Lucky reader, I'm even lower on ideas than usual. So I'm pleased to post some thoughts by Eric. And yes, we're related - by the "Power of the Great State of Montana...", but he is much more "brother" than "in-law". I asked Eric to write something about music because it's something we discuss often and he has a lot to say about it!
Thanks for writing for String of Lights, Eric!
1.I’ve been interested lately in how people balance work and other life activities. As a nurse you care for lives all day/night at work. What kinds of activities to you like to do when you’re not at work?
My balance between work and life are a bit different from others, in that I work 12 hour shifts, 3 a week to be precise 0700-19:30+, plus the occasional meeting and training/educational hours. They can be any day of the week, but fortunately after 21+ years, it doesn't involve nights anymore. This means the days i work are pretty much shot for anything else, however, I will occasionally go to the gym afterward for 45 min. of weights. Unfortunately, I have had an ever-worsening perception of work as a disgusting, yet effective way of making money, therefore I concentrate on the days I don't work.
Which segues into my non-workdays. Since I live 20+ miles outside of Billings I usually try to stay at home. These last 2 days I have been rather worthless, dinking on the computer and watching TV shows I recorded for the last 2 weeks. The stupid satellite dish has been a real mixed blessing; I never used to turn on the TV before 5 p.m. before. When the weather is more pleasant I like to go out for walks with the dogs, jogs and biking around here, and if I want to get real alone I go SE of here a few miles and may never see another soul for hours while exercising. Sadly, with a foot problem I have had since June, it has curtailed my activities a lot.
Otherwise, much of my life is wrapped up in my kid’s school activities; in small town Montana the schools are the heart of the community. Sadly, my youngest is a senior this year and a huge part of our life will be changing. It has been something that Laurie and I have been really wondering and sometimes worrying about, with this fall coming up.
Photography is one of my other interests, passions, and sometimes frustrations. I enjoy photographing about anything, except people and portraits in particular. Fortunately, most people I know hate having their picture taken anyway. I love photographing animals, drag racing, air shows, but those things are not that available most times, however, sunsets here are and I love them also.
I also enjoy listening to music, got Pandora on right now in fact, but more on that later. Needless to say, my ipod is my best friend; car, home, gym it is always with me.
2. It’s my belief that you are someone who should start a blog (perhaps about music!). When? And if not, why?
I saw a t-shirt that said, "More people have read this t-shirt, than have ever read your blog" So, I kinda of doubt anytime soon. I do love your blog Val, but I hate typing and rarely feel witty or cleaver or relevant and my writing style and maturity is about on the level of a junior high kid.
Also, a blog for me personally, has a lot of mixed feelings. Part of me believes in the t-shirt slogan, yet there is something compelling about doing one. Laurie had noted that there has been a disconnect with people and families over the last 100 years, both due to technology and the perception that the home is a refuge, not a neighborhood meeting place. People still want to talk and express their thoughts and feelings, but modern society and peoples own paradigms have kept them from doing it more personally. In essence, I really want to tell people what I think and believe they really care and will be enlightened, but the pessimist in me knows, most really don't give a rat's ass and there is really nothing new under the sun. Narcissism vs. real psychological need?
Yet, another reason, I once posted on Facebook a political position summary of my beliefs, while being sick of all the election BS. My first observation was not many people read it, fine with me. Then I noticed that most of the people agreed with me. However, I wound up shocking a few family members and kind of upsetting them. That is when I leaned perhaps it is best to keep my opinions to myself. Or to quote Karl, "Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one, and they all stink".
3. Music has always been a part of your life. You play an instrument and you listen extensively to a variety of genres. Your post is about music, so I’ll limit my questions about it in order to avoid repetition. But I can’t resist asking this one: If you could pick your “theme song” for this moment, what would it be?
Karl often thinks it should be "Imagine" done by A Perfect Circle as a funeral dirge, not John Lennon's song of hope and there is truth to that, however, this week I think I would pick, "Time", by Pink Floyd. When Jacinta was here last week showing photo albums to a friend of when the girls where young, it dawned on me (again) how little I remember of those days.
"You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today. And then one day you find, 10 years have gone behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun".
Just to make Karl happy, here is my other favorite line, "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way". And sometimes "my way".
4. Anything else you’d like our reader to know?
I absolutely love music and have much in my life. And while, it is quite boastful, I do in fact have the most eclectic and coolest music collection of anyone known. Ha.
Thanks for answering my questions! Um...blogs are supposed to be witty, clever, relevant and/or express opinions? Crap. String of Lights must have been absent the day they taught that in Blogging 101. OK, then, on to your post!
O.K., time for a music blog. I had a lot of different Ideas on this over the past few weeks and came upon a great idea last week. Why not write up on every five star song in my itunes collection? Mind you only about 40 songs out of over 5600 songs earned a coveted 5 star rating. Alright, I can tell you why, it would take me days, it would ultimately only be entertaining to me and bore the hell out of the readers and Val would have to seriously rethink the whole guest blogger concept. And really, such a manifesto should be done on my own blog, that no one with a life would read, but it would without a doubt, amuse me to no end.
So, how about this, two songs that have fascinated me this week. First, from the soundtrack to "Grand Canyon", the ending song. Up front, I must say, the movie sucked and I hardly remember a thing from it. Let me take you back to somewhere in the mid 90's shortly after getting a 4 head stereo VCR and pumping it through my big ass stereo was a great pastime of mine. I discovered that not only did jets and cannons make for cool noises, but that there were a number of great music scores at the that time. "Robin Hood", "Hunt for Red October" and many little know ones, such as "The Year of the Comet" and Elmer Bernstein's "Slipstream". Anyway, I would often record these mini masterpieces from the VCR to my cassette recorder and listen to them in the car or at home. Well, I finally found one of those cassettes recently and converted it with a neat machine I got for Laurie a few years ago. So here is how it goes, VCR to cassette to c.d. to computer and then to my ipod. Ain't technology great? Anyway, back to the song, it is only about 2:12, but has the most kick ass brass since the Rocky soundtrack. And unlike the crappy itunes remake I had to do with for years, it has a real choir and trumpets that are not pushed beyond their capabilities. The song has an almost roman fanfare feel to it, but I will quit trying to describe it with my limited vocabulary and just say, it is awesome.
Last night I was watching some shows (pre) honoring Metallica being inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. First thoughts, what took them so long, if you have seen a list of losers and nobodies inducted before them and it really makes you wonder who is behind all this? Next I should admit, that while I do like Metallica quite a bit, they wouldn't even make my top 10 list. However, I got to see the video for "One" for the first time in many years and it brought back memories of when I first saw it back in the end of the 80's. Honestly, I didn't like it much, it kind of scared me actually, yet, I would watch it every time it came on MTV, (remember when music television actually played music)? Their sound was so harsh and buzzy, and very mean spirited. Lars the drummer would crack me up with the fierce facial gestures he had through the whole thing, why was he so angry? A few years later, during my music dark ages, (the 90's), I bought "And Justice For All" and started understanding the appeal of this nasty head banging stuff. "One" has such a sad, yet strangely melodic beginning, which fully realizes the frightening concept of James's growling lyrics to follow, basically being a self aware corpse, that a war has used and abandoned. Then come the slowly escalating and ascending guitars with inpatient drums just dying with anticipation to do their machine gun bass pedals. The guitars then join in, without mercy, assaulting everything that is right and holy with powerful blasting chords, forcing even the meekest of people to start slowly bobbing their heads, turning into full out banging. Just when you think you get a rest, Kirk then goes into one his most blazing guitar solos ever and then it is back to the head banging that changes it's cadence and key unpredictably and suddenly, just ends.......... that is when you remember to breath with a relieved, but stuttered inspiration.
Wow, that was fun, I wrote all that while listening to the song (and then did a lot of editing and cleaning up). Alright, this took hours for me to write and type, but it was worth it, at least this time. Thank you Val, for letting me blab, and making this quite possibly one of your longest blogs.
Respectfully,
erc
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