Sunday, June 28, 2009

Virginia is for lovers

Ok, I guess I lied.  No rehearsal today.  Just a costume fitting.  I heard we are supposed to start rehearsals tomorrow, but as of yet I have seen no schedule.  Hey man, I just work here.  If you need me, I'll be enjoying the cheese plate at C and O.  

On the flight here, I realized that I have to come to terms with something:  I love the music of my youth.  That is to say, 80's hair metal.  I think I just need to embrace it and not apologize for it.  The rock writer and Fargoan Chuck Klosterman (author of Fargo Rock City- my brother thinks I should be the Chuck Klosterman of opera) says that writing about 80's metal is better than listening to 80's metal.  I am here to disagree with you Chuck.  (ok, he was talking specifically about Mötley Crüe, so maybe I'll grant him that).  

On my flight, I listened to "Hair Nation" on the in-flight Sirius radio.  I've mentioned before how I'm often irritated on travel days and try not to make any calls or emails that I will regret later.  "Hair Nation" turned my day around.  Not only did I forget how much I enjoy this music, but I forgot how much knowledge I have of the bands.  For instance, "Hysteria" by Def Leppard came on, and I immediately named off the members in my head: Joe Elliot (megamullet), Rick Savage (Aqua Net), Phil Collen (not the pop singer), Rick Allen (one arm), and Steve Clark (dead).  Steve was replaced by Vivian Campbell, who played rhythm guitar on Whitesnake's eponymous album in the mid 80's (the lead guitarist was Adrian Vandenberg - yes, Whitesnake had two guitarists with girls' names at one point).  I also enjoyed some Poison, Kix, King's X, Y & T, Krokus, Ozzy, and Kiss. Thank you Hair Nation.  You made one less weary traveler...."cuz I know what it means, to walk along the lonely street of dreams! Here I go again on my own!!!"  

My point is this....Ok, I don't know what my point is.  All I know is that I never took the time to memorize these guys' names, or the names of the songs, or the album titles.  It's just all there.  Some people remember baseball stats, some people are opera nuts (It would probably help my career if I was one of those), and some people can track the entire lineup history of Kiss and its subsidiaries including, but not limited to, Frehley's Comet, Vinnie Vincent Invasion, and Slaughter.  I've made my peace with my love of this genre.  That's why I bought the new Chickenfoot cd today.  Joe Satriani, anyone?  Come on!!!

I'm having a delightful time in Charlottesville so far. I've done exactly 8 minutes of singing for the company so far, at a donor concert the other night.  My host and her gentleman friend are wonderful, thoughtful people and I have enjoyed some great conversations with them already. It is commonplace for Joseph Campbell, Benjamin Britten, and Sartre to pop up in conversation.  It is a great place to be.  I'm reminded of the famous quote, "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."  

More madness to follow.
AW


3 comments:

  1. Ah. Love the final quote. Where's it from? Did that bit of knowledge remain in the ticker? Or is it being taken up with miscellaneous facts about heavy metal? ;)

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  2. It's an axiom I try to live by, but usually fail!!! Thanks for reading!!

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  3. Oh- it's sometimes attributed to Mark Twain, sometimes to Ben Franklin.

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