Sentimental White Stripes Post That A Million People Are Writing At This Moment

I had nearly given up on music until The White Stripes came along.

Back in '02, I had had long given up hope that there would ever be another Kurt Cobain a Hendrix, a Beatles or even a Sex Pistols ever again. MTV was poisoned by reality poop and the radio was nothing but Britney and boy bands and the hip hop du jour. I felt pretty damn old. Then, Dylan , who is usually ten years behind with his musical tastes, (Literally, he was just getting into Nirvana at the time) saw the Lego-inspired video for 'Fell In Love With A Girl'. He loved the video and the song running behind it. That's pretty much it.

I had a little money to spend one day at a Borders. After perusing the paperback fiction I saw White Blood Cells on sale and without ever hearing a single song I bought it. Before I got home I had finished 4 or 5 tracks in the car and I loved it. Even with that high praise, that album, their third, would end up being my least favorite of theirs.

I had my top three favorite band in a lock for years. Beastie Boys, Beatles, Pearl Jam. Everything else at the time was 4^th place or less. It was unshakable. Especially the top 2, which had not changed since I was 17.

Within a few years, The White Stripes bumped the Beatles! I'm not kidding. And I think with one more killer album they would have nailed the top spot.

But it won't happen. Jack called it quits. Although he is the band and Meg was an assistant to the sound, it was this specific collaboration that had the most spice and the most depth of almost anything I have ever heard.

That's right. This band was closer to the perfect sound for me. Raw, in the moment, blues-driven and playful. That is my favorite flavor of music. Jack White would record an album in week or two at most. The Beatles did the same. So did Led Zeppelin. The idea was to capture the initial raw energy of a song and not burden it with eighteen months of remixing and production. I saw them twice live (I saw two other White bands as well) and the feeling was just awe. A master rock guitarist, flipping a guitar behind his back to play the organ or the big xylophone thing in 'The Nurse', belting out blues tunes and punk...it was all I wanted in a show or a showman.

He'll be around in other projects and band to be sure. I'll see him again live. But some little piece will always be missing. Its hard to describe it, but the color scheme will always be black, red, and white.

Here Again?

I can't decide how to pretty up my website! I am not a visual person. However, I am exceedingly lazy when it comes to such details so I went back and funkified this blog to make it the Shouts From The Lawn Somewhat Temporary Home Page.

I have links to old shows and I'll most likely update this way to the rare few of you who actually care. New show links will be posted by date; and any details, pics or bric-a-brac I think of I'll paste in here. For funsies. That's what this is about, right? Funsies. The new caramel coated snack treat.

I've gone off the rails a bit.

New shows start January 12.

Scratch Pad Stage

I have very little experience writing jokes to say onstage, but that is not to say I have no experience at all.

Many years ago, back before our country completely turned into the Hatfields vs. the McCoys, I did a little stand up back in Orlando. I had a notebook full of very hacky jokes and observations that I kept with me at all times. I never knew when a little comic gem would come to me and I had to write it down at that moment, for fear of losing to the ether. "7-11's are lame!" "'Nub' is a funny word!"

One day I took a trip downtown on a bus and while i roamed the street seemingly looking for a much-needed job I found a little theater that had open mic nights. I came back the next week to see the show as a patron, then I came back with 3-5 minutes of knee-slapping hilarity. It actually went well.

This time around, when I'm older and I take up more space, not much has changed. Well, that's a fat lie. A lot has changed. I've learned a lot about my style and what I want to talk about. But the gathering of material is similar. Also, a blatant lie.

I've had opportunities to at least try out this material out loud on the podcasts, if not to all the unfortunate humans that interact with me in my life.

Here's the thing. the material has to be good, but you also have to car about it at the time. At least at this stage in the game. The 'I don't know what I'm doing' stage.

I have a bit about the Y2K scare that I like. Its old but I can tie it in with the 2012 nonsense that's floating around out there. I have to hammer out some fish out of water stuff. Being from Florida could actually be an asset for once.

I've planted these in the podcasts but never tried to whittle them down. Oi.

If the set is as entertaining as this blog entry, I'm screwed.