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28 October 2013

Goodnight Lou Reed

It is always sad to lose a friend.  It is also sad when celebrities or famous musicians pass away.  I didn't know Lou Reed, but still it somehow feels like I've lost friend.  Music is a part of my life, and it has been since I was very young.  Some of my earliest memories involve music: 1st grade music class - Mary Poppins stuff, whatever...but it stuck in my head 'til this day. 

As a teenager, I associated so many experiences with music.  High school dances, listening to albums on headphones, my first boom box, commercial jingles, free concerts at the colleges.  We've all got stories about these early developmental times that center around a band or a song or a concert.

For me, Lou Reed's song "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" was a teenage anthem.  It was about New York City - a crazy place filled with drugs, sex, adventure, transvestites, danger, rock 'n roll.  It was a place you fantasized about, "Let's go to New York!  Road Trip!  It'll be awesome!"  But few rarely made the trip.  It was most often, just a dream, but it was the song that brought you there.  In your head, you were there every time you heard the song.  "Hey Babe, take a walk on the wild side."  And it was always good.

When I listened to Lou Reed, I was inspired, and I bonded with him.  I don't "know him," really, but I do.  We share something: an artist-observer bond; we're comrades, troubadores, artists, fellow musicians.  There is a definite connection, maybe intangible, but real.  Yesterday, Lou Reed passed on to the next world.  I'm saddened by that loss, and I feel for those who knew him personally.  I feel the loss.  I will never see Lou Reed in person again.  But, I know the connection is not lost; the effect his music has on me (and millions of others) is forever.  That's just the way it works.  I will put on a Lou Reed record, and I'll go to New York City in my head, and he'll be there too.

-Jason
The Turbosonics

(Here's an excellent article about Lou Reed from the New York Times.)

23 October 2013

Surf Guitar 101

Hey all you Surf Rock fans out there!  Do yourselves a favor and check out the Surf Guitar101 website.  There's wealth of surf guitar information, tour dates, discussions and other cool stuff from people just like you who love surf music.  click here: Surf Guitar 101


Cheers and Cowabunga!

-The Turbosonics