Late Boomer's Den

  • Jazz meets science fiction

    I was never a big jazz listener until recently (long story), but even when I thought I hated jazz, The Comet is Coming would’ve hooked me. How am I going to resist a group that would name their album Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam, or have song titles like “Deep Within the Engine Deck.”

    The Comet Is Coming – Technicolor

    I’ve seen them called nu jazz and psychedelic jazz. To me their music sounds like just like their song titles – sci fi. They make very trippy and exciting music. Whatever it is, I’m sold.

    Love the look of their website, and the blueprint/star chart theme on the cover of Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam, their latest album. Seems like a bold statement, like they’re the blueprint for others to follow.

    I like the quote in their Wikipedia article about “aiming to destroy all musical ideals which are unfit for our purposes” looks like they do feel that way. Sounds like a band with a vision.

    The Comet Is Coming – Neon Baby (Has Space 1999 clips!!)

    The Comet Is Coming – Code

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  • The one that got away

    The Mellow Meal Time – What Were We Talking About

    I hate losing thoughts. I’ll be thinking about something interesting and then I get distracted and it’s gone, back to the underground ocean where ideas live and swim around.

    Will the one I just lost pop back up again or did I lose my one chance to think about it?

    I also resent the fact that my wife won’t help me. I’m like, what was I just talking about? “I don’t know I wasn’t paying attention.”

    Dang it. Probably some of my best material too. Come back interesting and/or funny thought. I’ll write you down next time I promise.

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  • On being a different kind of sci fi guy…

    Once my dad handed me a copy of Robert Heinlein’s The Star Beast my fate was sealed. I would forever be a serious sci fi guy, not a typical fan.

    I remember drawing a spaceship during Sunday School once and another kid goes, “That doesn’t look like the Star Trek Enterprise.”

    “It’s not supposed to be,” I said. “I made it up.” He just said, “Eh, you just don’t know how to draw it right.”

    Story of my life. Always out of sync with what’s popular.

    As I got older, Dad and I shared books, browsed for hours in used bookstores. Our house became a library.

    He turned me onto people like Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Isaac Asimov of course, Theodore Sturgeon, Alfred Bester and Clifford Simak.

    On my own I found writers like Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I read tons of Golden Age stories. All those books changed the way I think.

    I still like “regular” sci fi for an escape, but it’s more like candy. I need science fiction that blows my mind.

    OK, so it was a little bit derivative.

    One of my trippy sci fi things that no one else got. Organic spaceship. Cool right? (Messed up the sky and gave up.)

    I love when a high concept series or movie gets popular. I was so happy when Amazon saved The Expanse, though I wish they’d had more episodes to flesh out the last season.

    I also loved Prime’s take William Gibson’s The Peripheral. More Gibson please!

    I’m even more impressed when someone pulls off something like that on the cheap.

    Everything Everywhere All at Once was everything I wanted and more. Big ideas, social commentary, existential questions, not to mention funny as hell.

    I’ll watch anything The Daniels make now. Don’t sleep on Swiss Army Man, btw. It’s weird, but it’s deep. Deeper than you think.

    I hate when people think I’m a snob about this stuff. I like what I like. Plus it reminds me of those times I shared with Dad. The only sad thing is he’s not here to discuss it with.

    The Legendary Pink Dots – Rainbows Too? Edward Ka Spel’s mythos is steeped in high concept science fiction. One of the many reasons I’m obssessed with the Dots.

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  • International Submarine Band

    I was sitting around, feeling kinda melancholy about the South, when I put on a country music playlist and wow, found Safe at Home, by The International Submarine Band.

    Where has this album been all my life? I can be melancholy later. I have to play this album a few more times.

    Turns out it’s one of Gram Parsons’ bands, from before he was in The Flying Burrito Brothers or the Byrds. I really need to dig into those.

    Really love that mix of country and rock that some of those types put out in the 60s. Legit hippies, but still country in their souls.

    Even now, living in the city I can’t forget the country and it’s music. Much as I spent my time there listening to rock and every other kind of music. This is has always been in my heart. I hope Willie never dies. Or Dolly. Never her!

    International Submarine Band – Safe at Home

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  • Washing Machine music

    Just got through listening to some Juno Reactor, some of the “washing machine music” I used to jam out to in the 90s.

    Juno Reactor – God is God

    That’s what one of my coworkers called it. She said it sounded like a washing machine with an unbalanced load.

    I didn’t dance, cuz this was small townsville and I couldn’t anyway, but I loved the stuff. Seems ironic to have nostalgia over that. It was THE FUTURE.

    Played “Fear” ” by Eon while giving that coworker a ride in my pickup.

    She said “No wonder you drive like a bat out of hell.” (Kind of, but Judas Priest started it.)

    Eon – Fear

    Techno and trance were great background music at work. I could go in my office, turn on the jam box and type away on news stories or lay out pages in QuarkXpress while people left me the hell alone. No one else liked washing machine music.

    Juno Reactor is the only trance music that still holds up for me. Techno on the other hand, I still play – especially The Chemical Brothers. Love those trippy ass videos.

    The Chemical Brothers – Setting Sun

    I had file all that stuff in the “electronica” box in my brain once I got into weirder things like Aphex Twin (wtf do you call him?), or more popular things like Daft Punk (discotechno?) and Fatboy Slim.

    Now I’ve got my CD drive working, a lot of that stuff is going back into rotation.

    Juno Reactor is still at it by the way. Check this out:

    Juno Reactor – Inside the Upside Down

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  • Remembering the fun part of church

    Sarah Jarosz – Come On Up to the House

    I didn’t much care for the Sunday service as a little kid. You had to sit still and be quiet and the sermons boring.

    I do remember liking one sermon about monsters with lots of heads. Didn’t understand it, but it sounded like an awesome Godzilla movie.

    Mom and Dad had church things to do, so I had to sit with lady who pinched if you talked. One Sunday my buddy stuck me with a hat pin. When I hollered, she pinched. Hard. He was a little bastard, which was why I liked him.

    But after the service, church was a different place. The grounds became an awesome playground for hours, until our moms got done in the nursery.

    The whole facility was our oyster, lots of places to hide and check things out. You could get into any room with a wire hanger.

    We checked out Sunday School rooms, looked through closets, got into a room full of electronics which thank goodness we never touched. We slid down the stairs on our butts, flew paper planes in the sanctuary.

    We showed some other boys and how to get in the steeple. We got caught before most of us could climb to the top. “What are y’all doing up here? I’m telling your parents!” The lady began taking names, but my buddy and I got away before she could ID us.

    When we got hungry, we barged in on the nursery, stuffed handfuls of crackers in our mouths, drank Kool-aid from the pitcher and pestered our moms till they chased us out.

    When they finally packed up the nursery and began turning off the hallway lights, we’d fling ourselves around the corner and go “Raaah!” Got ‘em every time.

    There was a point where I couldn’t sit in a Baptist church without feeling like a liar. Some of the doctrines were rather traumatic for me as a young adult, in fact. But I did have fun and met some of the best people I’ve ever known. I feel like I should talk about both.

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  • Latest rabbit hole: cave crawlers

    I believe in two things simultaneously: 1. Dinosaurs died out millions of years ago and, 2. Land of the Lost is real and full of dinosaurs (and sleestaks), we just haven’t found the right cave yet.

    Action Adventure Twins. These guys make me so nervous, but I can’t stop watching. Actual identical twins, I think they live in Georgia. Somewhere in the South anyway.

    I recently found a couple of YouTube channels by young guys who regularly do what I wish I could do. I’m terrified they’re going to get stuck in a hole one day, but I can’t stop watching.

    Deep Freedom. Just discovered this YouTube Channel. They sound Southern and seem to be friends with the Action Adventure Twins.

    As cave crazy as I was, I took on caving as a sport. Just toured a public cavern here and there. (Carlsbad Caverns were impressive, but Sonora Caverns are my favorite).

    I used to dream I’d get in shape one day and take that up cave crawling as a hobby. That was before I took an MRI and learned I had claustrophobia. I was like Chuck in Better Call Saul.

