FUN-NEE

So last night I had a friend over and he was giving me crap about my liking Dr. Who. He called me obsessed. Obsessed? I have a few DVD's and two or three books...and that's it. I don't have friends over and force them to watch. I am not even part of any fan club or messaging board. I just like the show and bought the DVD's. Yes I have made two posts here about the show, but it's only been two. He then went onto criticize me as a nerd because I also had the complete DVD sets of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the TV show Angel. The fact that I own a few DVD's was enough for this guy to criticize me as obsessed.

It was then I had one of those moments you remember for history. I said, "you're criticizing me, but what are you going to do this weekend? You're going to put on your favorite Vikings jersey (the road one since they're on the road), dress your kids up in their Vikings jerseys, force your family in front of the TV in a room covered in Vikings merchandise and memorabilia to intently watch a pre-season game for four hours, including the pre-game and post game show, where you will insist that no one answer the phone in case you miss anything. You're going to tape the game and watch it again the next day, read and watch highlights again the next morning, get together at a sports bar the next day and relive the game with your buddies. You're going to ignore the real news of the week just so you can intensely follow every decision of the team, who's injured, who's got a good match up, what tired old cliches are being used to describe a sporting event. You're going to get into your car with the Vikings flag and Vikings license plate, turn your radio to one of the many sports talk stations to get the 'latest' up to date info, drive to your fantasy football draft which you have spent weeks preparing for, and seriously debate the merits of back up kickers. Your life will not exist for five months. I won't hear about your family or your job, but instead I have to talk to you about the games, the teams, the coaches and their decisions. When it's all over, you'll spend the other seven months of the year watching highlights being pushed by paid shills who are trying to convince you to forgo your child's education fund as you need to put down the three hundred dollars for a fan fest where some retired player might sign a jersey, or you need to drive two hours to a motor parts store where a player is making an appearance. You'll call congressmen and senators insisting they need to pay a billion dollars to keep the Vikings in town by building them a state of the art facility, and you'll scream at the team when they don't throw down eight million dollars a year to get one player. You do all of this, but yet you're calling me obsessed because I have some DVD's that I occasionally watch?"

"Yeah, but that's different, that's SPORTS! At least I follow something that's important."

Funny

So I was driving in town and had an SUV pull over and nearly run me and my family into oncoming traffic. To his credit, the driver clearly was sorry, but that didn't stop my heart from beating really fast. What got me over the near death experience was the vanity license plate on the back of his car - "PRO LIFE."

Well I saw the irony of this and made a post on Facebook thinking it was actually kind of comical. I end up having this friend of mine rip into me. She felt I was taking a cheap shot at pro-lifers and insinuated that I probably would be offended if she said God bless. Now this friend is a far right conservative who proudly told media at her kids school she was glad they didn't show Obama's welcome back to school speech as "she didn't trust him with her kids." I mentioned she was suggesting the President of the United States was nothing more than, at best, a creepy uncle, and at worst, a pedophile. She said he doesn't deserve my respect. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see what was really forming her opinions.

The best part of this was that she thought that since I leaned left in my political thinking, that A) I am pro abortion and B) I hate God. I actually, personally, am against abortion unless it is needed to save the life of the mother, rape or incest. It's a personal decision, as it should be for everyone. Everyone should make their own choice on this, as I have. I understand both sides of this argument and would never condemn a person who disagreed with me. I also go to church pretty much every week. Me and my family sit in the front row off to the side. I don't hate God because I'm a lefty, rather, I am a lefty because of my belief in God.

I pointed this out to my friend. I've not heard anything back. If you make presumptions about people don't expect to be right most of the time.

Ranking Rush's Albums

So, since I rated the Doctor’s from Doctor Who, friends of mine who like the band Rush and also know I am a huge Rush fan wanted me to rank their albums over the last (nearly) forty years. This is not going to be easy.

First off, the rules, all live albums will not be included. If they had an album of original material first released as a live album, then I’d say sure. Also, compilation albums are not included. Would you rate Stephen King greatest chapters? Of course not. Compilation albums are great for fringe fans, but leave them out of any major ratings. That leaves off 8 live albums and 9 compilation albums. Those numbers alone should tell you the greatness of this band.

Here we go:

19 – Rush/1974 – This was their first album and if represented a lot of the unrefined talent of the band, plus a desire by the record company to turn them into something they weren’t. Not bad as you can see the potential, but against the rest of the albums, it pales.

18 – Hold Your Fire/1987 – This album, thankfully, was the last of the synthesizer heavy albums of the 80’s. Leading up to this album, they had done a good job of not overwhelming the traditional Rush sound, but in this one it got lost. Frankly, the band was close to turning into Chicago on this album.

17 – Fly By Night/1975 – They were maturing nicely and were starting to get the idea of “concept pieces,” but this album didn’t really work. It did give them a nice single with the title track.

