Welcome to the It's A Wonderful Blog's Blogging From A to Z April (2015) Challenge. For this challenge, I will post every day in April (except for Sundays) about topics related to the Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart film, It's a Wonderful Life.
Poor, hapless Clarence. He can't seem to get a leg up.
Jesus taught us to love others unconditionally. It's in the red words. And yet Joseph can't help but hold him in contempt. His voice just drips of it. In fact, Joseph thinks Clarence will fail. He reveals his Debbie Downer Disease when he sighs, "Poor George."
It's so sad.
Clarence is kind of like Quasimodo in a way. Clarence is an Angel, Second Class, and poor Quasimodo can't even achieve the status of Full Modo.
Second class. In Heaven. Forget political correctness. Forget equality. Clarence comes in with the silver medal, and no wings. He can't see visions without the help of other - better, First Class - angels.
He can't even get his own movie....at least not a quality movie.
In 1990, there was a movie. Not a film. A movie. Called Clarence. It starred Robert Carradine as a younger Clarence. It wasn't very good. I just looked it up on Internet Movie Database, and I can say I'm honestly shocked that it has 5.4 stars. Check it out for yourself.
Now granted, I bought the movie (on videocassette), watched it once about 20 years ago, and I haven't touched it since. I'll have to watch it sometime and review it here. So take my opinion lightly and watch it yourself.
In It's a Wonderful Life, Clarence is accused of being simple. George calls him a fallen angel (Fans of Poison and Bret Michaels bang heads now), and also calls him Gabriel a couple of times.
In many ways, he is like the little guy that George fights for throughout the film. Except that Clarence is fighting for George. The little guy is fighting for the guy who fights for the little guy. That's pretty cool, and pretty special, as well. Check out Clarence's big intro below:
This blog entry feels like blasphemy to me, and it’s only the first sentence.
In a previous blog entry, I told the story about how I came to love the 80s arena rock hair metal band Poison.
When I was in junior high school, somewhere around 1990 or 1991, my friend Mark invited me to go see Kiss and Whitesnake at the Toledo Sports Arena. It was for Kiss’s “Hot in the Shade” album, and Whitesnake’s “Slip of the Tongue” album, I think. I didn’t go. That decision was not because I didn’t want to see a concert and see what all of the excitement was about (I was quite naïve). I chose not to go for two reasons:
1)Everyone I read about in the rock and roll magazines said their first concert was Kiss, and I didn’t want to be just like everyone else.
2)I wanted my first concert to be my favorite band, Poison.
So I waited. But I didn’t have to wait long. In 1991, Poison released their “Flesh and Blood” CD, and soon announced a tour with Warrant, who had just released “Cherry Pie.”
Mark and my brother Lance, and I all wanted to go really bad, but we didn’t want our parents to take us. The problem was that Mark and I didn’t have our driver’s license yet. So I called my Uncle Tod and bribed him to take us. We bought his ticket and gave him beer money. Best deal ever. He took us to many concerts under the same arrangement. \m/
Warrant was AWESOME. I don’t remember much from 20 years ago, but I know that I loved it. I remember watching the guitar players, Joey Allen (my favorite) and Erik Turner playing in perfect harmony… sometimes even the same solos and fills. It was amazing to watch, and our seats kinda’ sucked.
Then Poison came on and blew our minds. For nearly two hours, they pulled out everything. You can find a performance from the tour on their “Swallow This Live” album. While the album itself came under heavy scrutiny due to overdubs and overproduction, it still is an excellent album.
In the years since, we have stuck by Poison through everything, including a drugged-up performance by C.C. Deville, which besides some false starts, unplugging himself, his pink hair, and some missed chords, was a great performance, through the fistfight and breakup that followed, to C.C.’s cocaine-fueled solo career, Poison’s resurgence with a critically-acclaimed CD, “Native Tongue” with an eclectic guitar player who eventually screwed Poison over (not to mention drummer Rikki Rockett’s girlfriend. He was kicked off a bus in a swamp for that stupid trick.
We stuck through uncertainty, and a really long period of inactivity. Without our fix of Poison, Lance and I turned to the Internet to find old live performances, both on DVD and videocassette. We amassed quite the collection of bootleg tapes during that time.
One of my greatest finds was a legitimate copy of Poison’s recorded and produced, yet unreleased album, “Crack a Smile,” with the amazing guitar player Blues Saraceno. It remains one of my favorite albums, which Capital Records finally got smart and released.
Lance’s interest in Poison became so great that he purchased an electric blue Ibanez guitar just like C.C. played on the Flesh and Blood album’s “Road Dogs From Hell” tour.
Credit unknown
Since 1991, Lance and I have seen Poison a total of 16 times, sometimes just the two of us, sometimes with wives, sometimes with our cousin Brooke, or other friends. It has been a wild ride.
We have seen Bret Michaels in concert at least three times, and we have been members of his fan club and met him backstage on numerous occasions. We also saw him perform “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” for the Toledo Mudhens in 2009. I once won tickets to one of his concerts.
My wife Jenn and I have seen the guitar player, C.C. DeVille, live as a solo act twice, playing at bars with their house bands. One of those bars was the Alrosa Villa in Columbus where Dimebag Darrell of Pantera was murdered during a concert. Lance and I got to go onstage with him during that performance. It was awesome.
Me and Bret backstage on the steps of his bus in 2006 (photo by Big John)
(From left) Jenn, me, C.C. Brooke, Kristy and Lance at Alrosa Villa
in 2007.
Sometime in 2009 or 2010, Lance and Kristy got to meet Bobby Dall, Poison’s bass player, backstage, which I understand was completely unintentional.
This year, Lance and his wife Kristy went down to Cincinnati to see Poison and Motley Crue. I have always wanted to see the Crue, but I wasn’t about to pay $150 per ticket to do it, so Jenn and I didn’t go.
Lance and Kristy became members of drummer Rikki Rockett’s fan club, and met him backstage at the Cincinnati show, and again at the Toledo Zoo, which is really what this blog entry is about.
So that’s where we are now in this story. We were disappointed to not get to see him again with Motley Crue. I can count only a few other times since Poison’s 1999 reunion that I haven’t seen them. Once was when they didn’t tour. Another was when they toured with Kiss and Ted Nugent, and again with Def Leppard. In all instances, tickets were more than $100 each. I’m not going to do that.
So when Jenn and I heard that they were playing at the Toledo Zoo, we jumped at the chance. The fact that we were members and had early access to the seats made it even better. The icing on the cake for me, was that Warrant was opening. It was going to be like my very first concert all over again.
So we got tickets. So did Lance and Kristy. We were all in Row Q in chairs in the front section. Cool. They were the best seats that were available, and sales hadn't opened to the general public yet.
And then they did, and Lance and Kristy got bored one night and checked out the sales availability...and proceded to purchase Row C tickets (that's third row, very front), as non-members. It burns my britches that the Toledo Zoo tried to ram their nose into the taxpayer pockets in Wood County when they pull crap like that. I'm glad the Wood County Commissioners told them to take a hike.
Jenn and I stayed in Row C and waited for the concert to arrive.
Warrant live at the Toledo Zoo July 28, 2011 (l-r, Erik Turner,
Jerry Dixon and Steven Sweet) Photo by Kristy Van Vorhis.
On July 28, we arrived just in time to see Warrant start their set. It was FANTASTIC. Jenn would look at me as if I was nuts when my face would melt from the harmonic guitars. Some things never change. Of course, my face also might have been melting because it was so FREAKING HOT that night. Jenn's fingers swelled up so bad that she couldn't even spin her ring finger. I had to sit down at one point because I almost passed out.
Joey Allen of Warrant at Rally by the River,
Toledo, OH, Aug. 6, 2010. Photo by me.
We saw Warrant last year at Rally by the River in Toledo, and that performance was better. They played an hour and a half last year, and only about 40 minutes this year. Last year, I actually complained that it was too loud. I hate myself for getting old. This year, it wasn't too loud, but it was too short. Photos from that show can be seen at https://picasaweb.google.com/gregvanvorhis/ 2010_08_06WarrantLiveRallyByTheRiverToledoOH
This blog, "Stronger Now," is actually named after one of Warrant's songs (see my first ever blog entry).
Then Poison came on, and while I am always excited to see "my boys," and will always stand by them, I am sad to report that this was the same concern that I have seen for the last 10 years. I am able to name all of the songs they play, in order, before they play the first chord, and I can tell you pretty much word-for-word, or main idea for main idea, what Bret will say between each of the songs. I can't begin to tell you how many years in a row they have decided to "put Ride the Wind back into the set." It has gotten to the point of being ridiculous. The saving grace for me, I suppose, is watching the people who don't follow them as closely as we do, and haven't realized they have been touring for so long. They still feel the magic.
