I Love The Beastie Boys....there....I said it.

I realize it's not like I've crawled out from under a rock and admitted something that is a shock, but there may not be a lot of 43 year old men who admit to liking the Beastie Boys. Here I am though. Recently, Adam Yauch, one of the founders of the band/rap act died of cancer at age 47. I'm not ashamed to say that it kind of shook me up a little. There are a couple of bands out there that I grew up with and hold a place in my heart, mind, and psyche to this day. The Beastie Boys are one of those, along with The Replacements. Sure, I grew up listening to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles, along with a bunch of bands and artists that sprung up during my teenage years, but only a couple really connected to me on a level that saw me follow their entire careers. The older bands were not really of my generation, so my connection is after the fact. I suppose what I'm getting at with this is that I'm finally starting to look at my mortality through a medium I love, which is music. 

The Beastie Boys were 21 year-old bad asses that invaded a mostly black art form and broke down barriers for that art form. Hip hop was generally disregarded by white, mainstream radio listeners for years. 1986 and the release of "Licensed To Ill" really changed how radio regarded rap and hip hop. When a record sells 8 or 9 million copies, you can bet that someone is going to cash in. With that "Fight For Your Right To Party" was plastered all over pop radio that summer and fueled the interest of rock and roll fans like me. I was listening to the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and then started hearing these guys that were referencing lyrics and using guitar licks from "The Ocean". Yeah, I was sold! The Beastie Boys appealed to my inner goofiness. I wanted to be like that. I wanted to let go and be less inhibited by my upbringing. I wanted to be able to have harmless fun and enjoy any type of music I wanted to. Whether it was pop, hard rock, country....or yeah, rap! 

"Licensed To Ill" made it OK for a white teenager to listen to rap. The threat was more comical than it was born of inner city turmoil. It would have been nice if hip hop had found its audience by working from the ground up behind the Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and others, but to be honest, they were seen as threatening to the white standard of what music should be. It took three white, Jewish guys and heavy metal riffs to push hip hop into white, suburban consciousness. I'm glad it did, because opening myself up to it at that age, allowed me to appreciate black artists at the time like Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, and Run DMC, and later on in my life it allowed me to unapologetically (not sure if that's a word, but it works for me!) enjoy Ice T, NWA, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Pigeon John, and Lupe Fiasco. 

By 1989, I had found myself uncertain of my future and not knowing the direction of my life. I applied to Lindsey Wilson College and broke away from my rudderless teenage years. At the same time, the Beastie Boys released "Paul's Boutique", an album that I immediately fell in love with. Many critics panned it and the public didn't buy it. I did. It played right into my hands as a music lover. It had funk backgrounds (and I love funk), Johnny Cash, The Beatles, and witty, socially sensitive rhymes that just caught my interest. I was hooked. "Paul's Boutique" is now regarded as a hip hop masterpiece that would be too costly to try and recreate in today's litigation happy culture. The beats were clear, the rhymes were bold! They went away from directly copying their huge selling debut and from that point on plowed through their music in their special, no compromise way. "Check Your Head" was their next release and it saw the Beastie Boys playing their own instruments and pulling some influence from early 80's punk. They continued to make albums that were interesting and fun for the next 20 years, which culminated in the release of "The Hot Sauce Committee, Part 2" just a couple of years ago. That album had been delayed in its release due to Adam Yauch's (MCA) battle with cancer. Yet another record by a band that I had been following for 25 years that I really took too. The Beastie Boys were MY band. I grew from a teenager to a man listening to their awesome beats, fun rhymes and endlessly youthful attitudes.

A few weeks ago, I had three friends text me to let me know that MCA had died. They knew I was working long hours and not able to catch the latest news for a few days. Wrapped up in my work, it didn't hit me immediately. It was just another celebrity that died. A few days later, with my work behind me, I was able to reflect on Adam Yauch's death, which came just after the band was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. It hit me kind of hard. One of my cousins was sending me MCA lyrics daily. I was watching videos and interviews and really just sinking into what it meant. Part of my youth was tied to this band and I was near their age. Now, one of them was gone and I wasn't going to get any new music from them as I moved into middle age. Is that life's way of letting you know that things are winding down? That you need to start getting busy with life, because you are on the down hill slide? I'm not sure. I do know that it bummed me out for a week. I didn't know the guy. I didn't have a lot in common with him. He did make music that connected me to my teenage years. Years that I don't remember quite as well as I used to. He was a part of a musical act, along with Michael Diamond and Adam Horowitz, that broke down the wall that pop music had built around itself. It was OK to like hip hop. They made it OK to love them as well as Springsteen, Madonna, and Van Halen!  As they aged and matured, they continued to make music their way. They never became an oldies act and never got stale or irrelevant. They re-invented themselves with each new record, without selling out to the flavor of the day. They set the trends and they did  it on their terms. I will miss the Beastie Boys. 

I suppose I'm waking up to the fact that I am finally at the age where I'm going to see friends, family, and people I know leaving this existence. My connection with the past is going to start wearing away. Hell, if I died today, it would only be about 3 or 4 decades until there would only be a couple of people (my daughters) that will even really remember me or care that I was here. That's life. It's the process that all of us go through. There comes a time when you hit the wall and look back. You realize that your potential for making a difference or leading life in a certain way is pretty much gone. I'm there and I hear life loud and clear. I'm closer to the end than the beginning. 

Here is a tribute that was paid to the Beastie Boys by Mix Master Mike, Kid Rock, Travie, and Questlove (from The Roots) at the Hall of Fame induction. I really enjoyed it and it's evident this was born out of love and respect. Enjoy. 

"Girls. All I really want is girls."

The Beastie Boys

Just Some Stuff I Wrote

Alright. In a good frame of mind to write.....I think. 

Kind of random, but here it goes;

I actually shamed myself back on to Facebook. I decided to quit doing Facebook a few weeks back and nobody noticed I'm sure. I only have 100 "friends". But I made that decision to quit spending time on it. So, 7 or 8 days go by and for some reason I check to see if it's deleted. Not knowing that if you put your log in information in, it reactivates. So, I check status' and find out that a friend of mine's father died. I know he really loved his dad and I had met the man a couple of times. I had no idea and was days late sending my condolences and not getting to attend the visitation (which I'm admittedly bad about....not a funeral home guy). I felt awful about that. What if a friend that I hadn't seen for awhile died? How would I know? Facebook. What if one of my cousins croaked? I wouldn't know.....how could I? Facebook. So I told myself I would start checking it again every day. I don't mess with it as much as I used to, but I get to see what people are doing in their lives. And, now I can know when they die. 

You know what? It kind of sucks that Hitler doesn't know that he sucked and is still hated decades later and was a boil on the ass of humanity. He's dead. Slips into the same void as everyone he promoted the execution of. Kind of pisses me off, but whattaya gonna do?

"Tuesday Afternoon" by the Moody Blues is a great song. 

If I have to choose between Obama and Romney, I'm staying home again. 

Sweet tea is pretty damned awesome. 

I don't know who the starting players are for most of the teams in MLB.

It doesn't bother me that UK won the basketball title. Louisville went to the Final Four. Whattuh my gonna bitch about?

Alright then. 

"Summer breeze, makes me feel fine."

Seals & Croft

The Final Four! Louisville vs Kentucky! WOW!!!

It's been almost three weeks since I've written anything for this blog. That's sort of unusual, but my job involves writing and being on the internet quite a bit, so I just don't feel like doing as much with this as I used to. That said, I would be missing a golden opportunity, perhaps a once in lifetime chance to comment on Louisville and Kentucky playing each other in the Final Four. Yes, they have been in the Final Four together before. In 1975, Louisville lost 75-74 to eventual National Champion UCLA, and John Wooden's last title team, preventing a Kentucky versus Louisville championship contest. Of course, no one can forget the dramatic 1983 NCAA tournament game between the Cards and Cats. A very tight game most of the way that saw Jim Master hit a last second jumper to send the game into overtime. In the overtime, Louisville's superior athletic talent won out and the wear and tear from the press took its toll on Kentucky. 

Here we are, almost 30 years after the "Dream Game" and we get to one up that contest. This one is not for the right to go to the Final Four, but for the right to play for a national title. This is easily the most important match up between these two teams since the 1983 game. 

You've read all the articles and heard all the talking heads, so you don't really need a breakdown from me. I'll take this from a bit of a different approach. How do the fans seem to be doing in regards to smack talking and dealing with the anxious feelings about their favorite team squaring off against their most hated rival? All I can go off of is based on what I've seen on some TV coverage and from what I've read on the internet. So, I'll take a look at that and tell you how I think you should feel about this game!!! That's why you are reading this, right? 

If you are a UK fan, you were expecting to be in the Final Four. And, let's be real, you are expecting and have been expecting all along that your team will win its 8th national title. Nothing wrong with that. Kentucky is clearly the most talented team in the tournament and they play with very unselfish attitudes, which I believe is one of the biggest reasons they only lost two games. They don't pout and they don't mind playing defense, even when the offense isn't in full gear. With Anthony Davis leading the way, UK looks like a team that can only stop itself. I think they will be the NCAA champions this year. As a Louisville fan, I hope not, because I want my team to be there. As a basketball fan, I simply know that UK is a great team. And I don't use great loosely. So, how can I pick on some of the UK faithful? Easily. Hey, folks...yeah you arrogant UK fan.....enjoy this!!! Do you really need to remind anyone that your team is the best? Do you have to tell fans of other teams how bad their teams are? And if you do, then doesn't that lessen the accomplishments of the Wildcats? If Baylor, Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina, are all terrible, then why feel good about winning? The absolute inability for many UK fans to give credit to other programs is why so many people root against UK openly across the country.  This should be a celebration for you guys. Instead, I hear all this ranting about how Louisville doesn't deserve to be in the Final Four, yadda yadda yadda. Why? They won their regional tournament. Why cheapen the accomplishment with disrespect? And don't you get tired of being relieved to win, instead of actually enjoying it? 

UK fans have great passion and love for their program. Rightly so. I just don't get having all that and feeling the need to run down everyone else. It's not necessary. Part of being a fan is actually enjoying the battle. Going into a game knowing that your opponent might win should put your mind in a place where you can immerse yourself in the game and be truly excited. Everyone knows you have a great team, now live up to that by being great fans. 

Louisville fans......stop bellyaching about the analysts picking against the Cards. The Cards are not flashy. They don't have a lottery pick (yet, Dieng in 2013?) playing and the offense is very average. They don't have a play of the year candidate. There is a reason these people pick against Louisville, because on paper, Louisville doesn't look that appealing. Yet, Louisville wins games. Be happy with that. The one thing that UL fans get to experience (generally speaking), that UK fans don't, is the pure joy of the win. Going into every game, it's hard to expect Louisville to win. It's not a foregone conclusion, so the anxiety is higher and it gives us an elevated sense of drama. That's something you should enjoy. Having a target on your back that stems from expectation dampens some of the fun. It's pressure. The Yankees are always good. Their fans expect to win. And when they do win, it's great, but it's not like when a team that comes from nowhere does. It can't be. And please, don't waste your time telling UK fans how overrated their team is and such, because it's not true. Why detract from your own fandom by trying to make someone else angry? 

Louisville fans should be having the greatest of feelings right now. A team that had lots of pre-season promise had troubles with injuries and was written off. Then they came storming back and fulfilled the promise of November with a run in March! That's awesome and it's fun to watch materialize. Soak it in. You don't need a UK fan, or Dick Vitale to tell you that the Cardinal program is one of the best seven or eight of all-time. It is and no amount of smack talk can change that. Maybe we can turn our attention towards just enjoying watching this team bring their lunch bucket to work! You know that Siva, Behanan,and Dieng are going to play as hard as they can. If they win, great. If they lose, hell....they made it to the Final Four! No matter if it's UK or anyone else who stops the winning streak doesn't take away from what the team accomplished. Expectations left the arena weeks ago. Ride the tide!

I know some of that stuff won't be agreeable to you guys.....maybe none of it will be. I am simply trying to soak up the media attention this game is getting and the excitement of a rare event. And, this is truly an event. There is no way that a Duke / UNC game would have created quite this type of drama (unless you left the TV on ESPN 24/7, with their ACC fetish). This is special. I hope both teams play great. I hope Louisville wins. If they do, it won't change my mind a bit that UK is a top notch program. The Wildcats and Cardinals have both proven that they have staying power and  have put together a run when it counted most. No team gets to the Final Four with an easy path and no team makes it that doesn't deserve to be there. This week will be looked back on (or should be) by fans of both schools for years to come in a fond manner. The rest of the country will watch two schools, within 75 miles of each other play for the right to get to the championship game. How special and exciting is that?

5 Great Songs!

 These are songs I love and consider to be indisposable to my life. At different times all these songs penetrated my soul and meant something (like a bookmark) to the time I was in. Each song on this list had a time when I listened to them over and over and over and again. I've had 43 years of experience to draw on, with a father who was a music lover and didn't intentionally expanded my horizons on music, though he did. I don't like to put music in a genre unless I'm explaining it to someone. Like Lupe Fiasco said (paraphrasing), good music is good music and there isn't any value in not recognizing that. So, the songs are diverse. Hopefully someone will have enough curiosity to dig into a few of these and feel the way I do about them or enjoy them in a unique way.

I have a list of 25 on my Facebook page from awhile back;

25 Songs I Love!

You're The Reason God Made Oklahoma:  David Frizell & Shelley West

Just a beautiful song about pining for a love that just isn't practical. Interests, goals, and drive often are put on the shelf for love. In this song, love is put aside for the pursuit of the life each of the "characters" wants to live. It's sweet and sad at the same time. This is one of those songs that I've played thousands of times and never get tired of hearing. From my money, there have been few country songs that I consider better than this one. 

Head Over Heels:  Tears For Fears

This song still reminds me of the first person I was ever in love with (and there have only been two). We were great friends, but I never would push on taking it further, as the chances of rejection stood at just over 110%. :-) Every time I hear it, I have to stop and listen. It puts me in a state of mind and takes me back to being 17 or 18 and not really having a clue about what was going on or where I was going. Really scared. 20+ years later, there are still aspects of that in my life. This song also provides the music for a great movie scene (one of my all-time favorites) from Donnie Darko. 

Hello, It's Me:  Todd Rundgren

One of the most well crafted pop songs ever. Something we often overlook......loving someone, but wanting to change them. Real love and care comes from allowing others to be who they are, whether it gives you what you want or not. If you fall in love with someone or something, why would you want to change and confine it? 

Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season:  Jimmy Buffett

Living the fucking dream. I guess he could be considered to be doing that now....especially with all the money. But songs like this make me understand that simple living can sometimes bring out a persons best art. "feeling tired and I got inspired, I knew that it wouldn't last long". I know that feeling. One of the songs of my early memory. Playing with my Star Wars toys in the living room while mom or dad had this record on (A-1-A). Since then I've bought this record, cassette, and CD. I have all the hardware covered!! 

Windfall: Son Volt

I'm not crazy about exposing someone to a song for the first time, that is performed live. But this has a lot of soul to it and singer Jay Farrar sounds like he means it! It's not fake and it's not studio dressed. It's real. Like Dylan or Neil Young.Out on the road, driving through the night, and exploring your mind and finding a "truer sound" on AM radio and having that take you to heaven, if only briefly.A very relaxing tune that has it's greatest value through headphones with Al Green pulsating in your mind and being.

My Morning Jacket: The Best Band In The World

So I gotta start this out by saying I'm a bit biased in this assessment. The band is from Louisville, I'm from Louisville....ya stick by your family.  That's not all my opinion is based on though. My Morning Jacket is one of those bands that almost begs to be "grown" with. Their sound has evolved over the years and they always seem to keep their audience guessing as to what direction they will head next. There are not many bands, including my all-time favorites, such as The Replacements, The Beatles, and Pink Floyd, in which I have trouble finding a couple of songs that I just don't like. MMJ (as I shall call them for the remainder of this blog) just never seems to mail it in. Every song is unique and they don't seem to fit a specific genre. 

MMJ's first album was released in 1999, called The Tennessee Fire. That album, along with their second record, At Dawn, were given nice reviews by AllMusic.com and Pitchfork as well as others. The sound was odd and certainly different as the band used heavy reverberation and mixed tempos within many of the songs, drawing you in slowly and then punching a hole in your eardrum. One of my favorites is called "The Way That He Sings" from the At Dawn album. 

Here is a great live version performed on David Letterman

The album It Still Moves was their first major label release and it opened them up to a whole new world, as the band won critical acclaim and toured seemingly non-stop to build a rabid following. It Still Moves is a fantastic piece of music that is varied in style and can at times remind the listener of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, as well as Metallica and Pink Floyd. The song "Run Thru" is another personal favorite of mine and is ranked as one of the top 100 Great Guitar Songs by Rolling Stone magazine!

If It Still Moves was their coming out party, then their next album Z would make them darlings of the critics and again show that they are not one trick ponies who just stick with a sound. Z is just a bit more pop-ish than their previous albums, but I wouldn't call it MMJ going soft. They were refining their sound and exploring different instruments and sounds. Metacritic, who uses an aggregate score of album reviews, ranked Z as the second best album of 2005 and Pitchfork Media ranked the record at 146 of the top 200 albums of the 2000's. One of the best songs off of an album full of them (Off The Record), also features a cool video.

Z seemed like a tough act to follow, but somehow, the band just keeps making great record after great record. Evil Urges was released in 2008 and stripped away much of the bands earlier sound and was an attempt to create a record that sounded more like MMJ as a live act, as opposed to the studio touches that highlighted previous records. 2008 was a big year for the band. They appeared on Saturday Night Live, received a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Rock Album, and played a legendary 3-hour live set at the Bonnaroo music festival that featured 35 songs, with help from Kirk Hammett of Metallica and comedian Zach Galifianakis. Evil Urges was ranked on no fewer than 5 lists for one of the top 20 albums of 2008, including a ranking of #4 from Rolling Stone Magazine. 

Here is yet another fantastic song. I give you "I'm Amazed", one of a handful of great tunes off of Evil Urges.

Their latest release is called Circuital and once again, the band took it's sound to a different place. Not as easily accessible as previous albums, this one is a "sitter", meaning you need to listen to it a few times and not expect the tunes to just grab you in the way many pop tunes do. This record will get better with each listen, until you have these tunes stuck in your head....."holdin' on to black metal"....Oh, Yeah!! The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard Top 200 and once again the band received a Grammy nomination. 

I have to say this about MMJ; they are a great live band. As good as their albums are and as much enjoyment that I can get out of those with the headphones on, there is nothing like experiencing them live. They will flat wear an audience out. They are the type of band that doesn't let the audience get restless. They pour it all out when they are on stage. I've seen them several times and not once can I say that they were anything other than great. Years back, before they started playing to sold out festivals, I saw them open for Joe Henry at Phoenix Hill Tavern on Bardstown Road. I had no idea who they were, but I wouldn't forget them. In addition to all the albums and touring, the band has appeared as themselves on the television show "American Dad", toured with Neil Young,  have been featured on Austin City Limits a couple of times, and were a part of the VH1 Storyteller series in 2011. If you love rock n roll and don't know who this band is, you need to do some You Tube searching and get with it! If I had to recommend an album for a mainstream music fan to introduce themselves to the band with, I think I'd choose Z or Evil Urges. 

Oh, and I can't let this blog end without showing the clip of My Morning Jacket on American Dad. 

And in case you were wondering if stardom has went to lead singer Jim James' head, it hasn't. He puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else!!!

Why're we so loud when we say it wont happen to us? 

Why does my mind blow to bits every time they play that song?

It's just the way that he sings, 

Not the words that he says, or the band. 

I'm in love with this soul, it's a meaning that I understand. 

"The Way That He Sings"---My Morning Jacket