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As always, thanks for reading.

Remembering Bowie

This one hurts, it really hurts.

I happened to be awake in bed and staring at my alarm clock when I saw a news alert light up my phone around 6:00 this morning. I didn’t have my glasses on, so I squinted and read “Musician David Bowie has died after an 18-month battle with cancer.” I blinked and squinted again, unsure of what I had read,sure I had read it wrong. I reached for my glasses, put them on and read what was the sad shocking truth. I threw my glasses offand cried for the next two hours. The last two months have been difficult while my mom has been in the hospital. I have stayed strong for her and haven’t ‘cracked’ yet,  but upon hearing about Bowie’s death, my wall crumbled and my emotional dam burst open. I cried for Bowie, I cried for my mom, I cried for all of it.

I became aware of Bowie in 1983 when he was all over MTV with videos from his ‘Let’s Dance’ album (Modern Love; Let’s Dance; China Girl and Blue Jean). One weekend in the summer of ’83, MTV aired the complete Ziggy Stardust film. I stumbled upon it, alone in my basement and watched, mesmerized. I found it hard to believe that this…this being I saw onscreen was the same person in the suit in the ‘Modern Love’ video. This 1973 film, as flawed as it may be, is the reason that Ziggy Stardust has always been and always will be my favorite Bowie record. I have other albums by him in my iPod, and the two disc collection ‘Sound + Vision’ gets a lot of time on my iPod, but I always go back to Ziggy Stardust. Even the stuff I don’t particularly like (Tin Machine, for example) I have and listen to occasionally because, even though it’s not my favorite, I know there’s something there worth listening to and appreciating. 

Today was very difficult to get through at work. I listened to Bowie all day. The first listen today of ‘Ziggy Stardust’ had me fighting back tears for the entire record. Then I played ‘Sound + Vision’ and when ‘Life on Mars’ played, I found myself singing along. By the time ‘Rebel Rebel’ hit the chorus, I was tapping my feet and smiling. I’m still crushed and devastated, but he had me smiling. 

There are certain people you firmly believe will live forever. I still can’t believe Lou Reed isn’t walking the streets of New York, and it’s impossible for me to imagine that Bowie isn’t here anymore. I am eternally grateful for his music, and because he left us so much great music and so many films, I know he's not really gone. 

Tonight that doesn't make his death hurt any less. 

"Pushing through the market square, so many mothers sighing
News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in
News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying"

 -- "Five Years"

Barry 

01.11.16

An Extraordinary Gentleman

I I never intended to have a “9 to 5” desk job. If you asked me at twenty, or even when I was thirty years old, I had every intention of being in the music business. Once it became too painful to play drums on a normal basis, I was undaunted; I still planned to be in the music business, be it through radio, managing bands, or working in a recording studio.

In 2001, I left radio. I was twenty-eight, burned out and drinking way too much. In 2004, the band I managed split up, and in 2005, the recording studio where I worked closed its doors permanently, a victim of The Pro-Tools Revolution.

That’s how I came to find myself in late 2005, nearly broke with lots of debt and no real employment prospects. One Sunday, my mom saw an ad for ComputerTraining.com, a technical school that trained people in Microsoft with a goal of working toward Microsoft certifications. She said ‘You should try that.’ Since I didn’t have anything else going on, one night I took their ‘entrance test’ online. It was so elementary I thought it was a joke (Sample question: Click on the Folder Icon), but I passed with a perfect score, which meant I ‘qualified’ for an interview. I scheduled it and soon realized that everyone passed the entrance test and the people in charge were more than happy to help you run up a debt to Sallie Mae. That being said, I enrolled in the six month class that met twice a week for four hours a night and did pretty well. I earned a few Microsoft Certifications, which, if nothing else, looked very impressive on my resume.

As I began to ready for job interviews, I cut my hair for the first time since 1992. When I walked out of the barbershop, knowing that a ‘9 to 5 desk job’ was my next target, I said loudly to myself, ‘You win dad!’ He’d been gone for four years, but I know he would’ve gotten a kick seeing me walk the same path he treaded for decades after I spent my entire youth disparaging it. 

