A Chemical Wedding with Sobriety! A Family Affair!
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blew?
Before I dig myself a hole I must state I have not listened to the complete new Feb. 7th release of...
Van Halen's A Different Kind of Truth.
I'll come Full Circle on this in a minute.
Since the release of the full album, I must admit I blinked. I hesitated. I bought a single instead, the only single I heard on the radio besides Tattoo
...and so I'm going on record about my Love Affair with a Stupid Song.
Before I proceed, I'm passing the Link over to my friend Keith who once posted here as Hawt Dawg.
Keith could be a bigger Van Halen fan than me. He's a Musician and a Clear & Fair Reviewer.
And he can Rawk Out "Eruption" on the 'lectric Guitar.
Please Enjoy! Good read and the Responses are awesome too.
Just a few weeks back, I hear the 2nd apparent single from the then-forthcoming new VH album, it's unfair to called them "discs" anymore so Album is succinct still.
"Stay Frosty"
Initially, I thought the words to be a literal mouthful yet Diamond Dave delivers deftly.
Lyrically...I LOVE IT! It's a great little story about a Spiritual Quest.
It's got hook and real rock 'n' roll drive.
We do miss Michael Anthony's absent vocal harmonies in favor of produced Dave overdubbing choruses although Dave drives home this tale of Seeking with an old-fashioned Sing-a-Long "uh-huh-HUH!"
I crack up at work with my "Serenity Now!" Personal Campaign and this has become a new Theme Song.
It's Inspiring. It's Got a Message. It's one of many new mantra for me to wear at work as armor against the Dramatic Day..."Stay Frosty".
It does sound like a few different old VH songs cobbled together and could be heard as a Spiritual Sequel to "Ice Cream Man" from their first album.
Proof Being in the Pudding's Taste: I've Rawk'd Out to this Tune every AM on my walk to the bus stop for the past week, after an AM Meditation and before a 10-minute bus ride to Kendall Square with the Bhagavad Gita.
A little Humor in Spirituality? It goes a long way to cure a long face, children.
Amen.
A Good $1.29 spent at the iTunes Store and I will be picking the rest up. Stay Frosty actually makes Tattoo a bit more listenable. Tattoo has its own mouthful of hard-to-deliver lyrics with the almost indiscernible chorus of "Swap Meet Sally, Tramp Stamp Cat, Mouse-wife to Mombshell in the Time it took to get that New Tattoo...Tattoo Tattoo..." but a fun story about Ink being "How Autobiographic".
Dave brings in That Old Vaudeville Element in as He's Always Has, being the Show's Barker and Emcee, presenting the Wonderful Ride we're about to share...like Heavy Metal's very own version of Louis Armstrong.
Rawk On, Van Halen. I hope this is a good 2012 for you all. And God Bless. ;P
In Other Stories in Real Life...
I love Audiobooks.
I make the time to read along with millions of other consumers...On The Go.
I walk & take Public Transport.
Other People Drive or are Driven.
These In-Between Times are great to fill with Energy & Information via the Audiobook.
I lean towards "Non-Fiction". I have no fiction audiobooks on my iPod, none.
So this time I come across a purchase I wish I could return. Doctor Hooey and his Missus, Action Grrrl have an
Audible Dot Com Membership; when you can read as many audiobooks as they do, Audible is a great investment. Like Netflix but with Words but iDigress...
Some People Trust the Oprah Book Club.
Last Year, one of the books & authors reviewed & profiled was...
For $17.95, just under 6 hours Unabridged, read by the Author and available at Audible and the iTunes Store.
I'll frame a critique with some conventional wisdom, "our disappointments are only as great as our expectations"
I guess my expectations for the book were big because my experience was not the best.
Truthfully, this book stressed me out listening to it.
Maybe it reminded me of my own mother and her endless disappointment in her only son & her verbal Irish-Brand of Shame & Guilt as Motivator.
Being read by the author, it became an exasperating experience of what felt like listening to your own mother on the phone yak-yak-yak about other people.
In a way I couldn't wait for the 6 hours of this book to be over.
And the disappointment stems from lack of brutal juxtaposition of the Western & Chinese Styles of Parenting. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother came across to me like listening to yet another woman complain about her kids, being a guy who works among women who invariably end up commenting on & about all the relationships in their lives. I was looking for the direct comparison of values yet perhaps that was toned down as not to seem too judgmental of Western Parenting, which Ms. Chua is completely surrounded by, all her friends & colleagues...
so it would be less critical to tell her story of raising American Children in the Chinese Method instead of identifying flaws in Western mores and make Chinese Suggestions to Patch the Holes, being a Woman of Both World with Children of the Great American Melting Pot.
Also their opulence became such as drag to listen to. It's not because I grew up in the Projects with a single, working mother. These are the fruits of their labors and they had the means to provide their kids with unlimited opportunity. Yet in a non-resentful way, it became tiresome to hear this timeline in the rearing of their two daughters in Ivy League Splendor.
Perhaps this is the perfect audiobook for a college-educated woman, not a working-class Blue Collar bachelor? I am fascinated by Eastern Wisdom and hungrily Learn as much as I can. This story has its merits but ultimately gets bogged down by its own Family.
In the End, I was looking for more Data, not Drama.
It's a beautiful Sunday and I'm gonna go plug-in and spin some tunes while I enjoy my day off.
Here's to you having something to listen to, where ever you are whether it's a good song that inspires you or a book you take a chance on & don't quite like.
Take a chance on it and entertain yourself!
kriya shakti,
Rev Sully
the Hub of the Multiverse
Eric O'Sullivan (nee Anzalone)
Boston, MA USA
