“Turn The Lights Back On”

It's been a minute since I've posted here. I've had a number of false starts along the way, drafts that never came to a head, tales to tell before distractions pushed things aside.

We all need an outlet. I'm blessed to have a four-hour nightly show on FOX Sports Radio w/ Jason Smith where I can ponder the larger sporting world and those things I love - plenty of pop culture references, mini-monologues on daily life and making those connections in the studio and with our global audience. (Yep. I get those Tweets and notes from all over the place. It's pretty remarkable.)

While prepping for the show or our Fantasy Football podcast, I'll normally fire on on a repeat of a familiar TV show or movie. You know - those things you only have to pay half a mind to.

This morning, I finally sat back down to reboot "Knox Goes Away," a movie starring the legendary Michael Keaton. I won't go deep into it (you should watch it), but there was a line that hits at the beginning of the film.

"Even if I hated you for telling me ... I'd forget soon enough."

I've long talked about having the "memory of a cornerback." We talk about it on the show. It's something I've told my daughters in their pursuits. Mistakes and errors happen on the playing fields, classrooms, jobs and day-to-day. Learn, retain the moment and process it. Make adjustments and review long-term, but in the moment, you've got to make the next play, finish the next task and keep going.

It's much easier said than done, depending on the size and scope of the event. Internalization of those moments and feelings linger. What-Ifs? You put on the brave face (or so you think). In your mind, you go full MCU and create new timelines.

-------- Earlier this year, we had the chance to get a day trip in for a San Diego show -- Sting and Billy Joel. Song after song of classics from the early 70s and my childhood, belting out the words and getting wrapped into the emotion and feels of the space with a capacity crowd. But toward the middle of his set, Joel turned to play a recently released song that had instantly hit heavy rotation in my playlist. I sang along, one of few in the section who knew the tune, and helped folks find it on their Spotify and Apple Music apps.

"Turn The Lights Back On" - give it a spin, his first new single in years.

"And maybe you love me, maybe you don't Maybe you'll learn to, and maybe you won't You've had enough, but I won't give up On you"

Apply it as you will. It's got a greater context in the story of the tune.

But for here, remember to pause, reflect and keep going. There's a lot of great to be seen. And songs to sing.

Appropriate 1st After 50 Concert: QUEEN w/ Adam Lambert

 

One of my favorite things about living in Southern California is the fact that you can still book tickets for an outdoor event in November and feel confident that inclement weather will have no impact. 

And while the temperature dipped this past Saturday night at BMO Stadium, I’ll take the cheeseball approach to say that the heart and spirit were warmed. My girls and I rolled up to take in QUEEN w/ Adam Lambert at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. In the past few years, we’ve been blessed to attend a number of concerts featuring artists who make up the soundtrack of my life - Paul McCartney, Ringo, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Tim McGraw, P!nk and myriad iterations of Greg Dulli projects. At some point, I’ll get back into a calendar and connect the timeline, but alas, I can only go back so far with an important box of old ticket stubs gone missing. But, as Metallica taught us - “the Memory Remains.”

I talk often of the common space of concerts and live events as rare occurrences in our society. All the energy and love is flowing in the same directions and space. From the moment we entered the queue before doors opened, you felt that solidarity. It truly set up as an ALL-AGES show. There were tour shirts going back decades, myriad patches and embroidery projects on jean jackets and flannels, crowns and sequins … and leather. Man, there was an overload of leather and chains as far as the eyes could see. 

The crowd was slow-arriving - Welcome to LA - so I spent the time in our seats watching the NWSL Final with my daughter and staring at the logo emblazoned on the video board. And then we heard the first chords. The show kicked off with a loud roar and “Back to Humans” and “Radio Ga Ga.” The video and audio production quality stood out in a matter of seconds. 

I purposefully did not look at the setlist in advance of the show. I just wanted to roll with the emotion and celebrate what Roger Taylor and Adam Lambert curated with Adam Lambert for the night. I’d seen images of the glammed-up motorcycle for “Bicycle Race” and Lambert’s superhero outfits. And I knew we’d see a few nods to Freddie Mercury (the Call and Response, ending with his “FU” sent the crowd into a frenzy). 

“Hammer To Fall,” a favorite in our house and part of my pre-show vocal regimen for my work at FOX Sports Radio, appeared early in the set. Chills with that opening chord. “I’m In Love With My Car” had the diehards singing along

It was a rapid-fire setlist of hit after hit. I know I’ll always get emotional when I hear “Love of My Life,” and I was proud of myself for keeping it together with a full-throated singalong and smile. 

