A Hard Dystopia.

The problem with being, aware, awake, alive, being always "clued in," you are subjected to all the elements, all the hurly-burly & turmoil. You wear it all like a cloak, you carry it in your head and heart.

Yesterday, I heard from a long-time friend, who lives overseas, in Poland. We had a long, rambling, phone conversation. My friend is in a "dark mood," he is thinking along the lines of "Road Warrior," a hard dystopian existence, where the thin social/political fabric comes undone and folks are left to fend for themselves. A process of stripping things down to the basics, "How do I survive?" "How can I protect my family?" My friend lives closer to the land than I do. He is a hunter. He keeps his hunting rifle close.

 It is amazing that a little biological entity, a biological virus - "A virus consists of genetic material, which may be either DNA or RNA, and is surrounded by a protein coat and, in some viruses, by a membranous envelope," could so quickly bring down our social/political structures. But, I don't think my friend is wrong. I am a little less dark, I still live in a little bubble of naivety, and maybe I still harbor a spark of hope that we can pull through this crisis and dream of better days.

But I also realize I may be looking through rosy glasses. I may be wrong.

I have no faith in our Toxic Clown President. I do think our government is clunky, our healthcare system is great for rich people, not so great for everyone else, our democracy is inefficient, and will be stressed, the economic system is teetering, and could come crashing down.  That is some powerful biological entity, don't you think?

How resilient can we all be? How do we make it if the money stops flowing? How long can we hold out when everything comes to a halt? How do we pay the rent? Keep the lights on?

It is all a bit surreal too. The threat is invisible. The sun is shining. A mild day today. Everything seems normal. Except it's all madness on the radio, in the financial market, and at the supermarket too. Folks are canceling concerts, sporting events, parades, theater shows, closing Disneyland. Yikes.

This morning I start with an inventory - fingers and toes still working, no sniffles, breathing free and easy. Relatively healthy today. We will be washing our hands regularly. We have instituted a policy of no hand-shaking, no hugging, lots of social distancing. We canceled a r&r show that was scheduled for tomorrow. It was hard to do, it hurt a bit to cancel, but we just didn't want to put anyone at risk.

These are hard, strange times. For sure. What's gonna happen? I don't think anyone really knows...

The a.m. soundtrack - Pink Floyd's "Animals." (1977). The perfect soundtrack for a hard dystopia. This one is loosely based on George Orwell's "Animal Farm." Humans are divided up into "predatory" Dogs, "despotic, ruthless" Pigs, & "mindless, unquestioning" Sheep. Dark. Ugly. The record is great. It opens & closes with Roger Water's bare voice, and his acoustic guitar. Stark. There are great moments for David Gilmour too, especially on "Dogs." No one paints a better dystopian picture than Roger Waters. A hard, brilliant intelligence. The only other singer/songwriter I think even comes close would be Thom Yorke of Radiohead.  Sometimes the dark stuff sounds just right.