In 1967, San Bernardino was rife with new acts getting on board the new rock 'n roll music scene. Among them was a band called The Good Feelin's. With the right combination of people, and the right connections with a record producer, the band reached number 1 on the Inland Empire charts (see www.GoodFeelins.com).

Forty years later, the drummer, Michael K., started looking up the band members in an attempt to put together a new song and provide new content to add to old data for an upcoming review in Ugly Things Magazine, the publication which reviews bands from the era. Mike was successful in finding the majority of the members who are still on the planet. A recording studio session was scheduled, and the band recorded a new song with yours truly helping out on vocals, production, etc.

This past weekend, the 2nd Inland Empire Hall of Fame induction concert was held. The first one was 20 years ago. You'd be surprised how many musicians from the area made it into bands you've heard of. Sammy Hagar, Jim Messina, Al Wilson, the legendary drummer Hal Blaine (Michael K.'s uncle), The Bush, and Frank Zappa are just a few of those from the San Beranardino/Riverside area.

The location of the concert was a private property owned by a concert promoter from the past, and the property had quite a collection of junk laying around which included dead horn cabinets, fried power control boxes, and at least 200 blown par cans. The stage, which was supposed to be set up days before, hadn't been assembled by 1pm that day, and the first act was supposed to go on at 3pm. As you can imagine, the day was delayed considerably, and the first 3 or 4 hours of the event could be considered a classic clusterf*ck.

There were supposed to be two alternating stages, which would allow bands to set up on one stage while the other stage was performing. This makes sense, and is the optimal situation when you have over a dozen acts scheduled to play. But Nooooooo! Bands who were supposed to play on the small stage, somehow talked themselves into playing on the large stage, which cut the setup time to about 5 minutes. Those of you who have seen my performing gear know that this is an impossibility. While I did have my extensive guitar and keyboard support gear assembled on the edge of the stage ahead of time, when we moved it all into place on the stage, there were no lines to the board for my gear or microphone available. Three of the six mics on stage had no sound. It was so hot, the LCD display on my VG-8 was blank; no silent tuner. At 108 in the shade, the guitars were going out of tune rapidly, and we were delayed by another act who wasn't even slated to perform on our stage. Aaarrrrghh!

That wasn't all. The amp that one of the lead guitar players plugged into sounded like a screwdriver had customized the speaker on numerous occasions, and neither of the two guys who were supposed to do all the speaking to announce songs and introduce the band members was active. We found that one of the mic cables wasn't even plugged into the board, and the stage manager was telling us we had to start playing when I hadn't even gotten them to provide cables for my submixer and microphone.

When they finally did plug in my mic, it was about 30dB too hot, and they didn't seem to know how to hit the PAD button on the mixer to attenuate the incoming signal. I had to yell out "PAD CHANNEL 13" at least 10 times before someone got the hint.

Aaarrrrrghh!

OK. Deep breath...

Practice the day before, on the other hand, was awesome! The band really had the chops together. The beginnings and endings were tight. The vocals were rich and on. If they ever get a chance to perform with a competent stage crew and sound man, they will kick butt again, and let everyone remember why it is that they were number 1.

I hope to get to play with them again when that happens.

Have YOU ever had a rotten experience with a sound man/stage crew? If so, tell your story right here. I may contact you to provide video of your story to be included in my How-To series called "So you wanna be a rock star?" coming soon to a ViewkBox (my video jukebox invention) on one of my websites.

Thanks for visiting!
Michael

Hosted By:
Element 115

When:
Friday, March 27, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009

Where:
SKYE
16844 N Arrowhead Fountain Center Dr.
Peoria
85382

Description:
The band with the UFO ALIEN drummer comes to Northwest Phoenix for 2 SHOWS!

Click Here To View Event

Once Obama has taken office, and surrounded himself with the same
people that McCain would have appointed to cabinet positions, and
nothing has changed that really matters in our lives, how long will it
take for the Sheople to realize that they are still being sheared?

