I keep forgetting

...just how much I love Blackstar. Wow. I really don't understand why hip hop can't always be like this. Music should be *about* something, not just getting laid or getting rich -- which, honestly, is like 90% of rap music these days.

Even The Ramones were about something, even if it was social disruption. And Sex Pistols, yes, that's pretty angry stuff, but it wasn't anger for the sake of anger. And it certainly wasn't all, "Fuck bitches" this and " Busting caps" that. Ugh. How is that art?

Random, I know, but there you have it. My $0.02.

Music doesn't lie

I don't post on here nearly as often as I should.... and I feel that when I do, it's all over the place. One day I'm hot, one day I'm cold. One day all is right with the world, and others I want to burn everything to the ground. And see, I suppose the thing is I only post when I'm feeling emotional about things -- never for the little things. And far too often, it's when I'm upset or stressed out. Today I'm neither -- and I'm not particularly elated about anything either. I'm sitting here, slowly but surely downloading my music collection onto iTunes and listening to a few of my favorite songs (such as "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" as sung by Joe Anderson). I'm reminiscing on how certain songs remind me of certain period in my life. Example: Across the Universe (the movie/soundtrack) will always remind of my months in New Mexico. It came at a time when I was lonely and missing the east coast -- and not just for its people, but for its charm. It came at the right time. Across the Universe, for me, was a mini-salvation, an awakening, a celebration. It was a kiss when I had no one to kiss (metaphorically speaking, of course). It opened my eyes to a few things and helped the loneliness weaken its hold on me. Or, right now, "Like A Stone" by Audioslave is playing and that song will always remind me of the jukebox machine at Charlie's Pub in Boston and wailing out the lyrics, while my friends and I were filled with rum and coke (because it was the easiest drink to fool the waitress who was being a stickler about our underaged status), and really believing that we sounded *just* like Chris Cornell... when, sadly, we were butchering the poor song. "Tuesday's Gone" reminds me of being sixteen, sitting in my room after school and lying on my bed while I stared up at the ceiling and dreamed of leaving all this behind and hitchhiking to the West -- a dream that is still there, pushed back to a farther part of my mind... but it's still there nonetheless.

It's funny how music can have such an affect on my mind, my senses, my soul, my heart. It's almost a physical thing. I associate almost everything with music -- I don't even do that with movies and I adore film. If the right song plays when I'm feeling out of sorts, it can help me get through whatever has put me in that state. There are certain songs that have the power to bring me to tears possibly from sadness, from joy or from dispair. Music can heal and it can also destroy. I cannot imagine a life without it.

Where would I be without Bob Dylan? The Beatles? The Velvet Underground? Emmylou Harris? It's crazy to even think about. So I guess I won't.

I guess I have time today to think about these things. Which is nice, since usually I hardly ever have time for this sort of thought process. And sometimes, in an age when the economy is rapidly crashing and ignorance and violence surround us, it's nice to have something to hold on to... and even if music isn't tangible, something doesn't always have to be to be able to touch you.

"You are the music while the music lasts."
-T.S. Eliot

Current Song:

"I Will Go Quietly" - Shivaree