Eminem's Revival. A review from a fan.

Eminem's voice and rhyming skills, and music are iconic.  They continue to be iconic.  The twisted word plays and fantasies have played on many different levels and have varied on their levels of seriousness.

The quest for him and his style of music still can play and be relevant to a crowd that has now b
egun to grow into their 30's and assume the mass of adulthood, having lived past the tragedies (not unlike his own in many ways.) one is almost sure to experience by the their early teens and twenties.

For me, Eminem started at age 15.  The first time I heard him was while going to bed with the radio on the local rock station (or anything that could be considered "alternative") and listened to a hip hop song. 

Obviously from there he became a huge part of American culture.  The white rapper from Michigan.  A rags to riches story about poor America and upward mobility.  All the while shouting controversial lyrics and commenting on the nearly universal issues such as drugs and addiction, love, anger, and lately taking specific aim at the political policies of hate and our current climate.

The album cover shows a silhouette of what appears to be Eminem with his hand over his head as if saddened or in a moment of pain.  The backdrop is an American flag, which I take to mean that the album is a reflection to how Em might feel about the Country currently.  Or how he feels existing within it.

Overall the album is worth a listen, but it in all likelihood will not have the impact that Recovery had musically.  Eminem is at his best when his confidence is high and he's taking on all comers.  On this record he seems to battling social injustice while battling his own personal demons which leave's him sounding at times a bit muffled.



Track 1. Walk On Water (ft. Beyonce) ****

The light piano trickles in like a stream, relenting to Beyonce's vocals.  Eminem comes in after you hear another piece of papers seems to be crumpled and thrown out. In many ways it feels like Eminem is letting us in on his inner process. 

He laments the pressures and expectations of being a role model in this day and age, as well as his own pursuit of finding the perfect verse's, the perfect writing and rhyme's.  He starts, again and again.  Knowing that he isn't perfect, but yet he remains defiant in pursuit of his perfection. 

The sound is slow, melodic in such a way that really shines, and the contrast of Beyonce' and Eminem works very well.

Track 2. Believe  ***

The sound changes dramatically to a darker sound slow track where Eminem draws on his past and tells the story of how he needs to constantly drive.  At first blush the track moves a bit too slow for me.  I'm expecting a faster tempo and it takes a bit of time for the sound to really hit and understand the song. 

Track 3. Chloraseptic. *

I'll be honest this tempo and voice didn't hit me well.  It's a relatively simple song about in Em's mind amounts to his perceived and perhaps metaphorical competition is.  Honestly, I'm sure some people like the word play here and what not, but it's just not my speed on first listen.

Track 4. Untouchable ***

A funky track intro belies the incredible take on white culture and taking on the issue of police brutality, and more acutely later in the song white entitlement.  He attempts to tackle the impossible of racial inequality in America.  Needless to say, your feeling towards this song's content will probably greatly affect how you think of the song.  Personally?  I really enjoyed it.  Em and his speech are the stars here, the music and chorus only meant for you to pay attention and not to get lost in the relatively forgettable background beat.


Track 5.  River (Ft. Ed Sheeran) ****

It's a song about being a cheat.  Straight up.  Em spins the tale of high intensity love and sex drive while Ed Sheeran laments the results.  A song about not being able to be in control and give in to temptation, and the regret in the inability to become more emotionally available.

Track 6. Intro

Track 7. Remind Me **

A departure from the serious mood and back to the juvenile level that made Eminem, Remind Me uses the iconic sound of Joann Jett's "I love rock'n'roll" to create a hip-hop saloon song that see's Em chasing an overly sexualized version of women.  It's playful and fun, but for me, a bit over the top and not necessarily as clever or as catchy as some of his other work.

Track 8. Revival (Interlude)

Track 9. Like Home ***

He takes on Trump.  It's a direct attack on him and how many in America see his as an obstacle to race relations and peace.  Similar to Believe, your own politics will play on how you feel about this song.  If you feel that race still plays a huge part in American society and discrimination then you'll have empathy for this song.  If not, you won't.


Track 10.  Bad Husband (Ft. X Ambassadors) **

A melancholy song about the Eminem's failures as a husband.  Kim remains a muse for Shady, and no matter how many words are said about his family, there appears to be a never ending love that cannot be broken forever. 

Track 11.  Tragic Endings (Ft. Skylar Grey) **

A recurring theme of the album and maybe why Album seems to dwell on Eminem's pain.  In this song he talks about how his attraction to a love makes him see past abuse and things that might be detrimental to himself.  The feelings of insecurity, of being manipulated for the pursuit of love.  It's not a bad song, but at this point in the album I'm still waiting to get pumped up by something and now I'm starting to feel a bit depressed.

Track 12.  Framed *

A fantasy track of sorts where Slim takes on a journey of putting Ivanka Trump in a trunk and dismembering lawyers.  Too be honest a bit too over the top for me at first blush. 

Track 13.  Nowhere Fast (Ft. Kehalani) ***

This is the pace that I think I was looking forward to and waiting for. 

Instantly accessible with the mentality of a middle finger to the world, this song is about on some levels if the world ends tomorrow and not stressing about things.  However the musical arrangement really compliments the rap and thus brings out the first memorable and potential cross over track since "River"

Track 14. Heat  *

In my mind a pretty forgettable track that sounds like a bit of a continuation of Remind Me, except it lacks Joan Jett's music.  I'm sure it was fun to make and write but I found it a bit boring and too similar to his earlier tracks.

Track 15.  Offended ****

This is where if you love word play, you really see the true talent of Eminem.  How he can move and rhyme in so many different speeds and move to different directions.  This won't be a radio hit in all likelihood but it may be one of Em's most popular song among rap enthusiasts similar to "Rap God"

Track 16. Need Me (Ft. Pink) **

Another song about co-dependency on one another.  While similar to Tragic Ending's, Eminem's tone seems a bit different, perhaps more hopeful.  More uplifting.  Still the message can't be ignored about how flawed Eminem see's himself and his relationships. 

Track 17.  In Your Head ***

As the album finally begins to wind down Eminem seems a bit lost.  Indeed he does go inside his own head takes on the Persona that is Em.  He wonders where he has come from, and where does he go from here.  The sampled cranberries, similar to how he sampled Joan Jett again really come and help the song move along.

Track 18.   Castle **

A song dedicated to his daughter.  Em reflects on his decisions to how raise Hailie.  The only problem is that while the song isn't bad, it's also on some level just a continuation of Mocking Bird that he released in 2004.

Track 19.  Arose **

An introspective Eminem speaks to his commercial success as well as his failures.  He can't help but speak his regrets and how he has grown.  While he plays cleverly at the end to show that he still has more to give.  And while this album might be a bit more subdued than Recovery or the Marshall Mathers LP2, he will be back, still striving for his perfect rhyme.

Police Brutality and Racial Inequality.

Why is it so hard to stand against police brutality and the inequality of justice in our criminal systems? 

Why is it so hard to see past skin color and the uniforms and not see and hear the blatant calls for justice?

It's about a gang murder.

It's about racism and anger.

It's FEAR of deadly force in the hands of civilians, and response without rational thought, and only the compulsory part of of the brain.

It's the disrespect of our men and women who come home after serving based on skin color.

Fear.  It cannot be tolerated as an excuse for deadly force.  Our levels of fear are more often than not unjustified.  We are scared at movies, at the dark, at almost anything at any given time without any real rationale.  So fear should not be a deciding force to take a life. 

Not to mention I have my own issues of being tailgated and harassed just for working late hours, or being pulled over simply for having a black passenger.

It's not all police, there are many great ones, and from what I would gather they may well be the majority. But I'm so tired of their names being lumped with these terrible ones.  The ones that bully ANY part of the public, but especially those that do it based on race.

If we want this all to stop, we need to address the actual issue rather than beating around the bush.

I'm positive the honorable officers are tired of hearing about it, as are their loved ones. So let's do something about it.  Let's do something about the dishonorable ones. 

The truth of the matter is that there are real problems with our racial discrimination within our law enforcement establishment and that it's in our collective best interest to address it rather than continue dealing with non-issues.

Rather than continue the garbage talk why don't we start addressing the problem, and ask simple questions such as why?

Perhaps we need to revisit specific laws that allow so many criminals to be armed, something I'm sure has a measure of support from our police force.  Or perhaps drug laws and our confusion both ethically and morally on how we treat addicts from all walks of life?  How about we address the educational system in poor communities? 

I would address some of those.  Suggesting first that we end the drug war as it's currently conducted, and getting addicted people help rather than creating a larger law issue.  Opioids, cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, and more need to be re-examined by our systems and how we handle them.  I would fully legalize marijuana, similar to alcohol (though I would drop the drinking age to 18); tighten controls at the pharmaceutical level on opioids to prevent addiction. 

