I'm going to bed because my daughter and I are getting up at 3:30 am to get on a train to the city so Annyong can do her college interview and portfolio presentation. Yeah I said 3:30 am. And yeah, I said COLLEGE.
I watched the red carpet show. So far, best dressed - Stacy Kiebler, Glenn Close, Octavia Spencer. No pix. Gotta trust me on this one. That's all folks. Goodnight.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Hmmm... Interesting....
My blog buddy, Heidi Willis, asked me to do this, and I'll do it for her because she is one of my favourite people I've never met. We're part of an online writing group, in which we plan lovely getaways to Heidi's Maine beach house, where we'll read in our jammies all weekend (in pretend world). I didn't think I had anything interesting left of me -- I spill a lot on this blog. I might repeat myself, so consider pretending you don't know anything about me first.
1) I have a crooked spine. I've come to terms with it. Symmetry is over-rated. Imperfection is interesting.
2) I was at a bush party in 1987 with my boyfriend. I watched him take a drunken beating from a particularly tough dude, while standing beside my ex-boyfriend. Also in attendance that night, although I didn't know it yet? My next boyfriend. I ended marrying him and we don't do bush parties anymore. Good times.
3) I have written 5 novels. One of them is pretty good. One of them is really good and getting better, but I'm aiming for excellent. None of them are actual real books. However, I can call myself A Writer because I have been rejected by some of the best literary agents in North America, darn it!
4) I got a pony for my 7th birthday. I named her Chocolate. Because she was dark brown. I was seven; clever literary reference names weren't in my repertoire yet. Besides, "Hemingway" is a ridiculous name for a small filly.
5) I don't care or mind if you resent me for #4. Hey man, I didn't have much of anything else, but I had ponies and that was more important than anything else. Even Barbies.
6) I am a bit of a tomboy but I loved my Barbies. (Both of them.)
7) I had a huge crush on Shaun Cassidy when I was eight. I had the T shirt. I had the pin-ups on the wall. Until John Stamos came along a few years later, Shaun was the sun in my sky. What can I say, I fall hard and I fall easily.
8) I had a Donny Osmond doll too. He had purple socks!!!!!
9) Sometimes I really lay it on thick with the red carpet stuff. Like, "Well when I was on the red carpet the first time..." and "We walked right past (insert Famous and /or Well Known Canadian Artist) and he/she is actually very short..." and also "....about four feet away from Shania Twain..." and I am just a tiny bit ashamed that I throw it around like that.
But come on! I grew up on a pig farm! My husband grew up behind the feed mill! RED FRIGGEN CARPET? You are damn right I'm gonna brag that up.
10) If I had money to burn I'd start up a Useless Critter Farm. I'd have a llama and a few miniature horses, heck, I'd have the three horses I have now. A large collection of donkeys. A sheep. About 50 goats, because they rock! Numerous cats. Peacocks. Heck if I could I'd have an elephant.
hahaha, I just changed four of those because I thought of something more interesting than what I first wrote.
1) I have a crooked spine. I've come to terms with it. Symmetry is over-rated. Imperfection is interesting.
2) I was at a bush party in 1987 with my boyfriend. I watched him take a drunken beating from a particularly tough dude, while standing beside my ex-boyfriend. Also in attendance that night, although I didn't know it yet? My next boyfriend. I ended marrying him and we don't do bush parties anymore. Good times.
3) I have written 5 novels. One of them is pretty good. One of them is really good and getting better, but I'm aiming for excellent. None of them are actual real books. However, I can call myself A Writer because I have been rejected by some of the best literary agents in North America, darn it!
4) I got a pony for my 7th birthday. I named her Chocolate. Because she was dark brown. I was seven; clever literary reference names weren't in my repertoire yet. Besides, "Hemingway" is a ridiculous name for a small filly.
5) I don't care or mind if you resent me for #4. Hey man, I didn't have much of anything else, but I had ponies and that was more important than anything else. Even Barbies.
6) I am a bit of a tomboy but I loved my Barbies. (Both of them.)
