BACK TO BASICS

Although it was snowing both down here and in the mountains, I decided to relax and stay home this weekend. Primarily because I would get in four days of skiing next weekend and there was stuff I've been neglecting to do around the house. My main objective was to get a block print fully carved so that when the next available weekend arrives I can begin printing. I'm already looking beyond to the next subject for a quick carve and print.

There in the darkness
New sight along the roadside
Dead blue eyes glinting

Lying there in bed
Stares across the empty room
Memory's solace

It was late in the evening and I was not interested in a long music set so I defaulted to Van Halen's third #1 studio album F. U. C. K. Alot of good Sammy era songs that I enjoyed hearing in crystal clarity. A light snow was coming down, three inches already on the ground, my dancing stamped out a patch that became slick as ice. I went through the album once and then got a double dose of my favorites before it was time to go back inside at midnight.

According to the Van Halen Encyclopedia:

This album came after a yearlong break for the band. Eddie claims that he barely picked up the guitar in that time. When the band decided to start the new album, they decided to first pick a producer. They knew of Andy Johns from his work with Led Zeppelin, and he came to work so quickly that the band was taken by surprise and had nothing written for the album. The entire process from recording to mastering took 361 days. The album was done one song at a time in that each song was completed before moving on to the next.