Monday, July 28, 2014

New Lyrics Written At The Supersuckers & Dirty Mugs Show

Last week while I waited for The Supersuckers and The Dirty Mugs show at The Shrine to start I got an idea and started writing it down on the envelope my ticket was mailed to me in. It was the only paper that I had on me at the time. Unlike the Alejandro Escovedo show, this time I made sure that my new lyrics/poem were not lost. Below is the scan of said new lyrics in all their roughness:



 

After I took a look at them I made a pass at the top page and it changed a bit. Some of the stuff on the backside was not connected and came out later so I'll hang onto those scraps, you never know when they'll come in handy. Below you'll see the finished (for now) product.
 
working man

present me with questions
none of which I like
pronounce the company motto
invoked with a straight face
I know that your way or the highway
doesn’t coincide with my way
you like my results but
say my methods gotta change
haven’t you ever heard
don’t fix what ain’t broken
just another example of dumbing
it down to the lowest common denominator
everybody is on even footing around here
no child’s been left behind
appearances are all that matter
what if I don’t want my participation trophy?
 
Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

notmovingpictures Episode 023: Medical Marijuana and Oklahoma

Episode 23 finds our heroes talking once again about medical marijuana and the initiative led by www.oklahomansforhealth.com to get enough signatures to get it on the ballot so that we can decide for ourselves if it becomes legal or not. We're voting for it and hopefully you will too.



Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing Music: Peter Tosh - Legalize It

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can also be found @ www.archive.org, just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The Supersuckers and The Dirty Mugs @ The Shrine, Tulsa, Ok 7/22/14

Here's a few pictures from the show last night. Both bands rocked it and put on a good show. Expect to hear both bands on my podcasts (notmovingpictures & Ten For Tuesday) soon.
 
 
The Dirty Mugs 7/22/14 The Shrine Tulsa, Ok

 
The Supersuckers 7/22/14 The Shrine Tulsa, Ok







Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Ten For Tuesday Episode 064



This episode features a lot of bands that aren't household names but man, the music is amazing. Call it what you will, punk or garage or what have you, it's all rock and roll. You can find a lot of these bands on YouTube so you can try it out first, then find where to buy it. Good music is good music and this stuff is good.

The Marked Men - Hate Me Anyway
Forgetters - Vampire Lessons
Mean Jeans - Crummy Crummy
Big Eyes - I Don't Care About Friday Night
Egg Hunt - We All Fall Down
The Night Marchers - Loud Dumb and Mean
Carbonas - Didn't Tell You Lie
Hot Snakes - Let It Come
Lost Sounds - Black Coat White Fear
Naked Raygun - Soldiers Requiem

Ten For Tuesday is a podcast dedicated to playing the music I couldn't find anywhere else. The music I like varies from style to style, genre to genre and era to era. You will hear punk, ska, rock, Americana, metal, country, rockabilly and more from all over the world. It doesn't matter if it's a major label or indie as long as I like it then it gets played. The motto is Less Talk More Music which means you won't hear me waxing poetic for fifteen minutes between songs. At TFT its all about the music...and me of course.

Email: tenfortuesday@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Old Episodes can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for Ten For Tuesday

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Air Conditioning Or The Lack Of It

Last Sunday evening my family and I had returned home and as we walked back into the house we immediately knew that something was wrong. Normally we do not have the air conditioning set very low due to my wife's rheumatoid arthritis. Cold air kills her joints and puts her out of commission for a few days until she can recover. Usually the thermostat is kept at seventy-seven degrees which has taken me quite a few years to get used to but I have more or less.

As I said, when we entered the house it was quite apparent that it was hotter than usual, much hotter. I could hear and feel air coming from the vents but a quick check of the thermostat verified that it was eighty-seven degrees in the house. I changed the batteries in the thermostat just in case that was the simple fix but it did nothing. We decided to fold out the bed in the couch for my wife and son and I got the other part of the couch (it's a large wrap-around sectional) and turned on the ceiling fan and two floor fans.

That made it bearable for the night and I texted Tommy to see if he knew anybody that could help us. He gave me a name and a number and luckily the guy was able to come out quickly and he had it fixed in about half an hour. It was a blown capacitor. He gave me some tips on what to do in the future and was on his way. Although it did take some time to bring the temperature back down to normal the effect was noticeable instantly.

