#11 It's not so bad, it's not so bad...

That's a line from one of my favorite albums--Sam's Town, by The Killers, bought for Jen a few birthdays ago...

I just experienced the saddest Christmas imaginable... to me. Well, not really. I can imagine worse. There are those who have no family or broken families. There are those for whom Christmas is hell on Earth, the most miserable time of the year. I may be thousands of miles from my family and friends, but I have a lot of love in my life. More than I deserve...
About a month ago, while buying some patches to send to friends for a little holiday game I devised, I asked the Indian guy serving me how he liked Camp Virginia, Kuwait. When he said he liked it, I was surprised and said something like, "REALLY???" Haha--so tactful. He was like, "yes, sir." Then I asked him, "but do you like India better?" "Oh, no sir," he said shaking his head a lightly laughing. I was like, "is India THAT bad, man?" He replied, "parts of it, sir." Wow. There are those for whom home is so craptastic that Camp Virginia, Kuwait, a place with all the charm of a prison on the moon, is pretty nice. Perspective.
So, it's not so bad. I bet I'm going to enjoy Christmas next year, no matter what, more than I ever have. Not to mention my home. The mountains, trees, sound, my music, my bike, running and hiking nice trails...

That's all for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays to the fullest.

Grace and peace,

Mike

#10 - Caress of Steel

This post began life as a recent Facebook note, so if you've already read that, there's nothing to see here--move along... :p

A friend recently asked how the Rush tribute show went (when she thought I was going on the 19th), so here is an account:

All in all it was a fun time. The band was Caress of Steel (named for the 3rd Rush LP), from L.A. The (DW) drums sounded a little like garbage cans, but that was due to the acoustical limitations of the "venue." The bass guitar (a Rickenbacher 4001, if I'm not mistaken) was a little anemic, again due to the venue, while the guitar (Gibson Les Paul) was very bold, the Marshall half-stack needing very little help from the PA. Sonically, the band sounded most like 2112-era Rush. Stylistically, they played most like Exit... Stage Left-era Rush, as many of the songs were played according to the format from that (live) album. It was a bit of a "time machine" experience to hear the 2112 sound (raw, heavy and mostly stripped-down) applied to songs that were written and recorded after that period (when Rush, in fact, adopted a somewhat lighter sound). The guitar and bass players both donned kimonos (a la the 2112 album sleeve, for you non-Rush-geeks), while the drummer wore a blouse that Thomas Crawshaw would have been proud to get married in. The "Geddy" of the group, of course, had to manage bass-playing, singing, keyboard and Taurus pedal responsibilities, just like Geddy does live. All players did very reasonable jobs at covering their respective parts, though I'd say the guitar player was the most on top of his game. He cut no corners, except for a brief moment in Working Man, which most casual listeners wouldn't have noticed--and what he substituted was very decently played and appropriate--just not as challenging. At other times he actually pushed beyond Lifeson's recorded parts, artistically--throwing in his own flare without sounding like a wanker. The drummer and "Geddy" both cut some corners in their playing, from time to time, but that is understandable. How much time can a person possibly afford to put in to learning exactly how Rush would play an entire show worth of songs? That's crazy (not to mention random)!
Though Rush has had a fairly strong presence in pop culture the last few years, in part due to appearances on The Colbert Report, in I Love You Man and the highly acclaimed documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage and many of the listeners yesterday knew who Rush are, there were some confounded expressions on some faces during more obscure passages of material, like the instrumental section in the middle of The Trees. Yet, there was some toe-tapping and quite a lot of enthusiasm during the more accessible parts of the more accessible songs, like Tom Sawyer and Subdivisions. Thank God  that Peart wrote some 4/4 drums parts over passages of 3, 6 and 7 time!!! Give the listeners a freakin' chance, man!!!
Speaking of Sawyer, I'm glad they played it relatively early in the show, as a bunch of guys kept calling for it after every song until they played it. Heh heh--I didn't call for The Fountain of Lamneth, as I threatened a few days ago. The guys were very nice to travel 1/2 way around the world to play some very challenging music for members of the military--some destined for flights back to the States very shortly (all Iraq warfighters as supposed to be home for Christmas) and some to remain here in the Middle East a while longer--and I didn't want to heckle them. I managed to grab a minute with "Geddy" (his name was Sean, Shawn or Shaun) to express my thanks for bringing live music of that caliber all the way to the Middle East--and my surprise that he hit all the high notes in Freewill! He laughed at that, it being well-understood in Rushdom what a challenge that is. I was almost praying for the guy to hit those notes during the show!
On a personal level, it was a treat to hear some favorite music performed for me. I enjoyed singing along and watching the players accomplish their parts and have fun. At the same time I was more than a little saddened, the familiar sounds, rhythms and melodies underscoring everything unfamilar in my life right now, the distance from my family and friends, the isolation, the loneliness. I worked off some of that depression with a 90-minute long ab and cardio workout after the show. Then, upon returning to my tent, it was time to watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (a.k.a. "Chevy Chase Christmas in parts of my family) with my buddies Weber and Schott (on a "found" large screen TV), complete with hot cocoa, flavored pretzels, dried plums and other goodies. This also helped to lift my spirits. There isn't one scene in that film that isn't quite funny to me. Besides, I simply wanted to enjoy it.
The setlist from the show, predictable, yet satisfying, was as follows:

Bastille Day
Limelight
Freewill
Subdivisions
The Spirit of Radio
Tom Sawyer
YYZ - drum solo - YYZ
The Trees
Closer to the Heart
2112 Overture
Temples of Syrinx
Working Man

**Note the drum solo in the middle of YYZ a la Exit... Stage Left! It was abbreviated, but a very close homage to Peart's historic performance.

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas,

Mike

#9

Dear Friends and Family,

Today finds me on Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, where the main body of my unit is based. I came to requalify on the M16A2, first of all because it's a new fiscal year for the unit and all members must qualify, but second, because I'll be submitting a packet to a promotion board soon and wanted to better my score to get the most points possible. For the Staff Sergeant board you can get a maximum of 100 points for shooting. On Fort Bliss, in August, due to new equipment I hadn't trained in, Texas summer heat I wasn't used to and two consecutive nights of about an hour of sleep (and just being out of practice and sometimes I just suck), I only shot 26 out of 40--good enough to qualify, but only worth 40 points for the board. Today, having trained more with my gear, the weather being nice, having gotten about 5 whole hours of sleep and by just deciding to be awesome this time, I shot 37 out of 40, bagging 94 points for the board. Thanks for the extra 54 points! I think the max you can go to the board with is 800, so picking up 54 points is rather significant. Anyway, I is tired as heck though and want to try to talk with Jen for a while. It sucks that tomorrow is her birthday and I can't be there with her. I'm sure it will help to make her birthdays more precious than ever in the future though.

Hearts,

Mike