7) I had a huge crush on Shaun Cassidy when I was eight. I had the T shirt. I had the pin-ups on the wall. Until John Stamos came along a few years later, Shaun was the sun in my sky. What can I say, I fall hard and I fall easily.
8) I had a Donny Osmond doll too. He had purple socks!!!!!
9) Sometimes I really lay it on thick with the red carpet stuff. Like, "Well when I was on the red carpet the first time..." and "We walked right past (insert Famous and /or Well Known Canadian Artist) and he/she is actually very short..." and also "....about four feet away from Shania Twain..." and I am just a tiny bit ashamed that I throw it around like that.
But come on! I grew up on a pig farm! My husband grew up behind the feed mill! RED FRIGGEN CARPET? You are damn right I'm gonna brag that up.
10) If I had money to burn I'd start up a Useless Critter Farm. I'd have a llama and a few miniature horses, heck, I'd have the three horses I have now. A large collection of donkeys. A sheep. About 50 goats, because they rock! Numerous cats. Peacocks. Heck if I could I'd have an elephant.
hahaha, I just changed four of those because I thought of something more interesting than what I first wrote.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Making the best of an old barn - Part 1 - The Hay Mow
I figure it's unnecessary to have a perfect horse barn.
I think most barns or sheds can be converted into a decent place for my horses and me. It's a fairly basic set of needs: shelter, feed storage, tack /equipment storage. I'm spoiled by modern amenities, so I'll add electricity and running water to that list. (One winter in my teens the pipe froze and we had to carry water buckets to the barn from the cellar of the house. Never again, if I have anything to say about it.)
I'd like to have a discussion about old barns, what we love about them and what ticks us off, and how we make the building work for keeping horses. This could take awhile but it's a subject I love! Old barns! History! Architecture! Hay!
Let me tell you about the barn my horses live in now.
It's not my barn, it's my dad's. He lets me use it. He likes horses, and doesn't like an empty barn.
I'm not sure how old it is, but I'm guessing around 130 years old. Give or take a decade. It's got massive beams with visible axe marks, from the time they were carved from even more massive trees. It's a design known as "Ontario bank barn." The animals are housed in the first floor and hay storage above.
If you think it looks like the beams are leaning to the left, they are. I'm not worried; Dad's lived here for almost 69 years and he says it's always been like that. It was probably built crooked. I doubt it's ready to fall over tomorrow.
I love this set-up. Because the barn's built into a slope, the hay mow floor is ground level. We can back a hay wagon straight in. Once the hay is stored, gravity helps me get it to the horses fast and easy.
Some people don't like this arrangement. There is a dust issue, although with a barn this -ahem- well ventilated, I don't find that dust is a debilitating problem. Some people refuse to store hay in the same building because of the fire risk, and that's totally understandable. I think knowing about hay is key here. I grew up with the rules about hay, specifically the dangers of hot hay. It doesn't go into the barn unless it's dried, never with stems still green and juicy. The stems have to break when you twist them. If it's dry and well cured, with no heat brewing inside the bale, you won't have spontaneous combustion. There is a lot of flammable stuff here, but anything that could cause a fire shouldn't be in your barn anyways. (And that is a whole other discussion. We'll do that one later.) But I get it. I prefer a barn with hay overhead, but I'll never tell someone they're foolish for having a separate hay building!
These pictures were taken up in the loft. The giant wooden wheels used to pull a load of loose hay up to the loft, but that was long before my time. I like to go up there and examine this system. It's simple, but it worked.
I think most barns or sheds can be converted into a decent place for my horses and me. It's a fairly basic set of needs: shelter, feed storage, tack /equipment storage. I'm spoiled by modern amenities, so I'll add electricity and running water to that list. (One winter in my teens the pipe froze and we had to carry water buckets to the barn from the cellar of the house. Never again, if I have anything to say about it.)
I'd like to have a discussion about old barns, what we love about them and what ticks us off, and how we make the building work for keeping horses. This could take awhile but it's a subject I love! Old barns! History! Architecture! Hay!
