So today I’d like to write about my son, my love and my Pearl Jam! (how possessive of me eh?). Without all the colorful details, my son has been a potty training champion. I have been proud and ecstatic of his many milestones as he approaches two & half years old (yes, it has been that long since you’ve come for a visit! Tough to shake that old Portuguese/Catholic guilt programming), but I have not been this excited about bodily functions – ever. As the parents who read this know, this is one stage you’d like to see them graduate from quickly. He must have been really tired of us always saying, “Do you have to pee?” because now he tells us when it is time to pee. He’s graduated, what a champ!
With autumn on the doorstep I am very thankful for the great summer we had especially music camp, which was fantastic. We sang songs, played games and enjoyed learning about some instruments like drums, egg shakers (his favorite), the xylophone, finger cymbals, sticks and bells. A nice change for him from music history 101 that he gets at home with guitars, harmonicas, didgeridoos and listening to everyone from Bach, Zeppelin, Queen to K-OS, DJ Ztrip & Blitzen Trapper. If those ears of his could only talk. Yes, he has heard some Pearl Jam too! I do listen to a wide variety of music but at this moment I’d like to talk about Pearl Jam.
Back in the early 90’s I was listening to Nirvana’s Nevermind CD on a vacation in the Bahamas. One night I took it down to the dj to play Smells Like Teen Spirit followed by another CD I brought, Rage Against The Machine. I was one of only three guys on that dance floor banging my head into whiplash oblivion. When I returned back to school after the holidays I remember being at a friends house and I heard some music coming from one of the bedrooms upstairs. This time instead of the inaudible noise of someone who can’t sing I was hearing a strong voice calling me out. There was my friend Bob getting ready for a good ole fashioned pub-crawl and singing along “well I’m still alive.” I asked him what he was listening to and it was the Pearl Jam Ten album. I’ve been hooked ever since.
I have always been in love with songs and albums but I never had the constant craving to see live music when I was younger. Maybe going to see a WWF wrestling match back in the day of Koko BWare and the British Bulldogs left a bad taste in my mouth for live entertainment. Fake, fake, fake. Of course once I started working in the music industry that changed to the point of seeing too much live music for a good chunk of my life, mostly unsigned bands. So after buying all their albums and following their career for the last decade or so I’m finally going to see Pearl Jam live tonight in Vancouver!
When I hear a Pearl Jam song or any song the band performs with Eddie Vedder – I know they mean it. They play with their hearts, with conviction. They give it up, they share it and it is out there to be experienced. After listening to the first single, The Fixer, from the new album Backspacer a hundred times or so, it was great to finally have the album in my hand. Now I look forward to a great concert tonight. I hope my six degrees from Pearl Jam some how come through tonight with some back stage passes. Eleven years ago I met the woman sitting beside me right now and as I write this our son dances to a Ben Harper song. How lucky are we that Ben Harper is opening up tonight, unbelievable?
“Are you writing about me right now as I…..,” she giggles.
Years ago I had this dream where my wife and I were out in the ocean on our surfboards and Eddie and his girl join us. Nothing is said but we all acknowledge the great swells and then we catch a wave. I then woke up and wrote about it. Maybe tomorrow I’ll wake up after seeing them on stage and I’ll write some words once again, words that may inspire entertain and sometimes provoke you.
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