Stars and Stripes and Muppets

I'm a couple of days late reposting this, but it's very worth it. It might just be the most important two minutes of your Independence Day Weekend...so for cripe's sakes, stand up and place your hand over your heart as you play this.

U2 vs. Coldplay

As I hear the title track from Coldplay's Viva la Vida for the billionth time (still a good song/album), I'm thinking about how the band aspires to be "the next U2", and in fact, is now being dubbed as such by critics.

This song convinces me that it's not going to happen.

Despite how long they've been around, and despite how much Bono's celebrity status has grown over the years, the band stayed together because they needed each other. The "other three guys" in the band aren't anonymous, faceless musicians, and in fact, bring a sound that couldn't be easily duplicated by an infusion of session musicians. Bono and his bandmates need each other, and in fact, think about this: Can you name a frontman so famous, with a band that has lasted so long, who has never done a solo project? On the other hand, as I listen to "Viva La Vida", all I hear is Chris Martin, his piano, and a big orchestra; no hint of the guitarist, the bassist, or the drummer (unless he's manning the timpani). I don't doubt that Chris is close with the other guys in his band...but as his fame continues to completely dwarf their identities, how much does he really need them in the future?

U2 is a band of four that made a difference and influenced a couple of generations of rock 'n' roll. Coldplay is a superbly talented superstar songwriter/performer and some other dudes, deftly following a road others paved for them.

My money says that Chris Martin will end up with a solo career that may or may not render the rest of Coldplay unnecessary. He'll have a lot of success, but he'll never build the legacy that U2 did.

Mid-Year, Mid-Life Reflections and Resolutions

First off, let me warn you...this is a rare serious post from me.

Anyone who knows me (and especially anyone who has known me for many years) is fully aware of how much I've let myself go physically over the past decade or so. I've gained 70 pounds, and I haven't engaged in any intentional exercise since I moved away from Colorado 11 years ago.

Less people are aware of a couple of risk factors I am facing. My father has had heart disease for a long while now, and he's been through a couple of heart surgeries. My mother's side of the family brings a history of high blood pressure.

I can't shake the fact that my little brother had a serious heart attack at a young age...he was somewhere around the age of 30. (Luckily--almost miraculously--he made a unbelievably fast and full recovery.)

And right now, as we speak, my last and closest grandparent is gradually dying. I fear that she may only have a matter of days or weeks left.

I'm probably about halfway through my life now, and I've waited WAY TOO LONG to respect my health, so I'm starting now. I don't have a real plan of action yet; for now, I'm just going to take simple but meaningful steps to change my habits and my lifestyle.

Starting tonight at midnight, I am giving up red meat until further notice. YES, YOU READ CORRECTLY...SPAM IS SWEARING OFF BACON. It's not that red meat is killing me, but it's something I indulge in way too much, and it's a step that will contribute to my physical housecleaning.

Every week, I will add another rule. Sometimes I will remove something from my diet that I don't need to be eating; sometimes I will resolve to start requiring something that I am lacking.

Believe it or not, my gluttonous eating habits are not the worst of my weaknesses; exercise is even more of a struggle for me. My first step toward reversing that situation will be something very simple that I can stick to every day, by simply walking laps around the fairly large building in which I work, either at lunchtime or after work. On the weekend, I'll walk around my block instead. Gradually, I'll increase the amount of walking I'm doing.

In the near future, I'll probably sign onto a more serious diet solution and get a membership at a place where I can get even better and more rounded exercise...but getting started, doing something, doing ANYTHING...that is the most important step. After nearly four decades of trashing myself, it's time to start cleaning up for the decades to come.

Bizarre dream.

I just woke up from a really short nap, and in this nap, a lot of really strange things happened:

• I was reading on Weezer's web page that they had planned to play the HFStival this year, but that they were instead going to play some other event in the area called "The Rising".
• George W. Bush was in my bed, and I (not in the bed, mind you) was urging him to loosen up and just enjoy himself during the remaining few months of his presidency.
• My mother and I were in the bedroom of a high-rise apartment building when, all of a sudden, she was visibly shaken; she said she felt "the occult". I looked out the windows, and there were low, dark clouds (low enough to be at eye level) racing through the sky...I mean fast. Then I spotted a tornado--fairly narrow and disorganized, but looking really violent nonetheless--tearing quickly through the city and headed straight toward us. We panic. The next thing I know, I'm outside on the sidewalk in a crowd of twentysomethings, discussing how everyone seems to be okay, and a co-worker from my radio station explains to me that there really was no tornado; it was just a recording that I heard from another room of the apartment, made by another co-worker of mine. (Strangely, I accepted this explanation, even though I had seen the tornado with my own eyes.)
  

I was awoken from all of that by my allergies and a friend's text message.

What a bizarre collage of events, all woven together so that it nearly felt like it all happened in the same scene. Whatever it means is well beyond my comprehension.

I have a new blog...

...and this is it.