Rock and Roll Part One

We joined the video game generation this fall, setting up a Sony PS3 and a new TV in our newly-finished basement.  I had resisted this for a long time, as I'd rather have the kids doing something more active, playing outside, etc.  But playing video games is certainly more engaging than sitting passively and watching TV, which was their tendency.  That engagement is especially true with multi-player games.

So far the biggest hit is the game "Rock Band", where you play fake instruments (guitar, drums, bass) or sing along with various songs.  The levels for each instrument are Easy, Medium, Hard, or Expert, with the differences being how fast the notes come and how many different notes you have to play.  The game comes pre-loaded with about 50 songs, from new music to punk to heavy metal to classic rock.

Conor's primarily our drummer, since he's a drummer in the school band, and he's ventured up past Medium into Hard on occasion.  The rest of us usually play at the Easy level, to keep from missing so many notes that we get booed off the virtual stage (really!).  My goal is to get good enough to generally keep up with the kids, but stay bad enough that they can still make fun of me, which is their favorite pasttime.

When we're listening to music elsewhere they reject my choices automatically, even though I'm pretty open to new music (Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, etc.) myself.  So it's been fun to see them get an appreciation through Rock Band for some classic rock, including Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper", David Bowie's "Suffragette City", and others.  They've even bought some of the Rock Band songs on iTunes so they can listen to them on their iPods.  Maybe someday they'll appreciate that a lot of good music came out of the '60's-'90's, and that I know my stuff -- "Dad, tell us more about the Rolling Stones and U2..."  I can dream, can't I?

We hosted Christmas this year, and after dinner we all ventured down to the basement to play a little while.  The award for "Best New Rocker" was a tie between Rachel's sister Marilyn and her mom Gert -- see below...

Pat