To Warm You

JJ Cale/Eric Clapton "Head's in Georgia" -- The Road to Escondido, 2006


Its another rainy day; I've grown tired of them. Is it just me or does this music just sound warm?

This is one of the two tracks that caught my attention right away. The rhythm churns, like the endless motion of a long train- or road-trip. Effective and I wonder if the idea came first or if they discovered the groove and decided it sounded like a melancholy travel song...

This is something I know about me: I rarely really hear a piece of music on the first listen. I bring all kinds of expectations to the music and that really influences, often negatively, what I hear. This album is the perfect example; as I was listening to it yesterday and knitting, it was clear that my disappointment was because of my expectations and not having a sufficiently open mind or ear. Its a gem of an album, very nice. There's a lot to hear: styles from reggae to western swing (a personal favorite; the curse of my father's musical taste) and blues. I also have fun listening closely to distinguish JJC's voice from EC's---they are so similar. EC's voice is more resonant than JJC's---a fact that I find always works against him when singing blues; it seems similar to me to the challenges of clean articulation on the bass (which Lyman and Christian McBride do quite nicely, aces that they are)---. As much as I love EC's voice I find that its inherent qualities aren't really what work best for the blues---in my opinion, a great voice for blues cracks and breaks and shrieks. EC's is a little smooth for that. But I'll keep listening, count on that. JJ really seems to have the better blues voice.

On this track, though, I think the vocals are just right.

Health (lack there of)
Well, its not fun to always be thinking of health challenges so I haven't been chatting much about the situation at home in that regard. Rob has to have a laminotomy on Nov 21. The good news is, as back surgeries go, its minimally invasive and he shouldn't be off his feet too long. The bad news is that he has a complicating problem--well, actually there's a couple---first, his anti-coagulation issue puts him at risk of stroke for the several days he'll have to be off the coumadin. Second, he is having some swallowing problem. Our internal medicine guy thinks it is being caused by scar tissue from last year's surgery impinging upon his trachea and esophagus. Great, right? At this point, I'm not sure he can have the back surgery for the compromised neck structures. He is supposed to be going to Miami tomorrow for three days but I'm hoping (and persuading) otherwise. He hasn't been able to eat solid food for over two weeks and I'm concerned he won't be able to keep himself nourished or that he'll become more ill while away.

2006
I can't wait for it to be over.