I thought that shrinks wore spectacles--had little tiny beards. I thought that shrinks were nuts, and yo, I thought that shrinks were wierd--until the day I met a shrink who forced me to adapt. My biased view of shrinks it seems, was just a bunch of crap. 'Cause the shrink rapped. He danced around and clapped. He rapped into the microphone until his lips were chapped. His musical prescriptions were music to my ears, cause the shrink rapped all my blues away, and rocked away my tears....
Karen Carpenter was a legendary singer. When she left us, due to complications of Anorexia Nervosa, she left a huge void that can never be filled. Her premature death opened the window so we could all take a closer look at this life-threatening psychological disorder. It's hard to understand why some young women (and some young men) will starve themselves for affection.
The phenomenon is best understood in the context of the family and society. To gain a comprehensive grasp of the...
Rap music has taken a beating for its worship of bling, its fasination with promiscuous sex, and its emphasis on violence as the primary means of problem solving. Furthermore, critics claim that rather than lifting the listener, and elevating the mind, it caters to the lowest common denominator. Is rap morally bankrupt? What about the slang-slinging? Does playing rap music contribute to a weakening in phonological awareness, speech perception, cyntactic...
In existential philosophy and it's offspring, humanistic psychology, there exists the premise that human beings operate in accordance with two pervasive, all-consuming fears: Fear of life, and fear of death. Life and death, in these schools of thought, go well beyond the notion of a physical life and a physical death.
Life, in humanistic terms, means living autonomously, putting yourself out there, making yourself vulnerable. When you live in this way, you risk ending up rejected,...
Thanks to all who responded via email with myriad German to English translations, varying dramatically in terms of precision. The winning translation comes from Erika who has German friends in high and low places. Here it is:
Ein Song über die Bee Gees von Dr. BLT [A SONG ABOUT THE BEE GEES BY DR. BLT] Dass Bee Gees Songs gecovert wurden und noch immer werden, ist nichts Neues. [It's nothing new that Bee Gees songs were and still are covered(?)]Da sind...
People who drive drunk are playing Chicken: the solitary version. Others on the road who are driving sober don't ask to play the game. We are S.A.D.D.! We are S.A.D.D. for all those innocent victims who lost their lives at the hands of a drunk driver. We are S.A.D.D. that people are still playing the game of "Chicken." They are playing with their own lives, and the lives of others.
We are Songwriters Against Driving Drunk. We are not against the drunk driver, just drunk...
My guitar and I have always been partners in rhyme. One early spring day in May, 2003, in front of a nationally-famous establishment that serves coffee on Coffee Road, in Bakersfield, California, my guitar was apparently an alledged accomplice in an alleged crime. I was an alleged witness. I won't tell you who the main alleged culprit was because that person apparently split the scene and is presently wanted in connection with that alleged crime. What was said crime? Playing guitar and...
One morning while I was sitting right next to Starbucks at Rosedale Highway, working on a brand new song, underneath the Rubio's umbrella, a young man who worked for Starbucks who had been listening to the song I was struggling to write, politely waited until I stopped playing for a moment, and then he cautiously approached me. "You know, you should really be a rock star." He went on to tell me that he and his friends were listening to one of my songs on his car stereo the night before when...
Most of us experience feelings of rejection from time to time. I did recently, after being banned at the Marketplace for breaking Castle and Cooke's rules against performing as a way of raising money for charity without a permit. Music is against the law in Bakersfield. I'm kidding. I was operating according to the rules of Sacramento where I had been jamming in the streets for years. So it was my own fault (in a sense) for not realizing how strict this development company in terms of...
When I used to play for small change up in Sacramento, it landed me a cameo on an award-nominated MTV hit music video. News crews would stop by every few weeks and have me write a song on the spot to share with early birds on their way to work in the morning. All of this over my decision to opt for humble beginnings as a singer/songwriter on the streets of Sacramento: http://www.newsreview.com/s... I guess I was destined to become even more humble (if you can...
It happened one morning, on April 19, there he was---old Mick Jagger, in the middle of my dream. I had one back-stage pass to an old antique store. Mick stood there smilin', as he answered the door. He was packin' his clothes, he was slick in his duds---painted felt shoes, and he wiped off the mud. He said, "Pleased to meet you," then he said my name. He said, "You're one step closer to fortune and fame." "You'll be the opening act for the Rolling Stones---name up in lights. 'Bin...
You may find yourself forgetting how to spell his name, but you will find yourself by losing yourself in his books and articles depicting the "optimal human experience." Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has made it his passion to observe common elements in human activities which allow individuals to lose all track of space and time as they become wholly absorbed in an activity which gives them complete freedom, divine serenity, and ultimate pleasure. Music does that for me, whether it involves...
