I'm fit for nasty weather, but I'll take whatever you can give that comes my way. (Day 35)

Theres not really gonna be much of an update tonight. Just reliving a bunch of music I've really always loved. The play list is really all over the place. Everything from James Brown, to Bell Biv DeVoe (that girl is poison!) to Green Day, to Billy Paul and the Isley Brothers. Of course no trip down this lane would be complete without a healthy dose of Dr. Marvin Gaye.

How many people on this planet exist because of Gaye? I mean, my God that man planted more seeds than Johnny Appleseed.

I love listening to music like this, not necessarily for the sexual undertones (looking at you Godfather of Soul, Marvin Gaye, Billy Paul...) but because of the structure. The foundation here is what almost every bit of music I ingest is founded upon, and I really feel like they get overlooked so often because the term "classics" follow so closely.

But you watch James Brown, and you see that that man was nothing short of a perfectionist. He earned his paycheck, thats for damn sure. And it looks like he enjoyed every second of it.

For me, what makes or breaks a band is how their live show comes to life. I can't ever really say I like a band until I've seen them in the capacity of a live setting, because that to me is the only proving ground that needs to be considered.

You look at bands like Green Day, and despite whatever your ideals about them are, or your 'scene politics' and what the shit ever, if you've ever seen them live they never disappoint.

Billie Joe Armstrong is the product of one part Freddie Mercury, one part James Brown. If you've ever seen their live DVD, Bullet in the Bible, he flat out takes a page out of the Godfathers book during their cover of the Isley Brothers 'Shout' when he collapses on stage and the capes draped over him. See the videos below.






I think it's kind of a shame people don't see links like that in stage persona.



But that live setting, man...theres just nothing fucking better than that, is there? Get a couple drinks in you, shake your butt and just enjoy. So if a band sucks...

I don't like when people make excuses for bands sucking live. "If you wanted it to sound like the record stay at home." Well, thats some what valid, but if I wanted it to sound like shit I would've put in the garbage disposal to begin with. I like when bands don't sound just like the record, but if the quality is just bad, man pack it in.

The older guys, they didn't have all the cute little knobs and software the new generation has. It's somewhat dishonest, too, because those guys poured sweat into every note, heart and soul.

You can't fake soul. You either have it, or you don't. Theres a few bands that realize that today, whether it be Green Day, the Gaslight Anthem, Fake Problems, Against Me!, etc. They understand that, and it isn't something they ever phone in.

I think from a stand point of a music fan, I almost wish I could've been born 50 years ago to see all of this actually happening as a seed, rather that reliving the voices through the wire. Rock music, R&B, Hip Hop, Soul, Country, Punk...whatever...it isn't about just selling records.

It's about the ride, the passion to play, the sex afterwards, the drugs, the heart and soul, breath and air, blood and veins of it all. It's laying bare your soul, and making something so defiant out of it that no matter the outcome of what may happen for the rest of your life, that moment on stage in Pittsburgh, PA will live on in someone else forever.

I hate this pre-fabricated posturing, the timed spin kicks and androgynous banter for the sake of stirring someones ire, or "pushing the envelope". It's so fake, you can see it a million miles away. But I just don't think anyone cares anymore.

God rest James Brown.

Until tomorrow.