Why is one guitarist more important than the other one?

I mean, I love Aerosmith, but why does Joe Perry get more press than Brad Whitford?  Both are great musicians and excellent guitarists.  Both play lead guitar with awesome results—in fact, I think Brad’s the better lead in some ways because he’s smoother and more melodic.  Joe’s flashy and comes up with some really cool hooks but he’s no better than Brad.  I watched a live version of one of Aerosmith’s songs and Brad surprised me with his soulful lead work and solid rhythm playing.

Then there’s ACDC who I basically cut my guitar chops 101 on.  I’ve always wondered why the other brother gets less attention than the schoolboy outfit.  It’s flash versus solidity.  I don’t think ACDC really thinks of it that way, they just have a band, ya know?  But the rest of the media world pays far more attention to the schoolboy outfit than they do to the solid guitar riffs which make him standout.

I guess my point is that we subject people to a job and limit them within that description by telling them:  “You’re the rhythm guitarist and he’s the lead.”  when in reality both could add such a variety of flavors to the music.  It’s almost like we squash another person’s expression because they might threaten or outshine us.

We put roles on those around us without thinking about how this might limit their expression.  “That guy’s an engineer” “She’s a stay at home mom” “He’s a ditch digger” and so on and so forth.  We categorize and limit our grasp of a person without ever thinking about what we’re doing.  How do I know this is true?  Well, for one reason, our surprise when we find out they have a “hidden” talent.  It’s funny to hear the writers of pop music analyze some musicians.  I remember when Eddy Van Halen played keyboards for the first time, everybody either got surprised or disgusted that he’d even try it.  But the riffs he came up with on the synth were solid and made the songs hit the charts.

Another example was Toto.  The critics hated them for the most part calling them a “studio band” without any true feel, never for a moment realizing what they were saying about studio musicians.  For one thing several of the critics’ favorite albums have studio musicians all over them (in fact some of Toto’s alumni played on several of the biggest albums to hit the charts).  Ever hear of “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys?  “Tapestry” by Joan Baez?  Most of Steely Dan’s later albums—their biggest seller “Aja” was just rife with them.  So studio musicians make great music no matter what some people think.  The enduring legacy of Toto’s IV should silence anyone with a harsh word for them.  I’ve always loved their music.  Sure their lyrics left something to be desired when they opted for the cheap rhyme over more inventive poetry, but not everyone has Dylan’s gift with words.

I’ve watched plenty of unknown people get sidelined by other people’s perceptions of them.  She’s a painter so she couldn’t possibly understand electronics; he’s nothing but a custodian so what does he know about philosophy?  These people who limit others ignore or possibly forget that Socrates was a slave.

Here’s a conundrum for you:  If highly educated people should run the world, then why’s it so screwed up?

Why do we have wars if education helps us understand one another?  Why do we have differences of opinion when everyone gets the same basic education?  I mean just look at Bush Sr versus Bush Jr.  Two completely different politicians, one raised by the other and yet they were different on key policies.  Moving on to other countries, some of the most oppressive regimes in history have been been run by extremely intelligent and highly educated people.

No, giving someone leadership just because they went to Oxford, Harvard or Yale is like giving a show dog your shoes to play with and expecting them not to be chewed to pieces afterward.  Nature will win over nurture nearly every time.

What should we expect out anyone?

Just about anything.

My son is going to live with a “can do” philosophy.  He might not be able to do something right this moment, since he’s only six and not quite as developed in some areas, but he’s gonna’ get the chance to try even if he fails.  Today I watched him getting creamed by his older cousin at Halo, though this cousin left him alone for the most part.  He was just happy to get into the machines and jump over buildings as win the game and I loved it!  I want him to be his own person, find his own path, enjoy the game his own way and, hopefully, I’ll stay out of his way except when he needs guidance on social decorum, manners and the rules of the game as it’s played in general.  Otherwise, I’m perfectly happy to give him his reins and let him gallop all over the field.

We need to encourage one another to reach not only our potential but to step out of our comfort zones and reach for unrealized dreams.  Instead of standing on the sidelines yelling about what someone can’t do, we should be in the game helping them make a play that gets them to the in-zone.  If someone tells me they want to be a working musician, I’m gonna do all in my power to encourage them, even if it means telling them what negatives to expect so they’re not surprised.  I don’t want them limited by my lack of vision for their lives.  People who play it safe rarely accomplish anything but a big screen TV and may be a nice car.  I have a friend who wants to open a camp.  All I can do is encourage her with words and work once in a while when there’s surplus cash.  If I had the means, I’d help her along her road toward her goal, but what I have I give.

