The miracle...for me. For us.

The greatest rock band of my life just graced the world with their latest collection of tunes, affectionately dubbed "songs of innocence ". I've listened to the album dozens upon dozens of times. It didn't take long for U2 to work their magic and this most personal of collections worked its way into my soul. I beseech any citizens of the iTunes world that have yet to partake in this most glorious and free gift to stop whatever it is you're doing and for Gods sake, change your life. I've taken the past couple of weeks to do a lot of soul searching on just what this band of four lads from Dublin has meant to my life. What they meant and probably of equal or greater importance what they continue to mean. The following is one persons story. Mine as it were. It's not overly dramatic or edge of your seat kind of stuff. No, it's just an honest reflection of how my love affair with U2 began.

I'm writing this with "the miracle(of Joey Ramone) pulsing through my brain via iPod. This song is a perfect one from which to pay homage to this most exquisite band. I'm not concerned with reviewing the song or the album for you. Not here. I'm absorbing the lyrics. And I find it amazing at how much Bono's words and tributes to Joey Ramone Echo mine. Not for Joey, but for U2 and for the sound of its lead singer.

"I was chasing down the days of fear, chasing down a dream before it disappeared "

I didn't immediately discover U2 when they and their songs initially hit the world. God, I wish I would have. Wish I would have been packed into some of those early clubs and shared the defining moments of the group that would go on to become the most powerful and without argument the most important band of my lifetime. I would have loved to heard 11 o'clock tic toc in those little dive bars and tiny venues. That's something that will never happen again. It was during those early to mid 80's that I was in fact chasing down a dream. I just didn't know what it was at the time. My younger brother was actually quite into U2. And, one couldn't adopt a band that your younger brother was flaunting?! Oh foolish pride. I like a big chunk of the globe heard "Joshua tree" and things began to ...happen?

"I was aching to be somewhere near, your  voice was all I heard"

Bono and the idyllic tunes that make up the single greatest album ever, slowly started to sway my head and heart. I was still woefully unprepared for the impact, for the meaning. My brother was on his way to becoming a true fan and I caught myself humming along to "with or without you". It was during this period where music was becoming more vital to me. The soundtrack of my life was being produced. My inner self was aching for something real. For a voice. And in 1989, I found it.

"I was shaking from a storm in me, haunted by the specters that we had to see. Yeah, I wanted to be the melody above the noise, above the hurt".

During that fall, I began going home on many weekends with my roommate at the time. His family lived in gods country, so to speak, central Illinois. These weekends contained a lot of solo driving through the farms and country sides of Illinois. Fall vistas. Spring and summer dioramas. The majesty of heavens canvas splayed out all around me. All above and beneath me. It was now that I fell in love. With a bunch of artists from Ireland. I close my eyes and I can taste the air as it rushed in from open windows as the world whisked by me. I smell the country. I can feel the power of memory. And...I can hear. Oh, can I hear. A simple and well worn cassette tape. Turning off the highway and onto the back roads of Illinois. The click of the cassette as it crackled to life.

"I was young, not dumb, just wishing to be blinded, by you, brand new and we were pilgrims on our way"

My world was about to change. 25 years later, I can look back to those weekend jaunts around central Illinois as the point where I was blinded. My roommate and I would split time helping local small churches and the rest of the time just being Kids. Searching for the answers to questions we didn't even know yet.

"I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred. Heard a song that made some sense out of the world. Every thing I ever lost now has been returned, In The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard"

So Bono, you are crooning to Joey ramone. I hear this song and I croon to you. You and Larry and Adan and yes, to the Edge. Driving around the farms of Illinois in 1989, windows down and the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard. I'll never be the same. And I have a feeling I'm not alone.

Band of innocence

U2 gave away their latest album, songs of innocence, free this past week. Half a billion folks all over the world were given the opportunity to download it for nary a penny. Of course, apple paid about 100 million bucks for this "gift". The album is an extraordinary musical tour de force, the likes of which us U2 fanatics have been not so secretly begging for a long time. But, more on that later. That's not the purpose of this rant. I'm here to back the boys from Dublin. Not that they need my backing. Or yours.

