"It's dark every night..."
It's not exactly profound is it? I mean - no shit, Sherlock! But, I never heard anyone else say it, much less sing it, so....I pretty much wrote a song around it.
I'm going to try to keep this brief.
This is basically a dramatic love song about, as I sing, "Tempting fate with a good time," & then shit gets out of hand with the person you're having the good time with.
Shit happens.
You got into an argument - Lord knows (or, at this point, cares) why. You wake up the next day hung over, alone, and feeling like the horse's ass you rode in on. And, of course, you're looking for the very person you were in a bitch match with some hours before to make you feel safe and secure, because she (or he) is, "the only thing that makes it alright."
That's rich, isn't it?
I intertwined some lyrics about my semi-religious upbringing in there ("Orphan bastard child of God, Born of a rumor and a fraud"). I think I did that to sort of deepen the song with references to being indoctrinated with some idea of "God" & morality, & coming to the realization that these things don't necessarily make anyone righteous. In fact, they can have the opposite effect, really. I think that's why I tied up that first verse with my favorite line in the song: "The one who doesn't judge deserves all the love." Tell THAT to a religious nut!
What does that have to do with the song? Well, it beats the hell out of me, but...maybe, since it's a love song, I sort-of threw the love of family into the mix, which sort of intertwines with the religious themes, just like the love of that special one who "makes it alright" gets intertwined with too much booze! My life-long morbid fear of & fascination with death probably makes a cameo appearance as well. (I'm not gonna talk about that - but those of you who know me know all too well what I mean).
We all come from somewhere, and that leads us to where we are....
Anyway, enough of that shit.
I have a couple of random notes about the second verse that are kind-of funny. First, I sing "Gone, but not forgiven", because I saw that on a list of strange gravestone epitaphs in an almanac when I was a little kid, and it popped into my head when Lase and I were writing the song. Which leads me to the second line, "Alternative to living", which I think I once saw in a magazine ad for time shares or some shit - "THE PERFECT ALTERNATIVE TO LIVING!" I thought that was hilarious. (It's too bad that I can't find it).
As for writing the song, like most of them, it came quickly. I had that little lyric idea, and the beat with the sort-of "half-note-triplet" feel, & Lase & I took it from there. Lase really brought it to another level, yet again, when he pulled that bridge part out of his ass. I love that part.
Recording the vocals for this song (much like "Sister Vicodin") was kind of a BITCH. It's such a personal song, and one that requires a plaintive vocal, which can't be forced, or it's going to sound hokey as fuck. So, I did my best (which, admittedly, was a long shot at best) to evoke some of my favorite singers, like Mark Lanegan, & Lou Reed, & Nick Cave, to get the job done. while still keeping it my own enough to not sound like some cheap imitator. I think it came out the way I envisioned it. Lase's guitar textures are fantastic (which is the reason why I wanted to record it in the first place), and Mike Maenza, once again, really stepped up with fantastic drumming on here - taking a little idea of mine, and making it explosive. I applaud them.
That's enough.
One more song to go, next week.
Thanks for reading; thanks for listening.
Marty E.
"We're all messed up but nowhere to go..."
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: SONGS: #6 - Midnight Crisis - "Lost & Found"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #5 - Midnight Crisis - "Sister Vicodin"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #4 - Midnight Crisis - "(Get Home) Dangerous"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #3 - Midnight Crisis - "Kiss My Apocalipps"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "Make It Alright" on BandCamp
Download "Make It Alright" on CDBaby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Make It Alright" on Apple iTunes
Download "Make It Alright" on Amazon
"Make It Alright" on Spotify
Showing posts with label new york city. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new york city. Show all posts
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Sunday, December 3, 2017
SONGS: #6 - Midnight Crisis - "Lost & Found"
This is another song (like "(Get Home) Dangerous") in which the lion's share of the lyrics in the first two verses were written a long time ago - in this case, probably 15 years back! The strange but cool thing about that is that they're still extremely relevant to me, after that long - in spite of (and maybe because of) the fact that the meaning of them has changed, or at least the implications of them have become more substantial. Time can do that kind of thing.
I wrote a lot of the first two verses not too long after 9/11, when we were dealing with the aftermath & getting our "sea legs" back in the city. That's where the the term "New York Post [or post] apocalypse" comes from. For one thing, it really DID feel like the end of the world (and surely life hasn't been the same since)...and also, it was the dawn of the celebutard-focused reality tv "tabloid culture" that infiltrated the popular consciousness around that time & that we're still quite in the midst of today. So, there's a double entendre there, if you like.
Anyway, those initial lyrics floated around in my head for a long time, until I eventually started writing my own shit in order to see what might happen. Again, I figured, if something is STILL on my mind that I wrote in 2001, or whenever, then, maybe I have something at least marginally worthwhile, here.
With that said, what do they MEAN, now? Well...a lot of the New York City that I fell in love with is gone now. I'm not going to turn this into a soapbox sermon about hyper-gentrification, but, let's face it, it's affected a lot of us. It's turned Downtown, NYC, which was once a place full of beautiful, creative, & poor people, into a stomping ground for ugly, rich half-wits. With that said, I still love it here, and when I take a look around, despite what has been lost, I still see a lot of cool people and cool shit happening here. It's all just fewer and further between.
So, I guess when I consider everything, I'd say that the song is about keeping your head straight, your spirit up, and your resilience intact in a world that seems to be perpetually crumbling into a pile of shit, and believing in yourself despite overwhelming evidence that doing so might define insanity.
You know...all of that shit!
So, with all of that in mind, I rewrote the lyric to inform the song of all the time between the initial lyric idea, and the time when I made something of it, as it were....
...and then I heard this riff, that must have been inspired by the likes of Girls Against Boys, the Wildhearts, and New Model Army (whose socially conscious, rebellious themes might have also provided counsel)...and pretty much wrote the skeleton of the song based on that. I had that "get on down-down-down-down-down" sort of hook on my mind for awhile, and found that it fit over that riff quite nicely.
Besides pulling the chorus part out of my ass, that's about it.
I made a little demo out of it, and was really on the fence about how I felt about it. I knew that it was coming from a sincere place with me, but...sincerity doesn't always translate. Did it sound hokey? Did it sound like the real deal? Did it ROCK, for Christ's sake?
Fast-forward to when Lase recorded the song for real, and added his explosive guitar magic on top of it, and....the answer, at least for my ears, was a resounding yes. One thing that particularly took me aback was how much Mike Maenza's drum-pummeling really whipped the song into submission. Not bad for something I came up with on the fly from an old-ass idea on a hung-over afternoon in my room, on an acoustic bass!
That's the if, and, & butt-end of it. Thanks for reading, thanks for listening....there are two songs left on the album. Stay tuned for entries on each.
Marty E.
"Flesh and blood, concrete & steel
To dust we all shall fall..."
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: SONGS: #5 - Midnight Crisis - "Sister Vicodin"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #4 - Midnight Crisis - "(Get Home) Dangerous"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #3 - Midnight Crisis - "Kiss My Apocalipps"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "Lost & Found" on BandCamp
Download "Lost & Found" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Lost & Found" on Apple iTunes
Download "Lost & Found" on Amazon
"Lost & Found" on Spotify
I wrote a lot of the first two verses not too long after 9/11, when we were dealing with the aftermath & getting our "sea legs" back in the city. That's where the the term "New York Post [or post] apocalypse" comes from. For one thing, it really DID feel like the end of the world (and surely life hasn't been the same since)...and also, it was the dawn of the celebutard-focused reality tv "tabloid culture" that infiltrated the popular consciousness around that time & that we're still quite in the midst of today. So, there's a double entendre there, if you like.
Anyway, those initial lyrics floated around in my head for a long time, until I eventually started writing my own shit in order to see what might happen. Again, I figured, if something is STILL on my mind that I wrote in 2001, or whenever, then, maybe I have something at least marginally worthwhile, here.
With that said, what do they MEAN, now? Well...a lot of the New York City that I fell in love with is gone now. I'm not going to turn this into a soapbox sermon about hyper-gentrification, but, let's face it, it's affected a lot of us. It's turned Downtown, NYC, which was once a place full of beautiful, creative, & poor people, into a stomping ground for ugly, rich half-wits. With that said, I still love it here, and when I take a look around, despite what has been lost, I still see a lot of cool people and cool shit happening here. It's all just fewer and further between.
So, I guess when I consider everything, I'd say that the song is about keeping your head straight, your spirit up, and your resilience intact in a world that seems to be perpetually crumbling into a pile of shit, and believing in yourself despite overwhelming evidence that doing so might define insanity.
You know...all of that shit!
So, with all of that in mind, I rewrote the lyric to inform the song of all the time between the initial lyric idea, and the time when I made something of it, as it were....
...and then I heard this riff, that must have been inspired by the likes of Girls Against Boys, the Wildhearts, and New Model Army (whose socially conscious, rebellious themes might have also provided counsel)...and pretty much wrote the skeleton of the song based on that. I had that "get on down-down-down-down-down" sort of hook on my mind for awhile, and found that it fit over that riff quite nicely.
Besides pulling the chorus part out of my ass, that's about it.
I made a little demo out of it, and was really on the fence about how I felt about it. I knew that it was coming from a sincere place with me, but...sincerity doesn't always translate. Did it sound hokey? Did it sound like the real deal? Did it ROCK, for Christ's sake?
Fast-forward to when Lase recorded the song for real, and added his explosive guitar magic on top of it, and....the answer, at least for my ears, was a resounding yes. One thing that particularly took me aback was how much Mike Maenza's drum-pummeling really whipped the song into submission. Not bad for something I came up with on the fly from an old-ass idea on a hung-over afternoon in my room, on an acoustic bass!
That's the if, and, & butt-end of it. Thanks for reading, thanks for listening....there are two songs left on the album. Stay tuned for entries on each.
Marty E.
"Flesh and blood, concrete & steel
To dust we all shall fall..."
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: SONGS: #5 - Midnight Crisis - "Sister Vicodin"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #4 - Midnight Crisis - "(Get Home) Dangerous"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #3 - Midnight Crisis - "Kiss My Apocalipps"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "Lost & Found" on BandCamp
Download "Lost & Found" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Lost & Found" on Apple iTunes
Download "Lost & Found" on Amazon
"Lost & Found" on Spotify
Sunday, November 19, 2017
SONGS: #5 - Midnight Crisis - "Sister Vicodin"
To begin with, in the interest of full disclosure, yeah, I got the idea for this song from the Stones' "Sister Morphine"...and also, for that matter, from the Pillbox song, "Sister Caroline" (what does THAT rhyme with, again?). I simply thought that it might be a cool idea to write something that was making a similar statement, but put in a modern context.
With that said, this concept of juxtaposing (and personifying) the intoxication & escapism that comes from the likes of chemicals & love, in a song, is hardly new or uncommon. Hell, everyone from Roxy Music to Vain to...(I don't know).....the fucking Lemonheads...have all done that successfully.
So, I figured it was worth a try.
But, it wasn't REALLY that well thought out, at first, to be honest. The title "SISTER VICODIN" popped into my head one day when I was washing my hair or some shit. I liked it, but, what was I gonna do with it?
It didn't take long for me to formulate the chorus, in my head....."SIS-TER!! VIC-O-DIN!!!" In my imagination, I heard these chords behind it (which still sound a little bit to me like the KISS song, "Tears Are Falling", turned on its head). I kept turning it over & over in my head, and I've learned that if that happens, there's a distinct possibility that you might have something good.
[I became so distracted by it that, one day, when we were walking around Flushing in search of Soup Dumplings, my girlfriend basically asked me what the hell my problem was. So, I sang her the chorus idea right there on the street! That cleared it up...]
A couple of weeks later, I went to Lase's house to do some writing, armed with this, and another idea or two (we also wrote "(Get Home) Dangerous" that night). It took us a good hour of me singing this guitar idea for the chorus to Lase before we got on the same page with it, but it finally clicked. Lase then started playing this...for lack of better terms, "druggy", "airy" guitar part, that became the basis for the verses. In my typically subtle way, I said something like, "THAT's FUCKING GREAT!" Lase didn't think it worked, for some reason I don't remember. "HOGWASH!!" It was fucking PERFECT, as far as I was concerned! I grabbed a pen & paper & scrawled down the lyrics for the verses right there. "Magic in disguise," indeed!
