Les Paul

A few months ago, Les Paul died.  He was 94.  His passing was noted by much of the musical community – he was a remarkable man, well ahead of his time.  Here are just a few of his accomplishments.

 Gibson Les Paul guitar.  In the 1940s, Paul had been working on solid body guitars.  With the exception of Rickenbacker’s “Frying Pan” electrics, most, if not all, electric guitars made in the 1930s were hollow body guitars which simply had pickups installed.  Paul reasoned that since electric guitars were amplified through the pickups and amplifier, they no longer needed to be hollow body – they could be solid body.  He developed his own crude but very workable model, which he called “The LOG”.  Paul went to Gibson with this, and they laughed at him, calling him “that guy with the broomstick.” 

            Fastforward to 1948, and Leo Fender released what is now known as the Telecaster, the first widely sold solid body guitar.  Gibson saw this, and reconsidered its earlier rejection of Paul’s not-so-stupid-after-all guitar.  His design had a single cutaway, two single coil pickups, and a gold finish.  This was issued in 1952 and became widely known as the Les Paul, even having his signature on the headstock (except for Les Paul Customs).  

            In 1957, Gibson released the double-coil pickup, also known as the PAF (Patent Applied For) humbucker, and the Les Paul got this pickup.  In 1958, sunburst became available as a finish.  Oddly, the guitar sold poorly at the time, and was discontinued in 1960 in favor of the SG.   In the late 60s, with Eric Clapton and other guitarists discovering the Les Paul’s thick, rich sound and superb sustain (Nigel Tufnel: “Listen to that sustain!”) the ’58-60 sunburst models became in heavy demand – and continue to be produced today.

            Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Slash (Guns N’Roses, Velvet Revolver), Peter Frampton, Alex Lifeson (Rush), Steve Gaines & Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Ace Frehley (KISS), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Adam Jones (Tool), Duane Allman, and Robert Fripp (King Crimson) are just a few of the many guitarists favoring this model.  I’ve never owned one, but my brother has a Les Paul Custom, black with 3 pickups, similar to what Robert Fripp plays.  When the money fairy strikes, I’ll get myself a Les Paul Studio, black with chrome hardware.

 Music.  "I've copied more licks from Les Paul than I'd like to admit."  Jeff Beck. His music itself is very jazzy, mostly short instrumentals, with some singing by Mary Ford.  I’ve only heard it recently – I guess I’m spoiled by the guitarists of the 60s and 70s who built upon their own influences for decades and brought it up to modern times, so much earlier guitar work kind of goes in one ear and out the other.  I find his music to be soft jazz with competent but hardly special guitar playing. 

 Studio Innovations.  His most important studio innovation was multi-track recording, first using acetate discs and later reel-to-reel recorders brought to the US from Germany by Bing Crosby.  In 1951 he had recorded 24 track music – consider that even the Beatles were recording in only 4 tracks in 1967.  The principles behind multi-track recording, as developed in the 50s and which continue to this day, were invented and established by Les Paul, thus he has an impact on the entire music industry far beyond his own substantive music.    He also invented tape delay echo, phasing effects, and other innovations which we take for granted today.

My Adventures in Europe, Canada and Vegas

Other Trips.  Here’s the part where I brag about all the places I’ve been to – aside from the places I’ve already bragged about in earlier blogs (mainly Brazil and Romania).  Unlike Erma Bombeck, I won’t try to disguise this as complaints (“where’s the bathroom?  Where’s the gift shop?”) but take it as you find it.   None of these trips were backpacking or spent in youth hostels, by the way – mostly as a kid with my family or school.

 South of France.  In summer 1979, having moved to France in January of that year, my family took a trip to the French Riviera.  We stayed in a small French medieval village, Tourrette (sic), with narrow, winding streets and no Internet.   This was up in the hills, very different terrain than in northern France around Paris, where it is mostly flat and farmland.  Adults might call it “charming”, but as a kid I’d simply consider it “medieval.”  However, it did have running water and electricity, so it wasn’t exactly camping.  Without the Black Plague, I can’t say it was truly medieval.

            I recall the drive was 10-12 hours each way, with lots of backed-up traffic outside Lyon.  For some reason I was hoping to find some Asterix the Legionary memorabilia, but who knows why anyone would have been selling any.  We went to the beach at St. Rafael, as Cannes was too crowded.  The most notable thing about French beaches, aside from them being topless (which I noticed even at 10 years old), were the excellent French fry stands.  We also went to a local lake one day.  Finally we breezed through Nice and took a day tour of Monte Carlo, aka Monaco, which had its own royal palace which was a blatant ripoff of Versailles.  My experience with beaches up till this time had been limited to Ocean City, Maryland.  The waves at these beaches in France were almost none – but the views were somewhat more exciting.

 Ski Trips x2 – Saas Fee.  My brother and I went skiing in Switzerland with Marymount.  This was our first time, so we started off snowplowing.  My parents had to scramble with us to buy ski clothes in downtown Paris, including thermal underwear – and I drove them crazy insisting on a pair of “moon boots”.  I remember a Dutch auction on the first trip, and some fondue restaurant on one of them.  This is where I first learned skiing – 1979-82?  The years escape me.  The only other thing was our friend Steve’s older brother Dave bringing a bunch of Deep Purple tapes (“Machine Head”?).  Aside from the chalet itself, the only other part of Switzerland we saw during these trips was the ski village where the slopes were.

 London.  I lose track of how many times we visited, various times between 1979 and 1985.  A friend of my father’s, in the USTTA, lived near Baron’s Court in southwest London, and we’d trade apartments with them.  The first time we drove and took the hovercraft, then a ferry from Ostend, Belgium, and finally said “screw it” (we hated the 5 hour drive back to Paris from Calais) and took the plane.  To this day, if you set me off the Tube in Baron’s Court, I could probably trace my way to their apartment.  Downtown we saw Buckingham Palace, the US Embassy (though we preferred the Navy Annex around the corner), Hamleys, Harrod’s, Selfridge’s, all the most important stuff.  In summer 1983 we saw “Return of the Jedi” at Leicester Square (with idiot Brit kids behind us yelping “ooh, Wheetabix!” and “corr… there’s Darth Vader”).  In summer 1985 we survived Donington – including Metallica with Cliff Burton!  Woohoo!   In London we could speak ENGLISH and hear it spoken – and get Asterix and Tintin books in English.  We also sought out Intellivision tapes, and I got some good models at Hamley’s, and later a few roleplaying games – I even trekked out to Eastcote to buy Cults of Prax from some guy; and we did a live action D&D adventure in some caves in Chistlehurst, traveling in some quaint Hogwarts Express with cabins that opened directly onto the platform.  War nut, I got to see the Imperial War Museum.  We’d watch BBC TV and understand it – even if it was a bit quaint and not as exciting, slick or professional as American TV.   It’s funny, now I’m nuts about Arsenal and English football, but back when we were there, I had no use for it and ignored it completely.  D’oh!

 Italy.  This was in spring 1981, a school trip (Marymount-Paris) to Rome and Pompeii.  We saw the Colosseum (from outside), passed by briefly the Circus Maximus – home of the chariot races (a la Ben Hur), and listened to the “Hell’s Bells” bells of St. Peters, which we actually went in – but did not meet the Pope or Robert Langdon.  Whatever “sights” there are to see in Rome (big face supposed to eat your hand, fountains, Spanish steps, etc) we saw; we probably ended up in most of the various churches featured in “Angels & Demons” – except for St. Peters and the Parthenon, they’re all more or less the same. 

            On the way down the Pompeii we scored some cap guns which were lots of fun but drove the teachers nuts.  Unfortunately Pink Floyd were long gone from Pompeii, but it was still fun. 

            We stayed at Marymount campus in Rome, and were entertained with student-appropriate fun at night. They showed us “Fame” one night, and “Bullitt” another.  My major focus was getting Coca Cola from the vending machine in the cafeteria every morning, horrifying everyone by having Coke for breakfast.

            Although I went with the school, my family went at the same time, loosely tracking our itinerary and meeting up with me in Rome and Pompeii.   That certainly made it more fun.  My dad had asked me, beforehand, if it was “cool with me” if they went too, and I said sure – far be it from me to want the experience to be exclusive to myself.

 USSR.  This was one of my favorite and most memorable trips.   Bucharest I went to long after Ceaucescu was overthrown, but Russia was different.  This was   10-12 days in March 1983 on a school trip in high school (American School of Paris).  Kiev, Moscow and Leningrad (aka Petrograd or St. Petersburg).  This was the Soviet Union, the USSR, full blown communist dictatorship.  Brezhnev had died, followed shortly after by Yuri Andropov, so at this time Chernenko was the leader – before Gorbachev, glasnost or perestroika.  The only Western item was Pepsi – no McDonalds, no neon, no gangsters.  All three cities appeared to be mostly devoid of color – except red – or happy, joyous people, aside from tourists, who were happy and joyous because we didn’t live there.  Any and all “consumer products” were cheap and shitty, with unimaginative generic packaging out of the 50s.  They had FOUR different types of car.  The TV had …farm reports?  It was like a huge open-air prison.  No wonder vodka was so plentiful.

            I didn’t manage to trade for anything with Russian soldiers, instead I scored tons of communist posters for almost nothing, a St. Basil’s, a balalaika, lots of Red pins, and a stuffed animal from the GUM Dept. store across Red Square from Lenin’s Tomb (which I didn’t visit).  The problem with this trip was that none of my friends were on it, so I was pretty much stuck at the hotel most of the time at night by myself. 

            In Moscow we did go to the ballet (not the Bolshoi, though) to see “Don Quixote”, taking the Metro there.  The Metro is worth a trip in itself: white and black marble statues of workers, peasants, soldiers and sailors – unlike ANY other subway in the world.  It’s a museum of propaganda that doubles as a real urban transit system.  It’s ironic that the Washington DC metro is so dull and utilitarian – every station with the same dark concrete interiors – while Moscow has something truly beautiful and wonderful.  Thanks, Stalin!

            When we went to Red Square during the day, I had left my camera back in the hotel.  D’oh!  In Leningrad we stayed at the Astoria Hotel, where Hitler bragged he would invite his generals to lunch once the German siege had successfully captured the city (didn’t happen).  That’s also where I had chicken Kiev for the first time, as the hotel in Kiev (Bratislava) was some cheap, concrete monstrosity, not nearly classy enough to serve the delicious meal named for its city.  The tour guides referred to the Germans as “Fascists”, so as not to offend any East Germans.  The guides consistently refused to be baited into criticizing the Soviet regime.  WWI was referred to as “The Imperialist War”, and WWII as “The Great Patriotic War”.  We even met a group of Russian college students, who were friendly and definitely eager to talk – and bond – with American students.  Among the less memorable moments were the endless litany of monestaries – old churches, Russian Orthodox monks, etc.  Maybe my dad would have appreciated that, but I certainly didn’t.  I wanted to see tanks (and saw a few in Kiev).  In Kiev, we listened to, and sang along to, “Back in the USSR” in my hotel room.  As you can imagine, it was quite an adventure. 

 Lourdes.  This is a small town in the far south of France, in the Pyrenees mountains which divide France from Spain.  It’s a famous pilgrimage place thanks to St. Bernadette, who discovered a holy spring with healing powers.  My family went there, bringing my grandmother along, and bringing back lots of bottles of the water. 

            On one hand, the place was very depressing.  Lots of old and sick people desperately hoping to be cured by the waters of the grotto, which was lined with ancient crutches.  On the other hand, it’s up in the mountains, with beautiful scenery, even better than “The Sound of Music”.  Even so, I was glad to be out of there.

 Egypt.  This was a class trip in high school, for about 4 days, starting and ending in Cairo with Luxor (the real Luxor) in between. It was hot, dry, and very dirty.   We saw the Great Pyramid of Cheops, the Sphinx, lots of ancient temples full of pillars and statutes but no roof or Egyptian priests…and certainly no mummies.  The Pyramid was somewhat of a letdown, as inside it’s only short square passages leading to an empty burial chamber (“that’s IT?”) – well, what did you expect?  The damn thing is just a huge tombstone you can bury some Pharaoh IN, instead of in front of.  The Valley of Kings was a bit more interesting, including King Tut’s Tomb.  We brought back a fez, a few ankhs, some parchment with hieroglypics, and not much else.  I had been reading H.P. Lovecraft, but we saw no signs of Nyarlathotep.  Damn.

 Holland.  At some point my family visited Amsterdam.  During this trip we took a day trip which included Rotterdam, The Hague, Delft, a wooden shoe factory, a tulip warehouse, among other things which clearly weren’t important enough to remember.  I do remember Amsterdam’s red light district and the Anne Frank house.  There were a few windmills, but no floods.  Everyone seemed to speak English and be very friendly towards Americans.

 The Hague.  In January 1985 and January 1986, I visited the Hague for Model United Nations.  Unlike the USSR trip, this time I was among friends.  In ’85 my companions were my Canadian friends Phil, Sean & Sean, whereas in ’86 it was Marc, Geoff and Jean (of German wedding fame) who went off on their own [Ok, in ’85 I was there among friends].  Most of the day was spent at the MUN building.  In ’85 I was on the Ukrainian SSR delegation on the topic of apartheid – one of dozens of delegates trying (unsuccessfully) to get MY damn resolution passed.  In ’86 I was on the Israeli delegation, also on the apartheid issue – even less successful because Israel was one of the few countries sticking up for South Africa.  I met with the South African, US, and UK delegates and we all agreed that it was pointless to try to get anything passed.  Then everyone went off to socialize.  The General Assembly was pretty cool, but most of the time you’d just goof off at the table and pass resolutions around.  I have to wonder how much more productive and useful the real UN is.

 Belgium.  Like London, this was one place we visited fairly often.  90% of the time this meant SHAPE and the PX, staying in Mons.  We also visited Bruges once (of which I recall so little, none of the Colin Farrell movie struck me as familiar) and Brussels, which I remember (A) the Mannequin Pis, (B) the Metropole Hotel (with its pitch black hotel room), (D) tram cars, (E) waffles, and (F) the Atom-whatever sculpture for some World’s Fair, not much competition for the Eiffel Tower.

 Germany.  Regrettably, I’ve been to far less of Germany, far less often than I’d have liked.  I’ve already noted several times my obsession with Nazi Germany and WWII, but my experiences have been very few.

1.  Trips with my family to Kaiserslautern and Ramstein, the two US bases closest to the French border.  With SHAPE only 3 hours away and these places 5-6 hours, there was not much incentive to go to Germany for PX’ing.  In Ramstein we spoke French in an Italian restaurant at the officer’s club of a US base in Germany.

2.  Trip with my family to Nuremburg around Christmas time.  Mostly this was spent at various “Christmas” craft markets.  ZZZ.  The tour bus stopped for 15 minutes at the parade grounds (where the Nazi rallies were held, the thousands of SA and SS long gone) and drove past the castle-type thing where the trials were held.

3.   Wedding in July 1996.  Shortly after July 4, my buddy Jean (John) married his German sweetheart Ina in her home town.  Here I learned how poor my German really was, as the reception was in German and I followed none of it.  But Jean was cool and his inlaws were too.   

I really want to go to Berlin, but I’ve never had a chance.  I was in Paris in July 1990, around the time Roger Waters had his Wall concert there.  Kill two birds with one stone, visit BERLIN, and see THE WALL!! – but without money and a means to get there, it couldn’t happen.  Hamburg would be nice, but I don’t know if the Reeperbahn is the same as it was in the 60s when the Beatles and Black Sabbath endured their 8 hours sets at the Star Club and various other dives. 

 Garmisch.  This was my most meaningful German experience.  In January 1990 my brother, my best friend Phil, and I went to Garmisch to go skiing.  Phil was coming from India, so he met us there in Garmisch a few nights after we got there.  We stayed at the Patton Hotel, which had a bar with cheap drinks that closed early.  We skied on the Zugspitze, taking the earliest cable car up in the morning and taking the last one down in the early evening.  Phil and I rented skis, Matt had brought his own.  I was still an advanced snowplower, so I meekly coasted down the intermediate slopes while Matt & Phil raced down, parallel skiing, on the expert slopes.  In December 2008 I finally went skiing again, and made my own transition to parallel skiing at Massanutten – but that was just a patch of snow on the side of the mountain, not the German/Austrian Alps.    

 When I moved back to the US in 1990,that ended European travel except for (A) a trip in 1996 to my friend’s wedding in Germany (mentioned above), and (B) trips to Romania in 2006.  I’ve already chronicled my Bucharest experiences in earlier blog entries, and covered my five trips to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in a much earlier blog. 

 Canada.  For years in college, my “spring break” did not involve Fort Lauderdale or Cancun, but rather staying in my dorm, pretty much alone.   Finally in law school, I left town: Ottawa, Canada, which was experiencing mild weather in mid-March of 1991.  There was snow on the ground, which my friend Sean assured me would be gone had I come a week later.  Ottawa was a strange mix of France and the US, like it couldn’t decide if it was European or American – similar to dreams, in which the scenery and location tends to change by the moment.

