What Albums Do You Consider Perfect Records? by Peter Reum

How would you define an album that is flawless musically, lyrically, and technically? In 60 years of listening, there are only a few that are, for me, so satisfying that I can listen to them anytime, anywhere. What brought me to write about this topic was that today, I pulled out an album that still shines brightly nearly 50 years after it was first released.

Marvin Gaye's What's Going On happened to rise to the top of a bunch of cds I like. My late sister Susan had excellent taste in music, and I first heard Marvin's masterpiece on her little stereo. Not being an expert on quality of sound mixing, I heard the album as a complete gestalt type of listening experience. I went out and bought my first of many copies of the album.

The years immediately preceding What's Going On being released were difficult years for African Americans.  Fed up with token help, frustrated after the deaths of leaders, the advent of rioting began to show up in a number of United States cities. Foreshadowing the talking protest albums from Gil Scott Heron,  the protest music from Sly Stone, and the militance of the Black Panthers, What's Goin' On  delivered passionate music by a passionate recording artist. No one who heard What's Going On ever doubted the deep passion and emotional turmoil artists like Marvin Gaye expressed in their music.

I will not spend time speaking about the relationship between Marvin and his father. That Marvin and his father did not get along would be a generous description of father and son. Marvin's death after being shot by his father is a tragedy that is hard to accept. Marvin's father, a Pentecostal minister, had emotional issues with Marvin that took their toll on both men.

In 1970, Marvin had an idea for a concept album that would express the love he felt for his family and fans.  In a sense, the nine songs making up the What's Going On album are meditations on the problems of the era. Marvin describes his perceptions in a manner that empowers his mind to identify the various issues and to express his thoughts and impressions of why life  problems are a serious dilemma for him. The author tied young African Americans who are trying to stay prayerful about the numerous barriers to a better quality of life. It is clear that Marvin Gaye found some inspiration in exploring barriers to equality in mind as well as in the projects, jobs, breaking open new paths to success at radio, tv, and unique press stories once the album got airtime.

What's Going On has nine songs that, help frame the optimistic and pessimistic feelings that make the record so powerful. The discussion of topics that were timely in 1971 are minimally expressed, causing there to be a certain optimism to be absorbed by the listener. Each of the nine songs on What's Going On is a prayer for action or justice. If a listener comprehends Marvin's spirituality, this album that is as powerfully in 2018 as it was in 1971.

The incredible title single from the album opens with a conversation between a person who has been away from the neighborhood for awhile. The returned traveler receives his answer from a friend from the neighborhood who answers his questions. The friend answers by confirming there are no jobs, cannot pay the rent, children are hungry, and other problems. 

The person from the neighborhood answers his returning soldier friend by explaining how addiction has made his life impossible. His friend goes on to elaborate that there is no reason addicts can see to get off the dope because things are so desperately awful. His friend asks "who really cares to save a world that is destined to die?" "Such a bad way to live..." The friend then seems to experience a revelation, and says "Let's Save the Children....save the babies...."

As the meditation or prayer continues,  Marvin says "God is my friend." All God asks is that people love each other.  The answers continue to the newly returned traveler. The friend who continues to tell him about how things are ecologically. He says the sky's are grey, poison is carried in the air, and that oil spills kill the animals, fish are laced with mercury, radiation above and below ground is killing animals and people. The question raised is " how much more abuse from mankind can our Earth take before the Earth dies. 

Then, suddenly a meditation on what is going well in the world arises as if to make the point that only love can conquer the world's darkness.  Helping people like nurses, ministers, and people who follow God make up the core of the new world, a world that is full of true love. Love is the way our world can transform itself into a beautifully happier and more peaceful way. 

Marvin's beautiful meditation on the state of the world in 1971 pleads with his listeners to save the babies and the children of the world as an act of love, and even if futile, to do so because it is the spiritually correct thing to do.

