When I discover a song that I like, I listen to it repeatedly. It’s not uncommon for me to listen to one song every time in my car for a whole week. This all started when my brother who was a was a senior in high school when I was a freshmen drove me to school every morning.
There was a couple tapes we would listen to in the car and one of them was a Boston cassette and we would often spend the entire drive to school rocking out to “More Than A Feeling.” Even after weeks of this song, I never got sick of this song and after all these years since, I never have.
“More Than A Feeling” is one of the most ingeniously paced and constructed rock songs. It starts with a short introduction and after a short 8-bars verse, we are swept into the chorus. The 4-bar transition into the chorus features a simple but masterful longing descending guitar lick that drops right into the chorus guitar riff in a righteously satisfying way. This band is not messing around, they aren’t giving a long slow developing beginning, Boston wants you to rock ASAP and they do exactly that.
Every single back-up vocal response to the singer in the chorus is “more than feeling” making it incredibly easy to sing along with, if you don’t feel like trying to sing the high lead which is hilarious fun to sing along with (unless you are doing this song on the Sing-Star video game which is just painful).
The live version here doesn’t have the second verse but the original recording does. What you hear in the original is the chorus relax into the second verse and build up into the chorus At the end of that chorus we expect the band to wind down, but they throw us for a loop here. “Away” is held longer and longer. As the band reeves up and "away" note gets higher, and higher and higher disappearing into the guitar solo.
Tom Scholz, the musical mind behind Boston received his masters degree from MIT and spent his time recording in this basement while work for Poloroid. After getting a record deal, he insisted that he record his album in his basement. The record company argued against this, so he created a band to record some arrangements in a studio while Scholz continued to make the album by himself in his basement. All the guitar tracks including the two that duet during the guitar solo were recorded by Scholz in his basement. There’s a reason it took him five years to record this song.
My favorite part of this song comes right after the last verse. Scholz extends the verse with “slip away” giving him one last opportunity to show how high he can sing. Than we hear the instrumental transition into the chorus like we have heard previously in the song.
You’re rocking out, expecting for the chorus to slide in after the two measure transition and then WAIT, the lick is drawn out for four more beats making the moment of anticipation last just a little bit longer until the final rock out!!!
[exhale]
GOD THIS SONG ROCKS!!
And btw, what is the deal with the bassist in the music video . . .
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Dancing In The Dark by Bruce Springsteen
“Dancing In The Dark” is Bruce Springsteen’s biggest hit from his best-selling album, Born In The U.S.A. While his break out album Born To Run revolutionized rock music, it was Born In The U.S.A. that transformed Springsteen into a popular music superstar.
Everything about Born In The U.S.A was iconic. There was the album cover by Annie Leibovitz:
And the music video for “Dancing In The Dark” directed by Brian De Palma (yes the same guy who directed Al Pacino in Scarface) featuring Friend’s actress Courtney Cox.
As well as Jon Stewart. . .
This was the Bruce that most people remember, not the scraggly youth or the elder statements of rock, but rather the young clean cut, muscular, vivacious youth featured in this music video. And of course there was nothing more iconic than the song itself.
Maybe it’s the thumbing beat or the unapologetic synthesized backgrounds but for some reason people love “Dancing In The Dark.” Is this Springsteen’s greatest work? Probably not, but it's an fantastic example of Bruce’s ability to write great pop music infused with profound messages of hope and optimism.
The first verse introduces our protagonist getting up in the evening to work a night shift. He’s tired and bored, the monotony of life is getting to him, and he realizes that he needs a little help. Then the chorus hits, utilizing “you can’t start a fire without a spark” to symbolize the need for something, some impetus for him to get his life going. This is followed by the most haunting and intriguing line of the song “this guns for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark.”
“Dancing in the dark” is one of those great pop songs hooks. The alliteration makes emphasize the beat while its symbolism is open to interpretation. Dancing is a joyful act but in the dark there is mystery and fear. The idea of dancing in the dark is living life to the fullest without necessarily knowing what's down the road.
