Music       Me in 1974

(Please click on PENCELAND.com above to go to my main page.) All music videos are on the Videos page.

Bass player Feel the music! My songs

Music has always been a big part of my life. I grew up playing many instruments for many years—piano, trumpet, French horn, trombone, and eventually guitar, then upright bass (see my musical history). I was in bands at my schools, and then after high school I went to college and majored in engineering at University of Idaho (the state school, where both my parents had gone) in Moscow (Fortunately, I missed this excitement by a few years!) and started playing guitar. But after 2 years I dropped out of college and moved to Seattle, and I continued to play guitar and eventually becamse a jazz guitarist. Then in 1973 I went back to college in Boston to study music at Berklee College of Music (I read Downbeat, a jazz magazine, regularly, and Berklee was listed often as a school that a lot of famous musicians had gone to), where, instead of playing guitar (they had an abundance of guitar players and a shortage of bass players) they asked me to switch to upright bass, which I did and loved it (I still had long hair when I came to Boston). I studied at Berklee for 2 years (1973-1975). I discovered computers and took classes at MIT and Northeastern, and the school I graduated from doesn't even exist anymore. I had a great life as a computer programmer and I'm retired now.

Me on guitar Me on bass Me on bass I studied bass

Earbuds Listening to music is a very personal pleasure and after many years of having a stereo system with components and speakers, now I listen almost exclusively (and privately) to music I have on my smartphone, because it is always in my pocket and I can listen to music anytime I want with earbuds that I keep in a case in another pocket (I am now usually using wireless earbuds, which are great but they have to be charged). I am very passionate about the music I listen to and though my favorite music has always been jazz and fusion from the early 70s, recorded when I was a student at Berklee studying jazz, I have broadened my tastes beyond the jazz I loved so much at one time and for nostalgic reasons I listen to a lot of pop music from the 70s—see My songs and Favorite albums and playlists for my music tastes. As far as sources of digital music, I am not happy with what is provided by those that think they can identify my listening tastes, like iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play (they apparently don't really understand what makes certain music appeal to me) and I get my music elsewhere, including ripping songs from my previously owned vinyl records, and YouTube (I use a Firefox extension that gives you a button on YouTube to create the MP3—or give the YouTube url to this website to convert the video to an MP3).

	A study of the neurological wonders behind playing a musical instrument showed enhancement in multiple brain areas. (Interesting that my instrument, the bass, is shown in the example.)
"The inexpressible depth of music, so easy to understand and yet so inexplicable, is due to the fact that it reproduces all the emotions of our innermost being, but entirely without reality and remote from its pain. . . . Music expresses only the quintessence of life and of its events, never these themselves."  — Arthur Schopenhauer
"Researchers have scanned musicians' brains and found that the 'chills' that they feel when they hear stirring passages of music result from activity in the same parts of the brain stimulated by food and sex."  — Drake Bennett, Survival of the harmonious

We had a piano in our house when I was growing up and I took several years of lessons starting at age 7. My parents later sold that piano and bought a console stereo which we had in the living room for years (I remember my dad sitting next to it in his comfy chair and listening to classical music and reading the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, which he subscribed to). In 6th grade I took up trumpet (cornet actually), playing in the concert and marching bands. Since I had a lot of drive and practiced diligently I was able to achieve the first chair position in the band, which I held for three years. When I started high school band (9th grade), there were many older and more experienced trumpet players already there, so with my desire to always be the leader in the section I switched to French horn, which I played for a year. At the end of my freshman year the lead trombone player graduated from high school, so with an eye on that position I decided to switch to trombone. My older brother had played trombone before, so we had one at home, and by practicing a lot during the summer and playing in several outdoor concerts at the bandshell in the Kiwanis park, I got my chops in order and successfully achieved first chair trombone in the high school band in 10th grade. For reasons I don't remember the last two years of high school I was not in the band, but when I went off to college in 1966, I did what many of my generation were doing—grew my hair long, took up guitar, and joined a rock band. Our band played at campus parties at fraternities and sororities and we once played at the local high school. (After decades apart, in 2015 I reconnected with the lead guitar player in this band (Dave Roylance, or "Duck" as we knew him) on a trip to Boise, and he still remembered the name of our band, "The Creation.")

At this point in my life I was really into flat-picking on acoustic guitar, emulating the style of Clarence White (one of the best flat-picking guitarists, ever), who had a bluegrass band with his brother, Roland (a mandolin player), named the Kentucky Colonels, and then he went on to play lead guitar in The Byrds (I saw this band in concert, before his untimely, accidental death in 1973). After hearing Kenny Baker, one of the best fiddle players around (and even playing with him at a bluegrass festival in 1971) I read that he and Clarence were influenced by Django Reinhardt a great jazz guitarist. I started listening to Django and violinist Stephane Grappelli (their performing group was The Quintette du Hot Club de France), and though I had been a bluegrass guitarist I started playing in that style and listening to more jazz. In 1968 I had one of my first experiences with hearing outstanding, contemporary jazz performed live at a daytime concert in Seattle's Seward Park, where I heard (and saw) the Charles Lloyd quartet:   Charles Lloyd – sax Keith Jarrett – piano Cecil McBee – bass Jack DeJohnette – drums watch (fantastic Keith Jarret solo) I learned later that I heard some of the best musicians play that day. After this I started to listen to jazz more frequently and began experimenting with my own style of playing.

