WordPress

You are what you post ~ writing Part 3

~ Cave_Guy ~ 10 Comments

dragon-attack-color-5566

I did this in 2014 after receiving the “Dragon Loyalty  Award” – I did an illustration instead of the award- This took my music blog in a new direction. I am facing my dragon but not ready to kill him – I mean , what’s the point?  Isn’t the facing the main part? And I don’t have the stomach for it. Nasty business -Dragon Slaying

Great work

I ask you my blogging friends to take a look at your best ever post.

Don’t tell me they are all great or all bad—– just not possible.

Some of them hit a higher mark – some of them strike a chord.

Sometimes we surprise ourselves and exceed our zone.

Then we have a new level to break.

It’s called getting better – and it happens all the time out here.

It’s the product that determines our worth – simple as that – there is no resting.

You are only as good as your last blog.

You can be a writer – you can be a poet or an artist — you can call yourself a photographer – you just need one post to prove it. Most of my blogging friends have already done it many times.

 

lake-george02-invert

I have better images on my blog but this is my favorite. It is sunrise on Lake George “inverted” – A simple thing in Photoshop – The blacks become white and the oranges become blue. Fire turns into ice. There is an “abstract art” emotional feel that I can’t explain, but I like.  — cool and….. more cool.

 

Blogging is Community

Is it because we will never meet? Is that what drives the confidence of thought and discussion?

And would we share if we all got together at a cook out, or would we sip our beers and think it such a long time for the cheese to melt on our burgers — so we could just eat and go?

Would we still connect in real life?

I’d like to think so.

And what is real life anyway? So much communication is done through devices. Is the old way of meeting for coffee considered the old way and quickly becoming obsolete?

Connections I have made here, while sometimes ethereal, have been and continue to be a source of real comfort and strength for me as a human being. I know I move through this world a little easier because I blog.

We all need to be somebody.

Before I stepped on this electronic stage – I wasn’t as much me – Now I am.

This cat is “out of the bag” – and not going back.

wp-world-55

This was my me trying to make sense of this crazy blogging world – It did not get much attention when posted but seems to fit here. I love this world — this is my home.

 

 

 

WordPress World – Mach 2

~ Cave_Guy ~ 4 Comments

Jamming on the sketch with some color

wp-world-55

Yeah, it is flawed but I am going with it – I wish I could say it was fun to do – but, I learned a bunch about cartooning in the digital age where there are few rules to follow. I spent a couple hours making a vector me that was really bad and then thought —- “Hey- just throw yourself in the image” – which took 15 minutes—that was fun!

Here is the original sketch:

wpworldThere will be a follow up in which I explain what the things in this strange world mean to me.

Feel free to speculate.

What we doing tonight Brain?”

~ Cave_Guy ~ 2 Comments

“Same thing we do every night Pinky — Try and take over the world!”

The WordPress world map is my favorite of all the “how is your blog doing?” tools.

The first time I saw it I thought- “Wow, this is kinda cool and somebody found me from Canada.

And then, I had this thought that must pass through the mind of every WordPress blogger at least for an instant——–I —er, yes me—-want every country to visit my blog; from the little ones that I don’t know exist to the big ones that scare me—-every country in the whole world!!!

And why do we think this crazy Napoleonic thought?

Because WordPress puts this map on our nice new blog with all these blank spots that need to be filled in.

We can’t help ourselves.

Below is my progress on this map:

world map 2014

Except for Africa and that middle east/central Asia part-we are doing pretty good.

The day I got my Greenland hit  is one of my single most proud moments in my blogging life. I still remember how warm the hot chocolate was and my screams of joy almost resulted in a 911 call from my neighbor’s house—-that was a great day.

I made a joke about a Mongolian yak herder in a post about Joe Bonamassa and got a hit from Mongolia-that was kind of weird but also cool at the same time.

A couple days ago I got a visit from Laos or more accurately “Lao People’s Democratic Republic” – this one was not on my radar. I saw the country light up and thought for a moment it was North Korea.—-Oh no!  Kim Jung Un is at the cave!–it would have to be, right?- because he is the only one in the whole country with Wi-Fi.

But no, this was next door. North Korea Lite

Which makes this post a little dangerous because nothing stops anyone in the world from taking a glance at it.

Hope you have a good sense of humor.

And hope that whatever corner of this friendly or unfriendly world you find yourself in. This post finds you in good spirits.

Cheers from the cave!

Dragon loyalty and thanks for getting me to 500 followers

~ Cave_Guy ~ 9 Comments

dragon-attack

A loyal blogging friend nominated me for the dragon loyalty award and even though I am not going to really do this award to pass it on in the prescribed way –it will generate a post and has already generated a sketch.

