Bands and Reunions: When Is A Band Not A Band?

Bob, Tommy, Chris, and Paul; The Replacements

Sunday, August 25th will mark the return of my all-time favorite band, The Replacements. Or will it? Over the years, I have heard people say that there are no reunions without the original members of a band. Recently, I have been hearing the rumblings that Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson getting together is not The Replacements. I guess I understand that stance, but if you start saying that a missing member of a band negates that bands existence, then there are a lot of bands, past and present, that should hang it up or feel like they have been living a lie. 

Are the Rolling Stones not the Rolling Stones because Brian Jones died in 1969? If not, then they have been pulling the wool over our eyes for decades, but it sure does sound like the Stones when I hear "It's Only Rock N Roll" or "Some Girls". Wilco is down to only having Jeff Tweedy and John Stirrat as band members that were there from the start. Are they no longer Wilco? 

Perhaps defining what makes a band who they are would help. For me, the creative elements have to be there and the stage presence has to be in the mix. If the main creative forces of a band are there, along with the personality I have a tough time throwing the towel in. I think Wilco is Wilco and will be as long as Jeff Tweedy is there. I think the Stones are the Stones unless Mick, Keith or Charlie hit the bricks. The Who is the Who so long as Townsend and Daltrey are there (apologies to the great Keith Moon, but he left way too soon). Led Zeppelin could still be Led Zeppelin so long as Page and Plant are involved. As with those bands (and as a hardcore fan), I don't have any problem with Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson calling themselves The Replacements. They were the main creative forces every step of the way. Tommy embodied the attitude, even after they booted his brother Bob, and Paul steered them artistically. It's their band and their band is The Replacements. Sure, it'd be sweet to see Chris Mars and Bob Stinson with them, but Bob is dead and Chris is a painter. Slim Dunlap and Steve Foley? Well, if you are against reunions that don't include original members, those guys are out. Well, they are out anyhow as Foley is dead and Slim suffered a major stroke. If you could accept them as The Replacements, then why have a problem with a couple of great musicians (drummer Josh Freese, and guitarist David Minehan) that have backed Paul in the past coming on board as members? 

I will say this in defense of those who cry foul over reunions; there are definitely times where a band isn't really a band anymore, no matter what they call themselves and even saying that I'm sure someone will be able to refute me and I'm not saying that they would be out of line. For instance, take a band like Journey. Journey without Steve Perry rings false. He and Neal Schon were the faces of the band. Are they REALLY Journey if one of them isn't around? Pink Floyd? That is another band that I just can't call by their name (despite going to see them without Waters....sue me). When Roger Waters left, I just don't see how they could go on using the name Pink Floyd. It'd be like the Beatles without John Lennon. In my opinion, the Beach Boys are not the Beach Boys without Brian Wilson. Queen without Freddie Mercury? Come on, really? I can't imagine the Beastie Boys touring without Adam Yauch and still claiming to be THAT band. 

Unless I meet an untimely demise, I will be in Chicago to see The Replacements in a few weeks. Yep, I'll be seeing The Replacements and I'll be damned happy to be there!

This will do, but I really wish Saturday Night Live had not pulled their "Bastards of Young" performance from You Tube. Tremendous and kick ass.  

The News Media & Mental Manipulation

It's been more than two months since I have taken my hiatus. I don't know how many people even read this blog, but if you do, thanks. I've dropped out of Facebook and tried to listen to some opinions and such on Internet message boards, read on some alternative sites, and often times, I interjected my thoughts into the process. I have discovered a few things that have me disgusted and have even damaged my "soul" a little bit. Well, here goes. Hope I'm not all over the place with this. 

I'm no fan of the mainstream television/radio media. FOX, MSNBC, CNN and that ilk have really dumbed us down. It's one thing to talk about the shit that passes for television, but the news media in particular has really been manipulating mass opinion and pitting one set of Americans against another. This latest travesty of reporting the "news", which involved the Martin/Zimmerman case is sickening. Incorrect leaked information led to preconceived notions just days after the incident and speculation replaced a rational look at the facts at hand. I'm not going to get into the case, because frankly, what can I add to the madness? The media pushed people into camps and in the circles I followed, it was largely political. Conservatives were more likely to side with the killer. Liberals were more likely to side with the dead kid. That's odd. And I believe it was due to the news that people are seeking out. We now seek out news that fits our ideology. Think about that for a minute. That should be a MAJOR problem. The news should be about truth, and not care about ideology. 

