Memorial Day

Before we get to the music, lets talk about Memorial Day.....of course it is set aside to honor those AMericans who fought for our country and have fallen. Both of my Granfathers, as well as my Father in Law, fought gloriously for the freedoms that we enjoy in the USA, none of these men died in battler, but to those who did, thank you, and you will never be forgotten

Memorial Day, for me, though, involves "Memorializing" EVERYONE who is no longer with us.....we all lose people from our lives, and the older we get, it seems that more and more of us end our journey and get onto the next part, whatever that may be. I hope that wherever you all are, you can read this and KNOW that BigScott62 is thinking about you, missing you, and at the same time glad for you that you have gone on to a better place.

This is personal, you folks around the world who read my blog are not going to care anything about this, but for me it is theraputic......I want to remember my Dad, Mike Miller, who passed away 3/30/90, and my Mom, Bobbi Dunlap, who left us on 11/14/10....my parents-in law, who were just like a second set of parents to me, are gone too, my father in law in 1990 and my mother in law Marjorie Finney just two short weeks ago. You are missed. Over the years, different friends and acquaintances who affected my life in some way or another have gone on, and at this time I want to remember Rick Meyer, Terry Copeland, Dave Ogden, Jerry Scott, Tim Turner, Jimmy Smith, Joe Decker, John Decker, Cory Atkins, Burly Sigman, Larry SOuthward, Barb Elliston, William Tate, Kim Earles, Donnie Greene, David Thomas, arlen Anderson, Dwight Glover, Melton Gilreath, Pam White, Donnie White, Bob mcWilliams, Dave Edwards, Mark Mack, Brian Leeth, Elsworth Brown, Lynn Brown, Dan Willman, Kevin Arthur, Dave Paaske, Tim Reading, Jean Wilcoxen, Teri Dotson, Denny Williams, Steve Stoltz, Bob Humphrey....I'm sure I'm forgetting many, but all of you had an effect on my life at one point or another, and to one degree or another, and I wouldn't be the person I am today had it not been for meach and every one of you. I am glad you are in a better place.

But most of all, my daughter Victoria.....after ten years of fertility problems, we finally concieved in 1995. The pregnancy was normal, all went well, until eight months...on December 9, 1995, my wife felt funny, we went to the doctor, they performed an ultrasound. There was no heartbeat, our precious little girl was stillborn. Never in my life has anything been so sad, so hurtful, so painful, so crushing......I love that little girl every bit as much as a 16 year old as I did on that day. We were only going to ahve one child, due to the fertility issues, and in 1997 our son Grant was born, so incredibly some good DID come out of the loss of Victoria. Had we not lost her, we would never have had Grant.....I'd prefer, of course to have both, but that wasn't going to happen. Victoria and Grant, I love you and your Mom both, more than anyone in the world. One day we will all be reunited, and Victoria it will be up to you and your grandmas to show us around. It will be a happy day. Until then, remember that you are not forgotten, not even for a second.

Some music, today, from some folks who are no longer with us.....with rock n roll people, obviously it isn't hard to find a ton of them who have passed on, I have selected these few....I thank you for what you did while you were alive and for making my life a tiny bit better. You, neither, are forgotten.

Some "Live" albums from some people I wish were still alive......favorite performers of mine from different eras of my life, for whom I wish things would have gone differently and wish they were still performing live shows.....the world is a lesser place without all of them.

Not too difficult, then to come up with 4 or 5 rock stars who have gone on to a better life.....favorites of mine would include the obvious, Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix.....so why not? My favorite Hendrix release ever was actually always the posthumous "Jimi Hendrix Concerts", culled from a variety of shows he performed in his short life....I would have loved to have seen him perform, obviously, but this double LP (1 CD) is a fine substitute.

When  Kurt Cobain passed away in 1994 (Good Lord is that close to TWENTY years ago? Not possible), I was going through some things, depression and the like.....obviously my problems were not of a variety as serious as Mr. Cobain's......he and Nirvana made some incredible music, some unbelievably good music for my money, and I have an absolutely gigantic stash of Nirvana material, with damn near every live show they ever performed....pretty much at random I select "Play the Fucking Guitar Man" from Vienna, 11/22/89, two full years before the band "broke", but teh genius and greatness of what was to come was evident (to be accurate, the second half of this disc is culled from recordings from Sacramento California, 2/12/90.

In my 20's or so, maybe my favorite band of them all was the Clash.....so similar to both Hendrix and Nirvana in that they, in thier relatively short "life span" put out a limited amount of material, and yet, today, a mountain of their work exists. I'd guess that along with Nirvana, Hendrix, and the Rolling Stones, I probably have more Clash material than of anyone else. Joe Strummer carried on after the Clash broke up, but lets get real....to no avail. Strummer passed away at about teh age of 50, he left some incredibly powerful stuff (along with the rest of the Clash of course), I select to represent him a show from Berkely CA, 2/7/79, which allegedly was the Clash's first US performance.....the Clash were at the peak of their power, about the time of "Give Em ENough Rope".

Rory Gallagher I also loved, although he wasn't a legend on the level of the other three. I did love his music though, and it sounds to me as if he was an excellent and exciting live performer although I never had the pleasure of seeing him live. A collection of live tunes taken from London's Paris Theater, during the 1971-72 phase of Gallagher's career, includes energetic versions of a lot of his olders tuff, including one of my favorite tracks from anyone, "Landromat".....

Anyway, I am not even beginning to insinuate that "dead rock stars" equate with "dead military warriors", all I am saying is that on this day of Memorial, I remember these guys as well. They made my life a bit more enjoyable, those who fought for freedom made life better, and the friends/associates listed above helped mold and shape the person I am today for better or worse.

Please remember ANYONE who has gone on on this day.....it's your choice to do so. Decorate a memorial site, say a prayer, but mostly, just REMEMBER because that is what a day of memorial should be for. I dedicate today's blog to the memory of my daughter Victoria Amanda Miller......and to anyone else who is gone, and YOU happen to miss.

THE JIMI HENDRIX CONCERTS-01 Fire/02 I Don't Live Today/03 Red House/04 Stone Free/05 Are You Experienced?/06 Little Wing/07 Voodoo Chile (SLight Retrun)/08 Bleeding Heart/09 Hey Joe/10 Wild THing/11 Hear My Train A-Comin'

NIRVANA-PLAY THE FUCKIN' GUITAR, MAN-01 Hairspray Queen/02 Love Buzz/03 Floyd the Barber/04 Dive/05 About a Girl/06 Spank Thru/07 Big Cheese/08 Sappy/09 Breed/10 Been a Son/11 Negative Creep/12 Blew/13 Vendetagainst (Fuck Up)/14 School/15 About a Girl/16 Polly/17 Mollys Lips/18 Sappy/19 Stain

THE CLASH-(1st US SHOW) BERKELY CA 2/7/79-01 Complete COntrol/02 I Fought the Law/03 Jail Guitar Doors/04 Drug Stabbing Time/05 City of the Dead/06 Safe European Home/07 White man In Hammersmith Palais/08 Tommy GUn/09 Clash City ROckers/10 English Civil War

RORY GALLAGHER PARIS THEATER LONDON 1971/72-01 Hands Up/02 For the Last Time/03 In Your Town/04 Just the Smile/05 Laundromat/06 It Takes Time/07 John Peel Introduction/08 Used TO Be/09 I Should've Learned My Lesson/10 Out of Mind/11 Could've Had Religion/12 Crest of a Wave/13 Messin' With the Kid

Mediafire is EXTREMLY slow uploading today, I won't start these until the Bowie links are all uploaded (9 more of THOSE to go yet)........chances are these may not be up until morning, sorry, blame Mediafire.