Simple Explanation

Rarely have I ever given a simple explanation to anything and I'm probably not going to start now. This is more of a "simple explanation" in the way that it's not simple at all.

Just go with me on this.

I've had people ask me about the name for my blog "Lyrical Coma" and where I got it. Well, I'm all too happy to oblige considering I have no other topics of interest to blabber about today.

"Lyrical Coma" is taken from a verse of the song "A Fortune In Lies" by Dream Theater. If you've never heard the band I strongly suggest you check them out if you like progressive rock. I think the band is comprised of some of the best technical musicians, hands-down. I still enjoy them, but sometimes they can be a bit overzealous with songs that define the word "epic" by surpassing the 15-minute mark on a regular basis.

I still remember when I bought their first tape, "When Dream and Day Unite" in 1989. Yes, it was a tape. Compact Discs had not quite caught on at this point, and I couldn't possibly make my own mixed tape without my dual tape player. I was a junior in high school and had a reputation for finding obscure bands that wrote really good music. When I went shopping for new music (which was every week) I used to walk through the entire store, looking at everything along the way. It usually took a couple of hours, but I always took something home with me.

Pegasus Records is the store I bought the tape from. It was a dive of a store, but it was also the only place that carried a large enough variety of non-mainstream music to satiate my palate. This store took up the front lobby of what used to be a movie theater. The Ridge Theater had been in business for years and was the only one in Oak Ridge, TN. After awhile other movie houses more conveniently located and with more screens began to pop up and eventually put The Ridge out of business. I remember when I was still a kid going to see "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" at that theater. I also recall we were about 10 minutes late and had to stand behind the back row. I was upset for a few minutes, and then became absorbed by the movie. Nowadays, if I miss the previews for movies I can be very "difficult".

A lot of people have absolutely no clue where Oak Ridge is located, not even those who live in Knoxville (about 15 miles east). I tell folks "You know, it's where they built the atomic bomb," and they just sort of stare at me blankly, nodding their head with an "Ohhhh, yeah". Idiots.

Anyway, so I'm digging around for new stuff at Pegasus Records and the owner, some guy named "Wolf", turned me on to Dream Theater. Wolf was an amazing musician and he could make a guitar sing like you've never heard before. He was one of those guys that could play an absolute plethora of instruments fluently. Music was his language and he definitely spoke it well. If he thought something was good then you knew it was worth listening to.

I absolutely loved "When Dream and Day Unite" and one of the lines from a song on that tape really stuck with me over the years. The song is "A Fortune In Lies" and here's the verse.

I can remember when,
In the unity of our five-day sessions
Not even once did we hear the siren song
What kind of imagination
Asleep in some lyrical coma
Who's vain futile memory
Could have been so wrong?

In this passage "lyrical coma" seems to indicate an absence of thought, but to me it's always meant, "being expressive through a complete lack of expression". I know it sounds romantic, but the idea of expressing yourself by doing nothing at all has always inspired me. Sometimes it's what you don't say that tells the entire story.

Also, you may have noticed there's a quote at the top of my page "To build and destroy - only you decide which joy." Most blogs have some type of witty phrase accompanied by a clever explanation as their tag line. I think the quote for my page says it all though. This is another one of those things that's just stuck with me through the years and I even use it on my signature line for every forum I've ever signed up for.

The quote comes from a band named Last Crack. The song it comes from is "Energy Mind" off the album "Burning Time", released in 1991. In my opinion this is an amazingly profound line. It says to me that for everything created something else is destroyed and the choice is left to us. We decide which path to ultimately go down and every judgment will have an effect on those around us. Actually, I think the writer was referring to cocaine (and most likely taking it too) if you listen to the entire song...but hey, it's a hell of a line anyway.

As mentioned in a previous post, Lyrical Coma was also the name I used for a self-published book of poetry I starting writing in high school. I was so proud of this book I even hired someone to illustrate it for me. It turned out really well, but only serves to offer me a chuckle and brief interludes of nostalgia these days. I always had a difficult time writing anything with an upbeat theme. It too often seemed hokey and transparent. Perhaps the only way I could get rid of those darker emotions was to get them down on paper. Here's another poem from Lyrical Coma called "Forever Lost". Remember, "happy" is not my strong point.

Soldiers of thought march today
Vicious, cutting words at play
Killing in the kindest way
The wounded die and scattered lay

Looking out from sightless eyes
Reaching to white-mirrored skies
Sinful, dark, reflective lies
While beauty is what beauty buys

Playing midst life's rotten weeds
Sour, bloated are the seeds
Planting where the bramble leads
And gladly harvest bitter needs

Twisting truth at any cost
Slam the slide and tempest tossed
Bleeding, broken fingers crossed
And there to lie forever lost

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this "simple explanation" of my blog title.

Maybe in the future I'll tell you where the name "neonangel" comes from, but I'm pretty sure someone has already figured that one out.

No doubt I will be able to briefly expand on that description.