The media is a money making construct as it is today. Mass marketing. Commercialism. Ratings. That's what drives the news now. Twenty-five dead Indian kids barely caught a blimp on the radar. What was important? The cover of Rolling Stone magazine. You are being manipulated and you probably don't realize it. Hell, you may even embrace it. If you follow a certain news organization because of political slant, you are a part of the problem. Turn that shit off. News isn't supposed to have a political slant. Here's a tip; Chris Matthews, Bill O'Reilly, Anderson Cooper, and Sean Hannity are not news reporters. They are news analysts with political leanings and they host news analysis programs. They can be political because of the opinion driven format. They don't have to be accurate, they just have to have an opinion. Stop watching that shit. Find an alternative, or at the least, piece your news from as many sources as possible. 

I told a friend today that 9/11 has probably not only changed our nation in terms of security, but it also damaged our psyche. The mass media fed that too. They reported "breaking news" about additional terrorism for several years afterwards that mostly turned out to be nothing. They had constant updates on the "terror level". What an absurd concept that was put right in our faces at every turn for months on end. They fed the fear and we believed it. Hell, we were scared and someone making you even more scared isn't going to lead you to free thought or rational analysis of what is going on. We pined for protection and the government started stepping all over our basic freedoms, and worse than that, started killing people in other countries while we cheered. We didn't think about the reality of what was happening. We were scared. Some of us recovered and came to our senses. The fear melted away and we got to see the rest of the country and how it had changed without the "bogeyman" goggles on. Sadly, much of the rest of the nation has used that fear to dig themselves a hole. They have become distrustful of their fellow man. They have started feeling like the best policy is to shoot first and ask questions later. We have become so wrapped up in fear that we can't even agree that health care/food/water on a civilized (ha!) planet should be a basic human right. How crazy is that? 

I started this blog as an outlet for myself to write some amusing shit, but it can be tough to feel funny when I see how much we have changed and realizing that my kids have to grow up in this and will be fighting it (or joining it?) their whole lives. What chance do we have as a nation when we are teaching our kids how to become fearful and distrustful of anything on the other side of the front door? We are rolling over to the big money and powerful interests. We are scared. It's time to stop the manipulation. It's time to free your mind to some new ideas. It's time to look at the world and at other human beings as real people and not characters on a TV show that we can easily divide into friend or foe. All of this is put in front of you and you still can't even take pause to think about whether it's true can you? You have been trained to ignore and belittle the rantings of people who don't look and think like you do. 

I've read some really ugly shit from people lately. It's damaging my hope for the future of the country and more importantly, the planet. Is it too much to ask that we think about other people as living human beings? People who love and are loved? We are to the point of many Americans believing there isn't any reason to be concerned that a kid has died. Not just talking about Trayvon Martin. I'm talking about any kid. We have a lot of mean and hurtful people in this country, and the trouble is, they think they are the ones that are compassionate and care about the general welfare of others. I don't know what to think about that other than to be disgusted and to feel damaged. 

Jack Torrence (The Shining): "See, it's Okay. He saw it on the television."

Freddy Closes His Mind For Repairs

I started writing this blog in August of 2009. Seems like a short time in many ways, but I feel like it's been 1,000 years. I've really become a different person. In the 4 years I've been maintaining this, there have been plenty of changes and many of them I've documented along the way. I always kept you "in the loop" about what was happening with me and how I was seeing the world. I've been over the top. I've been subdued. I've been sarcastic. I've been (at least I hope so) funny. But above all that, I have been honest. 

I'm on my third job in that time frame. That's after being at a job for a stable 16 years. I stopped taking prescription medicine. I've started taking "non-prescription" medicine at times. I went from feeling underwhelmed by adult life, to embracing the moment as often as I could (and then going back to the old way). I stopped idolizing grown men chasing balls (yeah, I laughed too) and started idolizing the universe. I stopped following a religion. I started searching for god, or at least the concept of what god could be. Not limiting myself to the rules of a book, what could god be? If there was a god, it must be vastly beyond our comprehension, not caring and not caring if we care. I stopped merely loving my family and started to try and experience my family. To be a part of it. 

I now realize, even through the eyes of a "history of slight mental illness" (my nod to Breakfast Club fans), that my happiness has nothing to do with anyone other than myself. But even realizing it and still not being able to put that truth into action is a curious way to react to a fact you know about yourself. 

I should be more grateful to be alive. Maybe I'm not even grateful enough for the life I've lived, which I've never put an abundance of care into, at least not on my own behalf. My life is sharing a second with the rest of you in the eternal vastness of time that has passed and time that will be. One of my favorite topics to talk about, you didn't ask?  Well, that's easy; would anything exist if there wasn't a life to exist in it? Not sure why I wrote that....well, OK....I am VERY SURE of why I wrote that, but here nor there....just thought it would be nice to share one of my favorite topics; existence.

For four years some of you, at least a few of which I'm certain, have been able to lay your eyes and ears on my favorite stuff. Movies and music mostly. They have become my passion after stopping the athletic portion of my life. I love to share how I feel about a movie or a band. It's (music/film) art to me. I have a great appreciation for what it must take to be a working professional musician, actor, comedian, etc. I hope I've turned some people on to some new stuff. Come on, I gave you The Monkees!!!! THE MONKEES!!!! Who else can make you reconsider how you feel about The Monkees? Nobody. N-O Body.

Regrets? I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention.I did what I had to do, and saw it through without exemption. I did it my way. :-) In four years time I've written, not to benefit you or anyone else, but to feed my ego. To give it nourishment, like each of us do every day. I wrote because I enjoyed expressing myself, so don't misunderstand, but I do realize that I enjoyed the bit of the "fame" it brought. And by fame, I mean any time someone tells someone else how good they are because of something they have done. I wrote to get you to tell me "good job!" Just like you do at your job or with people you admire or when you talk about an accomplishment to others. We all want a little validation and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It was much easier to get when I was younger. It came through being a wise ass and making people smile, or it came through hitting a baseball. Now, I have to be a wise ass among a sea of wise asses on the internet. Everyone clawing at mattering. Putting fucking cat pictures on Facebook, like this one;

It's a gawdammed disgrace. That's what it is. We wanna be happy, so we let it pass. We let it evolve into us and some of us let it become who we are and our validation. Our ego. Not our true selves. Not who we were born to be, but were knocked off track by adults downloading all their shortcomings and insecurities, hopes and fears into our little impressionable heads. We got hardwired by this brainwashing and the culture. We become a part of that machine and pass the same things down to our children. 

Well, with that ray of sunshine I am putting the blog on SLEEP mode. Reading some of the stuff above should let you know that this is just a part of the things that I've been living for the past four years. I no longer care if anyone knows what I think (oh, yeah?), unless it's in a discussion. In a discussion I get feedback and can learn something new to think about. I've grown a bit bored of expressing (talking about?) myself and I'm ready to exchange ideas or probably more likely, to simply think about things and make some decisions and settle on the world. 

For all of what I have just written, oops, I did it again. My ego has a full tummy and needs a nap.

Freddy

Cell Phones: I Hate 'Em

I just hate a cell phone. I recognize they are a necessity in today's world of hustle and bustle, but they seem like such an impossibly arrogant and self-serving tool of rudeness. Yes, I have a cell phone, and it's come in handy many times. I'm not going to begrudge anyone for having a cell phone, but there are certain aspects of it, apart from the obvious good things about them, that rub me wrong. 

I'll start by saying that it's smart to have one. You never know when you may meet an emergency and the phone will come in handy for calling the police, firefighters, an ambulance or someone to help when your car breaks down. I think it's great for kids to have access to them when they are out and about, especially teenagers. People with jobs that involve traveling all the time also benefit from them. So, it's not as though I don't "get" what good they can do, it's all the other junk that overwhelms my feelings. 

Walking around with an earpiece and talking loudly is rude. You are out in public, not in your house, turn down your voice please. Others, often times, can't see you have a microchip hanging out of your ear and they answer the phone user with an "excuse me" and the phone person gives them that disgusted look and points at their ear. Well, piss off. Stop walking around like you are talking to yourself and maybe you won't get bothered you douche bag. 

There is also nothing like holding a conversation with someone in person and then a phone rings. Gotta answer it. Serve the master! Don't let it go to voice mail, nooooo.....too damn important for that. Nothing says "I don't give a shit about what you are saying." more than answering a phone call in the middle of a conversation with a person sitting across from you. "Oh, sorry, I WAS gonna listen, but I'd rather talk to this person. You may sit until I'm finished."

And for crying out loud, turn down the friggin' ring tone. Not everyone thinks it's hysterical to hear "Baby Got Back" every time someone calls your dumb ass to ask where you are or let you know that Krogers has a buy 1 get 1 free deal on asparagus flavored Ramen noodles. 

I just think the over use of the cell phone has made us less social in situations that imply being social and has shut us off from interaction with others out in public. Sorry, as much as I don't really LIKE people in general, we are social creatures that often times have to deal with one another. Here's an example of what I'm talking about; don't talk on the damn phone when someone is taking your order at a restaurant. It's rude and I hope you get a tumor. Furthermore, how about NOT calling someone when you are ordering. It's all about you, I know, but the person you are talking to and the waiter/waitress/counter person are trying to get on with their lives you inconsiderate pud. I'm not talking out my ass here, I know people who do that and I've been a victim. Call me and then immediately put me on hold or start talking to someone else? I'm hanging up. 

In closing, I just wanted to bitch. So, there it is. Finally (patting myself on the back), someone is speaking for those of us who are not on the phone 24/7, acting like a prick. 

Oh...yes!!!! Found this after writing and Darryl Rhoades nails it! He rips cell phones and then an audience member starts using theirs during the show. Can't make that shit up!

Neil DeGrasse Tyson: An Astrophysicist Of The People

Usually, my posts involve music, movies, and things that interest me about the human condition. Over the past few years, I've really grown to love learning about science and the universe. Quantum theory is a lot of fun to learn about, but at a certain point, there is a lack of connection because I'm not capable of understanding some of the mathematics that are behind the theories. So, I have turned my attention more towards the universe and how interesting it is in all its vastness, glory, and mystery. 

Neil DeGrasse Tyson has inspired me to expand my mind on our origins in the same way that Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris challenged me to expand my mind to conceptualize what life could be like without a deity. It's one thing to hear that "there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on the entire planet Earth" and it's another to have someone explain what that means in a practical way. It's all so vast that we sometimes get arrogant about our place in the universe. We can feel as though we are separate from the cosmos, and special in regards to it. Nothing could be further from the truth, because we are a part of the universe. That is inspiring to me, not depressing. Some folks push past the realization that we are OF the universe by ignoring knowledge and filling the gaps in understanding with a god. I do find that a bit depressing. At the edge of understanding, you will find god. But that only lasts until we finally do understand. Through the centuries, Galileo, Newton and others were content to reach the edge of their capacity for understanding and left it to a god from there. Then others came along and added on to what was known and once again, god was pushed further down the line to a new edge. Not to debate the existence of god, that's something I don't have an answer for, but I do know that it's simple and shallow to just assume what we don't understand has to be given over to a god or gods. 

Tyson loves to talk about how much a part of the universe we are. That's inspiring to me. To know that all of this that surrounds us, is, indeed, us! It's like when I finally figured out that people in Iraq, Russia, China, Africa and everywhere else on earth are me. They are the same as me, they just live somewhere else. They are not separate from me, they are my cousins that share a common place in the cosmos. The most common elements (that are not inert, like helium) in the universe (hydrogen, oxygen, carbon) are exactly the same as the most common elements in the human body. Is this an accident? No, because we are the universe. We are star dust. We have been exchanging atoms with the universe since life began on this planet. The atoms in us right now were in something else before us and something else before that and so on. That's fascinating and inspirational. In that way, we truly are immortal. We've always been here in some capacity. For billions of years....all that we are now has existed and will continue to. 

Back to Tyson though. This guy is one of about 6,000 astrophysicists on the planet and he is the only one that has really struck a chord with the mainstream popularity wise. He speaks in an excited tone and offers up the universe in a way that is interesting and full of possibility. He isn't dry and doesn't drone on with huge words and abstract language that is beyond the common persons understanding. I can't recommend him enough to those who are truly interested in grasping the universe outside of the usual dumbed down notion of the cosmos and our place in it. His take on the existence of life in the universe is interesting and exciting in that the vastness of the cosmos implies that life is bountiful and just because we have not seen evidence of it in the VERY, VERY small area we have explored and reached out to makes it no less likely. He says we only really understand about 4% of what there is to know about life, our universes origin, matter, energy and so forth and that leaves a lot of room for exploration and discovery for what is likely to be hundreds of years. Or, with the development and exponential increase in computer power, perhaps it's just decades away when we will have a really firm grasp on how the universe works. Hell, it's likely that there are many universes, especially when you start listening to Tyson talk about the theories of dark matter and dark energy and how empty space is anything but empty! 

The Testimony of Neil DeGrasse Tyson

So, if you dig this sort of thing, but can't deal with the dry wit of Carl Sagan, the often beyond comprehension language of Susskind or Hawkins, or the long winded, sometimes dull explanations of Brian Greene (all of whom I like, but don't hold a candle to what Tyson brings to the table in the way of communication) then give Neil DeGrasse Tyson a shot at needling your mind and moving you towards a greater understanding of the universe and what it means to be a member of all that exists!