If you're one of the two long-time Summer Vacation readers, you might remember a time long, long ago when I noticed something interesting about a new car I'd bought and wrote about it. If you didn't see this before, you can read it here.
Well. Anyway. As unrelated to that as this is in the big picture, I am feeling pretty darn good about that car today. Turns out that when I sit down to pay the bills this afternoon, I'll be writing the last check needed to pay off the rest of what I owe on my loan, and I'm doing this a year and a half early.
Feeling pretty good about this. It's nice to know that, on occasion, I am able to pull of the kind of thing that normal, responsible adults would aspire to. Just sayin'.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
A Dramatic Turn of Events
I love it when I get a new album from a favorite band.
Ever since I gave into the iTunes store, I download so haphazardly and impulsively that I’ve probably purchased more music in the past three months than most people reading this have in the past year. So new albums are in my rotation almost constantly. But when a new album shows up from a favorite band, particularly a long-awaited album that has all kinds of back story and context attached to its release? It’s fair to call that an event.
I found Dream Theater about twenty years ago. They had a song, “Pull Me Under,” which was getting some airplay on rock radio. I liked the song well enough but didn’t think of buying the album until my cousin Kelly gushed at me about how awesome it was. I bought a cassette (back then, my personal symbolism for ‘I’m not committing myself to this band just yet’ because cassettes cost a few dollars less) and it soon started getting some serious Walkman time at the Moore Lake Athletic Club. The song that stood out was “Metropolis, Part 1,” which had so much musical complexity on display I would just listen to it and wonder who these guys were who could compose that kind of music and then actually play it as well.
The following years saw “Awake,” which wasn’t the commercial breakout it deserved to be. But it was the album that, years later, was the first step in converting my friend Dax into a disciple after I convinced him to check the band out. They followed that with an EP, “A Change of Seasons,” which was a collection of live cover songs and one new song, the title track. Which was just over twenty-three minutes long. I had never come across a rock song like that before, one piece of non-classical music that was that long and continuous, broken up into different themes and movements. It was a revelation. The album after that, “Falling Into Infinity,” was the record-company directed attempt at a money grab. Commercial songwriters were hired, the keyboard player had been replaced after the previous one had quit, and tensions within the band nearly broke it up. But instead they followed that up years later with “Scenes From a Memory,” a concept album that to this day stands as one of my three favorite albums of all time. And that doesn’t mean it’s in third place -- it means I have three albums that I love so much in different ways I can’t choose one over the other two. And if you had a glimpse at the volume of my music library, you’d know this is really saying something. They toured with that album and I saw them play for the first time, playing that album straight through, note for note. And if you knew the album, you’d know this was no small accomplishment.
I couldn’t think of how they’d follow that up, but they managed to with “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence,” a 2-disc package that saw one forty-two minute song taking up the entire second CD. Each subsequent album that followed saw the band go in slightly different directions, putting their own musical interpretation to whatever influenced them at the time: “Train of Thought” was heavy and intense, “Octavarium” was more melodic and a little poppy (though it did have a 24-minute closing epic), Systematic Chaos was dark and intense, flirting a little too much with some of the less than appealing conventions of modern rock (you’ll want to do a search for “cookie monster vocals” here). And then in 2009 they released their most recent album, Black Clouds and Silver Linings, which I wrote a little bit about back here. A great album, and significant because this was the first time a Dream Theater album had cracked into the Top 10 for sales. We fans were ecstatic about this. They were finally starting to get the recognition they deserved.
My greatest appreciation for this band is the musicianship. Each player is one of the best there is at his instrument, and the singer holds his own just fine in that company. But when you have five guys performing at that level of consistent virtuosity, egos will inevitably play a part. And a year ago, ego got the best of one of them. The drummer, Mike Portnoy, had been the leader of the band for a long, long time, and for reasons that I suppose will only ever be truly understood by him, he decided the band should go on a five-year hiatus. He felt they needed a break from each other, and after that break they’d all come back stronger than ever. Well, the other four guys didn’t see it that way, and when Portnoy saw the rest of the band wasn’t going to play by his rules anymore, he picked up his ball and went home.
It was a huge shock to find out that one of the founders and defining personalities of the band had quit, but I was comforted when they quickly announced they’d be auditioning new drummers and planned to record a new album in early 2011. The auditions brought forth an insanely talented replacement, Mike Mangini, who gelled with the band so immediately they felt they could have played a show with him the night he auditioned. Months later Portnoy reportedly had a change of heart and tried to get his spot in the band back, but things were going so well for the band with their new drummer in place, they declined his offer. So now, predictably enough, he doesn't seem to have much positive to say about his former band mates all over the Internets. (And by the way, his new band is truly, truly awful. But that’s just my opinion.) Which is kind of tough for me, because I'm a big fan of the band, and I'm a big fan of Portnoy. It's tough to be caught in the middle like this, but it just seems to me that he hasn't handled this as well as they have.
So, enough prologue. The new album, “A Dramatic Turn of Events,” came out this past Tuesday. I have listened to nothing else since downloading it late Monday night. I’ve gotta say, there are few joys in life like getting to learn a new album that you love. I have different parts of songs in running through my head before I realize I’m awake in the morning. I choose which song I want to play during my drive to school in the morning so I can program it into my head for the next eight hours, even though half of the songs on the album take longer to play through than my drive to school is. I almost feel like I’ve conquered something when the lyrics start coming together for me, because that means I’m finally learning the album as a whole. It’s a great experience for someone who lives and breathes music the way I do.
And even though I openly admit that I’m still deep in the throes of new-album infatuation right now, I really think this one will stand up over time. Does this mean it’s accessible? Hardly. It is decidedly a rock album that has more than a few moments that border on being full-on metal, but it also has quiet, gentle acoustic songs that are driven by understated guitars and piano virtuosity. In fact, instead of labeling it accessible, I’d go the other direction and call it challenging. When you hear two guys playing guitar and keyboards and identically matching each other note for note through more time-signature changes than most music majors could keep up with, you’re either going to be amazed by the talent or decide it’s too much for you. And I get this. Dream Theater is not a band for everyone. But for the people who can appreciate what they do, this album is, in many respects, a masterpiece. Whether you think about the cinematic quality of the epic songs or the reserved nature of the quieter ones, this album really doesn’t miss a beat anywhere.
“On the Backs of Angels” -- The opening song and the single they released midsummer. In a nice little twist, Dax and I got to hear this for the first time at the same time when I was visiting Seattle when it was released on YouTube. It was the first taste we had of what the Post-Portnoy band would sound like. Very familiar, but also something of a battle cry from a band making sure the fans knew they weren’t going anywhere.
“Build Me Up, Break Me Down” -- This one could almost pass for a rock radio song, which is rare for a band that has songs that commonly stretch over ten minutes long. It has a rare touch of electronic music to it that isn’t overplayed, and really works well. This one was added to the workout mix almost immediately.
“Lost Not Forgotten” -- The first epic. It opens with a grand piano sound, and soon transitions into the steam-engine chugging orchestral rock song it really is. A story song about ancient battlefields and the culture surrounding them. That’s right. You aren’t going to hear anything about a Bad Romance or Fireworks here.
“This is the Life” -- Introspective, very much a quiet ballad with occasional eruptions of guitar work. A very effective song that doesn’t come across as a pandering attempt at the rock-ballad convention that so polluted radio back in the late 80s and early 90s.
“Bridges in the Sky” -- Right now my favorite song on the album, though that could change by tomorrow. Just over eleven minutes. A song so powerful and spiritual that it had me choking up a little on an early listen. So complete and atmospheric it almost feels like a novel could be written about it.
“Outcry” -- Another huge, broad epic of a song. Again with some electronic touches and some very hardcore guitar. This one has an instrumental passage in it that is (and I have to watch what I telegraph here, but there’s no better way to describe this) completely bat$%*! crazy that I think the band actually had to invent some new time signatures to finish writing it.
“Far From Heaven” -- Shortest song, not even four minutes. Quiet, palette-clearing. Voice, piano, some backing strings. Peaceful.
“Breaking All Illusions” -- The last epic, and the biggest; over twelve minutes long. I got to this one and was just amazed to think that after everything that had come before it in the album, they were still able to put together something this complete. Everything the others before it were, but in completely different directions.