My younger daughter was giddy with the presence of “39” in the set. Here’s Brian May from earlier this year in Baltimore. 

My older daughter screamed loudly with “I Want It All.”

I got a huge gift with “Who Wants To Live Forever” from the movie HIGHLANDER. I’d run into Clancy Brown a couple weeks earlier at the Bears-Chargers game and they just announced Henry Cavill’s inclusion in a remake of the classic, so we’d talked about the movie a bunch the last couple weeks. Again, you get the wave of emotions and Lambert delivered so beautifully. 

———

You can find the rest of the setlist online. It delivered all of the hits and kept the crowd alive and loud. I loved watching the reactions as each song started — you could read fans’ faces about which of the classics impacted them most. 

Lambert was absolutely fantastic, and his love and respect for the fans and his band mates came through all night long. He spoke of it being 10 years since he joined the band on the road. Man, how time flies. 

It was a complete celebration of 50 years of QUEEN, with the debut album having dropped in July of 1973. 

I can only hope to say I’ve aged as well. 

——-

Thanks to Roger Taylor, Brian May and Adam Lambert for a magical night, filled with emotion and smiles. And memories the kids and I will keep forever. 

We hope to meet again down the road. 

Fifty .. Ya Made It. Now What?

The alarm slapped me across the face at 3:30 on Sunday morning. Happy 50th, ya old bastard. You made it. 

I woke to this scene on the television, the recently retired Michael Caine from “The Dark Knight Rises” crying over Bruce Wayne. It seemed appropriate given the weight of the day, a lifetime of memories, misses and missteps flashing before my eyes as Caine’s tears fell.

And with that, I found my way to the bathroom for the stare down. The Stuart Smalley-inspired moment to prep for the day ahead. A quick shower and I was out the door, ready for my two-hour Sunday morning sprint on radio. 

It’s Week 6 of the NFL. Normally, I’m bouncing off the walls, ready to hammer through stats and injuries and trends. And fire off the requisite pop culture references and one-liners, of course.

This Sunday, I’d have rather pulled the covers back up and slept (or tried to). But, the show goes on. It’s like the song from Rilo Kiley says:

“But you’ll fight and you’ll make it through

You’ll fake it if you have to

And you’ll show up for work with a smile” (A Better Son/Daughter)

I received a text from my daughter before the show - and long before she should have been up - that gave me a jolt of positivity ahead of the show introduction. A couple friends did the same, helping to lift the spirit. 

The show was great - we broke down matchups and made predictions. And, a certain number of NFL teams would later do their best to make me look foolish (I do fine by myself in that regard). 

I headed back to watch the action, my beloved Bears doing Bears things, a miserable experience among a slate of NFL surprises. Calls and texts to mock their futility and to catch up, including my family and my other daughter, brightened the day. 

It’s the simple things that bring you back. For a while, it all melts away, that anguish you saw in Caine’s face up top, the things you’ve fouled up. You’re talking about the game, laughing about memories of players and teams past, birthday celebrations and loved ones.

Tim McGraw sang about “My Next 30 Years.” I know I don’t have 50 in me, but you have to start somewhere.

This counts as Day One. 

New Work: Reboot

My first real exposure to soccer occurred when I worked at Yahoo! and helped to create and manage the official FIFA World Cup website for the Korea Japan tournament. I don’t imagine my Chicago childhood experience would run quite the same in 2023, but other than friends that played on our school team at St. Ignatius College Prep, my friends and I ran the cycle —- Baseball, Football and Basketball. 

So, I’ll save the lengthy tales of the site build and interactions for sometime down the line. Suffice it to say that I gained an appreciation for the game and began to casually follow. Fast forward to this media career and raising a daughter who loves the game. 

Good, short introduction, right? 

Sunday night I got to experience a home game for Angel City FC against the rival San Diego Wave with my girls. We got to BMO Stadium about an hour before kickoff and got to our seats to watch warmups. The game marked the introduction of USWNT star Julie Ertz to Angel City, and she received a hero’s welcome during pre-game (and many subsequent in-game touches). I gotta say — we were mesmerized by the pre-game work put in by the goalies as they constantly peppered with balls. It seemed the equivalent of a full practice. 

Drums and chants and songs made for an electric atmosphere in the sold out 22,000-seat stadium. Groans with each foul call. Cheers on each rush. And existential crises following the two goal allowed.  

