Happy New Year!

Happy New Year readers. I should have done a post yesterday but just wanted to relax. I will get to my normally scheduled blogging on Monday.

For now, per request of the People’s Champion, I will write about my thoughts on the beginning of 2009, with some music on the side. I was watching a marathon of the top-100 hard rock songs ever on VH1 over the past few days and of course, I had some major beefs with the songs and not necessarily with the artists. It will make sense.

First, let’s start with The Clash. They had Should I Stay or Should I Go which applies to the countdown, but my favorite song from the group is Radio Clash:



BTW, you can tell that this video was done in the NYC back in the early-80’s. This reminds me of home as a little kid.

A few weeks ago, I had a major moment of Reflections, which I normally do on every Sunday anyway and document it here. I made some proclamations that I will try to live by.

A reminder of these statements with somewhat of an explanation.

-Be a bastard but not an a-hole. To get to certain places in life, you have to have a tough mentality, but there’s a line that can be crossed, hence becoming an a-hole.

-Be nice but not a pussy…cat. People always talk about nice guys finishing last. That’s not necessarily true. It’s a lot easier in life to be nice then be mean. If you’re nice to people you will receive the same 90% of the time. It’s the 10% you have to be careful of. You will get taken advantage of in life, it happens to all of us. Its at these moments where you have to stand up for yourself and not become a pussy…cat.

Here’s a selection by Cream, the baddest trio ever in music. Hendrix and the Experience was the business, the Police were great, Run DMC were excellent, Motorhead is awesome and all…oh my goodness, how can I forget Rush!

I’m a bigger fan of Rush because of their longevity, but I think for sheer innovation and swagger, I have to go with Cream. If you disagree with me, I get it.

But come on, Jack Bruce made me want to play bass guitar, him and Sting but you get the idea. Ginger is awesome on the drums and Clapton is Clapton.

Anyway, my favorite song of theirs is Politician. They were so much more than Sunshine of your Love or White Room. Crossroads is a badass song from them as well. I can go on and on. Here’s Politician, the lyrics apply today especially after this election season here in the United States. And it’s a live version!



-Enjoy life and accept you. There are so many things in life that can go wrong that you have to appreciate what is going right. I’m happy to be alive every day that I wake up in the morning and lay my head down to sleep. I’m fortunate to have made it from where I came from to where I am now. I have many other goals I want to accomplish but take a moment and feel happy for where you are at the moment.

-Remember my Tapout. Well, the Tapout ended last week but I will try to remember the valuable lessons learned from that time of my life and apply them.

-Don’t accept another’s bulls*it. I’ve been too accommodating to crap from people in my life and caused it to allow unhappiness to enter my life. If I have to call someone out on their bulls*it and be the bad guy, I have to do it.

-No complaints/No excuses. No one wants to hear your complaints or excuses. Achieve what you want and don’t let anything get in your way.

One of the most underrated bands ever was Thin Lizzy. They get overlooked when you think of great hard rock bands. I honestly didn’t become familiar with their work until I heard Metallica cover Whisky in a Jar for one of their albums and heard the original. Of course you have The Boys are Back in Town and Jailbreak. Plus, they’re Irish and the lead singer is a black bass player with an awesome afro. Everytime I hear them, I just want to head to a local pub and drink a pint of Guinness.



-You deserve nothing. Really, you deserve nothing. Earn it.And finally…-One moment, one meal, one life at a time. Never look too far back in your life or too far ahead and you should be fine.

Oh, I’m not done yet. Those are just the general principals that I’m trying to live by but there are some things that I would like to do more this year.

I don’t call them resolutions. I hate frickin resolutions like I’m going to lose weight or be more spiritual, stuff like that. I believe in lifestyle changes. But if I had to make resolutions to appease the masses, these are the ones that I would have.

First, I can’t end this ode to hard rock without Metallica! They were the first hard rock group that I really, really got into. Enter Sandman was great and Sad But True was nice, but this song sealed it for me and made me a lifelong fan. Another live version!



1) Live healthier.

2) Develop that swagger.

3) Read more diverse material.

4) Start writing fiction again.

That’s all I got. MMA Review will be this weekend and of course, Sunday Reflections returns. Have a good day, night or whenever you read this.