So I mentioned near the end of last year that I wasn't sure where I was going with this blog in 2020. I don't expect to be attending as many live shows this year as I did in the last two years, and I don't expect to be attending live shows in Manhattan anytime in the foreseeable future. I asked Denise if she was interested in pitching in a write-up once in awhile, as she has no plans to slow down her concert schedule. But Denise is much less of a wrestling villain than I am (as this blog is known for being a tad ... cranky, shall we say?), so she decided she wasn't interested. (Maybe I can get her to give me some verbal reviews that I can summarize for you, though, especially of her '80s Cruise in March.)
And honestly, it's not just here in this blog, or in the general area of music, I've been making changes. In the past, I used to love going to the movies, and used to attend at least 11 or 12 films in the theaters each year. Last year, the only film I saw all year in the theaters was Avengers: Endgame. Part of it is that now that the kids are grown up, they don't need Denise or me to take them when they want to go to the movies. Part of it is also simply ticket prices. Going to see a film in a theater is just a much more expensive proposition than it used to be. (Although it is kind of nice that I've reached the point where most theaters will give me a senior citizen discount.)
But just like in music, part of it is also politics. We live in a time when politics seems to work its way into every single aspects of our lives, and I'm just not interested. You can make any kind of film you want, but don't expect me to pay for the privilege of having a bunch of politics and/or modern cultural mores shoved in my face. So I anticipate continuing to be much more picky than I used to be as to where and when I spend my cinema bucks.
TV is the same. It's all about the message. My message is no thanks. (It's actually a little more explicit than that, but let's keep this column family friendly.) And don't even get me started on team sports. At this point, I'm down to watching baseball and hockey (and I'm eyeing them both suspiciously in case they get out of line.)
So if I'm attending fewer live concerts and fewer films, and watching less TV and sports, what am I going to do with my time? Good question.
The answer I've come up with is try to use it more wisely on a number of things. I've been enjoying my family time more. And since my daughter and her boyfriend moved in, I've had one more family member in her boyfriend to spend time with. (About a year or so ago, when I was trying to socialize with my daughter a little, my little hermit exclaimed in frustration, "Will you do me a favor and adopt another kid so you'll leave me alone!?" I think that's why she's moved the boyfriend in -- he likes to chat with me more than either she or her brother do.)
I'm also reading more fiction, especially science fiction. I've finally gotten around to William Gibson's Neuromancer, and I've got a couple of Robert Heinlein books on my list as well.
I've recently also gone back to an old love, professional wrestling. I don't know how long it will last -- I tend to watch in cycles for a year or two and then lose interest. But ever since they've formed the new AEW promotion to compete with Vince McMahon's WWE, I've been watching them on a weekly basis. And last week, they managed to combine three of my favorite things by holding the show on a cruise ship, and giving a little promotion to their champion, Chris Jericho's, rock band Fozzy, so you had rock, wrestling and cruises all together in one package -- now that's entertainment!
But this is a music column, so let me bring the focus back to music. I still expect to be listening to a ton of new LPs, and working my through the back catalogs of some of the more enjoyable artists I've discovered over the last few years, bands like Nightwish and Mostly Autumn.
And I've been wanting to educate myself more about certain musical genres I haven't paid much attention to in the past. Believe it or not, I've considered hip hop. And this will probably happen some, as my daughter's boyfriend is passionate about this genre and seems inclined to want to teach me about it. (I'm interested because it's really become the music of this generation, but I'm also resistant because I just don't identify with "gangsta" culture at all.)
But the genre I'm really leaning towards right now is metal, with a specific focus on progressive and/or symphonic metal. This has a lot to do with Nightwish. As you know, I named their most recent album, 2015's Endless Forms Most Beautiful, as my Album of the Decade for the 2010's. I also recently listened to their 2011 LP Imaginaerum, and really just enjoyed the hell out of it, as well. And with Nightwish scheduled to come out with a new album this April, Human. :II: Nature. (I know, pretentious title), I expect to be focusing significant attention on them this year, and starting to explore other somewhat similar bands, such as Epica, Leaves' Eyes and Midnattsol. (I'm super excited about the new Nightwish LP. Unfortunately, I see that they're spending the entire year touring Europe, so they probably won't hit North America again until 2021. And when they do, I have a bad feeling they'll be playing Manhattan and not Long Island, so I don't know if I'll get to see them anyway.)
But it's not just this sub-genre of metal I'm interested in. I never got that into classic metal bands like Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, because I never found their songs that interesting. And I never much liked the typical vocals you'd hear in most metal bands, either the high-pitched, shrieky vocals you hear in bands like Virgin Steele or the growling, so-called "dirty" vocals you hear in bands like Slipknot. (I always felt like I was listening to Orc music.)
But in 2019, I heard a number of metal bands in various sub-genres whose music really intrigued me. These included Soen, a Swedish progressive metal band whose song "Martyrs" made my yearly Top 20 list; Saor, a Scottish black metal band, whose music includes some Celtic influences; Batushka, a doom metal band from Poland, whose members dress (and sing) like eastern orthodox priests; and Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard, a Welsh sludge metal band whose album was up in my Top 10 for the better part of the year. I'm also finally ready to check out the Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil, and although I don't know how "metal" I consider them, I'm going to go back and give the latest Tool album a listen as well. (I note that out of all of the bands I mentioned, Tool is the only American one. It seems that most of the style of metal I'm interested in is only being created in Europe.)
I'll still be listening to a lot of alternative rock, of course, as well as all of the genres I usually listen to (prog rock, folk and folk rock, Celtic and Celtic rock, etc.). But I think I'll be spending a decent part of the next 4 or 5 years exploring more of these areas of metal that have recently caught my interest.
I might also, for financial reasons as much as anything else, be exploring more local music shows this year than I have in the recent past (especially as I'm not particularly impressed with what I see of the national summer concert schedule so far this year.) That's just become a little harder for me than it used to be because I need to find venues that are comfortable for me. However, the Braceland Gallery is a good start.
It seems strange to say, but assuming I make it through this upcoming decade alive and intact, by 2030, I'll be 72. My body sometimes feels old, but my mind doesn't at all. But I can tell you that as long as I'm still walking this earth, music will continue to be an important part of my life. (Unless the zombie apocalypse finally comes, of course. Then I'll probably be spending most of my time trying not to get eaten.)
So I guess that gives you (and me) a little bit of an idea as to what to expect coming up in this blog for the next year or so, anyway.
I'm hoping to make it to the Cassandra House show (with Sophie Buskin opening) this Thursday at the Patchogue Theatre's Loading Dock. Unfortunately, I popped by there Saturday and discovered it's sold out. (So kudos to House, Buskin and The Loading Dock). I've reached out to Ms. House and to the Patchogue Theatre to see if I can either can on a guest list or get a press pass, but unless I hear back from one of them, I'm gonna have to deep six that plan. (I would have bought a ticket earlier, but as my car drives pretty poorly in the snow, I sometimes like to wait until the week of a show between January and March to get some sense of what the weather is supposed to be like.)
But I do have a ticket for Cherish the Ladies at the Patchogue Theatre in March. And I'm also hoping to catch Leslie Mendelson at My Father's Place on April 11.
I'll also be keeping my eye on the local theater companies to hopefully cover some musical theater for you this year. I'm toying with the idea of catching the Argyle Theater's production of Caberet in early-to-mid March. And I'll be keeping my eye out for when the Gateway Theater releases their summer schedule, hopefully sometime soon.
Anyway, that should give you an idea of what to look forward to on this blog in the months to come. So stay safe and warm, people. And let the music flow.
