#not a vague-ass quote about democracy

[g0at0ad]

every time I see a blazed post I block the poster. I don't even really care what the post was about it's just embarrassing to see people spending money on tumblr.

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

Guns n’ Roses: A Reassessment

I recently started to listen to Guns N’ Roses again in depth for the first time in a long time. I also started reading a book on the band by Stephen Davis, who wrote Hammer of the Gods about Led Zeppelin. He is quoted as saying that GNR only actually made one good album, Appetite for Destruction. This caused me to go back and reflect upon their other albums besides Appetite for Destruction. I began to agree with him that this band really did not make anything of real overall value after the release of their EP, Lies, as far as rock and roll goes. Use Your Illusion I and II were actually in retrospect very average. The question immediately emerged in my mind why did this happen and how did GNR get away with it for so long.

First, Izzy Stradlin left the band immediately upon the completion of Use Your Illusion. This point cannot be understated because he was probably the band’s most talented songwriter, even more so than Axl Rose. He was being marginalized primarily by Rose for creative control over the group’s content. They were trying to reduce his royalties for publishing on Appetite for Destruction. Now, his fingerprints were all over that album and their EP Lies. In contrast, he only contributed to five songs on each Illusion album. The one thing I will say is that Stradlin had mentally checked out of the band at that point. He knew he was probably leaving. In my opinion, the rhythm guitarist did not put his best effort forward in helping create those two albums. This was not a case of him trying to do it out of spite completely, but also Rose had become so ridiculous in his controlling behavior that it really was not worth fighting a losing battle. Added to that, Stradlin had recently become sober finally quitting heroin. At the end of his tenure, he did not even travel with the band, but instead Izzy always took a separate plane. As you look back at the first album, one of the things that Stradlin excelled at was being able to craft a hard rock song that had a faster tempo. In contrast, Rose was really good at writing a ballad, but not so much at writing a song that required a more complex structure. I guess it might seem somewhat surprising Rose would treat Stradlin this way because the latter was the reason that Axl came out to Los Angeles in the first place. Yet, if you know anything about the singer, then it really is not that surprising. This leads into the next point quite nicely.

Second, Axl Rose’s ego had hijacked everything to do with the band. They had become more of a backup band for Rose as he decided everything. Two examples show this to be true. Number one, by the mid-1990s everyone in the band who was an original member had either been fired or quit. Second, the decision by the band to follow Rose’s vision for all the music videos as part of Use Your Illusion. The videos are bizarre, vague, confusing, ridiculous, and pretty much make absolutely no sense. The band was no longer any sort of collaboration, but instead it was the Axl Rose show 24/7. One thing about Rose in all of this was that he would do anything to get his way and compromise was never an option. The guy probably should have been seeing a psychiatrist, which is how crazy some of his behavior has come across as over the years. Everyone in the music business had enabled him because of his talent for a long time, and this goes back to even before Guns N’ Roses was a band. For the most part, one of the things that Rose spent almost the next 20 years doing was proving that he could make just as good an album without the help of Stradlin. To his credit, the former rhythm guitarist did say in an interview that he did feel that Chinese Democracy was a good album. Most of the critics really did like the album as well, but the problem was he spent too much time making it. I believe that also shows how mentally unhinged Rose is when it comes to the real world and what is acceptable. Please note for the purpose of this article that 2008 album is not included because it was essentially a solo album.

Third, the question now becomes as to why the rest of the band allowed this kind of control to happen. The simple answer is the rest of the band was addicted to drugs. They went along with Rose because in their minds that was the most effective way to keep the money rolling in and maintain their habit. To his credit, Rose never did have any kind of drug problem. Maybe it would have helped. This is probably why there is such a stark difference between the older stuff from 1987 left over they put on the album and the newer compositions. People forget that the songs “Don’t Cry” and “November Rain” were written before the first album. The band really did not make any significant song that hit it off with the public after that album. I have used this word before, but essentially for the most part they made filler material. I did not realize this until I watched one of the concerts from the Use Your Illusion tour. Besides some of the ballads, the other songs are really average. I will not go as far as to say they are bad, but the overriding quality of them is ordinary. They probably should not have done two albums, but instead created one album with the best songs or even an album that consisted of ballads. Guns n’ Roses had already used up all of the good material prior to the first album. The other reason that Rose’s takeover of the band was allowed emerges in the fact that these guys were really not that good of friends anyway. Evidence of this comes in the dismissal of drummer, Steven Adler, as well as the treatment of Stradlin. You would think that one member of the band would have defended them in either situation, but that did not happen. Simply put, these guys had been thrown together out of several bands because that is just the way things were in LA at the time. People switched bands like it was nothing at all in the mid-1980s on Sunset Strip. Due to the fact they were all from different bands, this probably meant to a certain extent that they only had a certain loyalty to themselves.

Fourth, the final reason may come as a surprise knowing the history of the band, but it was the dismissal of Steven Adler. The decision to fire him changed the way the band sounded when they brought in Matt Sorum. The latter was technically a better drummer, but for some reason they simply did not sound the same as they did on Appetite for Destruction. This is all the more ironic because serious consideration was given to not allowing Adler to be the drummer for that album. This did not mean they intended to fire him completely, but only use him at the live shows. I guess what it comes down to is the reason why use Use Your Illusion was not as good as its predecessor comes in the fact that the band changed everything about the process. If you change everything, then you cannot possibly expect to create the same work. The band was also much too naïve including Rose to believe that they could create something as good as that first album again. I do not throw the word around much, but based on everything that I have read about this band during the time leading up to that first album...they got lucky. This was the type of luck that you possibly see in Rumors by Fleetwood Mac. A band is in the midst of a completely stressful environment and somehow by dumb chance in a way create something great. I guess lightning does not strike twice when you create conditions that make it practically impossible for such a thing to occur.

Guns N’ Roses has always been about image. That is my takeaway from all of this. They have produced this image of being these bad ass rock ‘n’ roll geniuses, but essentially it is all style, with the only substance being that one album. They have ridden off the coattails of Appetite for Destruction for the rest of their career. If you go back to the time when that first album was released, you will hear in many interviews how adamant the band was about their rock ‘n’ roll DNA. Looking back at these Use Your Illusion albums, they betrayed every single one of those statements by the absolute overload of too many ballads and underwhelming songs on the two works. I was thinking about going to see them live for a reunion tour, but that is not going to happen whatsoever. I am not going to pay $200 to hear essentially nine or 10 songs. Additionally, Axl Rose is really a shell himself, overweight with no voice. They fooled the world with all of their drama to make people think that we are missing out on a band better than Led Zeppelin or Aerosmith. Both Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith made more than one good album. For years, people lived with a misconception that Slash needed to amend his friendship with Axl. Once again, we were deceived by the band if you were thinking about hearing any new good material. If you wanted anything hat was just as good as their early stuff, then he should have been talking to Izzy Stradlin instead. And so it goes.

[saidtheredhead]

maman.

Originally posted June 11, 2017. Today is my mom's fiftieth birthday. 

50 Things About Sophie Chiche

As Best As I Can Remember (but don’t quote me on every single detail being 100% accurate)

At least once a year, Sophie pulled absolutely everything we owned out of absolutely every drawer and shelf to reorganize and declutter. No such thing as a "junk drawer" in our home.

Sophie is a woman of passionate drive--just watch her open a new Shape House, up at 5 am to get the right shaped plumbing joints for her industrial lighting with two little buns in her hair.

Sophie loves to dance, she has some great mom moves, grabbing her belt, kind of like Michael Jackson.

Sophie is not one for rules--I have never seen her follow a recipe or pay attention to the painted lines in the Target parking lot (when the best spot is to the left, not right!)

Sophie is intensely friendly. I’ve never seen anyone else collect immediate best friends like this woman.

Sophie has a rapid-fire tongue for languages, seamlessly switching between chatting with her family on the phone in Français, answering my question in English, and asking someone for directions in Español.

Sophie is an UNO fiend!

Sophie gets into obsessive fads--like that month of eating hamburger patties and fried eggs, or listening to Ben Folds and Regina Spektor sing “You Don’t Know Me” a thousand times.

Sophie finds giraffes everywhere. (After all, she is Sophie la Girafe!)

In the past year or so, she also finds lighthouses everywhere.

Sophie has an impeccable eye for design.

Every house she has decorated (whether personal homes or of the “Shape” variety) is a masterpiece.

I love her fashion style, Sophie sure knows how to layer long necklaces with knee-high boots.

Even though Sophie never follows recipes, she always whips up something delicious.

One of my favorite food fads of Sophie's was the savory oatmeal phase with homemade macadamia nut pesto.

I think I have only seen Sophie with our matching natural curly hair maybe three times in my entire life.

Sophie is the opposite of a hoarder, but over time, she has collected a few gorgeous old pieces that fit perfectly, no matter how many times she moves, like the old telephone box or the long piece of wood that look like a mancala board.

Sophie can whup your ass in Backgammon.