After finishing the class in March 2006 and searching for four months for work, I happened to hear that there was a position open at Anthem, which was quite literally, just around the corner from where I lived at the time. It was for a three-week contract, but it was a foot in the door. I worked that month of July, assuming that would be it and I would then go on to the next job. After that contract ended, someone handed my resume to Frank Creasy, and on a September morning, he phoned me up.

“Hi. Saw your resume. I see that you worked here in the Call Center in July. Are you looking for work?

“Yes.”

“Good. Can you start tomorrow?”

That’s how I came to know Frank Creasy.

December 31st will be his last day at Anthem. I have worked with him from 2006-2012 and then 2014-15, and no matter how maddening the daily grind became (and some days were the pits) I knew that Frank had my back and we would get through whatever the crisis of the moment was. I have had a few bosses in my various careers, but Frank was the first one who truly appreciated music lyric references in emails and conference calls, and my favorite Frank Creasy story involves a time when I was one of the few who got his reference to a lyric:

In 2008, Frank decided to promote a contract employee to an associate, meaning the person would get PTO and benefits. Since this person had already worked with us for months as a contractor and we knew him well, the subject line of an email sent to many people in the company to announce the change was ‘Hello, it’s me.’ I knew immediately that this was a reference to the 1972 song by Todd Rundgren. One of the ‘higher-ups’ at Anthem though, was clearly confused, replying to everyone “Glad _____________ has been hired, but can someone please explain what the hell Frank is talking about?’ I replied with an email to all about the song, how Todd Rundgren was former lead singer for The Nazz and produced Meat Loaf’s ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ album. The ‘higher up’ still had no idea what the song was, or who Rundgren was, but he knew Meat Loaf, (because really, who doesn’t know Meat Loaf?’

That is but one small example of why I will miss Frank. I will miss his ability to quote William Shakespeare, John Wooden and The Rolling Stones in the same meeting, sometimes within minutes of each other. I'll always be grateful he had me along for a ‘work conference’ in Vegas where I got to see ‘Beatles LOVE’ and win $350 on one spin of the roulette wheel. 

In 2011, I was the project lead for an implementation, which meant Frank and I were on many of the same conference calls. Since we were the only two on the project from Virginia, the leader of the meetings usually referred to us in tandem as ‘Frank & Barry’ which, when said quickly, sounds very much like my favorite cereal from my childhood. This always caused me to giggle and, it was a constant battle not to burst out laughing when we were both called upon. 

He's also the reason I no longer say "No problem" in response to anything, but especially when someone says "Thank you."

Frank had enough faith in me to hire me, even more than I had in myself at the start, and I excelled under his leadership. I knew I had a great boss almost as soon as I started working for him. The biggest bonus wasn't monetary, it was that I gained a dear friend, and that was never more evident than when he called me in September 2014. I had returned from living in Atlanta, I was almost broke and very sick.

He asked, "Are you looking for work?"

Truthfully I wasn't, but I knew enough to listen to whatever he had to say. That led to my current position at Anthem, and I am so glad "Frank & Barry" got to have a second act. 

It has been a pleasure having you as a boss, but it means far more to know you are a dear friend. I'll see you on stage and around town. You may be leaning Anthem, but you're not getting rid of me that easily. 

I truly can't wait to see what you do next. It's gonna be fantastic!

 

Stevie Wonder - 11.17.15 @ John Paul Jones Arena

Music is memory. In the summer of 1977, I was not quite four years of age, but music was already an important part of my life. There was a neighbor who lived two houses down from me. Her name was Tara Simmons, and in 1977, she was probably a teenager or in her early twenties. In my eyes, she was a cool grown up. One of my clearest memories is listening to the album ‘Songs In The Key Of Life’ with her in my living room. Stevie Wonder was so prolific at this point of his career that even a double album wasn’t enough to house all of the songs he deemed worthy of inclusion, so the set included a four song EP that looked like a 45RPM but ran at 33 1/3. The songs included on this EP were “Saturn”/Ebony Eyes” on Side A, and “All Day Sucker/Easy Goin’ (My Mama’s Call)” on Side B.

I am not sure why she did it, but at some point that summer, Tara gave me that EP. It remains a treasured part of my record collection.

When I heard that Stevie Wonder was mounting a tour called ‘Songs in the Key of Life Performance’ I figured a) The tour will come nowhere close to where I live and b) He probably won’t play all of the songs from the set, but just a large amount, and I seriously doubt ‘Ebony Eyes’ or anything from the EP will be included.

