As Autumn Draws to a Close ( #BOTB & #IWSG )

     Another autumn is rapidly coming to an end.  Just a few more weeks and winter will be here.  Are you feeling it yet where you are?  I'm in Los Angeles so autumn-schmautumn.  Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Ours was small with only three in attendance this year, but the food was fantastic!  And I cooked it all.  I also cooked up the following autumn musical Battle...

Battle of the Bands

 

        Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle excepting over these summer months.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.

Diana in the Autumn Wind

       Once again I delve into the psychedelic past of Lee's Basement to dig up another treasure from the cut-out bins.  It was early 1970's when I was regularly foraging cut-out record bins wherever I found them. I can't recall where or when I acquired the vinyl album of The National Gallery performing musical interpretations of the paintings of Paul Klee, but I was onboard as soon as I laid eyes on it.  Since I was becoming more aware of art at that time the concept of the album intrigued me.  The psychedelic artwork of the cover certainly drew me in as well.  

  

        The National Gallery was not so much of an actual group as it was a classical/jazz/rock project by jazz artist Chuck Mangione and Cleveland record producer Roger Karshner.  They co-wrote the songs and brought in various artists to record the album.  This was a favorite album for me back in those days and received frequent spins on my turntable.  I still have the vinyl in my collection and listening to it in recent days it still sounds great.  I took good care of my vinyls.

      Here are two versions of the song "Diana in the Autumn Wind" which appears on the National Gallery album and then later on an instrumental jazz album by Chuck's brother Gap Mangione.  Which do you enjoy most?

The National Gallery  "Diana in the Autumn Wind"  (1968)

Gap Mangione  "Diana in the Autumn Wind"  (1971)

 

Time to Vote!

           Don't let winter come before you vote.  Battles are no fun without you the reader participating.    Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind.  You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

        Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours. I don't know if anyone else will be doing a Battle this time around, but you can still check out these sites.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

  'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 

Landmark Sounds (Diedre Knight)

BATTLE OF THE BANDS BY DEBBIE D

Trivial Music Silliness

Next Battle on December 15th

      

       I'll have my results for the current Battle on Monday December 9th.  Hope you'll stop back to see which song version came out on top.

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 December 4 posting of the IWSG are Ronel, Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine.

December 4 question - Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?

          I do sometimes like ambiguous endings and have written such when that seemed to be the most appropriate way to deal with a story.  An absolute cliff-hanger ending that demands resolution in a sequel of some sort is fine so long as there will be some upcoming book or part of the story and readers are on board with that. Personally I don't like investing too much of my time and energy into a series that goes on too long.  I know some people seem to like this sort of thing, but not me so much.  I like to move on to new stories and have variety. 

        If the book or story is a stand alone then I think the reading audience deserves a more absolute resolution to the story being told. Really though, I guess it depends.  Depends on what?  Hmm--let me think on that.  I'll tell you next month,

       Do you prefer to just wrap things up and move on when you read something?  When a story leaves you hanging, do you like to make up your own ending?

Time for Dreams ( #BOTB Results )

       The voting has decided!  Read on to get my perspectives on why I voted as I did and what the final results amounted to.  Did you vote?  Whether or not you did vote, you can still read about what I'm talking about...

Battle of the Bands Results

Fun and Folly in Lee's Basement

      Back in the first years of the seventies, I was in college as well as working summers.  During this time my friends and I began discovering psychedelics and other mind-altering substances. Add to that a frequent abundance of alcohol and it was party time whenever or wherever we gathered.

      Music was such a huge part of any event as well as in our times of solitude.  My range of musical interest was very eclectic as it is today so any visitor to my basement might be exposed to some very different music than they normally listened to.  When one's mind is "expanded" that can be a good thing.

      My recent Battle matched a group of those times, Autosalvage, against a more sunshiny pop song by the group Wichita Fall.  This was a tough choice for me since I love the sounds of both groups and both albums.  I listened to both often back in those days and still enjoy hearing the albums. So what to pick in this Battle?

      When my basement was my escape, my domain, and place to entertain friends, I would be more apt to put on the Autosalvage album.  It rocked more and probably would have been better received by a bunch of partying guys.  This was an interesting album to be in party mode with.  

      After everyone had gone home and I was still coming down from wherever I had gone, that was the time that I'd usually put on my Wichita Fall album.  It was a calming aural experience for me.  I also enjoyed listening to this album on quiet afternoons when I was alone.  Wichita Fall's Life Is But  A Dream is a delightful extravaganza of pretty decent songs with dazzling orchestration and harmonies reminiscent of groups like The Association, another of my favorite groups.

