The Revisiting

I shit on many things that don't stand the test of time or that I get sick of. I always believe that this is justified. But have you ever done the revisit? Because the revisit can be awesome.

I talk about the revisit often with my friends Thornton and McLaughlin and my bro and sis. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to revisit Dear Leader in concert. When Dear Leader was The Sheila Divine (and let's admit... They don't sound that different), I saw them all the time. They helped me with the post college transition years. If it weren't for The Sheila Divine, rubyhorse, and Big Wreck, I may have been stuck going to The Harp between the ages of 22-25. Thankfully, one night in Newton, I saw The Sheila D open up for rubyhorse and my indie music snobbiness was born.

And when The Sheila Divine broke up, I was sad, but shortly after that, they united with a few other members of Boston bands who had experienced a modicum of success (Tugboat Annie, Orbit) and formed Dear Leader. Like The Sheila D, I saw Dear Leader just about every time they played in Boston. I listened to their two CDs frequently and "Raging Red" and "Nightmare Alleys" always show up on my gym playlists.

But in recent months (years?), I haven't listened to my Dear Leader CDs and I haven't seen them in quite some time. This past weekend, they played two shows at TTs and on Friday night, I was busy seeing friends I hadn't seen in ages (thats you Waidehi, Steve, Susan, and Seth) and when a rainy Saturday night rolled around, I wasn't sure I'd be able to motivate. But word on the street was that this might be the final show for this foursome, and so with a little help from Marissa, I managed to motivate. And I was treated to a phenomenal show.

Did they sound any different than they had previously? Probably not, although Aaron did seem to sing with a passion I didn't remember. They had no new material and there was no guest appearance from Matt Beringer. So what made me enjoy the show far more than I thought I would at 6 pm Saturday night? Why, the revisiting of course.

Revisiting can happen with anything. You can revisit an old movie, book, band, girlfriend (although this could be disastrous), restaurant, sporting event (pop in that NESEN 2004 Sox video sometime), friend, or store.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of the revisit. While it can be painfully disappointing (watching old TV shows is never good and boy was The Breakfast Club bad), the revisit can be phenomenal. And it was most certainly phenomenal with Dear Leader.

I mean, you are always going to know the things you love (Se7en, Pulp Fiction, High Fidelity) and you are always going to know the things you hate (Led Zeppelin, Dane Cook, coconut), but there is all sorts of stuff that you may have forgotten about.

During the summer, I have more spare time than a retired grandmother so I get to spend an inordinate amount of time revisiting things. I can't believe how much I enjoyed Back To the Future (a virtually perfect story), The Crow (I love revenge stories- unless they are that recent Kevin Bacon one), and The Untouchables (the scene on the stairs at the subway station is tension perfection). The Cadillac commercial this summer helped me realize how much I like "Stars" by Hum and leftover lunch always allows me to revisit a classic tune (Pulp's "Common People," When In Rome's "The Promise"- And thanks Napoleon, you helped here too). And nothing beats the rereading of a great book. People are always recommending great books to me, but I tend to read the same eight over and over. I've often wondered why this is, but I realized that the books I reread have NOT been made into movies and so it is MY world I can go into when I read these books. The characters, places, and scenes are all mine; like the rosebush story was all Captain Miller's in Saving Private Ryan.

The revisit can also be planned to. For instance, I sometimes don't watch Empire Strikes Back for long strecthes of time, then some night I come home drunk, I'll pop it in and be overwhelmed by it's perfection. I also do this very frequently with food and restaurants. I love shakes and I could get one everyday (and look like Vince Wilfork), but other than the 1200 calories, part of the reason why I like shakes so much is because I don't have them all the time. And if we went to The Capital Grill every night, we probably wouldn't like it as much as we do. Well, maybe that's not a good example...

All of this seems pretty obvious given the fact that we do get sick of things. In fact, there are some things in our lives that are built in "revisitors" like seasonal beer and clothes. But the revisiting is more than just staying away from something because of seasons, financial reasons, caloric reasons, or because you want it to be a treat. Revisiting is about challenging yourself, or even better, just plain, old enjoying yourself. Be it a film, band, book, or restaurant, we sometimes automatically hate, mostly because we are salty Massholes. Often times, our hate or dislike of something is justified (Curt Schilling), but other times it's about a mood or a time in our lives. Or it could be something simpler. Maybe we hated a movie because we were seated behind a giant head or because the couple behind you kept asking questions. Or maybe we hated a song or CD because of where we were when we first heard it or who it reminds us of. But if you can put any of that aside- it ain't easy, I know- then you might end up appreciating something you never thought you could appreciate. Or, if you revisit something you remember liking, but not loving, you might end up finding a classic.

So with a long weekend and cold weather approaching, revisit something. You could start by revisiting The Sixth Sense, french toast (seriously... just put some powdered sugar on it and get good bread), Collateral, or Blink 182's self titled final CD.

Me? I'm gonna revisit apple picking.

Right...