Purple Rain 30 years later

The album Purple Rain came out 30 years ago today. Hard to believe that I was only six-years-old when the album dropped, but I didn't see the film until it came out on video tape, and that was probably a year or so after it was in theaters back then. So I saw the film, and fell in love with Prince, Apollonia, Morris Day (even though he was the bad guy), and the music when I was seven. That makes more sense. We rented the tape on Beta, by the way.

I've seen the film Purple Rain dozens of times. It's up there with Shawshank Redemption for me, where if it's on TV I turn it on and watch it until the end. Purple Rain is cheesy, and corny, and doesn't follow a typical story arc, and I love it. It reminds me of childhood, and I love seeing old Minneapolis throughout the film. My favorite color is purple, not only because I'm a Vikings fan, but I loved Prince and Purple Rain first.

I saw a screening of the film at Pepitos a few years ago where The Revolution's drummer Bobby Z and the assistant director said a few words before the screening. The AD talked about how they started filming just a music video, but talk of a story mushroomed on the tour bus, and they started to piece a movie together. He said the first cut of the film was four hours long. That explains why the 111 minute final cut is a little disjointed here and there.

Being a parent now, I don't know how I got away with seeing the R-rated film when I was 7-years-old, but I'm glad I did. It was a little uncomfortable watching the adult themed scenes with my parents, but we had an unwritten "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy. If you don't talk about it, it doesn't exist. It must've been for my 7th birthday that I got one of my favorite birthday presents ever. Purple Rain on vinyl. It was the first album that I listened to all the way through, both sides. I love the album to this day, and on its 30-year anniversary I'll give it a listen and give you my thoughts on each track.

1. Let's Go Crazy
I still get excited when I hear the first organ note at the start. "Dearly beloved…"
The songs are almost  in the order they are in the film. We're introduced to Prince, or The Kid, and his band on stage at 1st Avenue. It's a party, and everyone dances in the club. The movie version is a little different than the album cut. I never get sick of this song.

2. Take Me With U
Prince and Apollonia duet on this one. It plays as The Kid takes her to the Mississippi to "purify herself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka" on his motorcycle. This was the first time I saw breasts. I remember thinking that Prince and Apollonia were married in real life since they sing this song together. At the screening the AD said it was about 34 degrees when they filmed the scene where she jumps in the water.

3. The Beautiful Ones
I used to go back and forth on if I liked this song when I was seven. Today I know that I love it. In the film Morris Day takes Apollonia to the club to show The Kid that he's got her for the night. Things get a little uncomfortable when The Kid breaks the fourth wall and questions what he thought was a loving relationship with her. "Do you want him, or do you want me?"
I remember thinking how talented The Kid was to break into song like that to Apollonia right on the spot.

4. Computer Blue

This starts with Wendy and Lisa talking to each other. "Wendy?" "Yes Lisa.." 

As a kid I thought that Wendy and Lisa were so lucky to be in The Revolution. Every member was lucky, but W&L had a few lines in the film, and they give The Kid the music that he turns into the song Purple Rain. This song has a fun musical break in the middle that I used to (and still) air guitar the shit out of. 

5. Darling Nikki

I knew this song was supposed to be about Apollonia, but why is it darling Nikki? Because Prince is cool, okay? She was a sex-feind, and she's masturbating with a magazine. I wonder what my seven-year-old mind thought that meant. I lived in North Minneapolis at the time and went to public school. I probably knew exactly what they meant when I was seven. 

Flip the record to the B-side where it actually gets stronger.

6. When Doves Cry

The Kid's parents fight throughout the movie. His dad is abusive to his mother, and he witnesses it. Later The Kid has some violent tendencies toward Apollonia. "Maybe I'm just like my father." Whoa. I totally get it, Prince. 

7. I Would Die 4 U

After a knock-'em-down-drag-'em-out that The Kid's father has with mom and him, dad tells mom "I would die for you." The Kid writes this number about it. It's in the finale of the film when The Kid saves his spot in the club as a performer. The promoter tells him that he has four acts, but only room for three, and his ass is on the line at this performance. The Kid comes through!

