Operation 365... Blog 241

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Archives - 247 Okay at Best - 7-28-2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEuMoIq57fQ

I liked these guys when they arrived on the scene. I had hoped to hear them play more then, but it was only a few times. This was a good one. I love harmonies. There is some interesting banter about at the end of the clip. Ryan, the guy on the left, says at the end that he is German and Mexican. I share a little history lesson about Mexico, Japan, and the U.S in World War II. It is some festive banter, as festive as it can be considering the nuclear nature of the topic.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Covers - 247 "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" - Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgvZQrVUQMs

My voice is a little torn-up again. Not sure how this keeps happening. Might have to make some adjustments. So I found myself trying to find a song I could sing without my typical battery of notes. I found They Might Be Giants' (version of the) classic, "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)." "Istanbul" is a much beloved number and it was fun to play. Thanks to my main man, Paul Ruiz, "The Genius," on trumpet.

I used to play bocce in Balboa Park from time to time. I don't play these days. I am sitting overlooking the courts where I used to throw down. Adjacent to the bocce court, just down the hill from where I'm seated right now is a creepy public restroom that middle aged men walk in and out of intermittently every 20 minutes or so. We called it "The George Michael Rest Area" or "The Michael" for short. It's funny, but it's icky.

NOTE: My brilliant girlfriend Leanne Pearl, informed me that Jimmy Kennedy and Nat Simon are songwriting guys form the 40's or 50's. I thought they were the two dudes in They Might Be Giants. Wrong! They Might Be Giants absolutely did not write this tune. I thought they did and I was wrong. Thank you.

Operation 365 - Jefferson Jay - Originals - 247 "Café"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ams-kcHQmsc

We were enjoying an evening over at our friends Steve and Tara’ s house the other night. They cued up some burgers. We took a hot tub. It was an unusual hot tubbing. The whole time, they were talking about what happens when you die and what they wanted to happen to their bodies when they died. It was as disturbing as it sounds. It is difficult for me to fathom that sort of thing. They were saying (Steve is a science teacher) that energy can never be created or destroyed” so we will always be on Earth whether we are buried or cremated or whatever. It went on and on. It was interesting,but very dark.

Eventually, I excused myself from the bubbly pool and went inside and grabbed my guitar. I got an idea to write a song about a café, with the chords C-Am-F-Em. I got my notebook and started writing. In the middle of the second part of the first verse, the guy dies. This guy is the narrator of the song and he goes on to talk about what that feels like and his thoughts immediately after dying. This song is dark and I doubt I’ll wind up playing it too much, but who knows. Now, you know why.

Thanks to Paul Ruiz, who has my back, as always, on the trumpet. Peace

NOTE: For some reason, these days, youtube tries to get me to add "sean" as a tag in every one of my videos. Is this some kind of gag? Are they doing this to everyone or am I special. I try to resist that one. Who is this, "sean?!?!?"