OCT 5: International James Bond Day!

In celebration of the very first Bond movie, October 5 (the day "Dr No" was released way back in 1962) has been dubbed "James Bond Day" and is celebrated globally.

Ian Fleming created Bond in 1953 with the release of the first book, "Casino Royale". Fleming went on to write nine short stories and a total of 12 novels before his death in 1964, and the first Bond movie starred Sean Connery and, as stated above, was released in October 5, 1962.

Many more books were written by others following Fleming's death (sadly, he died of a heart attack at only 56 years of age) and 25 films, the last (as of this writing) was "No Time to Die" starring Daniel Craig.

My focus has primarily been on the music of James Bond, which, in fusing big band, surf rock, orchestral, and shots of "world musics", has become almost a genre of its own!

See my lesson article (complete with info and song charts) HERE.

October '25 Lifestyle Challenge

Long time, no see!

Kicking things off on my birthday month with a BANG!

For those new to the challenges, it isn't to compete against others. It's to push yourself to greater heights, have some company & inspiration along the way, and a few ideas the help get us focused. For example, you can use this waving of the analytical knife to help organize your goals:

1) Exercise/Diet - Set a specific plan or goal(s). Keep us posted weekly (or more) on your progress!

2) Creativity - Music, art, writing, acting...set a goal to complete by month's end. Keep us posted!

3) Personal life - Re-affirm your personal relationships, get to that project/chore you've been avoiding, or just read a book you've always wanted to read!

4) Professional life - Set a work goal or change jobs or....just tell us what it is and keep us posted!

My personal goals include:

Musical Slang 101

For all the years I've been teaching, you'd think I would have written this article a long time ago! The music world is full of slang terms (I'm guessing all industries are, but....) and its good to know the language if you're surfing these waters, kids!

We will avoid genre-specific slang and focus on general terms....and I'll up-date this piece, so feel free to contact me directly or leave a comment if you have any terms you think I should add.

We'll start with general musical terms and then look at some other specific terms (like studio lingo or business sayings).

Also note: I've utilized AI for the time-frame/origin of the terms and, in most cases, my personal understanding of the terms confirms the research. However (as personal knowledge falls into the category of "the fallacy of small sample"), I'm interested in YOUR views on the terms and origins. So please contact me or comment any corrections!

Finally, there are many outstanding genre-specific resources out there, and I'd refer you to those for specific musical styles. Books like Debra Devi's "Language of the Blues", "STREET TALK: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop & Urban Slanguage", by Randy Kearse, "Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary" by Stephen Calt, and many others exist for those who dig the language exploration, both contemporary and historical. I highly recommend taking the dive - the water is warm!

Here we go!

Happy 60

How on earth did I neglect, WAY BACK in October of '24, to do my birthday post???
 

Vintage, baby!! Scotch is the only way to fly!

Apologies, y'all!

OK, I usually start these off with a quote, so here we go:

"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been."
― Madeleine L'Engle

Another frenzied dance around the sun, making music, playing with my kids, teaching guitar and bass and ukulele and percussion and songwriting and improv and more, hitting the gym, recording in studios and playing on stages, hosting open mics and recitals, doing radio & TV....a massive FREE summer session of guitar for all the kids due to school budget cuts (we served 100 kids and gave away 50+ guitars).....and our 10th anniversary for Lexi Music Awards (which turned out to be our final year at the Lyric Theatre, as we switched in 2025 to the Singletary Center for the Arts on UK's campus)!