U2 - House Band for the Establishment!

Bono and U2 are the gift that keeps on giving. Probably not in the way they planned it. Bono actually kind of sort of "apologized" for "putting U2's album in everyone's iCloud library."

Bono: "I had this beautiful idea. Might have gotten carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing.  A drop of megalomania, a touch of generosity, a dash of self-promotion, and a deep fear that these songs we poured our life into over the last few years might not be heard."

This after he and band cashed in their chips and took their $100 million from Apple to the bank.  Ha! Bono wants his cake and to eat it too. Guess you can't blame him. Bono wants to be rich, famous, successful, popular, and cool! Sorry. Doesn't work that way.

As Josh Wimmer, another disgruntled U2 fan puts it: "The worst part of being a U2 fan is just how goddamned uncool U2 is."

Yes, exactly. And "coolness" is a super slippery and elusive thing. You can't manufacture it. You can't will it. You can't really do anything to earn it. It just descends or not. You wear it like aura or not. You carry it or not. 

Love this from Josh: "... it's hard not to describe their 21st century incarnation as the house band for the establishment." Perfect! He then goes to suggest ways U2 can do things to try to earn back their "coolness." Which is a fool's errand. There's nothing to do, or can be done, to earn it back.

Which is not to say that U2 can't be cool again. But events would need to conspire. And it's hard to see how it could happen. I'm not saying U2 is fated to be thought of in the same way as Vanilla Ice, or Milli Vanilli, or M.C. Hammer, or... fill in the blank. There is a price to be paid for being "house band for the establishment." You cash in your cool card and you may never get it back.

The Most Potent Drug in the World!

I often read John Robb's blog. And he often "blows my mind." Seems he is always thinking, and thinking "out of the box." Screw the box, right?

Anyway, this post "ISIS is the Leading Supplier of the Most Potent Drug in the World" is quite thought-provoking. Forget all the cable TV blather... Check out Robb!  Zealotry!

Life. It's Just the Doing!

Last week our little life was book-ended by a death and a birth. That's how it goes around here. Death and life. Sorrow and joy. All the time. 24/7.  It's that kind of Universe. 

And you realize it's always, always, always like that. Everything happens all the time. I guess if you could step back and look from a "God-like" perspective, it would just be a constant churning: life and death, dark and light, action and inaction, a push and pull, the old "in and out."

When you are in the middle of it all, riding the wave, it all seems sort of unbearable. You can be consumed by the churning ocean of your feelings. And then, sometimes you can exhale. Become a bit detached. Sort of Zen.  

Life makes Philosophers of us all. If we are awake. We are not going to figure this out. Life is not a puzzle to be solved. We won't get our way. We can't just finesse our way through it. We must experience it. Take it in. Endure.

Life. It's just the doing...

How Many Heroes Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?

A good friend of mine told me he was on "The Hero's Journey," that his life was one long rambling narrative, with him as the Hero, and that Universe has been unfolding, scenes of his life have been rolling out over many years, but he was sure, soon, who knows, maybe any moment now, his life-long quest would be coming to fruition. He would find what he was seeking, the treasure was soon to be claimed. All he had to do was "follow his bliss" and all would be revealed and resolved... I was a little bit befuddled. I mean, I thought it was "I" who was on the Hero's Journey, and that this long rambling narrative was about the scenes in my life, and well... treasure, fruition, bliss, etc. I mean, what About Me?!?

Know Thy Self - If You Have One!

Self. What is it? Does it exist? Should we know it, and be true to it? Is it, as some tell us, just a fiction, a useful delusion? Or is it the essence of us? Essential?

If we do have a self, I think it's best to be ourselves, to the limit. To be ourselves as much as we can be ourselves. No sense in trying to be someone else.

But just like everything else in our lives, this "self business" is sort of a mystery. A question without a clear answer. Something we must decide for ourselves, that is, if we have selves in which to do the deciding!

