Ballet

At work, our favorite radio station is 104.1 - "Voodoo 104.1 ... New Orleans". Because of the station, I'm able to kick ass in the Current Pop Music category in the Song Pop games I play with my friends.

One of the songs in current rotation on the station is The Script's song Hall of Fame. Here are the lyrics. The video is below the lyrics.

 Yeah, you can be the greatest
You can be the best
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest

You could beat the world
You could beat the war
You could talk to God, go banging on his door

You can throw your hands up
You can beat the clock (yeah)
You can move a mountain
You can break rocks
You can be a master
Don't wait for luck
Dedicate yourself and you gon' find yourself

Standing in the hall of fame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

You can go the distance
You can run the mile
You can walk straight through hell with a smile

You could be the hero
You could get the gold
Breaking all the records they thought never could be broke

Yeah, do it for your people
Do it for your pride
How you ever gonna know if you never even try?

Do it for your country
Do it for your name
'Cause there's gonna be a day...

When you're standing in the hall of fame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

Be a champion, be a champion, be a champion, be a champion
On the walls of the hall of fame

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers
(Yeah)

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions
Be truth seekers

Be students
Be teachers
Be politicians
Be preachers

Be believers
Be leaders
Be astronauts
Be champions

Standing in the hall of fame (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah, yeah, yeah)
'Cause you burn with the brightest flame (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And the world's gonna know your name (yeah, yeah, yeah)
And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame

(You can be a champion)
You could be the greatest
(You can be a champion)
You can be the best
(You can be a champion)
You can be the King Kong banging on your chest

(You can be a champion)
You could beat the world
(You can be a champion)
You could beat the war
(You can be a champion)
You could talk to God, go banging on his door

(You can be a champion)
You can throw your hands up
(You can be a champion)
You can beat the clock(yeah)
(You can be a champion)
You can move a mountain
(You can be a champion)
You can break rocks

(You can be a champion)
You can be a master
(You can be a champion)
Don't wait for luck
(You can be a champion)
Dedicate yourself and you gonna find yourself
(You can be a champion)

Standing in the hall of fame

And here's the video...



I'm going through some trying times at work right now and am looking for any kind of inspiration to help me work through this time. One of my philosophies in life is: when I'm not sure how to proceed, throw enough darts at the dartboard and some of them will stick. That is, try enough methods to work myself out of a situation and some of them will work.

Here is where I want to link to the tag of the past times I've discussed some of my other life philosophies, but I see that I have not previously created that link. In the future, I will come back to this post and rectify that. I'll leave this tag for now.

The Script's lyrics and especially the video reminded me of a 1982 Rush song called Losing It. Both songs involve ballerinas - and making a live change. In the Rush song, the ballerina is defeated. In the Script's song, she is not.

The lyrics to Rush's Losing It (with the video following)...

The dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain and desperation
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration

Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire
With just the briefest pause
The flooding through her memory
The echoes of old applause

She limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door...

The writer stare with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined

And streaked with tears of rage

Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more...

Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee... 

And the most representative video...



My point is that adversity is universal. By zeroing in on one example - the life of a ballet dancer shown in two different songs - we see that there is potential for different outcomes.

We make the decisions. We make the choices. We rule our life.

I read Marc and Angel Hack Life regularly. Their post entitled 5 False Beliefs That Are Holding You Back works with my theme, especially their retort #3 (I am stuck in my current life situation.) and #4 (It's too late to start anything.)

Post Scrips

Here are updates to some of my past posts.

In my post Top 10 Artists: Badfinger, I mentioned my friend Kyle. This past Thursday, he called me. Besides a few brief conversations about four years ago, I hadn't really spoken to him in at least 10 years.

He called to tell me that his step-dad, the one who along with his mom raised him from an early teenager, had died on Monday (June 6th). After further questioning, Kyle told me that he had actually killed himself, one day after his 62nd birthday, apparently distraught about money issues.

I attended the visitation Thursday afternoon.

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In my post List: Top 5 Classic Rock Bands, I discussed Rush in detail. I have seen them live once before, in 1988 in Shreveport. Last night, Amy, Carlos, Debbie, Lloyd, Morgan, Steve, and I saw them live for their Time Machine tour, one of the highlights being that they played their 1980 album Moving Pictures in it's entirety.