Let me tell you about the barn my horses live in now.
It's not my barn, it's my dad's. He lets me use it. He likes horses, and doesn't like an empty barn.
I'm not sure how old it is, but I'm guessing around 130 years old. Give or take a decade. It's got massive beams with visible axe marks, from the time they were carved from even more massive trees. It's a design known as "Ontario bank barn." The animals are housed in the first floor and hay storage above.
Have a look inside.
It's a magnificent building. A couple weeks ago, before we got a load of hay delivered, the hay man asked me over the phone if we had room for 300 bales. Yup. We have room. Imagine that whole space filled with hay bales. That's exactly what it was designed for!
At the back wall, there's a yellow pail, which is where I throw the twine string after I cut if off the bale. (You DO NOT want that getting near the horses - twine and legs are a bad combo.) You can't quite see in this picture, but there's a trapdoor in the floor, right over the open shed below. This is right convenient. I just drop the hay through the floor. Gravity! Yeah!
If you think it looks like the beams are leaning to the left, they are. I'm not worried; Dad's lived here for almost 69 years and he says it's always been like that. It was probably built crooked. I doubt it's ready to fall over tomorrow.
I love this set-up. Because the barn's built into a slope, the hay mow floor is ground level. We can back a hay wagon straight in. Once the hay is stored, gravity helps me get it to the horses fast and easy.
Some people don't like this arrangement. There is a dust issue, although with a barn this -ahem- well ventilated, I don't find that dust is a debilitating problem. Some people refuse to store hay in the same building because of the fire risk, and that's totally understandable. I think knowing about hay is key here. I grew up with the rules about hay, specifically the dangers of hot hay. It doesn't go into the barn unless it's dried, never with stems still green and juicy. The stems have to break when you twist them. If it's dry and well cured, with no heat brewing inside the bale, you won't have spontaneous combustion. There is a lot of flammable stuff here, but anything that could cause a fire shouldn't be in your barn anyways. (And that is a whole other discussion. We'll do that one later.) But I get it. I prefer a barn with hay overhead, but I'll never tell someone they're foolish for having a separate hay building!
These pictures were taken up in the loft. The giant wooden wheels used to pull a load of loose hay up to the loft, but that was long before my time. I like to go up there and examine this system. It's simple, but it worked.
You know what? I've done a lot of horse chores. Shlepping hay is a huge pain. Call me lazy. Call me smart. Either way, the least amount of steps I have to take, the happier chore time is!
There's another trap door in the level under the loft, which I throw bales down to the first floor, where the stalls are located. It's a system that works for us.
Putting the hay into the loft requires a hay elevator. It's a lot of work... which is a big deal for me, hence the reluctance to waste a single step!
I'd love to hear from anybody else dealing with an old barn of any configuration -- the challenges, the advantages, and what you'd do different if you could. Or for that matter, what you'd keep if you could.
Oh my gosh, I just figured out that some days, when I'm really busy, I can spend as much time hanging around this barn as I spend in my bed at night. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Grammy awards, deaths, bankers and barns - AMENDED AND EDITED
I wrote this whole big long post when I was in a slightly miserable messed up mood. And it showed. I hated the vibe of it. Now I'm not a big fan of erasing what's happened or been written about, but I really don't feel like having that reminder of a crap mood hanging around. So I'm taking it down. Except for the part about Dave Grohl, because he's awesome. So here you go.
Good ol Foo Fighters... after they slammed their way through a song, they threw on suit jackets over their Slayer T shirts, called it formal wear, and accepted their award. Dave Grohl crowed about how they made this album in his garage! which amused me because I'm sure his garage is, um, not exactly like the one your mom let you and your 14 year old buddies make your noise in. I love him for getting excited about music made by people, not machines, even though I suspect computers still snuck into the process at some point, because that's how it's down now, sorry... but most of all, I love and respect Dave Grohl for his speech about picking up an instrument and learning how to play it!!! And for music made with your heart and your mind.
