Live Loud & Wear A Cool Hat

It’s been a few weeks since I blogged. Sorry. I have no excuse, so I’m just gonna jump right in. I went back to Northern California a few weeks ago to visit my family. It was a great trip and it was very cool to see everyone. This trip was particularly interesting because my tattoo collection has grown quite a bit over the past year. My parents are not very rock and roll (to say the least), but I was pleasantly surprised by their lack of reaction. I guess they know that I’m way past the age of making my own decisions. It did make me think about my upbringing and how I am grateful for how I was raised.

My folks ended up doing well and my Dad was from the last American generation that did better than their parents financially. Sad, but true. Despite being comfortably middle class, they raised me to make my own way (money, etc.) and cut me off (as promised) the day that I graduated college (I am eternally grateful that they helped me out that long) and I have been making my own way ever since. Visiting the place where I grew up seems to get more interesting as time goes by. It’s strange seeing your family and friends get older. What is even stranger is seeing them become more like their parents.

I am speaking more about friends, most of whom I didn’t see on the trip, but still see what they’re up to on Facebook, through email, etc. It’s weird to me how many people either became (VERY) conservative like their parents and/or are living under the huge weight of trying to live up to the standard of living that their parents created. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, it’s just foreign to me because neither of those things have ever even been on my radar. I moved away from home at 18 and never looked back. I finished college (to the relief of my parents), got a decent software gig and started playing music. I have come to realize recently that most of the major decisions/choices in my life have been to support the music in one way or another. As long as I can keep playing music, the rest is gravy. I just don’t worry about money, retirement, etc. I really don’t care about it.

My path has always been to live out loud. It’s just who I am. I’m outgoing, I like sticking out in a crowd, I like cool clothes, I love rock & roll, I like making a lot of noise, etc. I have no interest in being a part of “normal” society, in fact just the thought of that freaks me out. I am almost the polar opposite of  my parents and yet somehow, they “get” me and love me no matter what. Even though they aren’t even that into music, they still ask about my music because they know how important it is to me. So I just want to say thanks. I also want to give them props for at least being open to listening and understanding other opinions like mine.

Now, as for my friends who freak me out with their weird conservative Facebook posts about the Tea Party, how building a “mosque” in N.Y. (or anywhere in the US for that matter) is a bad thing (whatever happened to “freedom of religion” — sorta like “whatever happened to my rock & roll”?!), etc. I can say in my true, obnoxious, living out loud way that I think you’re F*CKING crazy and that you sound like a grumpy OLD person who has given up on life and just trying to hoard money. BUT, I love you anyway. Feel free to believe whatever you want. Just don’t try to convince me that being “progressive” is a bad thing or that living like I do is wrong.

I ain’t gonna go down without a fight and I ain’t EVER gonna show my age. I’m gonna keep on ROCKIN’ until I can’t any more. That brings me to the cool hat. I’m going to see the mighty SLASH tonight and I’m psyched. The dude is still as cool (if not cooler) than he was when I was in high school. Did he give up, get conservative, wear khaki pants and golf shirts, buy a house in the ‘burbs and get a “real” job? F*CK NO. He just kept on doing what he loves — playing the guitar (and being an all-around BADA$$). And he kept wearing that cool a$$ top hat.

Rock on MOTHERF*CKERS!

Sixxx