    Luckily there are some real cave explorers willing to let me tag along.

    Show caves like Carlsbad Caverns are about all I can do these days. Someplace where I won’t fall or get stuck.

    There are some gorgeous formations in Carlsbad Caverns. Glad I finally went.

    Aztec Cave in Franklin Mountains State Park in El Paso. Good hike at any rate.

    Aztec Caves are just deep enough to get out of the sun after a rather steep hike.

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  • Bigfoot eats apples

    My favorite newspaper when I worked for a newspaper. Wish I’d saved the one about Bat Boy.

    When I was a kid, I totally believed in Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Whatever anyone said, Loch Ness could have a dinosaur. I’d read theories. (I was rooting for plesiosaur).

    As for Bigfoot, there were still a lot of trees for him to hide in. Bigfeet and Yetis and Nessie were real until proven otherwise. I was like that about a lot of things, UFOs and whatnot.

    I used to get a kick out of Art Bell’s show on AM radio. He was into things like that. I liked the one where people lowered a mic into a pit and heard the cries of the damned. Pretty entertaining.

    Waking Bear – Bigfoot

    Sometime during the recent Covid lockdown I went out for a meetup. The first one of those breaks where you could go out if you socially distanced. One of the ladies was a Bigfoot enthusiast. And boy was she enthusiastic. I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t want to spoil her fun. She seemed so happy.

    She had just been on Bigfoot expedition and met the big hairy man himself. Well, not really met him, but she heard him roar, so she knew he was close. He sounds like Chewbacca, btw.

    Turns out if you leave an apple in a field and give him a little privacy, Bigfoot will eat it. He loves apples.

    Her apple disappeared and guess what was in her tent? That very apple. Bigfoot wasn’t hungry, so he carried the apple to her tent to let her know he was still glad to meet her. “I know it wasn’t a squirrel, because it was a large organic apple!”

    Hearing that story made me think of Boy Scout snipe hunts. You might have heard of them. The older boys gave you a tow sack and had you bang two sticks together. They were gonna chase him toward you and you had to be ready to catch it.

    Their descriptions were all over the place.

    You didn’t know if it looked like an alligator or a skunk and the older boys wouldn’t say. You had to be ready for anything. Then when you least expected it, the older boys jumped out and went “Raaaaah!” They didn’t scare me. Much.

    I thought Snipes were imaginary until sometime in my 20s. Turns out they’re a kind of shore bird. You’re not likely to catch one in a burlap sack. Not in the woods anyway.

    I wonder if those Bigfoot expedition guides might’ve been Boy Scouts once?

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  • Fame’s glittery trap

    I bet many famous people would agree with that statement. You’re surrounded by masses of people who “love” you.

    At the same time, you’re isolated from them. It must feel like a curse at times.

    David Bowie – Fame

    If a fickle public turns on you, it will try to wreck your confidence and your life. Enemies new and old. Die-hard fans defending you in all the wrong ways. Stalkers who want to do a John Lennon on you.

    You couldn’t pay me enough.

    Internet famous looks even more horrifying, because it can happen so fast. I don’t envy it and I feel sympathy for those it happens to, even the “bad” ones. If you seek it and it happens, you’re the dog that caught the car. Like old school famous with extra death threats.

    Being young on today’s Internet would’ve broken my brain. Being “known in town” was hard enough.

    First and hopefully last paparazzi photo.

    Creators at any age who handle viral fame with grace and integrity impress the hell out of me.

    How hard it must be, competitors hoping to take you down at any moment, getting imprisoned by your own fan club who will punish you if you slip up or change.

    It’s why I both admire and feel bad for today’s youth. They are so adaptable – I can barely stay on my surfboard anymore. But the anxiety must be crushing.

    My wish for the young is that they receive what they’re really looking for, to find meaningful connections and be understood.

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  • The youth are still creating magic

    Romain Axisa – In the Mood for Love

    Beautiful piece. I’ve been thinking about young people and their internet lives. Longer post about that on the way. Meanwhile, here’s a new artist touted by Ren, one of the many young artists who keep me hopeful that creativity will not die out.

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