It's wednesday again!

And what a blissfully light week it is...only 2 titles, and both under $3!

Gotham City Sirens #4

Written by Paul Dini
Art and cover by Guillem March

Ah, Paul...Really, I'm LOVING Batman: Streets of Gotham, it's classic Batman storytelling transferred into the post-Morrison "New Batman" era.

However....

I know you have a thing for the girls of the DC Universe, and the Batman girls, in particular, as the creator of Harley Quinn, we can thank you for that. You've used this to great effect when you were writing for Batman: The Animated Series, giving us some terrific "side stories," getting us away from the staid Dark Knight for 20 minutes. The thing is, what works as a "one off" TV episode is not enough to hang an ongoing series on. Gotham City Sirens reads like "Paul Dini's fetish show," it's a great fetish, I dig it, but....the series seems really thin.

Green Lantern #46

Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy
Variant cover by Andy Kubert

Geoff Johns was born to write mainstream comics. There are other comic writers that might be better, more technically proficient, or adventurous in terms of structure, but Johns is the guy who sits down with the sandbox he's given and starts seeing all the things that can be done with that sand without breaking the box. His work is always good, sometimes inspired. His Superman: Secret Origin went from something I thought would be a pointless retread to pretty darn interesting in one issue, kudos. (The Gary Frank "I'm just going to draw Christopher Reeve, OK?" artwork only adds to the package.)

But I digress....

Johns has been building up to this Blackest Night event for a long, long time. Through the Green Lantern: Rebirth return of Hal Jordan, through The Sinestro Corps War, and the constant build up to Blackest Night in the Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps series over the past year. All of that material has been terrific, Johns in full creative flight...

So why am I feeling "Meh" about Blackest Night now that it's here? I trust Johns, and I'm in for the long haul on his Green Lantern era. It's just that, for all the build-up, I'm just thinking "huh, Zombies...great."

Now, since this is a very light week, I usually use that for an opportunity to pick up something that I haven't been, and with Wednesday Comics now done dealing, I have a bit in the budget to play with, so....I MIGHT pick these up this week.

Batman: Widening Gyre #1 & #2

Written by Kevin Smith
Art by Walter Flanagan and Art Thibert
Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz

Earlier this year, Kevin Smith and Walt Flanagan (of View Askew movie pseudo-fame) jumped into the DCU with Batman: Cacophony. A really enjoyable little tale using a villian Smith created for his run on Green Arrow years back, Onomatopoeia, who's gimmick was that he didn't speak except in sound effects. He would, literally, say "BANG! BANG!" when firing a gun, for example. I found the tale fun enough, and Smith did some really twisted things with The Joker, that some folks objected to...Me? I just figure...He's crazy, right? I don't see why people are so willing to accept a twisted character in the terms of violence, but when it touches on something sexual...it's "defiling" the character.

How, exactly, do you defile a character like The Joker?

Anyway, long story shot...I enjoyed the previous mini-series, so I'll might give this one a shot.

Isn't technology supposed to make life easier?

So, about a year ago, I picked up a multi-effects pedal board for my guitar.

To be exact, this little number. Supposedly "the most advanced guitar effects pedal, ever." It's got some good tones on it, I admit, but it broke down after about 6 months. I took it in for repair, as it was still in warrantee, and that took about 2 months. I honestly don't blame Line 6 for this at all, I have several of their products, and this is the only one that's ever given me problems. As for the repair time, that's more a problem with the local repair guy.

I've gone around and around with this thing for most of the year. The "flight manual" (yeah, that's what they call it) is about an inch thick, and I'm a guy...I don't read manuals. So, I've never really figured out how to use the damn thing. That's compounded with the fact that I go back and forth on it.

Sometimes, I just get annoyed with the board, and play through my amp alone (also a Line 6 product), and I'm super happy with the tone I get that way. Then, that starts to wear on me, and I plug the X3 back in. So, it's like a circle of annoyance...I had settled on a plan to trade the X3 and my amp in for an upgraded version of my amp, but...the plans of mice and men, y'know.