Freud believed that religion was a crutch for people who could not face their problems. Carl Jung, a student of Freud's, on the other hand, considered spiritual factors to be central to the study of the human psyche. He regarded religion and religious symbols to be a core element in the individual psyche and in the collective psyche. For Jung, faith was fundamental to the production of enduring change in individuals who suffered from a variety of psychological disorders. Though I...
If you ever stop by Starbucks on Rosedale Highway on your way to work in the morning, there's something you can depend on even more than the myriad coffee drinks and pastries that Starbucks has to offer. The group I proudly gave the name "The Starbucks Bible Boys" to will be there, gathering around, Bibles in hand, praying, worshiping God and studying his word. They are friendly. They won't bother you. They won't try to preach at you, but won't turn you away if you are hungry for...
Daniel, I knew you could do it. It's now been officially one month, and nobody has even dared to challenge your title as Kern County's King of Christian pop. The contest never ends, so it's not too late for those of you who feel you are up to the challenge. Simply review the original blog thread for the simple rules and offer your best material for the chance to take Sisco's crown. http://www.bakotopia.com/ho...
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Topics: Kern County's King of Christian Pop, Christian pop, Daniel Sisco, Dr. BLT, Today, Doubting, Doubting Thomas, music, bakersfield
posted by blognroll on
Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 01:27 AM
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I was wondering if any of you out there could provide a translation of the text linked below. I need to know whether the Germans are making fun of my music, whether I'm on my way to the top of the German top forty charts, or something in between. Once you hit the link, you'll need to scroll down just a little to find the blog thread. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrruceaka Dr. BLT http://mcdustsucker.blogspo...
Well, it's been nearly a metal month, and, so far, no Kern county metal band, or any metal band for that matter, has stepped up to the plate to challenge Metal2Metal for the title as Kern County Kings of Heavy Metal. If you're band enough for the challenge, review the simple rules and challenge their heavy metal hegemony:
http://people.bakersfield.c...
Can CAUTION and CANDOR co-exist, or does CAUTION kill CANDOR and CANDOR kill CAUTION? When he was recently asked if Muslims go to heaven, Billy Graham said he would leave that decision up to God. Ask his son, Frankin Graham, who has inherited his dad's ministry, the same question and you will get a much different, less diplomatic response. Both preach and revere the same gospel. But both have decidedly different and disparate styles of delivery. While the Billy Graham association has...
T'was christMAS in September, and all through the Nile, all the creatures were dancing, they did it in style. The stockings they wore, were worn out on the floor, as the Santa delivered a dozen or more, Salsa songs flavored with Latin and Rock, and Reggae and Jazz, as we rocked 'round the clock. And myriad restaurants provided the food, and we washed it all down with our favorite booze. Bakotopia, MAS and the Voices were hosts, but the biggest attraction was the band with the most. Louie...
There are many questions that could be asked concerning a local radio interview with members of the infamous folk duo, Prussian Blue, and their misguided mother. Did local radio host Inga Barks fan the flames of nationalism, racism, and anti-semitism when she hosted twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede in a recent radio interview? Is she aiding their neo-Nazi message? Is she a boon to their already burgeoning popularity? But my main question, as a psychologist interested mimicing, mirroring and...
I finally figured out that the best vehicle to drive when you're going downhill on a road leading nowhere is a Lonesomobile. I wrote this song when I was just a kid in High School, but I didn't record it until recently, and I didn't release it until now, after my blog visitor numbers began to tumble. The moral of the story is this: No matter how many fans, followers or visitors you have, or no matter how many you once had, and lost, you have to keep expressing yourself. You have to keep...
This is the question of the hour, the question of the day, the question of the decade, yes, perhaps even the question of the new millennium: ARE U DOWN WITH O.P. Stylee???!!! Sandwiched between an interview with Pat Boone, and what looks promising in term of a forthcoming interview with John McCrae of the bad, Cake, is my interview with none other than B-town's own O.P. Stylee. Here it is for you right here, right now!
OP Stylee: The Blog n Roll Interview with Dr. BLT:
It’s my...
This is the first in a sub-series from the grand series: CRYSTAL PALACE STATUES. It will feature artists present in the collection of bronze statues housed at the Crystal Palace. There's no better way to bring Buck back, and keeping the spirit of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos alive than to pitch a few quarters in the jukebox at Trout's or wherever you hang out when you're missing the old Nashville West days. Jukebox's are the greatest time machines, and I'd encourage juke joints all across...
