Fear + Whiskey Views

- July 6 -

I'm not so sure I'm going to keep updating this particular page, since I am now updating a "views" page on jimshelley.us. But for the time being, I'll occasionally add some quotations, etc. Here's one now:

"Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work."
~ Rita Mae Brown

- June 29 -

The exceptional singer (though I never much got into him) and songwriter Tim Buckley died of a heroin overdose on this day in 1975.

The talented front man for Little Feat (a band I did get into very early on in their career), Lowell George, died of a heart attack on this day in 1979. If I remember correctly, Little Feat had played local college, James Madison University, not too long before he died. George had failed to show up for the gig. Rumors flying around at the time were that he'd been incapacitated in his hotel room and couldn't make it to show. Glad I didn't go!

George Martin was knighted on this day in 1996. Most deservedly so, too.

"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music"
~ Sergei Rachmaninov

- June 25 -

Pretty much taking this week off what with being on vacation, etc. I think things should get back to an (almost) daily update status next week.

"Life's a lot like a dollar. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once."
~ Anonymous

A big day in Beatles history...on this day in 1966, The Beatles started and completed one of John's better (and most influential) songs ever, "She Said She Said" at Abbey Roads Studios.

The great John Lee Hooker died on this day in 2001 at age 83. You can see him perform on YouTube. You can also see him in the classic Blues Brothers film, The Blues Brothers, which by the way the Catholic Church gave an emphatic blessing to last week!

- June 18 -

Paul McCartney, the musical virtuoso of The Beatles, was born on this day in 1942. He would meet John Lennon fifteen years later on July 6, 1957. I wonder what I was doing at the moment John and Paul first spoke. I was just a little tyke, but I'd love to know. Reckon most of y'all didn't exist yet, eh? Was Paul a genius? Was John? Who knows. I heard a podcast not too long ago that argued there really isn't such a thing as a genius.

"In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous."
~ Robert Ingersoll

"In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The mark of genius is an incessant activity of mind. Genius is a spiritual greed."
~ V.S. Pritchett

"When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
~ Jonathan Swift

"I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird."
~ Paul McCartney

- June 17 -

Both the Kinks and the Moody Blues made their American concert debuts on this day in 1965 in New York City.

The underrated Glenn Buxton was born on this day in 1947.

"It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness and of pain, of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature, and everlasting beauty of monotony."
~ Benjamin Britten

- June 16 -

''I like mass entertainment. I've written mass entertainment. But it's the opposite of art because the job of mass entertainment is to cajole, seduce and flatter consumers--to let them know that what they thought was right is right, and that their tastes and their immediate gratification are of the utmost concern of the purveyor. The job of the artist, on the other hand, is to say, wait a second, to the contrary, everything that we have thought is wrong. Let's re-examine it.''
~ David Mamet

Jr. Walker was born on this day in 1931.

Action Comics #1 debuted on this day in 1938.

Anne Frank began her diary on this day in 1942.

Rory Gallagher died much too young on this day in 1995.

Rivers Cuomo was born on this day in 1970. Wow. Seems like just yesterday I was watching the video for "Buddy Holly". By the way, if you wanna feel like you're getting old (even if you're not really...I find that folks in their 20s and 30s like to imagine they know what that's like...they don't...but anyway...), "Buddy Holly" came out over fifteen years ago.

- June 11 -

Hank Williams made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry on this day in 1949. He received six encores...unprecedented at the time. I've read several biographies which all testify to Hank's on-stage charisma. I learned a couple years ago that ol' Hank performed at Natural Chimneys (a nearby natural landmark) near where BOK played at the final CecilFest in 2003. Which I could've seen him play live.

- June 9 -

"Where words fail, music speaks."
~ Hans Christian Anderson

"In the end, art outlives politics."
~ Anonymous

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
~ Berthold Auerbach

Bob Dylan recorded "Mr. Tambourine Man" on this day in 1964.

The truly brilliant Les Paul was born on this day in 1915.

- June 7 -

"Your responsibility is to tell the truth, not the facts, necessarily. It could be the facts, but it's basically the truth. That means being a truthful person. You can't tell the truth in your work if you don't tell the truth in your life. So I encourage you to be scrupulous in your truth ethic. Even when no one's looking - especially when no one's looking. Just for yourself."
~ Roseanne Cash

Prince was born on this day in 1958.