How this relates to my weekend, you may ask.

I spent a goodly number of hours this weekend trying to put some music down on my recorder. This led to a few frustrations...

1. At the fact I have to rely on a drum machine for percussion tracks. There is no ebb and flow to the drum tracks, no organic give and take. I keep thinking I want to get an electronic kit, so I could get somebody to come over and lay down drum tracks for me, or give it a college try myself, but I doubt my downstairs neighbors would deal with that very well.
2. With my recorder. Somehow, 8 tracks doesn't really seem enough anymore, which is silly. I toss around trading in the recorder and buying a copy of pro tools, to see if I can work that out. I'm told the learning curve is steep, especially for a guy who doesn't like to read manuals (see above). Plus, I can't help but feel that my Fostex 8-track, and earlier version of this, muddies my sound. The way the thing is set up, you have to bounce tracks to use all 8 available. There are times when I feel it all turning to sludge, especially when I'm trying to create something with a harder edge.
3. With my own playing. *SIGH* I kinda lay this on my drum machine's feet as well, but that's probably just passing the buck. I start every song with the drum track, I build something on the drum machine that gives me some room to play around, then I try to come up with some guitar line over that, then bass, then more guitar, etc. I feel myself falling into some ruts, rhythm-wise. I feel like I'm pulling the same beats to work with. Again, I'd like to have someone to play off of, and bounce ideas off of.
4. With my voice. I haven't recorded anything worthwhile in over 2 years. Fact. I've also not even gotten to the singing point with most of the stuff I do work on. This is mainly because I can't really sing. I can croak a bit, and occasionally I can hit a vocal line the way I want to, but it's rare. Frankly, I just don't have a voice, and I certainly don't have a voice to do the things I hear in my head.

So, working on music, which used to be a great diversion for me, has become pretty frustrating. Mainly because, while it's primarily a hobby, I want to create things I can be proud of, and I want to improve my work. When I feel like I'm stagnant, well...I start to lose the desire to really dig into it.

that is not a good thing.

Too much

I'm tired, and life seems to have run away with me.

The Boss' Birthday

Bruce Springsteen turns 60 today.

It's hard to put into words what the man has meant to me, over the last several years, especially. I think moving to Chicago has made the meaning of his music that much more clear to me. Chicago is the "city of the big shoulders," we work for a living here. We have dreams, and sometimes those dreams don't come true, you may join up with the Big Man and "break the city in half," or you might walk out to the highway in the middle of the night and "find nothing but road." You don't get things handed to you, you have to work for them...

But you also get a fair shake. You get your fair shot to make those dreams come true.

A lot of people have taken Springsteen to task for his political stance in recent years, as if his leftist leanings were something new. I want to punch people who think "Born in the U.S.A." is some sort of jingoistic Regan-era anthem, if for no other reason than they're too damn stupid to listen to the fucking words. When Regan tried to appropriate it as such, Bruce denounced the whole administration from the stage.

What Springsteen wants is a fair shake for everyone. Not for everyone to have success handed to them, but for everyone to have the opportunity to carve out their little piece of the American Dream no matter where they started from. For, you see, there is a difference in how you are treated, the opportunities you get, depending if you're the son of a corporate CEO, the son of a New Jersey factory worker, or a black kid from the Chicago projects.

Anybody who can't see that is living in fantasy land. I'm sorry but it's true.

A completely free market is a wonderful idea, but, like Communism, it doesn't work worth a damn in practice. Why? Because people are no damn good, and there's always some dirt bag ready to take the system and squeeze it until it breaks.

Of course, we're all too busy defending our precious idealogical ground, and we've forgotten that the idea is to give everybody a fair shot. And, YES, the idea IS to give everyone a fair shot, not to prove your economic theory is superior, and MOST LIKELY that means something in the middle.

Because, "Nobody wins unless everybody wins."

Never thought I'd hear new Alice in Chains

But here I am, writing a blog and listening to the new album, When Black Gives Way to Blue, streaming on their website.

Good stuff. I'll probably download it next Tuesday morning.

Yep. Download.

I gave in.

I have to admit, it has more to do with space than anything. I have a ton of DVDs and Blu-Rays, and the CDs have become something I'd like to slip into storage, and use that space for more movies. It's gonna be a little while before I want all my movies on a computer. Plus, I mostly listen to music on my Zune now, I rarely put in a CD at home.

It's gonna be a long damn time before I want to watch a movie on my computer.

Like, forever.

This is barring travel and such...I can certainly see myself watching a movie on my laptop during a flight or something. Even HULU, can't stand it, can't stand watching stuff on my computer. Don't even get me started on watching somthing on the Zune. I mean, it's neat to watch The Guild or something on the train, but if you think I'm EVER going to think watching The Dark Knight on my Zune is anything more than a novelty, you are seriously high.

We've already ruined the moviegoing experience because Bob and Jane Idiot can't understand there's a difference between renting a movie and watching it in your living room and GOING TO THE MOVIES. Y'know, sharing an experience with others means shutting your mouth and not having a full-volume conversation because Jane can't make heads or tails out of the plot for Austin Powers. Or my personal favorite, when the complaints begin because the plot isn't crystal clear from frame one. Does no one understand the concept of WATCHING THE MOVIE, and maybe getting what's going on from that?

No wonder Hollywood makes movies for morons, this is the audience. This is why we have Transformers 3 coming, folks....

*sigh*

Gives me a headache. Seriously.

Now you can watch on the train! The time when a movie was an event to give your full attention to is long gone.

Yet, I keep going, because I LOVE movies, and because I believe that in a crowded room of people is the way they are to be seen. When it works, and we all work and react in consort with the film...it's transcendant, beautiful.

You can't put that on a Zune.

The Day After

So, last night I saw what had only been done once before...

I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band play Born to Run in it's entirety. So, so very cool. I have to say I was a little disappointed to be in the rafters for this show, after having made it to the pit in front of the stage the last two tines we'd seen the band at the United Center. CByrd's mom was with us, and we did have a great time, but looking down into the crowd down front...I did have moments of real envy.

Oh well, we can't all make it up front every time.

Colene had a brief chat with a gentlemen coming from the bus to the arena, he asked her how many times she'd seen Bruce, she answered 10 times. He responded that it was only his second, and the last time was 32 years ago. It was a nice moment to remind me of how far Springsteen's reach is, and how many people his music speaks to.

Setlist:
Seeds
No Surrender
Johnny 99
Cover Me
Outlaw Pete
Hungry Heart
Working on a Dream
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Night
Backstreets
Born to Run
She's the One
Meeting Across the River
Jungleland
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Badlands
* * *
Hard Times
Da Doo Ron Ron
Rockin' Robin
I'm Goin' Down
American Land
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita

So, we started with the very welcome "Seeds," I've loved that song since it first appeared on the Live '75 - '85 box set. So powerful and angry, and so very appropriate for the current state of the US. The whole first bit of the show, from Seeds to Cover Me, were clearly the "recession set" for the night. Ending with Bruce repeating "Times are tough now" several times over to end Cover Me.

After that things got more fun, with Bruce going into the crowd for "Hungry Heart," crawling along the wall that separated the pit from the rest of the general admission floor, singing, and calling for the audience to sing along, the whole way. It was quite a moment, and my pang of envy was very, very strong for a few minutes there.

"Working on a Dream" was rough, and Bruce laughed that "Ladies and gentlemen, I hear the sound of the E Street Band fucking up! It can still happen after all these years... It ain't pretty." Little Steven Van Zant sidled up, and Bruce continued, "Steven said I missed a verse, so it was the Boss-man's fault."

Then, Bruce stopped....

"What we are about to do we've only done once before, in a little theater in Red Bank.” He added, “When we made this record we were close to being dumped by our record company. This was our last chance."