 Las Vegas.  Ok, this isn’t Europe (except the Paris hotel, the Bellagio, the Venetian, etc.).   In October 1997 I went by myself to attend the SEMA convention.  SEMA is the trade association for aftermarket suppliers of performance parts for cars.  I was trying – unsuccessfully – to get my company, Innovative Performance Technology (IPT) off the ground, to make 17x9” copies of 16x8” wheels for Camaros and Firebirds. And I stayed in the Luxor Hotel, a copy of the real Luxor I had visited about 12 years before. I enjoyed the experience, but I’d have enjoyed the trip more had I been with someone else. 

            The SEMA show itself was incredible.  I met David Freiburger, the editor of Car Craft; drag racers Jim Yates and Joe Amato; Myron Cottrell, the owner of TPIS; and I saw Vic Edelbrock and his family at the Edelbrock pavilion.  If you’re into cars and making them faster – for your OWN car (not someone else’s multimillion dollar race car) – the SEMA show is for you.

            Two years later, in 1999, I went back again for my best friend’s bachelor party.  We stayed at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, which had just opened.  With a group of friends, it was much more fun – although I only went to a strip joint the first night.  Rollercoaster on New York, New York?  Yes.  Star Trek bar in the Hilton?  Yes.  Fountain at the Mirage?  Yes.  2000 Black Sabbath calendar at Caesar’s Palace?  Yep.  Questioned bartender at the Rio Hotel why he couldn’t make a caipirinha?  Yep.  Naughty hypnotist show? Yep.  Racing simulator at the Sahara?  Yep.  Drinks at the Paris Hotel?  Sure.  We got lots done from Thursday to Saturday.  And I can’t even comment on the things I didn’t see.  “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” 

            On neither trip did I spend so much as a nickel on gambling.  I’ve been to Atlantic City, New Jersey, but Vegas strikes me as a place where there is so much more to do than simply gamble.  The hotels themselves are marvels of achievement; nothing is half-assed or slipshod.  Caesar’s Palace looks like it could be Roman; the Paris Hotel has a beautiful sky-painted ceiling, “gendarmes” patrolling the avenues, real baguettes in the patisserie, even the metal railings surrounding the tree trunks are authentic.  The Luxor, of course, had its Egyptian motifs, but having seen how dirty the real Luxor was, perhaps total authenticity might not be such a good idea after all.  The other oddity is that the casinos are open 24/7, and the noise of the slot machines is constant.  Hell, there are slot machines on the concourse at the airport, as soon as you get off the plane: you know you’ve arrived in Vegas. 

            This is a unique city which has to be experienced first hand.  One thing you learn from travel, no matter where it is: there is NO substitute for actually being there in person.  No postcards, no slideshows, no travel documentaries, no matter how well produced, can take the place of personally experiencing the grit, dust, dirt and grime of that place.  Stray dogs and gypsies in Bucharest – with its collapsing housing project apartment buildings.  Copacabana’s rundown grime just blocks from the sunny beaches – or the favelas, should you dare to venture into them.  Cars driving on the left side of the road in London, double decker buses, the Tube, and English spoken in that accent.  Those gingerbread architecture and oompa-oompa music in German beer houses – or sleazy sex shows.  Each place has something unique and special to offer, much of which not what the tour guides or travel books want to show you, but which you notice if you keep your eyes, ears and mind open as you absorb the stimulus all around you. 

 Where I Haven’t Been.  I’ve had flights routed through various cities – São Paulo, Brazil; Helsinki, Finland; Milan, Italy – where I never left the terminal.  I’d say that doesn’t count as “being there” since all airports are pretty much the same inside.

            The only part of the Western Hemisphere south of the Rio Grande I’ve been to is Brazil.  I haven’t been to Mexico, Central America, Spanish-speaking South America, or Brazil aside from Rio de Janeiro or Buzios.  Rio is nowhere near the Amazon, and Brazil is similar to the US, a large country with various parts which are different from each other.  I still believe that Rio de Janeiro is the most important part of Brazil to visit (if you’re going to visit Brazil at all) but I will readily concede that there is more to Brazil than Rio.

            I haven’t been to any part of Asia – Vietnam, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, India, etc.  I’ve been invited to Vietnam several times in the last several years, but since I’ve never had a Vietnamese girlfriend, I don’t speak very much Vietnamese, and I don’t like Vietnamese food, I’ve been reluctant and never took up any of the offers.  In Brazil I could speak Portuguese fairly well, so I could get by on my own.  In Bucharest, my Romanian was too limited to help me out.  I’d be lost in Vietnam without a companion.  I don’t speak any Asian language and haven’t found any Asian food I like.  I really have little interest in visiting any such place with the possible exception of Shanghai or Tokyo.

            In Europe, I haven’t been to Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Poland (and I’m ¾ Polish), Czech Republic, former Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, or Turkey (if you consider Turkey part of Europe – debatable).  Egypt does it for “Middle East” or “Africa” depending on how you categorize that country.  I already complained about my limited experiences in Germany, the part of Europe I’m most interested in.

            Actually there are lots of places in the US I haven’t been to: California, Chicago, Texas, Seattle, the Mid West, Minnesota (and I’m a Vikings fan).  I’ve known plenty of foreigners who have more experience traveling in my own country than I do. 

The Power of Three

For some reason, 3-piece bands are quite popular, and have been for some time.  Usually – though not always - the bassist is also the singer.  They’re well done enough to put out enough power to be competitive with more traditional 4 and 5 piece bands, but I don’t think of them as being MORE powerful.

 Jimi Hendrix Experience.  Active from 1966 to 1969. Noel Redding played bass, Mitch Mitchell played the drums, and Jimi sang and … played guitar.  Fairly well, in fact.  Remarkably, they only have 3 studio albums, Are You Experienced?, Electric Ladyland, and Axis: Bold As Love.  Hendrix was one of those rare persons whose skill at guitar was light years more advanced, in terms of intuitive knowledge, beyond anyone else.

 Blue Cheer.  I did a previous blog on this band.  They came out around the same time as Jimi Hendrix and Cream (1967), from San Francisco; I think of them as part of that scene, but to this date all the attention goes to the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, with BC being almost completely ignored, an unwanted stepchild or black sheep, which is a shame, because they are definitely MUCH heavier than the others, but it wasn’t – as the others claim – using excessive volume as a crutch for poor talent.   The classic lineup was Dickie Peterson (bass/vocals), Leigh Stephens (guitar), and Paul Whaley (drums).  Stephens retired long ago, so now Duck McDonald is the guitarist – and Dickie IS Blue Cheer.  BC’s claim to fame is their cover of Eddie Cochran’s popular “Summertime Blues” – which they still play in concert.

 Cream.  Also a contemporary (1966-68): Eric Clapton (guitar/vocals), Jack Bruce (bass/vocals), and Ginger Baker (drums).  “Crossroads”, “Sunshine of Your Love”, “White Room”, “Badge”, “Born Under A Bad Sign”, and “Tales of Brave Ulysses” are the top songs.  Clapton went on to do Blind Faith, Derek & The Dominos, and then his solo career.  While he’s definitely a good guitarist, I think he’s overrated; I also consider his solo material a bit too commercial, ironic given he quit the Yardbirds to join John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers because he considered the YBs were getting too commercial (!). 

 Mountain.  Leslie West’s band, along with Corky Laing (drums) and Felix Pappalardi (Bass).  They were at Woodstock.  West is a big guy – not a bad guitar player, but it’s hard to get past his bulk and appreciate his skill (probably best to LISTEN to him rather than WATCH him).  His most famous song was “Mississippi Queen”.  We saw them open up for Deep Purple in 1985 (Perfect Strangers tour) and he forgot the words to “Nantucket Sleighride”, which didn’t impress us. 

 Emerson, Lake & Palmer.  Keith Emerson (gonzo keyboardist), Greg Lake (bassist/singer – formerly with King Crimson) and Carl Palmer (drummer) – though Cozy Powell stepped in briefly in the mid-80s.  We saw them play at the Cap Center in 1986, but I can’t remember anything.  I’ve heard Pictures at an Exhibition, but didn’t like it – it was too much like King Crimson without a guitarist.  But the first album (self-titled) and Tarkus (2nd album) are both excellent.

 King Crimson.  They qualify only for the Red album, which they didn’t even tour: Robert Fripp (of course) (guitar), John Wetton (bass/vocals) and Bill Bruford (drums).  As I noted in my lengthy KC blog, Red was the pinnacle of a three-album streak including Larks’ Tongues in Aspic and Starless.  Thankfully they did play “Red” on their most recent tour.  And around the time of Thrak (1995), KC was actually a “double trio”: Fripp and Belew on guitar, Trey Gunn and Tony Levin on bass/stick, and Pat Mastelotto and Bill Bruford on drums.

 Grand Funk Railroad.  Mark Farner (guitar/vocals), Mel Schacter (bass), and Don Brewer (drums/vocals), from Flint, Michigan and associated with Terry Knight.  They had their peak in the 70s.  I never liked their top hit, “We’re An American Band”; they had so much better songs, “Walk Like A Man”, “Sin’s A Good Man’s Brother”, “Heartbreaker”, “Mean Mistreater” and “Can’t Take Too Long”.  Supposedly the press hated GFR, even if Homer Simpson was a huge fan. 

 Rush.  From Canada, starting in 1974, and with the same lineup since Neil Peart (drums) replaced John Rutsey after the first album.  Alex Lifeson (guitar) and Geddy Lee (bass/vocals) are the other two.  Lee’s voice took some time to get used to.  My introduction was Moving Pictures and “Tom Sawyer”.  Geddy doubles up on keyboards, filling out the sound a little more.  They are still active, and featured in “I Love You, Man”. 

 Triumph.  Also from Canada, coming out in the mid-70s, and accused of being Rush clones, though their sound is much heavier and more pop-oriented – far closer to Blue Oyster Cult than Rush (though with none of BOC’s quirky and obscure references).  Rik Emmitt (guitar/vocals), Gil Moore (drums/vocals) and Mike Levine (bass).  We saw Triumph at the Patriot Center on Halloween, 1986, with Yngwie Malmsteen opening up – front row seats.  They broke up in 1988, but Rik Emmitt still tours and plays Triumph material. 

 Budgie.  From Wales, England, starting off in the early 70s with Burke Shelley (vocals/bass), Tony Bourge (guitar), and various drummers, most consistently Steve Williams.  Shelley’s voice is somewhat like Geddy Lee’s.  The first four albums were heavy, even to the point of having early Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain producing them, but with the strangest song titles: “She’s As Hot As A Docker’s Armpit” and “Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman”, topping Frank Zappa and Blue Oyster Cult.  The later three of seven albums with Tony Bourge (Bandolier, If I Were Britannia I’d Waive the Rules, and Impeckable) have a snappier, jazzier feel, even vaguely bossa nova, before Bourge left – to be replaced by John Thomas, at which point (1980) they turned into a New Wave of British Heavy Metal Band.  Metallica resurrected their career by covering “Crash Course in Brain Surgery” (on the Garage Days Re-Revisited EP) and “Breadfan”.

 Motorhead.  Fresh from Hawkwind’s ill-advised sacking of him in 1975, Lemmy (bassist/vocalist) lost no time in forming this band.  The classic lineup, which recorded Ace of Spades in 1980, was Lemmy, “Fast” Eddie Clarke (guitar – I always thought he looked like Ritchie Blackmore, even to the point of playing Stratocasters) and “Philty Animal” Taylor (drums).  For one album, Another Perfect Day, the band had Thin Lizzy’s Brian Robertson, but that lasted almost no time.  They also had Pete Gill (Saxon) for some time as well.   Briefly Motorhead had two guitarists, Wurzel and Phil Campbell, but are back to a trio format with just Campbell.  All their albums sound the same to me, but they do rock.  Lemmy is certainly one of the more colorful characters in hard rock.

 Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble.  If I included Hendrix here, SRV belongs here too.  His bassist was Tommy Shannon (who used to play with Johnny Winter), his drummer was Chris Layton.  The Texas blues guitarist died in a helicopter crash in 1990.  He was the younger brother of Jimmy Vaughan, guitarist in the Fabulous Thunderbirds.  His major hits were “Pride & Joy”. “The Sky Is Crying”, and his cover of Jimi Hendrix’ “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)”. 

 The Police.  I’ve never been a fan of this band, though I do like “Wrapped Around Your Finger”.  Sting (Gordon Sumner) (bass/vocals), Andy Summers (guitar), and Stuart Copeland (drums).  In high school they were the band to see, but I passed on the Synchronicity Tour.  I liked Sting in “Dune” as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.  Rik Emmett (as noted above) put it well, commenting on Andy Summers: “he was very much a Telecaster w/chorus kind of guitarist, and my preference was Les Paul through a Marshall.”  The Edge has a similar light and fluffy touch on the guitar – and they both make Mark Knopfler sound like Pete Townshend.

 Nirvana.  I’ve noted them already in my grunge blog: Kurt Cobain (guitar/vocals), Krist Novoselic (bass) and Dave Grohl (drums).  Grohl did a spell in the Queens of the Stone Age as well as his own band Foo Fighters.

Uriah Heep - Wizard

VERY obviously lip-synced, as so often is the case with these 70s TV shows. On the other hand, the song is great, and you see Heep at their peak: David Byron (vocals), Mick Box (guitar), Gary Thain (bass - looking like a cross between John Paul Jones and Rudy Sarzo), Ken Hensley (keyboards, on acoustic guitar here) and Lee Kerslake (drums - he played on "Blizzard of Ozz").

New Horizons ~ Moody Blues

Normally I don't go for these "slideshow" videos, but this one was very well done. Enjoy.

Camel - Snow Goose Excerpts

Apparently from the Old Grey Whistle Test. Excellent quality!

Doughboys in Russia 1918-20

[Originally written in 2009, edited in 2020 to address the Mosin-Nagant issue.]

I recently finished two books on this issue: America’s Siberian Adventure, by General Graves, and History of the American Expedition Fighting The Bolsheviks: US Military Intervention in Soviet Russia 1918-19, by Capt. Joel Moore, Lt. Harry Meade, and Lt Lewis Jahns.  Between them, they cover the US involvement in the Russian Civil War. 

 Siberia.  This was all the way over by Vladivostok, close to Manchuria and Japan.  Here there were no Red Army forces to fight against. Graves was the man handling the scene at the local level in command of the US troops in Siberia.  His forces were drawn from Manila, Philippines and the West Coast of the US.

            Graves was given a brief memo, the so-called Aide Memoire, as a VERY rough guideline on how to conduct his operations.  Wilson specifically instructed Graves that the US was NOT to interfere in Russian internal matters; indeed, since Wilson believed the Bolsheviks would lose anyway, intervention was unnecessary.  According to Graves, he himself stuck to this, as did his superior, General March, and HIS superior, Newton Baker, the Secretary of War.  But some yahoos in the State Dept. had a different agenda and were sympathetic to the Brits & French, so even in the US Government, different parts were working at cross purposes, though the Army was behind Wilson and not inclined to intervene.  Note below: the US forces in North Russia did enter combat against Bolshevik forces.

            For their part the French were livid that Lenin would make separate peace with the Germans and were out for blood.  They would do whatever they could to thwart the Bolsheviks.

            The Brits were looking out for their own best interests, which meant they were also anti-Bolshevik. The local Brit commander, Knox, was huge anti-Bolshevik, had been the British military attaché to Russia under the Czar, spoke fluent Russian, and blasted peasants as “swine”, and so was devoted to interfering on behalf of the Whites.  The catch was, neither the British nor French could spare any troops to go to Siberia (though they did have forces fighting in North Russia), so they hoped to trick the Americans into fighting the Bolsheviks for them.  “Look, the Yanks have all these warm bodies, cannon fodder we can use to fight the Bolsheviks”.  

            Graves said, “uhh… I don’t think so.”  Especially since he noted that so far as he could tell, the real Bolsheviks back west didn’t have nearly enough reach or power to exercise any control this far east – they had their hands full waging the civil war west of the Urals, so he never even met anyone he could tell was a legitimate “Bolshevik” (representative of the Soviet government).  Moreover, over there in the east, “Bolshevik” seemed to be defined as “anyone who doesn’t support the local Cossack or White Russian gangster or Admiral, way out here.”  Even had he been inclined to oppose the Bolsheviks, in principle, the Cossacks and White Russians were frequently bloodthirsty murderers and scoundrels (by Graves’ own description) who he would never deign to support even in policy, much less with US troops.

            The Japs seemed to be angling to take what they could get.  They threw in with some of the nastiest Cossacks, serious weasel dealing.  The Japs were trying to send in as many of their own troops as possible to grab up as much land as they could, taking advantage of the chaos going on.  They played off the Brits’ and French hatred of Bolsheviks, yet tried to conceal their own ulterior motives by allying with the most unsavory Cossacks and claiming to act on behalf of, and in the best interests of, the Russians.  Sending troops to guard the railroads was the prime example of this chicanery.  Graves was not buying any of it.

            Add to this the Czechs, who found themselves isolated but fairly well-armed, 12,000 of them stuck in limbo yet still trying to take local towns if they could muscle themselves in.  For his part, Graves was skeptical about the Allies’ alleged plans to transport this Czech army back west as no one arranged any sea transport for them in Vladivostok.  I can imagine Graves suspecting the Allies were hoping to use the Czechs to fight the Bolsheviks.  To add to the confusion, there were reports – unfounded, it later turned out – that German POWs were being let go and allowed to reform into coherent military units. 