Go grab Poison's CD "Power to the People," or their CD/DVD combo "Live Raw and Uncut."It is the exact same show. My oldest son and I started talking about music the night after the concert, so I threw in the Live Raw and Uncut DVD to show him some concepts I had explained to him. Jenn walked in, watched a couple of songs and said "Oh my God. This is the exact same show we saw last night." My response was "Take any concert from the last 10 years, copy it, paste it into last night's time slot, and hardly anything has changed."
The biggest question/surprise is what order they play the last two songs in: Will it be "Talk Dirty to Me" followed by "Nothin' but a Good Time," or the more common pattern of "Nothin' but a Good Time followed by "Talk Dirty to Me."
C.C. and Bret performing at the Toledo Zoo.
(Photo by Kristy Van Vorhis)
They always start with the intro to "Valley of Lost Souls," which goes into "Look What the Cat Dragged In," which is always followed by "I Want Action." And every concert, they play "Every Rose" and "Something to Believe In" in their entirety, despite the fact that they are practically the same song musically. They also always play "Your Mama Don't Dance," including Bret's worn-out harmonica intro.
Bret Michaels at the Toledo Zoo. Notice the drum head
spray pained with the word "Toledo." It will show up later.
(Photo by Kristy Van Vorhis)
Having said that I WILL ADMIT that the live version of "Your Mama Don't Dance" at the Toledo Zoo this year was the best version I have ever heard them do. Bobby took the bass line back to old school Loggins/Messina, Will killed it on the keyboards, they were both turned up loud enough to hear them, and the play between Bret's harmonica and C.C.'s guitar solos had extra life that I hadn't seen in a long time. This was the highlight of my night.
Then Jenn disappeared and started texting me about which shirt I wanted. She insisted on getting me a shirt because my birthday is coming up. After some arguing with myself, I decided to go to a throwback t-shirt showing the "Open Up and Say...Ahh" album cover, which some people find disturbing to the point that it was censored in 1988.
I texted Jenn that I wanted that shirt, and she texted back "REALLY???" I texted back to her "For 20 years, YES!" After the concert, I told her why, and that is the story I will tell next.
This is the shirt Jenn got me.
Photo borrowed from www.fanfire.com
While this is actually a back patch, this is the
design of the shirt Lance stole from me.
Back in 1989, when "Fallen Angel" and "Your Mama Don't Dance" were getting heavy airplay, they censored the "Open Up" album cover. There were still a few t-shirts floating around stores that still showed the full-face cover.
One day when my parents took us to the Woodland Mall in Bowling Green, Lance and I ran into Record Den, and straight to the back to the t-shirt rack at the back of the store. There, I found one t-shirt left with the "Open Up" cover on it. I told my brother that we needed to figure out how to find mom and dad without losing the shirt. He told me to just hang it on the rack, because nobody would take it in such a short time. I hung it up and started to walk out of the store. I turned around and saw Lance had the shirt in his hand, and he proceded to take it up to the clerk and ask him to hold it for him. I about beat him up right there. For some reason I didn't confront him about it in front of mom and dad, so he got it. I have resented him for it ever since then...a little.
If Poison insists on continuing to release
retro shirts, I hope they re-release this design.
But Jenn redeemed me by getting me that shirt for me (she can't look at it). It has the covers of 15 of their album covers on the back of it. That's not all of them, but it is most of them. Out of that 15, eight of them are either "greatest hits," "best-ofs" compilations, or live albums. Their last studio album was completely comprised of cover songs.
So to review, Poison runs the same live show, puts out the same CD with different art work and song order, and has even begun to sell old t-shirt designs as "retro." I sincerely and severely need a fix of Poison that is all new.
But I love them. We will continue to go see them in concert and buy their non-compilation albums.
And Lance and Kristy were cool enough to ask Rikki to sign his solo album cover for us, and it's personalized, so that's really cool, too. I just wish there was more creativity coming from their camp.
Kristy, Rikki and Lance backstage at the Toledo Zoo July 28, 2011.
(Photo probably by some random dude who was next in line, or Rikki's handler)
Lance with his customized bass drum head he
(or Kristy, depending on who you ask)
bought for charity through Rikki's fan club.
(Photo by Kristy Van Vorhis)
Jenn and me with our personalized and signed Rikki Rockett "Glitter 4 Your Soul"
solo CD cover, our Toledo Zoo tickets, and my new retro shirt
that Jenn can't look at, but I love. (Photo by my oldest son)
(I'm warning you right now: I use some "bad words" in this blog. Most of them are part of the titles of albums and songs, but not all of them).
I recently started thinking about musical tastes: What I listened to, what I publicly admit that I listen to (up until now, that is), what I listen to when the kids aren't in the car, and what I listen to when the wife isn't in the car.
In those answers I found a wide range of musical styles. But what does that say about a person?
Music is my life. It moves me, inspires me, drives me, and at times, calms me. It can serve to both focus me and completely distract me, depending on the task, the day, and the song. I listen to it when I drive, when I work, and when I mow the lawn. I sing it at the top of my lungs (as long as nobody else is home) in the shower, and in the car (even with the kids in the car). I love to listen to The White Stripes, Guns N Roses "Appetite for Destruction" and "Use Your Illusion II" at top volume, and habitually lose my voice trying to sing like Tom Keiffer from Cinderella. Just today, I played the original version of "Cover of Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook, and the cover version of it that Poison did for my oldest son. I do that a lot.
I act like a fool when I play Guitar Hero. Just ask Jenn about my butt-shaking performance of "We Got the Beat" by the Go-Gos.
I have song selections for my different moods, including songs to bring me down, when I am really, really mad. I currently use my phone to listen to music in my car, but I also own a Microsoft Zune and an iPod Mini (thanks to my wife Jenn, who found that sucker just recently at a garage sale. I use it for my audiobooks, and it interfaces with my car. Cool stuff.).
Someone I follow on Twitter just asked how long iTunes would play before repeating a song. His was 11 days. Mine is 76.4 days, covering 20,173 tracks.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE fan of '80s hair metal/arena rock. The crunchier the guitar and the raunchier the lyrics, the happier I am. You can leave your ballad crap and acoustic guitars at home…unless you run your acoustic through a distortion pedal. Then it's a whole different story, and it's all good.
Poison is my Achilles' heel. I catch shit for it all the time, but I just don't care. I became a fan in 1988 on their "Open Up and Say…Ahh." album. I was in 7th grade, and this album opened so many doors for me. The song "Nothin' But a Good Time" was the hot Cassingle at the time, and i that was soon followed by "Fallen Angel," "Every Rose," and "Your Mama Don't Dance," but maybe not exactly in that order. I invested in an early bootleg copy of their album "Crack a Smile" before Capitol Records realized how great it was, got smart and released it for real.
I also have bootleg copies of live shows on May 30, 1999, in Pine Knob, Mich., and Bret Michaels live at The Bijou in Toledo, OH on Oct. 12, 2003, and at the Downtown Hoedown in Detroit, Mich., on May 16, 2005. I attended every one of those shows, so it was nice to find copies of those shows available online.
The PMRC led me to purchase SO MANY albums featuring
the "Parental Advisory" sticker. Thank you Tipper Gore for
increasing album sales. And thank you to Warrant for
teaching me the "Ode to Tipper Gore."
My first concert was Poison during the "Road Dogs From Hell" tour in support for their album "Flesh and Blood." Warrant opened for them in support of their album "Cherry Pie." Ironically, later this month, I will be attending a Poison/Warrant show at the Toledo Zoo. I can't wait to relive my High School days with Jenn.
My first live performance on tambourine with my cousin, Cathy (Firsdon) Iott in Weston, OH. I later spent a lot of time sitting at the desk on the left learning the lyrics to Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" and the Beastie Boys "Licence to Ill" albums....and reading the Chronicles of Narnia for the first time....and some aweful short story in fourth grade called "Argyle Socks," which I couldn't for the life of me understand what argyle socks were, despite how much time my dad spent explaining it to me. But I digress.
My second concert performance with my cousin Lisa (both on harmonica) also in Weston, Ohio.
The Bee Gees rocked. Period. Or not.
My earliest musical memory (besides singing "Little Red Caboose" into my Bee Gees portable sing-along radio microphone, or my wireless microphone) involves me riding in my dad's Chevy Blazer in the early 1980s. We were listening to the radio, and I asked him "Can I say a curse word if it's part of a song?" Dad asked me what song (and what word) I meant specifically. I said "Take this Job and Shove It," which I didn't know at the time, was performed by Johnny Paycheck. Dad got a good laugh and almost wrecked the truck in front of Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green, Ohio when I said that. He told me it was alright as long as he never heard me say it outside of a song. It was only a few years later that I found out the punishment for saying such a word when he back-handed me for saying a B-word that almost rhymes with "mustard," and not many years after that when I started dropping the F-bomb in front of him with impunity.
My infatuation with rock and roll started when I was in elementary school and my neighbor let me listen to Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil" album, some ZZ Top album, Kiss's album "Animalize," and Quiet Riot. The first two albums I ever bought (or that were bought for me) were Crue's "Theatre of Pain," and Quiet Riot's "Condition Critical." The Quiet Riot cassette was a birthday present. I remember because I wanted their album "Metal Health." Mom and dad told me they got me "Condition Critical" because one of the songs on "Metal Health" had a bad word on it. She was referring to the song "Love's a Bitch," a song I knew well, heard many times, and sang often. Up until that moment, I didn't know "bitch" was a bad word. I learned that from mom.
In sixth grade, they bought me the Beastie Boys "License to Ill" album. I remember following mom through Hearts (or was it Rinks at the time???) on North Main Street in Bowling Green, just pestering her to let me get the album. She let me. Knowing what I know now, there is no way in Hell I would have bought my kid that album at any age. He can buy it for himself and hide it from me. That's some raunchy, disrespectful music. I have it on my phone and on my streaming music through Google Music now. I listen to it often, without Jenn in the car.
Mom and Dad also bought me rap albums by Run DMC (somehow the album title "Raising Hell" was okay with them in that instance), and by The Fat Boys (with glorious song titles such as "Respect Yourself (My Nuts)," which was not a double entendre or oblique reference to anything. It was flat-out blatant and vulgar. I loved it, and I still listen to it occasionally.
Once I started listening to Poison, the entire world of music changed for me. I pushed my old music collection, consisting of the Muppet Movie Soundtrack, and albums from Alabama, Oak Ridge Boys, Statler Brothers, and Kenny Rogers off to the side, and let my world be transformed by electric guitars, long poofy hair, Aqua Net, general debauchery, and songs about sex without consequence.
The Sik Puppyz hand-made poster
(made in the cut-and-paste days of DOS
with no graphics software available) that was
created to advertise a New Year's Evebasement
concert (show info since removed for some
unknown reason). The weather allowed us to
enjoy our first concert record-breaking crowd
attendance of one. And I "performed" with a
horrendous infection from a wisdom tooth
extraction, for which I went in special to my
dentist the next day, which was New Year's
Day. This show earned me the nickname
"Chubby Cheekers."
The Silent Echo logo, designed by
my friend John
For many years, all I listened to was Poison, Def Leppard (specifically the "Hysteria" album), and Bon Jovi (the "New Jersey" album). It eventually led to learning how to play the guitar. I pretty much suck, but I would be a good rhythm guitarist for a garage (and only the garage) band that plays for fun, not for fame.
I was in two bands....Sik Puppyz (back in 1991, before the currently popular and signed version of the band existed, as far as I know), and Silent Echo, a five-piece with my brother, and lots of similar names. In fact, our first names were Andy, Andy, Greg, Greg and Lance.We headlined the High School talent show my junior year. I have the video around somewhere of us performing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me."
Silent Echo featuring from L to R: Me (Greg), Greg, Andy, Andy, and Lance, at the Bobcat Review, at the end of the junior year for me and the two Andy's. The other Greg and Lance joined us in High School the following September. We rocked the joint with a two-song set of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me."
We played a couple of outdoor parties, including one that got the attention of the police department. No arrests, no citations. Awesome.
I don't remember why Sik Puppyz broke up. Silent Echo broke up because of in-fighting, creative differences, and the fact that 3 of us were, at the time, high school seniors focused on getting the hell out of high school and moving on with our lives in college...I'm sorry...College, with a Capital C (Do the Bluto).
Some of my favorite songs to play on guitar are the two I mentioned above, as well as "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne, "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC (the first song I learned on the guitar), "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin, and a rare song by the White Stripes called "Black Jack Davey," which actually is a cover version of a song by Bob Dylan.
I was just getting into the whole rock and roll scene and beginning to understand what it was about when Motley Crue released what I still feel was their best album ever, past or present. "Dr. Feelgood" was a monster force from beginning to end, from guitar work to effects to themes, to lyrics, to artwork. It was a work of genius, only recently approached in brilliance by their album "Saints of Los Angeles," which also is an epic album.
Through the years, I have seen the following bands in concert:
Me and Bret Michaels on the steps
of his tour bus in 2006.
Poison (to be 14 or 15 times later this month)
Bret Michaels (3 or 4 times. Personally chatted with him and got autographs 3 times between Poison and solo concerts)
C.C. DeVille (twice, including going up on stage with him once and getting autographs both times)
Warrant (to be 4 times later this month. I'm hoping to meet Joey Allen. I have never seen such melodic, harmonic guitar duo as Joey Allen and Eric Turner. It's amazing to watch.)
Lynch Mob
Tora Tora
Faster Pussycat (in the last 10 years, looking like Nazis. I prefer the "Wake Me When it's Over" days, thank you very much)
Cinderella (3 times. They blow Poison out of the water live, by the way)
Winger
Enuff Z'Nuff
Slaughter
Me, my brother Lance, and C.C. DeVille onstage in 2007 at
Alrosa Villa in Columbus, OH. (Yes, the same place Dimebag Darrelll
and others were killed in Dec., 2004).
Dokken
Peter Wolf live at Rally By The River in Toledo, OH. May 27, 2004 on the tour
for his "Long Line" CD. Guitarist Johnny A (right) is amazing.
Aerosmith
Peter Wolf (twice)
J. Geils Band
BulletBoys
Buckcherry (I think they opened for Aerosmith on the Get a Grip tour)
Tim McGraw
And others I can't remember.
My CDs signed by various members of Poison. Power to the People (the green one) was ordered special that way. The other 3 were signed in person at various concerts. I can't find my t-shirt (seen in the photo of me, Lance and C.C.) at the current moment. JENN!!!!! Have you seen my shirt?????? I know where it WAS. I don't know where it IS.
(The above two videos were filmed by me in 2009 at sequential evening appearances in Toledo, Ohio)
Jim Croce
A deeply influential musician in my life has been Jim Croce. He died in September, 1973. I was born 11 months later. I LOVE his music. He is a great musician and storyteller, whose life was taken way too soon. I still can't believe that in terms of age, I have outlived him. He is everything I have wanted to be...English major, musician, snarky, and with a very unique world view. I can still visualize my parents' copy of his record "Life and Times," with newspaper articles about his death taped inside the gatefold cover. That had a profound effect on my respect for, interest in, and love for Jim Croce. Check out his albums, "50th Anniversary Collection," "Live: The Final Tour," "Facets," and "Home Recordings," and his DVD "Have You Heard Jim Croce Live,"
I still bathe in the 80s, refusing to grow up. But musically, I have greatly expanded my interests. My current favorites are Aerosmith's albums "Honkin' on Bobo" and Pump (a favorite from beginning to end since it came out), and anything by the White Stripes. If you plan on checking any of these bands out, also be sure to check out the song called "Carolina Drama" by a band called The Raconteurs, featuring White Stripes guitarist/vocalist Jack White. Creepy song. So amazing.
Interesting story about the White Stripes: My first encounter with them was the video you see below. I watched this live on TV. When they first came onstage, I thought to myself "Humpf. A two-piece band. This will be a joke." By the time this performance was over, I was a White Stripes fan for life. I was blown away by what I call my own personal "Jimmy Hendrix moment." I didn't know you could do that with a guitar. It still blows my mind. I just literally got chills thinking about it. Their album "Get Behind Me Satan") got me through my divorce.
In addition to ALL of the bands listed above, here is a sampling of what is in my cloud/on my phone/on my hard drive/in my head.
AC/DC
Amy Winehouse
Anthrax
Avenged Sevenfold
The B-52s
The Bangles
Bellamy Brothers
Big & Rich
Blink 182
Blue Man Group
Bob Seger
Brian Setzer Orchestra
Bruce Springsteen
Bulletboys
C&C Music Factory
Cheap Trick
Chuck Berry
Clarence Carter
The Dead Weather
DiVinyls
Doctor Hook
Drivin' N' Cryin'
The Eagles
Eddie Rabbit
Eminem
Europe
Evanescence
Every Mother's Nightmare
Extreme
Faith No More
Fatboy Slim
Firehouse
Five Finger Death Punch
Georgia Satellites
Gorky Park
Great White
Green Day
Guns N Roses
Hot Chocolate
Huey Lewis and the News
Imelda May
INXS
Iron Maiden
J. Geils Band
James Bunt
Jane's Addiction
Janis Joplin
Jim Croce
Joan Jett
John Mellencamp
Johnny Cash
Judas Priest
Junkyard
Justin Timberlake
Kid Rock
Korn
L.A. Guns
Lil' Jon
Limp Bizkit
Lita Ford
Little Richard
Living Colour
LL Cool J
Loggins/Messina
Marilyn Manson
Megadeth
Metallica
MercyMe
Muse
Nazareth
Neil Diamond
Neil Young
Nelson
Nickelback
Nine Inch Nails
Nirvana
No Doubt
Ozzy Osbourne
Pantera
Pearl Jam
Peter Wolf (Whose album "Long Line" got me through a confusing and difficult time in college)
Pink
The Proclaimers
Queen
The Raconteurs
Rage Against the Machine
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Rednex
Rolling Stones
Ronnie Millsap
Roy Clark
Sacred Harp Singers
Sam Kinnison
Seether
The Smithereens
Soulja Boy Tell'em
Spin Doctors
Sponge
Squirrel Nut Zippers
Starship
Steelheart
Steve Vai
Stevie Nicks
Stryper
Sum 41
Sweet
Ted Nugent
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tesla
Theory of a Dead Man
Thin Lizzy
Tom Petty
Tone Loc
The Tractors
Ugly Kid Joe
Van Halen
The White Stripes
White Lion
Whitesnake
The Who
Yngwie Malmsteen
Bob...What about him?
That list doesn't include all of the bands. Nor does it include soundtracks, or Veggie Tales albums or Disney compilation discs that are mine, not my kids (though I DO let them listen to those).
I find that list to be as eclectic as your weird uncle Bob, and I'm okay with that. I feel it says I am well-versed, open-minded, and "well-rounded."
But based on what you see here, what bands would you recommend I check out next?
The only news I have right now on the job front is that my interview Tuesday went extremely well. I have it on good authority that 12 people are being interviewed. I know that if I make the cut, I will go for a second interview June 3. The job would start June 8. This should move quickly, and I have a good feeling about it.
On Tuesday night (same day as the interview), I went with my brother Lance and sister-in-law Kristy to see Bret Michaels sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame at a Toledo Mud Hens game. We were able to get fantastic seats just outside of his VIP box from family members who will remain anonymous but VERY MUCH thanked. One of those family members got us in the proper place, got us great seats, and gave us a behind-the-scenes look at the stadium. That was a lot of fun.
Here are some photos from the meeting. Lance got a part from his Poison Tribute motorcycle signed. I got a CD cover signed.
At the bottom of this entry, there is a video I shot of him signing autographs and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."
The concert at the Omni is tonight. I will try to post photos of that tonight or tomorrow...depends on how late Kaleb decides to stay awake tonight.
Rock on.
And thanks again to those who were able to make this happen!
There is a LOT of stuff going on this week, so here are the highlights.
We went camping this weekend, so I picked up the weekend mail today (Monday) and found out that I passed the Civil Service Test in Findlay, with a score of 94 percent. Yeah for me!!! That means that I go on to the next step and take the computer portion of the test on June 2.
I also take the Civil Service Test for the Perrysburg dispatching position on June 17.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), I have a real interview for a position with the Wood County Educational Service Center. The last time I had an interview, I was offered the assistant manager position for the Peebles position. I am cautiously confident, but not cocky about my chances.
In other non-job-related business, I won tickets and meet-and-greet passes to see Bret Michaels, and the concert is Wednesday in Toledo. I'm looking forward to that.
On Thursday, Evan "graduates" from pre-school. Photos likely to be posted from both the concert and the graduation.
On the home front, Kaleb is crawling, standing, "cruising," holding himself steady with one hand, and by my guess is only about two months away from walking. He also happens to be teething, so he is one fiercely grumpy gus.