Sophie is an amazingly inventive collage artist. At our old house, she collaged and mod-podged the front of the stairway.

Sophie was a little rebel. On one of our Paris trips when I was very young, she showed me around to all the schools she went to, almost one per year. I asked her if they switched schools every year in France, and she replied, “No, I just got kicked out of all of them.”

Sophie is a collector of skills and jobs. I’ve been around to see her create two amazing businesses, LifeByMe.com and the sweaty adventure Shape House.

Did you know that Sophie went to clowning school? I’ve heard some great stories about that time.

At least once per semester, I have an existential crisis where I doubt my place in academia and convince myself of my failure and Sophie always laughs and tries to remind me how we have the same exact conversation 2-4 times a year and I still manage to get perfect grades at the end of the day.

As a parent, Sophie believed in allowing space for children to have agency and be their own autonomous human.

Sophie once had a casual chat with a friend about how he unschooled his kids, and mentioned it to me with no ulterior motives and two weeks later I was out of school.

If everyone is six degrees from Kevin Bacon, they are four degrees from Sophie Chiche.

Anytime Sophie meets someone, she figures out immediately where they are on their life trajectory and does what she can to move the game along.

Sophie knows what she wants and doesn’t settle for less. I don’t think I have ever seen Sophie order something directly off a menu with no substitutions.

Her most (and only) Mom™ action: every time she sees me, she automatically pulls the filthy glasses off my face and cleans them, even if she is actively driving...

Sophie has the most vague and teasing social media presence, but such an interesting eye for piles of things.

Sophie moved to the United States, got set on a blind date with my francophile dad, dated him, got engaged, got married, got pregnant, had me, and got divorced within 3-ish years (two of which were after I was born).

Sophie got emotionally and physically invested in American democracy before she was a citizen by volunteering during Obama’s first presidential election. (Her first vote as a citizen was for Obama’s second term! She cried.)

Sophie has a great collection of shoes (and we excitedly share the same foot size!)

People used to think my ex-step-sister Sarah was actually her daughter instead of me, because they share the same coloring and hair. But even after the divorce, we are still all family. We call ourselves the “permanent party” and go on adventures, like spending a week in Joshua Tree.

Though my red hair skipped a generation with ma and pa, if you compare baby pics (and current pics) of Sophie and I, we have the same lips and face, just different colors.

I don’t think Sophie has a French accent, but people often think she’s Spanish or Israeli.

I was mean and used to make fun of Sophie for her French idiosyncrasies in English, like saying “shrimps” or never being able to pronounce “ew”. But if I ever made fun of her, she would say back, “uh-huh, and come back to me when you can say it in French!” In fact, when I was a kid, I used to give Sophie little English exams that I would hand-write and grade.

Her most Jewish mom phrase: “May that be the worst thing that ever happens to you!” any time I complained about something.

(Even though I do wish I had learned French--and Spanish!--while my brain was more plastic) I am very grateful that Sophie did not force me into learning it while it was still kind of traumatic for me.

On that note, I am so grateful that Sophie did not force me into any activity. I tried plenty of things, but groped around until I found my passions and developed a severe work ethic in the theatre.

I was a goody-two-shoes uptight nerd, and sometimes I felt like we switched roles. On many an occasion, Sophie would suggest playing hooky for the day and I would reply, “Moooooom, I can’t! I have school!”

But when I did need/want it, Sophie was very supportive of taking mental health days.

As a mom, Sophie struck a great balance between letting me live my life but swooping in whenever I rang the 911 call.

Sophie is an avid TV watcher, and I love her recommendations even if I take years to finally get on board.

Sophie is also into a lot of hokey self-help treatments and food programs and spiritual audio tapes and so on. I give her a lot of shit, but they work for her (and usually me too, whenever I do actually try them.)

No matter how hokey I think her things are, somehow they always magically align for her. If she needs to find a man with duck feet and an umbrella hat, she will randomly strike up a conversation with the person buying candles next to her who will mention his neighbor who happens to have duck feet and an umbrella hat. Every single time, without fail.

As a Parisian, Sophie is a wild driver. I often cling to the armrest in anxiety. I know that she can handle the car impeccably, but I worry about everyone else around her sporadic speed and turns.

Sophie always has a gorgeously stocked arts and crafts room that makes me swoon. She currently has two boxes overflowing with rolls of washi tape. (See where I get it from?)

Sophie takes all of my friends (who she has met) under her wing. Our beloved house on Nichols Canyon was home to all of my friends and many a theatre kid slumber party.  

Sophie is Wonder Woman.

Je t'aime, maman!