We had the lion's share of it finished, or so we thought, when Lase plugged in his guitar, hit these fucking ARENA-sized chords, and started sort-humming this cool melody....and it made me say something like, "HOLY FUCK!" That became that bridge part, which is my favorite part of the song, and might be my favorite few seconds of the album, for some reason I can't explain. (I kind of ripped off Deep Purple a little bit when I came up with the "Another wasted sunset..." lyric, but...I didn't think that they would mind).
Speaking of lyrics, they're pretty self-explanatory in this song, but my favorite ones are in the second verse, where I'm describing withdrawal symptoms, etc: "Boiling fevers, ice-cold sweats, My sheets are soaking wet, Daydream nightmares, for Christ's sake, DYIN' AWAY THE NIGHT AWAKE!"
I digress...
I've learned a lot from this song. For one thing, it was a really profound example of turning some stupid idea that exists nowhere but between ones ears into something tangible. That alone blows my mind sometimes.
Another thing I learned the HARD way from this song is that, just because you write a song in a lower register, one that fits your range extremely well, and all of that shit....that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be easy to sing. This song (along with "Make It Alright" - more on that one in a couple of weeks) has the most subtleties & vulnerabilities that need to come out in the vocal...which, along with the actual singing itself, has to be exactly right, or it's not worth bothering with. As such, I think I sang this song at least 15 times at Lase's studio before we had enough for him to piece together a good vocal. I wouldn't have known it when we wrote the song originally, but this song was a BITCH for me to record vocals on....but we finally got it, and...well, at least for me, it was worth all of that hard work and frustration. That's the kind of shit that's going to make you that much better during your next go-around...or at least, I hope so!
Enough.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for listening. It means a lot to me.
Three more songs to go...
Marty E.
"My world is spinnin', I don't look back
Earthquakes....heart attacks"
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: SONGS: #4 - Midnight Crisis - "(Get Home) Dangerous"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #3 - Midnight Crisis - "Kiss My Apocalipps"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "Sister Vicodin on BandCamp
Download "Sister Vicodin" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Sister Vicodin" on Apple iTunes
Download "Sister Vicodin" on Amazon
"Sister Vicodin" on Spotify
With that said, this concept of juxtaposing (and personifying) the intoxication & escapism that comes from the likes of chemicals & love, in a song, is hardly new or uncommon. Hell, everyone from Roxy Music to Vain to...(I don't know).....the fucking Lemonheads...have all done that successfully.
So, I figured it was worth a try.
But, it wasn't REALLY that well thought out, at first, to be honest. The title "SISTER VICODIN" popped into my head one day when I was washing my hair or some shit. I liked it, but, what was I gonna do with it?
It didn't take long for me to formulate the chorus, in my head....."SIS-TER!! VIC-O-DIN!!!" In my imagination, I heard these chords behind it (which still sound a little bit to me like the KISS song, "Tears Are Falling", turned on its head). I kept turning it over & over in my head, and I've learned that if that happens, there's a distinct possibility that you might have something good.
[I became so distracted by it that, one day, when we were walking around Flushing in search of Soup Dumplings, my girlfriend basically asked me what the hell my problem was. So, I sang her the chorus idea right there on the street! That cleared it up...]
A couple of weeks later, I went to Lase's house to do some writing, armed with this, and another idea or two (we also wrote "(Get Home) Dangerous" that night). It took us a good hour of me singing this guitar idea for the chorus to Lase before we got on the same page with it, but it finally clicked. Lase then started playing this...for lack of better terms, "druggy", "airy" guitar part, that became the basis for the verses. In my typically subtle way, I said something like, "THAT's FUCKING GREAT!" Lase didn't think it worked, for some reason I don't remember. "HOGWASH!!" It was fucking PERFECT, as far as I was concerned! I grabbed a pen & paper & scrawled down the lyrics for the verses right there. "Magic in disguise," indeed!
We had the lion's share of it finished, or so we thought, when Lase plugged in his guitar, hit these fucking ARENA-sized chords, and started sort-humming this cool melody....and it made me say something like, "HOLY FUCK!" That became that bridge part, which is my favorite part of the song, and might be my favorite few seconds of the album, for some reason I can't explain. (I kind of ripped off Deep Purple a little bit when I came up with the "Another wasted sunset..." lyric, but...I didn't think that they would mind).
Speaking of lyrics, they're pretty self-explanatory in this song, but my favorite ones are in the second verse, where I'm describing withdrawal symptoms, etc: "Boiling fevers, ice-cold sweats, My sheets are soaking wet, Daydream nightmares, for Christ's sake, DYIN' AWAY THE NIGHT AWAKE!"
I digress...
I've learned a lot from this song. For one thing, it was a really profound example of turning some stupid idea that exists nowhere but between ones ears into something tangible. That alone blows my mind sometimes.
Another thing I learned the HARD way from this song is that, just because you write a song in a lower register, one that fits your range extremely well, and all of that shit....that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be easy to sing. This song (along with "Make It Alright" - more on that one in a couple of weeks) has the most subtleties & vulnerabilities that need to come out in the vocal...which, along with the actual singing itself, has to be exactly right, or it's not worth bothering with. As such, I think I sang this song at least 15 times at Lase's studio before we had enough for him to piece together a good vocal. I wouldn't have known it when we wrote the song originally, but this song was a BITCH for me to record vocals on....but we finally got it, and...well, at least for me, it was worth all of that hard work and frustration. That's the kind of shit that's going to make you that much better during your next go-around...or at least, I hope so!
Enough.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for listening. It means a lot to me.
Three more songs to go...
Marty E.
"My world is spinnin', I don't look back
Earthquakes....heart attacks"
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: SONGS: #4 - Midnight Crisis - "(Get Home) Dangerous"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #3 - Midnight Crisis - "Kiss My Apocalipps"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "Sister Vicodin on BandCamp
Download "Sister Vicodin" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Sister Vicodin" on Apple iTunes
Download "Sister Vicodin" on Amazon
"Sister Vicodin" on Spotify
Sunday, November 12, 2017
SONGS: #4 - Midnight Crisis - "(Get Home) Dangerous"
"Sunshine couldn't be so clever, the sidewalk sparkles in the midnight heat..."
I wrote the first two verses of this song about 15-fucking-years ago, when I was living in a bedbug-infested building made of Tinkertoys near the southern border of Hell's Kitchen. I'd been in New York City for a short time, and by all accounts, was struggling in virtually every way possible.
[I mean, when I went out, I'd often bring a little bottle of Jim Beam in my pocket to "modify & fortify" my Friday nights, out in the East Village/Lower East Side, or when I lacked that kind of fore-site, I'd stop by a deli between bar stops & grab a can of Bud to slam on the rockin' stroll onward.]
But, I didn't care! I was becoming what I always wanted to be, or so I thought. I had a band, & I was going out a lot, getting to know cool & beautiful people, playing shows at Don Hill's, The Continental, & CBGB's, and making my way, becoming part of the city I fell head-over-heels in love with. By day, I'd put my hair back into a pony-tail, caffeinate my hangovers away, and work as an "office temp" - which, essentially, allowed me to subsist & get reasonably "refreshed" while, in my mind, looking for my Street of Dreams and, ya know...all of that shit.
Also, I met a lot of "tragic types" along the way, who had their own stories to tell, and liked having someone to tell them to, even amidst the borderline squalor I was living in. That's what verse 2 is all about.
It really was a different world, then....anyway....
Anyway, all these years since I wrote the gist of the first two verses of this song, they always sort-of haunted me in my head, and I knew that I wanted to use them for something, but wasn't sure what, until Lase & I started writing. One night, it dawned on me (no pun intended) when, at bar time, someone typically said to me, "Get home safe!"
"Fuck THAT," I thought, "Get home DANGEROUS!"
I guess the point is, nothing cool or inspiring or interesting ever happened as a result of playing it safe, as far as I know. The frustration & struggling & adversity is worth it, because you do your own thing in your own time, whatever that means to you. I think and hope that I convey that effectively in the third verse and in the choruses.
I don't know what the fuck I have to show for this line of thinking, but...I have this song, in any case.
Lase and I wrote this song on a very productive night (we wrote "Sister Vicodin" that night too - more on that next week). I came in with most of the lyrics & a rhythmic idea that became part of the main riff (dadada....duh-daaaaaaaaah)....we had a drink & worked on it for about an hour, and....shit, we came up with those cool "question and answer" vocal lines in the choruses. We made a demo recording of it right away, a little bit of which remains on the final recording.
When we were recording the vocals, I took a couple of opportunities to do some Monster Magnet-style screams on here. That was a lot of fun.
Lase is particularly stoked on this track, and I believe it's his favorite track on the album. As for me, it's too difficult for me to pick & I don't feel like I've got to choose!
Until next week......Thanks for reading/listening!
- Marty E.
"You haven't done it all
But you've done your part...."
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: SONGS: #3 - Midnight Crisis - "Kiss My Apocalipps"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "(Get Home) Dangerous" on BandCamp
Download "(Get Home) Dangerous" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "(Get Home) Dangerous" on Apple iTunes
Download "(Get Home) Dangerous" on Amazon
"(Get Home) Dangerous" on Spotify
I wrote the first two verses of this song about 15-fucking-years ago, when I was living in a bedbug-infested building made of Tinkertoys near the southern border of Hell's Kitchen. I'd been in New York City for a short time, and by all accounts, was struggling in virtually every way possible.
[I mean, when I went out, I'd often bring a little bottle of Jim Beam in my pocket to "modify & fortify" my Friday nights, out in the East Village/Lower East Side, or when I lacked that kind of fore-site, I'd stop by a deli between bar stops & grab a can of Bud to slam on the rockin' stroll onward.]
But, I didn't care! I was becoming what I always wanted to be, or so I thought. I had a band, & I was going out a lot, getting to know cool & beautiful people, playing shows at Don Hill's, The Continental, & CBGB's, and making my way, becoming part of the city I fell head-over-heels in love with. By day, I'd put my hair back into a pony-tail, caffeinate my hangovers away, and work as an "office temp" - which, essentially, allowed me to subsist & get reasonably "refreshed" while, in my mind, looking for my Street of Dreams and, ya know...all of that shit.
Also, I met a lot of "tragic types" along the way, who had their own stories to tell, and liked having someone to tell them to, even amidst the borderline squalor I was living in. That's what verse 2 is all about.
It really was a different world, then....anyway....
Anyway, all these years since I wrote the gist of the first two verses of this song, they always sort-of haunted me in my head, and I knew that I wanted to use them for something, but wasn't sure what, until Lase & I started writing. One night, it dawned on me (no pun intended) when, at bar time, someone typically said to me, "Get home safe!"
"Fuck THAT," I thought, "Get home DANGEROUS!"
I guess the point is, nothing cool or inspiring or interesting ever happened as a result of playing it safe, as far as I know. The frustration & struggling & adversity is worth it, because you do your own thing in your own time, whatever that means to you. I think and hope that I convey that effectively in the third verse and in the choruses.
I don't know what the fuck I have to show for this line of thinking, but...I have this song, in any case.
Lase and I wrote this song on a very productive night (we wrote "Sister Vicodin" that night too - more on that next week). I came in with most of the lyrics & a rhythmic idea that became part of the main riff (dadada....duh-daaaaaaaaah)....we had a drink & worked on it for about an hour, and....shit, we came up with those cool "question and answer" vocal lines in the choruses. We made a demo recording of it right away, a little bit of which remains on the final recording.
When we were recording the vocals, I took a couple of opportunities to do some Monster Magnet-style screams on here. That was a lot of fun.
Lase is particularly stoked on this track, and I believe it's his favorite track on the album. As for me, it's too difficult for me to pick & I don't feel like I've got to choose!
Until next week......Thanks for reading/listening!
- Marty E.
"You haven't done it all
But you've done your part...."
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: SONGS: #3 - Midnight Crisis - "Kiss My Apocalipps"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: SONGS: #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "(Get Home) Dangerous" on BandCamp
Download "(Get Home) Dangerous" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "(Get Home) Dangerous" on Apple iTunes
Download "(Get Home) Dangerous" on Amazon
"(Get Home) Dangerous" on Spotify
Sunday, November 5, 2017
SONGS: #3 - Midnight Crisis - "Kiss My Apocalipps"
At our album release party, last month, I introduced this song by saying, "I had a dream I was David Johansen as an anchor man, reading the evening news...and that includes the sports and weather, motherfuckers!!!"