After several years of playing a variety of improvisational types of music on guitar, I started playing more and more jazz, and I decided that to better understand this complex music I wanted to study it in college. I was living in Seattle at the time but the school I chose (which I read about in Downbeat magazine, a jazz magazine) was Berklee College of Music in Boston, one of the leading jazz schools in the country that a lot of famous musicians had gone to. I went to Boston in 1973 (my 4th cross-country car trip) and when I started at Berklee I was asked if I would consider switching from guitar to upright bass because the school had an abundance of guitar players and a shortage of bass players. I made the switch, which turned out to be a good choice because acoustic bass players at school were always in demand so I was frequently asked to play with people. I studied at Berklee for two years under jazz bassist's John Neves (he really taught me jazz bass) and John Repucci (very technical lessons, mostly using a bow), and of course played in many combos. Double bass – (acoustic bass) my instrument My Berklee Days – on the Boston page Berklee buildings when I went there When I went to Berklee (1973-1975) they had 2 buildings, and most of the classes I took were in the 150 Mass. Ave. building, but I did have a few, including my bass lessons, in the 1140 Boylston St. building (the original Berklee building where the administration offices were), and that building also had a store and a library that I spent a lot of time in, and an auditorium that I attended some concerts in. The Berklee Performance Center opened in 1976, shortly after I left Berklee. 1140 Boylston St. 150 Mass. Ave. They have expanded the campus all over the neighborhood since I was there, here's a map. Berklee buildings now Berklee Performance Center The recording and touring bass players that I was most inspired by at that time were three bassists with very distinctive styles Dave Holland (have him on many albums) Stanley Clarke (played with Chick Corea's Return to Forever for years) Miroslav Vitous (his Mountain in the Clouds is one of my all-time favorite albums!)

Studying music greatly enhances one's appreciation and performing abilities, but it can also put you out of touch with the public's appreciation of music. This priceless video says so much about the unenlightened views one encounters in life after a musical education. Read the great comments on YouTube!

While I was at Berklee I went regulary to the local jazz clubs in Boston (sadly many now gone) including Jazz Workshop and Paul's Mall (Boylston Street) – thanks to Fred Taylor for these wonderful clubs 1369 Club and Ryles (Inman Square, Cambridge) Michael's Pub (Gainsborough Street near Symphony Hall and the New England Conservatory, with regular performances by The Fringe) One of my favorite clubs was Debbie's (a small place on Merrimac Street in Boston's old West End neighborhood near Government Center) that had great local performers every night (I remember guitarist John Scofield was a regular there while he was going to Berklee) and big bands played on Monday nights (the only night with a cover-charge, something like $1). Occasionally well-known artists on tour like Pat Metheny and others would sit in with the locals. In addition to going to the clubs to see great live music I also saw a lot at school (Berklee) and the New England Conservatory, which had a great jazz department (2 of my apartment dwelling neighbors studied jazz there). One of the best concerts I ever attended was a duo of John Surman on sax (bari- and soprano-) and Miroslav Vitous on bass at the small, intimate Jonathan Swift's club about 1975 (this was in Harvard Square but has now closed).

My perspective on things has frequently leaned towards the cutting-edge so my taste in music ultimately evolved into the avant−garde style that was being performed in the 1970s in the jazz lofts (some photos). This very non-commercial style of music had a serious following among musicians and some fine recordings of it can be found on the Wildflowers series (this 5 record vinyl LP set, which I owned, is now on 3 CDs). When these musicians came to Boston, they usually didn't play in the well known clubs, but they did find that, like New York, Boston had a loft scene, and some of the best music I heard when I was in college was performed in the jazz lofts. In an Atlantic Monthly article, "Jazz − Religious and Circus," Francis Davis writes about how many of us viewed the 1970s as the "Golden Age" of jazz. Alan Douglas, who recorded the Wildflowers sessions, says, "I think the loft jazz period was the last time that significant changes took place in jazz."

Jazz Lofts: A Walk Through the Wild Sounds

Wildflowers - The New York Loft Jazz Sessions

Riversteppingstones - The New York Loft Jazz Sessions

Much of the jazz I listened to over the years was produced before I was into it so being a contemporary person my tastes evolved quite naturally into jazz fusion, a mixture of Jazz & Rock or Jazz & Latin music that took off in the 1970s. Some of my favorites in this genre are Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Return to Forever (Chick Corea's group). Miles had great fustion bands starting around 1969, featuring some of the best musicians of the time, many who went on to have their own fusion bands. These are my favorite fusion albums that I still listen to all the time (previously on vinyl, now on digital): Extrapolation – John McLaughlin, 1969 Bitches Brew – Miles Davis, 1970, In a Silent Way – Miles Davis, 1969 Mountain in the Clouds – Miroslav Vitous, 1969 Native Dancer – Wayne Shorter, 1974, featuring a lot of Brazilian jazz musicians See more below under Favorite artists and Favorite albums.

