Random Tune for Tuesday 8/4/15

Courtesy of a notification I got on the interwebs and social media, I'd like to use today's post to join in on the celebration of the 24th anniversary of the music video for *this* classic tune from the boys of Pearl Jam, apparently filmed in Seattle on this day in 1991.

1991!  Boy am I getting old!  (Well, me and all of my friends ...)

I feel it safe to assume that that would have been the year that I heard the tune for the *first* time ... I know with almost certainty that the last time I heard it (well, the last time I heard 'Alive' LIVE anyway) was at the concert almost two years ago in Baltimore around Halloween.

Here's what I had to say about it back then, revived as appropriate for tonight's observance:

"The moment of catharsis that only Pearl Jam can provide came just before that finale, when all the lights came on in the arena, and everyone sang 'Alive', one to another.  Because although many of us couldn't personally relate to the specifics in the lyrics of that song, we all could triumphantly admit, that despite whatever trauma we'd been through individually, as a collective body, at exactly that very moment, with the lights up so that we could look into each others' eyes if we so chose, we all, strangers and friends alike, were individuals who were most definitely 'still alive (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)'.  Like the Native American in the classic pollution commercial, it may be that a single tear rolled down my cheek at that moment, although, if asked, I'd have said that it must have just been irritation from the sweet sweet smelling smoke that wafted up through the crowd every so often.  As Eddie said from the stage that night referencing the loss of Lou Reed earlier that day, 'music heals'.  Amen, brother Eddie, amen."

YEAH-YEAH-YEAH-YEAH-YEAH:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM0zINtulhM&feature=youtu.be

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 10/27/13

What Baltimore is talking about this week:

Pearl Jam!

[Okay, you might be sick of me talking about them, so I'll promise I'll stop ... well, *after* this post ...]

I was privileged (thanks again for the surprise invite from Jon M, my college roommate 20 years ago at LVC in Funk 213 [and, in a moment of kismet related to this "reunion", we realized that our seats were in the 213 section of the arena] to have attended the sold out show in that city (the first time they visited in their 23 year history) on Sunday night, and it did not disappoint (which was expected, of course).  It was nearly three hours for nearly three dozen songs (many from the latest release 'Lightning Bolt', to which I've been counting down for the last ten weeks in my P Jam Jam series [click the link from the labels on the right]), all performed under a set design that, at first glance, seemed to be a good number of bug-zappers, but that really worked in a transforming way once they did their magic and went up and down and changed colors and served as an item from which Eddie could swing out over the crowd.

Of course, that crowd was encouraged to rock along with the band for multiple songs, and most everyone did (except the couples here and there where clearly one party was dragged along by the other and was dealing with the experience on behalf of their partner [I don't know why their love wasn't strong enough that the one should just stay at home and let a real fan buy the seat?]).  One of many memorable moments came when Eddie pulled a fan out of the back of the arena whom he had noticed at the very beginning of the show (when, from the stage, he warned "the guy in the yellow shirt in the back" to "pace himself") and got him to the stage for the finale to play tambourine beside man.

The moment of catharsis that only Pearl Jam can provide came just before that finale, when all the lights came on in the arena, and everyone sang "Alive", one to another.  Because although many of us couldn't personally relate to the specifics in the lyrics of that song, we all could triumphantly admit, that despite whatever trauma we'd been through individually, as a collective body, at exactly that very moment, with the lights up so that we could look into each others' eyes if we so chose, we all, strangers and friends alike, were individuals who were most definitely "still alive (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)".  Like the Native American in the classic pollution commercial, it may be that a single tear rolled down my cheek at that moment, although, if asked, I'd have said that it must have just been irritation from the sweet sweet smelling smoke that wafted up through the crowd every so often.

As Eddie said from the stage that night referencing the loss of Lou Reed earlier that day, "music heals".  Amen, brother Eddie, amen.

LOCAL REVIEW OF THE BALTIMORE CONCERT I ATTENDED:
http://blogs.citypaper.com/noise/index.php/2013/10/live-review-pearl-jam-at-the-baltimore-arena/

PROFESSIONAL PICS FROM THE BALTIMORE CONCERT:
http://photos.citypaper.com/index.php/pearl-jam-at-the-baltimore-arena-in-photos/#1

NOT OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW THE AD OF WHICH I SPEAK?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OHG7tHrNM

Random Tune for Tuesday 10/15/13

An afternoon of panic (my local Target, which I checked on my lunch break, was sold out, in a frightening case of over-demanded & under-supplied) turned into an evening of bliss when today's release to which I've been counting down over the last ten weeks was located at a nearby independent retailer and procured by the mine half of "me and mine" and hand delivered to me an hour ago.