Even if option B ended up being true, as soon as the show at John Paul Jones Arena was announced, I knew I was going.

The show I saw and shared with my friend Meg was as if I had sent Stevie my dream set list and, instead of laughing it off, he said ‘Okay, we can do that!’

‘Songs in the Key of Life' set is a deep, emotional listening experience for me. The first two songs (Love's In Need of Love today and Have a Talk with God) are not high energy by any means, so the crowd was calm. With the one-two punch of "Sir Duke" and "I Wish," the crowd was standing, dancing and basking in the glory of witnessing a genius at work, backed by one of the tightest, funkiest bands in existence.

All 21 songs from "Songs..." were played over the four hour show. Some songs that are lengthy in their recorded versions were stretched out further in concert, to allow for audience participation and, at times, just so the band could ride a groove a bit longer ("Isn't She Lovely").

Every song was fantastic, but for me, the moment they broke into "Saturn" and followed that up with "Ebony Eyes," that's when I knew this was a dream show for fans (like me) who've loved this collection for decades.

Hearing those two songs in concert was worth the price of my ticket alone. I can't really explain the feelings that welled up, and now, days later, I still don't have the words so I won't even try.

If you attended this show and didn’t know ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ apart from the songs that still get radio airplay (‘Sir Duke’/’I Wish’ and occasionally ‘As’) then you might not have had the best time. After the band ended side four of the album with an extended version of ‘Another Star,’ Stevie remained on stage and ran through a medley of his hits. As the clock struck midnight, he played truncated versions of ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’/‘Higher Ground’/’Livin’ For The City’/All I Do/’Master Blaster (Jammin’)’ and closed with two verses and a chorus of ‘Superstition.’

This album has seen me through some tough times throughout my life, so being able to see it performed in its entirety in front of an appreciative audience, I can’t express how much that experience meant. It is something I will never forget.

Like the Brian Wilson show I saw in October, Stevie Wonder in concert is something to behold, and this was a dream show for me.

Special thanks to Meg for sharing this incredible event with me.

Set list (From setlist.fm)

Love's in Need of Love Today

Have a Talk With God

Village Ghetto Land

Contusion

Sir Duke

I Wish

Knocks Me Off My Feet

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

(Background singer solo)

Summertime

(Background singer solo)

Besame Mucho

(Background singer solo)

At Last

(Background singer solo)

I Love The Lord

(Background singer solo)

Ooh Baby Baby

(Background singer solo)

Ribbon in the Sky (Snippet) / Overjoyed (verse)

Pastime Paradise

Summer Soft

Ordinary Pain

Saturn

Ebony Eyes

2nd Set

Isn't She Lovely

Joy Inside My Tears

Black Man

All Day Sucker

Easy Goin' Evening (My Mama's Call)

Killer Joe /The Star Spangled Banner

(Harmonica solo)

People Get Ready

Ngiculela - Es Una Historia - I Am Singing

If It's Magic

As

Another Star

Encore:

Do I Do /All I Do/ Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours / Livin’ for the City / Higher Ground / Master Blaster (Jammin')

Superstition

--Barry

Review: Brian Wilson at The National, 10.22.15

Brian Wilson is a man making up for lost time. After decades of shunning the public eye and having no desire to tour, over the past decade or so, he has begun to shatter the myth that he’s a recluse still ‘lying in bed.’

Thursday night, his latest tour made a stop at The National in Richmond and, it was more than just your average concert experience, full of emotional moments, goosebumps and the overwhelming sensation that what I was witnessing was only a dream.

For me, Mike Love and his ego had ruined The Beach Boys, and until recently, I couldn’t listen to their back catalog without thinking about the fact that their lead singer was an asshole. He sealed his fate in 2013 when, after a very successful reunion tour with Brian Wilson, he unceremoniously fired Wilson and Al Jardine from the band and chose to continue to tour under the moniker The Beach Boys.

Thursday night, none of that mattered. Opening with the a cappella ‘Our Prayer’ and ‘Heroes and Villains’ from the ‘Smile’ album, I knew the night would be very, very special.

