Current Tunes: Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
Les Paul died today at 92 and I feel horrible as a result.
Not put a few years ago when Ray Charles died, then Johnny Cash not long after him, it was terribly depressing to me to think that all those first major figures of Rock & Roll were passing on. It occurred to me at the time that a very small few were left, and now we have one less. And today we arguably lost the most important person from those beginnings. I’ve been of the mindset for several years now that Rock & Roll is the most important cultural phenomenon of modern times. By that I mean the most important development in culture in any country, in any society, in any culture.
Paul gave us the electric guitar, an invention I’m convinced people take for granted as much as they take for granted the personal computer or the radio or the telephone. In this modern age where millions on millions of people carry around iPods or memory cards on their smart phones stuffed with mp3s of all their favorite songs, I doubt anyone realizes (like I do) that without the electric guitar digital music might not even exist now.
Definitely I can say that American popular music would look completely different without it. Everything uses it, is influenced by it. Pop & Top 40s, Arena Rock and Alternative, Blues and Jazz, Country and Bluegrass, Metal and Punk, even R&B owes some small debts to Les Paul for his invention.
So passes another giant of American music, leaving really only half a handful left to represent the legacy in the flesh. Jerry Lee Lewis won’t be with us much longer, I don’t think. Though God bless him for still playing music, still hanging on like he has. Little Richard’s with us still, still as vital and respected as ever. Fats Domino is still alive too; if Katrina couldn’t kill New Orleans, then perhaps Fats still has plenty of years left in him. Of course there’s B.B. King too, who I don’t know how we’ll all get along without him, whenever he chooses to go.
Paul came to do what he was meant to do though. Our world is brighter, better for his being in it. I’m sure you could never count the number of people whose lives have been saved by Rock & Roll, so how do you measure the meaning and the value in Les Paul’s life and his contribution? You can’t, of course. But I won’t forget his contribution and I also won’t forget what it means to me.
13 August 2009
11 August 2009
In Revelations
Current Tunes: Decapitated – Day 69
Who doesn’t admire Aldous Huxley? The guy was a certified genius, an epic mind and a thoughtful writer. I can think of few men in history who are well-known to have done significant amounts of illegal drugs yet is so overwhelmingly revered. Anyway, a quote from the “Brave New World” author:
“At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice, and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism, and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political ideals.”
Believe it or not, for once I’m not presenting this to quote to you not under the guise of wailing on religion or politics. Nay, its really the beginning part that fascinates me so; the idea that simple stupidity can cause suffering and pain. A tremendous amount of it, it would seem.
For the past ten months I would say, I have been overwhelmingly stressed, frustrated, tense, nervous, an all out bundle of nerves and anxiety over my thesis. All that frustration and pain, it came from stupidity. See, I was so stressed over it because I was quite unaware of what was expected of me in my thesis. I had no idea what standards were in place, what length was expected, how I would present the final product, nothing like that.
All these months I’ve gone without knowing, and was deathly afraid to ask any of my professors for fear of looking stupid or immature or unprepared. Turns out, all those words actually describe me but not for wanting to ask about such things. Five minutes spent online digging through Web sites and I stumble upon a document which answers every question I had about my thesis.
So now all my fears have been put to rest. I was literally so afraid of the thesis process, I was contemplating putting of the thesis process another quarter. Putting off graduating, putting off moving on with my adult life, all because I was frightened of this project. And from where did my fear, my stress, my anxiety come? Pure, unchecked ignorance and unbridled stupidity.
If I had just taken a little initiative to look up this information months ago instead of stressing and aggravating myself over it, maybe the past ten months would have been a little calmer, a little easier, a little less depressing. I brought it all on myself though.
As negative as this post is so far, there is good news. I’m going to graduate; I’m going to get my M.F.A. It’s going to happen; I’m confident I can make it happen. All that it takes now is the patience and the will. The life I wanted is just around the corner, it’s there waiting for me, waiting for me to take the final steps. Which I will. I will.
Who doesn’t admire Aldous Huxley? The guy was a certified genius, an epic mind and a thoughtful writer. I can think of few men in history who are well-known to have done significant amounts of illegal drugs yet is so overwhelmingly revered. Anyway, a quote from the “Brave New World” author:
“At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice, and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism, and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political ideals.”
Believe it or not, for once I’m not presenting this to quote to you not under the guise of wailing on religion or politics. Nay, its really the beginning part that fascinates me so; the idea that simple stupidity can cause suffering and pain. A tremendous amount of it, it would seem.
For the past ten months I would say, I have been overwhelmingly stressed, frustrated, tense, nervous, an all out bundle of nerves and anxiety over my thesis. All that frustration and pain, it came from stupidity. See, I was so stressed over it because I was quite unaware of what was expected of me in my thesis. I had no idea what standards were in place, what length was expected, how I would present the final product, nothing like that.
All these months I’ve gone without knowing, and was deathly afraid to ask any of my professors for fear of looking stupid or immature or unprepared. Turns out, all those words actually describe me but not for wanting to ask about such things. Five minutes spent online digging through Web sites and I stumble upon a document which answers every question I had about my thesis.
So now all my fears have been put to rest. I was literally so afraid of the thesis process, I was contemplating putting of the thesis process another quarter. Putting off graduating, putting off moving on with my adult life, all because I was frightened of this project. And from where did my fear, my stress, my anxiety come? Pure, unchecked ignorance and unbridled stupidity.
If I had just taken a little initiative to look up this information months ago instead of stressing and aggravating myself over it, maybe the past ten months would have been a little calmer, a little easier, a little less depressing. I brought it all on myself though.
As negative as this post is so far, there is good news. I’m going to graduate; I’m going to get my M.F.A. It’s going to happen; I’m confident I can make it happen. All that it takes now is the patience and the will. The life I wanted is just around the corner, it’s there waiting for me, waiting for me to take the final steps. Which I will. I will.
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