Sub-Zero Blues And Stack Of Records

We’re now well over halfway thru January, 2024. It feels like we barely got through the holidays and now we’re looking down the barrel of February. Valentines, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July,…repeat. The next thing you know I’ll be 65-years old sitting in my chair and wondering what I made with my life. A maudlin old man who still pays too much for a 4-pack of beer and still wondering if I should watch Casablanca or not(it’s a classic, so yeah I should.) I’ll still have a mountain of vinyl for my kids to contend with when I’m gone and I’ll still be buying up Criterion Collection films every time they have a 50% off sale.

Collecting the burden of collection.

I apologize. I guess this cold spell has got me in a bit of a funk. Not really depressed, per say, just contemplating a lot of things. The cold does that. Even my mom called me the other day and said she was feeling down. The weight of sub-zero temps is a compressed, deafening heft that keeps one and all cooped up waiting for a break of sunshine; a crack in the steely grey where a sliver of light can penetrate and give our deep freeze mental states a reprieve from the oppression of wind chill.

I took last Friday off, so with Martin Luther King Jr Day off as a company holiday I was looking forward to a 4-day weekend. It wasn’t bad, but I also knew that starting Friday we were looking at freezing rain, followed by snow and then by Sunday morning we’d be in negative temps for a few days. It was pretty brutal. Not only on the body, but the spirit. Also, really brutal on our 4-legged friends. I had to go out and rescue our senior dog at least three times from the cold. Each time he’d wander too far out into the yard and after he’d done his business he’d freeze up, lifting his legs because he couldn’t stand the brutal cold any longer. When we hit the low 20s yesterday it was like a damn heat wave. Pull out the bermudas and grab the SPF-30!

Besides the mild malaise I’ve been okay. We’re healthy, and the kids all seem to be doing pretty well. Our son is going to Texas in a week or so with his girlfriend and her parents to visit the girlfriend’s brother and his family. There’s a one-year old niece they’re excited to see.

Our 20-year old is doing really well, as is her pooch Celeste. Celeste has been going to training three days a week, 8 hours a day and it’s made a huge difference in her. She was already a pretty amazing dog, but now she’s becoming a superpowered dog. Plus, our daughter is in such a better place mentally and emotionally. So great to see compared to where we were three months ago.

And our oldest is heading to the state capital today to go check out an apartment with their friend. They’re ready to be out on their own. I’m happy for them, and I’m also really sad, too. I’ll miss having our oldest here. We’ve gotten a lot closer since they graduated college. They’re my sounding board when it comes to movies and shows. Plus our sense of humor aligns together really well. When they were younger it always felt like they had a better relationship with their mom, and I got that. But once in a while I felt kind of left out of the conversation. It is what it is, I know. But now I feel like we sort of have our own version of that now. So to see them leave, well I’m happy for them, but a little sad for me.

So it goes.

I guess the last few days of cold and being stuck in a warm house has just gotten me thinking a lot about getting older and everyone moving on. I’ve found solace in movies and music, of course. Caught Killers of the Flower Moon, a couple classic and trashy horror flicks, and got caught up on the last couple issues of Fangoria. I also have been spinning lots of vinyl. I’ve been making it a point to pull more records from the basement and actually listen to them all, as opposed to listening to the same one for a couple days. I got into a habit of just listening to one or two for a long period of time. Not that that is a bad thing, but I’ve got a lot of albums. I need to listen to more of them.

Here’s what I’ve listened to for the past few days:

Tangerine Dream’s Le Parc

I love Tangerine Dream. Like, LOVE them. They were a band that I relished collecting their discography. And for the most part their 70s output I found on the cheap in places like Half Price Books, Bathhouse Records, Ignition Music, and Karma Records. Like $4 and $5 copies of albums like Phaedra, Rubycon, Stratosfear, Ricochet, Exit, and Force Majeure. I of course gravitated towards their 70s output because that was the heady side of their work. But over time I’ve come to truly appreciate their 80s work, both the soundtrack stuff and their studio LPs. Le Parc was a huge eye opener for me. Of course there was the track “Le Parc”, which was the theme song for the cheesy 80s show Street Hawk which I loved as an 8 or 9 year-old. But there’s so many beautiful songs on this one. How can you not dig it? Even my son’s girlfriend asked what it was as she really liked it. She’s just shy of 18-years old, so I think there’s hope for the future.

Hank Mobley’s Roll Call

New to the world of Hank Mobley. I knew his playing from Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, but didn’t know his solo work. A blogosphere friend named David mentioned Mobley to me. After some back and forth I knew David knew jazz so I snagged Mobley’s Workout on CD and Roll Call on vinyl. I was blown away by both. Roll Call was a 180 gram reissue via Blue Note and I remember putting it on last week and telling my wife Mobley’s sax sounded like it was in 3D. So crisp. The sonic depth on that record is a wonder to behold. I’ll be grabbing more Hank Mobley soon(Another Workout is next, as that was David’s recommendation.)

Joe Satriani’s Not Of This Earth

I got into Joe Satriani when I was a wee freshman in high school. I was 2 years into playing guitar and looking for new players to inspire me. I’d read about Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien in Guitar Player magazine, so when my mom bought me a cassette copy one Friday evening(along with some sweet Eastland loafers I wore the soles out of) my brain was never the same. Satch became my go-to guitar hero. Bluesy with mind-blowing dexterity and speed. I quickly began collecting what I could. On a trip to the mall I found his debut album Not Of This Earth. The title matched the music as it was really kind of out there. I was happy to own it, but man it was a little too weird for my 15-year old brain. Fast forward 30 years and I found a vinyl copy of Not Of This Earth on Discogs with original album cover. I bought it as a completist(aka OCD-lite weirdo). Turns out that album is so much better than I thought. I just wasn’t ready for it.

Quaeschning & Schnauss’ Synthwaves

Thorsten Quaeschning(Tangerine Dream) and Ulrich Schnauss came together back in 2017 and released this amazing electronic album called Synthwaves on the Azure Vista record label. It was one of my favorite albums that year. Tangerine Dream-esque, but with a lighter, dreamier touch. I love what Thorsten has done in Tangerine Dream and is a worthy successor to the throne of the late Edgar Froese, and Ulrich Schnauss’ Far Away Trains Passing By and A Strangely Isolated Place are absolute classics. With them coming together it had to be amazing. And it is. Heavy synth with the melancholy touch of down tempo electronic music. This is an all timer for me.

Mark Isham’s Vapor Drawings

Lars Meijer(aka Hunter Complex) hipped me to Mark Isham back in 2018/2019. I found a decent vinyl copy of his album Vapor Drawings and was blown away. I could hear the influence Isham had on Lars’ excellent album Open Sea, as well as Isham’s distinct sound that found its way on quite a few film scores of the 80s. Definitely one to dig into if you aren’t familiar.

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Time does fly by. Don’t think it doesn’t. At times I still feel like that 15-year old kid in his bedroom on a Friday night having his mind blown by Joe Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien. Except I’m not 15, I’m 50. But despite time leaking through the cracks like a late afternoon rainfall, I’m still just as excited about records(and even a new pair of leather loafers.) My adult kids are excited about music and movies and books. We connect and bond over art and that makes me happy. It keeps me grounded. It makes me feel young, despite the back pain and mortgage. Despite the bitter cold.