It's total bullshit, but it explains the song pretty well, if you ask me.
This is an example of a song, that, lyric-wise, was a complete stream-of-consciousness explosion, aided by sleep-deprivation, and media over-exposure. That's a mouthful, isn't it?
It was late Summer, 2016. Dim Donnie Trump had just clinched the Republican nomination for....(gulp)...the....presidency. I mean, it was unTHINKable! One couldn't take it seriously, almost. It just felt like a big fucking joke - one that stood out, significantly, in a world that's FULL of bad jokes.
It was one of those nights in which I stayed up all night at my girl's house, watching crappy shows on Netflix, and dicking around, playing Words With Friends, etc, until 6:30 in the morning, when one (usually) has no choice but to pass out.
That was when it hit me: "Armageddon won't be televised, Pull the silver screens over your eyes...." Again, this ultimate fruition of what they called "Trumpism"....it COULDN'T be real. It HAD to be a fucking JOKE. It will PASS, and SOON, right? He can't possibly, WIN, right? RIGHT?!!! Something in the back of my mind probably was probably a little nervous, even if I wouldn't admit it to myself or take it seriously. So I got back up, and wrote the ENTIRE lyric of this song, pretty much verbatim with how we recorded it. I then immediately texted it to Lase, who asked me why the fuck I was still up!
What's weird about it is, that third verse: "The nightmare, Baby, has come true, The shallow end is deeper than you..." Again, I was pretty-much kidding. I mean, I thought it was..."apocalyptic" enough, if you will, that this fucking moron got the NOMINATION. I'm not pretentious or full-of-shit enough to say that I was being prophetic or some shit - I had NO fucking idea what was going to happen. What I did think was that maybe this was, in some sick way, a way to a path forward - one that would possibly scare us into some good sense (and, hell, maybe it still is, but I have my doubts). That's what I think I meant by, "You can fucking keep yesterday..." The last I heard, looking back never got anyone anywhere. I have always felt that nostalgia, more often than not, holds us back from becoming what we should be...you know, that kind of shit. Before long, you start telling kids to get off your lawn! What I guess I'm getting at is, if we can survive and get through this dark fucking mess, maybe we can can come out of it better than we were somehow. That's probably a big "IF" I don't know what choice we have but to try.
[There's also an excellent chance that this is all a big CON JOB, but....that's another discussion.]
This shit sure took on new meaning for me after the election results came in, almost a year ago. But, if you're reading this, you already know all about that, so...we'll leave that there.
The point of this? Well...some people are calling it the end of the world. I am not - at least not yet. But if it is, there's really not a lot that any of us can do about it except educate ourselves and be the best that we can be, in spite of it. "If tomorrow never come, When the lights go out, we'll have our day in the sun." (That's probably a nod to PRINCE, too).
As far as the actually writing of the song itself, I just sang the lyrics over Lase's riffs that he came up with on the fly. What we came up with really plays to my (admittedly limited) strengths as a singer. I'm sort of imitating an imaginary hybrid of David Johansen (again) & Lux Interior having the misfortune of selling used cars, or some shit. For that reason, it's probably my favorite song in the set to sing.
What do YOU think?
Thanks for reading & listening. Song #4 one week from now.
Marty E.
"Don't be afraid, Baby, to take that dive, 'cause it's the only way you'll ever know you're alive...."
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: Songs: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: Songs #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "Kiss My Apocalipps" on BandCamp
Download "Kiss My Apocalipps" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Kiss My Apocalipps" on Apple iTunes
Download "Kiss My Apocalipps" on Amazon
"Kiss My Apocalipps" on Spotify
It's total bullshit, but it explains the song pretty well, if you ask me.
This is an example of a song, that, lyric-wise, was a complete stream-of-consciousness explosion, aided by sleep-deprivation, and media over-exposure. That's a mouthful, isn't it?
It was late Summer, 2016. Dim Donnie Trump had just clinched the Republican nomination for....(gulp)...the....presidency. I mean, it was unTHINKable! One couldn't take it seriously, almost. It just felt like a big fucking joke - one that stood out, significantly, in a world that's FULL of bad jokes.
It was one of those nights in which I stayed up all night at my girl's house, watching crappy shows on Netflix, and dicking around, playing Words With Friends, etc, until 6:30 in the morning, when one (usually) has no choice but to pass out.
That was when it hit me: "Armageddon won't be televised, Pull the silver screens over your eyes...." Again, this ultimate fruition of what they called "Trumpism"....it COULDN'T be real. It HAD to be a fucking JOKE. It will PASS, and SOON, right? He can't possibly, WIN, right? RIGHT?!!! Something in the back of my mind probably was probably a little nervous, even if I wouldn't admit it to myself or take it seriously. So I got back up, and wrote the ENTIRE lyric of this song, pretty much verbatim with how we recorded it. I then immediately texted it to Lase, who asked me why the fuck I was still up!
What's weird about it is, that third verse: "The nightmare, Baby, has come true, The shallow end is deeper than you..." Again, I was pretty-much kidding. I mean, I thought it was..."apocalyptic" enough, if you will, that this fucking moron got the NOMINATION. I'm not pretentious or full-of-shit enough to say that I was being prophetic or some shit - I had NO fucking idea what was going to happen. What I did think was that maybe this was, in some sick way, a way to a path forward - one that would possibly scare us into some good sense (and, hell, maybe it still is, but I have my doubts). That's what I think I meant by, "You can fucking keep yesterday..." The last I heard, looking back never got anyone anywhere. I have always felt that nostalgia, more often than not, holds us back from becoming what we should be...you know, that kind of shit. Before long, you start telling kids to get off your lawn! What I guess I'm getting at is, if we can survive and get through this dark fucking mess, maybe we can can come out of it better than we were somehow. That's probably a big "IF" I don't know what choice we have but to try.
[There's also an excellent chance that this is all a big CON JOB, but....that's another discussion.]
This shit sure took on new meaning for me after the election results came in, almost a year ago. But, if you're reading this, you already know all about that, so...we'll leave that there.
The point of this? Well...some people are calling it the end of the world. I am not - at least not yet. But if it is, there's really not a lot that any of us can do about it except educate ourselves and be the best that we can be, in spite of it. "If tomorrow never come, When the lights go out, we'll have our day in the sun." (That's probably a nod to PRINCE, too).
As far as the actually writing of the song itself, I just sang the lyrics over Lase's riffs that he came up with on the fly. What we came up with really plays to my (admittedly limited) strengths as a singer. I'm sort of imitating an imaginary hybrid of David Johansen (again) & Lux Interior having the misfortune of selling used cars, or some shit. For that reason, it's probably my favorite song in the set to sing.
What do YOU think?
Thanks for reading & listening. Song #4 one week from now.
Marty E.
"Don't be afraid, Baby, to take that dive, 'cause it's the only way you'll ever know you're alive...."
LAST WEEK's ENTRY: Songs: #2 - Midnight Crisis - "Midnight Somewhere"
THE WEEK BEFORE THAT: Songs #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
Stream/Download "Kiss My Apocalipps" on BandCamp
Download "Kiss My Apocalipps" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Kiss My Apocalipps" on Apple iTunes
Download "Kiss My Apocalipps" on Amazon
"Kiss My Apocalipps" on Spotify
Sunday, October 22, 2017
SONGS: #1 - Midnight Crisis - "Take Control"
"Take Control" is the first song on Heart Beatings, my first album with Midnight Crisis, which is my first album as a lead singer & songwriter, (along with LASE, of course)....and furthermore, it's the first complete-incomplete song idea I've every put together on my own (which LASE added to later).
So, there are a lot of firsts, there.
Oddly enough, that song came spontaneously, out of cluttered air, about four years ago. It was one of those rare nights (at the time) when I stayed in & chilled after at least a week of going out every night. I was sitting with my acoustic bass guitar, which I'd had for the better part of ten years, but had done nothing short of jack shit with...and I thought: let's try something this rhythmic riff idea that I got from the Sisters of Mercy's song "Ribbons" - really simple, but quite deliberate, and easy to put a melody and an attitude over. So I fucked around with it, rolled it, poled it, and marked it with an E...but then I had to go to the other part of this idea...which was to take the main riff to Janes Addiction's "Ain't No Right", and put THAT through the same battering process to change it JUST enough to sound like it might resemble something of its own. (I also wanted all of this this contextualized by some sort of Guns n' Roses "Rocket Queen" or Motley Crue "Too Young To Fall In Love" sort of feel and swagger, if you will). Then, somehow, I came up with the bridge part, too, just via trial and error.
It's not as if I was or am ANY kind of bass player, or guitar player, but I am able to teach myself how to play what I have on my head and show it to someone else...who can then take the main idea and add the punctuation - dot the Ts and cross the Is - make this bold, and italicize this, and add lots of colors & shades & cool shit to it, and make it a fucking SONG, ya know?
I digress...
Another really funny thing I did when I did the original demo of the song (which, like all of my song ideas, I made using GarageBand on my phone, and doing a LOT of swearing in the process) was....I banged out a sort of "machine-shop" percussion track on this metal stool of mine, kind-of like I'd imagine Cop Shoot Cop probably did once upon a time, and it gave it this really cool, unique special percussion effect. It's for the reason that I banged out a similar pattern on an iron skillet when we recorded the song for real, at LASE's house, and if you listen really closely, you can start hearing it, I think, after the chorus kicks in.
Lyrics? Hell, I don't know. I came up with the entire thing on the fly, lyric-wise, and kept 95% of it the way I wrote it that night. It was just something that took shape, in that spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness kind of way that songs (sometimes the best ones) often do. I after I'd gotten the musical skeleton down, I just listened to it, and, without thinking about it, started with, "Sometimes I think about you when I'm lost into the night...." (a little PJ Harvey and a little Only Ones - right in the first line, huh?). I mean, ANYONE from your girlfriend to your grandma wants to hear that, you know what I mean? But you have to say these things within the rhythmic context of the song, and hopefully wrap enough of a melody around it to make it palatable for anyone besides yourself, HAHAHAHAHA!!! It can be a bitch....but when it works, it works.
My favorite lyric? The last line in verse 1: "...every tear you cry paints a picture of my heartbreak."
The chorus? "Take control"...of what, exactly? Hell....I think I was just really singing about what the fuck I was doing, now that I think about it. I'd had a lot of song ideas in my head for years, some being better than others, and was frustrated that none of them were coming into fruition. So, without giving it a lot of thought, I finally grabbed myself by the breaches and got to work....and now, we finally have an album of it.
I digress....
Anyway, the lyrics took about 5 minutes to write, and I finished the demo around 6am or so, or in my world, bed time!
It's the coolest thing in the world for me to have made this a real, recorded song, with LASE's killer guitar madness, not to mention his top-fucking-notch production/engineering work, + Mike's brutal warrior drums whipping it mercilessly into shape.
Anyway, download a copy....or at LEAST stream it.
And thank you for listening.
Next song, next week.
Marty E.
"Nothin' matters but tonight and you and me..."
Stream/download "Take Control" on BandCamp
Download "Take Control" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Take Control" on Apple iTunes
Download "Take Control" on Amazon
"Take Control" on Spotify
So, there are a lot of firsts, there.
Oddly enough, that song came spontaneously, out of cluttered air, about four years ago. It was one of those rare nights (at the time) when I stayed in & chilled after at least a week of going out every night. I was sitting with my acoustic bass guitar, which I'd had for the better part of ten years, but had done nothing short of jack shit with...and I thought: let's try something this rhythmic riff idea that I got from the Sisters of Mercy's song "Ribbons" - really simple, but quite deliberate, and easy to put a melody and an attitude over. So I fucked around with it, rolled it, poled it, and marked it with an E...but then I had to go to the other part of this idea...which was to take the main riff to Janes Addiction's "Ain't No Right", and put THAT through the same battering process to change it JUST enough to sound like it might resemble something of its own. (I also wanted all of this this contextualized by some sort of Guns n' Roses "Rocket Queen" or Motley Crue "Too Young To Fall In Love" sort of feel and swagger, if you will). Then, somehow, I came up with the bridge part, too, just via trial and error.
It's not as if I was or am ANY kind of bass player, or guitar player, but I am able to teach myself how to play what I have on my head and show it to someone else...who can then take the main idea and add the punctuation - dot the Ts and cross the Is - make this bold, and italicize this, and add lots of colors & shades & cool shit to it, and make it a fucking SONG, ya know?
I digress...