Thursday night, the night before the concert, Carlos, Debbie and I watched Rush: R30, 30th Anniversary Concert - all the while blind taste testing Canadian beer, in honor of Rush's home country.

Carlos and I both picked Labat Blue as our least favorite. (Debbie came too late for the taste testing.) He picked Molson Canadian as his favorite; I picked Moosehead as mine. Truthfully, all three really tasted the same.

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In my post Judgment Day, I mentioned in passing my current Favorite TV Show Ever (This Week) Supernatural.

I first discovered the show while the TNT network was running season four. I have now seen all of seasons four, five and one - with the TNT network starting over the showings after season five. The show is currently in its 6th season on the CW network. I am watching the new episodes too. I have a big gap in the middle of the series, having never seen any of season three and only at the beginning of season two via TNT.

As I did with my other Favorite TV Shows Ever (This Week) Criminal Minds and Ninja Warrior, I have printed out a complete episode list and am crossing them off after viewing.

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Postscript to the above postscript:

When Morgan came over Friday night to pick Carlos and I up, I was watching an episode of Supernatural. His reaction was, "Oh, isn't that the show with that guy that used to be on Gilmore Girls." True, but not the connection that I expected from one of my straight friends. I guess Gilmore Girls is just that good of a show. (More on that TV show another day.)

List: Top 5 Classic Rock Bands

Our friend Debbie loves to ask, "What is your Top Five ____________? Go."

My list of Top Five Classic Rock Bands has been set for years.

1. U2 - which I discuss fairly often.

2. Led Zeppelin - which I have discussed numerous times, including my Top Ten Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time list

3. Rush

4. Queen - one mention so far

5. Pink Floyd - also one mention


I thought today I would discuss Rush.

In 8th grade (1980), Rush's album Moving Pictures came out. My friend Steve brought it to school and insisted I borrow it. I did. And I was hooked for life.

The cover's double meaning (right) was lost on a 12 year old.


For years later, I wanted to be a drummer because of Neil Peart. Ironically, I never tried to play (the drum solo song) YYZ from the album. I used my drum sticks - known to my dad as his screw drivers - on my drum kit (AKA the floor and pillows of my bedroom) to perfect Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta, Vital Signs and especially Limelight.

Here is what I wanted to be able to do as a 12 year old - done by a (then) 9 year old: Teddy Z covering, drums only, Tom Sawyer.



Hell, I'd like to play like that now.

Here is Vital Signs live in 1984.


My friend Lloyd and I would endlessly discuss the meaning of the songs Red Barchetta, Witch Hunt, Camera Eye, and all the other songs on the album.

A small footnote at the end of Red Barchetta says, "Inspired by 'A Nice Morning Drive' by Richard S. Foster." In the pre-internet world, it took me years to figure out that was a short story in the November 1973 issue of Road and Track magazine. I am still trying to hunt down a reasonably priced copy of the magazine on eBay. Those damn Rush fanatics.

Here's an article by Richard Foster describing when he finally met Neil Peart, Rush's drummer and main lyricist, in 2006.

After listening to Moving Pictures, I had to find out everything about this band.

I started at the beginning with their eponymous first album, continuing through Fly By Night and Caress of Steel. All noble efforts, but nothing that really hit me.

Then I discovered their fourth album (right) - 2112.



The first side is all one song, divided into seven parts. I remember thinking, "It's something about a world without music, but I don't get it." Then I listened to it again and again and again.

Here are parts 1 and 2, live in 2007:


Side two has some decent songs, but nothing like the fantastic side one.

Moving up the band's history, I then discovered A Farewell To Kings, Hemispheres and Permanent Waves. Without exception, every song on those three albums are fantastic and as still some of my favorites.

A Farewell to Kings has the (sort of) hit Cinderella Man, but I'm more partial to their longer songs such as Xanadu and Cygnus X-1.

I don't play an instrument, but I have been told that mastering their 10 minute instrumental La Villa Strangiato from Hemispheres is prized among musicians. Something about all the odd timing changes. My friend Kyle used to be in a bar band that covered that song - and well too.

Here is a live version of La Villa Strangiato from around 2004:


The Trees, another of the songs from Hemispheres is an allegory about, well, here are the lyrics:

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw

Here is a live version of The Trees from the late 1970's.


