Soon I will be adding this to eleventhreehundred.com. But for now, the premier is here.
The Race – Chapter 1
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Last night was a surprise birthday party for Dani’s brother. He turned 40. It was at a nice local restaurant in a private room and featured an open bar for select drinks. This is dangerous for me. I knowingly lack a few degree’s of self restraint when faced with certain pleasures of life, like free drinks and cheese. It’s a character flaw and I understand this and make a big effort to do my best and be strong.
But I awoke this morning at around 3:26AM with a screaming bladder and something like a jackhammer in my frontal lobe. I emptied the bladder, quieting that ruckus and upon climbing back into bed all the memories from the previous night came crashing back to me. And I was instantly bathed in a terrifying cold sweat.
During the course of many drinks last night I agreed to run a half marathon with Danielle’s brother and one of his best friends. This best friend is an LAPD cop and his wife competes in and runs triathlons and other crazy things. So needless to say, the guy is actually in good shape for a cop. And then there’s Dani’s brother. He scares me. He’s the classic alpha male with a mental fortitude beyond almost anyone I’ve met. To say he is extremely competitive is a vast understatement.
On one hand, these are a couple of great guys to run a race with. Except I think I stated to many, many people, many times that I would “Destroy”, “Decimate”, “Crush”, etc… etc… etc… them. Eesh. What an a-hole I am. Now, if I don’t do that, I am a REAL A-hole. Like, way more of an A-hole than I have already made myself.
Actually I have been seriously thinking of running a race of some sort. I’ve been wanting to get into better shape and thought maybe a concrete physical goal would provide the external motivation I needed. I guess I sure conjured up some motivation last night. The race is in April. A half marathon. 13 miles. I’m gonna stop writing now and go run. Hangover be dammed…
- Staley out.
New Years, Old Years and Gifts of the Past
Sunday, 3 January 2010
That’s me with my back to camera, in baggy underpants and socks with my hand on Snoopys Good Grief Glider. And that’s my brother, David Staley, sucking his finger and mugging for the camera. He doesn’t do that anymore, suck his fingers I mean. He is still very much a mugger for any camera. God bless him. And that’s my mother, crouched in the back, avoiding the camera no doubt.
And the lantern hanging at the top of the frame, well its identical to the one my mother gave me for Christmas this year, with this very photo tucked inside. It’s amazing how a poorly composed, candid snapshot can sum up so much, can pull out so many feelings and memories. Good feelings. Good memories.
That was over 30 years ago. I don’t remember much in that photo. I don’t remember Snoopy’s Good Grief Glider. I remember the rug. I remember the lantern. I have written about the lantern before and this is what inspired my mothers gift.
I turned it over in my hands. My own daughter, now older than I was in the photo above, asked, “How does it work dad?” I showed her the lever that lifts the globe and tried to explain what kerosene is. “It’s like gasoline but it smells better.” At least to me. I like the smell of kerosene. I find it comforting somehow. Sense memory. Danielle’s mother wiped away tears, understanding what the lantern meant in a way that only a mother can.
I get accused of not being open. Maybe that’s a defensive way to say it. Maybe they are not accusing, just noting. Anyways, it probably wouldn’t bother me if it weren’t true. It is true. I don’t know how to explain to people what it was like. I feel like if I do explain things, then I am exaggerating. Dramatizing. But I’m not. I don’t have to. People always ask what it was like, growing up in Alaska, the way we did. How can I answer that? What’s it like growing up in Cleveland? The truth is my youngest 3 siblings don’t even understand how I grew up. Things change. Our experiences and conditions growing up were radically different.
I write a lot about perspective. I feel like I need to take better care of my past. I need to tend the garden of my memories with more regularity. I need to look both directions down the road of life as I’m traveling. Check the rear view mirror every so often and make sure I’m taking the best turn when the turn arrives.
Some day I’d like to be a grandfather and I’d like to share these things with my grandchildren. I have serious regrets about not being able to mine a better sense of my own history from my grandparents. I think quite often of all the stories I’ll never hear. They’re all dead now. Azure loves to play with my iPhone and when I tell her that nothing like it was available when she was born it trips her out. “Really Dad?” She likes to ask what else wasn’t around. Like when I was her age there weren’t DVD’s or cell phones. “Wow Dad, really?”
I feel pretty lucky to be alive in 2010. It’s just a cool number. A cool series of numbers. But what to do? Make more money? Pay more bills? Make some cool shit? Try and have fun? Maybe go on a vacation? Get in better shape? Yadda yadda. I’ve been here 10 years. I feel the weight of that. 10 years.
Thanks for the lantern Mom, you gave me a lot to think about.
-Staley out
Inspiration Part 3
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Part One and Two are HERE
About a day after it went up it occurred to me that I had left out something very important I needed to share. Music just might be the biggest inspiration for me. I went on YouTube the other night and started pulling songs. At first I wanted to post 3 or 4. Then I knew 3 or 4 was impossible so I settled on 10. And very soon, 10 seemed far too few. I am not posting music videos, but rather live performances. Some of the sound is pretty bad. I hope you can still make out the lyrics. I spent several hours and a whole bottle of wine searching for just the right clips. I think this post is best consumed if you have the time, and perhaps some headphone in one sitting. I know that’s asking a lot but if you can manage, please take it that way. Don’t just skim through and see the titles and listen to a few seconds here and there. These songs are all stories. Great stories. And I feel like all my best and favorite stories come from songs. So lets get started.