Another really funny thing I did when I did the original demo of the song (which, like all of my song ideas, I made using GarageBand on my phone, and doing a LOT of swearing in the process) was....I banged out a sort of "machine-shop" percussion track on this metal stool of mine, kind-of like I'd imagine Cop Shoot Cop probably did once upon a time, and it gave it this really cool, unique special percussion effect. It's for the reason that I banged out a similar pattern on an iron skillet when we recorded the song for real, at LASE's house, and if you listen really closely, you can start hearing it, I think, after the chorus kicks in.
Lyrics? Hell, I don't know. I came up with the entire thing on the fly, lyric-wise, and kept 95% of it the way I wrote it that night. It was just something that took shape, in that spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness kind of way that songs (sometimes the best ones) often do. I after I'd gotten the musical skeleton down, I just listened to it, and, without thinking about it, started with, "Sometimes I think about you when I'm lost into the night...." (a little PJ Harvey and a little Only Ones - right in the first line, huh?). I mean, ANYONE from your girlfriend to your grandma wants to hear that, you know what I mean? But you have to say these things within the rhythmic context of the song, and hopefully wrap enough of a melody around it to make it palatable for anyone besides yourself, HAHAHAHAHA!!! It can be a bitch....but when it works, it works.
My favorite lyric? The last line in verse 1: "...every tear you cry paints a picture of my heartbreak."
The chorus? "Take control"...of what, exactly? Hell....I think I was just really singing about what the fuck I was doing, now that I think about it. I'd had a lot of song ideas in my head for years, some being better than others, and was frustrated that none of them were coming into fruition. So, without giving it a lot of thought, I finally grabbed myself by the breaches and got to work....and now, we finally have an album of it.
I digress....
Anyway, the lyrics took about 5 minutes to write, and I finished the demo around 6am or so, or in my world, bed time!
It's the coolest thing in the world for me to have made this a real, recorded song, with LASE's killer guitar madness, not to mention his top-fucking-notch production/engineering work, + Mike's brutal warrior drums whipping it mercilessly into shape.
Anyway, download a copy....or at LEAST stream it.
And thank you for listening.
Next song, next week.
Marty E.
"Nothin' matters but tonight and you and me..."
Stream/download "Take Control" on BandCamp
Download "Take Control" on CD Baby (or buy Heart Beatings CD)
Download "Take Control" on Apple iTunes
Download "Take Control" on Amazon
"Take Control" on Spotify
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Welcome To the Concrete Jungle....or.....My First Night Out On the Town in NYC!
All of you who know me know that I know my way around the big city, & that I've had my share of late, late nights...but that I generally am able to keep my shit together. (I'm knocking on wood as I write that, hahahaha).
This was not always the case, and I'm going to tell you a funny story to illustrate that.
It was approximately a year before I moved into town. I had never, ever been to New York City in my life, and knew nothing about it, aside from what I read about 10 times in PLEASE KILL ME. I had flown here with my good friend Dan (my oldest friend from back home, for lack of a better term). We crashed at his sister, Julie's apartment on the Upper West Side. (Julie would later become my sort-of "Rock n' Roll big sister" when I was a new kid in town, for which I am eternally grateful). We had a big dinner and a few beers the first night we were here....but we couldn't wait to get our asses out to the East Village/Lower East Side to....immerse ourselves in the perceived coolness that was there.
Yeah, right.
So, we got on the Subway Train and went downtown, not really knowing what the hell we were doing or where the hell we were going, but knowing that we wanted to hit Coney Island High and the Continental, etc. I'm sure that we looked just as clueless as we were at the time. I think we went to the Continental first, and had a couple of Heinekens and shots of Jagermeister (my combo of choice at the time. Yuck!), and probably very obviously ogled at the girls there, etc, whom I'm certain took no notice of us. I hope not, anyway, hahahahaha!!!
Anyway, we headed around the corner to Coney Island High, and the dude at the door (who was that?) said that there were psychedelic bands playing upstairs, or some shit. That was good enough for us, so we headed on up, ordered ourselves another round, and checked out the band, whoever it was.
Soon, we started getting a little bit drunk, when some attractive black-haired girl started talking to me. I should have known from the start that it was too good to be true, and that I was being played, but I was much younger and more naive, let alone a stranger in a strange land. It probably didn't help that I mentioned that I didn't live in NYC....I think I recall her response being something along the lines of, "No shit!"
Pretty soon, this chick started dancing with her arms around me, and, of course, I thought that I had hit the jackpot! I was probably thinking, "Party time in NEW YORK!! I think I LIKE this place!!!"
She was dancing behind me, while, I suppose I was waving my hands in the air like I just don't care, or something to that effect. And I didn't....until I felt her hands around my waist...unbuckling my BELT!!! To make matters worse, this chick started pulling my PANTS down!
Luckily enough, even in my advanced state of refreshment, my reflexes were sharp enough that I was able to fight her off without being disrobed and/or overexposed, the operative term being, "Listen, you crazy bitch, leave me the fuck ALONE!"
And of course she looked at me with her faced crumpled with disdain, and yelled, "FINE, BE THAT WAY!" before she and her friend walked out the door. It was then that I noticed Dan laughing his ass off. I re-buckled by belt, and probably suggested that he shut the fuck up, and come with me to the bar to get another beer!
Before long, we walked over to Bleecker Street Bar for some reason, and continued with the merriment, and basically had a good time...albeit less eventful.
But the story doesn't end there!
We decided it was about time to head back to Julie's place....at GOD know's what time, but I suspect it was close to NYC's bar time of 4am. We grabbed the Subway to head back to the Upper West Side. I guess somewhere along the way, the booze and energy of the Big City got the best of me....because the next thing I knew, I was being nudged awake by this little Hispanic Good Samaritan Dude who was sitting next to me (thank you, Sir, whomever and wherever you may be). I looked around, and Dan wasn't THERE! Dude said that he had left!
In other words, I had passed out during the train ride, and Dan walked off the train, apparently assuming that I was walking behind him. He didn't notice that I was sitting there catching up on some much-need rest until he was off the train and the doors had closed!
I was scared shitless, because I I was drunk, alone, and didn't know my way around to save my life. So, I did the only thing I could think of TO do, and I got off the train, grabbed a payphone, and called Julie (whose #, luckily, was in my pocket. I had no cellphone yet).
"I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM OR WHAT THE FUCK TO DO!!!" I exclaimed, as I heard Dan laughing his ass off (AGAIN) in the background.
She told me, between guffaws, to just jump in a cab and have it drop me off on the corner by her building.
"Oh....well.....ok, then!" Simple enough, right?
When I walked through her door, we decided that, in light of the hilarity that we had experienced that night, just one more round of Heinekens was in order, despite my exhausted state.
CHEERS!!!!
It seems so long ago.....yet it doesn't....you know what I mean?
This was not always the case, and I'm going to tell you a funny story to illustrate that.
It was approximately a year before I moved into town. I had never, ever been to New York City in my life, and knew nothing about it, aside from what I read about 10 times in PLEASE KILL ME. I had flown here with my good friend Dan (my oldest friend from back home, for lack of a better term). We crashed at his sister, Julie's apartment on the Upper West Side. (Julie would later become my sort-of "Rock n' Roll big sister" when I was a new kid in town, for which I am eternally grateful). We had a big dinner and a few beers the first night we were here....but we couldn't wait to get our asses out to the East Village/Lower East Side to....immerse ourselves in the perceived coolness that was there.
Yeah, right.
So, we got on the Subway Train and went downtown, not really knowing what the hell we were doing or where the hell we were going, but knowing that we wanted to hit Coney Island High and the Continental, etc. I'm sure that we looked just as clueless as we were at the time. I think we went to the Continental first, and had a couple of Heinekens and shots of Jagermeister (my combo of choice at the time. Yuck!), and probably very obviously ogled at the girls there, etc, whom I'm certain took no notice of us. I hope not, anyway, hahahahaha!!!
Anyway, we headed around the corner to Coney Island High, and the dude at the door (who was that?) said that there were psychedelic bands playing upstairs, or some shit. That was good enough for us, so we headed on up, ordered ourselves another round, and checked out the band, whoever it was.
Soon, we started getting a little bit drunk, when some attractive black-haired girl started talking to me. I should have known from the start that it was too good to be true, and that I was being played, but I was much younger and more naive, let alone a stranger in a strange land. It probably didn't help that I mentioned that I didn't live in NYC....I think I recall her response being something along the lines of, "No shit!"
Pretty soon, this chick started dancing with her arms around me, and, of course, I thought that I had hit the jackpot! I was probably thinking, "Party time in NEW YORK!! I think I LIKE this place!!!"
She was dancing behind me, while, I suppose I was waving my hands in the air like I just don't care, or something to that effect. And I didn't....until I felt her hands around my waist...unbuckling my BELT!!! To make matters worse, this chick started pulling my PANTS down!
Luckily enough, even in my advanced state of refreshment, my reflexes were sharp enough that I was able to fight her off without being disrobed and/or overexposed, the operative term being, "Listen, you crazy bitch, leave me the fuck ALONE!"
And of course she looked at me with her faced crumpled with disdain, and yelled, "FINE, BE THAT WAY!" before she and her friend walked out the door. It was then that I noticed Dan laughing his ass off. I re-buckled by belt, and probably suggested that he shut the fuck up, and come with me to the bar to get another beer!
Before long, we walked over to Bleecker Street Bar for some reason, and continued with the merriment, and basically had a good time...albeit less eventful.
But the story doesn't end there!
We decided it was about time to head back to Julie's place....at GOD know's what time, but I suspect it was close to NYC's bar time of 4am. We grabbed the Subway to head back to the Upper West Side. I guess somewhere along the way, the booze and energy of the Big City got the best of me....because the next thing I knew, I was being nudged awake by this little Hispanic Good Samaritan Dude who was sitting next to me (thank you, Sir, whomever and wherever you may be). I looked around, and Dan wasn't THERE! Dude said that he had left!
In other words, I had passed out during the train ride, and Dan walked off the train, apparently assuming that I was walking behind him. He didn't notice that I was sitting there catching up on some much-need rest until he was off the train and the doors had closed!
I was scared shitless, because I I was drunk, alone, and didn't know my way around to save my life. So, I did the only thing I could think of TO do, and I got off the train, grabbed a payphone, and called Julie (whose #, luckily, was in my pocket. I had no cellphone yet).
"I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM OR WHAT THE FUCK TO DO!!!" I exclaimed, as I heard Dan laughing his ass off (AGAIN) in the background.
She told me, between guffaws, to just jump in a cab and have it drop me off on the corner by her building.
"Oh....well.....ok, then!" Simple enough, right?
When I walked through her door, we decided that, in light of the hilarity that we had experienced that night, just one more round of Heinekens was in order, despite my exhausted state.
CHEERS!!!!
It seems so long ago.....yet it doesn't....you know what I mean?
Monday, February 20, 2012
If I Had Known What I Was Getting Into....or....My First Day In New York
I rolled into town feeling like a cold caller trying to sell beige slacks on June 1, 2000, with about 3 grand (in checks & money orders) rolled up in my sock, over a hundred pounds of luggage on my bruised shoulders, and little the fuck else.
I flew in from Minneapolis after spending one last night with my ex-girlfriend, then leaving her and my group of best friends & life as I knew it...and there was no turning back. (I that believe you CAN "look back" every once in awhile - to reflect, which is what I'm doing here).
On my flight, I remember the pilot saying through the loudspeaker, "Ladies & Gentlemen.....uuuuuuuuummmmmm.....if you look to the left of the aircraft.....uuuuuummmmm.....that's Lake Erie...."
It was then that it occurred to me that I didn't know where the fuck I was going to be in a day, much less a week, a month, or a year! Sure, it sounds exciting and romantic, and all of that crap....but when it's right in front of your face like a burning jungle, it's more than a little bit daunting and pretty fucking scary!
Well, I arrived at LaGuardia, and grabbed my luggage (consisting of a hockey bag that resembled an overstuffed burrito, a backpack, a case with my snare drum, sticks, and kick drum pedal....and I think I might have had my cymbal bag with me as well), and grabbed a cab to Manhattan. I was to go to the acting school where my good friend Alfredo worked and attended classes, grab the keys to his apartment in Bay Ridge (in South Brooklyn) and head to his house. So I rolled into this old brick building on Jane Street, with all of my crap....which I left in the stairwell (I figured, if anyone wants to carry this shit, BE MY GUEST). Looking like the dark shadow of death's understudy, I then walked up to the front desk.
