Paul's Heart

Life As A Dad, And A Survivor

Archive for the category “Recreation”

17 Jun 2015

I Love Rock N Roll


Wow.  I just looked at my recent posts and realized that my topics have been quite heavy and it was time to write something a little more on the lighter side.  So, this is going to be a post, not about dealing with cancer, or my divorce, although to be honest, both are affected by this topic.

I rely on music to reduce stress and get me through difficult times.  I use image and visualization, along with the music to get me beyond my difficult times.  And the great thing, for the most part, at least the way that I enjoy music as of late, it is free.

I will start on a small scale.  If I can find a place that offers free music, and great local talent, I will be there.  I have some favorite bands down here that will find me in their audience regularly.  I do not dance.  And although I do enjoy karaoke, I have not joined any of them on stage.  When I go to hear them, it is all about hearing good music, cover songs, or originals.  And I have no problem giving them plugs right here, Essence, The Steve Peterman Trio, and the Robert Williamson Band.

But when I am sitting in my apartment, I usually have either my radio on, or listen to my CD’s, and so that no one things I am that technically disadvantaged, I also listen to my Ipod.

The thing is, I have listened to music my entire life, and as I hit my fifth decade at the end of the year, I have been listening to a lot of music over these years.  And that means that the bands that I listen to are quite old.  In fact, many of them are still recording and performing.

But is it right for a band to call itself by its original name, when the band is made up of different members than what it originally started with?  I am talking beyond the “Mike Love” and “Beach Boys” split concerts, and of course, members of fifties bands appearing solo on cruise ships.

These days, it is very rare for bands to have retained all of their original members.  Two of my favorite bands are Green Day and U2.

green day u2

Green Day has been around since the 1990’s, and U2, well, I remember playing them on college radio before they became popular courtesy of MTV.  But both of these bands have retained their original members and are still going today.

Over the years, lead singers seemed to want more notoriety than just being front men for the majorly successful bands.  Many wanted bigger “pieces of the pie,” and in some cases, personal issues were the cause for departures of bands.

inxs1

INXS was a popular band in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  But with the suicide of lead singer Michael Hutchens, the band just waited for an opportunity to regain its success.  But you just could not do it simply by replacing Hutchens.  INXS had a sound.  So a television show was created, called “Rock Star” in which a new lead singer would be found, ala “American Idol” like competition to become the new lead singer of INXS.  And they found one by the name of JD Fortune.

inxs2

Fortune’s voice was perfect for the band to not only create new music, but perform INXS classics.  Alas, the relationship did not last long, and I have long not heard anything new from INXS.  But they are not the first, nor will they be the last to try to continue their history.

ASIA

asia1 asia2

A supergroup consisting of members from already successful bands, they had two gangbuster albums, and then split up.  The group had a variety of other members, but it was not until the late 2000’s that the original band reunited, and yes, they were just as good as in 1982 when they debuted.  But the thing is, no one wanted to hear the “other” lead singer, John Payne, because we knew it was not John Wetton.  If we were going to pay for an “original” band, it needed to sound like it.

chicago 1 chicago 2 chicago 3

Chicago

This band has seen numerous changes over the years, including the tragic death of guitarist Terry Kath.  But it really was not until one of the voices of Chicago, Peter Cetera chose to pursue a solo career, that the band had to look for the “sound” to replace Cetera.  And they found it in Jason Scheff.  With a similar sound to Cetera, joining relative newcomer Bill Champlain, Chicago was good for many more years.  In the late 2000’s however, Champlain has been replaced, but the band is still putting out the Chicago sound that has existed for nearly 50 years.  And yes, some of those band members are now approaching 70 years old.

eagles 1 eagles 2

Eagles

Pretty much, the line up has been the same.  No one has filled in for anybody.  Sure, they have broken up, left, come back, but at least when you attend an Eagles concert, you know you are getting either Henley, Frey, Schmidt, or Walsh.

Foreigner 1 Foreigner 2

Foreigner

This is a strange situation.  The band started off fairly large.  Then by their 4th album, ironically, they ended up down to just four members.  But health issues would force the “voice” of Foreigner to take leave.  Other lead singers tried to replace Lou Graham, but no one could sound like Graham, and Foreigner struggled.  That is until Kelly Hanson joined the band.  Now to be fair, currently the only original member of Foreigner is founder Mick Jones.  And for this reason, I have no problem with the band being called Foreigner.  With Hanson’s voice, and the instruments sounding like Foreigner, it is Foreigner.

Journey 1 Journey 2

Journey

Everybody knows Journey.  But when Steve Perry left, no one ever gave Journey a second chance.  Perry’s voice was so unique.  Even finding a singer with somewhat of a similar voice, ironically names Steve Oteri, there was no sound like the old Journey.  Until the band discovered Phillipino Arnel Pineta, and they have been going strong ever since with original members Neil Schon, Ross Valory, and of course, Jonathan Cain.  Yes, they still get to call themselves Journey.  And continue to put out new music.

Styx 1 Styx 2

STYX

Another one of my favorite bands, this band has had its share of tragedy as well.  After frontman Dennis DeYoung split for whatever reason you want to believe, the original drummer of Styx died.  But just as other bands have successfully done, they found the right musicians and the right “voice” to make up for the losses.

And finally…

vh1 vh2 vh4 vh3

Van Halen

This is one of the stranger histories.  Lead singer David Lee Roth.  Lead singer Sammy Hagar.  And if you want to count former lead singer of Extreme Gary Cherone.  Then back to lead singer Roth, minus bass player Michael Anthony replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen.  Ugh.  For me, the only lineup I did not care for, was with Cherone (though I do like him in Extreme).

But the bottom line for me has always been, put out great music.  Perform good music.  And as long as you have at least an original founding member in the band, you may still use its name.  And if you need a vocalist that sounds like your history, I am okay with that as long as you are not lip syncing, and you actually sound like the band.

There are a lot more bands that I like that have gone through this process… Heart, Def Leppard, .38 Special, and more.  Is it better to be like Led Zepplin or the Beatles and to say, “not all of the original members, you don’t get to be that band anymore?”  Perhaps.  But then again, reincarnations of popular bands, even as either entirely new entities, or supergroups, have not been as successful as the bands I mentioned above.

Posted in Inspired By..., Recreation and tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
09 Jun 2015

One Of The Greatest Summer Jobs


Two things have sparked me to write this post today.  One, was a recent post on my Facebook wall, and the other, well, it is the end of the school year for many, and that means for graduating seniors, filling their final Summer as a high school student before most likely heading off to college.

dorney1

Amusement parks are a great employer for young adults to earn money during the summer.  They offer a variety of jobs from environmental (cleaning up patron’s litter), food and game concessions, and of course operating rides.

I spent two Summers working at Dorney Park (and I am intentionally referring to it that way – I will explain later on in this post).  My first was at the end of my sophomore year, being only 15 years of age, I worked the game concession stands.  Because of my age, my hours were restricted, and the pay, well, that was not great either as the park was not required to pay the minimum wage (which at the time I believe was $3.35 an hour).  But there were perks, discounted food, and of course, I was able to ride the rides following my shifts for free.

dorney2

My senior year of high school would be the most fun working at Dorney Park.  I was a ride operator for nearly every ride in the park.  That also was paid less than the minimum wage, $2.35 an hour, and the hours were horrendous.  On weekends you could end up working a 12 hour shift.  But then again, the perks of being a “cool” ride operator, made it all worth it.  I made so many friends that year.  And like I said, I got to operate nearly every ride.  My favorites were the Sea Dragon and Thunder Creek Mountain.

dorney3 dorney6 dorney5

I do not do amusement parks much anymore these days, but my children definitely enjoy them.  My oldest is a seasoned roller coaster enthusiast, and my youngest is not far behind, hampered mostly by height restrictions until she is tall enough.

My children will never really get to experience the memories of a “family” amusement park like Dorney Park once used to be.  Once a free admission park, you only paid for tickets to ride the rides.  In fact, you used to be able to drive through the middle of the park for no reason, other than to just tease the kids on your way somewhere or running an errand.  They enjoy the mega amusement parks, but for those of us, who grew up with the simpler amusement rides, I can think of only one park anymore that may still hold that feeling yet, Knoebel’s Grove in Pennsylvania.  Still a free park I believe, Knoebel’s builds itself with “retired” amusement rides, and yes, they have some quality roller coasters.

dorney7 dorney8

Back in the day, Dorney Park was not only known for it’s “free admission”, but for its stock car races that my father used to take me to as a young boy, and also free fireworks located on the old parking lot hill next to the wooden roller coaster (hmmm… fireworks near a wooden structure probably wasn’t the greatest idea, but they avoided any problems until…).

