Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2010 inductees

I'd previously mentioned that Genesis was on the list of nominees to be included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Well, today, the list of inductees was released, and Genesis is one of the 5 artists being inducted in 2010. How cool is that? I'm also happy that ABBA is included as well because I like them a lot too.

The ceremony is on March 15, 2010 in New York. So, if anyone has a spare ticket to the induction ceremony and wants to invite me along, I'd be more than happy to go. I can even arrange my own transportation to New York. I'll pencil in the date on my calendar so that I can be sure to be available at that time. I'm sure I'd be able to take a couple days off work to make the trip. Just give me a little notice so that I can arrange a decent-priced plane ticket and somewhere to stay.

Seriously, I want to go.

sending out sympathy

I was going to write a restaurant review today, but before I had a chance to do that, I was made aware of a situation that has pretty much taken away any desire I have to write about that experience.

Instead, I'm offering the video below. I don't know what's appropriate, but that's what I came up with. There's a particular situation that I'm sending this out for - to parents, siblings, spouse, children, friends - with the hope that prayers, good thoughts, and best wishes from this stranger, added to those coming from a lot of other people, can help those in need in some small way.








May God be with those who need Him the most right now.

I was just sitting there

So, yeah, I was in Boston early last month.

A friend who'd gotten there the day before to have another adventure came and picked me up at the airport. There was a toll booth on the way from the airport to our hotel, so she stopped and was paying the posted toll fee.

I was sitting in the passenger seat probably checking Twitter or my email on my phone, and it took me a second to register that the toll booth attendant was talking ... and that the talking was directed at ME.

It was one of those where I wasn't paying attention, so I wasn't listening to what he was saying, until something registered, and then I played back in my mind what I'd heard him say.

"Genesis", he'd huffed.

I remembered that I was wearing a Genesis t-shirt from their last concert tour. And I knew that my friend wasn't wearing a Genesis t-shirt, even though I didn't notice that she was wearing a Rockapella t-shirt, though I really should have just guessed that.

He said he saw Genesis on their last tour and he ragged on them because they didn't play anything from "Abacab". I was really too stunned to say anything at the time. I mean, seriously, I was just sitting there minding my own business. Yeah, ok, I had the t-shirt on, but I guess I don't get a lot of comments so I wasn't really expecting one at that point in time, since I didn't know he could even see me well enough to notice my t-shirt, and I mostly wear the t-shirt because it makes me happy, because I saw them multiple times, and it was an awesome concert each time.


It wasn't until later that I could really process what he'd said.


Now, I like "Abacab", but I wouldn't say there are any major standout signature songs on that album, and Genesis has a whole lot of songs in their arsenal that they could possibly play. They played a REALLY LONG SET, and they even played songs like "Ripples" and "Afterglow" for f'ing sake, two absolutely beautiful songs that normally don't get played. They played a ton of stuff that's not in their usual repertoire, and they played a lot of really old songs, including "The Carpet Crawlers".

But the concert sucked because they didn't play any of the songs from ONE PARTICULAR ALBUM?

And for that, I got hassled for it, because, you know, I had some say in the matter, all while I was doing nothing to provoke it?

W

a Genesis reunion - what I wouldn't give to go

I'd seen the article last week that Genesis was on the list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I know that the Hall has its detractors and that it really only means so much, but I still think it would be cool.

Well, then I saw this article today that they're at least working on stuff in case it happens and they're inducted. All the boys AND Peter too. That would be cool.

As much as I loved seeing the "Turn It On Again" tour, seeing Peter with them would be awesome.

interesting cover of Genesis

Someone on a mailing list I'm on shared a link to this video of what they call an "indoor drumline" doing a medley of a few Genesis songs. It sounds pretty cool. I like the tone at the beginning of the set better though, which is just cleaner. I thought it was cheating to have the guitar for the "Firth of Fifth" solo - I would have liked to have seen how they handled it otherwise. And then after that, it became more of a regular song, sounding more like the real song rather than the stylized version in the beginning. Still fun to watch and listen to though.

ask a celebrity

Many people are star-struck and would love to meet their favorite celebrity. I don't necessarily have that same compulsion, mostly because I'd have no idea what to say and wouldn't want to come off sounding stupid, and I'm not really into the autograph thing. I've also been involved in a number of activities where I've had the opportunity to be around some levels of celebrity, so I'm not as fazed about it.

