The Morning After My Morning Jacket

What is Rock ‘n Roll? In my mind, it is the music of rebellion. It is primal and urgent and unpredictable. It moves you and makes you move.

I love watching the old Beatles footage and the fans almost ready to pass out. The screaming for the Jonas Brothers, no matter how Disney will spin it, is just not the same.

There was a purity back then… an innocence and a loss of innocence, all at the same time. Listening to Rock n’ Roll you were a virgin and then… not. And then with the next Zeppelin or Who album, you were a virgin all over again… Madonna excluded.

Back at the start, Rock ‘n Roll was something different, something never really heard before. Nowadays, it’s hard to come up with something fresh and new and unheard of.

That’s why Rap and Hip Hop took over Rock ‘n Roll’s mantle for a while. It was more rebellious and newer and for a lot of us white folks, something we had never heard before.

I still contend that Rock is close to death. Who do we have to take the place of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, or U2 or The Stones?

I love that line in Almost Famous… when Jimmy Fallon as Dennis Hope says, “If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age fifty, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken.”

Jimmy also does this little Mick move that is brilliant, but the line stands on its own power and irony, thanks to the great Cameron Crowe.

You show me a band who has the power of a U2… or a Springsteen. I say this with no sense of irony or sarcasm or blasphemy, but seeing Bruce is as close as I have ever come to a true religious experience. He makes you realize that Rock ‘n Roll truly does have the power to move you… out of your seat, out of your head… out of your crappy day. It not only moves you up and dancing, but up and doing something… for the good of mankind.

Music is the universal language. Its sounds cut across language and accents and skin color and religion and anything else we choose to allow ourselves to be divided by. It appeals to every one of our senses.

So Rock is dead… long live Rock.

Well, okay… it’s not dead. Not yet. Hopefully not ever. And one of the reasons is a band called My Morning Jacket. I will not be as effusive as Rolling Stone magazine and call these guys the second coming… but last night’s show at the Greek hit all of rock’s notes and all of my senses.

You hear Rock, you feel it… in your chest and in your groin. You touch it, as your hands clap together, or you drum a beat on your legs or hips. Or, if you’re lucky, you feel it as you cuddle with that special someone, dancing cheek to cheek or… you get the idea.

You smell it… and oh yeah, last night we smelled a lot of it… You taste it… in the smoke from the air, or from the beer in your hand… or just by breathing in the cool, night air.

And you see it… the flashing stage lights playing with your eyes… the colors, the shapes… the beautiful young girls walking by and making you remember your more youthful days, the other guys your age looking at you and making you all remember your youthful days… the band moving and dancing and playing… Oh man, can these guys play.

This was a Rock ‘n Roll show in the best sense of the word… it was firing on all cylinders… fabulous musicianship… cool colored, prism stage lights… smoke… theatricality. It was dangerous and unpredictable… and the guys were having fun. That’s a key right there. Rock ‘n Roll has to be about having fun. When Jim James thanked people for “participating” he really meant it. And think about how important that word is to humanity… relationships… to life… to elections… PARTICIPATE!

If you don’t put it out there and leave it on the stage, then why do it. My Morning Jacket left it all out there, for us to revel in. And like the cape and towel Jim liked to wrap himself in, we were wrapped in the warmth and power of music… Rock ‘n Roll music.

The band is an eclectic mix of southern rock, country rock, psychedelic and indie rock, and I find it hard to put a tag or even a sound label on them. Imagine Jeff Buckley, Wilco, Led Zeppelin, Harry Nilsson, The James Gang, The Allman Brothers and Supertramp in a blender. Maybe that would come out as MMJ. Maybe.

Although there are definitely the standouts like Wordless Chorus, One Big Holiday and Evil Urges, a lot of their songs blend together. What you get with My Morning Jacket is more of a musical landscape, sound pictures filled with a searching and yearning. What we got last night was a good old fashioned Rock ‘n Roll show.

So, yes… Long Live Rock!

The Emmys – Sad Inspiration

I get sad watching the Emmys.  It makes me realize that I am not doing what I really want to be doing.  It’s hard not be envious of those making a living and following their dreams, all at the same time.  Such is the life of an actor/writer.  Very few of us will ever actually make it to the levels we dream of.  Like so many friends and family like to say, “you picked a tough profession.”

As we get older, at least for me, the idea of being a star quickly fades… well, okay so maybe it’s been like a slow, long burn out… but being a star is not what I want anymore.  I love my privacy, I love my anonymity, but I do want to be a working actor and writer, making enough to support myself and my family and buy my folks that condo I promised them when I was eight. 

As my mother said the other night, at the rate I’m going, the condo is going to be in a retirement home 

Hey, I’m working on it… Lots of things in the fire… Lots of things… Like this blog, for example!

What?  You want to know how much a blog pays…  Okay… Let me ask someone…

What?  What???  Are you fricking kidding me?

Here’s the thing about acting or writing or many pursuits into artistic endeavors, is that, for a lot of us, we did not pick it, it picked us.  It called to us.  I mean, who else would willingly subject themselves to the daily rejection and heartbreak that is the life of an actor. 

It also makes me think about the time wasted, both in pursuit, or, perhaps more importantly, not in pursuit.  Did I do enough?  Did I do everything I could have and should have done?

And you wonder why so many of us are in therapy.

But that’s only half of it.  Yeah, leave it to me to start with the negative.  Watching the Emmys and other awards shows does also inspire.

There is always the tale of the ones who stuck it out, against all odds, and made it… The ones who fought and clawed and slept their way to the top.  

I kid because it has never been offered to me… not once… Really… Male or female… nothing… nada… zip… 

When I walk into an office, they pull the casting couch out.  Literally.  Right out of the room.

I once went in to read for a pilot, and just as I got in the room is exactly when the creator and writer decided to go out for a smoke.  You could see a look of panic on the casting director’s face as she grabbed some random crew guy and told me I’d be reading with him.  I like to think that it was my sheer power that so commanded the room, and that as I walked in, he felt inadequate and had to leave. 

No, I did not get the job.  Jealous bastard.

Here’s what did inspire me last night… Steve Martin, Tommy Smothers… comic geniuses… Ricky Gervais, my new comic hero.  Always funny, loose, self depricating… can this man do wrong?  I cannot tell you how much I adore, admire and love this man.  The original BBC production of The Office and Extras are amongst some of the greatest TV of all time.  Brilliant!

Seriously, as much as I now love the American version of The Office, if you have not seen the original, go out and watch all 12 episodes, plus the finale.  It is right up there in my Top 5.

Taxi, MASH, Seinfeld, The Office (BBC) and Fawlty Towers (BBC).  Okay, I’d also have to include the first five years of SNL, The Simpsons, Mary Tyler Moore, The Carol Burnett Show, All in the Family and Are You Being Served (BBC).

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler… love them!!!

Steven Colbert… who I went to NU with and did some comedy with back in our Harold, Improv Olympic days in a group called the No Fun Mud Pirhanas always makes me proud.  Class act all the way.  From Strangers With Candy to The Colbert Report.  It’s inspiring to see him on that Emmy stage… and yes, okay a bit envy inducing.  There, I said it.  Sheesh.  You people want an honest blog, don’t you?

Laura Linney… great comment about “community organizers.”  You go, girl!  Point to you.

Television entertains.  Television educates.  Television inspires.  It is a tool for communication and when used objectively and in the right way, it can show us truths.  Television will be of the utmost importance this Friday night, as we get to witness the first presidential debate.  We need to recognize how important this election is, not only to us, but perhaps more importantly to our children.

Our country is broken, and on November 4th, no matter how you vote, you have the opportunity, the inalienable right, to try to help fix it.

So go, turn on your TV.  I promise to be on it soon.

No, not getting carted away by police at some protest… for a good reason.  Really.  Look, don’t worry how… I gotta guy who knows a guy who’s owed a favor.  Sheesh.