Dave Navarro was born on this day in 1967.

- June 6 -

On this day in 1962, The Beatles recorded for the first time at Abbey Road Studios. "Love Me Do" was among the four tracks they finished.

William Palmer died on this day in 1996. He invented the magnetic tape recorder. Before this, music had been cut direct to record.

- June 3 -

The latest from Jeff:

First of all, an apology to Jim, Amy, and definitely anyone who was hoping on seeing us play on Sunday. I tried and tried to get out of bed but something I ingested at Dragon Palace on Friday kept me cowering over a convulsing stomach - had I managed to make it to my car and out to Bugg's it would not have been a handsome sight. And any Harrisonburg resident knows that you should never eat there, but I had to go along on a second grade field trip as my current job has me following a student around all day. So again, I was really disappointed, Fear and Whiskey was really disappointed, and I hope all of our possible fans out there weren't too disappointed too. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

I've played in a few other bands over the years and (aside from a few months with Book of Kills in 2007) I have never felt so much like I wanted to be at my peak as I do with Fear and Whiskey. It has already made me a better player; I'm focusing on every limb/foot/hand/finger and not resting content with something that sounds like it sorta works, only hits and kicks that have purpose and fill specific niches in the melody. At least I'm trying for that, I know I still have a lot of work to do, but its work I want to do. And that desire sets this new project far apart for me and I hope it'll sound like that to ya'll too! ... or at least, if nothing else, Jim and Amy will mask my screw-ups...

"If then virtue is an attribute of the spirit, one which cannot fail to be beneficial, it must be wisdom; for all spiritual qualities in and by themselves are neither advantageous nor harmful, but become advantageous or harmful by the presence of wisdom or folly. If we accept this argument, then virtue, to be something advantageous, must be a sort of wisdom."
~ Plato

By the way...I went to see Iron Man 2 Tuesday with my brother, George, and my nephew (George III, of course) and asked George (III) what was going on with him and Mike musically. (Some of you checking out Fear + Whiskey might not be familiar with George and Mike - though I don't know how - but they formed 2/3's of the final version of Book Of Kills.) Anyhow, he told me that they and a fab new bassist are hard at work learning new material with the expectation that they'll add a lead guitarist (I think that's what George said) eventually and start playing out. According to George, they've just been together a few weeks but already have 10-12 songs down. I will definitely look forward to seeing those guys putting on some shows somewhere down the road!

- June 2 -

"Approach your guitar intelligently, and if there are limits, don't deny them. Work within your restrictions. Some things you can do better than others, some things you can't do as well. So accentuate the positive."
~ Chet Atkins

Bo Diddley died on this day in 2008.

Charlie Watts entered drumming on this day in 1941.

The Rolling Stones landed at Kennedy Airport on this day in 1964 for their very first U.S. tour, which as I've read since was a bit of a disappointment to them for one reason or another. Also on this day in 1975, the Stones kicked off their first American tour with Ronnie Wood (who had replaced guitar legend Mick Taylor). This tour was quite a bit more successful by all accounts than the one in '64. Wood was also born on this day in 1947.

Alanis Morrisette was born on this day in 1974.

Simon And Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" hit number one on this day in 1968.

"Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes."
~ Oscar Wilde

- May 31 -

The Plastic Ono Band recorded "Give Peace a Chance" during John and Yoko's infamous "bed-in" in Toronto on this day in 1969.

John Bonham was born on this day in 1948.

"If you don't make a mistake, you're not trying hard enough."
~ Charlie Parker

- May 29 -

Hope everyone has a good Memorial Day holiday. Unfortunately, I (along with Jeff and Amy) have to work Memorial Day, but whatever...no big deal, eh?

"If a song can't be written in 20 minutes, it ain't worth writing."
~Hank Williams

Thoughts:
Time to check in again. I just wanted to publicly say that I am overwhelmed by the fact that there is so much interest in our up and coming band. I think it speaks to Jim"'s loyal following of BOK and to the years of dedication and heart and soul he (and the members of the band along the way, including my big bro) put into Book of Kills. I still have moments when I can't believe that Jim had enough faith in me musically to ask me to be a part of this project. I am truly honored, having known him and his music for over 20 years. He has a quiet way of pushing me to my musical limits without overwhelming me. And that is what good teachers do. So, I guess I just want to give credit where credit is due. Pretty much, Jim Shelley rocks! At this point, I think we're all feeling pretty good about our progress, especially after today's practice. We are beginning to mesh with each other, which is the whole point of course. Slow and steady has been the way and patience, patience, patience...

