The Days of Lore
We love music in this household, whether we’re listening and dancing, watching it, or even making it. Daddy picked this week’s topic as part of his Father’s Day gift. Of course, his best gift is the dude in the photo above. Rock with us right here.
My 5-year-old and I are coming up with some avant-garde compositions that push all boundaries, and are going to leave critics absolutely speechless. Sort of a blend of John Cage and The Fall meets Glass Houses-era Billy Joel. Wrap your head around it if you can.
I’ll be in the DJ booth at one of my favorite Portland watering holes tonight, spinning all vinyl. Rock. Psych. Punk. Glam. Prog. Metal. 8 p.m. till the beer runs dry.
This gem has been in steady rotation for a long time around these parts. I got to thinking about it again since Los Dug Dug’s (well, guitarist/vocalist Armando Nava and a new crew) played a show in San Francisco last night–lots of friends went, and I’m extremely jealous.
The Durango, Mexico band’s 1971 debut is heavily influenced by a little group called The Beatles…but with more flutes. Opener “Lost In My World” remains a psychedelic classick, and sounds–much like the rest of the band’s output–as otherworldly today as it did five decades ago. Their records got more unhinged as they went (album number two, Smog, contains more overdriven guitars and extended drum solos), but this record is a wonderful bit of psychedelic pop.
It’s been a while. Like a really long time. Like 15-20 years or something. Actually, it’s been approximately five years since I last posted something here on The Days of Lore. And it’s not because I’m lazy, goddamnit. On the contrary, I’ve been very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very busy…which is to say, I now have two small children.
Needless to say I don’t have as much time for writing these days, aside from the occasional freelance gig. And when the old server that housed TDoL dumped years of work in 2015, the decision to stop doing this was that much easier (with help I’ve recovered most of it, and some might make occasional appearances in an installment I like to call: The Days of Lore…of Yore). So what made me decide to fire up this website again? Simply put, I just needed somewhere to dump my opinions on meaningless shit, as well as a place for me to process the day-to-day stuff that clogs my brain and makes me think and overthink and stress out. Plus I’ll use it as a place to link to my professional writing. And I’d much rather do this in my own space than on the grotesque Zuck Machine that probably brought you here. Yeesh.
Anyway, I figured a reintroduction was in order. Some of you reading, perhaps, have been here since the earliest days of Lore. Some of you are new. This is a place that will most-likely include a lot of music-related content. I’m almost 47, and music is still the thing I love most…well, besides my family…and baseball…and maybe Taco Tuesday. You’ll probably also catch me prattling on about, well, tacos and baseball, as well as movies (I’m good for about one or two a year–usually Star Wars-related), whiskey, books, journalism, food, fatherhood (ewwwww!), politics (double-ewwwww!), and my trip to Trader Joe’s.
If you’re not riveted by the potential here then you’re probably the owner of a successful business, two homes and a boat. Jokes aside, I’ve been doing this a long time, and I think I’m pretty good at it. To be honest, I need The Days of Lore more than you do–but it’s always a better experience with more people involved. Let’s have some fun.
This clip essentially sums up everything I mentioned above, so let this be your guide for future posts: Always skip to the video.