Road trippin'

This last weekend, on July 2nd to be exact I attended a function in a town that is at the south end of a state that life forgot.

I had the pleasure of witnessing 2 bands that I have felt strongly about for a long time. One is a group of four guys who one could easily picture as nerdy high school kids sitting off to the side drawing pictures of ninjas and ligers and things like that but some how worked up enough creativity to come out with an album all in blue, which is a work of genius. Unfortunatly that genius has not been repeated in the albums that have followed. Sure, they have come up with a few amusing tunes, but from the time you hear "My name is Jonas" until the last note of only in dreams it is a pleasure to the ears and mind. It was good to see the live for the time they played, but when their set was over I was satisfied to go back listening to my copy of the blue album from time to time or when I have my computer playing my mp3's. Weezer is a nice band.

The group that followed however also consisted of 4 members. These 4 band members though together have created some of the best rock and/or roll to grace the ears, minds and souls of mankind. They would not have been the kids drawing ligers, but the kids off doing all the things you are told not to do. They have had lives that you read about and feel you're reading fiction because no one you know would have been able to go through what they have and well, lived. They are (for the most part) recovered drug users, who now live healthier than 99% of the population of earth. The band's members include a guitarist who can pick up a bass and without blinking play it like it's all he's ever done. They have a bass player who can run back stage and grab a trumpet and play the thing in a way that makes the hardest of rockers and the biggest of bass enthusiests wish he would never stop blowing that thing. They have a lead singer who's voice is so versitile that he goes from funk-like lyrics to ripping out rappish licks, which are faster and better than the greatest of great old school mc's could have mustered, and he does this all while being the one guy you know could kick any other band's lead singer's butt. Their drummer is a goofy looking guy, looks like Will Ferrell trying to be hard, but you put two sticks in his hand and a set infront of him and he becomes a magician. This my friends is not a mere band but the Red Hot Chili Peppers. From their first self-titled album to the more recent jams from "By the Way" "Californication" and the yet-to-be-released disk they have not lost any of their genius. Infact the genius has grown and expanded. Standing, jumping and swaying there during their set my one hope was that the next song would not be their last, but that they would play and play and keep playing. When they finished I felt much more satisfaction but also much more of a void, a void left by the end of hearing the best band in the world do what only they can. The Chili Peppers are the kings of music...

-Rob