It's amazes me that when I was a child we never gave something like air conditioning a second thought. When we visited my grandmother in Kentucky (out in the hollows) she didn't even have a window unit. We never used it in the car either. We just rode with the windows down and I'm sure there were plenty of hot days but it never seemed to register. That's just the way it was and complaining wouldn't help anything.

I haven't had A.C. in my truck since I got it over four years ago and I just deal with it. After all, the summer can only last for so long. But if it's not on in the house then we have a problem. I guess people as a whole are just acclimated to it being there but it wasn't always there. It makes me wonder if that's a good thing or not. On the one hand it's good not to be dependent on things that can go away quite easily. On the other hand though, it just feels so good when you've been outside doing yard work in the hot sun to come inside and cool off.

I guess I just have to deal with the change, it's not like time is going backwards or anything. Although if/when we move to Peru then things will most certainly change because most houses down there don't have A.C. or heating units. It's not standard like it is here and  nobody seems to have a major issue with it. Of course the weather in Lima is much different than here. In their winter the overnight low is only about fifty degrees and in the summer the high is around the mid eighties. Nothing that a portable heater or a fan won't fix. That's a good thing how I see it. Until then though, I'll just have to deal with the conditions here. Until they change again that is.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Lyrics From The Show

Last month while watching Alejandro Escovedo perform at The Vanguard here in Tulsa I had a line pop into my head. I've learned from past experience that if I don't record these thoughts in some manner I will forget them. With that in mind I frantically looked around for some paper and spied a set list from a band that had played there on a previous day. It was written on by a sharpie but since nothing else looked even remotely possible I snatched it up.

Quickly I jotted down the line and then several others that followed. During the next few minutes I would continue to write as things came to me. Keep in mind that I wasn't merely copying or rewriting what I was hearing. Alejandro's music and words had inspired me and brought something to the forefront of my brain. This frequently happens to me. I can be listening to music and suddenly I get an idea and we're off to the races.

For me creativity breeds creativity. It doesn't matter if it comes while reading a novel, a comic book, watching a movie or listening to music. I've even been inspired while listening to various people talking on a podcast and from reading an article in a music magazine (yes they still exist). You have to learn to seize the inspiration when it comes and make the most of it or else it will dry up and disappear.

As of late I've been blessed to write quite a bit of poetry or song lyrics or whatever you want to call it. Around about now you might be asking yourself what happened to those lyrics that started this post. My intention was to scan the page into the computer and write a blog post about how I got the idea and then show what the lyrics looked like after I had worked on them a bit. That was my intention.

Sadly, the paper has disappeared. It was in my laptop bag and my only thought is that I had left it out to scan it and perhaps my wife thought it was nothing and threw it away. it's possible that she could have moved it somewhere else, she has a habit of stuffing things in drawers to get them out of her way. Maybe I misplaced the paper myself, who's to say?

Placing blame is a waste of time, the point is that they are gone and I'm sure they would have been fantastic and a hit song and I would have been filthy rich, or maybe not. They might have actually been crap but I don't know either way. Perhaps one day while cleaning I'll come across those words and you can judge for yourself. All I've learned is that you can lose your ideas even after you have recorded them. Nothing is ever one hundred percent safe.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Dreams Fade Fast

Dreams Fade Fast

Roused from sleep my mind’s blank
Dreams fade fast
Make what you will of my memory
Or lack thereof
Reality screams into the present
Life comes crashing in
What was it I wanted to hold onto
I cannot grasp it
A fate foreshadowed by blankness
Empty of knowledge
I’ve never known my expiration date
Do you know yours

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

waiting

                                             waiting

have you ever felt like you were supposed to be somewhere else
like time was passing by and you were stuck in place
just waiting for that magical knock on the door that would take care of everything
have you ever felt that where you are and what you are doing don't matter
like you're just marking time daydreaming your days away
wishing with all your might that someone might see the brilliance in you
this latent talent you have submerged somewhere in your being
waiting to be let out at just the right moment in time
then all the things you've thought of will come to fruition

well the truth is that if you do feel like you need to be somewhere else then you really need to be there
time will only keep passing you by and that knock will never come
if you feel like you don't matter then you have to do something about it
stop with the daydreaming and start making plans
write things down or do some research find out what you need to do to make it happen
you have to put yourself in the right place and the only way of doing that is by being in the wrong place many times
nobody can see what you're holding back unless you shine a light on it
any talent not worked on over and over will dry up and be lost to you
otherwise time will pass you by and somebody else will do it instead

you have to do the work before you can receive the reward
you have to hear no many times
you have to make the effort
otherwise what's the point

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

notmovingpictures Episode 022: The Boys Are Back



Well, well, well. Look at this, as predicted we are back with another episode so very quickly and this one has both Tommy and Don. It's been five months since we were able to get together and record something and we end up going for almost an hour, how's that for stamina? Among the topics discussed were what happened on the 4th of July (Don got hit by fireworks), the lack of any road trips since the Iron Maiden one, the status (or lack of thereof) of Tommy's band Alloy and how recently Don finally came to grips with what is the definition of poetry. Expect an episode of Don's spoken word poetry sometime in the future, who knows when he'll get around to it. Then the talk shifts to the recent move to get a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot for the next election and how ridiculous the anti-marijuana laws are in this country. All in all a pretty good conversation.

Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing Music: Sublime - Smoke Two Joints

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can also be found @ www.archive.org, just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Is There Anything

This one came to me yesterday right after I wrote So Blind. I don't think they go together, this one is more of a poem and the subject matter is different. Not that it couldn't be turned into lyrics. It's not that far off actually. We'll see what the future holds for it.

Is There Anything

Transnational allies sounds nice
Better in theory than in practice
Run and get big brother
He’s busy seducing away rights
What do you do when he’s gone
Nobody’s got your back anymore
Left you alone to fend for yourself
Blow out your belly and bluster
Yeah that will work fine
Just like it did for the last guy

Big fish in a small pond
Your act is wearing mighty thin
Can you tell me something about
Where you are or where you’ve been
Try to rally the troops with a cry
One last time it’s do or die
When you try and erase your past
You spit in the face of your present
Surrounded by a whole lot of nothing
Is there anything left you believe in

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Friday, July 11, 2014

New Lyrics: So Blind

So I was listening today to The Marked Men channel on Spotify and there was a lot of good music from them as well as the other bands that they are in as well as other groups like Big Eyes, Egg Hunt, Mean Jeans and many more. Anyway, I started thinking about words in a certain pattern, along the lines of how the singers in the aforemententiond bands were delivering their vocals and well, this came out. I don't know where it came from but I quite like it. If only I had someone to write music for it then it would be complete. And no it isn't about my mother.

So Blind

Informed I’m not wanted around
Best be I’d better get out of town
Worried my less than winning ways
Will infect those better than me
Can’t you see what you’re saying
Effectively crushes my psyche
That’s something you can’t take back
From your loved one I am your son

Whatever you won can’t even the score
I just don’t feel like caring anymore
Can’t return once it’s been let out
Filling me with something less than love
Your angry verbiage turned me cancerous
Torched my heart scorched the earth around us
Poisoned your mind even the air you breathe
And yet you still choose to cast me away
                 Chorus

Are you so blind that you cannot see
You do this to you when you do this to me
Are you so blind that you cannot see
You do this to you made me your enemy


Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

I'm One

Okay, this one is short but sweet, unlike me. It's about....well if you can't tell I'm certainly not going to.

I'm one of the
voiceless bastard sons
been slipping through
the cracks of the system
never important
enough to belong
just desperate
to be remembered

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Ten For Tuesday Episode 063



Hey, I finally got one out on time, at least I hope so. Another two weeks another episode of stellar music. A lot of cool bands, people you should listen to if you want to be happy in life. Okay, maybe the music won't make you entire life happy but at least it will brighten it for a few minutes. Onto said music for this episode.

The Impulse International - Get Ready To Go
Superchunk - Void
The Weakerthans - Plea From A Cat Named Virtue
The White Wires - Summer Girl
The dbs - That Time Is Gone
Betty Soo - Love Is Real
Hamilton Leithauser - The Silent Orchestra
Alejandro Escovedo - Crooked Frame
Le Almeida - Micropontes
Low Culture - I Feel Your Ghost

Ten For Tuesday is a podcast dedicated to playing the music I couldn't find anywhere else. The music I like varies from style to style, genre to genre and era to era. You will hear punk, ska, rock, Americana, metal, country, rockabilly and more from all over the world. It doesn't matter if it's a major label or indie as long as I like it then it gets played. The motto is Less Talk More Music which means you won't hear me waxing poetic for fifteen minutes between songs. At TFT its all about the music...and me of course.

