"The Boys of Summer"

Okay, I have a confession to make:

I am a really sentimental person.

I wish I could describe it better than that, because it doesn't seem to sum it up. I'm not a pack rat, but there are little scraps of paper I can never throw away. I'm still upset that I never got to "say goodbye" to my bookstore (long story, the short of it is: I was told to go home and they'd call me if they needed my help packing everything up--never got that call). I'm sad when I leave a place and I don't know it. I miss/think about people I met years ago...some of them I can barely remember what they look like (or what their names are).

I'm kinda dealing with that now, with my Bellerive (my dorm). I'm saying goodbye to it forever. But that's not what this blog post is about (I'm saving that for a little later this week, probably my Friday video blog). No, this post is about a song that I love. I love it because when I hear it, for some reason, I get really sentimental. For or about what exactly, I have no idea. But for some reason, whenever I hear Don Henley's classic "The Boys of Summer" I get wistful.

I was listening to a podcast I like, Coverville when it came on. Coverville (http://www.coverville.com/) is hosted by Brian Ibott, and he plays nothing but covers. His shows usually have a theme, and this week's show was summer time/baseball. So, after the obligatory "Put Me In Coach" he played a cover of "The Boys of Summer" by this chick Bree Sharp (http://www.breesharp.com/breesharp.html).

Ugh.

Nothing could be worse than this song sung by a woman. THAT really sent me over the edge (again, I have no idea why). I'm not sobbing on the floor like a baby, but for some reason it made me sad (but that good kind of sad, the one where the pain helps you know that you're alive) and really sentimental. A bitter sweetness. People and things long gone. Summers that came and went.

I get that it's not a happy song. I get that. I get that it's about the feeling I have when I hear it. For that reason alone, it's a great fucking song. I'm not sure if it does this to everyone who hears it, but for whatever reason it connects with me. That's good art people.

Nobody on the road,
nobody on the beach.
I feel it in the air,
the summers out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets,
the sun goes down alone.
I'm driving by your house
though Iknow that you not home...
And I can see you
you brown skin shining in the sun
you got your hair combed back
sunglasses on baby
and I can tell you
my love for you will still be strong
after the boy of summer have gone.
out on the road today
I saw a dead head sticker on a Cadillac
voice inside my head said don't look back
you can never look back
I thought I knew what love was
what did I know
those days are gone for ever
I should just let them go and...
I can see you
your brown skin shining in the sun
you know your walking real slow
smiling at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
after the boys of summer have gone.
I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
remember how you drove me crazy?
remember how I made you scream?
now I don't understand
what happed to our love?
now baby gonna get you back
gonna show you what i'm made of...
I can see you
your brown skin shining in the sun
you got your top pulled down,
radio on baby and I can tell you
my love for you will still be strong
after the boys of summer have gone.

Just to let you know what a glutton for punishment I am: I've bought this song on iTUNES...as well as the excellent cover The Ataris did a few years back (which I heard in a Hot Topic...I freaked out and left the store, went straight home and bought it online).

I wonder what things out there do this kind of thing to other people? Anyone have a song, or a movie, or whatever that just messes with your emotions? Am I senti-mental or just plain mental?

"Woman"

Here's the video for "Woman" from YOUtube:



Rock on!

Wolfmother

Last year, downloaded a free song of the week off iTunes (which by the way, used to offer really good stuff...now it's all crap) by a new band that had been making big waves in the press. The song was "Dimension" by the band Wolfmother. I listened, and the rumors were true--the band sounded an awful lot like Led Zeppelin. For whatever reason, I never followed up on the band. The song was good, I listened to it a few times (played it for Leah) and forgot about it.

Flash forward last month, Guitar Hero II came out on XBOX 360 and became my world. That's right, MY ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD. Those of you who know me, know I likes me a little rock 'N roll. I bought a guitar a few years back, found out it was hard...and needless to say never got past the 12-Bar Blues. Anyway, the game offers us posers a really good simulation of rockin' out. The standout track in the game, is hands down "Woman" by Wolfmother. The song is a brilliant, 2 minute and 56 second kick to the groin. It rocks, so much so that Activision uses the song in the commercial for the game. Fantastic guitar riff, throbbing drums...howling vocals. This is the stuff I live for. Needless to say, this renewed my interest in the band. So Leah bought the band's debut on Amazon (used, for cheap).

