Back to the Beginning

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent over the last two weeks in the company of the queen of my universe, Madonna. Listening back through her catalog reinforced why she's played such an important role in my life for the past 15 years and why she's influenced the world the way she has for the past 30. She's an innovator, an experimenter, a trend-setter, a perfectionist and just generally kicks ass in every way possible (you can read more about my feelings about her Madgesty here).

There's no better way to sum up everything that Madonna is and does than through her performance of "Like a Virgin" from the 2006 "Confessions" tour. Having recently survived a horrific horse riding accident that left her with many broken bones, Madonna took to the stage in riding gear and road a carousel horse while singing about "being touched for the very first time" as X-rays of her broken bones showed on screens around the stage. She won't be knocked down.

Now that I've made it through the Madonna CDs, I've decided to go to the start of my CD collection and wind through the remaining 295 discs. Here's what I have on the list for the next few days:

The Doors "The Best of the Doors"
Guns N' Roses "Appetite for Destruction"
"Lies"
"The Spaghetti Incident"
"Use Your Illusion I"
"Use Your Illusion II"
Motley Crue "Decade of Decadence"
"Too Fast for Love"
The Eagles "Their Greatest Hits"
Don Henley "Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits"

I did listen to The Doors this morning, which sent me on a nice trip down memory lane, back to junior high and high school when the band's music and Jim Morrison's everything reached out to me across all the anxiety, awkwardness and general low-self-esteem wonderfulness of being a young teenager. I thought about the words I'd memorized and wrote, the books I poured through, the number of times I saw that terrible movie, the Jim Morrison poster in my room, the Com 101 speech I made, listening to the music in the dark.

Henry Rollins, a fellow Doors fan, had a line about being young and thinking you're so deep, "Jim Morrison would dig me." I used to think that, think I could have connected with him over poetry, philosophy, art, music, but the truth is I never could. Growing up and being exposed to more healthy people and more damaged people, I've realized that charismatic, addictive, destructive people rarely dig anything, least of all themselves. If they did, they wouldn't be so keen to tear everything down.

On that front, Guns N' Roses epic "Appetite for Destruction" is now playing. I'm sure I'll have some reflections to offer on Axl & Co. in the next installment.

'Get Up on the Dance Floor!'

After a little bit of contemplating and a whole lot of procrastinating, I've finally moved onto the second chunk of my listen-to-every-CD-I-own project (still don't have a catchy name, suggestions welcome) and am now tackling my sizable Madonna collection.

I listened to "Erotica," the first Madonna CD and second Madonna release I ever bought (the first being "True Blue" on cassette), on the ride into work this morning. I'll go into this more at the end of the stack, but "Erotica" is a tragically underrated and wrongly vilified album that marked one more step on Madonna's path from pop tartlet to artist.

"Immaculate Collection" is currently keeping me company at work. It's hard for me not to be staggered by this package, the amazing number of hits she created over the last four decades that still hold up and the massive amount of other gems she recorded that didn't find their way onto the CD. Listening to songs like "Holiday," "Into the Groove," "Express Yourself" and "Vogue" sitting at a desk and not somewhere that I'd have the space and freedom to dance and sing out is more than a little wrong.

So here's what I have in store over the next week or so:

Erotica
The Immaculate Collection
Original Soundtrack: Evita
Ray of Light
Something to Remember
True Blue
Like a Prayer
Bedtime Stories
Madonna
Live a Virgin
Music
You Can Dance
I'm Breathless
GHV2
Original Soundtrack: Who's That Girl?
American Life
Remixed & Revisited
I'm Going to Tell You a Secret
Confessions on a Dance Floor
The Confessions Tour
Original Soundtrack: Vision Quest
Hard Candy
Sticky & Sweet Tour
Celebration
Glee: The Power of Madonna
MDNA (clean and deluxe versions)

Television Out of the Box at The Paley Center

I really do adore television. Because the stories are serialized and spread out over years, it's so easy to get attached to characters and locations and storylines. A favorite show is comforting and inspiring. It can connect you to other people and define an era.

My infatuation with television has really grown over the last few years. Though the total number of hours I spend watching television is currently at one of the lowest points of my life, the intense excitement I feel for the shows I do take the time to watch is strong. Getting to attend three PaleyFest panels this year (detailed previously here and the "Parks & Recreation" event at the Television Academy last year (detailed previously here) seemed to seal my new identity as a TV fanatic.

