Stealing Topic Ideas

Not much to write about these days so I'm stealing topic ideas from M2M. But it's OK, she stole it from someone else.

It's kind of amazing that I haven't really discussed music yet on the blog. I love music. LOVE it. Almost from the womb, it seems. My mom loves telling the story about how when I was very young, I would sit at the family piano and play two note chords over and over again. She'll always be sure to mention that I never banged on the keys like most kids do. I would just sit there playing two notes until I found a combination that sounded good and then play it over and over. This led my parents to have me start taking piano lessons at the ripe old age of 4 years old. Yes, 4. I took lessons up until I was around 16, I think, minus a year or two where I was burnt out on it. I don't play much these days, but I think I can still sit down in front of a piano and play a song or two. I don't know.

I started playing trombone in the 5th grade and played all the way through high school. The most fun was jazz band and, if I may brag a little bit (hey, it's my blog) I was pretty damn good. Haven't touched a trombone since though.

Also while in high school, I messed around on percussion a bit and taught myself to play drums to the point where I am able to hold my own behind a drum kit. Certainly not a great drummer though, very average and I haven't played one in years.

When I was a senior in high school there was a kid a couple of years younger than me who was a virtuoso at guitar and he gave me a broken electric guitar that he had glued back together. I learned a few songs but didn't play it that much. I think it was age 22 that I bought my first acoustic from a pawn shop and started teaching myself to play. I still play today and would classify myself as an average guitar player. Maybe slightly above average.

I'm a halfway decent singer too. I think I've got an OK voice.

This post has become very much me bragging but I'm just trying to say that I'm a very musical person. And I can't really brag about it too much because it is obviously something that I was blessed with from birth and I have very little to do with it.

So anyway, music is a huge part of my life, I love it and I love finding new music. A friend of mine was once trying to convince me to listen to a certain artist and said, "You'll like this guy, he isn't popular at all." Laughing, I responded that it isn't the fact that a band or artist is obscure that makes me like them. I just think that there is a lot of great music out there that most people haven't heard of. The mainstream music business generally sucks.

So I'm stealing the topic idea but modifying it a little bit.

Side note: My taste in music is generally limited to Rock. Granted, that covers a huge variety in styles and my taste within the rock genre varies wildly. But for the most part I don't like country, pop, hip-hop, R&B or rap. There are a few exceptions like this song which I think is great.

So, finally, the list. Here are

Seven Of My Favorite Songs By Bands That Most People I Know Have Never Heard Of

1. Solaris by Failure - That video is not the band video but just made by some random person. It's the only one on youtube I could find with the album version of the song. The song is from their amazing album, Fantastic Planet. I love the unconventionalness (I don't think that's actually a word. Spellcheck is angry at me.) of this song. Very odd chord progressions, changes in tempo, some strange dialogue in the middle that I don't know the source of.

2. How Near How Far by ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - First of all, how awesome is that band name? This is another amateur video so just let the song play in the background or something. This is a band that I can't fully embrace because the guy is generally pretty bad at singing and it ruins a lot of their songs. He manages to do a decent enough job in this song that it doesn't detract from the amazing music. The transition in the middle where it just builds and builds is one of my favorite moments in all of music.

3. Turn The Lights On by Pilot Speed - Couldn't find the studio version so this (pretty good) live version is all you get. This is a very good Canadian band that used to go by the name Pilate. The chorus of this song has this amazing crescendo that just carries all kinds of emotion. Gives me chills. The song starts out sounding a little like Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars but in my opinion blows it out of the water. I certainly think the studio version is worth a buck on Amazon.

4. Stars by Hum - Be careful if you turn the volume up to hear the beginning...it's going to get loud. This was by far their biggest "hit". I might have picked another song of theirs but this one is the easiest to find for you to listen to. Kick-ass rock made by nerds. This song typifies the band's sound. Huge wall of guitars but great harmonies at the same time, weird science-related lyrics. I was looking through my former roommate's music one day and came upon their CD. He's the only person I know who's even heard of them, let alone likes them.

5. Annabelle by Heavens - Just discovered this band about a week ago and I really like them. I guess one of the guys is in Alkaline Trio if that means anything to you. I've heard of them but haven't heard any of their music. I like the guy's voice and the song has nice chord progressions and I like how they add and take away layers as the song moves along. The song really just hits me right for some reason.

6. Fashionably Uninvited by Mellowdrone - Another band I discovered in the last week. Actually sounds a bit like the band in my seventh entry. Love the changes from the soft verses to the loud chorus. And he pretty much plays the same note throughout the entire verse but all the other little things thrown in make in interesting. I like it when bands can take a minimalist approach but still make the music good.

7. Love Will Come Through by Travis - Love this song. I read someplace (maybe wikipedia) that Travis paved the way for bands like Coldplay but I think that they are a really good band in their own right. The vocal work on this song is great. They take a lot of different parts and bring them all together just right

So there you go. Hopefully you like at least one of the songs enough to look into the band some more.

The Endless War

I finished The Corner a couple of weeks ago and have since finished Generation Kill, both excellent reads. But of the three books I mentioned way back in this post, if I had to recommend only one that you should read, I'd have to say The Corner.

Homicide is a fascinating read, but I don't know how much it effects anyone. I don't think any of you are going to be killing anyone and hopefully, no one you know is killed in a manner that would require the services of a homicide detective.

Generation Kill is obviously timely and also very interesting. There is a little controversy regarding exactly how factual it is. Certain marines that were part of the events described in the book have argued with the way they are portrayed. But when you are portrayed as a bumbling idiot or an ineffectual leader, it makes sense that you would argue. So I would recommend reading it but read it with a critical mind and remember that two different people can often view the same events with very different perspectives.

