tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13603106139170486422024-03-13T13:51:55.866-07:00A History of Bad Taste and Arena Rockt-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-7040447801034999142018-06-11T19:06:00.002-07:002018-06-11T19:06:39.794-07:00The Deathfest that Wasn't<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Maryland Deathfest 2018 has come and gone. By all accounts, this was a particularly great year, but I wouldn’t know, because I wasn’t there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Oh, I was there. I made the drive up Thursday night after work, then went home and came back up for Saturday’s Ram's Head shows. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And there were highlights. Sets by Mantar and Bolzer were awesome. I got to see what Frost looks like when he’s not bleeding out of his neck. I met a few folks I’d only known online. I even (literally) bumped into Goatwhore’s Ben Falgoust in a bar, and he could not have possibly been more good natured about it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But I totally wasn’t “there” this year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I was exhausted both nights, and my back was killing me. But more perplexingly, I just found myself wanting to be somewhere else almost the entre time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">This is totally out of the ordinary. I look forward to MDF all year long. Time and budget typically only allow for one-day’s attendance, but I always make the most of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">In fact, a therapist (….yes, a therapist….) once told me that this annual pilgrimage is one of the healthier things I do each year. She talks about how “refreshed and present” I seem to be when I describe the day, and how clearly I need to make more time like this to reconnect with music, and performance, and with other people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">So much of this benefit is just the therapeutic value of being around the metal community for the day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I sometimes half-jokingly refer to metal fans as “my people,” but that’s not quite accurate. Sure, I like metal. I love metal. But these aren’t really *my* people. “Metal” is not exactly my lifestyle, and my knowledge of the various subgenres is quite shallow compared to other fans. The truth is, I’m totally *not* part of the metal tribe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">That's why, so many years, I barely speak to anyone all day at Deathfest. But it’s still comforting to be among the fans. Watching them in the company of one another. Seeing them take on amusing tourist activities in Baltimore. And, of course watching the exuberance of it all as the festival gets underway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">There’s something profoundly joyful about being in their presence each year. I don’t think I know anyone in my day to day life who likes metal, so even if these aren’t “my people,” it always feels fun and safe to be among them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And yet….I just wasn’t feeling it this year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And yes, I was tired. Yes, my back has been hurting for weeks. And, yes, I’m stressed about work. But it was more than that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">An awful lot has changed the past few years. I’ve lost a little motivation to be social, to pound drinks, to stay out late. To go to shows, even. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I often just prefer to be home. Sometimes, I just like it better when I’m here when the kid goes down. When I know that my chores are done. When my wife knows that I’m here and holding up my end of the bargain. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">All of this shuts the door on certain options, but it doesn’t really represent the sacrifice you might assume. This really is the life I want.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But, you know, MDF is still this thing my wife (and my therapist) encourages me to do each year, so this year,I had the bright idea to tie it all together with the family. We decided to get a hotel room and spend the day together on Saturday. I’d then go to the fest Saturday night, then we’d all spend the day together on Sunday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Raining Blood</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">It didn’t exactly go as planned. We got off to a really late start, then a thunderstorm left us stranded at a Barnes and Noble for much longer than we expected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">When the storm broke, my wife encouraged me to go to the festival before it got any later, but I suddenly didn’t want to. My daughter was having a blast with the books, and I was having fun riding that out with them. Plus, it killed me to know that the afternoon was winding into the evening, and that the two of them were probably going to be sequestered to the hotel room after the storm inevitably returned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 18pt;">And even though I eventually made the jump, I really just wanted to be with my wife and daughter. Even through that excellent Bolzer set. Even during the weird opening moments of Master’s Hammer. Even though I <b>knew</b> I had twitter friends somewhere at the fest that I should be connecting with. <i>(And, <o:p></o:p></i></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>honestly....I really wanted to see them, even though I didn't make the effort. I still can't exactly recon that).</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Halfway through Satyricon, I just knew I was done. So I tossed a half finished beer and went back to the hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And that was the end of Maryland Deathfest for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">The next morning, we grabbed coffee and ate breakfast on a park bench in Fells Point. We strolled around the neighbothood, checking out record shops and toy stores, and I eventully dropped a crushingly exorbitant entrance fee for the Baltimore Science Museum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Raining, Um, Blood Again </span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And that’s when another thunderstorm came through….stronger and much more persistant than anything we’d experienced the day previous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We got drenched getting back to the car, and made a dying cry to save the weekend by hitting up an oyster bar in Federal Hill for a family meal. Without going into details, the food that afternoon turned out to be decidedly beneath Baltimore's generally high standard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And to cap it off, I somehow received a goddamned parking ticket in the midst of that deluge. (God bless the meter maid who had to stand in the storm and write that one out).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had tried to forge out a better experience for all of us, but it wasn’t meant to be. We never really found our gear that day, or the weekend. For all the effort and good intentions, I ended up dropping a ton of cash, eating a disappointing meal, and enduring the bummer of peeling a wet ticket from my windshield.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Heading Out to the Highway</span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">Here's the funny thing though: as we motored out of Baltimore, it didn’t really matter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">I spent the whole weekend trying - and failing - to re-establish some poorly-defined connection with "my people"....to assert <o:p>some claim to my identity. To hitch myself to a tribe where I would belong.</o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">And all the while, "my people" were here in the car with me. Soaking wet. Low on funds. A little disappointed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">But happy together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18pt;">These are my people. And I'll never go looking for them anywhere else. </span></div>
