Edification Etcetera ( #AtoZChallenge ) ( #IWSG )

         Edification, education, enlightenment, entertainment--this post is all about the E's...and the ears.  Reading is fine, but hearing can be sublime.  Sitting back and just listening to a person reading or to a musical artist singing or playing can be a truly relaxing experience.  It's also a great way to pass time while driving.  Believe your ears!

The Insecure Writer's Support Group

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 

The co-hosts for the April 6 posting of the IWSG are Joylene Nowell Butler, Jemima Pett, Patricia Josephine, Louise - Fundy Blue, and Kim Lajevardi!

April 6 question - Have any of your books been made into audio books? If so, what is the main challenge in producing an audiobook?

      This question doesn't apply to me, but it is certainly related to my A to Z Theme for 2022.  Audio is where I'm at this April.  My collection of vinyl records has provided me so much listening pleasure throughout the years.  The process of recording music or the spoken word is an art in itself.  Pleasing sound is what keeps a listener engaged. Even unpleasant sound can serve some purpose--but I won't bother going there.

       So skipping the writing topic, let me think about my vinyl collection.  Not much E-ticket action here (a Disney reference a lot of folks might not understand).  I got rid of Ellington, but kept Ellis.  Also I sold my Edin-Adahl album and now don't even recall what they sounded like.  But I did hang on to a few records by artists beginning with the letter E...

Links to the music are included throughout the post if you want to hear the music.

Don Ellis Orchestra  "Autumn" (1968) and "At the Fillmore" (1970)---  When I heard "Variations for Trumpet" from Ellis's Autumn album played on the Knoxville NPR station late one night I knew I had to have that album.  Soon after hearing it,  I found the album in the bookstore at the University of Tennessee where I was attending at the time and added it to my collection.   Later for my Christmas list in 1970 I included the Ellis At the Fillmore album and my mother delivered as she so often did. I think my sister helped her find some of these more obscure albums that I would ask for, but whatever the case my mother was amazing when it came to giving me things I asked for.  Maybe I was kind of spoiled too?   Well, I'm not going to go into that since this is about Don Ellis.  These are two great jazz rock albums that I felt hesitant to give up.

Easy Rider  "Ride On" (197?)  Here's an album that I can almost guarantee that no one reading this post owns--that is unless you're an old friend from East Tennessee.  This was a band from the Maryville TN area that consisted of some friends and other guys I remotely knew.  I'm not sure how many copies they pressed, but my friend Lonnie Carver (who was in the band) gave me a copy.  I'm certain that not too many copies remain so it is likely a rarity.  Not bad music from some capable musicians who continued to play over the past many decades up to this present day.   For a sampling of some music from a couple of the members of the band you can check out these links:   Captain Suck & the Mediocre Band   and  Lonnie Carver "Let's Run"  (singing a song that I wrote). 

Earth Opera  (1968) is a vinyl album I picked up from a used record store sometime in the eighties.  In the early seventies I had their album  Great American Eagle Tragedy (1969) on 8 track cartridge and liked it a great deal, but as with most 8 tracks it met its doom somewhere along the way.  When I saw the earlier Earth Opera album in the bins for a cheap price I claimed it for my vinyl collection.  Albeit strange sounding, it's a good album will some excellent musicians who went on to have illustrious musical careers in other realms.  This is a weird psychedelic relic of the sixties--just my kind of thing.

Roky Erickson is one of those artists who became a quest for me as I scoured record stores across the country.  I became a fan of his group 13th Floor Elevators in the late sixties, but didn't begin my quest for more of his music until the late eighties.  I've found several CDs and cassettes of Roky's music as well as all of the albums by the Elevators.   I think I found both "The Holiday Inn Tapes" (1987)   and "Casting the Runes"  (1987) at a record store in Texas.  Since the latter is a picture disc I figured that made it extra collectable.  Whatever the case, for raw rock and roll music Roky rocks.

   

          Is there anything in this post that you remember?   Do you have any albums that were made by people you know?    Did any of them achieve a decent level of fame or fortune?