“Beneath the Surface” -- The closing song, and again a quiet, mostly acoustic one. This one is driven more by the guitar melody and supported by subtle keyboards and strings, but all of it works together to serve the lyrics and the overall song.
It’s going to take something historic to come along and knock this one out of my rotation any time soon. A year ago I was concerned about what was going to happen to one of my favorite bands in the wake of losing one of the key members. Not so much anymore.
Ever since I gave into the iTunes store, I download so haphazardly and impulsively that I’ve probably purchased more music in the past three months than most people reading this have in the past year. So new albums are in my rotation almost constantly. But when a new album shows up from a favorite band, particularly a long-awaited album that has all kinds of back story and context attached to its release? It’s fair to call that an event.
I found Dream Theater about twenty years ago. They had a song, “Pull Me Under,” which was getting some airplay on rock radio. I liked the song well enough but didn’t think of buying the album until my cousin Kelly gushed at me about how awesome it was. I bought a cassette (back then, my personal symbolism for ‘I’m not committing myself to this band just yet’ because cassettes cost a few dollars less) and it soon started getting some serious Walkman time at the Moore Lake Athletic Club. The song that stood out was “Metropolis, Part 1,” which had so much musical complexity on display I would just listen to it and wonder who these guys were who could compose that kind of music and then actually play it as well.
The following years saw “Awake,” which wasn’t the commercial breakout it deserved to be. But it was the album that, years later, was the first step in converting my friend Dax into a disciple after I convinced him to check the band out. They followed that with an EP, “A Change of Seasons,” which was a collection of live cover songs and one new song, the title track. Which was just over twenty-three minutes long. I had never come across a rock song like that before, one piece of non-classical music that was that long and continuous, broken up into different themes and movements. It was a revelation. The album after that, “Falling Into Infinity,” was the record-company directed attempt at a money grab. Commercial songwriters were hired, the keyboard player had been replaced after the previous one had quit, and tensions within the band nearly broke it up. But instead they followed that up years later with “Scenes From a Memory,” a concept album that to this day stands as one of my three favorite albums of all time. And that doesn’t mean it’s in third place -- it means I have three albums that I love so much in different ways I can’t choose one over the other two. And if you had a glimpse at the volume of my music library, you’d know this is really saying something. They toured with that album and I saw them play for the first time, playing that album straight through, note for note. And if you knew the album, you’d know this was no small accomplishment.
I couldn’t think of how they’d follow that up, but they managed to with “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence,” a 2-disc package that saw one forty-two minute song taking up the entire second CD. Each subsequent album that followed saw the band go in slightly different directions, putting their own musical interpretation to whatever influenced them at the time: “Train of Thought” was heavy and intense, “Octavarium” was more melodic and a little poppy (though it did have a 24-minute closing epic), Systematic Chaos was dark and intense, flirting a little too much with some of the less than appealing conventions of modern rock (you’ll want to do a search for “cookie monster vocals” here). And then in 2009 they released their most recent album, Black Clouds and Silver Linings, which I wrote a little bit about back here. A great album, and significant because this was the first time a Dream Theater album had cracked into the Top 10 for sales. We fans were ecstatic about this. They were finally starting to get the recognition they deserved.
My greatest appreciation for this band is the musicianship. Each player is one of the best there is at his instrument, and the singer holds his own just fine in that company. But when you have five guys performing at that level of consistent virtuosity, egos will inevitably play a part. And a year ago, ego got the best of one of them. The drummer, Mike Portnoy, had been the leader of the band for a long, long time, and for reasons that I suppose will only ever be truly understood by him, he decided the band should go on a five-year hiatus. He felt they needed a break from each other, and after that break they’d all come back stronger than ever. Well, the other four guys didn’t see it that way, and when Portnoy saw the rest of the band wasn’t going to play by his rules anymore, he picked up his ball and went home.
