Save the girl, see the concert

(This guitarist's playing sounds like what to the author? Read on)

These past few days I have been getting used to metformin, prescribed to me because I developed type-2 diabetes, a side effect of prednisone. I am taking prednisone to fight lung and heart sarcoidosis.

Metformin makes me feel like crap. I am fatigued and nauseous and my muscles ache. It has also robbed me of energy and appetite, although the latter is not so bad because I am trying to lose weight. Still, the other side effects are not cool.

My pulmonologist is recommending I split the dosage – 2,000 mg - to see if that helps. I just want off this drug and all the others right now, but I have to keep reminding myself that the goal is not just to quit taking them right now. The goal is to get well, period, and that might take a while. Even longer than I imagined, so I need to steel myself for the journey.

Today I am getting myself out of the doldrums by listening to “Chair In The Doorway,” the new CD from Grammy-winning hard rockers Living Colour, one of my favorite bands. I bought it Friday. This column, as always, is about overcoming, not wallowing in self-pity. I get low like the next person, but I try to bounce back as soon as possible. Music helps me do that, so…

Chair In The Doorway is very good. On a scale of one to five stars – one being horrible and five being epic – I would give Chair in the Doorway a solid three-and-a-half to four stars. Corey Glover’s voice is still among the most soulful falsettos in pop music; Vernon Reid’s guitar solos still amaze me. However, what sets LC apart from the majority of hard rock bands is the ability to maintain rhythm…the "roll" in rock and roll...while also making the audience want to bang its collective head or jump into a mosh pit.

The drumming and bass playing of Will Calhoun and Doug Winbush keep the sonic experiments grounded and groovy, and Reid is at his most incredible when he, too, keeps a rhythm. Even my dad, a blues and jazz connoisseur, is amazed by Reid and has been a fan since the the late '80s, when I just shared the band with him.

"Chair In The Doorway" is LC’s return to form after the uneven "Collideoscope" in 2003, but I do not compare it to LC classics "Vivid" and "Time’s U"p (my favorite CD. Favorite song: "Information Overload." More sonic and artistic than everyone’s fav "Cult of Personality." To me, the IO guitar solo sounds like a man struggling to break the constricting bind of technology, clinging to him like hot plastic wrap and suckng away precious time, which is all one's got anyway...Well, that's what I take away from it).

Behind The Sun is the likely hit off this release, but several songs, including "Decadance," "Hard Times," and "Bless Those (Little Annie's Prayers,)" stand out.

I saw LC for the first time in 1988 in Philadelphia. I was so blown away that I took the subway to Tower Records on South Street, ran up to the clerk and said “I just saw Living Colour! Please give me anything you have by them and any band like them!” I walked out with copies of music by Bad Brains, 24-7 Spyz, Fishbone and a copy of Maggot Brain by Funkadelics. I knew of them and their music, but not about their rock experiments in the ‘70s. I was in heaven even though I am sure my neighbors were not. I like it loud.

I’ve seen Living Colour six or seven times. CDs are great, but the live shows, they flow differently. CDs capture a moment in time, but a live band, standing right before you, can decide whether to slow down or speed up a number. A band feeds off the energy of the audience. A good Living Colour show is like attending church. It will leave you rejuvenated and hopeful about the future. I plan to see Living Colour live again in New York City at the end of October. Can't wait.

My favorite Living Colour concert was at the in 1993 at the Roseland ballroom. I lived in Nyack N.Y., back then and was a reporter for the Rockland Journal-News. I went with one of my best friends, Daryl, but my guest of honor was a woman named Lisa. When I think about it, Lisa is certainly one of my best friends, too. She’s also a smart, beautiful woman. I have known her since I was a teenager. We met as camp counselors but attended separate high schools. We grew apart during our college years but caught up with each other in the early 1990s and started hanging out. We always clicked so I should not have been surprised that she knew about Living Colour, heard some of the music and wanted to see them in concert. Sweet.

I was going to see Living Color with Bad Brains on the under bill. I would be escorting my pretty and smart female friend - and I seem to recall she was wearing a flowing min-outfit, clunky high heels and a black leather jacket…she was quite a sight - and hanging with my best bud, too. Things don’t get better than this, I thought.

I gave Lisa a pair of earplugs as a before-concert gift, we picked up Daryl and drove to NYC. We ate at a Houlighan’s near Roseland and hustled over to the concert hall. We were careful to stand in the middle of the growing throng. I didn’t want us too close because I did not want Lisa to be trampled or swept up by the dancers headed to the mosh pit – I lost one to the pit once. Another story for another time.

(The original, legendary Bad Brains line up) Bad Brains is taking stage. The lights go low. The crowd starts cheering as guitarist Dr. Know and bassist Darryl Jenifer swagger onstage their axes in hand (genius-nutso lead singer Paul D. Hudson, more commonly known as H. R. - Human Rights, and his drummer brother Earl Hudson had split with the band at the time over creative differences. Vocalist Israel Joseph I replaces H.R.; Cro-Mags drummer Mackie Jayson replace Earl). My boy Daryl’s eyes are big, soaking in the scene. I turn to Lisa, who was on the left. She is a beautiful woman, I think. And very cool. How many women are cool enough to hang tough at a Living Colour-Bad Brains concert?

Lisa smiles at me as I hear Dr Know welcoming the crowd to the Roseland, he hits chords on his guitar. I look into Lisa’s eyes. They are…rolling up into the back of her head. She is out!

Watch the concert…save the girl…Save the girl!

Darryl and I grab her and get her to the couches lining the concert hall. We trample over people to get her there. Sorry.

It happens very quickly. Lisa was recovering by the time we got her seated. It was the heat. Too hot and not enough liquids. Daryl disappears to the bar and comes back with cups of water and ice. Lisa and I thank him. She says he is OK. He disappears toward the mosh pit. Stomping through those folks while helping Lisa did his soul some good.

Lisa tells me she is OK and I believe her. She is beautiful, I think, and tough. I wade back into the crowd in time to see Bad Brains perform “Sacred Love.” I keep a close eye on my friend, too. Daryl floated by every so often, bobbing his head.

It was the best concert I ever attended.