Thursday music

My grandfather was a model train fanatic. He once held the title of president of the largest miniature train club west of the Mississippi, a fact he often reminded everyone who was within earshot. He once rented a warehouse for an enormous scale railroad which at the time was a record holder.

While some may consider his hobby unhealthy as it sucked up most of his time and attention I actually liked hearing his tales of being a conductor of toy trains. He, like many artists, got to play God in creating his idyllic world of beautiful scenery, Rockewellian towns, and modern transportation that was actually more efficient than its real life counterpart. When my Grandad spoke of those times his smile would say more about the joy he felt about his hobby more so than his words.

One boy was a huge fan of Showbiz Pizza and its animatronic band called Rock-afire Explosion. Similar to the Chuck E Cheese Pizza Time Players they entertained the young lad by doing cover tunes of various hits while children consumed greasy food and played at the arcade.

That boy grew to be a man, but his love for that band never died. As most are aware men never really grow up. After hearing that his favorite restaurant chain from his youth was dwindling away he refused to let the band go the way of the dodo. He bought a Rock-afire Explosion band from the inventor and set it up on his property. Now Chris Trash funds his hobby by having fans bid on songs for the Rock-afire Explosion to perform. He syncs the robots with the songs and posts videos of it on YouTube. It became so popular a documentary film has been recently released about his experience.

While again this may seem like a complete waste of time for most, but I smile at this man's attempt to never let go of his childhood. If only all of us had such passion for the things and people in our lives. Think of how much more enriching our short experience on this Earth would be. Many of us have our labors of love. Most must be fought hard for to see any success and more often than not it's worth it.

So today dear readers I bring you the Rock-afire Explosion belting out Usher's 'Love in this Club'.

“These are my children. If they’re hurt, I want to take care of them, if they’re not doing right, I want to make them right.” - Chris Trash