My Music Journal 2025: June 18, 2025

 

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

 

Time: 6:15 PM

Song: The Train Kept-A-Rollin’

Artist: The Yardbirds

Mode of Consumption: Listening to the Yardbirds Featuring Performances by Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page on Vinyl.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/6pW2lKORQaIC6JR4qBNG9e?si=58463d6a9bda47ff

 

“So, is there a bird called a yardbird, or is it some sort of slang?” Jodi asks. 

 

“I don’t know?” I answer.

 

The Yardbirds are a band that I always have a confused memory about. I remember that Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were all members, but not all at the same time. I can never remember who came first or how much overlap there was. 

 

I know that when Page left, it basically ended the group, and there are those who resent the formation of Led Zeppelin by Page and Robert Plant. I’ve never quite remember or grasp that connection, and even when I look it up, I usually forget pretty quickly. 

 

But back to the real question: What is a Yardbird?

 

The lazy search to Wiki reveals two possibilities. One might be from Jack Kerouac’s novel “On the Road,” where he refers to railroad yard hobos as yardbirds. They may also have borrowed it from jazz saxophonist, Charlie Parker, who was nicknamed “Yardbird.” 

 

Other slang meanings for Yardbird: 

 

In the military, a yardbird is a recruit assigned to tasks like cleaning the grounds or other menial jobs, often as punishment or due to inexperience. 

 

In a prison context, it can refer to a prisoner or convict. 

 

In the American South, it is common slang term for a chicken, especially one that is free ranging.

My Music Journal 2025: June 17, 2025

 

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

Time: 6:00 PM
Song: Sun King
Artist: The Beatles
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Abbey Road on Vinyl.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/4nwKdZID1ht0lDBJ5h2p87?si=b0f5a4aa678d44bd

During our Write On meeting, we each attempted a Huitain poem. These poems have eight lines with eight to ten syllables per line. The idea is to have a consistent amount of syllables throughout the poem. It has an ababbcbc rhyme scheme.

The first line came into my head immediately, but I didn’t have an idea of where it would go.

Here is what I came up with:

That’s Why He’s King

Something peculiar arrived today
It darted into frame, awkward and mean
With little fanfare or warning per se
A cackle, a grunt, a torso built lean
All near screamed at such a ghastly scene
One standout stayed true, approaching this thing
No bluster, no glory, nothing obscene
But bravery and courage, that’s why he’s king.

 

My Music Journal 2025: June 16, 2025

 

Monday, June 16, 2025

 

Time: 7:32 PM

Song: Black 

Artist: Pearl Jam

Mode of Consumption: Listening to the radio while completing bookwork for church. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5Xak5fmy089t0FYmh3VJiY?si=7402d137e7a04aeb

 

We made hay today. Forty-seven bales to be exact. That’s less than half of what we usually get off our hayfield on the first cutting of the season. 

 

“It’s been like that everywhere,” Ken said. Ken brought his tractor and baler this afternoon. Jodi and I managed on the rack, stacking the bales four high, two columns parallel to the standard, and one in the middle perpendicular.

“A husband and wife making hay together, that’s just asking for trouble,” Ken joked. 

 

“It’s worked out so far,” Jodi answered. 

 

“It’s not our first rodeo,” I added. 

 

There are fewer bales this season because we had a dry fall, followed by a dry winter, followed by a dry spring. Just not great conditions for growing grass and alfalfa. 

 

It’s hard not to feel a little let down. The hay field was one of the domains of Jodi’s father, Lee. This is the second season that we’ve managed the field since his passing. 

 

It was the first where we had our own tractor (also formerly Lee’s), and Jodi learned how to mow the hay and to rake it. 

 

I prefer to be the guy on the rack, although my duties have increased. I pulled the elevator over to the barn to unload, and then lined up the rack next to it. Then put all the equipment away afterward.

 

I’m alone in the mow now, back in the old days, Lee would have started on the rack with Jodi and then moved up to the mow with me. It was an event. Usually, Jodi’s Aunt Betty would be around to help where she could, and her mom, Kathy, would stop by near the end with a box of pizza. 

 

After Ken left, it was just Jodi and me. I drank a beer, something Lee liked to do after finishing. 

 

We warmed up some leftover tacos, cleaned up the dishes and went about our evening. 

My Music Journal 2025: June 15, 2025

 

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Time: 8:10 PM
Song: It’s All Right
Artist: The Impressions
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on shuffle between Freeport and Sterling, IL.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/62PQXBFeAgS3iUseNRVPpF?si=f27be872190d44d3

 We are riding back from our niece’s high school graduation party in Eagle, Wisconsin. It’s about a 2 ½ hour trip from Sterling to Eagle, when skipping around Rockford. We are carpooling with my parents.

“You know this was probably the last party,” Jodi says. “We are going to have to find a reason to go up to Matt’s now.”

She’s right. Our niece is the youngest of two children of my brother, Matt. We’ve been heading north for the better part of twenty years, usually twice a year for birthday parties.

His son, Logan, just graduated from college and is starting a career. The high school graduate, Haley, is heading to the UP for college in the fall.