It was a huge shock to find out that one of the founders and defining personalities of the band had quit, but I was comforted when they quickly announced they’d be auditioning new drummers and planned to record a new album in early 2011. The auditions brought forth an insanely talented replacement, Mike Mangini, who gelled with the band so immediately they felt they could have played a show with him the night he auditioned. Months later Portnoy reportedly had a change of heart and tried to get his spot in the band back, but things were going so well for the band with their new drummer in place, they declined his offer. So now, predictably enough, he doesn't seem to have much positive to say about his former band mates all over the Internets. (And by the way, his new band is truly, truly awful. But that’s just my opinion.) Which is kind of tough for me, because I'm a big fan of the band, and I'm a big fan of Portnoy. It's tough to be caught in the middle like this, but it just seems to me that he hasn't handled this as well as they have.
So, enough prologue. The new album, “A Dramatic Turn of Events,” came out this past Tuesday. I have listened to nothing else since downloading it late Monday night. I’ve gotta say, there are few joys in life like getting to learn a new album that you love. I have different parts of songs in running through my head before I realize I’m awake in the morning. I choose which song I want to play during my drive to school in the morning so I can program it into my head for the next eight hours, even though half of the songs on the album take longer to play through than my drive to school is. I almost feel like I’ve conquered something when the lyrics start coming together for me, because that means I’m finally learning the album as a whole. It’s a great experience for someone who lives and breathes music the way I do.
And even though I openly admit that I’m still deep in the throes of new-album infatuation right now, I really think this one will stand up over time. Does this mean it’s accessible? Hardly. It is decidedly a rock album that has more than a few moments that border on being full-on metal, but it also has quiet, gentle acoustic songs that are driven by understated guitars and piano virtuosity. In fact, instead of labeling it accessible, I’d go the other direction and call it challenging. When you hear two guys playing guitar and keyboards and identically matching each other note for note through more time-signature changes than most music majors could keep up with, you’re either going to be amazed by the talent or decide it’s too much for you. And I get this. Dream Theater is not a band for everyone. But for the people who can appreciate what they do, this album is, in many respects, a masterpiece. Whether you think about the cinematic quality of the epic songs or the reserved nature of the quieter ones, this album really doesn’t miss a beat anywhere.
“On the Backs of Angels” -- The opening song and the single they released midsummer. In a nice little twist, Dax and I got to hear this for the first time at the same time when I was visiting Seattle when it was released on YouTube. It was the first taste we had of what the Post-Portnoy band would sound like. Very familiar, but also something of a battle cry from a band making sure the fans knew they weren’t going anywhere.
“Build Me Up, Break Me Down” -- This one could almost pass for a rock radio song, which is rare for a band that has songs that commonly stretch over ten minutes long. It has a rare touch of electronic music to it that isn’t overplayed, and really works well. This one was added to the workout mix almost immediately.
“Lost Not Forgotten” -- The first epic. It opens with a grand piano sound, and soon transitions into the steam-engine chugging orchestral rock song it really is. A story song about ancient battlefields and the culture surrounding them. That’s right. You aren’t going to hear anything about a Bad Romance or Fireworks here.
“This is the Life” -- Introspective, very much a quiet ballad with occasional eruptions of guitar work. A very effective song that doesn’t come across as a pandering attempt at the rock-ballad convention that so polluted radio back in the late 80s and early 90s.
“Bridges in the Sky” -- Right now my favorite song on the album, though that could change by tomorrow. Just over eleven minutes. A song so powerful and spiritual that it had me choking up a little on an early listen. So complete and atmospheric it almost feels like a novel could be written about it.
“Outcry” -- Another huge, broad epic of a song. Again with some electronic touches and some very hardcore guitar. This one has an instrumental passage in it that is (and I have to watch what I telegraph here, but there’s no better way to describe this) completely bat$%*! crazy that I think the band actually had to invent some new time signatures to finish writing it.
“Far From Heaven” -- Shortest song, not even four minutes. Quiet, palette-clearing. Voice, piano, some backing strings. Peaceful.
“Breaking All Illusions” -- The last epic, and the biggest; over twelve minutes long. I got to this one and was just amazed to think that after everything that had come before it in the album, they were still able to put together something this complete. Everything the others before it were, but in completely different directions.
“Beneath the Surface” -- The closing song, and again a quiet, mostly acoustic one. This one is driven more by the guitar melody and supported by subtle keyboards and strings, but all of it works together to serve the lyrics and the overall song.