The first celebrity I recall ever seeing in person was Ted Lange. Our family was just leaving a restaurant after dinner, and we noticed him at a table with a lady. We couldn't help being excited, and he noticed us and smiled, but none of us approached him. Quite some time ago, I had the opportunity to meet Harrison Ford, and that was pretty exciting. I shook his hand and didn't really say much else to him, just being content with standing there and listening to him talk to the other people. He was very nice. I also had the opportunity at one point to spend a little bit of time hanging out with Ernie Hudson while he was shooting a movie, and he was really nice, with a great sense of humour.

There are a few celebrities that I can think of that I'd like to meet and have some time to talk to, but that's really because I actually have things I'd like to talk to them about, though they're probably not what most people would be interested in.

Cady McClain - Yeah, I loved watching her as Dixie, and she's got a very funny sense of humour, and she's brash and sassy when she writes, so I'm sure she'd have a lot of funny and interesting things to say anyway. But, she's also apparently a huge fan of "24". I'd totally want to talk "24" and Jack Bauer with her!

Billy Crystal - I want to know if he knew who was supposed to get custody of the baby, Jodie or Carol? Stupid ABC were totally wusses and gave in to pressure and cancelled the show, never even giving them the opportunity to wrap up the season-ending cliffhangers. It's always bugged me, all these years, wanting to know whether gay Jodie and his football-player boyfriend would get custody or whether lesbian Carol would get custody.

John Lasseter - I would want to know who came up with the "Feed the Kitty" homage segment in "Monsters, Inc." and discuss the whole Pussyfoot thing as much as he wanted to. And then I'd want to talk to him about Robert (Bob) Olzewski, since I know he's a fan of his work as well. I'd want to know how he got into it, what he likes about it, the same conversations I have with other Olszewski collectors.

Greg Grunberg - Yeah, ok, I like him in "Heroes", but whatever with that. When I saw Genesis on tour last year, on the last night of the tour at the Hollywood Bowl, I noticed him as I was leaving at the end of the concert. I then learned recently that he's in a band called Band From TV, and he's the drummer. The drummer? Dude, I *love* drummers! I heard an interview with him on Kevin and Bean where he talked about being very young and loving drumming, so he pulled out a Rush album and tried to drum along with Neil Peart. Wow, aim low to start with, why don't you! He was asked how that went, and he said not very well! So I would *love* to discuss drumming and Genesis with him. OK, it's not like I know how to drum, but I love to hear drummer stories, and yeah, I wanna talk Genesis with him!

Roma, Italia - 14 July 2007

June 10, 2008 marks the United States and Canadian release date for When in Rome 2007, a 3-disc DVD set chronicling the "Turn It On Again" Genesis tour of 2007 that includes a documentary of the entire tour process as well as the final gig of the European portion of the tour - a free concert that Genesis played in Rome for 500,000 fans at Circo Massimo. (And while I get why they probably picked that particular show to release on DVD, I also laugh because you know that most of the people who were at that concert are *so* buying the DVD, especially since there are a lot of crowd shots, so many of them will be able to see themselves in the video. I can't imagine how long many of them would have had to wait to get into the concert, especially the ones at the front with the great views. And there were no seats - it was all standing room only.)

In conjunction with the release of the DVD, screenings were held in a number of theatres across the United States of the concert portion of the DVD.





Luckily, there was a screening in Los Angeles at The Bridge, so I went to see the show tonight. Yeah, I was going to be able to see the concert footage once I bought the DVD, but it wasn't going to be on a giant screen with awesome picture and sound. I wasn't sure how much of a crowd to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised that the theatre was about a third full by the time the screening started.


First of all, it was really cool to see the amazing stage set-up. Most of the concerts on the North American portion of the tour were indoors and so used the indoor setup, and while the Hollywood Bowl is outdoors, there's the shell and limited space to contend with. One of the tour drivers that I ended up talking to for several hours in Hartford on the afternoon of the first concert I saw was telling me about the massive outdoor stage, and he was trying to convince me that I needed to go to the East Rutherford, New Jersey concert at Giants Stadium, where they'd have the set-up. I'm wondering if the setup used in Rome is what they used there, and if so, I'm sorry I didn't take his advice and somehow arrange to go to that concert as well. That would have been amazing to see in person.

Overall, it's a very good concert film. It gives you a lot of balance between the bigger shots, so you can see the stage and projections and the like, and the closeups of the band members. I did notice quite a bit of distortion during "The Cinema Show" and "Duke's Travels", and while I like being able to hear the music really well, I think they had the sound turned up too loudly, not realizing how loud those two songs are. It was almost painful to listen to for that length of time, but it wasn't a problem during other instrumentals, so I'm not sure what the problem was.

It was funny that Phil told a translated version of the intro story to "Home By The Sea". In some of the other countries, he didn't necessarily give any of the intro because of the language barrier, but using a combination of English and Italian (usually in the same sentence, which I laughed at), he told most of the beginning of the story. It stopped after he talked about the scary people living in the house, so I don't know if he didn't tell the rest of the story about the scary people being in everyone's houses or if they cut that out of the video. In "Second Home By The Sea", it was nice that there was so much footage of Tony on the keyboards. It was also cool to watch Daryl doing his solos on "Firth of Fifth".

During "I Know What I Like", I liked being able to see some of the montage pictures/video that they showed on the screen. It was also fun to see Phil playing with the audience - they seemed really receptive, and he seemed to have a great time with them.

I happen to love the album version of "Mama" anyway, but the live version they did on this past tour was just amazingly incredible. I was really surprised when I heard it was on the setlist because I can imagine how much it tears up Phil's voice to do some of what he needs to do in the song, but he sounded great, and the rhythms of the song were just amazing. And followed up after that was "Ripples", something I never thought I'd be able to see them perform live. Yes, the album version is terrific, but with the full sound and maturity, it's really an incredible experience to see and hear, especially since Phil sings just amazingly on this one, so sweet and sincere. Even though musically and thematically, "Mama" and "Ripples" are almost polar opposites, it's really a good match having the two songs together, and I think it's the most powerful section of the entire concert, with the pervasive sensuality of "Mama" followed by the movingly beautiful innocence of "Ripples". Yeah, I know, I'm gushing, but I know I'm not the only one who feels that way about "Ripples". In all of the concerts I went to, that was the one song (during the chorus portion) where you could hear the most people singing along to a song.

I was a little surprised that Phil did do the "Domino" intro, which he did need translated in parts, and boy, when he talked about the "tiny people in the back" (I also laughed when he said the Italian translation), they were seriously tiny, given the spaciousness of the venue.

And then came the part where I realized I must be the biggest idiot on the face of the planet. With as many times as I saw the show, I never realized that at the beginning of the drum duet, or "Conversations with Two Stools" as they call it, that it was actually two stools that they were initially playing on! I had just thought they were two different drums. But it was nice to be able to see close-up shots of both Phil and Chester during that entire segment.

I have to say that I just laugh at the people who are so shocked when Phil drops an f-bomb during "Invisible Touch" - NEWBIES!!!!! But the fireworks at the end of the song in this venue were INCREDIBLE!

I had loved that the last song of the concert was a re-done version of "The Carpet Crawlers". What a terrific song to end the night with, something that's so classic Genesis.

And how frickin' appropriate is it that during the end credits for the concert DVD, they have "Fading Lights" playing over them? That was so awesome because that's what they played as the exit music in the venue when the concert was over and the people were leaving, and it was the perfect song to play in that instance as well.

I can't wait to get the DVD to see the documentary and other special features.

If you're interested in reading my full report of the "Turn It On Again" tour, click here.

programming your own radio station

When I'm at work, I like to have something on in the background. I'm not always paying attention to it because I have people coming into my office or calling me on the phone, or I might be working on something where I'm either concentrating enough that I don't hear anything else or I might even need to concentrate enough that I have to turn off all distractions. But generally, having something on that I can enjoy makes the work and day go by better and faster.

During the early part of the day, I listen to Frosty, Heidi and Frank, an FM talk show that also streams on the web. That usually takes me through lunch, but then after lunch, I'm not sure what to listen to. I used to listen to KFI, but most of their topics used to get me upset, so I gave that up. I have of late resorted to listening to ESPN streaming online, but since it's not football season, it's not nearly as interesting as I'd like it to be, though I do enjoy getting news and bits of information and opinion about sports topics that I don't follow as closely.

But sometimes, I just want to listen to music. I haven't been able to find an online streaming radio station that I like, and I do have an iPod, but then I have to remember to bring it and carry it around and plug it in at work.