I sketched for an hour-just me and my imagination—I wanted to get the feeling of meeting a dragon and then wondering what to do about the slaying part. I don’t wish ill on any creature and even though dragons have a bad reputation—–getting rid of them is always a tricky thing.

I don’t know where it came from and I don’t know if I am up to the task.

And does this dragon really need to go anyway?

Enough about my conflicted soul and back to the award that I am not doing.

Loyalty is a rare and special thing – I am mentioning two bloggers that have been with me through thick and thin.

Mike  http://mikeladano.com/ always drops by and like the friendly neighbor in any good sitcom-the show simply can’t go on without him- so I thank you my friend.

And also http://peacelovegreatcountrymusic.com/ who nominated me for this award-I thank her very much for the support because there was a long time that I was writing and felt I could not write well enough to stay here on WordPress. It is ironic that a country music fan would help keep a rock fan afloat-but she always does.

I don’t think I would have been out here long enough to gather all these followers without a couple good people in my corner. I really mean that.

Now I will do the 7 things about me part.

  1. I listen to hip hop when working out- Biggie for cardio and Slim Shady for weights.
  2. I am fascinated by birds that migrate enough that it affects my driving.
  3. I am not a good driver.
  4. When I look at the stars –I imagine that I am on a big rock hurling through space.
  5. I don’t get “The three Stooges”.
  6. When choosing between cheap beer and no beer- I go thirsty.
  7. Skating in hockey skates is pure joy.

Next post I will be getting back to the music

For now I will leave you with  Queen.Dragon Attack

Cheers from the cave!

Greenland Baby!

~ Cave_Guy ~ 21 Comments

Greenland

Greenland Baby!

Oh sweet mystical frozen land that everyone flies over going to other places!

Oh beautiful Holy Grail of no blogging hits!

You don’t know how one accidental visit can make a guy happy.

I don’t know what brought you to my site and even though I am curious-I am ok with a quick hit and no explanation. It is fine because I have been waiting for you for a long time.

You have made my day! I can see the northern lights dancing in my head right now!

I can hear a polar bear moaning for its mate on an ice floe.

I can almost see a seal popping his head above the waterline to see if I am friend or foe.

I am a friend! I Love you Greenland!

greenland flag

I am not one to brag about this and that on WordPress

I appreciate every single follower and every single like button. They are like little drops of candy from the sky that keep this blogging thing so sweet.  I do have a bunch of followers and a few regular readers but I am not really into throwing a badge up for the numbers. I think that a good honest blog with 10 regular followers and readers that are engaged is a successful blog.

And I also think that most bloggers give up too easy when they don’t see good numbers.

If you enjoy writing and do it on a regular basis-you will find yourself getting better and also find a voice that starts to speak to others. When that starts happening: people will find you.

All us bloggers that people think are good started out as a jumbled mess with 3 or 4 followers and no like buttons. We all get better as we go along.

I  have not been Freshly Pressed

I’d like to think I have been close with maybe a misplaced comma or an image that could have been a bit stronger making the WordPress gurus winch just enough to not check that box. Or they may not even know I am here! Either way-don’t have that badge.

I am an Award agnostic

I love the fact that they engage the whole community spirit of blogging, but I hate the chain-letterness of them.

But Greenland baby- Greenland- all you bloggers that have ever stared at the world map and seen that big white blank island at the top of the world know what I am talking about .

And I hope you can also reach this blogging Nirvana .

It is a beautiful thing.

Let’s play a happy song- some bouncy major chords and a feisty little drum beat.

I like American music and I love Greenland.

Cheers from the cave!

And Qujanaq Greenland! (I hope that means thanks)

I am a Music Blogger-I love Music-I am a Criminal

~ Cave_Guy ~ 7 Comments
English: Criminal silhouette to the right
English: Criminal silhouette to the right (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am a music blogger-I love Music- I am a criminal

Every time I feature a YouTube video with no permission-I risk committing a criminal act. The artists and/or other companies that have rights to this video must allow me to post their stuff or I am walking that “breaking bad” line.

Does it matter that every human being with access to the web will hit up YouTube to check music they have interest in but do not own?

Do 8,000,000 views and a label of “official” mean anything?

I am seriously asking the question.

I do not want to look at my cell mate of the near future and tell him I am doing 5 to 10 because Robert Plant had taken issue with the 7 like buttons on my “Stairway to Heaven” post. “Yeah, I posted it and did not even flinch when I hit that publish button, I am one bad-ass blogger!”

I need more, it is an addiction.

I love to feature music and then talk about it and possibly even argue about it in that polite WordPress way with three or four smiley faces. And I don’t make any “big faces” doing this. It is done simply for the love of music.

So I ask again-Are us music bloggers all criminals?

