Groucho:  Yes, you are in the company of some very talented people.  See???????

awesome:  Hahaha!  Point well taken.  But, I tried to pick naturally bald people, and there weren't any women on that list.

Groucho:  I started getting silver hairs when I was 11.  Now, it looks all silver to me, but my aunt told me the other day it's still blonde.  I happen to think bald and balding men are extremely attractive.  I mean, look at this list: 

Jimi Hendrix - Was Sy Sperling's (Hair Club for Men) first celebrity client.

Jimmy Buffett - singer/song writer

Alan Jackson - is known to never take his trademark cowboy hat off for any occasion. The reason behind this is he has been bald since college and hides this by keeping what little hair he has left long.

Les Paul

Paul Shaffer - composer/bandleader/multi-instrumentalist, bald since the early-1990's

Ringo Starr - former drummer of the Beatles and present-day solo artist

 Michael Balzary - musician in Red Hot Chili Peppers

I kinda felt like we ought to know that.  Yes, Groucho, 59, my age!!!!!!!!!!!!  I guess that's when things start happening.  

 Well, here's a sad piece.  Billy Preston, called the fifth Beatle for his piano work on Abbey Road and the White Album, died today according to Google News.  He had been in a coma since November due to kidney failure.  A transplant failed in 2002 causing him to be on dialysis.  Billy Preston will be mourned by the music world, and missed by us all.

We had an 80th birthday party for my aunt today, and I've been on the road.  Now, it's time for dinner.  Be back later.  But, I want to listen to Rosanne and Dolly, and see if I hear the similarity.  I never thought of that.  Leave it to Groucho to come up with it.

I was just picking up on what he said about going crazy if baddessi left us.  But, he needn't worry. 
So, what's new on the music scene?

*snicker*  Quit it!

Grouchy, if you feel like going crazy, come talk to me.  I'll listen, sweetheart.

We'd all go crazy without baddessi.  I get way out in space sometimes, and she lassos me in.

Awww, thank you, Sister Texas.  That's a very nice greeting.

Thank you, Groucho.  That makes me happy.

I had a PM from b'dessi tonight saying that the globals had approved me as the main mod here.  I do hope this is pleasing to everyone.  b'dessi is staying on as a moderator, but she just can't be here as much as she was.  And, I'm around, if in and out.  If you see anything that doesn't please you, please let me know.

Hmmmm, Do.  I know I answered that, but it's surely not here.  I said it would probably be Gary playing guitar and my voice.  We've been talking about that for several years, and never done anything about it.  We just never have enough time, and you know what happened on this last trip.  

Universal Eyes: Perhaps you should send a private message to baddessi. She isn't online much these days.

Groucho: It's been proven that musical people who do not make music become depressed. That says something about the use it or lose it scripture.

but I haven't played for years. I am really intending to start lessons again, but I need to find a studio. Any old piano teacher on the street won't do. My best friend's mother has a master's degree in classical piano from SMU. But, she's too old to teach anymore. She may know of a studio, though. I also want to start with voice lessons too. My breathing is way out of control since I lost 20% of my lung capacity in my right lung due to pneumonia. But, I believe a lot of problems in my life have been caused by my not making music.

Groucho: I don't even attempt it. I always used my guitars to accompany my voice, which was my true instrument in that genre. Piano was the instrument with which I had a true mastery.

Groucho: His fingers never leave his hands.

Groucho: I played Crary's play list last night. He's incredible. I look forward to listening to Hedges tonight. Thanks for tipping me off about these guys.

tehualL Thank YOU for the Hendrix stuff. I went on a trip in a time machine on those.

gogul: I have just become aware of Baka Beyond. A friend in the UK used to drive for them. I was listening to their stuff, and craving more, when I clicked on Jolly Mukheriee, a related artist. It is kinda new age, BUT, it has a lot of sitar and tabla in it, and I love those instruments.

Groucho: Who, Crary and Hedges? I'll go do that now, so they'll be cued up for tomorrow.

Groucho: Thanks!!! I have been listening to Baka Beyond, and Jolly Mukheriee today, but I'll check those guys out in a day or two.

Groucho: I'll check him out. I have one for you, but I can NOT remember his name. I have to go look through my vinyl. He wasn't too well known. But, he said when he learned how to play guitar, he thought those guys did all those notes themselves. He never planned on mixers, and other studio tricks to get those sounds. So, he learned everything note for note!

