Going Green (Day)

I’m happy to report that after several delays, a cancellation, and a flight change, Ken was finally able to make it to Omaha. Has anyone else noticed that flying is getting to be more of a hassle than it’s worth? I’m glad we started driving to Florida once I stopped working. Road trips are much less stressful, and it’s fun to see some scenery and maybe find a fun and different place along the way for lunch and dinner. Traffic jams are annoying, too, but it’s better than sitting on your ass in an airport. Anyway, he finally made it!

I got a good workout in today, and even managed to get an hour in the sun before the clouds and rain rolled in. I’m sorry I didn’t get to spend more time outside, but hey...weather, right?

I’m also sorry if I seem to be fixated on Green Day right now, but I kind of am. I was writing to Shane earlier today and told him how much I was enjoying this album trilogy (although I haven’t gotten to “Tre!” yet). I said that I really liked them back in the Dookie-Nimrod days, and then it was like I just moved in another direction and kind of left Green Day behind. *sob* I’m so sorry, guys! I don’t know what I was thinking! I continued to like them when I heard their songs on the radio, but just wasn’t as much into them. My loss, because as I’ve gotten back into them, it’s like I’m re-discovering them all over again and I am LOVING IT.

Hey, Billie Joe, why are you wearing my pants?! Take ‘em off! No, really…take ‘em off.

“Dos!” strikes me as having a little more of a ‘50s/’60s feel to it...some almost doo-wop harmonies and rhythms, but with a harder edge, of course. I’ve only listened to it once all the way through, so I look forward to playing it many more times. I was immediately struck by the opening song, “See You Tonight.” It has a folksy feel to it, with sweet harmonies and a gentle sound. I was like, “Well, THIS is different, Green Day!” Then...THEN...the next song starts up almost immediately, and I laughed out loud. That’s my Green Day! It’s a sweet little love song called “Fuck Time.” Haha! Man, this is just pure raunch and roll, with that rolling rockabilly guitar riff, Billie Joe’s moans and laughter and shouting “Baby baby, it’s fuck time!”, and a kickass guitar solo. But still some nice harmonies, don’t you think? What a great contrast between these two songs, and a great kickoff to the album. This just makes me grin, and I could listen to it over and over again—and I have been! (I think they got some of the lyrics wrong in this fan-made video, but don’t nitpick!) You know I’d be on the dance floor for this one, jumping up and down, hands in the air, and singing along! This is music that speaks to the Inner Lizard!

In my book, the #1 companion songs are still “Shoo-Be-Doo/Candy-O” by the Cars, but this baby just skyrocketed up the charts to #2 for me. With a bullet! I really think it’s the juxtaposition of the sweet folksy song immediately transitioning into a balls-to-the-wall song with the completely unsubtle title “Fuck Time.” Man, that just delights me! Billie Joe, you’re a little maniac! What would you like to do first? (Does anyone get that reference?)

TURN IT UP!

24 hours

The reign of terror is finally coming to a close.

For a solid month, I have subjected my family and friends to endless posts and videos of the Rolling Stones as we got closer to tomorrow night’s show in Chicago. There will still be a few tonight, but then I’ll let up. At around this time tomorrow, the Stones should be taking the stage.

Who will be the special guest tomorrow? I am really hoping for Buddy Guy. I thought that’s who it was going to be for the Tuesday show in Chicago, but it was Taj Mahal. I still think Eddie Vedder will make an appearance and sing “Wild Horses” with them...but will that happen tomorrow night when we’re there, or will it happen Monday at the third and final Chicago show? I would love to see Eddie, too, but I really hope they bring out Buddy for a fired up Friday night crowd. I’m thinking “Champagne and Reefer.” If that happens tomorrow, I’m going to go batshit crazy. You have been warned, people.

I appreciate everyone being tolerant of me, and some friends were kind enough to say that they liked seeing my excitement and enthusiasm, and many are wishing me well. They know how much this means to me, and how much I am going to enjoy this show.

I saw them back in ‘89 with Cousin Shane in Indianapolis, on the Steel Wheels tour, and it remains my favorite concert ever. I made a poster of that experience, with my ticket stub, my armband, and pictures and articles from the Indianapolis Star. I suspect that the two Stones shows I’ve seen (after tomorrow) will be my #1 and #2 favorites of all.

There will soon be a 2013 companion poster to the ‘89 one.

I know it’s only rock and roll, but I like it. *sssss* I LIKE it.

Uh huh. Here comes the Inner Lizard.

Beth’s Music Moment: “(You Will) Set the World on Fire” - David Bowie

About a week after it came out, I wrote about the amazing new Bowie album, “The Next Day.”

I listened to it nonstop for two weeks, and although I’ve been on a Stones kick for a while for obvious reasons, I’ve been listening to this album again for the past week.

The entire thing is just fantastic, and the more I listen to it, the more I love it. My favorite track is the one in the title of this entry. It reminds me a little of “(Cat People) Putting Out Fire” in its rock anthem-ness. It is an absolute scorcher of a song, and I cannot get enough of it. Props to the person who did the fan video posted here. Very cool visuals!

1. Bowie’s voice. Holy shit, that ethereal voice!! As someone once described Jim Morrison’s voice, it is “a fist in a velvet glove.” It’s all cognac and cigarette smoke and a caress on the cheek and a finger up the ass. It is nasty goodness, and his voice on this track just SOARS.

2. At around the 1:25 mark in this video, he absolutely chews through the lyrics. When he says, “We are in the wat-uh,” it just makes me feel crazy. CRAZY.

3. The guitar solo around 2:10 is smokin’ hot. That sustained note is just INCREDIBLE.

4. Things really start building around 2:40, and when he yells “You will set it on fi-yaaah!” at 2:50, it’s like a freakin’ climax. After listening to it a couple of times today when working out, I actually said, “Ohhh, David!” haha

This whole song is one big aural orgasm. It unleashes my Inner Lizard. As Rolling Stone said, “Holy shit, David Bowie.”

If I still smoked, I’d have a cigarette right now.

I have been assimilated

I’ve had a Twitter account for quite a while now, but I’ve never done much with it. It got the most activity during the primaries and election, when a group of us would get on and live-tweet the debates. It was always a blast, but other than that, I didn’t post much on there. I always intended to, and I’d have a couple of days where I’d remember to post there as well as to Facebook...and then I’d ignore it again.

That all changed this past week when I decided to put up or shut up. I started posting things fairly frequently, and although I’m trying to keep my following list on the low side, I started looking for some interesting people. I already had quite a few on there, mainly political figures, journalists, and blogger friends, but I started seeking out musicians, Walking Dead people, and others.
I’m actually having a lot of fun with it, and I’m not sure why I didn’t before. I still prefer Facebook for longer, more detailed threads (like my Dead Thread I start every Sunday night after “The Walking Dead”...must ask friends if I can import those to Twitter), but Twitter is fun for quickies. 

The Rolling Stones (including Mick, Keith, and Ronnie) have a large presence on there now as they gear up for the tour. One of my favorites is, oddly enough, Donnie Wahlberg, who posts pumped-up, positive messages like telling Monday he’s going to kick its ass, or telling his followers that only WE can change things in our lives. It is strangely endearing. And I adore Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon on “The Walking Dead.” He’s very appreciative of his fans, he’s also an artist and photographer, and posts random pictures like him holding an avocado pit in his mouth. It makes me grin. It’s an almost joyful goofiness that just makes me happy. Even “serious people” occasionally post just-for-fun stuff, and Curiosity Rover is absolutely adorable. (I’m not going to provide links to every single one of those...if you’re interested, just search for them, and look for the verified account.)

Maybe that’s what I’m digging about it compared to Facebook. It strikes me as a little more random and chaotic. It appeals to my inner anarchist, as well as to that Inner Lizard I wrote about the other day. I love the jumble of articles, nuggets of wisdom, fun pictures, bizarre pronouncements, and sheer what-the-fuckness. I’m not dumping you, Facebook, but I think we should date others. Twitter, call me later, baby.

If you’d like to follow me on Twitter: @Luvrte66

Unleash your Inner Lizard

It should come as no surprise that I’m on a major Stones kick at the moment (get used to it...it’s going to be going on for over a month), so I’ve been posting a Stones song on Facebook once in a while. The other day, I posted “Paint It, Black,” and said that was my second favorite Stones song. My friend Holly said that her favorite is “Shattered” (that is my third favorite Stones song, for the record) and it brings out her “inner lizard.”

That phrase spoke to me. It somehow perfectly describes that sort of down and dirty, raunchy, hip-swivelin’ Stones style. When the Inner Lizard comes out, shit gets real.

You know those ‘would you rather’ questions? Like “Ginger or Mary Ann?” One of the classics is “Beatles or Stones?” Of course I love the Beatles. Who doesn’t? They were my first taste of pop music, when I was maybe 5 or 6, and my Beatlemaniac sister played her records for me. But for me, it was always about the Stones. They always had a darker edge, a more dangerous, bad boy sex appeal. I was listening to their latest greatest hits CD, “Grrr!” while I was working out today, and it struck me just how many of their songs unleash my inner lizard. There is something about Mick’s voice that reaches right into the dark corners of my psyche. It ranges from a deep baritone to a raspy growl to a bedroom whisper that “it’s only rock and roll but I liiiiike it.” He’s really not even subtle about it. What part of “Let’s spend the night together” needs clarification?

Anyway, make all the jokes you want about the Stones being older than dirt, but these songs still totally trip my trigger. Young Mick Jagger was a beautiful, angelic devil (Anne Rice’s phrase for Lestat springs to mind: Brat Prince.), one who could seduce, incite, and inflame. The songs will continue to do that long after he is gone.

Of course, the Stones don’t have the market cornered on rock and roll sexyfuntimes. Remember how John Lithgow told his town that there would be no dancing because it would lead to sexyfuntimes, and Kevin Bacon was all like “Yo, dick move, bro, and I’m bangin’ your daughter” and danced all crazy around a barn and rode a tractor and then everyone made up and wore ugly tuxedos and danced all crazy some more? Anyway, John Lithgow and all those other preachermen who said that rock and roll led to “other things” weren’t so far off the mark.

Because the lyrics make you think about a lot of things. Not just sexyfuntimes, but things like inequality and revolution. Deeper concepts of the human condition. Life outside your small town. “Imagine no religion.” Experimentation, broadening your horizons, walking a mile in someone’s shoes, seeing beyond the narrow borders of your early existence. There are some people who don’t want these questions asked, and they certainly don’t want to have to answer them. How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm, right?

Rock and roll IS dangerous. Dangerous to the status quo, dangerous to those who have a vested interest in keeping you in line, dangerous to the powers-that-be.

Once that Inner Lizard is unleashed, it’s hard to get it back under control.