Thanks for being patient with us. I hope it will be worth the wait. (And, ok, let's be honest-sometimes in life, it is SOOO hard to be patient!!!)
~Amy

-May 27 -

Buddy Holly and the Crickets released their first record, "That'll Be The Day", on this day in 1957 and rock and roll was never the same again. Holly got the idea for the song while watching the John Ford/John Wayne masterpiece, The Searchers, during which Wayne utters the line "That'll be the day" several times.

The Sex Pistols released "God Save The Queen" on this day in 1977 and rock and roll was never the same again.

- May 26 -

"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it."
~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

"Give exceeding thanks for the mystery which remains a mystery still -- the veil that hides you from the infinite, which makes it possible for you to believe in what you cannot see."
~ Robert Nathan

- May 25 -

Jay Bennett died on this day in 2009.

Miles Davis was born on this day in 1926.

Paul Weller was born on this day in 1958.

Quite a bit of controversy over the final episode of Lost, eh?

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."
~ Albert Einstein

"When we understand the outside of things, we think we have them. Yet the Lord puts his things in sub-defined, suggestive shapes, yielding no satisfactory meaning to the mere intellect, but unfolding themselves to the conscience and heart."
~ George MacDonald

On this day in 2001, BOK played a live show (one of three appearances the band made on the radio station over the years) on James Madison University's WXJM. If I remember correctly, Randy Simpson and his future wife Katy came to the studio to watch. Of course, shortly afterward, Randy would join BOK as the lead guitarist.

The underrated Gene Clark died on this day in 1991 of a heart attack.

Born on this day in 1941...Robert Zimmerman.

- May 23 -

I think I mentioned once on Bookofkills.com that I became hooked on the TV show Lost back in early January and ended up watching six seasons in the five months since. Tonight's the final episode. Some of you are quite aware of that fact and most of you, most likely, couldn't care less. I will be watching.

By the way, (the best version of) Pink Floyd recorded "See Emily Play" on this day in 1967.

- May 20 -

Thanks for being interested in when F+W will play live. I have had many inquiries. It is most gratifying. I love playing live and have done it so few times in my life. Each time is an honor. Thank you all again for asking. I think Amy, Jeff and I all agree that we want to spend a good while on adding songs, getting to know one another musically and just trying to get better and better before we play live. I have no way of predicting when that might be.

This is a special date in music history for hard core Beatles fans. On this day in 1968, The Beatles met at George Harrison's home in Esher, Surrey where they taped twenty-three new songs on George's 4-track reel-to-reel, many of which would end up on The Beatles' next two albums, (the White Album) and Abbey Road. The demos included ‘Cry Baby Cry’, Revolution’, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘Blackbird‘ and ‘Child of Nature’.

- May 16 -

Ronnie James Dio has died at 67. The man did his last tour while dying of stomach cancer. The great ones keep marching off to oblivion.

"I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly or too this or too that. Songs that run you down or poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.

I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood. I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built.

I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work."
- Woody Guthrie

I know that Amy's and Jeff's first contributions are sort of like introductions and that's 'cause I asked them to help me out with providing content on this page and it was natural that their first words would be of that introductory type nature. Again, I didn't want this band page to be just another outlet for me and me alone. It's important that we all three share our thoughts when we have some we want to share about music and the band...regardless of whether it's a sentence or twenty paragraphs. Anyway, here are Jeff's first words...

I moved back to the area, after the excruciating experience of being counted among the set that includes "college students", around July of last year. Plan was to move somewhere far away with someone very close but, well, it was a lot less scary to stick around, but more so it felt like there was something in this valley with which I wanted to reconnect. Something equal to some things, some people, some places, some long-felt but never fulfilled desires. So the plan fell through and with it another heretofore important part of my life.

