"I got your name tattooed inside of my arm..."

Well, hi, there.

How bad, bad, bad...been so damn long, I think my writing muscle has atrophied. Well, let's hope not.

Lots of stuff has happened in my life. (don't worry - I don't want to turn this into THAT kind of blog. MUSIC and pop culture are still the point of this thing - because that's what drives me to write.) humph.

I have a new (well, since freaking February) job...it's pretty great, and it beats the old one, which is always good...I can listen to music, most days, now...and that really makes life better. Always.

I'm a freaking homeowner now... so, I can play Madonna REALLY loud and not have to face neighbors down the hall with shame. Those days are over, man.

I lost a good friend in April and it's really shaped everything that's happened since. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you, Sarah...

The Gaslight Anthem crept into my consciousness at the same time we lost Sarah... and the song, "American Slang" was just about the most perfect thing to comfort me, and it seemed to be about Sarah, to me. In that way that when you hear a song at a certain moment, and it just speaks to your pain ("want to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me" style). Even if the lyrics aren't *really* about it, specifically...it just suits the moment, suits where you are in your life.

I just needed something emotive and *earnest*, I guess. That's Bruce....and then, you hear these young Jersey punks pulling the same thing...oh, and it's on the RADIO, and then you hear it when your in the shower, or at work, or in the car...and it puts its stakes in ya.

The thing about Sarah, you gotta know, is that she was magic, when it came to bringing people together and making plans, and just LIVING life to it's total fullest. She loved music, partying, baseball, UK football, kickball, animals, and she loved making us all happy - making us all laugh. And when I hear that line, "you told me fortunes in American slang," I just think of everything she brought into my life and all the music I saw with her and all the smiles and hysterical laughter...So, it really fits - I s'pose I created the connection, myself, but I know that's exactly what songs (and ART, really) are all about. It's written and it's put out there ... and then it reaches the individual and it will touch us all in different ways, we all get something different out of it...

and there's the line that Fitzy calls the real kicker...

“I got your name tattooed inside of my arm,”

It’s the way Brian Fallon sings it, it’s an angry, defiant cry, and it’s the ringing guitars and heavy, pulsating beat behind it all. It’s full of pain and it sure seems like he’s telling someone who isn’t there anymore…The word that keeps on persisting in my head during the song is *indelible*. Sarah left an indelible mark on all of us – we will always have her spirit/personality/light she gave us, especially when we're all together (all of her friends that she bonded together – she was the *glue* holding us all together)….and some of us took it to another level and got tatts. Those who partook got tattoos of nautical stars. Sarah had 8 red stars on her arm. It made sense to us who got them, right away – it was gonna have to be permanent – just like what she left us…this song sure speaks to that...

So, I dig the Gaslight Anthem, now. It really has a helluva lot to do with when the single "American Slang" hit the airwaves...and now I am loving the album, American Slang - been a lil' obsessed with it, lately...

Here's a cool Brian Fallon-solo-version of the song: