Happy Birthday Dad

This is my Dad. He would have been 83 yesterday. He moved on 5 1/2 years ago and he has been missed every day since. He loved movies, old sci-fi, horror, comedies and westerns. He loved the outdoors. He was an avid hunter but in my lifetime the only thing he shot while hunting was pictures from his blind. Most importantly, he loved his family.

I have trouble writing about him. Maybe to use a television crime drama cliche “I’m too close to the situation” to do so (he would have liked that joke) properly but I’m here it goes….

There are many types of people who change the world. Some are decorated visionaries, some are patron saints, then there are those like my Dad; the ones who touch people’s lives without them even realizing it.

He didn’t set out to do it; he didn’t call out for platitudes, he just did. At his funeral, there where people from 30, 40, 50 years past that showed up. People the family didn’t know or had long since forgotten about that showed up just to show respect and relate what my father meant to them. Sure that happens at all funerals but if you would have seen my Dad on the street, you’d of never guessed he touched so many lives and that’s how he preferred it.

I used to toy with him on the phone (yes, back when we used them to talk on) because he never said good bye, probably because he loathed talking on it but I’d always repeatedly day Bye over and over until he’s do his Dad giggle and say curtly “bye” and hang up!

LOL I love that man…. My Dad, My Hero, My Idol. When what it is that’s me is all said and done, there is only one thing I long to see. Not heaven, not a re-birth, not even a Bond girl in a bed on a yacht out in the middle of the ocean saying “Oooo Dan” (another joke he’d like) but my Dad, standing there waiting to greet me for the next chapter of my existence.

Happy Birthday Dad!

5 Albums That...

I’m not one that believes that music can in any way change your life. Sure it can inspire you, lift you up, be your soundtrack if you will but ultimately it is you, and your choices that make you who you are…
That being said; here are five albums (in no particular order) that helped to hone my musical taste… I’d say after seeing them, you’ll know why I am such a big progressive music buff. Enjoy!

1) Queen - The Game. The very first album I owned. Meaning the very first that was mine and only mine; not borrowed from my brothers or sisters collection.

Most people say it was Another One Bites The Dust that made them get this album, but me? It was Play The Game. That song was and still is my favorite Queen song of all time. Such a great sound to it…. Very Progressive (not that I knew what that even meant when I was 11) I loved the whole album and being 11 and seeing my mother sneer when I played Don’t Try Suicide made me love it even more! :P

2) Duran Duran - Rio. The first time I heard Hungry Like the Wolf, I was hooked. From that point on, I couldn’t get enough of this band. And if you’re a child of the 80’s you’ll know how hard it was to being a guy and an outward fan of this band back then. I took a lot of shit!

Some of you are probably thinking “But they’re not a Progressive Band?” Well, technically, no, they are classified (by themselves) as New Romantic and by others as New Wave, but I can make an argument that Duran Duran is on the outer edge of Progressive Music. For example, their songs have complex musical structure, layered vocals, songs written as a group, guitar/keyboard centered with more than just a cookie cutter rhythm section and the lyrics are very story-like or poetic.
Bottom line, Duran Duran has been in my top 5 list of favorite bands since 1982 and will always be and get this 1980’s high school guys…. I’m not gay! :P

3) The Beatles - Revolver. Most people say Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road or The White Album but for me it was Revolver. The first time I heard Tomorrow Never Knows, I was hooked and big time! Some say it heralded in the Psychedelic era of music and who can argue with that? It may just have, but for me, when I list my favorite Beatle albums it is always Revolver then Sgt Pepper then of all things Magical Mystery Tour; but that’s a story for another day.

From beginning to end, Revolver is one masterpiece of an album. And to me, perhaps The Beatles most influential album on music. Sure they changed the face of music but it was this album that changed how music was written, produced and to be honest, listened to. Not to mention we got to hear Ringo sing! ;)

4) Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon. Yes (worry not, they are coming lol) most people pick either Dark Side or The Wall as their Floyd album of choice and I am no different. Although, I could, just as easily have gone with Wish You Were Here, it’s that close. Most people that know me know that my second favorite band is Pink Floyd and Dark Side is what sucked me in.

I think of all my favorites, my love for progressive music and my real passion for well produced music all stems from this one album. You won’t find one better, even 40 years later (no offense Mutt Lange) The bar was set so high making this album that even future Floyd albums have had trouble keeping up. But this album (and Close to the Edge by Yes) flipped a switch in my head to finely produced music that continues to this day and I thank Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons, Peter James and Chris Thomas for making me the high standard music production prick I am to this day ;)

5) Yes - 90125 (Big shocker I bet) Although this wasn’t my first Yes album (I had Classic Yes on cassette) and although I was a fan before it came out, this album blew my skull….. Seriously, my skull now is from a cadaver. From the moment I heard Owner of a Lonely Heart until this morning when I was listening to Magnification, Yes has been a daily part of my life. I don’t know if I even know why I love the band so much, I just do…

Actually I can explain and this album is the perfect way to do it. This is the epitome of Progressive music: Group Written, Well Produced, Catchy Hooks, Musically Structured, Lyrically Appealing and most importantly a master work of all instruments involved. Think of it as this: A symphony is all woodwind, brass and rhythm sections working as a unified group to produce a beautiful audio experience for the listener… That is what Yes, the album 90125 and progressive music is! Well with guitars, keyboards, drums and vocals but you get my point! I could go on but well, you know.

I have no big closer to this post. I hope some of these albums and groups are some your favorites as well. Thank you and I hope we passed the audition….

Birthday Party's

I'm not a big partier.... Wasn't in school, haven't been as an adult. Sure I'll go to a small bar/pub and hang out on occasion, sing some karaoke or whatever, but if the place is so packed I can't move or even hear myself speak, it most certainly isn't a place for me. I like my personal space to be... well personal and unencumbered.

Party contention number two: I've never been a birthday person. If someone is, that's great; I'm very happy for them... Happy Birthday! But to be a person, a 30 something person mind you, that expects you to attend their birthday party when you are nothing more than a passing acquaintance to said person, that gets belligerently angry because you do not attend is a little dramatic for my liking.
Look, I am a very outgoing personality but I need time to assess and assimilate the crowd I'm around before I truly become my true self. Call it initial shyness, call it social anxiety or whatever you wish; I am a mentally controlled individual that doesn't just hop in to a situation unprepared. I must feel comfortable and in control of my faculties before I ingratiate myself to others. If I don't feel comfortable, then I shut down. Some people reading this may remember a situation where that happened. It wasn't pleasant.

I guess what I'm saying (in long form) is: This is who I am. How can you be angry because I, a person you barely know, doesn't attend your silly little excuse to get hammered...err birthday party?

Bottom line, this is why we are only acquaintances and not friends. I appreciate the invitation but I am just not comfortable around you and your style. It doesn't fit me. If I was, you would know it and I'd probably be there. Enjoy your party and worry not that I didn't attend. I don't even matter in the grand scheme of things that is you. If that makes me the bad guy, then that is okay, but it is what it is... Not to mention my nerdiness in slipping assimilation in to this rant.

Resistance is Futile!