We need better access to help for the opioid addicts from a medical standpoint.  All drugs are bad, but the state needs to better educate and heal and prevent addiction rather than directly intervene in terms of incarcerating users.  We have created a huge black market by doing so rather than address things openly and honestly. 

Secondly, there is a real fear in any poorer area that the population will be armed with weapons.  This is kind of where it gets tricky and complex, but I would offer that we need to fund our education systems, have better gun laws, improve training for officers on bias as well as involve more community policing. 

In my view we need to have higher standards and harsher penalties on police that abuse power.  I would also offer more compensation to those that are in the field to do well to keep a financial incentive to keep standards high, and to get rid people who can't fulfill the job requirements faster. 

The position of officer should be as reputable a public position as we have.  People who serve to protect the general public.  They are there to not only enforce our laws, but they are trusted to do so equally and fairly. 

To not fear or judge based on race. 

To not fear or judge based on wealth.

To address all of the public as an equal reflection of humanity.

That is as noble a goal as I can think of.

However the job seems to have been twisted and manipulated so that there are divisions with how the laws are applied to the wealthy, powerful, and white, versus the poor, the less educated and black. 

In many ways I don't believe this is the officer's fault but how we currently have their jobs set up as a society and how we care so little about the poor and their education.

The problems are complex but I'm confident we can come up with solutions to our problems rather than arguing with each other forever over things that don't matter at all.  (The freaking kneeling debate.)

What we should not do is pretend the problem doesn't exist.  Worse still, we shouldn't give up on fixing the problem.  We should try to make a better, more perfect world if possible and not settle on the one that we have. 

That we allow a segment of our population, based on nothing but the color of their skin to not feel cared for, to feel excluded, and not have the same opportunities as someone else, is shameful.

If we want this to stop, if we want this all to become a moment we can be proud of then start coming together and finding solutions to the problems rather than get lost in a sea of divisive rhetoric while our country crumbles.

Look at our country and how angry we all are.  Meme's about "libtards", and bitching about snowflakes as well as meme's about morons, pussy-grabbers, and racists.  We are so divided in our quest to get one over on the other side we stop paying attention to the real issues.  And all of a sudden we have more. 

Instead of fostering resentment towards one another think about how we can love one another.  Become at peace with one another, and stop the horrific behavior that has led to an America where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and one's skin still defines one's odds to live a full life.

Las Vegas and The Gun Culture of America.

It's simpler than we make it out to be at times.

Stop the selling and increase the illegality and penalties of semi automatic weapons that can be made into what happened last night. 

If you want less mass gun deaths do something.

Otherwise be content, for this is normal in America today.

Yes it's sad. 

Yes it makes me angry. 

But when push comes to shove no one ever really addresses the gun industry or the how we currently handle gun laws in this Country.
 

Guns and weaponry are largely celebrated here in America.  They are thought of as a way to birth our freedom.  A way to exert dominance.  Some are taught that we need guns to defend ourselves.  That the best defense against a gun is another gun. 

I would argue that if someone jumps you with a gun that you are likely dead no matter what.  In fact whoever shoots first is almost certain to be alive longer than the person who has to react.  Hand guns and semi automatic weapons (that allegedly a 64 year old man easily turned into an automatic weapon) have enormous killing potential, typically greater due to the ease of which one can conceal hand weapons and the incredible rate of ballistic discharge and magazine depth of more militarized weapons.

If you want events like this to stop ask those elected officials to do something rather than just hoping.  Stop encouraging fear and gun ownership.  Start encouraging a closer and thoughtful regulation to weapons industry. 

And for the love of humanity stop being so scared of one another, angry at one another, that you feel motivated towards  violence.  Go for a run. Go be creative.  Go to work or to school and represent yourself to your best.  

I have no personal use for a firearm.  Zero.  However I'm sympathetic on some level to hunters who might be doing the environment a favor to curb certain populations and the usage of the meat and hide of wildlife.   I'm also sympathetic to those that might rely on CERTAIN weapons for personal defense because of their reasoned fear of their environment or circumstances.

I believe we can build restrictions while protecting those groups I sympathize with. 

That we can limit the public's access to deadly weapons while still leaving the public with viable defenses from intruders and low level criminality. 

If we really want events like Las Vegas or Sandy Hook or Columbine to ever truly stop or slow we need to actually do something about our access to the weapons that have the easiest and greatest capacity to harm.