            Ultimately the US forces were withdrawn in April 1920.  They were undefeated in battle – indeed, they had never been in battle.  A few US soldiers were murdered by Cossacks.  In one instance, some US soldiers traveling with General Graves by train were accosted by some Czarist officers who were trying to take away the railcar they had been traveling in.  A corporal had his men cock their rifles and point them at the Czarists, claiming, “back off, or you’ll have more dead Russian officers than you’ve ever seen,” which was sufficient to dissuade the Russians, and they moved on without further incident. 

            The US forces in Siberia kept their Springfield bolt-action rifles, whereas the US troops in North Russia were issued Mosin-Nagant Russian bolt-actions to simplify supply issues. 

 North Russia.  September 1918 to June 1919.  Unlike the forces in Siberia, this group did end up in combat against Red forces.  The soldiers of the US 339^th Regiment – 13,000 men, half of a division – were landed at Archangel in September 1918.  These were men from Detroit who had not fought in France.  They teamed up with British soldiers, Scots, French, and some Russians.  The Russians were a mixed bag, some were Cossacks, some were peasants, and some were Bolshevik sympathizers.  The forces drove south from Archangel on several different fronts, fighting directly against Red Guard forces.  This was northeast of Petrograd (aka St. Petersburg and Leningrad).  They were almost always heavily outnumbered by the Red units.  For their part, the Red units were of inconsistent quality.  Many stories were told of men who were forcibly conscripted into the Red Army and not particularly sympathetic to the Bolshevik cause.   Similar to “Enemy at the Gates”, there were also stories of the Reds keeping machine guns behind the lines to mow down any of their own who retreated back from the Allied lines after an unsuccessful attack.  By itself, this force was not enough to make much of a dent in the Soviet front, or even to come close to Petrograd or Moscow.  Apparently they were expecting (A) to hook up with Kolchak’s forces fighting west from the Urals, or the Czech Legion, and (B) reinforcements from the West after the Germans had been defeated.  However, after the Armistice on November 11, 1918, there was no move or intent to reinforce the troops with any more forces from any nation.  Instead of settling down for the winter, the Bolsheviks, once they knew the NREF would not be receiving reinforcements, began striking.  In some places they were held, in others they were able to overwhelm the NREF forces by sheer weight of numbers; it seems that on some fronts, the local Red commander was a brave soul who knew what he was doing and could inspire his men to victory, whereas on others the Red officers (as noted above) simply scared the hell out of their men and drove them by brutality.  Once it became apparent that no strategic victory would occur for the Allies, the whole thing looked pointless, so in June 1919 they were withdrawn and brought back to the US, undefeated on the battlefield – decades before our similar withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973. 
             On this front the US forces used Mosin-Nagant 1891 bolt action rifles.  It seems the Tsar needed them built during the war, Russian industrial capacity at the time was insufficient to do so, thus the Tsar had US firms manufacture them.  They even sent Russian advisors to the US to supervise the production, a bunch of arrogant snobs who the factory workers strongly disliked - and played jokes on.  But the Revolution occurred before any of these US-made Russian rifles could be provided to the Russian army.  So when it came time to equip the US forces sent to North Russia, they simply armed them with these, which also simplified the ammunition and supply issue: the troops could use 7.62x54R rounds like everyone else (the Springfields the US troops would normally use fired .30-06, close but not good enough).   

             This was a “what were they smoking” deal – no way, no how, was any nation, or combination of nations, going to send enough troops to break out of this small pocket around Archangel and achieve any strategic victory against the Reds.  They wouldn’t be able to take Petrograd, to link up with Kolchak, Denikin, Makhno, or the Czechs.  The most they could do is push south through forests and swamps and kill a few “Bolo” (as they were called).  In Siberia, there weren’t even any Bolsheviks around to fight, even if Graves had been inclined to do so, with what few US forces he did have.

            Another major issue was politics.  No way, no how, was any US force sent to Archangel or Siberia going to support any Czarist or monarchist forces fighting to return Russia to a monarchy – especially once the Romanovs had been murdered in July 1918, several months before any US forces entered Russia.  Even if they managed to defeat the Bolsheviks on the battlefield, then what?  There appeared to be no one around to make Russia a democracy or a republic – no centrists existed, with the possible exception of Kerensky.  Who was going to bring democracy to Russia?  The largest non-Bolshevik forces fighting in the Russian Civil War were monarchists under Admiral Kolchak or General Denikin, or Ukrainian nationalists – and the Czech Legion.  This was clearly a war in which the US really had no role or any faction it could wholeheartedly support to the exclusion of the others. 

Ayn Rand

Back in college I got into this controversial Russian philosopher.  In high school we had been Rush fans, and knew that both “Anthem” and 2112 were based on Ayn Rand – even to the point of liner notes in 2112 attesting to “the genius of Ayn Rand”.  I read Atlas Shrugged twice in college and once more about 10 years later, and rapidly devoured all her other books as well, even the much less interesting non-fiction philosophy.

 Biography.  Born in Russia in 1905, she emigrated to the US in the 1920s and became a screenwriter in Hollywood.  She was appalled that US intellectuals were leftists, not pro-capitalist, and began writing fiction which expressed her ideals.  She was atheist, but believed in objective morality and hated any form of moral relativism.  She also argued – convincingly, I believe – that fascism and communism were essentially the same, what she called “statism”, vs. capitalism.  For some time in college, I was an impressionable GVPT major, and instead of embracing communism – as many college students do – or being seduced by the dark side of fascism, I got hooked on capitalism.  For awhile I also stopped going to church, until 1994 when I went back again.  She died in 1982, and was honored with her own US stamp, which surprises me as I consider nowadays the stamps seem to be for liberal people, not arch-capitalists such as her. 

