Illustration Friday: Glamour

TORVILL
Originally uploaded by Olias444.

I drew this back in the 80's of skaters Torvill & Dean. I'm not a huge figure skating fan, but I was struck by how glamorous they were out there.

Yes

dwyes1024
Originally uploaded by Olias444.

When I was in high school in 1976, my buddy Tom Walker said, "hey, you wanna go see Yes?" I said oh sure, yeah okay!....It was one of biggest musical experiences of my life...I had always loved to listen to pop tunes on the radio, and would buy 45 inch records. But I had never been to a real "Concert" before.
So we drove to the Cow Palace in San Francisco and I considered it an immediate education of what it's like to go to a Concert!
The line to get in was enormous, it stretched way out into the parking lot, and the Lot itself was like a festival, lots of people playing music and dancing, especially to the music of this band, Yes.
I had heard a couple of their songs before, "All Good People" and "Roundabout" on the radio, and I thought, hmm okay at least I'll know a couple of the songs.
When we entered the arena, I was amazed at the certain Renaissance, or community-like atmosphere of the audience, not rowdy rockers, no punks, nothing like that.
No, this was different...
And THEN!...and then the show started...Their music, I thought, was transcendant...this was not just simple rock and roll, or cheesy pop songs....their music moved me in an a way no other has....to this very day.
Their music is like an orchestra, with epic arrangements, and I never tire of listening to them, note for note...
Now, I know their music is not for everybody, I used to try to get my friends to listen to Yes...some 'heard' them, but most others didn't...but that's okay.... many find them long-winded. But I find them facsinating...

To Be Out of Shape

I' have been out of shape for too long, on many levels.
I've been out of Physical Shape...I used to row boats on Lake Merritt in Oakland and play softball on the company team. I hiked to the summit of Mt. Whitney. I would go on long bike rides, I would play 18 holes of golf without a cart....Now I find it somewhat of a chore to walk to the neighborhood grocery store.
I've been out of Social Shape, I would totally enjoy the company of large crowds, engage in the banter, and exchange volleys of wit...Now I find it's an effort to interact on a social level with anyone.
I've been out of Spiritual Shape, I would bless each day as a gift, and wake up each morning with a sense of purpose and determination...Now I search for a specific reason to get up anytime earlier than noon.
It is mostly because of this;
I am out of Professional Shape...I have an assignment, to simply design a video game screen, something that I could have done in a breeze about ten years ago, but now I find it a struggle, because I'm out of shape...
But the good news is, it's a sort of wake up call and a kick in the butt...
In 2006, I intend to get back in Shape....

Illustration Friday - E is for...

earthshine
Originally uploaded by Olias444.

Earthshine...when the Apollo astronauts landed on the moon, one of the most astonishing things they saw was a Full Earth rising from the horizon, and the entire moonscape was filled with Earthshine.

Fishing with Dad

One thing I will always rembember about my dad, he LOVED to go fishing...whether it was trout fishing in rivers or lakes, or deep sea fishing, which he preferred. I will always remember his knowledge of baits, and weights, of lines and lures, and the specific '10 or 20 test pount weights' of reels....I think his days in the Navy endeared him to the sea.....
He loved to fish, and obviously he would drag me along, I didn't have the kind of enthusiasm for fishing that he did, but I went along with it becauce he was my dad...we would go often with his fishing buddy, Jim, who he worked with...other times he would hook up another guy who had a deep sea fishing boat and out we would go...I never particularly enjoyed those outings, I was just a kid, and would sometimes get seasick, with the pitching boat all the time...but I could tell that my dad was in his element, he Loved being out there, I would marvel at the way he caught them, and would cringe when he would kill them instantly with a blow to the head....I remember feeling sorry for the fish, he would say "ahh, don't worry about it, fish don't feel anything" but I remember thinking that they did...
In the 70's, Uncle Joe had a boat, a 22 footer, and one time we launched it out of Santa Cruz, and went out deep sea fishing...four of us, Me, my dad, uncle Joe and my cousin Joe...the waves were choppy and I got seasick and needed to throw up over the side...my dad seemed angry, "Come on! Throw it up!...Like a Man!"....
Like a man??....In my mind I thought, oh jeez, don't give this macho shit just now ....but soon after Uncle Joe was getting sick too, and I remember thinking, okay are you gonna hand him that same macho shit?....
Anyway, after that we hadn't gone fishing for a long while...then in 1985, my dad came to visit me when I lived in Oakland. I knew he loved fishing, so I booked a fishing trip on one of those boats that sail out of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco...
We left early, like about 5:30 in the morning, during those magical hours when no one is on the bridges....we got to Fisherman's Wharf where all-day parking at the time was still about 5 bucks, then had breakfast at one of those hole-in-the-wall places with eggs, sausage, potatoes and toast for about 3.99....then we got on the boat at 7 and had a great day of fishing...my sea-sickness was non-existent, I guess you find your 'sea legs' with age. My dad caught two salmon, and I even caught a flounder...we had a great time, and the next day we went to the A's game....
In the subsequent years after my parents moved to Tulare, he started fishing in the Moro Bay area, near San Luis Obispo, and even down into Mexico, he never stopped fishing...it was what he loved to do....and even though I never enjoyed it that much...I'd give anything to go out there with him again.