It’s going to take something historic to come along and knock this one out of my rotation any time soon. A year ago I was concerned about what was going to happen to one of my favorite bands in the wake of losing one of the key members. Not so much anymore.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Just Got Back
Some things I’ve noticed about the first week back to school:
*When you have eighty-five students, you really have to work at getting to know them all. Some stand out early for different reasons: The sneaky kid who’s surprised when you catch him doing the same stuff you’ve caught sneaky kids doing for two decades; the one who is slightly less animated than a sack of potatoes; the one with the distinctive voice you’ll hear echoing in your head while you try to fall asleep at night; the one who seemed so pleasantly energetic at first but is already overwhelming you by Day 3, and so on. I consider it a major accomplishment if I can remember every name away from the visual context of the seating chart by the end of the first week. I think I might be there so far. Maybe. Probably not.
*In my building, at least in the past few years, there’s been quite a turnover in the staff. We were pretty stable for a long run there, which explains why even though I’m twenty years into that staff I might not even be in the top third when it comes to building seniority. But having so many new adults show up can really be confusing. It takes me a lot longer to learn and remember the adult names because many of these people are in positions that will have our paths crossing so infrequently I might actually go an entire academic year without exchanging anything but incidental passing greetings with them. It takes me so long to match the new adult names with the new adult faces that descriptors just begin to build in my head to help me keep them straight: “Sunflower Hat Lady,” or “Body Glitter Neck,” or “Transparent Blue Water Bottle” or “Machine Gun Laugh” to just invent a few off the top of my head that I’ve never actually used but are somewhat indicative of the types of descriptors I'll use.
*I’m not doing a commercial or anything, but Vitamin Water Zero is way better than Propel Zero when it comes to keeping your throat lubricated when you aren’t used to talking for six consecutive hours and suddenly have to start doing it every day. Gum works pretty well too, but you have to time that well. The class will inevitably whine if you try chewing gum in front of them, and using the comeback “Hey, you try talking all day and see how your throat feels afterward” is usually seen as an invitation.
*I’m always intrigued by the way the school lunch menu gets a few rewrites every year. Sometimes new items are added, but usually they just put a little twist on the old name to build anticipation until you see it’s the essentially the same thing it was last year. For example, I’m not certain about this but I strongly suspect that when the menu promises “Herb Seasoned Broccoli,” the herb to which the menu refers is actually steam. And I’m a little nervous about where we’ll be going next week when the “waffle cut sweet potatoes” make their debut. I think I would kind of enjoy the challenge of revising the names of some lunch menu items. I wonder how you get that gig.
*My school benefited from our previous principal making new technology a priority, which means that every classroom is wired with a sound system that has the teacher on a microphone. The differences in the volume levels people use make me question if we’re all using the same standard for what is considered appropriately loud, or if perhaps there are a few people beginning to experience diminished hearing.
*If anyone can explain the physics to me about how a kid can have a desk so messed up that it won’t even close when they have spent fewer than six total hours sitting at it, I’d love to get that cleared up.
*In the first week of school when the temperature is still comfortably in the 80s, everyone is an amateur meteorologist. Especially in a building like mine that is 95% non-air-conditioned and mostly made out of brick from the 1950s. Whenever somebody walks into a room or a hallway or a sunny patch in the hallway or a room that does have air-conditioning, they feel they have to comment on the temperature difference as if they are the only one who notices it. I admit I’m guiltier than most people about this. The forecast this week promises some highs in the 60s, which for me means sweatshirts and shorts weather. I am so psyched about this I can’t even begin to tell you.
*I always forget how many new people there are in the building when I read e-mails from the office, then I remember the secretary has to go over procedural points a lot of people don’t know about yet and it makes me so glad she’s the one doing that kind of thing and not me -- pretty sure I wouldn’t have the patience. I also forget that it’s easy to spot the people who have less patience with others when it comes to e-mail. I’m assuming if someone sends the entire building mailing list a message written in a 72-point font, they are reaching the end of their rope.
*My favorite moment of clueless innocence so far this year: One of my girls proudly showed me the tennis-ball shaped chicken she had securely suction-cupped to the inside of her desk. Perhaps only a day after I had made a point about how much I did not want to see anyone keeping toys in their desks.
