I'll miss you, Mom.

Last Friday, November 6, 2009, my Mother passed away. She had been ill for a long time, suffering from diabetes and dementia.

I took care of her for several years here at my home, and when it was evident that I could not provide or afford the care necessary for her, she was living in a local nursing home, but I never stopped caring for her or visiting her. I knew her death would happen someday, but as much as I tried, I could not prepare for it.

Now that the news is out, we are receiving an enormous outpouring of support from friends, family and acquaintances. The big question is: When's the funeral? Are you going to hold services? After careful consideration, I have decided we are not going to hold public services or have a gathering for my Mom's passing.

There was an obituary in the paper, though. You can view it and sign the guest book online until December 10. My entire family thanks you.

Here's my reasons:
This year my Mom got to experience two really great things that she was able to attend. The first was my wedding, and the other was my siblings and other family members getting together to take her out to dinner. She had really good days for both of those events, she enjoyed them as much as she could, and a few days after the latter event was when the big downward spiral began for her.

Her remains will be cremated and buried in a private place. When my Dad and my brother passed away, we did receive family and friends at the house, and that was for my Mom more than anything else. These "services" and "gatherings" are for others, and I find no need to prolong my grief or bring others down through this tradition. I feel there are better ways to get over a loss such as this. My memories for funerals are so dismal, and I don't want to remember a close friend or relative as a corpse in a fancy box, I want them to live in my memory for all the things they were, because that is all we have left.

I do hold my friends close, and most everyone I care about and who cares about my family has already contacted us, or I have contacted them. I'm sure there are more phone calls to make. We will continue to celebrate her life as well as our own and embody the good spirits and loving thoughts my Mom held dear.

Personally, I have a strong dislike of the traditional funeral system. It is a vacuum of money and hypocrisy in my opinion, but I do not want to deny anyone who participates in it the opportunity to grieve and heal from their loss in the way they choose. I don't think that I am dishonoring my Mother. A lot of the friends that she did talk to on a regular basis before she got sick are unable to attend any sort of event anyway. I've been spending time with my immediate family and thinking about the stuff that made my Mom happy.

The love that she gave to this world is immeasurable. We will never forget her. The good memories of her will enrich and educate us for the rest of our lives, and for that we give thanks.

Now...let's get on with our lives, shall we?

It's been too long!

Yikes! Over a year since I have posted anything on this site. way too long. Now I need to find something out. Lots of things.
I have an HD TV.
I love the HD I get on cable.
I am mulling HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.
The Playstation 3 looks inviting, because it also plays SACDs.
But I'm not a gamer.
The multi-channel surround on PS3 is only through HDMI, and I don't have HDMI on my receiver.
I'd be happy to get a new receiver, but none of them have the right amount of inputs.
I also have an Apple TV box.
What's a boy to do?
To be continued.

Live on Cleveland radio this Wednesday!

As some of you might know, I did an Internet radio show with The Ghoul on a site called ClevelandHits.com back in 2002. This coming Wednesday, May 17th, I will be on WNCX 98.5 FM from 6AM to 10AM with The Ghoul for the morning show. Get up early and get ready for your day with The Ghoul and Me!

That's WNCX-FM, 95.5 FM - Cleveland's Classic Rock Station.
Omigawd.. I'm back on the radio again.
Wednesday, May 17th, 6-10AM.

New look for The Box of Sound

The Box of Sound podcast will soon be sporting a new look and a new direction. Rich Kegarise, good friend and guest for two previous episodes, will be a regular on the show as we talk about all sorts of entertainment media, mostly music from our unique point of view. Check it out.

Also, the Uncle Scratch album should be in my hands any day now. I hope to be posting information on how you can get your grubby little hands on a copy. It ROCKS!!!

Quick Update!

The next podcast will DEFINITELY be centering on Jandek. I spent a couple hours with Len from Jawbone on Saturday, helping him with some technical hurdles in his audio setup. He is a great guy and he spreads that niceness to the rest of his family. His kids are friendly, of course there's the lovely Nora (she was too busy to talk, but she popped in on us and said Hi), and the whole house experience that is the Nobbynees home.
Time to pick up dry cleaning and do grocery shopping for Mom. Later!

This is now a podcast.

Future posts will most likely appear as podcasts in the Box of Sound website. Why read me when I can talk to you?

OK, stop grumbling and start clicking, then start downloading. I'll talk to you again soon.

...and this is what's going on.

Jandek project is not stopped, but kind of on hold for now. The audio project part of my life has been getting busy and I'm getting tired of emails and phone calls saying, "Update your blog, dammit!!!"

I've recorded a couple of songs for the Jawbone Radio Podcast show. One of them, "Nora (&Len)" is played at the end of the show, and I've sent a little quick thing I call "MST Jawbone", a version of the theme to Mystery Science Theater 3000, with new lyrics about the Jawbone show.

Pre-production has begun for the next full-length D.Verada project. Songs are the main focus, this will be a genre-busting affair, if I do all the stuff I want. More as that comes together.

I'm also re-discovering my record collection, thanks to the unbelievable program SoundSoap Pro from BIAS Software. This thing takes recordings and removes the unwanted elements. In the case of phonograph records, the surface noise, clicks and crackles are removed to the point where a well preserved record sounds as good as a CD, with the warmth of analog intact.

Some of the records I've transferred lately:

Robert Rental and The Normal: Live
Bill Nelson's Red Noise: Sound On Sound
Hawkwind: A Space Ritual
Hawkwind: Quark Strangeness & Charm
Raydio: Rock On
Then there's the Sparks catalog. So far I've immersed myself in: Kimono My House, Propaganda, Indiscreet, Introducing, and Big Beat. Ron Mael is a terrifically under-appreciated composer.

Yes, I know that a lot of these records are available on CD, and sometimes with extra cuts. But a lot of these are over-priced imports and with the tunes I actually want to put on my iPod, it is much more rewarding to transfer the vinyl I loved originally. I also transfer records, cassettes, reel-to-reel and 8-track tapes for a fee. E-mail me for details.

Monkey Call is playing a new venue next weekend. More info in a separate entry.

I'm toying with starting a podcast later this year. This will be mainly about music and will feature lots of interviews I did in the 70s and 80s with now-classic rock and roll people.