I apologize, again for any absence of contributions of late, but I am working on this book (third rewrite) and trying to drive some decent mileage to my site (lawrmichaels.com gets you there!) and help Diane with her dog walking business.

And, of course I am still playing in the band, though I quit the Biletones around Christmas time. But, cooly, my pals drummer Nick Bell and songwriter/singer/guitarist Tom Nelson wanted to keep playing with me.

So, we formed a new band called Jackknifed Big Rig. We are already playing out, in fact there is a pretty good vid of us I will post shortly in the new configuration.

Anyway, I was at my guitar lesson the other day, and after 20 years, Steve Gibson, my master and I talk about a lot of stuff in addition to playing scales and licks and such. A lot of music theory discussion, and engineering, and sharing of ideas and songs and bands and such.

Well, a couple of weeks ago Steve saw these guys at a nice little Berkeley venue, and he turned me onto them. And, just the visuals–traditional middle eastern garb, mixed with sand and camels and Gibson SGs played upside down and backwards–are great.

But, these guys are really good. I mean, really good. Check out these tunes and tell me if you can resist…

This one has a killer vid!

I confess to a strange and circuitous relationship with Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell album.

I did buy the album when it came out, and remember selling a friend–John Takauchi–the poster from within the album for $10, a hefty sum at the time. I do see the original album goes for $35 or so on Ebay, but did not see any posters that came with the initial pressing of the 1977 disc.

I did like the album, though I thought Jim Steinman’s songwriting a little overwrought and too angst-ridden, but Meat sings well, the band is great, and well, Todd Rundgren produced the whole thing and played guitar and those are good credentials.

The album came and went but suddenly I crossed paths with Meat who is a big Fantasy Baseball player, for we met a couple of times years ago when the National Fantasy Baseball Championship drafts were held in Las Vegas.

However, in 2011, after Diane and I had actually been together for a half-dozen years, Meat dropped in again.

I have to remind readers old and advise readers new, that my partner in life, Diane Walsh and I share very little musically. Over our 10 years together we have attended only one life concert together that did not involve either my band, or the band of a friends.

She likes the hit WTF and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and Thrift Shop just to give an idea of the range of what she will listen to, but, as for liking bands or albums or things I like, we are on not just different planets: more like as I have written that music, for Diane, is something to listen to while at the gym.

Di and I have driven cross country a couple of times, and I mostly tried to mitigate the gap in our musical tastes by finding classic 80’s and 90’s, living on Boston and Georgia Satellites and their ilk while in the car.

But, during our second trip from Chicago to Berkeley we traveled Route 66, and during the end of May and we ran into some torrential rain just outside of Tulsa. The rain pelted us on the Interstate so hard that we had to pull over.

As we sat there, mesmerized by the crazy falling water, Paradise by the Dashboard Light came on the radio. Diane and I had never discussed this song (I might have mentioned that I met Meat) or album, but I started singing Meat’s part when the vocals came on, something not unusual for me. The cool thing was that right on cue, Diane began singing the Ellen Foley part, and we sat there, on the side of the freeway, pouring rain, singing the duet to and with one another about as spontaneously as permits.

It was quite fun, and one of those little magic moments in relationships, and as it is, a bunch of the songs from the album are on my shuffle for times when a cross pollination of our musical tastes is appropriate.

But, a week ago, as I was surfing for something to watch among the 300 derelict channels we get, the film Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise was on and I found it pretty fun and interesting.

There was a clip of Paradise that is not the one below, but it does appear to be from the same tour. But, Meat and Karla DeVito (I believe) are great in the performance. And, overblown or melodramatic or whatever, the song and performance make pretty good theater.

My friend Michele Friedman and I have been searching for some interesting music to see live for a while now. I tried to get us tix to the Replacements tour but got aced out; however when I saw Television was going to be playing the Fillmore, I knew she, and our friends Leslie and Lisa would be down.

I was right, and last Tuesday we crossed the bridge and saw Tom Verlaine and his crew deliver a sonically beautiful set, pulled largely from their best known piece, Marquee Moon.

Truth is the band was lots better than I imagined, with very clear guitars ringing through Vox AC30s (not that I imagined them being bad, they just completely exceeded expectations).

It was good to see Verlaine and company: none of us had ever seen them before though I was a tad bummed they played very little from the second album, Adventure which includes my favorite song from the group, Glory.

So, here it is last year in Copenhagen.