It’s time for society to grow up and celebrate each other in our attempts to develop, broaden and improve our abilities.  It’s time for us as neighbors and friends to stand in the gap for those who feel alone in their endeavors, to hold them accountable to their own dreams and do all in our power to enable them to grow as they feel led—unless, of course, they like eating other people or something horrific like that.  Aside from antisocial behavior, we can do a lot to give another person a leg up.  America’s history is full of rags to riches stories, of men who were told they would amount to nothing winning the race they decided to run, of women who were beaten down standing up to grab the ball and run with it.

I think from now on I plan to run interference for those with the ball.  I choose to be the teammate on the sidelines screaming for them to go for the goal, warning them of the linebacker headed their way or just plain getting in the game with them.

The Gravity

I like this album for reasons both obvious and obscure.  I can’t explain the obvious ones without sounding like the Shrew in Shakespeare’s play.  Bobby is a friend, so my enjoyment of the music might be a thing set in stone.

But I doubt it.

Starting with Aurora, The Gravity begins to weave a poetic journey through the complex mind of an artist.  Written by Bobby and arranged by both of them (the whole album is a collaboration in this regard with one or two songwriting exceptions), I see growth in his writing and a willingness to be himself within the context of normalcy.  He displays his influences readily, showing all the while what he’s learned from them, which is the arrangement matters more than the chords that bed it.

Aurora is a cry of desperation of sorts for understanding from us as well as the love interest he addresses.  He is the moth to the flame unable help himself but at the same time realizing he has no idea what awaits him if he continues to be drawn to the flame of love, but, he declares he doesn’t care.  The journey is worth the risk.

Like most of us his grasp of the concept of love is sketchy at best and non-existent at worst, except in instinct.  With sheer honesty he paints the picture of a man who willing risks all for the sake of finding love’s El Dorado.

His voice is still rough, raw with emotion, and displays an unpolished poetry the words belie.  I think it’s the honesty…may be even the fearless way Bobby sings that I appreciate.

Like his third song Bobby is a controlled Natural Disaster.  An unpolished stone evokes no response from most of us.  Yet once it is placed in a cleaner and polished to a sheen we find a diamond in the rough.  He’s embraced the inexplicable nature of what it means to be unique while still the same as everyone else.

The I-IV-V and all its variations have been done so often we expect them.    The chords become like a bland background for a shining moment in a painting.  Much like grass in a nature scene where a beautiful bird or majestic character stands, the chords are just a prop for the main event—necessary but just there for support.  Here they are used as a means of propulsion or form, I’m not sure which, but whatever it is it works.

I hear their influences in many of the arrangements.  Like “Hollywood Ending” has a reference in the bridge to hip hop with the pitch effect on his vocal, on Bobby’s wavering voice it becomes more surreal than a producer’s stamp.  “The Wall and Its Writing” displays the U2 influences with a delay on an electric guitar, but that’s as far as the influence goes in the song itself.

The Gravity started as an EP.  Bobby originally intended to do a few songs in a stripped down form.  An experiment of sorts, a foray into the world of pop music where he pursued mostly punk efforts before, the cohesiveness between the songs belies that goal.  Almost without fail each song tells a story of either an observation of the world around him or his own experience, but everything expands the plot.

The production is slick to a point, yet, like that stone I spoke of, roughly cut and held together by a harmonic vision the guys share.  Taking elements of other styles and incorporating them here they actually sound original rather than copied.  Everywhere in the lyrics the references to the blind luck of love and the undeserving nature of the recipient broaden the experience of the lead character.  Instead of running away, the protagonist embraces both facts in wonder.

Standing on the Edge celebrates the pull of love much like gravity.  The repeats at the end pound the point home in vocal round which backdrops a lead guitar.  The man in the song can no more resist the pull of love than he can defy gravity and he goes to great length to tell us why.

The last song sounds cynical but it’s not.  It might be an attempt to be that way, instead it fails by being attached to the thread of the album itself.  As luck would have it the last song becomes more a sarcastic tribute to a man trapped by his own feelings—like a hippy who gets a job where wearing a suit is required.  The suit is despised but the job is a love.  Just like the hippy executive, the songwriter can’t help but laugh at himself for being caught in love’s web.