Marvin saw our world's destruction and defiling as a act of suicide as a species. The bridges between tracks segue each song (meditation), helping his listeners see the state of this small world through his eyes, bringing a sense of immediacy to the problems of our planet. In one sense, the songs are a prayer to action, to examine our state of mind, and to come into harmony with the world, instead of treating the Earth as our personal playground to plunder.

The two songs that are formally prayers, Wholy Holy and God is Love are placed at critical locations in what may be a song cycle. God is Love is placed after the reunion of two friends, one who is getting back from a war overseas and wants to know all that has changed while he was gone. His friend answers his questions with information about hunger and poverty in the neighborhood, and horrible drug addiction. Following God Is Love, the friend from the neighborhood about the pollution that is ruining the Earth and killing people.

The friend then tells the soldier that pure love that is from God will conquer the  evil and suffering that people are feeling. especially on their mutual neighborhood. What follows next is Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler), which many listeners have interpreted to be a return to expression of anger and frustration about their neighborhood. Personally, I have always seen the song to be a call to action.  If we continue to accept conditions as they are, such as stereotypes about other races and ethnicities,  the planet and life on it will die. Furthermore, I see a strong sense of frustration with having to put up with being stereotypically judged based on skin color or national background. What the person from the neighborhood does, is to ask his traveling friend to settle down and help the world get better after being in a very unpopular war. probably Viet Nam. Love conquers hate. 

Shall we begin??

Copyright 2018 by Peter Reum

All Rights Reserved 

What Constitutes Music of the Old West? by Peter Reum

Perhaps, like me, you grew up listening to Western Music. This music is, by definition, not the music of the Nashville variety. In my mind, Western Music would belong more to a popular style often constituted of a single vocalist and a guitar. The Western Music genre was made popular by artists who were not always  natives of the Western United States. Folkways put together a Cowboy Song album in the 1950s, which was derived from folk music research.  The artists on the album are varied, with some being better known as folk song singers.  When I was a young boy of 3 or 4 years of age, my favorite thing to do was to listen to the radio, which featured cowboy bands and singers.

A brief review of cds sold by Amazon using the words Western Music yields a wide variety of  choices. In strictly the Cowboy/Western genre, there are at least 10 to choose from, including two boxed sets. Having purchased a wide variety of cds from Rhino, the set I chose to buy first is called simply Songs of the West, and was issued by Rhino. The only way this set is available is by purchasing it used. My affection for this set is great, as my mind and heart were reawakened while hearing it. Those of you who have followed this blog are aware that I have generally chosen to focus my posts around issues around the Western United States. That said, this is the first blog entry here that  focuses on Cowboy/Western Music.

Cowboys are an American phenomenon, having begun in Mexico and Latin America. When the United States became an Atlantic to Pacific Ocean country, the parts of the USA that were previously Mexican territory and the music sung by the Mexican vaqueros became part of the Cowboys' life. This set is excellent, as are most boxed sets prepared by Rhino, a mix of  popular Cowboy Music, dating from 1935 through 1960. The selections from Songs of the West tap into a feeling of nostalgia. The 72 tracks on the 4 cd set are themed. The first cd focuses on popular Cowboy/Western Music that are most likely to be familiar to people who listened to the original 78 rpm discs, or the movie soundtracks in the genre. This first of four articles will focus on the better known Western Music artists.

Cover Art for the Rhino Songs of the West cd Boxed Set

The first cd in this set emphasizes the tunes and artists that are recognizable due to their popularity at the time they were hits. The artists featured here are top flight, including Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry, Tex Ritter, Patsy Montana, Marty Robbins, Riders in the Sky, Rex Allen Sr., Ian Tyson, Dale Evans and Roy Rogers, Tex Owens, and the Riders of the Purple Sage. Walter Brennan, known best as Grandpa McCoy on the tv series The Real McCoys, calls the play by play on the Gunfight in the Okay Corral, which makes him sound like an ancient cowboy recalling the fight when he saw it first hand. 

