~~~~~~~~~Vibrations from the Underground~~~~~~~~~

August 2007 (Special Edition)

It said in your wildest jeans lol--clipped off Lost Chords, August 2007

JRR Tolkien died, Sept 2, 1973

I had this dream about "going to see the Moodies". I got lost on the way, the map was too small to read, I couldn’t figure out what street was what….. Then somehow I was backstage, dressed in a great dress, looked good. By the time I was headed into their dressing area, some stagehands had finally gotten around to mounting a guard "they don’t want anyone coming back there" so I took a side door which led to the parking lot behind. Some roadies were back there smoking, I waved and started walking around to the front, thru beautiful rose gardens. Karma was out to get me. I knew I had a ticket… but when I got there, I couldn’t find it in my purse! I dug through the small purse, like EVERYTHING was in there (like the old song) including a pair of hiking shoes! When I found the tickets, they were this handful of stubs and such, I had to sort through them, wasn’t sure which town it was, the ticket takers were unhelpful, ignored my questions, mangled my ticket, wrote on it…… the music was starting but they got SLOWER. I finally woke up, head pounding.

Things like that make you wonder why Graeme would dream about grabbing bananas instead of drumsticks. Perhaps he thinks he’s being made a monkey out of….. Sounds like something out of a David Brin novel.

Denny Laine can be found on myspace.com/dennylaine

Tony Clarke can bef ound on myspace.com/tonyclarkerecords

I felt a post script was needed to the 2007 reviews.

After seeing the shows, I got motivated, and ordered the Classic Artists Biographical boxed set on DVD, got a fairly good price on Amazon for it. IT IS REALLY GOOD. I hadn’t found "Dr. Feelgood" before this, and I thought it was very funny. In the DVD, a few things came to light I didn’t know about, but for the most part it was dead on with what I’ve read and researched about the Moody Blues.

Now I’m all motivated and ordering the BBC CD and the SACD CDs with the new songs on them. Got them cheap and used on Amazon too. From what I can tell, a lot of people bought the SACDs and then after recording the new song, turned around and resold them.

One really good thing I liked on the Classic Artists DVD was the interviews with Tony Clarke. He is really a sweety! He’s just like the interview I read with him in Higher and Higher, this really dry, very kind wit about him, intelligent. I can see why he and the Moodies did so well together.

While on that subject, reports keep surfacing about Mike Pinder working with either Tony Clarke, or with Denny Laine on "more recording". Mike looked pretty darn stiff when he ripped into the piano on that Classic Artists interview. I knew he had been afflicted with some "cumulative" nerve disorder from past interviews, and I hope it is not too serious. (More omega-threes in the diet, Mike, olive oil and salmon. They build up the walls of the nerve-cells). At the same time, I’m not holding my breath on forthcoming music from those three. I wish the biography had included more information about what Tony Clarke is doing now, though. Denny Laine just said HE was going to be doing something with Mike Pinder too, over the ‘Nets, so we will see I suppose. I REALLY like Denny Laine’s website (www.myspace.com/dennylaine). Good music on there.

GRAEME. While watching the Mancow interview (which was pretty good!) this little blurb surfaced that Graeme was single again (and he was griping about not being cooked for too). WHAT THE HELL???? Amanda has been with Graeme since the early 90’s, in fact that might be her doing the hair dye job on him in Legend of a Band video. Amanda is really funny, I met her in an elevator once, she’s "one of the good guys" I guess you could say. I tapped one of my spies, and the report is that they split up in 2006 sometime. What a shame! You know, I love my Moodies (like brothers, like a fan), and find it terribly tragic when someone can’t hang onto marriage, no one wants to be in the final phases of life and be alone. Granted Graeme can get all the bimbos he wants, but as Steinbeck put it (when addressing one of his "Don Juan" friends) "There are GIRLS, and then there is a GIRL" something like that (Sweet Thursday). Amanda apparently is still friendly with Graeme, handles money for him, and "Graeme blames himself". Balderdash, it takes two to divorce. No matter what.

The second bombshell was "what split up the Moodies" it finally came out in the biography that Graeme and Mike had a spat, and it was so horrible, Mike quit coming to rehearsals. Shrink than I am, there is more to it (you can spot it if you are sharp) but again, should Graeme blame himself for being a hot-head? No, I still say Mike was looking for an excuse to drop out of something that was taking all his spiritual energy, when he really wanted to go another direction. Summing all that up, Graeme perhaps blames himself a bit too much in general. It does take two to tango, when there is dispute………. We all should remember that.

Being married, and being in the band must be a bit like serving two JEALOUS masters. If you ask me, Kirsten is the only one to figure this out, showing again that she has very good sense (I‘ve always said so).

Somewhere in my travels, someone told me about a swallow bird that lives in Southern Europe, called a Martinique! It’s so big it has a hard time flying, but one airborne, it’s very beautiful. Here in August in the Pacific NW the swallows are busily congregating, and getting fat eating mosquitoes, so they can migrate back to their homes to the South.

After the horrible price on the program at the shows, I ordered one from Moody Mall a few dollars cheaper, while I ordered the Justin "audience" at the HOF. Hehh the first picture of Justin in the program, he is playing his beloved Martin! J The box was stuffed with newspaper, so I get to recycle that………. Nothing like being low budget, and saving the eco-system too. Moody Mall is in Rochester, MN……… must keep an eye on these guys, last time I ordered from GWV I was charged five times for one necklace. OUCH.

I erased a bunch of personal whining about on line. Love is a matter of perspective. Sometimes being honest is not love, and sometimes it is.

As I type this for posting on the last day of August (the sad end of summer) I’m enjoying the Audience with Justin at the Hall of Fame. Pretty building, pretty songs, some I had forgotten about (I don’t play Moody music 24/7) . He brought his Black Guild acoustic guitar. Looks great. This is very nice, as you can watch the fingering for the songs too! Better yet it’s legal, and good quality.

This is going to be good. For example, on the first song, he goes up the neck of the Guild, doing nice showy chords at higher octaves. Then he belled at the end! It takes a lot of guts to get up there with just a guitar and do a song….. And he can do it. WOW!!!!!!!! I loved "Heartbeat"……. great to harmonize to. Better than the original.

Star Charts: I just read an interesting article in the Farmer’s Almanac, that Uranus was discovered by Herschel from an observatory in Bath, England in 1781. This date means nothing to the British, but we American’s recognize that this is about the same time the US was finally getting a Constitution together (it took about 10-15 years for us to get settled after the Declaration in 1776). In fact Cornwallis might have even been around still in 1781, shooting at us filthy squatters. The point is, one can’t help but wonder if King George wasn’t an astrologer, and might have taken this for an omen. Finding a new planet really shook the Western world. Anyway right NOW Uranus is in the sign of Aquarius, the ruling planet of that sign, doesn‘t happen very often. I officially declare the Age of Aquarius open and ready for business!

Well, enjoy whatever, and NO there isn’t any "secret information" about the Moodies. There is only what we ourselves read into it. Cheers! Tigger