When the soldiers are still in Iraq, Afghanistan, and 100 other
countries, and the pharmaceutical industry is still poisoning with
daily doses of lethal chemicals, and food is still being
genetically modified, and depleted of any nutritional value, is THAT
enough to get people to say, 'NO!'?

When the skies are still being filled with barium sulfate and aluminum
oxide, and the currency is still being trashed by pyramid monetary
policy, and Social Security is even more in the red, will THAT be what
wakes the masses to realize that NOTHING changed?

When the new President keeps the 'Free Speech Zones' behind barbed
wire 500 yards from where the action is, and the borders are STILL
wide open to the current invasion of the U.S.A., and AT&T CONTINUES
to spy on every phone call and email, and billions of dollars continue
to disappear down that rabbit hole called Israeli government, will
THAT be enough?

There is one peaceful way to stop these EGREGIOUS VIOLATIONS of the Creator-supplied human rights from happening!

JUST SAY NO.

If everyone STOPPED working, purchasing, consuming, watching TV,
buying newspapers, TRADING STOCKS...for just 7 days... the machine
would starve.

130 million people doing nothing for one week could restore a Constitutional Republic without violence.

DON'T FEED THE HAND THAT BITES YOU. (copyrighted lyric from song called 'Just Say No' on upcoming Element 115 CD).

...and for God's sake, can you stop electing the same masters that you
elected last time, and the time before that, and the time before that? (Republicans, Democrats, all the same.)

I love America. I want America back. Now you know how to get her back.

Do (not) work.

There are plenty of reasons NOT to vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

There are plenty of reasons NOT to vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Either of those positions, taken individually, is easily defended. If you'll notice, most of the political chat groups are written on one of the above positions. What is much harder to do, is to defend voting FOR either of these candidates. Why is that?

It is because neither of these two pairs went through the process of being nominated locally, supported regionally, and having won many argumentative battles, risen by process to national success. No, both of these teams were propped up by their respective political parties. You may recall that Ron Paul received more donations from more people in one day than anyone in history. His numbers weren't matched by government funds (read YOUR money distributed without your permission); his historical contribution record was achieved by individuals (not corporations) at $100 and less per person on average, MILLIONS of them!

The lesser of two evils is a cop-out. If I gave you a choice, to be shot at point blank range by a .45 caliber bullet, or to be shot at 20 feet distance by a .50 caliber bullet, which would you choose? That's what the parties (two wings of the same bird of prey) have offered.

I, as usual, would choose the THIRD OPTION. Not seeing any benefit in my having been shot by either caliber, I would choose to LIVE. I would choose NO BULLET.

There is no glory, no reward, no bonus for GUESSING who is going to win an election. It is our duty to this great political experiment called a Constitutional Republic (not a democracy) to carefully study our options, and to reject ALL the bad ones. If you vote, then vote with honor. The only job of the President is to support and protect the Constitution's positions on guaranteeing the rights of the People. This last (P)resident has actually cursed the document!

The last 50 years have been devastating to the controls that We the People placed on the dangerous entity called the federal government. The Constitution, which was the compromise on our unlimited freedoms, was argued over, and fraught about for years! The Federalist and anti-Federalist papers mulled over the pros and cons of a central government because such creatures are INHERENTLY DANGEROUS to the freedoms of the People. Did you know, for instance, that the Constitution PROHIBITS a standing army?

Now, the Congress (which I emphatically implore you to vote out) has put a trillion dollars of debt on YOUR backs to reward their corporate donors for bad judgment and theft...and you are going to vote FOR one of the people who did this to you?

I don't care how good an argument can be made about how bad one of the candidates is, or what terrible redistribution of wealth they are threatening, THEY HAVE ALREADY BOTH DONE IT TO YOU and WITHOUT LUBRICATION!

The only logical answer is to NOT vote for EITHER of these criminals!

"But if you vote for anyone else, you're just throwing your vote away."

If you vote FOR your slavery, then you will be a slave. Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. If you vote for THE Republican, or THE Democrat (placed by the respective party heads) you are guaranteed to get the same outcome. I would really appreciate something different, but I can't do it alone.

Please! Vote for someone else. While you're at it, please vote all incumbents out of Congress. Change can't happen with the same criminals at the helm.

