Segarini: More Obscure Bob – Risky Business

One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever got was from a nefarious character I used to buy drugs from. You would never guess that was what he did for a living. He was always impeccably dressed and well turned out, drove a beautifully kept, unpretentious Cadillac sedan, and, though he sold a great deal of product to a wide variety of people, did not partake in said product at all.

As I got to know him over the years, I was surprised to find out that he did not have to sell drugs to make a living…in fact, he didn’t have to earn a living at all. He was wealthy. I never pried, and did not know exactly how he had become so well off, but I believe, due mostly to his demeanor, overall brightness, and well-informed outlook on life, that his financial situation was either inherited or earned through shrewd investments. It was old money.

JAIMIE VERNON – The Dream Never Dies…Just the Dreamer

I had every intention of starting up the long and windy story about the band I was in following my stint with Swindled in the early 1980s as a teenage punk rocker. Moving Targetz lasted 9 years, released two albums and five EPs, and robbed 50+ musicians of their will to live. It’s going to take the better part of this year to tell the tale. The story will have to wait.

This week a musical associate, whom I’ve known casually for about a decade, passed away after a seemingly abbreviated battle with cancer. His name was Rick Gunn.

JAIMIE VERNON – November DISCoveries

Now that the institutional insanity of Black Friday has passed and everyone was thankful to get a discount on a Made in China television using a year’s worth of minimum wage, might I suggest some inexpensive independent music to give to everyone else as Xmas gifts? And you don’t have to stand in line or need a shotgun to do it.

JAIMIE VERNON – THE MUSIC WAR’S LOST AND WE’RE STILL FIGHTING OVER IWO JIMA

It’s been a week of chaos in the Vernon household (lost one computer while trying to get the Encyclopedia Volume 2 finished, no money, no gas, child home sick on week #2 of the new school year) so sitting down and writing one of my brilliantly pithy divisive diatribes has been next to impossible. So, I thought I might do a round up of topics floating about on the interwebs right now. Call it my scream of consciousness.

JAIMIE VERNON – BUT NEW MUSIC SUCKS, MAN!

“When you say ‘there is no good new music anymore’ – what you are really saying is ‘I don’t own a computer’.” – Modern Facebook Proverb

Of course, if you’re reading this page then you obviously do own a computer. So what’s your excuse? What is that inherent need to slink to the fallback position of “there’s no good music anymore”? Is it because your tastes have changed? Is it because the music has changed? Or is it because you’ve built a musical mausoleum around yourself where only Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin, Vaughn, and Lennon now reside? It isn’t that there’s no good music. It’s that you gave up. You stopped trying. You’ve become complacent in life or buried your head in the sand so that all the evils of adulthood can be ignored or blocked out.

Segarini: Greatness

I have always been amused by self improvement books. The best of them are well intentioned, homily fueled screeds couched in common sense and written in the confident prose of an educated and caring individual who shares his or her triumph over a similar situation shared by the reader. They attempt to build confidence, offer advice, and lay out a step by step plan that, properly initiated and followed, will result in the reader becoming whatever kind of ‘better’ person they desire to be. On one hand, these books can give comfort and focus to a person, a leg up on coming to terms with their problems, and at least the hope of one day being free of whatever it is they think is holding them back. On the other hand, if the author’s blueprint for personal success doesn’t work for the reader, he or she might end up in a bell tower with a high powered rifle, a case of ammo, and a bottle of decent whiskey. Why do we put ourselves through all the self doubt and brutal self-assessment that feeds this ever growing self-help cottage industry? We all want to be great.