van hammersly profile picture

van hammersly

$240 worth of pudding

About Me

jon bon jovi was born to sing, and i was born to make water really clean for the people to swim in. a lot of people laugh at me, they go, 'you're just a pool cleaner,' but i go, 'ya, but i'm fucking jon bon jovi's pool cleaner. bitch.'

people are scared of me. i drive a dodge stratus. i can do 100 push-ups in twenty minutes.

My Interests

In old county we have bums too, we take them out in to field and we shoot them.... then we have party!

I'd like to meet:

Martin Luther King and the Dalai Lama. And Rory Bremner. Just 'cos they could get a bit heavy those two and he would lighten things up.

Music:

Huey Lewis and the News' early work was a little too New Wave for my taste. But then Sports came out in 1983. I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello but I think Huey has a more bitter, cynical sense of humor. In 1987 Huey released Fore!, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip To Be Square," a song so catchy that most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends. It's all a personal statement about the band itself.

I've been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn't understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where Phil Collins' presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group's undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting of this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard in rock. Phil Collins' solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds. But I also think Phil Collins works better within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist.

Movies:

battlefield earth, teen wolf, deathrace 2000, wildzero, hotbox, stealth

Television:

date my mom

Books:

charlie goes to yellowstone, the pet goat

Heroes:

Peter Prowitt, Joe Kirchofer, and Mark Madsen.