The Circle of Life

...is a funny, funny thing. I guess it was 1985, '86 that my garage band days were at their zenith; playing every week in Denny's garage. I remember playing in the wintertime with a big propane heater that looked like a small rocket blowing superheated air, made it positively balmy despite the prevailing cold outdoors. Anyway, whenever I hear one of the maybe twenty, twenty-five songs we practiced for months- and ended up playing exactly one show -I say 'Here's another golden oldie from the Mean Steak catalog!' "Mean Streak" was the name of the band- we weren't bad dudes, just wannabes -but Denny's first stab at painting the name on a drumhead left out the 'r', hence, 'Mean Steak'. It was comical then and I still have to chortle whenever I think of it.

But I digress. If you been keeping up with newsy notes in my other web venues you know I've a new musical experience in the works. Last week's band practice excitement was the arrival of a potential 2nd guitarist, fellow of Rob, the drummer's acquaintance. Scott seemed to have some great dexterity and a nice crunchy guitar sound while he whipped out a handful of pieces and parts of songs he knew including Judas Priest's venerable early metal standard, The Green Manalishi(With The Two-Pronged Crown).

Gave me a super-retro 'circle of life' flashback and it's reinforced by listening to the song repeatedly this week with a view learning to play it again my own self. Shades of deja vu, indeed.

In another note, while casting about for possible overlap in our respective repertoires, drummer Rob said, 'How about some Van Halen?' Which made me realize that despite their being my fave band- in the Diamond Dave era anyway -I've only ever really learned to play a single VH tune, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love. (Unless you count my pidgin version of Eruption, Eddie's guitar solo from the first album. Which I don't because I've seen at least a dozen teens play it with real skill on YouTube whereas I've always kinda faked my way through it.)

So I set about learning a couple for real. Dance The Night Away, probably the first song I ever heard from VH. No mindbending guitar spot but a great pop tune that still makes me wanna dance. (Hahaha, no, not really, I can't dance.) Somebody Get Me A Doctor, a power rock fave from way back. I just can't imagine too many bands doing a song like it and it features a cool guitar trick near the end that always reminds me of glass breaking. Beautiful Girls, the ultimate summertime girlwatching at the beach song. The leadoff riff outstrips Walk This Way for catchy guitar crunchiness and is more fun to play than almost anything I can think of right now. I haven't got all the finer points- meaning all the speedy noodling Ed throws in like it's the simplest thing in the world -of the latter two, of course, but I can play along with them without too much finger fumbling. Too cool! Who knows if they'll actually be something the band plays together but it's a major milestone for this former long-haired, bandana sporting, old school rock star pretender. Wheeeee!

What else is new? Man, the kittens are growing! I'll bet they're twice the size they were when they arrived a month ago. Tuco- a strange name for a little girl cat but somebody had to fill out the trio named for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly -is affectionately referred to now as 'Teacup Kitty' because she's the smallest of the three and could probably actually fit in one of the bigger teacups we have in the cupboard. Angel Eyes has warmed up considerably but can still make a beeline for cover when he's not in the mood for 'personal kitty time'. Blondie is just the simplest, sweetest of the bunch, proving that little boy cats are much more personable than their female counterparts. Skinny is alternately playful and determined to ignore their presence. I don't think she likes having to share the food, the couch, the litter box or especially the window ledge where she watches birds at the feeder. Poor 'Granny Cat', I guess she'll have to make the best of it.

Ooops... more later...!