Okay, I’ll admit it.I didn’t sift through any piles to dig something up for today’s scan. I still have a lot to choose from, and didn’t have time to pick. I was heading out for the weekend and packed this DVD to maybe watch with my friends. With the New Year coming, I welcome inspiration. And the story of Christopher McCandless inspires me.
If you haven’t checked out the Into the Wild book, movie, or soundtrack,I highly recommend.It’s a story that teaches us what the most important things in life are. (Hint: It’s not the stuff we own) The soundtrack by Eddie Vedder is almost as inspirational as McCanless’ courageous journey.
Looking forward to another fun holiday weekend with awesome family and friends…
After being a casual NiN fan since I was in college, I went to see them live for the first time six years ago.Nine Inch Nails played these songs, I was impressed, and my date (who is now married with kids) was a lot of fun. I also went with her to the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts that December, and I was impressed again.The MFA wasn’t quite as loud as the Nine Inch Nails show, but both were awesome in their own way.
Music is a great and funny thing.I love the bands Pearl Jam and Extreme.I listened to both bands extensively during my chemo and “drinking days”.They helped me through difficult times, and their songs just got inside me.Last year, I even had “Tragic Comic” tattooed on my shoulder.
But, music is a funny thing.Different bands impress people differently.Instead of Extreme and Pearl Jam, my friend Carl loves Queensryche.He has their symbol tattooed on his shoulder, and he doesn’t miss any of their local shows. And just like me and “my” bands, he will defend their skills and songs until death.
Although Carl and I would love to believe we could convert the other into super fandom, it’s safe to say it will never happen. I have a fantasy where I convince Queensryche to let Gary and Nuno secretly write an album for them, and after Carl tells me how great it is, I triumphantly do my best Dark Helmet, “Foooooled you!!!”
Even though Carl and I will never agree who is the better guitar player or band (Nuno Bettencourt and Pearl Jam in case you were wondering), we still are willing to go see what all the fuss is about.Carl came with me to see Extreme in 2006, and I went to my first “Ryche” show on Wednesday.Going to my 2nd Ryche show tonight, so now I will either have to make Carl see Pearl Jam with me or we can watch the Pearl Jam Twenty DVD I just bought.
Here’s a couple pictures and a clip from Queensryche signing “I Don’t Believe in Love” – only a minute long, and you get to see Carl headbanging away…
If you like Celtic music and haven’t seen either of these bands, you should do what you can to change it.I’ve seen Great Big Sea a bunch of times (see other GBS tickets), but the Paddy Maloney and Chieftans show was my first time seeing them (hopefully not the last). If you’ve never experienced a night of Celtic music and live in Massachusetts, check out the free Westborough Session every Thursday night at Mulligan’s – you can thank me later.
Like the Brattle Theatre employee told everyone before the Pearl Jam 20 screening last night, this wasn’t your typical VH1 Behind the Music.This was a true rock doc, covering the pre-PJ days, instant rise to popularity, and everything that followed.
Seeing Pearl Jam perform “Alive” at just their 2nd show, after they had been playing together for less than a week, was truly unbelievable.Just as crazy was Eddie’s signature climbing/circus/diving act of their early shows.And when Eddie started swearing his head off and tore down a banner at the Singles release party (what the band themselves call their worst performance ever – ever member totally wasted), I smiled and confirmed out loud, “He IS my hero!”I also enjoyed this back stage rehearsal of The Who’s Baba O’Reilly during the 1992 Lollapalooza tour:
But it wasn’t 20 years of just fun and games with the band.There was alcohol and drug abuse (some related to guitarist Mike McCready’s struggles with Crohn’s Disease), dealing with instant fame, and the tragedy at the Roskilde Festival in 2000 when 9 fans were trampled to death during Pearl Jam’s set.
But through it all, Pearl Jam stayed together.They kept making albums, touring, and adding to the number of fans who love their music.Can’t wait for the DVDs to come out…
Last week, not only did I travel to one of my favorite places (The Island, PEI, Prince Edward Island), I traveled back in time…
It was the late 1950s, and a young musician named Buddy Holly was trying to make a name for himself.
I didn’t know much about Buddy’s life and music career before taking my seat at the Confederation Centre in Charlottetown, PEI, but the cast of the show was happy to educate me - and they did a spectacular job doing so.
Not only did Jeff Giles do a wonderful job bringing Buddy and his music to life; the rest of the performers complimented him on every number.
The Apollo scenes and the Big Bopper/Richie Valens scenes were my favorites, but every scene was truly awesome – even the commercial jingles were great!
If you ever get a chance to see any performance of Buddy, don’t miss out.This year’s PEI cast grabbed me, took me back to the 50s, and made me a Buddy Holly fan – I have since bought his Definitive Collection and looked up the chords for That’ll Be the Day. Of course, I can’t sing and play as well as Buddy OR Jeff, but I can feel the words and spirit of a 22-year-old whose life ended far too soon…
I was 17.Extreme was my favorite band and Pornograffitti was my favorite album.I’m guessing I made this on one of those rainy days when there was no beach to go, no internet or cable, and we had to entertain ourselves.A year later, my girlfriend at the time colored it on for me.
One of the essays for my application to Boston College stated something like “write about a form of artistic expression that you think is extraordinary and explain why you think so.”I wrote about Pornograffitti and I got in.Thanks, Extreme.
I remember when my older brother showed me his Motley CrueShout at the Devil LP. I couldn’t believe the picture of the band inside, but was blown away when I heard the first two tracks - In the Beginning and Shout at the Devil. The music was heavier and meaner than Van Halen, and I liked it a lot. I remember being one of only a few students in my 5th grade class who knew about Vince Neil’s car crash in December of 1984.This was before we had cable/MTV, so I think we all thought that The Crue was over. Through the magic of being a rock star and money, Vince only went to jail for 30 days and the band continued.In my 10-year-old mind, I figured what he didn’t must not have been that bad if he only had to be in jail for a month – and I was happy they didn’t break up. The next summer, my brother got Theatre of Pain and brought it up to PEI. We listened to it just about every day, and “Home Sweet Home” quickly became the favorite with my siblings and me.When Girls, Girls, Girls came out a couple of years later, I made sure I had a copy the day it was released.I don’t know how many other 7th graders with straight A’s walked around playing the new Crue album at school on the last day (they let us do this as long as we were outside), but I was one of them.
That summer, my older brother did something that would change me forever: Motley Crue was touring, and he took me to my first concert at the Centrum in Worcester.Not only did it quickly make The Crue my favorite band; it made going to concerts one of my favorite things to do. Like I wrote on my blog about meeting Nikki Sixx, I remember hearing about Nikki’s overdose. It was the winter after that first show, and (again because of the time and slow news travel) the rumor was that Nikki had died. Of course he had died for a couple of minutes, but the news of his “kickstart” didn’t reach me until later that day. I remember being relieved and pissed at the same time. I thought “Dancing on Glass” meant not doing drugs anymore, and was upset that Nikki would put his life on the line like that. But, I was happy to find out he was okay, and hoped the close call would make him stop.
And in the summer of 1988, I hung up this picture by my bed in Prince Edward Island.My brothers, sisters, and I often bought “metal mags” to keep up with our rock heroes.I don’t know if this came out of Metal Edge, Circus, Hit Parader, or Rip, but I’m sure it was one of them. We didn’t have the internet, we had magazines.
My older sister got me this autographed copy of The Dirt, and I just finished reading it again yesterday.Say what you will about Motley’s music, this book makes it clear to me that these 4 people were meant to be in a band together.They all have demons that differ in size and shape, and the way they dealt with them was through rock, chemicals, and sex.It’s really a miracle they survived through it all, and pretty amazing that after all the drama, breakups, and headlines, they still put out a kick-ass album a few years ago (Saints of Los Angeles). If you are (or were) a fan of this band, The Dirt is a must read.And if you don’t like the song Home Sweet Home, shame on you…
A friend gave me this on the last day of school one year (1984 or ’85?), so I brought it up to PEI and hung it by my bed.
Van Halen was huge when I was in the 4th grade, and that was just when I was starting to add “rock” to my musical preferences (I had mostly just listened to The Beatles up to that point).
I remember signing their songs, loving their videos, and not wanting to believe it when they broke up.
I finally saw them play live in 2007 when they toured with David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang, but I will write more about that and VH later…
I can’t believe it was 20 years ago (8/27/91) that Pearl Jam released Ten. I remember hearing Alive on WAAF my junior year in high school and thinking it was “pretty good”.It certainly sounded different to me, but I wasn’t ready to spend my Mini Farms money on a copy just yet.
When I saw the video for Even Flow, I was blown away.This band loved to play, and were not happy with the world.Add Eddie’s climbing, hanging, and falling into the crowd to that and it was easy to take notice.
In the summer of 1992, I was in the middle of chemotherapy treatments for my brain tumor. My older brother let me borrow his Discman for my overnight hospital stays, and Ten was in the pile of discs he gave me to listen to. It was the perfect album to help me visualize while I received my VP16, carboplatin, and bleomycin through my IV.I bought the Ten tape after that summer, and it quickly became one of my all-time favorites (I got ths copy online in 2006).It helped me get through cancer and helped turn me into a lifelong fan of the band.
In the twenty years since Ten was released, I have bought every Pearl Jam album and gone to many shows. I think seeing the 20th anniversary movie (Pearl Jam 20) will be pretty emotional for me, but I’m really looking forward to it…
In December of 1989, my sister Carolyn helped my friend Mike and me on a simple mission: Meet Motley Crue.
We set out to the Sheraton Hotel, across the street from Lincoln Plaza in Worcester, because that’s where most of the bands stayed at when they played at The Centrum.
Vince, Nikki, Tommy, and Mick never came out, but Jani Lane did (Warrant was the opening act for Motley’s Dr. Feelgood Tour).
Even though it appeared he had just crawled out of bed, he was really nice to us.He posed for pictures, gave autographs, and talked to everyone that was there right up until his tour manager told him it was time to go.
Luckily, I came equipped with my Levi’s winter jacket, RIP t-shirt, and Polaroid camera to capture it all.I wasn’t a huge Warrant fan when I woke up that morning, but when you meet a rock star and they take the time to actually talk to you and don’t leave until everyone gets a signature/picture (see also Tom Keifer), it’s hard not to become a bigger fan.
I ended up meeting Nikki Sixx at a book signing this past May, and that was pretty thrilling.But, it was controlled and a quick, 15-second, “Hi, nice to meet you”, and walking away before you can really talk meeting – I was also 37.
When I met Jani, I was 15 years old and it was more like “hanging out” than waiting for a 15-second “hi and goodbye”. It was also a time when Warrant videos were getting high rotation on MTV, and he signed with a “69” which I thought was hilarious. We may have not met The Crue that day, but we definitely went to the concert happy.
Rest in Peace, Jani.You may be gone, but your songs will certainly live on and make all the hair metalheads of my generation feel young every time they hear them.Thanks for making me a fan almost 22 years ago…
I was planning that today's blog would be a review of my first Queensryche show, but both last night's show at Hampton Beach and tonight's show at the House of Blues wee cancelled due to an undisclosed ailment in singer Geoff Tate. So, I can't compare the live acts between Extreme and Queensryche...dammit. I went to the Hampton Beach Extreme show 2 years ago with my friend Sherry, and the next night in Boston I went with my friend Patrick. The cool thing about the Boston show was that it was recorded for a live DVD, Take Us Alive. Looks like I'll have to wait until October to share my experience seeing "The Ryche"...
Tonight, I will be going to my first Queensryche show. They are my friend Carl’s favorite band, and we have long argued over who is better, Queensryche or Extreme. So, I thought this would be a good scan for today.I had Gary and Nuno sign this after they played live on WAAF back in 1990, when the station was in Worcester.My brother got Pat Badger’s autograph for me sometime after WAAF had moved to Westboro.I just found out the singer of Queensryche, Geoff Tate, is appearing tomorrow in Westboro at Julio’s Liquors.Maybe Carl will be able to get something signed too. More on the Extreme/Queensryche debate tomorrow…
Three years ago I was with my friends Glen and Sherry and we were all enjoying Eddie Vedder supporting his album, the Into the Wild soundtrack.If you haven’t seen the movie or listened to the album, I highly recommend both.Don’t worry, you can actually understand Eddie most of the time.
I will write more about my experience skating/playing hockey for 24 hours at Skating for Hope when I have the energy, but here’s another donation I received in the mail.The Zambonis are a band that sings songs about hockey and amidst all the preparation for the event, they didn’t cross my mind until I was putting together the 24-hour song playlist.With extreme short notice, I emailed band leader Dave “Zamboni”, and asked them if they were available to play at Skating for Hope.He got back to me and told me they couldn’t make it, but he would send some CDs.He also told me that for next year, he thought they could be there to play songs and emcee the whole event.This first year of Skating for Hope was amazing, but I know that next year’s is going to be even better.Thank you again to my family, friends, and everyone that supported Skating for Hope through hard work, donations, skating, and hockey!
Music.I don’t know about you, but it’s gotten me through some tough times.Music got me through cancer, it helped me during my drinking days, and going to concerts gave me a temporary escape when I needed it the most.
Two of the bands I listened to the most when I had cancer were Extreme and Pearl Jam.It’s not surprising that they became my two all-time favorite bands. Other than The Beatles, I’ve listened to these two bands more than any others.And, I’ve seen them play live more than any others.The Beatles, Pearl Jam, and Extreme will definitely get more playtime than the others when I’m skating around.
So, I brainstormed some other bands that I know will help me get through the 24 hours, and this is what I came up with.Can you think of anyone that I may have forgotten?
I can tell you this – there will be no country, rap, or hip-hop played at Skating for Hope.It’s going to be dominated by rock, with some Celtic and an hour of John Williams’ Star Wars songs.I hope that doesn’t upset too many people, but my ears need to hear music that will get me up no matter what my legs and feet are telling me…
This will be my first Dispatch show tonight.Even though I’m more familiar with Chad Stokes’ work with State Radio, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the show with my friend (and huge Dispatch/State Radio fan) Cailin.Not sure if we’re going to get there to see opening act Young the Giant, but I’m betting it’s going to be a good time.
Summer may not have hockey (sad face), but it has plenty of live music…
Well even though my birthday was last month, I came across this tape today so I thought I’d share. When I lived in Waltham we had parties, gatherings, and shin-digs, and mix tapes were the way we usually handled the music.I named this tape (one of the last ones I made before I got a CD burner for my computer) SDNY2K to mean “Sad Death Night 2000”.I wrote a poem around my birthday in 1993 called “Sad Death Night”, and it stuck as a theme for my birthdays for a while. Each song and artist has a link to check them out if you want to laugh at the songs I included or enjoy one you haven’t heard in a while. It still amazes me how far technology has come in just the last 11 years.
