Theme Park Experience

If there's one phrase I cannot stand, it's "I'm so glad I'm not single anymore." I didn't like it for the many years I was single, and I still didn't like it when I was in a serious relationship. There is no failure in being single -- remaining in a bad relationship is much worse. Alas, not being in a relationship is more transparent than being in any kind of relationship. It's sadder to go stag to a party than to show up with someone you fought with during the whole drive over, right? Wrong. I know plenty of people who are single and I know many people who are in great relationships. Those are the people I like to spend time with. I've known people in terrible relationships in the past and I've taken plenty of mental notes on what not to do. Recently at a show, I ran into a friend of a friend I have not seen in a handful of years. He's a great guy and I enjoyed catching up with him. He showed up with his girlfriend, who had complained

I was asked the other night about the moment Bruce Springsteen's music was cemented into my psyche. As in, the kind of bond where I fell in love and never forgot. Well, I couldn't give a direct answer because my relationship with Bruce has been a series of moments, not one grand moment. For starters, there was the arrival of Born in the U.S.A. in our house after my father bought the family a CD player and speakers. There was the Bloom County spoof of the Live '75-'85 cover. Then there was the dubbed tape from my uncle that featured Tunnel of Love on one side. Many moments have continued since then, and there's always room for discovery. Even now. Especially now, actually. Over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays last year, I managed my way through Dave Marsh's Two Hearts , a compilation of two books he had written on Springsteen. As far as I know, this is currently the closest thing to a "definitive" biography. (Personally, I'd love to see

This week's edition is with Deleted Scenes, a Washington D.C. band who worked with J. Robbins on their second record. Funny stuff, especially when he talks about seeing Petra and U2.

A few months ago, while talking with a fellow music critic friend of mine, he bemoaned about how little of an impact we have on our readers. I didn't necessarily disagree with him, but I'd like to think what we write does matter to a certain extent. People do read our stuff, right? Those page view numbers aren't inflated, right? Even at this point, I'm not really aware of how many people read my work. And I really don't know what kind of impact it makes on people. Since I always write alone in a room, usually with my dog sleeping nearby, it's impossible to gauge any sort of immediate reaction. I know I'm not talking to a wall when I publish something on the Internet, but it's normal to wonder if anything I write has any impact on people. I know writers who are convinced their work either lives or dies by how many page views they get, how many comments they get, and what the commenters say. I don't think that way, but I don't think it's a far-

Five years ago today, my sister and brother-in-law became parents for the first time, my parents became grandparents for the first time, and I became an uncle for the first time to fraternal twins. And it wasn't until this year that I signed my name as "Uncle Eric" on respective birthday cards. I'm still getting used to writing "Uncle" in cursive, but I have plenty of opportunities down the road do that again. But for certain people I know who don't have kids, they see kids as cute little angels until the crying starts. At that point, these people label the kids as "shits" as Mom and Dad (or a grandparent) take over. Seems unfair to reduce a growing child into sheer annoyance. Alas, that's coming from people who haven't seen the whole perspective of parenting. To the childless, hearing about a temper tantrum at the grocery store or a birthday party is enough evidence to never procreate. I disagree because as annoying and frustrating as

This week's edition is with Tim Locke from Calhoun, a pretty fantastic Fort Worth band. Interesting sidenote: most of his fellow members are people I knew when I was playing in the Fort Worth area. Glad they're still doing their thing.

Required viewing in my childhood was Mr. Rogers . The guy was as friendly as a trained dog and it's hard for a kid to say no to his demeanor. But I always wondered why Fred Rogers changed into a different sweater when he walked into his "home" (aka, the set doubling as his home). Seemed like he always changed out of one light sweater into another light sweater and put house slippers on. Why didn't he keep the sweater he had on? I understand this a whole lot more these days. As much as I enjoy the house I live in, it gets pretty drafty. The heater works fine, but there are times when it feels like it hasn't run for hours. Hence the desire to wear longsleeves and socks all the time. No matter what, I don't enjoy feeling cold. I'm supposed to enjoy the warmth of being indoors, right? But I don't have to wear a heavy coat indoors. Then I'd be burning up. I don't have light sweaters like the ones Fred had. And I have no desire to wear a tie in my ho

CPU is back in my house, and nothing was seriously damaged. Blogging will resume tomorrow, but for now, enjoy my feature on the Black Dotz. (Note: the guitarist's last name is actually Prickett and the band was called The Falkon, not The Falcon Project.)

This week's edition is with locals Darstar. Lots of talk about seeing the Smashing Pumpkins and Foo Fighters. And one of their members' first show was one of the many times I saw MxPx in college. Small world.

Normally I don't take this long between blog posts, but since my computer caught a virus last week, I've been doing bare bones work using Matt's laptop. As I await word from the PC tech when I can pick my (hopefully virus-free) computer, my work for DC9 has continued. I was happy to include The Vatican Press in last week's edition of My First Show. I've known Eddie for a long time and he was a very helpful person in a critical aspect of POST . I was happy to return the favor and I look forward to what his band has brewing this year. Later in the week, I covered a couple of acoustic sets by two Dallas-area legends, Terry Glaze and Patrick "Taz" Bentley. Glaze sang for a little band called Pantera back when they were a party metal band and Bentley has drummed for a number of bands, including Rev. Horton Heat. And if that wasn't enough I covered their full rock set on Saturday night. Also on the bill were No Rest for the Wicked (which featured the seco

I'd like to start 2012 with something more than a resolution. I want to keep this great piece of wisdom with me, found on this excellent list of 30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself: Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends. I wish I understood this concept earlier in life, but that's the way things go. Who knows, maybe I was told this, but didn't understand back then. After matters of life happening in 2011, mixed with a lot of other things from the past five years, this is something I'd like to stick with in 2012. In the past, there were peo