Category Archives: the pharmacy of dr spin

by Dr. Spin

When I took my jazz band to participate in the CCCC Jazz Festival in the spring of 2008, I discovered Charles Mingus‘ Haitian Fight Song.  This piece reinvigorated my interest in his work and its educational value. Years before, as a much younger teacher, I tried to get my band to play Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, but as great as that tune is, it requires a musical maturity that, in retrospect, is probably unreasonable for the average high schooler…forget unreasonable and go to the Pharmmacy

by Dr. Spin

In the 70s, progressive rock was almost popular, but by the 80s it collapsed under its own weight.  In the rubble, the vigilant fans of Marillion and other neo-prog bands kept the style alive, but by the early 90s, prog had become aggressively marginalized by the mainstream media. To be labeled a prog band in the United States was dreadfully unhip, and as a result, bands wishing to “make it” kept their odd time signatures and instrumental passages to themselves or faced the threat of obscurity.

Despite this cultural climate, there were still progressive bands out there (particularly overseas) that connected with a relatively small, dedicated audience through word-of-mouth and fanzines, and this scene had its own classic albums that kept progressive rock alive. Swedish band Änglagård bore torch for this era, and the band’s 1991 release Hybris is, for the serious prog fan, a classic…   find out what a prog is at the pharmacy

by Dr. Spin

The first day of school inevitably came and went this week, and it was quite the far cry from Fraggle Rock with the Little One and aikido summer camp. In truth, there was a sense that an oar violently dug up the bottom of a still pond, leaving murky and agitated water in its wake. As the week has gone on, however, the dust has started to settle, both for the students and myself, and I am getting a feeling for what kind of year it’s going to be. continue that good feeling at the Pharmacy

Writing is hard, no doubt. Minds operate in abstractions that precede words, and the human capacity to capture those pre-verbal concepts and arrange them into something as clumsy and concrete as written language is nothing short of miraculous. Capturing musical ideas and impressions, which are even more abstract and ephemeral, is particularly difficult.

For these blog entries, I often struggle to figure out when (or even if) I really “have” enough of an album to write anything meaningful.  For example, I have had at least two aborted attempts to begin an entry for Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown, both of which I shelve.  browse the shelves over at the Pharmacy

by Dr. Spin

Initially, it wasn’t Astra’s sound that put them on my radar – it was the pale blue landscape from the cover of The Weirding. It looked like a Roger Dean landscape that had burned to the ground, and I couldn’t resist checking it out. When it finally made it into rotation, I consistently enjoyed its idiosyncratic mellotron-drenched approach to retro-prog. Overall, however, it was a bit overlong, oblique, and, unfortunately, it fell through the cracks in the long term.

Still, Astra presented themselves as the kind of adventurous underground group that I like to adopt and promote… adopt an adventurous promotion over at thePharmacy.

by Dr. Spin

When I was growing up, I never really considered public transportation as a viable option. The trains and buses in Austin were always too convoluted, too unreliable. If I have the opportunity, then, to take a train somewhere rather than renting a car, I rather enjoy doing this.

Navigating an unknown train system is eye-opening and rewarding, but also time-consuming. Knowing this, I stacked my phone with several albums, but after 7 hours of travel, and very few places to plug in during layovers, charge time was at a premium. I was,.. recharge over at the Pharamcy.

by Dr. Spin

On the plane ride to aikido summer camp in New Jersey, I spent some time with a compilation called Those Shaking, Shocking Days. This is a collection of Indonesian progressive and psychedelic rock that I have struggled with since January. The existence of the scene that produced this music is a fascinating example of musical resistance in an oppressive regime. As it exists out of context, however…find the context over at The Pharmacy

by Dr. Spin

On Tuesday, I am going to aikido summer camp to take my third degree black belt (sandan) test. In my organization, sandan is the last rank that a student can test for. Further promotions only occur through recommendation.  This is, essentially, my last test.

Of course, I want it to be representative of the work I have put in and respectful of tradition, so this month has been somewhat consumed with preparations. My idea of what that means, however, has changed over the years.  Bob is watching you even at the Pharmacy…