Musical Easter

Last Thursday I made the pilgrimage to my musical mass. If that last sentence makes no sense to you, then you need to read some of my old stuff. Anyway, I was going to skip church this year, because I couldn't get chair tickets, the only thing left was lawn, and I'm not a big fan of the grass. However I ended up going with a friend and we went to the lawn, and it wasn't all that bad. I could see everything, it was just a bit smaller, and the sound was great. I'll still prefer chair tickets any day of the week and twice on Sunday's but in a pinch, the grass will do just fine.

Now on to the "review", of all the DMB shows I have been to, this one was the best. The first time I went, it was towards the end of the tour and there wasn't much energy left in them. The next one was the second of a two night show and there where the same results. Now both shows where excellent, so that should tell you how good this one was. The band went through some issues of late and really haven't recorded with each other in a long time. There last album was tracks that didn't make it on some other albums, hence the name "Busted Stuff". Then the band "split" and a couple of them released solo albums. Last year they got themselves a new producer and went to work. The passion was back and it showed to the Virginia Beach crowd. To me they looked like they where having fun again and not "working" and that made all the difference. There where a few favorites that I wished I would have heard but that's alright by me. Because divided by the three I've gone to, I've heard live the ones I wanted to hear.

Also as requested by CJ a long time ago. The best album to check out if your new to DMB is "Crash" it's the essential, in my opinion. "Before These Crowded Streets" is next followed by either "Live at Folsom Field, Boulder Colorado" or "The Central Park Concert". The concert albums are all great, you really can't go wrong with them. Plus they go out a little further when the tapes are rolling. It's the best way to experience the band. The new one, "Stand Up" is good, but wouldn't make any converts to the flock. There are a few good tracks to check out though, "American Baby", "Louisiana Bayou", and "Hunger for the Great Light".

Until next time...

On Holiday

Well if anyone is still out there reading, I'm out for a week. So check back next Monday and we'll resume. Also I hereby swear to have something at least once a week. Some weeks may have more, but there will be something to start your week every Monday.

Bourbon Breakfast

We called it quits
I took a trip
To the Crescent Town
I wondered streets
I pounded bars
I tried to drag me down
I had Bourbon for breakfast
You wouldn't escape my mind
I had Bourbon for breakfast
All it did
Was stop the time

Hi Q

Your IQ Is 90
Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average
Your Verbal Intelligence is Exceptional
Your Mathematical Intelligence is Below Average
Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

http://www.blogthings.com/quickanddirtyiqtest/

It hurts to see "Below Average" up there...

Little Boy Blue

I have returned from Florida, where there was two days of sun in seven.
I found out when I got home that a Brother In Arms has died. It wasn't on the battle field, it was in a hospital room and the cause was heart failure. Amazing how such little things can end such big lives. So tomorrow I will dawn my Dress Blue Uniform and attend a full honors funeral. I got to thinking about this uniform earlier and I have worn it for many occasions. I wore it for one of the three happiest days of my life, my wedding, and now I will have worn it for one of the saddest days of life, a funeral. I have worn it for social functions where I pretended to be something I'm not and pretended to like all the people around me, and sometimes I didn't pretend to well and told them what was really on my mind. I've worn it for ceremonies that welcomed those newly joining and those that are retiring. No matter what the occasion, or who the person being honored or buried the only thing they all have in common is me and my Dress Blue Uniform. Some of the items of the uniform have been changed, (rank, ribbons, medals, badges) some remain the same, but the person inside it, both happy and sad, is me.
Now you may be asking yourself, "What's the point?" and if you are then to your query I say, "I have no damn clue." I don't know what that means. Maybe it's like a poem, each will take away your own meaning, maybe it's me rambling as I often do. I don't know and don't much care, because, after all, this is mine.

And for the record: I have not lost motivation. I do know what I want. And don't we all look for a better "deal" to better this thing called Life?