Gene Autry, a pioneer of Western Music who eventually became a wealthy owner of the Los Angeles Angels, opens disc 1 with his iconic Back in the Saddle Again. Autry became a producer and star of Western motion pictures and theater short films. Autry would go on to record hundreds of Western songs, but his most famous tune was always Back in the Saddle Again. Cowboy Blues, another Gene Autry performance, is somewhat of a cowboy lament type of song. Autry draws sympathetic thoughts from the listener. If there could be blues music in Western themed songs, Cowboy Blues would be a blues song, often termed a lament.

Tumblin' Tumbleweeds is perhaps one of the best known songs in the Western genre of songs. The tune appeared in the eponymous motion picture, Gene Autry's first. The song went on to become the theme song of the Sons of the Pioneers, Roy Rogers vocal group. The song, along with Cool Water, was written by Bob Nolan, one of the original Sons of the Pioneers.

Cattle Call, written by Tex Owens, and first performed by Owens, is a popular song recorded by dozens of Western singers. The version on this Songs of the West set is the 1934 Owens version.

To late 20th and early 21st Century listeners, Tex Ritter may be better known being the father of the late tv comedian John Ritter, best known from the television series Three's Company. For older Western Music listeners, Tex Ritter's classic Western Music recordings are in the vanguard of the genre. (Take Me Back to My) Boots and Saddle was one of Tex Ritter's finest performances and an early hit. Ironically, the song was written by three Tin Pan Alley songwriters.

The 1964 Western film, Gunfight at the OK Corral, recounted the Tombstone, Arizona gunfight between the Earps and the Clantons. In contrast to the 1956 movie with Burt Lancaster, the 1964 film featured music. Music may be a generous description of Walter Brennan's spoken word performance, as it is more of a narrative. 

The song Big Iron appears on the Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs album. Robbins had a tenor voice that was immediately recognizable. The album is perhaps one of the best concept albums in the Western Music genre. Some 62 years after it was first released, it remains in print. One interesting fact is that the Beach Boys' tune Heroes and Villains from the Smile album was lyrically inspired by this Marty Robbins album.

Ian Tyson, a Canadian singer and songwriter, has recorded a number of Western Music albums over a nearly 50 year career as an artist. Initially he cut more folk music themed with Sylvia Tyson. As the years passed, Ian Tyson moved into a Western Music style. and has had a successful recording career. Leavin' Cheyenne, featured in this set, is pulled from Tyson's 1983 album Old Corrals and Sagebrush. Tyson is a rancher by trade when he is not touring.

Patsy Montana, a pioneer female Western Music performer, and the scion of the famous Montana family, who have ridden in every Rose Bowl parade for decades, contributes her composition I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart, the first million selling record by a female performer in Western Music. Her group, The Prairie Ramblers, were mainstays on clear channel radio station WLS for nearly 20 years.

Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, an early Western Music group, had a long and fruitful recording career. On this first disc of this set, they sing the Tin Pan Alley standard Ragtime Cowboy Joe. The tune is closely identified with Western Music, although it is derivative of early Western Music recordings. In the Seventies in San Francisco, members of several rock groups formed the New Riders of the Purple Sage in tribute to the original group.

Riders In the Sky, a modern Western band, are a trio of Western Music performer's, who were quite well known in the 1990s and 2000s. They are very popular with fans of modern Western Music. On this cd, they offer Ride Cowboys Ride, a tune co-written with Rex Allen Jr.

The late Frankie Laine and his group, the Muleskinners, are represented here on this disc with the tune Mule Train. The recording, which dates from 1949, is a Western Music standard,  and has been covered by many other artists. Mr. Laine performed well into his nineties, keeping the music alive.

Marty Robbins is also represented in this cd of Western songs by The Strawberry Roan. The song is a tribute to a horse that was never successfully ridden, despite many attempts. The Western rodeo, a series of events intended to tap into the various skills used by horse wrangled on ranches.

Riders In the Sky have a second song placed on this Western Music anthology entitled The Line Rider. On larger ranches, the job of riding the barbed wire fences that keep cattle in and rustlers out of huge parcels of range that are used to let cattle graze. This type of raising cattle has become less used with the advent of feedlot. During cattle drives, line riders kept the herd moving.

