Being a true fan of a sports team is an honorable thing. You generally have more loyalty than the players and staff, which is a matter of confusion for people who just don't understand the sports culture. The thing is, personnel changes are part of the game and sports fans pay a great deal of attention to them. In fact, even on their own they are a popular topic of speculation and discussion amongst sports fans, especially when a trade deadline approaches or a transfer window is about to close. But the true test of loyalty comes when the fan's team becomes mediocre. Any sports fan worth their salt can pretty easily wrap their head around personnel changes but only the most loyal fans will maintain an interest in a team that is just not that good.
Now losing interest is understandable. For many fans, their team becoming mediocre just means they pay less attention to what's happening. We all have a lot of things going on in our lives, not all of which are sports-related. However, there are other "fans" who will not only pay less attention to their old team but will go as far as to jump on the bandwagon for an entirely different team.
In some ways these fairweather fans have it easy. They never have to endure the trials or difficulties of losing seasons or other mediocre years. They don't even have to deal with perennial postseason or end-of season disappointments when a certain team is pretty decent. For them, "their team" never falls short. On the other hand, these "fans" never experience the elation associated with their team winning a coveted trophy. They take it for granted that they have chosen wisely and that "their team" will win a trophy pretty regularly because that team's name is constantly changing. On the contrary, a true fan fully understands how rare an opportunity it is for their team to win, or even contend for, a trophy. The trophy-winning campaign is thus much more rewarding for a true fan than it is for a fairweather fan. Although a fairweather fan does not experience as much difficulty or frustration as a true fan does, he also does not get to fully experience the special moment when the trophy is won the way a true fan does.
John 6: 60-69
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Status Seeker
Living lives of shallow leisure is exactly that - shallow. People largely engage in foolishness, drunkenness, and debauchery to show off. It's all nothing more than status seeking. There's so much more to life than that. Besides, this status seeking mentality is what causes people to be cruel to one another.
Prv 9: 1-6
Eph 5: 15-20
Prv 9: 1-6
Eph 5: 15-20
Sunday, August 12, 2012
You know me...well, you think you do
Do you ever sometimes feel like no matter what you've achieved or accomplished in life, those who knew you ages ago or have known you for a long time just don't take you seriously? That's how I feel when I come across an alumni newsletter from a school I've gone to or when I encounter fellow alumni who I never really cared for (these days I generally only associate with the alumni I was actually friends with back in the day). That's how I used to feel when finding old schoolmates on Facebook a few years back (I have since deleted most of them). That's how I used to feel in friendships or other relationships that were going nowhere (I have since cut off communication with these negative influences).
The thing is, once certain people get to know you a certain way, their mind will not be open to any changes that occur. On the other hand, people who have known you more recently, but more intimately, are the ones who really know you better for who you really are now, not who you were ages ago, and not who they feel like perceiving you to be. Your whole outlook on life is influenced by the people you choose to associate with. Thus, you might as well associate with those who actually respect you.
John 6: 41-51
The thing is, once certain people get to know you a certain way, their mind will not be open to any changes that occur. On the other hand, people who have known you more recently, but more intimately, are the ones who really know you better for who you really are now, not who you were ages ago, and not who they feel like perceiving you to be. Your whole outlook on life is influenced by the people you choose to associate with. Thus, you might as well associate with those who actually respect you.
John 6: 41-51
Monday, August 06, 2012
Hollow Years
Last weekend, I celebrated my birthday party in my apartment because bad weather prevented me from being able to keep it outdoors in a park. Because of this, one of my guests discovered that I was a fellow fan of the rock and roll band known as Dream Theater. A poster on my wall gave it away for him. Well, this brought back all kinds of memories for me (or perhaps they were "Scenes from a Memory," lol). Back in the 1990s I was absolutely in love with the music of Dream Theater. That carried over into the 2000s. Even though I have not seen them in concert since 2007, one could argue that I am still a Dream Theater fan. This is not the sort of thing that's "just a phase" that one passes through.