IF you feel similar to me, do what I've done.  Share this with your elected officials in any way you can.  (I'm sending this to my Conservative Senators and I await any kind of thoughtful conversation on the issue.)  Speak to them.  Make your voices heard.  If not, stay silent, and let the death toll continue to climb.

On Scheduling Georgia State.

I hope Georgia State puts that money to great use in their players' education.

Georgia State's President is a PSU alum if you're wondering how this game probably happened, and it reminds me of when Michigan played Connecticut and you find out that UConn's athletic director was a Michigan alum.  That game was also at night and UConn actually nearly topped the Wolverines.

Yes, yes.  Georgia State also run the spread; have some good players; should still be a relative easy win; helps potentially save players, etc.  I'm sure there are benefits to playing Georgia State, but to be the program we want to be, we need to schedule some larger schools.  Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Stanford, Alabama, LSU, Clemson and Florida State. 

Take on the largest, most powerful, and most popular collegiate institutions and show as many people as possible the best of Penn State culture.  We want to be successful, we want to win the game.  But we really want people to see how hard we work for one another.  How we live for one another.  How we try to do our individual part and control the things we can control while at the same time believing we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

As always when striving for success in a competitive atmosphere we may experience failures.  However even in defeat we express ourselves with humility and class.  We then take those failures and learn from them, getting better as we go.
 

That's what makes us Championship material.

When we play Georgia State at 7:30 on the Big Ten network, it will be shown only to a base that already believes in Penn State and I believe that limits our exposure.  It limits what we as Penn Stater's can showcase. 

I believe the world needs the culture that's being created by James Franklin and the Penn State football team.  That it's a culture of positive energy, of effort and determination in the face of adversity.  That it's a culture of humility and respect.  It's a culture that can make a difference in a positive way.  And while certainly I think the game this Saturday will go towards furthering our long term goals (as well as those at Georgia State and ), I look forward to the day where we routinely battle the very best across the country, and showcase it for the world to see.

Charlottesville Is Trump's America

Look around people.  Nazis are back and they are louder than ever calling Trump their leader.

If you ignore that so that you can get wealthier, so that you can feel safer, shame on you. There is zero justification to trust this man.

His rhetoric and lack of empathy is endangering every American around the world. 

There is so little doubt that he has helped the recruitment of terrorists both domestically and abroad. 

As access This is not a man of peace and prosperity, but of war and chaos.

The country needs to fix this.

We need to fix this.

We need not fear about money or losing our place in the world economy.

Our trade will boom as long as we control the ports and passageways as well as continue to educate and innovate.

We need not fear, our economy is as much the world economy at large.  We account for 25% of the world GDP with 5% of the population.

By contrast China, and the ENTIRE EU account for less less while having roughly a billion more people on regards to China and the EU as a whole is still twice our size.

The bottom line being that we not fear for Money's sake to put up with a man who invites and incites violence at every step of the way.

I do not trust Trump in the slightest.  He is looking out for himself at all times and others last. 

He is the scum of this world.  A man hell bent on power mixed with xenophobia and ethnocentrism. 

It's absolutely more disgusting in my mind than 9/11.  It's the blackest cloud I've felt since Sandusky. 

Trump could be an individual wealthy piece of shot on his own time, but I would never have him represent me. 

He grabs pussies and laughs.

He screwed over people looking for an education and help and laughed.

He screwed over people looking for housing and laughed.

He is about to screw over America and laugh.

He does it all because he is rich and the system favors the rich, especially those that hold property and real estate in New York City.

Well now he has to represent people like me.  Who believe that how a President leads matter.  Where your words and thoughts matter.

Because as the President of the Country I believe in, you are supposed to represent ALL of us in the best light at ALL times. 

What happened in #Charlottesville, and what's going on all across the Country is Trumps America.  I divided chaotic Country where the laws will be different for whites and the wealthy while the poor and minorities bear the burden

The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Me.

Spring of 1992 (or possibly Summer)

I remember going to Philadelphia to visit my uncle who was living in or near the city.  I'm not quite sure of anything else that we did. I'm not sure if we visited a zoo or watched a movie, but I do know that was the first time I ever saw MTV and the first time I ever recognized the Chili Peppers into my psyche.

Now at the time I was 8 years old, so I could hardly infer greater conclusions about lyrics or video theatrics, but I specifically remember the sounds and how much I liked them.  The first (or second, I honestly can't quite remember the order) song was "Give It Away".

