Dear Friends,
One of the side jobs I do gives me the opportunity to write short bios for bands on a local record label. It’s a lot of fun, to be honest, and exposes me to a ton of music I had no idea existed. It also makes one think.
Imagine, if you will, how many songs are written each day. Most of them will never be heard by anyone but the writer themselves, but how many are written each day? If 1/1000th of the people on this planet write songs, there are almost eight million songwriters alive, give or take, right now. If you apply the same math to those 8 million, that one out of a 1000 completes a song today, that’s almost 8000 songs a day.
Now, I have no idea if this is even accurate, but the sheer amount of music that is out there published would indicate that the numbers must be extraordinarily high. Isn’t that a cool thing? The other night I was working on an article about music venues in Pinal County and it dawned on me that I know very little about what is happening in my home state when it comes to people being out there, doing their thing, and I just have to sit here and smile about it while I write.
I was working on a bio earlier about this killer jazz quartet. I love jazz, but I know so little about it. I have no feeling for the pulse of the current jazz scene in Phoenix, let alone the world. My hat is off to people who can be well versed in more than a few things. There is so much content out there to absorb, reflect upon, and be entertained/enlightened by. It overwhelms me.
But again, it’s just my brain trying to count things. Like the amount of strokes you take on the golf course or heartbeats when you are excited to kiss the one you love. We count and hope we count to someone else and wonder if anything really counts at all. All this counting is exhausting.
If you are looking for something a little wild and funky in the jazz world, check out the Mark Zubek Quartet. That’s who I was writing about. I hope I did them justice. My job is to get people interested enough to check them out. I certainly liked what I heard, though, and will listen to it more. I’m adding a playlist today, so you can see for yourself.
Another interesting band I wrote about was called Plague. At first, I thought it had to be a hardcore band, and there are a few Plagues out there doing hardcore. But this band was from the late 1960s. They were kind of an amalgamation of everything that was coming out in those days. A bit of the Echo Canyon sound, a bit of Lovin’ Spoonful, a bit of Zombies, and a bit of Chicago. All over the place, but if it weren’t for my side hustle, I would never have known about them.
If you want to buy their one record, you’ll have to pony up some dough. It was listed for about $800 on discogs.com but I don’t think there was one available. The name of the record is also Plague. I get the feeling a few of you will seek it out. They’re on Spotify and I will add to the playlist.
I’ll add a few more things I’ve written about to the playlist so you can hear for yourself.
*****
I was noticing while watching Romancing the Stone the other day that Michael Douglas wore some pretty terrible makeup in the movie. Whoever was doing the makeup job should have thought about how good TVs were going to be in the future. Truly. I think he had more makeup on than Kathleen Turner through most of the film.
*****
I can’t wait to watch the Suns and Sixers today. The last two games have been so unreal. The playoffs should be epic this year. Teams are coming at the Suns with everything they have, and the Suns are just punching right back, staying composed, and sinking one big basket after another. If the Suns can make the Finals again, there is a chance I will be traveling towards Maine when it comes to an end. I feel very sorry for whoever is in the hotel room near me if they win it all.
The game today should be a battle, although the Suns don’t have a lot to play for at this point outside of besting the record of the 1992/1993 team who finished at 62-20. This team could easily finish at 66-16 (or better) if they kept their regular rotation, but I would love to see them get some rest for their main guys. Devin Booker was incredible against the Nuggets on Thursday night. 49 points and 10 assists. Holy cow (as Harry Caray would say).
*****
I got a chance to hit some golf balls on Friday and had the best round I’ve had in years. Maybe recovering from a sinus thing did it for me or being completely sober or just being lucky. I did manage to get an eagle on the first hole. My second shot was from about 90 yards out and between several trees. I was just trying to avoid the biggest of the trees and somehow hit the ball right in between the two gnarliest ones. I thought it was going to overshoot the pin, but it went in. Magic!
It was good to get out and get a little fresh air and exercise. The next time I take my morning walk with TJ I will be able to show him where I hit the best shot I’ve had in maybe my entire golf career. Definitely the best shot that went in the hole. I’ve come close a couple of times to a hole in one but have yet to get one.
Happy Sunday y’all.
See you tomorrow.
See the ghost in the tree in the picture by me?
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2WOXVhotACIAvyuw9Wajaj?si=adc5aeb92cff4fa1
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