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t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-89393410734045540022016-12-31T16:26:00.001-08:002016-12-31T16:26:57.866-08:00The 2016 Song of the Year<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">t's probably pointless to crank out <a href="http://ahistoryofbadtaste.blogspot.com/2016/10/my-year-in-music.html"><b>another end-of-year post</b></a>. I already <a href="http://ahistoryofbadtaste.blogspot.com/2016/12/in-defense-of-2016.html"><b>kind of did two</b></a>, and if I ever want to be a respectable adult person, I need to stop moping about my crappy 2016.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But, it's been a tradition of mine to celebrate my favorite shows and songs each year. And even at 7 PM on New Year's Eve, I guess it deserves at least a half-assed effort to keep that tradition going. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's no sense in attempting to do a "Year in Shows" post. I only attended one show this year, and it was more to hang out with an old friend than to enjoy the music. (Because -- sorry, Black Lips, but your "thing" doesn't do it for me </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">any more). Frankly, the fact that the Black Lips are the only band </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I saw perform live this year is at least as disappointing as attending no shows at all would have been.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Still, I still listened to a lot of music this year. And as I tried to work though so many confusing things -- financial stress, career anxiety, fears over my health, and deep feelings of sadness and loneliness as I watched some of my oldest friendships die right before me -- I turned to the music that best suited the sense of confusion and withdrawal that defined my head space this year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">That opened my eyes and ears -- and I guess my heart and soul -- to all kinds of music that I'd never heard before. And that's a very good thing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">No song spoke to my confused feelings more than <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj5rkQF4NeQ">Let's Eat Grandma's "Rapunzel."</a> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's a dark, disturbing song that's worth your time. The themes - of feeling lost, of feeling wronged, and of possibly feeling that one is living out a life that isn't his or her own -- very much resonated for me this year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Indeed, the lyrics of the coda -- combined with the gloriously eerie harmonies -- still leave me numbly staring into my screen even as I listen to it now:</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"And there is something strange in my mind</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And there is something weird in my head"</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">None of my introspective nonsense even takes into account the phenomenal piano or drums on this track. Or the fact that the song was written and performed by teenagers -- artists who are far, far younger than their contemporaries in my earbuds this year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, there you have it. I thank Let's Eat Grandma for making me feel slightly less unstable in my 2016.....or at the very least, for allowing me to feel less alone in my instability this year. Yours is my song of the year.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qj5rkQF4NeQ" width="560"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-61377355128040684242016-12-11T20:31:00.000-08:002016-12-12T13:24:11.174-08:00In Defense of 2016<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">"FUCK 2016!" </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Go ahead and say it, if you haven't gotten it out of your system yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here it is: December. The month of the "In Memorium" article. I certainly don't need to write the list out for you by this point.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm not going to pretend that it was a good year. I've had good years before -- great ones, in fact. I know what they look like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This wasn't one of them. Not by a long shot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Still, amidst the chorus of jeers for 2016, I'll make one concession on its behalf. </span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Because we have to be adults about this: people die. </b>And they rarely do it on a convenient or pleasurable schedule. But we all die.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Few of us, however, ever come back to life. And that's what was special about this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Because in 2016, the mighty Glenn Danzig was reborn.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">For more than 20 years, it's been the cool thing to mock Danzig. For his silly image. For his shitty attitude. For his uneven releases.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Even those of us who defended Glenn the most over the years have had to accept Danzig being Danzig, even when it disappointed us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">But then, in 2016, Glenn Danzig won us all back. </span><span style="font-size: large;">And it was a joy to experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It wasn't just the Misfits reunions shows -- although the evening I spent furiously searching for live streams from the Denver show was certainly the highlight of my musical year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This was actually a gradual process that started a few years ago. </span><span style="font-size: large;">It began with small moments that a lot of people might not have noticed at the time: </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was the borderline-stunning return to form on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TviDjgOutuU">2010's "Dethred Sabaoth."</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was Samhain's "30 Bloody Years" tour in 2014, when Glenn looked happier to be on stage than at any other time I'd seen him.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There was the long-awaited release of <a href="http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/danzigs-legacy-special-can-now-be-streamed-for-9-99/">t</a><a href="http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/danzigs-legacy-special-can-now-be-streamed-for-9-99/">he weird and wonderful "Danzig Legacy TV Special</a>" in 2015, during which Danzig's fucking tooth fell out of his head and rolled across the carpet mid-set. And instead of pitching a fit, the guy simply smiled, sheepishly grumbled to Doyle about what had just happened, and left it all in the final cut.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There was the unusually <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTl8UraVHv0">friendly</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5QTFDxX2yE">generous</a> series of interviews he gave to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovj_JpiATiI">Loudwire</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jx0VeMbfJk">Rolling Stone</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">By the time he made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwerBFJ5Ceo">that hysterical cameo on Portlandia</a> earlier this year, it was becoming obvious that Glenn Danzig just wanted to have some fun. And in that context, the Misfits reunion makes perfect sense.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Still, who really believed it would happen? And who believed it would be any good?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">That's the even greater miracle of 2016: <b>the Misfits reunion shows were outstanding.</b> The band sounded great, the crowds were ravenous, and there was nothing weird or awkward happening on stage to ruin the night. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Compared to reunions this year by Guns n'Roses (...successful, but uninspiring), Dokken (...thoroughly disastrous), and LCD Soundsystem (...total scam) the Misfits shows were the only ones that came across as vital, visceral or relevant.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So say what you want about 2016, and all it took from us. Because it sure took a lot.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But in 2016, we got Glenn Danzig back. And I'll celebrate that.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-49044975087053228132016-10-17T19:40:00.001-07:002016-10-17T19:47:41.994-07:00My Year in Music<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It might seem as though October is an odd time to start the
