Happy blizzard, everyone! I hope you were able to keep safe, warm, and cozy, and catch up on the books / movies / music / cooking / skiing / whatever it is you've been wanting to do more of this winter.
As for me, I was able to catch up on all that shoveling and living off the grid I'd been meaning to do. We were without power for over 24 hours, a rarity in our dense urban village. But the wood stove kept us warm, and the good folks at National Grid has up and running by late Saturday night.
Anyway, in celebration of Valentine's Day, I have a special Top 5 Day post for you: my favorite romantic songs that I've written. And as a token of my love for y'all, they are all FREE to download in the month of February.
Without further ado...
5. Riches of the Poor | Download free
As John Lennon said, "All you need is love." It's as simple as that. I've been blessed enough to know it in many forms, and it really is all the riches one could ask for. Fun fact: The melody to the chorus was written many years ago, beside a campfire on the shores of Lake Huron, in celebration of that most marvelous foodstuff: "Peanut butter, whoa-oh-whoa-oh-oh / Peanut butter, whoa-oh-whoa..."
4. Fear of Drowning | Download free
I love the way this song came out. It covers a lot of deep territory, even though the chorus is pretty syrupy sweet; it's very much a grown-up love song. The butterflies of budding romance are great and all, but facing life's challenges with your partner is as real as love gets.
3. Going Away(Adagio) | Download free
This is a sad but ultimately redemptive song about something that happens in relationships all the time: two people who are in love start to grow apart. We all need to grow as people, and ideally you grow in step with your partner. But that's not always how it works. What can you do when your paths begin to diverge? I guess that's what's so melancholy about it.
2. J.W. | Download free
This song is just heartbreaking. Like a soggy dog mournfully howling outside his owner's door in a snowstorm. Even now, some 15 years later, it conjures up the same intense emotions within me. Is there a better vehicle for emotion than music? It's like a time machine! Fun fact: A lot of people presume J.W. to be a girl's initials, but that's not the case. (No, it's not a dude, either.)
1. On and On | Download free
I've already written a whole blog post about this one -- the song I sang to Gina on our wedding day. That's not the reason I rank it No. 1, though. It's my hope that it captures the simplicity, optimism, and sense of eternity that accompanies true love. If I had to spend the rest of my days with just four chords, well, I'd be honored to spend them with G Em Am7 and D.
I am a bleeding-heart liberal; I think it's funny that the
term is somehow intended to be derogatory. Yes, my heart bleeds. It bleeds for
the kids killed in Newtown. It bleeds for their poor parents and their
families. It bleeds for the kids who survived but will forever be haunted by
the horrors they witnessed.
Not just as a parent, but as a person, with a heart, this is
all I have been able to think about for the past few weeks. Even amid
Christmas, work, weddings, and other distractions, my heart has not been able
to wrestle itself free from the weight of this tragedy -- the latest in a long,
terrible saga.
It's an angry song, because I am angry. I'm devastated and desperate to do something.
It is directed at the NRA, because they are the biggest, clearest villain in a story that is full of villains.
And if you want to be heard, I want you to add your voice to this
call for action -- literally. Download the songfrom Soundcloud, record yourself singing along on the last chorus, and re-upload the new audio file with your overdubbed track (or send me the .WAV file and I can mix it for you).
Some caveats:
1. Of course the NRA is only one part of a very big, very
complex problem. We live in a violent society and we celebrate it. Video
games glorify realistic warfare at the same time they desensitize us to it. Our
idols and action heroes are often ruthless murderers -- even the youngest among
them (think Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games). Our intense, militaristic
national sport -- this pains me to say, because I love football -- has become
so violent it is causing brain damage among its players.
And then there's "The Media," which is at least partly to blame for the pervasive violence we're exposed to. But here's the thing: We control the media, on a micro and a macro level. YOU very much control the media in your home. If something is excessively violent, shut it off. You are directly in control. And WE control it as a group, because Warner Brothers isn't making action movies for the hell of it; they're making them because people pay tons of money to go watch them. Stop supporting this crap if you really want to do something. Consumer spending is one of the most powerful tools we have in our modern capitalist society.
When I studied in London, I remember being delighted that the movies broadcast on network TV largely left in the sex and nudity of R-rated films. It was the violent scenes that were edited out for general audiences. Isn't that the way it should be? Wouldn't you prefer your kid to see a pair of boobs now and then rather than someone getting shot in the face? What the hell is wrong with us?
2. No one (rational) is suggesting we should take away everyone's guns. Of course you should be able to hunt. Even Lady Mary shoots for sport in Downton Abbey. And yes, you should be able to keep a loaded shotgun by the door to protect yourself if you feel it's necessary (but do note that I will not be stopping by your home anytime soon, which is probably best for both of us).
But there is absolutely no need, and no justification for, legalized semi-automatic weapons or high-capacity ammo magazines. If you need more than 10 rounds at a time to shoot a deer -- or, for that matter, an intruder -- you should pursue another hobby and probably try keeping a baseball bat by the door.
