All right, I’ve let ya’ll suffer long enough 😉 .
What happened was, I got a call from my storage facility in SoCal, telling me my space had been broken into. Actually, not just mine, but also those on either side of mine. I still have most of my vintage drum collection (20 kits, 40 snare drums) in the space, having not yet brought it up here to Washington. Bummer.
So I flew down, rented a car, and drove to the facility. The thieves had rummaged though the other spaces, but were unable to get into mine. They (or he) cut through the plate holding the padlock, but I also had the door fitted with a cylinder lock. I slid open the door, and all was well. Phew!
I got a bunch of cartons and spent a week packing. I then spent some time in L.A. and Northern California, visiting the old friends of mine who are still alive (they’ve been dying one-by-one for the past 20 years). I was without a computer the whole time (I don’t have a laptop), and by the time I got back home I had page after page of emails, and had completely lost track of Audiogon threads.
I’ve been checking in every so often, but lately none of the topics have been of much interest to me. And there now seems to be a lot of younger audiophiles, asking somewhat "beginner" questions. Nothing wrong with that (we all start out as beginners), but there are others who can offer advice (or opinion) better than I. After all, I am a music lover first, an audiophile second. Plus, how many times can I recommend the Eminent Technology LFT-8b? If people continue to ignore that amazing loudspeaker value, nothing I say is going to change that.
And then there has been the family situation. I moved up here because both of my sister’s husbands had recently died, and the sisses, though younger than I, are in poor health. They keep me pretty busy, driving them to all their doctor appointments, doing all the shopping, cooking and cleaning, etc. I am now a houseboy 😁 . The younger of the two collapsed in the hallway last Saturday, and was incoherent. Yet another call for paramedics, and she’s now in the hospital for a week or so, her thyroid, kidney (she has only one), and heart not doing so well. Though the oldest, I am definitely going to outlive them both.
As for hi-fi, my system is disassembled for a coupla reasons. The sister who owns the house (we all live together, just like when we were kids. Weird, ay?) decided to have all the floors in the house redone. PITA! Most everything of mine is still boxed up,
And yet I have still been buying LP’s (and some CD’s) like crazy. Consumer alert: Vinyl Me Please announced their upcoming titles late in 2023, and the January/February/March Country offerings were good enough to prompt me to do a 3-month subscription. January is Guy Clark’s Old No. 1, February Billy Joe Shaver’s Old Five And Dimers Like Me, and---best of all---March Rodney Crowell’s The Houston Kid. The latter is in my all-time top 10 favorite albums, and has never before been available on LP. Hallelujah!
I’ve also been seeing a fair amount of live music, including Jim Lauderdale last Saturday at a club right down the street from the Aladdin Theater in Portland, where I last year saw Iris Dement (and at the beginning of 2020, just before the pandemic lock down). After his set Jim was at his merch table, so I went over and introduced myself. I told him the first time I saw him onstage was when he took over for Lucinda’s guitarist/harmony singer/band leader/producer Gurf Morlix, on her Car Wheels tour (I saw them at The Wiltern Theater in L.A., a mere quarter century ago). Both Jim’s and my locks and whiskers have turned silver in that time. He stills sounds great.
At the risk of perhaps providing ammunition for the member who a while back accused me of telling my musician stories in order to make myself look good, I’ll share the following: About 10 years ago I got an email from an old friend (in the early-90’s I had been in her husband’s band), who told me she was managing Jim, and that he would be playing at Pappy & Harriets in Joshua Tree in a few days. I went up the hill to see him, and he and his band were great (last Saturday he played solo, a disappointment). The wonderful Rosie Flores was in the audience, and joined Jim onstage for a coupla numbers. If you aren’t familiar with Rosie, consider giving her a listen.
So on Saturday I asked Jim if Michelle was still managing him (I didn’t see her name on his website, where his team is listed), and he said no. I sensed the relationship may not have ended amiably, so I didn’t ask any follow up questions. I also asked him if Lucinda was as difficult to work for as Gurf has stated, and his answer was "diplomatic": "She has calmed down a lot."
I couldn’t help but ask if he knows Rick Shea, a longtime player in the healthy SoCal Country Music community. I saw Rick live many times when I was living there, an old friend of mine---Dave Drewry---his longtime drummer (I subbed for Dave for one Shea gig he couldn’t make). Dave is one of those friends who has died. Rick is a great Telecaster and steel guitar player, and as I suspected Jim does indeed know him. You may want to give him a listen.
So as usual I have blabbered on too long. That’s enough outta me.
