I am nearly done reading Albert Camus' "The Plague." It does seem essential reading. Almost a manual and dissertation on our present present.
A story of a time. A story of now. Humans, we have always lived with plague. Sometimes we know it madly, deeply, intimately, sometimes we don't.
Friday. Sun breaking across the heartland.
This morning we review the situation...
There is no plan.
No one knows what's next.
No one is in charge.
It's a moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month thing.
Folks are getting restless.
There is no "normal."
Everything has changed.
Covid-19 is alive in the land.
Fear is alive in the land.
There are those trying to pull us all together.
There are those trying to pull us all apart.
Same old battles.
Folks are dying. How many? Even the count is in dispute.
This a.m. I hear some countries are counting the dead in Nursing Homes, some are not.
Astonshing.
Our only hope is clear-seeing.
The a.m. soundtrack - Mark Lanegan's - "Blues Funeral" (2012). This is a superb record. Another great collaboration record. Lanegan & Alain Johannes create moody soundscapes. Lanegan's voice is dark, expressive. The lyrics are bit abstract, surreal. No false moves. The Quietus described the album's sound as: "Blues Funeral incorporates beats marshalled by sequencers with grand cinematic sweeps and a rock & roll sensibility that reveals an artist refusing to paint himself into a corner." Perfect soundtrack for a plague.