Woof, Bro
Gonna be a long day today. Fun.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54322976915/in/datetaken/
165/365
#365 #365Challenge #365Project #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photoADayProject #photography #z5
Saxophone?
Do do do, just whistling past the american graveyard again… still… do do do…
I’ve been listening to King Crimson’s Red album quite a bit over the last few days. Crimson, in their original incarnation, had a sax player. First it was Ian McDonald, then it was Mel Collins. When band leader Robert Fripp shook things up and hired a whole new band with a drastically new sound in 1972 the saxophones went away. For a while, at least. By 1974, when they were recording the Red album, they were down to three band members, Fripp (guitar/mellotron), John Wetton (bass/vocals), and Bill Bruford (drums/percussion). Fripp was the only soloist in the lineup… sort of… the other two guys could have cranked out leads with the best of them (because they pretty much were the best of them) but instead they brought in a bunch of session musicians to help fill in the gaps. Among those session musicians were two sax players; Ian McDonald (alto) and Mel Collins (soprano).
Collins plays on the album’s centerpiece, “Starless” and his playing is wonderful (as always). McDonald also plays on “Starless” as well as “Fallen Angel”. His playing is out of the fucking world amazing. He wails, especially on “Starless”.
Listening to this record quite a bit lately has me thinking… is the sax playing inspiring me a little? The RPM Challenge is less than two weeks away and it’s coming up on time for me to start recording some new music. Do I suddenly find myself wanting to play the saxophone again? I haven’t taken my alto sax out of its case since I finished the 2020 RPM Challenge. Five years. Is it time to break it out again? I think it might be. I know I can still play even if I am only about 1% of the sax player I was when I was a music major from 1989-1991 and sax was my primary instrument in school. Guitar was a hobby I played on the side, even though I spent nearly infinitely more time playing guitar than sax… which contributed to me leaving school before I graduated.
So I guess what I am trying to say is, if throughout the month of February you start hearing about me writing songs in the key of E flat or B flat instead of E and A, and you start hearing me complain about severe pain in my lips and jaw (do to not having practices at all in the last five years), then we can probably go ahead and blame Mel Collins and the late Ian McDonald. Just saying.
#altoSax #altoSaxophone #ianMcdonoald #KingCrimson #melCollins #Music #musicSchool #musicSchoolDropout #RpmChallenge #rpm2025 #saxophone #starless
Back Up
Is today the day?
I just backed up my iPhone…
I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max. I skipped the 15’s entirely. The 16’s have been out for a while now but I’ve been holding off.
Is today the day that I stop holding off and finally upgrade?
We’ll see.
Is this photo of a sleeping cat the last photo I will ever take with my trusty iPhone 14 Pro Max?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54272294902/in/dateposted/
Again… we’ll see.
#Apple #Cat #iPhone #iphone14ProMax #iphoneography #Kitty #photography #robin #tech #upgrade
Motivation
There may be time for me to play my guitar tonight. Not only that, I may have an opportunity to play through an amp at ear bleeding volume. Nice, huh?
How much do you want to bet that I’ll sit on the new couch watching television instead? I have zero motivation for anything right now. No motivation at all.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54254031861/in/dateposted/
This cat 100% looks like I feel. She is absolutely my spirit animal right now.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54253365037/in/dateposted/
#Cat #Guitar #iphoneography #Kitty #lackOfMotivation #motivation #photography #robin #unmotivated
I Hate Winter
Winter officially begins over night tonight. It snowed today and there is a little snow on the ground.
I hate winter. I just hate it. I want nice weather and sunshine and water and fun back, right now.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54076650545/in/album-72177720301306543
#filmPhotography #KODAKCOLORPLUS200 #Nikkor3570AIS13345 #nikonFg20 #photography #rhodeIsland #westerly
Hotel
I would quote Juliana Hatfield’s song, “Hotels” but I can’t remember the words.
We are staying over in Vermont tonight and we just checked into our hotel.
The old folks are here. Let the fun commence!
#iphoneography #photography #roadTrip #Travel #vermont
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving, Massachusetts! Happy Thanksgiving to the rest of New England too.
Our family Thanksgiving is actually going to happen on Saturday. The kids are at their dad’s today so we’re punting to the weekend in order to have everyone together.
For today though, Jen and I are going to have a mini Thanksgiving on our own. We found the tiniest turkey in the world and it’s going into the oven shortly.