Oh and here's the other brilliant Dave thing which I forgot to mention when I first wrote this post:
At the end of the Foo Fighters acceptance speech, the get-off-the-stage music started. It was something called "dub-step" which apparently them kids today really dig, except for my kids, who have actual good taste in music. Yep, I sound like I'm 87 and hate all that newfangled stuff that ain't even music at all dernit!!!
But seriously. UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ
And what did Good ol Grohl do?
Just as the camera panned away, with the untz untz untz happening, he ran back to the microphone just before the commercial break and yelled, "LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLLLLL!"
Annyong and I threw our hands up in the air and started into a rousing chorus of DAAAAAAAAVE GRO-OHHHHHHHHLLLLL!
Anyways. I have to get Bucky and Annyong working on getting me that Awards Season Tree they keep threatening to make for me, with the little Grammy and Juno and Oscar ornaments hanging from its golden branches...
Good ol Foo Fighters... after they slammed their way through a song, they threw on suit jackets over their Slayer T shirts, called it formal wear, and accepted their award. Dave Grohl crowed about how they made this album in his garage! which amused me because I'm sure his garage is, um, not exactly like the one your mom let you and your 14 year old buddies make your noise in. I love him for getting excited about music made by people, not machines, even though I suspect computers still snuck into the process at some point, because that's how it's down now, sorry... but most of all, I love and respect Dave Grohl for his speech about picking up an instrument and learning how to play it!!! And for music made with your heart and your mind.
Oh and here's the other brilliant Dave thing which I forgot to mention when I first wrote this post:
At the end of the Foo Fighters acceptance speech, the get-off-the-stage music started. It was something called "dub-step" which apparently them kids today really dig, except for my kids, who have actual good taste in music. Yep, I sound like I'm 87 and hate all that newfangled stuff that ain't even music at all dernit!!!
But seriously. UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ UNTZ
And what did Good ol Grohl do?
Just as the camera panned away, with the untz untz untz happening, he ran back to the microphone just before the commercial break and yelled, "LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLLLLL!"
Annyong and I threw our hands up in the air and started into a rousing chorus of DAAAAAAAAVE GRO-OHHHHHHHHLLLLL!
Anyways. I have to get Bucky and Annyong working on getting me that Awards Season Tree they keep threatening to make for me, with the little Grammy and Juno and Oscar ornaments hanging from its golden branches...
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Blasting the lid off the can of shame and embarrassment that is depression!
Today, Bell Canada is doing their Let's Talk campaign, which is striving to take away the shame and silence that often comes with depression and mental illness.
Clara Hughes is involved for the second year in a row. You might not be aware of this lady if you're outside of Canada, so just a quick review: she's a six time Olympic medalist. Six. Oh, and they are from both the summer and winter games. Cycling and speed skating.
She has natural red hair. She has sparkling green eyes and a big stunning, joyful, honest smile with a cute little gap between her front teeth. She's obviously got the the body of an Olympian. And she's been very open about the depression she dealt with after her first Olympic win.
You know, I've been told over and over that exercise is really good for beating depression, so yeah, I was pretty flattened to hear that an elite athlete battled with it too! Man, what hope do the rest of us have?
Well, I think it's one of those things that doesn't really care who it hits.
In her case, the letdown after reaching that huge goal was devastating.
We all have our own story. I think it's so important to share our stories because we are not alone. We aren't weak. We feel alone and weak but we're not.
A doctor on TV this week made a very important point: don't ask somebody you suspect is depressed "what's wrong" because how the hell can that be answered? If I knew what was wrong, I'd do something about it myself!!!! It's too difficult to pinpoint it, so just ask. Is there a chance you've got some depression? Would you consider going to see your doctor? Can I take you out for a walk? Want me to buy some groceries for you?
Because the worst thing to do is... nothing. Someone dealing with this should not be hanging around in that state, and it's next to impossible to get out of it alone.
Never be ashamed to ask for help. I was. I probably could have gotten help years earlier, but I put all the effort into "normalizing" and putting on the functional face just to get through a day. My own family didn't know how bad it was. I didn't even.
