Grammy's, Shammy's.....

Day; 256. Sunny and gorgeous again!

Temperature on outside kiln; 50 degrees!
kiln firings; none
Music in the sudio; Singer/songwriter Josh Ritter

Monday and Tuesday spent in the studio doing chores; mixing glazes, scraping shelves... etc...

Since it is sunny and almost warm outside, I am in the backyard scraping and kiln-washing my shelves. This is an arduous task that should be done after every firing and I think the last time it was done Pepe-the-intern thankfully did it for me, so that puts it at about 9-10 months ago! No wonder they are a veritable mess! It had gotten to the point where I had no clean shelves left and could not fire the kiln without completing this task... Bad, bad potter!!








Listening to a wonderful singer/songwriter named Josh Ritter today, it took me forever to find some music  recorded in the last twenty years that I wanted to listen to...  After watching the Grammy's last night, I came away with the same feeling I have every year, where-oh-where is all the good contemporary music? Why must I go back to Motown and the Laurel Canyon in the 60's and 70's to find anything worth listening to??
Most of the music performed last night I couldn't understand the lyrics or wished I couldn't, it all seemed so insipid and shallow... But when you grow up on Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell (my generations' best), where can you go from there?!..
I was happy to see that they did a one song tribute to Glen Frey and the Eagles with Jackson Brown singing lead, Joe Walsh playing guitar, and Don Henley of course on drums... I am sure none of the young people in the Staples Center last night really grasped the significance of that, they must have thought it was just a bunch of grey hairs singing Take It Easy. And well, it was that, but so much more... How does one explain what happened in So. Cal musically in the late 60's-80's if you weren't there to live it? Joni, Jackson, Bonnie Raitt, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Jesse Colin Young, Mamas and the Papas, the Eagles, Kenny Loggins, the list goes on and on...
Growing up 60 miles south of LA in Orange County at the time, I saw some pretty incredible concerts in my high school years... a lot of the music had a very strong social and political bent and really had a pronounced effect on the person I am today.. Everyone played their instruments well and could sing in harmony...

Ach, I sound like my parents bemoaning the passing of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.. I can just hear my father groaning as Jethro Tull plays  on the radio.....