When my kids (who are now adults) became teenagers I was exposed to musical styles that I might not have discovered on my own, some of which were not even around when I was younger. My son Alex turned me on to Ska*, and in summer 2000 we went to a concert by Reel Big Fish, one of the top American Ska groups, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved how a lot of Ska bands took previously recorded songs and did them in a Ska style. "Come On Eileen", a top-40 song by Dexy's Midnight Runners, was redone by the group Save Ferris (that name comes from the great movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"), and "Take On Me", a top-40 hit by the Norwegian group a-ha, was redone by Reel Big Fish.   * Ska "Ska is an uptempo, rhythmic variation based on the New Orleans R&B Jamaican musicians heard broadcast from the US on their transistor radios. Relying on skittering guitar and syncopated rhythms, ska was their interpretation of R&B and it was quite popular in the early '60s. However, during one very hot summer, it was too hot to either play or dance to ska, so the beat was slowed down and reggae was born."  — Wikipedia   Both of my sons have been actively involved in music. Alex took piano lessons for several years, and sang in a rock band in high school and college. Ben is also quite accomplished on piano (I love to hear him play when he visits). We have always enjoyed Broadway musicals when they come to Boston. We would buy the CDs of these shows and the boys grew up listening to this music, like Rent and Phantom of the Opera. Now that the boys have graduated from college and started their adult lives I don't get to hear them perform music, but I know it is in their genes to love it as I do.

Today
	It may appear that I have abandoned jazz, but I prefer to think that I am just not actively involved at the moment. I go to concerts in Boston when people come to play so I still support live music. I enjoy listening to many styles of music (see My songs) but improvisational music will always be my most respected and enjoyable style, and jazz is the ultimate form of that because there are no boundaries to the influences on jazz musicians. I didn't stay with music professionally and I went back to school to become a computer programmer, studying at a couple of fine Boston colleges (MIT and Northeastern), and my entire career (I am retired now) has been as a programmer, and ultimately a web-programmer (see My career). Since the early 1980s my creative energy has been consumed by writing computer code and though some might find it hard to believe, I get some of the same creative fulfillment as a programmer I received from being a musician. I listen to music on my phone with earbuds when I walk our dogs, Casey and Quinn, twice a day.	My songs

Portable stereo I remember having a little record-player when I was quite young. After I started collecting record albums as a teenager I knew I needed something better. I purchased my first stereo record player when I was in high school, a portable system with a fold-down turntable and detachable speakers. (I think one of the first albums I bought was Meet the Beatles!, which had just come out.) I had this stereo for several years and I remember I had it in my dorm room when I went to college in 1966. In 1968 in Seattle I heard a component system for the first time and couldn't believe that the records I had listened to for years had so much bass! I knew I had to have this so I started my first component stereo system that consisted of:         (pictures I found online of my actual components) Dual 1019 turntable - with variable speed control so I could tune a record to my guitar instead of tune the guitar to the record (replaced by a Bang & Olufsen) EICO tube power amplifier (replaced this with a Sansui solid-state receiver with radio tuner) Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder (replaced this with a modern cassette recorder that would eventually become a "relic of the past") KLH-17 speakers (still had these in my living room 40 years later—they survived our house fire in 1982 because they were stored in the basement) Dual 1019 turntable Tube power amp Sony tape recorder KLH-17 speakers Solid-state receiver Yamaha cassette recorder Most of the music I listened to in those days was on vinyl record albums, and since I have always been very particular about what I listened to, if I got tired of an album I typically got rid of it so there would be no chance somebody requesting to hear it again. I hauled my stereo and all my albums in my car from Seattle to Boston when I came here for college in 1973 (the KLH speakers were actually made in Boston and shipped to Seattle where I bought them, and then I brought them back to Boston). I had this stereo for years, upgrading many times, ultimately replacing the reel-to-reel recorder with a casette recorder and the tube amplifier with a solid-state receiver that had a radio tuner, (see above)and the Dual turntable with a Bang & Olufsen. As music became more digital most of these analog stereo components became discarded. Event usuually listening to music became a personal thing and I got a Sony Walkman. I had this for a couple of years before I finally got into digital music with an iPod, which I had for several years until it was replaced by putting music on my Smartphone, which is where I listen to music now.

Like most people of my generation I collected vinyl record albums for years. My albums experienced incredible heat in a house fire in 1982 and were mostly warped beyond playable. Even though I had ultimately converted my music listening to cassette and then digital—for some reason I kept these albums for 30 years and finally decided to get rid of them in 2015. Before trashing them I made a list so I would always know what albums I had owned. Here is that list of record albums. I was surprised that some of my favorite albums were not here when I made this list, so apparently I had purchased them as CDs. Many of the songs on these albums have been ripped to digital MP3s and put on an iPod and now my smartphone.

