Frank Gutch Jr: Earlier, On Planet Normanium (Part One)— Research Turtles Redux and Baseball As We Never Knew It; Plus N-n-n-notes!

Some things just will not let go.  Seven years ago I discovered the Research Turtles.  For the last two, I had hoped for a reunion.  I now know it will not happen.  Even if they got back together, they would be a different band.  They have grown as individuals and probably matured musically beyond that band and could never capture what they once had, but for five years I envisioned success and that period gave me hope in a world pretty much without hope, the music business morphing into something beyond my recognition, the Eks and the Westergrens of the world using what I consider stolen music to build huge bank accounts for themselves and others off of the labor of musicians.  That Research Turtles do not today exist is not surprising, for who would want to hand their creations to someone else for a pittance while they made millions.

Frank Gutch Jr: The Millennial Kickstart!!!, Life In Proctorville— We The People’s Wayne Proctor Talks Sixties Music Scene in Florida, Plus Notes and Vids!!!!!

Welcome to the new Millennium, ladies and gentlemen, and in this case, the new Music Millennium.  I don’t have to go into details to explain the situation with record stores these days (okay— “music” stores, but they will always remain record stores to me).  They are struggling, even the biggest of them.  Even the best of them.  Even Portland, Oregon’s legendary Music Millennium.  Sure, they’re hanging on and doing better since the recent vinyl revival, but hanging on is not what owner Terry Currier wants.  Hanging on is the least that he wants.  And he has never been one to pocket money, either.  Most of what Terry has made over the past 45 years he has put either back into his store or used toward something to strengthen the music community.  And not just that of Portland.  He has stepped beyond that city more than once, mainly in a capacity to organize indie record stores.

Frank Gutch Jr: If You Don’t Like To Read, Maybe You’re Reading The Wrong Stuff: Books On Music… Plus Notes

I worked with a guy for four or five years who had never read a book after college.  He read, he just didn’t read books (which had me scratching my head until I developed a bald spot).  Books have always been part of my life.  As a child and even toddler, books were a never ending source of pleasure.  So how is it, I ask myself, that people hate to read?  And I think I have found the answer.  They haven’t found anything which, to them, is worth reading.  Books are like music in the forest for the trees idiom.  There are so damn many choices, one has no idea where to start.  Well, for people who love music, the obvious starting point is books about music (or would that be “are”?).  Like soul?  Find a book about soul music.  Love country?  There are tons of biographies of country artists, past and present, and even books about country’s musical past.  Blues?  The same.  Rock?  Too many to count.

Frank Gutch Jr: Research Turtles: An Update, The Digital Streaming Wars Heat Up, Plus Notes…..

I thought Research Turtles had a solid chance.  I really did.  They had everything going for them— solid music, a great attitude, a growing following.  Evidently, though, you need more than music and attitude in today’s music world.  You need a honey boo-boo (whatever that is) or need to be a two year old master of the guitar or something.  I told Jud that.  He said it was too late, that he was already past the age of incredulity.  It ain’t easy being an adult.