Rex Allen Sr. appears on this disc singing the Western classic The Last Roundup. The tune was written by the well known Billy Hill. Perhaps people who are not familiar with Western Music know Rex Allen Sr. best as the deep voiced narrator of numerous Disney nature films.

Tex Ritter appears a second time on this anthology of Western Music with the standard The Wayward Wind. This tune has been placed in numerous motion pictures to help viewers to comprehend the vast and diverse vistas and lands of the American West. On many Western highways, it is still possible to travel hundreds of miles without passing through but few communities, many of them sparsely populated,  the rest being ghost towns.

Completing this sampling of Western Music standards is the duo of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing their theme song, Happy Trails to You. There are very few of the Baby Boomers after World War 2 who were not familiar with these ambassadors of the American West. Simply put, the couple were, along with Gene Autry, the best known and familiar Western Music performers of the post World War 2 era.

This collection of Western artists can be found most easily on YouTube. The four cd set is out of print, and pricey when it can be found. Kudos to the folks at Rhino who assembled this set. The article covering the second cd from the set will be focusing on the music of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

Copyright 2018 by Peter Reum 

All Rights Reserved 

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Reum

The last few years have been fascinating as to what constitutes a fact versus an opinion. In the last election, it seemed that the national mood was exasperation. It became apparent that the nation's voters were paralyzed and did not care to investigate the arguments that various office holding incumbents used to explain their votes in legislative assemblies such as Congress.

In an election where most of the focus in 2016 seemed to be on which issues that the candidates coyly evaded, the word obfuscation took on new significance. The old adage emerged that candidates should nod their heads empathetically to constituents while not giving honest opinions about anything of consequence. It seems that being "warm and fuzzy" trumps being principled and honest. The honesty is reserved for dark money campaign contributions.

Since the Vietnam War, the trust of the American people has been repeatedly and cynically taken for granted by public servants who listen to campaign donors and pretend they hear the voices of voters in their home States and Districts. Should a concerned employee indicted for being a whistleblower be treated as a traitor? The Pentagon Papers, released in 1970 to several United States newspapers, had been kept classified for years prior to their dramatic entry into the public court of opinion. Through defying the norms of the Departments of State and Defense, Daniel Ellsberg was able to show the citizens who took the time to read the Pentagon Papers the dysfunctional, irrational, and wrongheaded manner in which the USA set post World War 2 policy in Indochina.  The USA's failure to understand was that the Vietnamese people simply wanted France and later the USA TO GET OUT OF THEIR COUNTRY.

The newspapers of the United States are privately held, the First Amendment allowing them an unfettered and critical role in the close examination of governmental policies, actions, and degree of success or failure that results from them. The tension between the constructs of freedom and authority, obedience and personal action of conscience, and cultural maintenance and innovation could be termed the checks and balances of a nation's society. The architects of our nation's beginnings were keenly aware that the effect that rigid/absolute or underdeveloped models of decision-making were toxic to the development of a long- term nationally prioritized agreed system for social change. 

The current tension between the Executive and Legislative branches of our government over the possible meddling of the Russian government in the 2016 election cycle calls into question the manner in which then possible future members of the Executive Branch interacted with the Russian Government while  involved in Republican campaigning for the Presidency.

The democratic model of national government is vulnerable to espionage precisely due to the independent media and the Constitutional freedom to vote, protest, financially influence, and offer dissent regarding various stands on issues at all levels of governing--family, city or county, state, and national. Such dissent creates huge  forces pushing for their desired outcomes which can be manipulated by subtle or secret espionage interactions not easily traced back to their origin.

When one of the three branches of our government is permeated with toxic foreign influences systematically and secretly advanced, the only possible counterintelligence answer is to ruthlessly self-examine by backward engineering the espionage strategies that worked and eliminating them.

