Music

Stay Hungry

/ hsoi

The first album I could call my own was Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry. My little sister gave it to me as a Christmas present one year (probably back in 1984). And a record no less. I believe I still have it in my closet somewhere (tho no record players in the house any more).

My mom took one look at the album cover and hated it. So of course that made it even more awesome to me. 🙂

I loved the music videos (back when MTV was actually cool). I loved the music even more. What got me was not just that the music was heavy yet melodic (i.e. you could sing along with it), but there was some sort of artistic point to it and even a message! And what made the lyrical content doubly cool was the surface presentation that belied the real message.

Their song “Burn In Hell” is a perfect example. It’s all heavy, sounds forboding with those opening droning minor chords and Dee Sinder’s low voice speaking out an invocation that sounds like he’s inviting you through the Gates of Hell for an eternity with The Dark Lord. And of course, the fact the song is titled “Burn In Hell”! Hell! Burning! Looks nice and scary on the album sleeve, especially to parents and the PMRC. So of course, to a teenager this is totally cool!

But then you listen to the song and what Dee’s really singing about:

You can’t believe all the things I’ve done wrong in my life.
Without even trying I’ve lived on the edge of a knife.
Well I’ve played with fire, but I don’t want to get myself burned!
To thine own self be true, so I think that it’s time for a turn… before I burn in Hell.

So he’s talking about how he’s been living a life on the road to Hell, but he’s waking up and realizing that this isn’t good. He doesn’t want to suffer and pay for his sins. He realizes that he better change and clean up his ways. But he doesn’t just stop there:

Take a good look in your heart (and) tell me what do you see?
It’s black and it’s dark; now is that how you want it to be?
It’s up to you, what you do will decide your own fate.
Make your choice now, for tomorrow may be far to late… and then you’ll burn in Hell.

Now he’s calling you, the listener, out. He’s calling for self-examination. He’s seeing the bad in your life and calling you out to change your life. There’s no forcing, it’s your choice, and whatever you choose there will be consequences. Remember, this is in the context of heavy metal, which is all about sex, drugs, rock and roll, drinking, debauchery, Satan worship (or at least faking it for record sales), and basically living that destructive lifestyle. And here’s Twisted Sister coming out with a message rather contrary to the style yet still within the mode of the style. It was all really cool, and still is.

These days, Twisted Sister is still going strong but with a different sort of happy message:

And Lita Ford too! It’s great to see their sense of humor is as strong as ever, never taking things too seriously and just having fun.

Tesla – Feb. 6, 2009, La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I just returned from seeing Tesla play at La Zona Rosa in Austin, Texas. The show was good. Shorter than I expected (only one opening band, which I didn’t pay much attention to), but still a good show. Very straightforward, not much banter between songs, just music music music. I can’t put my finger on it, but I didn’t enjoy the show as much as the last one. Don’t get me wrong, this was a good show, but it felt like the last show/tour was just a lot of fun for the guys playing cover tunes and jamming. This show felt like “work”, and that’s understandable given they have a new album to promote (Forever More), and promote they did – they played 6 songs off the new album. The vibe just felt different, not bad, just different. Still, the show was good, glad I went.

Here’s a setlist:

  1. Forever More
  2. I Wanna Live
  3. Modern Day Cowboy
  4. Song & Emotion
  5. Breakin’ Free
  6. Hang Tough
  7. Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)
  8. So What!
  9. One Day At A Time
  10. Fallin’ Apart
  11. Acoustic Guitar Duel
  12. Love Song
  13. Try So Hard
  14. What You Give
  15. Signs
  16. Little Suzi
  17. Electric Guitar Duel (Encore)
  18. Cummin’ Atcha Live (Encore)

And remember…. it’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you give.

 

Updated: Check it out. Someone made a high-quality video of the entire show and posted it to YouTube.

