I read this article from The American Oxford a few years about Old Crow Medicine Show’s journey to relevance, and it blew me away. I really feel like everyone should read it, if only to see that there are still people out there who will chase something…simply for the love of it.
Ever since the first read of the article, thoughts of taking to the road to play music have crept into my conscious on a regular basis. Sometimes fueled by the “need” to get away from things that troubled me, and sometimes triggered by the desire to see the country…or maybe even the world. One highway at a time. One small town at a time.
It didn’t exactly help that I became infatuated with road trips after my #seattlebound trip with Kromer and Meg this past summer. Now, all I can think about is how to pull off the next one. Where do we start? Where do we end? Does it matter? Maybe we just hop in a car and drive aimlessly, with our only goal being to get back home within some defined number of days. Or, maybe I finally realize the dream of riding my bike across the country with some friends. It really doesn’t matter. All that matters is that there’s an insatiable appetite to see more. I take that back. All that matters is that I actually sate that appetite somehow. Someday. The other important part is having a great group of people to travel with.
Of course, I’m not really talented enough to pull it off, musically, nor am I so debt-free that up-and-leaving is an option. Then, who do I know that’s also 100% with me in this journey? Alas, my logical mind takes over and keeps me planted, but the ideal…oh the ideal that my daydreaming self thinks about. It’s simply beautiful. Imagine having no bills, and only needing enough money for gas, car repairs and food. Imagine taking to the road and finding gigs, meeting random people, making new friends, seeing the beauty and sadness around every turn in this country. When 9-to-5 no longer means seeing the world through a computer monitor, but seeing it in-person. Taking in the realness of such a vast country and world. It’s a breathtaking idea. Now top that off with doing something you absolutely LOVE…like playing your music.
It may never happen for me, but I can’t stop admiring the people who have and will continue to make their dreams happen. I saw this video today featuring Mumford & Sons that sparked my memory of that OCMS article again, and of course, reminded me of that idealist concept that’s permanently nestled in the not-so-deepest regions of my mind.
I really hope bands like Old Crow and Mumford & Sons continue to find success. They’re my vicarious breath of fresh air…
Fortunately, our little band, A Victimless Crime (AVC), was fairly prolific when we were playing together on a weekly or bi-weekly basis a few years ago. Well, at least Scott was prolific in coming up with lyrics.
“In Loving Memory” was the last song we started working on before Scott moved to Texas, and Mundis and I have been itching to finish it. Unfortunately, we got used to the itch and never scratched it…until this weekend.
It’s far from done, and I only brought my acoustic to record, but this is the first time it’s really in a somewhat presentable form. Take a listen and let us know what you think!
Here’s the thing. I’m actually a fan of the Steelers, I’m just not a Steelers fan. I respect the organization. I respect how hard they play, and how they’ve established a winning mentality throughout the organization. To this day, I swear they epitomize the concept that it’s not necessarily the talent you have, but the mentality instilled in an organization that truly develops talent into winners as that talent seeks to uphold the high expectations of the organization. They’re not a talking organization, but a doing organization.
You can’t hate the Rooneys. You can’t hate this city. Trust me…Pittsburgh is a great place to live and gets better each year I’m here. I can’t even hate the colors considering they were my high school’s colors. You definitely can’t hate the uniforms, although those yellow throwback helmets leave a lot to be desired. You can despise the annoying Terrible Towels showing up in every damn stadium, but you can’t hate the fact that the money goes to the Allegheny Valley School (which I opted to donate money to instead of purchasing a Terrible Towel for the Winter Classic. You can donate here).
Yes, it’s annoying that they keep beating the Ravens in big games, but the Ravens are a young franchise with their first potential franchise quarterback. It’s not surprising that the Ravens are chasing an established organization like the Steelers, so I never expect the Ravens to win those games. It’s also what makes those rare victories so sweet. It’s like the student finally beating the master. Hopefully that time eventually comes, but until then the frustrations of playing catch-up will remain…and that’s something I accept.
Which leads me to why I’m not a Steelers fan: the fans, themselves. Now, don’t get wrong, there are plenty of Steelers fans who are just awesome fans. Great friends of mine, who grew up here and are legit fans. My girlfriend is a huge Steelers fan as well as her family, so I know good fans exist, but from my experience living here as a whole, they’re an unbearable bunch.
“Oh, Will, you’re just being a hater…”
Look, while the organization carries itself with a regal confidence, the fans are far from a reflection of that. There’s a downright arrogance bred from the past 36+ years of success that really turns me off of the whole scene. Would it be easier to deal with if I wasn’t from Baltimore? I’m not sure…really. I’m just not sure. It’s less about my team, and more about the annoyance of the fan base.
