notmovingpictures Episode 067: Don't Take It Easy

I recorded this episode on my laptop using Audacity and I'm not entirely happy with the results but it is what it is and I cleaned it up the best I could. A few hours ago I got the news that my mother had another major heart attack so I scrapped what I had already recorded and did this instead. It's just how I feel at this particular moment. Adrift, unsure and waiting. That's life.



Opening music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing music: Bob Mould - Hold On

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

Older episodes of the podcast can be found by going to www.archive.org and searching for notmovingpictures.

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

notmovingpictures Episode 028: Losing Friends, Unrealized Dreams And Other Things

It's time for a solo rant again. Some things have been weighing on my mind as of late and I just had to get them out. I've been reading this journal that I briefly wrote in at the time that I was almost out of the Army in 1995 and then afterwards. It's made me realize that even back then I was a major procrastinator. I wrote about so many things that I wanted to do and even intended to do but never did. In fact, I recently have been slowly moving towards doing spoken word poetry and even fusing that with music but I basically was talking about doing just that thing all those years ago. Perhaps back then it wouldn't have amounted to anything and now is the right time. I have always been a late bloomer in life.



I also have had a few things happen with friends such as an old friend that I had to cut loose because he was just toxic to me and another incident that I don't really wish to share the details of. So I muse on losing friends and if I ever really knew him. I've got enough turmoil in my life as it is and I don't need any more from a supposed friend. I also speak about how societal wise this country is moving towards making you pay for your mistakes or actions from decades before now. As if you could never grow and learn from what you've done in the past. It's insane in my opinion.

Another thing I meander around is being stuck in a job or place in life where you can't do or say things without worrying if it will jeopardize your job. Of course a common subject on the podcast is that I feel  marijuana should be legal, medical or otherwise. There's a few other things I delve into like the whole Ebola scare and manufacturing fear but I'll let you hear it all for yourself. The past week or so has been a reflective period for me, one spent thinking about what was, what is and what may be. Nothing too deep, right? Right. That's what I do, think deep, sometimes too much so, and learn what I can.

Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing Music: Public Image Ltd - Disappointed

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.

notmovingpictures Episode 025: Vacation Talk

This episode is a bit, well, lengthy. Okay, to be honest it's a conversation mainly about my family vacation. Tommy and I talk about almost everything we did like the daytrips to NYC and Atlantic City, buying vinyl records and talking about trying new things musically. It does get a bit wordy and kind of drags for a bit. I loathe doing a lot of editing to notmovingpictures but believe it or not I did do some. Really I like to pretty much present things as they are, warts and all. With that you have episode 25, you might want to skip this one.

Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day  
Closing Music: The Go-Go's - Vacation
Email: notmovingpictures@gmail.com Twitter: @notmovingpics
Blog: www.notmovingpictures.blogspot.com

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

Late Dinner, Inept Cashiers And A Lot Of Hipsters

This past Monday night I was able to leave work to get some late dinner. Since I wanted something quick I decided to go across the street to Wendys even though their service has left a lot to be desired in the past. I won't be making that mistake again. There was one person in front of me and she quickly moved aside and went to get her condiments. The staff mostly stood there waiting for her order and after a few minutes the cashier told me he would be with me in a few moments. He again moved around and a few more minutes later he again told me he would be with me in a few moments and proceeded to go out the door and into the side area. After a few minutes more without seeing him return I walked out the door muttering to myself about how a good chunk of my dinner break was being wasted.

I walked back over through the parking garage to my truck and decided to make the drive to McDonalds. Once there the cashier couldn't seem to get my order right and had to have assistance with the register. Once it was rung up I could tell by the price that it still wasn't correct. She had charged me for the sandwich and not the meal as I had ordered, like I always order it. This took a little more time for them to void the order and enter it in correctly. Eventually I got my food and after sitting down I started to notice the people that were coming into the store. The place was filling up with hipsters dressed in varying shades of green. There was even a forty-five-ish lady with a lime green wig on.