"Selling is What Selling Sells." - Joe Strummer

Still haven't listened to U2's "Global Spam Record" yet. See my post "No Thanks U2!" Probably won't for awhile. I am a "spurned lover," nothing worse. I am totally pissed off that one of my favorite bands totally subsumed themselves into a corporate marketing campaign.  A big, powerful, popular band, that could basically do anything they wanted to do. A band that answers to no one.

It's the way that they released the record that really rubs me the wrong way. SPAM! Free Junk Mail! Talk about devaluing the music, devaluing Art. I just hate it! Still it did generate lots of opinion and good writing.

Terry Flamm at Broken Hearted Toy liked it - "Another keeper from this veteran Irish band." Greg Kot and Jim Derogotis of Sound Opinions "double trashed" it! Here's from the kinder and gentler Kot: "This is what a dinosaur does in it's last days." 

And maybe my favorite article is this from Jacobin Magazine - "This is what Capitalism does to music." What a great take-down. And this really, really pisses me off: "Both Bono and bass player Adam Clayton publicly lamented the dip in sales for 'No Line on the Horizon.'"

What's funny, I actually loved "No Line on the Horizon," I think it's a rich, layered, beautifully realized record.  It sold over 5 million copies! WTF!

So I guess it's just about the sales, the marketing and how many units sold.  How pathetic... 5 Million sold doesn't cut the mustard? I think of Nick Drake, of Big Star, of Van Morrison, of Sonic Youth, the Clash, the Ramones, the Velvet Underground, of all those great legendary bands who did great work, dying to be heard, dying for an audience.

"How much of this album was designed simply to sell itself?" Makes me think of U2 like toothpaste, like toilet paper, like a box of paper clips - except maybe less useful!

Cry Baby Cry!

A young couple in our building have a new baby. Late in the afternoon, the little infant always has a crying session. It's like clockwork - every afternoon. Lasts for about 40 mins. or so. It's a very determined, and at least during these sessions, a very unhappy little baby. Yesterday, as I was heading out to the street, I heard the baby crying. My first and only thought: "Kid, you don't know the half of it."

Dylan & Murray!

Voices from a life. This clip features two of the most significant voices I've encountered in my life. Don't "know" either of these people, but I do know much of their work. Music and films.  A friend tipped me to this clip this morning, and it just made me smile, and sing a long, and it opened my heart too...

The History of the Universe

There was the Big Bang, then This Moment.  

Oh yeah, and there were a few things that happened In Between.

Eternal Sadness that Never Goes Away

Lucinda Williams has a new record coming out, a double-album.  She is a natural wonder, a woman with soul and grit and a fiery spirit. Her voice works like honey and acid, it gets under your skin. Don't piss Lucinda off!

She's a true American original. A poet and outlaw...

Love a whole string of her records: Essence, Car Wheels on A Gravel Road, World Without Tears, Blessed...

"A lot of times, I just write about the eternal sadness that never goes away." - Lucinda Williams

Beauty Surrounds Us!

Alive. All that we have can be snatched away in the blink of an eye. While we are here, I think we need to do our best to search out and see the beauty that surrounds us, to carry ourselves with grace, to be compassionate, and live to the fullest. To try to do the best we can. Lean to the light. Do the good work, etc.

Just because.

I came across this amazing video surfing for other things.  It's Bon Iver featuring Justin Vernon and Sean Carey - singing and playing piano at AIR studios. I don't own any of Bon Iver's records, although, I hope to remedy that situation soon, so I don't know if this is characteristic of their work or not. This little concert at an old church built in 1880 is just breathtakingly beautiful. One of the most soulful, beautiful mini-concerts I've ever seen or heard.

Life enriching. Soul-stirring. The kind of thing we should fill our lives with...

"The Good Work" Mantra

So yes, one of my close friends, a great creative collaborator, a contemporary, an amazing spirit and soul passed away two days ago. So devastating. Word fails. Emotion wells up and is overwhelming. Feelings of bottomless pain and loss. And helplessness. 

I will miss him. It feels like a part of myself has died too.  And it's true. And final.  How to carry on? Nothing seems the same. Everything has changed.