[NOTE:  I was informed that a shout-out on the blog was expected, and so now that obligation is discharged -- plus, I'm really really really grateful!].

[SECOND NOTE:  I am aware that the whole album has been available on the iTunes for the last week, but if you can't tell by my use of the word "album", I'm a little old for such new fangled sources by which to consume my media, and, I've also, as a matter of pride, never drank the iKoolAid.]

Of course, that also means I've only been able to give 'Lighting Bolt' a speed-listen so far, and so I've briefly heard the optimistic love song of 'Future Days' and have been flash-attracted to the apocalyptic end-of-times vibe of 'Infallible' (as you may know/recall, I did so *love* marking the days leading up to the Mayan faux-pocalypse last year in my last big [and much longer] countdown series).  I'm a little scared that I might relate a little too much to the nature/nurture debate seemingly underpinning 'My Father's Son' (I'll save any more commentary on that tune for my nonexistent therapy sessions) and I'm not in a mood to be saddened by the withered-love-on-the-vine message of 'Sleeping by Myself'.

So the tune I choose by which I will end this P Jam Jam is the one that might be the opening song of the current concert tour (based on what I've found on the youtube), and the song that I learned by text today is one of the favorites of one of my best friends back home in PA ... the one that captures how life goes on, day in, day out, highs and lows, to and fro ... or, as poet Vedder states ...

"We are here and then we go
My shadow left me long ago
Understand what we don't know
This might pass, this might last, this may grow
Easy come and easy go
Easy left me a long time ago"

And so ends the P Jam Jam!  (Or does it?  Come back tomorrow to see how the Jam will go on ...)

TO AND FRO ... TO AND FRO ...:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IlucRMk5mM

Random Tune for Tuesday 10/8/13

One week from now, I'll have in my hands the latest release from Pearl Jam since the last release from Pearl Jam, which means we are finally to "Backspacer" in my ongoing P Jam Jam count down.

Although I refuse to play favorites, I do love me some "Backspacer", and I can understand why it was nominated for a Grammy as it represents how this group of guys can just get better and better as time passes.  In the multi-dimensional presentation that they've become known for in their advanced releases, we get the fast paced opening addictive duo speaking to addiction of "Gonna See My Friend" and "Got Some" and the out-Coldplaying strength of building soaring chords in "Unthought Known".

Clearly from the accompanying image, it's another song duo (even if the tracks aren't right next to each other) of "Just Breathe" and "The End" that are my picks for tonight.  And, happily, Eddie agrees with me that they are companion songs, as evidenced by the Youtube video I found from Seattle 2009 where he places them back to back in performance.  How can you not get all choked up in the "live in the moment" instructions in the first song that speaks of how life is all too fleeting, foreshadowing the final cries of the loved one leaving in the latter.  Here's to being one of the lucky ones who learns before it is too late to ... just breathe ... and to appreciate the loves in his life before ... the end.

"Oh I'm a lucky man
To count on both hands the ones I love
Some folks just have one
Yeah others they've got none"

LIGHTNING BOLT ARRIVES in JUST 1 WEEK!

PERFECTLY TIMED FOR A P JAM JAM THAT IS WRAPPING UP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=990mPRb3T50

Random Tune for Tuesday 10/1/13

Woo-hoo!

It's October!

I'm eight weeks into my P Jam Jam countdown and therefore very close to the end, what with this week being the 8th studio album release from which I'll choose tonight's tune -- the album that always makes me hungry for homemade guacamole.

And what tune do I pick?  The ones that rage against the war (this was released in 2006, during the Iraq War) or against economic downfall (sadly, "Unemployable" ended up being prescient of times in the Great Recession and beyond)?  Or -- since anyone who knows me and knew me during the end of 2012, knows and knew that I also enjoy counting down to the apocalypse, so "World Wide Suicide" seems like a natural fit for a "random" selection.

But no, the song choices I've made over the last few weeks clearly point to me choosing something more introspective and hyper-emotional (because P Jam delivers it all, yo).  So what?  "Parachutes", "Come Back" or "Inside Job"?   All in the running, but none compare to the feeling I get when driving alone on a road, with everything I came from and everything that made me and everyone I knew in the rearview mirror, quite literally behind me ... and everything ahead of me unknown but fully embraced.  To be clear, I'm grateful for all that came before, and I've got nothing against my past that has brought me to my present (and I sure do love to visit and I'm overdue to return) ... but I'm also ever so inspired by the freedom to pick up and try all things new.

And every time I return, it's always only to leave again, and these words from "Gone" are the ones that speak to me the most ...

The lights of the city, they only look good when I'm speeding
I wanna leave em all behind me because this time I'm gone
Gone, going for it all this time, gone
In the far off distance
As my taillights fade
No one to witness but they will someday
Fell like a question is forming
And the answers
I will be what I could be
Once I get out of this town
Gone, going for it all, this time I'm gone

Introspectively emotional enough for you?

LIGHTING BOLT ARRIVES in JUST 2 WEEKS!

Random Tune for Tuesday 9/24/13

Seven weeks into my P Jam Jam countdown, and that means I'm up to the seventh studio album -- "Riot Act".

Choosing a tune to feature tonight was a harder task for me than I expected -- and not for the usual reason in that I often have strong connections to every track.  It turns out this may be the full length album that I've listened to the least, just as a factor of the timing of its release and my life in Chicago, which is where I was in 2002 when album came out.

Sure I know the post 9/11 Dixie Chicks moment that sometimes gets the band in trouble for speaking out (illustrated by the powerful indictment of "born on third, thinks he got a triple" featured in "Bu$hleaguer"), and the pure musicality of "1/2 Full" puts the jam back in Pearl Jam ... but when it comes down to it, the song I know the most is the song released from the album that charted the highest:  "I Am Mine".

Melancholy but yet triumphant, (attributed to be referencing the fact that people can survive tragedy, as in the Roskilde Festival deaths of nine at one of their concerts), it includes these words that have become an empowerment creed for many:

"I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in between is mine
I am mine"

AND this poetic description for survivors of any kind:

"The ocean is full 'cause everyone's crying
The full moon is looking for friends at hightide
The sorrow grows bigger when the sorrow's denied
I only know my mind
I am mine"

LIGHTNING BOLT ARRIVES in JUST 3 WEEKS!

ARE YOU YOURS?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nkgv3LoQY2o

Random Tune for Tuesday 9/17/13

We've reached the tipping point, in that I've been doing this P Jam Jam now for more weeks than remain in this countdown.

Six weeks in, and I'm picking from "Binaural" for tonight's tune.  [To be clear, the date in the accompanying photo is from 2000 when this was released, and is therefore not October 15th, which is the 2013 date that the new new album will be in stores.]

As per usual, I'm not going to select one of the two more well known officially released tracks.  It's not that I have anything against "Nothing As It Seems" nor "Light Years", and especially since I've been known to tear up when I'm in the car singing along and this phrase comes on ...

And wherever you've gone
And wherever we might to
It don't seem fair ...
Today just disappeared ...

After all, anyone who's lost anyone can mourn via Eddie and the boys with that kind of sentiment.

Same car ride -- and the tears dry up to an all knowing wry chuckle with the opening line of "Rivals" ("All my rivals will see what I have in store!') ... and then I'm just all smiles when the ukulele comes out for "Soon Forget" (more about that in a few weeks) ... but all that said, the tune chosen for tonight is the album's double barrel close of "Parting Ways"/"Writer's Block".  [Happily, the youtube video I found has the full 7:18 version so that you can hear the typewriter music if you stick around, all loyal and patient like.]

In my opinion, there's nothing like a little haunting ditty about people once close who are realizing that they are growing apart that sticks with you ... drifting away ... drifting away ... drifting away ...

LIGHTING BOLT ARRIVES in JUST 4 WEEKS!

BE SURE TO STAY FOR THE SPECIAL ENDING:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij8RBIs4jx8

Random Tune for Tuesday 9/10/13

Five weeks in ... and five weeks to go ... which makes this the midway point of my PJam Jam counting down until the band's next release on Oct 15th ... and that also means I'm choosing tonight's random tune from the fifth studio album "Yield".

It's still the reason I'll sometimes quickly say 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 (so as not to appear too crazy, I'll try to only do it when I notice the clock says 12:34) ... or why I want to just scream out "Like Pilate, I have a dog!" just for the heck of it ... or to announce that "I'm the first mammal to make plans, yeah"!