I had totally forgotten that it was St. Patrick's Day and this McDonalds was in an area with a lot of bars around it. Let me be upfront with this, I don't like for hipsters. I have no time to spend on people who wear something be it clothing or glasses or whatever just to be "in" or cool or for whatever kind of validation they are searching for. I tend to be pragmatic . If it's cold outside I dress for the weather not for how I look. You'll never see me buying expensive jeans or trendy shirts. I'm fairly boring in that aspect. My wife says that I'm difficult to buy for because I want something plain and simple without giving free advertising to the company. No emblems or slogans or what have you. Look, I know what I like and at some point I'll find it. That's why it's best to let me find what I want for my birthday or Christmas.

Anyway, back to my disdain for hipsters. They are vile and evil. No really. To be a hipster be definition means you have to be fake and only care about an image so why would I want to spend my time around a person like that? I'm trying to follow the advice of Joe Rogan who has said many times to surround yourself with cool people and by that he means those that accept you for who you are and that you enjoy being around. No drama queens, no energy vampires and certainly no trendy image conscious hipsters. Life is far too short for that kind of game. Of course right now I can't do that with work but in every other aspect that's what I'm trying to do. It's a goal and something to strive for so at least I've got that going for me. So life can't all be bad.



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

New Lyrics - Faded Past

So I've been listening to a fair amount of punk lately, a lot of the Kpunk podcast, and this one came out. I hear it set to punk music but who knows? Maybe Tommy can find a kernel of something here to use for Alloy. I guess the motivation for this is apparent. Maybe it's just me though.

Faded Past

What good is it to look back
On times when I was young
My only thoughts were of fun
You can't go home anymore
Still I like to remember when
Those times when I was thin
Didn't have a care in the world
Thought I had it all under control

             (Chorus)
So I sit alone and have another
Wasted hour wasted day
There's nowhere left to go
Wasted hour wasted day
The records stores closed anyway
Wasted hours wasted day

All my friends have come and gone
Leaving me all alone
Won't see my weep for the lost
Not at the excessive price it costs
Can't try and move forward
If I'm living in the past
Scratch the surface wash the dust
Memories fold together and fade away

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

notmovingpictures Episode 19: A Journey Revisted

Its been a long, long time but I have finally gotten back to my other podcast, notmovingpictures. The last episode was way back in October and actually this one was recorded before that one. The file has sat around on my laptop ever since until this past week when I got off my lazy butt and edited it. Be forewarned, it was recorded in a noisy diner so the sound quality isn't great but beggars can't be choosers.

So what is this episode about? In 1983 four guys went to see Journey with Bryan Adams opening in Norman, Oklahoma. Since that date all four had never been in the same room again at the same time. Up to three, yes but never all four again until you flash forward thirty years and they get together and talk about the old days, food, eating establishments (hey, we're old), Northeastern State University and what they've been doing in life. Strangely, about the only thing we didn't talk about was the Journey/Bryan Adams concert. I guess there's always next time, huh? 

Opening Music: Alloy - Live To See The Day
Closing Music: Journey - Stone In Love

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

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

Lyrics And Lunch, Is It Podcast TIme?

I came up with a few lines last night after I came home from work. Not enough for a song unless it's a rather short one but that's okay. Maybe Tommy can flesh it out. Strange how I can go for weeks with nothing moving me to write and suddenly I get sparked into creativity and it seems to flow forth. I'll take it for as long as it lasts.

Talking head with a machine gun mouth
Drive by spraying innocents with hatred
Taking aim out of context
It doesn't matter you don't believe it anyway

Bobbleheaded yes men so quick to agree
Who knew the populace has such hostility
Believe what you hear not what you learn
Deceived and seduced by false piety

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with Tommy, Henry and Jimmie, the three guys that I went to see Journey with in Oklahoma City back in 1983. I'm leaning towards taking my recorder and using what we talk about as an episode of notmovingpictures whether they realize it or not. That podcast certainly needs the content. Henry is coming from out of state and he and I pledged Sig Tau together back in the day. We didn't always get along perfectly but you know what? None of that junk matters anymore. We're a bunch of old guys who have a lot of history. Bobby's death and funeral certainly put that all into perspective.

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

New Stuff I'm Working On

I've had a lot on my mind lately and as such some of it is starting to leak from my brain. All of this is basically first draft stuff so take it for what it is.