And I get that target shooting with one of these things is probably a lot of fun. That's great. Other stuff is fun, too. Lawn darts were fun in the ‘80s, but they kept killing kids, so they stopped making them. And now we somehow make do with other lawn games like horseshoes, bocce, and cornhole. Hell, drunk driving was probably a lot of fun back in the day; people did it all the time. And most of the time nobody got hurt. But not all the time. So we as a society agreed to crack down on it, and we have spared a lot of innocent lives in the process. Boohoo -- you have to take a cab or a subway home so you don't kill anyone.
Likewise, this is a tradeoff we must make as a society. If you don't think it's worth it… please think again. If you’re ready to tell parents who lost a 6-year-old child, to their face, that you don't want assault weapons banned because you have a right to shoot targets with them and it's a whole lot of fun, well... you need to reevaluate your priorities, to say the least.
And if you, like the NRA, are blindly rejecting gun control efforts and defending these instruments of destruction from being banned simply because you think it's the first step in some liberal conspiracy to take your shotgun away... I’m sorry, but you should know that I consider you an accomplice to the massacre in Newtown and to the tragedy that keeps unfolding every day in town after town after town across this country.
About 40% of American households -- over 70 million adults -- own a gun. Only about 4 million of them are NRA members. And yet the NRA continues to dictate and dominate the discussion on gun control and to hold our elected officials hostage to their demands.
I trust that many more gun owners are responsible, reasonable people who have no interest in starring in their own Rambo movie and would tolerate, if not embrace, common-sense gun law reform. If you are among them, please help us stand up to the NRA. Let our voices drown out theirs.
Here are some gun control groups worth supporting:
Verse: Am7 G D / G D/F# Em / Am Bm D / Em B7 Em / C / B
Chorus: G B7 Em / C E Am / D D7 G C / G D G
Every time a gunshot rings
An angel gets a pair of wings
The old boys of the NRA
Are making angels every day
They make angels, and it pays
How can you defend your right
To harness military might?
The blood of children on your hands
Twenty slaughtered innocents
Their blood is on your hands
So lay down your guns
In the blood they have spilled
Give up your fight
Defending my right to be shot and killed
Now you want to arm the schools
To extend your martial rule
Your callous war on common sense
Is gruesome in its consequence
Your war has no defense
So members of the NRA
Do you believe in Judgment Day?
Are you prepared to take the blame
When Jesus calls you out by name
When your soul Hell comes to claim?
Lay down your guns
In the blood they have spilled
Give up your fight
Defending our right to be shot and killed
Every time a gunshot rings
An angel gets a pair of wings
The old boys of the NRA
Are making angels every day
They'll make angels... until we say
"Lay down your guns
Clean up the blood they have spilled
Give up your fight
Defending our right to be shot and killed"
The Avengers comes out this weekend, another comic book come to life featuring an ensemble of superheroes. I'm not a huge comic-book nut, but it is fun to imagine being Superman, or Captain America, in this case. For some reason, though, I find the plausible far more intriguing and exciting than the fantastical; and there's the inspiration behind today’s Top Five Day...
Top 5 Real-Life Super Powers
5a.Super Strength. In the past decade, there have been two reported cases of babies born with a gene that blocks the production of myostatin, a natural protein that keeps your muscles from growing too large. The result is that, even as infants, the children were quite strong, with bulging biceps and six-pack stomachs. No one knows yet how this will affect them as they age, since the human body is such a delicate machine; tendons, organs, and other tissues may not be able to keep up. (Think about adding a 600-hp engine to your Honda Civic: sounds good, but in reality it would just blow out your transmission.)
5b. Feeling No Pain. In a similar vein, some people suffer from a very rare genetic disorder that prohibits them from sensing pain. This is a “careful what you wish for” scenario, though, because while it might sound terrific – you’d never be bothered by a stubbed toe, could play through any injury in a football game, and probably couldn’t lose in a fight – it’s actually horrific.
Think about it: As a child, it’s difficult to learn even basic lessons like, “Don’t put your hand inside of a fire.” This family’s child would mutilate himself as a baby, gnawing on his tongue during teething and not feeling a thing as he bled. Sadly, many kids with the condition don’t make it into adulthood. But it does qualify as an incredible, if tragic, superpower.
4. Bulletproof Skin. Plenty of super heroes, from Batman to Iron Man, have no actual super-human ability aside from the time, money, and necessary know-how to create powerful gadgets, weapons, and bodysuits. The real-life heroes in our military have access to some comic-book caliber technology, from bulletproof vests and helmets to night vision goggles and weapons straight out of science-fiction. And if a vest seems too bulky, now scientists are working on bulletproof skin.
3. Alcohol Tolerance. This may not seem like a super power at first blush; after all, most people can build up a healthy tolerance with lots of... um... “practice.” But if you can keep pace at a party and still keep it together while those around you slobber, slur, and go all in on a pair of fives, you’ll come off looking like a god among mortals. Or at least a decisive Jack Donneghy type.
Interestingly, an allergic reaction to alcohol is common in some cultures (Asian and Native American, in particular), while it’s believed that Europeans – who were more likely to live in cities a few hundred years ago – actually evolved with a high tolerance for the drug, because people drinking beer or wine instead of water were less susceptible to cholera and other water-borne diseases. Crazy, right? But the ability to tolerate the enzymes in beer saved a lot of lives in Dickensian London.
2. Perfect Pitch. A select few musicians, like Mozart and Mariah Carey, have the ability to recognize and replicate a musical note without any context whatsoever, which is called perfect or absolute pitch. This means they can hear any tone, and name the note – identifying a car’s horn as an A-sharp, for instance, while noting that the engine drones along in E-flat. (Schmoes like me have relative pitch, meaning I can carry a tune in relation to itself. But I can’t just start singing a song in G without actually hearing a G first.)
While only about one in 10,000 Americans possesses this gift, it may be more prevalent than once believed. For one thing, some people are born with perfect pitch but lose the ability if they don’t begin studying music formally at an early enough age. What’s more interesting, though, is that musicians who grew up speaking a tonal language like Vietnamese or Mandarin – where a word’s meaning can vary depending on the pitch – are almost nine times more likely to exhibit perfect pitch. So it may be just a matter of nurturing the ability at a young age. Whatever the case, as a musician, this is just about the ultimate super power. Except for…
1. Poison Ivy Immunity. About 15% of people out there do not react to urushiol, the chemical found in poison ivy, oak, and sumac sap. These real-life X-Men, like my dad, can just frolic through the woods in mid-July, in shorts, without a care in the world (well, except for the damned mosquitoes).
Can you imagine? Nearly every summer of my childhood, I spent weeks caked in calamine lotion, trying futilely to ignore that ferocious, gnawing itch of a poison ivy outbreak. It was pure torture. Even as an adult, the rash invariably brings me to the brink of tears after about a week. And yet some of you will never know that fate. What an amazing gift!
Do beware though: repeated exposure can eventually cause you to have a reaction, even if you’ve never been allergic to it before. And if you do come into contact with poison ivy, wash the area with lots of soap as soon as you can – it works.
First things first: I'm playing a St. Paddy's Day show this Friday at Lucky's Lounge in South Boston. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Southie" + "St. Patrick's Day" = @$%!-fest. But I assure you, Lucky's is a classy joint with terrific food. So come say slainte!
Friday, March 16
Lucky's Lounge
355 Congress St. (corner of A Street, no sign)
Boston, MA 02210
4:30pm-8pm / No cover
Also, if you missed it amid the holiday hubbub, I released a new full-band EP in December called "The Things You Keep." You can buy it on iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon, or Bandcamp, or stream it free on Spotify and Bandcamp. It's my first CD in six years; I hope it was worth the wait!
And the biggest news of all is actually pretty small, weighing in at just over eight pounds. Please welcome to the world our daughter Genevieve Gorey, who has been melting my heart for just over a week.
It's been a while since we had a good old-fashioned Top Five Day. As you may know, I work smack in the heart of downtown Boston. It's awesome. After working for years at the fringe of civilization on the outskirts of Brighton, it's been an invigorating and exciting change of scenery.
Steps from my office you'll find any meal you can imagine (and probably some that you can't, a few blocks south in Chinatown); the world is my oyster. I mean that literally: there are like four places that serve fresh oysters nearby, including $1 oysters deals at Marliave (from 4pm-6pm) and the Green Dragon (all day).
What's more, the competition keeps prices in check. There are so many competing delis and restaurants and take-out spots that no one is able to extort the legions of working stiffs looking for a good bite to eat.
When Gina first moved in with us on Commonwealth Ave. in 2003, I was working on a bunch of new songs (most of which appeared on Indeed!). But one in particular was very important to me: I was trying to write a song that I would play for my future wife, whoever she may be, on our wedding day, whenever that may be.
It was a daunting endeavor, and I struggled with it for a couple of years. But it got much easier once I realized whom I was writing about.
And so, on Sept. 1, 2007, I serenaded my new bride (Gina, if you haven't figured that out by now) with "On and On," a song I'd written especially for the occasion. (I somehow managed to get through it without crying like a sap in front of all of our friends and family.) While it would have been a perfect first dance song for us, we couldn't exactly pull that off, of course -- what with the microphone and guitar in the way! But now that it's recorded, maybe someone else out there could use it to celebrate their new life together.
I'll tell you something you might as well know
I wrote this song about you a long time ago
And if you're hearing it now, then I've said "I do"
So help me God I avow to be faithful to you
On and on and on, wherever we go
On and on and on, forever I know
On and on and on...
You are all I had in mind
All that I'd hoped for, all of this time
And I will give you all my life
All that I have, all that is mine
There's summertime in your smile and a spark in your eyes
As you walked down the aisle in your dreamer's disguise
All the love in my heart, it burst in my soul
Swear we'll ne'er be apart as we grow to be old
On and on and on, wherever we go
On and on and on, forever I know
On and on and on...
You are all I had in mind
All that I'd hoped for, all of this time
And I will give you all my life
All that I have, all that is mine