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Topics: My Buckin' Blog, Buck Owens, New Nashville West, Bakersfield Sound, Crystal Palace, Dr. BLT, fock (new folk rock, crock (new country rock), music, bakersfield
posted by blognroll on
Tuesday, September 12, 2006 at 09:25 AM
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Welcome to my first blog in the Crystal Palace Statues Series. The first collection of blog threads in the series will feature Johnny Cash. I'm kicking it off today for reasons that will be obvious to true Cash fans.
I was moving in to my brand new home in Bakersfield, California. It was September 12, 2003. The furniture suddenly seemed a lot heavier, and the house grew decidedly darker, after I heard the news. Johnny Cash had passed away. I had been a fan since early childhood and...
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Topics: BLOG IN BLACK, Johnny Cash, Dr. BLT, Blackout, Crystal Palace Statue Series, New Nashville West, Bakersfield Sound, bakersfield, music
posted by blognroll on
Tuesday, September 12, 2006 at 08:41 AM
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A Poem for James Kenneth Samuel,
victim of 9/11
by Bruce L. Thiessen
We lost you
One September morn
I don't know
much about your life
I heard New Jersey cried that morn
Hoboken lost a shining light
now we remember you this day
we're sad you had to go away
James Kenneth Samuel
James Kenneth Samuel
does anybody know the tale
about the life you lost that day
the World Trade Center was your grave
but that's not where your soul remains
'cause heavens...
On 9/10 as I was sitting out in my backyard with my guitar, I reflected on the events of 9/11 as I experienced them in the city of Sacramento, where I lived on that date. Then I wondered how somebody else with a completely different life, living in a completely different part of the world experienced the same event. This led to the development of a plausible, if fictional character, who happens to be the subject of this song: A Cowboy's Prayer (Five Years After 9/11).
This one's...
A few weeks after 9/11, I received a letter from John, a student of a Psychology of Music class I was teaching at the time, who had been absent for a couple of classes. He warned me ahead of time, that he could be deployed at anytime. He wrote me from Afghanistan, where US and allied forces would be answering to the 9/11 strikes against the U.S. In the letter, he talked about lots of stuff, but avoided mentioning anything specific about the clandestine operation he was being asked to...
Posted in these Groups:
Topics: Let's Roll, Todd Beamer, Dr. BLT, music, bakersfield, Neil Young, Americana, crock (modern country rock), New Nashville West
posted by blognroll on
Saturday, September 9, 2006 at 10:24 AM
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On 9/11, a collosal ground swell of patriotism emerged from ground zero. For most of us, our sense of patriotism has diminished to some degree, only because of the passage of time has made the events of that horrific day seem decidedly more distant from our individual and collective psyches. In others patriotism has morphed into something that is not so honorable. It has become nationalistic zeal gone awry---a bellicose belligerence that smacks of jingoism. Others, having been poisoned by...
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Topics: patriotism, 9/11, 9/11 anniversy, 9/11 five years later, Red, White and Blue, Dr. BLT, music, bakersfield
posted by blognroll on
Saturday, September 9, 2006 at 09:45 AM
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Was Jesse Jackson justified in breaking with liberals by remonstrantly standing in opposition to the decision to snuff out the life of Teri Shiavo? Researchers warn against generalizing recent findings to individual cases such as the Teri Schiavo case. But will new findings (involving brain imaging tests showing a brain-damaged woman in vegetative state to be just aw aware as healthy test subjects) ultimately cast a dark shadow of doubt on the determined drive to end Shiavo's life? Will...
The Crocodile Hunter:
words and music by Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr. BLT c 2006
Here come the animals
two by two
the crocodile rocks
and the rattle snake rattles a tune/like a modern-day Noah
you were their good friend
and we're saddened to learn
'bout the way that your life had to end
you were the crocodile hunter/you were a friend of the beast
now the oceans are filled up with teardrops
in the jungle they weep
you were the crocodile hunter
we you left us we...
Most of us don't suffer from a full-blown clinical case of Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). But it is rare for an individual growing up in this millennium to avoid the occasional mild identity crisis, marked by a sense that one's sense of self is fragmented or lost in a sort of Stygian abyss. Those who do suffer from a severe fragmentation of the self often require years of intensive psychoanalytic treatment. But those who experience the...
Well, it's no secret that the DVD, United 93 is out, but perhaps the best-kept secret is the song---the unofficial theme song for the movie. It gets better. It's by a local, unofficial guy---the humble guy who happened to stumble over an invention called Blog n Roll. What's most exciting about Blog n Roll is that the original songs of the blogger as used as a stimulus for discussion. It's a whole new way of approaching the blogosphere. First, I play it, then you say it? Say what, you...
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