Tracy Sigler — Steel and Aluminum Bridge Table

Happy Father’s Day! Here’s something I couldn’t have made without my father. I did the work on this table, but he taught me how to weld and use almost every type of tool there is. Moreover, he is a living example that you can build anything you want if you can just get started. This was built in his garage, using his welding gear, torch, grinding tools, etc. around 1990. I was also hogging up a lot of shop space with scrap metal and steel I had ordered. Thanks Dad, for being you.

The table top is aluminum plate. This is another piece that has a connection to Peter Pittman. For a while that I knew him Peter was doing design work for some metal fab shop. He offered to take me in the shop on the weekend and let me pick out some scrap. I found this large piece of aluminum behind a jumbo shear. It was surely usable for some job, but after hesitating for a second Peter said I could snag it. He’s cool like that. And nobody was around to notice.

So, this construction was made to the dimensions of that first piece of plate. The frame below it is mostly half inch steel rod, painstakingly welded together on a jig I had made. Then, even more painstakingly, and painfully, the welds were ground flush. Never again! The only pictures I have of it are from a gallery show, on a contact sheet a friend gave me. Thanks again Pam Taylor.

Another Father’s Day note: Our good friends the Pelczarskis now have this table. AND their second child, Tatum, was just born a few days ago! With an infant and a toddler in the house it’s a good thing I made that table baby-proof with only four sharp metal corners.

X — See How We Are

X -- See How We Are

• Artist: X
• Title: See How We Are
• Year: 1987
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1987 – When I worked at Mother’s Records in Hampton, VA.
• Keeper: Yes

I need to listen to this one again. “See How We Are” was never my favorite X record, but I really wasn’t getting into it after a couple listens today. I do like the songs “4th of July” and the title-track “See How We Are”, but the rest of the album just sounds flat. And that’s despite that there are a number of high-energy fast-tempo songs. Overall it just sounds like they’re bummed out. Maybe they were.

I got to see them live, touring for this record, at the Ritz in New York. They were the opening act for Warren Zevon. To me, at the time that was a bill that didn’t make sense. The whole show was kind of a poignant downer. Guitarist Billy Zoom wasn’t there, replaced by Tony Gilkyson in concert and on the album too, and John Doe and Exene had broken up. The latter point was really driven home by Exene being visibly pregnant with someone else’s child. On top of all that, the biggest let down and surprise was that the most of the crowd was actually there to see Warren Zevon. Maybe I was the last guy to know it was the end for X.

Here’s an article about that show from the New York Times archives. Guess who gets 90% of the ink.

The Waterboys — Self-titled Mini LP

The Waterboys -- Self-titled Mini LP

• Artist: The Waterboys
• Title: Self-titled Mini LP
• Year: 1984
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1984 – Maybe Tracks in Norfolk, VA.
• Keeper: Yes

What’s going on here? This record by The Waterboys in another oddball in the collection. Their original self-titled and full length LP (8 tracks) came out in 1983. This one was released in 1984. It’s labeled as a “Mini LP” and has only five songs, all of which were on the orginal record. They also released an album of new material that same year, “A Pagan Place.” I can’t find this five-songer on any discography I’ve seen. I’m guessing it was a US-only release designed to sell cheap and hype the band for their next full album.

Anyhow, I like it a lot more than I remember liking it then. Songs include:

“A Girl Called Johnny” (the hit, I believe)
“I Will Not Follow” (my favorite)
“It Should Have Been You”
“Savage Earth Heart”
“December”

Wikipedia article about The Waterboys
The Official Website of Mike Scott and The Waterboys

Van Halen — Women and Children First

Van Halen -- Women and Children First

• Artist: Van Halen
• Title: Women and Children First
• Year: 1980
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 9
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: No idea.
• Keeper: Yes

“Women and Children First” is the third album by Van Halen, and it’s brilliant, if not quite as stunning as the first two. These guys followed no rules. It’s hard to believe how eclectic this record is. “Loss of Control” sounds like Slayer for a minute or so, and this is only 1980! Then there’s “Could This Be Magic?”, which is an acoustic number that I suppose you could call old-time folk, blues, or maybe even a “standard.” I don’t know. That one includes the line “Women and Children First” which became the album title. The big hits from this record are “And The Cradle Will Rock…” and “Everybody Wants Some!!”

Have you seen Junior’s grades?

U2 — R.O.K.

U2 -- R.O.K.

• Artist: U2
• Title: R.O.K.
• Year: 1981
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1985 – When she worked at Tower Records in D.C.
• Keeper: Yes

This four song 12 inch was recorded live at the Paradise Theatre in Boston, March 1981. U2 performs “Fire”, “J. Swallow”, “11 O’clock Tick Tock”, and “The Ocean.” It sounds good; they sound really good. The cover is the same on both sides. Not much else to report. This one is for-fans-only.

Mars Sigler — Time Flies (Protest in mixed media)

Here is a little construction Mars made a couple years ago when he was about seven years old. This is a recent picture. Like many artists before, Mars is using his art to comment on the oppression in the world around him. In this case, the oppression was a time limit for playing video games. A standard kitchen timer became the enforcer. By applying wings to the enforcer the artist has reshaped this symbol of his oppression into something of visual interest, even beauty.

Talking Heads — Remain in Light

Talking Heads -- Remain in Light

• Artist: Talking Heads
• Title: Remain in Light
• Year: 1980
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1980 – Probably some department store, or maybe as a gift.
• Keeper: Yes

Genius. All eight songs on “Remain in Light” are excellent, and decades later I’ve still haven’t heard anything as original and interesting. Of course, Adrian Belew and Brian Eno also played major parts in the making of this record.

This is one of the first records to be added to my collection. “Remain in Light” was also the first CD I bought. One tragic note here is that I liked the artwork on the album liner so much that I decided to make a book cover out of it. I know, I know. It was stupid, but I had the coolest book cover in my junior high for the week or two before it fell apart. Another unfortunate thing, my older friends had the earlier records and since I got to hear them all the time I never picked them up.

Making a list–Find the cost of opportunity
Doing it right–Facts are useless in emergencies

More about “Remain in Light”
More about Talking Heads

The Saints – All Fools Day

• Artist: The Saints
• Title: All Fools Day
• Year: 1987
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1987 – When I worked at Mother’s Records in Hampton, VA.
• Keeper: Yes

“All Fools Day” is another very good record by The Saints. My favorites are “First Time” and the indie hit “Big Hits (On The Underground).” I’ll say it again about these guys, adding horns occassionally really brings out the maximum rock and roll. I got to see them live when they toured for this record.

There’s a not-so-comprehensive article about The Saints on Wikipedia where the author describes them as “punk.” I guess that’s accurate in the broadest possible sense, like the way The Clash was punk, but maybe a little misleading. This band is deep and broad, in its influences and its songwriting.

R.E.M. — (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville

• Artist: R.E.M.
• Title: (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville
• Year: 1984
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 8
• Owner: Mary
• Acquired: 1984 – Probably when she worked at Tower Records in D.C.
• Keeper: Yes

Just a 12″ of “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville.” It’s a great song that I can now manage to enjoy. The flipside includes a couple live songs from a show in Paris. Nothing special about this unless you’re a hardcore collecting R.E.M. fan. I gave it a high rating just for “Rockville.”

Mary Earle-Sigler — Bread

If this isn’t a work of art I don’t know what is. Mary baked a few loaves of bread this morning, and I can’t tell you how good it smells. Soon I’ll be wallowing in bread crumbs and butter. Good bread is the best!