In the second verse, the character begins to experience clarity. He understands that “there’s something happening somewhere” which gives him hope that, something can change for the better in his life, “baby, I just know that there is.”
The last verse expresses a sense of urgency, “I’m just about starving tonight, I’ve dying for some action.” He needs a “love reaction,” he needs just one look to get him going. Even within this dire situation there's still a drive, a hunger that burns that won’t stop.
In the last verse instead of the line “you can’t start a fire with a spark,” Bruce reveals what this line symbolically means: “sitting around crying over a broken heart” and “worrying about your little world falling about.” What is keeping people from starting the fire in their heart is hanging onto sadness from the past and worrying that things could fall apart. It’s only by moving forward and looking to the light that things can improve even if you’re just “dancing in the dark.”
After being prominently featured in live performance, “Dancing In The Dark” disappeared from Springsteen’s live sets in the 1990s It wasn’t until the Rising Tour in 2002 that it reappeared as an encore and has since become and is now regularly performed.
Gone are the synthesizers, replaced with a violin and instead of the dance drum beat, Max Weinberg feverishly drives a rock beat. This new arrangement strips away the sounds that dates this song as an 1980s hit and brings out the universality and timeless power of this song.
Springsteen’s music expresses many different emotions, but watching Bruce perform this song live it’s clear that “Dancing In The Dark” is simply about the joy that come from hope. The smile on Bruce’s face isn’t forced, he can’t help it when singing this song. I know this because I can’t help but smile when I watch him perform.
Everything about Born In The U.S.A was iconic. There was the album cover by Annie Leibovitz:
And the music video for “Dancing In The Dark” directed by Brian De Palma (yes the same guy who directed Al Pacino in Scarface) featuring Friend’s actress Courtney Cox.As well as Jon Stewart. . .
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Dancing with Bruce | ||||
| ||||
This was the Bruce that most people remember, not the scraggly youth or the elder statements of rock, but rather the young clean cut, muscular, vivacious youth featured in this music video. And of course there was nothing more iconic than the song itself.
Maybe it’s the thumbing beat or the unapologetic synthesized backgrounds but for some reason people love “Dancing In The Dark.” Is this Springsteen’s greatest work? Probably not, but it's an fantastic example of Bruce’s ability to write great pop music infused with profound messages of hope and optimism.
The first verse introduces our protagonist getting up in the evening to work a night shift. He’s tired and bored, the monotony of life is getting to him, and he realizes that he needs a little help. Then the chorus hits, utilizing “you can’t start a fire without a spark” to symbolize the need for something, some impetus for him to get his life going. This is followed by the most haunting and intriguing line of the song “this guns for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark.”
“Dancing in the dark” is one of those great pop songs hooks. The alliteration makes emphasize the beat while its symbolism is open to interpretation. Dancing is a joyful act but in the dark there is mystery and fear. The idea of dancing in the dark is living life to the fullest without necessarily knowing what's down the road.
In the second verse, the character begins to experience clarity. He understands that “there’s something happening somewhere” which gives him hope that, something can change for the better in his life, “baby, I just know that there is.”
The last verse expresses a sense of urgency, “I’m just about starving tonight, I’ve dying for some action.” He needs a “love reaction,” he needs just one look to get him going. Even within this dire situation there's still a drive, a hunger that burns that won’t stop.
In the last verse instead of the line “you can’t start a fire with a spark,” Bruce reveals what this line symbolically means: “sitting around crying over a broken heart” and “worrying about your little world falling about.” What is keeping people from starting the fire in their heart is hanging onto sadness from the past and worrying that things could fall apart. It’s only by moving forward and looking to the light that things can improve even if you’re just “dancing in the dark.”
After being prominently featured in live performance, “Dancing In The Dark” disappeared from Springsteen’s live sets in the 1990s It wasn’t until the Rising Tour in 2002 that it reappeared as an encore and has since become and is now regularly performed.
Gone are the synthesizers, replaced with a violin and instead of the dance drum beat, Max Weinberg feverishly drives a rock beat. This new arrangement strips away the sounds that dates this song as an 1980s hit and brings out the universality and timeless power of this song.