Fanaticism needs to be charged. Luckily, TV has delivered with stellar seasons from "Community," "New Girl" and "Parks & Recreation." I've gotten into interesting discussions with friends and online about what shows are cutting and what shows aren't at the moment. And, last weekend, I visited the Paley Center in Beverly Hills for Television Out of the Box, an ongoing exhibit celebrating Warner Bros. television.

The exhibit features costumes, set pieces, props, scripts, artwork and memorabilia from a number of Warner Bros. television shows and cartoons. Because the exhibit is going to be at The Paley Center for the next three years, the displays are going to keep changing so it's worth visiting over and over. Currently, the exhibit features displays from shows including "The Big Bang Theory," "Chuck," "Friends," "Fringe," "Gilmore Girls," "The OC" and "Smallville."

It's incredible the tiniest things from shows that are held onto. One display from my much-beloved "Gilmore Girls" had a room key and postcard for The Dragonfly Inn, the bed-and-breakfast Lorelei started with Sookie and Michel. The "Friends" display included a bag of Smelly Cat cat litter and The Geller Cup.

Looking through all these familiar pieces was a little comforting. I spent seven years invested in the world of Stars Hollow, the lives of its residents, so seeing a room key from The Dragonfly brought all that back—the fantastic writing, the lines I'd scribble down during commercial breaks to quote back to friends, the music bits, the clothes, the endless cups of coffee and on and on. It reminded me again how much I loved that show and made me miss it a bit, too.

Luckily, I have every season of "Gilmore Girls" on DVD and Verizon hasn't pulled the plug on SOAPNet yet, so I can revisit Stars Hollow any time I want to. Next time I do, I'll keep an eye out for one of those room keys.

Props from "Gilmore Girls," including a room key for The Dragonfly Inn and the engagement ring Luke gave Lorelei

Rory Gilmore's Chilton uniform

Central Perk from "Friends"

The Geller Cup

Sheldon and Leonard's roommate agreement from "The Big Bang Theory"

The Shelbot

A Chrismukkah card from "The OC"

Clark Kent's jacket from "Smallville"

Falling Under Russell Brand's Spell

I'm a fairly cautious, personally (not politically) conservative person so it takes me a while to warm up to anything. I don't jump on bandwagons; instead I sit back and carefully consider whatever new song, movie, TV show, major personality is rolling down the road and look to make a personal connection before committing.

And I do commit. I enjoy being a fan, collecting useless facts and amassing stuff—books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and so on. I didn't get into Madonna until the end of high school, more than a decade after she'd arrived on the scene, but proudly adore her to this day. My true love for U2 didn't solidify until 2001 because it was that album and that tour that found their way into my system and clicked.

It doesn't always take that long for me to catch onto or catch up with an artist. Maybe it took a year for my John Mayer enthusiasm to take hold with me slowly warming to the singles being released off of "Room for Squares" until the first time I heard "Why Georgia" and was sold. A similar thing happened with Alanis Morissette and Fall Out Boy. I've been disappointed by so many "next big things" that I prefer the frenzy to die down and the artist to prove him/herself to me before I buy the CD, book, watch the show, whatever.

My current late-to-the-party fascination is with the lovely Russell Brand. He's been known in the UK for more than a decade and has been gaining stature in America for about five years. I first heard him on NPR talking about his first book, "My Booky Wook," and his role in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." I saw "Get Him to The Greek" in the theater (so rare to shell out to see a movie in the theater these days when it's so easy to catch something on near-repeat on cable).

He made a bit of an impression on me, I definitely thought he was interesting, but didn't give him much more consideration. That's changed this year, though I'm not entirely sure why. I saw him for the first time in February at the incredible Largo doing a run-through for his upcoming FX show "Brand X." Since then, I've sped through and adored both of his memoirs ("My Booky Wook" and "Booky Wook 2: This Time It's Personal"), dug up videos online (including his recent testament to a Parliamentary committee on the failed war on drugs), listened to his WTF interview several times, saw him in Eric Idle's star-studded "What About Dick?" (featuring the amazing cast of Eddie Izzard, Tracy Ullman, Tim Curry, Billy Connolly, Jane Leeves, Jim Piddock, Sophie Winkleman and Eric Idle) and pounced at the opportunity to see him again at Largo Wednesday night for another "Brand X" rehearsal.

I like Russell Brand because he's clever, he talks really fast, he moves all over the place and he makes amazing sense. On stage he'll talk about compassion for the homeless, throw in an aside about his own checkered past and play at being Morrissey in the span of a few seconds, and it's natural and sweet and funny and thoughtful. I could watch him and listen to him for hours.

His books have that same energy, which is why I think I was able to read through them so quickly. I started a journey with him in a rehab center near Philadelphia, wound back through his rough childhood, teenage years, the drug use, the drinking, the girls, his emergence as an artist, failure, success, burgeoning fame, growing notoriety, into drug rehab and onto a promising future so fluidly. Naturally, I highly recommend both books (particularly the first, for which he helpfully provides British-English-to-American-English translations).

I hung out in the Largo courtyard after the show hoping to get my copy of "My Booky Wook" signed and get a minute to express how impressed I am with him. I was fortunate to do both. In person, Russell Brand is so much more than I imagined him to be in words and pictures. His life experiences have led him down a yogic/philosophical/theological path that has made him so warm.

Most of the 200-ish people who came to the show also hung out in the courtyard hoping to get their moment with him. I think he stopped to talk to and hug every single one. I got a bit of time with him, telling him how fantastic I thought he was in "What About Dick?" (he did properly hold his own against that amazing cast) as he wrapped an arm around me to hug me. I talked to him about how much I enjoyed both books, how easily I could hear him reciting the words as I read along. He held my shoulders, locked eyes, thanked me for telling him that I enjoyed his books and gave me his full attention for that bit of time before he was off to be fully present to someone else.

Yeah, I'm sunk, sunk by this truly lovely man and his many, many words, his long legs, introspection, beautiful skin, fantastic cheek bones, throaty laugh and general cleverness. It took me a while to catch on, but I'm solidly a Russell Brand fan now. I must make a space for him on my cubicle wall with my other favorite boys.

"I Saw You Dancin' in the Gym"

I was so excited when I heard there was going to be a new "American Pie" movie coming to theaters and reuniting the original cast. I saw parts one and two but skipped the third and all the direct-to-DVD sequels because I do believe in the law of diminishing returns.

Maybe I should have trusted that instinct.

"American Reunion" isn't that bad. It's fine. It has cute moments. It has funny moments. It just doesn't live up to the original, and that's really disappointing because I love the original.

I think "American Pie" gets a bad rap because it helped usher in the age of R-rated comedy raunch fests, a fact so many of the reviews I've read have pointed out. Focusing on the gross parts really minimizes what I think is a sweet, honest, heartfelt coming-of-age story.

Sure, there are really horrifically gross parts in the original "American Pie" (I watched the "unrated" version once and will never do that again) and a major theme of the movie was the quest to lose one's virginity, but most of the movie is about four friends dealing with growing up, moving on and, most likely, growing apart.

I had just graduated from college when the first movie came out and could relate to those issues. The older I get, the more I recognize that life is mostly made up of transitions, of learning how to leave people and situations behind. And it ain't always easy.

To deal with this, the friends in the original "American Pie" make a pledge to lose their virginities before graduation, and in the process, they fall in and out of love, make new friends, take risks, and see their worlds grow a little bigger. They make some huge mistakes along the way, but they mostly remain decent, loyal, respectful guys.

One of my favorite parts about the original movie was how, underneath the ridiculous slapstick, sex was dealt with in a pretty honest way. It is awkward. It is a big deal. It can change everything. Through the four couples the movie follows, we see all of that play out.

"American Reunion" brings the four friends back together, each one now struggling with the truth of their 30-something lives. They're not all that miserable, but they're not all that happy either, so maybe going back to where it all started will somehow fix everything.

I wasn't expecting major revelations and breakdowns from "American Reunion," I know it's not "The Big Chill" or even "Beautiful Girls," but I was looking for some of the same heart the original film had in dealing with the frustrations of getting older and finding yourself drifting further and further from the life you dreamed up when you were a teenager, including the friends you hatched those schemes with.

The film didn't feel like it was made to tell any story in particular, really. Instead, it seemed like "a gift for the fans," a film like Kevin Smith's "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" that's more about tying up some loose ends and tossing back to various in jokes. Sure, it was fun to hear Alyson Hannigan say, "This one time, at band camp" again, but the movie needed more than that to live up the original.

