Piano-driven rock songs by John Ondrasik are my newest kick. Los Angeles Kings fan Ondrasik has recorded four albums under the band name Five For Fighting, which he termed for a hockey penalty. His reflective “Superman,” which had already been rising before Islamic jihadists attacked America, became a post-9/11 anthem in 2001. Its theme, echoing this summer’s Objectivist Conference (OCON) theme in Florida, is that life in general, and heroism in particular, is hard—it requires enormous effort. The Southern Californian’s best song, “100 Years,” is a bittersweet melody released in 2004 which embraces both realism and romanticism in its music and lyrics. The perfectly matched music video (click on song title), which ends as the songwriter faces himself as an old man, expresses the tune’s theme that “every day’s a new day”. Ondrasik, who created and produced “For the Troops,” a CD compilation series of superstar recording artists available for free to every active service person in the U.S. Armed Forces, performs for American troops with the United Service Organization (USO).
