demanding a frustrated student replay their least favourite scale
or being a student and taking a lesson
seeing a good show and feeling that lousy feeling afterwards that means your alive and you want it bad
perhaps reading a book about a musician
watching a performance on film
conspiring
yearning
or desiring
(which is what I call listening to Bob Dylan's album Desire)

Fiction2: The SuperFan

The SuperFan

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"Your name is not on the list" she said firmly. Then she sighed deeply and dramatically. 

"Is it grouped in with the other Salem State students?" he asked, frustrated. 

"The other students, from Bunker Hill, have been here for over an hour." This time she emphasized the name of the college, as well as the very last word. 

"I'm a transfer, from Salem to Bunker Hill, that must be the confusion... my name isn't grouped to Dr. Lorenza?"

"You mean Dr. Lorenz-o?" 

He frowned and looked at the ground. "Yes." 

She grinned a devilish grin at him and he couldn't believe it. "Rita will never stand for this shit kid, get your act together. Fifth floor, third door on the right."

"Rita...right.  Thanks again."

--------

He found the group of med students easily and tried to blend in but the doctor picked him right out. 

"Excuse me sir, what are you doing here?" 

"Doctor Lorenzo, I'm sorry I'm late..."

She interrupted him "What do you mean late, who are you? What are you doing here?" The group of students he had tried to blend into were talking, but had gone silent.

"I'm Daryl, the transfer student, we spoke last week..." he looked quickly into her eyes at first but mostly at the floor thereafter. He spoke nervously and rushed. 

"I don't have time for this shit, stay with the group, and we'll talk in my office after assignments" she barked at him, handing him a folder.  

As she handed the other students their folders he went quickly towards the back of the room. He could feel her looking for him. Then miraculously she was looking at her cell phone. "NO ONE do ANYTHING until I get back. FIVE MINUTES." she yelled as she jogged off down the hall.

The group chatter resumed and he slid into the back silently. Now he was confident and it was easy to overhear what he was hoping to overhear because they chattered like children. 

Eventually he caught the eyes of the girl with the thick black glasses, gestured his head, and drew her away from the group.

"Did you say you have a physical?" 

She looked at him with apprehension and nodded slightly, but silently.

"Ok, great. I'll trade you this frost bitten toe for your physical?" 

"Why would you do that?" Suddenly she was loud. "A frost bitten toe sounds amazing. I'm not going to suck your dick or anything in a stupid trade. I'm a lesbian." She emphasized the last word.

He stared at her blankly for a second and weighed the risks of telling her the truth. 

"The name on your folder, Charlie Belly, did you know he was a singer? Do you like country music?"

"What are you some sort of super fan? Gross. Yes give me that frozen fucking toe and take your stupid singer and you better not say anything about this to anyone. I'll never admit it." 

"Me either." 

He looked at the folder in his hand and found the room number and made sure the hall was empty when he opened the door, entered the room, shut the door behind him, and locked it.  

---------------------

The front desk secretary cried when she realized that there were so many warning signs she should have noticed. Doctor Lorenzo could not be reached for comment and all correspondence is to be forwarded through her attorney. The doctors refusal to cooperate slowed the process, but the other med students were never really considered to have anything to do with it anyways, right? The girl with the thick black glasses was bumped to the head of the class after her fine work on the toe amputation and never told anyone about her folder trade. She eventually needed sleeping pills but still had horrible nightmares. 

The State of the Bandit Kings Part 2: Open Jam

A huge facet of the Bandit Kings
(that I neglected to mention in the last post)
is the Monday night OPEN JAM
at The Rhumb Line
in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

BKs have hosted for the past three years
Dan our guitarist planted the seeds many years ago
grew it into the institution it is today.
and although other Caretakers have managed it for brief spells,
we're basically inheriting decades of Dan's hard work.

we're honored to have his blessing,
as well as the blessing of the Owner and Staff
and the stakes are high. failure is not an option.

Things have gone well the past three years,
incredible people show up every week
and everyone has had fun
no one can deny Dan has done the lions share of the Work.
(Dan can play The Jam itself like an instrument,
setting up groups, leading at times, backing off at others,
always keeping the vibe swift yet fun)

Important to note here:

1) Nothing has been planned until now.

because we wanted to take in every moment before Dan heads west.
we accomplished that.

2) We can't just play without Dan starting now.

because we'll sound like the "Bandit Kings Without Dan" no one wants that.

The last post details why we cannot replace Dan with another guitarist.
So: we'll go into hiding
to train, prepare, rearrange, reconfigure, etc...

In the interim, Dennis & I will hold down the fort
and bring in some of your favorite guitarists for opening & closing sets.

THANKS to Mark Pelosi for a killer night last week
come on down to check out Joe Wilkins tonight
witness the madness of Inge Berge on January 21st (no children allowed)
mark your calendars: Bandit Kings return February 11th and 25th

we value your opinions & feedback so I'll probably setup an Open Jam FB page (sigh...)

hey... thanks again, man.

That Smell (is the television rotting your brain)

Recently there has been an advertisement on television for an air freshening company,

where blindfolded civilians are brought into a 'smelly' area,

for instance a dumpster, with trash littered about the place.

The interviewer asks the blindfolded civilian what they smell,

and because a BRANDED air freshener is plugged in nearby,

the civilian responds, "Oh wow, it smells Wonderful, like flowers and lavender..." etc.

then they remove their blindfold and are pleasantly stunned and amused.
-----

My personal issue is that our sense of smell is a defense mechanism

and I can think of many examples where I'd rather NOT smell lavender and flowers

(two quick examples off the top) 1 house is burning 2 a gas leak

------
The decision to cancel our cable entirely

is not directly linked to this particular advertisement

but it helped to cement the decision.

Public reaction to our plan has been divided into

Camp A: Really?

Camp B: We cancelled that shit SO long ago, where have you been?