If the targeted or victimized government branches uncooperative to the counterintelligence systems,  the counterintelligence is hobbled, making the operations of the enemy espionage more likely to be successful.  The self-serving and ruthlessly ambitious politicians become blind to the fact that they are being played like a banjo by forces hostile to free elections in a democracy. 

The citizens of a democratic republic owe it to themselves to understand the deleterious  impact of a successful espionage disinformation campaign. Instead, they must decide to hold accountable the elected or appointed officials who refuse to ruthlessly seek the truth to remedy a successful espionage disinformation campaign. To do less is to open the door to demagoguery and lies from the very people who were elected to seek the truth without exceptions.

To seek truth, the public official must remember the principle that government is only possible if the official in question remembers that he or she serves  by consent of the people.

Copyright 2018 by Peter Reum-All Rights Reserved

Heroes Are Hard to Find by Peter Reum

The impact that television and similar media present daily has  been life changing, mainly making the viewer's access to world events instant, and, at times quite shocking. With news channels available 24/7, there is very little left to the imagination pertaining to the people whose lives are closely intertwined with stories that broadcast news shows tell.

Pete Townshend's The Seeker conveys glimpses of the interface between television viewers and witnesses to tragic events. The person who is the target of a truth seekerin real life may be an introvert or feel indifferent to the public as a whole, yet is capable of finding the needed presence of mind to respond in a manner that is empathetic in a given situation.

The advent of email, message boards, and sites that are socially complex, like Facebook, has led to the shrinking of the emotional  gulf between family and friends. In my situation,  I have friends that  I have made over a 50 year span who share a strong interest in music. They live in 50+ countries around the world, and we often Skype or chat in real time to keep up with each other.

The advent of use of sites like Facebook for raising money for friends who have been touched by some sort of tragedy has made the world a smaller place and perhaps less xenophobic. Recently, I used Kickstart to help produce a film on a poet whose work deserves more attention than it has gotten. The ease that large nonprofit organizations have in raising funds for short term or long term projects has allowed nonprofits to use their websites to  seek people  from highly diverse backgrounds to discuss how a given project will be structured.

The overwhelming flood of media stimulation that the person who uses online news sites and network national/local news is the effect upon the viewer in question. That person is flooded by media output and is desensitized to the human tragedy or joy.  The most dramatic effect for viewers is that they have lost the ability to empathize or really internalize the implications of worldwide news stories. Part of the problem is the rapid pace that serious and tragic stories are presented. The death of hometown newspapers, combined with the local television and radio stations being gobbled up by national news giants, as well as the blurring of news and opinion on 24 hour news channels has made the world more connected, whether wanted or not. The overall net effect is that events that are tragic on a large scale happen what seems like every week. The desensitization and loss of the effect of feeling empathy due to loss of perspective is profound.

One sad example of this pattern is the high frequency of the massacre of innocent adults and children through terrorism and senseless wars. The reaction that people who are usually nervous regularly have is that the frequency of violence combined with the immigration of traumatized war refugees into their various countries who do not speak the national language of the host nations frightens or offends the sensibilities of some nations' citizens. If the economic picture of such a nation in question is  stagnant, fear rises and normally quiet citizens express their fears openly. Through the media, especially television, the fears of the worried population can be manipulated by unscrupulous politicians and heightened, making despots, once thought impossible to rule to be successful.  The rise of fascism in Germany, Japan, and Italy in the years between the two World Wars was often attributed to economic depression and inflation. In the case of Germany, an added factor is the terrible terms that Germany was forced to adopt to end the World War 1.

The scope of heroism as a paradigm has both broadened and shrunk. To be a true hero in today's world, the heroic consistency and stability of national, local, and family leaders has risen in the collective mind of families, regions, and nations. Today, due to the high rate of divorce worldwide, the couple that stays together and raises kids or exerts local leadership is often considered heroic. Partners in marriages that last with kids who reflect the best aspects of society's norms are heroes. Conversely, for other people, heroes are people who are entertainers or athletes. There are a few other avenues to becoming a hero. People who are towering examples of moving forward their vocation dramatically could include Nobel Laureates, scientists who improve quality of life, Peace Negotiators, and Leaders of Nations and Regions that improve quality of life.

