Today is the tenth anniversary of 9/11 as most people in the U.S. know. I wanted to take a second to reflect about it and the following days.
I will never forget that day (as most won't). I was working the closing shift at the Southfield, MI Best Buy at the time. I woke up and did the normal thing I always do, turn on the PC to read Emails and news, turn on the radio to Drew & Mike on WRIF for background noise and started the shower. As I'm bumbling around I hear Mike say something like "WOAH... ANOTHER ONE HIT A BUILDING!! THIS IS AN ATTACK!!" And I stopped what I was doing and paid attention to the radio, quickly signing into the PC and something I rarely did in those type of days, turned on the TV. I saw the replay of the 2nd plane, the PC finally fired up and there was all the news and speculation and I was just frozen and consumed by what I was seeing and hearing. This went on for a few hours...
I took my shower and called work to see what was going on there as Southfield is close to Dearborn which has a large Arabic community. The first person I got was Amanda at the front security podium and she was obviously (and understandably) freaking out. "I'm so sacred right now" she told me, "There is a rumor they may attack the Detroit area" Of course those rumors were in every major city. I told her to move away from the front podium to be safe and to get me Tony, the GM. Tony told me he was waiting for word and to come in, so I did. An hour later we were all sent home. The whole day just had a quiet feel to it, which was odd for all the chaos going around.
I was working in the audio department at the time and Best Buy still let us play our own stations at the time. And what I started to notice was a dramatic increase of requests, all of the most patriotic stuff of course, but WRIF is a rock station and rock isn't really known for patriotism, it's known more for the party. Yet this day I heard 2 songs requested over and over again. Both were remixed songs that included responders calls and people crying for their loved ones. One was Styx's "Show Me The Way" off their forgotten by then record "Edge Of The Century" and the other was Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA" Neither were rock songs but I hand it to WRIF for turning a blind eye to that and helping people heal.
One of the first things done after the shock wore off a little was SNL... And what was the first thing they did? Played music. Paul Simon's "The Boxer" while several firefighters and policemen stood on the other stage, covered in dust from ground zero, Rudy Guillianni was also there. It was a touching moment. Next was a huge concert where the event even moved Paul McCartney to write a song and preform it. The country was really coming together as one. I kind of miss that part of the tragedy.
A year or so later we had albums coming out inspired by the tragedy. My two faves are Springsteen's "The Rising" and Bon Jovi's "Bounce", both albums are some of their stronger works in their later years.
It's amazing to me that when everything is down and everything is chaos we turn to music to help and find common ground. It's why all these guys write here and it will always be this way.
Thank God
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
2011: The Music Year So Far
2010 was quite a year in music for me and 2011 hasn't been too shabby so far. I meant to write a post like this back in early July but it slipped my mind and here we are at the beginning of September! Before I know it, it'll be December and I'll be prepping for a Year In Review post!
So far this year I've seen quite a few excellent concerts. If I had to pick one as "the best so far" I'd have to go with Adele wsg Plan B at the Royal Oak Music Theater a few months back. It was refreshing to catch a truly great opening act in Plan B. If you have never heard of Plan B, you really should take a listen. The latest album is called "The Defamation of Strickland Banks" and it's quite good. You can locate it on any number of streaming sites to give them a try.
Adele was nothing short of fantastic live in concert. Her band was tight, her vocals were amazing and she had an interesting stage presence that you don't see much anymore. During each song, you could tell she was really feeling what she was singing. The most interesting part was when she would really let her attitude fly on a song like "Rumor Has It" but then turn all shy again the most the song was over and the applause started. It was interesting but most of all it was genuine. You could tell that this wasn't some act just to garner more applause (I'm looking at YOU Taylor Swift...).
New music this year has been so so. I was looking forward to the new Beastie Boys album but it let me down in more than a few ways. I've listened to it a couple of times at the most but there's been nothing drawing me back to it. Hands down the best record released so far in 2011 is Wasting Light by Foo Fighters. It's easily their best work and by far the best rock album released this year. That record together with Adele's 21 are probably my two favorite overall releases so far.
We've also lost some immense talent thus far. Jani Lane and Amy Winehouse seem to have both succumbed to their respective demons which is sad for many reasons. I'm sure 2012 will bring the usual bombarding of unreleased material from at least the Winehouse camp. Jani Lane was prepping many new songs for a solo project and I do hope we get to hear those tracks. I don't expect that release to be near as high profile but I certainly hope it gets some attention.
The rest of 2011 holds some cool things for me musically. I'm very much looking forward to the new album "Kicking & Screaming" from Sebastian Bach. A new solo album from Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes) is due in October along with a solo tour that I'll be attending. I'm also excited to report that I'll be seeing the one and only Garth Brooks in concert at the Encore in fabulous Las Vegas on September 23. As soon as I return from Sin City, I'll be writing up a review of the event. I'm also hearing the Guns N' Roses will be starting a US Tour in Miami in the end of October. I would imagine they'll make their way to Detroit by the end of November or the beginning of December. Needless to say, I'll be attending. If you want to check out GN'R live prior to the US Tour, you can see them at www.youtube.com/rockinrio near the beginning of October. They're known for putting on quite a special show each time they've appeared at the Rock In Rio festival and I'm assuming this time won't be any different.
What did I miss? What concerts did YOU see this year that I should've? What new albums did YOU check out that I should? Did you discover or re-discover an artist this year? TELL US ABOUT IT! Log in and leave a comment below, let's get some music discussion going!
So far this year I've seen quite a few excellent concerts. If I had to pick one as "the best so far" I'd have to go with Adele wsg Plan B at the Royal Oak Music Theater a few months back. It was refreshing to catch a truly great opening act in Plan B. If you have never heard of Plan B, you really should take a listen. The latest album is called "The Defamation of Strickland Banks" and it's quite good. You can locate it on any number of streaming sites to give them a try.
Adele was nothing short of fantastic live in concert. Her band was tight, her vocals were amazing and she had an interesting stage presence that you don't see much anymore. During each song, you could tell she was really feeling what she was singing. The most interesting part was when she would really let her attitude fly on a song like "Rumor Has It" but then turn all shy again the most the song was over and the applause started. It was interesting but most of all it was genuine. You could tell that this wasn't some act just to garner more applause (I'm looking at YOU Taylor Swift...).
New music this year has been so so. I was looking forward to the new Beastie Boys album but it let me down in more than a few ways. I've listened to it a couple of times at the most but there's been nothing drawing me back to it. Hands down the best record released so far in 2011 is Wasting Light by Foo Fighters. It's easily their best work and by far the best rock album released this year. That record together with Adele's 21 are probably my two favorite overall releases so far.
We've also lost some immense talent thus far. Jani Lane and Amy Winehouse seem to have both succumbed to their respective demons which is sad for many reasons. I'm sure 2012 will bring the usual bombarding of unreleased material from at least the Winehouse camp. Jani Lane was prepping many new songs for a solo project and I do hope we get to hear those tracks. I don't expect that release to be near as high profile but I certainly hope it gets some attention.
The rest of 2011 holds some cool things for me musically. I'm very much looking forward to the new album "Kicking & Screaming" from Sebastian Bach. A new solo album from Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes) is due in October along with a solo tour that I'll be attending. I'm also excited to report that I'll be seeing the one and only Garth Brooks in concert at the Encore in fabulous Las Vegas on September 23. As soon as I return from Sin City, I'll be writing up a review of the event. I'm also hearing the Guns N' Roses will be starting a US Tour in Miami in the end of October. I would imagine they'll make their way to Detroit by the end of November or the beginning of December. Needless to say, I'll be attending. If you want to check out GN'R live prior to the US Tour, you can see them at www.youtube.com/rockinrio near the beginning of October. They're known for putting on quite a special show each time they've appeared at the Rock In Rio festival and I'm assuming this time won't be any different.
What did I miss? What concerts did YOU see this year that I should've? What new albums did YOU check out that I should? Did you discover or re-discover an artist this year? TELL US ABOUT IT! Log in and leave a comment below, let's get some music discussion going!
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