Dear Friends,
Yesterday I had the pleasure of listening to some of my students read to me. This is the type of thing that would make some of you cry, some of your cringe, and some of you smile.
The kids were doing their best and I enjoyed listening to them. A few of my students are pretty good readers at this point and I just have to help them get to the next level. I have a handful who really need my help getting to fourth..hell…even third grade level, and there are kids who just haven’t gotten much of any help just yet it seems.
But…I have this one student who I think needs a code name. He’s not a Cocaine Baby, thank the good lord (and I haven’t seen the Cocaine Baby this week yet), but he’s got some special-ness all the same. The name will come to me, I’m sure.
This kid has a lot of energy. He’s also on the spectrum somewhere, but damn if his reading isn’t wonderful because of his gifts. He’s very smart but has a speech impediment that is really severe, so he’s very careful in how he reads. It’s not fast, but it is steady and the way he carefully articulates his words when reading is pretty amazing.
I loved listening to him, and I know I can help him get better and more confident this year. It may not be as noticeable as some of my other kids, but damn it, I’m going to give it all I’ve got.
When we talked after he was done and set his goal for our next round of assessment, he was so stoked on the feedback I gave him. I saw a little re-birth happening in him that was sofa king rad. In many ways, he is very much like the Cocaine Baby. He tries to get away with stuff and I’m guessing he’s been able to get away with a lot over these last few years because of his unique way of seeing and interacting with the world, so I frustrate the heck out of him.
I think he saw, though, yesterday that I am on his side. Even if I call him on things that used to get away with in other classes. I hope we can keep building on this momentum that we started yesterday. It promises good stuff.
*****
Today is a Wednesday which means meetings and a jam.
*****
Shane, my drummer in Hillbilly Devilspeak, and friend of over 25 years, has turned me on to some great music over the years. I’ve mentioned this before, but it is pretty rad to have a good friend who hears something and thinks, “Tom would like that.” I don’t think he’s ever been wrong, either.
He turned me onto a band called Guzzard in the later 90s. Their record, Quick, Fast, In a Hurry was a revelation when I heard it. All I know about them is that they were an AmRep band. I don’t know anything else. I bought the CD after Shane said they were good and I agreed.
Quick, Fast, In a Hurry starts off driving and really never lets up. “That One” is ferocious and when “Supersonic Enemy of Evil” kicks in right after it, it makes for an extremely powerful six minutes. I wish they would have come to Phoenix, and maybe they did, but I never got to see them.
“Street Rat” has an earnest desperation about it and a killer guitar riff. I’ve purposefully avoided learning anything about this band, but as I type this, I want to dive in. Denial of the self can bring you some good things, though, from what I’ve learned.
Guzzard is one of those bands for me that just came in and helped me turn my own game up a notch when I heard them. I wanted to go a bit harder and faster and heavier after hearing Quick, Fast, In a Hurry. Songs like “Street Rat” and “My House” were two more reasons that I love noisy rock and roll that never lets up.
There is also an element of math rock to Guzzard that I don’t know if I ever really picked up on until now. The way the songs are arranged is really cool and the parts kind of weave in and out of themselves in the manner that math rock tends to do. These guys were inventive.
The drums on Quick, Fast, In a Hurry are super bad ass, too. The way the snare is mixed into the sound is pretty fucking boss. I like the way it sounds a lot. I’m not a guy who talks about this stuff a lot, but the snare sounds great. All drummers like hearing that, too.
Next time you are talking to a drummer, tell them you like their snare sound, and they will probably buy you a beer.
“Steeples” is a great example of this killer drum sound. The guitars and bass also sound great on this one. It’s the first song on Side B, although I don’t have it on vinyl. It’s listed as the “Car side” on the CD, too.
“Level 4” is another great guitar song….maybe the coolest one on the whole record, actually. It sounds a bit like Fugazi. I like how the song just sort of explodes about a minute in when the chorus happens for the first time. Talk about an urgent release of power, this song has it in spades.
It’s pretty apparent where the title Quick, Fast, In a Hurry came from. As I mentioned, this record never lets up at all. “Sixed” just drives as hard as any of the others and it is near the end. The one song that kind of eases up the frenetic pace is “Hiro” which is a bit of drone-ish song, but the riff is fantastic.
This is the type of song that bands like Guzzard came up with and said, “you know what? This is fucking fun.” If you’ve ever been in a band, you know what I mean. There are those moments where, as musicians, we allow ourselves to just let a good thing roll.
“Death Race 2000” finishes the record off with some excellent lyrical content. Fucking hell, I love this song. The big finish is perfect for the end of the record. I remember seeing the original Death Race 2000 at the drive-in with my dad. Great stuff and a nice nod from Guzzard here.
I love this record.
*****
See you tomorrow.
This is just weird. AI...you make me nervous sometimes.
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