So don't bother trying to be "okay." I'm a big believer in feeling how you are feeling. It's what it is. And here's the thing: it doesn't have to be permanent!
I'll tell you right now how my mental state is:
Pretty okay.
I am sleeping pretty well. I go to bed early, take at least half an hour to get ready for bed, and read for awhile. Say goodnight to my kids. Turn off the light. Talk to my husband. Talk to God. Pat the snoring Pug and close my eyes.
I still don't like waking up but I do it.
I have medication that works. Yay!
I don't have three naps a week anymore. Sometimes I can get through a week without a nap at all!
I take care of my horses every day, and I cherish them. I am actually enjoying the physical work involved! It's been a long time since I felt that way. I have killer biceps and you know what, I am kind of proud of my physical strength.
I have the Official Best Pshrink Ever. I see him ever week or two. I got an ADHD diagnosis, which is beginning to explain a lot about me. It really helps to talk it all out, sort through anything on my mind, figure out how I can make my life better. He's there to listen and guide. And I don't have to tell anybody else what I talk about in that room.
I still believe we should stop saying "Crazy" like it's a bad thing.
I still cry a lot but sometimes it's not from being so deeply sad, but because I feel everything, and it's just the way I am.
To be totally honest, because that's what I'm doing here, I have pretty much drawn my life into a very small focus. I don't go out much or call people, I don't even blog as much as I used to, but it's not from withdrawing from life -- it's that I am absolutely focussed on my own quality of life and my own family. It's what I have to do right now. I believe my kids are better off for it and I feel pretty alright about that. I hope I make sure my friends know I still love them and I know for sure I'll be the life of the party again!
I laugh vigorously every day and it is fantastic.
So there you go. Getting hit by mental illness is not something to be ashamed of, it doesn't mean you're weak, it doesn't have to define you, and it doesn't mean you'll be miserable forever. It'll come and go. You'll find ways to deal with it and you'll figure out how and when to ask for help. You're still breathing and you're still talking.
Keep up the good work!
Clara Hughes is involved for the second year in a row. You might not be aware of this lady if you're outside of Canada, so just a quick review: she's a six time Olympic medalist. Six. Oh, and they are from both the summer and winter games. Cycling and speed skating.
She has natural red hair. She has sparkling green eyes and a big stunning, joyful, honest smile with a cute little gap between her front teeth. She's obviously got the the body of an Olympian. And she's been very open about the depression she dealt with after her first Olympic win.
You know, I've been told over and over that exercise is really good for beating depression, so yeah, I was pretty flattened to hear that an elite athlete battled with it too! Man, what hope do the rest of us have?
Well, I think it's one of those things that doesn't really care who it hits.
In her case, the letdown after reaching that huge goal was devastating.
We all have our own story. I think it's so important to share our stories because we are not alone. We aren't weak. We feel alone and weak but we're not.
A doctor on TV this week made a very important point: don't ask somebody you suspect is depressed "what's wrong" because how the hell can that be answered? If I knew what was wrong, I'd do something about it myself!!!! It's too difficult to pinpoint it, so just ask. Is there a chance you've got some depression? Would you consider going to see your doctor? Can I take you out for a walk? Want me to buy some groceries for you?
Because the worst thing to do is... nothing. Someone dealing with this should not be hanging around in that state, and it's next to impossible to get out of it alone.
Never be ashamed to ask for help. I was. I probably could have gotten help years earlier, but I put all the effort into "normalizing" and putting on the functional face just to get through a day. My own family didn't know how bad it was. I didn't even.
So don't bother trying to be "okay." I'm a big believer in feeling how you are feeling. It's what it is. And here's the thing: it doesn't have to be permanent!
I'll tell you right now how my mental state is:
Pretty okay.
I am sleeping pretty well. I go to bed early, take at least half an hour to get ready for bed, and read for awhile. Say goodnight to my kids. Turn off the light. Talk to my husband. Talk to God. Pat the snoring Pug and close my eyes.
I still don't like waking up but I do it.
I have medication that works. Yay!