Those more random non-sequiturs aside, there's poetry on display (and I'm not just talking about the kind that finds a way to rhyme static with attic and sciatic nerve) ... but the kind that explores heaven and hell and the core of existentialism before giving in to it all and "like a cloud dropping rain ... discarding all thought".  And as a reward to kids who buy full albums and not just selective tracks electronically, there's also the bonus song that comes off like some kind of cossack harem party (go ahead, listen to it again and try not to picture such a scene).

Although I'm tempted to pick "In Hiding" or "All Those Yesterdays" as they represented that time in my life (I was working the overnight shift at the Quality Inn in Lebanon PA, and "In Hiding" summarized the ways I was spending all my daylight hours [3rd shift can do a number on your body and your brain] ... and "All Those Yesterdays" gave me permission to just shut everything out and escape as I went through some rougher times), instead, the tune for tonight that speaks (and spoke) the most to me is "Wishlist".  To me, it captures the beauty (and melancholy) of the fact that humans will always disappoint each other.  The subtext -- I wish to be what I can never be -- but so wistfully and eloquently communicated in phrases like the ones below ...

I wish I was a sentimental ornament you hung on the Christmas tree ...
I wish I was a messenger and all the news was good ...
I wish I was the pedal brake that you depended on ...
I wish I was the verb "to trust" and never let you down ...

LIGHTING BOLT ARRIVES in JUST FIVE WEEKS!

I WISH ... I WISH ... I WISH ... :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THnabGK7mPs

Random Tune for Tuesday 9/3/13

Four weeks into my countdown and this P Jam Jam of mine leading up to the much anticipated Oct 15th release date of their next masterpiece brings me to 1996's "No Code" as the source for today's random tuneage.  As has been the trend since I started this, it's an embarrassment of riches from which I can choose.

I'm certainly quite fond of "In My Tree", because it immediately makes me remember the PJam concert in Sep 1996 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland -- where one of the kids in our group quite literally ended up back on the hillside watching part of that show (and listening to that exact song in a very meta-moment) ... from ... up in a tree.

Then there's "Present Tense", with which I would posit one can save any money one is tempted to pour down the therapy drain by just listening and learning and bending like the tree to catch the sunlight ... or, as it's so eloquently stated ...

"You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, oh
Or you can come to terms and realize
You're the only one who cannot forgive yourself, oh
Makes much more sense to live in the present tense."

However, all that said, I'm dedicating the *actual* song I'm choosing to those that appear in this photo that may or may not have been taken in Washington DC in Jan 1995 when the group of us (I'm taking the picture) may or may not have been trying to crash the Pearl Jam concert that year in that location.  It's one of my favorite shots because, as one of the group correctly predicted, it was the last time all of us were together in the same carefree not-quite-fully-adults-yet way.  And the song to accompany the photo?  "Off He Goes", because, as my life has taken me to various locations for various reasons, I can still make it home to many of these fine folks, and pick up exactly where we left off  "laughing, like we always did ... my same old, same old friend(s)" ... but only for the short time I'm back in town (and I haven't been in way too long, hence the tinge of homesickness in this post).

And then ... off I go again ...

LIGHTNING BOLT ARRIVES in JUST 6 WEEKS!

NOTHING'S CHANGED, BUT THE SURROUNDING BULLSH*T, THAT HAS GROWN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hthj9KZrgpo

Random Tune for Tuesday 8/27/13

Three weeks into my countdown anticipating the release of Pearl Jam's next studio album, and I have before me what I imagine will be the hardest task of this ongoing P Jam Jam series.

If I stay true to my concept, I'm kind of obligated to choose one tune to feature -- but how could I possibly pick?  I refuse to say that this is my favorite album (because favorites don't work when there is so much quality artistic output from which to choose), but I will most definitely say that I'm extremely torn and unclear as to how I can accomplish this task.

Do I go with the comically psychotic "Bugs" or "Stupid Mop"?  Or do I choose one of the Man-duos of "Nothingman" or "Betterman" (the latter of which still resonates with me as it was a bonding moment I had with one of my best friends who used it to gain insight into my family's fractured past)?  Or maybe I should feature one of the scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs-at-all-the-haters power ballads of "Corduroy" [I WOULD RATHER STARVE THAN EAT YOUR BREAD!] or "Not For You" [THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!  OH NEVER WAS FOR YOU!]?  Or do I rally behind a commitment to never orally satisfy Satan (a line from "Satan's Bed" that was playing during one of my murder mysteries back in the day at kind of the wrong everybody-suddenly-got-quiet moment)?  Or do I just sit back and relax and relive past concert moments of ultimate chill when "Immortality" was played?

