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Sunday, December 1, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving

Music, this wonderfully weird arrangement of myriad sounds, is entertainment. At least on its shimmering surface.

But as Sisyphus' ordeal describes, we have our own burdens to carry up the mountain. To aid in this endeavor, we each have our own crutches - some find god, some work ceaselessly, some consume drugs, some sulk and some, who have exhausted all of their own resources, choose to not push that boulder anymore. There is solace in the fact that this fickle fabric of space and time that has wrapped each of us in cosmic causality, there are some of us, enough of us, to use music as a crutch to be able to lift each step.

This is not an admission of hardship or a wail against the saints of fate, far from it. This is an admission, if impotent, of the gratitude that this, our tribe, is able to move on, thanks to the propulsive force of this music. To some it is a friend who does not judge. To some, it is a surrogate parent, for when a soothing hand on a fevered brow was needed, but none a warm body found. This is acknowledgement, that we consider ourselves worthy of Mother Nature's blessing to carry on, drawing sustenance from her bosom - where many grew cold by the wayside.

With as much wayward grace as I can purchase, I say thanks. Tomorrow, even if the sounds stop playing out loud, they will remain with us in our hearts, our candles in dark corners. Reminding us, that we can swim in the rivers of nihil and still draw breath.


Friday, November 1, 2019

Bulls on Parade!

Hell has indeed frozen over. The hairs on my body stand erect in fear.

Rage Against the Machine just announced a handful of shows in March and April 2020. No, this is a big deal. I need to convince you its a big deal.

Rewind, back to 2004.

Second year of engineering. I had neither phone nor computer that I could call my own. Youtube did not exist as it does today. Internet connection was not a given. What the fuck even was 4G LTE?

Its hot, sweltering. Sitting in a friends apartment, I have hijacked his desktop. I was looking for porn to be honest. And I did find a folder "Videos". I see a bunch of blurry thumbnails. And my horny fingers click on this one.

Woodstock 99. Rage Against The Machine. Bulls on Parade.

Blurry as fuck. I see an immense crowd, a blow up doll (nice) and a mass of sweat and bodies.
And then the riff hits me.

Its very difficult to explain this - there are moments in your life that change you fundamentally. Tom Morello, that marxist magician of a guitar player, conjured this combination of notes and played them with such ferocity, he made them sound erotic. Very very erotic. An instant injection of testosterone. Everything went hot. I had to move. A lot. Maniacally.

"... Rally round the family, with a pocket full of shells....."

9 years in the US have made amply clear what those lyrics mean. What greed and inequality and racism is, has become clearer. From near and afar. What RATM is and means, is made amply clear.

And yet, that riff retains it vitriolic, mercurial, erotic appeal. It changed me that day. And it changes me still.

All of music is that perfect time when that perfect set of notes hits you. Like a haze being lifted from in front of your eyes, things gain piercing clarity. The rest as they say, is nostalgia.

Freedom.


Saturday, March 2, 2019

To celebrate a tyrant.

A vain man.
A jealous brother.
A disappointing child.
A betrayer of trust.
A domestic abuser.
A denier of medicine.
A murderer. Giver of trauma.

Happy birthday, you terrible being.
May you live a long life.