Guitars
Guitars are great. Guitars are swell. I love to bang on them and really give them a good rocking. I've had a fetish for "offset waist" guitars for a few years now, which is unfortunate since my guitar buying days are behind me. At least for now. Here are a few axes that aren't in Riotimus's jamming room but should be:
Fender Jazzmaster
Fender Jaguar
Fender Mustang
Fender Tornado
Fender Jagstang
Cataphracts
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The cataphract was the precursor to the medieval knight. After being routed again and again by Eastern horsemen, the Roman Empires transitioned from lightly or unarmored cavalry to a system where man and horse were encased in metal. Indeed, the word cataphract means something like "camp stove." The cost of maintaining the horses and acquiring the equipment required a great deal of wealth, setting the stage for the feudal system. In battle the cataphracts would form a wedge and drive through the enemy line, usually straight at their leader, making a hole for lighter armored cavalry and infantry to come through. The Byzantine version of the medieval period was not so heavily armored as in the above picture, but was also a mounted archer who inspired fear throughout the Eurasia.
Hills
I love to run to the hills like in that song by the Iron Maidens. They are incredibly cathartic for me. Next month I'll be going to the San Juans for my dad's memorial service. They are beautiful.
These are the Bookcliff Mountains near where I grew up. I hunted these with my dad when I was a kid, took my Bronco out in them with my wife while we were courting. They are amazing.
Music
Music has always been a big thing for me. Below is a crazy list of songs that are significant to turning me into Riotimus.
"Queen of Hearts" - the first song Riotimus remembers ever singing.
"Hang 'em High" - the gritty first hard rock Riotimus experienced at a neighbors house that changed the way he listened to music forever.
"You're Time is Gonna Come" - one of the only songs ever with cool keyboards, this song convinced Riotimus that music didn't have to be the new thing to be cool.
"Fly to the Angels" - butt rocker anthems moved Riotimus in the days of first loves. Riotimus saw Slaughter twice live. It was awesome.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Riotimus is really sick of this song. But the first time he heard it he was at a party where MTV was playing through the home stereo. Teenagers were snowboarding down the stairs and the host was drunk and breaking his parents bed. Yeah, he paid for that one. After years of listening to butt rock, Nirvana's rawness shined on Riotimus like capital-t-truth. Of course it wasn't, but Riotimus was only 16, so what did he know anyways?
"Eye of the Beholder" - Riotimus was hanging at the gas station with his buddies at lunch when someone pulled up and cranked this tune from the beginning. Riotimus knew then, as he does now, that Metallica is the greatest rock band of all time.
I could keep going on and on, but since I'm out of time I'm just going to go with these. I hope you enjoyed this peek deep into the inner brain of Riotimus. And I hope you didn't get any on you.
R.
6 comments:
I don't know anything about guitars, so I'll have to leave that commentary for other more qualified readers.
Thanks for the education about cataphracts. It's stuff like that that makes me wish I had been a history major. Studying ancient and medieval history would have been such a huge help for my writing.
Those hills are beautiful. They remind me of my Utah hills. Oh wait, the Book Cliffs are in Utah, too. Maybe that's why. I've always wanted to visit the San Juan mountains, though. By all accounts they're even more impressive than Utah's best efforts. The Uintas top out at 13,500 feet, a full thousand shorter than the tallest San Juan peaks.
I don't think I've ever heard those first three songs, which kind of surprised me at first. I've heard a lot of their music from hanging out in my brother's room and listening to the radio, but then I realized I've only owned two Van Halen albums and none from Led Zeppelin. So what makes me think I would have heard those particular songs before? Hmm. I've never owned anything by the last three bands, either, now that I think about it. Heresy, I know--a rocker who's never owned a Metallica album. So I listened to Eye of the Beholder all the way through. There was this rhythmic shift at about 3:10 that totally freaked me out. I thought I was listening to Dream Theater for a second. I guess that's not really so surprising considering Metallica was such a big influence on them.
Thanks for your comments, Ben. I love history and I'm happy to pass whatever I've got to you. Diver Down is my favorite Van Halen album, and one of their least known. It has some horrific pop metal on it, but it also has some of their darkest stuff (like "Hang 'em High." Favorites include "Where Have All the Good Times Gone," "Cathedral," "Intruder, "Little Guitars I & II," "Full Bug," and "Big Bad Bill." As a prog metal fan, I highly recommend . . . And Justice For All by Metallica. It is, in my opinion, their most progressive endeavor. I don't think they made through a single song without some significant tempo and/or time signature change. It really is a work of art if you can get past "One."
R.
I may get the hang of country music yet! ( Queen of Hearts) Another fun post.. Thank you, Knightly sir! ( one never tires of learning about ones relatives!:-) )
Ah, good stuff. It doesn't get any butt-rockier than Slaughter. Together with that sweet Zeppelin song, it's almost enough to make me forgive you for putting Nirvana *and* a country song up. :) I have to admit, though, that Smells Like Teen Spirit is a pretty kick-ass song on its own merits. I just have to push past the automatic urge to vomit at the merest hint of NIRVANA (all caps to indicate their status as the anointed ones).
Well, Ben, unless they were on the radio (which these particular Zep and Van Halen songs weren't) you wouldn't have heard them from hanging out in my room. I don't own any Zeppelin myself, and never got into the Roth-era Van Halen (not from a lack of appreciation, but because Van Hagar was current when I discovered rock-n-roll).
I have this automatic reaction against anything that seems to have been anointed by everyone -- a personality quirk that doesn't always serve me well -- and Metallica is a case in point. I can't point to any one thing that sparked my long-term grudge against them, but I do have Riotimus to thank for dispelling it. They'll never be a favorite of mine for a variety of reasons, but I'm open to the awesomeness now. Yeah, that transition from verse to breakdown/chorus at 3:10 is pretty nifty. Eye of the Beholder is one of the best in a long line of great Metallica songs.
Great post, Riotimus. I enjoyed everything about it.
I feel like I do a pretty good job of avoiding liking things just because the masses say I should. Metallica and Nirvana both past my test of time - I still enjoy listening to them (exception being their singles) as much today as I ever did. I can't say that for a lot of the bands I've liked over the years. Thanks for the comments, Ing. I get a thrill when I manage to pound out a great one.
R.
Forgot to mention the guitars... Those are some sweet looking instruments. Though I've always been more a fan of the Fender Strat look myself. The sound, too; back in my band days, I had a cheap Mexican strat that our guitarist borrowed all the time, even preferred it to his $2800 custom Ibanez, cause it just sounded so big and mean.
I don't know if the offset waist ones would necessarily sound any different than a standard-body strat, though; I'm not very familiar with them.
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