We all love classic rock. There’s the Beatles, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, BOSTON and of course The Rolling Stones. Oh and lest I forget there’s Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Clash, The Police, The Kinks. & I’m forgetting at least 40 other bands that make up classic rock (come on, write a comment in and tell me)
Unless you have rotten taste in music, there’s a song that one of the bands play that you love.
I’m a paralegal at a law firm, and I work in the same room with young adults 20 years younger than me. Yes, sadly enough, I’m old enough to be their Dad. What I am continually amazed with is how knowledgeable they are about Classic Rock. They absolutely love their Beggars’ Banquet &/or Exile on Main Street CDs, have most the Led Zeppelin catalogue and have good working knowledge of punk rock of the late 70s. I work with a guy with absolutely encyclopaedic knowledge of the Grateful Dead and Bob Dillon. Man, I love working with that guy.
But there’s a downside to all that. Each decade of rock is invariably going to produce some good music. There’s more excellent songs to hear in 2005 than there were in 1990. & the point is that there’s a finite amount of time to hear all of these wonderful songs. If you are following and finding out as much you can about The Who, then you’re not spending much time finding out about the new bands. Show me the person who has encyclopaedic knowledge of classic rock and I’ll show you a person who doesn’t know much about Cowboy Mouth. I know I’m that person. The only way I ever would have even heard of Cowboy Mouth is that my nephew loves them and tells me how the crowd absolutely loves them too. I, on the other hand, can’t even tell you a song they play.
It’s like what Robert Plant observed a while back, “If people treated us the same way that people treat new bands these days, they would have ignored Led Zeppelin. When we were starting out, Donovan, Gerry & the Pacemakers and Herman’s Hermits were big. We would not have had much of a chance if people had continued to listen to them on the radio, bought their albums and continued to be their fans.”
Radio and a magazine like Rolling Stone doesn’t help. Radio is riven with payola and tired old bands with tired old songs. When Rolling Stone picks the top 200 albums of all time, albums after 1987 are maybe a quarter of the total. Top bands of all time? Rolling Stone won’t pick very many from the last 17 years.
“Don't believe in the 60's/The golden age of pop/You glorify the past/When the future dries up”
There now, Bono said it all in “God Part II”.
What’s the future of rock n’roll, the music we all love and give a damn about, if we perseverate on Classic Rock????
So, all you 3 or 4 people out there reading this blog, listen to a young band like CatchPenny or Cowboy Mouth!
By the way, that guy in the earlier paragraph who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Grateful Dead also knows a lot of new bands as well. I really do admire him, and he does get it right musically as well.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Frank Kaul & thinking
Ok all you readers out there; you 2 or 3 wonderful people who actually take the time to read my blog. You're in luck, I'm not going to pitifully whine about my life today, rather I am going to dispense some actual wisdom.
I had a best friend who I met in kindergarten, named Frank. We went to grade school, high school, part of college and a little bit of 1989 & 1990. Frank never found the profession that he really wanted to be in and spend his enormous intelligence and talent and he never found the love of his life. Instead on Aug. 15, 1990, he came home from church (Assumption Day is 8/15), he went through an unmarked railroad crossing. The corn was high and blocked his view; therefore, he was not able to see the train in time. He slammed into it and died.
I had a dream about him, that he had some sort of respiratory infection and died. & then someone else who was close to me had it as well but it looked like they were going to live. It got me thinking. Usually it isn't one factor that will have a big impact on you but several. Take Frank. When that occurred there was a hazard: the oncoming train and factors: corn was blocking view, there was no warning, no gate telling him he could not pass through that area, the sun could have been in his eyes as it was around sunset. All those things contributed to his death. In the dream, this illness had several symptoms and was called a "syndrome" and he died.
So then I thought about fatal flaws. Each of us can live an inspiring life or a tragic life (with the fatal flaw). It may not be that dramatic for many of us; we are sort of in the middle. But still we are either going tragic or going good/inspiring. When I reflected on my own life, I felt that overall it's good (I have a job, great kids, live in a condo worth a lot of money). But there are things that can trip me up. & it's not one thing but several things working together.
So, when we are reflective enough, we need to ask ourselves what in life is messing us around or messing us up. Don't point to one thing. I would be stupid if I said, "My life would be great if it wasn't for Maribeth pissing me off all the time." First of all, it's not true and secondly, she does more good than harm. Think of certain combinations. For example, we lack money often to make ends meet. What do we do to compensate for that? Does that compensation or supposed remedy help or lead to more chaos? Is there a way out?
Or maybe think of someone you like that maybe you shouldn't really hang out with. What is it that attracts you to them (ie. they're good looking). What personality traits draw you (they believe in God, they are more calmer than some of the other people known). But how do they mess things up? Or are they really messing things up? Is it more a situation that when they are around it's time for you to act a fool? In my life, I think there could be a person in the latter case. They really arent that bad a person (actually I think they're good and thoughtful), but when I'm with them, things happen. I don't want to stop seeing them forever, no way. Just act smarter, that's all.