"Hi....my friend Al should have left some keys in the desk for me.....??????"
The hag behind the desk squinted, took a look at me, pulled the desk drawer out, gave it a way-too-quick once-over, and dismissed me with, "I'm sorry....there's nothing here!"
Stunned, I asked, "Are you SURE? Can you please look AGAIN?"
"I JUST DID....there's nothing HERE!"
I began to panic. I tried to call Al, but he wasn't picking up. Perfect.
I didn't know what the fuck to do....I was beyond exhausted, and I didn't have anywhere to go, really. I was in a strange, ENORMOUS, cold, new place that I didn't know my way around yet, and I was weighed down with everything I owned in the world.
It then occurred to me that another buddy of mine, Lenny, was making the same move that I was, and he had emailed me his new # a week beforehand.
With nothing else to do, I called Lenny....thank CHRIST he was home.
"Hey Man....how are you? I'm completely SCREWED!"
"Well....that sucks, Man," he said, "....well....do you wanna come hang out for awhile? I'm in Astoria, but...."
I grabbed another cab, this time to Astoria, in the North-Western part of Queens....with a feeling of suspended animation, and also fucking RELIEF, that I at least could be under a friendly roof with all of my crap for at least the rest of the afternoon.
I rolled up to his apartment (which was either on 30th Ave, 30th Street, or 30th Road) and he was unpacking boxes....so I dropped my extra baggage in front if his front door, and fell into a chair.
Lenny, very nonchalantly asked, "Do you want a beer, Dude?"
It's your friends that pull you through.
I eventually got a hold of Alfredo late that night, and he apologized profusely, and said that I should head to his place. He also told me that his keys were, indeed, at that acting school of his where he said they would be, and that the wench at the acting school felt badly about missing them. Right - I'm sure that she's losing sleep over that to this day.
Anyway, I packed my luggage on my aching back and walked to the Subway for the ride to Al's house. What's funny about that, is that Lenny lived near Ditmars Ave in Queens, which is where the N Train starts....so, I got on board and rode into Manhattan, then I transferred to the R at Times Square (which was the only way I trusted myself to make such a transfer at that moment) to get to Al's place in Bay Ridge Ave, in Brooklyn, near where the R train ends. Case in point, I took the yellow line for about 3 hours, from one end to another, through 3 Burroughs, to finally rest my beyond-weary head.
Let's recap....I'd taken a cab from LaGuardia to Greenwich Village.....then got in another cab from there to Astoria, then took the train all the way from there to Bay Ridge Ave. My route that day basically was in the shape of a gigantic number 4!
It was after 4am when I finally got to Al's house. Before I crashed out in my sleeping bag on his floor, I called my Mom.
"I thought I'd hear from you a long time before now....where have you BEEN?"
"I'm too exhausted to tell you, but let's just say my shoulders are, literally, black & blue."
"OH MY GOD," she exclaimed, with a worried, almost-disgusted tone that even I had never quite heard at that point.
I told her I would call her the next day, and I proceeded to pass out on the most comfortable floor I've ever laid my head upon.
This was only the beginning....and it still causes explosions in my mind to think about now. But, if I'd known then what was waiting for me after that, I'd have told you it was all worth it. And I'm here to tell you that it was!
I flew in from Minneapolis after spending one last night with my ex-girlfriend, then leaving her and my group of best friends & life as I knew it...and there was no turning back. (I that believe you CAN "look back" every once in awhile - to reflect, which is what I'm doing here).
On my flight, I remember the pilot saying through the loudspeaker, "Ladies & Gentlemen.....uuuuuuuuummmmmm.....if you look to the left of the aircraft.....uuuuuummmmm.....that's Lake Erie...."
It was then that it occurred to me that I didn't know where the fuck I was going to be in a day, much less a week, a month, or a year! Sure, it sounds exciting and romantic, and all of that crap....but when it's right in front of your face like a burning jungle, it's more than a little bit daunting and pretty fucking scary!
Well, I arrived at LaGuardia, and grabbed my luggage (consisting of a hockey bag that resembled an overstuffed burrito, a backpack, a case with my snare drum, sticks, and kick drum pedal....and I think I might have had my cymbal bag with me as well), and grabbed a cab to Manhattan. I was to go to the acting school where my good friend Alfredo worked and attended classes, grab the keys to his apartment in Bay Ridge (in South Brooklyn) and head to his house. So I rolled into this old brick building on Jane Street, with all of my crap....which I left in the stairwell (I figured, if anyone wants to carry this shit, BE MY GUEST). Looking like the dark shadow of death's understudy, I then walked up to the front desk.
"Hi....my friend Al should have left some keys in the desk for me.....??????"
The hag behind the desk squinted, took a look at me, pulled the desk drawer out, gave it a way-too-quick once-over, and dismissed me with, "I'm sorry....there's nothing here!"
Stunned, I asked, "Are you SURE? Can you please look AGAIN?"
"I JUST DID....there's nothing HERE!"
I began to panic. I tried to call Al, but he wasn't picking up. Perfect.
I didn't know what the fuck to do....I was beyond exhausted, and I didn't have anywhere to go, really. I was in a strange, ENORMOUS, cold, new place that I didn't know my way around yet, and I was weighed down with everything I owned in the world.
It then occurred to me that another buddy of mine, Lenny, was making the same move that I was, and he had emailed me his new # a week beforehand.
With nothing else to do, I called Lenny....thank CHRIST he was home.
"Hey Man....how are you? I'm completely SCREWED!"
"Well....that sucks, Man," he said, "....well....do you wanna come hang out for awhile? I'm in Astoria, but...."
I grabbed another cab, this time to Astoria, in the North-Western part of Queens....with a feeling of suspended animation, and also fucking RELIEF, that I at least could be under a friendly roof with all of my crap for at least the rest of the afternoon.
I rolled up to his apartment (which was either on 30th Ave, 30th Street, or 30th Road) and he was unpacking boxes....so I dropped my extra baggage in front if his front door, and fell into a chair.
Lenny, very nonchalantly asked, "Do you want a beer, Dude?"
It's your friends that pull you through.
I eventually got a hold of Alfredo late that night, and he apologized profusely, and said that I should head to his place. He also told me that his keys were, indeed, at that acting school of his where he said they would be, and that the wench at the acting school felt badly about missing them. Right - I'm sure that she's losing sleep over that to this day.
Anyway, I packed my luggage on my aching back and walked to the Subway for the ride to Al's house. What's funny about that, is that Lenny lived near Ditmars Ave in Queens, which is where the N Train starts....so, I got on board and rode into Manhattan, then I transferred to the R at Times Square (which was the only way I trusted myself to make such a transfer at that moment) to get to Al's place in Bay Ridge Ave, in Brooklyn, near where the R train ends. Case in point, I took the yellow line for about 3 hours, from one end to another, through 3 Burroughs, to finally rest my beyond-weary head.
Let's recap....I'd taken a cab from LaGuardia to Greenwich Village.....then got in another cab from there to Astoria, then took the train all the way from there to Bay Ridge Ave. My route that day basically was in the shape of a gigantic number 4!
It was after 4am when I finally got to Al's house. Before I crashed out in my sleeping bag on his floor, I called my Mom.
"I thought I'd hear from you a long time before now....where have you BEEN?"
"I'm too exhausted to tell you, but let's just say my shoulders are, literally, black & blue."
"OH MY GOD," she exclaimed, with a worried, almost-disgusted tone that even I had never quite heard at that point.
I told her I would call her the next day, and I proceeded to pass out on the most comfortable floor I've ever laid my head upon.
This was only the beginning....and it still causes explosions in my mind to think about now. But, if I'd known then what was waiting for me after that, I'd have told you it was all worth it. And I'm here to tell you that it was!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Best Little Kiss-Off in Texas...Or Was That a Blow-Off?
This past March, my band The Dirty Pearls played at South By Southwest in Austin, TX. It was a week full of adventures, fun, and Rock N' Roll. I had a great time playing Rock N' Roll and partying with my homeboys. That's what we do!
But the funniest thing I remember about it happened the night we got there.
I was walking down the massively crowded street on my own after checking out some band somewhere...I was wearing my new (at the time) Chinese Police Hat, and was feeling pretty damn good about it. While I was carefully considering just where the source of my next beer might be, a gaggle of DIPFUCKS walked by me. One of them had the panache to yell to me, "HEY, nice HAT ya fucking FAGGOT!!!"
I was stunned, not only that this cock mongrel had the insolence to imply that I was a homosexual, but by the fact that he was clearly an ignoramus for not recognizing a fucking cool hat when he saw one! And, let me tell you, Gentle Reader, there was going to be RETRIBUTION!!!!
I turned around, and I BELLOWED after the whole lot of them, these immortal words that will make them think twice before ever again disparaging another Rock N' Roller (at a MUSIC FESTIVAL, no less).
I screamed, "HEY!!! If I'm such a FAGGOT, why don't you come on OVER here, and SUCK MY FUCKIN' DICK?!!!!!"
The blowhard in question then turned around, and said, "WHAT?! WHAT WAS THAT?!!!"
I then pointed to my pelvic region with both hands, and answered, "I SAID, 'SUCK MY DICK!!!!' AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!"
Of course, the boys in shorts didn't attempt to intervene any further, and I walked away, very satisfied with myself! And, I hit the drums even harder than I normally would at the gigs we played over the next couple of days. Here is some footage:
Thanks for reading!
Marty E.
But the funniest thing I remember about it happened the night we got there.
I was walking down the massively crowded street on my own after checking out some band somewhere...I was wearing my new (at the time) Chinese Police Hat, and was feeling pretty damn good about it. While I was carefully considering just where the source of my next beer might be, a gaggle of DIPFUCKS walked by me. One of them had the panache to yell to me, "HEY, nice HAT ya fucking FAGGOT!!!"
I was stunned, not only that this cock mongrel had the insolence to imply that I was a homosexual, but by the fact that he was clearly an ignoramus for not recognizing a fucking cool hat when he saw one! And, let me tell you, Gentle Reader, there was going to be RETRIBUTION!!!!
I turned around, and I BELLOWED after the whole lot of them, these immortal words that will make them think twice before ever again disparaging another Rock N' Roller (at a MUSIC FESTIVAL, no less).
I screamed, "HEY!!! If I'm such a FAGGOT, why don't you come on OVER here, and SUCK MY FUCKIN' DICK?!!!!!"
The blowhard in question then turned around, and said, "WHAT?! WHAT WAS THAT?!!!"
I then pointed to my pelvic region with both hands, and answered, "I SAID, 'SUCK MY DICK!!!!' AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!"
Of course, the boys in shorts didn't attempt to intervene any further, and I walked away, very satisfied with myself! And, I hit the drums even harder than I normally would at the gigs we played over the next couple of days. Here is some footage:
Thanks for reading!
Marty E.
Monday, August 2, 2010
7 Questions You Should Ask Yourself About Her (And She Should Ask Herself About You) Before You Decide To Shack Up
Disclaimer #1: I'm no expert on relationships....but what I certainly am is experienced. My experiences have taught me well, and are the source of any authority (and good humor) that I write with here. Case in point, I've been there, and I know what I'm talking about.
Disclaimer #2: I know that the title looks like I'm speaking strictly to the guys about the girls (or the gentlemen about the ladies or the dicks about the chicks), but, as you can see from what are in the parentheses in the title, I'm really speaking to anyone considering moving in with someone. It's just that I'm an American Rock N' Rolling Man, so....that's the point of view from which I speak, that's all.
You understand, I'm sure, if you're even reading this.
OK, here's the list.
#1. How does her Mom treat her Dad?
Think about it. Where does everyone learn things from, first-hand, and who had the most influence on forming a person's values and shaping their perspective on relationships? The answer, much more often than not, is their PARENTS. Now, granted, you really can't generalize things too much, but....if someone comes from a good, well-balanced upbringing (and I'm not talking about superficial, surface shit, like "Class Structure" or "Economics", I'm talking about relationships, love, and interaction), chances are that person will be well-balanced and adjusted as an adult.
However, if one comes from a household, where, say, the mother was the type who walked all over the father, a girl is going to learn something from that, and take that as an example of how to be, even if it's subconscious (and again, you can switch the gender roles to fit your situation, as I said in my disclaimers).