Springsteen’s music expresses many different emotions, but watching Bruce perform this song live it’s clear that “Dancing In The Dark” is simply about the joy that come from hope. The smile on Bruce’s face isn’t forced, he can’t help it when singing this song. I know this because I can’t help but smile when I watch him perform.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Wise Up by Aimee Mann
I’m sorry.
I pride myself in being a good friend who gives good advice and providing perspective in difficult situations but I think I have misspoken. I told you that the best thing to do would be to give up and move on with your life and even though it sounded like the right thing to do at the time, I find myself feeling differently about your situation.
Thinking about your problem, the voice of Aimee Mann entered my mind. Her seemingly flat and unaffected voice, with its unique ability to express both earnestness and sincerity spoke to me through her song “Wise Up.”
Featured in P. T. Anderson’s brilliant film, Magnolia, “Wise Up” is a hauntingly beautiful song about what it means to give up.
Sometimes when you hear a song it solidifies the way you feel but listening to Aimee Mann’s haunting melody, I realized how I wrong I was about the situation.
Yes if you don’t give up, the pain isn’t going to stop. Unless you let go of believing in the goodness of people around you and hope for something better you will continue to be hurt and disappointed by the flaws of human nature and the realities of life.
However, if you do not believe that the sun will rise tomorrow, you will not feel the warmth of the light the next morning. Belief and hope do not simply determine how we feel about people in our world but also how we view the world around us. It is through this perspective that we make choices in our life and if you do not feel the light, you will never venture forth and your world will forever be in darkness.
You always have a choice, not in what happens to you but in the way that you view and react to life. You can give up and stop fighting and as much as I know that sometimes it seems easier to do this and take solace in the comfort of predictability and negativity, don’t do it.
Don’t give up.
Aimee Mann is wrong. It will eventually stop. This like all things will pass. If giving up hope to find a “cure” as Mann sings is what it means to “wise up.” Then I would rather live in folly.
I’ve realized that there is one similarity amongst all of my friends. They are all optimists and live their lives full of hope. I would never want that part of you to ever change. If that means that there are tears because someone you believed in disappointed you, it’s ok. I would rather be there when you cry than feel cynicism coming from your heart.
The world will disappoint you, people will hurt you and your world may feel like it’s falling apart around you but never forget that you will never go through these moments alone because I will never give up on you.
“No matter what life throws at you, you’ve got to put on foot in front of the other and keep moving forward with an open heart.”
-from Blackest Night: The Flash #3
I pride myself in being a good friend who gives good advice and providing perspective in difficult situations but I think I have misspoken. I told you that the best thing to do would be to give up and move on with your life and even though it sounded like the right thing to do at the time, I find myself feeling differently about your situation.
Thinking about your problem, the voice of Aimee Mann entered my mind. Her seemingly flat and unaffected voice, with its unique ability to express both earnestness and sincerity spoke to me through her song “Wise Up.”
Featured in P. T. Anderson’s brilliant film, Magnolia, “Wise Up” is a hauntingly beautiful song about what it means to give up.
Sometimes when you hear a song it solidifies the way you feel but listening to Aimee Mann’s haunting melody, I realized how I wrong I was about the situation.
Yes if you don’t give up, the pain isn’t going to stop. Unless you let go of believing in the goodness of people around you and hope for something better you will continue to be hurt and disappointed by the flaws of human nature and the realities of life.
However, if you do not believe that the sun will rise tomorrow, you will not feel the warmth of the light the next morning. Belief and hope do not simply determine how we feel about people in our world but also how we view the world around us. It is through this perspective that we make choices in our life and if you do not feel the light, you will never venture forth and your world will forever be in darkness.
You always have a choice, not in what happens to you but in the way that you view and react to life. You can give up and stop fighting and as much as I know that sometimes it seems easier to do this and take solace in the comfort of predictability and negativity, don’t do it.
Don’t give up.