My first acquaintance with their music was back in the early 1990s when the song "Pull Me Under" was making its way through the rock radio airwaves. Bear in mind though that I am originally from upstate New York where a Canadian rock band known as Rush (one of Dream Theater's influences) was almost as popular as they were in Canada. Furthermore, most of the Dream Theater guys at the time were from Long Island (one notable exception is Kevin James LaBrie, their singer from the early 1990s forward, who is from Penetanguishene, Ontario - pretty firmly in Rush territory). I suppose it's not surprising then that there were a number of other songs from that "Images and Words" album that also made their way onto the rock radio airwaves in my hometown.
Although 1992's "Images and Words" piqued my curiosity, I was not really following them that closely at the time. That came right after 1994's "Awake" album came out. The key word, of course, is "after." Although Dream Theater was not getting much airplay in most of the country this time around, songs such as "Caught in a Web" and "Lie" were getting treated quite well in my hometown. At this point I was a full-fledged fan in that I was on the lookout for upcoming releases, developments, and other band-related news.
The release in 1995 was merely a bunch of live covers thrown together with never-before-released "A Change of Seasons." Well, "A Change of Seasons," was not a new song by any stretch of the imagination. Back in 1989, it was one of the earliest songs written in preparation for what was to be the upcoming "Images and Words" album but it never made it onto that album so it made it onto this 1995 EP instead. Although the sound of the recording seemed reminiscent of "Awake," the musical style was unmistakeably reminiscent of "Images and Words." This release was meant to appease the really old-school fans but it was also meant to tide all of us over until the next full-length album.
Needless to say, there was an enormous amount of anticipation leading up to this album on my end. This would be the first time I closely followed what was going on BEFORE a Dream Theater album was released. Based upon their body of work up to this point, there was every reason to believe this album would be absolutely EPIC! In 1997, the "Falling Into Infinity" album was released, which included 2 songs that became amongst my all-time favorites. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the album was rather pedestrian. I was very disappointed. When I saw them on the 1998 tour, I heard some music playing during a set break with the distinctive voice of James LaBrie. The music was really catchy but was not from any of the Dream Theater albums up to this point so I assumed it was from James's former band Winter Rose. I learned years later that these were really good Dream Theater songs that did not make it onto "Falling Into Infinity."
Dream Theater went the concept album route in 1999 which was interesting but not as melodic as many of the songs recorded during the "Falling Into Infinity" sessions. Their 2002 double album was decent but not as well-written as their earlier work. In all subsequent releases they were merely mortal.
When "Falling Into Infinity" was being written, they were trying to survive as a band. Their label was undergoing a great deal of change, and therefore turnover, which made it really hard to maintain relationships with people who believed in their unique vision. Instead they had to deal with new suits that saw them as just another name on a roster with one lone "hit" called "Pull Me Under" from 4 years earlier, which was before the massive corporate overhaul (a.k.a. "prehistoric time"). These new suits could refuse to give Dream Theater the green light to begin work on, and then release, an album. To say that Dream Theater was under pressure to make "hits" or "singles" or "commercially viable" music would be a massive understatement. But this sort of approach goes totally against Dream Theater's mission or vision. So a lot of compromises were made and some good songs were altered in the name of commerce, except that all these changes did nothing for them commercially while managing to alienate their fans.
"Falling Into Infinity" was to me "the great album that never was," especially if one were to choose songs from both their album and their demo recordings and make a single CD (80 minutes or less) out of the selections. There never was another album that had this much potential for greatness again, at least none steeped with so many memories and so much nostalgia for me. The earlier albums simply came out too early for me to have followed their development BEFORE they were released. In other words, I never had it all as a Dream Theater fan. But that's exactly how it is with worldly things. You never have it all because there's always something that's either missing or could have been different. There's always something that leaves you wanting. Where do you think artist angst comes from?
