Foreplay/Long Time
Long, beautiful rock guitar intro.
Probably not what you were thinking, unless you are a Boston fan, a Boomer or Gen X.
It’s been such a long time, I think I should be going, yeah…
The first concert I ever went to was Boston, October 1987. We were in line to get tickets and an older guy (we were in our late teens; he was probably in his late 20s to early 30s) was standing in front of us was wearing time-worn-with-love bell-bottom jeans. Everybody was so excited and this fellow was regaling us with tales of his last Boston concert, which was some 10 years prior. We were in awe. This was bloody Boston and he had been there!
He paused thoughtfully for a moment, looked down, and laughed.
“In fact,” he mused in reflective memory, “I think I was wearing these same jeans!”
Yeah, this guy had been around. He had our respect. Rock and freaking roll, baby!
Brad Delp’s golden, silky, soulful tenor. Few have been able to belt it out like Delp could.
Yeah, those were the days, and that was rock and roll!
Now, I’m not saying it has been a long time for me since The Power of SO was released. It certainly feels like it. May 2024 was only two years ago. But the battles fought with the publisher make it feel like a bloody eternity of watching Blue’s Clues with my kids when they were but wee children. Sure it was fun at first. A little challenging. Boring. What the hell am I doing here? Somebody save me! Then I had plans for Steve. Oh yes…I had plans for Steve.
Anyway, here we are. It feels as if it has been a long time. I’m no Brad Delp. I couldn’t carry a tune if Brad were still alive and I were lip synching while he did all the work. No doubt, Brad would stop mid-show and bury me next to Steve from Blue’s Clues.
But my book is getting traction, as if Steve and Blue led someone to the book and the website. I currently have 25 5-star reviews and nothing for the unacceptable, lesser ratings. I’m thinking of that underdog soccer story starring Sylvester Stallone set during WWII. Sly unites and rallies allied prisoners who happen to be quite skilled at football (read: soccer) to play a propaganda match against the Nazi all-star team. Sly isn’t bad himself. Along with Michael Caine, Max von Sydow, and a slew of 70s and 80s soccer stars (including the great Pelé himself, without whom Mr. Caine would not have joined the cast.)
(And one might think Caine would have said, "John Huston's directing, is he? Ah, well, I've always wanted to work with John Huston. Oh? He directed me in The Man Who Would Be King? Of course he did. Loved that picture, I did. Wonderful film. Great man, Huston. Great director. Yes... I'd very much like to work with him again." But no. He wanted to work with fucking Pelé.)
I love Michael Caine. One of my favorites, he is. Yes…I love his work. Anyway…
I mentioned 25 5-star ratings. Great feedback, too! I won’t share here, because you should really go there and read it. Buy the book. Get some, baby! But also, in researching this fine surprise, I see that I also had a really nice website visit bump last week that coincided with my TikTok ad campaign. Just a wee little sub-$100 campaign of 3 days with my first and worst video ever.
It was hilarious. To me. No positive comments. A handful of favorites and likes. The main sentiment was “WTF?!” The concept was not difficult, but I’m hopeful it was the portrayed chaos that drew out the confusion. Given the >400 visits, I feel safe with that assessment. Most of my TT metrics were well above average for video watching. Time watched had to yield WTF. Longer watching would have prevented WTF.
But I still appreciate the support. Very much so. The headaches have been crippling this past week. Crippling. Not a lot of progress anywhere has been made. So every positive comment, every person who understands the humor, or at least tries, is very much appreciated. Sometimes you want things to hurry along, and then life turns into one of the world’s longest guitar solos, and you’re just not disappointed at all.
Thank you for enjoying this guitar solo with me.
