Sunday, December 16, 2007
DAN FOGELBERG, RIP
Just saw in the news where Dan Fogelberg died this morning. If you're my age, you probably remember a time when you couldn't get away from this guy on the radio; which was okay, because he was a fairly decent songwriter. In fact, when I was in high school, one of my favorite albums was Fogelberg's "Souvenirs," which didn't have any hit singles, really, but 'Part of the Plan," "Morning Sky," "As the Raven Flies" and others got all kinds of airplay on progressive-minded album rock stations.
The more successful he got, the less I liked him. His biggest hits were, sadly, kinda schmaltzy. "Leader of the Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne" always hit me as being rather overdone.
By the mid-80s, Fogelberg had kinda lost it. He made a bluegrass album that was just okay and then I stopped paying attention.
In fact, until I heard about him passing this morning, I had pretty much forgotten about Dan Fogelberg.
That got me thinking about a lot of the music I listened to -- and enjoyed immensely -- in my youth, that I've sort of forgotten about --or, even worse, realized that if sort of falls into the 'not very important' category after all this time.
For example: I'm a big fan of the blues. I REALLY like the old recordings of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. When I was a teenager, I bought a lot of their old Folkways albums (still priceless and wonderful) as well as some of their later stuff, recorded after they'd been together a while and after they'd sort of outlived their usefulness to each other. While I liked those albums too when I bought them, I have made no attempt to download mp3s of them because I realize now that they're not really very good.
Same too, I recently bought a downloadable version of one of the last albums Doc Watson recorded with his son Merle before Merle suddenly died. It was an album I really liked when I bought it in the late 70s. But listening to it now, they sound disinterested and stuck playing middle-of-the-road covers of Waylon Jennings songs and the like because that's what the record company wanted.
I guess changing your mind about things you like is a matter of moving on in life. And if you still like the stuff you liked as a kid, then it's gonna be with you for life. So the Beatles, Frank Zappa, Leon Russell, Randy Newman, etc. have nothing to worry about, I guess. I do wish something would come along nowadays that I'd like as much as those people but I doubt that will ever happen.
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Baseball will overcome the steroid scandal. I'm not going to be any less interested, I'll tell you that.
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Why do I have to get a cold right before Office Christmas Lunch Week? Great new product: Puffs tissues infused with Vick's Vapo-Rub. Niiiiiice.
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My favorite Indian Restaurant, India Delhi Palace, which used to be at 7th St. and Bell, then moved to 32nd Street and Greenway, has moved back to my side of town at 27th Avenue and Bell! Hooray! We ate there the other night and it was great!
TT
TT
Just saw in the news where Dan Fogelberg died this morning. If you're my age, you probably remember a time when you couldn't get away from this guy on the radio; which was okay, because he was a fairly decent songwriter. In fact, when I was in high school, one of my favorite albums was Fogelberg's "Souvenirs," which didn't have any hit singles, really, but 'Part of the Plan," "Morning Sky," "As the Raven Flies" and others got all kinds of airplay on progressive-minded album rock stations.
The more successful he got, the less I liked him. His biggest hits were, sadly, kinda schmaltzy. "Leader of the Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne" always hit me as being rather overdone.
By the mid-80s, Fogelberg had kinda lost it. He made a bluegrass album that was just okay and then I stopped paying attention.
In fact, until I heard about him passing this morning, I had pretty much forgotten about Dan Fogelberg.
That got me thinking about a lot of the music I listened to -- and enjoyed immensely -- in my youth, that I've sort of forgotten about --or, even worse, realized that if sort of falls into the 'not very important' category after all this time.
For example: I'm a big fan of the blues. I REALLY like the old recordings of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. When I was a teenager, I bought a lot of their old Folkways albums (still priceless and wonderful) as well as some of their later stuff, recorded after they'd been together a while and after they'd sort of outlived their usefulness to each other. While I liked those albums too when I bought them, I have made no attempt to download mp3s of them because I realize now that they're not really very good.
Same too, I recently bought a downloadable version of one of the last albums Doc Watson recorded with his son Merle before Merle suddenly died. It was an album I really liked when I bought it in the late 70s. But listening to it now, they sound disinterested and stuck playing middle-of-the-road covers of Waylon Jennings songs and the like because that's what the record company wanted.
I guess changing your mind about things you like is a matter of moving on in life. And if you still like the stuff you liked as a kid, then it's gonna be with you for life. So the Beatles, Frank Zappa, Leon Russell, Randy Newman, etc. have nothing to worry about, I guess. I do wish something would come along nowadays that I'd like as much as those people but I doubt that will ever happen.
------
Baseball will overcome the steroid scandal. I'm not going to be any less interested, I'll tell you that.
------
Why do I have to get a cold right before Office Christmas Lunch Week? Great new product: Puffs tissues infused with Vick's Vapo-Rub. Niiiiiice.
------
My favorite Indian Restaurant, India Delhi Palace, which used to be at 7th St. and Bell, then moved to 32nd Street and Greenway, has moved back to my side of town at 27th Avenue and Bell! Hooray! We ate there the other night and it was great!
TT
TT
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