I think what made the idea of the Steelers of the 70’s so cool to me was the futility of the organization prior to that. Over 40 years of nothing followed by an economic meltdown in the city, made the thought of a football dynasty seem awesome. It’s a great story with great characters that you just want to love, regardless of who you root for. It would be like the Lions having a dynasty over the next ten years. Imagine that story. You’d be hard-pressed to find sports fans who didn’t like it (Bears, Vikings, & Packers fans excluded). In the 70’s, the Steelers were growing from their underdog status into something great. Unfortunately, for a fan base rapidly eating up the last of their humble pie, the Steelers never stopped winning.
Yeah…there was the 80’s, but still, 15 conference championship games is a serious accomplishment. 6 – soon to be 7? – Super Bowls is an amazing feat. The problem is, with success comes two things: fan arrogance and opposing fan hatred. Look no further than the Yankees if you want an example of the whole concept. But what is it that really creates the opposing fan hatred?
The fans. Period. It’s the incessant bragging about success, and how your team doesn’t have any. It’s the overreaction of a bad year after a Super Bowl victory. As Bill Simmons said in an old Page 2 article:
“After your team wins a championship, they immediately get a five-year grace period: You can’t complain about anything that happens with your team (trades, draft picks, salary-cap cuts, coaching moves) for five years. There are no exceptions. For instance, the Pats could finish 0-80 over the next five years and I wouldn’t say a peep. That’s just the way it is. You win the Super Bowl, you go on cruise control for five years. Everything else is gravy.”
Complaining about your team’s troubles when you’re the most successful team in the history of the Super Bowl era makes you sound like a guy who’s complaining about how stupid his supermodel wife is. No one wants to hear you complain, dude. There’s a reason why NO ONE feels bad for Tom Brady when his season ends early. There’s also a reason why he’s probably not complaining right now.
Now the fans feel entitled to Super Bowls and success, and the Steelers have provided them with plenty of kindling for that fire, but no other fan – regardless of team – wants to have that entitled attitude thrust in his or her face at every turn. As a Ravens fan, from Baltimore proper, I don’t want to have my team’s history – or lack thereof – thrown in my face every time a Steelers fan wants to bash my team. The Ravens aren’t the Browns. Period. Seriously. So you can stop with the lame “old Browns” jokes. The Ravens are a new franchise in an old city, albeit at the expense of Cleveland (which is sad in its own right).
As a fan who was 4 when the Colts left, I had absolutely no choice in the football history of my hometown, so don’t act like you or I matter in those decisions. Congrats, Steelers faithful, on the lucky life you lead where your owners stayed true to the city and actually cared about the fans. Unfortunately, Baltimore wasn’t blessed with great owners near the end of the Colts era, so…enter the nothing, followed by the Stallions, followed by the Ravens. It’s not an illustrious story like the Steelers, but it’s the only story I get to tell, so it’s highly irritating to bring up over and over…and over…and over.
So, really. If you want other fans to “embrace” the Steelers success like everyone here keeps telling me to do, do something for me. Don’t act like Yankees fans…be humble, and stop doing such a great job at ruining how much of a fan I am – and all football fans should be – of the organization.
Despite having one of the more blogable years of my life in 2010, I didn’t actually set aside the time to write or update my blog. It’s actually a shame because it was seriously an awesome year. I never travelled so much, and experienced so much stuff that could make a person reflect on himself and the world around him. It was an eye-opening year, so hopefully I’m able to take some of the things I experienced and apply them to my writing this year.
I just know that it’s a new year, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m feeling good, eating better, and working on becoming (gasp) an adult. It only took 30 years, but I think I’m finally focusing on “the important stuff.”
Maybe it’s Twitter’s fault for allowing me to put my thoughts out there with minimal editing or hesitation. Maybe it’s because I was actually too wrapped up in living to actually write about it. Who knows…all I do know is that I’m going to actually update my blog again, and hopefully find a direction to take it in. Until that direction comes to me, I’m going to simply write, create, and share again.
Last night signaled our first night back bowling in a league setting, and really, for most of the team, the first time bowling in any semi-serious capacity since the end of the 2009 Fall PSL session. I know for me, I’ve gone bowling 3 times since the end of the Fall session – two of which were Bowl For Kids’ Sake events – so expectations weren’t exactly high coming in. Add to that the fact that while PSL planned on carrying our averages from our last session over, they actually pulled our much higher team and individual averages from the 2009 Summer session over instead, and you’ve got a recipe for a complete letdown on the lanes in week 1.
Of course, it’s bowling, so anything can happen.
Our team average coming in was 696, which for a group out of practice seems difficult to match, but we ended up bowling really well and actually improved our average with games of 708, 726, and 666 while also taking all three games in week 1.
For me, you have to go back to week 7 of the ’09 Summer session to find a game where I bowled three 200’s, but I felt really strong on the lanes. I was able to keep my ball from hitting brooklyn across all three games, and I only messed up my release on three first throws all night. Of course, I couldn’t hit spares consistently, but I strung together enough strikes to keep my scores up.