When we decided to not have anything bit today I had thrown out the possibility of me and my love going to New York to see the Macy’s parade in person. Clearly we didn’t go, but we’re watching the parade on TV and… well… thank goodness we didn’t go. It’s pouring rain in New York and everyone looks drenched and frozen and miserable. Bullet Dodged.
So, my New England neighbors, enjoy your turkey and stuffing and have an extra helping for me!
#Family #Holiday #home #macySThanksgivingParade #Massachusetts #NewEngland #Thanksgiving #thanksgivingDay
Burning
After playing very little guitar over the course of about two months, I played quite a bit yesterday, and I played hard. My finger tips were hurting in a big way.
This morning I played some more. Again, I played hard. Lots of bending and sliding around. Oh my goodness, my fingers are burning right now. They feel like they are on fire. There is going to be a big blister on my ring finger before the day is out. It’s been over an hour since I finished (I put lead guitars onto the three remaining songs) and it still hurts like it’s a fresh wound. Yikes!
All of the tracking for this year’s National Solo Album Month (NASoAlMo) is done. Now I just have six songs to mix and to figure out what to use for a cover photo and then I am done. Six days left (counting today). I should finish with oodles of time to spare.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54162528727/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54162528632/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54163861370/in/photostream/
#2024Nasoalmo #365 #365Challenge #365Project #Guitar #Music #nasoalmo #nationalSoloAlbumMonth #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photoADayProject #photography #Recording #Songwriting
Meta Can Kiss My Liberal Ass
Allow me to start this post with a broad statement. I will then change the subject for a while before returning to explain the broad statement.
Hey Meta (facebook, instagram, whatever)… FUCK YOU.
Now, I’ve spent the day getting shit done. I cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned all the floors, fixed the bed in my step daughter’s room because she’s sleeping here tonight, moved my office from the desk in my step son’s room to the desk in the cellar because he’ll be here on Monday which is the next day I will work from home. I also went grocery shopping and I may or may not have stopped at the sugar free bakery in Salem too top it all off.
My step daughter, Bellana will be here later tonight. She’s staying over but heading back to Vermont tomorrow. The day after tomorrow my step son, Harry will be here and he’s staying for a few days. The house is as ready as it gets. Jen and I are as ready as we get. Bring on the kids! WOOHOO!
Now, allow me to restate the initial thesis of this post. Meta can go fuck itself. It can fuck itself right in it’s mother fucking eye.
In the months leading up to the election any time I was on a Meta social network service and I saw any post from anyone anywhere that was even the tiniest bit pro trump/maga/nazi/fascist/white supremacist/racist/bigoted anything I blocked the user. No questions, just blocked the fuck out of the racist/fascist fuckers. Good riddance.
Today I went on instagram. Every single add I saw (roughly one out of every three posts is an add, which is FUCKING INSULTING regardless of the content) was maga related. ALL OF THEM. Every single add. It made me physically sick. So much for the algorithm showing me adds based on my viewing habits, right? Nope. This was just a fascist friendly company shoving nazi propaganda into my face. This was worse than fox news. This was fucking evil. I blocked almost every sponsored account. I didn’t block them all. Why? BECAUSE INSTAGRAM WOULDN’T FUCKING LET ME.
Fuck you, meta you fascist fucks. Fuck you zuckerberg you nazi mother fucker.
#collegeKids #Family #fuckFacebook #fuckInstagram #fuckMeta #Kids #metaIsAFascistPropagandaOrganization #socialNetworks #StepKids #tech
Yesterday I wrote a post about how Jen and I watched a TV show where the cast took a trip to San Diego and it made us really jealous because we seriously want to go back there and spend some serious quality time.
This morning I watched a photography youtube video that included shooting a visit to San Diego. It’s like the universe is just screwing with me now. I want to go back there so badly!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/6016351751/in/album-72157627249822569
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/6024263997/in/album-72157627390833158
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/7123173361/in/album-72157629922036931
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/6977243512/in/album-72157629558083656
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/3644700498/in/album-72157620588904057
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/7125457077/in/album-72157633930015816
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/7124940173/in/album-72157633930015816
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/6020634480/in/album-72157633930015816
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/3661899679/in/album-72157633930015816
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/3659898814/in/album-72157633930015816
https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/3647700925/in/album-72157633930015816
https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/11/09/even-more-jealous/
#paradise #photography #photos #sanDiego #shangriLa #Travel