Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Carrying On
So here I am, still playing lead guitar (and keys and blues harp) with No Principles, a local classic rock band. It's a great gig, and a great band, and it's got some great people in it as well. :) I've discovered that playing rock and roll, and being forced to play outside my comfort zone, has turned me into a better guitar player than ever before.
Years ago, I played as much as five nights a week for months on end, but I was within my comfort zone, playing familiar tunes I knew - many of which were not difficult to play. The tougher ones I just left out of the mix, because - as leader of the band - I had a lot to do including reading the crowd, picking songs, fronting the live shows, booking gigs, etc. So I just plodded along as a decent guitar player and called it good.
These days, the band goes right past the "low hanging fruit" and picks songs that require some serious guitar chops. I complain and rant and rave, but nobody listens. They just wait patiently for my country-western-taught fingers to pick up on the Ted Nugent and Neal Schon licks with songs such as Strangelhold and Stone in Love.
In the end, it's all for the better. I've become a substantially better lead player - at age 45 and after 20 years off - than I ever was. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Our latest addition is the old Kansas tune, Carry On (My Wayward Son). It's taken some work, but we'll be debuting it this weekend at the Regent in Longview, Washington. Anybody that feels like popping in, drop me a line and I'll give ya directions. Meantime, I've got a bit more work to do on the song; I play piano, organ, and lead guitar at various times through the song.
Now if I could just work my harp into this song someplace, I'd be playing every instrument I have on stage...
Monday, January 14, 2008
Lackluster Movies
I just finished watching Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and something occurs to me. It seems there is no real heart in movies any more. They're all about big budget special effects (or, in the case of FF:RotSS, low budget special effects), action, and exorbitantly paid actors.
I'm not just talking about average action flicks like this one, but I've been sorely disappointed in several movies recently, including Transformers, Ghost Rider, Spiderman 3, Next, Live Free or Die Hard, Pirates of the Carribean 3, and more. It's not that they're bad movies, it's just that they're seriously lacking in any substance.
Before someone points out that they're all "action" movies, which don't need substance, I'd like to point out some previous "action" movies with great plots, dialogues, and/or atmosphere: the original Die Hard, Ridley Scott's Alien, it's action blockbuster sequel, Aliens, and on the superhero front, the original Batman was - at the time - an amazing movie. Let's not forget the original Star Wars movies (comparing them, especially, to the big budget special effects disasters Episodes I-III), Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And what about Band of Brothers and it's cousin, Saving Private Ryan as compared to last year's flop, Flyboys.
I dunno, maybe I'm jaded and demand more from my movies these days than flash and glitter. But before I sign off, let me point out something:
Back in the 1960s there were two science fiction television series that aired at roughly the same time: Star Trek and Lost in Space. The latter spent tons of money on "cutting edge" special effects, but spent little buying up mediocre scripts. It was a popular escapist series at the time, but today is nowhere to be found - special effects don't make for a dynasty.
Star Trek, on the other hand, settled for tissue paper in the front of camera lenses and poured their money into good scriptwriters like D.C. Fontana, Harlan Ellison, David Gerrold, and the like. Today, Star Trek lives on - despite cheesy special effects - because we know and love the characters and their storylines.
Something to be learned from that? I think so.
