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Gene Simmons Can’t See the Rock Through the Dollar Signs

When KISS bassist Gene Simmons commented negatively on depression and suicide, I cheered Nikki Sixx for picking his argument apart. Now it’s my turn to pick apart a comment Simmons made.

He said rock is dead.

Mood music:

Truth is, I like Simmons. He’s given a lot to rock, and I still love listening to KISS, especially the music it put out in the 1970s and early ’80s. I love, too, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, the reality show he’s done with his family in more recent years.

But in an interview he did with his son Nick for Esquire, he said:

It’s very sad for new bands. My heart goes out to them. They just don’t have a chance. If you play guitar, it’s almost impossible. You’re better off not even learning how to play guitar or write songs, and just singing in the shower and auditioning for The X Factor. And I’m not slamming The X Factor, or pop singers. But where’s the next Bob Dylan? Where’s the next Beatles? Where are the songwriters? Where are the creators? Many of them now have to work behind the scenes, to prop up pop acts and write their stuff for them.

The more Simmons elaborates, though, the more you see that he’s talking more about the music industry’s business model than the strength of today’s music. Specifically, he blames file sharing on the Internet.

His complaints aren’t new. In the past few years I’ve heard him in interviews, lamenting how modern technology has killed the music industry. Record companies used to pay bands big bucks for their music and took care of all the musicians’ needs. Now anyone can record songs on a laptop and distribute it online.

As Billy Joel once sang, “The good old days weren’t always good and tomorrow’s not as bad as it seems.” If anything, modern technology makes it easier for musicians to be heard. I’m not yet confident enough a guitar player to put my music on SoundCloud, but I could do so anytime I want, and that’s empowering.

All that’s needed for rock to live on are musicians with the emotion and drive to keep writing, recording and playing live. Some of my personal favorites in terms of newer bands include Cage The Elephant, Avenged Sevenfold and The Pretty Reckless.

And many of the more veteran musicians I like — Zakk Wylde (of Black Label Society), Slash and Nikki Sixx (of SIXX A.M.) have or will release new music this year.

They will keep playing no matter what shape the music industry takes. As a result, the music that I rely on to get through life will never be in short supply.

Business models for the music industry will come and go. But rock will never die.

Kiss Destroyer Album Cover

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New SIXX A.M. Music

The Prednisone is making me pretty stabby of late and I’m relying on some heavy-duty music therapy to keep my temper in check. Happily, there’s a new SIXX A.M. album coming out next month and four songs are already available on YouTube.

I’m digging the new material, and decided to make a playlist here.

So here you have it, four new songs from the upcoming album “Modern Vintage.”

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Opinions Are Like Assholes, Especially on Facebook

There’s an old saying that opinions are like assholes: everyone has one. Nothing amplifies the point like a typical day on Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media.

Mood music:

The scenario typically unfolds in five steps:

  1. Someone posts a status update with emotion. It can be anger over personal situations (they stubbed a toe), sports (their favored team lost), politics, etc. Or it can be something whimsical or nostalgic, like marveling at how fast time moves.
  2. Someone reads more into said post than what may have been intended. This annoys or angers them.
  3. They put an annoyed comment under the status update. “Stop whining and accept life,” for example.
  4. Three or more bystanders see the comment and get upset.
  5. They make a comment about the comment.

Achievement unlocked: a full-throated Facebook drama.

I’ve received my fair share of emotional comments, negative and positive, over the years. I’m fine with that, because as a writer I know my strong opinion will be met with another strong opinion. I even welcome it, because passionate discussion can make us all wiser.

That is, until people get mean. Telling someone to fuck off or go kill themselves if they don’t like life’s curve balls is a pretty good example of that. Name calling also fall into this category.

When someone goes there, I shut them down. I ignore them and move on, because once someone goes there, nothing good is going to come of it.

But the drama isn’t always that cut-and-dried.