And yet, I still so truly love my job.
*When you have eighty-five students, you really have to work at getting to know them all. Some stand out early for different reasons: The sneaky kid who’s surprised when you catch him doing the same stuff you’ve caught sneaky kids doing for two decades; the one who is slightly less animated than a sack of potatoes; the one with the distinctive voice you’ll hear echoing in your head while you try to fall asleep at night; the one who seemed so pleasantly energetic at first but is already overwhelming you by Day 3, and so on. I consider it a major accomplishment if I can remember every name away from the visual context of the seating chart by the end of the first week. I think I might be there so far. Maybe. Probably not.
*In my building, at least in the past few years, there’s been quite a turnover in the staff. We were pretty stable for a long run there, which explains why even though I’m twenty years into that staff I might not even be in the top third when it comes to building seniority. But having so many new adults show up can really be confusing. It takes me a lot longer to learn and remember the adult names because many of these people are in positions that will have our paths crossing so infrequently I might actually go an entire academic year without exchanging anything but incidental passing greetings with them. It takes me so long to match the new adult names with the new adult faces that descriptors just begin to build in my head to help me keep them straight: “Sunflower Hat Lady,” or “Body Glitter Neck,” or “Transparent Blue Water Bottle” or “Machine Gun Laugh” to just invent a few off the top of my head that I’ve never actually used but are somewhat indicative of the types of descriptors I'll use.
*I’m not doing a commercial or anything, but Vitamin Water Zero is way better than Propel Zero when it comes to keeping your throat lubricated when you aren’t used to talking for six consecutive hours and suddenly have to start doing it every day. Gum works pretty well too, but you have to time that well. The class will inevitably whine if you try chewing gum in front of them, and using the comeback “Hey, you try talking all day and see how your throat feels afterward” is usually seen as an invitation.
*I’m always intrigued by the way the school lunch menu gets a few rewrites every year. Sometimes new items are added, but usually they just put a little twist on the old name to build anticipation until you see it’s the essentially the same thing it was last year. For example, I’m not certain about this but I strongly suspect that when the menu promises “Herb Seasoned Broccoli,” the herb to which the menu refers is actually steam. And I’m a little nervous about where we’ll be going next week when the “waffle cut sweet potatoes” make their debut. I think I would kind of enjoy the challenge of revising the names of some lunch menu items. I wonder how you get that gig.
*My school benefited from our previous principal making new technology a priority, which means that every classroom is wired with a sound system that has the teacher on a microphone. The differences in the volume levels people use make me question if we’re all using the same standard for what is considered appropriately loud, or if perhaps there are a few people beginning to experience diminished hearing.
*If anyone can explain the physics to me about how a kid can have a desk so messed up that it won’t even close when they have spent fewer than six total hours sitting at it, I’d love to get that cleared up.
*In the first week of school when the temperature is still comfortably in the 80s, everyone is an amateur meteorologist. Especially in a building like mine that is 95% non-air-conditioned and mostly made out of brick from the 1950s. Whenever somebody walks into a room or a hallway or a sunny patch in the hallway or a room that does have air-conditioning, they feel they have to comment on the temperature difference as if they are the only one who notices it. I admit I’m guiltier than most people about this. The forecast this week promises some highs in the 60s, which for me means sweatshirts and shorts weather. I am so psyched about this I can’t even begin to tell you.
*I always forget how many new people there are in the building when I read e-mails from the office, then I remember the secretary has to go over procedural points a lot of people don’t know about yet and it makes me so glad she’s the one doing that kind of thing and not me -- pretty sure I wouldn’t have the patience. I also forget that it’s easy to spot the people who have less patience with others when it comes to e-mail. I’m assuming if someone sends the entire building mailing list a message written in a 72-point font, they are reaching the end of their rope.
*My favorite moment of clueless innocence so far this year: One of my girls proudly showed me the tennis-ball shaped chicken she had securely suction-cupped to the inside of her desk. Perhaps only a day after I had made a point about how much I did not want to see anyone keeping toys in their desks.
And yet, I still so truly love my job.
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