Of course, it’s just the gravity…

To learn more about the band or hear samples of The Gravity go to the following links:

Facebook

Just the Gravity

iTunes

CD Baby

MySpace

©2010 Jonathan Varnell

Wherever you are

and whatever you do

do you think of me?

Cuz I think of you…

What do you find

when you look in your heart?

Are there memories,

although we’re apart?

Space is the last frontier to conquer.

From time we have nothing to fear,

eternity’s here

and we hold it in our hearts

When you’re a lone

and turn out the lights,

do you dream of me

and wish to the night,

that I could be found,

like I needed to find,

lose this loneliness

in the darkness behind

©1991 Jonathan Lester Varnell

I wondered why I struggle to maintain my house while other people just seem to breeze through it or at least make it look easy.  I think I’ve finally figured out what it is:  I travel small, compact and with only essentials.

The problem with this kind of thinking , of course, is that I now have a kid to take care of and a place of my own…This means the hole in the bathroom floor must be taken care of soon because I’m getting tired of all the spiders making webs in around my toilet, tub and a host of other places that “bug” me.

I confess I don’t pay attention to where I live much as long as it doesn’t smell bad, there’s not food or poop on the floors.  I come home to relax and sleep and that’s about it.  I don’t really care whether I have a mansion or a one room apartment as long as there’s room for my equipment and not too many stairs to navigate.

This attitude leaves me open to criticism from those close to me—and I must admit it’s due.  I’m not really all that domesticated.

On the other hand, my son’s mom mentioned tonight that I have held onto a lot of things we had when she lived with me.  I kind of gave her a blank stare because it didn’t register what she was saying.  She looked around the living room and said,  “I mean most people move on, buy new stuff and get rid of the past.  You hold onto it.”

I don’t really hold onto it, I just don’t know what to do with it.  Too much stuff baffles me, overwhelms me and leaves me kinda’ frozen in indecision.  I don’t want it.  All I need are my clothes, a few essentials to eat with and my music equipment and I’m pretty happy.  I don’t know how to get rid of things because I don’t collect them.

I found out that sympathy means people give you things—things you don’t want or need.  I have lots of stuff here that I could lose tomorrow and wouldn’t miss but can’t seem to get out of my place.

The reason? 

I don’t want to bother with it, frankly.  It sits and collects dust because it’s not my stuff; it belongs to someone else…which is me as well, but a past me who was married.  This revelation has helped me see how I want to live:  stripped down to essentials, mobile, and read for anything.

Now all I have to do is make a plan to get rid of as much stuff as I can without losing what’s essential.

Take the time to listen to her music as well as get to know her on her blog.

What dumbfounded and amazed me is that this man admitted to raping a 13 year old girl in court negotiations, yet somehow escaped justice.  The comments of the French minister and president especially dropped my jaw.  They think he’s paid enough for his crime and ought to be left alone.

Strange to say these same people wouldn’t be so lenient had it been their own daughter or themselves.  Polanski has lived in pretty good circumstances, releasing movies and receiving awards without being harassed too much.  Though he regrets his misconduct according to interviews, he doesn’t want to serve his time.

What is it that makes us think that some crimes are more negotiable than others.  Here’s a man who broke the trust of a kid, scarred her for life and messed up his own life, yet some in power want to excuse his crime and let him off the hook.  It doesn’t matter if he was a survivor of the holocaust, he committed a crime against a defenseless child and deserves punishment.  Just because he’s famous doesn’t give him special privileges or let him off the hook as far as justice is concerned.

Now before you think I’m being vengeful or recommending capital punishment, let me make clear that I don’t think he ought to serve out the rest of his life in prison, but the normal sentence for what he’s done.  Obviously he’s quite unwilling to do so and by his behavior has thumbed his nose at the US justice system by continuing to release his art and work in our country.

Let me put this in perspective for us a little better:  If a man was molested as a child by an aunt or uncle, we have sympathy for his troubled soul, scars and struggle to regain some balance in his life.  However, if this man does the same to several children when he grows to puberty and beyond, we have to cut off his access to the them and protect the helpless.  Just because he’s been hurt doesn’t give him license to hurt others with impunity.  In fact, it should make him hyper aware of the pain and scars he will cause them by his own actions.