Email: tenfortuesday@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Old Episodes can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for Ten For Tuesday

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Video Of Betty Soo and Alejandro Escovedo @ The Vanguard, Tulsa, OK 6/11/14

Since I've been going on and on about seeing Alejandro Escovedo (accompanied by Susan Voelz) and Betty Soo last month here in Tulsa I thought I may as well throw up the little bit of video that I took that night. Yeah, I know this isn't professionally done but that's not the point.

First up is Betty Soo singing Blackwing Butterfly and she is just amazing, what a voice.


Then I took this of Alejandro Escovedo singing one of his older songs, By Eleven.


And lastly here is one of Alejandro's more recent songs, Chelsea Hotel '78 from his album Real Animal. Unfortunately the audio is muffled but it's worth it for the intensity of the performance.


There you have it. It was an extremely good show featuring some fantastic music by all involved.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Saturday, July 5, 2014

notmovingpictures Episode 21: And You Though We Went Away Forever



Man, It's been a really long time since an episode has been put out. A really long time. But your hopes and prayers were not answered, notmovingpictures is back once again. Tommy and I haven't been able to get together and record (that ends tomorrow) but I was able to record this rambling diatribe on life after going to see Alejandro Escovedo and Betty Soo perform on June 11th at The Vanguard here in Tulsa.


For some reason it took me over three weeks to get around to editing it even though I wanted to get it done that night after the show. What can I say about the music? Alejandro is always amazing and this time it was just him and his guitar with violinist Susan Voelz accompanying him. They were mesmerizing in their intensity. Betty Soo was a revelation. She possesses a beautiful and powerful voice and I'm better for having seen her. Their music put me in a very introspective mood as you will hear in the podcast. Well, providing you listen to all of it, that is.


Unless the storm of the century hits tonight/tomorrow morning we will get something recorded on Sunday and I'm rather sure that in two weeks time we'll be able to get together again and record some more. Then of course The Supersuckers are in town this month and I anticipate going to see them so perhaps I'll do another solo epsisode afterwards. This thing could catch on with me as long as there are bands I'd care to go see play. Not too many come here, that or I'm far too picky. Take your choice.

Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing Music: Alejandro Escovedo - Crooked Frame & Betty Soo - Love Is Real

Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

Older episodes can also be found @ www.archive.org, just search for notmovingpictures.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Something Old, Something New, Making A Dream Come True

Yesterday my wife told me a story about something that had happened to her when she was young. Right after that I had to take a shower and get ready for work. Sorry, I know that conjures up a disturbing mental image but that's the facts as they are. Actually I do a lot of my best thinking in the shower however since I'm wet I can't write anything down and often tend to lose those great thoughts unless I make a serious effort at remembering it.

Anyway, as I showered I thought about her story and then somehow  began to think about a poem I had written a long time ago, before I even moved to Oklahoma and that was at the end of 2001. It has sat for all those years and I've never done anything more with it. I ended up thinking that perhaps I could review it and see about doing some editing, perhaps making it more descriptive.  Then I segued back to my wife's story and realized that if I give it some good thought I could make a poem of that.

What happened with her was that when she was six years old there was a religious procession with statues on platforms that people carry and many people get totally absorbed in their worship. They chant (it's Catholicism) and almost reach this state of mind that resembles a higher consciousness because of how much they concentrate. Unfortunately they also can lose track of what is going on around them. My wife fell and was walked on by several people and nobody helped her. Luckily she was able to get up without being seriously hurt.

That's not something I can just toss off with little effort. I'll have to really think about how I want to word things and how I want to present the happenings as a whole. I have some preliminary ideas about people getting so wrapped up in what they are doing that they loss sight of their surroundings. You know, the can't see the forest for the trees kind of thing. Once that and the other re-working I spoke of earlier is done I plan on looking at other things I've written and giving them an overhaul and finally I want to record them and put them out as a podcast episode.

That's something I've have thought about for so long I couldn't tell you when I first had the idea. I do remember a cousin of my roommate  from when I was in the Army in Washington D.C. telling me that she liked my poems but she felt that they needed to be read aloud in my voice to get the full effect. That was in the early nineties so probably it was sometime right before that. For some reason I've never done that but with technology where it is today there's nothing to hold me back, other than my sever procrastination and self doubts that is.

The time is now, I've put off doing things like this for too long and I need to get off the pot (not talking about weed) and get things done. Nobody will do it for me, I have to make the effort and I must say my chances are looking better and better.

Written and Published by Don Leach. May not be used without permission from the author.