Now granted, you'll have relationships with people whose parents are divorced or they have a deceased parent, but these also are things that affect a person deeply, and are things to think about (but aren't necessarily deal-breakers).
And, if you haven't even MET your significant-other's parents...well, you should put off playing "house" until you have. Which leads me to .....
#2. How Long Have You Been Seeing Each Other?
I know how a lot of people are....I was this way too. You get all infatuated right away, and want to get serious immediately and all that shit, because you're just SO in love, right? Sure! I did it! Hell, some years back, I met and moved in with a girl all in one weekend!!! Was that a good idea? HELL to the Fucking-A NO!!!!
The thing you have to remember is that when you move in with someone, you're not only living with the woman you're infatuated with, as romantic as the notion is. You're sharing a living space with a warts-and-all (hopefully, only in a matter of speaking, hahaha), belching, farting, bitching, sneezing, coughing, jabbering, snoring human being (just as SHE is. Like I said, I'm being fair). She might be a slob....or a neat freak! Hell, you might be a midget porn addict who listens to Peaches & Herb! The point is, you need to make sure you know this person well enough in all of these contexts and settings before you're going to take a big, serious step like this, and that comes from dating someone for quite awhile and getting to KNOW that person for REAL.
#3. Does She Have Violent/Abusive Tendencies?
That means just that. Does she hit you? Is she verbally abusive? Does it drive you INSANE, and start turning you into someone you don't want to be? Well, if this is going on NOW, Jack, don't live under the same roof with her, because it's more-than-likely going to get worse and worse...and it's hard to escape from your own home, more or less.
The fact of that matter is, by moving in with someone, you are placing a lot of faith and trust in her to love, protect, and take care of you (both men and women need that in a relationship). Tainting this with any sort of violence or verbal abuse is the kind of shit that starts leading you down a dark road of resentment, leading to certain destruction and maybe worse. You don't want to go there, do you?! Never mind that any form of abusive behavior never called-for and completely unnecessary; it is going to affect all facets of your life in ways that might not even occur to you.
So, in summation, if this is going on-FORGET ABOUT IT!
#4. Is There Mutual Trust Between You?
This has to be a given. If you decide to go out with your buddies and get shit-faced until 5 am-is she going to freak out and call you every 5 minutes, wondering what you're doing and who you're with? And how about you? How do you act when SHE wants to do her version of the same? Are you the one who's possessive? Furthermore, if there is a lack of trust between you, what is the source of that? Does one person try to control the other's behavior when they're not around, and place unreasonable demands? It's a recipe for disaster, and often, a prophecy that's self-fulfilled.
Often, the one who refuses to trust is the one who's less trustworthy... but, again, it's difficult to generalize. But what's not difficult is to foresee that this sort of thing will most-likely get worse with the onset of cabin fever.
PS-If you feel like you have to snoop through her cellphone or computer, or if she feels she has to do this to you, your relationship is already fucked. I don't care if you've been married for 50 years; violating someone's personal privacy is INEXCUSABLE!!!
#5. Do You Fight A Lot Already?
IF YOU DO....again, it's going to get worse if you move in together, not better.
I'm not talking about the meaningless, often humorous bickering that goes on between people in just about any couple. I'm talking about a situation in which every night out for a few beers turns into War of the Roses. It's not fun. And trust me, the two of you getting into confrontations about who's going to take out the fucking garbage, wash the dishes, and make the goddamn bed is not going to rectify the situation. TRUST me.
#6. Is She TOO Dependent On You?
On the other hand, sometimes a person can be too docile & depressive, and make you feel like you're her everything, ALL the time (and I'll remind you, again, I'm not being gender specific, in case you missed my now MANY disclaimers, hahahaha). Can she get by on her own, and go about her day without constant contact (and for that matter, can you)? I mean, if she's so codependent that she has to write you life-changing text messages like, "I WONDER what I should EAT"....well, you might have something to think about.
A person who is too dependent on the other is ALSO placing unreasonable demands on the other person. This is a REAL drag, and not sexy in the least (and those of you who have been in this situation know EXACTLY what I mean). And the more you give into it, the more you're going to be EXPECTED to give into it.....and you aren't doing ANYONE a favor by doing that. Moving in together, in this case, is going to be just another form of emotional entrapment for you. Don't do it.
#7. What's Going On Financially?
Does one of you have more money than the other, and a higher standard of living? That is fine with some people, but will that situation cause stress? By that, I mean, will the person on the higher end of the financial spectrum feel like he/she's pulling all the weight? Will that put him/her on a power trip? Or, will the person on the lower end of the spectrum feel like a complete loser, due to lack of funds? Will he/she wallow in the relative convenience of the set-up? These are questions you must ask yourselves, even though it may be the furthest thing from you minds.
Why? Because, from both sides, this is the sort of thing that plants the seeds of resentment....and resentment starts small, but it grows and grows, like Cancer. It will eventually be a passion-killer, and will take your relationship with it. Read that again, because this is the maybe the most important paragraph I've written here.
So, with THAT all being said.....
I think that about covers it. I'm sure there are many other issues I didn't cover, but that's a damn good start. Everyone has their issues....hell, there are probably 1,000,000 times as many issues in this world as there are human beings!
It's a wonder how anyone gets laid!
Anyway, good luck to you, and thanks for reading!
Marty E.
Disclaimer #2: I know that the title looks like I'm speaking strictly to the guys about the girls (or the gentlemen about the ladies or the dicks about the chicks), but, as you can see from what are in the parentheses in the title, I'm really speaking to anyone considering moving in with someone. It's just that I'm an American Rock N' Rolling Man, so....that's the point of view from which I speak, that's all.
You understand, I'm sure, if you're even reading this.
OK, here's the list.
#1. How does her Mom treat her Dad?
Think about it. Where does everyone learn things from, first-hand, and who had the most influence on forming a person's values and shaping their perspective on relationships? The answer, much more often than not, is their PARENTS. Now, granted, you really can't generalize things too much, but....if someone comes from a good, well-balanced upbringing (and I'm not talking about superficial, surface shit, like "Class Structure" or "Economics", I'm talking about relationships, love, and interaction), chances are that person will be well-balanced and adjusted as an adult.
However, if one comes from a household, where, say, the mother was the type who walked all over the father, a girl is going to learn something from that, and take that as an example of how to be, even if it's subconscious (and again, you can switch the gender roles to fit your situation, as I said in my disclaimers).
Now granted, you'll have relationships with people whose parents are divorced or they have a deceased parent, but these also are things that affect a person deeply, and are things to think about (but aren't necessarily deal-breakers).
And, if you haven't even MET your significant-other's parents...well, you should put off playing "house" until you have. Which leads me to .....
#2. How Long Have You Been Seeing Each Other?
I know how a lot of people are....I was this way too. You get all infatuated right away, and want to get serious immediately and all that shit, because you're just SO in love, right? Sure! I did it! Hell, some years back, I met and moved in with a girl all in one weekend!!! Was that a good idea? HELL to the Fucking-A NO!!!!
The thing you have to remember is that when you move in with someone, you're not only living with the woman you're infatuated with, as romantic as the notion is. You're sharing a living space with a warts-and-all (hopefully, only in a matter of speaking, hahaha), belching, farting, bitching, sneezing, coughing, jabbering, snoring human being (just as SHE is. Like I said, I'm being fair). She might be a slob....or a neat freak! Hell, you might be a midget porn addict who listens to Peaches & Herb! The point is, you need to make sure you know this person well enough in all of these contexts and settings before you're going to take a big, serious step like this, and that comes from dating someone for quite awhile and getting to KNOW that person for REAL.
#3. Does She Have Violent/Abusive Tendencies?
That means just that. Does she hit you? Is she verbally abusive? Does it drive you INSANE, and start turning you into someone you don't want to be? Well, if this is going on NOW, Jack, don't live under the same roof with her, because it's more-than-likely going to get worse and worse...and it's hard to escape from your own home, more or less.
The fact of that matter is, by moving in with someone, you are placing a lot of faith and trust in her to love, protect, and take care of you (both men and women need that in a relationship). Tainting this with any sort of violence or verbal abuse is the kind of shit that starts leading you down a dark road of resentment, leading to certain destruction and maybe worse. You don't want to go there, do you?! Never mind that any form of abusive behavior never called-for and completely unnecessary; it is going to affect all facets of your life in ways that might not even occur to you.
So, in summation, if this is going on-FORGET ABOUT IT!
#4. Is There Mutual Trust Between You?
This has to be a given. If you decide to go out with your buddies and get shit-faced until 5 am-is she going to freak out and call you every 5 minutes, wondering what you're doing and who you're with? And how about you? How do you act when SHE wants to do her version of the same? Are you the one who's possessive? Furthermore, if there is a lack of trust between you, what is the source of that? Does one person try to control the other's behavior when they're not around, and place unreasonable demands? It's a recipe for disaster, and often, a prophecy that's self-fulfilled.
Often, the one who refuses to trust is the one who's less trustworthy... but, again, it's difficult to generalize. But what's not difficult is to foresee that this sort of thing will most-likely get worse with the onset of cabin fever.
PS-If you feel like you have to snoop through her cellphone or computer, or if she feels she has to do this to you, your relationship is already fucked. I don't care if you've been married for 50 years; violating someone's personal privacy is INEXCUSABLE!!!
#5. Do You Fight A Lot Already?
IF YOU DO....again, it's going to get worse if you move in together, not better.
I'm not talking about the meaningless, often humorous bickering that goes on between people in just about any couple. I'm talking about a situation in which every night out for a few beers turns into War of the Roses. It's not fun. And trust me, the two of you getting into confrontations about who's going to take out the fucking garbage, wash the dishes, and make the goddamn bed is not going to rectify the situation. TRUST me.
#6. Is She TOO Dependent On You?
On the other hand, sometimes a person can be too docile & depressive, and make you feel like you're her everything, ALL the time (and I'll remind you, again, I'm not being gender specific, in case you missed my now MANY disclaimers, hahahaha). Can she get by on her own, and go about her day without constant contact (and for that matter, can you)? I mean, if she's so codependent that she has to write you life-changing text messages like, "I WONDER what I should EAT"....well, you might have something to think about.
A person who is too dependent on the other is ALSO placing unreasonable demands on the other person. This is a REAL drag, and not sexy in the least (and those of you who have been in this situation know EXACTLY what I mean). And the more you give into it, the more you're going to be EXPECTED to give into it.....and you aren't doing ANYONE a favor by doing that. Moving in together, in this case, is going to be just another form of emotional entrapment for you. Don't do it.
#7. What's Going On Financially?
Does one of you have more money than the other, and a higher standard of living? That is fine with some people, but will that situation cause stress? By that, I mean, will the person on the higher end of the financial spectrum feel like he/she's pulling all the weight? Will that put him/her on a power trip? Or, will the person on the lower end of the spectrum feel like a complete loser, due to lack of funds? Will he/she wallow in the relative convenience of the set-up? These are questions you must ask yourselves, even though it may be the furthest thing from you minds.
Why? Because, from both sides, this is the sort of thing that plants the seeds of resentment....and resentment starts small, but it grows and grows, like Cancer. It will eventually be a passion-killer, and will take your relationship with it. Read that again, because this is the maybe the most important paragraph I've written here.
So, with THAT all being said.....
I think that about covers it. I'm sure there are many other issues I didn't cover, but that's a damn good start. Everyone has their issues....hell, there are probably 1,000,000 times as many issues in this world as there are human beings!
It's a wonder how anyone gets laid!
Anyway, good luck to you, and thanks for reading!
Marty E.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Whatever happened to my Rock N' Roll....and my Easy Listening, for that matter?!!!!
I've spoken at length in the past about how, in the places that I hang out, most of the music that's played is Rock N' Roll/Pop Music from the 70's through the 90's, more or less, regardless of the age group of the bar patrons at that particular time and place. It's strange how, in a bar full of people of different ages, from their early-20's to mid-40's, they all love the same music, whether it be Guns N' Roses, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, or whathaveyou. I'll be dj-ing, and 22-year-old girls want me to play more Motley Crue and Depeche Mode....and they weren't even BORN yet when a lot of these bands' songs were originally released, for Christ's sake!
Which begs the question: is music itself becoming something archaic...something antiquated...something that's purely vintage in quality, like a really expensive red wine, or a roughed up pair of Beatle Boots?!!
Is it nothing but pure nostalgia? If so, that's sad. Because that would imply that it's merely, as Leonard Cohen sang, "A shining artifact of the past." FUCK that! What about NOW?!
Day-in and day-out, I hear from people that they miss the sound of Loud Rock N' Roll, and they wonder where the hell it went. And that is a REALLY good question. I mean, seriously, I usually dj at least twice a week, in the dark Rock N' Roll dives in New York's East Village and Lower East Side, and the only modern bands I can think of that I play with any regularity are my band (the Dirty Pearls, if you live under a rock), my friends' bands, and....bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, A Perfect Circle, Queens of the Stone Age, HIM, etc. Other than that, it's like, my favorite Rock N' Roll bands from the 60's, 70's, 80's, & 90's. Go figure. Am I part of the problem? Is it a problem at all?
I know why it is. Generally, nobody's buying recorded music anymore, so, no new bands are being marketed (or shoved down the American Public's throats) anymore. The Music Industry and all its money basically disappeared up its own asshole, due to blind greed, and an overwhelming lack of quality in the music ("product") it generated.
So, with few exceptions, in order for Rock N' Roll fans to get their rocks off when they go out, the classics have to suffice. The funniest thing about is that younger Rock N' Roll fans were RAISED on that music by their PARENTS of all people. So much for Rock N' Roll being "rebellious music." But that's ok. Hell, my band has parents bringing their kids to our shows, and for that matter, some people bringing their parents....and that's pretty cool, if you ask me.
But, someone needs to carry the torch for Rock N' Roll, and define the time we're in NOW, don't you think?
These are open questions; ones of continuous discussion for some time in my case.
What do YOU think?
Thanks for your time!
Marty E.
Which begs the question: is music itself becoming something archaic...something antiquated...something that's purely vintage in quality, like a really expensive red wine, or a roughed up pair of Beatle Boots?!!
Is it nothing but pure nostalgia? If so, that's sad. Because that would imply that it's merely, as Leonard Cohen sang, "A shining artifact of the past." FUCK that! What about NOW?!
Day-in and day-out, I hear from people that they miss the sound of Loud Rock N' Roll, and they wonder where the hell it went. And that is a REALLY good question. I mean, seriously, I usually dj at least twice a week, in the dark Rock N' Roll dives in New York's East Village and Lower East Side, and the only modern bands I can think of that I play with any regularity are my band (the Dirty Pearls, if you live under a rock), my friends' bands, and....bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, A Perfect Circle, Queens of the Stone Age, HIM, etc. Other than that, it's like, my favorite Rock N' Roll bands from the 60's, 70's, 80's, & 90's. Go figure. Am I part of the problem? Is it a problem at all?
I know why it is. Generally, nobody's buying recorded music anymore, so, no new bands are being marketed (or shoved down the American Public's throats) anymore. The Music Industry and all its money basically disappeared up its own asshole, due to blind greed, and an overwhelming lack of quality in the music ("product") it generated.
So, with few exceptions, in order for Rock N' Roll fans to get their rocks off when they go out, the classics have to suffice. The funniest thing about is that younger Rock N' Roll fans were RAISED on that music by their PARENTS of all people. So much for Rock N' Roll being "rebellious music." But that's ok. Hell, my band has parents bringing their kids to our shows, and for that matter, some people bringing their parents....and that's pretty cool, if you ask me.
But, someone needs to carry the torch for Rock N' Roll, and define the time we're in NOW, don't you think?
These are open questions; ones of continuous discussion for some time in my case.
What do YOU think?
Thanks for your time!
Marty E.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
"I said, 'EXCUSE ME!'" or "The Trials & Tribulations of Dealing with People with no Spacial Awareness or Social Intelligence": PART 1
If you're going to live in New York City, you have to adjust the the fact that there are over least 8 million people here (more, if you count commuters from the likes of New Jersey) eating, drinking, sleeping, traveling, and, most of all, LIVING on top of (and underneath) one another. That's simply a fact of life here, and if you can't deal with it....there's plenty of space in Kansas, Dorothy!
That being said, I cannot overstate the importance of being aware of your surroundings in this city....at all times, if possible. Not only might this prevent you from getting hurt, killed, or ripped off....but it also increases your level of common courtesy, out and about in the world, which makes it easier for EVERYONE to live here, day to day.
At any given moment, you have your personal space, and other people have theirs. When I'm out in the world, I want to get to where I'm going and do what I do, and I'd like to do that without your personal space intersecting with (with notable exceptions, hahahaha) or invading mine. In order for that to happen, one must be alert, observant, and at least mildly empathetic (and this is even possible while blasting an Ipod in your ears if you're reasonably sharp. Trust me). I call it "Spacial Awareness". I'm not sure if I made the term up or not....but who the hell cares?
The problem is that many, many people who cross my path don't have it at all....which surprises me, considering the amount of people who have been here for a lot longer than I have, many of which were born and raised here.
So, I'm going to describe some scenarios that happen to me, sometimes on a daily basis, in which people's lack of Spacial Awareness colors my day with various shades of red....from the mildly annoying to the astronomically infuriating!
My favorite one happens all the time. For example, I will attempt to walk into a deli to buy myself an iced coffee and a newspaper, when, much to my chagrin, I find some jackoff standing in the doorway, in MY WAY, for no evident reason. And, an even BIGGER mystery to me, is WHY the said JACKOFF won't MOVE!!! So....what do I do? Well, I'll look the pinwang in the EYE, and, in my deepest, gruffest voice (and those of you who know me know damn well how great I am at this), I bark, "EXCUSE me!!!" More often than not, they get startled, and quickly scamper to the side, allowing me to squeeze through and get on with my day. Each and every time, under my breath, I mutter, "That's a NICE way of saying, 'Get the FUCK out of my WAY!'" This is always worth a chuckle or two if I have a friend with me, ahahahaha....
Another ignoramus whom I find particularly titillating, is the dipfuck who's walking 5-steps ahead of you on the sidewalk who, for no apparent reason, decides to suddenly stop in his tracks. Consequently, the asshat in question comes damn close to wreaking havoc on the entire progression of pedestrian traffic on that particular block, when you come close to plowing right into him and toppling him and God knows who else, over like dominoes. The best part? If you do happen to run smack dab into the guy, or even brush against him a little, bit, the numbskull will look at YOU as if YOU did something wrong and were invading HIS personal space!!! Tourists are famous for this move. That's why some clever guy decided to give them THEIR OWN LANE.
There are other nincompoops that are similar to the "sidewalk stallers", but are possibly even more irritating. Let's say I'm walking into the Subway Station, and there are perhaps 6 or 7 other people also doing so. The train we all want to take is in the station, and about to leave, so everyone runs to try to make the train. There's always at least ONE genius who, once he gets ON the train, suddenly, again, just STOPS in his TRACKS, right on the inside of the train doors.....once again, risking a human avalanche, or at least keeping those behind him from getting on the train before the doors close, and the train takes off. And, what inspirational words to I have for the ASSCLOWN in question? "Hey, Dude! No WORRIES, Man! None of US wanted to get on the train TOO, ya know? We just wanted to accompany YOUR dumb ass to make sure YOU got on ok. That's fucking AWESOME!!!" Or something to that effect. This particular dipshit has never prevented me from getting on the train, but he has afforded me many a chorus of laughs at his expense. Hopefully, it was a lesson well-learned, but....sadly, probably not. What a fucking idiot!
Speaking of Subway Trains....this maybe isn't THAT big of a deal...but you've seen this before, and it annoys me enough that I MUST remark on it. I get on the train and it's a bit crowded. The train is moving, and I always want to hold onto what ever pole or bars or whatever is put there to hold onto to prevent me from falling down (and don't even get me STARTED about the fucking multitudes of MORONS who DON'T use them and have almost "bitten it" right before my eyes). Well, so I reach for the nearest pole (shut up, I know what you're thinking, but I have a much better joke coming up), and some complete Shit-For-Brains is LEANING on it.....which, not only isn't really maintaining much stability to the fool in question, no one ELSE can use it to stabilize themselves either? The best part? 99% of the time, the guy is leaning his ASS against it! I've never actually said this, but one of these days, I'm going to: "Dude, listen....we can all tell by looking at you how badly you want a POLE in your ass....but can't you at least WAIT until you get OFF the fucking TRAIN?!!! THANKS!!!!" Ahahahahahahaha.....
I could go on....about people, who....when you're waiting in line, and the line moves, they just stay in one place, and refuse to MOVE the fuck UP....(try just walking past them....that usually wakes them up)....and many other people who lack common courtesy in every-day life, but I'm trying to keep this as short as I can, ok?
Now, stay the hell out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours!
Thanks for reading!
Marty E.
PS-On an unrelated note, there's another idiot that really burns me that I NEED to tell you about, right NOW....just to get it OFF my CHEST, ok?
I walk into the pizzeria, and get myself a slice....and I can't seem to find the seasonings! The...black pepper...the RED pepper....and sometimes I want Parmesan fucking cheese, ok? Where the hell ARE they?!!! I look around....and some lardass is sitting at a table....and they're all there....suspiciously close to his PLATE. "Hey Man.....I REALIZE that YOU are SO much more SPECIAL than the other 500 people who get a slice here EVERY fucking DAY. I REALIZE that the SEASONINGS....the CONDIMENTS, if you will, are STRICTLY for YOUR use....hell, no one else would EVER even WANT to use THOSE! We ALL REALIZE that YOUR three fucking dollars are GREENER than the REST of ours! But would you fucking MIND if I BORROWED them for a MINUTE?!!!" I mean, seriously, why can't these crankjobs just sprinkle the shit on their slice up at the counter, as soon as they get it, and then SIT their ass down, and enjoy?!! That's what those of us with good SENSE do!!!
OK....enough of my ranting!
That being said, I cannot overstate the importance of being aware of your surroundings in this city....at all times, if possible. Not only might this prevent you from getting hurt, killed, or ripped off....but it also increases your level of common courtesy, out and about in the world, which makes it easier for EVERYONE to live here, day to day.
At any given moment, you have your personal space, and other people have theirs. When I'm out in the world, I want to get to where I'm going and do what I do, and I'd like to do that without your personal space intersecting with (with notable exceptions, hahahaha) or invading mine. In order for that to happen, one must be alert, observant, and at least mildly empathetic (and this is even possible while blasting an Ipod in your ears if you're reasonably sharp. Trust me). I call it "Spacial Awareness". I'm not sure if I made the term up or not....but who the hell cares?
The problem is that many, many people who cross my path don't have it at all....which surprises me, considering the amount of people who have been here for a lot longer than I have, many of which were born and raised here.
So, I'm going to describe some scenarios that happen to me, sometimes on a daily basis, in which people's lack of Spacial Awareness colors my day with various shades of red....from the mildly annoying to the astronomically infuriating!
My favorite one happens all the time. For example, I will attempt to walk into a deli to buy myself an iced coffee and a newspaper, when, much to my chagrin, I find some jackoff standing in the doorway, in MY WAY, for no evident reason. And, an even BIGGER mystery to me, is WHY the said JACKOFF won't MOVE!!! So....what do I do? Well, I'll look the pinwang in the EYE, and, in my deepest, gruffest voice (and those of you who know me know damn well how great I am at this), I bark, "EXCUSE me!!!" More often than not, they get startled, and quickly scamper to the side, allowing me to squeeze through and get on with my day. Each and every time, under my breath, I mutter, "That's a NICE way of saying, 'Get the FUCK out of my WAY!'" This is always worth a chuckle or two if I have a friend with me, ahahahaha....
Another ignoramus whom I find particularly titillating, is the dipfuck who's walking 5-steps ahead of you on the sidewalk who, for no apparent reason, decides to suddenly stop in his tracks. Consequently, the asshat in question comes damn close to wreaking havoc on the entire progression of pedestrian traffic on that particular block, when you come close to plowing right into him and toppling him and God knows who else, over like dominoes. The best part? If you do happen to run smack dab into the guy, or even brush against him a little, bit, the numbskull will look at YOU as if YOU did something wrong and were invading HIS personal space!!! Tourists are famous for this move. That's why some clever guy decided to give them THEIR OWN LANE.