16 – Feedback/2004 – The bands interpretations of the songs that inspired them were actually good, but after a few months of listening to this, I really haven’t revisited it. I think I miss the originality of Rush’s own music.

15 – Signals/1982 –This highlights how tough this ranking system is. 19, 18 and 17 are “C’s,” 16 is a “B-,” and I would make this a solid “B,” and we are only 5 albums in. I like most of the songs on this album, but I just don’t think it works as well as a “complete” album.

14 – Test For Echo/1996 – My least favorite of the post synth era albums (Feedback falls into a different category for me). It does have some of my favorite Rush songs on it (Driven and, especially, Half the World) but for some reason, it just doesn’t sit as well (for me) as some of the other albums.

13 – Presto/1989 – I can’t tell you how glad I was to hear the return to the guitar rock sound this album ushered in, but they had to re-learn how to walk before they could run again.

12 – A Farewell to Kings/1977 – This was when the band really had the freedom to write what they wanted to and the music started to develop into what would be considered their distinctive sound.

11 – Grace Under Pressure/1984 – The first Rush album I got and there is a lot of this album I really like. The fear of the cold war is wonderfully exposed with their songs and this album made me an instant fan. Within another year, I’d have every album up to that point.

10 – Hemispheres/1978 – Rush's 2^nd best epic song album and I still listen to this one at least once a year. The Trees is a top five Rush song and Side 2 alone is possibly my favorite side of a Rush album, back when people knew what a “side” of an album was.

9 – Vapor Trails/2002 – I can’t tell you how glad I was to hear this album. Mainly because it was the comeback album after Neil Peart lost his wife and daughter. No one thought they would ever record together again. Also, it was great, finally getting the hard rock sound from the 90’s, effective supporting keyboards from the 80’s and musical conceptuality of the 70’s together. One Little Victory remains one of the baddest rock songs ever.

A quick interlude. This is HAAAAAARRRRDDD. I’ve been at this for a week. I think in the end, I probably will be able to move any of these albums up or down one or two spaces just depending on the mood I am in. Now, back to the countdown…

8 – Caress of Steel/1975 – I just like this album. This was the first album they did where the album felt complete. The songs not only display the musical knowledge we have come to expect from them, but this album is a postcard of time, reminding me of my youth growing up in the 70’s (when I first heard it in 1984).

7 – Permanent Waves/1980 – This album represented a subtle change in the band, which would propel them to superstar success. It was radio friendly, but none of the songs really could be classified as a “single.” Regardless of the numerous critics that had always hated them, this album was them starting to kick in the doors of radio stations and saying, “it’s not like anything you’re playing right now but your listeners want to listen to it.” This album featured Spirit of Radio a song radio stations played even though it relentlessly criticized modern radio for selling out. Brilliant.

6 – Counterparts/1993 – The second best of the 90’s rock albums. As everyone was trying to find their grunge, Rush went back to traditional rock and put out a great album. Nobody’s Hero is my 2^nd favorite Rush song criticizing our warped ideas on what exactly makes a hero a hero.

5 – Power Windows/1985 – This was the triumph of the synthesizers, the best of the keyboard heavy albums of the 80’s. As heavy as the keyboards were, they still had the classic Rush sound. Mystic Rhythms has become a concert staple and Grand Designs could be the happiest song they ever wrote (I love that one too).

4 – 2112/1976 – Everything about this album has become iconic. It was the first real true prog album, with concepts and musical ability making it a thinking man’s alternative of the bombastic rock of the day. Side one, as a whole, is a classic. The band has mentioned they wrote 2112 thinking this was their last album they were ever going to produce, so they threw abandon to the wind and wrote what they wanted. When they were done, they had a classic sound, a classic image and the ability to record whatever they wanted from then on out.

3 – Snakes and Arrows/2007 – What makes a band great? Two things in my mind, commitment to their own unique sound and longevity. You can count a handful of bands that fall into that description, and Rush, viciously, put their stamp on that category again with this album, nearly four decades after forming. It’s hard to imagine how a band like this keeps getting better but top to bottom, this album is fantastic. I’ve listened to this album at least one every two weeks since it came out and I’m not tired of it yet. Far Cry, Working them Angels, and Larger Bowl are classics.

That leaves the final Two:

Moving Pictures/1981

Roll The Bones/1991

Moving Pictures is the bands most popular album, and there are many justifiable reasons why. First it produced their biggest hit single Tom Sawyer, fan favorites Red Barchetta, YYZ, Limelight and Witch Hunt (a song a lot of fans I’ve met at concerts wish they played more often), and the epic prog song The Camera Eye. This from an album that had a total, total, of seven songs. But what it really did is follow the path laid out by Permanent Waves and took it further. This was their music (they were by far the most successful prog rock band at the time, if not the only one); this was their distinctive sound, (different from their early days, but not unchanged; rather honed). I consider this to be a must have album for any listener of music, as this is Rush announcing, “yeah, we’re that good.” Fly By Night welcomed them as an up and coming band, 2112 turned them into the headline act, and Moving Pictures blasted them into rock royalty.

