"Bye bye, Miss American Pie..."

Ever want to bring a fun night of karaoke to a stand-still?  Here are some suggestions to do exactly that (in no particular order):

Name – Goo Goo Dolls

Rumored to be about singer/songwriter Johnny Rzeznik’s childhood.  Both of his parents died when he was young, and he’s singing the song to his sisters that raised him.
BONUS DOWNER: His father was an alcoholic.  And just remember where you’re at when singing this.

The Freshmen - The Verve Pipe

Singer/songwriter Brian Vander Ark wrote this song that covers these incidents: a cancelled wedding, an abortion, and a suicide.  Only one really happened (see the next song for a hint).
BONUS RUMOR: My brother went to Western Michigan University, where this band also hailed.  Story goes they were kicked out of WMU because one of the band members raped a girl.  Party time.

Brick - Ben Folds Five

Band front man (duh) Ben Folds’ girlfriend has an abortion, and this melodic mood killer (bad choice of words?) tries to express how he felt… and succeeds.
BONUS SALT IN THE WOUND: The procedure takes place the day after Christmas.
BONUS HOT PEPPER SAUCE IN THE WOUND: They were still in high school.

Lightning Crashes - Live

Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk dedicated this song to a friend that was killed by a drunk driver.  The drunk driver was fleeing from police after committing a robbery.  The friend – she was only 19.
BONUS SILVER LINING: She donated her organs and saved the lives of others, including a 10-month-old baby.  That’s what the song is really about.  But still… bummer.

Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton

Anyone that doesn’t know the story behind this song is lucky.  Well consider yourself lucky no more.  It’s about how Eric Clapton felt after his 4-year-old son, Conor, fell out of a window — on the 53rd floor of an NYC apartment building.
BONUS “REALLY?!” He hasn’t performed this song since 2004.  His reason:

I didn’t feel the loss anymore, which is so much a part of performing those songs. I really have to connect with he feelings that were there when I wrote them. They’re kind of gone and I really don’t want them to come back, particularly. My life is different now. They probably just need a rest and maybe I’ll introduce them for a much more detached point of view.

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This final bit contains the Unholy Trilogy which have actually caused me to leave a bar.  If you have to click any because either A) you don’t know it or B) you actually like it… I hate you.

• Hotel California – The Eagles
• Desperado – The Eagles
• American Pie – Don McLean

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SIDENOTE: If you feel the need to reignite any karaoke night obliterated by any of the above performances, feel free to press the button below to save the night, despite what this list might claim:

Click Image Only In Case Of Emergencies

To this point, I’ve kept my little blog dedicated mostly to wine: reviews, experiences, and so on.  Wine is a part of my life that I enjoy writing about, and sharing with anyone who wants to listen.  I’m also a big music lover…shoot, I’ve created 2 volumes of my favorite wine & music pairings!  Last week, I attended a solo show at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland by Eddie Kowalczyk.

Yeah, we go way back!

If the name’s not familiar, he is the lead singer of the band Live, who happens to be far and away my favorite band.  Live recently announced that they are taking some time off after 20 years of making music together to do some solo and other projects.  While sad to Live fans, it seems reasonable.

As I’m watching the acoustic show, listening to songs I’ve heard literally thousands of times, I started thinking about how much influence music in general has on people’s lives, and how much of a soundtrack Live’s music has been in my life.  I’m sure I’ll miss a few profound moments, but I thought I’d share some of my favorite Live reflections, along with a few video clips I grabbed on my phone at the show.

It all started for me in late 1994, when I heard “I Alone” on KNDD, 107.7 Seattle.  I was in 9th grade.  My buddy Chris and I immediately dug the song, and, as a proud member of an order-by-mail CD club, I ordered the album, Throwing Copper, Live’s 2nd studio album.  (To be completely honest, the first couple times I heard the song I thought it was a new R.E.M. song!  Live acknowledges R.E.M. and U2 as major influences on their early music…pretty good taste if you ask me!)  At some point, I must have thought it important to save the invoice from the purchase of Throwing Copper, because I just stumbled upon it in a box of memorabilia!