Wilson’s touring band includes Al Jardine, who looked spectacular in his trademark white suit, and former Beach Boys member Blondie Chaplin, who looked like Keith Richards’ younger brother. Also thankfully, Al’s son Matt Jardine was on hand to handle all of the falsetto vocals, and he was stellar. The classics ‘Surfer Girl’ and ‘Little Deuce Coupe’ were just two of the many classics that were performed with a renewed energy and vigor.

As I sat there, not twenty feet away from the stage, watching Brian perform, laugh and smile, I realized how extremely lucky those of us in attendance were to be at this show, and also that Brian was having fun. Even as little as five years ago, if you had told me that I would have the opportunity to see Brian Wilson, the genius, the recluse, perform live, I would’ve thought it very unlikely. And, would he ever bother coming to Richmond, VA? Not in a million years, I would’ve said.

On another level, this show had me thinking about my father a lot. In 1987, when The Beach Boys (minus Brian) had a #1 hit with the God-awful ‘Kokomo,’ they made a stop at King’s Dominion and, my dad decided on a whim to buy tickets for himself, me and my brother. I don’t remember much about the show, except Al’s trademark white suit, the fact that I thought they looked a little long in the tooth to be singing ‘Be True To Your School,’ and that the concert was the most fun I had ever, or would ever see my dad have away from a baseball diamond. He clapped, danced and sang along like he was a teenager and, even though I was only 13, I knew enough to let him have his fun and not make any smart-mouth comments. Last night, hearing ‘Fun Fun Fun’ and ‘California Girls,’ my mind flashed to pictures of my father having one of his best times ever.

While Matt Jardine was fantastic when handling the falsetto vocals (especially on ‘Don’t Worry Baby’), the moment that I will take away from the evening, above all others, is Brian singing ‘God Only Knows,’ which he introduced as his ‘best song.’ His sincere, quirky vocal drove home the lyric. I am so happy that Brian sang this himself instead of relying on someone else to sing it and hit the notes. Brian doesn’t hit the notes anymore, but the emotional delivery far exceeds any need to be ‘perfect’ vocally.

Here’s the setlist. In closing, I’ll simply say, if your setlist includes a one-two punch of ‘God Only Knows’ and ‘Good Vibrations’ I don’t care who’s touring as The Beach Boys, they will not top anything Brian Wilson is doing. Ever.

Setlist:

Our Prayer

Heroes and Villains

California Girls

Dance, Dance, Dance

Shut Down

Little Deuce Coupe

I Get Around

You're So Good to Me

Then I Kissed Her (Male version of Then He Kissed Me)

California Saga: California

In My Room

Surfer Girl

Don't Worry Baby

One Kind of Love

Sail Away

Wild Honey

Sail On, Sailor

Darlin'

She Knows Me Too Well

Surf's Up

The Right Time

Wouldn't It Be Nice

Sloop John B

God Only Knows

Good Vibrations

Encore:

All Summer Long

Help Me, Rhonda

Barbara Ann

Surfin' U.S.A.

Fun, Fun, Fun

Love and Mercy


Thank you for reading. Extra special thanks to my friend Jonathan for sharing this experience with me. You needed to be there my friend, and I am glad you were.


--Barry
10.23.15

Barbary Lane Revisited

What follows are my thoughts on reading the entire nine-book ‘Tales of the City’ series, and I promise, there are NO SPOILERS. So, if you’re currently reading any of the nine stories, or plan to start (or finally finish) the series, you can read this without fearing a plot point will be revealed.

I’ll start at the beginning. One day during the summer of 1995, my friend Kim emailed me and said ‘You really should read the book ‘Tales of the City’ by Armistead Maupin. You’d love it.’ I filed that away, but that’s all I did. I didn’t immediately go find the book and start reading.

Soon after Kim recommended the book to me, Bravo TV broadcast the 1993 miniseries based on that first book. I happened to catch it totally by accident, but five minutes into the first episode, two things were readily apparent: 1) I fell hard for Laura Linney (still love her) and 2) I would be buying the book very soon.

After watching the ‘Tales of the City’ miniseries, I discovered there were FIVE subsequent books in the series, and those six books had been packaged in a huge hardcover two volume set. Armed with all six books (albeit in two not so compact volumes); I set out to visit Barbary Lane.

It’s hard for me to put into words how I felt after reading the first two ‘Tales’ stories. It was something akin to nostalgia for a place I had never been to and characters that were fictional. That the setting was San Francisco in 1977 made no difference. I completely identified with the characters and relished reading about their adventures, their triumphs and their fears. That first book is the reason why, to this day, I have a soft spot in my heart for any woman named Mona.

Those first six books (Tales of the City; More Tales of the City; Further Tales of the City; Babycakes; Significant Others and Sure of You) carried the story from 1977 to 1988 and I often wondered how Mary Ann, Michael Mouse, Mona, Brian and Anna handled the nineties. Since the author Armistead Maupin had moved on to write other books, I considered the series closed and chose to believe that everyone survived the 1989 earthquake, and that Anna Madrigal was often seen sweeping her sidewalk.

Imagine my surprise and almost sheer giddiness when, in a bookstore in 2007 I saw a large display that said ‘MICHAEL TOLLIVER LIVES: In stores June 2007!” I couldn’t wait to find out what my ‘friends’ had been up to since The Eighties ended. I remember buying that book on a Friday and being finished by Sunday, and again, I thought the ending was suitable and was happy to catch up with everyone.

Fast forward to July of this year: At my current job (a call center), whenever I have down time, I like to read. I have become a big fan of reading eBooks on my iPhone, downloaded from the library. I was trying to think of something fun to read when I decided to search for eBooks available by Maupin. I was thrilled to see almost the entire ‘Tales” series was available (all but Book Six, ‘Sure of You’), but also there had been two new books released since the last one I read in 2007! This had me feeling like a long lost friend had decided to drop by unannounced to say ‘Hi’ after being incommunicado for seven years. I was elated that the series was now nine books long!

Sitting at my desk, I saw the new titles that concluded the series (‘Mary Ann in Autumn,’ released in 2010 and ‘The Days of Anna Madrigal,’ released in October 2014) and I had to decide, ‘Do I jump in at Book Eight, or start back at the beginning? Even though I had read the first two books at least four times each, and other books in the series had been read multiple times, I decided to start back at the beginning, because I figured the latter books would reference seemingly minor moments from the earlier books, and I wanted to be able to remember all of it.

On Wednesday July 8, I started reading ‘Tales of the City’ again (for the fifth time in the last twenty years) and read the other stories that followed. I was surprised at how much I remembered and how wonderful and breezy reading those books is. Of course, since I discovered this wonderful series in the nineties, the first six books were like time capsules of the late 70s/80s and for me had a built in nostalgia. Reading the last three books, set in the present time (more or less), it made the story not only come full circle for me, but it made these characters, though aged, seem more relevant and alive than ever. 

Wednesday (August 5) I finished reading the ninth (and final?) book in the series. I tore through the first seven books because I love them and I had read them all at least once before. I even read the eighth book quickly because I knew I had another book to read after I was done.  With the last one, however, I found myself stalling. It’s not that I didn’t want to know how it ended; it’s just that I wasn’t ready for the series to end yet. It’s been a day since I turned that last page, and I’m still not ready for it to be over. 

If this ninth book is indeed where the story ends, then I can say Maupin delivers a satisfying ending to a beautiful vibrant series. 

As a fan, I hope Maupin finds more stories to tell. If that doesn't happen, then I'm content to start again at Page One of Book One and have it be 1977 once again. 

--Barry

08.07.15

Podcast Recommendation: "Check Out These Records I Got"

I wanted to take a moment to recommend a podcast for your listening pleasure. If you are a music nerd and/or a fan of vinyl, then you should listen to the aptly titled “Check Out These Records I Got,” a podcast hosted by Patrick Crowling. Patrick is one of those rare individuals who still have a great collection of records, and he’s always on the look-out for a rare gem or something so off the wall that he has to have it. I am happy to report that episode one (available here) centers around Richmond’s own Plan 9 Records, and the show is full of surprises. You’ll hear songs from Flo & Eddie, The Monocles and probably far too many ‘songs’ from a 1963 album labeled ‘For Adults Only.”


New episodes of COTRIG drop every Tuesday so be sure to subscribe via iTunes, or on the Facebook Page. You can also follow him on Twitter [@COTRIGPodcast]. It’s informative and fun with snaps, crackles and pops included.


--Barry
07.27.15