Not So Good Sunday

It's Spring and we got about 6 inches of snow yesterday in Tulsa. Nice. I've got a couple things that I want to write about, serious things about relationships and so forth but I feel like crap right now. My wife is asleep and my son is still up even though it's almost midnight here so realistically I know that even if I try to write it probably won't come out the way I want it to and I'll sit up until it's really late as I keep changing and editing and will ultimately end up being disappointed with the final result. With that in mind I'm going to cut my losses and do my usual video/song thing about an 80s song that wasn't widely known. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be on my game a little better and finally get this stuff out of my head that's been floating around for a few days. So here we have the band Mission Of Burma and their song That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate which was released originally in 1982. They formed in Boston in 1979 but disbanded only 4 years later due to their guitarist/vocalist developing tinnitus and then reformed in 2002 and have released 3 albums since. There is an added bonus of Tulsa being mentioned in the song so it fits for me right now. Anyway, here we go..............

Street Dogs - Real Boston Punk Rock

Recently I’ve been feeling like listening to some good street punk music. I started looking for my copy of "Do Or Die!" by the Dropkick Murphys but couldn’t find it so I jumped on the internet and started looking around. To my surprise I found that the original singer Mike McColgan was now in a band called Street Dogs and that they had put out several cds. I decided to give them a try and immediately started enjoying their music as soon I heard the first song and I've even been able to turn a few people on to to them. It was a surprise because Mike had left Dropkick Murphys after they released their first cd. He had always wanted to be like his uncle and become a Boston firefighter and the band knew this in advance. His number came up and he walked away with no regrets and the DMs recruited Al Barr from The Bruisers. For me though it just wasn’t the same without Mike and I drifted away from their music although history has shown that the band has had great success. After a few years though the music bug bit McColgan again and he started playing with Johnny Rioux and eventually they formed the band Street Dogs. He now no longer is with the Boston Fire Department and is giving music his full attention.

While researching about the band I was able to read a short interview that Mike had done and he was asked about his military service. Like me he had served in the first Gulf War. I have always had a habit of downplaying my role in the military and the war since I never saw combat nor had to fire my weapon however I was in Saudi Arabia for over six months and it did end up costing me something personal. In the interview Mike talked about his role in general and how just being there changed people. He never stated if he had seen combat or had to fire his weapon or just what his role was but it didn’t matter to me. He spoke the truth about how life changing it was and that resonated deeply with me to the point that I quickly banged out some lyrics for a new song about my own experiences in the war. Now I’ve been writing lyrics with my best friend Tom for a while and have had a hand in most of the lyrics for his band in some form or another but I’m unsure if they will ever do anything with this one. My mind was definitely occupied with punk music when I wrote the lyrics and that’s how I see this one coming out once music is married to the words and the thing is that Tom’s band is not punk. I'm unsure if their sound is what i want for these particular lyrics. Time will tell of course just what will happen with the song so i'll just be patient.

On a side note I went to Street Dogs website (http://www.street-dogs.com/) and through their links have found several other bands whose music I like such as Everybody Out!, TAT, Against Me and Death and Taxes. Even better, Street Dogs will be playing in Oklahoma City on March 20th at the Conservatory which is only about an hour and a half away and it only costs 10 bucks to get in! The wife has already been alerted and given her approval so I’ll be there more than likely solo barring any weird circumstances that pop up in the meantime. I’m certain to be one of the oldest people there but that’s okay as long as the music is loud and good which I know it will be. Just don’t expect me to get into the pit, I’ll only end up hurting or even worse embarrassing myself. Many thanks to Street Dogs for their music and in particular Mike McColgan for providing the impetus to make me rethink my role in the war and (hopefully) write some good lyrics about it. Hope to see you guys at the show in March.