Passing Time: Music, BOTB Update, and Harold Ramis

(Image from Wikimedia Commons)

Music 

It seems lately, I get very little free time, so I'm never at a loss for finding ways to pass the little time I'm given. One of my favorite ways to pass the time is playing my guitar and making music.  I used to pass a lot of time at the excellent jam track site, Wikiloops, but I hadn't visited since July -- there have just been many other things that have commanded my attention.

Last night I had some free time to pass, so I decided to remedy that long absence and do some jamming.  Looking through the wide selection of jam tracks, I found an older track of drums, bass, and keys and decided to add some guitars.  I call the result, "Passing Time".  Click on the images to the left or below, or on the link in the following paragraph to check it out (and I'd LOVE to be able to embed it somehow within my blog post like a YouTube video, but no such luck).

"Passing Time"  was a fun piece to do, and I hope you enjoy it.

Lately, I've passed most of my time musically either learning new songs and practicing for the worship team I serve with at church, or making a recording of my own with a lot of detailed tracks.  This wikiloops track was a return to the old, fun, off-the-cuff jam mentality.  I downloaded the mix by "MrAdam OnDrums" and "Bass-By-Face," played through with it twice to learn the melody line, and then added a rhythm guitar and a lead, both recorded on the first pass.  It was refreshing to be in the moment and let the results stand, and not worry about redoing tracks to tweak them.

Sometimes, time seems to pass best when you're focused on being in the moment, and not looking back or looking ahead.

BOTB Results

Almost a week of time has passed since my last Battle of the Bands (BOTB) post. I featured "Who's That Lady" by the Isley Brothers -- both their 1973 version and their little-known original version from 1964.  I also threw in a version by Santana.

Although Santana did get a vote, I hadn't expected that version to win and actually worried that it might not get ANY votes.  Still, it was such an interesting version of the song I wanted to include it.

But I do think that both the Isley Brothers versions are very good. I'd always loved the 1973 version and really enjoyed the 1964 original once I discovered it. I thought the battle would be tight, and that the original version might even win.

Turns out I was initially right, but then -- as time passed -- I was wrong.  The battle started out neck-and-neck, but then the 1973 version ran away with it.  Myself, I'd really like to vote for the 1964 version -- the sound is smooth, cool, and soulful and I love the organ and guitar, along with the horn break. Against many other songs, I'd definitely vote for the 1964 version of "Who's That Lady?" But in this battle, it would mean voting against the 1973 version, and there's just no way I can do that!  So chalk up another vote for the classic 1973 version with the awesome guitar by Ernie Isely:

Final Tally: Isley Brothers (1973), 8; Isley Brothers (1964), 3; Santana, 1

Oh, and also, in passing, here's an interesting aside:

In that last BOTB post, I started with a reference to Beverly D'Angelo since her birthday was November 15th.  I also managed to find some connections between her and The Isley Brothers, using the National Lampoon movies, "Vacation" and "Animal House." And Harold Ramis was the common link.

Well, guess what?  Today is Harold Ramis' birthday.  Yep -- he was born November 21, 1944. 

But the sad thing is that while we may still be able to pass our time with all the great movies and other work he left us with (like the classic SCTV), Harold's time of passing has regretfully already passed -- he died earlier this year (February 24th).

So let me help pass some more of your time by remembering the passing of his passing. There are several "Harold Ramis Remembered" videos out there that I found to do that with, but here's one that I liked:

Spend some of your passing time, passing the time by watching some of Harold's work.

And afterwards, if you've passed some much time passing time that you wonder if your time of passing has passed, here's another Harold Ramis "Moe Green" SCTV clip to help you out:

Thanks for visiting and passing some of you time with me! I really appreciate it!