I don't have three naps a week anymore. Sometimes I can get through a week without a nap at all!
I take care of my horses every day, and I cherish them. I am actually enjoying the physical work involved! It's been a long time since I felt that way. I have killer biceps and you know what, I am kind of proud of my physical strength.
I have the Official Best Pshrink Ever. I see him ever week or two. I got an ADHD diagnosis, which is beginning to explain a lot about me. It really helps to talk it all out, sort through anything on my mind, figure out how I can make my life better. He's there to listen and guide. And I don't have to tell anybody else what I talk about in that room.
I still believe we should stop saying "Crazy" like it's a bad thing.
I still cry a lot but sometimes it's not from being so deeply sad, but because I feel everything, and it's just the way I am.
To be totally honest, because that's what I'm doing here, I have pretty much drawn my life into a very small focus. I don't go out much or call people, I don't even blog as much as I used to, but it's not from withdrawing from life -- it's that I am absolutely focussed on my own quality of life and my own family. It's what I have to do right now. I believe my kids are better off for it and I feel pretty alright about that. I hope I make sure my friends know I still love them and I know for sure I'll be the life of the party again!
I laugh vigorously every day and it is fantastic.
So there you go. Getting hit by mental illness is not something to be ashamed of, it doesn't mean you're weak, it doesn't have to define you, and it doesn't mean you'll be miserable forever. It'll come and go. You'll find ways to deal with it and you'll figure out how and when to ask for help. You're still breathing and you're still talking.
Keep up the good work!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Can't put 'em up on blocks for the winter...
Business has been slow. Theoretically I am continuing riding lessons but in reality, winter makes it difficult.
The expenses don't stop though! The horses still have to eat, even if nobody's paying me to sit on them. It's not like they can be packed away in a garage like a delicate antique car, waiting for spring.
Not that it matters. For years I fed horses who didn't earn their keep. They aren't here for the sole purpose of making a living, because I am not making a living with them! Not yet! We have them because we love them, and they bring us happiness that we can't find in anything else. Not TV and movies, or sports, or vacations. Having these horses is a wonderful privilege, one that comes with a cost.
I didn't get into the riding lessons business thinking I'd get rich off it, and I knew winter would slow things down to a crawl. So for now, the horses are just eating and pooping and existing.
And I still love them. Even if I feel like all I ever do is clean up after them. Even if I've only ridden a couple times since the new year.
I didn't get into the riding lessons business thinking I'd get rich off it, and I knew winter would slow things down to a crawl. So for now, the horses are just eating and pooping and existing.
And I still love them. Even if I feel like all I ever do is clean up after them. Even if I've only ridden a couple times since the new year.
They are so worth it!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE
Oh yeah. Vinyl. Good ol' grooves.
What you are seeing on that turntable is... JOHNNY CASH AT SAN QUENTIN.
On the back of the album sleeve is my Auntie's maiden name, and the date: January 1970.
That makes this record older than me by about 11 months. I wasn't even an idea yet.
It's been years since we've had this record player working. On the weekend, Jethro and Bucky finally tracked down a store, luckily not too far from home, that sells this obscure item known as a stylus. They had to buy the entire cartridge, the whole black thing at the end of the arm. Jethro didn't mind, even though it was kind of pricey (we'd already turned down an opportunity to go see RDJ at the movies because we didn't think we could shell out over $60...) because it's a good piece of gear. Might even be worth more than the whole record player. haha.
We've got this nice record collection, made up of a combination of the following:
My record buying years:
-Duran Duran
-Tears For Fears
-The Clash
-Led Zeppelin
Jethro's record buying years:
-Ozzy Osbourne
-Black Sabbath
-Led Zeppelin
-Yngwie Malmsteen (I'm not even kidding)
My parent's record buying years:
-Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
-Baja Marimba Band (that is a seriously great record)
-Marty Robbins
-a few obscure gospel bands/ cousins and other relatives who sang hymns and got some vinyl pressed
My sister's record buying years:
-Bryan Adams
-Blondie
My mom's sister's record buying years:
-Johnny Cash
-Gordon Lightfoot
-Joni Mitchell
What an amazing collection!
