Signs of spring

[Dorsetmike]

Daffodils and crocus are coming into bloom, long yellow catkins on the hazel and clouds of white flowers on the blackthorn bushes in the hedgerows, temperature hit 14C for a while before the sun got covered by clouds.

 

[Albert]

GRRRRRR! We have over a meter of snow on the ground. I was told when I moved here 30 odd years ago that we only have two seasons: Winter and July. I'm coming to believe it.

 

[JHC]

Temp 24 deg C humidity 90% wet and warm

 

[elderpiano]

All the usual little snowdrops showing now. Daffies coming up. Birds chirping early mornings. Very nice and mild.

 

[Krummhorn]

Quite a bit of rain over the weekend here ... down into the 50's. So peaceful and a comforting sound hearing the gas forced air furnace start up and feel it's warmth throughout the house. Good days for warm tamales and refried beans with melted cheese on top. Mmmm.

We can almost hear the weeds growing now ... their ugly heads will start popping through the ground in another month.

 

[John Watt]

We hafta come up with a new word for winter, here in the Niagara Peninsula.
That wasn't a winter.

Krummhorn! You just reminded me I have a little tub of sour cream in the fridge,
that I used for a wrap a couple weeks ago.
I better take a look or that might be growing too.

I noticed, in online guitar forums, guy who made fun of stoner guitar solos,
called it playing "weedly weedly weedly", almost hearing the weeds growing now.


"They Ugly Heads". You're not thinking of starting a melodic metal band, are you?

 

[Krummhorn]

. . . "They Ugly Heads". You're not thinking of starting a melodic metal band, are you?

Heavens no! :lol:

 

[John Watt]

Here's a question for you, Krummhorn.

First, how are you on Hammond B3 organs?
Do you see B3 solo acts as the performances of an organist,
or do you see it as a pop-rock instrument?
Please be careful how you answer that, after reading next.
I'm trying to be conductorial here, and yes, that's not a real word.

When I was an usher at the Park Theatre in the late sixties,
one of the shorts they played between movies was Erroll Garner playing Misty.
He was sitting behind a Hammond B3, showing him playing the song he wrote.

At the time, he said he didn't know how to read or write music,
and just put together all the "walking chords" he knew,
and wrote the melody in under twenty minutes, with the words.
That was one of the biggest hit songs ever.

When I first bought my Stratocaster, and wanted to learn to play properly,
I ordered three pieces of sheet music from a New York publishing house,
a recommendation from the musician's union in St. Catharines.
One of them was "Misty".
Back then, I could strum it enough to sing the song, and I still sing it to myself,
a nice bike-hike song for riding through the fog and mist,
and sometimes, my mist is Niagara Falls.

Now, I've decided that's a song I want to start doing in public,
along with Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Now I can play the r'n'b, or jazz, chords, and walk a line on the D string.

Are you familiar with this walking chord, walking bass style,
and what do you think about "Misty"?
Emaj7 to C#m7 to F#m, is still an exciting chord, uh, downfall.
yeah, the mist around here turns into a downfall right away,
with acid colours.

Here's a keyboard photo with the drum divider for the next booth behind it,
at the Hard Rock Cafe, staff saying they're going out of business this year.
And that's a view of the Falls with the old and new lighting.
Here's three more photos that show the new Niagara Falls.

Two photos show both sides of the view at Lundy's Lane,
where it turns towards Clifton Hill, the main street to the Falls.
The Q.E.W. highway shot shows an empty highway coming in to the Falls.

 

[Albert]

Bumping into this thread and answering as if you asked me instead of Krummhorn. The out of tune partials on Hammonds drive me bonkers. Literally. I was so crazy a bit over a year ago that when my deacon neighbour said the church couldn't find an organist for a wedding, I played a C3 (B3 with internal speakers). Ghastly sounding machine. The gig went over well, though. The bride had asked for Pachelbel's infamous canon in D as the entrance, so I worked it up here on the Johannus, and it wasn't up to the sound standards of the twenty strings it was written for, but with the Voix Céleste it came out OK. Then I tried it on the C3. Both the bride and I just about threw up, so I downloaded a track and played through a Yamaha electric piano off my phone. There was absolutely no drawbar shape that could handle it. None. And I DO know how to manipulate drawbars. I've been doing it for 50 years. I still detest the sound.

 

[Krummhorn]

I echo your grief, Albert ...

Years ago on a larger Hammond (with 25 pedals) I played for a military wedding on base; the requested recessional was the Widor Toccata; the stupid vibrato could not be turned off ... I turned the knob and it spun around like a merry-go-round ... the end sound was so frightful that on the last chord I felt like adding a 2nd to the final chord.

Back to topic - spring is coming to the Old Pueblo ... was in the 70's today and lots of sunshine. Rain is in the forecast for Tue/Wed then back up to the 80's by Friday.

 

[John Watt]

I have both similar comments and defensive comments, being emotional about Hammond and Leslie speakers.
You're right about any other organ, even any other Hammond, that isn't a B.
The only Hammond ever used around here, was the full B3, and with no legs for onstage stacking, the Porta-B.
I still don't understand the special fluid they invented that you have to keep moistured up.

I could justify the sound Krummhorn is talking about,
because that organ might have been set up to play with a Leslie that's not there.
Jimi Hendrix used a Leslie in the studio, a photo of that inside Electric Ladyland.

My Leslie Story.
I was in Ostenak's Music in St. Catharines, where I hung out sometimes,
being friends with Walter Ostenak, where I met him when I joined the Musician's Union.
He eventually won three Grammy Awards in a row for his Polka recordings.

He was showing me this big Leslie, saying he took it back as part of the deal,
but it's old, it's the biggest Leslie made, it's all natural wood,
and he's probably going to end up donating it to a church.
I said really, does that mean I can afford it.
He said John, it's for an organ, it's not a guitar amplifier.
I said I know how to wire an electric guitar so it plays through a Leslie.

I did that, and being confident, starting strumming some chords to "Drifting",
"Cry of Love", and "Little Wing", sounding just like the record, soft, atmospheric,
that Leslie sound, moving around, not speeding up or slowing down like with the organ though.
Turning a B3 off, letting the sound slip away, and turning it back on for an effect,
can be done with the tremolo arm of a Stratocaster, so I was doing that.

Walter sold it to me for $100 and used his van to bring it to Welland with me,
going back and forth on the ride, and then riding back home myself.
Walter was an amazing person to talk with, considering everything he accomplished.
He owned a television studio, radio station and recording studio, a real conglomerate.
He also hired the best musicians and paid them the same as him for live gigs.
When Walter had a heart attack, and started mall-walking, in the newspaper,
sales improved in the mall. So many people went to meet him and wish him well.

For organists, Walters' organ is very small, an accordian,
but at least he's pumping up and pumping out his own air.
Just like a bagpipe, that's an amazing reservoir to have.
You don't have to puff up your cheeks for circular breathing,
because your instrument is giving it to you.

Here's a photo from Welland, Ontario, out the door of my balconey, yesterday,
the end of February, winter here in the Niagara Peninsula beside Niagara Falls.