“Year in Music” posts. The truth is that I haven’t been operating on a
calendar year lately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For me, the passing of time has been measured against my
layoff. And that occurred one year ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is my year in
music.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If there will be a musical theme to the last twelve months, it will be the deaths of so many of our musical heroes. Of course, I loved Prince –
we all did – but Bowie and Lemmy were actual influences on me. More so than any other two musicians, they were the ones I looked to when I was
afraid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bowie taught me I could be whoever I wanted. Lemmy taught me
to be true to myself. That guidance never seemed the slightest bit contradictory to me. It seemed true and it felt right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The loss of both Lemmy and Bowie within weeks of one another – at a
time when I needed heroes so desperately -- should have crushed me. But I
didn’t mourn either of them the way that I would have expected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was already
grieving something more important.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Losing my job was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever
had to work through. <a href="http://ahistoryofbadtaste.blogspot.com/2015/11/out-on-streets-for-living-on-love-loss.html"><b>I’ve
written about it before</b></a>, but this was a job that I treasured. It was a job
that brought me happiness. It was the job I’d always dreamed of. And how
many of us ever get to say that we had a dream come true?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am one of the lucky few. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And, so, when faced with the deaths of two of my favorite
artists, I just didn’t have that much to give. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">After all, it’s one thing when your heroes suddenly die. It’s something
else entirely when your dreams do.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I realize that losing a job isn’t the worst thing
that can happen to a person. But it remains a deeply humiliating and invalidating
experience. It wreaks havoc on your finances, your emotions, your
relationships, and your career prospects. It destroys your plans for the
future, and sometimes forces you to make undesirable decisions. If you take any pride in your role as a provider, the experience will
attempt to torch that part of your soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So often in the past, I had turned to metal in these moments
of crisis. <a href="http://ahistoryofbadtaste.blogspot.com/2012/07/like-you-never-had-wings.html"><b>I've referred to it in the past as my own primal scream</b></a>, a forceful expression of my deepest self
whenever I felt hurt or unvalued. When careers and relationships were in
disarray, it was my reminder to the world – and to myself – that my spirit
would always be untouchable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Extreme metal, in all of its grotesque aggression, is magical
that way. It is an ugly, ferocious genre, often hateful and destructive, but deeply
committed to its core. It is outsider art, made by and for people who are
thoroughly at peace with their identities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For most of the past twenty-five years, that was always me.
But for the past twelve months, I was having an identity
crisis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Without my job, I no longer knew who I was as a
professional. Without my income, I no longer knew who I was as a husband or a
father. And to add to all this confusion, many of my closest friends simply
stopped talking to me during this period. Without my friends, I really didn't know what I was worth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My core? My spirit? My soul? I had lost my grip on all of
these things. No amount of blast beats, death grows, or screams would give me
anything to declare on my behalf.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And so, when I
retreated to music this year, it wasn’t metal.</b> I was in a deeply-hurt
state of mind, and I no longer had the energy to lash out at the world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was defeated, and I just wanted a salve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first several weeks of my layoff, I medicated myself on immense doses of shoegazey pop.
I didn't understand a single word of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuk34MvPYNA"><b>Yukari’s “Marginal Man</b>,</a>” but I’d surmise that it soothed me more than any other track during this period. Not
far behind was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHTFmJk7fH0"><b>Mum’s “Green
Grass of Tunnel,”</b></a> with it’s childlike vocals and nonsensical
lyrics. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Songs like these were haunting and tender. So many times I felt myself become nearly dissociative as I listened to them - which eventually became a troubling pattern.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then there was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEvsDuJYEnI"><b>the long foray into Van
Morrison</b></a>. This was an overdue artistic appreciation on my part. I'm grateful for it, even though it became the soundtrack to my
self-pity (along with big doses of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZgBhyU4IvQ&list=RDRZgBhyU4IvQ"><b>Bob Dylan</b></a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA5VD_Ao31I"><b>Butch
Walker</b></a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the year went on,
things got marginally better, and I found my way back to metal. I listened to
Ghost Bath….<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jLVH1J3xmk"><b>a lot</b></a>….never
entirely sure if it was "good," but knowing that it felt pretty, and sad, and
desperate, and that it touched me somewhere where I was hurting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And then there was the day that I looked at my iTunes
account and realized that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxk2iWxdmhw"><b>“Slaughter
of the Soul” by At the Gates</b></a> was my most listened-to track of the year. (I suppose I had subconsciously identified it as the perfect song for tuning out the
constant babble and noise that comes with working in a coffee shop).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Still, I missed out on a lot of metal this year. I decided
to skip Maryland Deathfest and the Shadow Woods
Festival. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Somehow, I also managed to not attend a single live show of any genre the entire
year. In retrospect, I can see just how unhealthy this was.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of course, in time, things sorted themselves out. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nearly a year to the day from my lay-off, I received a job offer, and I am now officially employed again. I'll probably be working through the aftermath of everything for a long time, but I know this is the start of believing in myself again, which means the metal won't be far off.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">++++++++</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>It's funny, but I can point to the musical moment when the healing began, </b>and I suppose it wasn't very metal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was sitting in my neighborhood coffee shop, laptop out, transitioning one of my low-paying freelance accounts now that I'd accepted my job offer. Music was shuffling randomly through my earbuds, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB-rAO2Bq2I"><b>when Bob Mould snuck up on me, and I realized that everything would be ok.</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And as the chorus hit, I bowed my head down, squeezed out a heavy tear from each eye, and took a deep, deep breath. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And my year in music was complete. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