Illustration Friday: Sea

sea
Originally uploaded by Olias444.

I went through a major 'under the sea' phase a few years ago. There's an incredible unseen world down there.

The Soundtrack to our Lives

Recently I've been playing my old LP records, now that I have the turntable working. These old records are like a time capsule of memories, mostly from the 70's, and a bit into the 80's...But it made me think of music itself, how it's a never-ending soundtrack to all of our lives. We all have our own favorite songs, or songs that stick in our heads...but in any event, music permeates all of our lives, whether it's in elevators or commercials on tv.
Even among those who consider themselves 'non-musical' or collect no records or cd's, I would be hard pressed to think that anyone cannot be affected by music. I believe that music is hard-wired in us as human beings. We sing, we dance, we attend performances by professional musicians, for as long as we've been around.
Luckily, I understood early on that you don't have BE a musician to appreciate music. I have always wished that I could play a musical instrument with at least some degree of talent or dexterity, but no....
I took up the trumpet in the 7th grade, and it was a great experience, I learned to read musical notes and the experience of playing music in a school band, but that was it....I could only read the notes and play them, as if taking dictation...I could never 'feel' the notes, I couldn't play the trumpet like Louis Armstrong, or Al Hirt, or Herb Alpert....so I thought at the time, "if I can't play like that, then why try?" Though I did 'try' again in 1988, when I was laid up for a while with a broken leg, I got an acoustic guitar and I thought I could learn to play it, but no...it was the same thing, I could learn the lessons and read the notes, but my ear for music seemed to stop at my wrists, I just couldn't PLAY it....like I wanted to play it....with a feeling and naturalness for the instrument and the music...
That's why I admire musicians who can sing and play their instruments with feeling and abandon....
Today, I look back on the music, especially with those records! And I do remember early on, sitting in my dad's truck when "I Wanna Be Around" by Tony Bennett came on the radio and he would sing along, and he'd get me to sing along....He loved to sing in the car, along with the radio...Whenever I rode in the car with my parents, the radio was on....if it wasn't a Giants game, it was music....
My first record was "The Monkees"...and those songs are still chestnuts. And there's a ton of those chestnuts that will forever be in my soundtrack of life, for example, "Norweigian Wood" by the Beatles, "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd, "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell, "Goin' to California" by Led Zeppelin....ohhh, there's tons of songs...too many to name here....
When I got to be a teenager, I went to my first real Rock Concert in 1975...this was the band Yes...it was an incredible experience and their music is still profound to me, to this day...their music is very complex and orchestrated, which I admire most of all, their musicianship....the more notes the better....I can hear them, but I could never in a million years play like they do.
In the early 90's, I became interested in the early Swing Bands, and Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and Tony Bennett of course, this was wonderful music, fantastic arrangements and golden voices. I became disinterested in modern music at this time, as though it all seemed boring, or maybe at the time I was experiencing something that I could have equated to....adulthood? .....hmmm, well maybe not...
Nowadays, after listening to many kinds of musics....I have come to appreciate all styles, no matter the genre...I used to be very snobbish toward country music, I thought it was all just a bunch of dumb hick music, but after actually LISTENING to some songs, I have come to appreciate it profoundly....and also I've come to appreciate anyone who can make music...who can write their own songs, and who actually have the guts to sing them, my hat is off to all of them. I sing their praises, ha!