Thanks

While I was in the hospital last week with a severe case of shingles, our Congress sold out the American people AGAIN to the tune of 850 Billion (really more like 5 trillion) dollars.

How can they receive emails at a rate of 9 to 1 against this "bailout bill" and still pass it?

It seemed there was a glimmer of conscience in the House as they turned down the first iteration of this abomination. Then, behind closed doors, members of the House were threatened with every form of "terror" that the powers-that-be could muster, including Martial Law.

Everyone with a lick of sense, a memory of history, and experience in a pyramid scheme, knows that a fiat money system can only work temporarily. It has to fall as soon as the people realize that the ONLY value in the money is PERCEIVED value. The Federal Reserve Note has no intrinsic value, and the perceived value is fading fast. Meanwhile, Russia and China are moving to a GOLD BACKED currency, which will blow the IMF's fiat monies into oblivion, causing an economic crash much worse than 1929, and will create a hyper-inflation reminiscent of 1930 Germany.

Not being one to point out the problem without a potential solution, AL has recommended that you pull every asset you can out of every hiding place you have, convert same to GOLD AND SILVER, and purchase a few necessary items for the coming crash.

1. Land with a well. - No one can live without water.
2. Defense - Jesus is quoted as saying (paraphrase) Let he who hath no sword sell his cloak and get one. 2a - Ammunition will become a form of currency.
3. Community - Get with like-minded people with skills that your new community will need, and learn to love and respect one another.
4. Medicine - Anti-biotics will become a form of currency
5. When the "gold confiscation" law is re-activated, LIE! Some laws are just plain bad.
6. A metals test kit. - Purity of gold and silver will need to be ascertained as you engage in the commerce of the future.

Meanwhile, get a copy of the Constitution, read it, read it again, then read it one more time. It clearly limits the powers of the federal entity to subservience to the States and the People, (with few and limited exceptions) and does NOT allow for "bailouts" of ANY corporations. Hold the governments' feet to the fire, and take back this Constitutional Republic.

Your children, and theirs, depend on our actions now.

Good luck...we're all counting on you!

OK, now for something completely different. Name the MOST ANNOYING rock song you can remember. It can't be "I've got a brand new pair of rollerskates" because that isn't rock, no matter how you slice it!

I'm going to start with Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird. Ooh! That should get someone's goat!

Your turn!

Now, I'd like to have some fun with our fans!

I would like you all to name only 2 classic rock favorites. You can't repeat someone else's songs, and that means FIRST COME, FIRST CHOICE doesn't it?

Since different people have different ideas of what constitutes a classic, the rule here is that YOU must consider your choices "classic." Anything else would be arbitrary, and "AL" says no to arbitrary. A short comment may accompany your choices, but please, no novels.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"AL" chooses - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (Iron Butterfly) and White Room (Cream)
He says that those were the first two songs he detected from Earth.

Michael chooses - China Grove (Doobie Bros.) and Foreplay/Longtime (Boston)
Gotta pickup a guitar whenever either of those plays!

If you're reading this blog, you are probably at least peeking outside of the box. Most of you already see the box at a distance. So if we are on the precipice of a paradigm shift, and so many are being left behind, (including some family, friends, and fans) what are we as individuals supposed to do?

How are we to best facilitate all-mankind for 5th World as individuals?

AL reminds us that all we are is frequency. All anything is is a collection of balls of energy either spinning this way, or that. Energy moves via frequency and the universal law of balance.

If we, then, be the best that we can be ("like" any given risen master) with balance, and conscious forethought of the peaceful co-existence (and equal station) with all things, then that "being" will ring out and fill the environment with that frequency (or chord). If enough participate, then, like aligned magnets over a sea of iron filings, the rest of the transition can occur. The 100th monkey will have facilitated the mass change.

How many transitionalists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

We won't know until it happens. At that point, it won't matter. We just have to keep "broadcasting" that vision of balance, and the transition occurs as soon as the right frequency (or chord) is at sufficient amplitude.

It brings a whole new meaning to "good vibrations"! ...bop bop...