Sheb Wooley and "the Wilhelm Scream". After conducting research into Mr. Wooley, I found youtube videos featuring the Wilhelm Scream. I encourage you to youtube it and a quick wiki search of it will fill in some blanks. You are welcome.

I was playing music on the square today and had an awesome comment from a young man. He asked if I remembered jamming with him last year, which of course i do, (he shook his bones, i played the songs, us jamming :) ) so i exclaimed, "yes" emphatically. So I am playing one of the original songs I have on youtube, and when it was over, he told me he was listening to youtube today and that that song was the second song he listened to and he told me his dad came in and sang it with him. Those songs, songs Dave and i composed and I applied some video footage to to put it on youtube as another way to share the songs we create do get plays. I am sure i never expected to hear that, though. How beyond wonderful. Later, I told him if i could, i'd be out there again tomorrow and he told me he'd see me then. Huge thanks, again, to Dave for creating the song(s) with me and to our parents for the emotional support of our art. I've sold some oil-paintings and have had poems published, but i think this experience tops all the other amazing experiences i have been blessed with regarding my art. So I am telling you, I wish you all the success, all the amazing experiences you can imagine, I am pulling for you! Eternally, best wishes, j

What moment or moments can you trace back to your earliest desires to play music? A friend brought me to his friend's house, we went down into the basement there and I watched as three guys played a couple dozen tunes. They were interacting as they played. Their eyes on each other and smiles all 'round. The music was charged with passion, tension and release! Before I ever picked up a pair of my sister's bongos and hauled them to a Grateful Dead show in Buffalo, I was already inspired by that moment. Then, at the show, a guy parked near us broke out his guitar and we started playing Grateful Dead songs. More than a dozen people were around us in minutes, clacking keys on plates, blowing harmonicas and hitting hand drums. That shit was magical! Before long, that friend, Tom, bought a lyric/chord book of Grateful Dead songs and we met, Mike, who played beautiful guitar! He had friends from a local band called Liquid Legbone and they would join us at parties. He led us through Melissa by the Allman Brothers and through a bunch of Dead songs, too. so i bought a conga to accompany. Tom picked up a keyboard somewhere, I think radio shack. Jon had a guitar like Eddy Van Halen's and we had a band. Brian joined us as I switched to the bass after being loaned one by yet another musician, Jeff. From 7 hour long jams in Tom's dad's garage, Thank you Mr. Hudson!!! Brian would take us to dayton to catch bands at Canal Street Tavern, Jazz Central and The Nite Owl and to drum circles at The Trolley Stop and at Coffee House EFX. The Bridge, The Beer Pagans, Concorde Frequency, Mary Adam 12, Critical Mass and The Brown Street Breakdown and Gulliver's Traveling Medicine Show. The musicians inspired me so much! Some folk might see something so far advanced than themselves and feel discouraged, not me, it fired me up! Through the years, I still get major inspiration - I mean, get home, get jamming, learn the art, practice songs, now! - inspiration, catching bands live! Snake Oil, American Static, The Werks, The Goods, The Cossack Art, and so many other local acts have fueled this art of mine! Solo artists like Gregg Spence and Ryan Roth and Colleen Badenhop and John Dubic and then there are the shop owners that opened their stages to me. While I trace everything back this way, I know major label artists also inspired and inspire me. When I play bass on a new tune, I am thinking, how would Tina Weymouth play this and how would Tony Levin play this and how would Chris Squire play this? and percussion inspiration comes from a great drum-maker Tom Condas, who taught me and a couple friends in basically one-on-one lessons on fun nights in bars with drum circles. My guitar, when I am playing on something new, shaping it, I am thinking about Bob Marley and Adrian Belew and Jerry Garcia and Steve Howe and David Byrne! My synth inspiration flows from Kraftwerk and Devo and Led Zeppelin and Bernie Worrell. and when I sing, Peter Gabriel and David Bowie and Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia and George Clinton and Al Green show me ways to create melody and how to give voice on things with my own voice. Lyrical inspiration comes from the greats, from Shakespeare to Bob Dylan and John Prine and E.E. Cummings and Kerouac. I could add so many more, but you get the idea. I never want to mirror or copy or emulate too fully anyone, and I push away from anything I sense is too close to someone else. Ok, now it is your turn. please share in your own blogs or in comments, your inspirations! I'll enjoy a glimpse of what brought you to this medium of art and what continues to fuel your creativity! always wishing you an eternity of successes! j

I saw a crash today! I was back maybe four cars but as I heard the thud, a loud bang, really, I looked to see a small car flying through the air some as the tail end had been slammed, and the tail end went up in the air maybe 8 feet. An elderly couple were in the car. I stopped and asked if his back and neck was ok, the driver had gotten out, he was walking around his car looking at the damage. A woman had beaten me to them and was on the phone with 911 as she comforted the woman. The husband told me he was fine but his "wife wasn't doing so well". Another driver arrived and asking if all were ok, said he smelled gas but couldn't see a leak dripping - so the gentleman turned off his car. That young man noticed the license plate of the driver that left them for dead. This was no fender bender, that car was totaled. The ambulance and a patrol car arrived at the same time as another woman who had been behind them and had chased the car that didn't stop - yes, that was one thing the man kept saying, expressing disbelief, "they didn't even stop." he repeated. That woman had plate numbers and a description of the car. I sure hope they are going to be fine once the shock of the wreck wears off of them. It was wonderful seeing so many take the time to help. Everyone doing what they could, it seemed. as the authorities arrived, having not really seen the accident, i left telling the gentleman that he and his wife would remain in my prayers. He thanked me for stopping and for the prayers. I tell anyone that I see how beautiful the souls we share this planet with are and sure, a hit and run driver missed their chance to do the right thing in the right moment but so many were there, taking time out of their morning, risking their jobs and who knows, for others. It makes me want to play more music more beautifully for these people while i rehearse on our local streets. It was also so scary watching that car fly, bounce and skid to a stop. keep on doing it right , my friends. Love and wishes for success, always, to all of you. J

We had a very productive session last evening! Dave had been on a vacation and I'd just been pounding out practices with new tunes for the summer gigs. Two weeks had went by when we got at it last night. Before we jammed, shaping a new tune, we discussed performing these songs and others on stage, so it looks like Friday will be get together number one on that part of our project. Last night, as Dave hooked up mics and headphones and got us going on Cubase, he and I shaped a composition as we decided on chords toward a pleasing outline. The song has some Dave suggested diminished chords taht had him feeling jazzy and the melodies he located and applied were lovely! I have some words in the car I'd been scribbling on shoulders for the next go-round. Back to fun creating stuff. All my best thoughts to you and your art and your successes. It si always good seeing you all make those next steps to your version of success. Happy jammin'!! j