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t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-58698181567490838762016-05-09T07:09:00.006-07:002016-05-09T07:16:46.224-07:00Remembering John Stabb<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday morning, the punk community awoke to the news that John Stabb had succumbed to stomach cancer. He was 54.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It was not a secret that John was sick, and based on the few cautiously-worded updates that travelled across social media, it seemed like the situation wasn't good. Still, no matter how many times we go through this <i>(and we've been through this a bit too much for my tastes lately)</i>, it's always a shock. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I had the pleasure of meeting John several times. We had a few common friends, and that yielded a handful of shared shows when I was in my first band, and John was playing in Betty Blue. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's a kind of crazy situation for your first band to open for someone "famous." It would be easy -- especially when you're young and kind of immature -- to get over-excited by the prospect. It would be easy get nervous, or desperate for his attention.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>But John was so normal, and goofy, and nice that it was never an issue. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Stabb made a tremendous impression on me. He was a captivating performer, but more importantly, he was funny and friendly. And in such a stiflingly self-conscious scene as D.C.'s, that was special.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I probably met him half a dozen times; I don't think he ever really remembered me, but he was always pleasant and typically would ask after the friends we shared. If he was with his partner, he would unfailingly take a moment to introduce her. (That gesture, in particular, always stuck with me. What a genuinely polite thing to do). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">John was the first of the D.C. punk legends I met, and it was a sad surprise to learn that not everyone was as generous of spirit as he was. Of course, the D.C. scene is packed with legendary figures, and many of them still have a presence around town. I'm sure all of them are nice enough people, but few of them are at all approachable. John, on the other hand, was as un-insulated as they came. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For several years I'd see John everywhere...debuting a new band at the Black Cat, playing gigs at the old arts space where my wife used to work, rifling through CDs at the old Tower Records in Foggy Bottom, or maybe just waiting at a bus stop in Silver Spring. I seemed to see him everywhere for a time, and I'm sad that it'll never have again.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">My favorite memory of John was playing a party with him in 1997. It was a weird event....a big all-day, all night field party somewhere in Savage, MD. At some point in the afternoon, John took the stage to read a spoken-word selection from a memoir he was working on. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The details of the story elude me, but I recall that the tale climaxed with Stabb somehow inadvertently getting himself in a feud with Glenn Danzig, and subsequently receiving a threat from none other than the Iron Sheik.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>That, my friends, is a life well-lived.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">++++++++</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This recent wave of celebrity musician deaths has been a brutal thing to behold. And in the coming years, we will undoubtedly eulogize more and more of our heroes.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So many great things will someday be written in the obituaries of the pioneers of DC hardcore...about what they did to bring important concepts like DIY, and punk rock activism, and straight-edge to the forefront, and the impact they had on so many future superstars. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This is certain.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What is less certain is how many of these people will be remembered for being...well, nice. For being funny. For being not only talented, and visionary, and charismatic, but also being friendly, and kind, and polite. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I don't know. But I do know that John Stabb was a really nice guy. You didn't have to be in his circle of friends to know it. You didn't have to be one of the smart or cool kids to discover it. You didn't have to know the right people to experience it. <b>It's simply how he was.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's how I want to be remembered. And it's how I'll remember John Stabb.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-21630211206563110942016-04-03T21:13:00.002-07:002016-04-03T21:13:42.469-07:00Don't Call It A Comeback: Adler's Absence from the Guns N'Roses Reunion<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This weekend, Guns N'Roses kicked off their long-awaited "reunion." </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's a weird moment for me; I loved Guns N'Roses. In fact, I was the first kid I knew to own <i>Appetite for Destruction</i>. But <b>I hate reunion tours.</b></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">t's not just because I'm a self-loathing agist; it's because reunion tours are almost always an exercise in compromise. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Something doesn't feel right. Something is missing. Someone has almost always died or has been replaced. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Besides the natural effects of age, something in the fundamental chemistry of the band is not the same. But we call it a "reunion" anyway, and <b>we pretend that if we pretend hard enough, things will go back to the way they used to be (regardless as to if that's really a good thing).</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All too often, it's painfully obvious how much things aren't the same. The Who tours without its legendary rhythm section. The Doors tour without their legendary singer. The Stones tour with more session musicians and back-up singers than actual band members. Van Halen and Cheap Trick tour with their fucking <i>kids</i> in the band. And Black Sabbath -- fortunate enough to have all four original members alive and kicking -- look like they have enough trouble just conjuring themselves from bed each morning, much less conjuring up any demons.*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i>* That's Jimmy Page's line.</i></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Like Sabbath, GN'R is unbelievably lucky that their starting five is still with us. And, yet, on Friday night, only three of them were in the band.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I could go on for ages about Izzy Stradlin, who quietly wrote or co-wrote the majority of Guns' best songs. Writing credits on <i>Appetite</i> and <i>GN'R Lies</i> may be mysterious, but the overwhelming majority of salvageable content on the <i>Use Your Illusion</i> albums is directly attributable to Stradlin.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Izzy is fundamental to GN'R's sound. Regardless of the fact that he opted out, regardless of whether he joins them for select dates, any tour without Stradlin cannot be considered a reunion. <b><u>This is irrefutable in my mind.</u></b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The more complex issue surrounds Steven Adler.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are a lot of very practical reasons not to have Adler on the tour: he hasn't been in the band for 25 years. There are a lot of songs he didn't record and has never played live. He doesn't have an appropriate amount of touring experience. He sometimes comes across as an imbecile. And the guy needs back surgery. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Those factors make him a liability to promoters, insurers, bandmates and fans.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>And, of course, there's his long, ugly history with drugs. </b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I actually know a thing or two about being in a band with an addict. It's frustrating. It's infuriating. And it's painful on several levels.