Thank god the kids are all gone. They were fucking everywhere the other day. Fucking crazy.
So today was a slice of good old fashioned unemployment. Got up at 2, hit the gym, which was considerably less crowded than the normal hours - got to see many new faces around the place, some ultra-tattooed bald guy (the shaved head look is a lot less common in St. Louis than in other places), and I got to see that one really hot mom arrive at the Y as opposed to leave.
Since I never post links, here's one copped from Metafilter, an interview with Dirt McGirt aka Ol Dirty Bastard aka other things. The attitude of the interviewer is interesting, and really the picture on the page sez it all - dorky looking white guy, balding, with self-consciously nerdy glasses. One can almost see the smirk that pervades the article.
Reminds me of the appropriation of blues music by the hippies. There was a whole folk revival movement in the 60's, which meant a lot of attention was paid to dudes who had recorded a handful of 78's back in depression times and earlier. These guys were sought out in their southern rural homes and then plonked onstage at festivals. Some, like Mississippi John Hurt, were delighted to have a new audience to hear their music. Others, like Skip James, detested the new fans. Of course, one gets the impression from the music that Skip hated everybody, Skip James included, rather a lot.
Anyway, the bourgeois class continues to collect. So, peace out.
Actually, that isn't what I think. ODB has spent time in a mental institution, clearly seems to have some paranoia issues (in the article, he says that Bush and Clinton are/were out to get him) which tends to make one think he's got some mental issues. It's the smirking tone about all this which bothers me, the notion that the craziness is the ultimate goal in all this.
True, having some mental issues can mean that the art that you create is going to be interesting/good - there are plenty of schizo musicians who are pretty decent (Skip Spence, Syd Barrett, Kool Keith, Brian Wilson), but to treat it as such a novelty ignores the pain involved, and thus removes the humanity of the person. Yes, they are outrageous and troubled, but their work is worthy of contemplation. That is, there is real human artistry involved, they are not a firework - bright, shining and captivating while you're looking and to be discarded soon after.
But on another note, I can really only think of ODB's Dog Shit off of Wu Tang Forever, because I can understand the rap. A lot of his flows I just can't make out. I guess I could sit down with Enter... and Return... and ohhla.com and give him some closer study.
But I also want to focus my attention on the new. I spend a lot of time playing genre or artists catch-up, I want to understand the current scene more, maybe I can find some way to connect to other people through the scenes. God knows that's not going to happen if I keep following music made in years with nines in them.
Posted by mattb at July 29, 2003 08:41 PM