Saturday, October 17, 2015

Riding Bikes On My Day Off, A Sort Of Family Day

My son was out of school Thursday and Friday for Fall Break. I know, it's a foreign concept to me as well, time that I never got off when I was in school but hey, it's a new era. A kindler, gentler one. While we still have some nice weather I decided to take Thursday off and spend it with the family. That notion got a little lost though as I found out when I got up to an empty house. Turns out my wife had class that day when I could have sworn she said she didn't. I was wrong. So very wrong. She took our son to his friends house where he was hanging out with them.

My not so carefully laid plans for the day were now scrapped. Once my wife came home and we realized how crossed our wires had been (in my defense I did try calling and texting her multiple times to find out what was going on) we called and told them we were coming to pick our son up. An early dinner at Goldie's was the next thing to take care of and once our perfectly edible food was consumed we headed over to Riverside Drive to get some exercise riding bikes.

My son has a bike but my wife and I don't, at least not right now. Instead we utilize this thing called Tulsa Townies which has free bike rentals at three locations, two of which are there on Riverside where there are bike and running trails, a kids play area park and other things. The bikes are basic, bare bones, nothing special and are a bright pink color but I can't really complain about that since it doesn't cost me anything to use them. All you have to do is use a credit card for the rental to guarantee that the bike is returned and then return it in a timely manner. The only thing that can limit you is if there are any bikes at the location you go to and if any of them fit you.

This time around there were five bikes to choose from and for once luck was with me as one was perfect for my height. Usually they're a little bit too short which makes the peddling much harder on these long legs. Just like that we were off, a family riding together by the river, reveling in the sun and the fresh air. Just being outside feeling the breeze on me was invigorating. My son is a new rider having gained his confidence only this summer and he wants to stop far too often for my taste. I'm trying to get him to understand that to improve his stamina you have to keep going, even when you're tired. You try explaining that to an eight year old.

We were able to get him to go farther than we have before simply because we didn't stop every time he wanted to, a major accomplishment achieved. On our way back at a certain point my wife told me to go on ahead, that she would stay with him and go slower as she was a bit tired. That's all I needed to hear. I poured on the speed and pushed it as hard as I could. As a matter of fact I ended up reaching the rental area breathing heavily thirteen minutes ahead of them. Even though I'm old and out of shape my mind still tells me to push it as hard as I can and I try and act the same as I did when I was twenty. I don't know if that's a good way to do things but it's what I've got.

Once they straggled in we returned the bikes and then rewarded ourselves with a movie at Eton Square Cinemas, my favorite place in Tulsa. At home things didn't end as I would have liked but they didn't start that way either so it is what it is. Another day gone, one well worth missing work for. How many more of these am I going to get with the family? Not enough, not enough by a longshot.

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

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Ska Beat Radio Show 11/30/97 WMUL Huntington, WV

The tape from the 11/30/97 Ska Beat show has been uploaded to the Internet Archive. Go here to check it out.

Isaac Green & The Skalars - Don't Count
The Skatalites - Guns Of Navarone
The Slackers Watch It
Dr Ring Ding & The Senior Allstars - Shame And Scandal
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes - Carry Go Bring Come
The Toasters - Two Tone Army
The Potato Five - Do The Jerk
Los Hooligans - Stephanie
Regatta 69 - Operation Time Control
The Dance Hall Crashers - Lost Again
Skankin' Pickle - Turning Japanese
Undercover Ska - March Slob
MU330 - Neighbors
The Scofflaws - William Shatner
The Aquabats - Idiot Box
The Skoidats - Rootsawalkin'
The Instigators - Bandito (tape switches over)
Skavoovie & The Epitones - Blood Red Sky
The Shenanigans - Cupid
The Specials - Simmer Down
Bob Marley - Judge Not
Prince Buster & The Skatalites - King Of Kings
Mento Buru - Move It Girl
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get
Persiana Jones - Come Me Gusto
Spring Heeled Jack - Pay Some Dues
Ocean 11 - I Am Queen
Mephiskapheles - Saba
Venice Shoreline Chris - Ex Darling
Laurel Aitken - Rudy Got Married
Arthur Kay - Play My Record

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

New Stationary Nomads Song - Conflict Registered

     After a minor delay I can proudly announce that my second song is now available on Bandcamp (for free). Just follow the link here to listen or download it. You could pay for it but why? The track is called Conflict Registered and once again the project name is Stationary Nomads. This time around I worked with my friend Aaron Hlusko to bring the song to life. Not only did Aaron play all of the music and program the drums, he also recorded everything and made it sound like I can sing, which is no small feat.
     Creating something feels amazing and we're already working on another track which thankfully (for you) will be more of a spoken word with music piece. It also looks like we might do a version of my first song Ladrones since I've never been happy with the drum sound on that one. Of course I've got a ton of other ideas so if anybody else can play music and wants to create something let me know, I'm up for the challenge.

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

Friday, October 9, 2015

Ska Beat 11/23/97 WMUL radio show

Ska Beat was a radio show I did in the latter part of the 90s while I was a community volunteer at WMUL, Marshall University in Huntington, Wv. This is the 2nd show that I have put online recorded from cassettes back in the day and it is what it is, I've made no attempt to clean up the sound and I didn't always remember to turn the tape over or even on so be kind. Still, there's some great music on these tapes. More will be forthcoming when I have the time.

Unfortunately I can't get the player from the Archive to embed so you'll have to follow the link here to listen to it.

New York Ska Jazz Ensemble - John James
Skinnerbox, - Move Like Ya Gone
The Slackers - Cooking For Tommy
The Toasters - Daddy Cry
Los Pies Negros - Siempre Igual
Buck O Nine - My Town
Ska King Crab - Mike The Barber
Dance Hall Crashers - He Wants Me Back
Magadog - Semi-Sweet
Supertones - Unite
Let's Go Bowling - Cumbia del Sol
Save Ferris - Super Spy
The Skoidats - Granted
The Aquabats - The Story Of Nothing
Save Ferris - World Is New
Oi Skall Mates - Nutty Sound
Mu330 - Tune Me Out
tape cuts off
The Upbeat - 17@17
Mephiskapheles - Introducing The Yellow Passion
Hepcat - Bobby and Joe
The Allentons - Pyramid Five
Madness - The Prince
Voodoo Glow Skulls - Malas Palabras
Laurel Aitken - Mad About You

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

Ten For Tuesday Episode 082: This One Is For Carol Jannsen

Yes I know it's not Tuesday but I couldn't hold back any longer on this episode. If you are asking yourself who is Carol Janssen and why does she rate an episode dedicated to her well the answer is easy. Carol is a listener and sometimes guest host on the Stuck In The 80s podcast that I hold so dear in my heart. A few episodes back she wrote in explaining that she had been working a massive bunch of hours and wanted some suggestions for music to help her pick her energy level up on those rare occasions when work was finished. I might be paraphrasing here and adding my own details but I can do that, it's my blog. At any rate of course I was inspired to write a few song titles down but not enough to actually send them in. The more I thought about it though the more I felt the need to turn it into my own podcast episode so here we go. Nine slices of energy building 80s classics (and one from the late 70s) guaranteed to get your feet moving so long as you're not dead. Wow, did I use the word episode enough this time? Be forewarned, there's lots of ska here.



Madness - One Step Beyond
The English Beat - Ranking Full Stop
Romeo Void - Never Say Never
Fishbone - Party At Ground Zero
The Skids - Into The Valley
The Vapors - Turning Japanese
The Special AKA - Free Nelson Mandela
Oingo Boingo - Who Do You Want To Be
The Selector - On My Radio
Bad Manners - Lip Up Fatty

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.