Permanent Waves has some of their most popular songs, including The Spirit of Radio - which they opened their concerts with for many years. (Even their 2005 live 30th Anniversary CD opens with the song.)

Here is The Spirit of Radio live from 1984:


By the time Signals - their next studio album after Moving Pictures - came out, I knew every song of theirs, and ate up the new CD. I was a Sophomore in high school and my Theology class (Catholic boys school requirement) was informally called "Sex, Drugs, and Rock N Roll". All we discussed were those three subjects. In detail. For nine months. Our professor, Fr. Ed, was quite cool. (I still keep in contact with him via Facebook.)

We were encouraged to bring in our favorite albums. He would play the songs and we would discuss the lyrics. We did one Rush song, Losing It, from Signals. Here are the lyrics:

The dancer slows her frantic pace
In pain and desperation
Her aching limbs and downcast face
Aglow with perspiration

Stiff as wire, her lungs on fire
With just the briefest pause
The flooding through her memory
The echoes of old applause

And she limps across the floor
And closes her bedroom door...

The writer stares with glassy eyes
Defies the empty page
His beard is white, his face is lined

And streaked with tears of rage

Thirty years ago, how the words would flow
With passion and precision
But now his mind is dark and dulled
By sickness and indecision

And he stares out the kitchen door
Where the sun will rise no more...

Some are born to move the world
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee...

I don't remember the exact discussion. All I remember is how proud I was that we were talking about MY band with the entire class for an entire hour. How very cool.

There is no video or live performance of the song by the band, but here is the studio version of the song.





Geddy Lee, the band's singer/bass player/keyboard player, introduced keyboards more and more into the bands songs - starting with Signals. I kept buying their albums for awhile - after Signals came Grace Under Pressure, then Power Windows, then Hold Your Fire. By their latest live set A Show of Hands, I had moved on to other bands (though I diligently bought every new release, and still do). But every so often, I pick up a Rush CD from my pile and listen to it.

Recommendations -

If you have never ever heard a song by Rush, start with Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures or their second live album Exit...Stage Left, which contains songs from that time period. Those are the easiest to jump into.

If you're a fan of prog rock, start with 2112 or Hemispheres.

If you're already a fan of Rush, you must see the documentary Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage. My favorite part is watching the actual home movie of Alex Lifeson (guitars) telling his parents that he is dropping out of high school to go on the road with his band. Priceless.

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Final Note -

Moving Pictures and 2112 are the two Rush albums contained in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

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Final Final Note -

Apparently the creators of South Park are Rush fans too...

Music Wandering

As Pandora does for you automatically, tonight I started with one song that I love – and let the song guide me through the rest of my night.

At least in my mind, the prior song prompted me toward the next one. It may have been a memory from my past or a trigger within the song, but the playlist flowed naturally for me.

Here are the songs I wandered through this evening. Find the songs on LimeWire or YouTube. And make your own journey.

(The first song) Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil
Wire – U2
Tempted – Squeeze
Tom Sawyer (DJ Z Trip Remix) – Rush
Romeo’s Tune – Steve Forbert
Shelter – Lone Justice
I’ll Be Your Shelter – Taylor Dayne
You’re Still The One – Shania Twain
Shelter - Ray LaMontagne
Shelter from the Storm - Bob Dylan
Blue On Black – Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Hope It Gives You Hell – The All-American Rejects
Ledbetter Heights – Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Riot Van - Arctic Monkeys
Supernova – Liz Phair
Cotton Fields – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Send The Pain Below – Chevelle
Woman - Wolfmother
Son’s Gonna Rise – Citizen Cope
John Lennon – Citizen Cope
Bullet and a Target – Citizen Cope

And then I stopped. I thought that song was a good spot.

Here are the videos of a few of the above tunes…

Beds Are Burning – Midnight Oil


Romeo’s Tune by Steve Forbert


You’re Still The One – Shania Twain



Blue On Black by Kenny Wayne Shepherd (an acoustic version)


I make at least one mixed CD per month – and this is how I pick the songs: I throw enough stream-of-consciousness darts at the wall and see which ones I like best.

Of all the songs I went through above, only three made it onto my May 2010 Super Mix. Which ones do you think? (Hint: I have NEVER put U2 – my all-time favorite artist - on any mixed CD ever. They just seem too personal to me to share.)