Man, I Sure Do Love Music

A friend said that to me when we were discussing the idea for my contest. It says how I feel pretty succinctly.

After my dad introduced me to The Beatles and to vinyl in general, I spent a LOT of time in used record stores in the West L.A. area. Moby Disc, Record Surplus, Rhino Records, Record Rover, and Penny Lane became regular haunts.

This was during the transition from cassette to CD, so I was resisting buying CDs at the time. I listened to tapes in my car and records at home. So my vinyl collection grew. I discovered the existence of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab and virgin vinyl, half-speed mastered audiophile quality pressings. I've talked about the copy of "Revolver" I recorded with my iRecord.

Yesterday, still thinking about Michael and how much we loved sharing our passion for music, I decided to record the 2 albums involved in this amazing phenomenon. I have a decent copy of MFSL 1-017, Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side Of The Moon", and a mint condition copy of MFSL 1-100, The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Such incredible musical creations.

These are albums that I like to listen to straight through. Having grown up listening to records, I've gotten used to hearing complete sides as units. I also listened to the radio and watched MTV a lot, so there are songs that I only know by themselves and don't know the rest of the band's music. Mostly though, if I heard a band on the radio with a song I liked, I'd find the album and listen to the whole thing, and even try to collect a group's entire recordings.

So, I recorded these albums and joined together all the songs using Audacity into one MP3 for each side. These are concept albums anyway, so like Dark Side's second side recorded as one track automatically. That's one thing I never understood with CDs is how they decided where track breaks were between songs with no real break.

In any event, this ramble, which I tend to do when talking about myself instead of my art, is to get you to remember how you listened to music growing up. How did the media, whether it be 8-track or MP3, you listened to impact your appreciation and love for music?

Peace.

Revolutionary Revelation

It's up! It's live! It's... well it's there anyway. The new site, I mean.

Yay!

So, I thought I'd take this auspicious occasion (two words that always look weird to me, by the way) to share something that is the stuff of urban legends. As far as I know, only a high school friend of mine and myself know. But I bet it shows up on YouTube now!

It's that big. Way bigger than my artwork or me. It's no less than a cultural cosmic revelation, if you ask me. Well, who knows. I'm sure some people'll dismiss it. But I think it's incredible.

I've not discussed it with anybody but my wife. So why now?

Dunno.

Just thought you'd like to know. And if Michael wants me to give him credit, I will for sure. He figured it out and then told me a couple years later I could share it. He was going to write an Ebook about it, but to my knowledge never did.

So what is it?

Ok, here goes. It's well known even in mainstream culture that Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon" can be considered a second soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz. It's been dubbed Dark Side of The Rainbow, even getting a well documented entry in Wikipedia. But the album ends before the end of the movie. It ends during the introduction of the Tin Man. That leaves a lot of movie left.

What other album could rival the importance of Dark Side in its own right and possibly synchronize with the rest of the movie?

*cue drum roll*

The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

At the end of Dark Side, pause the movie. It's right about when Tin Man has started to move. Start Pepper and resume the movie. The best part is during "Being For The Benefit Mr. Kite", but throughout the album, there are scene changes that match with song changes and many cues that when added up seem more than coincidence.

I wasn't even on anything and I was laughing quite maniacally. Try it.

I send this information out into the world naively, hoping it won't be used for evil. Don't really think it can be, but you never know.

Now, Pepper doesn't reach the end of the movie either. What comes after it?

Peace.