Minimalism Blues? :)

[Geoff_Shackelford]

Word is that Brian Curley performed a song titled something along those lines at the recent ASGCA meeting.

Anyone have the lyrics to Minimalism Blues?

I searched lyrics.com but couldn't find them...

[George_Williams]

Geoff-

I heard it- pretty funny!  Don't think Brian's published the lyrics.  You might try asking him.  I think his e mail is

info@schmidt-curley.com

Good luck.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I heard it, too. I don't recall the title, but it was funny. I think the words were mostly for the ears of ASGCA members only.  There was a reference to some of the better known minimalist architects out there, though.....

BTW, the song was inspired by Forrest Richardson coming up with one minute "blitz" segments for the meeting, where members could express themselves any way they wanted......

[Geoff_Shackelford]

Ears of ASGCA members only!? Bummer!

And here I was thinking MTV News might have clips of the first public performance and we'd be able to download an audience bootleg off Kazaa before the single hits stores and benefits the ASGCA Foundation.

Can you at least give us an idea what it sounded like? How about the lyrics? Was it sort of a Gilbert and Sullivan meets Gershwin, or more poetic, reflecting Curley's California influence, say an ode to Henley and Frey (not to be confused with Hurdzan and Fry)?

[shanew]

geoff--

like george and jeff, i can't recall the lyirics, but it sounded a lot like "double bogey blues" from tin cup...

brian keeps all the late nights in the lobby bar interesting during the annual meetings!  you get him and john lafoy pickin' with erik larsen singing--quite the group!

[Adam_F_Collins]

Is there a "Minimalism Blues" among golf course architects? Is the subject annoying to some in some way?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Brian has a great voice and was good on guitar.  It was the classic "MY woman done left me.....bu bu bu bu bup....and now I am sad.....bu bu bu bu bup, kind of rythm, though.

Actually, I wish I could remember the lyrics.  They seemed funny at the time, and it was a morning meeting, so it wasn't the alcohol.......

Apparently minimalism annoys some of us.  The one lyric I do recall was something like.....Minimalism.....bu bu bu bu bup....That makes me choke......bu bu bu bu bup.....If you wanna talk about it.....bu bu bu bu bup......Go speak with Tom Doak......

[Mike_Cirba]

All this talk inspired me to pen one of my own...

Just for funsies...

I’m feelin’ so low, don’t know what I should do
So I’ve gathered around all my course building crews
I need some consultin’ and I need it right now
So sit down and listen cuz I’ve got some bad news

You see I thought that we knew all we needed to do
I learned at Rees’ knees in Mound Building 102
And I read about Framing from Fazio, who’s
Learned to shape like Art Hills, man we paid us some dues

So we pooled up our money and bought some D9’s
We could build any landscape just given the time
And our budgets they grew just like Solomon’s castle
20 million a pop would ensure razzle-dazzle

Holes that grabbed your eyeballs and weakened your knees
Containment, flashed bunkers and then planted trees
Greens so flat you could putt them at 15 stimp speeds
CAD-designed, fuel-injected, laser-guided for modern needs

But those contracts dried up cuz this recession we got
And those last places we built they ain’t doing so hot
But the worst that could happen is due to some “quirk”
And some of you fellas better start looking for work.

You see, the new hot thing now is to work with the land
Leave as much undisturbed, then do the rest all by hand
Find ‘em, don’t build ‘em is their rallying cry
And they’ve got the best sites developer’s money can buy

So I’ve changed our brochures, got us a new speech
How we love Mother Nature as Doak likes to preach
How we can make rugged bunkers like Crenshaw and Coore
And half-pars and square greens and throwbacks for sure

Worship Ross, and MacKenzie, and George Thomas too
Quote Tilly and Maxwell, as if right on cue
But right now I’m just hoping to score some good booze
To wash away all of these minimalist blues.

[Adam_F_Collins]

Well, I figured...Satire usually arises from some form of frustration...

[Mike_Cirba]

Better not give up my day job.    

[RJ_Daley]

I could imagine to hear Willie playin his old beat up guitar and applying his Texas twang voice to those words as well.  Even Kenny Rogers could pull it off.  Mike you got to send those lyrics in to one of those golfin and singin cowboys!

What melody does one apply to these soulful lyrics?  Never mind, leave that to Willie.

[Bill_McBride]

Willie would be perfect as he is a golfer.  He apparently has a course on his ranch (unless the IRS owns it now) where the first hole is a par 23!  "Yes," he was heard to say, "Just last week I birdied that sucker!"

[ian]

Mike,

Too bad Jake and the Flounders are gone

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mike that is pretty good, but for all, courtesy of the Great Brian Curley--a singer/songwriter if there ever was one!

"The Confidential Guide to Becoming a Golf Course Architect"

Well I'm a golf course critic
but an architect wannabe,
so I'm changing my profession
like my mentor, Tommy D.

I'm gonna badmouth the latest Nicklaus
or Fazio design,
paint Perry Dye the Devil
anything Jones is tired.

Cuz I'm the man with the poison pen
follow me to the Promised Land
where anything old is good
anything new is bad.

I'm gonna saddle up with Mackenzie
Ross, Tillinghast and Thomas,
Seth Reynor he's my homeboy
don't forget Charles Blair MacDonald.

When they ask me who my favorite
current architect might be
I tell 'em they all got it wrong
so come along with me.

That way I got no competition
I've aligned myself with the dead,
and since you guys in plaid got it wrong
I'll get the job instead.

Now I ain't got much experience
so give me a site that don't need much fixin'
I'll scratch around the surface
and call it "minimalism".

Now I don't know how to draw,
but I know how to draw attention.
my column and "Best Of" listing?
I'll make sure you get some mention.

Cuz I'm the man with the poison pen
follow me to the Promised Land
where anything "classic" is good
anything by you is bad.

Now if you think this rant and raving
is untested or a joke
take this little lesson from our good friend Tom

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get the site you want
You can't always get the client you want
But if you fry someone, it just might come.

[Geoff_Shackelford]

Well, that certainly answers my question! Definitely one from the acerbic Henley school of lyricism. Maybe a splash of Van Morrison too.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Perhaps the biggest influence was, what name ryhmes easily?

Doak...Choke, Bloke, Smoke, etc.
Jones - Bones, Clones, Hones, Scones, Known,  etc.
Nicklaus? Hmmm
Fazio.....Hmm

[Tom_Doak]

Ouch.

That would really hurt, if I wasn't so damned sure of myself.

[A_Clay_Man]

T.D. Don't ever be tempted to go down any old catacombs for a taste of some fine Amatillada.

[Mike_Cirba]

RJ;

Willie can sing it for sure, but I was more envisioning something in a smokey, bluesy club, perhaps with hip-hop-rapper Huge "Puffy" Wilson at the mike.