WOLFMOTHER is not a perfect album.

WOLFMOTHER is not the most original record.

WOLFMOTHER will not save your soul.

But WOLFMOTHER will blow you away for about an hour. Isn't that all there is to good rock? The band has a very 1970's quality, one that goes beyond the Zep influence. True, no other band has as many fingerprints on the band's sound...but if you listen closely you can hear a bunch more '70s rockers shaping Wolfmother's sound: T-Rex, AC-DC, Jethro Tull, hell even a little Badfinger.

The band hails for Australia, where I guess it's still okay to rock. The album opens with a primal scream that preludes "Dimension." The song has a Black Sabbath-ish/chuggy guitar riff that could cut through steel. The vocals are all Robert Plant, so much so that it's almost a little embarrassing. Though the band's lyrics are pretty simple, they get points for referencing Hendrix ("Purple Haze is in the sky.."). Nice. Then the album shifts to the ass-kicker "Woman," which I can't say enough about.

From there the album unfurls into a strange hodgepodge:

"Where Eagles Dare" sounds very Badfinger-ish. It's a slower number, one that sounds like a Jet Ballad. It picks up a little, but for me, is the weakest track on the record. "Apple Tree" is a brilliant song, that sounds like it could be from a long lost White Stripes album. That's a good thing. Very garage rock. Other album highlights include "Joker & The Thief" and "Tales." The latter being another Badfinger/Jet-type '60s Britpop number. The former, well the former is probably my current favorite track on the whole damn thing. Strange I know, because I've been gushing so much about "Woman" but "Joker & The Thief" is more complex musically. The opening guitar is BLISTERING! Why this one wasn't picked up for the Guitar Hero game is beyond me (and it was a single in the UK, so it's not that it's not as well known).

Like the '70s bands they obviously love so much, Wolfmother hits hard. I can see how this might not appeal to lots of people. It's too hard to be considered radio-friendly, however, it's too old school to be appreciated by today's Hard Rock fans. For someone like me, a BIG fan of classic rock, WOLFMOTHER is a great reminder of the old days of rock. If you like "classic" bands (there were heavy) you owe it to yourself to check out these Aussies. Gamers who've fallen in love with "Woman" should go on iTUNES and listen to a few song samples before picking this one up, though. Compared to the metal bands featured in Guitar Hero II, Wolfmother isn't as heavy. They're just not that kind of band. Wolfmother is very much a guitarist's(or "guitar head") band. They have an awesome sound, and they musicianship is a notch above the typical rock band. They don't "noodle" like a Steve Vai, but they do know there way around a fret board.

Once again, I'm left to wonder how to score this record. On one hand, it's a brilliant record. It's visceral and loud. On the other, as stepped in classic rock as I am, I can see how the band isn't really very original. That old debate continues: how important is originality? True, the band doesn't reinvent the wheel, they do roll it along rather nicely. That said:

Jason gives WOLFMOTHER a "B-"

R-E-J-E-C-T-I-O-N

Got my second rejection (in my "writing career") today. It was from an e-zine, the editor was really nice. Not only did I get the standard "Sorry, your piece wasn't for us," I got a nice paragraph about why my story "Death for Breakfast" isn't quite right.

Here is what he had to say:

Overall thoughts:

I found this piece a bit of a surprise, which isn't necessarily good.
You spend a bit of time working through the process of
getting the waffle iron and then working us into the mysterious future
telling waffle iron. I think though, once the waffle
iron starts doing its thing it's more funny than anything else. My
suggestion is to choose a genre here and cut out the fat
(especially the beginning) I thought this could be a HILARIOUS comedy
piece if you want to play with it, go into paranoia,
middle-age, horror, etc.. or you can try to actually spin it into a
mystery but you may have to amp up the mystery of the
thing. Work at it.

Right now we've decided that the piece isn't right for us.

I have to agree, the thing is very bi-poplar. I started writing "Death for Breakfast" in my school's cafeteria after eating some waffles. Leah was off doing something, and I thought it would be funny to see if I could write a story about killer waffles. Somehow, the joke got out of hand, and the damn thing got too serious. I really think this guy is right, I need to do a rewrite and return it to the realm of humor. Anyone want give me some suggestions on this topic, feel free to do so on my other blog (where the story is posted): http://writingsofalimemonkey.blogspot.com/search/label/%22Death%20for%20Breakfast%22

My writing bud Murph recently posted on his blog about the pitfalls of publishing your writing online...one of which is that people see what you post and judge you by it. Please don't, remember that my best stuff (I think) is un-posted. And that what's up is pretty old (i.e. bad). I'm not sure about the legal stuff Murph raised, so I'm probably going to play it safe and only post excerpts from now on. I'm going to try to get a portion of "Sea Change" up sometime this week. Stay tuned.

