Frank Gutch Jr: These Are People I’ve Known (But Who Try to Keep It a Secret); Plus Notes

The past week I have been revisiting some of my earlier DBAWIS columns and am shocked at how few people (as far as I can tell) know about them, even now.  When I write about musicians, it is usually personal, both the person or people and the music, and I feel that sometimes they are more water under the bridge than anything.  No one sends notes asking about someone I wrote about in 2012 unless something has happened since and there are so many truly talented people who deserve recognition.  So this week, I am going to point toward artists you may have missed whom I think are above the norm in terms of talent and/or personality.  And maybe I owe a few of them money, but that is neither here nor there.

Frank Gutch Jr: Generation Found; It Was a Long Walk Home (Thoughts Spurred By Separation From Viet Nam-Era Army); plus N-n-n-n-notes…

 

For years I have been telling you that music isn’t just music.  Some of you understand, mostly musicians who spend a lot of energy and time helping out those in need.  Others shrug it off because they know either that there is no good music anymore so what good would it do, or that musicians are either children avoiding growing up or are millionaires waiting for the train.  Don’t tell that to the people at Sweet Relief or Musicares or any of the other charity organizations out there.  There is a lot of hard work being laid down by scores of musicians and music people, aware that good fortune can turn sour at the drop of a hat.

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: Sheldon Gomberg: One of the Good Guys, Too Slim: Hot!!!, Charlottesville: WarHen and County Wide… The Phoenix Rises, My Father’s Day, plus Notes (you really should be reading them, you know)…..

I wasted 75 minutes of Sheldon Gomberg‘s time last week.  Do I feel crappy about it?  You bet.  I suppose 75 minutes doesn’t mean that much to many of you but then you probably don’t work as much as Sheldon does.  See, Sheldon is a recording engineer and runs his own studio and after talking with many of that ilk, time is always of the essence.  You’re working when you’re not working— going over the day’s session(s), preparing for tomorrow’s, organizing, always organizing.  What?  You think those albums just appear on your shelves?

Frank Gutch Jr: Vinyl Coming Back? May-beeee, There Is Just Not Enough Time, Karl Fredrick Anderson Chimes In On Spotify Etc., and Notes…..

There are a large number of reasons I love writing for DBAWIS.  For one thing, I get to write amongst some of the best writers out there.  I have had it in my mind to put together a list of must-read columns with thumbnail reviews and easy links so others could read what I have read, though I am sure with different eyes.  You see, I found DBAWIS very early in its existence, when Bob Segarini was writing what was then his column for FYI Music in Canada.  At first, I was just following Segarini, a musician I much admired after having interviewed him for Pop Culture Press for their “Summer of Love” issue.

Frank Gutch Jr: Grown in Charlottesville, An Early Look at Rounder Records (via Warner/Reprise and Peter Stampfel), and Notes…..

When I first started getting into music, really getting into music beyond AM radio and the string of hits I always thought was everything music, there were three cities.  Only three.  Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.  Those were the three graced by the large offices of the major labels and those were the three which produced the vast majority of music which made it to the airwaves.  Or so it seemed.  Isolated in Oregon (and trust me, kiddies, it was isolation), the world looked so simple and yet so daunting, even on AM radio.  Generalizations were common.  Vocal groups all came from or at least came out of New York City.  Soul was courtesy of Detroit and Chicago and Detroit.  Surf music was West Coast and sand-infested.  Country was all Bakersfield or Nashville.  But they all were filtered through the Big Three:  Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.  That’s where the major labels lived.  That’s where the money was.  That was where artists went to make it  big, no matter where they originated.