Top of Blogging Mountain?…not yet

~ Cave_Guy ~ 10 Comments
dad-wf-2
Misty Mountain Hop

Here is a new picture of me looking over my backyard or as it is commonly known The Adirondack Park.  This is not exactly climbing Mount Fuji or Mount Kilimanjaro as you can just pay the 10 bucks and drive to the top. But the views are amazing nonetheless!

As I close in on one year with this little Rock n’ Roll history blog,  I would like to thank all the visitors and followers for making this a rewarding experience. I don’t plan on making big changes as I go forward but I do plan on organizing this site better to reflect a history of all Rock Music.…the good, the bad and the ugly. I am also going to look over past work and fix it or trash it….some of my early writing is embarrassingly bad and even worse…not interesting-, so go back and read those hideous posts now before they are gone.

There are so many good writers and good people out here that I genuinely feel blessed to be counted among you.

 

Nanook.Ingerlaliinnaleqaagut Music is the universal language!

~ Cave_Guy ~ 5 Comments

Nanook.Ingerlaliinnaleqaagut

I was looking through all the countries that have visited the cave on my WordPress stat thingy and noticed this big area of Greenland with no hits at all…. So I figured I would take a visit myself and found these guys

This sound is both enchanting and comforting. It is like The Lumineers with some special ethereal Artic-ness added in. But I don’t want to call this band a knock-off of anything else because they are unique.  They just seem to fit into this Nuevo folk music revival going on all over the world. I have no idea what they are saying but I know they sing truth because I can feel it. This dude takes regular notes and gently lifts his voice to a higher range flying to the heavens to produce a delightful resolution. This is pure magic. Maybe part of it is the language? I know French and Italian are called romantic but this language of Greenland is made for acoustic guitars and a gentle folk beat.

For more info on this band go to their website   http://www.nanook.gl/bio.html

And give this a listen!

ABC Awards

~ Cave_Guy ~ 10 Comments

abc-award

Much thanks go out to indytony @  http://writingforfoodinindy.wordpress.com for sending this award to the cave!

I am thrilled to get it!

The bloggers below all approach music with a passion that makes each a good visit. So I am spreading the joy of the ABC award to all of them. The requirements are to state something about yourself with each letter of the alphabet and nominate a few other bloggers. It can be as simple as one word or as complicated as you see fit. This is my crack at it. https://caveoffame.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/abcs-of-music-challenge/

I am hoping that the response is good because I can’t wait to read what these rabid music fans will have to write. And after going through this somewhat difficult but rewarding process myself-I completely understand if some choose to pass on this one.

http://365playlists.wordpress.com/ a song a day challenge

http://bbbatez.wordpress.com/   discovering underground music

http://therockchic.com/   music that is always freshly picked

http://heavymetaloverload.com collecting metal music

http://kamertunesblog.wordpress.com/ detailed exploration of a large music collection artist by artist

http://300albums.wordpress.com/ another day another album

http://mikeladano.com/ tales of music mixed with record store adventures

http://everyrecordtellsastory.com/ this guy is funny and knowledgeable, never a bad click to this site

http://musiccreatesus.wordpress.com/  sharing a love of music

http://peacelovegreatcountrymusic.com/  country based and loves great music of all types

http://mixolydianblog.wordpress.com/ passionate about music and its power to change us

http://popgoesthecharts.wordpress.com/ popular music can be great

http://intheendmusicwillsaveusall.wordpress.com/ Inspiration, Passion, Belief.

And I know I probably left some deserving bloggers off this list but that is the dilemma in doing these things. So fear not and keep blogging and I may get you with one if the blogging gods keep sending  them my way!

Swedish Metal…tasty like Swedish Chocolate or is that Swiss chocolate? Anyway, break a square off and enjoy!

~ Cave_Guy ~ 2 Comments

For my Monday song…I am going to stretch a little beyond my comfort zone and feature a little Swedish metal. This is from a great new blog on WordPress…Enjoy!

share a lick

Vains of Jenna

Continuing the topic of Swedish bands that rock hard I bring to you Vains of Jenna. Unlike previously discussed Hell & Diesel, Vains of Jenna did make their way to Los Angeles and brought their career to another level. Their trashy glam metal style which was manifested in their looks and sound turned out to be contagious. The band was formed at the beginning of the year 2005 by four guys whose common musical influences included Motley Crue, Guns n’ Roses, the Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Aerosmith and Hanoi Rocks. Even though two of the members were still 18 at the time, they managed to find a way to play at Crue Fest Hollywood that very same year. Talking about destiny, right? All of you musicians out there realise how hard it is to get a gig like that. And only after couple concerts and rehearsals since band’s formation?…There’s got to…

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