Vienna

So I went to my daughter's year-end performance this past weekend, where she has a couple of song and dance numbers with her "company."

Now this company has older girls in High School and they each had a career ending solo dance at this gig. For one of these the girl chose Billy Joel's Vienna for which to dance. (never end a sentence with a preposition).

TBH I don't think I'd heard the song before. I like Billy Joel and have learned a few tunes over the years, but as a guitar player and mainly a blues and rock player, the material never hit as hard as a Clapton or SRV solo.

Well, gulp, Vienna hit me like a ton of bricks. The metaphor is pretty obvious in the lyrics. And here I am, 15 years into my mid-life crisis, holding back tears in this theatre as this girl dances her heart out. 

Well I could beat myself up about this (per the usual) and lament my hyper-emotionality and uber-sensitivity. 

But I'm not going to do that. 

I'm going to search youtube for "vienna billy joel cover" and realize Vienna has hit so many people in the heart.

Then Ima slow down and disappear for a while.

I've been to Munich, maybe Vienna waits for me. 

Slow down, you crazy child
You're so ambitious for a juvenile
But then if you're so smart
Tell me why are you still so afraid? Mm
Where's the fire, what's the hurry about?
You'd better cool it off before you burn it out
You've got so much to do
And only so many hours in a day, hey

But you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you can just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through, ooh
When will you realize Vienna waits for you?

Slow down, you're doin' fine
You can't be everything you wanna be before your time
Although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight, tonight
Too bad, but it's the life you lead
You're so ahead of yourself, that you forgot what you need
Though you can see when you're wrong
You know you can't always see when you're right
You're right

You've got your passion, you've got your pride
But don't you know that only fools are satisfied?
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true, ooh
When will you realize Vienna waits for you?

Slow down, you crazy child
And take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while
It's all right, you can afford to lose a day or two, ooh
When will you realize Vienna waits for you?

And you know that when the truth is told
That you can get what you want or you could just get old
You're gonna kick off before you even get halfway through, ooh
Why don't you realize Vienna waits for you?
When will you realize Vienna waits for you?

Got Shorted, Big Time

Easter has come and gone…too much sugar has been ingested. Did I forget ham? I did. Ham too.

Watched The Big Short and anyone who says they get it, is lying. I was lying…down and fell asleep half-way in. This is not to say this is a bad movie; it is to say that I had been up since 4am and that the missus and I had some margs to kick off the old sat night. Recipe:

1 container Limeade into pitcher (near the ice cream aisle)

Retain limeade container and fill it with tequila, pour tequila into pitcher containing limeade

Pour 3 corona beers into pitcher containing limeade and tequila.

Drink. Drank. Drunk.

Bernie Sanders won three states and a bird’s heart.

Was able to play a little guitar this weekend in the a.m.s (mornings to the lay person) and think I found the last chord or at least some ideas for a song I should be bringing to Soundcloud in the very near future (6-8 weeks, 6 months tops). If A&M records calls, tell them I want the offer doubled and a retainer…for my teeth.

That’s it for now but don’t you go changing dear reader, to try to please me, we never could have come this far…ooh ooh oooh ooh ooh, mmm mmm mmm mmm…

Trust...Falls Of Man

I think it was Billy Joel who sang “It’s always been a matter of trust.”

I am reading E.O. Wilson’s The Meaning of Human Existence and was within the first few pages reminded of Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael.

In Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael pre-agricultural man lived at the mercy of the god(s); sometimes there was plenty sometimes there was drought and famine. But a post-agricultural man who can store a surplus of food is no longer at the mercy of the god(s).  (Cue ominous music)

Now this passage from E.O. Wilson’s The Meaning of Human Existence:

…the greatest moral dilemma since God stayed the hand of Abraham: how much to retrofit the human genotype. …We are about to abandon natural selection…in order to direct our own evolution by volitional selection-the process of redesigning our biology and human nature as we wish them to be. No longer will the prevalence of some genes over others be the result of environmental forces, most of which are beyond human control or even understanding. The genes and the prescribed traits can be what we choose. So – how about longer lives, enlarged memory, better vision, less aggressive behavior, superior athletic ability, pleasing body odor?

In Quinn’s case the running of the world can be left to the god(s) or man; In Wilson’s case the evolution of man can be left to natural selection (god(s)) or to man.

I get the feeling neither author trusts man with the responsibilities.

Do you?