Cinco de Mayo and Leah's first Win!!!

Well my final weekend in St. Louis is over! I've had a blast out here...a lot of great memories. But at the same time, I'm ready to get back home and work my butt off. Tomorrow is the first day of finals, and I'm dreading it. It's always easier to start (for me) than it is to end. I have to pack, say goodbye to everyone (and everything), as well as study/take tests!! Ahhh!!!

Anyway, this weekend was the 5th of May. To celebrate I cooked Leah a Cinco de Mayo dinner (enchiladas):



Saturday we stayed in and watched DVD's. I saw THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (brilliant) and THIS IS SPINAL TAP (which Leah had never seen before). Today we watched THE ILUSIONIST (really good) and BORAT (hilarious). Movies, movies, movies. I also saw SPIDERMAN 3 this weekend as well (it was decent, I wasn't really all that impressed).

Today Leah's softball team played their first game, and guess what? They WON!!! Here are some pics:









Congrats Leah!!!


Anyway, I'm really tired. I wanted to post earlier today, but Blogger was having some kind of technical issues...anyway...I have a bunch more to write about, but I'm going to save it for later.

A Quick Video Blog

Nothing too interesting...I'm a little distracted by finals and moving...

Thoughts of a Limemonkey Makes the Grade!

A while back I submitted my blog to this website Bloggy Award. For those of you who don't know, Bloggy Award is this website that rates blogs. It's pretty cool, and has helped me find some really cool blogs that I otherwise wouldn't have checked out. Last Thursday they graded my blog, you can read their full review here: http://www.bloggyaward.com/bloggyaward/thoughts-of-a-limemonkey/

Basically Thoughts of a Limemonkey got an 8 out of 10...that's a "B" folks. Not too shabby, considering that I use a very minimal/standard template. This is just some of the things they said:

"I have no idea what a limemonkey is but this limemonkey can think really well. "

Now that just makes me blush,

and

"The photos make the entries a lot more enjoyable though and for those who don’t like reading too much the weekly video blogs can be refreshing."

I find this really funny, because my video blogs add almost nothing to my blog (other than letting everyone see what an ass I am).

I got most of my marks taken away from the "Useful Information" category:

"Like most personal blogs this one doesn't offer much useful information although his list of favorite books on the sidebar is pretty good. If you want to start reading something you might as well choose from his list. I personally loved Ender’s Game, Of Mice and Men, and Oliver Twist."

I'm glad my blog has something to offer! And I'm an English major, so my 'favorite reads' list had better be good. I think it's funny that the first book mentioned however, is one Leah had to twist my arm to get me to read. Thanks Leah!

Lastly, the folks over at Bloggy Award complained about my lack of labels (which I'm currently trying to fix) and the fact that I should be posting some of my own fiction. I've thought about it in the past, and have always worried about copyright stuff (and getting ripped off). But then I thought about it, and that's really pretty silly of me. For one thing, if someone rips me off and can make some money--more power to them. Secondly, I just submitted my best work to a bunch of e-Zines that are just going to post my stuff online anyway (that's if I can make it through the slush piles)...so what's the difference in posting my stuff there? At least on my own blog, as the editor-in-chief I know my stuffs going to make the cut!

So, I'm going to start posting some of my fiction online. I'll probably start with "Sea Change" just as soon as I can get around to making some corrections (thanks again David). Criticism is how we make things better, and compliments are how we know we're doing things correctly. I got both and that makes me really happy.

UPDATE: Not sure how many people care, but in regards to posting my fiction--I've decided to not do that here. I tend to write a lot on this blog, and even with labels I think my stories might get "lost in the shuffle." So, I've created another blog (dear God, I know...just what I need right?) that will ONLY be my fiction. It's called Writings of a Limemonkey. You can find it here: http://writingsofalimemonkey.blogspot.com/. I posted a short piece I was working on a while back titled "A Girl Named Squib." I didn't post it all, just the good part (the first 5 or so pages). Enjoy.