Sunday, May 28, 2017

Lazy Sunday # 472: Tied To The Whipping Post




I'm not exactly sure when it was decided the Hammond B3 organ was no longer a necessity for a Rock 'n Roll band. But it was. And the decision is still wrong.

Used to be every hard rocking or Blues saturated outfit worth listening to would lug one of those monstrosities onstage (typically a three-Roadie job). It was then wired into some equally large Leslie "Voice of the Theatre" speakers -- so named because they were what provided the sound in most movie theatres -- each of them topped with a set of spinning horns called a rotary tremolo system used musically to vary the amplitude and intensity of the sound.

How much punch did one of those babies have...?

I recall being at the Calgary stop of Canada's infamous 1970 "Festival Express". It was literally a train full of the best Musicians of the time hop-scotching the country. Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, Seatrain, The Flying Burrito Brothers and more.

The Band closed the final evening, appearing before a crowd limp from two solid days of great music, too much booze, too many drugs and no sleep. They promised to go easy on us, just idly and mellowly jamming.

Then Garth Hudson, at the Hammond, hit the first four notes of "Chest Fever" and the entire stadium exploded back to life, completely revitalized and ready to rock through the night.

Another guy who knew how to handle the Hammond was Gregg Allman of "The Allman Brothers Band", who died a couple of days ago. 

It was Gregg's talent and character that held the band together barely two albums into their decades long career after his brother Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident. He is to be forgiven some of his faults, like marrying Cher and destroying not one but two livers during his 69 years.

Because Gregg forever put to rest the question of whether a white man could really sing the Blues.

I never got to see the Allmans perform, but spent endless hours listening to some of the best music to come out of the 70's -- or any other era. Whether you were a fan or never heard of them, here's a memorable taste.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Lazy Sunday # 471: Welcome To The Holodeck


Last week, for reasons which escape me, I was invited to a couple of computer group meet-ups; one hosted by Apple and the other by Microsoft. In the process, I got to meet people working on the cutting edge of both platforms. And what I saw was beyond exciting.

Now, you have to understand that while I've been a computer user since 1979, when I bought my first TRS-80 from Radio Shack. But my daily life with the technology has been primarily focussed on screenwriting, budgeting, video editing and the other film related niches.

A lot of people still argue about the benefits of using Apple or Windows products. But what I witnessed was both of them moving in the same direction, becoming more alike as they endeavor to make sure no one is left out of the coming revolution in how we live our lives.

I had to learn a little coding when I started writing this blog, but as with most things Tech, those deep knowledge jobs have been streamlined into apps and programs any idiot (especially  me) can use.

But this week I learned that the keyboard and mouse reality, with which most of us have become familiar, is about to be blown to smithereens with technologies that feel like they belong in the next iteration of the "Star Trek" or "Alien" franchises -- but are already available.

For example, if you have $8,000 you don't want to park in a boring old mutual fund, you can head over to Amazon and pick up a HoloLens.

The HoloLens is a wearable device which allows you to access "Augmented Reality" which means holograms you can see and interact with that appear within your actual reality.

This means you can pull something off your computer, place it in front of you as if it actually existed in reality and -- if you were an architect or contractor for example, see how it looks and operates within the space you're inhabiting.

Space aficionados can take a photograph from Mars, literally walk into it, then access other scientific data to more deeply explore what's around you. You store, customize, access, navigate, and reimagine physical tools in the digital world; with the results of your work then saved or shared to any device or platform you want to send it.

And gamers don't need to travel to other realms for first person shooter adventures. Their targets are already capable of busting through the walls of their homes to attack.


As the technology progresses, even the devices we've come to know will disappear, replaced by digital screens replicating virtually any format we can imagine.

The video below was produced by Microsoft in 2009, mostly as an in-house guide for developers to ponder. Much of what was imagined then is now either about to arrive or quickly approaching reality.

As some of us worry about how to finance traditional television shows or what we can do to place the film we just shot on a Vitual Reality headset, there's a whole new world evolving that's going to change everything we thought we knew.

Enjoy Your Sunday.





Sunday, May 14, 2017

Lazy Sunday # 470: Hounds of Love


We are about to enter the Summer doldrums of serious movie viewing. One which most movie watchers predict will see the worst box office numbers we've seen in a while.

Your local multiplex will be awash in sequels: "Alien: 6", Spider-Man: 6","Transformers: 5", "Pirates of the Caribbean: 5" "Planet of the Apes: 23?, 24?"

The lack of either the inclination or ability to create something new and fresh in Hollywood will be painfully on display. And it drives guys like me to start looking around to what might be worth watching come the Fall.

The list of films in competition in Cannes has just been released. And that always helps. But in times like these, I turn to movie critics I trust for signs of real hope.

And while not being a huge fan of the tribe of critics, I've always found a handful who apparently share my sense of what's worth buying a theatre seat to see.

These people are harder to find now that more and more media outlets are cutting staff. So online, I look for Peter Travers of Rolling Stone or the gang of laid off scribes from the Toronto press now online as original-cin.

Their current reviews reveal a bountiful buffet heading our way as soon as the Sequel Tsunami passes.

Among them is a first feature from Australian writer/director Ben Young, "Hounds of Love", a work of fiction that replicates the true crime genre in a way that promises to be challenging to say the least.

But unlike the studio bosses who keep regurgitating the tried and true, that's what I look for most in a movie, an engaging story, something I haven't seen before, or haven't seen being told in a particular way or from a unique point of view.

"Hounds of Love" promises to deliver all of that.

Don't feel bad if you can't make it through the trailer. I got a feeling this one will have audiences squirming on a lot of levels -- and without resorting to wall to wall CGI.

If you're a movie lover like me, this will give you hope and help you...

Enjoy Your Sunday...


Monday, May 08, 2017

Lazy Sunday # 469: A Man From The Future


Elon Musk, started his career by inventing an online bank that became Paypal. Then he brought the electric car back to life and called it the Tesla. That led to finding ways to power the electric car more efficiently, which begat the Tesla Wall and Solarcity -- as well as cars that can drive themselves. 

Along the way he puttered around with getting space exploration back on track, which became SpaceX, which will get us to Mars within a couple of years.

He's also building the largest battery factory on the planet, roof shingles that will generate electricity and the Hyperloop, a method of transporting people around the country (and eventually the world) in a fraction of the time they can make the same journey by air.

None of this is science fiction. It's all happening right now, to be fully realized in our lifetimes. 

If, like me, you're having trouble keeping up with this guy -- because I haven't even gotten into robotics and connecting human intelligence to machines and tunnels and some of the other stuff, what follows may help.

Elon Musk was in Vancouver last week. This is what he had to say.

Enjoy Your Sunday...