George Sigwald!

I work for a not for profit community mental health facility in Orlando, FL, USA. It is the same facility which I sought help from, myself, in 1982. At that time, I was suffering from an anxiety condition, which was severe enough to keep me from working for four years. I am an facilatator of psycho-educational groups such as Social Skills, Self-Esteem, Mood Disorders, Guided Relaxation, and a group called Self-Discovery. I also am an Advisor to a caseload of clients who suffer from long-term mental illness, such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depression. This job is perfect for me. It provides me with plenty of opportunities to learn more about who I really am, as I’m sure your job does, as well.

The Moody Blues are a rock group who started out in Birmingham, England in 1964. They consisted of Denny Laine (Guitar & Vocals), Mike Pinder (Keyboards & Vocals), Ray Thomas (Flute & Vocals), Graeme Edge (Drums), and Clint Warwick (Bass). Laine and Warwick left the group in 1966 and Justin Hayward (Guitar & Vocals) and John Lodge (Bass & Vocals) replaced them. Pinder stayed with the group until 1978. Patrick Moraz took over Pinder’s spot and played live with the band beginning with the Octave tour. Eventually, Moraz left and Hayward, Lodge, Thomas, and Edge are the current line up.

Many think that the Moody Blues’ most creative and timeless albums are their 'Core-7(8)' albums released between 1967 and 1978. The works are:

Days OF Future Passed (1967)
In Search Of The LostChord (1968)
On The Threshold Of A Dream (1969)
To Our Children’s Children’s Children (1969)
A Question Of Balance (1970)
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971)
Seventh Sojourn (1972)
Octave (1978)

Seventh Sojourn was number one on the Billboard Charts for 5 weeks. Three of the others made it to the top 10.

For many of us who are Moody Blues fans, the group means much more than just great music. We believe that our lives have been enhanced because of the positive / introspective nature of the lyrics and the healing / relaxing qualities of the music. Now, as we continue to travel through life, the Moody Blues are still writing and singing about just what we need to hear; love, peace, and the beautiful potential of all good seed.

...A beam of light will fill your head
and you’ll remember what’s been said
by all the good men this world’s ever known...

(Mike Pinder, Melancholy Man, from A Question Of Balance)

Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson is considered by many (and certainly by me) to be this country's premier performance artist. She is a storyteller who uses music and technology as a back drop for her stories. Here she is playing one of her violins.

Laurie is famous for manipulating the pitch of her voice to at times sound like the
*Voice of authority* and other times she sounds eerie, and fairy-like.

Paradise is exactly like where you are right now
only much, much better

I dreamed there was an island
it rose up from the sea
and everybody on the island
was somebody from TV

And there was a beautiful view
but nobody could see
cause everybody on the island
was saying look at me
look at me
look at me.
(from Language Is A Virus, Home Of The Brave)

Laurie's major recorded works are:

Bright Red (1995) Best to date, IMHO.
Puppet Motel (1995) CD Rom (For the Mac only, as far as I know.)
Ugly One With The Jewels (1995) Live
Strange Angels (1989)
Home Of The Brave (1986) Also a Concert video by the same name.
Mister Heartbreak (1984)
United States Live (4 CD set from 1984)
Big Science (1982)

I highly recommend any of the above CDs. (Well, Home Of The Brave is a little thin, but the concert video is terrific.) Also, See her in concert if you get a chance. I’ve seen three of her performances and all were unique experiences.

Another part of who I am is an amateur MIDI musician.

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.
It is a great hobby! Even though I don’t know how to play any musical instruments, I have constructed songs, using my Tone Generator (Yamaha MU 80), a Keyboard Controller
(Roland PC-200 II), a Macintosh Performa 575 computer, and a sequencer program (METRO).

I have no illusions about my musical talent, but the songs which I put some time into invariably turned out to be acceptable to my ears. But, more importantly, for the first time I was able to express some creativity, and this feels good. I recommend this hobby for anyone who always wanted to mess around with music and see if they have an affinity for it.

The Tone Generator (or Sound Module) is where the actual sounds come from. There are hundreds of instruments that can be accessed from this versatile piece of equipment. I used to have another Yamaha Tone Generator called the TG - 100 which was pretty neat too, but the MU costs much more and very much out performs it.

Some of the sounds it can simulate are; strings, flutes, guitars, pianos, various horns, and a more than adequate supply of drum sets. To make music, you need to tell the module what instruments to play and then play on a MIDI keyboard or any other MIDI input device. (for example, I have a Casio MIDI horn. It's a cute little thing that is shaped like a sax and you play it by blowing through it, like a real sax, or you can switch it so you only have to press the key pads.

