Tag: music

I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon…

I’ll never forget sitting in the back of the bus on my way to school and hearing those first few bars of Kryptonite through my Sony headphones for the first time as I listened along to my local hard-rock radio station, “WWBN, Tuscola, Flint, Saginaw… Flint’s Rock Radio, Banana 101.5!”

Something about the guitar tone, the snare centric drum beat and the composition of the song made it feel like a comfortable, worn in pair of blue jeans. It was new, but it felt vintage, raw and unique in an era when the first battles of the Loudness Wars were bubbling to the surface (The loudness wars were an era where sound engineers were pushing the boundaries of just how loud they could produce songs without distorting- The louder the song, the more it would stand out against the competition). I was hooked, and after I snatched up “The Better Life,” which was 3 Doors Down’s debut offering, I instantly became a fan. That album, which was released 26 years ago today (8 February 2000), felt like an absolute masterpiece from start-to-finish, and it became the soundtrack to my Summer in 2000, and well into my Junior year of High School.

In fact, if memory serves me correctly, a burned copy of the album made its way into my buddy Patrick’s “Black Rose Metallic” (it was purple and you can’t convince me otherwise) Chevrolet Beretta Z26 and didn’t leave the CD player for a solid year or two.

…and I don’t blame him, because it felt like each song on that album would find a mood to accompany- In my moments of shy, introverted insecurity, “Loser” would stand out, while “So I Need You” would punctuate those adolescent feelings of infatuation and “Be Like That” would elicit the deep rooted desires to achieve my dream of becoming a rockstar, and how it felt to be on the outside looking in.

As I began my foray into attempting to add the title of “guitar player” to my resume, my folks purchased the guitar sheet-music book for me, and I remember sitting in the grass in my parent’s backyard as I learned to play through the various tracks, with “Loser” holding the distinction of being the first song I’d ever learn to play from start to finish.

The more I’d learn about the band as years would pass, one of the things I found the most impressive was that singer Brad Arnold had actually recorded the drums on the album, which I always felt was a true testament to his musicianship. (Daniel Adair and Greg Upchurch, both extremely talented drummers in their own right, would take over subsequent drumming duties)

I continued my fandom through their subsequent album releases, and I loved to see their close ties to Dale Earnhardt Jr. (my favorite NASCAR driver following the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr.), and various veteran oriented charities, but I was elated that, after battles with addiction, Brad had finally come out on top, embracing sobriety in 2016…

Sadly, as has been reported on the official 3 Doors Down social media accounts, Brad Arnold passed away yesterday at the age of 47 after a battle with cancer.

It’s been said that you die twice- Once when your soul physically leave this earth, and once when people no longer speak your name, but the thing about “making it” as a musician is that even once you leave this earth, you still leave behind a legacy for people to enjoy and celebrate, and if you did it right- You just might live forever.

Auld Lang Syne

The dim lights of a still decorated Christmas tree cast a subtle grow as my little family of three retreated from our positions on the couch to huddle in the middle of the living room to watch the waning moments of 2025 tick away.

The countdown paced through its final seconds, 5-4-3-2-1, before a sea of confetti filled the air in New York City while the Constellation Ball, illuminated in a beautiful array of Red-White-and-Blue to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, completed its expertly timed journey. The television announcers proclaimed, “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” as Auld Lang Syne, the perennial anthem for New Years celebrations the world over, played in the background.

I kissed my wife, my forever New Years date (whom I met at a New Years party I was reluctant to attend in 2009), and we hugged as a family to celebrate the onset of 2026, but there’s something about that old Scottish melody that turns this gruff, cussin’, gun-slingin’, whiskey chuggin’ railroader into a sentimental mess, and those first few moments of the new year always feel more like a somber remembrance than a celebration of something new.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love a good quote that helps place things into perspective; mostly because I recognize that there are people who are far cleverer than I am, and I embrace the collective knowledge and thinking that exists outside of my own head.

A great friend of mine sent me a quote the other day, and it said: “When we understand that each day isn’t one more day, but one less, we will start giving more value to the things that truly matter.”

The reality is that we’ve all experienced loss- A grandparent, a parent, a friend, a coworker, and with each loss we learn to live our lives in a new way as we establish a new normal without those people we’ve lost gracing the pages of our story any longer. Eventually, I think this guides us all towards the realization that everyone has an expiration date, and very few of us will ever know when our own story is coming to a close; nor do I believe we’d want to.

For me, as I’ve pored over the seemingly insurmountable piles of information my grandmother and mother have amassed surrounding my family’s genealogy, I began to wonder about my ancestors’ stories. Although I’ve been able to help add context to many of their Ancestry.com entries by virtue of military records, adding branch of service, rank, unit, or famous battles they’d participated in, I still can’t help but be curious. What were they like? What was important to them? What did they do for fun?

As we step into a new year, I don’t really think about it in terms of one more year- I think about it as one less year, and as we get older, the adage of “The days are long, but the years are short” begins to feel more and more real as the doldrums of day-to-day life, filled with anxiety and depression, tend to mute the beautiful moments that should grossly overshadow them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m blessed to have a wonderful family, amazing friends, and a career that I’m passionate about, but after experiencing loss, and grief, I can’t help but feel terrified that my own story could come to a close long before I’m ready to be done writing it.

The sad reality is that many people will live their lives, only serving to leave their marks upon one another and their passing will see their stories fade into obscurity as people no longer speak their names, or share their stories. They’ll become just another name etched into stone, with two dates separated by a dash, and the best anyone can hope for is that they’ve made the most of that little dash.

I think British Comedian Jimmy Carr said it brilliantly, “Anxiety is worrying about the future, and depression is worrying about the past, so make sure at least a few times a day your head is where your feet are.”

For me, that’s my New Years Resolution- Not some overreaching New Year, New Me promise to lose a ton of weight, or be able to bench press 300 pounds (although both would be excellent goals), but just to keep my head where my feet are. To leave the past in the past and let the future come as it may. To strive, each day, to be slightly better than I was the day before, and to allow those beautiful moments to eclipse the mundane routines.

…because the days aren’t quite as long as I sometimes wish they were, but the years certainly are shorter than I remember, so let’s take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

Happy New Year, everybody, make sure to try to keep your head where your feet are.