I know it's kind of ridiculous to be this disappointed in a movie, particularly an "American Pie" movie, but the original was a film that stuck with me way back when, that still means something to me now because of the when it came from. Maybe I thought because I grew up, the "American Pie" universe would have grown up a little, too, and better tap into what the class of '99 is going through now the way the original did then.

It's foolish, I understand, but I have this habit of expecting pop culture to deliver.

So Deep, Like Dirty Water

There was a time when I would have considered myself a poet. From the ages of 10 to 22 (or so), I filled notebooks with my poems. I'd get on a roll, writing several in one day, and then I'd go through dry spells, going weeks or even months without writing one word.

One of my most-prolific periods was my junior year of high school where my teacher, a writer and advisor for the school's literary magazine, had us keep journals throughout the year. We were given a certain number of assignments and quotes to ruminate on, but also a lot of freedom to just create. In this class, I experimented with style and flow and formatting and phrasing. I felt like I found my voice.

I also wrote short stories and worked on the school paper. Being a writer gave me an outlet and an identity. People knew me as a writer. They'd ask to read my stuff. I enjoyed getting praise from my teachers and friends.

I didn't take enough chances as a writer, though. Despite being encouraged by my junior year English teacher, I never submitted anything to the school literary magazine. I never took a creative writing class. In my life, I've entered maybe two writing contests (the most-recent of which was last year with Esquire magazine).

As an adult, I get paid to write, though not creatively. I had a professor in college who knew I was a journalism major but encouraged me to stick with creative writing as well. I still remember her asking what I'd written lately. I wish I had that encouragement today because my creative writing muscles and my poetry muscles are getting weaker and weaker.

This morning, I wrote a poem. I can't remember the last time I did but am pretty sure it's been years. It came pretty naturally, the first line and then the second and so on. It felt good to get it out, to have the words come to me, to have one line flow into the next. I don't know when it will happen again, but that it happened today at all gives me some hope.

And because I don't know what I'll do with this poem, or the hundreds of others I have stashed in notebooks and folders in my room and my storage bins, I'll post today's here for now.

I don't want you to grow old
Not really
Not truly
I admire the adult
The real man
Insightful
Respectful
Responsible
The student become the master
Shining a light for us all
"Follow me! I know a shortcut."
I take you at your word
I tread along your path
I crouch at your right side
Eager for the wisdom you dispense
Wisdom that only comes from life
     From experience
     From growing old
The lines deepen
The bones crack
The joints ache
You walk the path a little slower
Hold the light a little lower
Pass the time a little slower
I'll catch up
I'll keep going
I'll walk beside you a while
You'll rest as I charge ahead
Further and further I'll go
Then I'll turn back
I won't be able to see you
Walking the path you wore for us
I'll have to walk the rest alone
I don't want you to grow old

'Thinking 'bout This and That'

I made it through the first section of my listen-to-every-CD-I-own project (I really should come up with a catchier name), listening to all 19 Elvis Costello CDs I own over the last three weeks. I listened to angry young man Elvis, politically infuriated Elvis, heartbroken Elvis, romantic Elvis, hard-rocking Elvis, passionately crooning Elvis, the poet, the collaborator, the arranger, the composer, the producer, the jazzman, the New Waver, the balladeer.

In career that has literally spanned my entire lifetime, Elvis Costello has released more than 30 albums covering the worlds of pop, rock, jazz, country and classical. His output is certainly impressive, even if the result isn't always to my liking.

By listening to all these CDs, I've realized that though Elvis Costello's voice is one of my all-time favorites (my elbows and knees get warm when he hits certain notes), it's not always properly showcased (it's a bit too warbly sometimes). I like some of his jazz songs but not the experimental stuff.

This is all down to a matter of my personal tastes and I know that though the CD "When I Was Cruel" will never rate that highly with me, other Elvis Costello fans likely enjoy giving it regular spins. To each their own. And with an artist as prolific and varied as Elvis Costello, there's something within his catalog to satisfy nearly every taste.

For my next step in this process, I think I'll tackle my sizable Madonna chunk. The highly anticipated and well-received "MDNA" comes out in a little more than a week, so I think I'll give that multiple spins and then stack it up next to its predecessors.

Stay tuned.