But in the Fall of 1983, my opinion of amusement parks would change forever.  Upon arriving at the park, to pick up my end of season “bonus check”, along with many of my friends and co-workers, we stood in shock watching not only what was our employment, but for most of us, our childhood memories, go up in flames.

dorney4

The Sea Dragon, actually the first ride that I ever operated that year, still stands to this day.  However, the majority of the park, including the origin of the fire (an unattended grill being cleaned next to a wooden structure – the carousel), was decimated.  Another fire would also destroy another memory, a wooden building called Castle Gardens, a dance/roller skating hall, in the early morning hours, again, also unattended.  But my childhood memories, except for the pictures, are all gone from Dorney Park.

What would rise from the ashes is a monster of a park, no, two parks actually.  And I will not begrudge patrons who truly enjoy Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom.  I have actually been to both with my daughters in the past, and they love the park.  But they will truly never be able to have the appreciation, or the memories of what once stood there decades ago.

Posted in Family and Friends, Inspired By..., Recreation and tagged | Leave a comment
30 May 2015

Music Memories… More Than Just Healing


I was driving in my car today, and as usual, I was listening to my Ipod on shuffle.  I am not one for commercials on radio, nor hearing the same song played over and over.  And while I deal with the temporary absence of my daughters, I look for ways to keep us interacting with each other, as well as the having the ability to trigger memories that of course lead to conversation.

With my daughters older now, I do not have many reasons to listen to children’s radio anymore, such as Disney Radio.  But I still have the songs on my Ipod from those years ago when I did listen to them.

The song “Kiss The Girl” from “The Little Mermaid” sung by Disney actor Ashley Tisdale came on.  This was just one of my oldest’s favorites to blast out with her young lungs, especially the “la la la la la” parts of the song.

song1

But this was not the first time that Madison had shown her ability to just pick up a song after hearing it played just once.

song2

At the age of just 18 months, she picked up the chorus of “Since U Been Gone” from Kelly Clarkson.  Okay, so the words were not easy to make out, but when the chorus hit, the sounds came out right on the words, and the pitch was perfect.

Of course, a couple of years later, this ability for Madison to imitate the songs, drew the attention of daycare with her next favorite artist.

song3]

Avril Lavigne had a huge hit with the song “Girlfriend”.  It was a very catch tune.  Played constantly.  Very sassy.  But what you heard on the radio and saw on the video was not what you downloaded from ITunes.  In the unedited version, Lavigne drops an “MF” bomb surely never to see the airwaves, but on young influential minds listening to Ipods…

So  anyway, I get a phone call from the daycare saying, “Mr. Edelman, we have to talk to you about Madison.  She is singing a song that is inappropriate for her age.”  Now of course, I am still on either Clarkson or Tisdale, though I knew Madison had a new song she was beginning, and it was Lavigne’s song.  So the instructor told me that it was “Girlfriend” and all I could do from chuckling, I asked, “was it edited or unedited?”  Fortunately, Madison was only hearing and singing the edited version of the song.

The very first time I realized that Madison had an interest in music, I just happened to be looking in my rear view mirror.  She was about 13 months at the time.  Of course, I listen to any genre of music for the most part, but my favorite category is rock.

song4

In the back seat, Madison’s head was “banging” to ACDC’s “Back In Black.”  While Madison may be adopted, she was definitely my daughter.  Never missing the beat, especially with the intro, I knew good things would be coming from her, if we kept giving her musical opportunities.

To be honest, both of my daughters have interest in music.  Madison still likes to sing.  She dabbled a little bit with piano.  Emmalie enjoys singing, flute, and violin.  She too studied piano for a short while.

I really wish that our school systems would recognize the value that music and the arts provide in challenging our students, while at the same time, teaching our children, and helping our children.  It has to be more than just parental direction because let’s face it, our children spend most of their day in school, with the teachers.  And teachers are the ones who know how to use this tool to help make our children not only smarter, but also, well rounded.

Of course, all these years later, Madison has moved on through all the phases of popular singers that kids listen to, and her current favorite is Anna Kendrick with the song “Cups.”

song5

This love of music that both of my daughters have is not just a hobby for them.  It is a lifestyle.  It is not only teaching them, but they know that music helps to heal the people who hurt.  As my oldest daughter sang for my father for the first time, just before he passed.

I miss hearing my daughters sing.  But hearing the song played on my Ipod, which I will not delete ever, helped to bring back such a happy memory I have always kept in my heart.

 

Posted in Adoption, Family and Friends, Inspired By..., Recreation | Leave a comment

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →