Music Blogs (1,258)

Detroit's Herbie Russ

Bongu nies.
Last week we read or heard about the passing of Monserrat Caballé ... an operatic Spanish diva, who came to my attention only through the sadly much lamented Freddie Mercury. This was when the two superstars collaborated on the Freddie's penned powerful song Barcelona, singing it together in the mid 1980's.
Here is one rendition of it, from Live at La Nit in 1988, in memory of these two greats.
Peace

RIP Montserrat Caballé, one of the great singers from my new country. She was 85

Don't imagine many opera buffs in CS but some may remember the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 - not live, as Freddie Mercury had died the year before. The video is "Barcelona" being performed in 1988. Piss off your neighbours, play it really loud.

I cannot recall what cool cultural sign Americans made prior to the 1960's 'peace sign' but I do know that singer Ronnie James Dio popularized the 'sign of the horns' when he replaced Ozzy Osbourne (who used to give a peace sign) in the heavy metal group Black Sabbath.

Ronnie wasn't the first to do this and stated it publicly, however people remember Dio's Apotropaic Magical symbol said to ward off evil spirits.

(excerpt quote from Ronnie James Dio)
"...It's an Italian thing I got from my Grandmother called the MALOCCHIO. It's to ward off the Evil Eye or to give the Evil Eye, depending on which way you do it. It's just a symbol but it had magical incantations and attitudes to it and I felt it worked very well with Sabbath..."

More than 40 years later, It's gone 'cross culture' and appears in many selfie photos, movie stars appearances and especially photos of hip-hop artists.

John was the drummer of the legendary rock group LED ZEPPELIN. Born on May 31st, 1948 and died September 25th 1980. That was 38 years ago today. When he died, so did Led Zeppelin.
Regarded by many as the greatest and most influential rock drummer in history.

Some people cannot work without music and some people cannot work with it. I get that, but I'm paid to do a job and music in the workplace is often a distraction. They recently installed speakers in the showroom and pipe music there... smooth jazz. When customers ask you to repeat yourself, it's too loud. I had them turn the volume down, but I think it's pre-programmed and comes back up a short time later.

Most of the people in my office listen to music on their computers. The rule established by the IT guru was streaming services (Pandora or iHeart) only as YouTube with video demands too much bandwidth, affecting the overall company network. People don't like rules and many actually watch videos when they should be working.

Before I was offered a private office, my workspace was in 'the corral' with 15 people. The distractions were constant. The woman in the cubicle next to me has a subwoofer under her desk and I could hear it thumping throughout the day. My theory is she plays it loud enough so no one can hear her fart. I've got no proof... it's only a theory.

I don't offer opinion for the women in the service department who have music playing so loud people have to talk over the music to be heard. It's not a professional atmosphere when you have to repeat yourself to a customer because your 'background' music is louder than you.

Saturday... I've got some errands this morning and I'll be at the office in the afternoon. Only me catching up on some obligations. It's amazing how much more work I get done without distractions.

On September 18, 1970 Jimi Hendrix died in London England. Life was short for Jimi who left this world at the age of 27, but the music he created inspired millions...

It's hard to believe his magic happened more than 48 years ago.



Pictured left to right: Noel Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell.
They are all gone now...

I had a carpenter scheduled to replace some wood fascia this morning, but he cancelled at the last minute citing, the rainy weather we had all week put him behind in commitments. That's understandable... except he fell one rung on my ladder of reliability. That was something he should have announced last night. Actually, 2 rungs... he cannot read email from the new phone purchased. I was going to give him a drawing of something I needed done (instead of email) now it will get delayed a little more.

My plan was to work online from home while he was here, but I'll head to the office after a few errands. One of my old monitors is 'blanking out' from a faulty power supply, so I need to switch things around and do computer maintenance that I haven't had time for.

I already started on a few YouTube videos this morning... Jim, thanks for linking the Kamala Harris grilling Brett Kavanaugh. That was great!

I'm an upbeat person, but I like to listen to blues. British Blues to be specific.
I know, I know... they learned the blues from Black Americans. It's their interpretation I like so much about it. To me, It's inspirational not depressing.

Of my favorites... Free. They started as a blues band and later changed to rock.