Just Another Band Out of Boston

Author. Christmas Ball 1977.

It was the fall of 1976. I was entering my sophomore year at the home of the Mighty Milton Panthers in Milton, FL. I was asked to serve “cokes” at the Christmas Ball at Baghdad Elementary School. It was my first ever dance—although I was too afraid to actually get on the dance floor—but I was able to watch all the pretty girls from the safety of my vending booth and listen to music in stereo. The truck only had one AM speaker and one could not really appreciate music from its tinny monaural speaker but Paul Harvey sounded great. It was here at this dance I fell in love with “just another band out of Boston”. I heard “More Than a Feeling” for the first time and it remains my favorite Boston song to this day.

Debut Album Cover.

At the time I knew what “sounded” good but did not fully appreciate music. Through the years I began to understand why Boston “sounded” so much different than other great groups of the time such as Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was the harmonizing vocals, the layered guitars, and the manner in which they recorded their songs. Tom Scholz, the founding member studied classical piano as a child and later earned both a BSME and MSME from MIT—those are two engineering degrees—undergrad and graduate—in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (His son would later graduate from MIT with a BSME.) He wrote most of the songs on their self-titled debut album Boston. He played most of the instruments and recorded them individually on their own “tracks” then layered them to achieve the sound we easily recognize as Boston.

L-R Barry Goodreau, Tom Scholz, Sid Hashian, Brad Delp, and Fran Sheehan, in 1977.

Accompanying Scholz was a local singer and guitarist (who also played harmonica and keyboards) Brad Delp. If Scholz was responsible for the music behind Boston, Delp was the voice out front. His range from soothing harmonizing to the “wow, he must have some tight britches” high tenor, help redefine rock music. With their long lists of hits from the iconic ‘More Than a Feeling’, to ‘Foreplay/Long Time’, the band Boston rewrote the book on lyrical composition, musical instruments (layered guitars), and technical recording equipment.

Through each of their successive albums, their sound is easily recognized. Many thought there would never be another Boston album after Delp’s death (suicide) on 09 MAR 07. But even before his death, Delp and Scholz were in the basement laying down tracks. On 03 DEC 13, Boston will release a new album Life, Love & Hope. In a recent interview, Scholz described how he stayed true to the Boston sound. “They (songs) have all been meticulously recorded to analog tape on the same machines and equipment used for Boston’s hits for the past 35 years. Sometimes even the same amps and instruments”. (Incidentally, Scholz who is infamous for his basement recordings invented The Rockman, which allows musicians to record at home and not spend money on expensive studio time while still achieving studio sound quality results. He sold the company years ago for a nice profit. He is credited as one of the pioneers in home recording technology and making the process of cutting an album less costly and easier.)

The first single "Heaven On Earth" has been released on their website and

Heaven On Earth Album Cover.

YouTube to give you a taste of the music on the album. Based on this taste, I cannot wait to get more. For me, the song provides a musical link between today and the sounds of the 70s—the time of my youth. As I have mentioned in past writings, certain songs or artists bring to mind specific people. When I hear Jackson Browne or Chicago, I think of Kim Watson. Foreigner’s “Hot Blooded” reminds me of Kerrie Shaw and all the times we danced to that song. (I finally overcame my fear of the dance floor with a little help from a Gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Jack Daniel. He, however, takes no credit for my movements that some have described as a cross between a dying snake and a frog’s leg attached to a battery.) Christopher Cross’ “Sailing” is all Suzy Timmons. Songs and artists from the 60s like Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Peter, Paul, and Mary’s “Blowin’ In The Wind” brings Patti Peacher to mind. Lynyrd Skynyrd reminds me of Jeff Roberts and his "Smokey and the Bandit" Black Trans-Am Firebird (strange how all other songs remind me of girls and this one of Big Un). However, when I hear Boston, it is all Jill Garlock. Needless to say, I love Boston. 

Click on the YouTube video for the new single and in the words of Boston….

Turned on some music to start my day

I lost myself in a familiar song

I closed my eyes and I slipped away

It’s more than a feeling…

My Top 10 Boston Songs

9. “Amanda”

    “Hitch a Ride”

8. “A Man I’ll Never Be”

7. “Smokin’”

6. “Rock & Roll Band”

5. “Peace of Mind”

4. “Foreplay/Long Time”

3. “Let Me Take You Home Tonight”

2. “Don’t Look Back”

1. “More Than a Feeling”

For additional information, please visit the Boston webpage.

Figures and Words

Remember when the 42^nd President William Jefferson Blythe Clinton said, "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is"? According to Clinton oral sex is not sex. Forget the fact that sex is part of the words describing the act. When you are forcing your position, you change definitions.

President Bill Clinton.

Then we have this administration continuing the trend by labeling the Ft. Hood terrorist attack as Work-Place Violence, and the Boston bombings as Man-Caused Disasters.

So is it any stretch of the imagination that now all the problems with Obamacare—wait, this signature piece of legislation that even the President embraced as Obamacare because “Obama does care” is now being referred to exclusively by the Left as the Affordable Care Act—the administration would start changing their story? We are learning they knew all along you could not keep your plan; as early as APR 2013 there would be problems with the rollout and just last week we learned 60 to 70 percent of the build was not complete. That is okay, these massive problems were focused grouped and the term deemed least alarming is the now popular word “glitches”. If only NASA would have told us Space Shuttle Challenger experienced a "glitch" we would have felt better.

This legislation that the President and his Lieutenants from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) to then Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and even VP Joe Biden said time and again, “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it. Period”. The President is on record saying this 29 times, the most recent just weeks before “the law of the land” went live. Now they are saying, “Well everyone knew not all the plans would have survived the grandfather clause. Those that did not were “sub-par” and less than 5% of the population is impacted.” The numbers are insignificant. I guess, they like those odds.

If we were living in a fantasy world where “liar, liar pants on fire” was an actuality, they would be wearing asbestos undergarments, because they did not “misspeak”. The main reason Hillarycare failed in the 1990s was due to the fear people would lose their existing health insurance plans. Regardless, these same subpar insurance plans that need to be replaced are now “okay” because the President by Executive Order told the Insurance companies to un-cancel them. Sort of like having a building that is 70% demolished and the “architect” tells them to put it back the way it was and they only have 20 days to do so.

There are numerous problems with both the website and the “Affordable Care Act”, but let us focus on the 5% number the administration keeps mentioning. It is, in their opinion an insignificant amount and we should not be concerned. Imagine for a moment what 5% means—in real numbers.

The population of the US is 315,000,000. The administration argues that 30 million are without healthcare (this includes Illegal Aliens but they deny this fact, but for a moment let’s accept it). Removing 30 million from 315 million leaves 285,000,000. Now take 5% of that number. That leaves 14,250,000 with a canceled policy. Yeah, that is an insignificant number.

What if hospitals dropped 5% of new births? In 2012, there were 3,958,000 live births, so 5% means 197,900 babies dropped. Do you like those odds?

What if airlines killed 5% of passengers flying domestically each year? The past three years' daily average is 1.5 million, which yields 547,500,000/year and 5% would be 27,375,000. Do you like those odds?

What if in 1960, the total Black population only accounted for 5% instead of 10.5% of US population (18,900,000:179,300,000 vs 8,965,000:179,300,000), would the Civil Rights Movement have stalled or even failed to start because the number was deemed “insignificant”?

But wait, there is a massive movement to grant special privileges, enact hate crime legislation, and special legislation for homosexuals which only account for 3.5 to 4 percent of the population. Not even 5%. One could draw a logical conclusion it is more important to have hate crime legislation for 3.5% of the population (if they were ever involved in a violent attack towards them) than to be concerned with 5% having a product/service they chose of their own free will and believed it provided them value to be canceled because of the administration’s legislation.

Dr. Obama and Mr. Hide

Numbers make Figures. Letters make Words.  Figures and Words. This administration is minimizing each. Do not allow them to get away with this; hold them accountable. All too often we fail to hold our elected representatives accountable. Get involved locally. Write your councilman. Call your state representatives. Email your US Representative and US Senators. Tell them in clear, concise language what you think. Do not be ambiguous; no double-talk. Just get involved.

To think it all started with a two-letter word: IS.

Note: All figures quoted were obtained from Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control, Gallop, and Pew.

Powerful, Poignant, Prophetic

“What you are about to read is presented in the form of a story, but what is contained within the story is real”. Jonathan Cahn. These were the opening words of Cahn’s 2012 book, The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America’s Future.

As either a companion or stand alone DVD, The Harbinger Decoded is a must watch for every person in the United States. Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Rabbi, was led to write the book and “gave it to God” to get it published. It has stayed at the top of many “Best Sellers” lists since it was released. This DVD is powerful, poignant, and prophetic.

The premise of the book and documentary is based on Isaiah 9:10, “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.” Cahn draws a parallel between a prophecy originally intended for Israel, and the events of 9/11 on the United States of America.

The DVD documentary follows the book and explains each of the harbingers (a person or thing that announces the coming of another) of Isaiah 9:10 and how each of them happened starting with the terrorist’s attack of 9/11. The harbingers are warnings from God to this country—America—to repent from our sinful ways. We have forgotten and even turned away from our spiritual foundations. Instead of repenting, we continue to rebel, which, I believe will lead to our (America’s) ultimate downfall.

While the book is a work of “fiction”, it is based on fact. Cahn provides supporting, evidentiary material for each of his points. The book can be a bit hard to follow at times, but the DVD makes it easy. Cahn explains each of the harbingers in an easy to understand manner. I actually wanted more from the DVD, but I understand why he chose not to make it a “bible study”. The DVD does a great job of bringing the pages of the book to “life” with actual images of the events and places detailed in the book.

Whether you are a Christian and want to see tangible examples of God’s inerrant word, or an atheist or even agnostic, this DVD is one you should take the time to watch. If you are not a believer, view this through the perspective of the writings of Nostradamus or some other futurists. Someone nearly 3,000 years ago “foretold” of these events, and now they have “come true”.

The DVD lists and explains each of the Nine Harbingers (1. The Breach 2. The Terrorist 3. The Bricks 4. The Tower 5. The Gazit Stone 6. The Sycamore Tree 7. The Erez Tree 8. The Utterance 9. The Prophecy). It also explains the importance of the Sabbatical year—Shemita (this is an economic judgment of a nation that happens on Elul 29 in Jewish or Hebrew Calendar. This is a significant event. On 17 SEP 01, just six days after 9/11, stocks fell nearly 700 points (681.81) or 7%. On the very next Elul 29, which occurred on 29 SEP 08, the NYSE exchange bell did not ring (watch video); stocks fell 777.7 points or 7%. That’s a lot of 7’s showing up. Incidentally, the next Elul 29 is 13 SEP 15; wonder what will happen then? There are several other extras included in the documentary plus a Bonus Section. This is an excellent DVD and well worth the price.

As I said earlier, every American needs to watch this DVD. I recommend buying the book as well. You might also buy a few copies of each for those on your Christmas list.