The question directed to you as a person is Who Are Your Heroes and Why Do You Hold Such Heroes as exceptional persons in your life?

Here are some of mine...

Brian Wilson

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer

Georgia O'Keeffe

George Gershwin

Soren Kierkegaard

   

Montanans in Disneyland: Some Observations by Peter Reum

Over the holiday break, my wife, the kids, and I spent 6 days in Southern California. Our plan was to visit Disneyland and the newer California Adventures Park. Our trip to and from Anaheim was paid in advance, including airport transport to and from LAX. Anaheim's local transit  system was also excellent, taking us from outside our hotel to the admission gates of both parks. We paid everything in advance through Disneyland Travel Services, who were very helpful in giving us choices for the decisions we had to make.

Flying economy is difficult in traveling anywhere. Our United Airlines flight attendants made our flights less stressful by pleasantly talking with our kids, who are 8 and 9. Our time at the Anaheim Disney Parks was compromised by enormous attendance at both parks. For anyone planning to go to both parks, I would suggest traveling at a time that is not a vacation period for schools. Crowds at both parks were very large, and park visitors have to be respectful of Indigenous tribe's traditional practices, as they  as they wind their way through park rides and themed sections (e.g. Frontierland).

My last visit to Disneyland was in 1986. I had a two year old child on that visit. I was fortunate to have had several visits. I went to Disneyland for the first time when I was four, in 1957, when Disneyland had been open for two years. The memories from that first visit are somewhat hazy.  Fantasyland and Frontierland are the areas that made the biggest impression 60 years ago. Disneyland has always been crowded on the visits I have made.  As time has marched onward, Disneyland has changed the exhibits and rides to reflect the nation's changes. This is excellent.

I remember Monsanto having had a home of the future, and using the slogan "better living through chemistry." This was in my 1957 visit. Parking was ample, and the way the parking lots that were set up made it easy to find our 1955 Mercury when we were done with the park. The Matterhorn coaster was still on the development plan. Crowds were large, but waits for park attractions were much shorter. As the Fifties passed into the Sixties, Walt Disney World took up more of the Disney Company's time.

When Disney World opened, for a time Disneyland was less crowded on my visits. It seemed that Disneyland was given less attention by Disney Corporation.  Despite the company's priorities being mostly shaped by Disney World, new attractions were periodically opened at Disneyland. As time moved along, new attractions opened at both parks regularly.

The story of Disneyland after Walt Disney's passing in 1966 was for me all about the Disney family carrying on Walt Disney's vision and staying true to the vision Mr. Disney had for the Disney Company's various operating divisions.   There was a point when Disney Corporation appeared  to have lost some of the clarity Mr. Disney brought to the operating divisions of Disney Corporation. At some point in the Eighties, the Disney family holdings in Disney Corporation became a minority interest with other investors holding majority interest.

The Disney Corporation's priorities moved into an international platform with Disney amusement parks opening in Asia and Europe. Disney Corporation placed themselves in the burgeoning cable television market. The Disney Channel and it's offshoots were dominant in the cable television market for programming targeting young viewers. In the Fifties and Sixties, Walt Disney's weekly show dominated Sunday night programming on ABC. In the Nineties, Disney Corporation bought ABC....!

Disneyland, the former flagship park in the Disney chain of amusement parks sadly began to show its age. An intense long-term  development plan brought Disneyland into the Twenty First Century. Attendance at Disneyland expanded and grew. New attractions boosted the public's interest. New areas of Disneyland and the new California Adventures Park made Disneyland competitive with parks like Six Flags and Magic Mountain.

The Disney name became synonymous with excellent service to customers.  Disney patrons were called "guests" and other service and vacation sector market corporations used Disney's customer service model with similar successes. Disney's  reanimated pictures experienced a rejuvenation of box office success that brought awards and an anticipation of each new Disney film that had not been witnessed since the Sixties. Disney rereleased Walt Disney's masterpiece,  Fantasia. The film finally received the artistic adoration it had always deserved, and Roy Disney, Walt's brother, oversaw the release of a 21st Century sequel to Fantasia that was acclaimed.

Over the first decade of the 21st Century,  Disney became an entertainment giant. Disneyland was expanded correspondingly.
That brings me to our visit to the park over the holiday just passed.

Disneyland/California Adventures combines the traditional vision of Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom with the overpowering Star Wars franchise. There are the original sections, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and new attractions in Mainstreet, plus all of the attractions in California Adventures.   The price for a day in Disneyland is $125 For an adult and $95 for young children.

Price stated, I would like to offer some observations about my family's experiences in both parks - Disneyland and California Adventures...

1) The two park's "cast members" were unfailingly helpful. We misplaced our son's diabetic medication and testing kit one night. We were given excellent  instructions on who to see and report the lost kit. The staff's instructions were given clearly, and as they predicted,  the kit was in lost and found the next morning as they had predicted.

2) The abuse of the so called "fast pass" insofar as the disparity how fastpass buyers and regular patrons are treated is a very disappointing. The wait time  fit most popular rides until 40 to 50 fast pass holders got their ride on an attraction.  Regular customers are admitted at roughly one regular customer to fifteen fast pass  holders. The regular customers are called "standbys" and on high attendance days have wait times averaging rights times longer than fast pass purchasers. This often results in a 3 hour wait time for popular rides.

3) We found that food quality at both parks was generally fair to good, but that the prices were excessive for what you buy. The problems centered on food quality and presentation. But for the price, helpful staff tried to speak with a supportive understanding tone to our family.

4) The staff people we met were pleasant for small talk. Disney Parks seems to attract high quality staff.  Their loyalty to standards of the original founders has a solid positive impact.



af/ 

Spread Kindness by Peter Reum

It is said that life cannot be fair

That to believe in fairness is naive
Cynics boast that to show you care
Brings heartbreak with no reprieve

Earthly desires shine with brightness
They sparkle with a persistent glow
The holidays promise the generous kindness,
Giving gifts supposedly can show

Why do we sequester human civility
To a brief period called holidays
People should manifest magnanimity
Year 'round, not 11 months of malaise

Daily empathy offered beats the holidays
Taking a few minutes of listening
Builds a sense of newborn sunshine rays
Open kindness leads to smiles glistening

Consider the possibility of holiday kindness
Becoming a twelve month reality
Putting into practice humanity's finest
Daily holiday spirit consistently

Copyright 2017 by Peter Reum
All rights reserved

Mike Love's Unleash the Love by Peter Reum

This new set from Mike Love and his touring band is an album that will undoubtedly rekindle the old comparisons between solo music recorded by Michael and his cousin Brian. Fortunately, the latest album set from Michael offers a pleasant and understated listening experience. For Michael, the songs on the first of two cds in this release, Unleash the Love, are generally well produced in a subtler tone than in past recording projects. Certain songs are from earlier years. This will not matter to casual fans of Michael's.

The annotation from Mr. Love in the booklet that accompanies the two albums is helpful, offering background on some of the tunes. If the listener is expecting a Beach Boys harmonic sound,  the reader is encouraged to go straight to cd 2, which highlights the Brian Wilson and Michael Love songwriting partnership. Michael has cut twelve Brian Wilson and Mike Love compositions previously recorded by the Beach Boys.

In this package, the songs on cd 2 are generally performed by Michael's touring band, with support from guest musicians. It seems that these songs are done similar to the touring versions, but in the studio. Regardless,  the listener will get a good idea of the sound of Mike Love's band, billed as the Beach Boys. In addition to Mike, long-term Beach Boy Bruce Johnston also is a veteran member of Mike's band.

For purposes of this review, most of the coverage will pertain to Unleash the Love. A quick review of musicians playing on this album reveals a few guests. John Stamos appears on two tracks. Michael's daughter and sons appear as lead and background vocalists on several songs on both cds.

In a brief introduction to Unleash the Love, Michael points out that violence, pollution, drug abuse, and income inequality persist as problems plaguing the world. Themematically, the tunes on this cd highlight these issues, but not overwhelmingly. A Beach Boys tune from the 1985 eponymous album, Getcha Back, presents itself as the second tune one hears. Perhaps it is here as a bow to the cousins and friends who first cut the song.

The lead off track, All the Love is Paris, is a gentle opening track, perhaps signaling Michael's long term affection for Paris. It is a mildly pleasant track, continuing a theme begun with Bells of Paris from 1978's M.I.U album.

Some of the tracks on Unleash the Love were first assembled into an album titled Mike Love, Not War. That collection of tunes did not see release. That bootleg was mostly derived from Mike's debut album, entitled First Love. One positive difference with this set is a more polished sound. Daybreak Over the Ocean is another tune from Mike Love Not War that has been redone for Unleash the Love. It has a pleasant melody, but suffers from "moon-june lyrical disease."

I Don't Wanna Know is one of the tunes also cut for Mike Love Not War. It was one of the better tunes then, and this is also true here. Too Cruel is one of the better tracks on Unleash the Love, offering a more edgy sound than many of the songs in this set. Glow Crescent Glow was written perhaps with an approach derived from Transcendental Meditation. It is not one of the better tracks in this set, sounding insular toward the TM population.

Cool Head,Warm Heart is a track again derived from Mike Love Not War. It has a pleasant melody, yet the lyrics are dated and the overall sound of the tune seems fairly weak compared with some of this album's song repertoire. I have a hunch that Mike felt some kinship to George Harrison when he wrote Pisces Brother
Both men were overshadowed by other members of their respective bands
Michael has lived in the shadow of one of the titans of popular music during his entire tenure with the Beach Boys.  Brian Wilson's talent is matched by few if any of his peers. George Harrison for many years was fortunate if he was able to place one or two songs on Beatle album's with Lennon and McCartney writing songs that stood high above most of their peers. Michael felt some connection to George Harrison also due to their time spent together in Rishikesh with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Living in the shadow of the Lennon and McCartney songwriting partnership must have frustrated George Harrison at times as well.

The album's title track, Unleash the Love, is, of course a play on Michael's surname. This track offers some simple suggestions for bringing love to our world. It is a strong track. And it stands out as one of Michael's better performances. Ram Raj is unusual enough to spark my interest musically. It again seems to be a track derived from Hindu traditions. It is somewhat jarring in this album's track sequence. It would benefit from a better placement in the program of songs on Unleash the Love.

John Stamos plays drums on the next track, 10,000 Years Ago. The song is for me, the most interesting tune on the album. It again is derived from the sessions for the unreleased Mike Love Not War album from 2006. Almost a chant, it is a tune that almost sounds like a Dennis Wilson approach production wise. A tune that is important  lyrically is Only One Earth. The tune throws light on the growing ruination of our planet through use of methods that deplete the most important  life preserving resources of our Earth. Among these are the ozone layer, use of mineral mining methods that poison ground water aquifers, and mass extinction of our fellow creatures on Earth through ignorant alterations of sensitive interdependence of environmental systems.

Finishing the album is Make Love Not War. This song seems important for one big reason. Every war on this planet further harms our own species, other life forms,  and shortens the time we have to cease armed conflict and human suffering. Unleash the Love is probably the most commercial of all of the solo work Michael has done outside of the Beach Boys.

The average listener on first blush will find this work by Michael to be derivative, and will most likely write it off. This would be a mistake, because the points each of these tunes make fit together to be a recipe for a more peaceful and caring world. As Michael correctly points out, the problems of this Earth will not be solvable unless we come together to resolve them. No amount of money will ever "fix" the social ills of our planet. Guess we'd better unleash the love.