REVIVAL

I'm not sure when or how it happened in my life, but suddenly i've reverted my musical taste to the pioneers of my peering generation. I'd say it mostly started when i rejoined blacklisted last year. Nirvana was a staple in our van. I became fascinated with their rise and self inflicted fall, then found myself digging deeper into my childhood musical freedom. Deeper into the 60s, i rediscovered Led Zeppelin through the words of Stephen Davis' Hammer of the Gods. A book i recommend for anyone who has ever cared about rock and roll. That fascination then led me then to Guns N' Roses. (edit * i don't want to turn this blog into some type of guns n' roses worship situation, just sayin) I accrue all of that to my mom and step father Jerry. I remember our stereo components case had a glass door with a sticker from Appetite For Destruction. Mixed Tapes were huge for our family. They threw and attended parties frequently when i was a kid, and it was all about the new mixed tape. Jerry put a Guns N' Roses song on every single tape he made. Making the tape was a week long process. i remember sitting in my living room with a 5 disc player with like 5 different components attached and helping my mom and jerry make these tapes. They were great and i really wish i still had some of them. A family friend Mike was also big on the mixed tape and i remember his cd collection was so completely awe inspiring that when we would go over there to play cards i would often just sit on the floor looking through album artwork and discs. My Mom and Jerry took me to a ton of concerts when i was young. I saw Kiss in makeup twice. I have the money with Angus Young on it from the "Money Talks" tour. My mom went to see Aerosmith and GNR in 1988, in Philadelphia, the day before the video for "Paradise City" was filmed in Jersey. Hard rock is in my genetic makeup. Drug abuse and alcohol addiction are also in that genetic makeup, but i've been working on making sure that those never see the light of day.


A pretty funny story that might dive a little bit too deeply into my personal life is from about 1989. Id be five at this point. My mom bought me a Guns N' Roses t-shirt. I was really into them and Bon Jovi. I had a jean jacket, ripped jeans, and a bunch of pictures of bands that you could win at carnivals and fairs, in like terrible metal frames. I went to my dad's house for visiting on weekends. My dad, also named David, and my mom had separated when i was very young. He had a a few terrible addictions, one being the aforementioned Mr. Brownstone, and alcohol of course. The courts ordered, upon the divorce, that i was to see him on weekends. Some of these weekends included him getting arrested for intoxication in New Jersey, while i sat in the jail with the cops. Another not so hot memory i recall is getting to the beach, and my dad not having sun block, decided covering me in baby oil was the appropriate solution. I got some bad degree burn, and then my dad disappeared from the hotel room for several hours. I watched the NBA draft in agonizing pain. At the time i guess i thought my dad was getting food...So back on track here. I went over to his house for the weekend with the beloved GNR shirt on my back. My dad told me to take the shirt off.. I did, handed it to him and he then CUT IT UP RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. He said "I DON'T AGREE WITH YOU OR YOUR MOTHER SUPPORTING THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR". i cried then shrugged it off. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? I was too young to understand the utter hypocrisy of this little situation but as i got older i figured all of that out.


It's funny how your family life can in one way or another shape the person you grow into. I grew up in a house that blasted music whenever possible. I stayed home on friday nights in high school occasionally to hang with my mom and sing our favorite songs at the top of our lungs. It was around this time as well that i got really into performing music too. As i type this entry currently, my mom is in the kitchen of our house blasting radiohead on her ipod while she ferociously prepares delicious cuisine for a dinner party we are hosting tonight. On the contrary when i entered high school, smoking weed and getting wasted became the cool things to do on weekends. I knew all too well what i was genetically destined to become. I stopped visiting my father when i became old enough to understand what a liar and a thief drugs had defined him to be. I found this little thing called straightedge then. That was 10 years ago this spring.


I bought Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman last week. Shawn Foley put me on to Chuck during our last few tours. I think he read every one of his books on tour riding shotgun on the long drives. I'm only 15 pages in, but it inspired me enough to write this. you should read it.