The reason I would first recommend The Corner is because I think it does a wonderful job of breaking down a lot of the stereotypes and prejudices that we in the white middle class have about the drug culture and inner-city culture. You often hear, when discussing welfare and the awful circumstances of those born into the drug culture, that anyone can lift themselves out of the ghetto. If someone really wants to make something of themselves, they can no matter how terrible their childhood or upbringing. That's what America is all about, right? I'm sure that 99% of the time you hear these arguments from someone who is white and a member of the middle or upper class. This idea is an absolute fallacy. Anyone who truly believes this lives in a dream land. It is nearly impossible for us to really imagine the reality of what growing up in the drug culture is like.

Picture a child born to parents who are both heroin addicts. A father who is rarely around and even if he was, isn't capable of providing any real fathering. A mother who is there in body but rarely present as a real nurturer. Both parents live day-to-day, week-to-week, barely getting by, living only for the next blast of heroin. This child is out on the drug corner before even getting close to starting puberty. They may even work sometimes as a lookout for a drug crew. The parents can't stop it because, who are they to say anything? This child's entire life is colored by the culture of the drug corner. If this child even does make it to school with any regularity they are taught from a curriculum that can in no way relate to what their everyday life is and they are taught by teachers that are handcuffed by this system, if they're lucky enough to have a teacher that even cares at all anymore. And you think that this child has any real chance? No, this is a lie that we tell ourselves to make us feel better about being incapable of doing anything to change it.

And that's the real problem. Even being aware of how broken the system is and how completely screwed most of these kids are, I'm no more capable of seeing a real solution than anyone else. The entire thing is one endless circle of catch-22's layered on top of each other. Upon finishing the book I felt an abject hopelessness. These kids seem doomed to repeat the mistakes of their parents and start the whole thing over again.

So, is it a happy book? Definitely not. But I do think it is a fantastic window into a culture that I think very few of us really understand. And you'll be a better person for attempting to understand it.

Bring Back Note-Passing!

Yes, I have mad Microsoft Paint skills.

Everyone remembers this, right? Of course you do. You'd pass this note to the cute girl in 4th grade. And then she'd pass it back with a very heavy, emphatic check mark in the "no" box along with several ha-ha-ha's written in next to it for good measure. At least, that's how it happened with me.

I'm forced to ask the question, is there some good reason that as we aged and supposedly matured, we went away from this method of determining romantic interest? Was there any real flaw in this as a device to inform us whether or not we should invest more effort or emotion into the pursuit of a certain someone? Seriously, it's simple and direct. It gets right to the point and saves everyone involved a whole lot of time and energy.

The thought that's been running around in my head lately is this: why is it that almost everyone, even people who in all other aspects of their lives appear to be grown-up, matured, adult...why is it that when it comes to dating, almost everyone reverts back to middle school? I suppose this would be a good spot for specifics.

I'm going to keep this story as short as possible. Ask girl out on date. Girl says yes, seems somewhat enthusiastic. Take girl out. Date goes reasonably well, from my point of view. Seems less awkward than the average first date. We talk, laugh, have a good time. We even hit some subjects that are less shallow than the average first date conversation. After the date, we talk a couple of times. Conversation is easy, nice. Girl is about to head out on a week vacation, suggest we get together again when she gets back. See girl in a non-date situation just before she leaves on vacation. Girl is suddenly walking past me without looking at me. Basically ignoring me. I practically have to grab her to force her to acknowledge my presence. Came right out and pretty much asked the straightforward question, can I call you when you get back? She says yes. Wait till she's been home three days before calling in an attempt to not look overly eager. She doesn't answer, I leave a message, she never calls back. Game over, I'm done.

I haven't seen her since, although it will happen fairly soon and I'm going to have to restrain myself from screaming HOW F---ING OLD ARE YOU? Seriously! What is it in your genetic makeup that makes you incapable of just saying, "Hey, I'm just not that interested." Do you have any idea how refreshing that would be?

Don't get the wrong idea here. I'm not all that upset over it. It was one date. I wasn't in love or puppy-love or whatever. My heart is not broken, in case you were concerned. It's just the frickin' principle of the thing. Ignore me and not return a phone call? How rude and just plain childish. I drove two hours to take you out on a date, the least you could do is have the decency to return a damn phone call.

A few years ago there was a girl who was in Columbus on an internship for about 4 or 5 months in the summer and fall. She was hanging out with the same friends as I was and we got to know each other and I asked her out. We went on a first date and when I asked for a second date, she expressed a desire to keep things casual and friendly. And we did exactly that. Hung out with our mutual friends and became pretty good friends ourselves. And even though I harbored a crush on her for the rest of the time she was here, it was totally fine. She was straightforward and up-front and honest with me and I will forever respect her for that. Unfortunately, this experience is very rare.

I hate dating. Hate it. Don't hate relationships, hate dating. And this most recent attempt at it is why. The positive experiences are definitely outnumbered by the negative ones. And I continually ask myself why I would subject myself to this frustration again and again.

Hello, I Have No Life

Not much going on these days. I'm currently reading The Corner and it is, as expected, very good. I've just about run out of superlatives with which to describe David Simon. If I sound like a man obsessed, it's because I am a little.

I'll probably post about it more when I'm done. I'm probably about a third of the way in. Thus far it has confirmed something that I've thought at least since I saw the movie Traffic. That is that the so-called "drug war" our various governments are fighting is an exercise in futility, at least the way it is currently being fought. I'll elaborate once I've finished the book. I'm not sure Simon will offer up a proposed solution. I certainly can't think of one.

Also been keeping up with Generation Kill and it is very good. Very much looking forward to reading the book.

Oh, it has also recently been confirmed that I am very much in the right in hating the dating process. More on that some other time.