Sunday, July 29, 2007

A Couple of Lazy-Sunday Questions...

...Perhaps rhetorical in nature, who's to say.
  1. Should I be worried that Freddie, at age 14, likes speed-metal and nothing but speed-metal, and is absolutely unimpressed with any music that I attempt to introduce him to? I've tried Zappa, I've tried the Beatles, Led Zep, the Stones -- all stuff he should know about before he specializes down into this ridiculous genre. He's getting to be a pretty fair guitar player, and it disappoints me a bit when I hear a speed-metal workup of the Summer movement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons emanating from his room. Where's the Keef-worship, the giggling helplessly at "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow," the fumbling attempts to play the riff from "Black Dog"?
  2. When zipping through the Washington Post Magazine's crossword puzzle, and your laptop is right there, just sitting doing nothing, is it cheating to tap Sarah McLachlan's name in at Wikipedia to get the name of her 1998 hit, which starts with an A and ends with IA and cannot possibly be "Aria" because "ME_RING" can't possibly be a word? ("Adia," for those of you playing along at home. I'd never heard of it. Not a huge McLachlan fan. Prefer speed-metal.)

13 comments:

Will Divide said...

1. Yeah, I'd worry. (Thanks for supplying another good reason why I'll remain childless.) I'd suggest dropping the bomb (or da' bom) and get him some George Clinton trax right quick. If that doesn't work -- Howlin' Wolf.

2. Life is too short for Sunday crossword puzzles.

Anonymous said...

I felt similar distress when my younger son flunked the Civil War last school year in favor of sculpting his six-pack.

Kevin WOlf said...

Since a crossword is merely a crossword, cheating doesn't even enter into it.

Re Freddie, I'm assuming from what I know of you that the Beatles, the Stones, XTC, Zappa, etc are heard often around the Acres. If this is the case, Freddie will return to this music in his own good time. Some of my favorite stuff is music my parents played when I was growing up (even - gasp! - classical). While they probably questioned my taste when I listened to the Clash and Pysch Furs, we agreed in the end on the sublime effect of Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk" and the Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes for You."

The Viscount LaCarte said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Viscount LaCarte said...

1) If I didn't like you so much, I'd suggest you start listening to it with him and then the two of you record a remake of "Satan is my Home Boy" by The Heinous Anus...or perhaps,
"Everybody Mother Fucking Wang Chung Tonight..."

2) Can you still unravel riddles, problems and puns?

thestoic said...

It's really not about the music. Sons become large people by disagreeing with their Dads. (But believe me...I feel your pain.)

Anonymous said...

i liked speed metal back when i was a youngster, too. i didn't get into Zeppelin until i was almost out of high school; no Beatles until i was out of college; and i didn't give a fig for the Stones until i was in my 30s. Zappa still eludes me.

which is to say: there will be time, there will be time for Black Dogs and Mystery Tours. there will be time for Cocksucker Blues and Yellow Snow. time for Vivaldi in the original tempo.

Adia... when i head the song, i always hear "Adia" as "idiot".

cause we are born innocent
believe me, idiot

Boldly Serving Up Wheat Grass said...

What worries me is that, given the lifespan of CDs (as compared with the vinyl, cassettes, and 8 tracks I grew up with), that music will likely survive his youth. If he's a packrat, it'll be on some shelf when he's 35, still perfectly playable. While that's sort of neat, I think back to some of the absolute crap I had at that age (e.g., at least one Dio album, not to mention a Village People album from a few years earlier) and am thankful it's all gone. Except, I do miss my completist Pink Floyd collection sometimes.

Anonymous said...

You think you have problems? I've got a 15 year old son lobbying to go see this wretchedness tonight in downtown Cleveland.

(Please note the first comment under the video. Oh, after you note the name of the band.)

I think there's a very brave dad in this group who has offered not only to take them to the concert, but to actually stay and have his brain bounce against both sides of his skull for several hours.

I swear, I would do almost anything for blue kid, but I would never sit through a concert like this.

Ever.

As to your speed metal situation? You're on your own!

And yeah, cheat at crosswords ... who cares. Just don't let you kids see you doing it.

gmfkkfu = One of Cholera's greatest hits

Anonymous said...

Forgot to say, Waking the Cadaver is opening for Cholera.

Sounds like fun, huh?

Now blue kid's lobbying for a little extra money to buy a t-shirt....

Neddie said...

Ah, well -- I hear that Waking the Cadaver has a very strong John Denver influence.

That tune Cadaver was doing in that video: That was "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," wasn't it?

Anonymous said...

1) No*.

2) Yes**.

* This is exactly what 14-year-olds are supposed to do.

** You asked "is it cheating," not "is it OK to cheat."

Anonymous said...

Take some of the rebellion out of it. Go nab a copy of Mastadon's Leviathan (the scary part is, it's actually an extremely good album) and proceed to let him catch you listening to it.