FYI - to anyone that make catch this blog - I am no longer updating this

You have a baby and suddenly your blog goes to shit.

I apologize.

I will get back on here....someday.

But yeah, I had a baby.
Sept. 16th at 8:14am.

His name is Rohen and he's lovely.

But he takes up a lot of my blogging time.

I've totally neglected my blog lately. Life has been busy and my brain has been consumed by other things ( like that I am having a baby in the next few weeks or so. ) I do have topics that come to my mind and I do think of music that would go great with it - it's just taking the time to sit and "make sense of it all".

I had a baby shower recently and I accumulated over 1,000 diapers as gifts.
How fucking awesome is that!? This kid can shit for weeks and weeks and I'm all set!!

Anyway....I'll redeem my laziness soon.
Cross my heart.

I've nixed all the mp3's from July posts - just so you know.
I held out as long as I could.

Rail anyone?
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Cocaine*: a crystalline narcotic alkaloid refined from the cocoa plant that acts as a powerful short-acting stimulant and is pharmacologically similar to amphetamines.

*Also known as: blow, charlie, scarface, angie, cheese, powder, base, icing, perico, nose candy, shmeck, belushi, snow, gak, blizzard, serpico, chaz, big c, lady caine, schoolboy, blanca, aunt nora, foo foo, jelly, bernie, mama coca, flake, sneeze, cecil, happy dust, scottie, merk, disco, movie star, sleigh ride, paradise white, snort, wooly, stardust.....

There was a time in my life when I LOOOOOOVED this drug.
I didn't own me. I didn't have a problem where I needed to go to rehab. But, I did let it get out of control at times, and I know it had a stronger pull on me than I expected.

First time I tried it was Fall of 1992. A roommate of mine ( and her boyfriend ) brought some home. I know she had done it before, and I was curious. I was 23. I wasn't drug free by any means at this time ( I was quite a pothead ) and I thought "Why not?" That's when the love affair began. I say this now: If you have never tried it and you THINK it might be something you would enjoy - DON'T DO IT. Trust me....

Long story short, I spent the next few years getting coked out of my mind on most weekends.
Taking money out of my rent and grocery funds to pay for drugs. Not paying my rent for 3 months one time because I had blown it on booze and blow. Meeting and hanging out with people and you would NEVER want to hang out with because you had drugs. Seeing 7am after not having been to bed yet. Sinus shut down. Greediness. Life of the party. Teeth grinding. The drip. The ritual, the camaraderie, the distance, the fake enthusiasm. I've had amazing nights on it and I've had awful nights on it. Sunday mornings where you need to get to work, and you are coming down hard and feeling like death, but you still need to snort a little to keep you from crashing. Sharing bathrooms in crowded nightclubs, offering keybumps out of your paper stash.
Hours and hours and hours of meaningless, excited chatter amongst coked up friends. The silent group circling around the mirror - watching the chop - anxious - waiting.

One day I finally said ( as I was FLYING high on some decent stuff we got ) "Is this fun? I feel like crap. How is this fun?" and I decided at that moment that I had to stop. That was in 1995.
Cut to 10 years later. Do I think about it?
Yes.
Have I wanted to buy some in the last 10 years?
Yes.
Have I had to leave a party or a room because someone had it in front of me and the temptation was too great?
Yes.
Can I still recall the smell and taste of it? If I watch someone do it in movies, do I get a slight longing for it?
Yes. Yes. Yes. and Yes.

Pretty powerful stuff, huh? And I wasn't even some junkie cokefiend. THAT'S how intense the stuff is. TEN YEARS after the fact. I'm 36 now. About to be a mom to TWO boys. I know what I can and can't do with my life, and cocaine is one of them. It's bad news ( despite some of the enjoyment it did give me. ) It CAN kill you. You don't always know what you are getting. And it really fucks up your body. Be smart. Don't do it.

Eric Clapton - Cocaine.mp3
Dillinger - Cocaine ( Running Around My Brain ).mp3
Queens Of The Stone Age - Feel Good Hit Of The Summer.mp3
Johnny Cash - Cocaine Blues ( live at Folsom Prison ).mp3

Bass player extraordinaire for Rush = Geddy Lee
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*INTRO ( single descending lazer synth note - backed with drum beat )*
"Modern day warrior...mean mean stride...today's Tom Sawyer...mean mean pride..." (buhbuh buh BAAAAH! buhbuh buh BAAAAH! )

Sing it with me people! You KNOOOOOW you know it!!!
I really enjoy Rush. But I need to clarify that statement. You could call me a long running Rush fan, because I've liked them since I was 13. Yet, there is only a WINDOW of Rush's musical era that I like. The super early "2112" prog-fantasy stuff is a bit over my head, even now. And their later years ( 90's and up ) just don't do it for me. I'm all about "Moving Pictures", "Exit, Stage Left", "Permanent Waves, "Signals". This might make me a Rush poseur, since I'm only digging on their most popular work - but that's okay.

Rush brings me back to a time of feathered hair ( with a roach clip dangling in it ) tight Levi's cords, turquoise eyeliner, Marlboro cigarettes. Junior High. I remember my brother going to see them, and he brought me home a black baseball concert shirt with red 3/4 sleeves that was so bad ass. I would wear it to Spinaround roller rink and try to look cool.

I'm guilty ( along with many many other people out there ) of "Air-Rushing". With a band consisting of 3 of the most technically gifted musicians out there, in one song alone you may start busting out some "air bass", followed by a few faux drum fills, before closing out the tune with some serious "air shredding". I'm all about trying to be the next Air Neil Peart, but due to a certain friend of mine in high school, I think I know almost every bass part as well. Or at least I pretend I do in the privacy of my house...or car...

Their tunes have an anthem feel to them. Whip out that lighter, hold it high, and sing a long. They are singing to YOU. ABOUT you. "Subdivisions" became the voice of the lost generation. The confused boys ( and some girls ) that felt alienated and stifled and were just a hair too geeky to fit in. It MIGHT even be my favorite Rush song, but don't hold me to that. You can't dance to Rush either - but dammit, if they can't slam a beat every now and then. I really appreciate what they've done, despite not being a fan of all of it.

Geddy Lee is 51 years old today. And he's still rocking ( in a more subdued manner, but hey...that's more than many musicians can say. )

Rush - Freewill.mp3
Rush - The Spirit Of Radio.mp3
Rush - New World Man.mp3
Rush - Tom Sawyer.mp3
Rush - The Big Money.mp3
Rush - Subdivisions.mp3
I was just listening to Subdivisions and it was choppy and cutting out in spots. Didn't notice this before. Maybe it won't happen on your end and I was just having a PC error of some kind. Lemme know.