9/17/13

I have no choice but to follow

The dance of make believe you regurgitate
Creating it as you go along
Changing the rules on a whim
Keeping everyone off balance
Unsure of what the day will hold
Do as you wish not what’s best
Wield your pretend power
Keep it going as long as you can
Take full advantage of it
One day I’ll disappear from here
Not that it matters though

9/16
Tell your tall tales
Standing six feet above
Spread your cancerous rumors
With no hint of love

Some Of Them 9/16/13

Some of them drift in
From time to time
Some of them remain
To this very day
Some of them stay online
Keeping a presence known
Some of them disappeared
From the start faded away

Missed opportunities
A prayer left unsaid
Vowed never to repeat
Left with bowed head
Never again, never again
Mutter in fevered prayer
Open my eyes to the world
Never fail you again my friend

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

Didn't I Used To Know You?

As I arrived late to church last week I sat down at the back and just in front of me I noticed a man that from my vantage point looked like someone I had known a long time ago. Well, just briefly that is and only if I allowed myself to believe it. In truth he barely had a passing resemblance to an old fraternity friend that I haven't seen in about twenty six years. If I narrowed my eyes just so the illusion held for a few seconds until common sense prevailed and I realized that it wasn't him.

Still, the idea persisted in my head of what if it had been him? After all that time I knew that it was very likely that he wouldn't recognize me as I had changed greatly over all those years. Would he even remember my name? This is relevant because this person had been an alcoholic and the last time my best friend Tommy had seen him was just a few years after graduating college and this man had barely known who he was then. Even after prompting him with details he seemed disinterested at speaking with this person he had know day in and day out for several years.

The more I thought about the idea of friendship the more I thought about how it changes over time. Back in those college days I had more friends at one time than I ever had before but by the definition of the word a lot of them were in reality acquaintances. We spent a great deal of time around each other but we never really got to know each other. There was a certain core group of individuals to whom I was closer to and within that group another smaller one comprised of those that I would do just about anything for. With all of these groups I felt as if they were family to me. What can I say? I was young and unencumbered by the problems of life at that point.

As we all got older and graduated or (in my case) left school our lives changed. People moved away to other cities, other state and sometimes other countries. They got married, had children and started careers, not necessarily in that order. The more their schedules filled up with day to day minutiae of grownup life the less time there was for old friends and even less for old acquaintances. Without even realizing it we all left those who used to matter so much behind.

In this modern, brave new world it is much easier to keep in contact than it was back then but that comes at a price. Back then answering machines were not commonplace nor was caller I.D. so you had a better chance of reaching someone. Of course you had to call from a place that had an actual telephone, unlike today where people have the freedom to call from anywhere they want. Be it from their car, the store or even from their toilet. Strangely though even the practice of calling is changing depending on your generation.

Nowadays it's even more extremely convenient to simply send a text or an email to be read at the recipients leisure. Actual verbal contact isn't required at all. With that we pass from one era to another. There are things my son will never experience and some of that is good, some not so good. The thing is, we really can't do much about that. It's the way things are, the only thing constant is change and you either adapt to the world around you or stay where you are and grow stagnant.

So how can I sum up how I feel about my old friends? Some of them I am in constant contact with to this day. Some I see or call occasionally. Some I am friends with on Facebook. Some never respond when I leave them a message. Some are never seen or heard from again. And some have already departed. As we get older the last group will only get larger. Hopefully at some point we'll wake up and try and find the time to see each other even if it's only once or twice a year. Even more hopefully every once in a while we'll also make new friends that we will hold as dearly to us as we do the old.

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

Updating The Website And Stuff

I actually used some of my temporary bachelor time (more on that later) today to work on the website for my friends band Alloy. You can go to www.alloyrocks.com to see the changes that we made. It was nice to actually get something done creatively speaking and to just hang out with Tommy, my brother from other parents. hopefully next week I'll be able to make it to their practice and get some pictures and video to work with. We plan on also working on some much overdue lyrics as well. I really need to get some work done on the creative side of the wall. Too many ideas and topics and seemingly never enough time to mess with it all.

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

Episode 15 of notmovingpictures is Ready!!!!