But that's been just fine - I've revived relationships with a lot of my old friends and found new ones, I've basked and breathed in the air of the mountains, lakes, fields, and back-roads of my home valley, and above all for this note, finally found two people that have the same desire I do: to play some of our favorite songs and work through both old and new songs of Jim's (which are now also favorites). Also to challenge our musicianship and branch out into different genres, with no one yet rejecting the suggestion of another. And to build that romantic "je ne sais quois" that I've seen a lot of my friends in other bands not reach after years of playing, and is almost indescribable to those poor souls that never have the fortune to create rhythm and melody with others. The best part is, I'm already feeling it!

As far as my personal feeling for the band name: I've dealt with a lot of fear over the past year that is new to me and a lot of the recently academic emancipated - fear for relationships, fear of going broke, fear of losing or not having work, fear of car accidents with no health insurance... But at least I'm not afraid of losing the chance to create and deeply appreciate art as music, and that contributes sceds to my optimism for the next month and the next year and all the way until the world ends in 2012 (right?) The whiskey part, well doggone if that ain't been a substantial part of my life this past year too...

- May 11 -

Just read somewhere that Jeff Mangum performed live for the first time in ten years a few days ago. You can go here to see some pretty sketchy video of the event.

- May 10 -

The Go-Go's announced they were breaking up on this day in 1985. I think they've since re-united once or twice. I actually liked their first album. Kinda punk really. Then what's-her-name, the lead singer, got all stuck on herself and glamorized and the band went to hell pretty fast.

Shel Silverstein died of a heart attack on this day in 1999 at the age of 57. He wrote one of my favorite books ever, The Giving Tree. Not many folks know that he also wrote several hit songs, including "A Boy Named Sue" and "The Cover Of He Rolling Stone".

Book Of Kills played a show at Electric Blue on this day in 2001 with Speakeasy and Shades Of Gray. I remember the lead guitarist in Shades Of Gray broke a string on his guitar and borrowed my Telecaster to finish out the show. We played longer back in those days. Hell, we did seventeen songs that night and we thought of that as a short set.

- May 7 -

Jeff has promised to add some thoughts to this page soon. I'm hoping Amy and Jeff become regular contributors to the page. It only makes sense that all the members of the band have a voice if they want one.

Some quotations I featured on bookofkills.com that bear repeating:

"What has worked before is never as good as something that has never been tried before, even if it doesn't work."
~ Jimmy Webb

"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
~ John Cage

"The mind is like a diaper. It has got to be changed every once in a while or it starts to stink."
~ Jeff Kauppi

"When people censor themselves, they're just as likely to get rid of the good bits as the bad bits."
~ Brian Eno

- May 6 -

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards worked out the opening riff to "Satisfaction" on this day in 1965. According to Richards, the initial idea for the legendary opening to the song came to him in his sleep.

Bob Dylan and the Band began their (also) legendary tour of Great Britain on this day in 1966.

Otis Blackwell died of a heart attack on this day in 2002. He wrote "All Shook Up" and "Don't Be Cruel" among other great songs.

Amy's first thoughts:

"Fear and Whiskey". Well, for one thing, it [the band's name] just sounds so damn cool. And considering its root, I do enjoy some good old Americana music. So in that regard our name seems fitting on my part anyway. Having said that, I like the fact that what we have been learning to play is deeply rooted in rock n roll.
I am finding that I do like to play loud and fast, which is not necessarily what is always in my CD player. It is interesting to me that what I like to listen to is not exactly matching up with what I like to play. Perhaps this is old news to the rest of you musicians out there, but two years into this whole musician thing, I am making all kinds of discoveries like that. So here now, I embark on a whole new adventure with this Fear and Whiskey thing, which looking back on my life, is par for the course. New adventures take a certain amount of bravery or "lack of fear". So fear in my life, perhaps not so much. But whiskey on the other hand? Oh yes, I do fear whiskey. But that's a story for another time...

- May 3, 2010 -

I remember this pretty clearly...Paul McCartney began a tour with Wings on this date back in 1976. It was the first time he'd toured in over ten years. George had gone out on his own in 1974, though that ended up being a semi-disastrous affair.

Pete Seeger was born on this day in 1919. The same year my dad was born, 'cept ol' Pete is still going. He even still plays live on occasion.

Frankie Valli was born on this day in 1937. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the Four Seasons. Like I care if that's uncool...

Steve Jones was born on this day in 1955. He'll always be twenty-one in my eyes.