There are other nincompoops that are similar to the "sidewalk stallers", but are possibly even more irritating. Let's say I'm walking into the Subway Station, and there are perhaps 6 or 7 other people also doing so. The train we all want to take is in the station, and about to leave, so everyone runs to try to make the train. There's always at least ONE genius who, once he gets ON the train, suddenly, again, just STOPS in his TRACKS, right on the inside of the train doors.....once again, risking a human avalanche, or at least keeping those behind him from getting on the train before the doors close, and the train takes off. And, what inspirational words to I have for the ASSCLOWN in question? "Hey, Dude! No WORRIES, Man! None of US wanted to get on the train TOO, ya know? We just wanted to accompany YOUR dumb ass to make sure YOU got on ok. That's fucking AWESOME!!!" Or something to that effect. This particular dipshit has never prevented me from getting on the train, but he has afforded me many a chorus of laughs at his expense. Hopefully, it was a lesson well-learned, but....sadly, probably not. What a fucking idiot!
Speaking of Subway Trains....this maybe isn't THAT big of a deal...but you've seen this before, and it annoys me enough that I MUST remark on it. I get on the train and it's a bit crowded. The train is moving, and I always want to hold onto what ever pole or bars or whatever is put there to hold onto to prevent me from falling down (and don't even get me STARTED about the fucking multitudes of MORONS who DON'T use them and have almost "bitten it" right before my eyes). Well, so I reach for the nearest pole (shut up, I know what you're thinking, but I have a much better joke coming up), and some complete Shit-For-Brains is LEANING on it.....which, not only isn't really maintaining much stability to the fool in question, no one ELSE can use it to stabilize themselves either? The best part? 99% of the time, the guy is leaning his ASS against it! I've never actually said this, but one of these days, I'm going to: "Dude, listen....we can all tell by looking at you how badly you want a POLE in your ass....but can't you at least WAIT until you get OFF the fucking TRAIN?!!! THANKS!!!!" Ahahahahahahaha.....
I could go on....about people, who....when you're waiting in line, and the line moves, they just stay in one place, and refuse to MOVE the fuck UP....(try just walking past them....that usually wakes them up)....and many other people who lack common courtesy in every-day life, but I'm trying to keep this as short as I can, ok?
Now, stay the hell out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours!
Thanks for reading!
Marty E.
PS-On an unrelated note, there's another idiot that really burns me that I NEED to tell you about, right NOW....just to get it OFF my CHEST, ok?
I walk into the pizzeria, and get myself a slice....and I can't seem to find the seasonings! The...black pepper...the RED pepper....and sometimes I want Parmesan fucking cheese, ok? Where the hell ARE they?!!! I look around....and some lardass is sitting at a table....and they're all there....suspiciously close to his PLATE. "Hey Man.....I REALIZE that YOU are SO much more SPECIAL than the other 500 people who get a slice here EVERY fucking DAY. I REALIZE that the SEASONINGS....the CONDIMENTS, if you will, are STRICTLY for YOUR use....hell, no one else would EVER even WANT to use THOSE! We ALL REALIZE that YOUR three fucking dollars are GREENER than the REST of ours! But would you fucking MIND if I BORROWED them for a MINUTE?!!!" I mean, seriously, why can't these crankjobs just sprinkle the shit on their slice up at the counter, as soon as they get it, and then SIT their ass down, and enjoy?!! That's what those of us with good SENSE do!!!
OK....enough of my ranting!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
It's a long way to the top of you wanna Rock N' Roll & eat too....Part 1: My Days as a Temp
When I moved my crazy ass to New York City 10 years ago, I really didn't have a plan whatsoever; no apartment, no job, no band, and I knew maybe four people here. All I had was a few earthly possessions, a few grand rolled up in my sock, and a committed determination to make something of myself.
The first things always being first, I knew that I was going to have to get a roof over my head (which I documented some of in a previous entry and will more in the future) and find a way to support myself and the fulfillment of my dreams.
My good friend Alfredo, who was kind enough to let me crash on his floor in Bay Ridge for a week or two while I got my sea legs, suggested that I apply at some Temp Agencies, like the ones advertised in the back of Backstage (a magazine for aspiring actors and actresses). So, I typed up a decent resume, and faxed it to about 10 of these places.
Within a few days, I'd had interviews with three of them, and made a good enough impression, I suppose, because I started getting work within a week or so.
Life is about pros and cons, as we all know.
The pros w/ making your way this were that the pay was relatively good, and most of the assignments lasted for weeks or months. If you were reliable, you could pay your rent and get by. The work itself wasn't difficult at all, and sometimes was all but nonexistent.
The cons? Tthe 9 to 5 work schedule wasn't exactly conducive to Rocking and/or Rolling, and....well, because I've always been a man to enjoy his late nights out, waking up and going to work was often....well, to put it as appropriately as I can, a fucking NIGHTMARE. Also, I wasn't allowed to show up for work in jeans, t-shirts, biker boots, long, loose hair, and jewelry....no fucking way. I had to tie my hair back, and put on a white dress shirt, dress pants (I drew the line at khakis though....fuck THAT shit) and black wingtip shoes. Yeah, I looked as fucking ridiculous as I felt.
But what made me feel even more ridiculous was the people I did the actual work for. Granted, my bosses at my first assignment, which was the New York branch of a French pharmaceutical company, were pretty cool, none judgmental, and took the time to realize that I was an intelligent guy who just happened to be a recent Midwestern transplant, struggling to make his way. But that lasted maybe about six weeks.
My next job was for some Chinese company, which again, did pharmaceuticals, if I remember correctly. I walked into that job, and without even saying hello, or even taking the time to introduce herself, some crusty old Chinese executive hag handed me 5 pamphlets of some sort, and coldly told me to make 10 copies of each. I felt like she was looking down her nose at me, and didn't respect me in the least. I was so pissed off and degraded, that I just about walked the fuck out....but, again, I needed the money, and had nowhere else to do so at the time, so...I made her fucking copies. Your welcome, Bitch!!!
The funniest place I worked at...(you're going to LOVE this)....was at a non-profit organization....of the Methodist Church....that sent missionaries around the world, evidently, to feed the hungry or whatever, and spread the word of God. Hell, even the Temp Agency I get that job through called them, "The God Squad." Holy FUCK, I wasn't a sore thumb in THAT place, as much as I was an amputated fucking leg. The first guy I worked for there was alright...but, he was looking for someone to be his "permanent" assistant...and didn't waste any time asking me if I was interested in doing that, and if I was a, "good Methodist." Um....no....and no. The second guy I worked for was way cooler...but, I remember one week, his secretary, whom I was helping out, told me that morning that I might not have a job there after the end of that day. Since I still had a big Excel project to finish, I told her that if I didn't get to stay for at least the rest of that week, that I was leaving immediately. I wound up staying for another two weeks. Hahahahahaha. But what I really hated about that place was the bitch who signed my time card every week, which, I might add, she did reluctantly. She clearly hated my guts; for what reason, I don't know....maybe it was my appearance! But for someone who ran a faith-based, humanitarian organization, that struck me as being rather odd. Hell, I doubt that old battleaxe ever got laid in her LIFE!!! She would bitch at me for working "too many hours" which was "too expensive", etc. I was thinking, "Look, bitch, no one is FORCING you to get temps to work here, ok?!" But I acted respectful because I needed the money....even though that old bag, of ALL people, had no right to look down her nose at me! It still kind of pisses me off to this day, hahahahaha. I should add that I got food poisoning from the spinach soup I had in the God Squad's cafeteria for lunch. That was a whole fuckload of fun!
I have a million stories like these.
That all being said, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to afford any drumsticks, beers, or to even EXIST here, I was going to have to bite the bullet. I wasn't working these jobs w/ aspirations of becoming the world's most asskicking office worker, for Christ's sake....I was doing it to support myself while working on my music , making myself known, and having as much fun as I could. I justified the shit that I had to put up with by telling myself that it was ALL for ROCK N' ROLL....and looking back, I was absolutely right. Life, especially in New York City, is about doing what you have to do to survive and get to where you need to be. If you work hard enough, and do what needs to be done (and if you're any good at what you do), you get your rewards, with a little luck....and a few stories to tell on top of it!
Thanks for reading!
Marty E.
The first things always being first, I knew that I was going to have to get a roof over my head (which I documented some of in a previous entry and will more in the future) and find a way to support myself and the fulfillment of my dreams.
My good friend Alfredo, who was kind enough to let me crash on his floor in Bay Ridge for a week or two while I got my sea legs, suggested that I apply at some Temp Agencies, like the ones advertised in the back of Backstage (a magazine for aspiring actors and actresses). So, I typed up a decent resume, and faxed it to about 10 of these places.
Within a few days, I'd had interviews with three of them, and made a good enough impression, I suppose, because I started getting work within a week or so.
Life is about pros and cons, as we all know.
The pros w/ making your way this were that the pay was relatively good, and most of the assignments lasted for weeks or months. If you were reliable, you could pay your rent and get by. The work itself wasn't difficult at all, and sometimes was all but nonexistent.
The cons? Tthe 9 to 5 work schedule wasn't exactly conducive to Rocking and/or Rolling, and....well, because I've always been a man to enjoy his late nights out, waking up and going to work was often....well, to put it as appropriately as I can, a fucking NIGHTMARE. Also, I wasn't allowed to show up for work in jeans, t-shirts, biker boots, long, loose hair, and jewelry....no fucking way. I had to tie my hair back, and put on a white dress shirt, dress pants (I drew the line at khakis though....fuck THAT shit) and black wingtip shoes. Yeah, I looked as fucking ridiculous as I felt.
But what made me feel even more ridiculous was the people I did the actual work for. Granted, my bosses at my first assignment, which was the New York branch of a French pharmaceutical company, were pretty cool, none judgmental, and took the time to realize that I was an intelligent guy who just happened to be a recent Midwestern transplant, struggling to make his way. But that lasted maybe about six weeks.
My next job was for some Chinese company, which again, did pharmaceuticals, if I remember correctly. I walked into that job, and without even saying hello, or even taking the time to introduce herself, some crusty old Chinese executive hag handed me 5 pamphlets of some sort, and coldly told me to make 10 copies of each. I felt like she was looking down her nose at me, and didn't respect me in the least. I was so pissed off and degraded, that I just about walked the fuck out....but, again, I needed the money, and had nowhere else to do so at the time, so...I made her fucking copies. Your welcome, Bitch!!!
The funniest place I worked at...(you're going to LOVE this)....was at a non-profit organization....of the Methodist Church....that sent missionaries around the world, evidently, to feed the hungry or whatever, and spread the word of God. Hell, even the Temp Agency I get that job through called them, "The God Squad." Holy FUCK, I wasn't a sore thumb in THAT place, as much as I was an amputated fucking leg. The first guy I worked for there was alright...but, he was looking for someone to be his "permanent" assistant...and didn't waste any time asking me if I was interested in doing that, and if I was a, "good Methodist." Um....no....and no. The second guy I worked for was way cooler...but, I remember one week, his secretary, whom I was helping out, told me that morning that I might not have a job there after the end of that day. Since I still had a big Excel project to finish, I told her that if I didn't get to stay for at least the rest of that week, that I was leaving immediately. I wound up staying for another two weeks. Hahahahahaha. But what I really hated about that place was the bitch who signed my time card every week, which, I might add, she did reluctantly. She clearly hated my guts; for what reason, I don't know....maybe it was my appearance! But for someone who ran a faith-based, humanitarian organization, that struck me as being rather odd. Hell, I doubt that old battleaxe ever got laid in her LIFE!!! She would bitch at me for working "too many hours" which was "too expensive", etc. I was thinking, "Look, bitch, no one is FORCING you to get temps to work here, ok?!" But I acted respectful because I needed the money....even though that old bag, of ALL people, had no right to look down her nose at me! It still kind of pisses me off to this day, hahahahaha. I should add that I got food poisoning from the spinach soup I had in the God Squad's cafeteria for lunch. That was a whole fuckload of fun!
I have a million stories like these.
That all being said, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to afford any drumsticks, beers, or to even EXIST here, I was going to have to bite the bullet. I wasn't working these jobs w/ aspirations of becoming the world's most asskicking office worker, for Christ's sake....I was doing it to support myself while working on my music , making myself known, and having as much fun as I could. I justified the shit that I had to put up with by telling myself that it was ALL for ROCK N' ROLL....and looking back, I was absolutely right. Life, especially in New York City, is about doing what you have to do to survive and get to where you need to be. If you work hard enough, and do what needs to be done (and if you're any good at what you do), you get your rewards, with a little luck....and a few stories to tell on top of it!
Thanks for reading!
Marty E.
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