We had rumors of
snow. My daughter said something about
it last night. I see from friends in
Cambridge Mass that they are buried.
Here, at this dusty outpost on the Gobi desert, still not a flake. It’s full on winter by now, right? But it hasn’t snowed once and it’s
disconcerting. In 2009 or so, I can
recall there was a big snow fall the day after Halloween, on November 1st. Two years back, I think it was, we had snow the
day after St. Patrick’s Day on March 18th.
I could spin my hands like a “Team America” puppet version
of Alec Baldwin and say “Corporations, Global Warming, Corporations, Global
Warming”, but its not like we’ve had any rain either. It’s just a dryer part of the world, on dryer
winter than usual. The relevant data set
is paltry and I’m fixated on the immediate.
The cloud cover certainly played tricks on me this morning, as it stayed
darker later and my whole routine felt as though it were happening an hour too
early.
I played guitar loud just now, which I haven’t done in a
while. I think I heard some Freddie
King, during my squats that had me doing air guitar and the next thing I was
downstairs looking for a pick. The poor
strings are all rusty but that’s all right.
It’s my same old Maple V neck Strat copy I’ve had for twenty-five years
and it never matters. Shake the fingers
off and you’re back into it. Bending,
strumming, sliding around. All the
countless hours I’ve spent doing this.
When I go to Tokyo I always head to a studio with my
stepson, there in Shibuya. The equipment
is pristine, (never any rusty strings, that’s for sure.) and you close the soundproof
door, turn the handle and you can turn that Marshal amp up to ‘ten.’ There is just nothing quite like playing an
electric guitar loud. The way a tube amp
sounds when it naturally distorts. The
punch of a chord or a bend at that volume is so addictive. You can catch some lick and play it over and
over like a child, so content at the fullness. Fortunately my stepson has some
talent and can move from axe to trap set easily enough. I’m always hopeless on drums. And the two hours you’ve booked the room for,
pass like five minutes.
I don’t know why, but I never do that in Beijing. I suppose, indeed I know there must be places
in Beijing where you can do something similar.
The equipment may not be kept up quite the same way. But I’m sure you can close the door and get
loud, which is the important thing. In
Tokyo I’d hop on the Yamanote line and zip right over, walk a few blocks and
you’d be there. Somehow in Beijing, it all
feels further, even though it isn’t. It
feels like it will be more of a hassle.
Any rate, at least I have an amp and a guitar here in the basement. We won’t be going anywhere near ‘ten’ and it
isn’t a Marshal tube amp, but was a satisfying segue, nonetheless.
Somehow ‘Magical Mystery Tour’, The Beatles 1967 soundtrack
to the film of the same name is on rotation in the cars CD player. I went out to get milk last night after
dropping my daughter off and kept playing the two minute instrumental “Flying”
over and over and over. It is the scene
in the movie where the tour guide points out the window to show the passengers
something extraordinary, scenery shot by a plane flying over Iceland.
Ringo always feels like a strong presence on this song. The drumming seems simple at first but is
pronounced and subtle. The “la, la, la,
la, la, la, la,” vocal is wonderfully of all of them, but Ringo’s voice seems
dominant. And indeed when I had a look
at the tune on Wiki, it is one of the only Beatle tunes where all four of them
are given writing credits. A real Fab
Four 齐心协力[1] (After
looking up so much jazz on Wiki, where entire careers are given a paragraph or
two, I note that this one, rather insignificant two-minute song has an entire
page devoted to it) John and Ringo apparently worked on the tape loops at the
end together. It’s lovely to imagine
them just hanging out having fun working on it, before things descended into
acrimony.
Originally entitled “Aerial Tour Instrumental”, “Flying” was
initially nearly ten minutes long with a progression of tape loops that carry
on. I’m sure one of my friends must have
the bootleg version. I’ll have to
ask. I’d love to hear it. John is playing a Mellotron, which is one of
those rock terms you see and say, “yeah a Mellotron” without, at least in my
case, really knowing what such a thing is at all. I looked and it is defined as “electro-mechanical,
polyphonic tape replay keyboard” which sounds like quite a bit of fun.
There is probably a free iPhone app that will let you
approximate the sound for free these days.
But like my little solid-state amp downstairs, played at a cautious
volume, it won’t sound the same as the original. I’ll
ask if they have one next time I’m in Shibuya.
OK. I was being facetious
but there actually is a Mellotron app on iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mellotron/id648885269?mt=8
No, it’s not free.
It’s a $1.99. I think I’m gonna
go for an impulse splurge here and let you know what I think.
“Let me take you down . . . “
[1] qíxīnxiélì: to work with a common purpose (idiom); to
make concerted efforts / to pull together / to work as one
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