brainsplotch

It was all because of a girl I met... That's how I became a U2 fan. To be clear, that's how I learned about the very existence of U2. In the summer of 1985, almost a full year after The Unforgettable Fire 's release, I attended a summer camp at Olivet College. This camp was patterned after Boys or Girls State, but was sort of a low-rent version of that. We were supposed to learn about how the legislative and executive branches of government ran by participating in mock campaigns and elections--or at least I think. I really don't remember much of anything we did at this camp, but I do remember this particular girl. She liked me, I liked her (probably because she liked me) and the most memorable parts of this summer camp were the evening dances in the Olivet cafeteria, hanging out with this girl (I'll call her "Janine"--not her real name), and her telling me about this band called U2 that her college-age brother hipped her to. When the camp ended--which had ...

I have been dreading the election for months, and it gets worse and worse as we get closer. Every morning I wake up, after a few minutes of refreshing thought, the dark cloud of the election enters my mind. There is a good possibility that Trump will win, and I'm trying to mentally prepare for that result.  Can I be frank? What the hell is wrong with Americans? (Specifically, American voters). How is it possible that this election, if one believes the polls, is THIS close?  For as long as I live, I will never understand Trump's appeal. Have Americans really become this nihilistic? This cynical? This callous? These are the only reasons I can fathom that explain Trump's continued popularity. It makes me sad about the state of this nation. (Having written this, I'm not naive enough to believe the United States was pure until Trump entered the picture in 2016. Our history is scarred with horrors, and we've had our share of terrible leaders before Trump). This is just so...

This is an album I'm sure my handful of readers out there weren't expecting, and in fairness, it wasn't even on my radar until very recently. To go a step further, I have a list of 30 albums from 1984 from which I'm working, and Out of the Cellar isn't on that list. So, why, you may be asking, am I writing about Out of the Cellar ? The reasons are as follows:  Several years ago, after dropping my older son off at his fencing class, I had the radio on and Ratt's big hit "Round and Round" came on. I was surprised that not only did I know all (or most) of the lyrics, but I was actually enjoying the song. "Round and Round" came up in a conversation I had and I was happy to learn the person I was talking to also a champion of "Round and Round." Underneath the glam metal dressing, the song is simply a killer pop tune with a catchy chorus. If you hear this song on the radio, it's an immediate earworm. The third reason I decided to...