Vinyl albums

Although decades have passed, some of my greatest musical euphorias were experienced in the mid-1970s, at a time when I was studying music in college and I think improvisational music reached its peak. One of my favorite groups will always be John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra (videos), and I am still totally amazed at how good they were. As a jazz aficionado I acquired an extensive collection of recordings by John Coltrane (in 2017 I was wearing a Trane t-shirt and somebody asked me if it was for the manufacturing company), and I spent many hours listening to Trane and other tenor players who were greatly influenced by him, like Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Wayne Shorter, Dewey Redman, and Sam Rivers. Listed below are some of the people who have really moved me through the years. The musicians listed by instrument are jazz musicians; non-jazz musicians and groups are listed at the end. Some of the groups may no longer exist and sadly, some of the musicians have passed away d (see In Memoriam), but I still want to list them here because they will always rank as some of my favorites. There are also some musicians listed below under 60s music. See videos by many of these artists at Music videos.

		The logo is a link to each artist's page at All Music Guide for the discographies, cross-reference links, and song previews. (Periodically AMG reorganizes their website and some of these links stop working. I try to correct them when I notice this.)
Name		artist name is a link to them on Wikipedia.
		I have links to some of the artist's videos on YouTube.
		There is a website for artist.
d		Artist is deceased (see In Memoriam below)

Reeds, flute

	Keyboards

	Brass (trumpet, trombone)

	Bass

	Drums, percussion

	Guitar

	Other instruments

	Singers		(great performers or voices)

	Groups

	Composers

Playlists

I listen to my music on my smartphone in playlists that I create in iTunes (Apple software that I run on my Windows PC). I also access the music on my phone using Bluetooth on my car radio. These are smart playlists, meaning the song does not physically exist on a playlist—each playlist just has pointers to the songs. I configured them using iTunes columns Genre, or a specific value I put in an unused column called Grouping. Multiple values in Grouping will put a song on multiple playlists. Please note I use "contains" (has) and "is" (equals) when validating set values. Sometimes I just select Songs and put it on random play. I have an Android phone and use iSyncr software to transfer the songs and playlists from iTunes to my phone. After years of using wired earbuds (which I carry in my pocket) I have been using wireless earbuds that last few years (which have to be charged). Here are my playlists and the iTunes settings for each: Best Albums & Artists — Grouping contains "Alb" Classical — Genre is "Classical" Favorites — Grouping contains "Fav" (this is my most frequently used playlist) Fusion — Genre is "Jazz Fusion" Golden Age of Rock — Grouping contains "Gld" Jazz — Genre contains "Jazz" (also includes Jazz Fusion songs) Jazz - Best — Grouping contains "Jazz1" (also includes some Jazz Fusion and Bazilian songs) Memories — Grouping contains "Mem" The rest — Grouping is blank and Genre is not "Classical" and Genre does not contain "Jazz" (since I play playlists on my phone I needed someplace to put all songs not on other playlists) Carrying my earbuds . . .