You can record what you play on a computer sequencing program. Then the fun begins! Lay down as many tracks as you want to. (I think the MU-80 plays as many as 32 tracks at a time!) After recording a track, you can record another one, using a different instrument, if you like, or you can edit the track you recorded in an almost endless amount of ways. Some of these ways are; duration of notes, Quantizing, Velocity, etc. You can even drag the notes around and place them where you want or change the pitch, delete notes, and on and on.

Here are a few of the many songs which I downloaded from the Internet and one which I sequenced myself. You will need software plug-ins such as Crescendo, Netscape, and probably some others which I don’t know about, to hear these files. You may want to download them anyway, if you have MIDI equipment and software to play them back. I hope to add to these in the future if there is interest.

aMUsing (George Sigwald)
Clare De Lune (Debusy)
For My Lady (Moody Blues)
Theme from Gilligan's Island
Gypsy (Moody Blues)
Hey You (Pink Floyd)
I Am The Walrus (Beatles)
Jamming (Bob Marley)
No Quarter (Led Zeppelin)
When You Wish Upon A Star (J. Cricket)

On Saturday nights I frequently like to go to the Fronton. A Fronton is a building where the game Jai-Alai is played. The game was first played in the Basque country of Northern Spain. The game was first called Basque Ball. When the game was played at festivals, it came to be known as Jai-Alai (Merry Festival.) Jai-Alai made its way from Spain to Cuba in 1898 and then on to Miami, USA in 1926.

Jai-Alai is a sport that you can bet on, just like the other Pari-Mutual sports of Dog Racing or Hourse Racing, and it is played much like racketball or handball. But there are only three walls and there are many other differences, as well.

The ball is called a Pelota (Pay-LO-tah) and it is very hard. But it's not exactly round and that means it doesn't travel exatly straight. This adds some excitment to an already exciting game. In fact, Jai-Alai can be dangerous, as the ball can travel at very high speeds. Players are somewhat protected with a helmet, but once, many years ago, I was in attendance when a player got his eye put out from a ball hitting him. (This was the tallented and popular player known as Rene.)

There is a wicker basket, used in the game, which is always worn on the right hand and is called a Cesta. (Ses-tah) It is used to catch and throw the ball. A player must not stop his (I have never seen a female Jai-Alai player.) motion while handling the Pelota, or that player's team loses the point.

In the USA the game is played as a round-robin. There are doubles games (where two people play on a team) and singles games (where there is only one on a team) and there are 8 teams that compete each game. The game is played in rotation until a team gets to 7 points. A player serves the Pelota (ball) and the ball must land between two lines, to be a legal serve. The ball must be caught by the receiving team and that team must throw it back to the front wall (The front wall is made of thick granite blocks. The floor and side walls are concrete.), directly or by caroming it off the left wall. There is no right wall. Instead, there is a fence that the audience sits behind to observe the game. The right side floor consists of wood, much like a bowling alley. If it lands on the wood, the ball is out. After hitting the front wall, the ball can either bounce once before the other team must catch it or not bounce at all. A perfect shot is called a Chula. A Chula (choo-la) is thrown from the backhand side and it strikes the rear wall very low, causing the pelota to come out with little or no bounce. This shot is difficult to master.

Another love of mine is
PINBALL

I have probably logged about 1/2 hour per day of pinball, since 1965. So, I'm pretty good. Unfortunately, I have choked in the quarter finals in the competitions I've played in at the Pinball Expo and Championship tournament held in Chicago each year. Lately, I have been playing Pro Pinball, The Web, on my Mac. It is a great simulation and as addicting as the physical machine.

This is a picture of the back glass of a classic pin.
Genco's 1948- "TripleAction".

Pinball is just another one of the ways I get feedback from this reality. I know when I’m playing if I am nervous or relaxed, focused or scattered, angry or loving, patient or impatient, separate or at ONE with the machine, and life itself. I am trying to remember to use ALL my experiences for my further transcendance and growth.

Want much more on PINBALL? PINBALL THROUGH THE YEARS

Suggested Web Reading:

The One-Step Home Page

One-Step Records

The Peace Wizard's Moody Blues Pages

Zen Stories to tell your neighbors

The Dali Virtual Museum of Art

Index of Moody Blues Resources

HERE, a Laurie Anderson site

If you’d like chat about MIDI, The Moody Blues, Laurie Anderson, or Pinball, give me a holler at
{geo@netwide.net}

I wish to thank my very special friend Doug, for making this web site a reality for me! He certainly made it look great, didn't he?

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Web Crafters
Page created Feb 15, 1997