Discussion:
Hard To Believe
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Alan
2013-05-03 04:36:35 UTC
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It hit me while I was standing in line at Chick-Fil-A today (my usual
Thursday nooner) - a couple months late, but it was 25 years ago in
February (and again in March) that I discovered Mr. Keneally playing in
Frank's band. I still remember finding the original "hat." CD at
Camelot Music (back when there still was a Camelot Music). I fell out
of touch with the music for a few years, but found my way back in
sometime before "Dancing", which is when the bug hit me hard.

Since then, I've been in deep, and it's been vastly rewarding on several
fronts - the music for sure, but also for the attention that Mike gives
to his fan base, the people I've been lucky enough to meet in person and
online because we happened to traverse Mike's orbit in one way or
another. The fact that he (and Bryan and Kira) remember me when we
cross paths never ceases to amaze me.

The obvious joy that Mike exudes in his playing and music has long been
an inspiration - as frustrating as it is that I can't do some (okay,
most) of that stuff, it still makes me want to play more.

And Mike's music brought me to this group, which has had its ups and
downs over the years, and while I don't visit every day since I moved my
reader to a different computer, it's still one of my favorite chunks of
ones and zeros on the interwebs.

So, thanks for all the fish, Mike! And I owe you an apology - when we
talked about how long we'd known each other back on the Dethklok bus, I
insisted it was 2001, and you said you thought it was longer (which I
just chalked up to the distortion of time that makes the pain of knowing
me feel longer than the actual time, which is why my wife says "it feels
like we've been married FOREVER"). Some time later it hit me - 2001 was
when we first met face to face, but we'd been conversing in ammk and
maybe e-mail for some amount of time before that.

25 years - I'm old now! (But not too old to hope for a Pittsburgh stop
on the current Satch tour!)

Alan
Ron Moses
2013-05-03 18:39:29 UTC
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It was the relatively early days of the Internet... post-BBS, pre-Google. I got my very first dialup connection, and set about seeing what was out there. One of the first things I did was look up Frank Zappa. (Okay, porn; but Frank was second.) After absorbing whatever I could find, I starting doing searches for various band members. Lo and behold, this Mike Keneally fellow had a relatively significant web presence. Hey, what's this page full of doodads and soundbites and video snippets? Holy crap, this is interesting...maybe I should order these two CDs he's got here.

Fast forward to however long it took to ship CDs in those days... holy shit, this hat. album is insane! It's like all the music that's ever played in my head made flesh. Or plastic, whatever. It meshed with my brain in the most intimate way and filled me with glee glee glee. So that's cool, what's this Dust Speck thing all about? Whoa. That's a different beast. I'm not sure I know what's going on here. I'm delighted and confused and slightly aroused.

Hey, there's an email address on this site. Yeah, like some big rock star is going to email some shmuck like me. He's probably getting blown by a groupie right now. But what's the harm... hey I think you're great this is awesome blah blah blah. Maybe an hour later...you've got mail! Thanks for the email Ron, and three more paragraphs out of my busy day, love mk. Well that was awesome. And then...

BUY ALL THE THINGS!!! Tours, taping, trading, alt.music.mike-keneally, hey affz guys come to the new group!, Keneally Kristmas Karols, MKtrading.org, guest hosting, The Rectum of Ella Fitzgerald, Nonkerstock 2000, God Bless Dougie that magnificent bastard, one amazing fucking album after another...

...and then exhaustion. I had to stop. You know what I think did it? Guitar Therapy. Great album, but I had just spent the last ten years listening to Keneally shows on a nearly daily basis. I remember putting on GT, and the band fires up Quimby. Do you have any idea how many shows I'd heard kick off with Quimby in the previous decade? Oh, I wonder how they're going to open this show... maybe with FUCKING QUIMBY?!? I could feel it hit me... I just didn't want to listen to this anymore. I was burnt. It wasn't the music's fault; I had overdone it. I dropped off the group, and barely listened to a note of Keneally for a few years.

I think it was a good thing, ultimately. You can't obsess about one thing for that long, it's not healthy for your overall appreciation of whatever it is. You lose perspective. Gradually I've come back to the fold. Now Mike's music holds a special but far more integrated place in my musical experience. And that's a good thing. Plus, I'm back on the newsgroup! And though the faces may have changed, the hassles are just the same.

By the way, that page of doodads and snippets is apparently gone now, which makes me a sad panda.

ron
Sheryl
2013-05-14 00:08:43 UTC
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12 years ago tomorrow, Mr Keneally gave me a big sweaty hug and 3 days later I had a baby girl!
Ron Moses
2013-05-14 21:16:45 UTC
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Post by Sheryl
12 years ago tomorrow, Mr Keneally gave me a big sweaty hug and 3 days later I had a baby girl!
Do you think there was a connection?

ron
Sheryl
2013-05-14 22:42:39 UTC
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Post by Ron Moses
Post by Sheryl
12 years ago tomorrow, Mr Keneally gave me a big sweaty hug and 3 days later I had a baby girl!
Do you think there was a connection?
Absolutely! its a LUV connection, baby!

12. My baby is turning 12.

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