All Music Guide

Yahoo Music

ARTIST direct Network

Jazzbo Notes

Sing365.com

Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews

Restructures: Creative Music Forum

Zookeeper Online

Songfacts

List of online music databases

AACM

Jazz Corner

All About Jazz

Smithsonian Jazz

Jazz Online

Europe Jazz Network

JazzVisionsPhotos.com

Jazzhouse.org

Welcome to 52nd Street Jazz

freejazz.org - Freedom in Music

Jazz Education: A Timeline

Montreux Jazz Festival

Festival Finder: Music Festivals of North America

Berklee College of Music

New England Conservatory of Music

OmniTone

CD Universe

Classic 45's

Barnes & Noble.com Music

Aganaze.com

BEATLES.COM

The Internet Beatles Album

List of Beatles' songs by singer

The Complete Works of the Rolling Stones 1962 - 2005

Innerviews® - Music Without Borders

One Hit Wonder Central

Am I Right

Lyrics Box

DOWNTOWNMUSIC.NET || photo gallery

Second Hand Songs

Traffic jams

Playing for Change

Wolfgang's Vault

The Genealogy of Pop/Rock Music

Play Me - I'm Yours

Pay to Play

~The Music Room~

The Jazz Photography of Richard Laird

Discogs

Find the #1 Song on the Day You Were Born

Digital audio links

Songs of War in Vietnam

Download RealPlayer

Windows Media

Windows Media Player download

WindowsMedia Guide

Windows Media Player Solution Center

SuperKeyword Jukebox

JazzFM.com

Jazz After Hours

Live Radio en Direct Tuner Virtuel - COMFM

KZSU 90.1FM Stanford University

KMHD - 89.1FM, Gresham, OR

Jazz24.org

KBEM - Minneapolis, St. Paul

National Public Radio (NPR) Music

I love the freedom ringtones give you to personalize your cellphone, so when someone calls you know it is your phone ringing. You can even have different ringtones for different callers. Try to use ringtones as unique as possible so you immediately recognize them because you don't want to think your cell is ringing when someone else's is. There are many websites that allow you to purchase and download ringtones directly to your phone, but if you want a really unlimited selection you can make your own from any song on your PC and transfer them to your phone (see below). Here are some ringtones I made from songs I like (I use Goldwave, a shareware audio editor). They are small segments of the original songs (hopefully this prevents copyright infringement)—some are the intros to the songs and some are instrumental sections I cut and edited—I didn't include any singing because I don't like voices on phone rings. I usually like ringtones that start softly and build so they are not startling when they go off. The ones listed here are typically 15-20 seconds long (saved as 96kbps and mono to decrease size) and they will loop on a cellphone so the end should segue into the beginning. Click on a song to play it—to copy a song to your computer right click on the title and choose Save Link/Target As.

Dancing in the Moonlight

House of the Rising Sun

She's a Rainbow

A Song For You

Gimme Shelter

That's the Way of the World

Foolish Games

In My Life

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Wildfire

A Whiter Shade of Pale

Classical Gas

These Days

MacArthur Park

Darkness, Darkness

Us and Them

Embryonic Journey

You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

Another Star

Purple Haze

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Wake Up Everybody

Rhiannon

Beautiful Day

Hotel California

Desperado

That's the Way of the World

Tiny Dancer

Betty Davis Eyes

Handbags and Gladrags

Maggie May

Secret Agent Man

Venus

It's Friday I'm In Love

Stay With Me Tonight

Stayin' Alive

Can't Get You Out Of My Head

Cause We've Ended As Lovers

Wildfire

Secret Garden

Thank U

A Fifth of Beethoven

You Can't Always Get What You Want

I Can't Make You Love Me

Helplessly Hoping

Jazz/Fusion

Memories of Tomorrow – Keith Jarrett (Part II C, from his album, The Köln Concert)
In a Silent Way – Miles Davis (sometimes my default ringtone)
Lilia – Milton Nascimento (from a live concert video)
Lilia – Herbie Hancock (the intro to the song on the Wayne Shorter album, Native Dancer)
Stolen Moments – Oliver Nelson
Waltz For Nicky – Richard Galliano
An Evening With Vincent Van Ritz – Eberhard Weber (one of my favorite bass players)
Tangaria – Richard Galliano (extracted from the video)
Icarus – Paul Winter Consort
Premonition – Andrew Hill
Theme de Celine – Art Ensemble of Chicago
All About Love – Larry Dunn interlude on Earth, Wind & Fire album
On The Nile – Music Inc.
You're Everything – Chick Corea
Captain Marvel – Chick Corea
Return To Forever – Chick Corea
The Gathering – Joe Bonner (his intro to the Pharoah Sanders song)
Love Is Everywhere – Joe Bonner (from his piano solo in the Pharoah Sanders song)
Samba da Rua – Archie Shepp
Bass Folk Song – Stanley Clarke (his intro to song on Joe Farrell album, Moon Germs)
Phase Dance – Pat Metheny
Funky Tonk – Keith Jarrett (from his solo on the Miles Davis album, Live-Evil)
Giant Steps – McCoy Tyner
Meeting of the Spirits – Mahavishnu Orchestra
Celestial Terrestrial Commuters – Mahavishnu Orchestra

Other

Chopin Waltz Opus 64
Moonlight Sonata – Movement 1 from this fantastic Beethoven piece
Caprice No 1: Andante – Midori (from her album, Paganini, 24 Caprices)
Pachelbel Canon in D
The Sacrifice – Michael Nyman (from "The Piano" soundtrack)
Eight Miles High – Leo Kottke
Somewhere Over The Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
The Impression That I Get – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Sailor's Hornpipe – Bill Monroe (Bill Keith on banjo)
Star Trek Communicator – "Beam me up, Scotty."
Twilight Zone – the theme song from the TV show
Silent ringtone – I use this where my phone requires a ringtone (e.g. email) but I don't want to hear anything
Soft Double – the default ring on my phone (I found this online)

There are several ways to put a ringtone from your PC on your cellphone: You can connect your cell to your PC with a USB cable On a Windows PC you can use Explorer to copy it from the folder on the PC to the ringtone folder on the cell. There are websites like Myxer.com that allow you to upload it then send it to your cell One easy way is to email it to your phone If you send it to your text message address (phone#@vzwpix.com or whatever your carrier supports) it will be received as a multimedia text message.

Because I was a teenager in the 1960s, the music of that time played a big part in my life. Meet the Beatles was the first vinyl record album I bought to play on my stereo. Like many young people of that era I was in a rock band when I was in college that existed primarily for our own entertainment, although we did play a few gigs at fraternities and sororities on campus. and once at the local high school. (After decades apart, in 2015 I reconnected with the lead guitar player in this band on Facebook and we've seen each other a few times when I was in Boise.) When I lived in Seattle I went regularly to concerts by the top West Coast groups of the day at the Eagles Auditorium. One interesting experience I had was with my roomate Bill. He was friends with the Retina Circus, who did the weekly light shows at the Eagles Auditorium rock shows (another roomate, Andy, joined the Retina Circus and he is in that video), and they did the show for the Byrds in Seattle and would also do it in Spokane the next night. Bill was asked to do the stage lighting at the Spokane show and I accompanied him. When we were setting up the lighting and I stood at the mic's while he adjusted the spotlights Byrds' fans were starting to arrive and assumed I was a Byrds' roady. They came up to me at the stage and started asking me questions about Roger McQuinn and other Byrds' members. Of course I played along like I was buddies with the band.

Sky River Rock Festival In 1968 (the year before Woodstock) I joined 20,000 other "social revolutionaries, hippie communalists, psychedelic evangelists, musicians, and music fans" to attend one of the world's first outdoor rock festivals, a 3-day affair in a pasture near Sultan, WA, a small town Northeast of Seattle. ("Rock festival" was still a somewhat new and unfamiliar term and when I told my mother I had gone to a "rock festival" she told her friends I had developed an interest in geology). My buddy and I had originally planned on staying for all 3 days, but woke up the first night in our sleeping bags getting wet when it rained, so we went home and commuted every day from our homes in Seattle. Not every band listed on the poster showed up, but there was still a tremendous amount of great music. The performers who were there included The Grateful Dead Santana Youngbloods Country Joe and the Fish Big Mama Thornton James Cotton Dino Valenti It's a Beautiful Day Sandy Bull Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band John Fahey The New Lost City Ramblers One thing besides music that I enjoyed was Richard Prior doing a standup comedy routine.

• Big Brother and the Holding Company
• Canned Heat
• Buffy Sainte-Marie

Monterey International Pop Music Festival

Woodstock

A list of Haight-Ashbury era bands

Jimi Hendrix

Janis Joplin

Country Joe & the Fish

Grateful Dead

Moby Grape

Jefferson Airplane

The Doors

Buffalo Springield

Neil Young

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

Cream

The Yardbirds

Steve Miller Band

The Byrds

Bob Dylan

Donovan

John Mayall

The Youngbloods

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks

Jim Kweskin Jug Band

Kaleidoscope

Crome Syrcus

Ike and Tina Turner Revue

Youtube

Dogpile

Project Playlist

Soundflavor Music Search

SeeqPod

Rhapsody.com

Yahoo! Search - Audio

MP3sHits.com

Mp3Realm - Mp3 Search

Mp3Raid.com

beeMP3

Real Seach

The MIDI Farm

Gnucleus

BearShare

Warez

Morpheus

Napster

MP3     songs below

"The real threat of MP3 music piracy—to listeners and, conceivably, democracy itself—is the music industry's reaction to it." — Charles C. Mann, The Atlantic Monthly MP3 tips MP3 tools MP3 songs

RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America)

The above quotation ("The real threat...") is from an article, "The Heavenly Jukebox", that includes a history of the MP3, which is one of the digital formats for music that has become very popular on the Internet. Because they are ubiquitous and you can download them for free, MP3s have the RIAA all freaked out. In 2001 the RIAA took peer-to-peer file-sharing company Napster to court and put them out of business, and in 2003 they started going after individual "major offenders", those who offered more than 1,000 songs to others for downloading (eventually this included me). The RIAA has the rather short-sighted view that being able to download MP3 songs for free will keep people from purchasing the CDs. MP3s actually provide a great way to sample songs before buying a CD, and people will continue to make purchases if the music is good. As far as MP3s being a threat to the royalty income the musicians receive from CD sales, according to the previously mentioned Atlantic Monthly article, if it exists at all this income is miniscule. One of the biggest bombshells from the cross-examination was Pariser's [Sony BMG's the head of litigation] admission that the RIAA's legal campaign isn't making the labels any money, and that, furthermore, the industry has no idea of the actual damages it suffers due to file-sharing.   This is from the testimony in the trial of a Minnesota woman which resulted in her being fined $222.000 for sharing music. It looks like the RIAA are even bigger idiots than imagined. One can also be introduced to a new artist via MP3s, especially someone esoteric like Tin Hat Trio, who lacks the heavy marketing of the more commercial artists. I discovered them almost by accident (on a music system in Starbucks no less), yet I still purchased Tin Hat Trio's CDs, even though I knew I could download some of their MP3 music for free. Or suppose you have a song on a CD that you want to share with someone who lives far away from you. You can convert the song from the CD (rip it) to an MP3 file and send it as an email attachment, which may even encourage that person to go out and buy the CD, thereby increasing sales.