8. Baby I'm A Star

I Would Die 4 U goes right into Baby I'm a Star. This song never fails to gives me chills. I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to have a reason to play this song as a celebration for something. As an adult, whenever I'm happy about something I turn this song up as loud as it goes and lose it. I can't listen to this song and be in a bad mood. I sang it at karaoke once and missed almost every note, but it was the most fun I've had singing a karaoke song. 

9. Purple Rain

What can I say? It's so good. I cried a little at the screening when The Kid gives Lisa a peck on the cheek on stage during the song. A thank you for writing the music to save his ass. What's it about? I don't know. Purple Rain is what it's about. I'm not big on the deep meaning of a song. I'm more about the emotions a song brings up in me, and this one does it for me. I can't explain why. "If you know what I'm talking about, come on and raise your hand." My hand is raised, Prince. 

I'll share the music with Ozzie as he grows up, but I'll wait until he's a little older than seven to show him the movie. What do you think? He should be at least eight. 

New car smell

On Father's Day on the way to the track in my Kia Soul Megan said to me that I'll need a bigger vehicle if we're ever going to have another kid. I loved my Kia Soul, but Ozzie's car seat alone was a tight squeeze in the back seat rear-facing. She got me thinking. I always said that if I needed to get a new car I'd get another Kia Soul. They're cheap, good cars, and the 10 year warranty alone is worth it.

I'm not a big fan of naming cars, but that's James, named (by my brother) after The Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Before I got James I was looking at Toyota RAV4's. This was a few years ago when RAV4's looked more like a truck ands had the spare tire on the back. I thought (and still think) that they look really sharp. I didn't remember how much space was inside. When I was car shopping last time, I wasn't thinking about fitting car seats in the back seat. 

I went to Brookdale Toyota on my day off last week and looked at the new 2014 model. It looks less like a truck/SUV now, but still looks really slick to me. I couldn't believe when I opened the hatch to the back and saw all of the cargo space. I was sold almost right there. Then I opened the door to the back seat and was surprised at the room back there compared to James. 

Buying a car at a dealer is stressful because you want the lowest price possible, but they want the most out of you. It's a funny dance that you need to do. My best advice is not to buy the first day you're there. Get numbers to take home with you and research on the internet. I found the model and color of the RAV I wanted and had the dealer (let's call him Joe) put it on hold for me (which he offered). Then I went home and looked up the True Car price. 

True Car is an awesome website that the dealer pretty much has to give you the discount it reports. If they don't, there are twelve other dealers who will, and they know that, so he gave me the discount of $1,737 that it said. Then I looked up the actual car that was on hold for me on the dealer's website. Their own website had it listed with a $2,000 discount that Joe didn't tell me about. He didn't offer any push back when I emailed him about it, and he said he'd honor it, but I didn't feel right about him keeping his own advertised discount a secret from me. 

I knew Joe was going out of town for a long weekend and had planned with him to come back and buy from him on Tuesday (today), but the more I thought about it, the more I thought of Joe as a weasel and wanted to talk to a manager about seeing a different sales person. I had yesterday off again and called the lot. A salesman answered and I asked for a manager. It was right when they opened, and he said one wasn't in yet, but asked if he could help me with anything. I told him about Joe's antics, and this new dealer poached me and became my dealer. Let's call him Ray. 

I went in and met Ray yesterday morning at 10:30. Since it was on hold for me, the process was pretty easy. Ray drew up the numbers and we agreed on the terms (lease to own with zero down and James trade-in), and I went through everything you go through. First I met with the girl who can add any accesory you can think of. Each one was broken down to what it would cost added to the monthly payment. Cars come without floor mats brand new, so the only thing I added was weather (rubber) floor mats and a cargo mat. 

She gave me the sales pitch for the rust-proofing, and 3M sealant, and rain guard for the windows, and scotch guard for the seats; all of which I knew I didn't want, but I took the brochures from her, and dropped them right in the trash in the waiting area.  She also offered a remote starter. I thought hard about that one, but they are on Groupon for about 1/5 of the price she was offering, so I'll get one on there. 