We went to see the Magritte show at the Art Institute. My friend loved art, was in artist in all ways, so it seemed like the right thing to do.

I always kind of thought Magritte was sort of a "lightweight." I was wrong. His work does have a lightness of touch; it's whimsical, and mysterious, and odd, and beautifully, exquisitely, rendered. But there is depth, and the attention to surface is multi-layered.

And that lightness is profound too. There is a grace to Magritte. Something magical comes across, even as he focuses on the mundane or everyday. Sometimes a train is a train, or a pipe is a pipe, and sometimes it seems so much more.

Can a painting on a wall still speak to us? Can a perfectly realized image of a pipe capture you? Of course. It can knock you out, and enchant, and confound, and make you laugh, and scratch your head. And you will marvel at how the oil paint still looks moist and alive.

We had to wait in a line, in the rain, out on the street in front of the Art Institute to see the show. Waiting in a line is one of my most hated things in the world to do. But we waited. And really, surprisingly, the show was worth the wait.

If I have a "religion," I guess mine would be "art." It's not always reassuring, or good, and doesn't promise anything when we die, but it can enchant and challenge us now, and we can use it to help us try to fill that emptiness that is always fighting to consume us.

When my great friend and I were working together on a creative project, he would always tell me it was the "good work." This was then, and still is now, my mantra...

Losing a Bit of Ourselves

People die. It happens all the time. If someone really close to you dies, it's sort of like losing a part of yourself. If you live long enough, you will experience this for yourself. There is pain, it goes very, very deep. There is loss. And there is really nothing to do about it. Except experience it. You don't want to forget. Forgetting is losing a part of your life, part of yourself too. You want to honor the person you have lost, and the time you have spent together. When we let people into our lives we are creating something together, something unique and extraordinary. When we lose these people, we are losing a bit of ourselves too. So you remember, and feel the pain, feel the loss, forever, or at least as long as you can remember, that's how life goes.

States!

When the coffee is working, and the day is rolling out nicely, I'd say, "Tragically Optimistic!"

If the coffee is not doing it's magic, and there are bumps in the road, I'd say, "Optimistically Tragic."

Shovels & Rope - An Unholy Racket!

Shovels and Rope, a husband and wife duo. I heard them on the radio, it sounded like a full band, then found out it was just the two of them making an unholy racket. Incredible energy. So good!

Euphoria. What is it Good for?

Euphoria. What is it good for? Who knows? It's an overflowing of good feeling, intense happiness, and self-confidence. From the Greek: a state of well-being.

Yes, a state you can visit, but not live in. Maybe a state that descends upon you? Or is it a self-generated state - some particular combination of body chemistry, barometric pressure, the weather, the day of the week, or something else?

Probably best to just enjoy it, and not question it too closely. I have found that my euphoric states are usually followed by some kind of depletion, or dip in energy... so maybe it's just a forerunner of something bleak?

And when does euphoria tip into "mania" - an abnormally elated mental state? Who knows? There is a continuum, one thing bleeding into another and one state drifting into another. That's life.

The Imperfect as Life!

"We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are..." 

Yes, well, it's pithy, and such a great little quote... there is some dispute about where it originated - The Talmud, I. Kant, Anais Nin, Anonymous?

It does seem oh so "true!"

Turns out Anais Nin is very, very quotable... there's also this...

"You cannot save people, you can only love them."

And this too...

"Experience teaches acceptance of the imperfect as life."

Limits & Strengths

I think it's true, we should celebrate our "limitations." Our limitations help us define who we are. We should do our best to push against limitations, and in the pushing, try to turn them to "strengths." 

Wrestle with Mystery?

Maybe the greatest compliment I can give to Thomas Ligotti's challenging little philosophical missile (see previous post), is that it totally animated my mind!

It has made me think, and question myself, and forced me to delve into some of my fundamental beliefs.  That's pretty impressive.  The book is challenging, and provocative. It's not easy to dismiss or ignore, once you start it, you are in for the ride, and you have to think about it, and somehow argue with it.