A sound and passion as Anthony Kiedis rolled into his chorus of "Give it away, Give it away, Give it away."  The sound of funk, that aggressiveness that rolls off every second of the song.  It was a song that for some reason sounded how I felt whenever I felt unbeatable and strong.  How it felt to be confident in something, and namely yourself.  Oddly the song to me now is about giving that confidence to others and that ability to be great should be passed on as that you cannot keep it forever.  To be honest the video freaked me out a bit as I had no idea what the hell was going on other than these dudes were all silver, but I kinda liked the way they danced and moved.  

The other song might be considered it's complete opposite.  The loneliness that we all can feel at times.  This may have been where I started to formulate how much I enjoyed lyrics and the abilities you can have to tell a story or paint a picture using language and sound.  The slowed tempo, the restraint through the first three quarters of the song and then at the end; a willingness to burst back through and overcome the sadness.  Under The Bridge spoke to that in such a musical way that I can probably never do it with the words I find myself often stumbling through.

And that was the start of everything about music that I would come to love.

Summer 1999 

This summer was one that I felt on top of the world.  At 15, while still foolish and naive to most of the ways of the world, I felt simultaneously on top of one particular world and felt slightly alone in it.  I had excelled at sports, and my confidence in that particular world seemed to be soaring.  I was already roughly 6'0 tall, and had a wide broad shouldered frame.  I could nearly dunk a basketball, and felt like I could run for days.  I could be explosive at times, and had knack for certain hand-eye coordination abilities. 

It felt like I had literally battled and warded off the rest of the world to get to this point.  I attempted my best to fit in with most people but mostly just hung out with my best friend Gavin for most summers. 

This is when they came back and hit me and I'm sure others with what I would call a transcendent album.  An album that changed the way I really thought about music.

Californication was a game changer for me in so many ways.  I listened to the album constantly.  I felt like all of the songs either did or would apply to me.  I felt the way either Kiedis or the band felt depending on how you looked at it.  In any event that music seemed to carry me through the late summer. 

I watched the video for Around The World, which is an amazing starting track on the internet (which may have literally been my first internet streamed video ever) on my mom's work computer.  On Netscape, I believe.  However after seeing what Anthony was doing to the ghost chick I figured it might be better to close the browser and watch on MTV.   

The start, was Scar Tissue.  To me this represented my own evolution to as a boy to an adolescent. I felt great, I felt like I was a rock star.  I felt like I was headed towards big things, but at the same time I had a sadness in me.  A loneliness.  This song seemed to encapsulate that and fill the void that I sometimes felt.

By April they would come to my home town with the legendary Foo Fighters and rock little State College, PA and leave a impression of alternative music for YEARS to come.  I remember walking into my Science class the next day and distinctly remember our Student-Teacher who happened to be a slight role model for me as I remember him being a tall blonde guy like me who seemed to have a sense of humor.  He came to class the day after the concert and said that it was the best show of his life and that there was nothing like it. 

But the song that sticks with me more than most still is "Otherside".

Even as a youth I felt sad or alone at times that I felt I shouldn't.  But that no one else could understand it.  To me, the literal interpretation of drug use and addiction was still foreign to me.  But the sound and emotion was not.  As I was going through puberty I developed acne issues and simultaneous self-esteem issues throughout the year so this song hit me about as well as any.  I turned to my otherside which thankfully for me was athletics and I enjoyed my English and Science courses at school.  I turned my negative into a positive.

Fall 2003

By The Way was released the Summer of 2002, when I would graduate from high school, then subsequently go to school at Penn State.  Better yet for me that year I was able to successfully walk on to the school's legendary football team.  I actually remember singing "Minor Thing" in the car all of late summer on my way to and from my first classes.   But the highs came with lows as well as I began to struggle with the work load and found myself still struggling to fit in socially at times.   I also began to realize that while I may be very skilled and possessed some athletic talent I was not on par with some of the players that would then go on to become pros. 
 
They came with Queens of the Stone Age and put on a great show, though I mostly remember having wished you played longer (probably just selfish and wanting more since Pearl Jam played a monstrously long 3 hour show that I went and saw that blew my mind late that Spring as well).    I also remember this being the first concert I had ever smoked marijuana before and felt amazing and a slight hint of paranoia.  It was thrilling and amazing all at once. 

I was late to find alcohol and drugs unlike the story I've read of some people.


Summer 2006

I didn't know it at the time but this particular stretch of time may have shaped me more so than any year I could think of.  I was going into my final (albeit extra) semester of college.  I was in the process of leaving the past behind in many ways.  Even though it was painful, it was also absolutely necessary.

While I sadly missed this tour as well, the double album release of Stadium Arcadium seem to be such a perfect album for everything.  I loved every minute of it and it is in all likelihood my most listened to album.  It wrapped up everything I felt so succinctly, so totally that I became a bit obsessed.  I began to scour the internet in hopes of finding bonus tracks, live albums and more.  I also got the tattoo...

My Left Arm

I try to tell people about what the tattoo means to me, and I always find it difficult at first, but in the end I always arrive at the same place.  It means happiness.  It's seems so simple but it's complex, in the way that life is always intertwining us.  It's ups and downs.  It's inevitably beauty and tragedy that we experience through it all.  But in the end you are happy.  You are enjoying life.

2011

In perhaps the greatest irony in the coincidences of life, I'm With You would be released the same year I would meet my wife.  Despite the departure of John from the group I felt the sound was still authentic and real and not something simply contrived for dollars and a paycheck.  Yes it was different, but it was still good and the funk and passion was still there.  Plus there's freaking cowbell.

I would get to see you on tour with my friends from back home who had just recently moved to the State of North Carolina.  I invited my girlfriend/future wife for the road trip down as well.  To this day my memory is so vivid of arriving just before sunset and heading inside.  We were maybe a touch late and Santigold was crushing her live version of Disparate Youth. 

I was charmed and in love all at once.  And even though it was not exceedingly warm in North Carolina that day, it felt like you had brought the Los Angeles sun with you.  

February 12th 2017, Philadelphia.

I wanted to write this long before today.  I wanted to see if I could tell exactly how the music made me feel and why I have a large red asterisk logo prominently tattooed on my left arm.  But like many times I found myself distracted and procrastinating on something that I knew would be difficult, but in the end worthwhile.  I actually wanted to write this and have it read by the Chili Peppers themselves, have them become so enthralled by my story that they would give us all backstage passes and we would hang out with some rock legends.

It was cold that morning but not overly so, and as I gathered my compatriots for the trip it was quite the eclectic group of twenty something's with one thirty something leading the charge into a musical experience.

We traveled together.   Some of us drank, and some smoked, but we were there in a space as one, and in one of the the largest cities in America enjoying each others company.  In a city that in many ways should be thought of as the beginnings of Freedom.  And even though sometimes it seems like the world wants to implode for no good reason, if felt like WE wanted to be there for one another and couldn't think of a better place in the world to be.

It wasn't until then that it hit me just how lucky I was to live in a world that mostly allows (or will allow) all of our actions.  To summon upon request a driver via a pocket computer.  The terrible driving that then ensued that literally reminded me of this entire scene minus the hold up at the end.

To then relieve the stress of that trip by watching your favorite band and musical artists of all time perform with such energy and gusto that you knew everyone around you felt a similar fun and funky energy tempered at times with some real raw emotion. 

I couldn't help but think of all the friends and contacts I've made over the years that have helped to shape who I am.  How fortunate that most people that I've come into contact with by and large have been good towards me stay in my thoughts and those that were not seemed to be so far removed that I cannot remember who they might be. 

I was sad for a little that my wife could not enjoy this past trip with me, and I know that it bummed her out.  But as we took our car home, with a much more sane and efficient driver, I realized I could still feel the memory inside me and knowing that she was happy for me to go no matter what. 

The same way you know any true friend or loved one would support you.


May 9th 2017


Tomorrow I'll be adding to my Chili Pepper journey as my wife and I go to Pittsburgh to see The Chili Peppers for our second time.  We hope to explore Pittsburgh downtown a bit and see if any fun restaurants or shops are open.  Perhaps some drinks with friends after the show.  

The Getaway isn't exactly clear if this is the end or not.  It gives certainly the idea of the end but to me there is always hope that perhaps they'll continue to create music.  They have been at this for over 33 years.  I know because my birthday happened to occur a few months before their first album was released.  I find this fact so coincidentally odd that it's bizarre but I'm not exactly the superstitious type. 

In the thirty three years they may not know it but they have inspired and helped millions.  Helped them to feel good or to help them cope with feeling sad.  Their music will be used countless times to frame scenes in other movies, films or writings.

I just wanted to say thank you.