measure improvised funk with CYCLOMETER

The CYCLOMETER tells you what time it is – but how can you measure the immeasurable?!! This track is three minutes of improvised groove. It developed near the end of a 38+ minute jam at the end of a 2+ hour session. It is 100% improvised – to be honest, at this point I probable […]

Story Behind the Song: CYCLOMETER

One of the funnest things about making your own music is getting to name tracks! Songs with lyrics might suggest song titles easily, but names for instrumentals aren’t immediately obvious. Here I thought I would reveal the thought process while sharing the music. Here is my first topic: This “song” is a short excerpt from […]

2025 in review: music

For the first time – in a long time if not in my entire life – I have taken the time to review the past year. Music was a huge part of it, and it definitely helped going through my YouTube channels as well as pictures. I think it has been a worthy enterprise – […]

Happy Birthday Andy Fraser!

Happy birthday to one of my favorite bassists, Andy Fraser of Free! He was so young when Free became famous – he played in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers when he was 15! He was both a bassist and a songwriter in Free, including their biggest hit All Right Now. This video has some great footage of […]

bassist Tetsu Yamauchi appreciation

I was recently inspired to undertake a bass cover of Free’s song Wishing Well, from their 1973 album Heartbreaker: So what is the story behind why I chose this song? One of my favorite bands in high school was Free. They may be best known for the song “All Right Now” but I probably became […]

(Re-)Visiting Akihabara

I visited Japan recently. It was my first time back in 12 years! I was born there and lived in Tokyo from 1982-1988, from 7th to 12th grade. I went to an international school on the outskirts of Tokyo, though we lived right in the city (between Roppongi and Shibuya). My dad was a math […]

Damo Suzuki – A Tribute & Reflection

I discovered CAN in the early ‘90s, probably while I was at college. I would often go to the Newbury Comics in Harvard Square, and one day I found an interesting CD called Cannibalism – what turned out to be a 1992 CD rerelease of an earlier vinyl compilation. The music was weird and direct […]

Peter Gabriel live review – SF, 10/11/23

I was gifted two tickets to Peter Gabriel at the Chase Center in San Francisco last night. i/o The Tour is his first in almost 10 years. I can happily report that the concert was amazing! Actually, there were a couple of flubs right at the beginning – a lighting “trick” didn’t work properly the […]

Tangerine Dream live review – Regency Ballroom, SF, Sep. 21, 2023

Just got back from Tangerine Dream a little while ago. Great show! They did their 90 minute set of “songs” – heard a bunch that I wanted to hear – recognized maybe 80% of the songs, took little video clips so that I could try and figure out the setlist – fortunately it has been […]

Yes – Big Generator

Ever listen to an album over and over? I’ve been doing that with something totally unexpected – Big Generator, Yes’s 1987 follow-up to their massive hit album 90125. I bought it when it came out, I was probably a senior in high school in Tokyo. I remember getting kind of sick of it, although there […]