Saturday, September 18, 2010

Oklahoma Rag

05-24-10... Antagonize an undesirable situation and you give it the very power it needs to work against you. Deny it your power of thought and it crumbles away from you.

More Bob Wills soloists are featured for an instrumental. Oklahoma Rag







05-25-10... Don't know about you, but seeing footage of all that oil gushing into the Atlantic every day depresses the hell out of me. It represents heavy doses of greed, arrogance and irresponsibility wrapped in one, gigantic, all-consuming package. My only hope is that as every coastline along the Gulf of Mexico turns to disgusting muck, it will anger us to the point we're finally ready to get with the program, kick our silly asses into the 21st Century and convert to more sensible methods of heating our homes and fueling our autos.

On a related topic, I see climate change, or global warming as they call it, in the same light. Of course there is climate change. Has been since the Earth came into existence -- before humans, after humans. Do I believe we have an effect on climate change? Little. I liken it to one of George Carlin's lines in a bit he did regarding man versus environment. He suggested (I paraphrase) we ask the people buried under the rubble of Mexico City (after an earthquake, if you recall) if they feel they're a threat to mother nature. He said when the Earth has had enough of the human race, it will shake us off like we're fleas on a dog.

I agree with Mr. Carlin, but again, if our worrying over whether or not we're harming the Earth leads us to more logical forms of energy, then I say let's go ahead and believe we're the cause of climate change. Whatever prompts us to elevate our civilization is okay by me.

Another round of Texas Playboy solos today -- Tiny Moore's mandolin; Herb Remington's steel guitar; Louis Tierney's fiddle -- along with comical lyrics. Devlish Mary. Millard Kelso played piano for these Tiffany Transcription sessions, and while he's undoubtedly talented, his solos tend to sound similar from one song to the next. Bob Wills' pre-WWII pianist, Al Stricklin, was a much stronger musician, in my opinion, and when I get around to featuring the original Playboy band (next month, maybe?) you can formulate your own opinion regarding the two men.



05-28-10... You can only possess two emotions regarding any subject, any person or groups of people, and they are love or hate. Hate is an emotion we attach to things we don't understand. Love is the goal, but if you find you cannot remove hate from a thing, let go of it. Remove your thought from it. When it rears its head to again tempt you, don't give it that pleasure. Think of something else, anything that keeps your spirits high. One of my effective tricks is to think of a song, a melody, any melody, because any tune that can be conjered from memory undoubtedly will be a favorite. Music, to me, is a gift coming directly from the universal power (God, if you wish), and so is love.

I hope you can appreciate the highly-skilled guitar picking of Junior Barnard in this final Tiffany Transcriptions offering. Lazy Day. I will do a post for Memorial Day. Don't know what, yet... probably something flag related.

Links for these mp3 audio samples are HERE

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