John 6: 24-35
My first acquaintance with their music was back in the early 1990s when the song "Pull Me Under" was making its way through the rock radio airwaves. Bear in mind though that I am originally from upstate New York where a Canadian rock band known as Rush (one of Dream Theater's influences) was almost as popular as they were in Canada. Furthermore, most of the Dream Theater guys at the time were from Long Island (one notable exception is Kevin James LaBrie, their singer from the early 1990s forward, who is from Penetanguishene, Ontario - pretty firmly in Rush territory). I suppose it's not surprising then that there were a number of other songs from that "Images and Words" album that also made their way onto the rock radio airwaves in my hometown.
Although 1992's "Images and Words" piqued my curiosity, I was not really following them that closely at the time. That came right after 1994's "Awake" album came out. The key word, of course, is "after." Although Dream Theater was not getting much airplay in most of the country this time around, songs such as "Caught in a Web" and "Lie" were getting treated quite well in my hometown. At this point I was a full-fledged fan in that I was on the lookout for upcoming releases, developments, and other band-related news.
The release in 1995 was merely a bunch of live covers thrown together with never-before-released "A Change of Seasons." Well, "A Change of Seasons," was not a new song by any stretch of the imagination. Back in 1989, it was one of the earliest songs written in preparation for what was to be the upcoming "Images and Words" album but it never made it onto that album so it made it onto this 1995 EP instead. Although the sound of the recording seemed reminiscent of "Awake," the musical style was unmistakeably reminiscent of "Images and Words." This release was meant to appease the really old-school fans but it was also meant to tide all of us over until the next full-length album.
Needless to say, there was an enormous amount of anticipation leading up to this album on my end. This would be the first time I closely followed what was going on BEFORE a Dream Theater album was released. Based upon their body of work up to this point, there was every reason to believe this album would be absolutely EPIC! In 1997, the "Falling Into Infinity" album was released, which included 2 songs that became amongst my all-time favorites. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the album was rather pedestrian. I was very disappointed. When I saw them on the 1998 tour, I heard some music playing during a set break with the distinctive voice of James LaBrie. The music was really catchy but was not from any of the Dream Theater albums up to this point so I assumed it was from James's former band Winter Rose. I learned years later that these were really good Dream Theater songs that did not make it onto "Falling Into Infinity."
Dream Theater went the concept album route in 1999 which was interesting but not as melodic as many of the songs recorded during the "Falling Into Infinity" sessions. Their 2002 double album was decent but not as well-written as their earlier work. In all subsequent releases they were merely mortal.
When "Falling Into Infinity" was being written, they were trying to survive as a band. Their label was undergoing a great deal of change, and therefore turnover, which made it really hard to maintain relationships with people who believed in their unique vision. Instead they had to deal with new suits that saw them as just another name on a roster with one lone "hit" called "Pull Me Under" from 4 years earlier, which was before the massive corporate overhaul (a.k.a. "prehistoric time"). These new suits could refuse to give Dream Theater the green light to begin work on, and then release, an album. To say that Dream Theater was under pressure to make "hits" or "singles" or "commercially viable" music would be a massive understatement. But this sort of approach goes totally against Dream Theater's mission or vision. So a lot of compromises were made and some good songs were altered in the name of commerce, except that all these changes did nothing for them commercially while managing to alienate their fans.
"Falling Into Infinity" was to me "the great album that never was," especially if one were to choose songs from both their album and their demo recordings and make a single CD (80 minutes or less) out of the selections. There never was another album that had this much potential for greatness again, at least none steeped with so many memories and so much nostalgia for me. The earlier albums simply came out too early for me to have followed their development BEFORE they were released. In other words, I never had it all as a Dream Theater fan. But that's exactly how it is with worldly things. You never have it all because there's always something that's either missing or could have been different. There's always something that leaves you wanting. Where do you think artist angst comes from?
John 6: 24-35
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