One of the major assumptions of the book concerns consciousness. Ligotti proposes that human consciousness is an aberration, a horror, it's something which separates us from all other living things. And it drives us mad. I wonder is this true? 

What exactly is consciousness, and is it true that only human beings possess it?  Maybe as human beings we misunderstand consciousness? Maybe it's much more prevalent than we know?Does the Universe and all things in it possess some level of consciousness? Where does consciousness come from? Does it emerge from biology and matter? Or does it descend upon us like the rain? Is it a vibration or frequency that we "tune in" sort of like a radio or television?

I don't think any of us really know exactly what consciousness is, or how it works, and we don't really know if it is unique to us, or if it's common and pervasive.  Much of Ligotti's argument is based on the uniqueness and horror of being a conscious being, but maybe from the start there is a misunderstanding or mystery about consciousness which can't be unfolded?

The same thought occurred to me about life. Animate and inanimate. Do we really understand life and death? Are we making arbitrary or false divisions? Are we looking at the reality of our human condition with false eyes? Do most of our problems of understanding our world and our place in it, flow from a place of deep misunderstanding, and unknowing?

And maybe we can never really resolve these fundamental issues. And if we can't, we can never definitely understand anything.  Maybe we can only wrestle with mystery? Maybe, or maybe not.

We are the Conspirators!

I tracked down Thomas Ligotti's "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race," mainly because I had read that Nic Pizzolatto had used it as a basis for some of the monologues Matthew McConaughey recites in his astonishing and mind-blowing portrayal of the Homicide Detective Cohle on HBO's "True Detective." 

Ligotti is a writer of "horror fiction" in the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft, but "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race" is a non-fiction book. It is a totally strange beast. You could call it a "Primer on Pessimism," or "How to Lose Friends and Annoy Your Neighbors," it's a handbook of "Extreme Pessimism." Not exactly cocktail-party material.

And when I say extreme pessimism, I mean really, really extreme and really, really pessimistic. As in: non-existence is better than existence, it would be better not to be born, life is suffering, pain and horror; human beings are a abomination, we are a supernatural anomaly, an evolutionary blunder, and human consciousness (the certain knowledge that we will die) is a terrible and horrific thing that we can't really live with, and must do our best to forget. 

Ligotti, with a straight face, argues that human beings should do the brave and noble thing, do a favor for themselves and the Universe, and X themselves out, and stop procreating.  Life is suffering, and to continue life, to continue to perpetrate life, only multiplies the suffering. 

Reading the book is kind of a psychic mud-bath, it's an intellectual blood-letting. It's a poisonous book - "Beware! Tread carefully!"  For some odd reason, I found the book to be strangely uplifting, and thought-provoking. Ligotti's argument, forces you back to the essentials - it compels you to think about the meaning of life, and our place in the Universe. It opens your head!

The book makes you want to argue with it. And that's a good thing. It features a Who's Who of pessimism - Arthur Schopenhaur, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Friedrich Nietzsche, Professor Nothing, Peter Wessel Zapfe, Phillip Mainlander - pessimists, both famous and obscure. The book is well-reasoned, clear, and elegant.

Since I am an optimist by nature, some of this just doesn't fly with me. Maybe I can chalk it up to my "sunny nature," maybe it's the chemical make-up of my particular body and mind, but after reading this book, I'd say I'm primarily optimistic, with major pessimistic tendencies, and that's probably not a bad way to try to navigate this long, strange journey.

There is much wisdom in the book, but I happen to love consciousness, and even if I am fated to die, and even if my consciousness is fated to vanish, the having, no matter how brief, seems worth it. And I do think we can live with the knowledge of our mortality, even if we have to fill our lives with illusions and distractions just to keep the game going.

Schopenhaur tells us that only pain is real, but I have experienced joy, happiness, enlightenment, epiphany, pleasure, and even though it's true that those states do seem illusory and ephemeral, the glimpse, the glimmer, the briefest of brief experiences of lightness of being seems to me to be enough to stake a life upon.