Beach House - Space Song

Space Song - Beach House

 "Fall back into place
Fall back" 

Baltimore has been one of those cities that’s been a constant in my life. (I grew up about 90 miles away) When my family moved to Virginia in the early 80’s I remember going to see the Orioles play at Memorial Stadium. Once Camden Yards opened in 1992, I had the pleasure of going to a few games a year. I’ve been fortunate to visit various ballparks around the country (Wrigley, Fenway, Coors Field, AT&T Park, PNC Park to name a few) but Camden is still my favorite. It just feels like home. My dad’s company hosted marketing events their in the 90’s so my brother and I would often get to tag along. Once I got my drivers license, myself and friends would make the pilgrimage at least once a year. This of course was some of the golden era for the O’s where I got to see Cal Ripken Jr, Brady Anderson, Rafael Palmeiro and Mike Mussina in all their (sometimes let’s say “genetically enhanced”) glory. One time I got to attend a pregame picnic with "all you can eat" hot dogs. I believe I got to 10 before realizing it was not a good idea. Let’s just say I didn’t see much of that game.

After college when I lived in South Carolina a good friend of mine moved to Baltimore so I would still fly up once a year to continue the tradition and expand my city knowledge beyond the Inner Harbor. Now that I’ve been able to spend more time in Charm City, I’ve collected a few favorite spots around town. (mostly crab-related of course) For crab cakes I’m going with Koco's Pub , L.P. Steamers for the full throw down steamed crabs on newspaper/get your hands dirty experience (recommend grabbing a rooftop seat if you can with views of the Baltimore Harbor) and on a trip last year I got to indulge in the world famous Crab pie at Matthew's Pizza.

Baltimore doesn’t seem to be in the news for positive things too often but to quote John Legend I love all of its “perfect imperfections.” I’ve had wonderful visits to Baltimore, met interesting people, and I can’t wait to visit again hopefully in 2021 and get back to Camden Yards. The picture to the left was back from a 2015 game. I got up to find some popcorn and beer (as usual) and as luck had it Oriole Bird himself was coming my way. Anyways this was my attempt at a selfie. I’d like to say it was an artistic shot but I was a dude in my late 30’s so it's a skill I suppose I could improve upon. In my defense judging from my eyes I may have been “in the cups” a bit.

This song from the Baltimore based Beach House came on my shuffle during dinner last week. While listening to these guys I can smell Old Bay seasoning and hear the cracking open of a Natty Boh tallboy. I feel like Beach House’s laid back, meditative, trance like world would be a perfect soundtrack to the afterlife. Whether it's purgatory, nirvana, your own planet!, or a waiting room a la Beetlejuice. The repeated lyric of “Fall Back into Place” is now a motto or mantra I like to try and follow with the current health crisis. Everyone has handled this time differently depending on circumstance and outlook but hopefully most have been able to savor a bit of this pause and been able to reflect on good memories and look forward to cherishing future events even more so. I miss seeing the news stories on how some of the planet’s environment's were healing after less congestion and punishment. Hopefully we can apply some of that narrative going forward. As a bonus track here’s Gram Parsons’ version of “Streets of Baltimore.” Have a good week everyone.

beetlejuice next in line

Gram Parsons - Streets of Baltimore

Civilized - Rollins Band

"Freedom, you ain't no freedom, you want your freedom
Your freedom is killing you man, freedom
You can't handle your freedom, hey
And now you're dying for it"

Hopefully we all had teachers that challenged you a little more than most, stayed current, and made learning an inclusive experience. That teacher for me was my high school senior year government teacher, Mr. Stableford. He'd been teaching for a while and didn’t seem worried about pushing the envelope since he wasn’t concerned about losing his gig. Plus, he was teaching high school seniors so were all 17 and 18 year old’s and I appreciated being treated like an adult. “Duke” (his first name) stood well over 6 feet tall and drove an old school pick up truck with a personalized license plate that said Grtfl Ded. He was passionate about the political system, current events, and a huge music buff. He’d always be blasting music between classes till the bell went off. One of the projects he had students do each year was to pick a song that dealt with some type of social issue and then have each student play their song, give a little history of the artist , and then talk about the issue. As an example, he played us Rage Against the Machine’s “Take the Power Back” Every time there was a curse word he would act like he was going to turn it down but instead made it louder. What a jokester. I immediately riffled through my case logic cd book trying to figure out what song I would like to share. I was a huge Rollins Band/Henry Rollins/Black Flag fan back then (and now) so I decided to go with the attached song.

Henry and his roommate were robbed at gunpoint and his best friend ended up getting shot and killed while he was able to escape.(There’s actually an Unsolved Mysteries episode about the events, wild that show is back) I can’t imagine what that would do to someone but can see why this tune was composed. This version is from Woodstock 1994. I remember my girlfriend at the time ordered the whole weekend on pay per view and I recorded this concert, Nine Inch Nails, Porno for Pyros, Green Day, and Cypress Hill. I believe I still have these performances someone on VHS. It would be another year before I would attend my first Lollapoloza so I was a wee bit young to head to New York and see this spectacle in person.

I bought the book pictured back in 1997 at a bookstore in Boston Massachusetts. Pre amazon days it was difficult to find some of the alternative books and CD’s in my town so I had to take advantage whenever I was in the big city (fortunately for me I grew up an hour away from Washington DC) I bought many Rollins books back then. The first one was Get in the Van which chronicles Henry’s beginnings with Black Flag. Henry doesn’t sing with a band anymore but he does travel the world doing his spoken word shows. I’ve been fortunate to see him 5 or 6 times. In the shows he gives his take on current events, traveling the world, and experiences from his many years in a rock band. Check it out when we can do that again.

I thought of this song after my town held a rally entitled “GunStock Rally 2.0” (cute play on Woodstock) over the 4^th of July weekend. The press put out the usually pictures of the typical "gun rally action figure"…Bulletproof Vest, Assault rifle in hand, beer belly, and some type of camo. (confederate paraphernalia and Make America Great items sold separately)  The organizers boosted 15,000 people would show up to fight the new laws that let you buy only one gun per month, give up their guns if they represent a danger to themselves or others and have a background check before purchasing a firearm.(about 250 people showed up) Wait, those weren’t already laws?

This song came out in 1994, 5 years before Columbine. I managed to make it out of my schooling experience without ever having an active shooter drill or even fearing something like that would happen. I don’t know that these measures will cut down on all mass shootings but as someone wiser than me once said,” The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Seems like a good time to change some of the variables. Oh yeah as a shout out to Mr. Stableford here’s a little two for Wednesday. Is the Rage song written back in 1992 still relevant? Uh yeah.  

Rollins Band Live At Woodstock 94 - 04 Civilized

Rage Against The Machine: Take The Power Back