Warren Zevon: Dead at the senseless age of 56. It’s ok if you don’t know any of his songs. I was introduced to his music by Lightning 100. “Werewolves of London.” “Lawyers, Guns, and Money.”
Zevon was on David Letterman’s Show on October 30, 2002. He had been diagnosed with cancer and the future looked pretty grim. Somehow by the atmosphere of the show, Dave and the audience knew that this was probably Zevon’s swan song. Letterman had this interesting exchange with Warren:
Letterman: “From your perspective now, do you know something about life and death that maybe I don’t know?”
Zevon: “Not unless I know how much you’re supposed to enjoy every sandwich.”
A sandwich is so ordinary these days. You see it just about every day. Someone in your workplace or school is eating a sandwich. Or else you pass by some Subway shop. Sandwiches are ordinary. Yet we should try to enjoy even the little things of life. Life is too short to let it pass you by.

I was introduced to Tom Petty’s music in college. His Greatest Hits CD had just come out in 1993 and by 1994 a few of my friends had his CD. I borrowed it one time and noticed there were alot of good songs on there. So I got one for myself. Then came Wildflowers which had a huge number of big hits on there. Those songs grew on me.
When Tom Petty was getting really popular he was called this new Bob Dylan. But then again they called Springsteen the next Dylan too. So I don’t know who is the next Dylan. Petty sands on his own and doesn’t need to be compared to anyone else.
Some favorite Petty songs:

• Learning to Fly – There’s a line in the song which says “Well some say life will beat you down, and break your heart, steal your crown.”
  Life is tough. There are some people out there who will dislike you. They will beat you down. One could intrepret the stealing crown lyric Biblically. Revelation 2:10:

  “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

  Maybe I’m grasping at straws thinking Petty had a Biblical view when he wrote those words. But it is how I intrepret those lyrics.
  We are all learning to fly in some shape, form, or another. We will be shaken, beaten, or criticized sometime. We should let that affect us. We should let anyone steal our crown.

• Southern Accents – It’s a salute to the Southern living. The Yankees call it dumb. But we’ve got our own way of talking, working, praying, and living
• Echo

– This is a relatively lesser known song in Petty’s discography. It’s about the ending of a relationship possibly due to drug abuse. But to me it’s much more. This song came out in 1999. I equate it with Summer camp 1999. During that particular week of camp we lost 2 individuals elsewhere away from camp, yet close relationships. One was a older preacher who died of health complications. The other was a kid who got hit by a car while playing in the street. That song speaks of that same sad echo around here.

• Free Fallin – What a great storytelling song. The girl is the perfect person. Loves Jesus, horses, Elvis, and America too. Vampires walking through Ventura Blvd? While the bad boys in the shadows look on? Who else could think of these lyrics?

Those people at the concert last night – were they really truly fans of the Heartbreakers music or were they just there because it was the concert of the evening? I began to question this myself when I sang along with Petty’s latest #1 hit: “The Last DJ,” while the rest of the crowd had the deer-in-the-headlights look to them.

The place: AmSouth Amphitheater
Time: 8PM
Date: 8/16/03
This was my third Tom Petty concert. I don’t think it was necessarily a tour connected with an album promotion. “The Last DJ” had been out for quite sometime. Maybe it’s just one of those usual tours.
Bo Diddly opened. He sat in a chair with his guitar which was box shaped. It’s unfortunate that a guitar great like Bo has been reduced to sitting in a chair for his concerts. Health reasons I think.
Bo was joined on stage by part of Tom Petty’s band. Bo explained the reason for his band not being there. Probably something having to do with the blackout in NYC.
Run Down:
1. Bo Diddly
2. I’m a Man
3. You Are The One
4. Rough Rider
5. Bo Diddly
On the last song Bo got up out of his chair and banged on the drums some. Many of the songs were the epic variety which last several minutes. None of them were terribly earth shattering. However it was good to see such a well respected and innovative guitar player on stage.
Tom Petty started his show at about 9:15ish. The stage light setup was shaped like a pumpkin with different rows of lights around it.
A playlist:
1. American Girl
2. You Don’t Know How It Feels
3. Love is a Long Road
4. Free Fallin
5. I Won’t Back Down
6. Last Dance with Mary Jane
7. Last DJ
8. Handle with Care (Traveling Wilburys cover)
9. Can’t Explain
10. Little Red Rooster
11. Belinda (new song)
12. Learning to Fly
13.Can You Help Me Cry
14. Refugee
15. Running Down a Dream
Encore
16. You Wreck Me
17. Baby Please Don’t Go
The best song of the night was Learning to Fly. Nice soft acoustic variety. No drums. Just acoustic guitar. Tom had the crowd sing along with him at the very end. Make you feel like you’re a part of things.
During the first part of the show, right after “I Won’t Back Down,” I began to think that Tom and the Heartbreakers had played all their good songs at the beginning and wouldn’t have any big hits for the end. “Free Fallin” is usually saved for the encore. However this time it was the 4th song.
“Belinda” was described as a new song which they haven’t had time to record yet. I’d expect it in the next album. Nice song. Determined. Nearer toward the end of the song, the piano and guitar got faster and louder which made for a good song.
The song “Handle with Care” was a salute to the Traveling Wilburys, which Tom was a member of. George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne were also part of it. They put out a couple of records then moved on. When introducing the song Tom said it was for all those Wilburys who were still traveling.
“Baby Please Don’t Go” was the last song of the evening. Just like the way he did Gloria a few years ago, he did some dialogue with this song too. Mentioned something about him being a bum who watches Sally Jesse Raphel alot (even though her talk show is canceled).
Scott Thurston played harmonica on “You Don’t Know How It Feels” and sang on “Handle with Care.”
It was a good concert. Not the best Petty show. I wish he had played some more well known songs like “Breakdown” and “Wildflowers.”

Ok. I need to burn a CD in order to have some kind of anthem or soundtrack while I travel this summer. Here is what I’ve come up with:

• U2 – “The Fly” – I’ve rediscovered this song. When it first came out in 1992, it hurt my ears. Too harsh. Now it seems so tame compared to the other really hard rock music I’m into.
• Rage Against the Machine – “Calm Like a Bomb” – This was at the end of the Matrix Reloaded. Excellent music.
• U2 – “One” – Possibly the most poignant song ever written. I’ll probably have several different versions of it on this CD.
• MC5 – “The American Ruse” – See entry below
• The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army” – Possibly the anthem for this summer. The White Stripes rock, ya know.
• Johnny Cash – “Ring of Fire” – Johnny Cash’s music is legendary. Just as relavent today as it was when it first came out.
• Liam Lynch – “United States of Whatever” – I heard this on Letterman the other night. Quirky song.

The CD will probably contain alot of U2 and The White Stripes. Both of which I’m really into right now. I go through phases. Sometimes its the Stripes. Other times its Oasis. Now its U2.

Right now, life is like MC5’s song “The American Ruse.” I think its a song about the war in Vietnam, but it probably could apply to most anything today. Take a read.

They told you in school about freedom
But when you try to be free they never let ya
They said “it’s easy , nothing to it”
And now the army’s out to get ya
Sixty nine America in terminal stasis
The air’s so thick it’s like drowning in molasses
I’m sick and tired of paying these dues
And i’m finally getting hip to the American ruse
I learned to say the pledge of allegiance
Before they beat me bloody down at the station
They haven’t got a word out of me since
I got a billion years probation
Sixty nine America in terminal stasis
The air’s so thick it’s like drowning in molasses
I’m sick and tired of paying these dues
And i’m sick to my guts of the American ruse
Phony stars, oh no! crummy cars, oh no!
Cheap guitars, oh no! Joe’s primitive bar… nah!
Rock’em back, Sonic !
The way they pull you over it’s suspicious
Yeah, for something that just ain’t your fault
If you complain they’re gonna get vicious
Kick in the teeth and charge you with assault
Yeah, but i can see the chickens coming home to roost
Young people everywhere are gonna cook their goose
Lots of kids are working to get rid of these blues
cause everybody’s sick of the American ruse
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !
Well well well , take a look around !