I gotta say, seeing the band run through the album in toto (in red above) was a real emotional experience for me. CByrd and I had our first dance to a live version of "Thunder Road" at our wedding, and she and I held each other as the song invited us into the album. I found tears on my cheeks during "Backstreets," which always makes me think of my closest friends, no matter how far away they may be, and how long it's been Dave, Larry, Ken, Shea...the whole "San Diego Crew." Then again with "Meeting Across the River" (With Richard Davis guesting on stand-up bass, just as on the record, and Curt Ramm, who also played on "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," on trumpet) going into "Jungleland," which is just a musical statement that I find amazing every, single time I hear it. Bruce's wails as the album closes out are simply heart-wrenching to me.

After they wrapped up Born to Run with Jungleland, the band took a deserved bow, then went into a string of what have to be called tour staples at this point. "Promised Land" is a very important song for Bruce, so I always welcome that, but I may start adding my voice to those who say we don't have to hear "The Rising" at every show anymore. I love it, it's one of my favorites, but it would've been nice to see something that we don't see all the time. Hell, I'd even welcome "Born in the USA" at this point. "Waiting on a Sunny Day" was fun, with Bruce pulling a kid from the pit to sing a chorus, and almost not making it all the way there tossing the acoustic to his guitar tech. "Uh, sorry," got a laugh.

The main set ended with "Badlands," but you'd hardly know it, as they were pretty much right into the requests/stump the band/sign collection section without leaving the stage. This has become a huge highlight of shows for me. I love watching the band scramble to figure out a song and almost always pulling it off. We got a bonus with two "stump the band" requests, "Da Doo Ron Ron," and "Rockin' Robin," neither ever played by the E-Street Band before. Good fun, but I have to say the "Mony Mony" from the Spring was more exciting (of course, I was in the pit). Then to "I'm Going Down" by request, "American Land," "Dancing in the Dark" (with a whole chorus line of kids from the pit), and the always-welcome "Rosalita" ending the night.

A few thoughts from the rafters....

Who are these people who go to shows and act like they don't want to be there the whole time? The family of three right next to me, well...they never cracked a smile the whole night. I understand some people don't dig Springsteen (philistines, but whatever...), but why in the hell are you at the show? Why sit there with a sour look on your face the whole time? And it wasn't like dad dragged mom and son out, he looked like he was pissed off, too. Amazing.

Very much looking forward to Milwaulkee in November. Back into the general admission, and another crack at the pit.

*SIGH*

Ladies and gentlemen it's one of "THOSE" days....

I am tired, cranky, and I didn't run this morning, which means I MUST use some of my precious night off to do so, AND we have to clean for the impending arrival of CByrd's mom for the Springsteen show. Add various other frustrations and challenges, shake and...

One of "THOSE" days.

One of those days when I feel a ton of guilt over my schedule, and how it means I have to miss two nights of rehearsal going into tech week.

One of those days when I spend a lot of time thinking about how badly my auditions have been going lately, and I indulge a bunch of fears that I have reached the peak of my abilities. The fear that it's all downhill from here, and maybe quitting while I'm ahead is a good idea. Or at least switching to directing.

There are times when I feel uniquely untalented. When those old fears that, in fact, I am a sham, and that any work I've gotten over the last 15 years has been solely on the basis of my being able to fool a bunch of people into thinking I know what I'm doing. I mean, if I was REALLY talented I'd be making a living doing this, wouldn't I?

*SIGH*

Yeah, one of "THOSE" days.

Intellectually, I know this is just a phase, a cycle that every creative person goes through. Things don't go your way for a while, you don't get those roles you wanted, you can't get the guitar to make the sounds you want to hear, you're not getting any feedback on that play you wrote. Little things, but they start to pile up, and grow bigger in your head. It's insidious, really, and also inescapable. There's NO WAY to avoid it, it's as much a part of the creative life as rejection and critics that see our work far too clearly for comfort.

Yeah, one of "THOSE" days.

It's part of the deal.