12.10.11

12.10.11

What have I learned today?

Russia is up in arms, tens of thousands are in the streets opposing the legitimacy of the recent elections. Estimates range from 15 to 80,000. They, the Putin administration, blame the US Dept of State for funding / organizing the uprising, of course. Regardless of the facts therein, the revolution is now global, for reasons which apply to us all…we the people are getting screwed, and getting fed up with getting screwed. I think the post-Soviet Russians are far smarter than they need to be to figure that one out.

The folks that haven’t experienced all out chaos yet, India and China, will crack soon. India is beginning to call out those at the top. China is struggling to keep the dirt under the rug.

Syria’s president Assad refuses to acknowledge killings of citizens by military. UN says he has gone too far, US says he is out of touch with reality. Over 4,000 have been killed. This, to me, sounds like the same scenario as Libya pre-NATO involvement. If I were to guess, NATO naval and air resources are still in the neighborhood, waiting for a new deployment.

The world economy continues to teeter on the brink of the void.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the largest nations in Africa, and one whose status is watched by the Council on Foreign Relations as critical to national security, for some reason, is in complete upheaval after elections.

Iran has a US drone.

Pakistan has now tightened avenues for US supply convoys to Afghanistan. 40% of US supplies to Afghanistan flow across Pakistani land routes. A drone base in Baluchistan has been ordered closed, and has been evacuated by the US.

On the bright side, I discovered a kick ass bunch of music on Youtube. Dire Straights has long been one of my favorite bands, and tonight, I found their vids from a 1979 German pop TV show “Rockpalast”. By my guess, that was after their first, self titled album was released or just after their second. Number 2, Communique, was released in June, 1979 and the Rockpalast tracks include much of this album (I feel like such an old fart when I use that word). The first album was a huge hit, with “Sultans of Swing” hitting the charts and becoming a standard in Classic Rock radio rotations.

Communique is a much more subtle recording. The songs are far more restrained, until Knopfler takes up some space doing his thing, which is done very well. On the videos, the band is a completely different creature, with a rhythm that doesn’t stop, and this stringy Brit absolutely wailing on the guitar.

The greatest blessing here is a rediscovery of music. I woke up the other day, began my usual perusal of the media and somewhere, probably FB, I discovered a video of Lou Reed giving a brief statement of giving support for OWS. Lou is THE man. There was a video of a song following, which I cannot remember. Point being, it captured my attention.

I am, by default, a music guy. I was on the radio, the uber powerful WUTS – 91.3 FM, the 1000 watt monster, from my first semester ‘til my last in college. Most of my friends had radio shows. Many played guitar. Those who couldn’t play a guitar had radio shows and were most likely the booker of bands for their frats. It was a culture unto itself, during the peak of “college radio”, during the birth pangs of “alternative”. Shit. “Alternative” wasn’t created until 5 years later and then only to commoditize, monetize the talent flowing freely from a ridiculous amount of sources. I won’t even begin to attempt to document the list. Suffice it to say I am listening to a now long forgotten band whose personnel have survived in other incarnations such as Widespread Panic. Hell, the Panic played here, to a frat formal, or 50 people in the street, when I was a student.

I could go on ad nauseum about the music scene when I was in college, couldn’t we all? I won’t though, after I get it out of my system. Bands who played here during my college days in the 80s: B-52s, Violent Femmes, White Animals, Jason and the Scorchers, Love Tractor, REM, Robin Hitchcock, Black Crowes, Widespread…you get my drift. I once saw Crazy Horse’s lead guitarist (ie Neil Young’s Crazy Horse) play, shoved into a corner of the local pizza and burger shrine, Shenanigans. We didn’t screw around when it came to live music.

Since my days in school, the University has hosted NRBQ, Snake Oil Medicine Show, some spin off of Phish’s drummer, etc. Unfortunately, the University doesn’t advertise widely about the shows they put on. It’s no wonder. Some of these artists could draw the kind of hoards which might overwhelm the local constabularies’ capacity to manage them. I doubt this would ever happen, but that is based on the hope and a prayer that a Sewanee audience would behave, whether they were visitors or not and the knowledge that Sewanee PD has a way with handling crowds.

God, listening to Beanland right now takes me back to some booty – shakin’ crazy days.

So, why this trip down music memory lane? Well, the other day, as I said, I woke up and caught some Lou Reed with my first cup of coffee. My next cup was accompanied by Jimmy Cliff, courtesy of some Rolling Stone clips of songs and a brief interview. I got back in the mood of music.

Big picture: I have been so sucked so far into the world’s convulsions (natural disasters, Arab Spring, price of cigarettes) and national contractions (job market, the whole OWS movement) that I haven’t really looked up since about March. Now that I do, I realize I have pretty much missed life-as-normal since before then.

My focus has grown smaller and smaller, excluding all else. First, my purview was the global situation: Arab Spring, international financial issues, etc. Then, it narrowed in on the protests, the patterns between the different countries being razed by the people. Further focus onto the September 17 uprising in Zuccotti Park provided the lens through which I have lived the days since then.

So, what am I trying to say here? I haven’t a clue. A few weeks ago, I looked up, broadened my focus from the OWS lens which had been my only ocular filter for a while. What did I see but absolutely all hell breaking loose. NDAA, SOPA, IP protection, Russia…Arrrgh!! I recently saw a George Carlin piece where he referenced our current state of affairs as the downward spiral often noticed in a toilet bowl…circling faster and faster toward the drain. That is about as close a summation of the international situation as I can come up with right now. Let us remember, he passed away several years ago.

And, somehow, I fell back into my music.

Lou Reed, Eric Clapton, The Talking Heads, Bob Marley have been my salvation. Tunes. Good Vibes. Celebration through the artistry of musicians lifted me above the shit, above the true street fight which our national dialogue has become. Listening to songs about all sorts of off the charts behavior makes the int’l scene look absolutely…well…still pretty shitty.

Funny how the blues sounds better at 2:30 in the morning.