Then I went to the financing office and signed papers regarding the terms of the lease. I'm not a numbers guy, and I won't bore you with those details, but that was my last step. With all of the paperwork out of the way, and James cleaned out of the garage door opener, and gum, and odds and ends, I met my newly detailed RAV4. Ray showed me the cargo area first. Then I got into the driver's seat and we set up my phone's bluetooth to work through the car radio. He showed me the radio features, and I can't wait to really play with it and figure it out. It has satellite radio, but it's XM, meaning the regular package doesn't come with Howard Stern. Howard is the reason I paid for satellite in James. After my free trial is up, I won't renew if I can't get Howard at a discount. 

At 1:30 I drove my new vehicle off the lot. I love it. I've only driven it to work and back once (and home from the lot), and every time I drive it I love it more. You can't go wrong with a Kia Soul; I have nothing bad to say about James, but the RAV4 XLE is a step up in drivability, and comfort. 

I'll take suggestions for a name. 

My 1st Father's Day as a dad

After 35 Father’s Days celebrating my own dad (usually with him grilling burgers and brats), today was my first one celebrating me. I got to choose the day’s activities, and it was kind of like a 2^nd birthday. I kind of loved it.

I still celebrated my dad. I sent him a card from Ozzie and me with a lottery ticket inside. He won $20 on it too, so I gave him $20 for Father’s Day. For my day Megan, Ozzie, and I went to Sarna’s for brunch. It's in Columbia Heights on 39th and University. We’d never been to their brunch, and it was good. They had all kinds of food, breakfast and lunch foods. Brunch.

It turns out that I’m more of a breakfast person for breakfast time. We had 10:00 reservations, and that’s weekend breakfast time for me. I had French toast, eggs benedict, bananas foster French toast, a lot of bacon, cheesy potatoes, and a few chocolaty desserts. Megan sampled the lunch offerings  (ham and ribs, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and gravy, etc.), but I didn’t have any interest. I was full to the brim for 7 hours.

It was really rainy this morning. I even called off what the day’s activity was to be, Canterbury Park. I thought how we’re going to have Ozzie in the stroller, and they’re probably going to be busy for Father’s Day. But it was nice and sunny as we left the restaurant. We called the park and the races were still on, so we went.

I’m glad we went, despite the crowd. It was packed. The line to pay to get in was a block long, but it moved really fast. We got up to the window and I paid our $8 each and got 2 programs with admission. Minnesota lottery was giving away $1 scratchers to the first 5,000 in attendance. Mine was a dud, but Megan won $2.

I bought a $2 tip sheet on the way in, and used it with the tips in the program to make my bets. I don’t know how Megan came up with the bets she did, but she would write down her (usually) exacta bets for me to go make for her while she sat in the sun with Ozzie. An exacta is picking the top two finishing horses. Boxing them (so thy can come in either order) is only a $2 bet.

I bet 50-cent trifectas and 10-cent superfectas. Trifectas are picking the top three horses, and boxing the 50-cent is only a $3 bet. Superfectas are the top 4 horses, and boxing the 10-cent bet is only $2.40. We bet on races 2 through 8. For the first couple of races I was running inside to place the bets and got them in with about 1 minute to post time.

The lines were long to get to a teller to make the bets. It was very stressful. Not making the bets, but when I’d get to the teller I’d look behind me and there was a line of about 10 people waiting for me to bumble my way through. They have touch screen automated tellers where the lines were shorter, so I tried them twice, but I didn’t want to hold up the lines anymore, so I went back to the live tellers.

I got smart right after the 4^th race. I went to place my bets right after the race ended. It was empty at that time. I could (kind of) take my time, and breathe. It was so much better doing it that way. I even made my bets for the next two races. Megan never hit on her bets. Two of my superfectas came in getting me about $15. You have to spend money to make money at the track. If I upped my 10-cent bet to $1 the bets would’ve cost me $24, but winning the two I did would have pulled in $150.

It was nice to sit in the warm sun. Ozzie was a perfect baby in his stroller at the track. He was smiley and taking in all of the sights. I love the track announcer, Paul Allen. I love his radio show and he calls Viking games; he’s also the perfect horse race announcer with his signature “rrrrrrracing” at the start of each race.

Megan got me some grilling accessories for Father’s day. One’s a gage that tells how much gas is left in the tank that I’ve wanted for a long time. She also put together a calendar full of pictures of us (mostly me and Ozzie) that starts in July. I’ll proudly display it at my desk at work.

Being a father to Ozzie is my favorite thing in the world. Now being a father on Father’s Day is pretty cool too. Maybe going the track will become a tradition.