MP3 tips

Video to MP3 Extract Convert analog Shrink Create WAV Suppress prompt Stream ID3 tags
	I don't know where the MP3 litigation will ultimately end up, but in the meantime MP3s provide some interesting technical solutions. For instance, when I wanted to put a song I liked on a cassette tape to listen to in my Walkman (the old days), I could only locate it in the MP3 format (it was also made on 7" vinyl but I couldn't find that). To get my MP3 on tape I had to burn it to a CD, which I then played on a regular stereo system and recorded it to tape. For mobile music I use my smartphone now so I still convert many individual songs to MP3s from CDs or vinyl recordings (see Convert a record or tape) to load them. As MP3 usage and the software to do things with them gets more common, some of the tips I put here are no longer needed, and I will try to keep this section up−todate. Many of these tips make reference to various software I use (names in green italics). See see MP3 tools for more on these.

Create an MP3 from a YouTube video   I have several songs on my smartphone that I first heard as the audio portion of a performance on YouTube. I used to save the video then convert it to MP3 using software I have but then I found this website that does just that. YouTube to MP3 Converter Extract a portion of a song and make a new MP3   I have a CD, "Return to Forever" (a Chick Corea album), that has a great bass solo by Stanley Clarke on the the song Sometime Ago. I wanted to put this on my website as an MP3 (back when that was allowed), but the entire song is 23 minutes long, which would produce a rather large MP3, so I made an MP3 of just the bass solo. First I created an MP3 of the entire song with the CD ripper AudioGrabber. Then the following steps were taken to create the extraction. Open up the MP3 in an audio editor (I used GoldWave). Locate and mark the beginning and ending positions of the portion to extract. Copy this portion to the clipboard. Paste it as a new song in the editor. Clean up the beginning and ending (trim, fade in/out, etc.). Save it as a new MP3 of just this extraction.   Convert a record or tape to MP3   Many of my generation have extensive collections of records and tapes, which can be ripped directly with AudioGrabber or LineRipper, converting analog to digital. Connect the headphone jack or line-out of the stereo system to the line-in of the PC's sound card. Play the song on the stereo and record in AudioGrabber on the PC, outputting as an MP3. Do any cleanup (trim, noise reduction, etc.) with an audio editor like GoldWave. If you want the MP3 to contain song info, update the ID3 tags. After I have created one of these MP3s I sometimes find it necessary to reduce noise, primarily hiss. I listen to a lot of jazz, where the drummers use a lot of cymbols, and normal noise-reduction methods would remove some of this, so what I do is "Dolbyize" it in GoldWave, i.e., I increase the high frequencies with the equalizer, then slightly filter off the high hiss. Shrink an MP3 file   MP3 is a lossy data compression format but the files can still get rather large. The size of an MP3 is directly proportional to its bitrate, the most common rate being 128 kbps. If I obtain an MP3 with a higher rate, even as high as 320, I convert it to 128, sometimes getting a huge reduction in size without any noticable deterioration in sound quality. The easiest way to convert MP3 bitrates is using an audio editor like GoldWave.     -- or -- You can do the following steps using Windows Sound Recorder. Create a WAV file from the MP3. Open up the WAV file in Windows Sound Recorder (look in Programs » Accessories » Entertainment). On the File menu select Save As... In the Save As window, locate the folder where you want to save the MP3. - at File Name: type in the name with an ".mp3" extension - at Save as type: select "All Files (*.*)" Click on the Change... button to open up the Sound Selection window. - under Format: select "MPEG Layer-3" - under Attributes: select the bitrate you want - you might want to save these settings under a name like "MP3" for future use (click on Save As...) - click on Save to close the Sound Selection window Click on Save in the Save As window to create the MP3 file with the above settings. Create a WAV file from an MP3   The easiest way to do this is to open an MP3 in an editor like GoldWave where you can simply save it as a type WAV file. But if you don't have GoldWave here is a more elaborate way you can do it using Winamp. Open the MP3 in Winamp. Click on Options » Preferences... Under Output, select "Nullsoft Disk Writer plug-in...". Click on the Configure button to direct the output to a specific folder. Close Preferences. Play the song (no music is heard). - it is best if you do not have Repeat set on Remember to switch the Output in Winamp back to "Nullsoft waveOut plug-in...". Suppress MP3 download prompt   If you are always prompted to Open or Save when you click on MP3s on websites and you find the checkbox for "Always ask before opening this type of file" grayed out, it is controlled by a registry setting.     Key: DWORD:  Data: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions AlwaysPromptWhenDownload 1 If you play around with this (make it 1 or 0) you can enable the checkbox again and get rid of this prompt. Use caution when editing the Registry. Another factor in this is the default Action setting for MP3 files in Folder Options » File Types. There is more information on this at Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 238723. Stream an audio file   Streaming allows an audio file to start playing as soon as it arrives, rather than waiting until it is completely downloaded, which makes the size of the file irrelevant. It is fairly easy to set up. All you need to do is create a simple metafile, which is nothing more than a text file containing a link to an audio file on a server. Put the following line in the metafile and save it with an extension of .m3u (for MP3 files), .ram (for realAudio files), .wmx (for .wma files), .wvx (for .wmv files), or .asx (for .asf files).     http://...URL-on-server.../audiofile.mp3 (or ./folder-name/audiofile.mp3 if on same server and even just audiofile.mp3 if in same folder) You should replace any spaces contained in your MP3 filename with %20 (% plus the hex value for space) in your metafile link because URLs cannot contain spaces and some music players will not handle them. (Current browsers perform this substitution so it is unnecessary to do it on your webpage links.)     http://...URL-on-server.../The Song Title.mp3   becomes   http://...URL-on-server.../The%20Song%20Title.mp3 Multiple audio files can be streamed in a single metafile with additional lines (this is generally referred to as a 'playlist').     http://...URL-on-server.../audiofile1.mp3     http://...URL-on-server.../audiofile2.mp3 On your webpage, link to the metafile file to produce the streaming. A metafile does not have to be on a server to produce streaming; you can play a metafile on your PC and it can stream from a remote server. The various protocols that can be used in metafiles are "http", "rtsp", and "mms". I haven't figured out which is used for which type of audio file so I tend to use "http" most of the time. Here is a more elaborate way to code a Windows Media metafile script:      <asx version = "3.0">          <entry>              <title>Song Name</title>              <ref href = "http://YourWebServer/Path/YourFile.wmv"/>          </entry>      </asx> Save song info in ID3 tags   ID3 tags can be used to store information about a song (artist, song title, album, etc.) and display it when the MP3 is played. Winamp is a good way to update these tags (right-click on the playing song in the Winamp playlist and select View file info...). Some players don't display this information when an MP3 is streamed. If you put the file info in the ID3v2 tag (I always update both the ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags) it will display in Windows Media Player during streaming. Interactively play music on webpage   (Chopin - Waltz Opus 64)   Here is the code for the above control.   <audio controls src="songname.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">     Your browser does not support the audio element.   </audio> Use the autoplay attribute if you want the music to play when the page loads.   <audio controls src="songname.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" autoplay>