I guess the point is that I can't possibly pick just one track ... and, luckily, someone on the YouTube agrees with me, since they've posted the entire album as one link.  And that's a loophole I'll gladly take advantage of!

LIGHTING BOLT ARRIVES in JUST 7 WEEKS!   

BECAUSE SOMETIMES CHOOSING IS IMPOSSIBLE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHoJBodMp1c

Random Tune for Tuesday 8/20/13

In case you missed it last week -- every Tuesday leading up to the release of the latest Pearl Jam studio album, I'll be counting down by way of choosing a random tune from each of their previous studio albums (in order of release).

Since this is week 2, that means I'm choosing from VS. -- and as much as I seriously thought about paying homage to all my elderly friends whose breath might smell familiar as they sit at counters back home in the small town of Lebanon PA where I grew up, I'm going to have to choose the song whose lyrics are featured on this person's tattoo ...

[In a funny twist, it's a song that's been a random tune before (on 6.19.12) but I'm not against some double postings now that I've been doing this for many many years and many many posts -- so much so that I also learned I actually featured last week's tune before as well (Dirty Frank was also the random tune on 8.9.11) {I'm really enjoying the google search feature on my blog ...}]

I can't not hear P Jam's lyrical-different-slant-of-sorts of Billy Joel's "Angry Young Man", and not scream my lungs out to the ode to stubbornness with its lyrics below (or ... is that an ode to questioning whether stubbornness actually matters in the long run ... discuss ...)

I will hold the candle til it burns up my arm.

I'll keep takin' punches until their will grows tired.

I will stare the sun down until my eyes go blind.

Hey I won't change direction, and I won't change my mind.

I'll swallow poison until I grow immune.

I will scream my lungs out until it fills this room.

The answer to "how much difference does it make?" ... A hell of a lot to those of us who have used a severely stubborn streak to survive any manner of crisis and dysfunction.  Of course, that's just my take ...

LIGHTNING BOLT ARRIVES in JUST 8 WEEKS!

HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmL8XbC6Zmo

Random Tune for Tuesday 8/13/13

I've got a bunch of series going on, so why not one more ... every Thursday in August I'm Pivot-ing myself ... and every Friday in August I'm flashing back to *the* social event of the summer (... of 1993 -- my sister's wedding) ... and, starting today, every Tuesday for the next ten of them -- until the Lightning Bolt strikes on 10.15 -- my random tuneage will be from the Pearl Jam collection -- a P Jam Jam, if you will.

Here are the disclaimers (thankfully, this will not be as long as the fan club's list of rules when it comes to awarding tickets to those of us who belong to that exclusive group when it comes to tour dates):  this is not a collection of favorites (because, really, with so much quality, can you even choose favorites -- that would be a little Sophie's choice-ish, no?) ... it's also not a "best of" list, nor a top ten -- there's no ranking involved, no *this* is better than *that*, etc., because, as a loyalist, I can find value in every song.

Instead, it will be one song (at least) each week as taken from each of the previous studio albums in the order they were released ... all in anticipation of the one that is arriving when this occasional series ends.  Tonight, I'll twist the rules even more, and designate the TEN song (again, that's not number ten -- that's from the studio album TEN) as "Dirty Frank" (eligible under my rules as it was included on the overseas version of TEN).

Sure, I could have chosen any of the other angst filled, pain laden, loneliness blackened other tracks from P Jam's "debut" -- but I want to kick this series off with a classic darkly twisted song that shows the funnier side of P Jam (well, if gently mocking their tour bus driver by making him into a serial killer a la Dahmer is "funny").  Note the homage to Red Hot Chili Peppers in the actual music of the tune (as they were touring with them at the time), and the shout-out to Shaft that punctuates the "message" -- and scream along with me at the funniest part -- "Lose weight ... Be safe -- Where's Mike McCready? -- MY GOD, HE'S BEEN ATE!"

LIGHTNING BOLT arrives IN JUST 9 WEEKS!

SHUT YOUR MOUTH!  HEY -- I'M JUST TALKING ABOUT DIRTY FRANK!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Nh6DurMJ8