Me With Rome

Like Michael Learns to Rock standing in front of that church, except I’m 9 days too late, I present to you my birthday entry. I have to admit this entry is being written with a lack of confidence that I’ve never felt before, mainly because of the 2010 edition. If you haven’t had a chance to read “Blame it all on Being Older Now” article written on November 6, 2010, now is not the time to do so. In fact, if you wish for this article to be amazing, I advise that you never read earlier said article ever.

Has my career as a self proclaimed writer washed up like Danish pop-soft rock-late 80’s early 90’s band, MLTR? Are my brilliant pieces of word play behind me? And why couldn’t I reference a cooler band than Michael Learns to Rock??? Do I need to change my metaphoric strategy? If my articles were music, and my creativity was Bradley Nowell, would my maturity be the heroine that ended it all? Would that make me just a bass player and drummer, struggling to move on with their careers, looking for that new singer to lead me? I ask myself these very questions as I stroll through the newly snow blanketed ground, choked that I use to write almost every single day and now I’m 9 days late on my birthday entry. And I don’t remember it being this cold last year!

My iPod plays the new Sublime with Rome album, a project that I was reluctant to listen to since its release in July of this year, as I tread towards my truck. I mean, really, how can you recreate the passion that Bradley brought through those lyrics? And why the hell did I park so far from my work?? That voice was so raw and truthful. It angers me to hear when a band carries on, sans any original key members, and Sublime with Rome is was no different…because now they are with Rome. It also angers me that I declined the underground parking offered to me this summer. I slept on both opportunities. In fact, I don’t even think I was aware of the Yours Truly album’s release date . My ears stayed loyal to Santeria and What I Got and I let a great artist from Long Beach rest soundly in his grave. Until today.

Many people use the phrase, “when in Rome,” but when you are talking about a man with the same name, some will think twice. In this case, I thought twice and decided to go a different direction. Rome Ramirez is a brave soul, standing in the spot of a artist that was loved by so many. His voice hauntingly resembles Bradley’s as I youtube some live performances, which are tagged with harsh comments about the change in line up. “You’ll never replace Bradley!” commented one viewer; “Rome is delusional if he thinks he has more talent than Bradley’s pinky finger!” said others; “If you want a larger penis GUARANTEED, go to this site!” fibbed some more. And then I started to think, “hey that last comment just took me to a website that sells pills that will cost me $199.00. I don’t think this is safe.” And I also thought, “Can loyalty to great things cause bias judgment on DIFFERENT things?”

I mean, with Rome, it’s different. And I don’t think the band intended it to be anything but. Things are always changing. I even stated this in my 2010 entry. So why are we comparing now to a time long gone? Because Yours Truly is a really good album and Rome really is a talented artist. Had he been in a different band, I think that the comments on the youtube video would have been much different, except maybe for the penis enlargement spam.

So in closing, for those of you who are saying that this article is crap and that you don’t even know who I am anymore, I got one thing to say to you. I’m still that same person, just with a little bit of Rome in me. Wait, let’s do that again. What I’m saying is things don’t have to be better to be good. So take Bradley’s voice out of your head and enjoy the new album. Because remembering the past is one thing, but being stuck in it is unfortunately, another.