Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth

Feeling Vertigo on Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur started about 15 hours ago, and so far, my fast is holding fast. I've managed to make it through these 24 hours of atonement and will power for most of the last 10 years or so, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed this year will be the same. Susanne is being merciful as well, and plans to get lunch outside of the apartment so I won't have to torture myself needlessly.

Meanwhile, today is also my dad's birthday, and he's getting to spend it evacuating from a hurricane for the fourth time in six weeks. They've battened down the hatches, sealed the storm shutters, and left Indialantic for higher ground. The latest NOAA forecast has the storm increasing to a Category 3 hurricane before slamming into southern Brevard County. It's Frances all over again -- except this is a bigger storm. Hold on to your hats.

Despite the dire forecast on a fast day, I'm taking solace in the fact that the local radio stations have finally started playing Vertigo, the new single from the forthcoming U2 album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." The song is reminiscent of their Achtung Baby days - a nostalgic era for me, since I was luck enough to be in Dublin the day of its release back in November 1991.

"Vertigo" seems timed to honor the recent passing of Johnny Ramone (not to mention 2/3rds of the rest of the band in recent years). The single has a great four-chord post-punk riff, along with typical U2 ambient guitar noise. This is definitely an Edge-centric song -- The Edge almost sounds like he's striving for Pete Townsend greatness at certain points in the track. More power to him -- it's about time the band got consistently good again.

Happy Yom Kippur, everyone... -andy