Meg and Sam both bowled really well, too, improving on their averages by picking up a lot of spares and even putting some doubles together. Meg’s 179 in game 1 was her best game since week 6 of the ’09 Summer session and Sam’s 169 was her best since she rolled a 192 in week 2 of the Fall session.
Meadows started slower than we expected, but he improved as the night went on, which helped lift our third game and keep our team average up, and once we get back into our groove I have to think we’re going to put up strong scores again.
As a team, we only had 37 open frames with a combined 50 strikes! Across 120 possible frames, that’s not awful for the first week. I don’t feel like going back, but I would say those are probably our best team stats in a very long time. If we can maintain this level, our 44-pin lead over Jay’s second-place team should be enough to get us into the playoffs again!
Hopefully my roll off this week shows some consistency…
The Guitar Center Drum Off is awesome, and reminds of how little talent I possess in all things music. I own a drum kit, and I play it quite a bit, but I’m not a drummer…and thanks to this kid, I’m reminded that I’ll never actually be able to call myself one. I don’t think this is the greatest solo I’ve ever witnessed from the Drum Off…wait…maybe it is. It’s mind-blowing no matter what…
Imagine working for a place that would actually spend the money on an off-the-wall effort like this. Who knows if Puma got anything extra out of the people showing up to their viewing party, but I love the idea…especially the yellow cards as promotions. Such a non-threatening, fun way to engage with people on the street.
I remember how excited I was when AC Milan signed Ronaldinho. He wasn’t really playing all that well when they picked him up, but if the performance of most of the aging stars in the Milan camp over the years provided any hint you had to assume he’d find his form again. After watching him his highlights from this past weekend, I must say it looks like he’s back! He’s always been capable of a few highlight reel moves, but he’s finally playing highlight reel games now.
The one good thing about the NFL season coming to a close is the ability to focus on the other teams that I love following!
Willis’ stiff arm is a well-known part of his game, but the one he threw during his 77-yard TD run against the Raiders was a thing of beauty. I actually feel bad for Hiram Eugene, as his team is going to be making some serious jokes about that play when they study the game film.
Prior to yesterday’s game at Heinz Field, Steelers fans had all the optimism in the world of their 6-5 season turning around. 3 hours later? Speechless…I mean, even I’m starting to lose some faith in the mystique of the Steelers. This is a team that always seems to get the bounces and find a way to win, especially when you’re talking about a close game.
With free tickets and a free limo ride to the game provided by the Double Wide Grill, we braved the freezing temperatures to check out a game that we all presumed would end in a blowout. Yet again, the unfortunate optimism that convinces me every week that the Steelers have each game won before kickoff let me down.
After three quarters of play, the Steelers were holding a 10-6 lead, which in itself was surprising. 10 points? Seriously? The longer the Raiders kept the game close, the more I started feeling another Chiefs-like upset looming.
Of course, like the Chiefs game, the Steelers had to seemingly take control before they were allowed to blow the game…
After the Raiders took a 13-10 lead, the Steelers drove right down the field to regain the lead at 17-13…followed by the Raiders driving down the field to regain the lead…followed by the Steelers driving down the field and regaining the lead…
With our heads spinning, the Raiders got the ball with about 90 yards to go and 1:48 on the clock. This is where the Steelers of old would’ve just put the game away with a sack/strip or something, but this defense isn’t last year’s defense. Oh, and don’t let the roster fool you. Even with the Steelers injuries, no one in their right mind would’ve thought the Raiders were going to successfully run the two-minute drill needing a TD. The Raiders were missing two starting O-linemen, and well, I barely know anyone worthy of discussing on their offense, so pardon me if I chuckle at the “if we had Troy” argument. I would expect any decent BCS team to stop this Raiders team in a two-minute drill with a career backup QB at the helm. Or maybe I’m just buying into the aura of Dick Lebeau’s Steeler defense again. The lines are getting fuzzy…
Regardless, the Raiders did the exact thing that all the people who left with 4-point Steelers lead and two minutes to go didn’t expect – they won…with 9 seconds left, and Bruce Gradkowski looked like a HOF’er. Wanna see it go down? Watch the highlights (set to The Ramones’ I Believe in Miracles…listen closely…that’s a highlight itself!):
That leaves us with an interesting stat. When Megan and I attend Ravens games, the Ravens are 2-0. When we attend Steelers games together, the Steelers are 0-4, including losses against the Chiefs and the Raiders. With the possibility of us getting tickets to the game on the 27th between the Ravens and Steelers, that stat seems promising…but don’t expect to see me show up at Heinz Field full of superstitious, nonsensical, optimism. I still can’t shake my fears of the Steelers or ignore the ineptitude of the Ravens this season. Hopefully that game means something for the Ravens, and IF it does…well, I hope they find a way to win.