The much delayed episode 15 of the notmovingpictures podcast is finally available. This time around Don and Tommy go for an in depth discussion on their differing writing styles and how those very differences compliment each other. Of course you know at some point that Don will start rambling as he is wont to do but it wouldn't be the same otherwise. Tommy's band Alloy is working on new songs and that factors in as well. As always Alloy supplies the opening music and this time the closing music is from The Rollins Band. Listen to it here or go to www.notmovingpictures.podomatic.com where you can stream, download or subscribe on Itunes.

  

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

The Road To Rush

At last the day has come for a road trip, Tommy (my brother from other parents) and his son Chris brought me along with them once again to see Rush. The idea we have is to go someplace we've never seen before and it was decided that we would travel to San Antonio, Texas. After about eight hours on the road (and a traffic jam in Austin) we arrived at our hotel and promptly went down to the Riverwalk to do the tourist thing. I had some Huevos Rancheros which I've never had before and more things are lined up for tomorrow. The best thing of course is seeing Rush, for me it will be my eighth time.

I think that every so often it's good to get away from things and relax, whether by yourself or with close friends, whichever works best for you. Tommy and I intend to work on some lyrics while we are here and hopefully the trip will jumpstart us creatively.  We'll try and poke around the town in the short time we have. Below are pictures of my dinner and the view from our room. Look for a special new episode of Ten For Tuesday of all Rush tomorrow and new notmovingpictures will be coming soon as well.

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

Drifting In And Out Of Our Lives

It's strange how people drift in and out of our lives in patterns of randomness. One moment they appear, a part of your everyday existence and the next they're gone. Then you have to start adjusting your habits and routines as if they never were there in the first place. Of course when you're very young it's easier to make changes and then for in the grade school range it can be really difficult until you reach a certain age where it's almost expected and you don't even notice.

When I was in college people came and went with regularity. Some would hang around my group of friends for a time and then drift away or sometimes even leave school. I did that myself more than once. Often we would leave for the summer and then come back after having worked jobs and presumably saved some money to help offset the extreme poverty of being a student that we would soon have. Some of our friends would be gone with little to no explanation and inevitably there would be new ones to take their places. I'm still looking for some of those friends.

For me right now it's also an issue of family. Neither my wife nor myself have any family even close to this area which can make it rough. My family has only seen my son twice. My mother in law has seen him three or four times and my wife's brother and father who are in Peru only once. So we are drifting in and out of their lives as we are able to and the same applies to them. Because everyone lives so far away and the fact that we don't have a large amount of disposable income that makes it difficult to stay close and see each other.

Thankfully we have the use if the internet which makes it easier to post pictures and videos on my blog so that all of our family can keep up with us. There's also programs like Skype (if only I could get them to use it) or other video messenger programs available. More often than not though it's the cellphone that gets used the most. Luckily now my wife can call as much as she wants whenever she wants, even to Peru. I wish we had found this phone plan out before getting the large bills for going over our minutes.

The internet has also been resourceful in finding some of those old friends from the old days but still, as I said before, there are some that remain lost, stuck back in the old days of my memories. One way they can drift back into my life is by writing about them on my blog, looking at pictures and making them available to other old friends so that they can also let us all drift back into our old lives. Regrettably, we can't all remain together for the rest of our lives no matter how much we wish it could be sometimes. It's just not possible so we continue to drift and perhaps if we're lucky we can make it happen more frequently. At least I have some very good memories of times with family and friends to carry me through. Right now that has to be enough.

Published by Don Leach

It's A Small World Sometimes

Recently I've reconnected with an old Army friend via Facebook. We were stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. in the early to mid 90s where he was in medical maintenance and I was in personnel records. We were roommates as well living in the Maryland Suburbs and as a matter of fact I was one of his best men at his wedding. I left the military in 1995 and the last I knew he had been sent to Germany for a tour. After that we drifted apart (this was before email was so prevalent) as it happens to so many people. From time to time I would try to look him up on the internet but I never had any luck.

Then came Facebook which I resisted for as long as I could. We've now found each other and are starting to catch up on each others lives and in doing so found out a funny little thing. We both are now Mormons and it appears that we both were introduced to the church by our now wives (singular for each of us not plural). It's a small, small world sometimes. Now, some might be thinking that didn't I just say that I went to see Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer in concert and Iron Maiden before that? Yeah, so what's your point? I am not the most conventional Mormon out there it is true but honestly too many people think that if you're a member of the church, any church, then you can't like music like that. Well I think you're wrong but that's just my opinion. What somebody likes and dislikes is their business and who am I to stick my nose in it? After all, it seems that a ton of people like Air Supply and I can't stand them at all but it doesn't mean I look down my nose at them. Well, maybe just a little.