This just might be my all time favorite song. I was going to have some of the lyrics inked into my skin at one point. I still may. I like this take. I like the slow pull into his face. And I like the breakdown in the middle. This song is so simple and so beautiful and so powerful. I think Bob Marley WAS a prophet. There is not much more I can say.
And HERE is another version by a man I consider to be one of the greatest lyricists EVER. He doesn’t sing half bad either. I first heard Chris Cornell play (opening for the next band I will feature no less) in January of 1992. He was starting their last song when we entered the Great Pyramid in Memphis Tennessee and found our seats, about 50 rows back from the stage, center. I had driven over three hundred miles with my girlfriend to get to the show, not even knowing if tickets were available. No internet back then… They wore all black. It was heavier than anything I had ever seen at that point. The sound felt so dense, like you could touch it in the air. At the end of the song Cornell started turning the tuning knobs on his guitar and snapping strings as he played. I bought the cassette tape the next day…
The last great Rock N Roll band. I saw them for the first time a few months after the clip I’m abuot to share. I had almost died a few days before in a car accident. I should have died. I had stitches in my legs and bandages on my face and arms. I could move faster than a fast wald, my lungs were badly bruised. I was in Dallas Texas at Six Flags and a guy in line in front of us at one of the rides had a T-shirt from the GnR show the night before. I chatted him up and he said they were playing again that night. We left the park imediatly and took a cab to the Amphitheater. It was an awesome, almost 3 hour show. It was the first time I heard the next song, but it was a standout for me and quickly became and remains one my all time favorite songs.
And… They also played THIS song that night. After someone threw a bottle and hit Axl, he launched into a similar diatribe and threatened to leave. Then he suggested that people in the audience find the culprit and “tear out his liver.” Good times.
Next… I love folk music. Roots music. Blues. Bluegrass. Americana. It reminds me of my childhood. There is a DVD concert from this tour and I was in Best Buy last year and saw it playing on one of the big TV’s. I came strait home and downloaded the album from iTunes. I highly recommend it. Essential. Awesome. It gives me goosebumps.
I was driving west on Beverly Blvd on a late Sunday night when I first heard this song come on the radio. KCRW of course. Again, I drove home and promptly downloaded the whole album. There are better versions, audio wise, of this song online but I like this camera angle and I like Ben Gibbards performance and how his body cant seem to contain the music flowing through it. The mastermind behind Styrofoam is a guy named Arne. I have corresponded with him for the last couple years via Facebook and the like. I’m trying to get him to let me direct one of his videos. I have faith it may happen yet as we have been connected by odd coincidences. Yes, I believe it will happen. This song is FUCKING AWESOME. Lyrics, melodies. Awesome.
HERE is the studio recording as well.
And Next…
I don’t know where I first heard Saul Williams but wow. WOW. Here is him performing with Nine Inch Nails. If you are so inclined you should search online for some of his poetry and spoken word. Fuck…
HERE is the official video which I LOVE.
OK – Speaking of songs being stories. This song is so epic. So spare and brilliant. This is an all time favorite. I can see this song playing like a movie in my head every time I hear it. I like this clip because it looks to me like these two are pretty fucking high at the beginning. Willie, “We’re uptown man.” Ray, “I like that, that’s alriiiight, yeah…” It does not get better. And maybe they’re not high, maybe just having fun, but I LOVE their delivery of the lyrics. Powerful and perfect.
And next – I have to do two songs from this band. I saw them live a few weeks after these videos were shot. And a few weeks after that they broke up forever. Both of these songs are from their last album, Fantastic Planet. I’ve worn out two copies of the CD. I don’t even think I own it anymore. But every fucking song is amazing. Everyone. These two are my favorites I think. I think…
I’m gonna put this song in a fucking movie. I guarantee.
This song makes me cry. I cried when I played this clip. The clip is the first version I ever saw or heard of it. I saw this very concert on TV a few years ago and was turned into a blubbering puddle of jello by Stings performance. It may not have the same effect on you but it gets me every time. I have the James Taylor version on my iPod.
We come to Mike Patton. It’s hard to pick a song. This guy has had so many bands and projects and been such a huge inspiration to me. I’ve seen him perform live a few times. I rode in an elevator with him once. This is pretty recent, from a project called “Peeping Tom.” It’s exceptional and you should go buy it. Now.
Last? I could go on. As I have been writing this I’ve thought of dozens more songs. Fuck. This is hard. How do you narrow down. I didn’t even post any Layne Staley. And this fucking blog is called DailyStaley. And Layne has been a HUGE inspiration and influence. I think Layne deserves his own post actually. Maybe in the future. Yes… That’s it. But as I write this it occurs to me that there is a version of the next song I am going to post with Layne joining on vocals. it’s out there somewhere…
I’ve seen Tool 8 or 9 times. It’s like nothing else. If you haven seen it then I can’t explain it. I chose this next song because of the intro. Funny. I don’t think any other band is as skilled at mixing sound and image for a combined experience as Tool. I’m not the first to say this. I also don’t think there is another band as good or successful at making fun of their audience, themselves and pretty much everything and still being taken seriously. They should be (and probably are) studied for this.
But mostly its the music.
And that’s it. Hope you enjoyed. Be well.
- Staley Out
