Forty.

At 10:07 am EST i turned forty years old today.

I am currently writing in my living room, Terri and Elsie are asleep on the couch as the end credits to Where The Wild Things Are roll.

We are being lazy today.  I want to ease into the next half of my life with ease and i want to be better with the things i do.

That is my goal.  Well, that and raising my kid, being a good man to Terri, maintaining my job and trying to ease my self back into music.

I would rush into things, gobble them up, and spit them out too quickly in my past.  Endeavors that i could've really appreciated, ended up falling to they wayside.

I am not begrudging my self of anything.  Today and last night were especially dear times and i felt complete being amongst  my closest friends.

I wanted to keep this short.  Forty is a milestone.

But it's also just a number.

List #1.

Examining influential bassists.

Background:  It was1989. My brother had a Service Merchandise bought bass. I had marijuana.  He needed the marijuana and i needed the bass.  I was now a bassist.  I was terrible. I am just a little bit better now. 

Flash forward 24 years and many bands later, i want to share with you those who inspired me to keep the bridge between the high and low end together.

Early influences:

* denotes major influence.

Eric Avery. *

David J. *

Andy Rourke.

Kira Roessler. *

Simon Gallup.*

Dan Lilker.*

Andrew Weiss.*

Flea.*

Norwood 'Fish' Fisher.*

From the 90's to today:

Les Claypool.*

Geezer Butler.

Kim Gordon.

Mike Watt.*

Paul Simonon.*

Trevor Dunn.*

Graham Lewis.

Rob Wright.*

My favorite bassist?  

Probably Kira Roessler.  

She was direct and succinct, but had one hell of a time keeping up with Greg Ginn's time changes and weird 

anomalous playing in Black Flag.  Listen to their album 'In My Head' or 'Live in '84' to get a good idea of her playing. 

In fact, my favorite version of Black Flag coincides with the fact that the first punk tape i purchased in the summer of 1988 was Flag's 'In My Head.'  So repeated sessions in my basement room probably drilled that in.

Here's a pic of the Black Flag line up that i like the most:

L-R: Greg Ginn, Henry Rollins, Bill Stevenson and Kira Roessler hoisting some java between marathon practice sessions. 

So search some of the lesser known names out of you want.  Check out Nomeansno and early Wire for sure. 

And Mike Watt is HIGHLY overrated.  But The Minutemen were great. 

calm.

The shadows are getting longer as the earth starts tilting on it's axis.

Summer's ambivalent sigh has given way from brutal heat to cool evenings devoid of sweat and dehydration.

Plants have grown as i have, giving an equal yield of new and enjoyable fruits.

My longing for more coalesces into the need for calm and revision.

This is my ode to the coming fall:  revising my already abundant inventory of the things i've nurtured over the past few months. To study greatly on the seasons to come, and the wonderful challenges they offer.

I have planted seeds of calm, have nourished in the glow of family, home and friendship.  I gave regained my sense of humanity, humility and temperance. 

calm.

visuals 5.

mountainview farm mid august.

iced cream with mom at old orchard beach.

el and jackson relaxing.

el drumming at the flea market.

Shelley Winters. 

visuals 4.

My first Guitar.  $50. from Goodwill. Time to shred.

El on the 4th of July at nani's house.

El at Magic Wings in Deerfield. 

One of the first pictures El shot. 

From the interweb: John Goodman in a Flag shirt. (source unknown.)

Watching:  Star Trek-Voyager. Tim's Cooking Tips. The Ben Stiller Show. Anchorman- The Legend of Ron Burgundy. julien donkey-boy. The Host. 

Listening: David Lynch- The Big Dream. Devo- Hardcore Devo 1 & 2. Napalm Death- From Enslavement to Obliteration.  

Eye Exam.

I had my eyes examined today.  

This was the first time it was professionally done, and cost me a whopping $10 with a copay. 

The easy part was reading the charts, getting the three different machines in place and trying to not look as i was told to look straight ahead.  

Both the technicians were really nice, and tolerated my immature curiosity and questions, which made up for the eye drops. 

The first drops were numbing.  That was so the excruciating dilation drops could come next.  

They did not hurt when applied, but the next fifteen minutes became rather bothersome, to say the least.

I have taken various 'substances' in the past that led to dilation of my pupils for a large amount of time, usually during the evening hours. 

Today, it was around ten in the morning and everything had a weird aura around it.  The pain was slow and throbbing, like a distant drum beat in a car that will soon pass by.

I dealt with this for four hours and had to wear sunglasses around the house. I wanted a pair of those granny terminator glasses- and even asked- but those are saved for cataract patients. 

It was as though my focus was wide open and yet whitewashed out by a broken light filter. 

After all was said and fine, i found my self NOT in need of glasses for my nearsighted eyes.

What the optician- who was really cool- gave me was neat as hell.

She gave me a prescription for glasses that expires two years from now.

This means, when i do choose to get the glasses, i have the time to play around with it.

Funny as hell fact:  pretty much everyone on both sides of my family has glasses.

I guess i lucked out?

Here's a picture of my daughter:

We spent part of Saturday making sounds on my keyboard and bass.  She was having such a great time. 

Tonight she had artichokes again- one of her favorites.  

I'm so proud of how open minded and willing she is about trying new things. 

Sounds:  Devo, Front 242, Paul Simon. 

Visuals:  Dexter, Primal Grill, Charlotte's Web, Idiocracy. 

 

In the minutiae.

This road used to be the entrance to the chicken farm my great grandfather owned and lost in the early 20th century. It is in Southwick, Mass. and we went there last Sunday. 

Here are my ladies at Stanley Park in Westfield, Mass. last Sunday.

Elsie, last Tuesday. A rock god is born.

Helpful hint: take a picture of a menu. That way you have it at all times and can order ahead etc. 

Also:  this is my second Fathers Day.  It is a Hallmark holiday, so to me it's just Sunday.

I am tired of seeing and hearing all of these ads for the day concerning dads and what 'real american men' want on this day.

Most have these themes:

Grilling.

Sports.

Hardware stores/ fixing things.

Golf.

Cigars.

It's a sad state of affairs when one gets   compartmentalized by ad buffoons. 

What the living hell!?

I want to spend tomorrow with my ladies, enjoying a few laughs and some affection and maybe a little more iced cream than i  usually ration my self.

It's supposed to be my day i guess, so i don't need to supplicate to the norm and expect some golf, then home to install gutters while listening to 'the game' and then i'll sweat over a grill while smoking some nasty thing that looks like a turd and tastes like a burning tire. 

Oh well.

Such is the lather, rinse, repeat mentality of typical 'men' in this american culture.

Next. 

Now watching:  Star Trek-Voyager. The Man From Earth. 

Now listening:  Godflesh. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Swans. Napalm Death. Flipper.