A Hipster, Ranting about Music and Stuff

I love Pink Floyd.  I'm sure that's no surprise to anyone by now.  Seeing Brit Floyd last Sunday was awesome.  I would have loved to see the real Floyd on the Dark Side tour.  That would be a dream come true.  Brit Floyd was as close a facsimile as I can reasonably get.  Roger Waters voice, as often happens (see Mick Jagger), went to shit.  At least they have voices at one time.

My voice has always been shitty.  I can live with it, though.  It's what I've got.  That's why the weirder my music the more I can justify my terrible singing.  That's how the entire genre of punk was invented.  And garage music.  Once you learn the different forms of the pentatonic scale you are good to go.  That's what I love about Iggy Pop.

I don't know what I'm going to end up recording, but, I do have Spring Break coming up.  Perhaps I can experiment.  Maybe in the meantime I will work on a drum part on my drum machine.  Now that I have actually learned how to use it I can make some pretty good sounding drum parts.  I just essentially listen to a good drum and then try and rip them off as much as possible.

That's the great thing about the best music.  It's unapologetic.  It is what it is, no matter what it sounds like.  It's music for music's sake.  It could be anything.  Rock, pop, country, alternative, psychedelic, punk, prog rock, mariachi...  Whatever it is, as long as it is created from a love of music.

Not that musicians shouldn't get paid, but, they should make the music they make, on some level, whether it's just playing guitar in their bedroom on a Friday night, closing their eyes, and imagining an audience.  That's another thing about the best music.  It's for an audience, whether the audience has paid to see it, or just happens to catch it on a street corner, people donating whatever spare change they have in their pockets.

I don't care if it's popular, or not.  I used to care.  It used to seem like popularity equates with the worst music, and, sometimes that's true, but not always.  Sometimes there are some good popular songs too.

It doesn't really matter if it is all about the music.  The music is what's most important.  Too often, it seems like, people lose that.  I try not to lose that.  Music really is just the greatest thing in the universe.

That's just what listening to good music makes me think about.  Dark Side of the Moon never fails me.  I never get sick of it or am disappointed when it comes on.  I don't even have to be in the mood.  It's effect is that potent.  It's like a rattlesnake bite bite that makes you high instead of killing you.  The best music does that no matter what.

I don't know what that makes me or care.  I used to care.  But it doesn't matter anymore.  I don't care what type of fiction my fiction is.  I am supposed to care, I am supposed place some kind of label on it and stamp it for approval, but, it just is what it is.

Whatever, man.  Seriously.  Whatever people want to label it, that's alright with me.  Those few people who are even paying attention.  That's alright.  If they don't want to label it at all, don't care enough or whatever, that's fine too.

It doesn't change anything.  I am still going to publish it in some form, even if it is just so I can have a copy.  That might be narcissistic but it's true.  I wrote it, I might as well get some kind of satisfaction out of it, if all else fails.

Hopefully it doesn't, but I don't know what is going to happen.  Right now it is out of my hands.  Right now I can't do anything but focus on school and do well and hopefully make it through with at least a small portion of my sanity intact.

If not, I will certainly get a lot more writing done in that ward of the hospital.

Unlike Jack Nicholson, I won't be faking it, at first.  If it happens.  I'm not saying that it's going to happen, but I can't entirely rule it out, either.  I have know other people to crack (and I have a history of it, already).  It is difficult to stay positive sometimes, but, I try to find something that makes life seem great again, whether it is my wife or my friends or music or writing or cuddling and watching Star Trek with Cheech and Elliot.

I have have to get down to business this weekend and, really, these next two weeks, two papers, three presentations, lots of reading and regular studying, and as much ass-kissing as my poor chapped lips can bear.  I feel like I need some Clearasil from the lip acne from the assne from all the lip to ass contact.

Now is my opportunity to write a paper on Melville.  The last time I wrote a paper on Melville my professor read it out loud to the class after he graded the essays as an example to the rest of the class.  I about crapped when I heard the words I had written spoken by someone else.  That was cool.  Now I have to present my own paper to my class.  Last time I did that it was for my Updike paper and I think that went remarkably well.

That paper I sent a proposal to do a real conference presentation. I also want to do finish the long version of it so it is article length and submit it to the John Updike Society contest.  The conference version is only ten pages, my goal for the article version is twenty-one.

Right now I just have to focus on my classes.  I've got to figure this Melville paper out and get busy on the Shakespeare stuff.  I've also got to start practicing the presentation on writing research papers I am giving to a college comp class a week from Wednesday.  I am super excited for it.  I hope I will not sound like a complete reject.  I am starting to get a lot better at doing presentations.

I just have to distract everyone with a cool power point and explain my argument carefully.  It worked with the Updike thing.  I can even use that as an example.  It was certainly not a typical paper for me, since it was focused on the language.

Well, the album is about over for me right now, "Brain Damage" is leading into "Eclipse", the climax.

~

"...And all you create
And all you destroy
And all that you do
And all that you say.
All that you eat
And everyone you meet
All that you slight
And everyone you fight.
All that is now
All that is gone
All that's to come
And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon"