The Beginning.

The Misfits-“Astro Zombies”-Collection 1
I know all the various complaints against The Misfits-misogynistic lyrics, the silly make-up, the murder/horror motifs. I say so what. The Misfits embodied the punk spirit. They emerged out of New Jersey (of all places) as one of the greatest American punk acts ever-they made all their own shirts and merchandise, hauled their own equipment, had a lead singer who sounded like a punk Elvis, and made a name for themselves as rock icons when disco was still king. Arguably, no band ever did more with poor production and 3 chords than The Misfits-modern bands with tens of thousands of dollars and the most high tech recording studios still can’t hold a candle to the passion and gritty punk heart The Misfits brought to the stale and heartless music scene of the late seventies.
The Misfits blew my world apart.
A strange and unique young man named Ruhi was in my Economics class early in my first year of high school. He was raised Bahai (unlike 99.9% of my school, which was Christian), wore a long leather trench coat, and assured me I would love The Misfits. I distinctly remember climbing on the bus that cloudy fall day, popping Ruhi’s Misfits tape into my walkman, and hearing the opening chords of “Astro Zombies”-and I was lost forever. The perfect mix of retro and punk, The Misfits sung about topics I could relate to-feeling alien, mistrusting adults, wanting to take vengeance on the people who treated you like shit-with the added bonus of an amazingly simple-yet-rich stripped down style against a vintage 1950’s horror movie backdrop. I embraced their music with the passion only a teenager can muster. I still love The Misfits now just as much as I did then-as I age I often look back at the music I liked and find it silly or not half as good as I remembered. The passion remains to this day, which-in my mind-is the biggest testament to their greatness as a band.
I chose “Astro Zombies” not because it is their best song, but because it embodies all the qualities The Misfits brought to the table-its like a 1950’s love song put through the filter of a nerdy kind raised on too many horror movies who just learned to play his cool uncle’s guitar. Jocks pick on you? Never get the beautiful boy/girl? Feel like life as a teenager sucks? “Exterminate the whole human race!”.
Indeed.

Musical History.

All too often our parents, great as they may be, fail to impart on us one of the most important aspects of life-their humanness. In an attempt to show us the right way to live, they often hide (or outright lie) about their past-they act as if they never skipped school or stayed out too late with a new significant other or even drank a freaking beer. It paints an unrealistic picture of our folks as unfailing gods, and it robs us youngsters of learning from the one thing kids can't have -experience. That's why it is so important for me to impart upon my girls that their Dad was once young, and that I did have a life before them-a life filled with joy and pain, success and (many)failures, love and loss.
I've wanted to write a journal just for my daughters, but I've just never been inspired enough to do it. Then, last night, I participated in a market research survey in which we listened to and rated 600 song snippets-running the gamut from the Ramones to Led Zepplin. That got me thinking-what better way to give a little insight into who I was in my youth than make a mix of some of the greatest songs I grew up with, along with liner notes. So, in the next few days, I'll share with all of you the mix-tape journal I'm making for the girls.
I've never used any online mixes-like Muxtape, but that's probably how I'll post the songs for your listening pleasure.
Enjoy.

Two Tales.

Have you ever heard a story so poignant you made it your own?
Well, I'll never claim that these tales are mine, but they have had such resonance in my life over the last few years that I'll probably remember them long after Alzheimer's has claimed all the actual memories I have of my life.

So, here we go...

Let me preface this first story by telling you of my obsession with Hawaii. Years ago, I began to read about Tiki culture through the Book of Tiki. After reading the first page I was lost forever. Hawaii, or my imagined version of it, would forever become my Elysian Fields.
So, when I learned that a person I worked with lived there I wanted to hear his opinion on Hawaii.
I asked him about it one day, and this was his answer(paraphrased, except for the first sentence, as I remember it):
"I hated it. The trade winds blow all the time. One of my favorite things in life is to sit in a field and paint and I could never do it because it was too windy. No, I hated Hawaii."
Wow.
Now, I realize that my idea of Hawaii is based on stuff I have read or seen on T.V. However, I do know that, even without children, the 1400 dollar air fair just to get there would keep me from ever being able to visit. Let alone live there.
I mean really?
You hated it?
I've seen plenty of awesome artists who lived in Hawaii who overcame the windiness and made artwork and loved where they lived.
I'll let you, dear reader, take what you will from that story. But it just showed me that whether you live in Columbus Ohio or Valhalla you can always find something wrong with your life situation if YOU are not happy.

Tale number two is by my oh so handsome friend who lived in Savannah Georgia for a time. Now, Savannah is well known for its penchant for Southern Gothic and outlandish characters. My friend knew a older gentleman who would regularly dress as a vampire and lurk around certain areas of town. Yes, a Broadway-worthy costume-like something you would see in Interview With a Vampire, only really creepy beacuse the dude would be sitting in the back corner of your favorite bar ha\ving a drink and scoping out his victims.
During Saint Patrick's Day, Savannah becomes a huge party, the streets filled with drunken frat boys from miles around, with River Street being the center of the "Girls Gone Wild" style partying. My friend was walking through said party, when he noticed the Vampire sitting on a rooftop surveying the festivities below (in full-on Victorian Era vampire garb, mind you). My friend approached the Vampire and exchanged pleasantries.
After a few minutes of silence the Vampire surveyed the drunken masses writhing and pulsating below and remarked, "People are very odd."
Amen brother.

So these are my two acquired stories which have stuck with me and influence my life on a daily basis.
The point being, really, is that the best and worst people you will encounter in life have something to teach you.
You just have to ask.
And listen.

This Just In...

I am an overly-zealous NPR listener. I listen to my local NPR station from 6 A.M. to 4 P.M. every day. I won't link to Atlanta's NPR station WABE because they suck(a topic for another day perhaps). As much as I enjoy NPR, and all news in general, I sometimes get a little sick of the same old same old. Do we, as NPR listeners, really benefit from hearing a ten minute segment on the latest bombings/killings/fanaticism in Lebanon?
Instead of spending all that time and money to report on topics that have been revisited ad nauseam, why not just record a short message and change the names and places.
So here, dear reader, is the world news in a nutshell-for the last and the next 2000 or so years.

The Middle East-The Jews hate everyone. The other Middle-Easterners hate the Jews and each other (Sunni and Shia Muslims, etc.). They will kill each other on a daily basis just like they have been doing for the past 4000 years.

Africa-We are at exactly the same level of development that we were about 400,000 years ago. Except now we have guns.

Asia-We have a a shit-load of people and therefore have no regard for life-human or otherwise. However, we do make cheap VCRs which you will continue to buy no matter how inhumane we are to our citizens and workers.

Central/South America-Viva the three D's-Drug Lords, Despots, and Donations from the U.S.A. to keep the first 2 in power.

The United States-A bunch of nice folks screwed over for the past 200+ years by a slow, inefficient, and abusive government.

So there it is.
Am I oversimplifying? Being snide and flippant? Voicing a typical nihilistic Gen-X viewpoint?
Unfortunately, no.
Thankfully, rock and roll still rules.
And so do I.

Oh Lord...

Well, here we are-its been a month and a half since my last post. Where has the time gone?
Visiting with LOTS of friends and family, housework in preparation of the fore mentioned visits, time adjusting to the new baby, painting, work, a few movies, etc.

It has been a really rough transition the past month or so. Harper, the very definition of a "clinging vine", always wants to be breast feeding or drinking a bottle. The human pacifier formerly known as my wife barely has a minute to spare between the baby and Audrey. So, we try to pay bills, clean, play with the girls, clean some more, and then we get to kiss once a week. A shout out to all you single parents out there-I don't know how you do it. Actually, I DO know how you do it-a lot of stuff formerly seen as important just doesn't get done. Like a social life, sex, haircuts, shaving, frequent bathing, etc.

However, even when both girls are screaming and the dogs are barking and the oven is burning dinner and Angela is yelling at me to "fix that damn table" and I just slammed my finger in the freezer-I must remind myself that we are extremely lucky.

We are all here, together, alive and well and we love each other. That, and compared to probably 80% of the people on earth, we have it easy. REALLY easy.

Enough said.
I'll be back from now on.
kisses from me

p.s. Check out the awesome picture at the right, taken by some lady who is an amazing photographer.