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Song of the Week #1

I’ve been thinking of starting a weekly post, Something along the lines of Song of the Week where I share a song that I’m currently into. If you would like to share a current favorite of yours in the comments I would absolutely love that.

For this first share of mine I’d like to introduce a song from one of my current favorite bands Badflower. I stumbled upon them in a YouTube feed last winter. They’re a melodic, bluesy rock band that infuses their song with these unexpected hooks. They do not shy away from controversial topics which for me is part of the appeal.

This selected song is one that is not released on any album nor will it likely ever be. (You can read the story about that in Josh Katz’s own words here). The song is emotionally raw, beautiful in it’s imperfections. I give you Move Me.

Life is Short. Time is Fast.

It had been a peaceful evening in the household; the daughter was getting ready for bed and I was starting to pack for my trip tomorrow when the doorbell started ringing frantically. It was the neighbor kid. I won’t go into details but something was amiss at her house and I raced over there to take care of what I could. An hour later things were as sorted as they could be and my daughter and I headed home. Needless to say, the adrenaline is pumping and I couldn’t sleep if I tried. I’d try painting or reading to calm my nerves, but the light isn’t good in this house at night and the current trashy romance novel I’m reading, I fear isn’t a HEA (Happily Ever After) and well, that’s just not going to work. So here I am.

I am going to visit my best friend from High School tomorrow. We’ve not been able to see each other for many, many years we’ve been very fortunate to have able to maintain our friendship. We’re planning on going to see Night Ranger. I used to be a freakin’ huge Night Ranger fangirl back in the day and while my enthusiasm has wained a bit for them over the years they will always be a sentimental favorite of mine. Earlier in the day on my friend’s blog she wrote about the concert and her thoughts surrounding music and the event. Of course this in turn prompted my own thoughts.

Some time ago I saw a meme on Facebook that stuck with me, that said “Life is too short, buy the shoes, go to the concert, eat the cake”. Something along that vein anyway. I used to go to shows all the time in my 20’s into my 30’s. I got to see a lot of great bands, experience some pretty epic music. I made friends, had adventures and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Even if I didn’t particularly like a band it was fun being with my people dancing freely or moshing in the pit.

Then I got married, had my daughter and thought I had to make more “grown up” choices. This was by no means my daughter’s or anyone else’s doing, just some silly notion I told myself. Don’t get me wrong I love being a mom and nothing is more important than this, I forgot all about the balance of things.

But then…2 years ago I woke up to the news that my musical idol, Chris Cornell had unexpectedly died. He and Soundgarden had performed near me not 2 days before, and again, I talked myself out of going. The regret still runs deep. This coupled with the recent illnesses and deaths kind of was like an eye opener. Regret is something I don’t want dragging me down anymore. There are a lot of things besides missed concerts and fancy shoes not purchased that I regret.

So when my friend tossed the idea out me driving over for the concert and for a visit, without hesitation I agreed. No more am I going to let things slide, let life happen and wallow in the regrets of things I didn’t do or say.

Tell your people you love them, that you appreciate them.

Buy the fancy shoes, if that’s your thing.

Have your cake and eat it too, frosting and all.

Buy the damn concert tickets.

Go. Do it.

Influential Album Challenge Day 4 – Night Ranger Midnight Madness

This was the album that started it all for me.

Before Night Ranger’s Midnight Madness you could say I was a casual consumer of music. I listened to the radio, mostly Pop/Top 40. I bought 45s of songs I liked and a few albums from popular artists like Micheal Jackson, Quiet Riot and Cyndi Lauper. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I really was unaware of all that was out there.

I do remember hearing Sister Christian on the radio often though I can’t say I was a fan of the song and honestly I can not say I am now. Because of that Night Ranger was not on my radar. If my friend from Junior High had not invited me over to her house they might never have registered. As usual Shelia put on some records to listen to while we played board games. Midnight Madness was one that she put on. The first track (You Can Still) Rock in America was a solid rock tune but it was the second track Rumors in the Air that caught my ear and would not let go. I had Shelia play that song over and over again until she was good and sick of it. The rest of the album was pretty solid with great storytelling in the lyrics from Jack Blades and Kelly Keagy and two lead guitarists with vastly different styles that surprisingly gel from Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson.

At that point on I became one of the biggest Night Ranger fans on the planet and proceeded to develop a massive schoolgirl crush on the lead singer/bassist Jack Blades.From Night Ranger I started exploring hard rock/heavy metal groups; Ratt, Dokken, any music that was not given airplay on my Mom’s car radio. My family gotten Mtv not too long after my experience at Shiela’s and that really opened up another avenue for me to explore music (Headbanger’s Ball, and 120 Minutes).

As young as I was when I discovered Night Ranger (13/14) I did not get a chance to see them live during their prime but i did get to see and meet them during some reunion tours. Generally I’m pretty chill when I meet musicians that I admire because they are just people too. I will admit that I totally lost my shit each time I met Jack Blades…at least internally. I trust that I didn’t act like a complete moron. I’ll chalk it up to the gigantic schoolgirl crush thing.

I may not listen to Night Ranger as much as I did as when I was a youngster but they always will reserve a top spot in my favorite bands because without them I might not have discovered my deep love of music.