Roll the Bones was redemption. As I mentioned talking about Hold Your Fire, this band was starting to become Chicago. Go listen to an old Chicago album from the early days and you hear a rocking great band. Listen to any of Chicago from the mid-80’s and they became an easy listening, hyper sweet, talentless music machine more akin to Lawrence Welk. Rush realized after Hold Your Fire that they needed to get back to where they started and redeem themselves. Presto was a transitional album and then came Roll the Bones. All ten songs brought back the distinctiveness of the 70’s and early 80’s, merged that with a traditional rock sound, and placed the keyboards as the perfect fourth piece to a three-piece band. All ten songs are rock anthems; each could have been released as a single. The lyrics were what Rush fans loved, unapologetic, and all three musicians placed their name in the tops of all time at their own instrument, and I will argue Geddy and Neil are the best bass player and drummer ever. This also has my favorite all time Rush song on it, The Big Wheel, with what I consider to be their greatest lyric, “I was lined up for glory, but the tickets sold out in advance.”

This is going to be considered a wussy thing to do, but hey, it’s my list –

Tie for first.

enticement

Is there anything more wonderful than getting to relive your youth once a year? To be able to take off the adult layer and uncover the child that still resides in me is precious. Wish you were here!

The letter

I heard your show earlier tonight and your comments about selfishness and greed really hit home for me. I work for a company in the west metro and when I started there in 1971, there were a little over 75 employees. Most everyone loved working there and we all loved the original owner. He always had the little things that made a company fun to work at, not only a good paycheck and benefits, he insisted everyone take vacation each year, free coffee for everyone and on your birthday, you got a cake delivered by him personally, plus a gift certificate to say thanks. The company made profits and morale was always really high. We did have some downturns, but the company treated laying off employees as a last resort and anyone who got laid off was immediately called back when the company was back on it’s feet.

In the mid 1990’s, the owner let us know he was retiring and his son was taking over. Privately, the father had said he was concerned about his son’s conservative mindset and felt as if he would use the company for his personal gain. His son came in and assured everyone that things would never change, and that his father’s spirit would affect his every decision.

The first change had to do with the coffee and birthdays. Immediately, coffee was for executives only. He placed a coffee vending machine in the break room for the rest of the staff and when a floor manager brought his owncoffee pot, the son told him to get rid of it. He said it wasted electricity but since the vending machine wasted far more than any coffee pot, it looked like he was trying to make a few bucks off the staff. Birthday cakes stayed, primarily because the owner of the bakery and his father were close friends, but there were no more gift certificates and the son rarely said happy birthday to anyone. There were other changes, primarily changing from our long term suppliers who had always worked with us, American companies, to cheaper, foreign made suppliers who sent us inferior products. The father and son constantly clashed over these supplying decisions.

When the original owner died nearly ten years ago, that’s when the company immediately went to hell. Long term employees who had been there for years were let go and replaced. If it was a skilled position, it was usually someone straight out of college with no experience, or, they would adjust headcount in the departments and a low paid floor worker was brought in, or in many cases, the employees weren’t replaced, causing a much higher work load for everyone else. Floor workers making higher saleries were forced out and replaced with lower paid workers Everything was cut, from benefits to annual pay increase, for everyone but the son. His salary and benefits went through the roof. It seemed like every other week he came in with a new car that had a new gadget, all on the companies expense. Within a few years, no one liked working there anymore and it went from an office where if you’d been there for ten years, you were still a rookie, to a company where most of the senior staff had been there for five years or less.

The son didn’t have to make these drastic changes to save the company because profits were down. The company had been seeing record profits. The big difference was that the president’s paycheck was enormous making 20 times more than his father, and that’s factoring in inflation. Other top executives, many of them friends of the son, were also seeing salaries much higher. And part of the companies profits are now being given directly to right leaning politicians, something the original owner refused to allow the company to do regardless of the party. Today the company has only 51 employees, bitter tired employees, many who are looking for a new job. The rumor is the son is starting to look for the highest bidder.

Right after his father died, when the first staff birthday came up, there was no cake. A week later a box of doughnuts was placed in the break room with the note, for all this month’s birthdays. May and June of this year we had our first box labeled for May and June birthdays. Same amount of doughnuts. Officially the original owners spirit has been killed. I hope I make it to my retirement in two years.

Mary

Seabird

And all this time
Saying you were fine
And everyone still to blame
Well there you are
You and your broken heart
It's written all over your face

Don't you know
Don't you know that you're beautiful yeah Don't you know Don't you know that you're beautiful

I AM A GEEK!!!

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/rushbeyondthelightedstage/