Anyway, it was a tough 2-0 loss to Alex Morgan and the Wave. The offensive attacks and numerous corner kicks failed to dent the scoreboard. 

But, despite the loss, there were loud roars for the squad as they exited the field, and the music and chants continued. Civility and positivity ruled the day. Can’t say I heard an unkind word uttered during the day. Cheers and chants, no smack-talk. It was jarring given the stuff Smith & I talk about so frequently on FOX Sports Radio. 

A great night with the kids and conversations and laughs — in-stadium music plus our usual playlists makes for a cool thread. We met a gentleman standing in line for popcorn (that ain’t no joke!) who’d brought his kids and grandkids to the game. He’d yet to see a moment of action as he’d been put on food duty. But he was loving every minute of it, as were the groups of kids cheering for their favorites or holding up signs. 

Reset and restored … though the direct sunlight came hard for my face after Saturday’s sunburnt beginnings. Follow me on TikTok @harmonrants to check the out and the future content madness. 

Find your wins —- create some - shake it up.

New Week: Easy As 123

 

This was my Instagram post (@swollendome) on Monday, January 23rd. That’s right. It was 123.

There were a number of cool anniversaries on Monday:

- 80 years for “Casablanca”

- 40 years for “The A-Team”

- 38 years for “ThunderCats”

- Tiffani Amber Thiessen’s birthday

- WWE RAWXXX (more on this one in a forthcoming post)

And the celebrations/fallouts from the weekend’s NFL action … and personally for me, a trip home through the remembrance of DJ Lin Brehmer in Chicago. 

In the midst of massive celebrations and the setup of NFL Championship Weekend, the anger and scapegoating bubbled from (most of) the losing locker rooms. 

Jacksonville and the New York Giants achieved great heights, but save a “Why not us?” bit of prognostication, their seasons ended as expected. The Jaguars build toward a big future, while the Giants do have big questions surrounding their most important positions. 

Let’s face it. The majority of fist-shaking and anger (broken tvs) fall to two teams.

The Cowboys lost to the 49ers, and all eyes and poison pens turned to kicker Brett Maher, Dak Prescott & Coach Mike McCarthy. Hell, the team’s social media account went after the QB and Coach.

In Buffalo, roster design and frustration from the team’s top receiver signal a need for a pivot this offseason. Both the offensive and defensive lines need work, and there needs to be some leveling up in terms of the weaponry around QB Josh Allen. 

The NFL has expanded its playoffs to include 14 teams. While we can argue that some teams don’t need to be included and that the tournament is too watered down, hope at the end of a season for cities and their fan bases can’t be discounted. Even if it’s a one-and-done situation, it’s a building block. 

Hope. 

The other 18 teams can talk about building and draft picks and offseason transactions. 

It’s just selling Hope on a different timeline.

New Year - Building A Playlist, Part I

We talk New Year’s resolutions — changing your life in myriad ways. 

Diet. Exercise. Money. The famous “Work-Life Balance” discussion. 

——————————

Whatever we’re doing as 2023 unfolds, we all work with a soundtrack in the background. And, I’m using that term broadly here. 

Maybe the radio or streaming option opens up just on the way to/from work where a music station finds its way into the rotation alongside your “Morning Zoo” discussion of “news of the weird.” 

Maybe it’s the dog walk or workout background, as opposed to tapping into whatever your gym has on the television or your own tv.

Maybe you’re a lover of Broadway shows and musical —- you know - the actual soundtracks!

Anyway, I’m an amalgam of so many musical artists. As I write this, the ELVIS soundtrack is playing in the FOX Sports Radio studio following my Sunday show. I’ve got that - our “Countdown to Kickoff” show in the background and four televisions replete with game previews for Week 18 of the NFL season.

I promised a glimpse into my playlist and, I guess, how my brain works, while walking the dog earlier. 

So, let’s get at it. I’ve got a lot of tunes that roll in and out of the Dome. Here’s a good starter kit. 

