Sunwaiter mentioned pet hates. I got into it from my rock concert perspective, and Corno Dolce reminded me of another. Clone bands. Hey, you said Al Dime-ola. He earned that nickname here. A lot of guitarists, me and my friends included, went to see him at Kleinhann's in Buffalo, after Return to Forever had been gone for a while. He stood up front by himself with a clone band, a keyboardist playing Chick Corea parts and even a bassist, tall and skinny looking like Stanley Clarke, playing an Alembic bass too. All Al did was stand there louder than everyone else, riffing away single note speed riffs, looking bored and paunchy. The audience shouted for him to turn down. He didn't say much, the band wasn't getting into it behind him, and it was one of the worst performances I've heard.
I used to watch Merv Griffin when I got home from grade school. He always sang and had bands and talked to his musicians. For a while he had Chick Corea playing solo grand piano on once a week. I've been listening to him ever since. Merv talked about himself with a contemporary recording artist who asked him why he wasn't putting out albums. Merv said when he was younger, he had just released a novelty song with a big band, finally making it on the charts, when he heard rock'n'roll bands and saw the kid's reaction. Investing in radio stations to play this new music made him rich, so he could afford his own live T.V. show. He talked about equipment too, and the first thing I did when I moved to Toronto as a musician in the early 70's was buy a brand new Shure SM58 mike just like Merv's. That became the industry standard for rock, what Jimi Hendrix used with SM57's, and I never had to throw one away. Carrying your own mike, like Merv said, might not have had the same breathing someone else's germs concern that there is now, but everything he said still works for me. Just a little Jimi Hendrix and Merv Griffin duality, with me aging in the, not crate or cask, but case.
The head of Celine Dion, the breast of Mariah Carey, the arms of Amy Winehouse, the hips of Britney Spears, and the legs, the legs, oh... Cyd Charisse. I gotta be real about those. She was on Merv Griffin too. And Sunwaiter, as far as music appreciation goes. One thing I do is stand at the back, or sit at the end of the bar and drum along with the music. That helps you get into it, getting a feel from the beat so you can enjoy yourself even if the soloing leaves you cold. Singing along is always fun, and I've never been asked to be quiet, sometimes leading a dance floor. But please, don't get me wrong. I've never sung along to a jukebox and only did karaoke while lettering in a bar, asked to help start the night for a free meal. Some dualities are best left being separated.
