The Good Thing About Having Your Birthday On Christmas

Okay... So today is my birthday and I wanted to write the anti-thesis of my previous anti-Christmas Birthday posts. Some random acts of kindness have occurred through midday and there is one startling fact that I have one up on everyone on.

First the fact, the DMV is closed on Christmas. So if you are like me and you wait until the last minute to renew your driver's license when it comes do, you have to spend like two days in line to get processed so you can officially drive again after your birthday.

Nobody likes waiting at the DMV and neither do I. However... Nobody goes to the DMV on Christmas Eve. And if you think anyone is a poor soul working at the DMV try seeing them on Christmas Eve. Oh my God!!! The cool thing for me... No one... I mean no one was there. I got in and out like that. Even got a shnassy new photo of me in my leather jacket that I got for my birthday. Cool thing about a Christmas Birthday: No lines at the DMV.

The second cool thing, we rolled through Valley Springs and if you haven't been to this town in ten years or so, you'd be shocked to find that there is a Starbucks Drive Thru right on the east side of town. The town up until like 5 years ago had 500 people in it that suddenly exploded to 7,700 has a Starbucks. I mean... the town doesn't even have a signal light. Calaveras County has like two and they are both up in Angels Camp. But they have a Starbucks.

So we roll in with the Porsche full of Elijah's gifts and the voice in the speaker goes, "Merry Christmas, what can I get for you today?" So I gave the ole, "Actually you forgot happy birthday..." Surprised, they started singing to me!!! And then they offered a free breakfast sandwich which DW wanted. I told them it was going to her. So when I rolled up to the window they gave me my triple shot venti Latte for FREE!!!. Unfuckingbelievable!!! A free Latte. Made my birthday. Starbucks rules!

That and my wife sang happy birthday all the way home to different tunes that randomly popped up on the iPod. Unusually hearing Happy Birthday sung to the tune of , Nirvana's "Come As You Are" or INXS's "Devil Inside" or even "Disposable Heros" by Metallica

We are in the middle of Halftime for our day. Gotta head up to my bro's house next. Listening to U2's Joshua Tree remastered that my fine sister in law got me for Christmas. (lol "fine" sister in law) iTunes screwed up and dropped it into the middle of the old Joshua Tree album. It's interesting because you can hear such subtle differences in the drums and bass. Then all the extra guitar parts in Running To Stand Still, one of my alltime favorite songs. God, a 20 year old album sounding like new. I was 13 when it came out. The B side version of Silver And Gold is freaking awesome!!! It's played live on Rattle and Hum but this cool!!!

Anyway... good day so far. Gonna go drink some Spanish wines!!!

When Old Is The New...

U2 during the "We're poor rock stars, please buy our records" years

Who knew at 14-15 years old when you bought a copy of the "Joshua Tree" by U2, you were buying probably and arguably the greatest rock album of all time. Nothing has sounded like it before and nothing sounded like it sense. (Unless of course you make the pilgrimage to a show when they are on tour and they play songs from it). I probably have bought 4-5 copies of this album due to format changes like tape to CD, or I flat out lost them. I also have an original vinyl release, unopened in my record collection in my basement. I saw it at an old record store and perhaps it will be worth something someday. It's a 10 million seller in the US alone.

Well guess what boys and girls, you can buy it again. This fall, you can spend your hard earned dollars on buying a sure fire hit record, where all the songs are good and not crap, like say the latest Pearl Jam or Britney Spears record. And you can get a bonus.. I bunch of cool shit like photos of the band from 1987 where they look older than they do now, a DVD of a concert from Paris, a digitally remastered version of the album which will sound better and won't have the muddy, analog hiss in the background during the opening song, "Where The Streets Have No Name". The Edge's guitar will jingle and jangle like never before. Each delay effect will be precise. The 'boom, boom, boom, buh da da boom' of Adam's bass will sound so crisp and clear in "I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For". The bass and guitar during Bullet The Blue Sky will sound even more dissonant because the two different keys they are playing will leap from the background in 5.1 Stereo. And Bono... his over-wrought, pseudo Christ-like lyrics will leap into your brain like a preacher stealing hearts in a travelling show for the love of money.

The complete song list is as follows:

Where The Streets Have No Name / I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For / With Or Without You / Bullet The Blue Sky / Running To Stand Still / Red Hill Mining Town / In God’s Country / Trip Through Your Wires / One Tree Hill / Exit / Mothers Of The Disappeared

The bonus CD gets you outtakes and B-Sides:

Luminous Times (Hold On To Love) / Walk To The Water / Spanish Eyes / Deep In The Heart / Silver And Gold / Sweetest Thing / Race Against Time / Where The Streets Have No Name (Single edit) / Silver And Gold (Sun City) / Beautiful Ghost/Introduction to Songs of Experience / Wave Of Sorrow (Birdland) / Desert Of Our Love / Rise Up / Drunk Chicken/America

The highlights there are the versions of Silver And Gold, Wave of Sorrow and Spanish Eyes.

The bonus DVD gets you:

U2 Live from Paris - filmed at the Hippodrome de Vincennes in Paris, on July 41987, on the European leg of The Joshua Tree tour. The tracklist is as follows: I Will Follow / Trip Through Your Wires / I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For / MLK / The Unforgettable Fire / Sunday Bloody Sunday / Exit / In God’s Country / Electric Co. / Bad / October / New Year’s Day / Pride (In The Name Of Love) / Bullet The Blue Sky / Running To Stand Still / With Or Without You / Party Girl / 40

WTF? No Where The Streets Have No Name? I'd trade October for that any day. Highlight here should be the live version of Trip Through Your Wires, Bad, Sunday Bloody Sunday and Running to Stand Still

Anyhow... this should be cool shit for any U2 fan if not any music fan period. Buy yours today.

Buy mine for my birthday and/or Christmas. Either way it is the same thing for me... Presents once a year...WTF is up with that bullshit!!