The Illusion

This image was posted to Facebook by my good buddy Cris Blythe.

I did this animated gif to illustrate the actual illusion. 

Pretty trippy, huh?

RIP Patches

Patches reached the finish line today. He was always a good boy, and never ceased to amaze us with what he would come up with. He was one of the greats. His spirit was unstoppable, and he was tough till the end. There'll never be another one like him. 

Rest in peace sweet boy. You'll always be "my boy". 

The day the rhythm died.

You know, the recent article and interview with Phil Collins in Rolling Stone sounds like the ramblings of a man who is just burned out.

 

The one thing that CANNOT be denied is that Phil Collins is one of the most creative, inventive, clever musicians and showmen of the last 30 years. He created sounds and conventions that have become de rigueur in the rock....hell, the music lexicon.

 

Listen to the first Genesis Live album - the one with Watcher of the Skies - and listen to his subtleties as a drummer. It's stuff thats there - and not there - at the same time. Meaning that it's so subtle that you don't even register it, but if you were to take it out of the mix, you'd TOTALLY miss it. Not to mention the fact that he was the primary second voice on all the Peter Gabriel Genesis recordings. Once again - there, but not there at the same time. If you took that voice away, those recordings would have a VERY different character. Very different. Many were surprised when he became the front man after Peter Gabriel. It wasn't until WAY after I had dug into the Genesis recordings (and believe me, I have dug in) that his background singing became so apparent to me on the Gabriel/Genesis recordings. If you listen to the remixed boxed sets, it REALLY becomes apparent. 

And the drumming. Yes. the drumming.  Long having been one of my favorites, he always played with taste, restraint, and drama. I will miss him as a drummer. He was way deeper than many of the rock drummers of the time - or in history for that matter - in that he could switch over to his jazz project Brand X at will. He had the chops and the desire, why not stretch out?

That was kind of his mantra. I can do it, why NOT do it? I like it, why not do it? I have a ton of respect for an artist that goes outside his comfort zone. It's one thing to do it in private - to be a jazz fan and play in your basement - it's another thing entirely to put a stake in the ground and proclaim it publicly and then make a record of it so it can go on into the future. That takes balls.

 

It takes a lot of restraint to have the chops to play jazz, yet pull back and be part of the band when he was in Genesis.

I, like a lot of the fans wasn't happy when Genesis took the turn to pop, but it WAS kind of a necessary evil. Why shouldn't they/he cash in? I'm just disappointed that they didn't do any side projects or artistically challenging records anymore.

 

When it was the anniversary of Lamb Lies down, I wrote a treatment for The Carpet Crawlers, and I designed it so that Gabriel and Collins would both star in the video as different incarnations or renderings of Rael. It never got made unfortunately. But I ramble from the main topic....Mr Collins.

 

He will be missed if he goes underground. And publicly he says, "he doesn't miss drumming at all", but I call bullshit. If he gets his grip back, you can bet your ass that he will be back and hitting the drums harder a and with more finesse than ever.

Music - actually playing music - is a fire that CAN NOT be extinguished once it grabs hold of you. Here's hoping Phil Collins gets his grip back.

 

Godspeed to you Phil. Godspeed. 

My dog is dying

This is my first blog post on this - my new - website. www.fredraimondi.com

I hate to make it such a bummer but one of my best buddies is dying. My dog Patches. Lovely wife and I got him something like 9 or 10 years ago, and he's been diagnosed with cancer that there is no cure or operation for. 

Needless to say, I'm very sad. He's a good boy.  

He always had a tail wag and a happy face for us.

He kept us safe, and he was a terror to any trespassers. Although, he would lick you to death rather than bite you.

He tolerated the cats, but he was always the "alpha" of the whole house. When we brought Maggie home, they were fast friends and loved playing together. 

One of the things I loved about him is that he ALWAYS looked me right in the eye. As you can see from this picture, he engaged the camera. This wasn't a one time thing. He ALWAYS engaged the camera and looked me in the eye. We would have "stare down" contests. 

We don't know when he'll fly away. We're keeping him quiet, happy, and giving him anything he wants. I'm trying to enjoy the time I have left with him.