Category Archives: Uncool band
Never Let You Go
Last time on Soul To Body: http://lancemyblogcanbeatupyourblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/100-word-song-of-lillies-and-remains/
He opened his eyes, releasing the memory of Camille and ending his long embrace with Violet. Violet ran upstairs and brought her homework down. For the first time in many months, he sat with his daughter on the same couch watching television while she did her school assignments. He flipped channels to a hockey game and slid into a more comfortable lounging position. Violet remarked.
“You should let the scruffy face grow. It makes you look more like a dad.”
He smiled and leaned over to kiss her forehead.
“Vi, I’m going to take a shower and get some stuff ready for work tomorrow. Should I wear a tie to my meeting, downtown?”
Tapping a number two pencil against her smooth chin, Violet answered.
“No. You look old in ties. Take out your off-white dress shirt but don’t iron it. That blue sports coat you wear all the time would match the shirt. Wear those nice jeans Gus and I bought you a few weeks ago. You’ll look younger and happier in that ensem. Your meeting people will pay attention to you more.”
He shook his head from side to side in agreement and grinned.
“What would I do without you and your Aunt?”
Without hesitation, Violet lowered her head to the textbook on her lap and shot back.
“Dress very poorly.”
An ache in his back made him cringe as he walked to the bathroom. Approaching his fortieth birthday, He noticed his body becoming more brittle. He felt his feet become cold as he reached the tiled floor. Turning on the shower, he caught his reflection in the fixtures and vanity slapped him. He grumbled to himself.
“I’ve aged five years in the past twelve months. “
He felt his cell phone in the left front pocket of his jeans as he pulled them off. Two text messages were in his inbox.
“Hey, it’s Mallory. I’m sorry if I came on strong. Hope you’re having a good night with Violet.”
“I’m working downtown, tomorrow. You mentioned you were too. I can have lunch at 12:30.”
He felt a wave of confidence wash over him. Now naked, he examined himself in the mirror. He saw good things and bad things. He saw needs and loneliness. With the phone still in his left hand, he smirked at his reflection and texted Mallory.
“I’ll meet you at Smyth’s Olde Pub at 12:30 if you don’t tell anyone, especially Facebook.”
She answered immediately.
“”I promise. Can’t wait to see you.”
He grimaced at the guilt pangs, ran his right hand over his face stubble and looked away.
“Mallory, you’re going to get four days of scruff and a female approved wardrobe. Hope you’re ready.”
He chuckled at his bravado and stepped into the warm shower.
****blogger’s note*****
This is a new story episode of Soul To Body a out Violet, her deceased mom Camille, and the man they love. You can find the rest of the story, so far, here: http://lancemyblogcanbeatupyourblog.wordpress.com/soul-to-body/ This is linked to the writing prompt “makeover” by Write On Edge: http://writeonedge.com/2012/04/red-writing-hood-makeover-2/
Music is great but it’s also weird. I woke up with Never Let You Go by Third Eye Blind playing in my head. I only like, maybe, three of their songs. But this was so muse-like that I scrapped my original post and reworked something for Vi and her dad. The lyrics are perfect for this entry, because Mallory, that girl is like a sunburn. Here’s Third Eye Blind, a excelent description on our grieving dad.
The Way It Is
Blogging is therapy. If you don’t think so or you don’t realize it, then you’re doing it wrong. There is no difference in typing out your words, hitting publish and getting response versus sitting in a comfortable chair in front of someone who doesn’t really know you and talking.
I don’t understand people who write under pseudonyms, have multiple online identities, or play characters on Al Gore’s internets. I’ve done it before. I was wrong and I felt stupid. I don’t blame any of you or have ill feelings. There are people who are abused and write to escape their horror. There are others with judgemental jobs or family members and they type under a shield to experience the freedom they need to survive. Good on all of you.
If My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog is about anything, other than serialized fiction, then it’s about me and my changing perspective as I grow up. Twenty years ago, Wall Street was my favorite movie. I idolized Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas. His speech to Teldar Paper, where he drops “Greed is good”, was something I mimicked and spoke verbatim in exuberance. Now, it makes me ill. I still like the film, but, currently, my favorite line comes from Martin Sheen’s character Carl Fox. When his son, Bud, played by Charlie Sheen, lectures Carl for not being more greedy and savvy about the real, cruel world around them, Carl says this:
“I don’t go to bed with no whore, and I don’t wake up with no whore. That’s how I live with myself. I don’t know how you do it.”
There’s no scandal inside My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog. The title is ironic, unless you’re a whore. If you are, then, yeah, my blog can slap you around.
I love writing. It makes me feel alive. I’m more proud that this place is authentic to who I am and what I value, the way it is.
***blogger’s note***
Although personal, the word scandal is used so this is my response, a weak one they’ll think, I’m sure, to my friends at Trifecta Challenge http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/
scan·dal noun \ˈskan-dəl\
I’m an unashamed fan of Tesla. Today’s song says a lot about where my head’s at, right now. Here’s The Way It Is. Blow a speaker.
Cherry Humble Pie
In preparation for for day one of the 30 Days of Shamelessness meme, http://lancemyblogcanbeatupyourblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/30-days-in-the-hole/ , I was going to do something I usually avoid. I was going to follow rules. I selected an uncool, lame television show, figured my angle to present, tracked the video clips, and wrote the jokes. Then life happened.
Jani Lane died this morning.
For the uniniated or the angels among us that don’t know pop metal hair band music, Jani was the lead singer of Warrant. They weren’t good but they weren’t bad either. If I had to make a comparison I would say Warrant was the equivalant to a backup quarterback on a football team. They were likable as long as they weren’t trying to be important. Jani was the main songwriter. I liked Down Boys. It was a terrific riding around with your boys on a Friday night party song. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is well done and should have been their signature tune. But a record executive told them that their second album needed to sell more. Instead of calling the release Uncle Tom’s Cabin and presenting the band as more serious, the executive demanded a party song. He wanted something girls and guys would like equally that MTV would play like hell. In less than 15 minutes, Jani, drunk, wrote Cherry Pie. That song defined the band as goofy, careless, immature and poster material for what grunge music would and should do to the industry months later. A four minute rock song about dessert as sexual innuendo killed Warrant’s chance at a long career as a serious band. Jani carried the burden of being “The Cherry Pie” guy.
Jani had a lot of problems with drugs and alcohol. A few years ago he showed up on Celebrity Fit Club. He wasn’t obese. But his skin looked transluscent. He looked 10 years older than his early 40s. In the midst of losing weight on the show, cameras caught him drunk in concert. I saw him the same way over 10 years ago when he opened for Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy in a Marietta, Georgia club. Jani, a father to a young girl, was a cliche. He was washed up, drunk, and hopeless.
Yesterday, he was found dead in a Comfort Inn in Los Angeles, California. He was only 47 years old. He had been kicked out of the Warrant reunion tour 3 years earlier because of his condition. He canceled solo shows throughout this month without reason.
I can’t say I am or was a fan of Jani because of his track record as a dad. But I was a fan of his band when it wasn’t cool to be. I listened to Warrant on the sly. I loved Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinkin Rich, their first album. I really dug Uncle Tom’s Cabin. As bad as Cherry Pie is, it’s a fun, harmless piece of crap to turn your brain off for a few minutes.
So, I was rock and roll today. I broke the rules. I jumped to number 10 on the Shamelessness list and told you my uncool band. Do me a favor, hit the bargain bins at Walmart, Target, or used CD stores. You can find Dirty Rotten Fithy Stinkin Rich for 5 bucks or less. Buy them. Maybe the money will make it’s way to Jani’s daughter.
Here’s my first slice of Humble Pie or Shamelessness according to the meme. At least you’ll know, from Jani and Warrant, where The Down Boys go.