It doesn’t matter in one sense that he’s been molested himself when he continues the behavior himself because it’s still a crime.  No one in their right mind would say it’s ok for me to steal another person’s guitar just because someone else stole mine, right?  How can we apply different rules to sexual crimes than we do to thieving?  Stealing someone’s innocence and sense of safety is a bigger crime than taking money in my estimation for you not only damage their ability to make a life but their very sense of self.

No, Mr. Polanski needs to take his consequences like everyone else and not be let off just because he’s famous.

Next, most people on earth eat fairly spicy foods, which produce?  You guessed it, methane.  There are more cattle of course than humans on the earth producing several times the amount of methane as human beings, but we need to eat them, milk them and use their hides for shoes, rock n roll-show-your-stuff-pants and cool leather jackets.  Not to mention cheese products and whatnot.   And anyway they don’t reason very well so trying to persuade them to stop contributing to the earth overheating is like talking to a wall.  They either don’t care or are too engrossed in being part of the food chain to worry about other stuff.

So it’s up to us humans to solve the methane problem.  My suggestion is that we have one day world wide set aside to save the earth where no one farts, burps or has a bowel movement to prevent any methane from escaping at all.  I know many a lady would welcome a day her husband didn’t belch of fart in some form, and it’s all for a good cause, to save the planet.  But this would mean we’d all have to be pretty self-controlled about our bodily functions because the explosions at night would be hard to prevent, unless, of course, you know a healthy way to plug the offending outlet.

I declare the need of a day of fart fasting for every human being alive.

If you care, you won’t let ‘er rip.

And please stay away from fried foods, beans or other gaseous products which inspire such unseemly, thoughtless and utterly disgusting expressions.

Help humanity survive by holding it in, people.  You’ll be glad you did.

For one thing, you’d be able to keep the SUV, and the Lear jet and that gas stove…O, and those plastic bags.  Let’s may be even…

1)  I bought into the communal living idea years ago so politics means less to one who thinks in collective democracy rather than a hierarchical.  I don’t relate to power mongers of any kind.  It’s hard for me to focus on them when I know they have other agendas than what they claim publically.

2)  I’m not given to listening to the issues much nor the pros and cons the two parties in the majority seem to be arguing.  I know it sounds like I bury my head in the sand about stuff, but it’s not exactly that really.  It’s more that I have so many other fish to fry.

3)  It’s only been recently that I had any real interest in listening to politicians.  I find they say whatever it takes to get elected and then play games with policy enough to stay in power and keep their universal health care all to themselves.

4)  I find it strange that the very government which should be working toward the equality of all people, simply cannot see that the more they give themselves raises, the less those of us in the working class actually have to spend on non-essentials which drive the markets.  It makes me laugh (not because it’s funny) that these people are willing to cut services to the disabled among us, special funding for emergency care for hospitals, which treat those with no money, and a whole series of what politicians call “infrastructure” yet they keep on raising their own salaries and tax breaks on everything from dining out to travel expenses.

This last one just turns me off to no end.

The first time I ever voted was the election after I got married in 2001.  My wife and mother-in-law were staunch republicans and so were most of my family.  I listened to the arguments about why I should vote and what the issues at hand were and decided to go for it.  My first time voting for anyone and I chose a guy who seemed to be on a quest outside of commonsense.  At first I thought Bush would actually keep a level head, then I realized that Cheney and Rumsfeld were pretty much in control.  After they got into the war with Iraq, I threw up my hands because though all the top generals counseled against it, no one had any exit strategy or thought what to do once Sadaam was caught or dead.  People who fail to plan always fail.

I don’t think Iraq is so much a failure as a waste of energy.  We could have concentrated on Afghanistan and been far more successful with the terrorists.  Our control of the country was pretty clear already and the government there was cooperative.  But I didn’t know any of that at the time so I did the best I could.  I saw the alternatives in the Democratic field and felt like we were being given two bad choices with no where to turn but down.  I stayed out of the last election because I have never been able to make heads or tails of the issues.  May be I’m just really dense, I don’t know, but I just didn’t see Obama as the answer any more than McCain.  I liked McCain’s record and policies better, but Obama had some pretty good ideas as well.  

We have this great privilege of voting our conscience and I dropped the ball.

Ignorance, however, doesn’t make for good voting strategies.  Still I see hope for America in some ways because Obama seems to be a reconciler, a peacemaker, if you will.  I don’t know what his agenda is and it really doesn’t matter in the long run whether I agree or not, what happens will happen.  What does matter in every way is who I become.

