Steel Wheels

My parents introduced me to the Rolling Stones when I was in elementary school. "Steel Wheels" was the first rock record I ever heard, and second-grade me was blown away.

I was always the good kid in class. "A" Honor Roll, teacher's pet, thick glasses and tucked in shirts. I was the nerd who was good even when we had a substitute teacher. But listening to the Stones made me feel like a rebel. I knew something that the other kids didn't. I wasn't sure exactly what Mick Jagger was singing about, but I knew it was cooler than Disney soundtracks and pop radio. While my classmates perfected their New Kids on the Block dance moves, I memorized the lyrics to "Rock and a Hard Place."

"Steel Wheels" isn't my favorite rock album. It isn't even in my Rolling Stones Top-Three. But it is the album that defined rock and roll for me at an early age.

Important records

I've been meaning to do one of those "15 Albums that You Love" notes on Facebook for a while.

I figure that no one over there really cares about it though. I mean, there are some albums that I really love, and a few that are meaningful, but I can't bring myself to post about it over there. According to Facebook, I've got 364 friends. Of that 364, there might be 50 people on there who I consider good friends. Maybe. Of those 50, maybe 20 would read one of those notes if I posted it. 20 on a good night when everybody was home on their computers with nothing else to do. In reality I'd be lucky if 10 people looked at it. Maybe five would care to read what I had to say about the albums, but most would probably just scan the list to see if there were any they recognized.

I said all that just to say I will post some albums I consider memorable on this blog. Almost no one will see it, but the people who do are people who might actually care about it. So that's good, I think.

So stay tuned if you care. Or not. Whatever.

Druid City Hardcore Halloween Special 2002

Back in college I worked at the radio station at the University of Alabama, formerly known as New Rock 90.7. Freshman year I was invited by a friend to join her as a co-host on The Revolution, a Christian punk/emo/whatever show. A year later when she decided to leave the show another friend of mine filled in. We changed the name of the show to Druid City Hardcore and started playing more secular hardcore and punk along with all the Christian stuff. In 2002, we decided to have a Halloween Special show. My co-host, who later married my wife and I in Tuscaloosa, made a few CD copies of the show.

Here is a mediafire link for you to download the entire one hour Halloween special for your listening displeasure. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cringe. Mostly cringe. Druid City Hardcore Halloween 2002 Special

When my co-host left the show, it became the "Eric plays whatever he wants to play" radio show, still called Druid City Hardcore. Good times.

Yesterday I shared the best PB and J ever with Savannah, and Cade and I had an hour of beach/pier time to ourselves. Best afternoon ever.

Welcome to Bizarro World

http://reason.com/blog/2010/04/22/does-mohammad-shit-in-the-wood

Money quote:

...it isn't just that Comedy Central censored an image of Mohammad, as they have done in the past, but they bleeped out any mention of the him, lest any Muslims happen upon their prophet's name being used in an offensive context.

Some music

Been listening to this mix this week:

http://www.mediafire.com/?3z2m0dbqznt

It is mostly spacey rock with a couple heavier songs thrown in. Copy and paste the link into your browser, download, then crank it up and rock out.

Tracks:
1. Doves "Pounding"
2. Cave In "Lift Off"
3. Swervedriver "Never Lose that Feeling"
4. Failure "Moth"
5. Hum "If You Are to Bloom"
6. Young Widows "Old Skin"
7. Oceansize "Amputee"
8. Alcest "Percees de Lumiere"
9. Mogwai "Glasgow Mega-Snake"
10. School of Seven Bells "Half Asleep"
11. Oceansize "Trail of Fire"

Giddy up

This afternoon the kids took turns riding on my shoulders pretending I was a horse.
They happily yelled "giddy up" over and over again and Savannah even slapped my head like she was a jockey in the Kentucky Derby.

Good times.