Robert Allen Zimmerman

I've become a listener of Bob Dylan, Robert Zimmerman at birth, more and more as the years go by. So in a ground breaking event, I give you, Gentle Reader, a Rant like none other. A complete quote:

Tangled Up In Blue

Early one morning the sun was shinin' /I was layin' in bed /Wonderin' if she'd changed at all /If her hair was still red. /Her folks they said that our lives together /Sure was gonna be rough /They never did like mama's homemade dress /Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough /An' i was standin' on the side of the road /Rain fallin' on my shoes /Heading out for the east coast /Lord knows i've paid some dues, getting thru /Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met /Soon to be divorced /I helped her out of a jam i guess /But i used a little too much force /We drove that car as far as we could /Abandoned it out west /Split up on a dark sad night /Both agreein' it was best. /She turned around to look at me /As i was walkin' away /I heard her say over her shoulder /"We'll meet again some day, on the avenue /Tangled up in Blue''.

I had a job in the great north woods /Workin' as a cook for a spell /But i never did like it all that much /An' one day the ax just fell /So i drifted down to New Orleans /Where i's lucky to be employed /Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat /Right outside of Delacroix. /But all the while i was alone /The past was close behind /I seen a lot of women /But she never escaped my mind an' i just grew /Tangled up in blue.

She was workin' in a topless place /An' i stopped in for a beer /I just kept lookin' at the side of her face /In the spotlight so clear /An' later on when the crowd thinned out /I's just about to do the same /She was standin' there in back of my chair /Said to me "Don't i know your name?'' /I muttered somethin' underneath my breath /She studdied the lines on my face /I must admit i felt a little uneasy /When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe /Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove /An' offered me a pipe /"I thought you'd never say hello'', she said /"You look like the silent type'' /Then she opened up a book of poems /An' handed it to me / Written by an Italian poet /From the thirteenth century /An' every one of them words rang true /An' glowed like burning coal /Pourin' off of every page /Like it was written in my soul from me to you /Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague Street /In a basement down the stairs /There was music in the cafes at night /An' revolution in the air /Then he started dealin' with slaves /An' something inside of 'em died /She had to sell everything she owned /An' froze up inside. /An' when finally the bottom fell out /I became withdrawn /The only thing i knew how to do /Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew /Tangled up in blue.

So now i'm goin' back again /I got to get to her somehow /All the people we used to know /They're an illusion to me now. /Some are mathematicians /Some are carpenters wives /Don't know how it all got started /I don't know what they're doin' with their lives. /But me i'm still on the road /Headin' for another joint /We always did feel the same /We just saw it from a different point of view /Tangled up in blue

Abuse?

Newsweek ran a story that claimed Americans had desecrated Korans in front of the Muslims being held in Guantanimo. That story turned out to be false (Oops!), and even if they did, so what, but I'll get to that in a minute. Riots started around the Middle East because of this and people died. I'll say that again PEOPLE DIED! We then tell these clerics "Wait, wait! Nothing happened!" They say, "Doesn't matter! Too late now!" Where do these jackoffs get the free pass, how are we the bad guys in this? They are cutting off people's heads. Aid workers, people going there to help and they kill them. But we are the bad guys, right Big Media? I'm so sick of this media hatred for this administration that they will make up stories to try to make them look bad. This is the second time this has happened, that I know of. CBS and Newsweek both have viewers and subscribers in the millions. They are very influential and they feel that they can just make up things as we go along all while criticizing the administration for sending us to war on "lies". Well being a little hypocritical aren't we?

Now about this Koran desecration. So what? Marilyn Manson used to tear up a Bible during his stage show, no one really got upset about that except Christians, but what do they matter? Coddle the Muslims, hate the Christians, it's the latest fad. If I have a choice of tearing up a religious book and getting information that saves my countrymen, give me some scissors and a shredder. I'm done listening to these whackos complain that prisoners are being roughed up a little or deprived of sleep or whatever else. What happened at that prison in Iraq was not abuse, that was hell week at a fraternity. Remember those high school girls who did a little initiation on their team mates by throwing feces at them and getting it in their mouths while Mom and Dad stood around and laughed. That, my friends is abuse, and those where high school kids.

The values in this country are as hosed as these Muslim assholes who we are trying to coddle. They hate us and want to kill us. There is no talking. There is no surrender. There is nothing that we can do except protect ourselves and take them out before they take us. Now I hate saying that. I have become quite the non-violent type lately, but these people scare me. If any of you have a doubt as to why we are doing what we are, I will happily send you pictures from 9-11-2001, that shows people jumping out of the World Trade Center, and we're talking close ups of these jumpers. But wait there's more, you'll also get close ups of a hole in the side of an United States Navy ship (That we didn't retaliate for. Thanks Bill). And if you call in the next ten minutes we'll also include images of bloody service members being pulled out of the Pentagon and for a limited time only, links to the videos of aid workers losing their heads. I've seen these videos and I've vomited afterwards along side of the other analysts, but I think that all of America needs to see them and think about losing your head with a dull knife.

"Wait! Stop! The story was wrong! Newsweek was wrong!"
"Well too late now!"
"Really? Well F-You!"

Random!

I have nothing to write about so I figure that I'll write about just that, nothing. My life is pretty mundane lately, not much exciting happening. I managed to rake my entire yard free of pine needles and with five pine trees that is a big feat, so I should be excited about that. I started going to the pool and swimming every other day, it's quite the work out. I hate going to the gym and working with weights because it's always such a "who's is bigger" type feeling and I hate that. I'm going to start taking classes again during the "summer session" so I can get this damn degree off my back. Sometimes I think that I should have gone to school full time, but I'd probably just party to much or something, so maybe it's better that I didn't. The last Star Wars comes out next week. I'm looking forward to that, I'm not a huge Star Wars geek, I just watch them for entertainment and not a way of life. Some kids, and adults now, just go way to far off the deep end when it comes to Star Wars and Star Trek, I think the Lord of the Rings now has a cult following just like the other two. Very strange to me, but hey what ever. I enjoy the movies and books, but I would never live my life according to George Lucas, J.R. Tolkein, or Anne Rice. If I had to pick a life director, it would probably be Anne Rice, since that's the one I follow the most as far as making sure I see/read all work. Dave Matthews Band has a new album out, I guess they call them CD's now, but album just rolls better, in my opinion. I've heard one track and I like it, so I'll probably pick the whole thing up this week or next. Well if you can think of anything else, let me know...

Media Clergy

With the death of one pope and the election of a new one in the days of "on demand" media the spotlight is on the Catholic Church in a way not seen since the molestation hysteria. As far as I'm concerned these two issues go hand in hand, media and Catholicism. The "big media" is telling us how the last pope reacted to molestation, and how the new one might. The biggest question I have is what are the true numbers of these cases compared to all the Church? I don't condone those priests that did these crimes, they should be jailed, or the ones who covered it up and that goes all the way to the top with J.P. 2, he could have done more as far as I'm concerned. The year that Elizabeth Smart decided to take a ride with her internet boyfriend and then her parents cried kidnap (yeah, that's what I think really happened), the actual number of child kidnapping cases was down. However the attention that was put on the case made everyone think that this was a strange new epidemic. I spent 11 years around clergy. Everyday, and in close proximity, sometimes even alone. Not once did I ever see anything that even remotely resembled sexual advances. One of the most influential people in my life just happened to wear a Roman collar. I spent a great deal of time with this man and never, ever, did anything like that happen. There are millions of priests and nuns in this world and a select few have to ruin it for them. Gone are the days of the Catholic Youth Organization trips that are only accompanied by the clergy of the school/church, if they even happen at all. Gone are the days of trusting the very people of the cloth that have nothing but love for their congregation, people of all faiths, races, and tax brackets. I include myself in that group of untrusting people too, as a parent, I have to. Isn't that sad?

Block Party

I'M EXPERIENCING A SEVERE CASE OF WRITERS BLOCK!