 

 We, The Living.  Her first novel, with the heroine Kira Argonova, an engineering student in Petrograd (aka St. Petersburg and Leningrad) who falls in love with two men: Leo Kovalensky, son of an aristocratic general shot during the war, and Andrei Taganov, Red hero of the same war and important man of Cheka – one of the few who were not complete scoundrels.  Kira’s family, disfavored because of their bourgeois background, gets the short end of the stick.  Ultimately she has a hard time deciding between the two men who she loves, and who love her.  I last read this in Bucharest, which seemed to be a fitting environment.  This was made into a movie in fascist Italy, of all places, as it had a strong anti-communist message.

 The Fountainhead.  As described in my blog ages ago – August 2006.  I see that Gary Gooper has a stamp…years after Ayn Rand got her own stamp.  It got a reference in “Dirty Dancing” (featuring Patrick Swayze), in which a character dumps the girl he got pregnant, citing The Fountainhead as an excuse to do as he pleased. 

 Atlas Shrugged.  Her “masterpiece”, still not put into film format [released in three parts, 2011, 2012, and 2014, with a different cast for each].  This seems to elicit strong reactions: among those who actually read it, most either love it or could barely stand it and gave up reading long before the end.  It’s certainly a long book.  The story is basically this: the US goes down the toilet as “looters” and fascists – corporatists we’d identify with the ENRON crowd and Bush today – take over the government.  Meanwhile, anyone and everyone of any talent or ability seems to disappear off the face of the earth, except for three: Francisco D’Anconia, who devolves into a worthless playboy; Dagny Taggart, who keeps her railroad running despite her clueless older brother Jim’s best efforts to run it into the ground; and Hank Rearden, the Boxer (Animal Farm) man of steel industrialist who invents a new metal, only to be hounded and exploited by his less worthy but Washington-savvy competitors such as Orren Boyle.  Finally John Galt comes out of nowhere and explains – at length – what the hell is going on.  Instead of an evil criminal mastermind, Ellsworth Toohey (The Fountainhead), this book simply has a weak and mediocre cabal of pragmatic schemers who succeed because Galt stole all the smart people and Rearden and Dagny refuse to play the Washington game. 

            Most people who hate this book seem to focus on Galt’s character being unrealistically stoic – as with Howard Roark in The Fountainhead.  In a sense, these are over-the-top, super-perfect archetypes unlikely to be found in real life, but they’re meant as ideals.  On the other hand, as committed and dedicated, as honest and of sterling, impeccable integrity as these characters are, with the glaring exception of Francisco D’Anconia, they lack any warmth, humanity, emotions, or sense of humor.  To the extent they derive any pleasure, it’s from (A) building a new railroad using (B) a revolutionary metal, and (C) celebrating their industrial triumphs in the bedroom.  

            I also found a few other interesting concepts which I only picked up reading the book the second or third time around.  One was Lillian Rearden’s preference for insincere flattery: that a man would deny reality and lie to her to stroke her ego, was more important than if he simply – and honestly – told her that she looked beautiful because he really believed it, which is no more meaningful to her than stating that “2+2=4” or “the Earth revolves around the sun”.  Also was Jim Taggart’s marriage to Cheryl Taggart: she eventually realizes that he married her not because of any virtues or beauty she had, but because he perceived that she lacked any merits or virtues at all – this was a pure act of charity on his part, and effectively an indictment on her value.  We can also see George W. Bush as a Jim Taggart type: his top ability, to the extent he has any at all, is schmoozing deals and “getting things done” in an underhanded, back-room, behind-the-scenes way.

 Anthem.  Essentially this is 2112, but instead of the protagonist committing suicide out of despair, he and his lover escape the totalitarian regime and go off somewhere else.

 Non-fiction.  She has various books published in the 60s, including Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, For the New Intellectual, and The Virtue of Selfishness.  Years later I read The Satanic Bible, by Anton LeVey, and found a shocking similarity between LeVey’s philosophy and Ayn Rand’s.  Both preach “enlightened self-interest”, which means “look out for yourself, but be consistent.”  Neither advocated screwing people over to get what you want, lying, cheating, stealing, or anything like that.  Really, it’s very much common sense.  The problem was that Rand herself was arrogant, ugly, judgmental, unwilling to compromise, and even after living in the US for decades still had a thick Russian accent and always seemed to be pissed off.  She also cheated on her husband, which gave rise to the obvious challenge of hypocrisy.   

            Rand also didn’t believe in charity or altruism.  To her, Robin Hood was the worst villain in history.  The only thing worse than a person with no pity, she said, was someone who took advantage of the pity of others.  She was an atheist, and vehemently denounced religion as a fraud, and priests as nothing better than modern-day witch doctors.  Anti-materialists, to her, always seemed to have a direct pecuniary interest in persuading people not to care about money – mainly because they were soliciting money for their own purposes. 

            She also opposed the Vietnam War, not because she sympathized with the North Vietnamese, but simply because she believed the US had no interest in saving the South Vietnamese from communism.  To her, the war was an exercise in altruism and charity. 

 Libertarians.  Rand herself had no use for the Libertarian Party, though she also had no use for the fascists or communists.  The Democrats were watered-down socialists, while the Republicans were watered-down fascists.  Nevertheless, the Libertarians come closest to her ideology: capitalism for its own sake, with no corporate welfare or socialism added. 

Summary.  Probably the most tangible and meaningful way I still “support” Ayn Rand in any way as of 2009, long after having read the books and drifted away from being arrogant and selfish as I may have been in college, is my support for the Libertarian Party today, notwithstanding her vehement opposition thereto.  I go to church, I give money out occasionally when I feel like it (no blanket principled objection to charity), and try to help others when I have the chance. [Still true in 2017.]

            One thing you learn in life is that no one is infallible – even the wisest, smartest people make mistakes from time to time.  And even the dumbest people sometimes say or do intelligent things.  The key is to watch out for both, keep your mind open, and learn as much as you can from as many different sources.  Finally, you have to exercise your OWN judgment, which you cannot outsource to India or anyone else.  Maybe Ayn Rand didn’t have all the answers, any more than Tony Robbins does.  But she had a great deal of great and important ideas, which still hold true today.