"So... is this a BLOG you're writing, or a C-movie screenplay?"

I should probably start trying to make these things into actual blog entries instead of completely out-of-order chapters in a retrospective novel that will never get written. Like Bon Jovi says:

"'Cause the bottle vodka's still lodged in my head...
As I dream about movies they won't make of me when I'm dead."

That's a line from "Bed of Roses," which was one of my Dad's favorite songs. He was pretty darn sentimental for being such a gangster. And you can mock/knock Bon Jovi all you want, but the man's got a point. I think that a lot of us are actually living each day in some sort of suspended reality, visualizing our lives as a movie and secretly casting our friends as side roles in our own grand cinematic delusion. There comes a time when it's very important to stop living for the idea. For example, I spent a lot of time working towards being known as a guitar player vs. actually improving at guitar. And then my last band experience with the girls forced me to wake up and realize that I wasn't nearly as good as I thought I was.

It's all been a movie, a realized vision
Where nothing is real, just a life-or-death game
The winner perfects authenticity feigned
The ride into the sunset can't make you John Wayne...

That's a little something that came into my head a few years ago, when I first realized that I was not an authentic person. That I often do things for the object, for the show or for the idea, rather than the actual practical value and experience. And so, if I'm writing a blog, how's bout writing a blog and not turning everything into a pretentious friggin' screenplay. Because sometimes people get accidentally "cast" unfairly, assigned lines they never wished to read.
So enough blogging about blogging... BLOG!!
(Remember being a kid and realizing for the first time that if you start to repeat the same word over and over and over again, it completely loses its meaning and becomes a funny-sounding set of syllables?)

Today should be good. Excellent, even. After a grueling day of slavery under the cruel master I know as Salesforce.com (bane of my existence), I get to go bouncing away to Misfits practice! Vunderful. I could not be looking forward to this more. The guys and I are having our second go of it tonight, hopefully defining a set list and moving a few steps closer to getting on stage. It's so exciting. It's a different experience for all of us- between the four of us we encompass a wide range of skill levels, from established, experienced musician to total band newb, to moderate band newb, to music student at a SUPER-legit institution. What this means is that there is a lot of potential for growth among us- that the novice might learn from the veteran, that the more experienced might expand personally by helping nurture someone who is on their way. I'm probably getting ahead of myself- I do that- we've only had one practice. But it was a GREAT practice. And we're all back again this week for another one. This project still being a new thing, there is of course always that chance that certain elements may fall apart. But it is my highest hope that we succeed with this current lineup, and that anyone who likes to burn some energy slamming around to classic Misfits tunes will be able to come out and do just that with us soon. VERY soon!
After that, we're hiking it down to the Delancey to see the NE'RE DO WELLS!! My absolute FAVORITE local act (Stoned Fire, Sky White Tiger, Daniel Wayne, and Edison Woods are right there too and deserve honorable mentions). I give a LOT of credit to these guys... they are doing their part to keep traditional MUSIC alive. I believe I first caught the Ne're Do Wells at the Southpaw in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I'd never seen anything like it- it's these tall, handsome guys in suits, playing punk country. Yes, punk country. As if Johnny Cash had actually gone over his prodigious cocaine limit. If you haven't seen the Ne're Do Wells, I highly suggest you put it on your to-do list. It is traditional country/folk/blues-style music set to a punk-rock backbeat. And people DANCE! Imagine, a show where people don't just STAND there. After this week I really need this... and shows are such a wonderful cathartic escape. It's been a somewhat stressful week, between work, interpersonal tensions, and me just being kind of a miserable human being for no reason half the time. I can think of few things finer than going to a show in an "intimate" setting (meaning you can watch the artist cranking out the tunes you love without TV screens on the stage, and knowing that that artist will be standing at the same bar as you after their set and you might get to shake their pickin' hand and buy them a "thank you" beer). And it is SO important to SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC. I feel that if more musicians supported each other's shows, if more people made it a point to discover and support the people who are making great music happen in the town they live in, that the world would drastically improve. Music is such a community thing- it should be a glue, an adherent, a set of crochet needles that weaves people in and out of circles and patterns to form a human fabric.
SOOO..... I HEAVILY recommend that if, like me, you would otherwise plan on staying home tonight Googling funny pictures of cats to post to your friends' Facebook profiles, that you change your "ICanHasCheezburger"-ridden mind and come see the Ne're Do Wells tonight at the Delancey. 9pm.
LATER!