There seems to be just as many haters as there are fans of U2 and it strikes me as ironic that they all come pouring out of the woodwork every time U2 does something, big or small. Here's the thing. Most of what U2 does is big. Epic even. They are the biggest rock band in the world. That simply is not up for debate. Love them or hate them, one cannot strip them of their achievement. Their rightful place in rock and roll hierarchy. The biggest fucking band that you or I will EVER see or hear. If you don't dig the music? That's fine and I can and do respect that. Not a fan of Irish rock? Totally cool. Hell, I don't like a lot of what's out there today but I can and do respect the bigwigs. And U2 is the biggest wig of them all in the art of music. Pop, rock, glam, sprinkle in some blues and a dash of punk, then mix it with equal parts soul and a tiny dab of country...and you have the most accomplished and uber talented quartet of musical genius that is U2. I love them. You don't have to. But I can not sit idly by while the ignorant fling hate and envy at the boys. They're labeled as too commercial. Too ego driven. Media whores. Talent lacking. All, complete bollocks, if I may borrow a cliche.

U2 is a victim of the machine. They ultimately have to fight themselves, their past. And they have to go toe to toe with a very formidable foe. And that is the public perception and the whimsical reminiscing that occurs when you have the hits that they do. U2 doesn't just have some big hits in their vast repertoire. They have crafted some of the biggest and most revered songs of our lifetimes. Rock anthems that I must personally claim as the soundtrack of my life. How can a band ever top their past when said past contains the permanent branding of our souls. I'll tell you how. They can't. It's fools good. When bands such as U2 or Metallica have early soaring success, there will always be the so called purists who want a litany of "streets" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday"; they want a "war" or "Joshua tree" churned out every two to three years. Never mind that U2 were mere lads when those albums were set free upon the world. And the world was a different place then. Who among us can hold onto all the facets of our lives as 19 or 22 year olds? The landscape changes. We grow up. We learn. We make mistakes. We grow old. We love. In short, our heart and souls are altered in ways that are unpredictable and inevitable. I love those releases. I revere them. But I love all of this bands releases. And as fun as it may be to compare and contrast, it almost does a disservice to U2. Each has it's own intricacies and lovely portraits. We can all have favorites. But please don't tell me that U2 isn't relative or that they are overrated. U2 is the most important band of my lifetime. Their songs have become as much a part of me as friends and family.  And it certainly means something to me that i share this band with people, family if you will, all over the world.

It's uh....been awhile?

Hello word world. I let the bad guys win. Most assuredly, I was on my way to all the fame and riches that most certainly befall an accomished blogger when my laptop was pilfered during the infamous "west county mall heist" of 2012. Yes, I was a victim of the mean streets of the south suburbs of St.louis and allowed my path to greatness to be curtailed by the actions of these most daring of crooks. Oh, if only there were some way of using for lost wages. Or....maybe they saved me from myself? Fast forward to this early summer of 2014 and I have taken to typing on an iPhone? Technology may be a bitch, but she's a good bitch. Quite simply, I have words that need to be released. My brain has been like the proverbial tea kettle that's screaming and spewing. Who wants some tea, damnit?! There's just too much that is demanding to be written about. I have often wondered about what will happen when all the ideas and all new inspiration vanishes. I don't think that it's possible. Every day on this rock of a planet brings some fresh perspective. Some crazy thing that if you saw or heard it yesterday, it would have blown your mind. But today? Been there, done that.

A head and some change later, and I vow a few changes. One big one is that I wish to write with no strings. No fear of the prim and proper. I no longer care to appease those that need appeasing. The gloves, which to be honest are just too cumbersome, must come off. My goal is to be a fresh voice in an ocean of the same. I don't want to be different just to be different. I want to be different when my head and heart are screaming with me to be different. I'm sick of the routine. I'm beyond appalled at the sheep like existence that way too many of us wake up and discover we've fallen into. And, if my mother should happen by.... Mom, I'm going to curse. Yes, it's necessary. Fuck yes.