It’s the end of an era.

I hadn’t thought of it that way until then.

In the coming years, there will probably be weddings and college graduations and other things, but the regular trips are over. Certainly, a new phase of life for my brother and his family. Also, a change for us.

I think about how my own relationships with extended family changed as we aged, got married, had children, moved around and away.

I think about how my grandmother used to ride with us up to parties, and that it’s been ten years since she passed away.

It’s heady. Maybe even sad. Bittersweet.

It’s also all right. We’ve had a good time.

 

My Music Journal 2025: June 14, 2025

 

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Time: 11: 45 AM
Song: Burning Heart
Artist: Survivor
Mode of Consumption: Eating at Burger King in Rock Falls 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/2VN7uPrbryJ7nE2MXX3f9a?si=1c5cb0c34e1c457f

“You know I don’t really get the deal with McDonalds. They are always busy.” I say, biting into a Whopper.

“I think they put something in the food,” Jodi said. “Drugs or something. Makes people crave it.”

There is one other table occupied at Burger King nearing the lunch hour. Maybe people are eating healthier, but I can’t quite figure out the dedication to the golden arches. I realize that some of it has to do with the way McDonalds has marketed toward children in the last fifty years. Families will go there to please the kiddies even if they don’t like the food too much.

I think there is more to it, but I don’t know what.

The last time I ate McDonalds I thought the quality of the food had changed, and not for the better. It also took a few minutes before we received our order, and it’s clear they are pushing for people to use their self-service kiosk rather than ordering from the human standing two feet away.

At Burger King, we ordered from a human. I paid her, and before I could put my change in my wallet, our tray of food was placed on the counter.

“I think Burger is becoming my favorite fast-food restaurant.” I study the fresh lettuce and tomato on my Whopper. The burger is warm and doesn’t take like it’s been sitting in a drawer for an hour to be served. Maybe it has been, but it doesn’t taste like it.

“They are fast.”

Will Burger King or any other chain ever break the stranglehold McDonalds has on the fast-food industry. Maybe, but I doubt it will be in my lifetime. That battle, much like the Cold War, was lost sometime in the 1980s.

My Music Journal 2025: June 13, 2025

 

Friday, June 13, 2025

Time: 1:43 PM
Song: Love and Affection
Artist: Nelson
Mode of Consumption: Listening to the Playlist Pandemonium Playlist “Famous Dads” on Spotify.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/3JjY2L2bqql54j1SjnjQ23?si=fc1edbd98b8a4747

A couple days ago I mentioned that I didn’t think that Jakob Dylan had ever recorded one of his father’s songs. Today, I am listening to the playlist generated by our Facebook group and this Nelson hit came on.

I remembered that sometime in the mid-90s I saw Nelson perform in Rockford. They opened for either America or Three Dog Night. I can’t remember which group. I am pretty sure I went to the Metrocenter twice with my parents and saw concerts.

What I do remember is that by this time, it had to be 1994 or 1995, the Nelson boys had cut the long blond locks that was their staple when this song was a hit in 1990. It’s kind of amazing to think that in a few short years they had gone from having a hit song to opening for bands from the 1960s and 1970s.

This post isn’t to rag on Nelson. On the contrary, I seem to remember enjoying their set.

Unlike Dylan, the Nelson boys had no qualms playing their father’s hits. In fact, the set was filled with Ricky Nelson hits. While I am sure they played some of their other originals, “Love and Affection” is the only one I remember. It made sense as the opener for an older band for them to play a playlist of their father’s songs. It fit the crowd.

The other difference being that Ricky Nelson had died in an airplane crash in 1985. Undoubtedly performing his songs was one of the ways that the Nelson twins were still healing from the loss of their father. Bob Dylan is still touring, so it might not hit quite the same for Jakob Dylan to drop a setlist with “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Lay Lady Lay,” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

My Music Journal 2025: June 12, 2025

 

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Time: 6 PM
Song: Red Rain
Artist: Peter Gabriel
Mode of Consumption: Listening to the radio on way to work night at the Carroll County Fair. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/3RpKyeQWrZFwX2fomsq2Y8?si=e5bd40b25bb64617

“We could have made the hay tonight,” Jodi said.

We are heading to Milledgeville to work at the fairgrounds. It’s a warm, hazy evening. The sun lost behind a thin veil of clouds, possibly smoke. We’ve experienced a week or two of hazy days due in part to smoke blowing south from fires in Canada.

“Well, that’s how it goes.” I said.

We had decided not to mow the hayfield earlier this week because there had been rain forecasted for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. All of those chances dissipated as the week progressed. It remained dry as we drove north.

“Yeah, but I was always pretty good at that,” Jodi continues. “Guessing when it would rain or not.”

Hay is a guessing game. Preferably, you won’t get rain after you mow before you are able to bale it. If it rains, you must wait to get the hay dry, otherwise you run the risk of it molding once you store it away.

We guessed wrong in thinking it might rain, meaning we could have mowed it early in the week and bailed it likely tonight.

Instead, we were available to work at the fair, painting one of the booths under the grandstand.

We’ll have to make hay another day.