So soon we'll be talking over the phone and we can catch up on all the little details of our lives. I'm not one to question when something good like this happens, I just plan on enjoying it. It's a good time for it for me too. Just when you need something, there it is.

Thinking About Road Trips Past and Present

Going on last weeks road trip has had me thinking about how different things are now from my youth. For instance, for my overnight trip I packed enough clothes, even some for an emergency and had my shampoo and other toiletries. My friend Tom made sure his truck was gassed up and even had his tires rotated and balanced. We brought enough money for food, a hotel room and concert t-shirts if we wanted to buy one (which I did not end up doing). All in all it was well planned out and we had an enjoyable time.

When we were in high school and college it was much different. Our first concern was that the concert tickets were paid for and then that we had money for a t-shirt. Not purchasing a shirt was not an option, it was a requirement. Everything else was secondary. There were times where we didn't even check to see if we had a spare tire much less if it had enough air in it. If we didn't drive back after the show we would just pull over somewhere and sleep in the car or find someplace to rest. There were no changes of clothes, no toothbrushes or shampoo weighing us down. We would eat IF we had the time, chance or money left over. Then we would arrive home tired and grimy but would have a grin on our faces whenever someone would see out concert t-shirt or when we would brag to other friends about having gone to see the show.

Back then we didn't have many concerns or serious worries. If there was something we wanted to do and we could make it happen on a whim then we generally did it. Hell, Tom was sneaking off to see shows that were several hours away all of the time even after his father told him he couldn't go. No, these were simpler times when we didn't have serious jobs or families to worry about and our entire lives were ahead of us. My only regret is that I didn't take more advantage of the situation than I did.

Now we have those families and those serious jobs where we have to plan ahead and ask for days off and make arrangements for someone to watch our kids. We have to consider if it puts too much stress on our spouses and hope that we can put aside the thoughts about work piling up while we are away reliving our youth. This trip took a lot of effort on my part just to see if it was possible that I could go. The day before we left I had to cut the grass, put away clean dishes and wash dirty ones and do several loads of laundry all while taking care of my son. Then I had to go to work and put up with the usual stuff there. But I remember a time back then when Tom showed up at my summer job at noon to ask me if I could get off right then so that we could go see Journey in Oklahoma City. My dad wasn't very pleased that I left work just to go see a concert but as I pointed out to him, it was just a summer job and I wasn't going to be doing it forever. Now was the time, the chance to go see a show with friends. To goof off and have a laugh. To just enjoy life. There was time to be serious later, when we were older and presumably wiser.

Of course now that I am older and (maybe) wiser I realise that I no longer want to sleep in a car or stay up until 4am driving back from a show. I don't want to go without a shower or a meal. I like having a good nights sleep. I'm thankful for technology which allows us to see at a moments notice if there are any of our groups out there coming anywhere close so that we can even think about going to see them. Then we can plan our trip down to as minute a detail as we want. Back in the day the only way to find out about concerts was by listening to the radio and then asking around for directions to the venue. It was always an adventure just to get to the show on time and then find our way home. It was a lucky time if we didn't have any classes the next day and could sleep in.

As I slide closer to middle age (did I just shudder?) I'm actually glad that I want my creature comforts and I don't have to do things like camp out for tickets. I'm glad I have my wife and child and all of the responsibilities and worries that come with the territory. I'm happy to have a job with benefits that allows me the time to feed my inner child. Because when it comes down to it all of the past has made me who I am today. All of the good and not so good times, the trips, the time hanging out doing next to nothing, just enjoying the moment helped mould me into the semi-sane person that I am today. And I wouldn't trade a moment of it for anything in the world. Unless of course it was to get backstage and then all bets are off.

This one had me laughing out loud.

This video was sent to me from someone that I work with and it was so funny that I was laughing out loud. It really brightened my day because I think that it's true that friends would do this to each other in real life.



If that didn't make your day well then I feel sorry for you because it certainly made mine.