And then a friend told me about pandora.com, where you can basically program your own personal radio stations online. The idea is that songs can be grouped into categories not based on genre per se, but rather, based on structure and components. The presumption is that if you like a particular song that has specific structure and components, you might enjoy other songs that have the same qualities. They refer to this as the Music Genome Project.

It's pretty easy to start. The main screen asks you to type in an artist or song, and then it takes it from there.





Of course, I typed in "Phil Collins".

It came back with an analysis something like that I liked music with a strong solo voice and strong defined notes, so that was going to be the basis of the music that it was going to offer to me. It randomly picks songs that it thinks fits the criteria, and you can click on the song to tell it whether you like it or not. If you tell it you like it, then it adds it to your playlist. If you tell it you don't like it, then it immediately stops playing and gives you another song. If you don't give an opinion at all, then it seems to keep it on the playlist, though not playing as often. You can also do other things to manipulate the playlist.

It's a free service, but it only lets you listen to a certain number of songs before it requires that you register to continue listening.

So for my "Phil Collins radio station", it has given me songs from the following artists:

Genesis
Peter Gabriel
Mike and the Mechanics
Fleetwood Mac
The Cars
Sting
Johnny Hates Jazz ("Shattered Dreams")
Chicago
Bryan Adams
Journey
U2
Cyndi Lauper
Don Henley
The Police
Elton John
Paul Simon
Steve Perry
John Waite ("Missing You")
Peter Cetera
Don Henley
Hall and Oates
Foreigner
Heart
Starship


Some of the artists, like Genesis and Peter Gabriel, are probably not surprising choices to offer me, but I was amazed at how much of the other stuff it offered me was stuff that I really like, even stuff that I haven't listened to in a while. And it's not offering me every song in Phil Collins' catalog, but only particular ones that fit the set of criteria it initially came up with. I expect that if I put in a particular Phil Collins song that doesn't conform to the criteria of the Phil Collins songs it is already giving me, it might generate a whole different list of songs, though perhaps from the same artists.

It has given me some songs that I've rejected from the playlist. It gave me one Pink Floyd song that I listened to a couple of times, but it's not one of their songs that I know and to me, it didn't fit the criteria, so I eventually took it off the playlist. It has also given me some specific country songs and other genres and artists that I'm not fond of that I've said no to.

I'm a little surprised that it hasn't given me anything of Dire Straits, since I also really like them, and some of their songs would seem to fit the criteria. I figure at some point, I'll start other radio stations with Dire Straits as the lead-in and with Pink Floyd and other artists and songs that I like to see what comes out of those.

Here's a little more information about the background of pandora.com, and at least it seems they do understand the significance of the name they've chosen for their website, though they've conveniently ignored one fact. Yes, Pandora was curious, but that curiosity led to her releasing all the evils onto the world - that was one thing that made me hesitate to even try the website. Things are going to be fine for a while, and then what evil nefarious thing is it going to do to me or my computer? So far, so good. But I really wish they'd picked a different name.

Someone I know told me a story about a company that was comparing themselves to the wizard in "The Wizard of Oz". Yeah, well, you might not want to use that as an analogy unless you know what the wizard does at the end of the story.

secrets

It's late. It's dark. It's raining. Visibility isn't great. And you're tired. You're trying to stay awake, so you're not giving your full attention to driving. And then suddenly, you're jolted awake because you just hit someone with your car. You didn't see the person - you didn't even see the sidewalk the person stepped off. And all you can do is drive. You don't stop. The further you drive, the more you can convince yourself that nothing happened, that you hit a rock, that you hit a branch, that you fell asleep for a second and it was all just a dream.

But then you hear the reports on the radio and you see the news story on the television. The woman is in a coma, and the police have no idea who hit her because the driver left the scene, and there were no witnesses.

You know you should have stopped. It was an accident. But so much time has passed now. And you left. It'll be even worse if you speak up now. No one else knows. No one saw anything. You're the only one who knows what happened. You pray that she'll wake up, that she'll get better, and she may not even be able to tell that it's you, and the nightmare will be over.

But your conscience eats away at you. You can't stop thinking about her. You can't stop thinking about what you did. You can't stop thinking about what you didn't do. This isn't you. This isn't the kind of thing you do. It was one horrible mistake, one terrible decision, one split-second moment in time that will haunt you for the rest of your life.

What do you do? How do you live with yourself?








Genesis, We Can't Dance, "Dreaming While You Sleep"