Social D

I just got back from seeing a show I have been waiting for for almost six months: Social Distortion at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. A lot of different thoughts ran through my head during this show, like how Mike Ness truly got back to his Orange County punk rock roots when he yelled out "Let it burn, motherfuckers!" during Ring of Fire in the encore.

I dare someone to find a better frontman or a cooler overall dude than Mike Ness. As someone that always critiques the performance of a band, specifically the way they connect with the crowd, I confirmed tonight that Mike Ness is the best I have ever seen. He says little, but when he talks everyone listens, and he knows the right things to say. If you really sit down and listen to the messages in his songs, they are about things everyone can relate to: growing up, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, finding love, losing love, learning from your broken heart, and overall, traveling the road of life like a bat out of hell, and remembering you can't take it with you when you go.

There is no cooler.

I had this same viewpoint at the show tonight.

Potential

po·ten·tial____adj.
-Capable of being but not yet in existence; latent
-Having possibility, capability, or power
-The inherent ability or capacity for growth, development, or coming into being
-Something possessing the capacity for growth or development
-A latent excellence or ability that may or may not be developed

Sweet Home Chicago

Of all the classic songs that reference Chicago-"My Kinda Town (Chicago Is)", "Lake Shore Drive", "Chicago (That Toddlin' Town)"- "Sweet Home Chicago" has always been my favorite. Originally written by Blues guitarist Robert Johnson in the 1930's, it was made famous by various blues performers including Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and the Blues Brothers. The Blues Brothers version is the version that I rock out to on the car stereo when I drive into Chicago on 290 for a night on the town.

After doing some research on the original version of the song, it turns out that it is possible the song was never meant to reference Chicago. Robert Johnson's version contains the line "that land of California, my sweet home Chicago". Cover versions of the song changed this line to "back to that same old place, my sweet home Chicago" to make the song a true Chicago anthem.

Possible explanations for why Johnson would confuse listeners and reference both California and Chicago are:

1) It was a geographical mistake on Johnson's part (this theory is unlikely as Johnson was a sophisticated songwriter that often made geographical references)

2) Johnson was using a metaphorical description of a utopian city that combined elements of both California and Chicago (both places were safe havens for persecuted African Americans in the early 1900s)

3) Johnson was refering to the city of Port Chicago, CA where he had a distant relative and never intended for the song to be about Chicago, IL

Zeitgeist

For those that have not seen the online movie Zeitgeist, I highly suggest you take an hour and 56 minutes out of your day and check it out. If nothing else, it makes you think about what is going on in our world today and provides some absolutely fascinating theories on religion, 9/11, and a small group of people running the world.

http://zeitgeistmovie.com/