If I was talking to that little kid this a.m. I would be saying things like: "Life isn't what you think." And maybe "Don't worry, no one is really sure of anything, we are all just sort of improvising."
I'm pretty sure that little kid would just ignore those words, that is one of my "great" hard-earned, insights: "No one wants to be told anything."
Right. We want live our lives our own way. Make our own mistakes, and conjure up our own fuck-ups. I think that little kid thought he was going to figure it all out, that life and living was some kind of puzzle, or mystery to be solved. This adult, here & now, this morning, thinks that's kind of cute, and actually, not the thing. "Sorry to break it to you kid."
The a.m. soundtrack - "An Anthology (Duane Allman Album) (1972): One advantage to staying at a fellow musician's house, there is an incredible collection of vinyl and cds, stacked on shelves everywhere. I get to listen to lots of records I don't own. This is one of them. For some reason I always hesitate to buy "Best Of" or "Anthologies" I am a believer in the integrity of an "album," one of my favorite art-forms, but this collection of tracks is thrilling, totally magnificent. You could make the case that these tracks, especially the early tracks when Duane was a session musician at Muscle Shoals' FAME Studio, are some of the best of the best of Duane Allman's great work. Listen to Otis Redding sing "Hey Jude," or Aretha Franklin sing "The Weight," Boz Scaggs sing "Loan Me a Dime," wow. Exquisite. And Duane's guitar playing is a thing of uncommon power, soul and beauty that stands side by side with those fabulous vocalists. Real musicians and singers in the analog world bringing it. I do believe this music can heal the sick and raise the dead.
