Tommy Shaw is a god

Styx, as usual, was phenomenal last night at The House of Blues in Cleveland. When asked what some of my favorite musicians are, many people expect me to say Morrissey or The Cure. While I do have special places in my heart for Morrissey and Robert Smith and the boys, the truth is I am a die hard Styx fan.

When I reveal my love for Styx, most people laugh. My last three boyfriends have not condoned this love and that may be one reason why they are ex-boyfriends. Who can't hear the beauty in "Blue Collar Man" when Tommy sings "Keeping my mind on a better life where happiness is only a heartbeat away. Paradise can it be all that I heard it was, I close my eyes and maybe I'm already there?"

I don't mess around when it comes to Styx. Once, at a Pittsburgh show, I got into a fist fight with a guy over a Tommy Shaw guitar pic. Tommy threw it to me, I caught it, and some middle-aged buffoon was ashamed he didn't catch it for his girlfriend. Security pulled him off of me while he was beating me. Luckily, the pic was tucked safely in my hand where Tommy threw it.

Now let me give a little disclaimer. I like Tommy Shaw Styx, not Dennis DeYoung Styx. I do like some songs Dennis DeYoung wrote, but many times they end up a bit creepy. Take "Sailing Away." It's a great song until the every end when the aliens show up. Lawrence Gowan sings Dennis DeYoung's song better than Dennis DeYoung.

See, I'm not ashamed to admit that I like something and I bet that if you really thought about it, there is a Styx song you love too. Hopefully, it's not "Mr. Roboto," another creepy contribution of Dennis DeYoung's.

And if you are wondering how this connects to my writing, don't worry about it. Trust me. I got something cooking that does in fact require the use of Styx. If you are one of the few people I told about my idea....shhhhh....it's a secret.

Dog Days

These are definitely the dog days, but in a literal, good sense of the word. I am lucky that I work in a field that gives me the summers off because these past weeks have been important to Edith's training. She is 11 weeks old and she can sit, lie, and give me five. She adores and tortures Telemachus. All in all, it's a nice little family.

I have had a lot of time to read and write as well. This past week I read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Dog Years by Mark Doty, Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields by Ashley Capps, and Huck Finn. I loved every single book. Though Huck Finn and Into the Wild did make me get the traveling itch again.

For those of you who love poetry, I highly recommend Capps' book Mistaking the Sea for Green Fields. I am on my third read and have found it to be a stunning debut book. Here's a short poem:

April

Everywhere, the ghost
wigs of dandelions,
everywhere the green
toothache of early spring.
The cops-in-training
are beating their horses,
and they wave at me
from the fields. All the girls
show their shoulders now.
The future promises more
of the same. It is hard
to love people enough.

For those of you who love poetry and/or dogs, Doty's Dog Years is a lovely memoir about the lives of his two lovely dogs, Arden and Beau. My favorite line in the book is..."Thus, in the face of all dangers, in what may seem a godless region, we move forward through the agencies of love and art."

I am not sure what my reading agenda is this week. I have so many books to read. I'm looking forward to spending some time with Bern Mulvey's book, The Fat Sheep Everyone Wants. Other than that, I have not made up my mind. Happy reading, everyone.

Missing Ireland