Big Ed's Place

By now, you’ve probably heard of Avenue Q, the 2004 Tony Award Winning Musical Comedy. It combines the puppetry of Sesame Street with a decidedly adult turn. Besides a lot of cursing and sexual innuendo, there’s actually on-stage sex–between puppets. It’s toured a couple of times and I recently caught it for a second time. That should immediately clue you into how much I’ve enjoyed it–I was willing to pay premium prices to see a show that I’d already seen before.

The basic premise of the play isn’t important–we meet a bunch of characters, some of whom are puppets, some of whom are actors, all of whom are poor and struggling and living on the same street (Avenue Q). They struggle with relationships and personal growth and eventually arrive at “happy for now” endings.

What I happen to love is the way the songs stab directly at things we don’t say, but are true. The most controversial song is “Everybody’s a Little Bit Racist,” which pokes fun at PC beliefs that we’re not biased at all. Of course the most famous song is “The Internet is for Porn”–again, something that was nearly 100% true for the first decade of the web and arguably still true now. But even songs like “There’s a Fine Line” point to things we know but generally don’t state. The tunes are hummable and enjoyable and how often do you really get to hear people praise “Schadenfruede”?

So–if you haven’t seen it, I recommend going. If you want to get a sample, you can always catch the soundtrack via the link below.

Sometimes a single song fits a mood and a time better than anything else. For me, Poe’s Hey Pretty (the Drive-By Mix) is the ultimate song to listen to late at night, driving alone on the highway. There’s something haunting about the music mixed behind the narrative of a guy being seduced by a girl in a fast car, and lines (“too bad dark languages… rarely survive”) that stay with me when I’m finished. It gets me ‘in the mood’–not for sex, but to pick up the pen and write. Which is often what I do when I pull off the road and have a chance to relax.

It’s not quite as good in the day, or sitting anywhere than behind the wheel. But there, it’s perfect–five out of five stars.

ZZ Top sings Blues? Absolutely! And very well, I might add.

Of their blues songs, my absolute favorite is A Fool for Your Stockings. Why should be obvious to anyone who’s read my stories or done even more than a cursory skim of the artwork on this site. The subject and title do a damn good job of describing who I am. Doing so in a funky, saucy, struttin’ blues style? I’m just a quivering mass of putty, enjoying the ride. This is one of the top songs for getting me in the mood to write, and I recommend it wholeheartedly. Five out of five stars.

Eye of the Hurricane, by David Wilcox, is a haunting ballad from the late 80′s, mostly just voice and guitar. It tells the story of a girl who rides a Hurricane motorcycle as a way to forget her pain. I believe it’s beautiful and one of the best “I’m depressed because I got dumped” songs around. Five out of five stars.