Frank Gutch Jr: Notes Are All I Have Left….

It has been another one of those days.  I struggled with what I thought was a good idea all day but it turned to dust in my hands.  Pure drivel.  Which leaves me with what I consider the best part of my column anyway— The Notes.  Feel free to take your time, enjoy the news and videos, maybe take it a step further if you have a mind to.  The artists I feature in my columns are always meant as a fingerpoint.  Seriously.  I am still searching for the music of Lisa LeBlanc, one of my discoveries from last week.  The good ones deserve the scrutiny.  For right now, I am going to take my tired carcass to bed.  It has been frustrating, to say the least.  I only wish my dog had eaten my homework.

Frank Gutch Jr: Chris Ashford, The Gears and the L.A. Punk Scene (But First, Some Background;

I hadn’t been in L.A. a month when I met Chris Ashford, a skinny, gangly high school kid who was bugging people on the sidewalk of Wilshire Boulevard handing out flyers for rival Music Odyssey, the store three doors west of Licorice Pizza where I had just started working.

Frank Gutch Jr: Vinyl!!! Grab Yours While You Can Because Quantities Are Always Limited!!! (A Precursor to Christmas Giving), A Pac Northwest Discovery and a Half, and Notes…..

You can thank Chris Ashford at Wondercap Records for this preemptive strike on your Christmas lists.  You do have a Christmas list, right?  What?!  You don’t!  Well, maybe it’s time you did because that really cool gift you want to give your girl or guy or your best friend could very well be gone by the time time the turkey hits the table and the really mad rush begins (or, in the case of the States, continues).  What could possibly be the cool gift item this year?  A hybrid car?  If you’re rich.  A handmade macaroni-trimmed picture of you and the wife on the first date?  (If you want to kiss that sorry marriage goodbye)  A box of chocolates?

Frank Gutch Jr: SWEET RELIEF MUSICIANS FUND— Giving Back While Paying Forward, Some Thumbnail Reviews, Plus Notes That, If Repeated, Can Make You Sound Intelligent, Even If You’re Not…..

This is important.  Please read carefully.

It’s coming!  It’s almost here and you probably don’t even know it.  Like that stealthy Sequestering thing the good ol’ boys slipped into the budget bill without anyone noticing, Sweet Relief is readying their third compilation album— on the sly, as it were.  Don’t know anything about it?  I’m not surprised.  Producer/Engineer (and sometimes musician) Sheldon Gomberg has held the information close to his vest and the people at Sweet Relief (and Vanguard Records) are only on the cusp of letting the dogs out.  But it’s coming.  July 9^th.

Doug Thompson: CONFESSIONS OF A PROFESSIONAL ROCK AND ROLL INTERVIEWER – THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE THEMES

I was saddened by the death of Annette Funicello back in March.  Unlike most of the male members of my age, I did NOT have a crush on Annette.  That honour usually fell to toothy grinned Mousekateer Cheryl Holdridge (who in 1964, became a real-life Countess when she married Woolworth heir Lance Reventlow – his father was a Danish nobleman).   Sometimes friendly Darlene Gillespie became my Mousekateer crush of the day or week, depending on my mood and my hormones.  Turns out, Darlene was born in Montreal and her parents were originally from Saskatchewan, but I didn’t know any of that watching our little black and white TV set then.