A few months later, tickets went on sale to see Live at the George in George, WA.  5 buddies and I (a mad bunch 0f 16 year-olds) all bought our tickets without even worrying about how we were going to get to the concert.  Oh, to be 16 again!  So August rolls around, and I’ve had my drivers license for 2 whole weeks, so naturally I assume I’ll be able to drive mom & dad’s minivan full of guys 3 hours to a rock concert.  Mom & dad had other ideas.  So, mom volunteers to drive our motley crew out to the show, and sit in the car and knit while we were inside.  When we got there, she got to chatting with the lady at the turnstiles, and talked herself into the sold out concert for free!  We all set up on the hill, and after 2 terrible opening acts (PJ Harvey and Veruca Salt), the 6 of us bolted for the stage for Live.  For most of us, this was our first rock concert, and in 1995, it was the height of moshing and crowd surfing.  We pushed ourselves as close to the stage as we could and waited.  Finally the lights went down and the stage lights went up.  Already in awe of the beautiful setting (if you haven’t seen a show at the George, do so), we were livid about the concert we were about to see.  Feedback kicked in and the opening notes to “The Dam at Otter Creek” started playing.  The band made their way onstage to a fever frenzy of screaming fans, us included.  In retrospect, it must have been an amazing moment for the band…4 high school friends, now in their early 20’s playing to 15,000 people in one of the most incredible venues in the US.  I’m glad I was a part of it!

They played most of the 2 albums they had released to that point, their 1st, Mental Jewelry, and Throwing Copper.  My favorite moment came when they played “The Beauty of Gray” off of Mental Jewelry.   The songs builds for the first couple minutes, then, the second time through the chorus, Ed cracked a huge smile as he picked up the tempo, and I remember thinking about how much fun he must be having, and how much fun I was having too.  Here’s “The Beauty of Gray” from the solo show:

That concert would be the first of what has now been literally hundreds of concerts, and at last count, 15 Live shows!  1995 was the year Live really took off…they were Spin Magazine’s Artist of the year, had a huge #1 album, and so on.  In 1997, the week before their follow-up album, Secret Samadhi, was released, they were the musical guest on SNL.  I was working at KMart’s electronic department when Secret Samadhi came out, and we got our shipment a week before it was on sale…it was everything I could do not to walk out with a copy a week early!  Mind you, this is pre-internet…no advance song releases, bootlegs, etc.

A couple years later, in 1999, they released The Distance to Here and played Bumbershoot in Seattle as a headliner.  On their website they ran a contest for fans to write 10 interview questions they would ask the band, and the setting they’d have the interview in.  They gave the 50 best responses passes to a “secret warm-up show” the night before the Bumbershoot show.  Well, I won!  There was also to be a meet & greet opportunity, so I was out of my mind!  Well, 2 days prior to the show, I was contacted by a publicist and told that the venue had changed, and now was no longer all-ages, so I couldn’t attend.  I was 19, and pissed!  I went around and around with her, and finally she set me up with a backstage pass for the Bumbershoot concert instead.  So, just before Live took the stage, I bailed on my friends (I only had the 1 pass after all) and got ushered backstage.  They then took me to an elevated platform on the side of the stage where there were about 8 chairs.  The other side of the stage was the platform where the media sat…I was on the side with the band’s VIP’s: Wives girlfriends, family, etc.   It was amazing!  I was looking down on the show from above the stage.  The only odd part was that the people around me had heard the songs a million times, and here I am singing along, excited about hearing new songs, and generally worked up, sitting with a pretty mellow group of people who had no idea who on earth I was.

After the show, I was guided down to the trailer where I waited for the band to emerge.  One by one, they came out.  They all knew me by name without introductions, and were very apologetic about the mishap the night before.  When Chad Taylor, the guitarist came out, he said “Hi, you must be Graham…I’m Chad” followed by me saying “I know!  It’s good to meet you!”  He told me the story of meeting U2, one of his favorite bands.  He said when The Edge introduced himself, it went like this: “Hi, I’m The Edge”.  Chad: “No Shit!”  All in all, it was a great experience, as I had feared that these guys who I’d been listening to nearly every day for 5 years would be jerks.  Not in the slightest!  All were very wonderful to me, signing multiple autographs and hanging out for a while.

The next time they came through Seattle, I won the opportunity to be in-studio on the air at KNDD with Ed for the morning show.  4 people, myself included, got so sit in for the interview, ask some questions, and get pictures & autographs.  Later that year, a friend told me he had won tickets and backstage passes to a Live show, but it was in Aneheim, at the House of Blues.  So, naturally, we took a plane down to LA, rented a car, met up with Chris (previously mentioned in this essay) who now lives in CA, and my brother, also in LA, and went to the show.  That night, they played their version of John Lennon’s “Imagine”…still one of the greatest moments in my concert going lifetime:  one of my all-time favorite songs preformed by my favorite band.  Later in the show, something rather odd happened…Dennis Rodman, apparently a friend of the band, came out on stage during the encore and sang “I Alone” with them.  Needless to say…he’s a better basketball player than singer!  After the show, we were backstage, and at one point I turned and literally crashed into Dennis.  For the record, he’s HUGE!  I’m 6′1″, and my head was somewhere around his sternum!  He’s built like a tank!  On the way to our car after the meet & greet, we saw him wobbling to his ride with his arm around a groupie.

So, all told, I’ve seen Live in 5 states (WA, OR, CA, NY, NJ).  Last July, 2008, they played a show at Marymoore Park in Seattle with Collective Soul and Blues Traveler.  Once again, I managed to find myself with a backstage pass, so off we went.  Mind you, Lara’s 9 months pregnant at this point, and we were planning to go and return in one day.  (Side note:  I love you honey!).  The show was great, and we waited backstage with a bunch of aging fans (oh wait, I’m one of those too) who were mostly all hammered (not me, driving back to PDX w/pregnant wife).  Ed emerged from the trailer and stopped to talk to someone.  There were about 20 fans waiting for him.  He scanned the group and pushed his way through to us to talk to the pregnant lady, which drew plenty of glares from the others.  He was great, asking about gender, due date, and telling us about his 2 girls.  Then he was even cool enough to sign Lara’s belly!  What a guy!

I sit here writing in disbelief that I’ve been listening to their music for 1/2 of my life!  Over 15 years.  I can’t even venture a guess how many times I’ve heard “Lightning Crashes”.

Or my very favorite song “Pillar of Davidson”, an amazing song that was never a single on the radio.  As Lara and I planned our wedding, my only request was to have a Live song as our 1st dance.  We chose “Dance With You”.  Here’s that song from Eddie’s solo show:

Music is pretty important to me, there’s always a song in my head.  Every one of my favorite songs and albums come with very specific memories of my life at the time I first heard them.  “I Alone” was in the bonus room in my parents garage with Chris.  “Lakini’s Juice” watching SNL.  The Dolphin’s Cry in my car in a bank parking lot, not driving so I could listen closely.  “Heaven” in Time Square.    There are dozen’s more, each with a memory.  Thanks Live!  Eddie’s new song, Zion, gave me great hope that there is still wonderful music to come:

I almost didn’t go to see Ed Kowalczyk tonight. I figured I’d be tired. Maybe a little love-lorn. Probably, you know, … old. Turned out I was right, but thanks to the generosity of a friend, I did stumble down through the Ekka detritus crowding the Bowen Hills streets to the grand old Tivoli, and was stunned to be sitting, sardine-like but not uncomfortably, a mere four rows from the stage. Close enough to see the sweat on Ed’s bald head, the smears of moisture on the guitar, and a very large smile on his dial as the sell-out crowd went ballistic after every tune.

It was just Ed and a guitar, a few apologies for not having the full band, sheer delight at being heard and appreciated. He played one new song (from a solo album due out next year) – it was pretty good, in a Live kind of way — and one cover, and the rest of the 1hr15 set was made up of Live tracks. I’d forgotten, kind of, just how good those guys were when they were peaking, with Throwing Copper and my favourite album of theirs, The Distance to Here. Tonight’s set roamed the Live catalague, rocking out with I Alone, offering a delicious rendering of the remarkably apt The Dolphin’s Cry, getting a singalong with closing song I Want To Dance With You. And raising a tear with Lightning Crashes, which always reminds me of someone dear who should be here, but isn’t.

As such, the gig turned out to be a fitting closing act for a poignant weekend.

It began on Friday night with a dear, old friend at a favourite restaurant. So pleasing to see her happy in love, and beloved. And then there was that aeroplane, delivering me my own slice of the happiness pie. Saturday and a parade of friends and family and that bittersweet emotion of being happy for a friend while feeling the cutting edge of looming absence, in geography at least. Time and lost opportunities and golden moments, all rolled into one, and never quite enough time and space to say the words to the right people before they’re gone, through the door if not from our lives. Amazing, isn’t it, how friendships endure across time and space? And how watersheds and turning points can remind us of just how strong those bonds can be. And then today, welcome and goodbye and a milestone marked, a new year and a new life, but no beginning without endings, too, the shedding of old skin making way for the new.

Vague enough for you?

Birthdays are like that. Past and future colliding, cushioned by the joy of good company, the love of family and that significant other.

So thanks, Ed, for the summary: the pains and pleasures of the past, the promise of the future, the simple joy of the here and now.

Oh now feel it comin’ back again

Like a rollin’ thunder chasing the wind

Forces pullin’ from the center of the earth again

I can feel it.

OMG! I’m still all thrown off because of my hard drive failure and I almost forgot to post a song!

I heard this on the radio the other day, and although they played it over and over and over in the 90s to the point where I did not want to hear it, I was totally loving it the other day. So here it is! I like the gradual build to the climax.

Song Recommendations

If you like this song, I also suggest:

• Coldplay
• Foo Fighters
• Nirvana

I also suggest the music genre:

• Post-Grunge

Click here for more info on Live – Throwing Copper – “Lightning Crashes”.

The MP3 may be purchased here:

Live - Throwing Copper

This is a black and white tribute to my favorite song by one of my favorite bands. The song “Lightning Crashes” by Live is about the joy of birth and the tragedy of death. The doodle covers the whole album “Throwing Copper” (1994) but strongly focuses on Lightning Crashes.

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
her placenta falls to the floor
the angel opens her eyes
the confusion sets in
before the doctor can even close the door

lightning crashes, a new mother cries
this moment she’s been waiting for
the angel opens her eyes
pale blue colored iris,
presents the circle
and puts the glory out to hide, hide

The video is great too. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAMnjzU-6UQ

This is how to sing it, people!  Listen up!

Lyrics

LIGHTNING CRASHES, a new mother cries
Her placenta falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The confusion sets in
Before the doctor can close the door

LIGHTNING CRASHES, an old mother dies
Her intentions fall to the floor
The angel closes her eyes
The confusion that was hers
Belongs now to the baby down the hall

O now feel it comin’ back again
Like a rollin’ thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin’ from the center of the earth again
I can feel it.

LIGHTNING CRASHES, a new mother cries
This moment she’s been waiting for
The angel opens her eyes
Pale blue colored iris,
Presents the circle
And puts the glory out to hide.

Une chanson découverte il y a déjà quelques temps avec Cora ! Souvenirs souvenirs !

“oh I feel it comin back again, like a rollin’ thunder chasing the wind, forces pullin from the center of the earth again, I can feel it”

Finally…

5  Live – Lightning Crashes

4  The Cranberries – Zombie

3  The Wallflowers – One Headlight

2  The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony

1  Smashing Pumpkins – 1979

So for anyone who has heard lightning crashes by live – go read the lyrics. I may be alone in the fact that those are some of the saddest yet deepest lyrics I have heard in a while. In a time where, when you turn on the radio, most songs are some iteration of one another, this song really rang deep with me. And yes what it is about, really does not relate to me. But its a powerful message. BTW – live in general distances themselves with their lyrics.

At the end of “Good News”, our roommate Adam walked in and wanted to know what we were doing.
“Making a stupid video,” we say.
“I want to do one.”

The result was this. It’s “Lightning Crashes” by Live.