It looks like the person taking the video was standing at the “back” of the room, behind where the sound and light boards were. I was watching the entire show from just in front of the boards, since they had a bit of a wall/ledge in front of them that made it nice to lean and hang on. Looking at the user icon for teslajunkie’s YouTube channel, I remember seeing her back there. Didn’t know she was taping the show tho. Awesome!

Concert memories

/ hsoi

Music has always been a part of my life, be it performing it or listening to it. I’ve played piano, violin, trumpet, french horn, guitar, a little bit of bass and drums. I’ve played in rock bands; played my acoustic guitar on the street in Denton, TX; various jam sessions; was in “band” from 5th grade through 8th with trumpet, and 11th and 12th I played french horn; I was drum major in marching band my senior year. I’ve actually had thoughts about picking up the french horn again — of all the instruments I played it was probably the most expressive and versatile. I recall in high school playing in a woodwind quintet, and that was a lot of fun… playing with 4 gorgeous girls didn’t hurt either. 🙂

Then there’s all the concerts I’ve been to. I can’t remember them all, but I’ve seen Mötley Crüe a number of times, White Zombie, Pantera, Wrathchild America, Cyclone Temple, Last Crack, Kix, Sepultura, Sacred Reich, Sick of it All, Napalm Death, Corrosion of Conformity, Down, Crowbar, Alabama Thunderpussy, Suplecs, Warrant, Judas Priest, Heaven & Hell, Motörhead, Testament, Stu Hamm, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, White Trash, Lucy Brown, Kage, Dave Matthews Band (before they were signed), Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Coup De Grace, Scorpions, Trixter, Great White, Child’s Play, Trouble, G.E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band, Aerosmith, 4 Non Blondes, Collective Soul, and I know there’s been many many more. 

So tonight I’m going to see Tesla in concert. I saw them the last time they came through Austin about a year and a half ago and they were awesome. They are not a washed up ’80s band trying to reclaim their former glory. They still make albums, they still tour, and they seem to grok the whole Internet thing and know how to work with it instead of fighting against it. I’m happy to support them.

Thing is, all day long I’ve been excited about going to the show and I found myself reverting back to my old high school concert-going habits. Things like how you have to listen to the band all day long. Of course when you’re driving to the show, you have to have their music cranked. What clothing am I going to wear? Why my Tesla t-shirt of course, and jeans. I’ve been thinking about how much cash I need to bring so I can buy a t-shirt. As the story goes: “An old hesher once told me that you gotta get the best shirt because they only come around once.” 😀   And then of course, you MUST wear the shirt to school the next day to prove to everything that you were there.

Ever hear of Heavy Metal Parking Lot?

I grew up in the Washington D.C. area, and I was just at that right age when this documentary was made. It brings back so many memories. So many shows seen at The Capital Centre. Man, that was a time.

The filmmaker, Jeff Krulik, used to have all of his movies available for free on his website, but no longer. You can buy the DVD of HMPL (which I have done, and it’s pretty funny to see some of the people today, especially Zebraman), and I managed to find the full video here, tho who knows how long it’ll remain.

Rock on!

This weekend

/ hsoi

The weekend’s not yet here but already I can’t not think about it.

Tomorrow night going to see Tesla in concert. I’ve seen them live before and it was excellent. They’ve got talent and ability, thus why they’ve always kept going and didn’t die off after the ’80s were over. I think their “Into The Now” album (2004) is one of their best. Just a damn good rock band.

Then I get home from the concert, get a couple hours of sleep, and then it’s off to the Boy Scouts of America Texas Report To State Parade. My younger son is a Tiger Cub and I’m a Den Leader (again), so we get to head downtown and walk down Congress Avenue with thousands of other Scouts from around the state. It’s actually really neat to see Scouts from all over, and the kids always enjoy being in a parade as well as seeing all the floats and other Scouts. 

And I’m sure I’ll have a honey-do list to tend to afterwards, and a nap. 😉

Should be a fun weekend.