Aimee Mann is wrong. It will eventually stop. This like all things will pass. If giving up hope to find a “cure” as Mann sings is what it means to “wise up.” Then I would rather live in folly.
I’ve realized that there is one similarity amongst all of my friends. They are all optimists and live their lives full of hope. I would never want that part of you to ever change. If that means that there are tears because someone you believed in disappointed you, it’s ok. I would rather be there when you cry than feel cynicism coming from your heart.
The world will disappoint you, people will hurt you and your world may feel like it’s falling apart around you but never forget that you will never go through these moments alone because I will never give up on you.
“No matter what life throws at you, you’ve got to put on foot in front of the other and keep moving forward with an open heart.”
-from Blackest Night: The Flash #3
Monday, March 8, 2010
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding by Elvis Costello
In the middle of a recession, high oil prices an angry voice came from screaming from Britain. Elvis Costello a strange amalgamation of 1950s imagery with Buddy Holly glasses emerged from the New Wave movement but with an aggressive punk sound. However he had decidedly not punk message which is immediately evident in one of his earliest hits “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding.”
The original version of this song was written and recorded by Costello’s friend, Nick Lowe.
Lowe’s version is a country-styled mellow contemplation of the world. This version is a man contemplating why the world isn’t a better place. Nick Lowe invites us to make us take a step back and consider that maybe there’s something that we should reconsider in this world. When Nick Lowe says it almost makes him want to cry it’s from sadness and feeling tired. It’s from simply not understanding the darkness in the world and trying to make sense of it all.
Elvis Costello feels a little bit more like I do right now. He transforms a calm invitation to ponder how we feel about optimism into a frustrated, aggressive, confrontational attack on our cynicism and pessimism.
With the tempo turned up, with darker instruments and raw vocals, Costello tears through this song like a man possessed. No more is this question an invitation but a statement of anger and frustration. Why with all these horrible and frustrating things in the world are peace, love and understanding not taken as serious solutions to the world’s problems?
I guess that I’m just in a strange mood right now. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m dealing with Chicago winter or that I’m simply tired, but this world can be pretty frustrating. I mean really, there is so many people do bad things to people out there. You don’t have to even unfold a newspaper to find evidence of people being jerks in the world.
It frustrating that some people have a knee-jerk reaction against “peace, love and understanding” being able to solve any of the world’s problems. Look I agree, you need a lot more than love to make it through the day and yes, world peace will never happen and understanding is not going to solve the energy crisis.
However peace, love and understanding are real solutions to every day interactions we have with the people in our lives and in helping us with our small problems in our every day life you can change the world and eventually tackle these bigger issues. Now if you think this is some crazy hippy, idealistic, utopia idea, then I pity you.
If you don’t believe that we can make the our lives and the world a better place through peace, love and understanding than I do have not have any idea how you get through the day. A life without believing in the potential for the goodness in others is a life without belief in the goodness within us. And ff we don’t believe in ourselves than there really isn’t much point to living.
Tell me, what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding. I don’t see anybody laughing, all I see is the single most powerful force in the universe: hope.
The original version of this song was written and recorded by Costello’s friend, Nick Lowe.
Lowe’s version is a country-styled mellow contemplation of the world. This version is a man contemplating why the world isn’t a better place. Nick Lowe invites us to make us take a step back and consider that maybe there’s something that we should reconsider in this world. When Nick Lowe says it almost makes him want to cry it’s from sadness and feeling tired. It’s from simply not understanding the darkness in the world and trying to make sense of it all.
Elvis Costello feels a little bit more like I do right now. He transforms a calm invitation to ponder how we feel about optimism into a frustrated, aggressive, confrontational attack on our cynicism and pessimism.
With the tempo turned up, with darker instruments and raw vocals, Costello tears through this song like a man possessed. No more is this question an invitation but a statement of anger and frustration. Why with all these horrible and frustrating things in the world are peace, love and understanding not taken as serious solutions to the world’s problems?
I guess that I’m just in a strange mood right now. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m dealing with Chicago winter or that I’m simply tired, but this world can be pretty frustrating. I mean really, there is so many people do bad things to people out there. You don’t have to even unfold a newspaper to find evidence of people being jerks in the world.
It frustrating that some people have a knee-jerk reaction against “peace, love and understanding” being able to solve any of the world’s problems. Look I agree, you need a lot more than love to make it through the day and yes, world peace will never happen and understanding is not going to solve the energy crisis.
However peace, love and understanding are real solutions to every day interactions we have with the people in our lives and in helping us with our small problems in our every day life you can change the world and eventually tackle these bigger issues. Now if you think this is some crazy hippy, idealistic, utopia idea, then I pity you.
If you don’t believe that we can make the our lives and the world a better place through peace, love and understanding than I do have not have any idea how you get through the day. A life without believing in the potential for the goodness in others is a life without belief in the goodness within us. And ff we don’t believe in ourselves than there really isn’t much point to living.
Tell me, what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding. I don’t see anybody laughing, all I see is the single most powerful force in the universe: hope.
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Heart of Oscar Night
Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
A couple weeks ago the news hit that the producers of the Oscar telecast decided to cut the tradition of having the nominations for Best Song perform during the Oscar telecast. While the reasons cited for cutting these performance were practical (ratings, cost of performances), frankly I'm disappointed. Though, I'm not surprised that you would put these reasons above celebration one of the most important parts of film and featuring one of the most important roles of music in our popular culture.
Songs from films have become some of the most influential songs in popular culture from classics like "Moon River" to Disney standards like "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" Featuring these performances not only provided variety in the show but acted as a tribute to not only the songs that were nominated but essential role that music plays in films.
Some years, the best song category doesn't lend itself to great performances but between the possibility of seeing Jeff Bridges perform a song from Crazy Heart, a performance form Nine and featuring Randy Newman a national treasure for his work on The Frog Princess, it truly is a shame to let these performance go unseen.
Think about some of the performances that we would have missed if you made this decision years ago.
Bruce Springsteen standing alone on stage singing "Streets Of Philadelphia" was breathtaking. This intimate, subtle and brilliant performance made you feel like that Bruce was singing right through the television and straight into your soul. I actually bought this soundtrack album to Philadelphia before seeing the film. It was after listening to and falling in love with the this song that I watched this film which has since become one of my favorites.
People simply didn't take South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut seriously as a film (which I've argued in this earlier post). Not only was this cartoon a brilliant piece of social commentary but it is one of the greatest film musicals. So when Robin Williams strutted on stage and performed "Blame Canada," he legitimized the film, brought this song into the forefront of popular culture in a performance that could only occur on an Oscar stage.
The film industry has always prided itself in being on the forefront of cultural diversity. Film music like "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes proved that the Oscar community was embracing not only the development of music in popular culture but a wider breadth of what it meant to be in popular music.
When Three 6 Mafia (who were the only African American artists since Hayes to win an Oscar in this category) performed "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow, it went against the sensibilities of red carpet and the broadcast but it was a moment when the Oscar community was reminded that film's greatest achievement is reflecting the diversity of the human spirit and this performance did that in a way that some may have not liked but no one could ignore.
People watch the Oscar's for different reasons and you've taken away one of the biggest reason I watch the broadcast. I applaud you're willingness to change and take chances with the broadcast, but I question your priorities if you are willing to cut one of the memorable and meaningful parts of the broadcast.
At least we have the great performances of the past and for that I am grateful. Maybe by reflecting on some of the these past performances you will realize how important these moments truly are.
A couple weeks ago the news hit that the producers of the Oscar telecast decided to cut the tradition of having the nominations for Best Song perform during the Oscar telecast. While the reasons cited for cutting these performance were practical (ratings, cost of performances), frankly I'm disappointed. Though, I'm not surprised that you would put these reasons above celebration one of the most important parts of film and featuring one of the most important roles of music in our popular culture.
Songs from films have become some of the most influential songs in popular culture from classics like "Moon River" to Disney standards like "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" Featuring these performances not only provided variety in the show but acted as a tribute to not only the songs that were nominated but essential role that music plays in films.