       That being said, for this Battle my vote goes to Autosalvage and their song "Land of Their Dreams".  Love the crazy sound of that group and love that song.

       But just for the pleasure of listening to music these days I'd still likely gravitate more to the Wichita Fall album.  

Final Vote Tally

Autosalvage      7 votes

Wichita Fall       3 votes

Another Battle on November 15th

      Probably

Songs from Lee's Basement ( #BOTB )

 

      When I contemplate past days, my thoughts frequently go to my parents' basement--or as my friends might have called "Lee's Basement".  It was the end of the sixties and a dawning of a new decade.  The seventies started my foray into adult life.  What times we had!

       With some inspiration from Stephen T McCarthy's Silver Dollar Saloon Song Challenge, I decided to do something similar but using songs frequently heard when the basement at my parents' house was a party place to be in Maryville Tennessee.  That basement was a comfortable and safe place for my friends to gather in my young adult days.  I lived at home during my college years until I moved out at the end of 1974.  My parents allowed me pretty free reign of their basement at that time.  We were generally well behaved and didn't stir up much of a ruckus. My stereo was usually spinning sound and I was the house DJ.

       Record collecting had been my passion since 1964 when I was in 8th grade.  The collection grew slowly in those days, but after high school and I began working then some of my money would go into regular vinyl purchases.  When I started hosting parties my record collection had grown to a modest size, but was nevertheless pretty eclectic.  I tried to pursue records that not everyone else might already have and still be appealing to many ears.  There was always plenty to choose from.

        When thinking back on those days and nights listening to music in that basement, my memories take me to The Beatles, Cream, Iron Butterfly, and so many other groups that emerged in the late sixties with sounds that were often radical and musically exciting.  A typical evening in Lee's Basement might include some classical and jazz as well as mainstays such as Jethro Tull, Neil Young, or Jefferson Starship.  We all loved music and maybe my picks for the turntable weren't everyone else's first choices, I was the master of the music of my domain and rarely did I hear any complaints about my music choices.

        So now, with a trip down memory lane, we embark on another..,      

Battle of the Bands

        Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands.   This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month.  My blog is one of those with a second Battle excepting over these summer months.   The premise is simple:  Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it.  Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.

Songs from Lee's Basement

       In this Battle I will offer up two bands that got frequent play in the early seventies on my basement turntable.  Both artists are some early examples of the Americana rock genre, but the greater commonality that they share is that they were both back-up bands for some notable artists who are known for being singer songwriters and later both bands recorded and toured as their own bands.

      Here they are---take a listen and decide which recording you enjoy the most...

          

The Band   "When I Paint My Masterpiece"  (1971)

        Before going out on their own, this band--The Band--was the back-up group for Bob Dylan.  They recorded a few Dylan songs as well as many written by their members, primarily Robbie Robertson, who recently passed away at age 80.  In this Battle we have The Band performing their rendition of Bob Dylan's "When I Paint My Masterpiece"...

Crazy Horse   "Dance, Dance, Dance"   (1971)

        In 1968 L.A. group the Rockets released an interesting album that never really made much of a splash on the music scene and they reorganized into Neil Young's back-up band Crazy Horse.  Over the ensuing decades they went through a number of incarnations as Young's backing group as well as a band recording and touring on their own.   In their debut album, 1971's self-titled release Crazy Horse, they included the Neil Young song "Dance, Dance, Dance".  The band's line-up at this time also included Nils Lofgren before he moved on to his own solo work and eventually as part of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.   How does the Crazy Horse song stack up against The Band's song?  You decide...

Time to Vote!

           You might remember these songs--or not.  Either way you might or might not like them.  Hopefully you have an opinion of some kind.  You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.

        Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours. I don't know if anyone else will be doing a Battle this time around, but you can still check out these sites.


Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts:

 StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands

  'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'

'Curious as a Cathy'

Sound of One Hand Typing

Jingle, Jangle, Jungle 

Landmark Sounds (Diedre Knight)

BATTLE OF THE BANDS BY DEBBIE D

Stine Writing

Next Battle on Friday September 1st

   

           There should be some results of the current Battle coming in a week or so, but the next Battle will come as long as life continues as expected.   I'm going to continue with the Songs from Lee's Basement theme.  I got some doozies ahead.  And songs that mean a lot to me.   See ya!