Tuesday: Haha! That's a switch!!

Bwild: Thank you. Someone who understands.

Grouchy, I know Leo Kottke, saw him live once. Quite the master, he is.

Eriisa: Lucky guess, then....I guess. But, when I run the song through my brain, I hear him singing it. I recently went through one of my famous, listen to everything he ever recorded stages. It might have been subliminal.

Eriisa: Nat King Cole is correct. He wrote the song, and first recorded it in 1943.

Leave it to you. Hahaha! Good job, girlfriend.

Eriisa: We were off topic, indeed. However, a mod under fire will fire back. Or not? But, there is something that can bring us back on topic. Who first recorded, "Straighten Up and Fly Right"?

Eriisa: Yes you did. And, beware. This kitten ain't so little.

Groucho & Bwild: I have resisted selling the guitars all these years, because I intend to play them again. When I can afford it (hopefully soon), I'm going to take voice lessons to improve my breathing. (Asthma that manifested itself when I was 48 has made singing very difficult for me.) When I get that back under control, I think making music will become a big part of my life again.

Eriisa: Ahem. There are 2 cats here, 1 cat and 1 kitten. Behave, I know where you live!

Groucho: Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait! I'm all by myself!!! You'd better pop in. I might get lost.

Groucho: I have a piano in my living room I haven't played in years now, and two guitars - lovely 60s vintage Gibsons I also haven't played in years. I played folk with the guitars and harp. I did the folk music curcuit in East Texas in the 60s and performed at a historical coffee house here in Dallas on weekends. When I started my own business in 1988, I didn't do anything but work until I made myself sick. Then, I didn't do anything but be sick for a looooong time.

Groucho: Oh, silly man. Music never sounds bad. It's just the tune you play is different from someone else's.

Classically trained, yes - including a short time in college. Then, I decided to major in Drama. Then, I decided to become an accountant. Oh well, it's all math - except for Drama, and that was what I do naturally - act!

Unfortunately, the baby boomers, those of us who were around when rock n roll was extracted from the blues, are beginning to age and die off. It's sooooo sad to hear about these deaths. Clarence Gatemouth Brown died shortly after Katrina. That was when I realized it was really beginning to hit home.

tehual: No problem. The input was fine. Thanks again.

Groucho: Yes, I am a classically trained pianist - 16 years of study from age 9. I also play guitars (6 and 12), harmonica, and kazoo. Hahaha! I also sing. A piano is limited to the 12 keys we've discussed before, but the voice is not. The voice is limitless.

Groucho: I understand that, but we don't use that scale because we find our scale more pleasing due to the way our ears are trained. It doesn't mean we can't use those extra notes.....and in truth, we do.

Groucho: I studied music theory in high school, and at the University of North Texas, and we only had 12 notes in the chromatic scale. The Eastern scale is more accurate, but no one can name all possible sounds that can be made in the name of music.

A, B flat, B, C, C#, D, E flat, E, F, F#, G, G#

12 actually, and for swooners, and some wind instruments, all unnamed notes in between.

Groucho: You are correct, of course. And, you are correct in not smoking dem old stogies. Grrrrrrrrrross!

tehual: Thank you for these. Perhaps two of them could be considered off-topic by some, but I like them, so I'm leaving them up to b'dessi.

Groucho: It's the cigar, Groucho. too, and, to bring us on topic, who recorded Have A Cigar? (This is a freebee.)

Groucho: You're a lover not a fighter?

OK, see you guys tomorrow.

I have a check coming this week. I should plan a trip to Galveston.

baddessi: No need, we know. It was Townes Van Zandt, and he was a really close friend of mine. His death took me down! Well, of course, Stevie Ray Vaughan is buried here. I think we've discussed having a ceremonial trip to his grave before. But, b'dessi, to do that, you have to come HERE!

baddessi: *whispers* Sister, that's thang - with a twang.

baddessi: I know, I know. I think I've been a fan of Nanci Griffith's since before you were born. And, yes, I knew about those two, and Stephen Fromholz, Michael Murphy, Mario Daboub (of The Nightcaps - wrote Wine, Wine, Wine), B.W. Stevenson, and on and on ad nausium. I knew them all (but not Henley or Jones - too young), we jammed every Sunday night at the Hob Nob in Denton.