It has taken me a while to process the death of Eddie Van Halen, and by “process” I don’t mean I’ve been so saddened by this that I can’t form words but more like, this death struck me in a strange way that I couldn’t put words to.
Until now.
So, if you’ll excuse the late eulogy – and if anyone’s still listening – I would like to mourn a death.
The death of the Guitar Hero.
Having basically come of age during the era that Yacht Rock was birthed, I have some unique insight to this music. For a 16-year-old in southern California, hell-bent on muscle cars and the pursuit of boobs, Yacht Rock was simply known as pop music – the stuff they played on The Mighty 690 AM station, mega-beamed from a zillion-watt blow torch in Tijuana. It was the stuff you had to listen to when your 8-track player was on the fritz.
After two years, 659 broken strings, 522 beers, 120 crushing defeats, 121 amazing comebacks, 7 gin and tonics and 5 broken hearts, the new Flat Jackson album, Pretty Up the Truth, is finally out in the wild
The madness started at age 12. My brother Steve, who was 14 at the time, walked into my room and said, “I want to do this talent show but I need a full band. You have two weeks to learn the mandolin.” So I did. And we won.
This is the sort of behavior that lands you in Group, as in a Group that starts each session with “My name is John T. and I nearly went emo AF on Facebook with a 1970’s lyric.”
I love Christmas carols. In fact, I’m listening to some right now. Sure, Easter has Here Comes Peter Cottontail and Thanksgiving has Hey, Let’s Go Shoot Some Turkeys, but no other holiday has its own entire genre of music, which makes Christmas pretty special. As… Read More »The Top Three Christmas Songs Ever (And The Wines That Pair With Them)
Football season is upon us, and I’ve got the NFL Boner of a lifetime. Not like I need another excuse to eat and drink to excess on Sundays, but “hey, I’ll do what I want” and “just shut up” are starting to lose their magic.… Read More »Oh Say, Can You Drink?
Like practically every other biped on this planet, I have a Facebook account. I made the switch to Facebook years ago when it felt like MySpace had become a training ground for trailer park girls trying to land their own episode of MTV’s 16 and… Read More »To Meme Or Not To Meme?