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rehearsals take forever. Songs don't come together. There are no-shows. There are trust issues. And -- especially if it's a member of the rhythm section -- your entire band starts to sound like shit.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Common sense dictates that you have to kick the addict out, and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I don't fault Guns N'Roses for giving Adler the boot. How could I? He was a giant mess.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I do think that if they're going to proceed with this reunion charade -- of selling the public a return of the most notorious band of our teenage years -- they should give him a seat at the table. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sure, Matt Sorum and Frank Ferrer are superior musicians, and they both certainly offer a steadier hand on the road (even if their feel isn't quite right).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But they aren't originals. They didn't play on <u>the</u> classic record. And <b>that's</b> what Slash and Axl are selling to the public: the return of the classic line-up. Not the circus act of the past fifteen years. Not the bloated arena monster of the early/mid-90's. Not Velvet Revolver with a different singer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">They're selling the <i>Appetite</i>-era line-up. They're selling the five guys who dominated high school gossip and the pages of <i>Circus Magazine</i>. The five skulls from the cross tattoo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">No doubt, including Adler would have created problems. It would have meant fewer dates on the tour. It would have meant putting his sponsor on the road with him. It would have meant postponing everything so he could recover from surgery. Maybe it would have reduced the whole thing down to one or two shows.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe that isn't smart. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe </span><span style="font-family: "arial", "helvetica", sans-serif;">that</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> isn't practical. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe that's dangerous.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Which is funny. Because that's exactly how I remember Guns N'Roses.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-34497055354238372132016-01-12T14:15:00.004-08:002016-05-02T11:05:41.089-07:00In the Heat of the Mourning: On Grief, Gratitude and David Bowie<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Let's be clear about something right from the top:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Coming to terms with the death of your favorite artist is not the same thing as mourning a friend or loved one.</b> It is incredibly easy to confuse the two, but the experiences are fundamentally different.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">In the aftermath of David Bowie's death, </span><span style="font-size: large;">I've spent the past two days considering this. Like thousands upon thousands of other people, Bowie's work and influence meant the world to me, so I've tried very hard to be honest with myself about what I am currently feeling.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When you lose a friend, family member, or even a pet, you grieve everything about them. You miss their weird habits and odd mannerisms, and fear for a future in which you will have no more shared experiences together. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I've always found that this is the most profoundly painful aspect of grief: realizing - sometimes for months and for years - all the things that you will no longer do together.<br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You ache for the silly jokes you shared, and the satisfaction you'd get from making that </span><span style="font-size: large;">person smile.You hurt each time you cross a life milestone without them</span><span style="font-size: large;">. And you yearn to make things right for all of the times you never said or did what you should have when you had the chance. So often, you just wish you could sit in the same room with them one more time, and feel complete again.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">When someone you love dies, you long for the coexistance you once shared.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>But when your favorite artist dies, something different happens. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>You don't really mourn the person</u> -- no matter how much you might be temped to believe that you do. You won't be missing your lost time together or your shared experiences, because you didn't actually share anything together.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>You won't really mourn their art </u>-- especially if it's a musician -- because the art lives forever, and you can always revisit it. And it will always be wonderful -- perhaps even more wonderful over time. </span><br />
<u><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></u>
<span style="font-size: large;"><u>Still, something deep inside of you hurts like mad.</u> And it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">I believe that this pain is deeply rooted your own path to self-discovery, and the role that the artist's work played in it. </span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There is absolutely no shame in believing that an artist's work has changed your life. Great art can challenge you to broaden your horizons and try new things. It can force you to reconsider preconceived notions. It can overwhelm you with a beauty that you didn't realize was possible. And it can validate feelings that you've never before been able to process.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">This is why, when our favorite artists die, we are so often overcome with inappropriately personal feelings of sadness and loss.<b> And most of all, we feel a deeply disorienting sense of muted gratitude.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I believe that this is what hurts most:</b> never having the opportunity to thank the artist for making your world more vivid and wonderful...to show them that their work brought you happiness or solace when you most needed it. To tell them that they may not realize it, but that they made a difference.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">To that end, the experience can closely mimic that incompleteness that follows the death of a loved one. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But it's not quite the same thing. In fact, <b>practically speaking, it is nearly nonsensical</b>; under what circumstances do we ever meet our idols? When I envision what might have happened if I'd ever met Mr. Bowie, I practically recoil in horror as I consider the things I might have said. <u>The influence of our favorite artists may be acute and profound, but our relationships are probably best left to be one-dimensional.</u></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Still, I can't help but to feel that same sadness that I could never thank him. </b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I was very fortunate to experience a tremendous amount of personal growth as I studied Bowie's work. His approach to identity helped me become comfortable in my own skin for perhaps the first time, and it taught me how much control I have over how people perceive me. I learned something important about the thin line between the grotesque and the exotic, and that helped me partially overcome the body image issues that have stuck with me since I was a scrawny little boy who was unable to defend himself. <b>I have so much more gratitude for that than I can even express.</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, it is now impossible to thank him. It probably always was.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>But I can tell you what is possible: </b> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I still remember who it was who turned me on to Bowie. It was my friend, Miguel. He was an awesomely charismatic high school classmate, a reformed "problem child" who'd done some truly crazy stuff at a young age, and had lived to tell the tale.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I remember how he approached me one afternoon and poked a finger into my breastbone.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"You...Major Tom. That's who you are,"</i> he said, grinning. <i>"You look like David Bowie. You know that, right? People tell you that, right? That's who you look like."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then he walked away, and my fascination with Bowie was born. All because of one cool kid with a strange and sudden observation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I can't thank Bowie. But, tonight, I can thank Miguel.</b></span><br />