I could argue politics till I’m blue in the face and may be convince a few people I’m right but still be called a “fool” by the opposition, yet what would that accomplish?  The truth is what makes America great is the people who run it—you and me—our drive and commonsense keep the ball rolling.  I could object to the Socialist agenda we’re headed for because I don’t like the idea of anyone taking over 50% of my paycheck to do with as they please.  The larger the beauracy, the larger the payroll to keep it going.  Some call it a sacrifice for the betterment of mankind, I just wonder if we’re not buying into another system instead of taking personal responsibility for our neighbors.

Quite frankly, giving the government the power to run social welfare programs seems like an oxymoron to me.  No government in the history of the world has done a good job at it because they are run by people interested as much in their own bottom-line as anything else.  I’ve been sorta’ watching governments for the past few years and thinking back to my childhood and quite frankly things are not much better today than they were when I was a kid.  People still starve in America even with the social outreach we offer; there are still poor and the divide is growing bigger; life is still tough for some and not so hard for others.

Inequality will always be a problem where we have human nature.  You can’t put bad programming into those little computers we call “brains” and expect anything more than a hashed up result.  Until we change the nature of human kind where power over the helpless is not a common problem no matter what the social status, we are gonna’ see disparity.  Change the character and you change the outcome of the person’s life.

One of my older brothers was a cop for years.  His favorite saying was,  “An uneducated thief steals your tv, appliances and radios.  Give him an education and he’ll steal your house, your identity and make it look like it’s your fault.”  Mere education isn’t the answer, in my opinion, we need a change in the way we look at the world in general.  If all we’re out to do is “get ours,” then survival of the fittest rules the day.  I don’t mind giving 50% of my income if I know it will really benefit the programs.  To be blunt the Western world has the most educated populace in the history of the world.  Our 6th graders know more about science and technology than even their grandparents two generations ago.  If education’s the answer, somethings wrong with the method because I don’t see more peace in the world nor less poverty, dishonesty or murder.

On the other hand, most of us want to know we’re doing some good without having to get our hands dirty.  Letting the government handle our welfare is abdicating responsibility for our lives as well as those around us.  Instead of copping out to Big Brother we should take personal interest in the people and needs around us.  Instead giving a handout to those in need, we should give them help them finding a job.  Nothing builds self-respect like earning one’s own way.

There are always caveats to these plans because the best laid plans fail due to the characters involved.  A person who hates working will find ways to get out of it no matter what we offer them, so all our efforts will be useless unless we convince them to change their attitude.  Those who take drugs to excess will do so with or without education; narcissists will be who they are unless they are treated and conquer their nature.  Those in great pain due to past abuse or lifestyle will remain there unless we show them a better way—and even then there’s no guarantee they will choose something different.  Some want to numb others ride the roller coaster.  Whatever their aim, they drive themselves many times into the gutter.  Yet we cannot profile drug users or the poor anymore than we can races because those who want to get out will take a helping hand, go live better and not look back.  This is a truth of the nature of mankind and no amount of programs will change it.

I personally would rather be involved in selecting where my money goes so that I know I’m supporting a good cause.  Giving my money to the big goverment just so I don’t have to actually get involved in helping people personally is sick and wrong.  It’s also about as dumb as giving to the big church conglomerate we all hate so much.  The money usually lines the pockets of the leaders and toadies with barely a trickle reaching those who really need it.

It’s not the system that’s at fault here, but the people who run it and vote it in.  Blaming the “system” ultimately avoids the truth.  People design the systems that are in place and people will design the next one to take the current one’s place.  Escaping responsibility for their failure isn’t possible.  A system can only work as well as those who work with it.  As long as there are people willing to take advantage of others, as long as there are users in the world, as long as there are human beings trafficking in everything from drugs, contraband, black market goods and other people, we will have a failed system.  We don’t need a more conscientious police force we need people who refuse to do wrong to others.

Change the character, we change the outcome.

Of course, this is just my opinion.

If you read a recent front page story of the SF Chronicle, you would
have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a
spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds
of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She
also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her
tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth..
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the
Golden Gate ) and radioed an environmental group for help.
Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she
was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle
her.
 

 They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous
circles.
She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged
them, pushed them gently around ~she was thanking them. Some said it
was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were
following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be 
surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things 
that are binding you.
 And , may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.