Sometimes, good people misinterpret other people’s posts and say regrettable things before thinking it through. This is usually because you can’t read a person’s intent online the same way you can when face to face. I’ve seen good people who love each other get mean on Facebook for this simple reason.

It’s unfortunate.

The online world is not same as the real world. We’ve had thousands of years to learn how to talk to each other in person, and we’re still a long way from mastering the art of personal communication.

We’ve had far less time to learn how to talk to each other online, which means we still pretty much suck at it.

I’m not going to tell people what to post or how to react to someone else’s posts. I’m still far too amateur at this to do that.

I will, however, suggest that we stop and think before diving in to the comments section.

If we pause first or seek clarification of what someone’s status update means, we may avoid some of the online drama that’s become commonplace.

We may all be happier as a result.

Scary screamer

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5 Things I’ve Done That Scare Me

A while back I wrote a post celebrating Eleanor Roosevelt’s call to “do something every day that scares you.” Rereading that post recently, I realized I forgot something important.

Mood music:

I forgot to mention how I’m living that advice and not simply parroting it to be cool. If this blog is to mean anything, I have to lead by example, though not in the ways you may be thinking of.

I’m not about to skydive from an airplane, though some day I just might. I’m not going to ride a wild horse, though that might be a neat exercise in facing fear. But not today.

Instead, I’ve been doing the more mundane things that scare me all the same. To some people they may seem like trivial accomplishments. But to me they’re significant, because I faced down fear.

  1. During DEF CON last month, I waited in big lines and walked with big crowds despite both being major OCD triggers. I managed just fine.
  2. Despite swearing I’d never take Prednisone again, I took a leap of faith and accepted the prescription to cool a battered back.
  3. Despite that back pain, I managed to drive a hitched trailer home from an already painful camping trip. I’m always nervous driving the truck when the camper is attached. Doing it in pain was a rougher deal. But I couldn’t think of a reason not to. I was going to be in pain anyway.
  4. Despite huge fears of not measuring up at work, I postponed an important video shoot so I could put my health back in order. That was scary as hell, because I had thrown a lot of time and energy into meeting a deadline.
  5. I agreed to be a trustee for my father’s realty trust, opening me up to financial tasks and decision making that are way outside my comfort zone.

Again, seemingly small actions. But these are the things that scare me, and I didn’t run away.

Tarantula walking in man's hands

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Trying to Make Peace with Prednisone

I’ve been on Prednisone for five days now, and the side effects are kicking in. My appetite has gone from zero to 100, and my moodiness is considerable.

Mood music:

But the drug is doing its work, easing my back pain from shooting, piercing spasms to a more manageable dull ache. Now I remember why they used to put me on this shit for Crohn’s Disease.

When it comes to putting the freeze on inflamed muscles and bone, it gets the job done.

Still, I wonder if the inflammation could have been dealt with using a different medication — something that won’t inflame my mood and puff up my face.

When the doctor said he was prescribing Prednisone, I let out a groan.

“What?” he asked, annoyed that I might be questioning his almighty judgement.

“Prednisone and I have a history,” I told him. “During the Crohn’s attacks …”

“But this is a low dosage, and it’s only for 14 days,” he said, using a tone one uses when addressing idiots.

This doctor is an arrogant bastard. I hope he knows what he’s doing. He’s a new doctor, so I won’t give up on him yet.

This back injury has been hard. I have to lie down and watch the world pass by, which isn’t how I prefer to operate. It’s been so bad that I’m willing to take my chances with a drug I said I’d never take again.

For now, I’m focusing on the positives:

  • It’s not the maximum dosage I used to take — eight pills a day in all.
  • It is only for another week or so. It used to take weeks just to be weaned off of it.
  • I’m hungry, but I haven’t fallen into any titanic binges yet.
  • I can sit up, lie down and stand up again, which I couldn’t do a week ago.

But still I worry. I will until this prescription’s time is up.

Stay tuned.

Red skull and crossbones on a patch of white pills