come alive

Last night I dreamt that I was the drummer for the Guns ‘N’ Roses reunion tour. Two things about the dream really stood out for me; (1) Even in my dream I couldn’t actually play drums and it was a bit embarrassing. (2) Even in my dream Axel and Slash couldn’t get along. What kind of a dream is that? I feel cheated.

Along with all of my other work over the past week or so, I’ve taken on the task of trying to convince the Brits that Bruce Springsteen is legit. It’s not an easy task. At best, they consider him a country artist, at worst they know him from his Dancing in the Dark video. Either way, he starts out with at least one strike against him. Then, in an attempt to compare him to a legitimate band, I made the mistake (apparently) of comparing him to Dire Straights, a band that I consider to be a legitimate British classic rock band. But, among the twenty-something year olds I have around me, they are not. I can’t understand that! Dire Straights? They were an awesome band! (incidentally, I found out the other day that their drummer lives in my neighbourhood…which I found both exciting and sad.)

In other news, I woke up this morning with the mother of all pains in my right arm. In fact, it was so bad that I actually had to ask Jamie to remind me which arm it was that hurt when you were having a heart attack. It freaked me out. It felt like I had crushed a vein which is a pain that really can’t be explained. It might have been all that drumming in the middle of the night? Who knows?

Fall is in the air. It’s mixed in with all that auto exhaust. Mmmmm…can you smell it? Sadly, the Brits don’t seem to make much of Autumn. They don’t have high school or college football games to attend, no hayrides or Halloween parties disguised as Christian harvest celebrations, no bonfires or mazes made out of hundreds of bails of hay, no rides made from metal barrels and rope strung between four trees with which children of all ages can break their necks, no tepees made from corn stalks, and the Brits don’t really believe in holiday decorations outside of Christmas trees. At least not the ones here in London. In fact, here you know it’s Autumn because all of the Muslim kids are fasting for Ramadan. It’s just not quite the same.

The above picture was taken at a retreat I spoke at last weekend. This was my room at the retreat. I kid you not. The centre was a converted church and this was the window in my room. When I get rich (robbing a bank?), I’m going to buy this place and turn it into my house.

p.s. the song playing in the right is off the new Foo Fighters album. I'm loving it!