U2’s song “One” is one of my all time favorite songs. I’ve been listening to it again…this time the Johnny Cash version of it, which is just as good as the original if not better.
“One” could be interpreted many different ways. Many probably think it is about 2 lovers breaking up. My interpretation is probably not unique. I think it is about how we get along as a society. Maybe even as a church.
The religious references in the song come to mind. “Playing Jesus to heal the lepers in your head?” “One life with each other: Sisters, Brothers.”
One is nothing new to those who are reading it from a Biblical perspective.

“There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to one hope when you were called– one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:4-6

The lyric about “One love” seems to echo the Ephesians verses. “One love” could be the One God. One Lord. One Faith. One Hope.
The part that really hits home is the part which says “Love is a temple. Love the Higher Law. You ask me to enter, but then you make me crawl.”
I’ve had this happen many times to me. Having people tell me to love God, but then making me crawl to get to it. No one ever said Christianity was going to be easy. But somehow it seems to difficult to come to grips with. Loving God should be easy. It’s like those people who tell you that once you become a Christian you HAVE to do X number of things in order to be a good Christian.
The song is also about hurt: “Well we hurt each other then we do it again.” “And I can’t be holding on to what you got when all you got is hurt.”
It is amazing how we as a society seem to hurt the ones we love the most. Domestic abuse. Church splits.
Maybe its because we expect so much out of the ones we love. Then when they don’t meet our expectations we hurt them. Or maybe its because the ones we love are always at arms length to us. Those who we don’t love or don’t know, are never subjected to our hurt, because they don’t care about us and we don’t care about them.
Think about it. We could yell at Saddam Hussien all day, and he wouldn’t care. Yell at your mom and she would care. She would be hurt by your words. Which is why we hear so much about estranged family members. Inheritance disputes. It’s a sad situation in today’s society.
The part about “carrying each other” reminds me of that footprints in the sand poem that you tend to see hanging of the walls of religious households. Jesus carrying us during troubled times. Maybe Bono is saying we have to carry each other when we hurt each other.
“It’s too late tonight to drag the past out into the light.” Does “too late tonight” mean a time of day or the theoretic evening of a lifespan? A lifetime of hurt being brought forth during the twilight of life? Obviously the narrator doesn’t want to hear about it. Something being too late is being past due. It’s almost as if it doesn’t matter anymore. The narrator seems to want to get the words out that hurt was brought forth by the one he loves, but that its too late to really worry about it now.
The lyrics:
One
Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame
You say…
One love
One life
When it’s one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don’t care for it
Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it’s…
Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We’re one, but we’re not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One…
Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it’s all I got
We’re one
But we’re not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can’t be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt
One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we’re not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One…life
One

There was a girl in our El Salvador group who made up her own CD to give out to everyone. Most if it consisted of showtunes and contemporary Christian music. Not my cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat, you know.
I’d like to make up my own CD to give out to friends…on trips and junk like that. But then again some of my music some people might object to for some odd reason or another. Brainstorming. Here’s what would be on my CD:

• Better Than Ezra – “Desperately Wanting” – Kevin Griffin sings this with such passion. Great song.
• The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army” – My current favorite song right now. I still can’t believe its done with just a guitar and drumset. I confirmed this was true when the Stripes performed on Conan earlier this week.
• Cake – “Comfort Eagle” – Not many people get this song. It appears to be about televangelism.
• Foo Fighters – “Everlong” – A true classic in its own right. Its lyrics are very meaningful to me.
• Oasis – “Live Forever” – Another great song, usually overlooked by mainstream media.

There are probably a few others I’d add. I just can’t think of them right now. As you can tell, these songs are heavy on the guitar sounds.
Meanwhile, I really need to get my tapedeck fixed in my car. It’s been going haywire, causing much pain and stress in my daily drives without my music. I forced to listen to whatevery corporate radio puts out. It’s not a pretty site.

