Van Hallen?

There was a friendly debate happening on a friend's Facebook wall, on whether certain bands/artists belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I won't bore you with all the details. I just wanted to post a comment which I typed up, then decided not to submit. I'd hate for no one to ever see what I had to say on the subject.

Although, by posting it here, I'm almost guaranteeing it.

Anyway, one guy was making the case that Van Halen is not Hall-worthy. Here is how I almost responded (typos included):

"On whether they advanced any cause of music...yeah, probably not. :) But they were very influencial as well as popular. One needs not like that which was influenced...see Grandmaster Flash, after all. While Eddie VH was no Hendrix, he influenced a heck of a lot of other guitarists. And as one who went to high school after Xeppelin but before Def Leppard, VH was teh rock band that filled the gap. Yes, they are no Zepp (nor is DL in the same league as VH). But should such popularity and influence not suffice? Maybe if Roth never left. But they sure made a lot of teen boys learn how to finger tap scales on a cheap Squire guitar. :) Perhaps Eddie should get in alone."

Tsunami

The first-person accounts and footage of the Tsunami in Japan is hard for me to turn away from. I have such a creepy interest in the power of flowing water.

It's a bit hard to explain. Take heights, for example. I can look out an airplane window with no problem. I can look out a high-story window and enjoy the view.

Looking straight down, however, is like the flowing water thing. I'm curious enough to look straight down, but then after several seconds, I have to get back from the view. It's not a "frightening" thing so much as it is a creepy thing.

So when I'm next to a large, flowing river, once in a while, I can get pretty mesmerized.

I'm not sure I'm even making sense to myself, so I'll conclude with this anecdote. When I was about 12 or so, I went tubing down the Apple River in Wisconsin. At one point I found myself so in my own world that I allowed myself to flow all of the way to the end of the line, to the wire that had a sign saying words to the effect of, "No tubing beyond here."

I don't recall being scared or anything, but I just held on to the wire, still in half a trance, staring past the wire at what looked like an increasingly strong current. An adult waded out, took my hand, and pulled me to shore. He didn't "save" me or anything, but the experience was perhaps creepy enough for me to have had a lasting impact.

Oddly, however, it's not for myself I get "creeped" out about flowing water, it's for others. I don't know how I'll deal with it if I ever taking my kids to the Apple River. One thing's for sure: I will need to keep them in close proximity to me the entire time.