Hard to believe that in 13 days, I will finally be seeing a concert again! Its been years! TRANSATLANTIC: the prog rock super group consisting of NEAL MORSE (Spocks Beard), ROINE STOLT (The Flower Kings), PETE TREWAVAS (Marillian) and MIKE PORTNOY (Dream Theater, OSI, and millions of others). I've met Neal Morse twice and he's a super nice dude. I for one and anxious to be in the same room with my favorite drummer of all time. I follow Mike's blog about movies and tv and other bands he loves. He's just a great personality and the best drummer on the fuckin' planet. Such energy and skill. So yeah, I'm excited to go. I get to hang with my prog pal, Tim Hamm, who we rarely get to see each other but talk all the time. Thats gonna be great. Plus its downtown Chicago, which I've never been, so that will be a trip. Its gonna rock!
Like I said I haven't been to a concert in years. And this year, I am seeing TWO so far. Transatlantic and U2 in June. And POSSIBLY Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) in the fall. Must go! But here's a run-down of who I've seen live (in order I think):
-The Supersuckers/The Ramones/White Zombie
-Local H/Stone Temple Pilots
-Corrosion of Conformity/Metallica
-Cheap Trick/Stone Temple Pilots
-Unknown local band/Queensryche
-Videodrone/Korn/Rob Zombie
-Eve6/Third Eye Blind (free show on our campus)
-Roger Waters
-PJ Harvey/U2
-Bob Dylan
-Neal Morse (show in a church)
-Meatloaf (at a casino)
-Neal Morse (year later. Same church)
(Comedians: Jessica Kirchon, Gilbert Godfried, Mitch Hedberg, George Carlin)
So not a lot, but some cool bands. I'd love to see TOOL, or OZZY. Seem like staples that I missed somewhere. David Gilmour would be wonderful too. Last time he came, tickets were $300! Whew! So I passed.
Lastly, a rant. My pal Dan posted this on his FB yesterday and I wanted to repeat it here and give my thoughts on it:
"Why does every little thing a celebrity or politician does have to be scrutinized? This article makes it sound like Obama's pitching skills make him unfit to run a nation. Personally, I think his throw seemed decent to me, and I know baseball. No he's not a pro, but so what. Just let the guy have fun at a ball game for once. Lighten up, folks! (posted an article)"
--I'd agree. I think its just a tense time right now. I remember when Bush would do something halfway dumb in public a lot of people jumped on it. Me included. So turnabout is fair play. BUT-the root of the statement I liked is "Why does every little thing a celebrity or politician do have to be scrutinized?" Seems like top story on CNN everyday is that Sandra Bullock or Tiger Woods walked into a McDonalds somewhere. We as Americans somehow just started focusing on celebrity as our daily bread instead of living our lives. At work, we got these tabloid rags in the breakroom that my fellow employees leave there. I thumb through and don't know I'd say, around 85% of the people in there. No idea. And when someone mentions this or that celebrity to me, I don't even know who they are talking about. Nothing makes me happier. I can't even name one winner or contestant from American Idol.
Celebrities are people, just like you and me. They eat, they crap, they fuck. So fucking what? But instead of focusing on the awesome things they contribute to art or their chosen medium (if any), we focus on their dirt. The slime between the cracks. Why? Why do we have to care? Why do people WANT us to care? I dunno man. I just hate celebrity obsession. There's a term called "FAN". If you are a FAN of something. FAN is short for FANATIC. And those people are crazy. I've met a few celebrities here and there and they are mostly very cool people, but in the end, they are just people. JUST....PEOPLE... and they do the same shit we all do. No pedestal needed.
MY celebrities, are people who not many people have heard of. Artists, Writers, musicians, creative people that no one really knows about except for a core group of fans. Those are my "celebrities." Does that make me BETTER? I dunno. But I am not obsessed with details of say, Mike Portnoy's marriage life, what car he drives, his weight this year, what he wore to such and such award show or whatever. I just am curious about his creative drive and personality. What he likes and what I could be turned onto. Cause it influences HIM to do what he does. His creative space, both physical and mental. You know what I am saying? And thats just an example I toss out.
Somewhere in the 20's-30's we got so bored with our daily lives as Americans that we started to watch celebrities as our royalty. And it gets worse now with new technology. We can spy on anyone we want, look up nude pics of anyone we can think of or heckle anyone we want to. I dunno about you but I got other things to worry about than what Tiger Woods does with his dick. Sure, he's an ass for doing that. But WHO CARES? Is it your dick? Is it your marriage he fucked up? Why the hell do you care? Why even devote time to such things that don't effect or concern you in any way? Now maybe if you idolized him and were dissapointed, I'd understand. But if you are just obsessed with the idea of knowing celebrity gossip because its more interesting than your own life, I'd say you need a better hobby. Get creative. Do something. Give something back to the world instead of stalking the world. There's better things to give your time on. Read, write something. Write a song. Draw or paint. Go outside and twirl. Something. Don't just sit in front of TMZ staring blindly and thats all you do. Its rubbish. And on your deathbed, is it gonna matter? On your last breath are you gonna curse the dude who fucked around on Sandra Bullock? or what (insert person here) wore to the 1998 Oscars and how much it sucked?
Think about it.
Okay, rant over. Just tryin' to help folks. Today, everyone is depressed. And this is one thing you can eliminate from your life that aids that, because its just junk you don't need. Free yourselves a bit. Let shit go. :) Anyway, I love ya all. Now go out and rock it!
Cheers, T
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