Bowie -  Teenage Daydream

Afghan Whigs - I’ll Make You See God

Mark Lanegan - Beehive

Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero

Queen - Hammer To Fall

Lou Reed - Busload of Faith

Iggy Pop - Brick By Brick

Harry Chapin - W-O-L-D

Jeff Healey Band - Life Beyond The Sky

Mark Lanegan - One Way Street

Gutter Twins - Idle Hands

Selena Gomez - My Mind and Me

The Damned - Love Song

George Strait - I Can Still Make Cheyenne

Cream - Tales of Brave Ulysses

Sting - The Last Ship

Elton John - Have Mercy on the Criminal

Brad Paisley - When I Get Where I’m Going

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Chris Cornell - Can’t Change Me

Ringo Starr - Photograph

Eddie Vedder - Guaranteed

Jethro Tull - Life is a Long Song

Alan Jackson - Who Says?

Aerosmith - JADED

P!nk - So What?

Greg Dulli - Pantomima

GNR - Yesterdays

GNR - Get in the Ring

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah

Jimmy Buffett - A Pirate Looks at Forty

John C. Reilly - Walk Hard

Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run

Rilo Kiley - Better Son or Daughter

Afghan Whigs - Faded

Roger Waters - What God Wants, Part I

Sebastian Bach - A Bitchslap

Tim McGraw - Hellelujahville

Elvis Presley - If I Can Dream

Motörhead - The Ace of Spades

Mary Chapin-Carpenter - Stones in the Road

Keith Richards - Wicked As It Seems

The Rolling Stones - 19th Nervous Breakdown

Traveling Wilbur’s - Heading for the Light 

Find Your Space: Take Out The Trash

Don’t worry. I’m not starting a movement or putting together a book just yet. 

Harmonism is still some time away. Flawed, failed and a roller coaster ride inside my Dome that I’ve acknowledged extensively here and frequently on my nightly show on FOX Sports Radio. Hell, read my Twitter comments on a given day and there are plenty of folks lining up to call me every name in the books. 

Most of those are easy to dismiss. Context and short attention span theater come into play. Sometimes, I get caught up in the Monday AM Quarterbacking, second-guessing analogies or the pop culture situations applied to analysis. 

On Monday night, the Bills and Bengals were midway through the first quarter of an important Week 17 battle. Bills DB Damar Hamlin tackled Tee Higgins - and everything stopped. Medical personnel administered CPR and operated a defibrillator on the field. Our show was four hours of covering this story and its different angles - human and business. After an hour delay, the game was finally postponed. How and why and what occurred can be found in the podcasts of the show on all audio platforms. 

For my part, I was drawn to the human side of it - Hamlin the man, his family and the impact of this situation to Hamlin’s teammates and coaches, Higgins and the Bengals, the fans in attendance and the millions watching … including the players, families and friends across the NFL. And, of course, you try to make sense of timelines and the decision trees, the optics of said decisions and, of course, all of it informed by your own experiences. 

I’ve had several close calls of my own - once passing out awaiting a Rolling Stones concert and one huge car wreck. Add a couple medical emergencies and you’ve got a base of experience and emotion from which to build. I’ve witnessed the defibrillator applied to a neighbor - it did not revive her.

All of that to say. We’re blessed to get another opportunity to do what we like/ love with each wake-up. It’s nothing revelatory, but billions of dollars each year are spent in the pursuit of unlocking that recognition. Find the best of situations that you’re in —- you can’t always unring the bell of past mistakes and bad decisions. People, employers and Father Time can’t/won’t always forgive or work through such. Recognize those errors, and wake up to be better. 

Which brings to today’s wake-up. I peeled carrots for my daughter’s lunch and went to throw away the residue, Garbage can was full. Recycling bin was full and overflowing. A million things flash through the head and the obvious potential responses. I get paid to be snarky and cynical, for crying out loud. 

I chuckled and got it ready for the walk to the dumpsters. Blessed, given those examples here and many more unwritten, to be able to connect and play a role. I’ll never get back what’s lost — but I try to celebrate and support/prop up what’s left. 

————-

We’ve had a running bit for years in the house based on a CBS This Morning piece done on Bruce Springsteen. The gist of it is this — Play to 75,000 people at night. Still the guy that has to get up and make the pancakes the next morning. Just Dad.

You can read a more in-depth dive into this part of The Boss’ home life here. Springsteen Makes Pancakes

Take out the trash. Make the pancakes. And try to do some good locally - your house and relationships - and where you can, maybe reach out to a larger space and community. 

The NFL community, led by #BillsMafia, came together in grand fashion to support Damar Hamlin’s charity - a toy drive for a daycare center in McKees Rocks, PA. Hundreds of thousands of donors have contributed over $4.7 million as of this writing. That’s right. $4.7 million. 

Click to read about Hamlin’s charity