<br />t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-81399246399579887962015-12-31T08:35:00.000-08:002015-12-31T08:35:06.618-08:002015: The Year in Shows<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Broncho at the Black Cat backstage </b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Small room, packed house, and an entire room waiting pensively for the band's signature song....which they wisely saved for the last number of the evening. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">One of the greatest experiences in live music is feeling a crowd surge forward when a song begins. And that's exactly what happened at the opening vocals of "Class Historian" kicked in. I'm pretty sure that no one in the room wanted that song to end.</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/to-nZLV794g" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Goatwhore at the Rock and Roll Hotel</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Goatwhore isn't necessarily one of my favorite metal bands, but I do like the idea of the "blacked death metal" sub-genre (in execution more than name, I suppose). Either way, they pull it off pretty well.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Two things struck me about this show:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">1. <u>Goatwhore is a good band.</u> And that's not always a given.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The gap between an average metal band and a good one might as well be a gulf. The two bands that opened for Goatwhore that night were clear road dogs. They were living it and loving it, but they simply weren't all that good. It pains me to say this, and I certainly won't mention any names, but by the time Goatwhore took the stage it didn't really matter how much I<i> liked </i>them. It mattered that they were - by far - the best band in the room.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">2. <u>Ben Falgoust seems pretty normal.</u></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Case and point: at some point in the show he said something about looking out for one another in the pit. This isn't unheard of, but I was surprised to hear him follow the warning by muttering that he knows what it's like to live with a physical disability, and that we need to take care of one another.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not your typical satanic band stage banter...</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CVgx8AMRbuc" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Pentagram at the rock and Roll Hotel</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I resolve that in 2016, I will stop using this blog to talk about my career problems. It is undignified.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But in this case, it fits.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pentagram's homecoming show was less than two weeks after I lost my job. To say that I felt damaged would be putting it mildly. It was at or around this time that it was dawning on me that I was going to have to completely rebuild my professional life.....possibly in ways that I didn't want to.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I was 41 years old, with a head full of grey hair, and a wife and kid to take care of. And here I was, suddenly without a job, without a plan and without any confidence that I'd ever be as happy as I was two weeks earlier. It was hard not to feel like things were over. I felt obsolete.....as though I was only good at things that didn't matter to anyone.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So, I went to the club alone that night, stood in the back of the room, sipped beer and watched a beaten-but-not-quite-broken sixty-one year old Bobby Liebling sing doom rock for an hour.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">He looked frail, but happy. He was nervous in front of his hometown crowd in a way that way that seemed to scream "sober, at last." </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And while his stage presence was somewhat awkward, his voice was in tremendous shape. The highlight of the evening -- probably the concert year -- was hearing Liebling hit a surprise falsetto note on "Forever My Queen."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I headed out of the club that night, thinking how miraculous the entire event was.....<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/doomed-for-life-how-pentagram-became-metals-ultimate-survivor/2015/10/05/d48a5f1a-6b70-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92_story.html" target="_blank">five years earlier, Liebling was a full blown addict, living in his parents' basement</a>. He'd burned all of his bridges, and missed countless career opportunities. By all accounts, it should have been over - his band, his career, his life - decades ago. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I walked to my car, reminding myself that it was never too late, and to never give up. </span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2P6XfrpZzhM" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-86300017756490957132015-12-30T13:58:00.002-08:002015-12-30T14:06:56.519-08:00Why Lemmy Matters<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So, there goes Lemmy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For one moment, let's put aside the <i>"I thought Lemmy was invincible"</i> jokes. Anyone who was watching for the past year knew that this was coming. He was shortening his sets and cancelling shows, which wasn't the sort of thing Lemmy did. He'd stopped giving interviews, and was often seen walking slowly with a cane. He'd been sick - very sick - for a long time. And, now we know that he was dying.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's been heartwarming to see how the news had trended on social media for the past 48 hours. A lot of people really loved Lemmy. I've been holding back that childish tendency that so many of us have when a lost icon suddenly becomes celebrated: <b>I find myself suspecting that many of the mourners didn't really love Lemmy enough, or love him the right way, or love him for the right reasons.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There's often a grain of truth in that kind of thinking, but it's still a pathetic impulse to indulge. <i>(In fact, this is the third re-write of this post, specifically because I kept finding myself somehow suggesting that my love for Ian Fraser Kilmister was superior to that of other people).</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So, instead of projecting how other people might or might not have felt about Lemmy, allow me to tell you why he mattered to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I am a failure.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I am a failed musician. I am a failed professional. I look and feel like hell most days. My time management skills are terrible. I am chronically late for everything. And somewhere along the course of my adult life, I've also become rather bad at managing my money. I live in a cluttered one bedroom condo, while all of my friends have neatly-manicured front lawns. And although I try to be a good husband and father, I sometimes wonder if I'm any good at those efforts, either. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So much of my adult life has been defined by compromise, surrender and defeat. I try not to think about it too much, but when I do, I tend to see failure all around me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When those moments arrive, I can tell you with complete honesty that I have often thought of Lemmy Kilmister.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">By so many measures, Lemmy could be considered a failure.</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The man was a life-long addict, so dependent on substances that it famously impaired medical professionals from being able to treat him. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">As a young man, he was fired from a band that was on the rise. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">His next endeavor became legendary, but was chronically insolvent. He hired bad people and signed bad deals throughout his career.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Despite being a prolific songwriter, most people only knew him for one tune, which was recorded 35 years ago. Even fewer people ever bought a record from him after 1992, even though he never stopped writing or recording.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">He was a borderline hoarder whose raggedy-looking apartment did not say "rock star" on any level.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">He was an absent father, who never got to experience the joy of having a loving family of his own.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's not an inspiring portrait. And yet.....<b>no one considered Lemmy to be a failure.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And that's because Lemmy understood what he was good at, and he understood what made him happy. He dedicated his life to that....even if he never made as much money as he should have. Even if it sometimes seemed like no one cared. Even when he got fired. Even when he seemed like a kind of lonely guy. Even when he got sicker and sicker and sicker. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">He uncompromisingly did what made him happy. It gave him integrity, and it made people like me interested in what he had to say.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">With a new year on the horizon, his example reminds me that I have to have to find that happiness for myself.....even if no one else gives a damn. It reminds me that I'm actually great at certain things, even if no one cares about them. And as I try to figure out what the hell I'm going to do about my career, it reminds me to continue saying no until I find the right opportunity. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It reminds me that just because I'm a failure, it doesn't mean that I can't be successful.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you, Lemmy.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-82705375342540586722015-12-23T06:23:00.000-08:002015-12-23T06:23:27.228-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: "He said let's run And we'll have some fun Now before I melt away"<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I'd never actually heard this track before a friend posted it on her Facebook page last week. And I couldn't be happier to have heard it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Cocteau Twins remains a mysterious band to me. I own very little of their music, but I've never heard anything by them that I didn't find enchanting -- due in no small part to magnificent production, and Elizabeth Frazer's unabashedly playful approach to her vocals.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I have not heard a Christmas song this year that has made me happier than this one.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e874vKfYfuU" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-41072556317548610872015-12-22T10:38:00.002-08:002015-12-22T10:38:19.953-08:00This Christmas Take-Over: "With an uneasy feeling in my chest"<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Another downer, but it seems fitting for this year: a time when our leaders are threatened by the very thought of cooperating with one another, and the nation can't muster even the slightest bit of enthusiasm for any of the egomaniacs battling to be the next president. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It's a troubling state of affairs, and we all know it. That's the one thing everyone seems to agree about: this isn't working.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And yet each of us (myself included) seems more willing to draw lines in the social media sand than to try and find shared goals for our nation. It's embarrassing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">For the record, I don't particularly like it when other people sermonize at me like this. Even with the greatest of intentions, it's terribly patronizing, and it doesn't actually change anything. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, I'll shut up and kick it over to Steve Earle. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And with three days til Christmas, I'll try and get more upbeat.... </span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3NASicF9yTI" width="420"></iframe>
t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-14702711497696336652015-12-21T10:15:00.003-08:002015-12-21T10:16:51.403-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: How the Brits Won Christmas<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Glam just never really caught on in America. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It's a shame, really: so many great songs, so many terrific hooks, so many fantastic rhythm sections. But we Americans were an easily-threatened lot back in the 70's. We didn't deal so well with ambiguity, so we left glam to the British, and banked on manlier acts like Three Dog Night and Grand Funk Railroad.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And that's a real shame. Because on Christmas, 1973, kids across the UK were rocking the fuck out to Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody." Meanwhile, American audiences were struggling not to slit their wrists to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxvd8NEd_C8" target="_blank">Jim Croce's lovely, but maudlin <i>(even for me!)</i>, "It Doesn't Have to Be That Way."</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">God save the Queen.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0A8KT365wlA" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-262150299734445902015-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:002015-12-20T06:00:01.048-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: It's Christmas So We'll Stop<span style="font-size: large;"><br />It's time for me to let it go....</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ejOgf-19eeg" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-23773608755888011732015-12-19T06:40:00.000-08:002015-12-19T07:34:16.940-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: More Awkward Brits<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Holy crap. Where to even start with this one?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Quick history lesson. Mud was a kind of big band in the UK. Not huge, but big in their day. They had two massive hits in the early 70's, one of which is included below. And the guitar player went to see notable success as a producer/songwriter of some tracks that were pretty big hits in the UK.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">So, you know: respect. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">All that having been said,<b> get a load of these guys.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">First, you've got this Benny-Hill-as-Elvis-Presley vocalist.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then you've got Fraggle Rock on guitar.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Over there you have the drummer. (I'm assuming this. He could be anyone). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And finally, you have the sullen bass player, seemingly only too aware that there's no prize for being the cute one in the world's most awkward-looking glam band.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The irony is, I like this song better than most of what's on the Elvis Christmas Album.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NJ6kJ7GWtv0" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-91845940597173968102015-12-18T06:20:00.000-08:002015-12-18T06:20:25.232-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: I Would Like to Leave this City<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Ok, so "Half the World Away" isn't actually a Christmas song. And everyone hates Oasis for some reason that I don't at all get. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But this is an outstanding song, and the video <i>(ok, fine... advertisement) </i>that accompanies it is just a wonderful holiday piece. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's the thing about the Brits....they're all sneering and sarcastic and bawdy until you're not looking, and then.....</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wuz2ILq4UeA" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-74329226445885167182015-12-16T05:40:00.000-08:002015-12-16T06:25:54.023-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: Pete's Dad<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">At least thirty percent of this song is a giant mess. But the rest of it is just so damned beautiful. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">"Pete's Dad" got a fair amount of holiday airplay in the 90's, and I looked forward to hearing it each year. But I always had trouble following the lyrics, and never actually knew the name of the song. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">It took me a while to track it down, but here it is for your enjoyment:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PiS18wXWWaU" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-85405855704460793702015-12-15T06:22:00.003-08:002015-12-15T06:23:15.570-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: It's Not the Darkest Night I've Spent Alone<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There's nothing quite like the first Christmas after a devastating break up. <br /><br />While the Posies' version of this song doesn't meddle much with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwzaKsVTSk0" target="_blank">Florence Dore's original arrangement</a>, the harmonies are just magnificent. </span><span style="font-size: large;">The song is already heartbeaking, but Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer's vocals provide an aching level of vulnerability....which was kind of their thing, I guess, and they were great at it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">This one goes out to everyone spending Christmas alone.</span><br />
<br />
<br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kfTDGzH8-Ro" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-58433739496502105072015-12-14T07:55:00.003-08:002015-12-14T07:55:53.508-08:00The Christmas Takeover: White Christmas<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I've never quite known what to make of Helloween. They've always struck me as one of those unfortunate metal bands that was unintentionally hilarious.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This is in large part because they are a pioneer in power metal -- arguably metal's single most ridiculous sub-genre. But I think it equally may be because they are so very German. And let's be real: Germans can be kind of weird. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But in the name of the Baby Jesus, let's put that aside and celebrate our differences. Because this is the time to celebrate. And this is very different.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qInsjj7ZzmA" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-12255973913464538312015-12-11T08:56:00.003-08:002015-12-11T08:56:25.079-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: The Ramones Don't Want to Fight<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I really don't.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Y5GtaTrPHM" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-75057724463009665222015-12-10T06:17:00.001-08:002015-12-10T06:17:43.282-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: All I Want for Christmas is More Music Videos Like This<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">True confession: </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I have no problem with Mariah Carey's version of this song. It's a little cloying on the 10 millionth play, but in the age on online shopping I've come to miss those songs that used to dominate shopping mall holiday play lists.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That said, I adore Dikembe's take. There's an element of longing and humility to the vocals that I identify with...probably more so in this disappointing year than at any other point in my life.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And this video is just so heartbreaking and hilarious and brilliant. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zkHifTEf5nc" width="420"></iframe>
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-6827890072860056552015-12-09T07:30:00.000-08:002015-12-09T07:30:00.582-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: Feliz Navidad<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This is cute. That is all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KzV_UCQFY6w" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-41482780023076839662015-12-08T03:30:00.000-08:002015-12-08T03:30:03.875-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: Drinking Christmas Dinner All Alone<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Up until recently, this was the snow leopard of Christmas songs in my family.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For decades, my parents swore up and down that several years ago, they saw Mac Davis on the Tonight Show, singing a song about getting plastered over the holidays. No one, however, could remember the name of the song, or any of the lyrics....</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I am proud to announce that the magic of YouTube has finally closed the case on this mystery. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Other things I learned on the Internet:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Mac Davis wrote "A Little Less Conversation" for Elvis. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Mac Davis wrote "Memories" for Elvis.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Mac Davis wrote "In the Ghetto" for Elvis. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Elvis was worthless as a songwriter. </span></li>
</ul>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rYqB22OZ6V4" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-68382267853360009482015-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:002015-12-07T05:57:33.050-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: Remember When Bruce Was Fun?<span style="font-size: large;">Bruce Springsteen doesn't really excite me the way he used to. I suspect that's true for most of us <i>(....well, except for the ones for whom it isn't. Which always strikes me as strange and a little bit sad, but whatever).</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, I used to mark the official start of the holiday season by whenever I first heard this song on the radio. And it always put me in a great mood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This isn't the version that's on the radio each year, but I like it a little better. Springsteen is more awkward on stage, but he also seems to be genuinely enjoying himself, and not displaying any of that odd, swaggering self-consciousness that the elder Springsteen lives within.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oPM73W69wVs" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-80273302236928157952015-12-06T07:30:00.000-08:002015-12-06T07:30:01.564-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: Santa Can't Stay<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">You should know up front: this song is dark. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Strip out the walking bass line, the holiday production, and the delightful lyric <i>"He said he might just have to beat the crap out of Ray,"</i> and it's all bad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That having been said, this is a <b>really </b>well-written song.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l4653rGQQ5E" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1360310613917048642.post-46947351015778120522015-12-05T09:30:00.000-08:002015-12-05T12:08:13.464-08:00The Christmas Take-Over: Christmas is the Time to Say "I Love You"<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This song was a mainstay of Christmastime FM Radio when I was growing up (not to mention those early days of MTV, when this video basically ran every hour the last two weeks of December). Total cheese, in the best kind of way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Somewhere along the line, I started denying the fact that I like Billy Squire. That ends today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>...hey, is that Chrissie Hynde in the background? </i></span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JnOBggLe0tY" width="420"></iframe>t-o-nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02694910380809285297noreply@blogger.com0