We've got a Bill Cosby comedy album next to Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual.
Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet and Simon & Garfunkel, The Sounds Of Silence.
(I am going to name a critter Garfunkel some day.)
Van Halen, 1984 beside XTC, English Settlement (another great record, obscure in my neck of the woods)
Forgotten Rebels and The Cure.
INXS, Listen Like Thieves and ABBA...pick one, I had a serious ABBA phase between ages 9 and 11!
We've got the Iron Butterfly sleeve but Jethro turned Innagaddadavida into a frisbee about 30 years ago.
We've got two copies of Zenyatta Mondatta by the Police.
People, we've got a Sigue Sigue Sputnik record. I'm not kidding.
ISN'T THIS FUN!???!
It's been so long since we could play records. We've been in this house for over two years and only recently got our stereo system set up. This is a temporary home... we weren't even planning on being here this long. But we missed our music. Now we can watch TV, watch a movie on DVD, I don't think we can play our Wallace & Gromit VHS ("everybody knows the moon's made of cheese...") and I don't think we can play cassettes (yes we still have those too, how do you think we listen to all the Van Halen?) but I do think we can play CDs... there are four remotes and I'm still not sure how to turn the TV on --seriously, four remotes and I'm still getting off my butt to hit the channel button? We've got an iPod dock hooked up so we can drop an iGadget in there and listen to a playlist.
And now, WE CAN PLAY RECORDS!
Last night Bucky discovered Blizzard Of Ozz.
We'd given him the disc last year and were shocked to hear how different it sounded. Apparently somebody thought it would be a good idea to re-record the bass and drums. We thought it was a terrible idea and decided to ostracize that CD, promising Bucky we'd get the ol' record player fired up.
So I gave Bucky the tutorial on Dropping The Needle.
There's the hissing and crackling, and there's Randy Rhoads, and we grinned. The record skipped. I giggled. "It's the real thing, kids! There's nothing else like it!"
Jethro later said, "I played the crap outta that record. I bought it used, and then I played the crap out of it."
Well kids, it's not perfect. The turntable has a nasty ground hum that can be heard between tracks. There will be noises coming out of those vinyl grooves that aren't music.
But the music is there.
It isn't compressed, it isn't crushed down into MP3 files. It doesn't have any of that ProTooled sandpaper-on-the-ears bullcrap. It wasn't mastered so loud it hurts. Music shouldn't hurt. You should be able to turn it up and enjoy it without suffering hearing damage. Jethro has been devoting his career to making good-sounding music and making a stand against music that just sounds like a wall of fuzz. A lot of teenagers have grown up on recordings that have been processed to death. And they listen to slammed files with no dynamics and way too much noise. They listen to it loud, in earbuds. They don't really know how recorded music is meant to sound. Half the time they've only got one earbud in, which makes Jethro tear his hair out, because he spends 16 hours a day mixing in stereo -- as in, each side has something different going on -- and these guys are only listening to one side. They're missing half of it.
Let's face it: the entire music industry is a broken rusted shadow of its former self. We know this first hand. We live it.
And Bucky and Annyong go to school, stand on their little soapboxes and proclaim all of this to their misguided peers.... and are met with uncomprehending stares.
Ours aren't allowed to have a million small files of music on their iPods. They are allowed to have like, a couple hundred, that are in big files and sound good.
So we listened to Ozzy last night. Wine is fine, but liquor is quicker. Tonight we'll listen to the story of Mr Crowley. Tomorrow night we'll listen to side 2 of Johnny Cash cussing his way through a set of songs to the appreciative howls of a bunch of prisoners.
GOOD TIMES.
It is far from perfect, vinyl, but I don't think we've reached a perfect method of recording music yet in the first hundred years of the art and science. Records are better than wax cylinders. Besides, wax cylinder players are even harder to find than record player needles.
I keep a close watch on this heart of mine... I keep my eyes wide open all the time...
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