 MP3 tools

These are some of the tools I have used to manipulate MP3s. Some shareware/freeware may contain spyware, so use caution when installing them. Audiograbber This great CD-ripper can also read analog input through the sound card. GoldWave This is a digital audio editor with a lot of features. JHymn Set your iTunes music free—remove DRM restrictions without loss of sound quality—convert M4A and AAC to MP3. Audacity This is a free audio editor that can rip CDs and record from line-in or microphone. Streambox Ripper, or search Google for "Streambox Vcr Suite 2" This older (freeware) release will convert Real Audio to MP3. mp3Trim You can crop an MP3 with this little program. mp3Gain Perform lossless volume adjustments with this free and open source program. LineRipper Record from stereo system (turntable, tape, radio, etc.) via the sound card, converting analog to digital. Nullsoft Winamp The classic MP3 player can output a WAV file, and also lets you update both ID3 tags. See audio software reviews at The Sonic Spot.

MP3 songs info & tips above MIDI files below I also have Videos

My songs – songs I currently listen to on my smartphone
Songs that used to be listed here

	For years I had playable MP3s listed on my website, until I received the following in an email from my web-hosting provider. I have complied to prevent my website from being shut down.
		September 19, 2007 [We] recently received notice under Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) alleging that the above website infringes upon copyrighted materials. We are asking that you remove all copyrighted materials and downloads from your website. Should you fail to act upon this notice within 24 hours we will be forced to temporarily suspend your account.   (read the entire email) My songs
	I have moved my website to another hosting company since receiving that threat, but to play it safe I am still not sharing downloadable music here, and it appears I removed these files just in time, because a week later I read this story about someone who was found guilty of sharing music "illegally" and fined $220,000! Some the songs I shared I actually ripped from vinyl albums that I owned (making me the legal owner), but most of the songs were not acquired by purchases so I removed them all. My music has always been one of the big draws to my website, so I am taking away something that people loved, and after awhile the music search engines will no longer show me having these songs, so I know the number of my visitors will decrease. I am still sharing ringtones, which I believe is still safe because they are only snippets of songs. Thank you RIAA, for improving the quality of our lives.

• The names listed next to most of the songs are the artists initially associated with the songs, not the MIDI artists.
• To copy a file right click on the title and choose Save Target/Link As.

La Fiesta

Spain

All Blues

So What

James

Love Theme from Spartacus

Naima

Don't Speak

Stayin' Alive

Anji

Samba Pa Ti

Ironic

When You're Gone

The Sign

Kiss From a Rose

I Am the Walrus

Here Comes the Sun

Stairway to Heaven

Hotel California

Desperado

La Bamba

Whiter Shade of Pale

Another Star

Stay

The Impression That I Get

The Simpsons

Peanuts

Dueling Banjos

Island Music

Chip's Challenge

Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies

Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum