I Miss My Youth

Sitting on the couch, watching some music videos I had a bit of an epiphany: I miss my youth.

Disclaimer: I am 28. I am not old. I am not young. I am stuck.

During this moment of heightened lucidity, I realized I miss my youth so much right now because the last six months have been the most creatively frustrating time of my entire life. The soundtrack to my epiphany? Def Leppard's Hysteria of course. Yeah, I listen to all sorts of music - I own way too many albums. I am blessed to earn enough money to purchase plenty of music to engage my soul, but every time I miss my youth, I go right back to Hysteria.

Put on Hysteria and I'm eight again.  

Why eight and why Hysteria? Simple: Def Leppard were the soundtrack to my life when I was that young. Sure, I was big into Poison, but when I want to feel young...it's Hysteria or bust.

I'm been feeling like sleep won't hold me anymore. It's like whatever I do...there's a nagging feeling that I should be doing more. That more is writing. That I should be writing all the time. All the  damn time.

Here's a complex emotion that words probably can't describe, but if you're a writer, an artist, a musician then you'll know what I mean: at points in your life your body starts to ache because you need to create. You must become your art. The rest of the world stops because you need to create. Only problem is, real life and human emotion are rarely in sync. Sadly, real life wins out.

Let me explain further. I was "listening" to satellite radio yesterday while driving to work. I had zero recollection of the trip or the songs on the dial. I was terrified when I sat down at my desk and realized that I couldn't remember stopping at lights or even walking from my car to the building. The entire commute I was in a completely other world, creating. There's a recurring theme that keeps running through my mind. This tells me I have a story inside me - perhaps a novel - that needs written. Lately, my mind has been consumed with this story. I find myself obsessing about it everywhere: at work, in the car, at the store. Now here's the rub: when I sit at my computer to write, I can't. I'm rendered impotent by the fear. I'm not sure what I'm afraid of exactly...but the fear is real, palpable and very painful.

So why do I miss my youth? There was no other time in my life when I so free creatively. From the ages of eight to 18, I wrote freely. Sure, I didn't have to worry about working 40+ hours a week, but I don't think that's the issue here. There's something deeper going on...and I can't quite place it and at the end of the day, I'm freaked out. 

So I listen to Hysteria and flip through music videos and remember being a kid. There are all sorts of songs that take me to a different time in my life, and no, they are not all Glam. I guess Hysteria is the permanent in the ever-changing soundtrack of my life.

I suppose all roads lead back to Glam, don't they? The majority of us love Glam because the music makes us feel young, full of life, excitable. Yep, I went there.

Are King's X Glam?

Last night I found myself sitting in my office, staring at the pink walls. You see, I was near zombie state I was so tired...instead of writing and doing a ton of work that needs tackled, I just sort of randomly listened to music and enjoyed sitting in my own private space.

I (naturally) listened to the new Motley Crue, random Def Leppard, Sammy Hagar's The Essential Red Collection and King's X Ear Candy. Then it dawned on me that I didn't know how to classify King's X. Of course that doesn't matter as I listen to all sorts of music across many genres, but I've often heard people refer to King's X as a Glam band...and I'm not so sure that's an accurate distinction.

iTunes defines King's X as a Metal act, and I think that is fair. No matter what the classification, it's pretty clear that King's X rock. The band are often compared to Faith No More and Living Colour but I actually prefer King's X. 

Please believe, King's X have been around for a long time, yo. We're talking at least as long as Motley Crue in at least some form. Of course, the band didn't really get going until 1985 in Houston and they've been going strong every since. Doug Pinnick, Ty Tabor and Jerry Gaskill are a true power trio and now I am obsessed with this band.

Obsessed.

I literally listened to King's X - both on CD, iTunes and YouTube for three solid hours last night. I'm always fascinated by bands that share vocal duties, not to mention switch instruments on occasion. 

When I went poking around the band's official website , I was happy to discover that King's X (with Extreme) are playing a free show in Cincinnati August 10.  I know I have a scheduling conflict that day and I don't care. I'm going to this show!

Here's King's X performing the Jimi Hendrix tune "Manic Depression" at Woodstock '94. Back then MTV still covered major music events. Go figure.

Here's the clip supporting the song "Over My Head."

So, what are your thoughts on King's X? Are they Glam, Metal or a combination of the two - or something totally different? Whatever the case, I'd define their sound as definitely special and nearly impossible to replicate.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad

To say Baghdad is a depressed city is a gross understatement. For those of us who have never visited the war torn region, it's hard to envision just how bad living conditions are these days for the Iraqi people. Over the weekend I watched Heavy Metal in Baghdad, a documentary directed by Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi.

The film makers follow the band Acrassicauda (Faisal Talal ((vocals)), Tony Aziz ((guitar)), Firas Al-Lateef ((bass)) and Marwan Riyak ((drums))). The name is Latin for a deadly insect, so that's pretty Metal I suppose. From the documentary, it's hard to say if Acrassicauda possess above average talent or if the quartet is just comprised of men with big dreams. At any rate, Heavy Metal in Baghdad gives the rest of the world a glimpse into the other side of war. At some level, I think we all know it's incredibly dangerous to live in Baghdad, but this film shows that just practicing the guitar can put a giant target on your back. So many parts of this documentary are utterly tragic, but the silver lining is these four men are absurdly committed to Metal - and so are their fans!

At one point in the film, all the members of  Acrassicauda flee Iraq for a bigger shot at making a career in music. While it's not clear if Acrassicauda will gain musical success -- as none of us are ever guaranteed success -- the film does give the four men an admirable level of exposure. If you haven't watched the film, I won't ruin the ending for you -- but let's just say I was a little surprised with the initial outcome.

Brass tacks? If you are a true Metal fan - regardless of where you stand on American involvement in Iraq - you need to see this movie. A true documentary, Heavy Metal in Baghdad paints the bigger picture of a humanitarian crisis bestowed on the Iraqi people. The soundtrack just happens to have wailing guitars and heavy drum beats.  

Like every band on the planet, Acrassicauda has a Myspace page. The film documents the band professionally recording three tracks, which serve as a demo. Click the link to hear those tracks.

You can see the movie trailer below:

Poster Power

I found myself at the local mall last night. That naturally meant a trip to F.Y.E -- the only music store inside the mall. I actually didn't look at any music. Instead, I spent a lot of time in the poster section and then I couldn't help wonder: do people even still buy posters?

As I was flipping through the poster stacks, I looked at some classic Aerosmith and Pink Floyd prints and also looked at new shots of Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Hinder, Slash, and Nickelback. Needless to say, the band choices were pretty grim, but there was a poster of the Def Leppard Hysteria cover art. 

When I was a freshman in college, I took some posters to decorate my dorm room. I had pretty great living conditions during college, save that freshman year. During that first year of school I landed in an all-girls dorm with no air conditioning and concrete block walls - and this was the most coveted underclassman dorm on campus! Anyway, I took along an Aerosmith poster to make myself feel more at home. My roommate naturally (giant sigh) hated Aerosmith but I insisted on the poster, much to her chagrin. Back then (and we're talking about literally 10 years ago at most) you could still buy rock posters at Wal-Mart and Kmart. Now it's pretty hard to find posters, save for the odd music shop and prices are fairly high.

The posters I browsed today cost upward of 20 bucks each, thus proving inflation hits everything! I remember looking at all the awesome poster options you could mail-order through those rock stores that bought advertisements in Metal Edge in the 80s and 90s.

In addition to the higher price, the modern posters seemed to lack...cool.  There was no imagination, but maybe that had to do with the band options? Still, I sort of wish I'd purchased  that Hysteria print. I think it would look good in my office.

Do you still buy and display posters?

What if...Festival Edition

Since festivals are all the rage these days...I was wondering: what if a festival promised non-stop music for, say, three or four days?

I'm not quite certain how many bands that would be, but we're talking about 24 hours of music. That means nite owls could enjoy some Metal at 4 a.m. and early birds can rock out at 8 a.m. I highly doubt both groups were ever intersect because, well, humans need sleep.

The prospect of paying for a ticket and enjoying live music at any moment of the day is quite intoxicating. Still, there would be lots of questions: if the music is non-stop, when do the headliners play? Who plays at 3 a.m.? 9 a.m.? How do you have enough staff to support such an event?

My guess is that headliners could still play around 11 p.m. and smaller or more obscure bands could play in the true dead of night.

Here are some bands I think could, ahem, "set the night on fire."

Here's Stars from Mars

Here's Pretty Boy Floyd

Here's W.A.S.P.

So what do you think of my band choices to play in the "dead of night?" More importantly, do you think a 24/7 festival is possible? I think it sounds both fun and downright exhausting. I await your comments.

Rock the Bayou?

You probably already know about Rocklahoma and South Texas Rock Fest (both in just 13 days!) but what about Rock the Bayou?

The inaugural Rock the Bayou fest is slated for Labor Day weekend of this year in Houston, Texas. So far, some Internet searches reveal Sammy Hagar and Warrant are confirmed for the event. A little more sleuthing leads me to believe that Queensryche, Ratt, Skid Row, Y&T, Firehouse, Gilby Clarke, Jetboy, Dokken, Great White, Enuff Znuff, Bulletboys w/ Steve Adler, Britny Fox, Little Ceasar, Alice Cooper,  Yngwie Malmsteen, Slaughter, Pretty Boy Floyd, Lizzy Borden, Black N Blue, Broken Teeth, Bret Michaels, Twisted Sister, Dangerous Toys, Lynch Mob, Tora Tora and more.

Random postings on ticket broker sites seem to point that tickets will go on-sale July 5th. To me, that is incredibly risky because festival organizers are only giving patrons a little over six weeks to buy. This could also mean the line-up is incredibly strong and ticket prices very reasonable.

The official website is Rock the Bayou and that domain is registered to the president of Online Tickets. Also visit the official Myspace page.  

I'm really excited about this festival - even without an "official" lineup. I think fate intervened and kept me from booking another vacation (Cabo and Jamaica were the front runners) but now I have my heart set on Houston. Glam goodness I love festivals.

Speaking of Band Tattoos...

The other day I asked about your band tattoos. Well, BBG! reader Rich went the extra mile and sent me a photo of his Poison tat. As you can tell, this is the cover of the greatest hits album.

My girl Vicky just sent me her very cool Motley Crue tattoo. Check it out!

 

If you'd like to share your band tattoo photos, I'd be happy to post them here.