Are there people that inspire you, do they make you work harder, act wiser, be smarter and generally try harder? Can you be with them more?
What's wrong with you? What's right with you? How could it be better?
I had a best friend who I met in kindergarten, named Frank. We went to grade school, high school, part of college and a little bit of 1989 & 1990. Frank never found the profession that he really wanted to be in and spend his enormous intelligence and talent and he never found the love of his life. Instead on Aug. 15, 1990, he came home from church (Assumption Day is 8/15), he went through an unmarked railroad crossing. The corn was high and blocked his view; therefore, he was not able to see the train in time. He slammed into it and died.
I had a dream about him, that he had some sort of respiratory infection and died. & then someone else who was close to me had it as well but it looked like they were going to live. It got me thinking. Usually it isn't one factor that will have a big impact on you but several. Take Frank. When that occurred there was a hazard: the oncoming train and factors: corn was blocking view, there was no warning, no gate telling him he could not pass through that area, the sun could have been in his eyes as it was around sunset. All those things contributed to his death. In the dream, this illness had several symptoms and was called a "syndrome" and he died.
So then I thought about fatal flaws. Each of us can live an inspiring life or a tragic life (with the fatal flaw). It may not be that dramatic for many of us; we are sort of in the middle. But still we are either going tragic or going good/inspiring. When I reflected on my own life, I felt that overall it's good (I have a job, great kids, live in a condo worth a lot of money). But there are things that can trip me up. & it's not one thing but several things working together.
So, when we are reflective enough, we need to ask ourselves what in life is messing us around or messing us up. Don't point to one thing. I would be stupid if I said, "My life would be great if it wasn't for Maribeth pissing me off all the time." First of all, it's not true and secondly, she does more good than harm. Think of certain combinations. For example, we lack money often to make ends meet. What do we do to compensate for that? Does that compensation or supposed remedy help or lead to more chaos? Is there a way out?
Or maybe think of someone you like that maybe you shouldn't really hang out with. What is it that attracts you to them (ie. they're good looking). What personality traits draw you (they believe in God, they are more calmer than some of the other people known). But how do they mess things up? Or are they really messing things up? Is it more a situation that when they are around it's time for you to act a fool? In my life, I think there could be a person in the latter case. They really arent that bad a person (actually I think they're good and thoughtful), but when I'm with them, things happen. I don't want to stop seeing them forever, no way. Just act smarter, that's all.
Are there people that inspire you, do they make you work harder, act wiser, be smarter and generally try harder? Can you be with them more?
What's wrong with you? What's right with you? How could it be better?
Monday, August 13, 2007
under further review..........
Ok, I’m back to level ground again. Things are NOT hunky dory, but they’re manageable I guess. I bought my vacuum cleaner at Sears. Although we’re pretty good about keeping the filters clean the motor or something in the hose happens, and the suction on the vacuum cleaner becomes minimal. So, just like I did back in January, I took the vacuum to the repair center. Since I bought a maintenance agreement I pay no fees for any service done on the vacuum cleaner. Well, I went to the repair center on Saturday. But they wouldn’t give me my vacuum because I didn’t have ID with me. Ok, so I go home and get it (traveling an extra 20 miles for the extra “to & from trip”).
& then they say, you owe us $26.14.
“I have a maintenance agreement. I never had to pay in Jaunary, and I don’t have to pay now.”
So they say they’ll go to the backroom and figure things out.
So when they go back, I say, “Kids! Go to the car, now!”
So we left ……with the vacuum cleaner.
Then guess what happened. I get home, want to take the vacuum out of the car. The trunk door won’t open. I’m cranking the key as far as it will go, but nothing. So I have to remove the trunk by flipping down the backseats and removing it that way. So one could say, that was poetic justice, but the thing is that I didn’t owe the money.
Things were better on Sunday. We all had a nice relaxing day and celebrated August birthdays. Maribeth’s, her father’s, and Matt’s. Matt is my nephew and does a very good job of babysitting our kids. He’s one of several who does.
I guess what I have to remember is that as bad as I feel the sun still raises the next day and things don’t say looking so bad.
& then they say, you owe us $26.14.
“I have a maintenance agreement. I never had to pay in Jaunary, and I don’t have to pay now.”
So they say they’ll go to the backroom and figure things out.
So when they go back, I say, “Kids! Go to the car, now!”
So we left ……with the vacuum cleaner.
Then guess what happened. I get home, want to take the vacuum out of the car. The trunk door won’t open. I’m cranking the key as far as it will go, but nothing. So I have to remove the trunk by flipping down the backseats and removing it that way. So one could say, that was poetic justice, but the thing is that I didn’t owe the money.
Things were better on Sunday. We all had a nice relaxing day and celebrated August birthdays. Maribeth’s, her father’s, and Matt’s. Matt is my nephew and does a very good job of babysitting our kids. He’s one of several who does.
I guess what I have to remember is that as bad as I feel the sun still raises the next day and things don’t say looking so bad.
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