Well, we're now really in the holiday season. I finally got a good percentage of my Christmas shopping done yesterday. (Sometimes "living Improv" means you do things last-minute!) I also recently got back from a visit at my sister's (to see both nephews & the new niece), while also being invited to come again tomorrow with the gifts I bought for all of them.
Anyhow, the fact is I haven't seen a lot of my family ("immediate" or "extended") since the last blog. (Still debating meeting with my Mom's side of the family tonight, prepared for many of them to tell me "Merry Christmas" & "Happy Birthday" about in the same breath!) Regardless, I present to all my readers a possible gift list...
...To be a bit different, however, this will not be of anything to get me for my birthday or Christmas, as they will not be things that you could likely find in any store. Even so, they are things I would be very interested in seeing in the New Year (or-so) that I believe many of us would benefit from. (Don't worry; I'll limit myself to a maximum of 10, so you can count them down instead of watching the already-seen-too-much Ryan Seacrest take over basically solo for Dick Clark next week.)
1] "Truth In Advertising" = I heard about this years ago, & so have long assumed it (& laws to require it) actually existed. However, I think it (like the "right" to marry) should be extended across the country in various ways & situations. For instance, I recently watched a TV performance by a group known as the Avett Brothers. I loved it (to the point I watched it when the episode repeated, when I rarely watch Jimmy Fallon's show once a week)!! When introducing the group, Jimmy announced they were performing alongside Chris Cornell, whose name I knew from bands he was in previously. What makes them violate this rule/idea is that I recently read an article in Rolling Stone about them that goes out of its way to mention the other members of their band that performed with them that night, as well as several other nights before & since! I don't mind that (I know Tom Petty & other artists play multiple instruments on their albums through multi-track recording & things, but can't do so live in Cleveland or Pittsburgh), but when it bothers me is people like Justin Bieber, who we all know can't play a note on anything! (I realize this might seem mean since I grew-up a drummer, so I technically didn't play a note either... But I'll loan Bieber my old sticks next time he's in Cleveland, & personally induct him into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame if he knows how to use them as well as I do.)
2] Bands Reunited, etc.= Not saying I want to see the return of this show to VH1 (though I wouldn't be against the old seasons being put out on DVD). What I want rather, starts with the end, for instance, of things like I heard about on that show, where the female from the group Berlin (I think it was) continued to tour years later under that name when she was the only original member still in the performing group. Also, I would love to see 98 Degrees get back together as I read they did earlier this week. (Anyone else see the irony of the host of "The Sing-Off" being another guy who famously sings but doesn't play anything?!) However, before they sign on for a tour, add this caveat: They (like recent reunite-ers New Kids On The Block) can no longer be advertised as a band (due to my aforementioned "Truth In Advertising" bit), & since they would not be touring to support a new recording, Nick will be singing under his new name "Nick Minnillo", as his wife still has a show actively airing on Fox's schedule, & is therefore more "actively famous" than he is. (Much the way Pau Gasol is more "actively famous" than Kobe right now, since Bryant can't stand up without the rest of the team ironically supporting him.)
3] “The End Of Presumption” = This, contrary to #1, refers to something I long believed did not exist, but have come to find out exists perhaps beyond nationwide. [In fact, it may refer to both of the previous, as when we hear someone has the “top-selling” album, we might have once assumed they could play an instrument. Likewise, when Jay Leno says his guest “stars in the #1 movie in the country”, we might assume they are an actor. When people like the group One Direction or comic Kevin Hart (also currently a star of a reality show) are the previously-described stars, however, that is not the case.] A Google search tells me it may have been as many as 8 years ago this first began to occur to me: A local man that was a friend of my father’s was charged with a crime. Fast as a finger-snap, that man’s name was never mentioned again in our house. I don’t think anyone had spoken it for years prior, but that fast, you dared not say it on the property, or risk something akin to an “evil eye” from any other family member. Reading my prior blogs will show the same thing bothers me more now with people assuming everything my doctors have claimed about me is the truth, even though we all admit my doctors are as human (& therefore, I say, as prone & likely to make mistakes) as anyone else.
I had more of these mere hours ago... But my "improv" deal & my memory seem to be linked these days, as ideas disappear minutes later. (That's why I have a text message saved in my phone's "Drafts" for a writing project I don't plan to begin until 2014.) Hence, I titled this as "Part 1" when it may turn out to be all of it.
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