put another record on

We went to the Genesis concert in Cleveland on Tuesday night. It was a good show, and I’m glad I was there. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go, but I knew I had to. They’ve been my favorite band forever, and this is definitely the last tour. 

It’s like visiting old relatives for the holidays; they tell the same stories, sometimes leaving out parts you remember from before, but you listen anyway because you grew up with those memories, and you may not get to see them again. 

Phil Collins’ performance was mostly good, but there were a few moments that were a little painful to watch. He sat in a chair for the show, and he kept adjusting his position as if he was in significant pain. He forgot the words a couple of times, and his voice was a little weak at the beginning of the show. But he got stronger as the show progressed, and he was having fun with the crowd just like in the old days.

The other members are doing well enough at their age to have a good show night after night. Tony Banks just barely cracked a little smile during a long ovation. Mike Rutherford and Daryl Steurmer were solid as usual. Finally, Phil’s son Nic was a beast on the drums. 

The crowd took a little while to warm up, but got more into the show as it went on. Everyone cheered, some people got drunk or high, and a few people had a few tears (not me, because I’m dead inside). 

It was definitely bittersweet, but I’m glad I got to see them one more time.

Advertisement

news of the world

A quick update post, then I’ll write something more substantial later.

My anxiety has had a few moderate spikes, but overall has been decreasing slowly since I discontinued the Wellbutrin and resumed taking Abilify. The twitchiness comes and goes with the anxiety, but the OCD ritualistic behaviors remain.

My therapist has talked about using CBT for my OCD. To prepare for that, he asked me to observe and document the behaviors I’m doing (no problem) without being judgmental (very difficult). I am also supposed to learn a little about specific CBT techniques for OCD. I see him again tomorrow.

At work, every time I complete a project, I get two new ones, adding to my anxiety. I actually let fly a bitchy rant during a video staff meeting this week. The department manager was on the call, and I was inspired. This is very uncharacteristic of me, and I guess a few people were surprised. I’m so bad at speaking to others though, so I just read parts of a bitchy email I had written a few weeks ago. Point was made, however.

I’m taking Friday off and spending this weekend hiking and communing with nature at Black Moshannon in Pennsylvania. I was supposed to do this when my anxiety was higher, but that was when my daughter was in the hospital. I still want to do this for myself, though. Weather is iffy but not too cold, so I’m going for it. I’ll post a few pics.

We’re waiting for my son to get his 2nd vaccine shot, then we will have a family barbecue somewhere. It’s been a long time. We have made the effort to keep my in-laws from getting too lonely, but it’s been difficult for them.

Finally, Genesis will be at the Q in Cleveland on November 30th, and we’ll be there. Phil can’t play drums and can just barely walk, and in fact he will be sitting for much of the show, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see them one last time. I know they’ll play mostly the pop-rock songs rather than the old prog-rock stuff, but I’m okay with that, as long as they don’t play Whodunnit. Having said that, I wish I had seen them in 2007 instead.

I guess this wasn’t so quick after all.

genesis mixtape

I’m a big fan of the music group Genesis, primarily the stuff from 1980 and before, including the progressive rock phase of Genesis’ work with both Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins on vocals. I don’t get into the arguments over which singer was better, which albums were better, or whether Phil “ruined” the band in later years. The band evolved and stayed relevant for a long time, and in the end sold a shitload of records; they must have done something right. Oh yeah, there was also an album with Ray Wilson, which I enjoyed but most people did not.

Want to irritate a Genesis fan? 

1. When you hear a Genesis song, say “oooh, I like Phil Collins’ music!”
2. Ask, “What do you mean, Peter Gabriel was in Genesis?”
3. Ask, “oh yeah, they play Christian music, right?”
4. Ask, “Who’s Steve Hackett?”

I started out being confused exactly which songs belonged to Phil Collins and which belonged to Genesis, so being a child of the 80s, I needed to buy some cassette tapes. Thanks to the “Buy 8 cassettes for the price of 1” deal from Columbia House Music Club, plus the bargain basement racks at the record store, I was able to build my collection going back through their catalog and sort out which songs were on which album. By this time I have at least one copy of every official release, and some unofficial recordings, courtesy of the numerous internet repositories of concert bootlegs.

When I was in college in Reno, my girlfriend Beth was also a Genesis fan, and she made me a cassette with the albums “Trick of the Tail” and “Wind and Wuthering”. It became a kind of souvenir after our breakup, until eventually my car stereo ate the tape. Years later I made the same copy for my wife, but never told her the significance of it.

Once during college I was enrolled in a Dream Interpretation class (yes, a real class for credit!). We were supposed to have written down a dream we had to share with the class, and I hadn’t done the assignment. I was listening to the song “Mad Man Moon” in the parking lot, and decided to plagiarize the song for my dream. I took the imagery, jumbled it up a little, then wrote it down and took it to class. Solid A on the assignment. It was only later that I realized there was a risk that the instructor might be a fan also.

I only got to see Genesis live once, at the Oakland Coliseum in 1992. It was a great show, although they were past their prime in my opinion. I would have loved to have been at some of their shows in the past, but I guess I will have to be satisfied with bootlegs of those shows. However, the tribute band The Musical Box performs a theatrical recreation of early Genesis shows, complete with vintage instruments, lighting, and costumes. When they performed their Selling England By The Pound show, I felt like I was transported back in time to 1972.