C is for Clutch

Way back in 93 I was 16 and music was (and still is) my boyfriend.  I went through the journey of learning my roots of classic rock that is Bad Company and Zepplin, to discovering the anger and political commentary that was the metal gods of Metallic and Overkill.  From there, I was introduced to the punk rock of Fugazi and Minor Threat and eventually discovered the local hardcore scene and fell in love with bands like Madball, Sick of it All and Leeway.  My girl and I would go to shows basically every weekend and have a good time listening to these bands play their hearts out.

One such evening we were at Studio One and some random band takes the stage.  The singer introduced themselves and they tore into their first song with a vengeance.  The sound was unlike anything I had heard at this time, heavy rhythm guitar setting the pace throbbing and thumping into my spirit.  And then I heard the singer say this line“HariKari with a combine come dancing with me” and I lost myself.  Straight up frenzy!!! The lyrics to “Shogun Named Marcus” are some of the best wordsmithing I had heard up until this point in my short life.  

A few of the reasons Clutch became and always will be one of my all time favorite bands is that in the 23 years I have been listening to them, the sound has evolved as these musicians grew up from the hillbilly hardcore I first fell in love with to the amazing jam band they are today.  Each and every song tells a story not just a personal tale, but a tale from history or a story that they need to tell.  

If you watch The Walking Dead “Regulator”  may sound familiar to you.  They used the song for the episode Nebraska.  I love this song because it is about the passing of time and looking back on life with a smidge of regret.

“Soapmakers“ is another story that the band tells.  This song transports me into the backwood Appalachian hills filled with magic and wisdom of it’s residents.

Whenever they are in town, I go see them.  There is nothing like a Clutch show and I have the pleasure and luck to living in their home state and seeing them at the 9:30 club.  Neil Fallon – the singer, is a true showman.  He isn’t flamboyant, however, he is one of those dudes that has charisma +5.  They play mostly clubs and festivals – no arena rock here, which I am grateful for.  In a club you can get up close and personal.  The sound doesn’t travel very far to reach your ear.  Each time I have seen them (and it has been at least 23 times) they sound tight and you can tell that they are having fun up there.  There is nothing like being in a crowd of die-hard fans signing along.  It gives me goosebumps thinking about it!

Check out those links.. let me know what you think….

Blaze

photo credit: 173_Bardakci – Tur Abdin via photopin (license)

This pic could very well have been taken of me at the same age.  The first twelve years of my life were spent on 100 acres in a small farming town outside of Corvallis, Oregon.  

I was fearless when it came to my old mare, Blaze.  I would spend the day on her back, soaking up the sun, exploring the land.  The back part of the property had a stand of trees with a creek running through it.  I take her down there and pretend I was one of Laura Ingalls friends, and we were homesteading the great frontier.

Blaze was an ornery girl.  If she didn’t want to be ridden, she would rub you off by getting to close to the trees or the fences.  Her favorite move though, was to take off at a canter and then stop short.  I would tumble off and hit the ground with a thud, sometimes hard enough to knock the wind out of my sails for a minute.  Blaze, my noble steed, I imagine chuckled to herself in these moments.  She hung around to make sure I got up, investigating the grass near my stunned body in feigned indifference.  If I lay there still, and feigned severe injury, she would nuzzle my body, slightly pushing, trying to knock the breath back into me.  Getting more insistent with each nudge.  When I would finally get up and dust myself off, I imagine those beautiful soulful eyes washing with relief, as she pranced just out of reach, causing a rousing game of chase the pony.  She always let me catch her, eventually.  
I think she looked forward to those adventures as much as I did.  

A is for Accomplishment

I signed up to do the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge.. YAY!!! I don’t have a theme for the month.. Since I just found out about it today and well.. Themeing takes time.  So winging it each day!

A is for ACCOMPLISHMENT.  One thing I don’t give myself much credit for is my accomplishments.  I get so busy in living this life I am living and don’t think about stopping to smell the roses and celebrating what I have actually done.  The other part is that lovely thought process of, this isn’t important or this is what you should be doing anyway, so why party and make a big deal out of it??  

Well, because I NEED TO!!!  I need to stop and celebrate the fact that guess what, I am a pretty awesome human that has done some pretty awesome stuff.

I have:

Moved cross country on my own! Yup – I decided I no longer wanted to live in Phoenix and explored some cities – chose Baltimore.  Signed a lease, held a garage sale, packed a moving truck and me and my pups spent 4 days traveling the 2200 some odd miles,  Been here for a year and half and I am not just surviving, I am beginning to thrive!

Jumped out of an airplane!  Amusing the people on the ground because my screams were comical!

Joined Toastmasters and gave my first speech in public.  I HATE BEING IN THE SPOTLIGHT! But, i found a voice in speaking, and I want to do more.

Organized a pet food drive for my former company.  It was the first time I was ever the lead on a project like this and when I saw the amount that we raised, I cried.  I cried because it was me, and my Lucky boy, that got it off the ground and got it done.

Just thinking about and writing out those four accomplishments, they brought a smile to my face and I gave myself a bit of an internal high five.  I need to sit down and write out my history of accomplishments, even the small ones, like getting out of bed when I was to depressed to function after my break up.

Oh, and I joined this challenge, and wrote a first post… that is an accomplishment!