Born to Rock, Forced to Work
This week, the Missoula Independent, Journal of People, Politics and Culture, staff member, grabbed me when I came out of the Break Cafe, Coffee Shop and asked me what my favorite band was--well, of course it is my son's bands, God's Revolver & Maraloka . . . she said, no, I mean what is your favorite local band? Well, I am relatively new to town, and I am not that familiar with the local bands, but I have heard a few, that I didn't even know their names, but there were two that made me get up out of my seat, and rock-n-roll, footloose and fancy free . . . Three-Eared Dog and Miller Creek.
I am always drawn by good music, so as I was walking home, both nights, I was lucky enough to get drawn in, and for one of them, I got to listen to about two hours of music! I loved both of them. However, my all time favorite is, well, it is getting to be more of a toss up, between God's Revolver & Maraloka; I like them both for different reasons. I love GR, because I love cowboys, and the western story line of Little Black Horse Where Are You Going With Your Dead Rider . . . catches the imagination and passion I have for the wild, wild west, the themes, the tone, the mood, the epiphany, the characters that are portrayed in this western epic, lover's triangle, told in songs and music.
The songs like Heaven's Breath, so pure and calm, like rain, dripping on a morning with pink skies, and the mountains, so clean, that you can hear, what sounds like monks chanting in the background, with a flute, melodic and serene, like a love, before your world crashes in, when you find your lover, has another lover, and the bond of trust is broken, and at times never to be restored, or at a great cost, up to an including murder! Cantina Poetry Blues, is the revelation and confrontation song, when the triangle is forced, stained lips, love up against a bathroom sink, may cause blood to be spilled on a pool table in a nasty bar or club, in the husband or lovers absence. Followed by Boxes Done Buried, Scratch Dealt Me a Dirty Hand, Iron Fuck, followed by the Long and Lonely Ride to Hell . . . and others along that theme.
Hotels at the National Finals Rodeo--Cowboys Not Worth It!
Several years ago, I attended the NFR in Las Vegas, and it was one of the shocks of my life, to see the large western outfitters, the amped up trucks, with mammoth horse trailers, cowboys and cowgirls, in convention centers, Cowboy Christmas was being celebrated in Vegas, and the whole town was going country! I remember going to the South Pointe Casino, the center for the award ceremonies, betting and what not for the rodeo championships, with a live size, horse and cowboy in the foyer, outside one of the restaurants. The whole thing was a phenomena to me, to say the least. My client/friend, Kay Lynn Reilly, Horse & Rider Magazine, Elan, and more, a semi-famous cowboy and western photo artist, showed me the ropes and the grandeur of the west, taking me back a hundred years or so . . . I thought country was a handful of country singers, like Blake Shelton, Amanda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill!
But I think the most shocking thing to me, was hearing a hotel manager, say, we don't know whether it is worth having the rowdy cowboys and their crew here, we don't know if we make more money on their rooms, food, and purchases, or if we spend more money repairing the broken furniture after their fights in the hotel rooms. Going along with that thought, can you imagine what cowboys do when they catch their wife cheating on them with another cowboy? I haven't been to the Sunset Saloon, here in Missoula, but the Blue Moon, in Columbia Falls, rocks, can be wild, and the bouncers, are ever on the alert for the slightest provocation, kicking drunken cowboys out the minute it gets going, a fight, loud voices, because he knows where it is going next, and that is out of control . . . God's Revolver catches the flavor or the loud, rowdy, rock, that has been called western rock or hard rock, or music critics, don't know how to classify it, but it definitely is too rowdy for Mormon, Utah!
Matches Made in Heaven & Hell
Just like in politics, there are states that will love me, and then those that will hate me . . . a constitutional law attorney, in the state of Utah, with no separation of church and state, is not a match, when one is going up against the powers that be, trying to force, what even the federal government couldn't do, back in the territorial days, before statehood, with polygamy and all, so first amendment is a dead issue in Utah, where it is a theocracy, not a democracy, nor a republic, as it is intended to be . . . well that same principle applies to music . . . you can hear, lead singer, Reid Rouse, in the really raunchy videos, at someone's birthday party, smoke filled, whiskey soaked performance . . . where Reid jokes, or not, welcome to sacrament meeting, brothers and sisters . . . a statement that is considered sacreligeous, in and of the fact that he, simply said it . . . not a match!
I actually, get the most fun watching this grungy set of Utah cowboys, having a great time, eventually, get so hot, that the band, several members of the band, at least take off their shirts, sweat soaked, and drunk, slam the songs into the finale. I love it when my son, the Red Jesus, starts rockin it our so hard, that he takes off his favorite green beanie, used to take his wild red hair, and takes it off and just slams it to the ground, to get down to some kick ass guitar playing and head slamming! Fun, Fun, Fun!
Not, so with the Mormon community, they all lived in, I heard they were banned from the Provo/Orem, area, the home of the Mormon Church college, Brigham Young University, my law school almamateur . . . I bet Brigham Young, second prophet of the Mormon Church is turning over in his grave, letting me in the school, the biggest critic of not only the state, but the Church! Well, God's Revolver was blacklisted in Provo and Orem, for years, as I understand it! I doubt that would happen in Montana! The band has grown up a bit, since those days, but their music is just as good, so let's try to see if Montana and God's Revolver is a match! I am sure that it is, light years better than the match or not, match in Utah; although, I talked to Elliot today, and they have been playing every night . . . didn't ask if that was God's Revolver or Maraloka?
Crimes of Passion--Never Go Out of Style
There is another country song that I love, Beer is Good, God is Great, but People are Crazy! I think that about says it all . . . and the cowgirls are just a likely to shoot a cowboy's ass, as the other way around. Just a few weeks ago, a girlfriend got into her boyfriend's garage and set his truck on fire! Do you think she may have been inspired by the song, now the name of the song escapes me, but it definitely a get even song, and showing you what this little girl is made of Gun Powder & Led! This is a guy band, and the dead cowboy with hit hat and boots still on, with his faithful dog by his side, is a real guy, that cowboy guitarist, Trey and his father discovered, up behind the Provo, Mormon Temple, and up Provo Canyon, the guy who inspired this groups of guys to try to imagine how this poor dude got shot, murdered, or dies!
They come to the conclusion, that there had to be a woman involved, and so young . . . that becomes very apparent in the song, Scratch Dealt Me A Dirty Hand . . . perhaps, the jealous husband just assumed that he was the guy, messing with his woman! But the truth is revealed, in the story line adopted by the band, that, yes, in fact, the dead rider, is the one caught with the husbands wife . . . and he is scolded for not even knowing that the wife had a daughter, Boxes Done Buried . . . as the grave digger, prepares each coffin, you hear 3 coffins drop . . . perhaps, all parties of the lover's triangle die . . . the wife, the husband, and the dead rider, eventually . . . that is for you to decide!
Fun & Magical Music in a Day and Age of Computers
I was raised on westerns like Bonanza, Gun Smoke, the Lone Ranger, Annie Oakley, the Virginian . . . that stuff is still in my blood, but where these guys got it from, is a mystery to me, but they sure touched a cord in my heart, imagination, desires for that lifestyle, with a wild, wild west personality, I love the cowboy and cowgirl independence, seeing the cowboy militia members, riding horses and carrying American flags, down and pushing back the federal agents, working for the BLM, in the Cliven Bundy, rancher episode, was right out of a western, like the Calvary being called in to fight the Indians, or take US Marshalls and old fashioned sheriffs, taking down the hot gunslinger . . . totally cool, and so is the music that brings all that back, dusting off the cowboy/girl boots, and making it all real for those of us that have or have not lived that life style!
Just a good old time, and watching the passion of the band, as they deliver the music, the pistol steel guitars, the rusty voice of Reid, that puts every bit of passion into the song, almost exhausted with emotion, after each song, as if he feels what the various characters in the musical drama, so real to life, in so many ways, and almost collapses on the microphone to hold him up from the drain of each song, so powerfully delivered, amazing stuff. While the crowds in Utah have long enjoyed this music, I think it is time to bring it to Montana . . . never played on the home court so to say, or on the open meadows, under the blue skies of Montana, where one in every five people, either work on a ranch or a farm, so total recall of memories, and lives, actually lived, that can relate, probably more than some would like to admit!
Music is the Universal Language, But What Makes A Classic, is Universal Appeal . . . God's Revolver's Story Has That
I talked to my son, bass guitarist, Elliot, today, and told him I was calling him from the cool coffee shop, and did he remember--yes. But, once, after the sheriffs in Utah took my truck away, hoping the little cowgirl personality, they know damn well, is in this heart, raised on a horse or not, the fire is certainly in this heart, the passion for freedom, independence, liberty that a favorite truck can give, would surface by way of assaulting them for taking my keys, after I outran them 5 times, and sought comfort with similarly thinking people of Montana, over several months, El, brought me up to Missoula, and I had to show him the Break Cafe . . . being so impressed the first time I saw it, with all the bikes, the professors and students . . . loved and still do love the atmosphere, knowing this coffee snob, who was raised with a mother not only as an attorney, but a professor, would dig a place like this, since he lives in a place kind of university funky in Salt Lake.
Today, as I was sitting typing my blog, bad ass con law chick or the governments version of my blog, same blog, but bad con law chick . . . one of the baristas came over checking out all the art on the walls, and I started talking to her, about trying to get my son's band to come up here and play. I told her that I had tried when the cafe first started trying to get musicians and artists to put their work on the walls, or play for a crowd on Friday nights, and I told her that he might come if she asked him . . . he is not a willing to do it for his mother, not like I didn't pay for his guitar lessons, drive him and band members 300 miles every weekend so they could practice, sit in my car while he attended backyard concerts, or anything, but some cute girl who works here, might be able to get him to come.
I decided to touch bases with him, and see if I could entice him, with Glacier, a trip and all, and just stop in and play at the Break, might be the break he needs to bust open the Montana fans and market, but he could play for a small crowd, but I am sure with the doors open, the music would draw a large crowd, and he could sell his CDs for gas money and food. Anyway, he was playing tonight in Salt Lake, never committed, of course, but he didn't seem opposed to the idea, and I am sure that Glacier National Park would be a draw for this outdoors, boy, who thought he wasn't, when he was a teen, but has since changed his mind and if often in the mountains, hiking, camping and whatever he does, just enjoying life.
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