Some years, the best song category doesn't lend itself to great performances but between the possibility of seeing Jeff Bridges perform a song from Crazy Heart, a performance form Nine and featuring Randy Newman a national treasure for his work on The Frog Princess, it truly is a shame to let these performance go unseen.
Think about some of the performances that we would have missed if you made this decision years ago.
Bruce Springsteen standing alone on stage singing "Streets Of Philadelphia" was breathtaking. This intimate, subtle and brilliant performance made you feel like that Bruce was singing right through the television and straight into your soul. I actually bought this soundtrack album to Philadelphia before seeing the film. It was after listening to and falling in love with the this song that I watched this film which has since become one of my favorites.
People simply didn't take South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut seriously as a film (which I've argued in this earlier post). Not only was this cartoon a brilliant piece of social commentary but it is one of the greatest film musicals. So when Robin Williams strutted on stage and performed "Blame Canada," he legitimized the film, brought this song into the forefront of popular culture in a performance that could only occur on an Oscar stage.
The film industry has always prided itself in being on the forefront of cultural diversity. Film music like "Theme From Shaft" by Isaac Hayes proved that the Oscar community was embracing not only the development of music in popular culture but a wider breadth of what it meant to be in popular music.
When Three 6 Mafia (who were the only African American artists since Hayes to win an Oscar in this category) performed "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow, it went against the sensibilities of red carpet and the broadcast but it was a moment when the Oscar community was reminded that film's greatest achievement is reflecting the diversity of the human spirit and this performance did that in a way that some may have not liked but no one could ignore.
People watch the Oscar's for different reasons and you've taken away one of the biggest reason I watch the broadcast. I applaud you're willingness to change and take chances with the broadcast, but I question your priorities if you are willing to cut one of the memorable and meaningful parts of the broadcast.
At least we have the great performances of the past and for that I am grateful. Maybe by reflecting on some of the these past performances you will realize how important these moments truly are.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The Wake
. . . The wake is today from 3pm to 9pm. Okay, well I guess I could go. I want to run some errands, but I guess I could do that later, but I would really like to. . . whatever. Ok so I can be home from school around 3ish, take Buffy for a quick walk, be out at the wake around 4, spend 1/2 an hour there and be home by 5:30ish to give Buffy dinner and salvage some resemblance of an evening. . .
As much as we hate to admit it to ourselves, Tolstoy in his book The Death Of Ivan Ilyich was right. When death occurs our minds often travel to how these events inconvenience our own lives.
So after a stressful day at work I got home. I took Buffy for a quick walk, changed and the headed out. Then I entered the beautiful world of Chicago traffic. The 1/2 hour travel time on mapquest.com quickly passed as I sat in traffic.
I needed to go south on I-94, and then go west on I-90 and for those of you who do not know the Chicago freeway system, there is a point when these two freeways almost touch. However, these freeways do not connect, so you have to exit and take local roads which results in the most indirect path between these two interstates. It is one of the ridiculous flaws in civic design ever and I’m notusing superlatives to be humorous, I dead serious.
During the resulting hour and fifteen minutes it took to get to the wake I went through a variety of emotions. Frustration that this was taking so long to get there, anger at Chicago’s bass awkward freeway systems and sadness. My friend’s dad had died and in these situations you can’t help but think about your own parents mortality. I almost started to cry when “Easy Silence” came on thinking of losing people in my life that I love.
As much as I’m ashamed to admit it, I considered turning around and going home and then I remembered when my mom’s father died. There were only two grandchildren who didn’t make the trek to Taiwan for the funeral and one of them was me. At the time, the idea of taking a last minute flight to Taiwan and spending more time in the air than on the ground seemed illogical and not worth it. Thinking back, spending a whole day on a plane would have been a small price to pay for the opportunity to say goodbye to my grandfather.
So I stuck with it and got to the funeral home. I was tired, stressed, and wondering if this whole trip was going to be worth it. As I walked into the room, I saw my friend with a couple mutual friends and as I walked up the began making jokes about how I “clean up well.” Then I saw my friend, smiling with her usual glow and gave her a hug.
We walked around the room, she introduced me to some of her family and we saw her father laid respectfully in an open casket. We talked about work, what we had been up to but mostly we just made jokes and laughed a little. I had nothing profound to say to her but it felt good being able make her a laugh a little and I guess sometimes that’s what it means to be there for someone and show support.
I left the funeral home at about the time I planned to be home (5:30 pm). The drive back had traffic that was just as bad the way there but it didn’t seem quite as annoying. Instead of listening to sad music and feeling like crying I rocked out to Faith by George Michael.
When I got home, Buffy came up and greeted me and when I picked her up and held her in my arms, I couldn’t help but smile. You never know what each day will bring to you, but what I do know is that nothing bad ever comes out of being there for a friend and no matter what the cost, it’s always worth it.
As much as we hate to admit it to ourselves, Tolstoy in his book The Death Of Ivan Ilyich was right. When death occurs our minds often travel to how these events inconvenience our own lives.
So after a stressful day at work I got home. I took Buffy for a quick walk, changed and the headed out. Then I entered the beautiful world of Chicago traffic. The 1/2 hour travel time on mapquest.com quickly passed as I sat in traffic.
I needed to go south on I-94, and then go west on I-90 and for those of you who do not know the Chicago freeway system, there is a point when these two freeways almost touch. However, these freeways do not connect, so you have to exit and take local roads which results in the most indirect path between these two interstates. It is one of the ridiculous flaws in civic design ever and I’m notusing superlatives to be humorous, I dead serious.
During the resulting hour and fifteen minutes it took to get to the wake I went through a variety of emotions. Frustration that this was taking so long to get there, anger at Chicago’s bass awkward freeway systems and sadness. My friend’s dad had died and in these situations you can’t help but think about your own parents mortality. I almost started to cry when “Easy Silence” came on thinking of losing people in my life that I love.
As much as I’m ashamed to admit it, I considered turning around and going home and then I remembered when my mom’s father died. There were only two grandchildren who didn’t make the trek to Taiwan for the funeral and one of them was me. At the time, the idea of taking a last minute flight to Taiwan and spending more time in the air than on the ground seemed illogical and not worth it. Thinking back, spending a whole day on a plane would have been a small price to pay for the opportunity to say goodbye to my grandfather.
So I stuck with it and got to the funeral home. I was tired, stressed, and wondering if this whole trip was going to be worth it. As I walked into the room, I saw my friend with a couple mutual friends and as I walked up the began making jokes about how I “clean up well.” Then I saw my friend, smiling with her usual glow and gave her a hug.
We walked around the room, she introduced me to some of her family and we saw her father laid respectfully in an open casket. We talked about work, what we had been up to but mostly we just made jokes and laughed a little. I had nothing profound to say to her but it felt good being able make her a laugh a little and I guess sometimes that’s what it means to be there for someone and show support.
I left the funeral home at about the time I planned to be home (5:30 pm). The drive back had traffic that was just as bad the way there but it didn’t seem quite as annoying. Instead of listening to sad music and feeling like crying I rocked out to Faith by George Michael.
When I got home, Buffy came up and greeted me and when I picked her up and held her in my arms, I couldn’t help but smile. You never know what each day will bring to you, but what I do know is that nothing bad ever comes out of being there for a friend and no matter what the cost, it’s always worth it.
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Who’s Tommy @ Northwestern University
“Right behind you, I see the millions. On You, I see the glory. From you, I get opinions. From you, I get the story.”
The morning after seeing the Northwestern production (here's the ticket info.) of The Who’s Tommy, these words are still echoing in my head. The ending chorus of “We’re Not Going To Take It,” often referred to as “Listening To You” was the greatest moment of the production.
The simple set combined with the challenges of Townshend’s lyrics, which I couldn’t always understand in this performance made the narrative of The Who’s Tommy difficult to follow. As with most college productions there are simply amazing performances and some that needed improvement. The lead who played Tommy, Reed Wilson brought incredible energy and inner turmoil to the role while balancing a Broadway voice with Roger Daughtry rock sensibility, while other performance reflected the development of young singers and actors.
Regardless of any flaws in the performance the ending chorus of “Listening To You” just made everything make sense and tied the show into a satisfying and powerful musical experience.
The Who’s Tommy started off as a concept album, taking the idea of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band one step further, well a lot of steps further. The Beatles tied together Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with a reprise of the first song as one of the last tracks. Within this framework included songs that told different stories which thematically were not all related but shared a musical universe.
Tommy as the original double album told a linear story with varying lengths of songs and musical motives that The Who carries throughout the album. Tommy is a musical achievement, a masterpiece of conception pushing the possibilities of rock music and sensibility into amazing heights.
As a staged musical, the experience is very different. Most people know Tommy from the film that was made in 1975 featuring many of the most famous actors musicians of the time including, Jack Nicholson, Elton John and Tina Turner.
As a film, Tommy features phenomenal visuals, some fun performances and a clear story, but what you don’t get from the film is sense of is really what an musical triumph this rock opera is.
Watching the rock band at Northwestern’s production which were featured in the back center of the stage playing wall to wall music for two hours was astonishing. Rarely do you see rock bands playing live with such clarity and musicality. The authenticity, respect and craft that the band of Daniel Green, Alex Goldklan, Zach Spound, rich Clark, Nick Davio, Nicholas Park, Ian Weinberger (who was amazing on drums) and Alex Weaver brought to the show was truly awesome.
If you are in the area, I highly recommend checking this show (here's the ticket info). Nothing is quite like seeing great rock music live and being reminded how transcendent rock music can be, the heights of emotion in music and the power of a chorus.
The morning after seeing the Northwestern production (here's the ticket info.) of The Who’s Tommy, these words are still echoing in my head. The ending chorus of “We’re Not Going To Take It,” often referred to as “Listening To You” was the greatest moment of the production.
The simple set combined with the challenges of Townshend’s lyrics, which I couldn’t always understand in this performance made the narrative of The Who’s Tommy difficult to follow. As with most college productions there are simply amazing performances and some that needed improvement. The lead who played Tommy, Reed Wilson brought incredible energy and inner turmoil to the role while balancing a Broadway voice with Roger Daughtry rock sensibility, while other performance reflected the development of young singers and actors.
Regardless of any flaws in the performance the ending chorus of “Listening To You” just made everything make sense and tied the show into a satisfying and powerful musical experience.
The Who’s Tommy started off as a concept album, taking the idea of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band one step further, well a lot of steps further. The Beatles tied together Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with a reprise of the first song as one of the last tracks. Within this framework included songs that told different stories which thematically were not all related but shared a musical universe.
Tommy as the original double album told a linear story with varying lengths of songs and musical motives that The Who carries throughout the album. Tommy is a musical achievement, a masterpiece of conception pushing the possibilities of rock music and sensibility into amazing heights.
As a staged musical, the experience is very different. Most people know Tommy from the film that was made in 1975 featuring many of the most famous actors musicians of the time including, Jack Nicholson, Elton John and Tina Turner.
As a film, Tommy features phenomenal visuals, some fun performances and a clear story, but what you don’t get from the film is sense of is really what an musical triumph this rock opera is.
Watching the rock band at Northwestern’s production which were featured in the back center of the stage playing wall to wall music for two hours was astonishing. Rarely do you see rock bands playing live with such clarity and musicality. The authenticity, respect and craft that the band of Daniel Green, Alex Goldklan, Zach Spound, rich Clark, Nick Davio, Nicholas Park, Ian Weinberger (who was amazing on drums) and Alex Weaver brought to the show was truly awesome.
If you are in the area, I highly recommend checking this show (here's the ticket info). Nothing is quite like seeing great rock music live and being reminded how transcendent rock music can be, the heights of emotion in music and the power of a chorus.
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