This blog gets its name from an awesome Michael McDonald song. All Michael McDonald songs are awesome, of course, and equally worthy of titling a blog, but when I chose this one in particular I didn't really consider why other than the fact that takin' it to the streets felt like the way I wanted to live my life at the time. Sort of like the way I one day want to be able to shout "I'm gonna kick some ass and take some names!" in a crowded room and have all the people around me fall silent and start walking backwards very slowly. But Kicking Some Ass and Taking Some Names is too long for a blog title, and would probably turn off future employers, not to mention shame my parents, and nobody would really believe it coming from me, so who was/am I kidding?
Pipedreams of ass-kicking aside, I've recently been reflecting on how I'm not at all taking it to the streets with the original purpose of this blog--my proposed Write Everyday Challenge(I cite infrequent posting dates--the last being a very weak Jan. 21st entry in which I basically excused myself from ever feeling guilty about anything--as evidence), and I've decided to refer back to Day 1 for inspiration, because I need it.
Now, dear reader, prepare yourself. I present you with the lyrics of Takin' It To The Streets:
You dont know me but Im your brother
I was raised here in this living hell
You dont know my kind in your world
Fairly soon the time will tell
You, telling me the things youre gonna do for me
I aint blind and I dont like what I think I see
Takin it to the streets
Takin it to the streets
Takin it to the streets
Takin it to the streets
Take this message to my brother
You will find him everywhere
Wherever people live together
Tied in povertys despair
You, telling me the things youre gonna do for me
I aint blind and I dont like what I think I see
Takin it to the streets
Takin it to the streets
Takin it to the streets
Takin it to the streets
The bottom line is that if Michael McDonald--the man in the photo above--found a way to write, and then later, SING IN PUBLIC the lyrics: "You don't know me but I'm your brother/I was raised in this Living Hell"(!?!?!) and the lyrics "Take this message to my brother/You will find him everywhere/Wherever people live together/Tied in poverty's despair"--for real, and take himself seriously, and get people to clap and cheer for him, and really SELL THAT MESSAGE and believe that he is a brother...then I can and WILL find a way to write as often as possible. Just not the weekends.
The end. I got your message, brother.
Final Note: My mom once called me on her cell phone while at a Michael McDonald concert so I could have the experience of listening him sing live(I did not ask for this experience). The line went dead in the middle of what vaguely sounded like an underwater version of "What a Fool Believes." I later found out that my father grabbed the phone from her, hung up the line, and, while shaking his head in disapproval, called her "Ignorant" because she had turned her phone on during this Show of Shows. So, respect and appreciation for Blue-Eyed Soul-- it's kind of a serious family matter.