Californicati-On The Nose

Californication used to be one of my favorite comedies on cable. The show, now in it's seventh and final season, follows selfish sex-addict writer Hank Moody, played by David Duchovny, and his drunken antics around California on his odd jobs he gets after a few successful books. I love his agent on the show, Charlie Runkle, played by Evan Handler.

Moody has a daughter with his old flame Karen from when he lived in New York (before the series started). Hank usually meets girls at parties or bars, has sex with them, and then tries to get Karen to take him back. Karen has been married to a guy, and lived with another guy during the series. She usually spends some time with Hank, and right when you think they're going to get back together, Moody screws it up.

It used to be one of my favorite shows, because the writing was fun and fresh. It's been seven seasons of the same plot over and over again. The show jumped the shark the season that Moody (or was it Karen? Both? I don't remember anymore) moved back to New York at the end of the season. The shark-jump came when the next season started time-dashed two or three years later back in California, and nothing changed. There was no reason for the time-dash, and no reason for the show to return.

In its final season, Duchovny seems bored playing Moody; almost yawning the dialogue and his catch phrases ("muthafuckah!"). The over-done, burnt toast, seventh season has Moody learning that he has a 19-year-old-son who tracks him down. The character, Levon, had promise, but has turned into a whiny, annoying wanna-be Hank Moody.

Watching the latest episode, I realized what makes this season so bad (it's not as bad as the final season of Dexter, but I don't think anything ever can be). The writing lacks any subtext this season. Being a screenwriting major, I learned that good writing is full of subtext. If a character wants to have sex with another character, they might say something like "I haven't felt this way about someone since my ex, before they were my ex that is." Something like that. Then when they retire to the bedroom, it's implied that they're going to have sex.

This season actually had Levon pull his pants down to show his penis to a girl he likes. Her reply looking at it was "that's a big dick." Dialogue without subtext is called "on-the-nose." Everything this season has been on-the-nose. Luckily there are only 6 episodes left, and then I never have to see another one.
"Why don't you just quit watching now, Nerd Dad?" I'm glad you asked.

I've seen the whole series from the beginning. I've invested time in the show, and characters, and I want to see what the resolution will look like. I liked it so much that after the season where I thought it wasn't coming back, I started writing a spin-off called Runkle where his agent was the main character. It was just for fun, to work the writing muscle, but I remember how much I loved the show at that time. Now I cringe at the on-the-nose dialogue, and look forward to the credits, because it means one more episode down, and closer to the end.

Not Comic books. Comic's books.

Every so often I switch from reading novels to reading biographies for a while. I am in a biography rut right now reading books by various stand up comics.

It started with Sarah Silverman's The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee.

I think Sarah Silverman is hilarious. Her stand up is really funny, The Sarah Silverman Program on Comedy Central was very good. She is a good writer of jokes, and the TV series, but she's not a good book writer. 

The layout and grammar was fine. I don't mean it's poorly written. What I mean is that the stories she chose to tell art boring and not really funny. It's fun to hear about her coming up as a comic with Louis C.K. and how she was treated as a female through the time, but that a chapter's worth of stuff. I bet if she wrote a book now it would be interesting, but there's actually a chapter in here that are the emails back and forth to her manager about putting "and pee" in the title of the book. I wasted a few minutes of my life reading them before I skipped to the next chapter. 

1/4 stars

I remembered hearing Mike Birbiglia on a few podcasts when his book: Sleepwalk With Me and other painfully true stories came out. 

Birbiglia is another stand up who really makes me laugh with his stories and dry delivery. His book is very much in his voice, but it's mainly a memoir of his average, white-bread life. The one chapter I remember is about how his mom says "like fun you are...," instead of saying "like hell." I expected the interesting tale of when he sleep-walked out of his 2nd floor hotel room window, and the story is in there, but it's kind of thrown in at the end, and the actual event is wrapped up in a few sentences. It's a disapointing story from a great storyteller. 

2/4 stars

When you finish a book on a Kindle, it gives you similar titles and authors to check out with the option of downloading the first chapter for free. After finishing one of these my Kindle showed me a book by SNL's Darrell Hammond called God, If You're Not Up There, I'm F*cked. 

I downloaded the first chapter and he's in rehab. I never knew that Hammond had any chemical dependency issues. Being a recovering alcoholic myself, I love these kinds stories (A Million Little Pieces, and Dry to name a few). The Kindle book is $9.99, but my library had the physical book so I went and picked it up. 

This is a good book. It rotates between Hammond's drinking and drugging (and cutting. He used to cut himself backstage at SNL before going out to do a sketch), and his career. There are interesting stories of him auditioning for SNL, and of various guest hosts and their behavior on and off set. Also good drinking and drugging stories. There is one chapter where he reveals why he's an addict who tortures himself that could bring you to tears. I read it at lunch one day and couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day. Very sad. 

There are some stories that he just kind of stops telling before there is any resolution. That may be because there isn't resolution yet, or it may be his style, but it doesn't ruin anything. For instance he mentions the mother of his daughter, and how they were married twice, but then talks about being with other women at the same time, but never explains any of the logistics. It doesn't really matter, but it brought me out of the book briefly wondering if I had skipped a page sometimes. 

3/4 stars

Did you know Ryan from The Office has a book out? B.J. Novak's One More Thing is a collection of short stories. 

Full disclosure: I haven't finished this yet. It's the perfect book to read here and there. If I still read physical books, and not on a Kindle, One More Thing is great for the top of the toilet. It's easy to read a quick story or two on your break at work, or in a waiting room, and the stories are fun. Some are serious pieces that Novak might have written in college, some are humorous, like my favorite one so far; the diary of the guy who invented the calendar. Some things that happen in one story come back as a call back in later stories, but you never have to read the original story to get the call back. They're just little Easter eggs for people who read the book in linear fashion. 

3.5/4 stars

After all of these books I am ready to lose myself in a novel again. I'd like to find one as good as the best book I've ever read: Stephen King's 11/22/63. Any suggestions? 

My weekend binge

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a while. Megan took Ozzie to her mom’s hometown of Kenosha, WI where a lot of her aunts and uncles live for a cousin’s wedding shower. A lot of them will be meeting Ozzie for the first time. While I knew I would miss them terribly, I looked forward to some much needed Andy time to do whatever I want, which for the most part is nothing. Ozzie turned 10 months old yesterday, so it’s been over 10 months since I’ve had this much time to do nothing.

If you’re feeling slighted that we didn’t hang out during this time, please don’t. I didn’t want anyone to know about it, so as not to make any plans. My plans were to do nothing, and if we made plans, that would be “something.”

By “do nothing,” I don’t mean stare at a wall. I mean that I wanted to have the freedom to stare at a wall all weekend if I chose. What I did plan was to binge-watch a TV series. I recently got HBO for free for a year, and they have every series they’ve ever had available on demand. I’ve had Showtime for many years, and love a lot of the series on it. I used to have HBO in the 00’s and got rid of it as the good series' ended (Six Feet Under, The Sopranos).

A few weeks ago I watched a couple episodes of Eastbound and Down to try it out, and it’s okay, but nothing I wanted to waste a weekend on. Then I turned on my TV one day and Girls was on. I

watched one scene of the 3^rd season and knew that I had to give it a go. I watched the first episode shortly thereafter and I was hooked. I have been binging on Girls all weekend and I love it. 

I’ve never had the true “binge-watching” experience. Megan and I watched Breaking Bad pretty quickly, but it was over several weeks, maybe even a month or two. I’m trying to get 30  half-hour episodes in over a weekend. That’s 15 hours. Should be no problem, right? It’s harder than it sounds.

As much as I want to park in front of the TV for 15 hours straight, 36+ years of responsibility won’t let me. I’ve seen 15 episodes, 12 this weekend, and plan to get the rest of season two in before bedtime tonight. But the garage has needed attention pretty much since we moved in. I decided that I could let TV rot my brain after I cleaned out the garage; so yesterday I spent 2.5 hours gutting the garage, sweeping it out and putting things back in the way they should be. I’d love to have a garage sale for half of the stuff in there.

  

Then I got to embark on Girls. I see it as a step above mumblecore. I learned about mumblecore in college in one of my film courses. My professor described it as “people just kind of hanging out.” The Duplass brothers have made some great mumblecore flicks.  See The Puffy Chair and Baghead. There are some God-awful mumblecore titles out there too that should be avoided at all costs, like Hanna Takes the Stairs (which we had to watch in class) and Funny Ha Ha.

Girls follows Hannah who is an unemployed writer living in New York City with her professional roommate and best friend Marnie. They just kind of hang out. Hannah’s parents tell her in the first episode that they can’t keep supporting her financially, so she begins a job search. She is spoiled and selfish, but also funny and makes you fall in love with her. She has a boyfriend, Adam, who isn’t as much a boyfriend as much as he’s someone with whom she has sex. I hated him early on, but 1.5 seasons in he’s one of my favorite characters on the show.

Binge-watching a series is fun, but reference that 36+ years of responsibility above. I feel slightly guilty. Only slightly though. I cleaned out the garage and I am doing laundry today, so you can’t say I didn’t do anything. AND I don’t know when I’ll get this kind of opportunity again. Maybe never. But if I do, HBO has all of The Wire on demand. I’ve never seen one episode, but have heard only good things.

45 days without chocolate

The day before Fat Tuesday I thought about how I've never given up anything for Lent. I'm not really religious, but saw it more as a challenge just to see if I could do it. I chose to give up chocolate for the "40" days of Lent. I quit drinking over 3 years ago, and quit smoking (for the last time) almost 2 years ago. Chocolate and Diet Coke are my only vices now. I didn't realize how addicted to chocolate I am, and I don't care.

Not eating chocolate was harder than quitting smoking, and I quit that cold turkey. I had a lot of time to think about why that was, and it's because I had to quit smoking for the health risks and cost, and I'll never smoke again. I knew that I was going to eat chocolate again in "40" days, and chocolate can't kill me.

I keep putting 40 in parentheses because I thought I was quitting for the "40" days of Lent. A couple weeks into it, after obcessing about chocolate the whole time, I counted the days and found it is actually 47 days. Why do people always say 40 days? Well, I guess the number of days is a little different every year, and Catholics don't count the Sundays of Lent, or some crap. So imagine my disappointment on day 15 when I learned that I had to do 7 days longer than I thought.

My total weight difference during my challenge was +2 pounds. The reason for that is simple. I supplemented the sugar intake with other forms of sugar. Birthday cake Oreos, Nutter Butters, butter pecan ice cream, etc. Not eating chocolate made me realize a few things, for instance chocolate helps maintain my weight. Also, desserts without chocolate are a complete waste of time. I noticed there aren't a lot of cereals or ice creams without chocolate in them. You'll see what I mean next time you're at the grocery store. Something that helped a little was Yoplait boston cream pie yogurt. There's no chocolate in it, but it helped take the edge off.

 

I thought about chocolate a lot while I couldn't have it. I daydreamed of Easter when I planned on going hog-wild and making myself sick. I lost my creativity and/or inspiration. I don't know if that had to do with quitting chocolate, or if it's just a funk, but it's easy to blame the lack of chocolate. I've also been falling asleep earlier, which is nice for the rest I get, but annoying that I can't stay awake past 9:30-10:00.

Megan was awesome and got me an Easter basket filled with chocolate goodies. My favorite-Reese's peanut butter eggs, Snickers eggs, Kit-Kat's, and a few other things. I wanted to see it early because I didn't want to double up on things when I went out the day before Easter and bought chocolate on which to binge.

On Good Friday Megan and I went out to eat at our old home-away-from-home, JJ's on 394. We had a great dinner, Megan had a couple of drinks, and Ozzie was a dream-baby. He was smiley, dancing to the music, and soaking up all of the attention that everyone gave him. During dinner I was thinking about how I'd done what I said I was going to do. I didn't have any chocolate for 40 days plus 5 more. I didn't have to do it, but I did. I didn't "cave." I ordered the chocolate cake for dessert and I have no regrets.

It was better than I remember chocolate. The first bite was honestly euphoric. The cake and the chocolate syrup mixture was perfectly balanced, and it had chocolate pudding inside. It was the perfect thing to get back on the chocolate horse. When I got home I had a Reese's egg, and my biggest vice, peanut M&M's. I have been indulging in chocolate ever sense and couldn't be happier. 

I learned a couple of things. I learned that I can do it, and that I'll never do it again.