Licks and Picks

Since the left side of my brain is pretty much controlling my actions lately I decided to invest my tax return into a guitar. I bought a Squire, which is the lower end of Fender, so it can't be that bad, it looks like a Telecaster, which is what Prince used to play in the early 80's. It's electric, by the way. So now I have a guitar, three picks, one strap (that says "Mississippi Music Company" and I think that's kind of cool), one case, and two books to aid me on my adventure.

So I get this thing home and take it out and get ready to play, and then I realize that I know absolutely Jack about playing. I figure that the books will teach me something, and they have taught me a little, but I'm "Me Generation" remember? I look at these guys on TV (That aint workin'/That's the way you do it) and I think, "It doesn't seem that hard.", Yeah, OK! I now have cramped my hand to the point of tears more times than I can count and just like Bryan Adams in the Summer of '69 I've played it 'till my fingers bled, and that is a terrible feeling, just so you know. I've broken a few picks too. After all that heart ache and pain you'd think I've learned some amazing stuff, right? Well, Gentle Reader, not so much. I've learned one song that was in the book, and that's just six notes, the first six that the book teaches you. I've learned one "lick" that Dave Matthews used in one of his songs, and I think I learned to play "House of the Rising Sun" but I'm not sure, it doesn't sound right to me for some reason.

One would think that I would give up with all this let down, but that aint good enough for me (and my Bobby McGee), I love it. I tried to play after my fingers where bleeding and I was very upset that I couldn't because it just hurt too bad. I've got a drive and desire that keeps me going. I keep having a vision of me entertaining some small smoky bar or something like that. So off I'll go, breaking picks, strings, and my fingers, and maybe with all that breaking going on I'll get a break and have "The thrill that'll getcha when your get your picture on the cover of the Rollin' Stone."

Phi Kappa Dave

After a few days of pondering my next rant to you, the Gentle Reader, I decided that I would stop thinking about it and it would hit me. Sure enough it did, right as I was falling asleep last night. So with out further delay:

Every year I make my "pilgrimage" to one of two music cathedrals known as Virginia Beach amphitheater or Pittsburgh's Starlake amphitheater to worship the music gods. My music mass is lead by the Dave Matthews Band (from here on out referred to as "DMB"). Now I was a late bloomer to the DMB band wagon, I first saw them in 2002, and that was a last minute decision. I woke up one morning and said, "Hey DMB tickets go on sale today, I guess I'll buy some." I went to the show not really knowing any songs, other than the ones on the radio, and only knowing one band members name, the obvious one. I walked out of the show like a drug addict. I was addicted to the music, the words, the talent, and the chemistry that the band has with each other.

So like any good college boy, 'cause that's what I am now, I decided to do some research on this band, I won't bore you with the details, but I found quite a bit. One thing that has stood out was an article that was written by someone I don't know, in a magazine (Which is every magazine...) (Only CJ will get that reference, I'm sure.)) that I can't remember, and it said something like, "The frat boys have their Grateful Dead." Now at the time it didn't bother me, but as I kept feeding my addiction, it grew to bother me. I now own every studio album except one, and I don't own most of the concert albums, because, for the most part, each concert is the "same" but I have a couple of those.

I don't claim to be a musical expert, but I have a deeper appreciation than many people I meet, and I actually take time to sit down and read DMB's lyrics, which are actually very deep, for lack of a better word. Then you have these kegger hand stand frat boys that have no appreciation, who come to my musical mass and hoot and holler when there is a drinking or pot reference in the music, or they're getting too drunk to even remember the show. Then they roam around the parking lot, post concert, yelling, because when your drunk everything you say is very "intelligent", so you have to make sure all the people hear you. I actually left one show in Pittsburgh to find two fraties answering natures call on the sides of my truck. I asked them if they where marking their territory and they said "no", and said something about the Virginia plates and the NASCAR sticker on my truck. To which I replied by hitting the panic button on the remote from my pocket and they just looked at me stupidly. It drives me absolutely bonkers (I always wanted to use that word) that I have this deep love of the music and the talent and the poetry of the DMB and these fratties have to show up and put a damper on my "high" after the show, by hanging out the car windows and yelling to "see some titties!" OK that part I don't mind, because I enjoy a good pair of boobs exposed to the elements as the next guy.

However, even with all this, I will continue to buy tickets, make my pilgrimage, listen to all the CD's for a month after the show, and attempt to learn the songs on my own, with my guitar in hand...but that's another rant.

Cheese and Whine

Well I think the first attempt at commentary went well, I got some good comments. Thank you to all that read it.

I feel the need to clarify that this is not meant to sound like the whining of the "Me Generation". This is simply me stating my opinions and random thoughts that come across my mind when I'm driving, reading, watching the little bit of TV I do, or any other activity from the day. I don't know if any of my Gentle Readers think that I'm a whiner, but incase you do, just know I'm not looking for sympathy or throwing a pity party. I'm sure over the course of this endeavor I'll upset someone, and I'm fine with that. I'm fine because that's what writing and opinions do for people. There are no two people in this world who agree on everything so we're all bound to upset someone sooner or later. The true test comes when both parties can look at the others opinions with respect and not anger.

I've always been told, "If your going to bitch, don't just bitch. Bitch and come up with a solution." Well this may work in the job-place, but there are something that bitching and solutions can't change. As much as we wish or hope that we could change them we can't. This is the hard part of life for me, "What if I went left instead of right..." I can't do anything about it now! Find a way to push through! Be strong! Easier said than done, I think. I try not to regret anything, but I do, and I think we all have things we regret. I also hear that "everything happens for a reason" well that's fine and dandy but I'm nosy and I want the damn reason. Goes back to that "Me Generation" (NOW! NOW! NOW!) why wait?

Funeral For A Friend

I woke up this morning around 4:00AM EST to watch the funeral service for Pope John Paul II. Now this is a strange event for me because I grew up Catholic and this is the only Pope I've known and also a whole generation has known. Now I'm an American and therefore I was one of the Popes unruly children, when I say unruly, I mean as Americans we didn't completely agree with what came out of Rome, but I was still a Catholic and for the most part stuck to my roots, as did many others. He was very conservative and that roused a great deal of anger from the forward thinking Americans, but we still embraced this man when he came to our great land. I had the privilege of standing in the St. Louis Cathedral where he said a mass while in New Orleans, and that was a moving thing for me. Mostly because I'm a history nerd and seeing "exact" locations always makes me feel a part of that event, but now it has even greater meaning, standing where a great world leader once stood, seeing what he saw, I don't know how to explain it, but it was quite an emotion.

When it's all said and done, personally I admire him. I admire him for his convictions and unquestionable faith. I admire him for standing up for what he felt and believed to be right. I admire him for coming out of Soviet Poland, where the Church was looked upon badly, to become the leader of said Church and starting non-violent revolution against that same regime. I admire him for reaching out to other faiths. I admire him for standing up to those who doubted him in his own Church. I admire him for praying with the very man who tried to kill him. I admire him for pushing the boundaries of his office, for being a Pope like no others before. So yes, I dropped a few tears in the early hours of the morning and out side my bedroom where I watched on my 13 inch television, the sky was crying as well, the sky expressed the emotion that my self and many others felt, not just Catholics, but all people from all walks of life and all religious beliefs and some who have no belief at all. It was as if the world was crying over the loss of one of her children, as she has done so many times before.

Here's the other thing about the death of J.P. 2, last year we watched the funeral of Ronald Reagan, who was, for almost the first ten years of my life, the only president I knew. So here we have major figures of my life dying off. Now I didn't know these men personally by any means, but, I remember being a child and these two where everywhere. I knew them before I knew friends and now they are both gone. It's like my memories of my youth, kids I went to school with, events of my childhood, all of which are slowly dying. Not dying in the physical sense, but getting further and further away. I'm having what John Mayer calls a "Quarter Life Crisis", I'm facing mortality and feeling the panic of being stuck between the sheltered harbor of childhood and the rough waters of adulthood. I have rounded the cape and the continental drop off is fast approaching. I realized that I started high school ten years ago. I'm at an age that seemed like another world to me when I was younger. However I know, at the same time I've got a lot more years coming...