I have discovered “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes. It’s coming out on their forthcoming album “Elephant.” It sounds as if it could have been written in the 1970s. Its baseline is reminiscent of Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” That’s what makes it fresh and new. While boy bands and bland rock bands come out with the same sounding stuff, somehow the ‘Stripes are cool and new. Kids, let’s review what we’ve already learned.
Old and busted: Creed.
New hotness: The White Stripes.
Here are seven other songs I’ve discovered lately:

• Bruce Springsteen – “Into the Fire” – has an amazing chorus in this anthem type song:
  

  May your strength give us strength
  May your faith give us faith
  May your hope give hope
  May your love bring us love

• R.E.M. – “Superman” – I’ve had heard this song before. First discovered in a car advertisement.
• Peter Gabriel – “Washing of the Water” – This song went completely unnoticed on my Peter Gabriel album “Us” from 1994. I heard it again in the movie “Angus.” Excellent song. The lyrics almost subtly referring to baptism, or at least I’d like to think so.
• Mick Jagger – “Don’t Tear Me Up” – Why didn’t the Stones do this? No, Jagger doesn’t ever want to see your picture again.
• Matthew Sweet – “Girlfriend” – Is this any better guitar song out there? I didn’t think so.
• NoFX – “Stand By Me” – A great punk cover of the Ben E. King classic. If it wasn’t for those 2 little wirty dords in it, it would have been perfect. Todd introduced me to this song.
• Dinah Washington – “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” – Maybe this song should have been written and preformed in the 1960s. Great horn sounds. “It’s got a beat and you can dance to it. I’ll give it 9 stars, Casey.”

I’ve just discovered My Own Personal Jesus. Well actually the name of the song is “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode. Although some might consider the song profane, I don’t consider it bad at all. I think what it’s saying is everyone needs someone who they can depend on. You can decide for yourself.

Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who’s there

Johnny Cash covers it in his latest album. That’s how I found it.
The problem is that some people put their faith into their own personal Jesus…whether it is actually Jesus or not. One’s Personal Jesus can be Dave Ramsey, George Bush, your own minister, anyone else who you follow.
U.S. House cafeteria no longer serves French Fries. I think this move is purely symbolic. French Fries don’t even come from France. I think they were developed in Britain. If you want to boycott France, quit buying Peugeots. Just don’t try calling French Fries “Freedom Fries” and think you’re making some kind of impact.

It’s 03.03.03. That’s a once in a lifetime experience. Or perhaps a once in a century occurance.
The sun is out. Toldyouso. Only in this weblog will you find the headline of the day being the sun being out. I lead a very boring life.
Mr. Blue Sky, why did you have to hide away for so long?

“Sun is shinin’ in the sky,
There ain’t a cloud in sight
It’s stopped rainin’
Everybody’s in a play
And don’t you know
It’s a beautiful new day, hey hey”
Electric Light Orchestra – “Mr. Blue Sky”

I took the cat to the vet today for its yearly shots. After howling the whole 15 minute car trip there, the cat shut up when we got to the vet’s. Purred while in the waiting area. The vet called it “nervous purring.” Never heard of that term before. “Nervous laughter,” yes. “Nervous purring,” no.
You know I was thinking the other day, when people ask me if I like country music, my knee jerk reaction is a resounding “no.” Yet the real answer to this question would be “Yes, but not the country music you like.” An example is Lucinda Williams. Nobody has ever heard of her. Yet she wrote “Passionate Kisses,” which was covered by Mary Chapin Carpenter. I had heard her on Lightning 100 a few months before I saw her in concert – opening for Tom Petty in 1999. A few days after hearing her in concert, I went out and bought her album. And I haven’t been disappointed.
Then there’s Son Volt. Pretty much “alt-country.” They use southern twang and really sound like country music at times. They had one big hit “Drown” which really sounds alot like that “You Aint Seen Nothing Yet” by Turner Overdrive.
The type of country music that I hate is the same pop music that I hate. It’s that slickly produced junk designed to appeal to the masses. Fickle. Flakey. Shania Twain, are you listening? There’s alot better music out there. Son Volt, Lucinda, Uncle Tupelo, and Wilco are just some of the better choices that can be made.